Odds & Ends from the Summer

Among the countless hours [read: minutes] of video I shot this summer, I have uploaded - thus far - just two short clips.  These two videos may be the most significant, memorable videos you view this year.

Bumble Bee

.....and.....

Unsynchronized Hazard Lights

From the "Funny Because It's True" file;  I have long documented, over the past decades, my experiences being subjected to moronic baseball fans at the ballpark.  Notably, among the single-functioning brain cell fans' imbecilic questions to which I have been plagued, are (in no particular order, and from adults only; kids we may excuse):

"Which river is that beyond the stadium?"

"Is Cincinnati in Ohio?"

"Which retired number is Pete Rose's?"

"How do you know which team is batting?"

"Where is the scoreboard?" 

"How do you know how many outs there are?"

"How do you know the score?"

"Where do you look to see the score?"

Having established the forgoing for contextual purposes, Claudio forwarded to me this link from your satirical friends at The Onion, published on August 10, 2013.  The lines between satire and accuracy are thus blurred.

Long-range Reconnaissance

Today marks the eagerly-anticipated Major League debut of Reds' heralded prospect Billy Hamilton (I have his autograph).  Of course, he is not the first Major League ballplayer to have that name.  Easily the most famous (to date) was Hall of Famer "Sliding" Billy Hamilton who played from 1888-1901, four times stealing 100 or more bases in a season (during seasons in which he played in 137, 123, 133 and 132 games). Our modern Billy Hamilton is similarly swift, having stolen 103 bases in 135 games at Dayton in 2011 and then stealing 155 bases in 132 games in 2012 (combining his stats from Bakersfield and Pensacola).  Interestingly, the Hall of Fame Billy Hamilton played some minor league games for Haverhill, MA (in the New England League) in 1903-04, 1906-08 during the very years that my grandfather was born and being raised there.  Here is an 1889 baseball card for the Hall of Fame Billy Hamilton, then playing for Kansas City in the old American Association:

Originally I had intended to supplement Big Strick's ballpark photos with turn-of-the-century photos of baseball from those very same cities Big Strick was visiting.  Alas, this summer I did not have that much free time.  I did find this one (below), also from Kansas City, which I found to be pleasingly evocative of those by-gone days of yesteryear:

The panoramic photo, above, depicts a baseball game being played in 1909 along "The Paseo," [seen at left] which everyone knows [?!] is/was the main thoroughfare through K.C.