Yes, as PB says the City of God is not too hard to come by online.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3296

http://books.google.com/books?id=xS...

Wow, I didn't even have the heart to ask you to research and it turns out to be a game I had read about!

Terrific game, too. The Yankees won 4-3 despite giving up two HRs and hitting none (in keeping with the theme).

http://espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gam...

Kibitzer's Café

Essentially, it involves sending them a private e-mail with the necessary information. I checked with the admins recently, and it's still valid.

For Games of the Day, there is a separate page set up at:

Pun Submission Page

I think that requires you to have a "pun" for the game. If you can't think of one and it won't accept the entry without one, probably a private e-mail would be the way to go.

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/video...

What appeals to me is the play of the umpires, rotating to back each other up. I first noticed these things when I went to a ball game but found I couldn't follow the flight of the ball and had to start watching something else.

As you go through, you'll notice the third base umpire is in shallow left field to make the call in case the ball is caught. The second base umpire runs to third to cover any plays there and make sure the base is tagged. Similarly the first base umpire, once it's certain there won't be a play at first, runs to second base.

Baseball umpiring is never noticed, but there are a lot of subtleties to it which you generally can't see unless you're at the ball park. Notice, for instance, where the second base umpire is before the play: in front of the base, and a bit to the right. He's in front to have an unobstructed view of a play at second, and to the right to be out of the way o the batter's field of vision and any throws from the catcher.

Had there been no runners on base, he would be in back of the bag on the outfield grass, his primary responsibility to make calls on outfield fly balls.

We worked with just two most of the time, though, and that's just about positioning the bases umpire properly at the start of the play and knowing where to go. The home plate ump can sometimes go to third, but it's pretty rare.

I had one terrible, just tuurrrible, game in Oakland once as a base umpire. (Usually bad games were on the bases, because as the plate ump you had many, many pitch calls to make, so any one error didn't stand out. But missing a tag play at the plate was bad.)

In any case, with one out and men on first and second there was a routine grounder to second, fielded cleanly, and I turned to second base (my back to first) to check the throw to second. Except the throw went to first and I just had to guess from the corner of my eye. And I clearly guessed wrong.>

I was the plate umpire for 18-19 year olds. Ball was hit high in the sky to left field. I literally could not see a thing because the sun was setting just over a hill behind left field. I looked to my base umpire who shrugged, telling me he couldn't see it. The left fielder was running hard for the ball, so I guessed fair. I couldn't see anything for a couple seconds from having looked straight into the sun. But then, judging by where the left fielder ran to get the ball, I estimate it was a good 20 feet foul. There was not much objection. I did hear a coach of the defensive team say "Did he call that fair?"

That is because, in regular season, where there are only 4 umps in the game, one of them (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) have to run out there, and make a call.

And yes, you are taught to rotate, (In high school ball, some JV or Fresh. games are only umped by one guy, and even at varsity level, there are only 2. At the collegiate level, there are 3, so, knowing your spot and what to expect, even the most bizarre play, have to be taken into considerations.)

Who was the only player whose first two major league home runs were grand slams?

<[T]he toughest ticket in baseball just might be the Dayton Dragons of the Class A Midwest League.

Don't laugh. Barring a rainout, the Dragons will enjoy consecutive sellout No. 815 when they play host to South Bend on Saturday. That would eclipse the mark of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, who recorded 814 sellouts in a row from April 9, 1977, to Nov. 16, 1995.>

There's also a weird tie to the Miami Heat in the story.

I worked for the Class A Anderson, S.C. Braves many years ago. They were no threat to this streak. But the San Diego Chicken boosted attendance 1000% (it was a strike year).