danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I am not the only one who thinks that yesterday may have been the best day for baseball in a long, long time. Over at ESPN.com, Buster Olney points out that

The Yankees hadn’t lost a 7-0 lead in the eighth inning or later since 1953, and that’s what happened. The Red Sox were undefeated this year when holding leads after the eighth inning, yet they lost. There were four games involving the wild-card races Wednesday, and in three of those, a team came to within one out of victory, and lost. At 11:40 p.m., the Atlanta Braves matched the greatest September collapse in history, and 25 minutes later, the Red Sox set a new standard for September collapses. And Evan Longoria’s game-winning homer was merely the second in history that propelled a team into the playoffs, on the last day of the season; the other belongs to Bobby Thomson.

Olney adds that someday, “somebody will write a book on baseball’s greatest day ever”.

[Addendum: Dave Sheinin at the Washington Post writes, ""What that was, quite simply, was the best day of regular season baseball the game has ever seen".]

Meanwhile, MLB.com has a convenient timeline in text and video format, chronicling what went down last night. A Hollywood screenwriter could not have invented a more dramatic scenario.

And, best of all, at SI.com, Tom Verducci begins his column with this:

Filed under: Current Events, Sports on September 29th, 2011 | No Comments »

I am writing this after midnight on Thursday morning, September 29, 2011. I am in shock. My beloved Tampa Bay Rays have just won the 162nd game of their season, coming back from a seven-run deficit against the Hated New York Yankees to win in the bottom of the twelfth at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. With this win, the Rays go to post-season play once again. But this alone isn’t what makes tonight so amazing. Rather, it is the absolutely improbable, some said impossible, come-from-way-behind September the Rays have had, combined with the enormous effort on behalf of the Orioles to defeat the Boston Red Sox tonight in Baltimore.

Everything had to fall into place tonight. The Red Sox had been collapsing all month. The Rays had been improving. The last three games of the season would find the battle for the Wild Card take place between two very different teams, against two very different teams: Boston would get to play against the last-place Orioles; the Rays against the first-place Yankees. Two days ago, when it appeared the season would come down to this do-or-die scenario, I dubbed today “Baseballmageddon”. But I couldn’t have imagined this ending this way. I am not capable of writing articulately right now.

The Rays and Red Sox entered their respective games tonight absolutely tied. If both won, or if both lost, a tie-breaker game would be required tomorrow. If Boston won, the Rays were done, and vice versa. So when the Rays found themselves down tonight 7-0 in the eighth inning tonight, I told my friend Anthony it was over. In fact, I left his house convinced my baseball watching was done until next year. When he texted me ten minutes later to say the Rays had just scored six runs, I thought he was pulling my leg. I turned the game on in the car to hear that Orioles fans in Baltimore were chanting, “Let’s go Rays!” When the Rays tied the game I was stunned. But as the game dragged on and on, and reports from Baltimore looked grim, I began to lose hope. I went to bed, listening on the radio while the Rays batted, then turning it off while the Yankees batted. Then, out of nowhere, the radio announced Baltimore had stunned Boston in the bottom of the ninth at Camden Yards, which meant, at the worst, the Rays would get another shot if the game against New York didn’t work out. Then, as I listened in near panic, Evan Longoria hit the game-winning home run. I jumped from bed, letting out a scream that terrified my beloved wife. I still can hardly believe it. Everything had to work out just so, and it did.

I have watched and listened to baseball my entire life. I can say with certainty, I have never experienced a day of baseball like this. People will talk about this forever.

How will I sleep?

Filed under: Current Events, Sports on September 29th, 2011 | No Comments »

Many people this week were upset over the execution in Georgia of a man named Troy Davis. I know next to nothing about that case, but from what I could gather, some had doubts about his guilt. Newspapers and radio featured editorials criticizing the American system of capital punishment, arguing that it disproportionately executes black and the poor, while also pointing out how a shocking number of individuals on death row have been exonerated after DNA evidence definitively proved that the crimes for which they were convicted and sentenced were, in fact, committed by others.

Almost none of these protests cited the one and only important reason capital punishment should be immediately and permanently abolished everywhere: capital punishment is wrong. Plain and simple. It’s wrong. Black or not black, fair trial or unfair trial, guilty or not guilty, capital punishment is still morally and ethically indefensible. So I don’t care if Troy Davis was not guilty of killing a police officer. And I don’t care if he received an unfair trial because of incompetent attorneys or a prejudiced jury. All I care about is that Troy Davis was a human being and that no man has the right to willfully take the life of any other unless his own life is in immediate mortal danger. Capital punishment does not meet that standard and never will.

Filed under: Current Events, Rantings on September 23rd, 2011 | 1 Comment »

At the White House today, the president awarded the Medal of Honor to a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Leroy Petry has done eight tours of duty, has two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. His award citation reads like a scene from an epic motion picture.

According to reports,

Petry did not speak during the ceremony, but afterward, he told reporters that “to be singled out is very humbling.”

“I consider every one of our men and women in uniform serving here, abroad, to be our heroes,” he said.

Of course he does. You never hear someone like Petry boast or showboat. They are not like us.

I am simply in awe of the men, living and dead, who have received the Medal of Honor.

Filed under: Current Events on July 12th, 2011 | No Comments »

Last year I wrote about a terrifying incident that took place at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. A fan in the upper deck, reaching over a railing to snag a foul ball, fell thirty feet or so and landed in the seats below, seriously injuring himself. It must have been a horrifying experience for everyone present, and television footage showed the players and umpires were quite visibly distressed.

As I wrote at the time, the frantic scramble fans undertake these days for baseballs has reached a dangerous extreme. I felt certain that things would get worse until someone actually died. I am sorry to report that that has now happened.

Last night at Rangers Ballpark (just an unfortunate coincidence; it could have been anywhere), a fan reaching for a ball fell to his death from the bleachers above the bullpen. This story has an extra layer of tragedy, though, since this fan wasn’t reaching for a foul ball or a home run, but for a ball tossed to him by a generous player. That is something that often happens at games, and even I have been the surprised recipient of such free souvenirs (one is pictured here). But even that is a dangerous practice. My heart aches for the poor young son who watched his father’s fall, and for whom the game of baseball will never be the same.

But, please, let this be a wake-up call to professional baseball. The lust for free balls has become deadly. If parks have to install protective barriers above the fences and along railings to keep fans from reaching too far, so be it. But, as I said before, things cannot go on like this; something will happen.

Filed under: Current Events, Sports on July 8th, 2011 | 1 Comment »