A Tal’s Hill Reflection # 1: Sunday, March 5, 2017
“WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING WARNING TRACK! ! The Little Ladies of the Wall will keep our center fielders from cracking their heads on the shorter porches as we all watch the homers taking off into the beautiful Houston sunsets to the west of our Crawford Street baseball crib!”
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Stop! In the name of love
Before you break our hearts
Stop! In the name of love
Before you lose ten starts
Think it over, Mr. Marisnick
Think it over, Mr. Springer
Think it over, Mr. Marisnick
Think it over, Mr. Springer
Think it over, Mr. Call-Up-Guy-From-Fresno
Think it over
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Fortunately, the new shorter center field fence at Minute Maid Park will have a warning track, but the center fielders will need to remember that the center field fence itself is now going to be 30 feet closer to them than ever before. Any outfielder that forgets and runs into it is going to have to learn the same lesson the my paternal grandfather, Willis Teas of Floresville and San Antonio, Texas once tried to teach me as a kid on one of the times we picked him up at Union Station, the same site as the present MMP. I asked him (and most probably not in these exact words) what would happen to a person who fell from the top of the multiple-stories high railroad station tower?
“It would kill you, Billy,” Grandpa (we called him “Papa”) said, as we sauntered casually past Union Station. Papa dressed like a pipe-smoking Connie Mack. And his eyes glanced back and up to the top of the building as we walked south from it on Crawford toward our family car. “It would kill you, all right,” Papa continued, “but it wouldn’t be the fall that did you in. – It would have been the sudden stop provided you by the sidewalk itself that finished the job. – So, try not to fall off any tall buildings, grandson. I’d miss you.”
Try to hear Papa’s words, Jake and George! The same is true when you’re playing center field in any ball park. We can’t think of any speedy outfielder’s career that was ruined alone by running hard to make a play, but the sudden stop created by walls, for old-timers like Pete Reiser, probably is the reason we now have warning tracks in the first place.
You didn’t need a warning track with Tal’s Hill. Its presence was warning enough, but that’s all changed now. The new center field warning track is a much quicker reach now at MMP.
As fans, we just hope you guys give yourself the time you need to make the mental adjustments to this new important playing condition.
Sometimes, “stop in the name of love” is a good thing. A very good thing. And we are now no longer talking about the danger of walls alone.
Back to baseball. – Can’t wait for you guys to get home and start the regular season.
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Publisher, Editor, Writer
The Pecan Park Eagle
Houston, Texas
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The Pecan Park Eagle 
March 6, 2017 at 3:30 am |
Bill-
I was at Minute Maid Park this weekend to see 3 games in the college classic tournament. I was there primarily to see my grandson, Caleb Gilbert, pitch for LSU. He didn’t disappoint with 2 scoreless innings against Baylor in a 4-0 win to lower his ERA to 0.90. I liked the Park better before Tal’s Hill was removed. It looks like they have quite a bit of work to do before opening day. Some of our guests, who hadn’t seen the Park before raved about the Park. Bill Gilbert
billcgilbert@sbcglobal.net
From: The Pecan Park Eagle To: bgilbert35@yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, March 5, 2017 1:14 PM Subject: [New post] A Tal’s Hill Reflection # 1 #yiv4869348812 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv4869348812 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv4869348812 a.yiv4869348812primaryactionlink:link, #yiv4869348812 a.yiv4869348812primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv4869348812 a.yiv4869348812primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv4869348812 a.yiv4869348812primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv4869348812 WordPress.com | Bill McCurdy posted: “A Tal’s Hill Reflection # 1: Sunday, March 5, 2017 ____________________Stop! In the name of loveBefore you break our heartsStop! In the name of loveBefore you lose ten startsThink it over, Mr. MarisnickThink it over, Mr. SpringerThin” | |
March 7, 2017 at 1:22 pm |
Was in the park for the Jamie Hildreth Memorial on Monday. I still have this awful feeling that the loss of depth in CF (even though they say it will still be maybe up to ten feet past 400′ in CF) is going to result in a good deal more HRs. Good or bad? We willl see.