(A)Musings From the Cheap Seats

by Jerry Malitz

 

 

Wonder Why You Haven't Before

 

 The House that Little Alvin Jackson built, Shea Stadium is in the midst of season number forty-five. Its  high society neighbor to the north, The House that Ruth built, Yankee Stadium, has been hosting the Yankees since 1923 (you do the math). This year, they will walk together choking neck hand into choking neck hand, where they will both be greeted by Ebbetts Field and the Polo Grounds at the gates of baseball’s New York City Valhalla.

Many amongst us have some beer stained memories of one or both. Some, who will need more than foggy memories, are even poised to strike out and buy a souvenir that will be splashed across eBay soon after the season ends. Rick Reilly has already come out with a Yankee Stadium price list for several mementos including a seat $300-$2,500 or some dirt $200-$500 http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3479929.

The cost of a memory becomes prohibitive when looking at it this way. I mean $2,500? Heck, that would enable you to buy a single game special box seat ticket to the new Yankee Stadium. And dirt for $200? That will be worth four valet parking sessions at the new stadium. Won’t that be a better way to spend your money? Times have changed and that calls for better schemes. But it hasn’t always been about planning.

My two-year college roommate Irv found himself having to think on his feet on two separate occasions. The first came on February 11, 1968 - soon before he started college so he was not yet wise to the ways of the world – when he attended the last N.Y. Rangers game at the old (version 3) Madison Square Garden. During this 3-3 tie with the Detroit Red Wings, featuring a game-tying goal by the Rangers’ Jean Ratelle, Irv partook in one of the more famous episodes of rhythmic cheering, one that would make European soccer crowds envious. Throughout the game fans stood and stomped… on their wooden seats… breaking loose the slats so they could take home a piece of Garden history. No police or usher interference as they too wanted in on the action. The players probably thought that the crowd was totally into the game until splinters started to make their way onto the ice. Irv left with some future firewood and those who attended the February 12-13 92nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (the last event ever held in Garden III) were left to watch the 2,580 dogs in a standing room only scenario, a first for the Dog Show.

Irv’s second brush with mob rule mentality came on September 30, 1971 when as the Washington Post headline boomed out, “Rowdy Fans Hand Senators Final Loss.” Yes, Irv was an active participant when as reported “In the top of the ninth last night -- with the Senators leading 7 to 5 and two out -- several hundred youths in the yelling crowd of 14,460 surged onto the playing field at R.F. Kennedy Stadium. They ran the bases and stole home, tore out tufts of grass, grabbed the ball boys' folding chair and pinched dirt for their jacket pockets.” Irv has since told me he was never so proud as then to be referred to as a “youth.” He now had grass and dirt to go with his wood, and a campfire scene was not far off.

This leads me to my own personal experience. On Saturday April 18, 1964, one of my 8th grade buddies, Eddie, and I decided to go to Shea Stadium for the 2nd game in its history. Eddie and I already had a colorful sports-related history. Unfortunately it had to do with gambling. You see at the start of our 8th grade year we decided that what our school, Meyer Levin J.H.S. 285 in Brooklyn, needed was a weekly betting pool on what the top 10 songs would be on radio station WMCA, home of the Good Guys (For example, the #1 song for the week of April 15, 1964 was Do You Want To Know A Secret by The Beatles). We had a thriving business until we got caught in a sting. Our punishment? We were put into a 7th grade class for one week – Note to educators: Do not mix older kids with younger kids if you want to keep the younger ones pure of thought – to reflect on what we did.

So it was with this background that we headed out to Willets Point on the subway that day. After a first game sellout of over 50,000 people the Saturday crowd was a bit smaller at 31,480. The Pirates (Stargell, Clemente, Mazeroski) had a 9-0 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. It was then that the crowd began to empty out and Eddie and I made our way from the upper deck to the shiny new yellow box seats along the first base line. The 7th inning began what would become a trademark Mets late game rally. With 2 runs in the 7th and another 2 in the 8th the crowd was all pumped for the 9th inning. People were waving hankies and screaming and causing all sorts of a ruckus. It was at this time that Eddie and I noticed how loose the side bolts on our seats were. It was touch and go there for a while in terms of the stadium being ready for opening day and I guess they didn’t have time to tighten everything up. While the Mets loaded the bases the two of us were busy loosening the bolts even more until they were but one wrist movement away from coming off. The Mets scored one run but left the bases loaded as the original Frank Thomas lined to center against Elroy Face to end the game. As soon as that happened with one more turn we were each left holding a seat in our hands. Luckily it was April in Shea so we wrapped them in our jackets and ever so calmly walked out of Shea Stadium with two souvenirs that we didn’t have to wait 45 years for.

As a kid I watched many games on TV and listened to many more on the radio sitting on that seat. As for the next Mets game, well they won their first game at Shea 6-0 behind a 6-hit shutout by Little Alvin Jackson who officially became the first Shea Stadium hero in Mets history. I still feel a bit sorry for the two unsuspecting fans who attended that game and were left standing in true Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show fashion. No, truth is this is actually the first time their plight occurred to me. What can I say, I was a kid who knew I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars 45 years down the road for an artificial piece of history. I have my seat, I took part in its history, and I ended up with a like-minded college roommate. And people think college roommates just happen by chance.

 

Yo Ho Ho Ho, A College Life For Me

June 12, 2008

 

As I was metroing to the new Nationals Stadium (nice but it’s no San Francisco, Baltimore or Pittsburgh) a few days ago to watch the Giants complete a four game road sweep of the Nats (trust me, it’s not really that impressive) I pored through the pages of the Baseball America Directory 2008. After staring at the cover for ten unsuccessful minutes trying to figure out who Eric Aybar is tumbling over on the Rangers (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bUP89db0L._SL500_AA240_.jpg) I went beyond the cover in search of arcane information. Imagine my glee, and the sudden movement away from me by other metro riders when I literally yelped with joy, when I found something totally unexpected. There on pages 287-309 by combing through the listing of every Division I college and university baseball program (291 by my count) I found but four Head Coaches - Why is it that the NHL, NBA and NFL all have head coaches but MLB has a manager? Every other level in baseball has a head coach. – with anything that might be considered non-trivial MLB experience.

I started to think, wow this is not an insignificant sample - I’ll leave that to the righteous political pollsters - this is the entire population of collegiate baseball head coaches! What gives? Why are ten year plus MLB veterans Vance Law (Brigham Young), Ed Sprague (Pacific University), Chad Kreuter (Southern Cal), and Tony Gwynn (San Diego State) it as far as this small fraternity goes? After giving this lots of thoughtful alternating head and butt scratching time, and trying to relive the fragmented parts of my own collegiate experience, I came up with the following options which helped drive them to their new careers.

Option A – Women: Isn’t that why most guys go to college in the first place? It’s nice to be surrounded by up to thousands of young, friendly, attractive women in a confined space on a daily basis. Come on, a show of hands please, no one is watching, admit it. Yeah, a degree and a good job, right.

Option B – Unlimited/Free Food: ARA Slater was my food salvation. I even worked in the cafeteria or I would have starved during college. As a coach you get free food from everywhere on campus. These four head coaches all tipped the scales at around 200 pounds during their playing days. Imagine what they can pack away now (hello Tony Gwynn)?

Option C – Free Tickets to Campus Sports that Really Count Like Football and Basketball: BYU and USC are big time programs. Pacific and San Diego State are up and comers. It must be nice to get comp’d with great seats and have so many days on one’s social calendar already taken care of. Oh yeah, when short of money they can scalp the tickets.

Option D – Free Tuition for all Family Members: Have you seen the cost of college these days? We are looking at about $40,000 a year. Vance Law has five kids and a wife. School for free is a sweet perk. It almost makes someone want to have as many kids as possible, and to stay married, to take advantage of this freebie.

Option E – Finishing up your Own Degree for Free: Law, Kreuter, Sprague and Gwynn are all college men. Chances are that when they were drafted they had not yet finished their own degree work. Who among us doesn’t have a better attention span now then when we went to college? It would be a snap to earn that degree now. Besides, professors might be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt at this stage of your life cycle.

Option F – Big Man on Campus: Maybe the students wouldn’t know you, unless of course you are Tony Gwynn, but imagine all the faculty and staff that could get to relive their own childhood dreams by sniffing your jock or buying you a drink (apologies to Vance Law on that count). Never having to walk into a bar anywhere near campus without knowing that someone will be there to buy you a drink for a story can give you a warm fuzzy feeling.

What did I leave out? I know, I know, they enjoy working with young ballplayers and teaching them the fundamentals that they won’t get in the minors or majors. I agree, and maybe that is why there are only four of these guys. So a tip of the hat to Vance Law, Ed Sprague, Chad Kreuter, and Tony Gwynn and please pass the pizza.              

November 14, 2007

MIND GAMES FOREVER

One of the great things about writing in the off-season is that you get to do those evergreen pieces that you can't do during the season because of time constraints. An "evergreen" piece is one that can be written, and more importantly read, at any time. Unlike most of my pieces that run during the regular season and can now be found in a yard waste bag on the sidewalk in front of your home, Jerry Malitz has written a piece that can be enjoyed at any time...and I think you will.

 

(A)Musings From the Cheap Seats

MIND GAMES FOREVER

By Jerry Malitz

 

The best thing about traveling on Jet Blue, which is what I am doing right now, is that you and ESPN’s Sports Center become one. After watching it for three, four, or even five times in a row it’s as if a Vulcan mind meld has taken place between you and the broadcast. You can watch it with the sound off and still hear every word as you mouth each syllable in silence as your row companions look on horrified and move an inch or two further away.

             

It’s the perfect time though to sit back and sigh with satisfaction that the baseball season is over as far as the big boys doing their ballpark opus are concerned. But there is so much more to baseball then the games that are played, and I don’t mean the never ending litany of post season awards. For me as a kid, and if truth be known still as an adult, the off season has always given me a chance to delve into my own fantasy world of baseball. Have you checked out the banner that comes with this column as some OCD readers have? If not give a gander while I reveal the inner dark sweet secrets that are embraced in its diamond collage.

             

The players that populate the field are all Starting Lineup figures. If you guessed that they are not from my childhood you are correct. They hit the toy market in 1988 and are from my son’s youth. Fortunately, my son turned out to be the perfect running mate for my childhood/adolescence/adulthood non-latent proclivities. But as he grew older and lost interest in the figurines I secretly stored them away for my own safe keeping knowing that they would one day like to come out and play again.

After sifting through the forty figures hidden away in a place of secrecy I settled on the lineup that you see before you. Around the horn we have Eddie Murray at 1B, Roberto Alomar at 2B, Travis Fryman at SS, and Cal Ripken Jr. at 3B. In left field is Daryl Strawberry, in center field is my boyhood hero Willie Mays, and the right fielder who is actually sliding into home is Rickey Henderson. Providing bench strength and up at bat is Stretch McCovey, and on the hill is David Cone. None of the catching figures came in a fielding position which is something I always had a problem with so I refused to put a player in that slot; my silent protest against toy manufacturers. Considering that next year this select 40-man roster will be celebrating their 20th anniversary a big all star game is in the offing. Stay posted.

             

The field they are playing on is from Championship Baseball, a 1984 game by Milton Bradley. This game came with forty (Hmm, I’m starting to notice something biblical with these references to 40, some subliminal theological leanings by toy companies perhaps?) trading cards, but all I needed was the field for my purposes. My personal old stand-by game board, All Star Baseball, didn’t meet the needed field specs which is just as well since if I took that out I might still be playing and keeping detailed statistics.

             

The field is ringed by hats representing many major league teams. These came from games won on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. The larger ones I have were too big for this intended purpose and I got ill thinking about all the ice cream servings that I had to buy in order to complete that collection.

             

The scoreboard is part of a game that was also called Starting Lineup. It was created by the same people that made the figures but they blew it by not incorporating them into this particular game. Don’t worry, my son and I revised their rules for our purposes. The key thing about the scoreboard is the many ticket stubs that make up its façade. I have been collecting ticket stubs for a long time. My wife was actually thrilled that for once they were put to some real use. It’s unfortunate about the disappearing ticket stub. Now, more often than not they are both no longer stubs, how I cringed at yet loved those imperfect tears, and they are either a uniform Ticketmaster creation or worse yet something that you print from your computer; a mere piece of paper. It makes my old ticket stubs that much more unique and valued to me.

For this task there was no pre-determined basis for my decision I simply went with a colorful array of eight ticket stubs that fit into the scoreboard. Luckily, I struck historical gold. The eight tickets which ranged in date from 6/4/74 to 6/20/88 (From the oddities department. With the election of Bush the Elder in 1988 there are now some 40% of all Americans who have never lived outside the Bush-Clinton-Bush dynastic age. This is just a weird coincidence and in no way reflects my ticket stub collection.) told some splendid stories. We can start off with my $1 bleacher ticket to Wrigley field on 6/20/74 where Rick Reuschel tossed a 12 hit shutout (like that could ever happen now) aided by a homerun from Billy Williams. That day he was hurling against Doc “Hallucination” Ellis. The stub from 8/9/75 was an Astrodome relic which saw the younger Niekro brother Joe also pitch a shutout. Interestingly, current Astro Mike Lamb was born on that exact date. On 6/20/88 former and current Phillie Jamie Moyer went 8 strong innings and aided by a Mike Schmidt homer beat the Cubs. The ticket stub from Candlestick Park represented a losing effort by Bob Gibson in spite of a home run from Lou Brock. The strangest ticket stub represented is one from 8/14/80 at Yankee Stadium. I researched all I could, but found no game at Yankee Stadium that day. What I did discover though is that on that same date in NYC the Democratic convention selected The Man from Plains Georgia to run for a second term.

             

The eight tickets cost me a total of $39.40 (From the strange but true department. The field level box seat to 3 Rivers Stadium on 7/22/83 cost $6.30. How did they come up with that figure instead of say $6.50?) I just went to see Bruce Springsteen at the Verizon Center in Washington DC on Monday and one ticket cost $95. I could have had two tickets to each of these 8 games for less than the cost of one to see the Boss (From the sad but true department. From my vantage point up and to the side of stage left I was able to clearly see 3 hidden in the floor monitors with the words to the songs scrolling by. They were positioned in front of Bruce, Little Silvio, and Pattie the Wife. Sigh, can I be far behind in needing such aids?) In fact, the Coke and popcorn I bought at the concert for $10 was more than any one ticket to a ballgame. Oh yeah, the average attendance for the games was less than 15,000 including a mere 12,321 at Wrigley.

             

The final piece of media that make up the (A)Musings patchwork banner is the fan sitting on a bench on top of 5 mini-bats. The bats are autograph stamped replicas from Yogi Berra and Rick (Richie) Allen circa 1962 acquired as giveaways by yours truly at a NYC trade sporting goods show that my dad took me to, where I also came home with “real’ autographed pictures from Lou “The Toe” Groza, Ken Boyer, and Y.A. Title (All for free no less. How times have changed). The other 3 represent Rickey Henderson, Robin Yount and Ryne Sandberg where I once again have to give original credit to my son for us being in the right place at the right time.

             

Who’s the guy sitting on the bench watching the game with a beer in his hand you might ask? That would be me. After playing with the setup for an hour or so on my front lawn, ably assisted in the photography department by my head-shaking, yet ever so fetching, wife Ruth I sat down on my own front yard bench with a beer in my hand and a youthful glint in my eyes. Inexplicably, I turned up in miniature in the final picture. Yet another example of the miracles baseball stows upon true believers.

             

October 25, 2007

GET TO KNOW YOUR ROCKIES

It’s highlight of the week time and our Senior National Correspondent does not disappoint. In fact, Jerry Malitz is simply getting better in his offerings each week. This edition of (A)Musings From the Cheap Seats tracks some history of the Colorado Rockies that I believe most of the baseball establishment would prefer that fans ignore. But that will not be the case – remember where you read it – here’s Jerry Malitz and here’s your chance to…

GET TO KNOW YOUR ROCKIES

 By Jerry Malitz

Finally, we are now in the full-blown media throes of the 2007 World Series. In reality, the world might truly be watching – unlike the U.S. east coast where games will average ending after midnight - as players representing eight different nationalities will be populating the green manicured diamonds in Boston and Denver. As might be expected, behind the 33 U.S. players the five from the Dominican Republic will comprise the largest contingent. Speaking of the D.R. did you know that the first player signed by the Rockies franchise was then 18 year-old amateur free agent Neifi Perez? The very same Neifi who still found himself employed, minus an 80-game suspension for a third positive test for a banned stimulant, as a major leaguer in 2007 by the Detroit Tigers. Just think, if Colorado never signed him and gave him his first chance we might not have the infamous Neifi Index that measures a player's ability to contribute to his team's success by not playing.

             

So much is already known about the Boston Red Sox that one feels empathy for the Colorado Rockies. Of course they should not be confused with the NHL team from 1976-1982 of the same exact name who moved and are now called the New Jersey Devils. That’s an ironic twist of fate with names. The current conglomeration of Colorado Rockies has been linked to a fierce devotion to Christianity (not that there’s anything wrong with that). As Rockies chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort said in June of 2006 in an expressive and multi-textured quote, "We had to go to hell and back to know where the Holy Grail is. We went through a tough time and took a lot of arrows." (With all due apologies to Monty Python and Saint Sebastian.) I don’t know about you, but who cares what their organizational religious philosophy is? I’ve always been a huge admirer of the House of David’s baseball team who barnstormed the country from the 1920’s through the early 50’s. In fact, in the late 60’s I played on a baseball team with college friends and we all looked very much like those HOD stars from the past. When the HOD’s ran out of true devotees who could play at the level that was expected they went out and hired free agents and just asked them to keep their hair long and to grow beards. Not too different from today’s team building philosophy.

If background information is your thing then you might have some fun learning about the ownership of the Colorado Rockies. The CEO who gave us the Holy Grail quote is the chairman of the Rockies but he is far from the sole owner of this extraordinary team. Phil Coors, great grandson of Adolph Coors, chairman of Coors Brewing Company, and defeated 2004 Republican candidate for the Senate from Colorado is another part owner. The sports world would be at a loss without the Coors Brewing company. Worldwide they sponsor soccer teams, rugby teams, racing teams, NFL drafts, hockey leagues, and they will supplant Budweiser and become the official beer of NASCAR (ka-ching!) in 2008. Another part Rockies owner is media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications. They own 1,200 radio stations, 30 television stations, several satellite stations but I like to remember them as the company that banned the playing of upwards of 160 songs on their stations following 9/11. If you feel like scratching your head in wonderment try these banned songs on for size: Get Together by The Youngbloods, What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by The Beatles.  I wonder if they can now be played at Coors Field?

               

The Red Sox have a history that is 92 years older than the Rockies and many of their past stars and experiences are legendary in baseball lore. The Rockies are trying to make up for lost time though. They are already on their fourth logo in their short 15-year history. They sport the only humidor used for baseballs (don’t tell me that there aren’t some fine cigars in there as well) in MLB. They also play at the highest altitude in the majors far surpassing Phoenix who is number two - hmm, based on the success of the Rockies and the Diamondbacks this year teams will probably be building stadiums on higher ground in the future.

As far as players go the Rockies were fortunate to sign or select in the 1993 expansion draft a couple of future stalwarts who performed superbly for them and kept them competitive. Andres "Big Cat" Gallaraga averaged over 34 home runs and 120 RBI’s a season in a five-year period, and Vinny Castilla had over 32 home runs for 5 straight seasons. A few other notables were selected in that expansion draft by the Rockies. The two catchers they drafted were Joe Girardi, former Marlins manager and current Yankees broadcaster who is now interviewing for the vacant Yankees job, and Brad Ausmus, still catching after all these years for the Astros. On a personal note their selection of Yankees 3b Charlie Hayes royally messed up my A.L. only fantasy baseball team as I was planning on keeping Hayes and his $1 salary for the 1993 season. I could have used those 25 home runs and 98 RBI’s he produced for Colorado that year. And in the ultimate slap in the face the Rockies selected second sacker Jody Reed from the Red Sox only to trade him that same day to the Dodgers for Rudy Seanez (who was back with the Dodgers this season) who they then released a few months later. So a four-year starter for the Red Sox was not worth a thing to the Rockies. The Sox have been looking to get even with the Rockies since then. They now have their chance.

And if you needed proof that Colorado is in the less populated Mountain Time Zone, as a final act of misdirected disrespect to the Rockies long-time supposed die-hard Yankees fan Rudy Giuliani (Red Coat Giuliani or Mass.-Kisser as the New York Post headlines screamed out) put his own inimitable stamp on the World Series when he announced at a Boston news conference on Tuesday that he is rooting for the Red Sox to win. He said that as a Yankees fan he always roots for the A.L. team if the Yankees aren’t in the World Series. Right, and as a lifelong Giants fan I’ll root for the Dodgers in a World Series when hell freezes over. But then again I don’t have a January 22 primary in New Hampshire (by a remarkable coincidence Colorado’s primary isn’t until March 7) to worry about.

Baseball, politics and Rocky Mountain High, oh my.

 

October 18, 2007

A FEW QUID FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Thursdays have become my favorite day of the week because that when I get to read and enjoy the Billy-Ball opener like you. As you know, if it’s Thursday, it means it’s our weekly column from our Senior National Correspondent, Jerry Malitz. Although, with this week’s entry perhaps I should consider changing his title to Billy-Ball Senior International Correspondent. 

Enjoy as Jerry truly brings us the world of baseball…(A)Musings From the Cheap Seats

A FEW QUID FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

By Jerry Malitz

Here I am in London, England and I am working very hard to come up with a baseball angle for this column. I know this much, the Rockies have forgotten how to lose and are awaiting with kid-like confidence and enthusiasm for the winner of the Junior League’s offering of either the anxious Red Sox or the unflappable Indians.

What is making this task even more difficult is that this week is a most intense week in English sports. Upon arrival on Saturday I was thrust into a doubleheader that made pub owners cry with joy. England was playing in a crucial EuroCup (football) qualifier against Estonia (no, not the country from the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup movie) and right on the heels of that England was to play the host country France in the World Cup semifinal for the Rugby championships. Into this emotional maelstrom I tried to get a sense of what London sports fans thought of the Major League playoffs. In one word the answer is a big fat NOTHING.

My first obstacle to overcome was when I asked some well lubricated pub patrons who they thought would win the baseball games. Of course consumption of some strong English pints of suds got my own memory fuzzy right off the bat, but I do hazily recall a few details. My question was met with quizzical looks. How was I to know that a contest between two teams was not called a game? It took a couple of sweaty beer laden English arms around my shoulders and screams in my ears during down times from the two games that were being televised back-to-back to learn that what we call games they call fixtures. Fixtures? Look up the word fixtures and see what you get. Even horse races are called fixtures and not races. What is up with that?

             

Once I overcame that barrier I had to explain who the participants were. Until I said it out loud I didn’t realize that we had one series between states and another series between cities. I got nowhere with questions about Colorado and Arizona. I might of as well been talking about the new season of network television shows in the U.S. (They would never have believed that a commercial for an auto insurance company is now a comedy series called Cavemen.)  At least I got a better response when I asked about Cleveland versus Boston or as they were so lovingly called “those bloody traitors.” Bear in mind that a country that has a door in Westminster Abbey that they all remember so affectionately as the oldest door in England (about 1,000 years old) has a very good memory when it comes to perceived treasonous crimes against the British Crown that happened a mere 230 odd years ago.

             

I thought if team names didn’t resonate with them perhaps a reference to a star player might do the trick. I tried Big Papi. From that line of inquiry I learned that they do have bagels in London; big ones with poppy seeds. Clearly baseball was going to have to take a back seat to soccer, or as it is called in London and elsewhere, football; and rugby which is more like American football than soccer. Follow me on that? None of this really mattered as England swept their two big sporting events on Saturday as fans of both sports celebrated in true English fashion, with singing (Americans chant, the rest of the world sings), hoisting pints of beer, and wearing the national jerseys of their teams (how many of you have U.S. team jerseys from the 2006 World Baseball Classic?). It was all quite a spectacle.

             

I had to face the facts that U.S. baseball would not get any respect from the casual English fan but I knew where it was bound to be valued, among the many English bookies that seem to dot their urban landscape. Perhaps the biggest of English bookies is Ladbrokes. They appear to have betting parlors in all the major London train stations (my respect for the English is growing every day) to help commuters start and end their day with a potential bang. At Ladbrokes you can of course bet on the football matches, the rugby finals (England’s opponent South Africa beat the English lads 36-0 in an earlier qualifying match so they are 1-3 favorites), all the different horse race tracks, the Grand Prix of Snooker, which has this town all aflutter, and items such as who will score the first goal in a game, penalty minutes, odds on at what minute mark of the game will rugby legend Johny Wilkinson first tie his shoes (well almost), and virtually anything of any substance during the fixture, but I could not find anything posted on baseball. I am just glad that this is not cricket season as that would have been a humiliation I could not have taken.  All an inquiry got me was they could look into it for me. Snooker baseball isn’t.

             

Due to this situation I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Do I search high and low for English baseball fans, do I buy the M.L. baseball package so I can watch the games in the bright light of my laptop monitor in my lonely hotel room, or do I adopt all English teams for the week and join the fans in the pubs across town singing, chanting, hoisting pints (Did I mention that they have no container laws in London? People often roam the streets and the tubes with beer in hand. I know, I was speechless when I first leaned this as well.), while wearing the colors of the national team? Tally-Ho and cheers. I have a few quid on the outcome so let’s go Johny.

                                                                                                                                           View the Ladbrokes tv advert

 

 

October 11, 2007

 

BASEBALL, ITS COMPETITION, FANS AND OBSERVATIONS

On October 18, I’m going to an open school night at the high school. It’s my daughter Jen’s first year there. Upon receiving the notice for the event, the first thing I did was check the postseason schedule. Now, mind you, this is the high school that Sox GM Theo Epstein went to, and yet there is open school night opposite Game 4 of the Indians/Red Sox series. What are these people thinking?

Fortunately, Billy-Ball Senior National Correspondent Jerry Malitz is here to provide some perspective with this week’s installment of (A)Musings From the Cheap Seats:

BASEBALL, ITS COMPETITION, FANS AND OBSERVATIONS

By Jerry Malitz

The TV imposed break in the baseball playoffs is up tonight after a sorely needed four days rest in the NL series. How happy do you think TBS is after rearranging all of their programming to accommodate baseball games and then lose out on seven potential 1st round, excuse me ALDS and NLDS, playoff games? As this break closed in I was able to give some thought to how non-baseball venues, areas where teams in the playoffs didn’t exist, and fans treated the baseball playoffs.

             

I had the opportunity to watch most of the first round on the road in northern Wisconsin. The drive there enabled me to pick up newspapers in Michigan where I saw that every baseball related story was about the Tigers, Magglio Ordonez’ great year, plans for next year but nothing about the ensuing playoffs. It was as if they didn’t exist. No Tigers, no playoffs. It’s the same way I fell when a team I root for loses. If I don’t read the paper the next day it really never happened. Try it, it’s quite cathartic.

             

In northern Wisconsin on the pristine banks of Lake Superior they do not have a baseball team other than the Northland College Lumberjacks. Since they do not play fall baseball there, baseball is out of sight and out of mind. One night I was forcibly dragged into a bar kicking and screaming where I was greeted not by the recognizable hum of Dick Stockton’s voice but by the sound of a wheel turning as the entire bar was fixated with watching Pat and Vanna and their Wheel of Fortune. Turned out that I was pretty good at guessing and the Leinenkugels were a buck-fifty so the next night I was right back in my newly claimed bar stool to play again. What playoffs?

             

This past Saturday night was spent at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey, part of the most outrageous concrete jungle sports complex you have ever seen. They could hold a mini-Olympics there if they wanted to. You have a racetrack, an indoor arena, a stadium, a practice field for football, and now they are building a new stadium on the same site. Anyhow inside the racetrack they were kind enough to have several large screen monitors with the baseball games on right alongside many college football games. Being a trained sociologist (I think that’s what American University gave me a degree in) I decided to place my bets on the races but to spend the bulk of my time glued in front of those beacons of light and action.

             

I was typically the only one watching the baseball games as college football with their point spreads and over/unders ruled the day. Occasionally a bettor who was tearing up his losing tickets would walk by and ask, “who the **** is  playing,” or “what’s the bleepin’ score,” and more often than I liked I was accosted by a half-crazed gambler peppering me with their opinions on A-Rod. Any time I started a sentence with a non-condemning word towards A-Rod I would be cut-off  by a stream of invectives against the Yankees number 13. Yes, as far as the race track crowd goes he was single-handedly the reason the Yankees were down 2-0 in games at that time.

             

The next day I ventured into another part of the Meadowlands maze of parking lots and jersey barriers and joined 78,000 others for the Jets-Giants football game. Since it’s a well known fact/myth that so many Giants fans are Yankees fans (and Jets fans are Mets fans because of the spelling similarities no doubt) I asked several if they could pick either the Giants or Yankees to win that day who would it be? With but one exception they all picked the Yankees. The exception, when picking the Giants said that if the Giants won he would then ask to change the rules so the Yankees could win as well. Now that’s a thinker. After searching the parking lots for two hours I finally found someone with baseball paraphernalia on. That brave individual had an A-Rod jersey on and he couldn’t have been more isolated if he was ruled contagious.

             

Speaking of jerseys have you noticed that fans attending baseball games are not the jersey wearing type of fan you see at other sports? Sure baseball fans rule when it comes to wearing hats but they lag far behind in jerseys. At the Giants-Jets game it appeared as if half the people were sporting the uniform of a current or past Giants player (Jeremy Shockey seemed to be #1). The NBA goes to great lengths to market their jerseys which is evident when attending a game. At hockey games jerseys constitute the wardrobe of women fans in greater numbers than any other sport. And much like the strong link among fans of the different sets of New York teams hockey fans are also vocal about their baseball loyalties. At the Detroit-Chicago hockey game on Saturday October 6 a huge cheer went up when they announced that the Cubs were losing. Got to love those White Sox fans.

             

Tonight when you get ready to watch the Rockies play at Arizona remember that you are part of a great tradition. It might not be for everybody but it is for some so sit their tonight with your hat on, wearing a jersey, soaking it all in and if you flip the channel on occasion to see about buying a vowel that’ll be our secret.

 

October 04, 2007

 

HI THERE, HAVEN’T WE MET BEFORE?

In the nine years that I have been writing Billy-Ball I have been trying to keep an objective tone, but it seems that each of you are pretty aware as to who I root for. I’m fortunate that I seem to root for winners so come the post-season I’m deeply invested.

But what if that weren’t the case? Senior National Correspondent Jerry Malitz offers this advice for the lovelorn in his latest edition of…

(A)Musings from the Cheap Seats

 

HI THERE, HAVEN’T WE MET BEFORE?

Baseball playoff time is here and your favorite team is nowhere to be found, what to do, what to do, what to do? If you are a fan of a team such as the Milwaukee Brewers or Kansas City Royals, who last participated in the post-season in 1982 and 1985 respectively, then this conundrum is part of your normal playoff routine. It’s also becoming an annual rite for fans who root for the Orioles, Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Reds, Pirates, and most of all the Nationals/Expos franchise who lead the pack with 26 consecutive playoff-less years.

For most fans having a rooting interest ratchets up the intensity in watching a game. Have you ever found yourself at a bar watching a sporting event or even an election results with fans of both sides present? It’s tough to stay neutral. Just try toasting a good play, a clutch hit, or a network call for a candidate by clinking glasses with yourself? It’s awkward and no fun at all.

Here we are, Playoffs 2007, and your team is no longer playing.  Unless you are a Mets or Padres fan you have had some time to prepare yourself for this. Who by the way should feel worse? Is it the Mets fan who saw their beloved Metropolitans lead them down a shiny yellow brick road that got swallowed up by a massive sinkhole because of lack of maintenance? Or would you rather be a Padres fan and have your future Hall of Fame closer turn your champagne on ice into uncorked Ripple? Either way you guys get a pass this time around.

For the rest of us we get to pick from the Indians, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks and Rockies, interesting choices for sure. Here is a primer that might help you decide who will be your very own 2007 postseason poster team.

 

Tradition – If this is your thing you have much to choose from. Of course this can also be a deterrent in picking a team since some traditions get old real fast. Red Sox Nation or Pony Up? The Bronx Bombers and the House that Ruth Built (and remodeled and will tear down)? Wrigleyville, the Harry Carey guest7th inning stretch sing-a-long, the long-suffering Cubs fans? All nice and quaint if you already root for one of those teams but those bandwagons might be a bit overcrowded already. If you want some real tradition try the Cleveland Indians. Other than those long-suffering Cubs fans the Indians have the longest World Series championship dry spell (1948). They also have the best movie about a team, Major League, which popularized ‘Wild Thing’ as the song of choice for closers.

 

People Magazine Quotient – These playoffs have many paparazzi choices. The Yankees have the dynamic duo of A-Rod, and Derek Jeter. The Phillies can counter with Jimmy Rollins while the Indians can offer up S.I. cover boy Grady Sizemore. For the new kid on the block though try Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes. If he played on either coast he’d be a household name (oops, both Oakland and Baltimore had him and got rid of him). If you like craziness and dirt on a uniform he’s your man.

 

What Politicians Might Throw Out the First Pitch – Hilary Clinton already had media events planned for both Shea and Yankee Stadium but one will have to suffice. Trust me, if you are Willie Randolph stay away from Hilary. Still count on seeing Sen. Clinton at the ballpark although not on back-to-back days with Mayor Rudy and his made in the U.S.A baseball glove (if any are still made here). Do you think Obama will be dusting of his glove or clearing his throat for an appearance at Wrigley Field? I am betting on his singing of ‘Take Me Out’ to get the Cubs going. Of course Mitt Romney has a home in Massachusetts (and New Hampshire and Utah but they have no teams) but I am sure he won’t be putting on a hat if he shows up for a Red Sox appearance. And let’s not forget that wild and crazy guy John McCain. He’ll take the mound with a Diamondback wrapped around his neck when he throws out a first pitch.

 

Baseball Reasons That You Might Not Know – If you like small ball then the Rockies are your team. They led the majors with 83 sacrifice bunts this year and they also had a major league low of 67 errors. Nobody was close to them in either category.  If you are a fan of strikeouts the Cubs are your team since they whiffed a major league high of 1,211 batters. And for pure hitting you can’t beat the Yankees and their A.L. high of 201 home runs to go with a  .290 team batting average.

 

Miscellaneous – The Angels get little respect in Los Angeles/Anaheim. They are more successful in recent history than the Dodgers but they are still #2 in that area. They can use the fans. Before the season started Jimmy Rollins said ‘The Mets had a chance to win the World Series last year. Last year is over. I think we are the team to beat in the NL East.’ He got grief about that quote all season long yet he was right. He has chutzpah and he backed it up. Good for him. The Rockies play their games in Coors Field. It could be worse; it could be Coors Light or even worse ‘The Silver Bullet.’

Whatever you do don’t sit on the sidelines without a team to root for. Perhaps you will end up with a different take on the game with a contender in your stable. Nuances that you never bothered with before will suddenly take on a much clearer purpose. As Stephen Stills sang, ‘If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.’

 

9/27/2007

LET’S GO ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the addition of Jerry Malitz, Senior National Correspondent for Billy-Ball.com. He writes something that I don’t have to write.

No, that’s not it! He writes something that I love to read and I love that.

For his recent work he has been promoted on the staff from Jimmy Olsen to Lois Lane.

Jerry brings us another way to relax today with a significantly different slant.

Enjoy…

LET’S GO ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD

The major league playoffs are soon upon us and so are many games of predictions. But what if there was a new game in town, one that pitted make-believe teams against each other? How about the New York Subways against the Los Angeles Freeways. Let the two teams be comprised of players who put on the uniforms of both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets against a team of players who wore the Dodgers blue and also got to wear a cap with that silly halo of the Angels (just who are they trying to butter up with that anyhow?).

             

Of course one of the teams has had a major identity problem. The Angels without moving cities have been called the Los Angeles Angels, the California Angels, the Anaheim Angels, and now they are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I am not sure if this is a marketing stroke of genius or a blatant case of disrespect for the city of Anaheim and it’s 342,000 residents. Regardless this city rivalry is a match waiting to happen and here are the teams who will be fighting it out on our imaginary field of dreams.

Well over 100 players have been both a Yankee and a Met and here is your starting lineup.

1B – John Olerud – He of the helmet in the field and the .295 lifetime B.A.

2B – Willie Randolph - A graduate of my alma mater Samuel J. Tilden H.S. Damn that Rutherford B. Hayes and the Republican Congress of 1876 during their first steal of a presidential election.

SS – Tony Fernandez – A .288 lifetime B.A. with 246 stolen bases.

3B – Robin Ventura – 294 Home runs and a playoff grand slam turned single.

OF – Daryl Strawberry – 335 Home runs,  and a son who starred in basketball for the Maryland Terps.

OF – Rickey Henderson – A Christmas baby with 297 home runs and 1406 stolen bases.

OF – Gene Woodling – Old school. Started playing in 1943 and compiled a .284 B.A.

C – Yogi – He needs no last name since he is the only Hall of Famer on this team and he still does AFLAC commercials.

SP – Dwight Gooden – 194 wins and some extracurricular medicinal habits.

RP – Jeff Reardon – 367 career saves and the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to have 40 saves in a season in both the American and National Leagues.

Over 80 players have donned the Dodgers blue and Angels Halo. Here is ther team.

1B – Bill Buckner – The New Yorkers insisted that he be on this team despite his .289 B.A.

2B – Billy Grabarkewitz – Known as Grabs. What else is necessary to know.

SS – Bobby Valentine – Ralph Branca’s son-in-law just has to be on this team.

3B – Ken McMullen – 156 home runs and a stint with the Washington Senators.

OF – Tommy Davis – A .294 B.A. and a single season record of 153 RBI’s for the Dodgers. He went to Boys H.S. in Brooklyn a rival of Tilden’s. Boo.

OF – Willie Davis – 398 Stolen bases and a .279 B.A but no relation to Tommy.

OF - Devon White – 208 home runs, 348 steals and not a member of the Jamaican bobsled team.

C – Jim Torborg – The only two teams he played for. A .214 B.A. and 10 of 11 losing seasons as a manager.

SP – Don Sutton – A Hall of Famer with 324 wins negated by being an announcer for the 2007 Washington Nationals.

RP – Jim Brewer – A nasty screwball and a lifetime ERA of 3.07

What do you think?

It seems as if the N.Y. squad includes many more household names and characters. Sure there might be a few more drug addicts but it’s not easy playing in the Big Apple. On the other hand the L.A. squad is full of “scrappy” ball players (read: not very good). Perhaps it’s the managers who will make the difference. The Subways get the The Old Perfessor, Casey Stengel who will undoubtedly confuse them. While the Freeways get Mike Scioscia who is more attuned to the modern ballplayer.

Need some more material to make a decision? The New Yorkers have many characters on the bench with Marvelous Marv Thronberry, Ron Swoboda and Phil Linz to provide harmonical musical relief. The best the Angelos can do on the bench to keep the team loose is the prankster Jay Johnstone. He’s not bad but is he a match for a classic Miller Lite commercial star like Marvelous Marv?

It looks like this is a case where the star power of the east coast might prove to be too much for the traditional laid back west coast attitude. How do so many big names end up playing for both the Yankees and the Mets? Pizza and deli that’s all there is to it.

Back to Billy-Ball Home Plate

 

9/20/2007

DEAR MR. FANTASY

You might know the rock group, Traffic, formed by Stevie Winwood when he just 19 by some of their greatest hits. Working with Jim Capaldi, Traffic scored many big hits, but one that wasn’t, but quickly became an underground radio favorite in the U.S., and has long been considered one of the group's best, was Dear Mr. Fantasy.

 

The song was a true classic and so is the latest (A)Musings From the Cheap Seats entry by Jerry Malitz entitled…

 

DEAR MR. FANTASY

Being a baseball fan used to be a snap. Most likely it was root, root, root for the home team. Or sometimes from the cradle you were swathed in clothes and your bedroom was decorated by your father in black and orange and you never questioned from where your hand-me-down allegiances came from. Other times your team might have been determined by hero worship of one particular player based on an autograph, a treasured baseball card, or a “hey kid” remark that you thought was aimed your way as did tens of other kids..

Those were uncomplicated times. Times ruled by clearly drawn boundaries. The baseball world changed in 1980 when a few nostalgia immune friends sat down in a restaurant and created a world of adult make believe where they could all be general managers. Called Rotisserie when it began, it is now known as the world of Fantasy Baseball. Clearly fueled in large part by the web, it has altered team allegiances and in many cases wiped them out entirely. A few hard to find holdouts do remain. They can be identified by their faded baseball hats with insignias that have been passed many times over by marketing people. How do these quaint relics exist in today’s fantasy baseball society? Although far from foolproof, unlike our fantasy drafting strategies, there are a few options available that might save 20th century fandom.

Go ahead and give it your best shot. If everything breaks right you might become that time traveler of an individual who can pull off this rarest of unassisted double plays. Be forewarned though that your toughest hurdle will come when your young son or daughter catches you standing and cheering when one of your fantasy players gets a game winning home run against their beloved team. A team that they thought you both shared as a favorite. They have the hat, they have the pennant, they have the jersey, and next season they will be looking to join their own fantasy league and aiming to kick your butt.

Ah, the madness.

Back to Billy-Ball Home Plate

9/13/2007

THE BEST OF THE WORST

Jerry’s feature “(A)Musings from the Cheap Seats,” today focuses on the very best of the worst pitchers in baseball. This represents really the Billy-Ball Cy Young Award. As you know each season the Cy Young Awards are given to the best pitcher in each league. The award honors Cy Young’s 511 victories, the most in baseball history. What is often forgotten is that Cy is the all-time loss leader as well with 316 defeats. Being the biggest loser of all time, of course, makes him perfect for Billy-Ball.

 

The end of the baseball season is closing in so get ready for all of those postseason award predictions. You have your MVP, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and the Cy Young Award. Winners are trendy to pick, but it’s the losers and the most awful performers that make me smile, smack my lips and order a cold one. And what position could be more bizarre than the world of Major League starting pitchers? You can keep your Cy Young award just give me the dregs, the guys who totally mess up any fantasy team. They are a true pleasure to dissect. Besides the obvious bad pitching stats that only playing time can build, you get to marvel at lousy managerial decisions, and unbelievable front office judgments.

 

But how about a pitcher who started 36 games and completed 10 of them? Add to that an ERA of 3.94 and a WHIP of 1.26 not to mention holding batters to a .258 BA. At worst he’d be a number 2 starter for virtually every Major League team. Well back in 1965 (that year the NL average ERA was 3.54 and the BA was .249), when Jack Fisher had those stats for the NY Mets, he went 8-24 (one of two 20-game losers for the Mets that season along with Al Jackson).  You know the famous Chico Escuela saying, “you must be a berry berry good pitcher to lose 20 games.” Chico was right he was a good pitcher.

 

Flash ahead 42 years to a strange and misunderstood time when mediocrity rules and the dismal collection of current starters in the Majors keeps growing and with it comes management decisions that produce double takes. Here then are the three top candidates from each league for the most disastrous starting pitchers this year. These guys have been getting the ball all season long and except for the mandatory time off for injury they almost never had a start skipped. And yes, it was management decisions that have kept them in the rotation regardless of how it has hurt their teams.

 

In the A.L. where the average league ERA is 4.49 and the B.A. is .270 you have to start off with Seattle’s Horacio Ramirez. This past December when Seattle traded Rafael Soriano for him ESPN allegedly called it the worst off-season trade of the year. You want proof? How about a stat line of a 6.80 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP to go along with an opposing BA of .333. Seattle was in a tight race with the Angels for a time and they are still trying to get a wild card berth, and this is all they can come up with? A few wins more in those starts could have spelled the difference for them. Horacio is your proof that caffeine and rain do not mix.

 

Cyndi Lauper sang “Money Changes Everything.” Proof positive is how the Yankees have handled Mike Mussina this year. OK, he’s smart. Who doesn’t know that he graduated with a degree in Economics from Stanford in 3 ½ years. He’s also classy, and he’s been a star. More importantly though is he’s making $11 million this year. That means damn the Red Sox and the wild card, he’s getting paid so he needs to justify that salary. His ERA of 5.51 with batters hitting .316 against him to along with his 5.1 innings per start have cost the Yankees dearly this season to the delight of Red Sox nation.

 

Our last A.L. candidate is White Sox starter Jose Contreras. OK, he’s getting a measly $9 million this season. He must be upset that he was low balled as you can tell from his 5.91 ERA, his 1.62 WHIP and a sparkling .308 B.A. against. In Cuban years Jose is a self-reported 35. He has “admitted” to being at least two years older than that. Good thing his contract has another year to go at $10 million it will serve him well during old age.

 

The N.L., where the average league ERA is 4.40 and the B.A. is .265, has its glorious cast of characters as well starting off with Florida’s Scott Olsen. In 30 starts this year he has a 5.81 ERA to go along with a 1.72 WHIP and 27 homeruns allowed. He must be getting the ball every 5th game because of his character. He is a walking reality show. This season he has a DUI, he violently resisted arrest, he fled a crime scene, fought with teammates, and he has exhibited excellent use of his middle finger in Milwaukee. Truly someone the rest of the Marlins can look up to. Management has been wise to keep this 23 year-old’s positive influence around the team.

 

The Phillies are in a battle for the final N.L. playoff berth. Who better to have on the mound than Adam Eaton. The Phillies made a splash when they signed him to a $24.5 million off-season contract. As long as they are paying him they might as well endure his 6.31 ERA, his 29 homeruns allowed and a .299 opponent B.A. No matter that a few games the other way would have them leading the wild card chase.

 

All of the above might pale in comparison with lefty Mike Maroth. He has single handedly almost ruined the playoff hopes of both the Tigers and the Cardinals. This former 20 game loser (in 2003 with the Tigers) has rewarded both teams with a combined ERA of 6.87, a WHIP of 1.89, and an incredible .350 opponent B.A. Yet he has made 20 starts this season. How could there not be anybody better to throw out there. These teams only have themselves to blame for missing out on the playoffs.

 

The winners acceptance speech for this desirable post-season award might go something like this, “I’d like to thank my manager for throwing me out there when no one else rightfully thought I could do it, and the owner for giving me all those bucks. I owe this award to them and their stubbornness.”

 

Jack Fisher they ain’t.

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