Yet another thing I'd never seen in a baseball game, ever

[Leones]

"Someday, Brewers backup catcher Martin Maldonado will gather his grandchildren and tell them about the night he literally knocked the cover off the baseball."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/bre ... y=news_mlb

[Transmitters]

I have actually done that before. I still have that ball too.

[Arroyos]

Bernard Malamud is smirking in his grave.

The umpire roared in for a batter to come out, and after a while, as the players fidgeted and Pop fumed, Roy sighed and picked up Wonderboy. He slowly walked up the steps.

"Knock the cover off of it," Pop yelled. ...

Roy wiped his palms on his pants and twitched his cap. He lifted Wonderboy and waited rocklike for the throw. ...

Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere where it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered the ground. The ball screamed toward the pitcher and seemed suddenly to dive down at his feet. He grabbed it to throw to first and realized to his horror that he held only the cover. The rest of it, unraveling cotton thread as it rode, was headed into the outfield.

Roy was rounding first when the ball plummeted like a dead bird into center field. Attempting to retrieve and throw, the Philly fielder got tangled in thread. The second baseman rushed up, bit the cord and heaved the ball to the catcher but Roy had passed third and made home, standing.

--Bernard Malamud, The Natural, 1952

[roncollins]

Absolutely love that, Bob. :)

[Borealis]

Absolutely love that, Bob. :)

Beautiful!!!

[Arroyos]

Thanks, Michael and Ron. Just a couple weeks ago, while discussing that passage from The Natural with my baseball lit students, I said knocking the cover off the ball was a clue that Malamud's novel wasn't realistic, but mythic, since no one ever literally knocks the cover off a baseball.

Oops. Gonna have to eat my words on that one when I share the video link with the class.