"Throwing out the first pitch"

This has almost nothing to do with photography. It is about language.

We often hear of some notable person cermonially "throwing out the first pitch" in a baseball game, perhaps at the opening of the season, or on some other special occasion.

The phrase makes no sense.

Traditionally, there are two things that a celebrity might do in this regard.

• From the stands, "throws out the first ball" (to the catcher or maybe even the pitcher), thus ceremonially putting it into play.


• From the pitcher's mound (or in front of it), "throws the first pitch" (of course to the catcher). The hitter in place of course gives it a pass.


"Throwing out the first pitch" is a careless malaprop mix of two proper expressions. But it is so widely used.

************

On a related topic:

I have always thought that it is inappropriate, at a concert or sports event, for example, that the audience applauds after the singing of the National Anthem.

One of my first dates with Carla (we were already engaged - that happened on the third date) was to a concert of the Dallas Wind Symphony. When it was about time for the National Anthem, I mentioned to her that I thought it was crude to applaud after the singing of the National Anthem, and was pleased that it didn't usually happen at these concerts.

She nodded in agreement.

The orchestra played the National Anthem, and we led the singing (it was always hard to get the audience to start at these occasions).

When it was over, Carla turned to me and said (not too quietly), "Play Ball!"

Best regards,

Doug

Pardon my question, but you seem to imply that it is common practice to play the National Anthem at music concerts (presumably in the US of A). Is it really so?

Hi, Jerome,

Jerome Marot said:

Pardon my question, but you seem to imply that it is common practice to play the National Anthem at music concerts (presumably in the US of A). Is it really so?

Click to expand...

Yes it is, including at symphony concerts and the like.

Normally, it is "assumed" that the audience will sing, but often this doesn't take hold. Carla and I try to overcome this lapse.

In about 1971, I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I would take my young daughters to the monthly Saturday matinee concerts (aimed at young people) of what was then called the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

They always played the National Anthem, but there was the usual feeble response from the audience. I would always sing out, and before long, Yoshimi Takeda, the conductor, would look for me in the house and cue me when it was time to begin.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Kerr said:

Yes it is, including at symphony concerts and the like.

Click to expand...

Well...it is not necessarily common in other parts of the world. Neither is baseball, by the way.

Regional and national sayings never make sense to the outsider. That's the point, isn't it?
The rest of the world is outside the USA. We don't understand anything you lot do, especially the national anthem thing. We used to do it here in Aus even before a movie. No one stood up and joined in so they cancelled the idea back in the 70s.
Surely you have better things to be indignant about, Doug.
Why do they put almonds in muesli? Surely they are beyond the capacity for most people to chew first thing in the morning.
Is there such thing as a left handed camera?
Who shoots photos or captures pictures?
Is a lizard really flat when it drinks?
How does one organize a root in a brothel?
Why would a one legged man enter an arse kicking competition.

Hi, Tom,

Tom dinning said:

Regional and national sayings never make sense to the outsider. That's the point, isn't it?
The rest of the world is outside the USA. We don't understand anything you lot do, especially the national anthem thing. We used to do it here in Aus even before a movie. No one stood up and joined in so they cancelled the idea back in the 70s.
Surely you have better things to be indignant about, Doug.

Click to expand...

Don't lead with your chin, mate.

Why do they put almonds in muesli? Surely they are beyond the capacity for most people to chew first thing in the morning.
Is there such thing as a left handed camera?
Who shoots photos or captures pictures?
Is a lizard really flat when it drinks?
How does one organize a root in a brothel?
Why would a one legged man enter an arse kicking competition.

Click to expand...

Sorry your recovery was incomplete.

Best regards,

Doug

There's nothing wrong in celebrating national identity! I enjoy hearing "La Marseillaise", it represents to me the immense good of the French Revolution, (bloody as it was), culminating in the spread under the power of Napolean's armies, (again horribly uncivilized), of the "Universal Rights of Man".

Similarly, when the the Orchestra of the evening at The Holiday Bowl, plays the first notes of the National anthem, the flags is seen fluttering on giant LCD screens over the giant open air bowl in the Hollywood Hills and the some 18,000 strong audience stands, singing, (right-hand over heart), in unison with the LA Philharmonic at The Holiday Bowl, I am a happy fellow.

It's a festive spirit of folk grateful for their portions in life. It's not a Nationalistic crowd but rather one that embraces diversity of so many different races and cultural backgrounds. Folk are grateful to be here together as one mass of humanity, where Christian, atheist, Jew and Hindu will be equally respected by everyone else.

As folk sing, some men stand bolt to attention, maybe in honor of fallen comrades, but most everyone is very relaxed, just hanging out as if a soccer game or carnival is underway.

I do not join in, but think back, half a century ago when Yank soldiers threw us candy from troop trains. (Some girl always got the signal man to stop the troop trains for us) and also in our kitchen, 10 people around a table, eating boiled stale bread, we called it, "pap", supplemented by egg powder ..... there were also giant bags of flour and milk powder too, all labelled, "Gifts of the People of The United States of America".

So tolerate our nostalgia and romanticism. I appreciate the kind aspects of the USA.

And yes I understand the excesses of militarism but one can still be proud of a culture without that!

Asher

Doug Kerr said:

Hi, Tom,


Don't lead with your chin, mate.


Sorry your recovery was incomplete.

Best regards,

Doug

Click to expand...

I had a relapse when I read your post.

To get some ideas of the atmosphere, here's John Williams with the formal Star Spangled Banner and then this one rendered by the cast of "Hairspray".

This is a nightly ritual of the Hollywood Bowl, a beloved tradition. Amazingly, the faces of the folk, from all part of the planet are all friendly, as if there had never been in the history of racism, hatred, genocide, invasions, exploitation or any other evil. For the night, at least, everyone is sociable, sharing stories and food or wine if one 's lucky.

This is very close to the celebratory, open atmosphere in a 2006 World Soccer Cup in Munich, a massive crowd from all over watching the finals on a Massive Screen in the Bavarian Beer Garden. It's again people feeling a unity amongst a mass of humanity, except in Munich, the fans cheeks or foreheads were often painted in bright striped colors of their national team.

Let's not be so quick to knock or dismiss such National Pride. If there was no pride, what then? National pride is like a sense of self-respect in the world stage. After all with pride should come responsibility. I have seen the worst of it and the best of it.

In the end, I give the American "Star-Spangled Banner" singers singers the benefit of the doubt and celebrate with them!

If any Aussie manages to make it across the oceans to this side of the Globe, once they are used to walking upside down, I'll be glad to take them to the Hollywood Bowl, to experience first hand the excellent choices of beer, wine, food and our sentimental singing!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

To get some ideas of the atmosphere, here's John Williams with the formal Star Spangled Banner and then this one rendered by the cast of "Hairspray".

This is a nightly ritual of the Hollywood Bowl, a beloved tradition. Amazingly, the faces of the folk, from all part of the planet are all friendly, as if there had never been in the history of racism, hatred, genocide, invasions, exploitation or any other evil. For the night, at least, everyone is sociable, sharing stories and food or wine if one 's lucky.

This is very close to the celebratory, open atmosphere in a 2006 World Soccer Cup in Munich, a massive crowd from all over watching the finals on a Massive Screen in the Bavarian Beer Garden. It's again people feeling a unity amongst a mass of humanity, except in Munich, the fans cheeks or foreheads were often painted in bright striped colors of their national team.

Let's not be so quick to knock or dismiss such National Pride. If there was no pride, what then? National pride is like a sense of self-respect in the world stage. After all with pride should come responsibility. I have seen the worst of it and the best of it.

In the end, I give the American "Star-Spangled Banner" singers singers the benefit of the doubt and celebrate with them!

If any Aussie manages to make it across the oceans to this side of the Globe, once they are used to walking upside down, I'll be glad to take them to the Hollywood Bowl, to experience first hand the excellent choices of beer, wine, food and our sentimental singing!

Asher

Click to expand...

My grandson is a regular visitor, Asher. He's on his way again soon. He likes the place but sees it all as one giant amusement park. My daughter prefers to look at the US from a safe distance - Canada. She sneaks in to take pictures from time to time but only of the weird things.
I must admit, when I was in the US for 4th July it was very patriotic. I felt like I had to stand all the time, which isn't easy when they play the anthem on musak and I'm having a ****.
And what's with the hand over heart thing? Is that to shield you against bullets or prepare you to draw your 9mm from its shoulder holster?
I'm not a big fan of national pride when it runs into bigotry. And it does, as you know. We get a taste of it here from time to time but it disgusts us so much from our own we pretend it is someone else who just got lost on their way to somewhere.
US says its the best country in the world, unlike most other countries who are happy to be just OK, then apologize for it. US seems to be like reading the book then seeing the movie and being a bit let down at the end. I remember visiting the Grand Canyon and thinking "is that it?" I'm not suggesting we have bigger and better holes in the ground, its just that all that national pride blows the balloon up just a little too tight and the outsiders get a slightly stretched out view of the place.
Then again, it may just be indoctrination. Keep the masses singing; they may not notice they don't have a decent health system but we sure do have a mass of good killing toys.

I think its catching as well. Our beloved leaders are cutting the budget with a chain saw, yet they just signed a cheque for $18 B for some of your killing toys. You know, the ones you haven't even built yet.

Now that really gets my goat. Here we are sucking up to every Asian country north of Darwin and being really friendly so we can get some of their money but in the closet we are building a bloody arsenal just in case they want to invade us. Why would they want to do that? Because we now have a bunch of US marines hiding in the bushes, sweating their collective arses off for some unknown reason. Don't you guys have a tropical region of your own you can play in?
If they ever play the US national anthem at a function I attend here, I'll puke.

Tom dinning said:

My grandson is a regular visitor, Asher. He's on his way again soon. He likes the place but sees it all as one giant amusement park. My daughter prefers to look at the US from a safe distance - Canada. She sneaks in to take pictures from time to time but only of the weird things.
I must admit, when I was in the US for 4th July it was very patriotic. I felt like I had to stand all the time, which isn't easy when they play the anthem on musak and I'm having a ****.
And what's with the hand over heart thing? Is that to shield you against bullets or prepare you to draw your 9mm from its shoulder holster?
I'm not a big fan of national pride when it runs into bigotry. And it does, as you know. We get a taste of it here from time to time but it disgusts us so much from our own we pretend it is someone else who just got lost on their way to somewhere.
US says its the best country in the world, unlike most other countries who are happy to be just OK, then apologize for it. US seems to be like reading the book then seeing the movie and being a bit let down at the end. I remember visiting the Grand Canyon and thinking "is that it?" I'm not suggesting we have bigger and better holes in the ground, its just that all that national pride blows the balloon up just a little too tight and the outsiders get a slightly stretched out view of the place.
Then again, it may just be indoctrination. Keep the masses singing; they may not notice they don't have a decent health system but we sure do have a mass of good killing toys.

I think its catching as well. Our beloved leaders are cutting the budget with a chain saw, yet they just signed a cheque for $18 B for some of your killing toys. You know, the ones you haven't even built yet.

Now that really gets my goat. Here we are sucking up to every Asian country north of Darwin and being really friendly so we can get some of their money but in the closet we are building a bloody arsenal just in case they want to invade us. Why would they want to do that? Because we now have a bunch of US marines hiding in the bushes, sweating their collective arses off for some unknown reason. Don't you guys have a tropical region of your own you can play in?
If they ever play the US national anthem at a function I attend here, I'll puke.

Click to expand...

Tom,

$18 Billion? That's nothing. Anyway, we need the cash right now!

Check the amount spent on plastic crap from China!!

Just don't send China the plastic scrap from your manufacturers then you won't have to buy it back christmas time for presents. Cancel the presents and make meals for neighbors and buy local goods!

Don't sell them your iron ore! Make your own stuff!

Don't need larger armies, just need to allow folk to earn a living! Instead, we keep announcing great sales in the Malls when it's Chinese goods recycled from our scrap, and makes new crap that we really don't need. All over the world, folk are being made unemployed as it's always cheaper to source goods from China. It's such a self-destructive policy.

Asher

Nothing new, Asher. The Brits did it with Africa and India. Us greedy capitalist pigs need stuff. ****ed if I know why we need so much of it, though. I've got a shed full of it collecting dust.
The unions have killed it for a us manufacture. Those working class slobs want it all. 8 hours a day gets nothing done. There's just time for a smoko and a piss. Then they want indexed salaries, overtime, sick leave, long service leave, public holiday leave, leave leave. They want safety, air conditioning, uniforms, a free ride to work, soap in the toilet and a Sheila to serve morning tea.
Then they don't ant to buy what they make because it's cheaper from China, unless it goes through an aus distributed who happily quads the price and adds 20% transport charges to send it up the street.
The gov then gets their cut with GST, import duty, luxury tax and a little extra just in case the budget blows out a billion or two.
No. It's far better to have the Chinese children working 20 hours a day in a foundry without shoes and soggy bread to eat than us pay a bit more for our iPhone or bicycle.
Long live capitalism and poor countries with lots of cheap labour.

I was just expressing my surprise about different customs. The citizen of the US of A are certainly welcome to sing whatever they see fit before or after concerts. It is beyond my competence to discuss such matters.

I can however confirm that during football (soccer) events, Munich fans paint their faces in the flag colours of their teams of choice. Indeed Asher's observation is correct. In 2006 there were discussions whether this was a welcome development, however. People remembered all too clearly that, as far as Europe is concerned, the last times when massive displays of symbols of national pride happened were the years 1913 and 1938.

Hi, Jerome,

Jerome Marot said:

People remembered all too clearly that, as far as Europe is concerned, the last times when massive displays of symbols of national pride happened were the years 1913 and 1938.

Click to expand...

Sadly, in the USA, there is a tendency for those at the right end of the political spectrum to try and "hijack" national pride and patriotism, suggesting that those more toward the left end of the spectrum in their political policy leanings are indeed not "patriots".

There was a period in which we had the silly (but sad) notion that local police uniforms should not carry an American flag patch because it was a "political symbol".

Best regards,

Doug

Jerome Marot said:

I can however confirm that during football (soccer) events, Munich fans paint their faces in the flag colours of their teams of choice. Indeed Asher's observation is correct. In 2006 there were discussions whether this was a welcome development, however. People remembered all too clearly that, as far as Europe is concerned, the last times when massive displays of symbols of national pride happened were the years 1913 and 1938.

Click to expand...

Jerome,

I'm glad you reminded us of that angst folk had at seeing the national colors celebrated, that time in Munich 2006. The beer garden was packed with a sea of celebrating people, from old to very young and a great proportion of kids 16 to mid-twenties. I now remember at the time the people looked like butterflies had landed on their cheeks! It was so beautiful and innocent. These kids had no idea of the terror and arrogance that a national flag can represent to those of us who look at world events and recent history.

But these colors are indeed dangerous. I was in a so-called, "Grammar-School" where entrance was open to all children through a competitive exam at age 11. Those who failed, the majority, were destined for "General Education", which meant much more exposure to skills of "the trades" and then enough sports to keep the kids from understanding their prescribed future roles in life. The grammar school students, however, were prepared for university and national leadership in business, law, science, engineering and medicine. As in the very restricted entry, (by wealth or birth), so called "Public Schools" like Eaton, sports with cricket and rugby football, was considered the furnace by which the young men's metal was tested and their team work and leadership skills burnished. (The kids who failed to pass the 11+ exam were relegated to play soccer, LOL!).

The entire population of the school was divided into "Houses", just like the "Public Schools" they emulated. There were "prefects", older boys, who has authority to whack the "***s" on the behind with a flat rubber gym shoe, (no Nike's then, LOL) and could order kids stay behind for an hour after school, no matter what else was scheduled at home, for "Detention". Prefects could order "***s" that is 11 year olds to do jobs for them if they wished, but generally, it was pretty tame.

The "houses" had different colors. There was, I remember, the house of Radcliffe and the House of Ellis. I can't recall the other house's names. But I "Ellis" wore green sports uniforms. We looked down on other teams and their colors and their was a sense that our house had some exceptional qualities over the rest of the school.

So you can see that despite being one school, just the use of labels and colors, assigned randomly to new entrants to the school, generated as kind of nationalistic identity and a feeling beyond competitiveness, even arrogance.

Obviously, those who ended up in the British Army, had no problem going on to work administering the folk in the "Colonies" abroad. They all had already had 6-7 years of "leadership training"!

So over beer, we got to discussing all the newly scene sea of german national colors. The older generations were a little aghast and worried. The young were so happy and carefree that no one wanted to tell them the truth! Anyway, with beautiful young people all around celebrating, everyone so happy, who would listen!

Asher