While watching the Colorado Rockies defeat the hapless San Diego Padres 6-3 Friday night, Ken, official oldest child of NewMexiKen, suggested that baseball adopt that European soccer practice of dropping the poorest team in the league each season and moving up the best team from the next level.
Good bye Mariners. Good bye Nationals or Padres.
Hello Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Hello Iowa Cubs or Salt Lake Bees.
Jill and Byron and their three boys are on vacation, tonight taking in the ballgame at Fenway. Jill has been an Angels fan since she was a wee Sweetie herself and tonight she got some excitement. Not only did her Angels win 6-2 over the Bosox, but Angel pitcher John Lackey took a no-hitter into the ninth, giving up a single and home run with one out. He hung on for the win.
NewMexiKen saw a one-hitter (Nolan Ryan) in person once, but never a no-no. By the late innings I was so excited at the prospect of Jill and family getting the chance, you’d have thought I was there myself.
Byron, by the way, had this to say earlier in the evening:
“Yankee stadium has some charm. Wrigley has tons of charm. Fenway has no charm. This stadium needs to be blown up.”
Joe DiMaggio did not get a hit on this date in 1941. Too bad, if he had his consecutive game hitting streak would have been 73. As it was, he hit safely in 56 consecutive games up to this date — and 16 after. (44 is the best by anyone else.)
At AmericanHeritage.com a couple years ago, John Steele Gordon told two good DiMaggio stories:
A few years before he died, in 1999, when baseball salaries had been going through the roof, a reporter asked DiMaggio what he thought he might be paid if he were playing baseball then. DiMaggio smiled and answered, “I’d just knock on Mr. Steinbrenner’s door and say, ‘Howdy, pardner.’”
The other story concerns his brief, disastrous marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was a film actress, used to working in front of cameras and technicians, not audiences. After their wedding, DiMaggio and Monroe went to Korea to entertain the American troops fighting there against the Chinese communists. There were perhaps 5,000 soldiers on the air-base runways waiting to greet them, and when they stepped out of the plane, the soldiers started cheering. Monroe, startled by the ovation, turned to her husband and said, “I bet you’ve never heard such cheering, Joe.” DiMaggio, who had brought a sold-out Yankee Stadium screaming to its collective feet more times than he could count, just said quietly, “Oh, yes I have.”
Then he beat her.
Ichiro Suzuki is among the greatest to ever hit a baseball — in another decade or two when my grandkids ask who were the best players I ever saw in person, Ichiro will make the list — along with the likes of Mantle, Berra, Ryan, Reggie, Bonds, Schmidt.
But Ichiro can also be more quotable than most as this item at Bats reveals.
Sports Illustrated recently published the results of a poll taken among 495 major-league baseball players. The question was “Who is the most overrated player in baseball?” and the winner, with 10 percent of the vote, was Derek Jeter. Barry Zito - he’s not overrated, just overpaid - came in second, followed by J.D. Drew, Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Youkilis. Rounding out the top 10 were David Wright, Mark Prior, Andruw Jones, Curt Schilling and Juan Pierre.
David Kelly has more, including his list of the all-time most overrated.
“If they do get together, I hope la Ciccone isn’t expecting much action in October.”
Charles Pierce referring to A-Rod and Madonna.
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige was born 102 years ago today. A huge star in the Negro Leagues, Paige began pitching in 1926 and was the oldest major league rookie ever when he joined the Cleveland Indians at age 42. Paige pitched in his last major league game in 1965 (at age 59).
In the barnstorming days, he pitched perhaps 2,500 games, completed 55 no-hitters and performed before crowds estimated at 10 million persons in the United States, the Caribbean and Central America. He once started 29 games in one month in Bismarck, N.D., and he said later that he won 104 of the 105 games he pitched in 1934.
By the time Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 as the first black player in the majors, Mr. Paige was past 40. But Bill Veeck, the impresario of the Cleveland club, signed him to a contract the following summer, and he promptly drew crowds of 72,000 in his first game and 78,000 in his third game. (The New York Times)
Paige first published his Rules for Staying Young in 1953. This version is from his autobiography published in 1962, Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever.
Two Angels pitchers held the Dodgers hitless for eight innings last night, but it’s not a no hitter because the Dodgers didn’t bat in the ninth inning. They didn’t have to. They were the home team and they were ahead. The Dodgers won without a hit.
It’s only the fifth time since 1900 that a major league baseball team has won without getting a hit.
Angels, no runs, five hits, two errors.
Dodgers, one run, no hits, two errors.
The Los Angeles Times has the story on the Dodgers no hit 1-0 win.
Those who have seen Field of Dreams or read the book on which it was based, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, will remember the character “Moonlight” Graham, played by Burt Lancaster in the film.
Archibald Wright Graham (1876-1965) was an actual player, and a doctor. Graham played in one game for the New York Giants on June 29, 1905 (in the movie it was the last game of the season in 1929). Graham played two innings in the field but never batted in the major leagues; he was on deck when his one game ended.
Sixty-nine years ago today.
Back row: Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Walter Johnson.
Seated: Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack, and Cy Young.
Ty Cobb is absent from the photo; he had missed a train and arrived late.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was officially dedicated in colorful ceremony on June 12, 1939. The game’s four ranking executives of the period — [Kenesaw M.] Landis, [Ford] Frick, [William] Harridge and William G. Bramham, President of the National Association — participated in the ribbon-cutting. Of the 25 immortals who had been elected to the Hall of Fame up to that point, 11 were still living; and all of them journeyed to Cooperstown to attend the centennial celebration. A baseball postage stamp commemorating the occasion was placed on sale that day at the Cooperstown post office, with Postmaster General James A. Farley presiding.
Check out the Babe’s socks. He was into the low-cut sock look long before anyone else.
salary vs performance is a chart that “looks at all 30 Major League Baseball Teams and ranks them on the left according to their day-to-day standings. The lines connect each team to their 2008 salary, listed on the right.”
The more vertical the blue line, the better the ratio. (Congratulations Rays and Marlins!) The more vertical the red line the worse. (Way to go Yankees, Tigers and Mariners!).
Bob Ormond sent along this item:
Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals. And, although almost all teachers also taught evolution, those with less training in science — and especially evolutionary biology — tend to devote less class time to Darwinian principles.
The quote is from an article at New Scientist
And LP sent along a link to this good story that analyzes some mythology about Thurman Munson, the great Yankee catcher in the 70s, and his competition with Carlton Fisk.
“Obviously, something happened. Somewhere. At some time. But I’ve got three versions of the same story, and none of the versions checks out.”
Admission for two, ninth row behind the plate: $26
Food and drinks including a margarita: $32.25
Sunny Sunday afternoon doubleheader with 27 runs (including nine home runs): Priceless
Gotta love the Isotopes and AAA baseball.
“Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez, to AP, on his pending milestone after hitting his 498th career homer: ‘I know I have two more to go, but I ain’t counting.’”
This play by Manny Ramirez the other night in Baltimore is worth a click. He makes the over the shoulder catch running full out, gives a high five to a fan, and doubles the runner off first.
Last Wednesday in the fifth inning at a lopsided Mets-Dodgers game in Los Angeles, the winners of a James Loney-John Maine matchup were sitting in the stands. With the Dodgers trailing, 11-0, Mr. Loney fouled off five pitches before hitting a relatively meaningless double. Two of those foul balls, though, were caught by glove-less friends Glen Walker and Joe Castro, who were sitting in adjacent seats at field level between third base and home.
The Numbers Guy, who discusses the likelihood of this happening.
Try here for the video.
Asdrubal Cabrera catches Blue Jays’ Lyle Overbay’s line drive, steps on second to force out Kevin Mench (running from second and not seen in the video) and tags Marco Scutaro (running from first) for an unassisted triple play.
It was just the 14th unassisted triple play in major league history; only seven have been turned in the last 80 years.
Willie Mays is 77 today.
When Joe DiMaggio died in 1999, baseball luminaries were asked who inherited the title of greatest living player. NewMexiKen had a different assumption. I thought Willie Mays became the greatest living ballplayer when Ty Cobb died in 1961.
Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid,” played with enthusiasm and exuberance while excelling in all phases of the game - hitting for average and power, fielding, throwing and baserunning. His staggering career statistics include 3,283 hits and 660 home runs. The Giants’ superstar earned National League Rookie of the Year honors in 1951 and two MVP awards. He accumulated 12 Gold Gloves, played in a record-tying 24 All-Star games and participated in four World Series. His catch of Vic Wertz’s deep fly in the ‘54 Series remains one of baseball’s most memorable moments.
Two quotes about Mays:
• Ted Williams: “They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.”
• Manager Leo Durocher, who must have been from Deadwood, once recalled a remarkable home run by Mays: “I never saw a f—ing ball go out of a f—ing park so f—ing fast in my f—ing life!”
Orson Welles was born on this date in 1915. To many who grew up with television, Welles was simply the larger-than-life spokesman for Paul Masson Wines — “We will sell no wine before its time.” But at age 23 Welles had scared thousands of Americans with his realistic radio production of War of the Worlds. At 25 he wrote, produced, directed and starred in what many consider the best film ever made, Citizen Kane. For that film alone, he was nominated for the Oscar for best actor, best director, best original screenplay and best picture (he won, with Herman Mankiewicz, for screenplay). Welles was nominated for the best picture Oscar again the following year — The Magnificent Ambersons.
Amadeo Peter Giannini was born on this date in 1870. Giannini was one of Time’s 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century. Daniel Kadlec wrote the story:
Like a lot of folks in the San Francisco area, Amadeo Peter Giannini was thrown from his bed in the wee hours of April 18, 1906, when the Great Quake shook parts of the city to rubble. He hurriedly dressed and hitched a team of horses to a borrowed produce wagon and headed into town–to the Bank of Italy, which he had founded two years earlier. Sifting through the ruins, he discreetly loaded $2 million in gold, coins and securities onto the wagon bed, covered the bank’s resources with a layer of vegetables and headed home.
In the days after the disaster, the man known as A.P. broke ranks with his fellow bankers, many of whom wanted area banks to remain shut to sort out the damage. Giannini quickly set up shop on the docks near San Francisco’s North Beach. With a wooden plank straddling two barrels for a desk, he began to extend credit “on a face and a signature” to small businesses and individuals in need of money to rebuild their lives. His actions spurred the city’s redevelopment.
That would have been legacy enough for most people. But Giannini’s mark extends far beyond San Francisco, where his dogged determination and unusual focus on “the little people” helped build what was at his death the largest bank in the country, Bank of America, with assets of $5 billion. (It’s now No. 2, with assets of $572 billion, behind Citigroup’s $751 billion.)
Most bank customers today take for granted the things Giannini pioneered, including home mortgages, auto loans and other installment credit. Heck, most of us take banks for granted. But they didn’t exist, at least not for working stiffs, until Giannini came along.
…Giannini also made a career out of lending to out-of-favor industries. He helped the California wine industry get started, then bankrolled Hollywood at a time when the movie industry was anything but proven. In 1923 he created a motion-picture loan division and helped Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith start United Artists. When Walt Disney ran $2 million over budget on Snow White, Giannini stepped in with a loan.
…When Giannini died at age 79, his estate was worth less than $500,000. It was purely by choice. He could have been a billionaire but disdained great wealth, believing it would make him lose touch with the people he wanted to serve. For years he accepted virtually no pay, and upon being granted a surprise $1.5 million bonus one year promptly gave it all to the University of California. “Money itch is a bad thing,” he once said. “I never had that trouble.”
Bob Seger is 63 today. George Clooney is 47.
“I have apologized to my family for my mistakes. And having offered this apology to the public, I would ask that you let me and my family deal with these matters in private.”
Roger Clemens
All full of hubris when he went to Capitol Hill, all for the publicity. Now that the news is negative, it’s time to take it private.
Thanks to Jill for the quotation.
“Since 1950, a baby born in the United States in August has had a 50 percent to 60 percent better chance of making the big leagues than a baby born in July. The lesson: If you want your child to be a professional baseball player, you should start planning early. Very early. As in before conception.”
Greg Spira has the details at Slate Magazine.
NewMexiKen and a group of friends saw the Seattle Mariners defeated by the Texas Rangers 5-4 Tuesday night at Safeco Field. Frankly it was too cold and damp for a ballgame, but the park is beautiful, we got to see the retractable roof close, and it was a pretty exciting game if a disappointing ending. The crowd of around 25,000 was really into it when the home team rallied in the eighth, but it got very quiet after J.J. Putz blew a save allowing a two-run homer in the ninth.
Here’s two photos. The first looks toward the outfield just before the game began — the roof open. The second is Seattle pitcher Felix Hernandez delivering the first pitch. Hernandez threw a great game and had several sparkling fielding plays. Click each photo for a larger version.
Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training.
“Take all the drugs out of the NFL, and the season’s a half-hour long.”
Charles Pierce on the Mitchell Report.
“The new scouting report says: Throws left, bats left, injects right.”
Joel Achenbach in a post on How to Fix The Baseball Record Book.
Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall has died. Long before he was a broadcaster Nuxhall set a major league record:
Nuxhall’s place in baseball lore was secured the moment he stepped onto a big-league field. With major league rosters depleted during World War II, he got a chance to pitch in relief for the Reds on June 10, 1944.
No one in modern baseball history has played in the majors at such a young age — 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old. He got two outs against St. Louis before losing his composure, then went eight years before pitching for the Reds again.
The baseball season is over and its season of free agency has begun. With Alex Rodriguez seeking at least $350 million over 10 years — which would be the richest deal ever, by far — and mediocre 39-year-old closer Todd Jones getting a $7 million, one-year deal, you might expect to hear outcries about this apparent greed in the sports pages. But two factors make these numbers, when placed in context, much less than they seem.
First, a dollar just isn’t what it used to be. When Mr. Rodriguez signed his previous 10-year, $252 million contract in December 2000, the Federal Reserve’s index of the dollar’s value relative to other currencies was over 105. Now it’s barely over 71. In terms of imported goods, his minimum desired contract is less than his prior deal. (He opted out of the last three years to seek a new one.) As Tim Marchman writes in the New York Sun, “Imported goods and gasoline are more expensive; a dollar buys less than it once did, and so people want more of them in exchange for services.”
He has more on value in major league baseball.
Hillary grew up with the Cubs but said she was a Yankees fan while running for Senator in New York. Rudy loves the Yankees but says he’s rooting for the New Hampshire Red Sox in the Series.
Well, it seems God has the same problem.
The Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox will play for the World Series starting Wednesday night. Colorado and Boston aren’t just the best teams in baseball—they’re also perhaps the two most faith-based organizations in the game. The Colorado Rockies’ emphasis on Christianity was first reported by USA Today in 2006 and has recently received more coverage. In recent years, the Red Sox have also had an abundance of evangelical Christians in their clubhouse, including Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, and Jason Varitek.
The 103rd World Series begins Wednesday night in Boston’s Fenway Park, weather permitting (showers are forecast).
NewMexiKen has 11,999 songs (tracks) in my iTunes library. And while I have more CDs to import, I thought I should celebrate by getting something special from the iTunes store for number 12,000. Any ideas?
I spilled a lot of bird feed yesterday and this morning the film crew for the remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds is sizing up my backyard — a dozen mourning doves, sparrows, finches, a partridge or two, scrub jays.
Apple stock rose more than 8 percent in the first hour this morning on yesterday’s earnings report of $1.01 a share. I keep thinking it’s peaked and “now” would be a bad time to buy — and it’s up nearly 30% in a month. As Jimmy Jones sang:
Oh you need timin’
A tick a tick a tick of good timin’
Timin’ timin’ timin’ timin’
Timin’ is the thing it’s true
Good timin’ brought me to you
Big fuss because J.K. Rowling told an audience Dumbledore was gay. That’s a surprise? Didn’t people read the books?
The Cleveland Indians logo, Chief Wahoo, has got to go. Can you imagine them getting away with that type of a caricature with African or Asian-Americans or Hispanics (think of the fuss over Sambo or the Frito Bandito)?
Overnight Annie and SnoLepard added some interesting pairs in the comments to the Whom would you rather be? list.
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This morning, after more than 8.5 million hits on the Colorado Rockies website, Paciolan (Pack-ee-o-lan), Major League Baseball’s ticket vendor, experienced a system wide outage that impacted all of its North American customers. As a result, the Colorado Rockies have suspended the sale of 2007 World Series tickets scheduled to be played at Coors Field.
Pretty much the same thing happened to Cleveland’s pitching staff.
My favorite one ever was when Tim McCarver said, in the 2003 World Series, “Beckett’s retired 19 batters through Six and a third innings, he’s having a phenomonal night…”
Of course, Beckett hadn’t retired 19 straight, nor was “straight” ever said. The very definition of Six and a third innings is that 19 batters have been retired… every pitcher who has ever pitched Six and a third has retired 19 batters, regardless of if they were throwing a perfect game or were losing 20-0. Phenomonal indeed!
“It’s six in a row retired by Beckett — tailing fastball to Gutierrez. (Pause) I said six in a row — that’s ten in a row. One more time, the third time’s the charm — nine in a row retired by Beckett.”
—Tim McCarver last night
300 million people in this country and Tim McCarver is covering baseball’s premier games.
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The Indians are playing the Red Sox and the the Fox announcers are talking about the Yankees.
Just shut up!
NewMexiKen is hoping — against long odds I’m sure — to get World Series tickets for a game in Denver. They’re being sold strictly online beginning Monday.
I’ve been to one World Series game — 1972 in Oakland vs. the Cincinnati Reds. It cost $10 from a guy unloading tickets — and I hesitated. Five hall-of-famers to be (Bench, Morgan, Perez, Hunter and Fingers), a hall-of-fame manager (Anderson) and Pete Rose played in that game. Reggie Jackson was there, but injured and did not play.
Prices in Denver range from $90 to $250. (Not counting what they call the Rockpile in deep centerfield. It’s only $65.)
… that have never been to a World Series.
Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (47 seasons)
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (39 seasons)
Seattle Mariners (31 seasons)
Colorado Rockies
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (10 seasons)
“Hillary [is] so far ahead of Barack in the polls it’s like being up 7 games with 17 to play.”
“I know I don’t have to tell you this, but Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are back to ruin yet another American League Postseason.”
Via Sideline Chatter, here are 9 Baseball Moments More Wretched Than Steroids.
#9 Ty Cobb “Beat up a one-handed heckler in the stands.”
… of Rosalynn Carter; she’s 80.
… of Robert Redford; he’s 70. Redford has been nominated for two directing Oscars, winning for Ordinary People. His only acting nomination was for The Sting.
… of Rockabilly great Johnny Preston, singer of the classic “Running Bear.” He’s 68.
… of Martin Mull; he’s 64.
… of Patrick Swayze; he’s 55.
… of Madeleine Stowe; she’s 49.
… of Edward Norton; he’s 38. Norton has both a leading and a supporting Oscar nomination but no wins yet.
… of Christian Slater; he too is 38.
Roberto Clemente should have been 73 today. The Puerto Rican born Baseball Hall of Fame inductee won four National League batting titles, was MVP in 1966 and finished his shortened career with exactly 3,000 hits. Clemente died at age 38 in a plane crash while delivering supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua on New Year Year’s Eve 1972.
Antonio Salieri was born on this date in 1750. After his characterization as a villain in Peter Shaffer’s play and film Amadeus, it seems Salieri has made a bit of a comeback. According to a December 2003 article at Guardian Unlimited and other sources, while there was competition between the upstart Mozart and the established artist Salieri in Vienna, there was cooperation, too; that is, what transpired between them was typical office politics.
Meriwether Lewis was born on this date in 1774. Lewis had this to say on his 31st birthday 202 years ago today, camped just east of Lemhi Pass near the present-day Montana-Idaho border. (From the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online at the University of Nebraska.)
This day I completed my thirty first year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in this Sublunary world. I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now soarly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. but since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought and resolved in future, to redouble my exertions and at least indeavour to promote those two primary objects of human existence, by giving them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestoed on me; or in future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself.—
His birthday doubts are made all the more poignant, of course, with the knowledge that just more than four years later Lewis took his own life at age 35.
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