Ahhhh, it's another one of those days..... opening day for Major League Baseball. Been a long time coming......
Baseball is SUCH a great game. Growing up, I played casually in summer leagues, but was never a huge fan. I was a basketball lover. But over the years I have fallen in love with the game of baseball; the rhythm, grace and story that is different in every game. I wish that others could see its beauty... if you want to like the game, I would recommend books that sealed the deal for me such as "Men at Work" by George Will, "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis, and one that I've only read a couple excerpts from, "Is This a Great Game or What?" by Tim Kurkjian. Another would be "Three Nights in August," by Buzz Bissinger.
Some of the little things that make it great:
Each team plays 162 games. It's almost a given for any team that they will win at least 60 games and lose 60 games; those 42 games in the middle are what decide the season, and that's what teams play all year for.
Batters (in terms of batting average) will rarely ever succeed more than 40% of the time or less than 20%, and a huge percentage of them will succeed right in between 26-28% of the time... a very small window, it's just the way it is.
When there are runners on 1st and 3rd, Tony La Russa speaks of SEVEN different methods for trying to sneak the runner from third home, without swinging the bat.... one simple one is the runner on first breaking for second with hopes of getting in a rundown.
