September 19, 2006, 18:56
shufitz"Perseveration"
Baseball, 1951: Bobby Thompson hits his famous home run, becoming a hero; pitcher Ralph Branca becomes the goat. 1954: Branca learns that Thompson had an unfair advantage: his team had stolen the signs between pitcher and catcher, so Thompson knew what pitch to expect.
Branca remains silent, and recalls today, "I didn't want to be a crybaby … a sore loser." But the matter gnawed at him.
Says the paper:
If pitcher now perseverated about signs, batter all but let them slip from memory. "I put it out of my mind because it wasn't a plus," says Thompson.
New word to me. You?
September 19, 2006, 19:47
KallehInteresting, Shu. I haven't heard that word used before.
BTW, I think it is "
Thomson." It's interesting that he was Scottish, as I don't think of baseball stars as being from Scotland.