Hmmmm.  Sounds terrible.  I don't think I've seen it.

Uecker's on-air complaints about how badly the Indians played were great, and they were very true to how home-town announcers could behave on the air back then.  Hell, even on nationally broadcast, but parochially oriented, Cubs games on WGN, Harry Carry would say things like that (without the profanity, even after…

@avclub-0f0d67e214f9fef69b278e3d08114da9:disqus  Yep.  I have to think there were players who were minor stars in the Negro Leagues, but weren't good enough to be stars in the Major Leagues — basically, black counterparts to all the white Major League players who didn't want to compete against black players — or any…

@avclub-d71760750778a95386b703f5c9e474f0:disqus , those Europeans probably feel that America was their one, major, guaranteed soccer-free zone.  I've never met European men who professed to detest soccer, but maybe they just kept that to themselves, since most Europeans I've met have been in Europe, and I think you…

I honestly can't remember if I've seen Major League II.  What happens in that one?  Do they get a dog, or a baby, or something?

That line stuck with me, because it totally captured how I genuinely felt when I was in 5th grade and finally played on a little league team that had real uniforms — jersey, knee-length pants, those stupid stirrup things that went over the socks — instead of just a T-shirt we wore with our jeans and sneakers.

Pitching a perfect game will get any pitcher into the history books, but few sports writers, even, would ever notice if it was done on just 27 pitches (all dribbling grounders to the 2nd baseman).  That's a shame, though, because it would be, in some ways, an astonishing demonstration not just of the pitcher's skill,…

Add it to the list of ways African-American culture has gotten the shaft.  I think there's a wealth of stories to tell about Negro League baseball, tied in as it was with the Civil Rights movement, American ascendance, and other currents of the mid-20th century.  Here's an idea: let's create an HBO series about it! …

@avclub-0f0d67e214f9fef69b278e3d08114da9:disqus , see The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings.  As I remember, it's set before WWII, and the players are all black.Why there hasn't been a big-budget theatrical bio-pic about Satchel Paige or Jackie Robinson, I'll never know.

They didn't call 'em Quarter-Pounders?

Wait'll you hear my views on the gold standard and US membership in the UN!

That's not a bad point, @avclub-d3a8b7e791870f66db86d84de72c7dad:disqus .  Maybe comedies can get away with it, as an antidote to the dreaded "Why go see this movie?  They put all the funny parts in the preview."

But scarves with colors and/or logos for teams that didn't exist a few years ago?  Songs and chants and other "traditions" pre-fabricated for a fan base that desperately wants to show how worldly and sophisticated they are by aping the customs of British louts?

I have a hard time even imagining a pretentious Australian.  I guess they must exist, but I'll be damned if I can form a mental image of such a person.  Australia has to be the only place in the world where it would be harder to be a snob than it is here in Wisconsin.  I say all this as a compliment, by the way.

It's like that story I've heard about how German spies could be found out because they crossed their legs in a weird way.  Now I can't remember if that was American or British counter-intelligence who came up with that…

You've got a stronger constitution than I do, then, @avclub-6ffc79f9decf633c29b09e6c25621195:disqus , because I can't imagine watching that movie with my father if he were dying.  I hope it helped, in some way.

It's taken a while, but I see that  The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings is available on DVD.  I caught that on cable maybe 15 years ago, and have been trying to see it again (and in full) ever since.  From what I saw, and remember, of it, I highly recommend it as a look into not only racially segregated…

Any baseball movie gets instant improvement by being set before World War II. 

Well, as an American who loves baseball, I have always found this movie to be a bit overrated.  I guess I have more understanding than you of why some people like it so much, but in my opinion, they're having to overlook some pretty glaring problems to worship it so.  I like it, but I don't build my appreciation of…

If I had my way, Florida would no longer be part of the United States.  That, in and of itself, shouldn't disqualify them from having a Major League Baseball team (I'm in favor of Canadian, and even Mexican, teams) — but in my imagination, the US has severed all diplomatic and economic ties with the independent nation…