Why "This Game Of Games"?
It's a good question, although one that I never expected anyone to ask. Then one day, Peter Morris, baseball historian extrodinaire, actually wanted to know where I came up with the title to my old blog (which is, unimaginatively, the title of this site). So I figured maybe other people would want to know as well.
It's simple really. I am the world's worst headline writer. I can't come up with a decent title to save my life. It's just a skill that I lack. I consider it a character flaw.
So what I normally do when I need a headline after posting some piece of research is to simply steal the best phrase out of what I just wrote up. Does that make sense? I'll give you an example. Here's the first thing I ever posted at the old blog (way back in September of 2007):
"For the last fifteen years every boy in St. Louis who was but half a boy learned to play and love baseball. Where are those boys now? They are in the stores, the counting houses, the banks, the courts, the professions, the newspapers...They constitute probably two-thirds of the newpaper reading class. Manhood and its cares have imposed labor on them which prevents them from longer indulging in the game, but at the mere mention of it, their finger ends tingle as of old, and they greedily devour every scrap of news which appears on the subject, and not withstanding the press of business, they will manage to steal away from it, once in a while, long enough to witness a crack game."
"...we want to know all about the muffs and fouls, hot ones, daisy cutters, etc., of each and every player...we shall continue to have a warm spot in our hearts for this game of games, until we are far grayer headed than you are now, and we count much upon the pleasure of telling our grandchildren and great grandchildren our exploits away back in the infancy of the national game."
-St. Louis Republican, March 26, 1875.
Did you catch that? The phrase "this game of games" came from an 1875 article I read in the St. Louis Republican. So I stole the title of my old blog and this website from that. I'm probably going to use it as the title to the epic, four-volume history of 19th century St. Louis baseball that I'm working on but I'm hoping to come up with something else or something better or something different. Maybe, just once before I die, I'll come up with a decent, original title and use that for the Epic. Hope springs eternal.
In all seriousness, it's a wonderful phrase that, I believe, captures how I (and many others) feel about baseball. It's a beautiful phrase that evokes ancient and biblical imagery. And, as far as I can remember, I've never come across the phrase, in a baseball context, anywhere other than that 1875 article from the Republican.
It's simple really. I am the world's worst headline writer. I can't come up with a decent title to save my life. It's just a skill that I lack. I consider it a character flaw.
So what I normally do when I need a headline after posting some piece of research is to simply steal the best phrase out of what I just wrote up. Does that make sense? I'll give you an example. Here's the first thing I ever posted at the old blog (way back in September of 2007):
"For the last fifteen years every boy in St. Louis who was but half a boy learned to play and love baseball. Where are those boys now? They are in the stores, the counting houses, the banks, the courts, the professions, the newspapers...They constitute probably two-thirds of the newpaper reading class. Manhood and its cares have imposed labor on them which prevents them from longer indulging in the game, but at the mere mention of it, their finger ends tingle as of old, and they greedily devour every scrap of news which appears on the subject, and not withstanding the press of business, they will manage to steal away from it, once in a while, long enough to witness a crack game."
"...we want to know all about the muffs and fouls, hot ones, daisy cutters, etc., of each and every player...we shall continue to have a warm spot in our hearts for this game of games, until we are far grayer headed than you are now, and we count much upon the pleasure of telling our grandchildren and great grandchildren our exploits away back in the infancy of the national game."
-St. Louis Republican, March 26, 1875.
Did you catch that? The phrase "this game of games" came from an 1875 article I read in the St. Louis Republican. So I stole the title of my old blog and this website from that. I'm probably going to use it as the title to the epic, four-volume history of 19th century St. Louis baseball that I'm working on but I'm hoping to come up with something else or something better or something different. Maybe, just once before I die, I'll come up with a decent, original title and use that for the Epic. Hope springs eternal.
In all seriousness, it's a wonderful phrase that, I believe, captures how I (and many others) feel about baseball. It's a beautiful phrase that evokes ancient and biblical imagery. And, as far as I can remember, I've never come across the phrase, in a baseball context, anywhere other than that 1875 article from the Republican.
