“Hold a baseball in your hand ... Feel the ball, turn it over in your hand; hold it across the seam or the other way, with the seam just to the side of your middle finger. Speculation stirs. You want to get outdoors and throw this spare and sensual object to somebody or, at the very least, watch somebody else throw it. The game has begun.” WayWantFeelsHandsTurnsGamesSidesWatchesMiddleObjectsBaseballBallsFingersSensualSparesSpeculationMiddle Finger Book:Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion Source: Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion
“Infield practice is more mystic ritual than preparation, encouraging the big-leaguer, no less than the duffer in the stands, to believe in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that playing ball is a snap.” BelieveBigsSportsPracticeEvidenceBallsContraryPreparationSpiteRitualMysticSnaps Author:Roger Angell
“Losing is the bane and bugbear of every professional athlete's existence, but in baseball the monster seems to hang closer than in other sports, its chilly claws and foul breath palpable around the neck hairs of the infielder bending for his crosshand scoop or the reliever slipping his first two fingers off-center on the ball seams before delivering his two-and-two cut fastball.” FirstsTwoSeemsSportsExistenceCuttingHairLosingBaseballBallsBreathsFingersAthleteMonstersNecksFoulDeliveringClawsSlippingBendingBaneProfessional AthleteFastballsChilly Author:Roger Angell
