This is unverified. You should know that going in. There’s some fragmentary evidence, of course, mostly archived web pages and bootleg videos and such, but the rest is basically hearsay and whole cloth invention, and it all involves this Grinnell grad from the 1990s, a guy by the name of Goins.
Read More “Well, folks, if you’re just joining us, we’re at the bottom of the third inning here at Parasol Stadium and you could not ask for a better day for baseball, wouldn’t you say, Alan?”
“That’s right, Paul. Just a real ‘beaut’ of a day. Though I am worried about this weather delay.”
“Is that what you’d call it, Alan? A weather delay?”
“Townie, you’re up,” the Blue Jays’ bullpen coach said.
Ryan Townsend threw one last fastball to the bullpen catcher, whose name he did not yet know, then stepped off the mound. The view from the Blue Jays’ bullpen was similar to the one from the visitors’ side, but just different enough to be slightly disorienting. He had a lot to learn about Toronto and Toronto about him. For instance, no one ever called him “Townie”.
Read MoreWe were out in the backyard, Richie and I, playing badminton. The boundaries were a couple of trees, a stone walkway, and the edge of the brick patio. I was twelve and my brother fifteen. I don’t know why I was playing with him, given how competitive he could be, how ruthless and cruel.
Read MoreWhat Rhea doesn’t remember: fighting against tears, biting her tongue, and bleeding from the mouth onto her seersucker shorts after her Schwinn’s front wheel skidded over a softball, sending her nose to the pavement.
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