"You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them." - Satchel Paige
Labor Day approaches and a baseball fan's thoughts turn to, well - baseball.
One of the best new baseball books is Satchel: The Life and Times of An American Legend by Larry Tye.
David Davis reviewed the book a while back in the Los Angeles Times and point out that there has long been mystery about Paige's age. Tye settles on the great pitcher's birthday most likely being in 1906 making him 42 when he made his major league debut!
A good book about a great baseball player and an even greater character. Good stuff also at the "official" Satchel Paige site, including this quote: "Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."
The Great Ichiro
Last Sunday's New York Times had a fine piece on the Seattle Mariner's remarkable right fielder, Ichiro Suzuki, who has missed a few starts this week due to an injury.
Sometime after Labor Day, Ichiro will ring up his ninth consecutive season with 200 or more base hits. It is a remarkable achievement. The last player to have eight straight 200 hit seasons was Wee Willie Keeler - yes, he has a website - who quit playing in 1901, a century before Ichiro showed up to begin owning records.
Here is a great statistic from the Sports Network: "Suzuki hasn't gone hitless in consecutive games since August 13-15, 2008, a span of 157 straight games without going hitless in back-to-back contests. The streak is the longest in the majors since Stan Musial (174 games) in 1943-44 and the longest AL streak since Doc Cramer (191 games) in 1934-35."
Amazing. The guy is a hitting machine.
Now, Go Giants! If only those damnable Dodgers would falter...
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