Moriarty

My love of baseball slang took me to another fascinating place. For those who have read the Sherlock Holmes tales, the name Moriarty, the brilliant sociopath James Moriarty comes to mind. It is not the evil nemesis that is referred to in baseball. The brothers George and Bill Moriarty played in the major leagues and while Ed did a single season with The Cincinnati Redlegs in 1909, George played for 13 years on four different clubs. Neither player was truly outstanding but George is now remembered in baseball lore because of a single quirk: he often took a blind swing at a pitched ball. That’s right, George would swing at a pitch WITHOUT LOOKING AT IT. In defiance of baseball’s cardinal rule-keep your eye on the ball- George miraculously managed to hit .251 lifetime and get a managerial job after his playing days were over. He is the blind hog who found an acorn.

George should be the patron saint of today’s Republican Party.

While the high, hard fastballs of pandemic, domestic terrorism, police misconduct and voter suppression are riding in on our hands, these people close their eyes and swing at transgender rights, Doctor Seuss and the fiction of a “cancel culture.” They do not see the pitches coming but they swing hard in the hope that if they hit something it will travel far. They are constantly doing a moriarty while the game is on the line. Their lifetime batting averages and most Americans will suffer from this approach at the plate. Making policy has everything to do with precise reads on release points, spin, movement and velocity…you have to read the pitch in detail in the hundreths of a second that is the window of observation prior to a swing commitment. Or, you can close your eyes, flail and hope for the best.

I don’t have much hope for the Republicans becoming dangerous, accomplished hitters.

We will be given attacks on morality, stop the steal, and Dr Seuss and it will do our society no good. We will see one moriarty after another. Occasionally, contact might be made but it probably won’t do much to effect the game. What is needed is more time in the batting cages and a commitment to seeing things as they are from release point to the bat.

Sooner or later, people with too many moriarty approaches are no longer on the team. I hope they start to keep their eye on the ball.

We shall see.