2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball chatter: The defining sound of spring
Peter Locke
Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: Sports
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For all the things Lexington does poorly (food options, cops, local government), it does have one great thing going for it: spring. The season comes authoritatively to this corner of Virginny, announcing its presence with one impressive day that even manages to smell different. For somebody like myself who would trade a body part for tickets to the World Series-and this has been said a million times-spring means baseball. Tangentially, it also means big sloppy wads of tobacco, sunflower seeds, fungoes, the much romanticized crack of the bat, and perhaps above all else it means the sound of chatter. Part heckling, part filler, part cheering, and part auctioneering, baseball chatter is to baseball as OMG, LOL, TTYL and all the other silly abbreviations and emoticons are to the teenage blog and chat generation. Chatter is the linguistic vehicle through which baseball moves: the vital speech.
Baseball is as nostalgic of a sport as you can find, and the speech that is associated with it often feels as old as Ty Cobb himself. There is a particular tone of voice for diamond chatter, and it can really only be described as the voice of a fat man, perspiring behind a podium at a county fair, speedily auctioning off the year's largest hog. Baseball chatter is this non-stop, fire hose of language that hems and haws and vacillates as its speaker insults and recaps while never missing a beat. The pacing is crucial. Cleverness, vocabulary, tone of voice, and originality are all major components. Part of it is situational, and perhaps above all else, none of it should make very much sense. For those unfamiliar with this art (and yes, I am now calling this an art), it comes at you fast, and it's only good when the chatter is constant. Just while you are batting, it will often be pointed out to you that there are "ducks on the pond," and a little base knock means a "ribby" as long as you don't chase "no birds, no worms," pick one and stick one and no dolts, now kid. Confusing? It hasn't even started yet.
Baseball is as nostalgic of a sport as you can find, and the speech that is associated with it often feels as old as Ty Cobb himself. There is a particular tone of voice for diamond chatter, and it can really only be described as the voice of a fat man, perspiring behind a podium at a county fair, speedily auctioning off the year's largest hog. Baseball chatter is this non-stop, fire hose of language that hems and haws and vacillates as its speaker insults and recaps while never missing a beat. The pacing is crucial. Cleverness, vocabulary, tone of voice, and originality are all major components. Part of it is situational, and perhaps above all else, none of it should make very much sense. For those unfamiliar with this art (and yes, I am now calling this an art), it comes at you fast, and it's only good when the chatter is constant. Just while you are batting, it will often be pointed out to you that there are "ducks on the pond," and a little base knock means a "ribby" as long as you don't chase "no birds, no worms," pick one and stick one and no dolts, now kid. Confusing? It hasn't even started yet.
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