BMTG Daily Dose

Formerly known as the Daily Dose, the Weekly Dose is home to weekly excerpts from a wide variety of important books. These excerpts are near and dear to the hearts of the BMTG membership. Submissions from BMTG members are welcome, as long as the guidelines are followed. Submissions that do not conform to the official guidelines will be rejected without the opportunity to appeal. Excerpts are best when read aloud with a dramatic flair.

2006
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Week of March 27, 2006

The Scouting Report: 1992 by Stats, Inc.

Tom Brunansky, Boston Red Sox
        As the 1991 season wore down, a Tom Brunansky watch developed. If Brunansky played in 145 games, his 1993 contract option was automatically picked up. It put Joe Morgan in a difficult situation, and general manager Lou Gorman -- who signed Brunansky to the two-year, $5.5 million guarantee although Brunansky was willing to take one year -- responded to criticism by saying, "If Brunansky were hitting .280, as I hoped, I'd be hearing it was a great contract."
        Sorry, Lou, but Brunansky has never batted even .260 over a full season. Last year, as he struggled at .229 (which was only 19 points below his career average) the question arose about whether or not Brunansky was losing his skills. As a hitter, he has holes and is streaky. He's apt to hit six home runs and knock in 20 runs in six games, then struggle for a month.

Bonus Reading from The Scouting Report: 1992
Mark McGwire, Oakland Athletics
        Nobody thought in 1987, when McGwire batted .289 with 49 homers as a rookie, that he would become the next Dave Kingman. But that's what happened in 1991. To be sure, McGwire is a far better all-around player, but he must learn to use the entire field and take the uppercut out of his swing. Otherwise, he will be doomed to more frustration as "Son of Kong."

Week of March 20, 2006

A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe

Julia passed the remainder of the day in her closet with Emilia. Night returned, but brought her no peace. She sat long after the departure of Emilia; and to beguile recollection, she selected a favorite author, endeavouring to revive those sensations his page had once excited. She opened to a passage, the tender sorrow of which was applicable to her own situation, and her tears flowed wean. Her grief was soon suspended by apprehension. Hitherto a deadly silence had reigned through the castle, interrupted only by the wind, whose low sound crept at intervals through the galleries. She now thought she heard a footstep near her door, but presently all was still, for she believed she had been deceived by the wind. The succeeding moment, however, convinced her of her error, for she distinguished the low whisperings of some persons in the gallery. Her spirits, already weakened by sorrow, deserted her: she was seized with an universal terror, and presently afterwards a low voice called her from without, and the door was opened by Ferdinand.

The Jewel Merchants by James Branch Cabell

THE DUKE
My friend, some long-faced people say you made a beast of me--

GUIDO
No, I will not have it.

THE DUKE
So do you beware lest the beast turn and rend you.

GUIDO
I have never been too nice to profit by your vices. I have taken my thrifty toll of abomination. I have stood by contentedly, not urging you on, yet never trying to stay you as you waded deeper and ever deeper into the filth of your debaucheries, because meanwhile you left me so much power.

THE DUKE
Would you reshape your handiwork more piously? Come, come, man, be content with it as I am. And be content with the kingdom I leave you to play with.

Week of March 13, 2006

The Malefactor by E. Phillips Oppenheim

        "Mr. Aynesworth," he said at last, "I suppose from a crude point of view I am here to bribe you."
        Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders.
        "Is it worth while?" he asked a little wearily. "I have tried to be civil--but I have also tried to make you understand. Your task is absolutely hopeless!"
        "It should not be," Barrington persisted. "This is one of those rare cases, in which anything is justifiable. Seton had his chance at the trial. He chose to keep silence. I do not praise him or blame him for that. It was the only course open to a man of honor. I maintain that his silence then binds him to silence for ever. He has no right to ruin my life and the happiness of my wife by subtle threats, to hold those foolish letters over our heads, like a thunderbolt held ever in suspense. You are ambitious, I believe, Mr. Aynesworth!" Get me those letters, and I will make you my secretary, find you a seat in Parliament, and anything else in reason that you will!"

Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon

        The King looked at the Lad kindly.
        "I shall blow your bellows very badly," he said, "and shoe my nag still worse."
        Said the Lad, "You'll learn in time."
        "Not before dinner-time, I hope," said the King, "for I am very hungry."
        "You look hungry," said the Lad. "It's a bargain then."
        The King held out his hand, but the Lad suddenly whipped his behind his back. "It's so dirty, sir," he said.
        "Give it me all the same," said the King; and they clasped hands.

Week of March 6, 2006

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais

Immediately thereafter were appointed for him seventeen thousand, nine hundred, and thirteen cows of the towns of Pautille and Brehemond, to furnish him with milk in ordinary, for it was impossible to find a nurse sufficient for him in all the country, considering the great quantity of milk that was requisite for his nourishment; although there were not wanting some doctors of the opinion of Scotus, who affirmed that his own
mother gave him suck, and that she could draw out of her breasts one thousand, four hundred, two pipes, and nine pails of milk at every time.

The Treasure by Selma Lagerlof

        Sir Archie opened and closed his hand convulsively. He turned it this way and that.
        "What is it, Sir Archie?" asked Elsalill. "Does your hand pain you on a sudden?"
        Then Sir Archie turned to Elsalill with a startled face and said: "Do you see this hair, Elsalill, that is wound about my hand? Do you see this lock of fair hair?"
        When he began to speak the girl saw nothing, but ere he had finished she saw a coil of fine, fair hair wind itself twice about Sir Archie's hand.
        And Elsalill sprang up in terror and cried out: "Sir Archie, whose hair is it that is bound about your hand?"
        Sir Archie looked at her in confusion, not knowing what to say. "It is real hair, Elsalill, I can feel it. It lies soft and cool about my hand. But whence did it come?"
        The maid sat staring at his hand, and it seemed that her eyes would fall out of her head.
        "So was it that my foster sister's hair was wound about the hand of him who murdered her," she said.