England's Prince Harry threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Mets game (which is like a baseball game, except it takes place in New York) yesterday.
His windup was a little weak, like a rookie reliever with Rickey Henderson on first, but his delivery was good, especially when compared to the current denizen of the Oval Office.
This is perhaps unsurprising, since Harry has experience throwing hand grenades while Barry can't even pitch a convincing tantrum.
From recalcitrant brat to mischievous teen to real(ish) soldier to good man.
ReplyDeleteI like Harry. Maybe the fates will smile on the isle such that Chas will be too old and the Dianaesque William will be too preoccupied with niceties, and Harry takes title as the new King Henry to return a bit of backbone to the Royalty...and perchance to the Kingdom that once was?
It could happen...
AT
"like a baseball game, except it takes place in New York"
ReplyDeleteIs that like "damning with faint praise"?
Delicious line, and with so many uses! One of your best.
John,
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about New York baseball is that, whichever league your home team plays in, be it the one where they play baseball or the one with the DH, New York has a team for you to hate. :)
New York is not homogeneous.
ReplyDeleteThe Mets are from Antonin Scalia's borough. It's the Yankees that are from Sonia Sotomayor's borough.
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI tease New Yorkers constantly, but I'll admit to being somewhat saddened that I'll never see a game in Yankee Stadium now.
I got to watch a game at Wrigley before they put the lights in, and I supposed I should catch one at Fenway before they get any bright ideas in Boston...
Even a Southern boy has to admit that when it comes to the icon of American Baseball, it is (was) Yankee Stadium...and to a lesser degree, the Yanks themselves.
ReplyDeleteI sold guns to Gabe and his dad the whole time the boy played high school ball...good boy, good folks.
He was a standout reliever and snagged a first round draft from the Expos in '90. By '94 he was in the bigs there and later as a Red and a Rockie, had a few very good seasons and several mediocre. But when the hated Yankees called in '04 with a 2.5 mil contract and a chance to team up with fellow home town boy Tom Gordon, he went. The Yanks lost the LCS to Bahstin that year after leading it 3-0, and Gabe got his socks knocked off in his one innning of work. He left the next year.
Talking about it a few years later, daddy George told me "yeah, that was a bad deal...". And I said WHAT? George, do you know how many people, rich people, famous people, politicians, entertainers, musicians...would give it ALL AWAY to pitch ONE INNING from the mound of Yankee Frickin' Stadium? He brightened, and his proud smile came back. "That's true, thanks."
The closest Gabe White got to pitching for his idols, the Atlanta Braves, was a walk-on from which he washed out the next year, then some team invited him to camp, but he didn't even go; after fifteen injury-plagued years, he said it was time for younger, healthier arms.
True enough. In spite of his relative success (33-32 W/L) in the face of stunning odds, Gabe is not a household name or anything. But rarely will there be a player who so quietly, so humbly, plays out the American Dream in regular relief rotation with the likes of Gordon and Mariano Rivera...and then returns home to live out his life shooting and hunting, collecting and driving hot rods and bikes, and being the good family man that he was brought up to be...but with a bit of amazing history and talent on the side.
AT
Tam, you really do need to go see a game at Fenway.
ReplyDeleteIt's the last of the intimate stadiums... if you can call any stadium that.
It's not the lowest seating capacity anymore (they added a few thousand seats over the past few years, giving it a higher capacity than three other parks), it's still the smallest by dimensions.
When I was a kid we used to go with our grandfather to his box seats on the third base line, and we'd talk to the players out there, no more than 10 feet away.
Get decent seats, and you're practically on the field.
Next year, it will be 100 years since they broke ground. April 20th 2012 it'll be 100 years from the first game played there.
Hell of a world when an English prince is held in higher regard that than the commie-in-chief.
ReplyDeleteJim
He's not just any English Prince...
ReplyDeleteEnnery the Ninth He Am, He Am,,,,
Ennery the Ninth He Am,
I somehow needed to do that.
I find more joy in a kids game at the park, or even a tavern team game, than I ever had at the park.
I think if I built/donated a small set of bleachers at the nearby park, and wheeled a home made hot dog/concession cart over there, I could die a happy man.
A KENYAN IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE ABLE TO THROW A BASEBALL WITH ANYTHING APPROACHING ACCEPTABLE FORM. STOP MAKING COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE PRINCE AND OUR FIRST FOREIGN BORN PRESIDENT.
ReplyDeleteDon't you have a presentation on how fire has never melted steel to be giving someplace?
ReplyDeleteSteel melts??
ReplyDeleteMy first baseball game was at Ebbets Field. Go Brooklyn!
ReplyDeleteWrigley sucks. The Old Style was warmer than the David Bergs both times I went there (1986 and 2003).
ReplyDeleteI'm required by the Constitution to say that as a Cardinals fan. That duty having been discharged, I will add a qualifier: Wrigley sucks unless you sit in the left field bleachers and heckle people. I heckled Tim Raines for nine innings, getting him to look over his shoulder a couple of times during a swing. The bleacher bums gave me a free beer in violation of state and local laws against providing alcohol to minors for letting Tim know that Lassie was still at the well looking for him. Who knew they were sober enough to remember that show? The Expos still won, but what do you expect? It's the Cubs.
I was at Wrigley a few weeks ago in the very top of the left field nose bleed section. A good view of Waveland Ave and the Lake.
ReplyDeleteA good time was had by all.
And the Cubs won. 6-2. A friggin miracle.
Cub fans lament
Several years ago read where the Queen had made her intention clear that Charles would never hold the throne if she could help it, she planned to live long enough that it could be sat on by one of the grandkids. Looks like this Harry would be the one, if Britain is lucky.
ReplyDeleteActually, I saw an interview where Charles expressed negative interest in the throne. Said he didn't see how he could find the time to be the royal figurehead, too busy with things that mattered.
ReplyDelete