It’s tough to be a Blue Jays fan right now. Yes, we have Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is hitting hard and showing a lot of promise on the field and at the plate. Yes, our farm system is stacked with
Read more
Author: Paddy Johnston
Paddy Johnston is a writer, a Blue Jays fan and captain of softball team the Hachette Hawks, who play in the Publishing Softball League. Paddy works in publishing and loves books (especially books about baseball), has a PhD in literature and is also a musician and podcaster.
Matt Shoemaker, Kevin Pillar, and the Neverending Search for Redemption
After getting involved in a rundown on the path between first and second, Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker twisted his leg as he applied a tag and tore his ACL during Saturday’s game against the Oakland A’s. The aftermath was
Read more
The Blue Jays should sign Bartolo Colón this offseason
I have just one wish for this offseason. When I’m sitting here refreshing MLB Trade Rumours and avoiding doing actual work, I’m hoping for news about one particular star free agent. No, not Bryce Harper. Certainly not Manny ‘I’m never
Read more
A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books: Jeff Passan’s “The Arm”
I finished reading Jeff Passan’s book The Arm shortly after making my pitching debut in the London Mets Fall League, pitching exclusively what one teammate charitably described as ‘80s loop balls’ (referring, of course, to the decade of the 1980s
Read more
A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books: The Summer Game and Living Forever
“Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young. Sitting in the stands, we sense this, if only
Read more
A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books: The Art of Fielding and The Art of Fiction
“But baseball was different. Schwartz thought of it as Homeric – not a scrum but a series of isolated contests. Batter versus pitcher, fielder versus ball. You couldn’t storm around, snorting and slapping people, the way Schwartz did while playing
Read more
A Brit learning Baseball through Books: A Drive into the Gap and the selflessness of Roberto Clemente
“The problem with history is that every story has multiple witnesses, but no witness ever has the entire truth.” – Kevin Guilfoile A Drive into the Gap was one of the first books about baseball that I ever read. My
Read more
A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books: Why Baseball Matters
“The game stands up and out in the lowest-common-denominator American culture of distraction, disruption, and interruption. For me, this distinction makes baseball the most intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and downright glorious pastime ever devised.” – Susan Jacoby It’s not likely
Read more
A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books: Is it really Ninety Percent Mental?
Paddy Johnston returns for his second column, “A Brit Learning Baseball Through Books”. Read his first here. “Point is, some nights in the big leagues, flowers work. Others, you need beer. Whether you’re Jon Lester, Roger Clemens, or me. But
Read more