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Writer's pictureThomas Tittmann
Apr 1, 20235 min read

From RACEball to Baseball...Play fair...Play ball...Play DEAD...

Updated: Apr 1, 2023

Today's tale begins & ends with texts from friends:

  • Opening: with a friend's text (Thanks, Steven!!!) of a favorite band's Opening Day performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in April 1993. This was just posted at Dead.net - a favorite Truckin stop in the game of LIFE & DEATH...

  • Closing: Pedro's Metallica song finishes today's game...


PRE-GAME WARMUPS



Moving east from Candlestick Park to New York's Central Park...


PLAY BALL!!!


Ladies first...

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you, wo wo wo

What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson

'Joltin Joe' has left and gone away, hey hey hey

Hey hey hey




NOW...LET'S HEAR FROM MR. ROBINSON...#42


Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? by Buddy Johnson and Count Basie - Baseball Almanac article on song's history and lyrics


"Here was a player who had without doubt suffered more abuse and more taunts and more hatred than any player in the history of the game. And he (Jackie Robinson) had made a special effort to compliment and encourage a young white kid from Oklahoma." - Mickey Mantle

(#7 was my childhood hero)



My birth year...plus, my grandparents (Mom's side) were from Brooklyn.


--The song's uploader wrote a special bridge for his version of the 1948 original by Buddy Johnson:

"He stepped up to the plate

Some thought he tempted fate

Others saw the new day

History showed it mattered

The color line was shattered

But Jackie just came to play!"


--This video is part of a civil rights project. Here's how the uploader sees it:

"This is the first of the Go Get Your Voice songs from and about the early civil rights movement. For the Dodgers to sign an African-American man to play on their major league team took courage and foresight. The color walls were slowly beginning to come down and the Dodgers, along with Jackie Robinson were pioneers in much the same was as other courageous individuals like Rosa Parks."


--One of the commenters added: "My sister was named after Jackie Robinson. Although her official name is Jacqueline, she has always been called Jackie, and she continues to introduce herself as Jackie Robinson - 40 years later. lol



--Jackie and Martin


7th INNING STRETCH...


Musician’s version of “Is there baseball in heaven?” joke:


You know the premise of the baseball version, so here’s the musician’s one: two old rockers, let’s call them John and George, are hanging out…one says to his band mate, “Let’s make a pact that whoever plays their last gig first, will come back and tell the other if there’s rock music in heaven. OK? Deal!


So, John dies. Saddened, George recalls their pact and begins wondering if he’ll be able to get to play any gigs after he dies. To his amazement, as he’s wondering about his fate, John appears to him.


Overjoyed, George hugs him and they sit down to reminisce. Eventually, George gets up the courage to ask John about their pact.


George: “Is there rock music in heaven?”


John: “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”


George: “Give me the good news first.”


John: “Yes, there is rock music in heaven and plenty of available gigs. And, you won’t have to play for change – as you’ll already be changed – in the twinkling of an eye.”


George: “So, what’s the bad news?”


John: “Tomorrow, we got a gig together.”



Snack Time

Brought to you by the American Dental Associaton - an official sponsor of baseball



--UK Kids show


Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks (06:06) - Nabb Research Center at Salisbury University

--Great compilation of archival footage going back to 1927. Includes kids playing in the street like I did in Richmond Hill, NY and DONKEY baseball...

...Included, this photo of a young fan at his first game...



CLOSER

[from this article]

Next to Jackie Robinson, no player has been more closely associated with No. 42 than Mariano Rivera.


When (Mo) Vaughn retired at the end of the 2003 season, Rivera was the lone 42 remaining in the Majors.


“I wanted to make Mr. Jackie Robinson proud of the legacy that he left us. Me, being the last No. 42, doing it in a great arena as New York, I was thankful for the legacy he left for us to continue and pushing it forward, passing it down to the next generation.”


“I don’t think someone could have written a script like that,” Rivera said. “Jackie being the first, me being the closer, being the last one, it was so great. His legacy will be carried forever. No one will ever wear the number again, but every year, once a year as long as baseball exists, everybody will be able to wear the No. 42. That is something special. That says a lot about the man, what he went through, what he did and what he stood for. We have to honor that.”


Sporting the same #42 as Jackie…





CLOSER HIM/HYMN




Assault & Battery Mates...Hip! Hip! Jorge!!!











EXTRA INNINGS...




Local press coverage...


--The baseball teams (Mets vs. Chicago Cubs) were distinguishable only by uniform color: all players on both sides wore Robinson’s number, 42, on their backs.


More from the LI Herald article:


Around 6:30 p.m., blaring loudspeakers announced that there to help them celebrate Jackie Robinson Day was the Church of the Intercessor Choir, which launched into a brisk, powerful rendition of Ron Kenoly’s “Ancient of Days,” conducted by Father Joe Ciccarello, head of the Intercessor Music Ministry and Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Intercessor. Choir and band member Paul Ammendola sang the solo.


The piece concluded and the choir then began a song most fitting for the theme of the day: “We Can Make a Difference,” by Mark Heimermann and David Mullen. Associate Director of Music and Creative Arts Kelly Tanza conducted this one, with solo parts sung by Victoria Perrone.





POST-GAME HUMOR


Baseball in the Bible


When I first heard Did you know baseball is mentioned in the Bible?, the answer was in Genesis; In the big inning. Later, someone told me of The woman who went to the well with her pitcher. While it may be assumed that Noah took a couple of bats on the Ark, it’s not specifically in print. Someone more “well-versed” than I told me of a third baseball reference, but it must have leaked out of my brain while I slept. Do you know of another place where baseball shows up in the Bible? –Nott


Here's the rest of this thread. Seeing the comment about the Red Sox, this version of the Bible must predate 2004 A.D.


IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE FALLING ASLEEP...AND SLEEPING WITH ONE EYE OPEN...


This post closer was included above in the Enter Sandman video tribute to Mariano...


Children's Advisory: CAUTION: DO NOT let your parents watch this before going to bed.








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