As a kid for a while I actually thought the Beatles song Penny Lane had the lyrics:
“Willie Mays is in my ears and in my eyes, there beneath the blue suburban skies”
(I was impressed with McCartney for having that broad of awareness… until I learned it was somebody else subbing the name.)
One of the things I like about baseball-- the statistics. You can reasonably argue the merits of players from different eras, with reasonable accuracy.
I love hearing an announcer tell me how well a specific batter has hit against left-handed pitchers in the late innings of night games in opposing ballparks on the East Coast during September, with men on base and his team behind. 
No other sport has comparable statistics, or a comparable obsession with them.
don’t forget the random stats, like you just mentioned. They have no real bearing on anything, but they’re fun to learn about regardless.
I made all that up, but I’ve heard all of those stats mentioned from time to time. Just not all at once like that
I had to laugh at your example, made up or not, because I can picture Bob Costas casually mentioning something like that. If not Bob Costas then Joe Buck.
Paul James used to pull stats like that out of his a$$ when he was doing byu games.
“That’s another NCAA record for Steve Young. Most passing yards in the second quarter on the road with the crowd less than 30,000”
“byu outscored Miami in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters”
Guess which one of those I made up.
Both. 
Nope. James actually said the one about Miami. byu lost something like 41-17. Miami scored the bulk of their points in the second quarter, so James was quick to point out how “well” byu had played them in the other quarters. He was full of nonsensical “stats” that supposedly made byu look good.
You know, the whole the better team didn’t beat BYU, BYU beat themselves.
If you’re really trying to compare 1st base with CF that pretty much says it all, especially CF in the old NY Polo Grounds. Oh, and Mays had 338 career stolen bases. Pujols, 117. I don’t buy the “better competition” argument. Expansion alone works against that. As for cheating? There was a lot more doctoring of the ball going on in the 1950s than today.
Lastly, Mays’ career WAR per Baseball Reference is 156.1. Pujols 100.6.
Ok, what does ANY of this have to do with pro baseball…or any level of baseball for that matter? 
Because we are obsessed with TDS. Just ask them.
Often because they didn’t bring their “A” game.
Ok, like non sequitur broadcaster Bill Walton…only not high on weed and smelling like a dank blunt and sweet grass. Bill has to be in a special place to get rolling off topic.
PJ…not so much.
Not a good look for this adult baseball fan.
“Fortunately, the Nationals reached out to make things right. So, everything worked out (for the most part). It’s always a bad look to hop in front of a kid and take a ball, especially when a player threw it to them. Now, a foul ball? Then it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves.”
Apparently chivalry is dead
very polite, honest, and kind behavior, especially by men toward women
the system of behavior followed by knights in the medieval period of history, that put a high value on honor, kindness, and courage:
My response is an emphatic, “you dick!!”
Glad the Nats reached out, but damn dude.
I do want to add a couple of pictures. These were taken Saturday Sept 3rd. We had meetings at the hotel just across the street from Camden Yards.
Sadly our meetings overlapped the start of both the Utah/Florida game and the Orioles/A’s game. So we didn’t get a chance to see either. I particularly like the night shot. The Orioles did something around that time, as there was huge cheer coming from the stadium just as we were walking by. It was cool.
Even with a foul ball, if there were kids near me, I would let one of them try to catch it. And even if it came straight to me (and had no younger family members with me) I would be inclined to look around for a young fan to give it to.
