The Pecan Park Eagle

“No, sir! I ain’t never met the feller, but I’d shore be delighted as all git-out to claim him as one of my own!”

A Requiem of Relativity: The faster the motion of an object accelerates toward the speed of light, the more time slows down.

If that axiom proves true for the Houston Astros throughout the 2017 MLB season, the more the chances increase that our current roster of players will feel younger after the last game of the season than they did on Opening Day. Of course, that measure would require them to actually exceed the speed of light during the season and send the hands of time into a reversal pattern that, so far, has not been demonstrated anywhere as possible or widely perceived by most physicists as credibly doable.

“Who Are Those Guys, Anyway?”

Famous question exchanged between “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in the movie of the same name when the pair of escaping outlaws look back to see a torch-bearing posse following them up a steep mountain trail at the very moment they are about to celebrate their ability to pull away from the pack. – Don’t pull out the champagne too soon, Mr. Hinch. The Texas Rangers may be 8 games behind the 1st place Astros this morning, but they also have moved from last into a 2nd place tie with the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West by winning their last 8 games in a row.

Baseball Is Still the Greatest Thinking Game One Could Ever Hope to Watch

Baseball isn’t chess, but it is the only athletic version of chess that attracts fans who like to watch the thinking that affects the unfolding of what happens on the field. Deeply serious fans keep score and other charts as though they were scouts, looking at pitcher-batter results, situational field decision-making, the way managers use or over-use certain players, especially pitchers, and, of course, the various ways in which some managers use or avoid variation in their style of decision-making for the sake of a possible advantage over an unsuspecting foe. i.e., One theoretical example: If the old long ball bomber Orioles manager Earl Weaver ever used Boog Powell to hit and run as the batter in the 9th inning of a tie game, that would’ve surprised some folks – starting with Boog Powell.

Baseball Fandom Is Changing, But So Is Everything Else

Everything changes. Anything organic that isn’t changing in life – is decomposing in death. Today’s younger fans still include a fair share of the thinking/analytical types, but most are now coming to MLB games to see baseball as another social media attraction – and that’s becoming, understandably, a fact not lost upon MLB club owners. I cannot personally think of another MLB venue that supports the shift as well as Minute Maid Park does – nor is there an organization that caters to meeting the social media indulgence needs of the fans any better these days than the Houston Astros.

I still miss Tal’s Hill, but my appreciation for what the Astros have done in center field is growing – not for my needs, but for the needs of younger, wired, and socially mobile fans. The MMP fans of 2017 now have a greater range of continuous choice all around the first entry-level concourse of the ballpark from which to watch the game in mobile, free-standing positions. They are wired – and their physical ability to move around MMP – complements the established wired need for “surfing the net.” It allows the younger fans to physically “Google-simulate” how the game looks from a 360 degree range of perspective on the ground floor. – Now, if only something could be done about the highway robbery price of parking near MMP, going to a game more often could be an even more attractive choice for all of us going downtown on game day. Is there any wonder what “dynamic pricing” (i.e., “price gouging”) will do to the going rates for parking this coming weekend for the upcoming Cleveland Indians in town series?

Another Way To Build Memories for a Hall-of-Fame in the Making Career

How about becoming one of the few players to ever collect 2 doubles and 2 triples in the same game? If you don’t know who we are talking about, you obviously are not paying close enough attention to the daily game action of our Houston Astros.

A Playful Look at Certain Astros for Their Player Traits

What Astro sometimes looks at a pop fly or soft toss as though he was seeing one for the first time in his life?

Based on his baseball team service, what Astro would you call upon to fix anything that was broken in your own house?

What Astro pitcher throws too many pitches that end up as the principal ingredient of a Star Wars missile bomb launch?

Has anybody else thought they might like to see the results of a “twins-separated-at-birth” test done on Brian McCann and Evan Gaddis?

If you have one of those jobs from which you never get a day off, wouldn’t you rather have someone like A.J. Hinch as a boss?

If they ever do a remake of the old Beverly Hillbillies TV series, which Astro player would be a great casting for Jethro Clampett, the wired and woolly son? Hint: It helps that he also played college baseball at Arkansas.

Which Astro player also seems to be a natural for the Travolta role in a remake of “Saturday Night Fever”?

Nuf Sed. Have a great Thursday.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags: 5/18/2017, Lagniappe Thursday

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