The Rules of the Baseball Press Box

Good read.

Like the author, I was also the kid at ball games who always wanted a ball. I frequent my hometown team's games as a season-ticket holder. I don't always get a foul ball, but when I do, I give it to a kid.

When I don't get a ball naturally, I go to the vendor that sells authentic merchandise (see: genuine) and buy a used game ball. It runs me about $30. It comes with a sticker on it to verify its authenticity. I peel sticker off and rub away the residue. I'll then find a kid who's been working for a foul ball all game and toss them the ball.

They'll celebrate as if they won the lottery. Their parent will usually come find me and say how I didn't have to do that, that their kid is so happy; I joke to them "in 15 years, tell them I bought the ball to give it to them because I knew how badly they wanted the ball."

Cricket players catch balls with their bare hands all the time, and they don't seem particularly softer than baseballs. Is there something that makes baseballs more painful? Do they get hit faster?

What a fun read. If my career had taken a different direction I imagine myself working in Baseball in some capacity. There’s a decent community of folks who do amateur sabermetrics stuff for fun. I imagine a good amount of those folks will make Baseball Journalism a full time thing when they retire.

Final rule: write a whole article bragging about it! :P