The Daily Dose/July 17, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY DULL, ISN’T IT?: Longtime readers of this crap know few enjoy baseball history as much as we do. They also know few enjoy research as much as we do. Our glee when we combine the two is almost boundless.
Oh, Jesus H: It happened today when we were researching the answer to yesterday’s trivia question: what is the record for the most errors in a game by a major league outfielder?
If Dry, Technical Matter Is Inevitable…: The answer is five. That was easy enough to find out. We have two major league record books and they agreed.
Can We Pick This Up A Little Bit?: Our initial research into the matter – the Elias Sports Bureau’s major league record book – showed it had happened nine times, all in the 19th century. Content with that, we used that as the answer. It also noted the modern major league record was four, done twice, including once by Kip Selbach of the Baltimore Orioles in 1902.
Fly In The Ointment: Just for funsies, however, we checked our Sporting News record book, and they differed. The Sporting News had ten instances of an outfielder committing five errors in a game, including Selbach’s masterpiece.
Joy To The World: Well, for a baseball history buff, this is like manna from heaven: an instance where two major league record books differ! We had to get to the heart of the matter. Some general searching concluded that Selbach committed five errors in the game, but what the hell does a website know? We consulted two box scores of the game, and while both had Selbach committing five errors, this really doesn’t settle the matter because sometimes erroneous things are copied and pasted.
Extra, Extra, Read All About It…: We’ve learned over the years the very best way to confirm crap like this is through newspaper accounts. So we reactivated our newspapers.com account (free for a week, subsequently canceled), and newspapers in both Baltimore and St Louis – they played the Browns – confirmed, in separate accounts, that Selbach had five errors in the game.
The Bottom Line: That’ll do it. Independent newspaper accounts meet our standards for accuracy. And we have even more drivel for you. One, in 1904 Selbach would tie the major league record for most errors in an inning with three. Two, the Orioles made eight errors in the game and lost to the St Louis Browns 11-4. Three: The Orioles are now the New York Yankees, and the Browns are now the Baltimore Orioles. Four, we hope you enjoyed this half as much we did.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow tackles a problem head-on. Today’s Diary.
Fortunately, the Front Desk Gods (FDG) – sometimes persnickety sorts – were in good humor and looked upon humble ol’ Sparrow with favor…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1850 – Two American astronomers at the Harvard Observatory photograph a star outside the solar system for the first time. William Bond and John Adams Whipple took a daguerreotype of Vega and, earlier, they were the first to take pictures of the moon. Daguerreotypes were the first form of commercial imaging, were saved on copper plates, and were one-of-a-kind works that could not be duplicated or enlarged. The Harvard College Observatory was founded in 1839, and its first telescope was installed in 1847.
In 1979 – Sebastian Coe of Great Britain sets a new world record in the mile at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway. Coe won in 3 minutes, 49 seconds to beat the record established by John Walker of New Zealand by four-tenths of a second. The mark stood until July 1980 when Steve Ovett of Great Britain ran it in 3:48.8 and Coe would set the world record two more times. The current record was set in 1999 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco (3:43.13).
In 1993 – Tag Team is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot R&B Singles chart – for the only week with Whoomp! (There It Is). The song also went #4 pop in Great Britain, spent seven non-consecutive weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, and was Billboard’s second-biggest pop song of the year. It was the duo’s first chart single and remains their only Top 40 soul and pop hit.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Order is the mother civilization and liberty; chaos the midwife of dictatorship.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol VI: The Reformation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The major league record for most errors in a game by an outfielder is five, done ten times, most recently by Kip Selbach in 1902.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many Olympic gold medals did Sebastian Coe win? – Answer next time!
