Newspapers Talkin’ Baseball

It’s hard to go long without coming across a reference from the following three sources: the Bible, Shakespeare and baseball.

For the baseball part of this observation, we use as an exhibit last Wednesday’s New York Times.

In a story on Dick Cheney’s becoming the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey said Cheney passed “the John Rocker test.”

“It’s like the Atlanta Braves and John Rocker,” Kerrey said. “You can’t afford to make a selection that becomes bigger than you.”

In a story on the collapse of the Mideast peace talks, the Times outlined a scenario under which the sides could resume negotiating. Then the Times noted, “But that is betting on the last pitch of the last inning, and it may be little solace to Mr. Clinton.”

Elsewhere in the paper, a Times columnist wrote that the Mideast peace process hadn’t flickered out. The headline on his column was the statement that, as far as we know, came from Yogi Berra: “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.”