I’m killing time with the game an hour away. I’ve already be on the Bob Dylan website. I guess this shows what a music moron I am, but I love Mr. Tambourine Man. It makes me sad and happy at the same time.
Anyway, I want to ask you something. When a pitcher throws a pitch and the announcer says he pulled the string on that one, what string is the announcer talking about? I long to know.
J Canseco
It means he has an invisible string attached to the ball. He throws the ball hard and fast, but when he “pulls the string” the ball suddenly drops or appears to lose velocity.
October 19th, 2012 4:05 pm
Fran
Hey Lowell, here you go!
pull the stringTo throw a pitch that breaks sharply and perhaps late. A pitcher has only “pulled the string” if the batter is fooled into swinging where the pitch was going, not where it ends up, therefore striking him out. The image is of a marionette jerking to one direction as a string is pulled hard. It could also be referring to a simple changeup that causes a batter to swing and miss. This is to say it’s as if the ball is attached to a string and the pitcher is yanking the ball away as the batter swings at it.
October 19th, 2012 4:27 pm
bolobar
Think yo-yo
October 19th, 2012 4:27 pm
Stan
Yo yo? I was thinking more of paddle ball.
October 19th, 2012 4:52 pm
Matt in Newark
Mr. Tambourine Man is a great song. I like the Byrds’ version.
October 19th, 2012 4:53 pm
Jack Orion
I have no idea. But I like Stan’s yoyo reference.
LC, what do you think of Blood on the Tracks?
October 19th, 2012 5:10 pm
CohnZohn
I love Blood on the Tracks. I have it on CD and depending on my mood I sometimes listen to it when I write my column from home.
October 19th, 2012 5:15 pm
Stan
Lets review the bow tie wearers.
1. Ken Rosenthal
2. Pee Wee Herman
3 Jim Korzimor.
4.George Will
5 Elijah Muhhamed.
That’s one scary crowd…not a one seems laid back. Intense to say the least.
October 19th, 2012 5:23 pm
CohnZohn
Stan, Are you sure Kozimor wears a bow tie?
October 19th, 2012 5:27 pm
Stan
Many times Lowell.
October 19th, 2012 5:50 pm
russell
I used to always tell my ex to “never trust a man in a bow tie”. I still stick with that 20+yrs later…. pull the string? too easy to understand that one… I give you more credit than that Lowell, so let’s get some Harbaugh talk going on here again! haha
October 19th, 2012 6:46 pm
russell
oh, and I agree with Matt in Newark – Byrds all the way on Mr. Tambourine Man
October 19th, 2012 6:47 pm
David
The talking heads just said the Cards pitchers stuff was “electric”. Maybe the pitch is on an electric string?
By the way, are there any WORSE announcers than McCarver and Buck?
October 19th, 2012 7:03 pm
chris
it’s definitley a yo-yo string being pulled………thats a brilliant list of creepy bow tie wearers by Stan.
October 19th, 2012 7:52 pm
lameduck
Write well my man. Zito was our parachute slowing and preventing demise. Ohm… Play that guitar Tommy.
October 19th, 2012 8:27 pm