There is a good story in The New York Times this morning about classic baseball announcers and it includes this photo of Red Barber broadcasting at Ebbets Field:

"They’re tearing up the pea patch," Barber would inform his audience in Brooklyn, where there were precious few pea patches, but we got the point that the Dodgers were disrupting order. "Well, I’ll be a suck-egg mule," Barber blurted when Cookie Lavagetto broke up Bill Bevens’s no-hitter and won a 1947 World Series game with two outs in the ninth. As a little kid in Queens, listening on the radio, I had no idea what a suck-egg mule was — still don’t, actually — but I can hear Barber’s normally austere tones going colorful on us.

First, we need more men with nicknames and nicknames like "Cookie". Second, what the heck is that device with the toggle switches for? Third, what is the name of the path between the pitcher's mound and home plate? Only two major league teams now have it and I don't know what the purpose is or once was.

It's about time to fire up the baseball chatter around here as we even may have our first challenge game of the vintage baseball season starting to be arranged. To that end, don't slam the door on the way out, Glaus. Maybe it was just a bad day but you were the worst pro player I have ever seen in any sport on the night I was there.