Hello all,
On the subject of Mark Twain and baseball, I wrote a book chapter several
years ago on Mark Twain's 1889 speech at a banquet honoring a group of
baseball players taken around the world by the baseball impresario Albert
Goodwill Spalding (who founded the sporting goods company, the National
League, and the Chicago Cubs). The tour itself was a wonder. I got so
distracted by the story that I accidentally wrote my Master's Thesis on it.
You can find a portion of the book chapter here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=f-wYBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=mark+twain's+imperial+ambivalence&source=bl&ots=h2DyMImJcz&sig=naitnWNA9edjrlA7h72d2hivPqM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj496D775DQAhUIZCYKHVeNAGcQ6AEIHzAB#v=onepage&q=wuster&f=false
And in plain text, maybe:
https://books.google.com/books?id=f-wYBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=mark+twain's+imperial+ambivalence&source=bl&ots=h2DyMImJcz&sig=naitnWNA9edjrlA7h72d2hivPqM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj496D775DQAhUIZCYKHVeNAGcQ6AEIHzAB#v=onepage&q=wuster&f=false
Mark Twain adapted his earlier Sandwich Islands lecture for the occasion.
Here's a sample or two:
One cannot realize it, the place and the fact are so incongruous; it’s like
interrupting a funeral with a circus. Why, there’s no point of contact, no
possible kinship, between baseball and the Sandwich Islands; baseball is
all fact, the Islands all sentiment. In baseball you’ve got to do
everything just right, or you don’t get there; in the islands you’ve got to
do everything just wrong, or you can’t stay there. You do it wrong to get
it right, for if you do it right you get it wrong; there isn’t any way to
get it right *but* to do it wrong, and the wronger you do it the righter it
is
We don’t talk enough about that--don’t give it its full value. Why when
these boys started out you couldn’t see the equator at all; you could walk
right over it and never know it was there. That is the kind of equator it
was. Such an equator as that isn’t any use to anybody; as for me, I would
rather not have any equator at all than a dim thing like that, that you
can’t see. But that is all fixed now; you can see it now; you can’t run
over it now and not know it is there; and so I drink long life to the boys
who plowed a new equator round the globe stealing bases on their bellies!
I'll leave it to Jim Caron to evaluate the accuracy of the assertions
regarding baseball and the islands.
Best,
Tracy
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 6:41 PM, westbook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "Oh, somewhere in this favored land, the sun is shining bright,
> The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
> And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
> And Illinois is joyful--the Cubbies have won out."
> (With apologies to Ernest Thayer)
> Tim Champlin
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "L T Oggel" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2016 4:12 PM
> Subject: Re: Mark Twain was still alive...
>
>
> > "Overcome Maddon" is exactly right. The Cubs bailed him out for making
> > one
> > dumb pitcher change after another last night. They did the same--bail
> him
> > out--3 nights ago, too. Incredible! Just what Larry says. I've heard
> > the
> > same comment time after time today, in the office and online. The sports
> > center people and announcers said it last night. Whew!!
> >
> > Good for Chapman that he got the win. Good for Montera, and for Ross,
> > too,
> > who got to play in his final game and help win it despite getting banged
> > in
> > the head, and good for all the players. Rejoice. I hope there's a
> > ticker-tape parade down Michigan Ave or some such thing. The city will
> > close down for a day to celebrate.
> >
> > Twain would have had fun with the Mad-one's bungles.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 3:06 PM, Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> ABE--
> >>
> >> Thanks for the shout out. Your point about Twain being alive to see the
> >> last time the Cubs won the WS was pointed out to me this weekend by
> >> another
> >> colleague.
> >>
> >> It was quite a night here in Chicago. Noisy well into the night. On
> the
> >> el this morning, there were many sleepy people. Funny, it looked the
> >> same
> >> riding on the el on Saturday night when they lost at home. There's a
> >> lightness in the fall atmosphere for the first time in ... well, since
> >> Mark
> >> Twain walked the earth.
> >>
> >> As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I want to give kudos to Theo Epstein who has
> >> steered two perennial losers to the top of the mountain. He should
> >> retire
> >> and be declared GM of the century and be instantly admitted to the Hall
> >> of
> >> Fame--screw the 5 year rule. This guy knows how to assemble a team.
> >>
> >> This does not diminish the real achievement by the players. The Cubs
> >> managed to overcome Maddon, who did almost everything he could to blow
> >> this
> >> one: taking out Hendricks with plenty left in the tank; pulling Lester
> >> with 2 outs in the eighth after a seeing-eye single, which with any luck
> >> could have been the third out; and then bringing in a spent Chapman to
> >> serve up a double, a homer (the first he'd allowed in months), and a
> >> single
> >> before registering the third out. Chapman's velocity was off in the
> >> eighth
> >> inning the night before. So why Maddon gave him the nod is beyond me.
> >> Sure,
> >> he's the closer, but overworked is overworked. If the offense hadn't
> >> rallied we would have had sportswriters waxing incessantly about Keats'
> >> "On
> >> First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (sportswriters were mostly English
> >> majors, you know).
> >>
> >> Fortunately, the bats came through. Hats off to Montera, who had turned
> a
> >> close one in the NLCS into a blowout Cubs win. He was the difference in
> >> this one too, when the Indians came within one in the extra inning.
> >>
> >>
> >> Larry Howe
> >> Professor of English & Film Studies
> >> Department of Literature and Languages
> >> Roosevelt University
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________________
> >> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of L T Oggel <
> >> [log in to unmask]>
> >> Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2016 12:29 PM
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Re: Mark Twain was still alive...
> >>
> >> I agree with Mike-- Hats off to the Cleveland Indians. A great team
> >> showing fine sportsmanship. Both teams did deserve to win, the Cubs
> just
> >> a
> >> wee bit more so.
> >>
> >> Terry
> >>
> >> On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Montclair <[log in to unmask]
> >
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Didn't he write about losing an umbrella at a baseball game in
> >> Connecticut?
> >> >
> >> > Sent from my iPhone
> >> >
> >> > > On Nov 3, 2016, at 10:56 AM, Steve Hoffman
> >> > > <[log in to unmask]
> >> >
> >> > wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > Which brings up a question: Is there evidence
> >> > > from any writings of Twain, including letters, or
> >> > > contemporaneous reports, of Twain attending a
> >> > > major league baseball game? (or professional
> >> > > minor league game for that matter)? Or of him
> >> > > perusing the sports pages of the newspapers,
> >> > > perhaps commenting upon scores or World Series
> >> > > etc? Any references to baseball during one of his
> >> > > speeches?
> >> > >
> >> > > Is there any indication if he had a rooting
> >> > > interest in any team? Perhaps Boston or one of
> >> > > the New York teams (personally, I'm hoping he was
> >> > > a fan of the NY Giants). Or perhaps St. Louis?
> >> > >
> >> > > I'm aware of course of that wonderful section of
> >> > > Connecticut Yankee with Hank Morgan introducing
> >> > > baseball to King Arthur's Court. But I don't
> >> > > recall coming across references to him following
> >> > > baseball in his personal life.
> >> > >
> >> > > As a lifelong baseball fan as well as Twainiac,
> >> > > I'd be delighted to get answers to this query.
> >> > >
> >> > > Steve Hoffman
> >> > >
> >> > > Takoma Park, MD
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > >> On 11/3/2016 10:11 AM, L T Oggel wrote:
> >> > >> It was terrific!! 7th game. Extra innings, rain delay, everything.
> >> > Wow!
> >> > >>
> >> > >> Cubs Win Cubs Win
> >> > >>
> >> > >> The Voice of the Cubs on radio and TV--Jack Brickhouse, Harry Carey
> >> and
> >> > >> many others, going back, are rejoicing. Ernie Banks is smiling.
> At
> >> > last!!
> >> > >>
> >> > >> Ended about 1am on the east coast.
> >> > >>
> >> > >>> On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 6:20 AM, AB E
> >> > >>> <[log in to unmask]>
> >> > wrote:
> >> > >>>
> >> > >>> ... when the Cubs last won a World Series.
> >> > >>>
> >> > >>> To Larry Howe and all the other Twain people in greater Chicago, I
> >> > hope you
> >> > >>> survived last night, and that this isn't a sign of the end of days
> >> (or
> >> > a
> >> > >>> Trump presidency).
> >> > >>>
> >> >
> >>
>
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