Status Updates From The Universal Baseball Asso...

“In a way, Sandy did them a disservice, provided them with dreams and legends that blocked off their perception of the truth. But what was the truth? Men needed these rituals, after all, that was part of the truth, too, and certainly the Association benefited by them. Men’s minds being what they generally were, it was the only way to get to most of them . . .”

Old age is the bane o’ mankind!
So enjoy while ya may
The fair spring day,
Cause the blue season ain’t far behind!

salting his ulcer with bourbonic acid

“Oh, Lou!” he cried, holding his sides, “why do we go on?”

you can take history or leave it, but if you take it you have to accept certain assumptions or ground rules about what’s left in and what’s left out.

name a man and you make him what he is.

the basic stuff is already there. In the name. Or rather: in the naming.

Gravity’s Rainbow p322: names by themselves may have no magic, but the act of naming, the physical utterance, obeys the pattern

Gravity’s Rainbow p366: Names by themselves may be empty, but the act of naming ...”

“Mel Trench had ended his playing career here in this town, traded to the Pastime Club by the Excelsiors when his deep belts no longer cleared the wall so often, when they had a way instead of getting caught. Difference of ten feet maybe, but it was enough. What was the grave, but a difference of six?”