oldtimefamilybaseball:The Greeks theorized that there were four kinds of love. Storge, or the n

oldtimefamilybaseball:The Greeks theorized that there were four kinds of love. Storge, or the natural love that exists between family and friends. Phileo, or a deep, abiding love between friends.Eros, or romantic love. And agape, unconditional love, regardless of the circumstances. So what you see above, John Buck comforting a hooded and injured Matt Harvey, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and drawing him near, is actually a fifth kind of love. The strongest kind of love, the one that can only exist between pitcher and catcher. It is the bond of Syntrofo Batarias, or, Mates of Battery. And it brings tears to my eyes.(h/t, and for the gif, head to Cut4) The bond between batterymates is what Oofuri is all about, and when I first watched Oofuri in the spring of 2008 I realized what a major aspect of baseball I was missing. Post-Oofuri, I can’t look at the battery relationship the same way again, and I never, ever can understate its importance to the game of baseball.In college, I played baseball by 1860s rules with the reenactment club. (I did my undergraduate work at Gettysburg, which is why we had that club in the first place.) I was the only person willing to play catcher, so I spent a significant amount of time behind the plate and had a number of different pitchers who threw to me during our little pickup games. I didn’t really feel any particular bond with any of them because, well, they rarely pitched to me for any extended period of time and we didn’t really see each other outside of club meetings, but I knew my role as a catcher was to make them feel comfortable, keep them loose, and work together with them as best as possible, even though we were playing pickup games and not keeping score.I used to catch batting practice for my kid brother’s Little League teams and eventually caught my brother using a tennis racquet as a mask (a bad idea) when he decided to start learning how to pitch around fourth grade. I didn’t realize how much I’d love the position until much later, when I went off to college and started playing it more often - and when I watched Oofuri in the spring of my freshman year and realized fully just how important that role was to the game I loved so dearly.Basically, to everyone who likes baseball and to everyone who likes Oofuri who follows me, the bond between batterymates is one of the two bonds I compare to a working marriage most often, the other being the bond between the two members of a comedy double act. And it’s not just because of Junta and Kazuki, either. -- source link

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