Day: April 3, 2005

This week PBS has been showing Ken Burns’ Baseball. The documentary is presented in nine “innings,” encompassing over 100 years of baseball history. Today I caught part of the 6th and 7th innings, covering the 40’s and 50’s. The 6th inning opens with the incredible season of 1941 when “Joltin” Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games and Ted Williams hit .406. The film explores the game with vintage photos, old footage and interviews with players and fans.

The 7th inning presents the historic cross-town rivalry between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. In 1951, after the Giants erased a 13 game deficit by winning 37 of their last 45, the teams were tied and a three-game playoff would decide the National League pennant. The teams went the distance and entering the 9th of game 3 at the Polo Grounds, the Giants trailed 4-1. By the time Bobby Thompson came to the plate, it was 4-2 with 2 runners on and one out. Dodger reliever Ralph Branca got ahead on a first pitch fastball. Narrator John Chancellor then said, “Branca’s next pitch was a fastball too.”

By the time the decade ended, the clubs would continue their rivalry in California.

Speaking of rivalries, the Red Sox begin defending their world championship tonight in the Bronx. Let’s hope they’re still playing each other again in mid-October.

“Dad, why is it fifteenkey?” The simple answer is that it’s from an Uncle Tupelo song called “Fifteen Keys” from the bands last full-length recording, 1993’s Anodyne.

Anodyne was the first “alt-country” record dropped on me ten years ago by pal Jeff. As I write this, it’s chilling to think it may be ten years to the day or pretty damn close. What Jeff didn’t know is that he was handing me a life-preserver that helped save me for the next few years while adrift on a furious sea of inner-conflict and guilt. Anodyne, defined by Wikipedia as a painkiller, echoes those themes, as during the time of the recording the band was also coming apart at the uh, seams. (Note: That is so bad I refuse to edit it.)

The words of the songs in Anodyne are an enduring part of me now, and still often an effective prescription. So, Megan, that’s why it’s fifteenkey. I love you. Dad.