This resurfaced article has brought to mind several thoughts/ideas. For the doctors who are working on strengthening their bedside manners or trying to find out how to become more human to their patients, why not hang pictures or photos or displays their hobbies throughout their office as opposed to those mass produced, stale art works. This not only can become an ice breaker for new patients, or older ones, but as the doctor looking at them can revitalize you. They can take your mind on a brief trip down memory lane. Remind you of who you are when you take your white coat off.
Great essay. Another similarity- you have to know what you are going to do before the ball comes to you.
When i was a kid, baseball became so much more interesting after i asked my dad how the shortstop on his softball team was always so good and quick with ball. “Because he always knows where he is throwing it before the pitcher even throws the pitch”.
I like baseball….but have broadened my views now into cricket…once you understand the rules and strategy within the game it is just as entertaining. Use to live in Bermuda when the USAF had a base there flying B50s…got to know the game…but now watch both forms of bat hitting a ball game .
Great essay! I feel the same way about music and medicine. Creativity was key in my field, as convincing addicts that sobriety is a better way to live is akin to convincing a person that being a (Republican/Democrat) has served them poorly and it’s time to switch parties! I believe that without music there is no addiction help, and vice versa, from me. I need both. I do remember the shift, however, when I was performing a show with John Mellencamp at IU where I was just about to graduate. Bob Dylan and I chatted backstage and he complimented my playing, I said, “I need to be studying for finals!” He gave me a WTF look and broke into a huge laugh. Geddy Lee, by the way, is a HUGE baseball fan! His ball collection is worthy of a museum!!
U bet! I think he appreciated that we were talking about school and going into CNCP treatment and not another typical starry eyed question! I didn’t appreciate it as much at the time as I do now!
I share your passion completely except my team was the dreaded rivals, the Cardinals. I can still remember going to games when Bob Gibson pitched and it was done in an hour and a half because when the ball came back from McCarver the batter was getting that fast ball right back at him. My other team for many of the recent years has been the Tigers. I do love teaching medicine and watching baseball, especially live. Thanks for remembering to remind us of the human aspects of our lives. Do you think the Cubs or Cardinals have a chance this season?
Thank you for another beautiful reflection--took me back to my youth. I grew up in a town 50 miles south of San Francisco and was about 10 years old when the New York Giants relocated to San Francisco. Prior to that I think there was no major league team west of the Mississippi and we had only one Saturday game on TV each week. I listened to the S. F. Seals triple A league games on the radio but never got to see a live game. I still remember the excitement I felt when it was announced that the Giants were coming west. Not only would I get to see live Major League baseball, but I would get to see Willie Mays! My parents would take us to our great aunt's beach house about once a month. While the rest of my family would immediately head for the beach, I would walk a couple of blocks to a small neighborhood store because they always had the latest issue of Baseball Digest that I could never find in my home town. I would then read it cover to cover. I collected all the baseball cards I could find and memorized all the statistics on the backs of the cards. At age 79, I find my once infallible memory to be slipping a bit---even when it comes to names of people I know quite well. But I still remember statistics such as Ted Williams' lifetime average of .344. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.
I, too, have loved baseball for as long as I can remember (a Yankee fan since the 60s), and just today I was with one of my nursing home patients, who doesn’t know where he is and barely remembers his name. Saw the picture in his room of his college baseball team from the 1950s and asked him about it - he lit up, told me he was a 3rd baseman, and we talked about one of his teammates who I also know. The reminiscing seemed to open up his memory for a few minutes and we had a nice conversation. The power of connection over baseball...
And I agree, Jeremiah Barondess was one of the best - my “idol” was Ben Kean, Tropical Medicine, who was the best medical storyteller I've ever heard. Thanks, Adam, for a great Friday Reflection
Love this essay. It seems a lot of really intelligent people, especially Chicagoans love baseball. One of my favorite Chicago natives Robert Barron is a huge Cubs fan too. Thanks for sharing Dr. Cifu
I have a close friend who was a college baseball coach. He is writing a book about his many experiences in baseball. It is game full of stories, and like medicine, the path to success is not one of cutting corners. Both involve developing habits of the mind, the accumulation of deep knowledge, and require physical skills that must be learned and honed. I have another physician friend on Twitter who is also a Cubs fan, I don't remember who. I'll alert you when they make their next Cubs post. Play ball!
Great essay. I still score the games when I can go alone. Absolute peace doing that with a cold beer in a ballpark for a pitchers dual. The 2016 WS still breaks my heart....Go Guards!
Thanks for the piece! My first Mets baseball game was 1963. Marvelous Marv Throneberry an early favorite of mine in 1963, though the team was terrible. Both my Italian grandmother and grandfather were avid Mets fans, having not forgiven the Dodgers for abandoning New York.
My grandfather was an estimator for a construction company that had box at Shea. Thus I got to one or two games a year until graduation from high school in 1972. Always did the scorecard….
When the Mets got in the World Series in 1969, my high school biology teacher put the game on, instead of class - no questions asked. I had no interest in medicine until souring on Econ and psychology late in college - so that was fine.
Yes, money and constant shuffling of rosters and even cities have hurt the player-fan bond. There’s an obvious analogy to the constant shuffling in primary care, the growth of hospitalists and mid-level providers, and despite some advantages, the toll this takes on physician-patient bonds and understanding.
Who has the patience (or freedom from so many enticing distractions) to listen to an (almost family member) radio announcer for a 9 full innings anyhow? Or to take overnight call? After all, you can catch the highlights in the morning, on rounds or ESPN.
But the real time twists and turns, inning by inning, in games and in illness, teach lessons that perhaps the young ones learn less well.
Just sayin’. Now let me go spit my tobacco juice in the dirt….
Woke, and watching baseball akin to watching grass grow.
😁
This resurfaced article has brought to mind several thoughts/ideas. For the doctors who are working on strengthening their bedside manners or trying to find out how to become more human to their patients, why not hang pictures or photos or displays their hobbies throughout their office as opposed to those mass produced, stale art works. This not only can become an ice breaker for new patients, or older ones, but as the doctor looking at them can revitalize you. They can take your mind on a brief trip down memory lane. Remind you of who you are when you take your white coat off.
Great essay. Another similarity- you have to know what you are going to do before the ball comes to you.
When i was a kid, baseball became so much more interesting after i asked my dad how the shortstop on his softball team was always so good and quick with ball. “Because he always knows where he is throwing it before the pitcher even throws the pitch”.
Go Phils!
I like baseball….but have broadened my views now into cricket…once you understand the rules and strategy within the game it is just as entertaining. Use to live in Bermuda when the USAF had a base there flying B50s…got to know the game…but now watch both forms of bat hitting a ball game .
Really fun read Adam. Tried to share image copy of my favorite Curt Flood baseball card, but wont let me paste here
Glad to know we both support the same baseball team :)
Great essay! I feel the same way about music and medicine. Creativity was key in my field, as convincing addicts that sobriety is a better way to live is akin to convincing a person that being a (Republican/Democrat) has served them poorly and it’s time to switch parties! I believe that without music there is no addiction help, and vice versa, from me. I need both. I do remember the shift, however, when I was performing a show with John Mellencamp at IU where I was just about to graduate. Bob Dylan and I chatted backstage and he complimented my playing, I said, “I need to be studying for finals!” He gave me a WTF look and broke into a huge laugh. Geddy Lee, by the way, is a HUGE baseball fan! His ball collection is worthy of a museum!!
OK, I need to hear more about the brush with Bob in the future! I've watched some videos of Geddy Lee's collection. Crazy!
U bet! I think he appreciated that we were talking about school and going into CNCP treatment and not another typical starry eyed question! I didn’t appreciate it as much at the time as I do now!
I share your passion completely except my team was the dreaded rivals, the Cardinals. I can still remember going to games when Bob Gibson pitched and it was done in an hour and a half because when the ball came back from McCarver the batter was getting that fast ball right back at him. My other team for many of the recent years has been the Tigers. I do love teaching medicine and watching baseball, especially live. Thanks for remembering to remind us of the human aspects of our lives. Do you think the Cubs or Cardinals have a chance this season?
Thank you for another beautiful reflection--took me back to my youth. I grew up in a town 50 miles south of San Francisco and was about 10 years old when the New York Giants relocated to San Francisco. Prior to that I think there was no major league team west of the Mississippi and we had only one Saturday game on TV each week. I listened to the S. F. Seals triple A league games on the radio but never got to see a live game. I still remember the excitement I felt when it was announced that the Giants were coming west. Not only would I get to see live Major League baseball, but I would get to see Willie Mays! My parents would take us to our great aunt's beach house about once a month. While the rest of my family would immediately head for the beach, I would walk a couple of blocks to a small neighborhood store because they always had the latest issue of Baseball Digest that I could never find in my home town. I would then read it cover to cover. I collected all the baseball cards I could find and memorized all the statistics on the backs of the cards. At age 79, I find my once infallible memory to be slipping a bit---even when it comes to names of people I know quite well. But I still remember statistics such as Ted Williams' lifetime average of .344. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.
Baseball Digest, yes!
I, too, have loved baseball for as long as I can remember (a Yankee fan since the 60s), and just today I was with one of my nursing home patients, who doesn’t know where he is and barely remembers his name. Saw the picture in his room of his college baseball team from the 1950s and asked him about it - he lit up, told me he was a 3rd baseman, and we talked about one of his teammates who I also know. The reminiscing seemed to open up his memory for a few minutes and we had a nice conversation. The power of connection over baseball...
And I agree, Jeremiah Barondess was one of the best - my “idol” was Ben Kean, Tropical Medicine, who was the best medical storyteller I've ever heard. Thanks, Adam, for a great Friday Reflection
Omg. Ben Kean. Did you read his book MD? I loved that.
Love this essay. It seems a lot of really intelligent people, especially Chicagoans love baseball. One of my favorite Chicago natives Robert Barron is a huge Cubs fan too. Thanks for sharing Dr. Cifu
🙏
In a time with a lot of bad news, and in a day for me with too much work, this was a beautiful read. And everything you say is true.
Thanks so much.
I have a close friend who was a college baseball coach. He is writing a book about his many experiences in baseball. It is game full of stories, and like medicine, the path to success is not one of cutting corners. Both involve developing habits of the mind, the accumulation of deep knowledge, and require physical skills that must be learned and honed. I have another physician friend on Twitter who is also a Cubs fan, I don't remember who. I'll alert you when they make their next Cubs post. Play ball!
Great essay. I still score the games when I can go alone. Absolute peace doing that with a cold beer in a ballpark for a pitchers dual. The 2016 WS still breaks my heart....Go Guards!
I'm with you on the scoring (but not not on the 2016 series).
Thanks for the piece! My first Mets baseball game was 1963. Marvelous Marv Throneberry an early favorite of mine in 1963, though the team was terrible. Both my Italian grandmother and grandfather were avid Mets fans, having not forgiven the Dodgers for abandoning New York.
My grandfather was an estimator for a construction company that had box at Shea. Thus I got to one or two games a year until graduation from high school in 1972. Always did the scorecard….
When the Mets got in the World Series in 1969, my high school biology teacher put the game on, instead of class - no questions asked. I had no interest in medicine until souring on Econ and psychology late in college - so that was fine.
Yes, money and constant shuffling of rosters and even cities have hurt the player-fan bond. There’s an obvious analogy to the constant shuffling in primary care, the growth of hospitalists and mid-level providers, and despite some advantages, the toll this takes on physician-patient bonds and understanding.
Who has the patience (or freedom from so many enticing distractions) to listen to an (almost family member) radio announcer for a 9 full innings anyhow? Or to take overnight call? After all, you can catch the highlights in the morning, on rounds or ESPN.
But the real time twists and turns, inning by inning, in games and in illness, teach lessons that perhaps the young ones learn less well.
Just sayin’. Now let me go spit my tobacco juice in the dirt….
I half expected “tariffs, tariffs, and tariffs.”
Funny. Not from me...