Hidden Gems: OOOOF!

Baseball, by it's nature, is slow. It can minutes before the action starts. Then the ball is in play and the activity goes on for a few seconds before the game slows back down to the pace of pitcher versus batter.

But in those fee seconds, everything is spontaneous. There is no script. No one blocked to be here and there so a certain drama can unfold. Sure, the players have their positions to start the pitch, and may rotate a bit based on where the ball enters the field. But there no no clue where it will enter and who will contact it. It just happens, and the controlled chaos occurs.

While one side of my brain understands the reasoning for the rule, the other side is saddened this is a card disappearing from the collecting world. For 99% of the game, the contact is ball to bat, ball to ground, ball to glove. All contact is between inanimate objects. Sure, there is the tag on a attempted stolen base, but the play at the plate was the only real contact part of the game between one player and another. While the badging on this card really interferes with the action, there is still more than enough to appreciate. Crawford leaving his feet and making contact with Salvador Perez (I believe), the grimace on Perez's face from the force of the play. Something we just won't see anymore.

I still remember the shock I felt hearing that Robert Palmer died, now almost 14 years ago. I liked his music a bit early on, and sure - releasing a huge hit (and video) like Addicted To Love can help out anyone's career. But when you look back on his life, he was always there. Bits and pieces of his brilliance exist in prior years, from Sneaking Sally Through the Alley to Every Kinda People to Looking For Clues, just to name a few. Riptide was the first album of his I bought, and it's a fine mix from song to song of his musical style. Flesh Wound is a great marriage of heavy metal with his hard beats.