Some things from this week-22 December 2023

I didn't make it to five

This week, I finished listening to the second of Jane Leavy’s three baseball biographies, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood. It was a very enjoyable listen, which I mostly consumed at 1.5x speed while walking around the domed field during our daughter Penny’s soccer training session. Beyond the basics—hall of fame greatness, injuries, alcoholism, and womanizing—I didn’t know much about Mantle. For example, given his long history of injuries, I wouldn’t have guessed he played for 18 seasons—all for the Yankees.

• I’d previously read Leavy’s Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. I was a lefthanded pitcher, lefthander who pitched once upon a time, and I’ve always had a natural affinity for fellow lefties. Koufax was another player whose career I had some basic knowledge of but not the full details. I loved learning more about him.

• While Mantle’s book looked at his life through the lens of memorable days in his career, the Koufax book did the same by using each inning of his September 9th, 1965 perfect game as the backdrop of the chapters. I thoroughly enjoyed both books.

• Next, I’ll listen to Leavy’s most recent biography, The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and World He Created.

Speaking of baseball, it was my #1 sport throughout my childhood. Even in the pre-internet era, I could acquire serious amounts of knowledge about teams, players, ballparks, you name it. I recall a friend’s dad trying to stump me by saying a player’s name and my having to guess the team they were on. He couldn’t do it. I knew who played where, who batted L, R, and switch. In this era of ubiquitous information, I have difficulty knowing exactly how I came across such information.

I had a baseball renaissance this year, and I’m mainly putting it down to the pitch clock. Whether watching or listening, knowing a game would move along at a consistent pace made baseball more enjoyable than it had been since my childhood. The rules have been adjusted again for 2024 to keep the average game time from 2:30 to 2:40.

Part of my renaissance was reading two excellent books by Joe Posnanski: The Baseball 100 and Why We Love Baseball. Joe also writes an enjoyable blog on Substack, mostly about baseball.

Being a golf course superintendent in Minnesota during the holiday season is nice; you are assured of not having to work. There may be snow removal, or a few courses will be open this year due to unseasonable temperatures. Still, it’s an excellent time to be with family and not have to think about the golf course. With the course not on my mind, I’ll spend some time working on presentations for upcoming speaking engagements during the holidays.

I’ll be at the Ontario Golf Superintendents conference and show in Niagra Falls in mid-January. From there, I’ll travel to England for BTME, then back home and quickly down to Phoenix for the GCSAA conference and show. I’ll give two talks at each venue, one about turf and one about leadership.

I’m looking forward to a busy two weeks. If you are able, I hope you’ll attend.

Finally, I’ve always wished I could play the guitar, and I love picking out great guitar parts in songs; the lead guitar in Natalie Merchant's Wonder has always been a favorite. Guitarist Jen Turner played the lovely lead on this song.

Of course, it’s never too late to learn something new!