Stumblin' Along 7/5 '26
American Kids
American Kids
- History of America’s Pastime
- Yanks Week 15 Notes
- YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune is American Kids by Kenny Chesney.
Nice catchy country chorus!
On to a bit about baseball….
America’s Pastime
Besides being Frank Sinatra’s hometown, the other cool claim to fame about Hoboken is being the home of baseball. On June 19th, 1846, the NY Knickerbockers got their arses handed to them by the New York Nine by the score of 23-1. The game of baseball was nothing like today, with pitch clocks or pitch limits, but it had four bases arranged in a diamond shape, and a pitcher threw the ball underhand to the batter. This was back when men were men, with no gloves for the fielders, and players could be put out either by catching a fly ball or by pegging runners.
The man behind the first documented game of baseball was also the man behind the plate umpiring. That would be Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr., who decided to set the bases 90 feet apart and establish all the 9s in America’s Pastime. The Father of Modern Baseball was born in New York City in 1820. His father was a sea merchant captain, while his mother gave birth to and raised his 6 siblings. At 16 years old in 1836, Alex Jr. worked as a clerk for a Wall Street broker. As a teenager, when he wasn’t learning stocks and bonds, Cartwright was also a volunteer firefighter. He would play “bat-and-ball” games with fellow volunteers on the streets of Manhattan. Eventually, volunteer firefighters of Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12 decided they should make a ball club from their stickball playing days.
As Manhattan’s landscape started to expand and industrialize, the Knickerbockers needed more land for their ball playing. So, they ventured across the Hudson River by ferry to Hoboken, New Jersey. Elysian Fields had plenty of room for fellas to play this game called “baseball” using the “Cartwright rules.” Alexander J. Cartwright Jr. didn’t just take his new game west of The City into Hoboken, he went a bit further than that. In 1849, the New Yorker was a 49er who headed to the Pacific for the gold rush. He brought America’s future Pastime along with him. His mission to grow didn’t just stay within the continental United States either. Cartwright Jr. ended up out in Hawaii before it was even an American state. He founded the Makiki Baseball Field in 1852 on the island of Oahu. Cartwright Jr. died out in Hawaii, but his legacy of baseball would stay there for good as they renamed the Baseball Diamond after him in 1938. That same year, the Baseball Hall of Fame gave the father of modern Baseball a plaque in Cooperstown.
(Source: Society for American Baseball Research)
Game 83
- Facing a four-game sweep by the last-place Boston Red Sox on NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball, the Yankees lineup gets no-hit by Sonny Gray into the one out in the Top of the 8th. Not much action goes on before the Yankees’ first hit, except for random spots of Bob Costas in Fenway’s centerfield gallery attempting to connect how 9/11 is somehow similar to the horrific recent Venezuelan earthquakes and how Boston’s blue laws used to prevent the Sox from playing Sunday games up until something like 1933. In the meantime, Carlos Rodon labored through five innings of 2-run ball, giving way to 2-innings of scoreless work from Paul Blackburn and David Bednar each. Jazz Chisholm Jr. gets himself thrown out of the game in the 6th inning. The Yankees tied things up at 2-2 in the Top of the 9th thanks to a Little League-level bad chuck of the throw from Wilyer Abreu. New York went up 4-2 in extra innings, only for Fernando Cruz to have absolutely nothing in the 10th. Yanks get swept up in Boston.
Game 84
- Hosting the Detroit Tigers in the Bronx, Ryan Weathers can’t get out of the 2nd inning. The Southpaw gave up 5 runs in 1.2 innings, but was only on the hook for 2 earned runs as he was victimized by poor fielding. Austin Wells allowed a pass ball in the 1st, while Jose Caballero threw one afoul from 3B in the 2nd. Jazz Chisholm Jr. gets his bell rung and has to leave the game in the 4th, colliding with Jasson Dominguez on a pop-up to short RF. Down 5-0, the Yankees’ lineup showed absolutely no signs of life except for a pair of Spencer Jones doubles. Amed Rosario would line a 3-run home run in the 8th, but the score was 7-3 by then. Yanks lose 7-3.
Game 85
- You know things are bad when Cam Schlittler gives up 4 home runs by the 3rd inning. The first of the Detroit home runs should’ve been robbed by Spencer Jones, but it bounced off his glove and into the Yanks’ bullpen. The young Yankees’ ace can’t make it out of the 5th inning as the Tigers’ offense gave Tarik Skubal an abundance of run support. Skubal allowed just 2 runs in 6 innings of work as Ben Rice’s 1st-inning solo shot was the highlight of the night for the Bronx Bombers. Yanks get embarrassed 9-2 to lose six in a row.
Game 86
- Hoping to avoid another sweep, the Yankees send Will Warren out there on the mound in the Bronx for a Wednesday afternoon game. Warren gives up a solo home run in the 3rd and a sac fly in the 6th, but otherwise pitched well with 7 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. The New York Yankees’ offense once again fails to produce many scoring opportunities for most of the afternoon. After presumably spending most of his morning in the loo with food poisoning, Spencer Jones pinch-hits for Austin Wells and tries his best to get a rally going with a single. He gets stranded at 3rd with less than two outs as Ben Rice strikes out and Jasson Dominguez lines out. Yanks finally put some runs up in the 9th when Amed Rosario drills a solo home run and Jazz Chisholm steals two bags to tie things up at 2-2. This time, Fernando Cruz gets the job done in the 10th only for Oswaldo Cabrera to fail to get the game-winning run home from 3rd with one out in the bottom half, and Camillo Doval to give up 4 runs in the 11th. Yanks lose 6-2, extending their losing streak to seven straight.
Game 87
- After an off day, the Yankees send Spencer Jones and Oswaldo Cabrera down to Triple-A while placing Carlos Rodon on the IL with an elbow injury, as Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are back from their own injuries. Grisham makes an immediate impact with a leadoff home run after Gerrit Cole gave up a solo shot to Roger Clemens’ son in the Top of the 1st. A rain delay occurs in the bottom of the 3rd, but when play resumes, Ben Rice hits his 24th home run of the season to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Aaron Boone wants to take out Gerrit Cole after the 4th inning, but the older Yankees’ ace sternly tells Boonie to kick rocks in the dugout. Cole goes 5 innings, earning the win as the Yankees tack on two more runs in the 7th, and get scoreless outings from Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, Fernando Cruz, and David Bednar out of the pen. Yanks snap their 7-game losing streak by defeating the Twins 5-2.
Game 88
- On the USA’s 250th birthday, Brendan Beck makes his first career MLB start and immediately gets lit up. Beck allows three home runs and five total runs by the 2nd inning. Jasson Dominguez hit a solo shot in the 4th, Max Schuemann hit a two-run shot in the 5th, and Cody Bellinger snapped a slump by ripping an RBI double. After gaining momentum, Aaron Boone empties the bench in the 6th by pinch-hitting Amed Rosario and Paul Goldschmidt with the bases loaded. The plan doesn’t work. Minnesota blows open the doors in the 8th inning when Camillo Doval gives up four runs, thanks in part to Jazz bobbling a routine grounder. Yanks get blown out on the 4th of July, 11-4 Twins win.
Next
- No moves will fix this team. The organization is inept. Nothing’ll change.
