Wednesday, April 21, 2010

It is over yet?

This year, is it done? Can I go now?

Monday, April 19, 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The daze of summer.



Here in the south, we love our sports, and it would take a natural disaster to keep us away from them, or maybe something extra...

The following story was published in the Chicago Herald after the 1886 Charleston earthquake (pictured above).

    "I was down in South Carolina during all of the earthquake troubles," said a commercial traveler, "and I never again want to be a witness of such scenes as I saw there. I'll not attempt to describe the incidents to you—they have already been sufficiently touched upon in the daily papers. But there is one little phase of the thing which the newspapers have not even mentioned. You know business was suspended in Charleston. All of the stores excepting grocery and provision stores were closed. The banks were not open. The theaters closed their doors. Even the newspapers suspended publication for an issue or two. But the day after the first terrible quake I happened out by the baseball grounds, and I'll be durned if there wasn't two clubs in there a playing, and quite a crowd sitting on the benches cheering the players. I looked through a crack in the fence , and just then another earthquake shock came. The umpire motioned to the players to go right along, but the pitcher, who was then in the box, asked to have the game called for a few minutes because the home plate was wobbling so he couldn't put the ball in straight. The umpire acceded to this reasonable request, and after a delay of ten minutes I heard the umpire call out, 'play ball—batter up.' Then I left, satisfied that baseball is the one American institution which even an earthquake can't knock out."


Small bonus:
The same view today:

View Larger Map

Photo from: U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library
Newspaper column via: Baseball Researcher