New York Nine

Of all the games played today in the United States and abroad, baseball stands out as the most peculiar, simultaneously simple and inexorably perplexing all at once. Indeed, upon first glance a baseball game seems haphazardly put together, men standing around a diamond and a field, with a man throwing a ball from an indeterminate distance to a batter. And yet upon a closer inspection there really is nothing simple about baseball at all. In truth, over the years the spaces fielders stand has been made into a science, standing exactly where one needs to be to field properly. Or the pitchers mound, exactly sixty feet six inches away, just far away enough to give the pitcher deception and leverage on the ball, while still giving the batter ample opportunity to hit. I could go on but in short, baseball is unique because it can be so many things for so many people, a enjoyable game for a son to watch with his father all the way to what it has become today a science of sorts, infinitely studied and constantly being perfected. It is a game that has been with us since the civil war and before that, generations upon generations of Americans and people worldwide, constantly changing and adapting to the time and yet somehow staying essentially the same from when that first game was played at Elysian Fields between the New York Knickerbocker Club and the New York Nine. For sure, at the time I'm sure those men had no idea they were embarking on a game that would be handed down to generation upon generation, after all it was just a game. And yet even in the humble beginnings of the game there seems to be a bit of underlying destiny. Elysium in Greek mythology is the resting ground for the blessed chosen ones as ordained by the gods, for Hercules, and Achilles and the like, and so for baseball this too would be sacred ground(well as sacred it can get in Hoboken). So in summary I chose the name New York Nine to remind us of the humble and noble beginnings of this great game we love and for some like myself, follow obsessively. I do not claim to be any great writer or statistician, but a fan who can't get enough of this fascinating game and how it evolves and changes on a day-to-day basis and yet at its core is pure, good, and just damn fun to watch and play. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing this blog. I make no bones about being a New York-centric baseball fan as my blog name suggests, still worse a Yankees fan, but I am a baseball fan first and foremost, and I've got a lot of thoughts and ideas about everything and anything about this great game. Take care.