Blog Bat-round: If I Were Commissioner

[Update: since this blog bat-around was started among the baseball card blogger circles, I'm cross-posting it to my 1974 Topps baseball card blog.]

David at Indians Baseball Cards & Random Wax poses the following question for a blog bat-around:

The topic: With Bud Selig supposedly retiring in 2012 (and assuming the end of the world doesn't follow soon afterward), if YOU were asked to become the next Baseball Commissioner, what would you do?  What changes would you like to make, what things would you leave as-is, what would you like to see as your legacy when your retirement time came?

Baseball has been screwed up under Bud Selig far beyond the average fan's knowledge.  I'll expose a number of those dark secrets below and as commissioner, I would make the following changes, unilaterally, on my first day in office:

On the field changes:

1. Expansion to 32 teams w/ realignment.  Either 8 divisions of 4 teams with no wild card, or 4 divisions of 8 teams w/ top two in each.  There needs to be the same number of teams in each division.  Right now, statistically, the AL West teams have a 50% greater chance of winning the World Series than NL Central teams, just by being in the AL West.
2. Use an unbalanced, but symmetrical schedule.  Baseball needs each team playing each other team the exact same number of times in division, and same number of games with all teams out of the division, both home and road, from division to division, league to league, and those numbers have to be even numbers.  Teams in the same division need to have the same common scheduled teams.  Having divisions logically means an unbalanced schedule.  Each division needs an even number of teams so that only division play occurs the last weeks of the season.
3. Eliminate interleague play.  The players hate it.  Attendance figures from largely weekend games when school's out and the weather is nice is not evidence that the fans support it either.  And the argument that fans never get to see players from the other league is bogus.  A majority of baseball fans live either in a metro area that already has one team in each league (the five largest markets - ten teams worth!, NY, LA, Chi, SF, and DC/Balt), or in a metro area that is a short drive from another team in the other league. (Philly, San Diego, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, etc.)  Interleague play also skews the division race, as schedules are not identical.  For too long, the Marlins have skated with playing six games against the hapless Rays while their division rival Mets have played six games against the World Champs.  Enough.
4. The All-Star game will no longer decide Home Field Advantage in the World Series, and will revert back to alternating HFA between leagues each year.  All-Star managers aren't able to focus on winning the game anyway, because two other expectations are more important: a) keeping other managers' pitchers from being injured, and b) making sure every player on an ever enlarging roster makes it into the game.  A pinch runner for the batter who pinch hit for the defensive replacement from last inning?  Hey, I just put three players into the game in four pitches!  That's what the last three innings of the ASG have become.
5. Reduce the All-Star rosters to 24 max. and eliminate the "each team has one player" rule.  Only one thing is less logical that requiring one player from each team, and that's the argument for it:  "It's a fan's game."  Uhm, the fans of the other 29 teams don't want to see your least worst player in the ASG when he's batting .279/11/36 at the break.  He gets to play just because every other player on your team sucks even worse?  And you want him to play in the ASG?  Heck, you don't even want to see him play in your own ballpark.  If you did, your attendance wouldn't suck so bad.  I've lived through plenty of bad A's and Giants seasons where I was actually embarrassed for our representative to be seen in the introductions, not to mention the game.
6. Eliminate all the NFL rules that have been adopted into baseball, like the one that made George Steinbrenner an air traffic controller.  Get rid of all the NFL tie-breaking, home field advantage and playoff matchup rules.  All they do is complicate things and screw playoff ticket holders out of being able to use their tickets effectively.  Football has these stupid rules precisely because they have no way to decide things on the field.  Using head-to-head as a tie-breaker necessarily means that the winner has a worse record against inferior teams.  Hasn't anybody at MLB corporate ever taken logic 101 at their local community college?  Home field advantage and matchup rules mean that ticket holders don't even know when the game is and who it's against for the ticket they're holding in their hand.  Last year's fiasco that allowed the Yanks (HFA) to choose which ALDS series to play in was a great example.  They didn't have to choose until a few hours after the regular season was over.  But there was a rain-out makeup on Monday that forced another one-game playoff on Tuesday, still part of the regular season.  They got to decide whether to screw the Red Sox in choosing which day they played - hours before their game - or to make the other team play on a couple of hours sleep on the plane while in the air at 35,000 feet.
7. Eliminate TV ratings based playoff start times.  The Yankees are guaranteed the prime time slot for every game ever, while the rest of the teams play bizarre day games in weird time zones.  Every time a series is decided, the remaining series have their time slots revised according to a pecking order of prime time ratings.  Several times since this has started, fans of one team with tickets in hand for tomorrow's game have gone to bed not knowing whether the next day's game would be at 1pm or 7pm because an extra inning game in the other league on the opposite coast that was playing past midnight may end that series and effect start times of all other games the next day because the ratings pecking order had to be rearranged.  When you're a ticket holder for these games, you may be screwed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars because you can't sell or give away a day game ticket at the last minute.  It's happened several times to me personally.  Enough.
8. Allow each home team to set the time for its own division series playoff games.  Not being able to go to or even watch your own team because you're at work and you fell into a day game slot at the last minute just because some dude on the east coast wants to watch it on TV is freaking lame.  Let them stay up until 2am.  That way, everybody will be able to see it.
9. All post season game dates with pre-figured division vs. division arrangement will be made prior to the season.
10. Even though I personally don't like the DH, I would keep it for one league.  It's good for baseball because it is good at starting and keeping arguments going.  But the current DH rule gives the AL team an advantage in the World Series.  It gets to keep using its full-time, season long hitting specialist, while the NL team must scrape a utility player off the bench for its DH.  If you don't agree, please tell me you'd rather see Lee Lacy hit than Reggie Jackson.  After the last game of the regular season, I would give all the NL teams the option to draft one free agent AL DH player to use as their DH in the World Series, just to even things up.

Off the field changes:

1. Lifetime bans would extend only to the lifetime of the player.  For example, once he died, Shoeless Joe would be in the HOF.
2. Change the territorial rights boundary from a distance based boundary (75 miles) to a population based one.  The existing rule guarantees the Yankees an untouchable fan base of 25 million.  Even though San Jose is 40 miles further from San Francisco than Oakland is, the Giants territorial rights can stop an A's move to SJ.  Why?  If small market teams have problems making ends meet, they can move to Brooklyn and/or East Rutherford, Chicago, San Bernardino, San Fernando, or San Jose.
3. Holding the dubious distinction as the only person to have the steroids scandal occur right under his nose both as an owner and as a commissioner; and holding the dubious distinction as a commissioner who wouldn't even stand up in recognition that the greatest record in sports was just tied, and also in reference to the other 12 reasons listed above, my last act on the first day in office will be to impose a lifetime ban from baseball upon Bud Selig.

Leave as-is:

1. Most everything else.

Legacy will take care of itself.

Giants Win Projection Through September 15

September 1 through September 15:

W 74-60, 89; L 74-61, 89; W 75-61, 89; W 76-61, 90; W 77-61, 90; W 78-61, 91; L 78-62, 90; W 79-62, 91; W 80-62, 91; L 80-63, 91; W 81-63, 91; L 81-64, 90; W 82-64, 91.

Friday Night Quote

It ain't braggin' if you can back it up. - Dizzy Dean

FIRST PLACE!

Okay, we did it!  The Giants beat the Dodgers while the Padres lost to the Cardinals.  This is the first day the Giants have been in first place in September since 2003.  Terribly sad fact.  But, first place is only good if you're there after the regular season is over.  So, let's Go Giants!

Since 2003, the Giants have obviously been the least effective team in the NL West.  Every single other team in the division has at least one post-season appearance since the Giants last did.  In those last six years, NL West teams have won three wild card positions.  The Dodgers won the division in 2004, '08 & '09, the Padres in 2005, '06, the Diamondbacks in 2007.  The Dodgers took the wild card in 2006, the Rockies and Padres tied for it in 2007 and the Rox won the playoff game, and the Rockies again in 2009. So, in total, the four other teams have combined for nine playoff positions in the last six years, including one tie, and an all-NL West NLCS in 2007.  No Giants.

The Giants, on the other hand, had a total collapse in 2004 in the last weekend of the season, and in 2009 were the only team of 8 teams in baseball in a playoff position at the All-Star break that didn't hold on in the second half.  Their 2005-08 seasons were abysmal.

I hope this leap into first place is the beginning of three consecutive World Championships and seven in the next fifteen years, to bring the winningest team in baseball history up to the law of averages.

Giants Fans Invade San Diego

One of the things I've always hated is to have numerous fans of the visiting team show up and act like they own the place.  You know, Yankee fans, Dodger fans, Red Sox fans, Cubs fans.  They're big market teams with huge followings, transplants, and travelling fans.  Often over the years, the Oakland Coliseum has had many a game where A's fans were outnumbered by Yankee or Red Sox fans, and Giants fans since interleague play started.

Well, the Giants have a national following, too, just not quite as big as the Yankees or Red Sox.  But one place we always show up in massive numbers is San Diego.  Transplants, college students, and cheap Southwest Airlines tickets.  This four game series vs. the Pads was no exception.  Thousands showed up and hijacked the crowd noise this weekend.  And Padres fans hate it.

You simply can't listen to the game and tell who just made the big play.  Today I was fooled by Tim Lincecum's two run single.  The crowd erupted in a roar, and I thought, "Oops, the Padres are coming back."  No, it was the Giants fans.

I've seen the Giants on the road in LA, San Diego, Oakland, Colorado and Arizona.  It's amazing how many show up, and how many cheer all the louder because they know they're on the road.  The first interleague game in Oakland between the Giants and A's back in '97 was about two-thirds Giants fans, and it was louder and more rowdy than most every game I've ever seen in San Fran.

Thanks to the fans who showed up this weekend and cheered the Orange and Black to three out of four to tie for first place.

Friday Night Quote

For fourteen years I had the best seat in baseball. - Willie McCovey, speaking about his spot in the on-deck circle while Willie Mays was at bat.

Fan Ejected By Ump For Heckling

I'm sure this ain't the first time, but a fan was ejected from a game by umpire Bob Davidson for heckling a player.  Sean Ottow, a Brewer fan, was heckling Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina.  Davidson had a mean streak already going in ejecting a number of players and managers that game, so a fan was what was needed to complete the day.  Maybe that counts for "hitting for the cycle" in umpire dialect.  Maybe ejecting a fan is like that final triple needed.

I found two brief accounts of the incident here and here.  One thing the fan claimed is that he never swore at Molina.  But, he was cited for disorderly conduct by the police.

I'm wondering what he said and for how long.  I've also had extended time periods of heckling players - like nine innings a day over a four game series - and I've never been ejected.  But maybe it's like my friend Mike says, we'd be tossed in jail today for some of the things we said back in the 80's.  I'm also wondering if his citation was a direct result of being tossed by the ump.  Would he have been cited if the ump never tossed him?  And since he got a standing ovation from the crowd, one wonders how disorderly he actually was.  They all seemed to enjoy him.  Now for a serious question.  Will he be banned from future Brewers games by management?  Loss of season tickets?  Could any of this happen to a fan simply because an ump had a bad day?  What role can a player have in getting a fan tossed?  One time, I was heckling a rookie and he called time out and jogged in to the third base ump and pointed out at me.  The ump shrugged his shoulders, and then he really caught it from the whole bleacher section for the rest of the game.

It will be interesting to see if this is the last thing to be heard on this incident.

Giants Win Projection Through August 31

August 16 through August 31, 2010:

L 67-53, 90; L 67-54, 90; W 68-54, 90; W 69-54, 91; L 69-55, 90; L 69-56, 89; W 70-56, 90; W 71-56, 91; L 71-57, 90; L 71-58, 89; L 71-59, 88; W 72-59, 89; L 72-60, 88; W 73-60, 89.

The Death of Mannywood

Baseball got some news this week as Manny Ramirez joined the Chicago White Sox.  Then it got some more news as the White Sox strolled into Boston to mark a Manny return to Fenway.  But a special extra bit to tack on to the end of that story was found in Chavez Ravine.

You see, the Giants and Dodgers re-engaged their historic rivalry on Friday.  But, contrary to last year and the end of '08, Manny wasn't a factor.  A couple of months ago it was reported that the Mannywood ads were taken off of LA freeway billboards, a sad prelude to the start of this series.  A great Dodger to hate, as we haven't had many of those in recent years, Manny served as a target to silence, but even if he hit some homers, beating the Dodgers could silence those.  But the eerie silence this weekend almost spoke of a sad end to an era, even though there was the big news of the week.  Manny didn't matter enough to the Dodgers to matter in the rivalry with us.  Mannywood is dead.

Beat LA!

Okay, what a game last night.  Yet another classic Giants/Dodgers rivalry game.  Before the game I heard that Dodger pitcher Ted Lilly had one of the lowest run support totals in baseball lately.  And Giant Matt Cain has one of the lowest totals in his career.  So, I assumed that either it would be a scoreless game until the bullpens took over, or the Giants would stay true to their course of a complete lack of run support for Cain while giving it up for Lilly.  It turns out I was 3/4 right (right about no run support for Cain {=1/2 point} and half right about one bullpen giving it up {=1/4 point}).

Down 4-0, the Giants hit four homers, one solo in the 7th, back-to-back solos in the 8th and a 2-run Jack in the 9th by Juan UUUUUU-ribe in the 9th to win.  Of course, Brian Wilson did his usual bungee jump save, where the the cord pulls you back up just before you crash into the rocks below.

As noted by Mrs. Scott: It's difficult to listen to Giants/Dodgers games due to the number of opposing team's fans cheering for the visiting team.  A huge cheer doesn't guarantee it's for the home team.

Rubber game tonight is a must win for the Gyro's, as the Padres keep losing.

Friday Night Quote

I don't know how our folks come off callin' this the "Game of the Week."  There's a much better game - Dodgers and Giants - over on NBC.  - Dizzy Dean, broadcasting on CBS Television

Stephen Strasburg's Arm, RIP

The hottest prospect in recent memory just blew his elbow out and will require Tommy John surgery.  This carries a 12-18 month rehab time.  Strasburg has been just about the biggest story of the year.  I'm really sorry to hear this happen to such a young, bright star. 

What interests me most about this story is that some people predicted this would happen.  Curt Schilling apparently did, and I heard an audio clip of a radio interview from earlier in the year of Chris Lincecum (father of Tim, and master mechanics planner of his delivery, who has his own show on in San Fran) saying he witnessed some problems with Strasburg's mechanics and wasn't very confident of his future health.  Now, I'm no expert on pitching mechanics.  But I'm wondering what was going on in the minds of the Nationals' people, especially given that others were concerned.  Were there issues?  Were they in the process of being addressed?  Is the topic of mechanics widely understood within baseball?  Is it merely a matter of opinion with several radically different schools of thought?  Are most baseball people clueless with only a few experts on the topic?

I don't know.  But it's sad for Strasburg, his family and the Nationals, not to mention the game of baseball.  I hope he recovers fully and has a hall of fame career.

Friday Night Quote

A lot of people my age are dead at the present time. - Casey Stengel, at age 75

Coming Soon: Friday Night Quote

I love baseball quotes, so I thought I would include a quote each Friday night, at 7:35pm.  Pacific time, that is.  Baseball quotes have a way of telling stories all their own, and also serve to show the game's characters for their strange views of the pastime.  Next Friday will be the first installment.

Giants Win Projection Through August 15

August 1 through August 15, 2010:

W 61-45, 93; W 62-45, 94; L 62-46, 93; L 62-47, 92; W 63-47, 93; L 63-48, 92; L 63-49, 91; W 64-49, 92; L 64-50, 91; W 65-50, 92; W 66-50, 92; L 66-51, 91; W 67-51, 92; L 67-52, 91.

Bobby Thomson, RIP

Bobby Thomson, the former Giants player who hit the most famous home run in baseball history, died yesterday at the age of 86.  His "Shot Heard 'Round The World" off of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca ended the greatest pennant race in history between the two fiercest rivals in history in the media capitol of the world.  That's probably why it's so famous.  It's also the most famous radio broadcast in sports history, called by Giants announcer Russ Hodges.

On August 11, 1951, the New York Giants were 13 1/2 games behind their cross-town rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The Giants won 37 of their last 44 games to tie the Dodgers for first place on the last day of the regular season, forcing a three game playoff for the pennant.  The teams split the first two games, and the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning of game 3.  The Giants started a rally, and after closing the score to 4-2, Thomson came to bat with two runners on base.  Two pitches later, history was made.

Here's a video of the home run as shown on Best Damn Sports Show Period.  It was edited down, very unfortunately, to fit their show, and due to copyright reasons, I'm guessing, the unedited version just doesn't show up on the internet.  Also, there is a story and a video clip on mlb.com that shows a bit more of what happened after the traditional recording of Russ Hodges' call ends.  Then for further listening pleasure, a video of Hall of Fame broadcasters Ernie Harwell and Red Barber on their TV coverage of that game.

A strange twist to this home run changed the way sports broadcasts were handled from then on.  Recordings of radio broadcasts of great events simply weren't done in those days.  But a Dodger fan got out his tape recorder in the last inning of a would-be Dodger victory and made a recording of what he thought would be Hodges' lament over a Giants defeat, just to rub it in the face of Giants fans.  Here's a blog article dealing with that history.  All in all, a great homer by a true gentleman.

Trivia question:  What rookie was on deck when Thomson hit his famous homer?

Benjie Mowina

Okay, game one of the 2010 World Series in San Francisco and they're announcing the starting lineups and extras.  Renel announces Rangers catcher Benjie Molina.  What do the Giant fans do?  Cheer?  Boo?  Remain silent?

Although our five year old's favorite player is Tim Lincecum, he loves to play catcher in pee-wee ball.  Molina (pronounced Mowina) has been his favorite catcher.  This year he made the pee-wee All-star team, and chose uniform number 1 to wear in honor of Molina.  He got to catch a few innings, throwing his arms up and yelling, "YES!" when the manager asked him to catch.  Although he's very small, with the gear on he resembles Molina.  I would be okay with a Giants/Rangers World Series, and I'm sure our son would be too.

Instant Replay Proposal

I have a proposal for the testing of instant replay in baseball.  Okay, we already have instant replay for home run calls, but there are cries for more.

My proposal may seem a bit extreme, but I think it would give a good flavor for what we could expect.  For a specific introductory period, let's institute full blown instant replay review, including balls and strikes, with unlimited challenges given to each manager during Yankees-Red Sox games only.  If it is successful, then we could apply it to the rest of baseball on a permanent basis.

Blown Calls, Official Scoring and Perfect Games

Blown calls by umpires have been in the news quite a bit this year.  Blown calls that have literally cost games - and in the worst situation imaginable - a perfect game on the last out.  This has quite naturally stirred debate about instant replay.  Armando Galarraga was rooked out of a perfect game by a blown call on the last out.  In another situation, the Giants scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth vs. the Mets a few weeks ago, only to have the home plate ump blow the call by five miles and call the runner out.  The Mets won in extra innings.  The call literally cost the Giants the game.  Not that it weighed heavily in helping them lose the game.  The winning run had already crossed the plate before being called out.

I was wondering this last week how an official scorer deals with blown calls by umpires.  They have to come up with reasons as to why a play was a hit or error, wild pitch or passed ball. Would the runner have been out?  Should the catcher have stopped the pitch with ordinary effort?  But what of a blown call where the scorer has to make a decision?  If a safe runner is called out, a scorekeeper can give a putout and assist.  What if the reverse happens?  Does the scorer have to give the batter a hit, even though he was out?

As soon as I saw the Galarraga/Joyce replay, I wondered if the official scorer could have ruled an error on the play, at least preserving a no-hitter, as a way to "make up" for the blown call.  It was a difficult play, first baseman coming off the bag to get the ball and the pitcher covering.  The first baseman has to hit a moving target in the pitcher while timing his arrival at first base.  Those two players have practiced that play thousands of times a year since they were eight years old.  It's common for a pitcher to stutter step if the throw isn't quite right and miss the bag with his feet.  A throwing error can happen easily.

So why, especially given that the official scorer was tied to covering Tiger baseball in some way, could he not have scored an error?  He could have given an error to the first baseman.  Or maybe to the pitcher as a way to say "here's the price for your no-hitter."  The umpire gives no reason as to why he ruled the runner safe.  A number of things could have happened in his mind.  He could have beat the throw.  The pitcher could have missed the bag, or he could have bobbled the ball.  We don't know at the time the play happened.  So why could not a scorer have ruled in the same manner?  A throwing error with a no-hitter going in the books one batter later would be preferable to giving the batter a hit, knowing that he never got one to begin with.

Giants Win Projection Through July 31

July 15 through July 31, 2010:

W 48-41, 87; W 49-41, 88; W 50-41, 89; L 50-42, 88; W 51-42, 89; W 52-42, 90; L 52-43, 89; W 53-43, 89; W 54-43, 90; W 55-43, 91; W 56-43, 92; L 56-44, 91; W 57-44, 91; W 58-44, 92; L 58-45, 91; W 59-45, 92; W 60-45, 93.

1974 Topps Set - My New Baseball Card Blog

I have a new blog I just started, 1974 Topps Set.  This blog is chronicling my collection of 1974 Topps cards.  Although I started collecting in 1971, the '74 set is the first I went wild on, when I was just ten.  I'm scanning each card in my set, and I have nearly all of them.  If you enjoy baseball cards, take a look.

Giants Win Projection Through July 14

July 15 is the start of the second half after the All-Star break, so I'll backup to play through Sunday, July 11.

July 1 through July 11, 2010:

L 40-38, 83; L 40-39, 82; W 41-39, 83; L 41-40, 82; W 42-40, 83; W 43-40, 84; W 44-40, 85; W 45-40, 86; L 45-41, 85; W 46-41, 86; W 47-41, 87.

At the All-Star break, the Giants are in 4th place, 4 games behind San Diego.

Catching Up

Okay, I haven't been able to catch up with what I've wanted to write. Long time Yankee PA announcer Bob Sheppard died just before the All-Star break. (I believe it's his voice announcing Roger Maris as number nine that is immortalized on the Beatles White Album) George Steinbrenner died just before the All-Star game. The National League won the game. The first half of the season was wrapped up. I was at Tim Lincecum's complete game shutout vs. the Mets. All of this I missed writing about. I still haven't dealt completely with Jason's question about instant replay in light of the perfect game blunder. Oh, and I still need to do the Giants win projection post for July 15. I better get writing.

Classic Rivalry Game, or, Don Mattingly for Manager of the Year

Last night's game between the Giants and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium was a classic rivalry game. It had all the marks of those games you don't see anywhere else with any other opponent. A promising pitching matchup between Lincecum and Kershaw turned into a beanball war, ejections and a bizarre rulebook application that led to the game winning hit in the 9th inning.

The Dodgers had a commanding 5-1 lead, but the Giants chipped away. A previous beanball war from April was resurrected, and three Dodgers were ejected. The bench coach, then Kershaw and Torre (the manager gets ejected after warnings are issued), leaving hitting coach Don Mattingly at the acting manager. Then in the 9th after the Giants got runners on 2nd and 3rd and Johnathan Broxton intentionally walking the bases loaded to set up a double play (the Giants were down by one), Mattingly paid a visit to the mound. As he left, James Loney asked him a question, prompting Mattingly to turn back around to the mound. But, as the rules state, once a manager leaves the dirt circle, that concludes his trip to the mound. Brucy Bochy alertly caught this, and called it to the attention of the umpires. The umps ruled that Mattingly turning around and stepping back on the mound was his second trip. Broxton was removed from the game, and since there was nobody warming up in the Dodger bullpen, a reliever had to enter the game without any warmups! Andres Torres followed up with a double off the wall, and the Giants took the lead and held on. See the video of Mattingly's rookie blunder here.

What a game. I just love it when the Dodgers melt down in such a huge matchup. I wish I were there in LA to see it, full Giants gear, letting the Dodger Stadium faithful know who screwed up.

Brian Wilson's 4-34-1 Approach to Getting A Save

Giants closer Brian Wilson has what I call a 4-34-1 approach to pitching. The numbers I mentioned have to do with the 9th inning breakdown of pitches. There are three distinct divisions in his closing inning. Each number is how many pitches he throws in the respective division. The first division is the first four pitches he throws. In sequence they are: out, out, strike, strike. This leaves him with two out and two strikes, just one pitch from a save.

The next 34 pitches are an assortment of walks, hits and runs that cut the Giants' lead to just one run, loads the bases, and takes the count full, with the winning run on second.

The last pitch is strike three to secure a Giants victory.

How To Heckle Jason Bay and Others Who Wear #44

I sat in the front row of the left field bleachers a few nights ago at the Giants game vs. the Mets. The Mets left fielder was Jason Bay, and he was wearing that special uniform number, 44. Forty four is a special number because of the hall of fame sluggers that have worn it in the past. Hank Aaron wore it and was a great young player. Willie McCovey, being from the same hometown of Mobile, Alabama, wore it when he broke in with the Giants because Aaron was his idol. McCovey was a rookie in 1959, five years after Aaron. Later, in the 70's, Reggie Jackson adopted the number when he signed with the Yankees. He kept it with the Angels and during his last year back with the A's.

Forty four is one of those hallowed numbers that players respect. Players know who has worn it in the past. So when a player takes 44, he's treading on ground that demands something from him. He needs to turn out to be a superstar.

So, the heckling line is this: "Hey, 44, who do you think you are? There's Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson, and you?"

Jason Bay heard it from a #44 apologist.

Busy Week Fer Sure

This was such a busy week I didn't have time to post about Bob Sheppard passing away, or about George Steinbrenner passing away, or about the home run derby, or about the All-Star game... or about the Giants win projection through July 15. Things happen so fast in the blog world that Sunday is passe. Maybe I'll give it a shot this week.

Tradition, The Human Element and Instant Replay (1)

The blown call on the last out of a perfect game that took a perfect game away from a pitcher has given new fuel to the instant replay debate. The call took a perfect game away from the pitcher because the perfect game was already completed when the call was made. The ball beat the runner to first base. The runner was out, but the ump called him safe after the play was made.

The big part of the debate is over the human element of the game. I'm glad that baseball has taken the "get it right" attitude on the field where other umpires can meet to review their own take on a play rather than let the offending umpire stew forever in his mistake. This allowance for an umpire conference upholds the human element - a traditional element at that - of the game. Baseball realizes that it is possible for human error, and also recognized that human error can be corrected on the spot. I wonder whether the other three umps could have overruled the erring ump to preserve the perfecto? Also, could the scorekeeper have, judging that the throw actually beat the runner, ruled the play an error on either the pitcher or first baseman to at least preserve a no-hitter? Would this not be included in the human element of the game?

But one thing baseball also recognizes is that some games or moments are more important than others. Not every play during every season has the same importance. For example, extra umpires are added down the foul lines for post-season and All-Star games, and extras are at the park just in case. Regular season games allow for ill or injured umpires to leave the game and go with three. I'll bring this difference of importance into another post coming soon.

Giants Win Projection Through June 30

June 16 through June 30, 2010:

W 37-28, 92; L 37-29, 91; L 37-30, 89; W 38-30, 91; W 39-30, 92; L 39-31, 90; L 39-32, 89; W 40-32, 90; L 40-33, 89; L 40-34, 88; L 40-35, 86; L 40-36, 85; L 40-37, 84.

The Best Retro Uni Night Ever

Last night, probably the best ever turn-back-the-clock night for uniforms took place. Yes, it was 70's retro uniform night at a certain game. Of course, when a baseball fan thinks of the wildest uni's of the 70's, it is immediately clear that such an event could only happen in an interleague contest. And the "best" 70's uniforms in all of baseball were worn by none other than the Oakland A's and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was also 1970's Joe Rudi replica jersey night in Oakland.

The A's wore their California Gold double-knit polyester pajama pullovers with their gold pants and green stirrup socks, with Kelly green hats and yellow bills. Also typical of the 70's A's, the coaches and managers wore the white hats with the green bills. The official uniform colors used to be "Kelly green, California gold and wedding gown white." The "Swingin' A's" logo was also used. The Pirates wore their black pajama pullover tops, black pants, gold stirrups and those (n)ever classic "cylinder" gold top hats with the three pinstripes. It was pure disco. To compound the look, all the announcers, TV crews, stadium personnel and the like wore afros, "porn star" mustaches and/or comb-around hair-do's. They brought back total homer A's announcer Monty Moore who even brought a cow bell to ring when the A's hit a dinger. The announcers had old fashioned microphones with the giant foam ball pop protectors, and creme-gold type sport coats with wide lapels and the rounded lowercase font "csn" (Comcast Sports Net) letters, reminiscent of the 70's ABC's Wild World of Sports. Even a few turtleneck sweaters and tie-dye t-shirts were seen here and there.

The stats graphics across the TV screen mocked the old plain block yellow letters used back then before the newer computer generated ones. The fans got into the act, too, wearing all the old colors and styles. It must have been fun.

The Sickening Yankees/Red Sox Media Bias

Okay, the entire world knows there is an extreme Yankees and Red Sox media bias in the world of baseball. These two teams are on every possible nationally televised time slot. And when they play each other, it is even worse. ESPN and FOX are Yanks/Sox lapdogs. You can't get any coverage without hearing many times the info on these two teams as almost all other teams combined. They're always the first scores announced. On and on.

Okay, enough about complaints from somebody who isn't a fan of either team. What I want to do is ask fans of the Yankees and Red Sox if they hate the fact that their own teams are being the target of the media bias. I have a reason for asking, by the way, and it isn't envy. I am a Giants fan and our own history with Barry Bonds gave us our own media bias. Bonds' legendary accomplishments (that kept the Giants as perennial contenders) put us on the map in a huge way. We were on the game of the week all the time, we were on ESPN all the time. Thousands of media members would flood the ballpark every day in search of some stupid, inane piece of trivia about Bonds; his shoelaces, his towel hanging in his locker, the air pressure in his tires. Usual walking routes outside the ballpark were blocked off for some media tent or something. It was never ending.

Starting times for games were constantly being changed because of dictated TV coverage start times. Tickets you bought in February now had different starting times. When the game was nationally televised, our own professional, knowledgeable announcers on our local broadcasts were replaced with ignorant network clowns who knew little more about our team than what they crammed for midterms in their hotel room the night before. They constantly got facts and ideas wrong and couldn't offer in-depth coverage due to the generic national audience. I'm sure the rest of the country hated Bonds and the Giants because of it just like we hate the Yankees and Red Sox. I know that I, and many other Giants fans I talked to, hated the media bias that was supposedly directed in our favor. It just simply wasn't to our advantage as fans.

So, how about it Yankees and Red Sox fans? Do you like the extreme bias? Do you hate it? Do you feed on it? Are you so used to the bias that you aren't even aware of it? Or are you completely clueless that there even is a bias? Do you like the 8:35pm start times on work/school nights? Do you care that the rest of the country is forced to watch you? I'd love to know.

Orange Friday

Another uniform change made this year for the 2010 Giants is that they're wearing orange tops on home Friday games. The uni style and letter font remain the same as the standard uni, but the color is orange. I'm not used to this yet, and the uni's look a bit bold as can be seen by this Giants TV commercial.  The Giants wore orange tops as part of a rotating uni (along with white and black tops) back in the '77-'82 time span.

Back in the early 2000's, the Giants wore black jerseys on Friday, both at home and on the road, but these were done away with because they weren't the traditional uni's. Bonds hit his 71st and record breaking home run in a black top. Last night's game between the Giants and Red Sox just didn't look like the Giants vs. Red Sox. The Giants wore their orange, while the Sox wore their blue tops and gray pants.

For several years now, the Giants have had Orange Friday, but it has been the fans who wore orange to the games, including some rad 70's style orange afros here and there. Now the Giants themselves have joined their own promo. The jury is still out.

A Visit To Petco Park

Our family was in San Diego last week and we took a trip to Petco Park last Saturday night to see the San Diego Padres take on the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles had just been in San Francisco the series before we left, and we "followed" them south. We sat in the bleachers, being the cheapest seats for our budget.

Petco Park has a unique bleacher arrangement. The seats are stuck to the top of a small concrete wall, and there is grass between rows. The leg room is extra long, so you can actually sit on the grass, picnic style. Just behind the center field fence there is a huge sand box in front of the bleacher seats for the kids to play in. This was perfect for a family with three small boys. Notice our baseball fanatic five year old son in the third picture standing with a foam finger right behind the fence on the left side of the photo. He enjoyed most of the game from there, one of the best seats in the house. His description of the fly ball to deep center field included himself in the story.

Over all, Petco Park is one of the best parks I have ever visited, in terms of beauty, baseball appropriateness and other relevant characteristics. Architecturally, I believe it to be superior to AT&T Park, which is widely viewed as the best of the new parks. Petco isn't on the shores of San Francisco Bay with a grand view of the bridge and East Bay hills, but it is in a beautiful city, and a good downtown. I'm glad the Padres did something different from the now-cookie cutter throwback parks. The brick warehouse building being part of the park is absolutely awesome. The Padres team store is located on the bottom floor. The corner of the building is the left field "foul pole", the foul line taking a 45 degree angle straight into that corner. A ball bouncing left is foul, while one bouncing right is fair. What could be more easy than that?

I enjoyed our time there and will enjoy going back there numerous times in the future. The black and orange Orioles beat the Padres 5-4, even after a bullpen meltdown in the 9th. That helped our black and orange Giants in the race with the Padres. I'll probably post more pictures soon.

Giants Win Projection Through June 15

June 1 through June 15, 2010:

L 27-24, 86; W 28-24, 87; W 29-24, 89; L 29-25, 87; W 30-25, 88; W 31-25, 90; W 32-25, 91; L 32-26, 89; L 32-27, 88; W 33-27, 89; W 34-27, 90; W 35-27, 91; W 36-27, 93; L 36-28, 91.

Giants Win Projection Through May 31

May 16 through May 31, 2010:

W 21-15, 95; L 21-16, 92; W 22-16, 94; L 22-17, 91; L 22-18, 89; L 22-19, 87; L 22-20, 85; L 22-21, 83; W 23-21, 85; L 23-22, 83; W 24-22, 85; W 25-22, 86; W 26-22, 88; W 27-22, 89; L 27-23, 87.

Giants Win Projection Through May 15

May 1 through May 15, 2010:

W 14-9, 99; L 14-10, 95; W 15-10, 97; W 16-10, 100; W 17-10, 102; L 17-11, 98; L 17-12, 95; W 18-12, 97; L 18-13, 94; L 18-14, 91; L 18-15, 88; W 19-15, 91; W 20-15, 93.

Giants Win Projection Through April 30

April 16 through April 30, 2010:

L 7-3, 113; W 8-3, 118; L 8-4, 108; L 8-5, 100; L 8-6, 93; L 8-7, 86; W 9-7, 91; W 10-7, 95; L 10-8, 90; W 11-8, 94; W 12-8, 97; L 12-9, 93; W 13-9, 96.

Perfect Blown Call

We've all heard about (and seen!) Armando Galarraga's perfect game and umpire Jim Joyce's blown call with two outs in the ninth inning that took it away. First, that sucks. But this raises, yet again, the debate over instant replay, and how it should be used.

Before I get to instant replay, let me just say that I'm glad that baseball has resorted in the last few years to umpires having a discussion with each other to correct calls just after they are made. This is a huge improvement over letting an obvious bad call go. For those who make a big issue about human error being part of baseball, umpires second-guessing themselves actually affirms the human factor of error, and adds the human factor of wanting to correct ourselves to make us better. So, I'm all for that. I'm not sure if the other umpires were in a position to correct Joyce on the field and on the spot, as they might not have seen the play well enough.

Now, I'm going to ask whether instant replay should be a factor at all in getting the call right. We already have a limited instant replay for home run calls, either whether the ball clears the fence or if it were fair or foul. This system isn't fool proof, as I personally witnessed the instant replay blunder in San Francisco (I was just yards away from the fence when the ball hit) that had the call reversed, creating a pinch-runner and eliminating a player from the game, and I wrote about it here. In my estimation, instant replay should only be used in limited circumstances, as its use can affect the way baseball is played as a game.

We all want to "get it right." But we all also recognize the human element in doing so. Instant replay is no guarantee to getting it right, as the NFL has proven. There are several ideas about how to use instant replay in baseball, with objections as to how it will affect the game. I'll have to write more about this in upcoming posts.

Sunday Hats

This year the Giants are wearing an orange billed cap on Sundays. This appears to be the case both at home and on the road. This is very similar to the hat worn between 1977 and 1982. The interlocking SF logo is slightly different - as in font - from the old cap. This new cap looks a bit odd with the traditional cream uni's, maybe only because we've been so used to solid black for so long. Maybe it's because there's a hesitancy on my part to adopt styles from the 70's.

In any case, these caps look so much better than the patriotic ones the teams are wearing today for Memorial Day. White caps with red bills and a stars-and-stripes logo theme. Giants and Rockies both wearing them. They simply don't go with either uniform.

I still have a 1982 cap from hat day that had the orange bill. I've worn it a few times over the last couple of years. It's old and flimsy and has lost its form. The stitching where the tag was is way off, leaving the tag stump sticking out. Typical of the cheapo hats they used to give away on cap day. Otherwise, it's a way to look retro cool, but it's a real hat, and a real hat is a way to show that you've been a fan all these years.

Giants Uniform Changes for 2010

The Giants have introduced two uniform changes for 2010. First, they're using an orange-billed hat on Sundays, similar to the hat they wore from about 1977 to 1982. Second, they're applying the "Orange Fridays" theme, where fans have been encouraged to wear orange to the Friday games for the last so many years, to their uni tops. They're now wearing orange tops, similar to the ones from the same '77-'82 period, except with the current traditional block letters. Another small change is an optional display of three orange stripes around the upper calf of their black socks for those players who like to show the full sock. I'll write about each of these things a bit more.

Giants Win Projection Through April 15

April 5 through April 14, 2010:

W 1-0, 162; W 2-0, 162; W 3-0, 162; W 4-0, 162; L 5-1, 135; W 6-1, 139; L 6-2, 122; W 7-2, 126.

2010 Giants Win Projection

I have been doing a few years worth of Giants Loss Projections ( 2008 and 2009 ) based on their current winning percentage. I've shown their record, day to day, and how many losses that projects to at the end of 162 games. I've posted these results essentially twice a month. Since the Giants had been a losing team for four years, I stated I would continue the loss projection each year until they had a winning year. Well, 2009 was a winning year. So, I'm doing a 2010 win projection. I'll post their projections through April 15 soon, then another after the close of April 30's play.

Baseball Is Back!

I wanted to blog about Opening Day and a few other things last week, but time got the best of me. One thing for sure is that baseball season is here. That means baseball on the radio, TV and in the news and on the net.

My Giants are the last team to be undefeated, and as of tonight are 5-1. I'm really going to try to blog more baseball this season. Hope your team does well, but not as well as mine.

Giants Baseball Is On The Air!

At 12:05pm today, the first radio game of the year came on the air. Dave Flemming announced the starting lineups in a hurry and turned it over to Jon Miller for the first pitch. Music!

Pee-wee Carl Yastrzemski and Now Albert Pujols

Last year, our middle son was four, and he played for the Pee-wee Red Sox. He wore number 8, which is Carl Yastrzemski in a Red Sox uniform. This year, at 5, he's with the Pee-wee Cardinals. Today he received his new uniform, and he is number 5. That's Albert Pujols. Okay, so far so good.

New Marlins Ballpark In 2012

A new ballpark for the Florida Marlins is under construction and scheduled to open for the 2012 season. The park will have a retractable roof and be built on the Orange Bowl site. There is hope for increased attendance due to the new park, but if Pittsburgh is any indication, I'm not going to hold my breath. The Marlins have fans that show up just about World Series time. Will a new stadium work? Is Miami a baseball town?

Nevertheless, it will be good to see the team play in some venue other than a football stadium. At only 37,000 seats, the small crowds won't look as small. It will be yet another park to add to my "need to see" list, which right now consists of all parks I've yet to see along with parks I desire to see again.

Pitchers And Catchers Mean...

Pitchers and catchers report today. And of course this means...baseball on the radio will soon be here!

New Twins Ballpark in 2010

This year yet another new ballpark will open. Minneapolis has built Target Field for the Twins. It looks okay. I say this because the new ballpark rage has gotten old. But, it's another new park that I will want to add to my "visited" collection. For that reason, I like it.

Also, the Metrodome will no longer be of service to baseball. Hooray! The Twinkiedome can now be the home of the Vikings, and we'll never have to wonder again if the Twins blow the air conditioning out for them and in for visiting teams. I never visited the Metrodome, although I walked by it in the off season while in Minneapolis once. I have mixed feelings about not seeing it. I wish I could have seen all those parks that have been replaced in my baseball lifetime, so if Major League baseball is played somewhere, I want to see it.

I'll be looking for the new park on TV sometime in April.

Will Barry Zito Improve?

Barry Zito is entering the middle year of his long term contract. The question is, will he improve? If Zito could rebound to a semblance of his old form, even posting a winning season, the Giants stand to improve as well. He's shown some bright spots over the last two years but hasn't been able to keep it up for an entire year. Assuming Lincecum and Cain can repeat their usual years, a good year from Zito may take a bit more pressure off the lame offense. The Giants could even make the playoffs with a wildcard berth.

I'm not holding my breath, but I am more hopeful for Zito's future than most people seem to be. Here's hoping that Zito can live up to some of his expectations.

Congratulations, Jon Miller

I heard the news that Jon Miller was chosen as the Ford Frick award winner this year. He will be inducted into the broadcaster's wing of baseball's Hall of Fame. Now, Miller is just about the premier broadcaster in baseball. And he is one of my Giants announcers for thirteen seasons now.

It is really a pleasure listening to Miller on the radio. He is surrounded with other good professionals on the Giants broadcasting team. We are blessed here in the Bay Area to have such good announcers. I have listened to other announcers around baseball, both in travelling and in listening to call playbacks on the radio. Also there have been some fairly bad announcers here that have quickly been recycled to other teams. In my estimation, the Giants have one of the top broadcasting teams, thanks in large part to Miller. Jon has a great radio voice, descriptive vocabulary, knows the game, and is great at painting the picture the radio listener needs to follow the game.

Jon Miller has been elected to the Hall in what might be the middle of his career. I'm sure he won't become a slacker because of it, and I look forward to many more seasons of listening to his voice. It sure is a great sound when Spring Training starts. Congratulations, Jon Miller.

Molina Again?

The Giants re-signed catcher Benjie Molina. In what is a mixed-feelings bag, I'm wondering what is done that will help the team win the World Series. His offensive numbers were down last year and I'm not sure we can see a repeat of '08. Even with good common offensive numbers (avg., HR, RBI) he is still the slowest player in baseball and his on-base percentage is horrific.

He handles the staff well, but could another catcher do the same? Is Molina's signing a hint that the Giants think Buster Posey isn't ready for prime time for a few more years? I don't see the Giants activity in the off season as indicative that they're ready to push for the title just yet. Wait til next year...again?

Steroids and The Hall of Fame

Grant at McCovey Chronicles pens his opinion on the way the steroids issue has affected how we view the Hall of Fame. His opinion is that using players shouldn't be banned, but the steroid issue, which is complex, should be taken into consideration.

As a side note, the picture he uses is the one I mentioned in my last post showing Barry Bonds, of all players.

Big Macs Now Trans-Fat AND Roid Free

Okay, when the Mark McGwire steroid admission story broke, the photo used on my Yahoo homepage showed McGwire at the bag at first holding a runner on. The runner was in the picture. Purely by coincidence, and no other fate, the runner was Barry Bonds.

Congratulations Andre Dawson

Congratulations, Andre Dawson. Newest electee into the Hall of Fame. He's the only one this year to be elected. I'm guessing Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar will make it next year.

I was just watching a video of Dawson clips. He hit a triple in Houston, and Jose Cruz with his big mop was chasing the ball down at the fence in that rainbow uni. Man, those guys should be in the Hall of Fame just for hair and uniforms!

Foul Balls and Fair

I've said it before, but I want to do a series here about the foul balls and home runs that I've caught over the years. My first foul ball came in 1982, and my most recent was just this year. Home run balls are always special, too, especially when you get three in one game. Stay tuned.

Will Santa Bring A Bat To The Giants?

Good question. It may have to come from Santa.

Value Priced Season Tickets (2)

In Part 1 I laid out the idea the Giants are using this year with regard to season ticket prices. I have attached the schedule according to ticket price. One of the problems this idea poses for my ticket partners and I is that we can't pick the number of games in advance with a set price in mind. Traditionally, we've picked the number of games we all wanted to see, then later had a draft. Either we need to do the draft earlier this year, or we need to adjust for ticket prices after we pick. Somehow or other, it should be worked out, although it will surely be more complicated.

Value Priced Season Tickets (1)

The Giants have initiated this year a value priced scheme for season tickets. They have been doing some of this with public sale for a few years now, but this is the first for season tickets. Value pricing is the idea that a weekend Dodger game (or Red Sox this year in interleague) should be a higher price than a mid-week Nationals game for the same seat, etc.

Traditionally, tickets have been priced the same for all games, based on seat location and level of amenity. Back when I first started attending Giants games at Candlestick regularly (1981), box seats were $6, reserved $5 and bleachers $1 (going up to $2 the following year). There were only three price categories. What I always thought strange, was that box seats in the upper deck in center field were the same price as box seats in the front row behind home plate. Most teams today have made many adjustments to seat prices, depending on location.

What the Giants have done is to create four categories of prices, but totalling up over the entire season, the total cost for season tickets remains the same. They are priced roughly 72%, 91%, 115% and 164% of last year's prices. There are more cheaper games than pricier games. This all makes sense from a marketing standpoint, because the Dodgers and Red Sox games will still sell out, while Nationals games (and other lesser draws) should gain higher attendance due to lower prices. And, those dreaded exhibition games the weekend before Opening Day are now far less!

There are three categories of comparables for which tickets vary in value: team played, weekday vs. weekend games, and mid-summer vs. spring and early fall. So, Rockies games in July will be more than Rockies games in April, etc., but Dodger games in April will be more than Rockies games in July. A Thursday night game of a four game series will be less than the Saturday and Sunday games.

I'm hoping this will allow us to sell our tickets in a better way, but there are other problems that have arisen. More on that in another post.
See Part 2

Cast and Crew: Kurt

I have been friends with Kurt for over 20 years, and we have also been co-workers for 14, and company softball double play combo for nine (I played short, Kurt 2nd; we even pulled off a triple play together). I first met Kurt on a company softball team, as my bosses knew him from a previous company. Several years later when I was out of work, Kurt was instrumental in gaining employment for me at his architecture firm, and he later became a principal of that firm.

Kurt and I have talked so much baseball and swapped so many stories that I'm sure we could write a book between us. He bought into my season ticket plan for years at Candlestick, and when Pac Bell Park first opened, Kurt was in charge of securing season tickets for our company. The company seats were in the exact same mirror image location down the 3rd base line as mine are on the 1st base line. I've sat there numerous times as well.

Kurt is a 19th century baseball buff, card and memorabilia collector and has such a keen "nose for baseball" that baseball often finds him. Two stories are in order here. Last year during Spring Training Kurt was flying home from China on a business trip (he designs homes on golf course communities there) when a flight attendant asked if he were a baseball fan. "Uhhhh, yes I am." Well, Joe Torre is sitting in first class. Okay, this is an impossibility. Joe Torre is NOT sitting in first class on a flight from China during spring training and flight attendants on international flights just don't ask passengers at random if they're baseball fans. Except he was. The Dodgers had been in China promoting baseball for the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing and played a couple of games there. Of course, Kurt was the only person in the world that could have met Joe Torre on a flight from China. "Good luck this year, Joe" was Kurt's closing statement, until later when he realized that he, as a Giants fan, just wished the Dodger manager good luck!

Kurt's brother runs a charity that puts Kurt in occasional contact with all-time hall of fame greats. And of course, this year when I had tickets for Lincecum (who took a no-hitter into the 7th) and two days later, Cain, I didn't have tickets for the game in between when Johnathan Sanchez tossed his no-hitter, it was Kurt's daughter to whom I sold the tickets, and when she couldn't go, Kurt did.

Another story epitomizes my relationship with Kurt. I was laid off earlier this year, and when I called my former company for something, all the phone lines were disconnected. What I didn't know was that a brief power outage in their neighborhood caused the phone company to give their disconnected message, so freaked out a bit, I called Kurt on his cell phone. "Oh, hey, Steve, you'll never guess where I am! I'm in the beer line at the Metrodome at a Twins day game." Of course he is, he's Kurt. Every summer he takes a ballpark tour with some of his family.

After all these years of talking baseball, it just occurred to me that I can't remember ever going to a game with Kurt. What are the odds of that? Even though that's the case, I'm still adding Kurt to my cast and crew. Dang, Kurt, could we catch a game together sometime?

Lincecum Back To Back

Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive NL Cy Young award. This year's voting was very close and a bit controversial. Only three pitchers contended, and only five got any votes. Lincecum won despite Adam Wainwright gaining more first place votes. But Wainwright finished third. Chris Carpenter finished second, yet had fewer first place votes than the others. Carpenter's downfall was that two writers didn't even vote for him, which explains the single votes for both Vazquez and Haren.

But this wasn't an inside job, either, as I heard on the radio that neither of the two Bay Area writers gave Lincecum a first place vote.

When voting is this close, and it is obvious that all the contending candidates deserve to be considered for the top spot, then there shouldn't be any sour grapes upon losing. I would be content with any of these three winning, so no injustice was done. Of course, I wanted Lincecum to win because I'm a Giants fan. I'm used to awards and records, just not parades down Market Street or pitching awards.

In conclusion, congratulations Tim Lincecum!

7th Inning Jones

One of the more lighthearted heckling targets of the mid-80's left field bleacher scene in Oakland was a backup Kansas City outfielder named Lynn Jones. (alternate stat site) Jones gained a nickname amongst the bleacher faithful, coined by John if I remember correctly, due to his completely predictable use as a late inning defensive replacement. He simply played left field every game, but only at the end of the game. So, John gave him the nickname of "Seventh Inning Jones." We heckled him and let him know every game just where he stood; he was not a star or even a starter. Jones had little choice but to accept the label and be content with our antics. He even enjoyed the attention, so we let up a bit and he became one of the fun targets of our crew.

In fact, here is a string of box scores for five consecutive Royals games in Oakland in 1985 (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5), and two more at the end of 1986 (#4 and #5) that show Jones as a late inning left field replacement.

Phillies Fans Trump Yankee Fans

In my last post I asked about the state of Yankee fans who sit in the box seats. But, now I want to ask about Yankee fans living in other cities. I know all too well growing up with the Oakland A's as an American League team, that Yankee fans show up in droves to see their team play on the road. The very few times they've played in San Francisco shows the same thing.

This year's post season saw Yankee fans show up by the thousands at the Metrodome. And in a complete embarrassment to the Southern California mentality, they appeared to constitute at least a quarter - if not a third - of the total crowd in Anaheim. This is all normal stuff. But something changed in the World Series...

Yankee fans were hardly noticed in Philly. There weren't more than a few hundred, max. Why? My guess is that Philly fans were so hot about the World Series that ticket holders valued being at the Series far more than the market value of the tickets. Philly fans were so fanatic that they shut Yankee fans out of eBay and StubHub.

In San Francisco we had a similar experience for the entire 2000 season, the inaugural season of Pac Bell Park. Giants fans were so excited about the new ballpark that the entire season sold out in February - to Giants fans - so that there were almost no fans cheering for visiting teams all year. Including Dodger fans. So, I must say congratulations to Phillies fans. You really love your team.

Whither Yankees Fans?

I noticed somthing about Yankee fans this year, and I'm pretty sure the new ballpark has something to do with it. All year long, whenever I've seen a game on TV, the box seats looked half empty. I know the overpricing played a part. But during the post season, the same thing occurred in the ALDS and ALCS. If fans aren't going to show up due to overpricing of tickets, that's one thing. But when large numbers from the box seats are leaving early when the game goes into extra inninngs, then there's a problem.

Quality Post-Season Umpiring Needed

Calls for instant replay in baseball continue. Numerous instances of bad calls in the playoffs are highlighted with greater fervor and scrutinized with greater technology. I'm not going to address instant replay here, but rather focus on the quality of umpiring.

I'm not as concerned with bang-bang calls that could go either way. If it looked like he was safe, but the super slo-mo hi-def replay showed he was out by 1/4 inch, it's just not much to gripe about. What gets me is when two players are stuck at the same base, they both come off the base by five feet, the player with the ball tags both of them out while standing still, yet the umps screw up by not calling both of them out. Six umps are watching the same play, and not one of them can see the obvious? Why not have a conference then?

A great piece of ump teamwork was on the Rollins/Howard/Matsui double play. Rollins caught a bloop pop with his glove on the ground, then stepped on second and threw to Howard. The throw was wide, and Howard came off the bag with the batter/runner beating the throw. Matsui started walking off the field, and Howard tagged him. What to do? This play was logistically complicated. The replay showed that Rollins caught the bloop, but his stepping on second (just in case the ump blew the catch call) added confusion to the play. And even in the replay, Howard really did have his foot on the bag when he caught the throw. His heel came off first, but his toes were still on the bag when the ball hit his glove, even though he was in the process of coming off the bag. The TV announcers missed this. But he eventually tagged Matsui.

Here's how complicated this all was: Did Rollins catch the popup? How did this affect his stepping on second? How did this affect the play at first? Was his throw to get Matsui doubled up or the batter out? Did Howard need to tag Matsui? Did Howard get pulled off the bag? Did Matsui walk off the field because Rollins caught the ball in the air and doubled him off first or because he didn't but stepped on second base? Both Rollins and Howard made double efforts just in case the umps missed either call. Rollins touched second in case the umps missed his catch. Howard tagged Matsui in case the umps saw the catch because the umps might call him off the bag. But, all the umps were in on a conference and made the right call. Double play. Why didn't this happen for the two runners caught off third?

Getting the call right by using all umpires, if necessary, is where baseball needs to make its first improvement. It should be done at the slightest question of a call. If an ump blows a call and all the other umps see it, there should be no hesitation in reversing it. That's the way it works in my kid's soccer league, and there's no problem. When 50,000 fans, five umps, 50 players, a TV crew and two managers see things one way and a lone ump sees things another way, there should be no shame in admitting there might be a problem and help from others is welcome.

Five Hundred Posts

I've reached five hundred posts on this blog. I wanted to get the exact 500th, but somehow I missed it by about ten. Oops! I've enjoyed writing about baseball, and it seems like quite a bit more than 500 posts over the last 4 1/2 years. That's about 100 posts or so a year, or about one every three days or so. I'd love to increase that frequency, but will need to be in a writing groove in more of a writing environment to do so. Maybe that's my New Year's resolution for October.

1989 Earthquake Aftermath

In a previous post, I wrote about my experience the day the earthquake occurred. The days, weeks and months that followed were ones of confusion and waiting. Even controversy. It turned out that there were far fewer deaths in the freeway collapse than previously feared, as most people left work early to watch the World Series! My good friend Mike was one such non-casualty. At the time of the quake, he would have been on that freeway on his way home, but he was already at the game.

The Bay Bridge was out of commission for months as a replacement section had to be constructed. This was a major bridge with six figure vehicle traffic each day. A new freeway in Oakland took years to be built. The World Series was delayed (ten days eventually) as there was structural damage to Candlestick Park. Expansion joints were located below seating section stairways. The concrete steps crumbled, and fans could see the parking lot through the new holes. There was talk of relocating the Series to Los Angeles. Over the dead bodies of 62,000 Giants fans would their first Series in 27 years be played at Dodger Stadium! Some people felt that a sporting event was so insignificant in light of such a disaster that it should be cancelled altogether. Cooler heads prevailed as the structural damage was fixed, and game 3 was played at the 'Stick after all. It turned out to be what the Bay Area needed as therapy.

The quake stirred fans, as they showed up for the postponed game 3 wearing hard hats with their team logo. The A's swept the Giants, and decided that in light of the catastrophe, they would celebrate their victory in the locker room without alcoholic beverages.

Another friend of mine was driving on the Bridge at the time of the quake and collapse. He had just passed the section that would collapse. Then when he reached the joint between the bridge and terra firma, the buckled pavement scraped the underside of his car. Not knowing what happened, he pulled off and checked his car out. He looked back up the bridge, and there was no traffic whatsoever in an eerie sight.

Having two teams close by has always been a blessing for me. Getting to drive to every game is something few fans have ever claimed. The '89 quake and Series are things I will never forget.

Priceless

World Series Ticket: $200
Airfare: $595
Hotel: $95
Seeing Manny take a mulligan off the first tee shot tomorrow morning: Priceless

Phillies Have To Win

If the Phillies don't win the NLCS, then it's either the Dodgers and Angels in the World Series, or the Dodgers and Yankees. How could I watch either of these matchups?

EARTHQUAKE

Tuesday, October 17, 1989, 5:04pm, minutes before the start of game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's. It registered 7.1 on the Richter scale. Just prior to this I was in the upper deck at Candlestick Park visiting some friends who also had tickets. I was on my way down the ramp to the lower deck, and was near the bottom of the ramp with a friend, who said, "Is that an earthquake?" I stopped, felt some shaking and looked down. My head was still but I could see the ground move several feet in each direction under me. Yes it was an earthquake, and a huge one. It shook for 45 terrifying seconds.

There were 62,000 fans there, and when the shaking stopped, there was dead silence. Everybody looked up and around. A few seconds later, a monstrous cheer erupted. Welcome to San Francisco! "We had an earthquake on national TV! Awesome! Welcome to California!" could be heard by many of the fans. No visible damage. We proceeded to the concession line to buy some goodies. Just then, the power went out. The cash registers were electric, so no change could be made because the drawers were stuck shut. The concessionaires took the next bill up. We made it back to our seats (seven rows behind home plate were where my season tickets were.) People were dazed and confused. The scoreboard and PA system were not working due to the power outage.

Players and police were out on the field. A chant of "Play Ball!" erupted from the crowd. Who needs a scoreboard? Scoreboard, schmoreboard. A fan just behind us had a Sony Watchman (remember those?) He said that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. This was simply unbelievable news. A few minutes later (how can you sense time when something like this happens?), a police car with a hand held mega phone blurred something out that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. We were all told to go home. Go home? This is the World Series!

Once out into the parking lot, we saw a TV news van with an open door. There were many television monitors, and since it was operating on battery power, we could see the damage being broadcast by the blimp. What we saw were truly horrific pictures. A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. A freeway had pancaked on top of itself and miles of it were laying on the ground. A massive fire broke out in the Marina district. This was a major catastrophe.

The SFPD told fans to stay close to the stadium, as bridges were out. All the other bridges in the Bay Area were closed for inspection. We had to wait. We figured that we would be there a while, so we proceeded to a mini-mart at a neighboring RV park to buy some beer. We bought a case. The door was blocked by a table, as they didn't let people in. They took orders and made sales at the door. When we turned around to leave, there was a line behind us hundreds of people deep. Suddenly we got questions about where we got the beer. Not wanting to wait in line, people started bidding on our beer! We sold to the highest bidder and walked away with eighty bucks.

After quite a while of waiting, it was getting dark. Police were being called away because there was heavy looting downtown. It was at this point we got scared. We decided to make a run for it, and anticipated heavy traffic as we headed 50 miles down to San Jose to wrap around the bottom of the bay and up the other side another 70 miles home. It was the only way home without crossing a bridge. By the time we got to the San Mateo bridge, it was open. We hit a Denny's on the way home, and it was filled with fans who were talking about the event. I eventually got home at 1:30am.

I will never forget that day or the experience of that earthquake. Hundreds of people were feared dead from the freeway collapse. Some tourists from Connecticut managed to shoot some video from the collapsed section of the bridge, with the eerie sight of a car crashing to the deck below. The replacement section had a different paving surface, a constant reminder of that day. I will write more about this event, its aftermath and what happened in the postponement of the Series. [Update: a followup post can be found here]

1989 World Series and Earthquake

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the all-Bay Area World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's, and the major earthquake that struck the Bay Area just minutes before game 3 at Candlestick Park. I was there. The World Series was more than major news here, and the earthquake caused much death and damage.

I'll be taking several posts to tell the story as I lived it.

The A's beat the Blue Jays in the ALCS, while the Giants took care of the Cubs in the NLCS. Ticket sales were simply unbelievable. Tens of thousands of tickets went on sale through a major ticket agency, and were sold out within a matter of hours. Approximately ten million calls were placed in a frantic attempt to buy tickets, jamming phone circuits. But this was no problem at all for me and some friends.

I already had Series tickets for the games in San Francisco, as I was a season ticket holder. But I pulled a major coup in accidentally discovering a back door into the ticket agency's phone system from trying to buy concert tickets months previously. The ticket agency was given a block of about a hundred phone numbers - in consecutive numerical order - by the phone company. A call to the main number, if busy, was rolled over to the next number, and so on. You received a busy signal only if all hundred lines were busy. I figured out that if I dialed a number up at the higher end of numbers, I could get in fairly easy, as higher numbers waited a fraction of a second for all the previous numbers to roll over. A direct dial on a higher number usually resulted in a connection.

So, out of the millions of phone calls made, a small five employee architecture firm was able to buy 2 percent of all tickets sold within a two hour period. I first bought my A's tickets, giving me tickets for all seven games. Other people in the office bought all their own personal tickets. We prepped for this coup by getting credit cards from friends, family, and everybody on our company softball team. We closed the office and made purchases until we ran out of friends' credit cards. We were swimming in tickets, and all of our friends were ecstatic at getting seats for the Series. Life was beautiful in October, 1989.

Coming Soon: Foul Balls and Fair

My family recently moved. As we packed, I came across my box of baseballs. I paused to go through them. I have a collection of balls over the years consisting of foul balls, home run balls, batting practice balls and other balls thrown up into the stands. The box is an empty motor oil case, full the top. Each ball had a piece of tape on it listing when and where (if I knew that info) I retrieved it.

I went through each one. I have fielded ten foul balls in four different ballparks and eight home runs in two ballparks. I put each one into a separate sandwich bag, as a few pieces of tape came loose. I was able to piece them back together based on the league president signature on each ball and when that president served crossed with the date on the piece of tape.

I'll be writing soon about each foul ball and home run ball I retrieved, plus other notable ones.

Frozen Division Series

With the other three series being sweeps, the already snow-delayed Phils/Rox series now has sole attention of everybody in baseball. If this thing goes five games with another delay or two, the other teams might just go into hibernation...

Note To Giants' Marketing Team:

We're still in this thing.

Go Phillies?

The Phillies are the only team in the playoffs that I don't have a problem with their winning the World Series. I hate, Hate, HATE the Dodgers. I hate the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels. I dislike the Cardinals and Rockies.

So, I'll root for the Phils. First, they're playing the Not-Giants in the NLDS.

[Update: In the comments section, shallowfrozenwater asks about the Twins. I noticed this after I posted it. Shows you where the Twinkies are in my thinking. They don't nearly exist. I don't like their stupid dome and their homer hanky World Series titles. So, they are the lesser of four evils in the American League. Phils/Twinks?]