Day 1: Give me a hobby! (Oh, wait, this is the internet: I can has hobby plz?)
I am slowly surviving these days without baseball...with baseball. At the start of the day, I had six episodes of Princess Nine left to watch, so I divided them evenly between today and tomorrow and watched 21 through 23 today. I also whipped out the sketchbook and started doodling, and it became a set of sketches of some of the Pac-10 kids now in the Sox organization (namely, I made little drawings of Jed Lowrie, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury).
And then I began my research into baseball during the 1860s for the fourth Londinium book, in which several of the main characters go to America, each for their own reasons. Whilst there, they meet up with Colter Robbins, great-great-great-grandfather of Elisa Robbins, Civil War veteran...and baseball-crazed Bostonian. Eh, some things never change. Unlike his descendants, though, Colter is also aware of cricket, which was a popular sport amongst the elite in America at the time. (At this time in England, cricket was played by members of all social classes, not just the wealthy, although football [soccer] was geared more towards the working classes.) Colter witnessed one of the games played by the team England sent on a tour of the United States and Canada in 1859 (likely either the game in Rochester, New York or Ontario, Canada, as he lives in Massachusetts), so when he first sees Dustin (Thatcher, this is an off-day...) toting around a cricket bat for self-defense he playfully nicknames him 'Wisden' (the joke being that John Wisden was a very talented cricketer but was not very tall; since Dustin isn't exactly a giant, either, it sticks). Colter then picked up baseball during the Civil War and fell in love with it; he is a bit surprised when he finds out that in England cricket is played by anyone regardless of social class whereas in America it is a game preferred only by his wealthy officers and other such people (he does attempt to explain that baseball is more universally played and eventually tries to force Dustin into trying it out, which is total fanservice for me and me only...well, me and any readers who know who my team's second baseman is and catch on).
Just remember that Colter plays by different rules than we do now. There were two competing sets of rules in the 1860s, coincidentally associated with Massachusetts (the Massachusetts or Town Ball Rules) and New York (the Knickerbocker Rules). It's always going to be Massachusetts and New York, isn't it? Either way, bits and pieces of both rule sets were combined to create the modern rules of baseball. Whilst most of today's rules come from the Knickerbocker Rules, two major components, overhand pitching and fly-outs, come from the Massachusetts Rules. The Knickerbocker Rules allowed an out to be recorded if a ball was caught on one bounce and insisted that pitchers throw underhand. The Massachusetts Rules made a very amusing point of recording outs by beaning the runners, whilst the Knickerbocker Rules stated that the runners had to be thrown or tagged out. A part of me likes this, but then I remember how many times Kevin Youkilis has been hit by pitches this year and wonder how much worse it could be if the fielders were allowed to peg him, too. Not fun.
Anyway, Colter would have been more likely to play by the Massachusetts Rules when he was in the army, but upon his return to civilian life he likely would have been forced to learn to play by the Knickerbocker Rules, as well. Therefore, he essentially knows everything he needs to know about how to play the game.
Sorry for the history lesson, but it kept me busy for a bit. Anyways, here are the fruits of my labor from when I was doing something else to keep myself occupied...
The Pac-10 Doodles
A very loose Colter sketch
Three little doodles of Colter, in one of which he is wearing some quasi-deadball uniform thing
I love Colter. I really needed a Victorian Ells Robbins to write for, and her ancestor fit the bill. Yay.
Oh, one last thing - MSNBC seems to be under the impression that Pedroia's first name is 'Justin.' Nooooo. (The actual misprint is on page two of the article.) Know your totally awesome rookie second basemen, damnit!
Speaking of Pedroia, this is entry number 45 in which I have tagged him. Yay for my freakish fixation on how similar he is to Dustin Thatcher!
EDIT: MLB.com has an article on Kazuo Matsui today. I've been with Kaz ever since he played in New York, so seeing him do well now makes me especially happy.
EDIT 2: Oh, this is a writing gem right here: "I think it still will be intense here," said Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who is known for his intensity.
I love it.
EDIT 3: So, Dustin, did you happen to catch the Indians-Yankees game on Monday? Actually, I found out exactly how Pedroia spent his day off right here: "I was watching Prison Break."
He amuses me on a ridiculous amount of levels.
And then I began my research into baseball during the 1860s for the fourth Londinium book, in which several of the main characters go to America, each for their own reasons. Whilst there, they meet up with Colter Robbins, great-great-great-grandfather of Elisa Robbins, Civil War veteran...and baseball-crazed Bostonian. Eh, some things never change. Unlike his descendants, though, Colter is also aware of cricket, which was a popular sport amongst the elite in America at the time. (At this time in England, cricket was played by members of all social classes, not just the wealthy, although football [soccer] was geared more towards the working classes.) Colter witnessed one of the games played by the team England sent on a tour of the United States and Canada in 1859 (likely either the game in Rochester, New York or Ontario, Canada, as he lives in Massachusetts), so when he first sees Dustin (Thatcher, this is an off-day...) toting around a cricket bat for self-defense he playfully nicknames him 'Wisden' (the joke being that John Wisden was a very talented cricketer but was not very tall; since Dustin isn't exactly a giant, either, it sticks). Colter then picked up baseball during the Civil War and fell in love with it; he is a bit surprised when he finds out that in England cricket is played by anyone regardless of social class whereas in America it is a game preferred only by his wealthy officers and other such people (he does attempt to explain that baseball is more universally played and eventually tries to force Dustin into trying it out, which is total fanservice for me and me only...well, me and any readers who know who my team's second baseman is and catch on).
Just remember that Colter plays by different rules than we do now. There were two competing sets of rules in the 1860s, coincidentally associated with Massachusetts (the Massachusetts or Town Ball Rules) and New York (the Knickerbocker Rules). It's always going to be Massachusetts and New York, isn't it? Either way, bits and pieces of both rule sets were combined to create the modern rules of baseball. Whilst most of today's rules come from the Knickerbocker Rules, two major components, overhand pitching and fly-outs, come from the Massachusetts Rules. The Knickerbocker Rules allowed an out to be recorded if a ball was caught on one bounce and insisted that pitchers throw underhand. The Massachusetts Rules made a very amusing point of recording outs by beaning the runners, whilst the Knickerbocker Rules stated that the runners had to be thrown or tagged out. A part of me likes this, but then I remember how many times Kevin Youkilis has been hit by pitches this year and wonder how much worse it could be if the fielders were allowed to peg him, too. Not fun.
Anyway, Colter would have been more likely to play by the Massachusetts Rules when he was in the army, but upon his return to civilian life he likely would have been forced to learn to play by the Knickerbocker Rules, as well. Therefore, he essentially knows everything he needs to know about how to play the game.
Sorry for the history lesson, but it kept me busy for a bit. Anyways, here are the fruits of my labor from when I was doing something else to keep myself occupied...
The Pac-10 Doodles
A very loose Colter sketch
Three little doodles of Colter, in one of which he is wearing some quasi-deadball uniform thing
I love Colter. I really needed a Victorian Ells Robbins to write for, and her ancestor fit the bill. Yay.
Oh, one last thing - MSNBC seems to be under the impression that Pedroia's first name is 'Justin.' Nooooo. (The actual misprint is on page two of the article.) Know your totally awesome rookie second basemen, damnit!
Speaking of Pedroia, this is entry number 45 in which I have tagged him. Yay for my freakish fixation on how similar he is to Dustin Thatcher!
EDIT: MLB.com has an article on Kazuo Matsui today. I've been with Kaz ever since he played in New York, so seeing him do well now makes me especially happy.
EDIT 2: Oh, this is a writing gem right here: "I think it still will be intense here," said Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who is known for his intensity.
I love it.
EDIT 3: So, Dustin, did you happen to catch the Indians-Yankees game on Monday? Actually, I found out exactly how Pedroia spent his day off right here: "I was watching Prison Break."
He amuses me on a ridiculous amount of levels.