I'd just like to see - in writing about baseball - more energy and better craft, minus statistical bludgeoning and invective. John Thorn More Quotes by John Thorn More Quotes From John Thorn We play because we are wired for joy; it is imperative as human beings. John Thorn humans play joy Baseball is not a conventional industry. It belongs neither to the players nor management, but to all of us. It is our national pastime, our national symbol, and our national treasure. John Thorn treasure player baseball More fundamentally, it is a dream that does not die with the onset of manhood: the dream is to play endlessly, past the time when you are called home for dinner, past the time of doing chores, past the time when your body betrays you past time itself. John Thorn dream home past Just because I am increasingly bored by sabermetric arcana doesn't mean anyone else has to be; it remains good for people who like that sort of thing. John Thorn bored mean people It says, I think, that at root that we're children, or we'd like to be. And the best of us each keep as much of that childhood with us as we grow into adulthood, as we can muster... And even after we're past the point of being able to play the game with any skill, if we love it, then it's like Peter Pan - we remain boys forever, we don't die. John Thorn boys children past Planning to play: that's what saving for retirement is today - and it is antithetical to the nature of play, fully within the definition of work, and blissfully ignorant of the reality of death. John Thorn play retirement reality Although the world proved not yet ready for the brotherhood of baseball, that would be only a matter of time, baseball magnates believed. John Thorn brotherhood baseball would-be We know these men are professionals whose services are up for bid and whose bags are packed, and yet we call them our own and take personal, even civic pride in their accomplishments. John Thorn bags pride men Whatever else I do before finally I go to my grave, I hope it will not be looking after young people. John Thorn graves young people As the game enters its glorious final weeks, the chill of fall signals the reality of defeat for all but one team. The fields of play will turn brown and harden, the snow will fall, but in the heart of the fan sprouts a sprig of green. John Thorn team heart fall Except in expert hands, stats can get in the way of story; an array of data that might better be presented in a table instead clogs up sentences. John Thorn data experts hands Award trophies, as opposed to letting the players define and claim their own. Ultimately, pay them to play so that their activity not only resembles work but is work. John Thorn awards player pay Distant replay morphs into instant replay, and future replay cannot be far off. John Thorn replay instant-replay instant Finally, for all of us but a lucky few, the dream of playing big-time baseball is relinquished so we can get on with grown-up things. John Thorn lucky baseball dream I am opposed, naturally, to regurgitating anecdote or any other form of received wisdom, unless it is characterized as such. John Thorn anecdotes form Yes, we've seen it all before. And yes, those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it. But no, the sky is not falling - baseball is such a great game that neither the owners nor the players can kill it. After some necessary carnage, market forces will prevail. John Thorn player baseball fall One of the first lessons he or she learns is that in baseball anything, absolutely anything, can happen. Just two days ago as I write this, something happened that had never happened in baseball before. John Thorn baseball writing two My egotistical concern was less that I would fail to relate to my classmates than that they would know nothing of my uniquely tortured life's course and, thus, me. John Thorn egotistical concern failing Pursuing employment or climatic relief, we live in voluntary exile from our extended families and our longer past, but in an involuntary exile from ourselves and our own past. John Thorn employment relief past Life is more about losing than winning. John Thorn losing life-is winning
