Happy Summer Solstice

Summer solstice (midsummer) always reminds me of Stonehenge, perhaps the most famous of England's stones, and baseball.  

The Brits do love their Stonehenge and we do love our baseball.  What do the two have in common? 

I have to take you back to my high school baseball catching days when, one day out of the blue,  coach Quentin Merkel stopped infield practice and asked, "Kuhnnie, what's the distance between home plate and second base?" 


"I don't know!"


"You don't know how far you have to throw a ball to second to throw out a base stealer?"


I thought about it for a second (knowing that I’d never some up with the answer), then threw a ball to our second baseman and said something like, "From here to there!"

He just shook his head and kicked the dirt, "Talk to your math teacher tomorrow."



That's when I was introduced to Pythagoras' theorem.

 What does this have to do with Stonehenge?  Seems that the circles were built using Pythagoras’ theorem --  2,000 years BEFORE philosopher's birth.  Many assume that cavemen intelligence built the monumental megalith in Wilshire, but new evidence suggests that brainiacs could have been behind the building of Stonehenge (or their coach sent them to their math teacher). 

So how far is it from home to second?

ANSWER    KEY:

I wonder if Pythagoras was a catcher on his team?

Carpe diem Life,
David Kuhn