"Flack's Muff Tells Tale"

This is awesome. No, more than awesome, it's one of the best things I've ever read. There are so many things in it which are incredibly interesting, or hilarious, or just plain bizarre, that I truly don't know where to begin. I honestly can't say whether sports writing has gotten much, much better, or much, much worse since 1918. But I know that I really like:

• That sportswriters once called walking "perambulating".
• That baseball players once had names like Stuffy McInnis.
• That even in 1918 money was a central part of sports.
• That in the New York Times, a single play was described this way:

  Jackie Thomas of the U.S. Navy made a play in the seventh which was plain downright grand larceny against one Fred Merkle. Fred popped an angry bouncer down the third base line, which moved over the foul line as it passed the bag. Thomas stuck out one fin, knocked it down, picked it up, turned around a couple of times, spoke affectionately to the ball, and whipped in over to McInnis in a manner which looked as if the ball was going into the grand stand. It did not.

• That the World Series Recap included not only how many games each team won (Boston 4, Chicago 2), but also how many games each team lost (Boston 2, Chicago 4). Now there's some useful information you just don't get anymore.
  
• And, most importantly, that on that day in September 1918, the New York Times proclaimed the city of Boston the "luckiest baseball spot on earth".
• But then 1918-2003 happened...
• But then 2004 happened.

Damn, the next time someone asks me why I like baseball so much, I'm showing them this article. If they don't get it...they don't get it.