Feb 20, 2026
my translation of the forty-seventh story (out of 99) of 夢で会いましょう [Meet Me in a Dream] by Haruki Murakami and Shigesato Itoi, not guaranteed to be accurate. see the intro post to read more!
So—is it the shortstop who scores points? (A certain friend of mine (much older) asked me this.)
Well, in a sense they can (I answered), but really their point is preventing other teams from scoring runs.
Ahh, yes I remember that. They make outs.
Yes, that’s true. But remember: plays can also be ruled safe.
Right, safe. And are short-hops related to shortstops?
Well, beyond the similarity in the words, I guess a shortstop could always short-hop a ball.
I see.
My friend went on and on with a real impressive amount of questions. E.g:
- Is the bullpen where they keep the strong?
- Where on the field is the slash line?
This guy—you can never give him a clear answer. No matter what I say, it doesn’t take.
Sometimes all I wanna do is sigh and tell him, Look man, that’s a homerun, that one’s safe. Et cetera.
translator's note: apologies if the baseball terms are terrible. i tried to do my best to adapt puns