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Leamington Letters #52: sleepless nights ahead

20/9/2013

19 Comments

 
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T-shirt from Red Sox Life: a must-have.
The last two blogs have been business. This is pleasure.

Because this is about the Sox, who at three o'clock this morning guaranteed their place in the play-offs and, maybe tonight, will win the American League East.

This year has been a pleasure right from the start.

I'm not talking solely about the results, even though we've been out of first place for only a few days since that very first game when we beat the Yankees 8-2.

I'm talking about what a great bunch of guys this Sox team is. They love playing baseball. They love playing in a Boston uniform. They love winning.

And they love their beards.

How great was it to watch us thrashing the Yankees recently? The contrast between the clean-shaven Yankees and the weird beards of the Sox?

Didn't remind you of the 2004 ALCS, did it?

It did. And it put me in mind of the picture of Johnny Damon having his hair cut and beard shaved before signing with the Yankees after the 2004 Series.

It didn’t sit right, then. But it did sum up the difference between the two franchises.

The one is about the noumenal, the thing in itself and for itself: baseball. The other is about the phenomenal, the world of appearances.

As we learned in Moneyball, it's not about guys "who look good in designer jeans". It’s about guys who can do it on the field, when it matters.

Look at the current Town Nine. It's clear they are all great athletes. But with a few exceptions, Jacobi being the obvious one, they don't necessarily look it.

If you saw Mike Napoli in a restaurant, and you probably would, you might not immediately identify him as a great ball-player. It’s only when you see him on the bag or at the plate that you appreciate just how good this guy is.

Or look at Dustin Pedroia. Almost every other franchise knew he was too small to make it. Not thought, knew. They knew nothing.

Or Daniel Nava, who didn’t even make his High School team. But is now an everyday player with the leading team in the Majors.

As my friend Rick Hough pointed out, this is one easy team to like. And we would like them even if they hadn’t given us such a great ride so far.

The bizarre and surreal beard night at Fenway the other day could only have happened in Boston. Can you really imagine a similar event at Baghdad in the Bronx? George Steinbrenner would be turning in his grave.

I wrote on the day before the season began that we would reach the play-offs, but we would need some luck and a signing or two for the Series.

Well, we’ve had some luck, but these guys made it themselves.

And we've signed Jake Peavy.

We have also signed John McDonald to a more subdued fanfare. I remember seeing him in 2006 at Fenway when he was the shortstop for the Blue Jays and being very impressed with his defence and coolness. I liked him then. I like him even more now as a utility infielder in a Sox uniform.

He may not play at any point in October. In fact, I hope he doesn’t. But I am happy that he is available. It’s another judicious Cherington signing.

Did Ben know how well these guys would gel when he was putting everything together? Did he foresee the beard-tugging and the high fives and the laughter? Did he predict this level of commitment and professionalism?

If he did, he's a better man than any of the highly paid baseball pundits.

And of course, he is.

Here’s to Ben. Here's to John Farrell and his team. And here's to the bearded ones and their clean-shaven team-mates who have already confounded the critics, and could go all the way.

Go Sox!

Today from the everysmith vault: having a few days with the Pixies, prompted by the single and four new songs released on EP1. They are in the UK at the moment and I can't seem to find a hole in my diary that accords with one of their gigs. I'm working on it, though ...

19 Comments
Duncan
20/9/2013 09:12:02

I remember when you wore a beard. Great piece which is not only about the Sox but also about the culture of the sporting establishment. Hope the Sox go all the way to the Series, until they run into Pittsburgh. I can hope and dream.

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Max
21/9/2013 03:52:01

Unlikely I'm afraid. But keep hoping and keep dreaming.

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CJ
20/9/2013 09:48:38

Ah, the Pixies. From your point of view, I suppose, the best band Boston ever produced. From my point of view, absolutely seminal in their distillation of folk, blues, punk, post punk and a whole load more. EP1 though is only ok.

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Lee
20/9/2013 10:11:24

Doolittle. Do it.

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Max
21/9/2013 03:53:36

Done it!

Max
21/9/2013 03:53:05

Confess to having admiration for the Dropkick Murphys also! And the Standells.

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Louis
20/9/2013 10:04:33

Wondered when you would come back to baseball. I admit it - the Sox have been exceptional in the second half as well as the first half and deserve their place in the play offs. The beard thing is a side show. These guys are serious ball players.

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Max
21/9/2013 03:54:44

Serious, yes. Professional, yes. Talented, yes. Fun, oh yes!

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olly
20/9/2013 10:13:58

Amen to that my learned friend.
All the way again???? Be a big man to bet against.
GO SOX!!!

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Max
21/9/2013 03:57:05

I am not betting against. I have a chum who shares my allegiance to Coventry City but also supports the Mets (he's from New York so there's no choice) who always bets against his teams on the basis that he's either rich or happy. I'm just going to enjoy October!

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Rick Hough
20/9/2013 10:17:04

Cheers! Pixies all over my iPod, never sorry when they pop up in shuffle.
John McDonald says he's never seen a team as positive and confident as this one. Down four in the seventh? Not an issue. He says they act like the game's just started.
We're deeply curious about how this team got assembled. Was it Ben? Ben and Lucchino? Lucchino, with Ben nodding in agreement? I had opportunity to chat with an old friend of Ben's who said he's tough-minded and of great character, with all the qualities of leadership. Who knows? There'll be a book someday, hey?

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Max
21/9/2013 04:01:12

If it is true that Valentine was Lucchino's choice, one wonders how much influence he was able to muster over last winter. So I'm inclined to give more credit to Ben. But right now, they can all take credit. However, whatever, it has worked. In a year or two, we will all read the book ... Pixies? Should listen a lot more than I have. But making up for it now.

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Allan
20/9/2013 10:38:41

Noumenal and phenomenal? Are you seriously introducing Kant in a baseball blog? We all love your mix of high and low culture, but suspect this is a step too far. Remember though that happIness is an ideal not of reason but of imagination - or something like that.

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Anders
20/9/2013 11:00:12

I think this distinction is rather more nuanced than it might appear. It's not just the classic existential business of what is real and what appears to be real. How it applies to baseball is something else again. Baseball - from Kant to Marx. An unwritten book by Max. Or anyone come to that.

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Max
21/9/2013 04:03:18

Sorry, guys. Wasn't even thinking about Kant. But after Philosophy Football why not Philosophy Baseball. Quotes for T-shirts here please!

sean
20/9/2013 11:17:09

Every word true. And the Pixies. One of my fave concerts of my 80s gig going days. Roll on October.

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sean
20/9/2013 11:20:37

Only downside of the t shirt is no Nava. Anyone know why he resisted the beard? And Jacobi.

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Max
21/9/2013 04:05:12

Maybe another example of Nava doing it his way, as he always has. As you say, roll on October. What another great game last night. And generous comments from the Blue Jays afterwards ...

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Rod Irwin
22/9/2013 19:49:13

Max, sorry we didn't see you in SQLP this September! Returned to Florida a week ago and now in Boston for a conference. Town is pumped for the Red Sox - seem to be a million sports jerseys, etc all over town this weekend!

Reply



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     Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father. and grandfather. Resident in Warwick, England.

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