5/4/99
Softball: The Many Textures of Heroism
Dear People,
Congratz to all on last week's tempestuous 36-20 shellacking on the verdant tundra of the Cordenices outback. That two teams could find each other tied at 19 as late as the 7th inning and still end up 16 runs apart is yet another cogent reminder of the inherent volatility of complex systems, be it multi-scalable networking software, the curious hill-building social structure of the renowned Bolivian Sucker Beetle, or the fragile cohesion of ten lonely but honorable individuals, strangers to each other and to themselves, who held disgrace at bay for nearly an entire game before inexplicably imploding in an unsightly display of organizational collapse. Yes, I was one of those ten, but garnish not your pity for me, for I must confess that never have I experienced such a profound inner peace as I did in the fulcrum of that aerobic carnage.
Whatever. As most of you probably know, this Saturday, May 8th will mark the 68th anniversary of the day that Smead "butterball" Jolley, the beloved Boston White Sox right fielder, became the first player in major league history to commit three errors in a single play! New York Times reportage clearly shows that Bing Miller's line drive to right should have been a single, but the ball rolled through Jolley's legs, bounced off the right field wall, rolled through Jolley's legs again, and then, in a gallant effort to cut Miller off at third, Jolley hurled a gloriously desperate throw that landed in the left field dugout, thus allowing Miller an inside the park game-winning homer. I get a bit teary eyed thinking about the singularity of accomplishment that such a feat represents, and personally, I feel it would be inappropriate to not honor butterball for the magnificence of such a record, which stands to this very day. Therefore, there will be a game this Saturday, May 8th, at 12 Noon at Kleeberger North, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning. So make that commit; Do it for Smead "Butterball" Jolley, whose legacy of concentrated ineptitude inspires so many of us in our wretched athletic decline to simply carry on...Raymond
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