Baseball has barely had an off-day since the end of the World Serious this year. Even before the release of The Mitchell Report last week, the Hot Stove League has kept us all busier than normal. Especially us Yankee fans. Ever feel as if the constant media coverage–including the daily posts here at Bronx Banter–is just overwhelming? Sometimes, it’s just crosstown traffic, a lot of noise to me, and I’m as much a junkie, insatiable for breaking news, as the rest of you. In light of all this activity, my annual posting of the following Roger Angell quote, may seem old fashioned or wistful for a quieter time. I’m not generally one for nostalgia, but so be it. I’m a willfully stick my head in the sand for a minute and give my winter fantasies some room to roam:

“There is a game of baseball that is not to be found in the schedules or the record books. It has no season, but it is best played in the winter, without the distraction of box scores and standings. This is the inner game, baseball in the mind, and there is no real fan who does not know it. It is a game of recollections, recapturings, and visions. Yet this is only the beginning, for baseball in the mind in not a mere yearning and returning. In time, this easy envisioning of restored players, winning hits, and famous rallies gives way to reconsiderations and reflections about the sport itself. By thinking about baseball like this, by playing it over and yet keeping it to ourselves, keeping it warm in a cold season, we begin to make discoveries. With luck, we may even penetrate some of its mysteries and learn once again how richly and variously the game can reward us.”

Roger Angell, from “Baseball in the Mind”

Chew on that. We’ll be back shortly with more buzz.