Brad Zellar —Dan Corrigan, “Eddie Potomac,” from the Ballroom Portraits, Rhinelander, Wisconsin. 1978. I worked side-by-side with this guy for seven years. Shooter Devaney. He’d been a hotshot basketball player back in high school, but something went wrong somewhere along the line, just like something went wrong for so many of the guys I grew up with, … Read more
Corky Miller. Corky Mother-Humping Miller. Get serious. That name, I don’t think I need to tell you, just isn’t going to get it done. Corky Miller is the name of the grizzled chuckwagon cook in a western round-up. Corky Miller is the fat, beleaguered first baseman on a little league team in an After School … Read more
It would truly be folly if, as has been rumored, the Twins end up keeping four catchers on their roster (two real catchers, and two imposters) and cutting Michael Restovich loose. I still have a hard time believing that’s going to happen. It’s all a result of a bizarre set of circumstances, of course, what … Read more
To dine, drink champagne, make a racket, and deliver speeches about national consciousness, the conscience of the people, freedom, and such things, while slaves in tail coats are running round your tables, veritable serfs, and your coachmen wait outside in the street, in the bitter cold –that is lying to the Holy Ghost. —Chekhov, Diary, … Read more
…Baseball owners, writers, fans and lots of others found themselves beset with questions for which nobody has any real answers. Was attendance keeping pace with the population growth? Were ball parks really outmoded? Was the game declining in popularity? Were ball players getting too commercial? Was the game too old fashioned for an audience getting … Read more
What is the one invention you couldn’t possibly live without? Do you subscribe to the theory that if the shoehorn were to become obsolete we would see the end of the true-fitting slip-on? When was the last time you listened to Nirvana’s “Nevermind”? In your dreams are you most commonly flying, swimming, or naked on … Read more
You have to admire a guy who does something for as many years as Bob Casey did something, and to its credit (and occasionally to its detriment) the Twins’ organization has always rewarded loyalty. Casey was treated like a local treasure, and his career was allowed to run its course on his own timetable. The … Read more
All last night there was never any doubt that this day was going to drag me into the harsh light and try to kick some words out of me, but I once again tried to convince myself that I was somehow made of sterner stuff than the average fellow. I wasn’t about to cough up … Read more
In Cuba, when they have tornadoes, they kill them. When they see one coming, they start shooting it with their rifles and shotguns, and the explosions make the tornadoes disappear. When I tell people in America that they shoot tornadoes in Cuba, they don’t believe me. But I believe because I’ve seen it happen; I’ve … Read more
The knowledge of evil is an inadequate knowledge. —Spinoza, Ethics But the most important thing is that one can no longer be sure nowadays who is and who is not in a state of temporary insanity. —Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov The Shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; Watch the road. —The Book … Read more