Baseball and the steriod boys

Gerry leave a comment to ASM826's post about Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson becoming eligible for the Hall Of Fame:

So when will the Steroid boyz be allowed in?

Good question.  It brought to mind A-Rod, and a comment from Chris Lynch back in the day:

Every time A-Rod comes up to bat in Fenway, they should play Huey Lewis and the News "I want a new drug" ...

Well, okay then.  I dunno when he's be eligible, but if they induct him, this should be their bumper music.

R.I.P. Bob Uecker

I was going to post the great Miller Lite commercial with him, but Dwight beat me to it. 

I can heartily endorse his book about his baseball career, Catcher In The Wry.

Rest in peace, Uke.

Megan Moroney - Tennessee Orange

Long time readers will know my dislike of "modern" Country music.  But The Queen Of The World told me that I had to listen to this song.  You see, she had been an Atlanta Braves fan but she started wearing Red Sox shirts for me.  Remember, all you need is three chords and the truth.  

Tennessee Orange (Songwriters: Paul Jenkins, David Fanning, Ben Williams, Megan Moroney)

Mama, I'm calling, I've got some news
Don't you tell Daddy, he'll blow a fuse
Don't worry I'm doing okay

I know you raised me to know right from wrong
It ain't what you think
And I'm still writing songs
Just never thought I'd see the day
I've never felt this way

I met somebody, and he's got blue eyes
He opens the door, and he don't make me cry
He ain't from where we're from, but he feels like home
He's got me doing things I've never done
In Georgia they'd call it a sin
I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him

He took me to Knoxville last Saturday
And I wore the hat on his dash to the game
Sure wasn't Athens, but I
Fell for him under those Neyland lights

I met somebody, and he's got blue eyes
He opens the door, and he don't make me cry
He ain't from where we're from, but he feels like home
He's got me doing things I've never done
In Georgia they'd call it a sin
I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him

Mama, forgive me
I like him a lot
Hell, I'm learning the words to "Ol' Rocky Top
And he's got a smile that makes me forget
I've always looked better in red

But I met somebody, and he's got blue eyes
He opens the door, and he don't make me cry
He ain't from where we're from, but he feels like home
He's got me doing things I've never done

I met somebody, and he's got blue eyes
He opens the door, and he don't make me cry
He ain't from where we're from, but he feels like home
He's got me doing things I've never done
In Georgia they'd call it a sin
And I still want the Dawgs to win
But I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him

I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him

The Left Arm of God has a statue

Sandy Koufax was called "The Left Arm of God" because he was simply unhittable.  In four incredible seasons between 1963 and 1966 he won the Cy Young award every year, won 25 games in three of those seasons, and was World Series MVP.  The last season say him win 27 with a nifty 1.73 ERA and 27 complete games (!!!!).

He finished his career at age 30, with his arm blown out.  But even not able to pitch like he still clocked a career ERA of 2.76 and a 165-87.  His premature retirement from overwork is the poster child for the pitcher abuse that was the standard back in those days.  Typically a pitcher needs to have 300 wins to get voted into the Hall of Fame; the fact that Koufax was inducted with half of this shows just how dominant her was.

But you almost never see a pitcher pitch a complete game today.  The reason for middle relief and closers can be found in his shortened career.

Over the weekend, the Dodgers unveiled a statue to him.  He's led a quiet life, shunning the limelight.  My first reaction was "Sandy Koufax is still alive?"  Yes indeed:

Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax has played an enormous role in Dodgers history. It would be easy to argue that he’s the best pitcher to ever wear Dodger Blue. His No. 32 was one of the first retired by the organization, along with Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 and Roy Campanella’s No. 39.

On Saturday, Koufax and his famous leg kick were forever immortalized at Dodger Stadium as he became the second player to get a statue in the center-field plaza. Koufax joined Robinson, who received the first statue in Dodger Stadium history back in 2015.

Bravo.

80 years

The 1941 baseball season ended on this day, with Boston's Ted Williams closing the season with a .406 batting average.  It's the last time that a player batted .400 over a complete season.

A perennial question is which record is more unbreakable: Williams' .406 average or DiMagio's 56 game hitting streak.  Both are subject to Umpires expanding or contracting the strike zone; a hitting streak can be kept alive pretty easily via this.  Not so much the batting average.

There's an old story about this.  A young pitcher was facing Williams.  His first pitch was called a ball, even though he thought he had found the strike zone.  The second pitch fared no better.  Frustrated, the pitcher complained to the Umpire.  The Umpire replied, "Son when it's a strike, Mr. Williams will let you know."

Vincent Youmans - Overture to No, No, Nanette

Every Red Sox fan recognizes the name of this musical.  The Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees to finance this musical leading, triggering 86 years of baseball humiliation at the hands of the Bronx Bombers.

Except it seems that this isn't actually true.  Ruth was sold to finance a forgettable musical "My Lady Friends", not No No Nanette.  Presumably the latter was included in the "Curse of the Bambino" because it was one of the most successful musicals of the 1920s (Ruth's glory days in pinstripes).

Vincent Youmans was a young man whose plans of becoming an engineer were derailed when he was drafted into the Navy in World War I.  Rather than seeing combat, he found himself in charge of putting on entertainments for the sailors.  After the War, he became one of the "Tin Pan Alley" composers, penning this song along with collaborations with Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein among others.  He became one of the most successful composers for Broadway - and wrote all the music for Fred Astaire's and Ginger Rogers' first film, Flying Down To Rio.

Sadly, his career was cut short.  After only 13 years he came down with tuberculous and died at the age of 47.  You wonder what other music he might have written if he had been spared that fate.

Quote of the Day - The Death of Professional Sports

Chris Lynch is a daily read and a huge sports fan.  He makes some predictions about the future of football, but ends with this:

I'm a big sports fan (or at least I was) but this weekend I didn't watch a minute of a single game although the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics were all playing. That would have been unfathomable before 2020. Last night I was in a sports bar and it wasn't until the third inning was in progress that someone requested the Red Sox be put on the TV's. There's a big reckoning coming for sports revenue because people have learned that they can live without it.

Strangely, you can survive if your fans hate you.  Hate is a strong emotion and it means that they're still emotionally engaged.  You can't survive if nobody cares.

"The Gods do not answer fan mail."

Tom Brady is leaving the New England Patriots.  It strikes me as his Ted Williams moment.

Williams, for those who don't pay much attention to baseball, is perhaps the greatest hitter of all time.  A perennial question for baseball cognoscenti is just how many home runs would he have hit if he hadn't given up two seasons at the height of his career to join the Marine Corps in World War II, and then give up two more to fly as John Glenn's wingman in Korea.

Williams was a legend in Boston by the end of his career, and ended his playing days with a Hallmark moment, hitting a home run in his last at-bat.  Always touchy with the fans, he refused to come out of the dugout to tip his hat to the standing ovation - despite pleas from his teammates, the other team's players, and even the umpires.  John Updike penned some of the most memorable words written about baseball for this moment: The Gods do not answer fan mail.

I'm frankly very surprised that Brady is leaving the Pats.  He's played his entire career there, a career that has made him a wealthy man.*  I'm flabbergasted that he isn't playing out his last season where he has had so much success for so many years.  Then again, Williams wouldn't tip his cap to the crowd.

* As it turns out, Mrs. Tom Brady - better known as supermodel Giselle Bundschen - is worth twice what Brady is, so whatever extra cash Brady will get from his next team will be rounding error for his fortune.

Why The Queen Of The World and I will not watch the Superbowl

NFL rejects "Stand for the Flag" advert:



NFL allows Michael Bloomberg's gun control ad.

Remember when the NFL banned a pro-second amendment ad a few years back?

Screw you guys.  Just when it seems like saner heads might prevail and let the whole festering pustule stop swelling and oozing, the jackwagons running the NFL clown show shoot themselves in the foot.  Again.

Sideways with a chainsaw.  I don't need to watch your dumb game to see the funny ads anymore because they're all online.  This one is really funny, and has a cameo who will be recognizable to Red Sox fans:



UPDATE 2 February 2020 20:25:  I have to say that The Queen Of The World and I are enjoying the Puppy Bowl way more than I expected.  Wolfgang isn't paying any attention, but TQOTW tells stories about her old Golden Retriever, Skipper.  He would watch with doggie fascination.

And speaking of Golden Retrievers, the Suburu adverts are simply brilliant:

Major League Baseball rocked with scandal

The Houston Astros fired their General Manager Jeff Luhnow and also their Manager AJ Hinch over a sign-stealing scheme.  This is a big deal - the Astros went to the World Series last fall, and you would expect the team to try to protect their management.  But they're not just gone, they're banned from Baseball for a year.

And Red Sox Manager Alex Cora is also out, agreeing to resign his position.  The Red Sox won the World Series two years ago, but Cora is said to be the one who came up with the scheme when he was coaching for the Astros.  

The post-season chances for both the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox have just taken a hit.  The teams only have a month to come up with replacement managers, which isn't time enough for a very thorough search.

Smart baseball fans are waiting to see who else is implicated in the scandal - who else did this but hasn't been caught yet?  So what (I hear you ask) is sign stealing and why is it a big deal?  This video is pretty good about sign stealing as it has been done for years and years.  There's nothing illegal about any of this, but it will set the stage:

That's not what the Astros did.  They didn't use a base runner to steal signs, they used a camera.  That's a huge No No:

Costas spends some time on the fact that only managers have been punished.  Lots of players knew all about (and even participated in) the scheme, but nothing is happening to them.  Pete Rose - who was banned for life from Baseball for betting on his team when he was a manager - had some interesting thoughts on this:

“So they fire the GM, they fire the manager, and (MLB) probably is going to get (Red Sox manager) Alex Cora, who was the (Astros) bench coach at the time,” Rose said. “But what about the players who were behind this and taking the knowledge? Should they get off scot-free?

"Don’t you have to do something to the players who were accepting the stolen signs? Nothing’s been done. Is that fair?”

When Pete Rose says that more people should have been banned from baseball, that's something.

UPDATE 15 January 2020 13:49: I should have noted that (as you'd expect) Sports Firings is all over this.

The Ghost of World Series Past

The teams in this year's World Series are pretty evenly matched, and it looks like the series can go all the way to game seven.  It's not always like this.  Fifteen years ago today the Boston Red Sox completed their four game sweep of the St. Lewis Cardinals, capping the most spectacular comeback in Baseball playoff history.  Down 3 games to none to the New York Yankees, they rallied to sweep the Yanks in the next four games to win the American League pennant, and then stomped the Cardinals in the Series.

The "Curse of the Bambino" was over.  All New England celebrated, including your humble host who carved the box score in Jack-o-lanterns.

Groundbreaking

On this day in 1911, the first shovel of dirt was turned over at the site where Fenway Park was to be built.  To put that in perspective, the RMS Titanic was under construction in Belfast, North Ireland.

Baseball has many great quotes, but one of my favorites is about Fenway.  In the 1978 pennant race the (damn) Yankees beat the Sox.  In the interviews after the game Reggie Jackson said "They told me we needed an insurance run so I hot one to the Prudential building."

And no mention of Fenway is complete without this musical interlude:



Hat tip: The Queen Of The World

This is why you have backup pitchers

On this day in 1917, Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retired 26 Washington Senators batters in a row to win the game.  He replaced the starting pitcher, who had retired one batter.  The starting pitcher?  Babe Ruth.

Image via Wikipedia

The reason that the Bambino only retired one batter?  He was thrown out of the game for punching an Umpire.  Different time, different game.

Go Sox!

People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.

- Rogers Hornsby

Today is Opening Day.  There's no a better sign of the end of the long, cold winter.  I do believe that snow can be melted by shouting Play Ball! at it.

Linky, not Thinky

Several items are worth your time.

I hadn't known that not only could you actually go into King Tut's tomb, but that it had been restored.

The Red Sox and the New York Yankees are perhaps the greatest rivalry in Baseball.  It's cats and dogs, oil and water.  So it's a pretty strong statement of character when a died in the wool Sox fan meets Mariano Rivera.  As a Sox fan, I have to agree - Rivera has always been 100% class.

The EPA's newest science advisor is John Christy.  He runs the UAH satellite climate database - in my opinion the gold standard of temperature accuracy.  This seems like a very good sign.

Longest game in World Series history

Last night's game was 18 (!) innings, running 7 hours and 20 minutes.  That's two games played back to back.  Pro tip: watching the game in bed gives you the chance to wake up every two or three innings to see the score.

Both teams pitching staffs are more or less completely disrupted now.  Tonight's game will be interesting - rather than last night's pitcher's duel, tonight could be a real slugfest as tired pitchers get knocked around.

I have to say that this is one of the things I love about baseball - even watching for 50 years I've never seen anything like this.  It's a very old game, but you're always seeing something new.  Or old - heck, one of the Dodgers got caught between first and second and run down.  We used to play "pickle" as kids.

Quote of the Day, World Series Edition

One of the greatest baseball quotes is from Reggie Jackson.  After hitting a game winning home run at Fenway he was interviewed by the Press.  He said, "They told me we needed an insurance run and so I hit one to the Prudential".

The greatest rivalry in Baseball

Chris Lynch points out that tonight is the first Red Sox vs. Yankees playoff game since the epic series in 2004.

For those what aren't baseball fans, in the October 2004 series the Red Sox had lost the first three games of the series against the Yankees and were down by a run in the 9th inning and looked like they were finished - but then they rallied to win in the 12th.  They went on to squeak out wins in the next three games, most colorfully in Game 6 with pitcher Kurt Schilling giving a solid performance even with a hurt Achilles tendon.  Pitching through the pain, this is the famous "Bloody Sock" game:

The Sox went on to win game 7, becoming the only team in history to come back from an 0-3 deficit. St. Lewis didn't stand a chance against the fired up Sox and were swept in four games in the World Series.  It was the first World Series that the Red Sox had won in 86 years.

So expect a great series - While the Sox won a franchise record 108 games this season, the Yankees won 100.  Remember, there is more drama in a single baseball post season than in all the Superbowls in history added together.

This will be fun, as The Queen Of The World is becoming a bit of a Sox fan, and this will be the first Sox-Yankees post season match up that we've watched together.

GO SAWKS!

Yet another reason to love the Red Sox

The Triple Crown is one of Baseball's most challenging prizes.  It is only awarded to a player who has the most home runs and runs batted in, and who also has the highest league batting average.  To give you a sense of just how elusive this award is, there was a 45 year gap between Boston's Carl Yazstremski winning the triple crown in 1967 and Detroit's Miguel Cabrera winning it in 2012.  Most years nobody can top all three of the stats.

This year, Boston's J.D. Martinez is taking a run for it.  He's tied for most home runs at 39.  He leads RBIs with 114.  He's second in batting average with .336 - closely behind teammate Mookie Betts' .342.  That 0.006 is actually more of a challenge than you might think, but it's plausible that Martinez could pull it off this season.  There are still 27 games left, after all.

But what's cool about Martinez is that he's a strong Second Amendment supporter:

"As most of you guys know, I'm Cuban-American," Martinez explained. "Most of my family was run out of Cuba because of a brutal dictator. It's terrible…. My parents still talk about family members that are back in Cuba that I'll never get to meet. And it sucks." It sure does. Here in the United States, though, Martinez can celebrate the fact that a heavily armed citizenry helped repel subjugation. 

"I love my country," Martinez went on to tell the New York Daily News. "I stand by the Constitution and I stand by the Second Amendment."

Here's wishing Martinez success this season, and continued success as an ambassador for self defense.

Photo via MLB/Red Sox

Go Sox!

Having grown up in New England, I've been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid.  In all those years, I've never seen a season like this.  As of today, they have won just shy of 70% of their games this season, an astronomical percentage.  There are 33 games left in the season; if they win 70% of these they will end up with 113 wins (!).

To put that in perspective, the Red Sox have never won more than 105 games in a season, and that was in 1912 (coincidentally, the year that Fenway Park opened, and the year the Titanic sank).  The Sox haven't won 100 games in a season since 1946, and that is a lock this season.  With 90 wins already, they only need to win a third of the remaining games to get into triple digits.  It seems certain that they will break that 105 game record, and very likely will get 110 wins this year.

The Major League record for wins in a season is 116 - this looks to be a stretch.  But the fact that we can even speculate about this in late August tells us that this is a very unusual season.

I feel bad for the Orioles (the local team near Castle Borepatch).  Last year they made it to the post season but this year they're a lock to lose 100 games.  Pretty close to a First-to-Worst season, which has folks around here a little down in the dumps.  I almost feel sorry for the hated Yankees, too (almost, but not quite) - they have the best record in baseball this year other than the Sox and they're around ten games back.

As a long time fan I know the danger of counting chickens before they hatch (I'm looking at you, Bill Buckner!) but I must confess that I am entirely enjoying this season.  Something special is shaping up, and it sure is fun to watch.