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(Blogathon ’16) The Author of @OldHossRadbourn: Three Catches

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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I would have enjoyed seeing Game 6 of the 1947 World Series.  It was yet another Dodgers/Yankees affair, when both the event and the outcome seemed inevitable.  It had been a hell of a Series, including a stunner in Game 4: the Yanks’ Bill Bevens pitched a ten-walk no-hitter into the ninth when, with two outs and two runners on in a 2-1 game, Cookie Lavagetto smacked a game-winning double to right — the last hit of his career! — that Tommy Henrich could not reach. Game to the Dodgers.

By Game 6 the Yanks were up 3 games to 2 with Allie Reynolds, in his first year in the Bronx, on the mound. He had nothing, and was done in the third.  Relief ace Joe Page also got lit, though the Yankees slowly crept back. Down 8-5 in the 6th, Joe DiMaggio came up to bat with 2 on and 2 out. He crushed Joe Hatten’s pitch to left center. Left fielder Al Gionfriddo raced toward the visitors’ bullpen, over 400 feet from home plate, and managed to jjuusstt make the catch. DiMaggio, sure he’d just lost at least a double, did something extremely rare: he showed emotion, and kicked a patch of dirt between first and second. Inning over.  The Yankees would go on to lose 8-6.

This catch has been on my mind after a recent bit of baseball reading.  What stands out after looking at three works — Roger Kahn’s The Era 1947-1957; David Halberstam’s Summer of ‘49; and Richard Ben Cramer’s Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life, — is how differently they portray this one catch, DiMaggio’s reaction, and the man himself.

I have mixed feelings about Kahn.  I’m the father of a special needs son, and reading his description in The Boys of Summer of Carl Erskine raising a “Mongoloid” is a nice reminder that, despite Kahn’s desire, the glory days of the past have no place in my present.  But, goddammit, the man can tell a story.  He describes the catch over several pages, focusing on Gionfriddo’s reaction, including (according to Gionfriddo) comments made by DiMaggio about the man who stole his hit: “…[he] never gave up and he made the greatest catch that anybody ever made in the whole history of baseball.”

It’s not hard to imagine DiMaggio, even then aware of his aura, describe the catch this way.  Only the greatest catch of all time denies the Yankee Clipper his glory.  DiMaggio would return to this topic years later: asked to evaluate Willie Mays’ catch off Vic Wertz in the ‘54 Series (a catch, one scribe noted, that would “have left any other park than the Polo Grounds, including Yellowstone”), DiMaggio invoked his past, telling Kahn “…Mays had plenty of room. Running back, all he had to worry about was the ball. On my drive, Gionfriddo had to worry about the ball and those iron gates. He had to worry about running out of room, about getting hurt. With all that, I say he made the greater catch.”

DiMaggio, as Kahn portrays him, is aware of his image, proud of it, and ceaselessly builds on it. Not so in Cramer, who describes the catch as follows:

As DiMaggio rounded first, he could see the outfielder Al Gionfriddo dancing a spirited tarantella — unsure where to run, which way to turn, how to get under the ball. Joe was digging for second base when Gionfriddo, in an act of God, stumbled under the ball, stuck his glove over the wire fence and — Cazzo! Figlio di putana! — stole the home run away from DiMaggio.

This . . . well, this is different.  It’s not a good catch.  It’s a lucky grab by a fool who stumbled to just the right place to become a part of history.  The tone here is also different.  Cramer’s DiMaggio is a miserable figure, aloof and alone, proud only of his legacy, and a prisoner of it.  After the game, in the locker room, came the following:

“The Catch” might not have burned Joe up, if Gionfriddo hadn’t been out of position, clueless in that outfield, and a busher in the first place . . . after the game, he didn’t answer questions, and told the photographers: no pictures. The next day, when one cameraman asked Joe to autograph a picture of that home run theft, DiMaggio snarled him away: “Whyn’cha get the other guy? He made the catch.”

Two takes, two tones.  There’s overlap, sure, but Cramer’s DiMaggio comes across again and again as just a colossal son of a bitch.  This version of DiMaggio will not compliment the bush-league Gionfriddo on his catch. It’s unlikely he saw it as superior to Mays’.

And then there’s Halberstam, who has a pretty significant deviation:

During the 1947 World Series, in a rare burst of emotion, he kicked the ground near second base after a Brooklyn player named Al Gionfriddo made a spectacular catch, robbing him of a three-run home run. The net day while he was dressing, a photographer who had taken a picture of him kicking the ground asked him to sign a blowup of it. At first DiMaggio demurred and suggested that the photographer get Gionfriddo’s signature. “He’s the guy who made the play,” DiMaggio said. But the photographer persisted, and so reluctantly DiMaggio signed it. Then he turned to a small group of reporters sitting by him. “Don’t write this in the paper,” he said. “but the truth is, if he had been playing me right, he would have made it look easy.”

Again a different take.  This is a bad catch once again – DiMaggio would have effortlessly made it – but this time, you’ll note, he signs the photo.  This DiMaggio is graceful.  Halberstam is writing about a man in his early thirties, but it’s hard not to see the silver-haired, immaculately dressed gentleman of DiMaggio’s later years leaning over to reporters with a conspiratorial wink and telling them how he really felt about that catch.  The legend is strong here.

Does any of this matter?  I don’t know.  We have one catch, three stories, and three somewhat different men featured in each.  I am reminded, however, of what is so fascinating and frustrating about history: at the end of the day, I have no idea what DiMaggio thought about that catch.  I know what our authors thought of it, and of the man himself.  Cramer gives us a DiMaggio fierce in his misanthropy, alone with nothing except the memory of his greatness.  I’m not sure Kahn or Halberstam get us closer to the truth.  Kahn, like all old men, wants us to remember an era better than our own, when giants walked the land.  So, too does Halberstam, though he understands baseball – as Bill James reminds us – perhaps the least of these three authors.   In the end we’re left with three sources describing a catch made under an October sky, a man so shrouded by a legacy that his thoughts are lost, the mentalités of three historians imposed upon the past, and the recession of an event from history to myth.

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The Author of @OldHossRadbourn is the individual behind the @OldHossRadbourn Twitter account.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Alex Skillin: Are we entering the Golden Age of Shortstops?

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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Few positions on a baseball diamond come with as much acclaim and scrutiny as shortstop. The shortstop is the so-called “captain of the infield,” a performer whose glove does much of the talking, and, from little league all the way up to the pros, often the best player on the team.

That hasn’t been the case in the majors of late. In fact, the shortstop position has been in a sorry state for some time, especially at the plate. In 2014, MLB shortstops hit a collective .251/.306/.363, and while some of that can be attributed to the decline in offense throughout the league, the days of shortstops starring with the glove and the bat felt like a distant memory. Nearly 15 years after Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra formed an exciting, young triumvirate, the bar for sticking at the position had sunk very low.

Yet this past season provided reason to believe that the state of the shortstop in MLB is primed to improve considerably. The impressive debuts of rookie Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor and the rise of Xander Bogaerts gives the league three young shortstops who look likely to excel for quite some time. Indeed, Correa, Lindor and Bogaerts conjure up recollections of that Jeter, A-Rod and Nomar trio, and their budding potential could make shortstop a position filled with promise once again.

Correa might just have the brightest future of the bunch after enjoying one of the more impressive rookie debuts in recent memory. In 99 games, Correa batted .279/.345/.512 with 22 home runs, and his call-up to the majors in June bolstered the Astros’ playoff push. That he turned 21 years old in September makes his inaugural campaign all the more remarkable. Just over three years after graduating high school and being taken with the No. 1 overall pick, Correa helped lead Houston to the brink of an ALCS berth before the Royals and their #devilmagic intervened.

Considering his performance at such a young age, Correa should have a few more chances to carry the Astros deep into October. One can only imagine what he’ll do over a full season in 2016.

Lindor’s glove had long been praised down in the minors, and given his extended status as one of the game’s top prospects, Cleveland fans had long-awaited his arrival. That day came on June 14 (he debuted less than a week after Correa), but the most surprising part of Lindor’s rookie year was his production in the batter’s box. The Puerto Rican native hit .313/.353/.482 with 38 extra-base hits over 438 plate appearances, and less surprisingly, his defense proved as stellar as expected. Lindor’s all-around play helped the Indians turn their season around and nearly claim a Wild Card berth.

Despite playing in just 99 games, he finished with the second-highest fWAR among shortstops in baseball at 4.6. If he can show his offensive output was no fluke, Lindor’s future potential looks even better than expected.

A relative veteran compared to Correa and Lindor, Bogaerts finally began fulfilling that long-hyped promise in 2015. After struggling in his first full season, Bogaerts bounced back to bat .320/.355/.421 this past year and finished third in the major leagues in hits with 196. Even more encouragingly, the 23-year-old improved mightily on defense and now looks likely to stick at the position for years to come.

That’s good news for the Red Sox and the shortstop position as a whole. For despite his meager home-run totals in 2015, Bogaerts, like Correa, has the chance to hit for the type of middle-of-the-order power rarely seen in shortstops.

There are plenty of other young shortstops to get excited about too, of course. Addison Russell held his own for the Cubs at the age of 21, and Corey Seager earned a starting job after the Dodgers called him up late in the season. Down in the minors, moreover, some of the game’s top prospects look set to follow in the footsteps of Correa, Lindor and Bogaerts. Players like J.P. Crawford, Orlando Arcia, Tim Anderson and Raul Mondesi Jr., among others, could soon become household names and indicate the position won’t be lacking for young talent in the coming years.

And all the different places these players come from demonstrate how much the game has grown over the past couple decades. Both Correa and Lindor were born and raised in Puerto Rico before being selected in the draft, while the Red Sox signed Bogaerts out of Aruba. Crawford, Seager and Anderson all grew up in the U.S., but Arcia and Mondesi Jr. were both signed as international free agents out of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic respectively.

That’s a wide swath of talent teams now have access to, and it’s beginning to pay dividends for the shortstop position and MLB as a whole. Given all the talented prospects that debuted in the majors last season, the rise of so many precocious shortstops is likely no coincidence. In a league now filled with promising, young stars, no position may have a brighter future than shortstop.

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Alex Skillin writes about baseball for The Hardball Times and the Red Sox at Over the Monster and BP Boston. His work has previously appeared at SB Nation, Sports on Earth, The Classical, Beyond the Box Score and in The Hardball Times Annual. You can follow him on Twitter at @AlexSkillin.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Hawkins DuBois- Searching for Baseball’s New Frontier: Examining the World of Mental Skills Training

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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When analytics became the hot new craze in baseball 15 years ago, the teams at the forefront of the movement gained a level of competitive advantage that propelled them back into competition with the massively bankrolled clubs. A decade and a half later, analytics are no longer the secret weapon they once were for those small-market teams.

In today’s game, analytics are everywhere. You can find statistics online that attempt to measure defensive value, analysts on MLB Network and ESPN discuss the merits of WAR, and every major league team (yes, even the Phillies) has implemented their own baseball analytics department.

The advantage that small-market teams such as the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays gained by being the first to acknowledge the relevance of certain unheralded statistics, is now gone. Sabermetrics have become a focal point of the baseball world, not only for the front offices of major league baseball teams, but also for a significant portion of the sport’s fan base. Anyone and everyone can now learn about these advanced statistics.

With the usage of analytics being so widespread, teams must now look elsewhere to gain an edge. So, where do these teams look next?

One widely untapped possibility for the next great area of competitive advantage may be found right inside our own skulls. As one of baseball’s greats once said: “Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.” It’s a quote that I’m sure many of you are aware comes from the late Yogi Berra, and while his math might be off (he played before sabermetrics were around), his emphasis on the mental aspect of baseball is important to note.

Baseball players are under constant pressure to make decisions. A pitcher must decide what pitch to throw, a hitter whether to swing, a fielder where to position themselves. All of these decisions require the use of one’s mental skills. As Matt Krug, the Brewers director of psychological services put it, “the more down time you have in your sport, the more quote-unquote mental it is. There’s a lot of down time in baseball, which allows your thoughts to wander.”i Baseball provides a disproportionate amount of time for thinking as opposed to actually doing, so teaching players the right way to think, in preparation for performing their actions, is an incredibly important skill.

Unfortunately, the training and development of these mental skills has been fairly nonexistent throughout much of baseball history. While professional players spend hours every day lifting weights, fielding ground balls, and taking batting practice, they spend little to no time working to enhance their mental capabilities, despite often acknowledging the value of maintaining a calm and collected head.

In the past, teams have recognized the usefulness of psychology, but it has yet to find its way into the sport as a developmental tool on a large scale. One of the first, and most well-known, mental consultants in the game of baseball was Harvey Dorfman. Dorfman worked for nearly three decades with professional teams, as well as the Boras Corporation, becoming one of the first full-time mental skills consultants. He believed that to enhance a player’s performance, the player needed to reduce their stress by removing on-field distractions. Dorfman spent years within the game pushing his mental enhancement platform, making a profound impact on the world of mental training, and while he passed away in 2011, his legacy continues on.

Dorfman was only employed by three major league organizations (the A’s, Marlins and Devil Rays), but his reach stretched far beyond just the athletes on those teams. Numerous players, from Kevin Brown, to Brad Lidge, to Greg Maddux credited Dorfman with helping them improve their game. Jamie Moyer dedicated his 2013 memoir to Dorfmanii, and Rick Ankiel has taken up a job with the Washington Nationals as their life skills coordinator, in the hopes that he can pass on the wisdom that Dorfman imparted to him. Dorfman may be gone, but his teachings will progress, as players continue to utilize his techniques.

Since Dorfman, there haven’t been many hugely recognizable names in the baseball mental skills community, but Alan Jaeger is an excellent example of someone who is furthering the practice of mental skills training. Jaeger runs his own company, Jaeger Sports, where he promotes a mental training regimen of his own design, as well as rounding out his company through research and development of a long-toss guide to throwing, and the creation of the Jaeger-bands. Jaeger’s approach to mental training is detailed in his book, “Getting Focused Staying Focused,” where he emphasizes a program based on the practice of meditation. Jaeger remains active in the mental training aspect of his company, continuing to give talks to high schools and colleges, as well as consulting with professional players on improving their mental approach to the game, earning the praise of players such as Trevor Hoffman, Randy Wolf and Trevor Bauer.

Beyond just the spiritual successors that Dorfman spawned in people like Jaeger, his work also created an entirely new field of jobs within major league baseball organizations. Psychologists had been dabbling in baseball research since Babe Ruth’s playing days, but Dorfman’s work paved the way for the implementation of more mental training consultants with MLB teams. These mental training consultants, are well on their way to becoming a fixture in MLB organizations. Whereas it was once a viewed as a bad thing if a player went to speak to someone about something going on in their head, the baseball environment has now opened up to become far more accepting of sports psychology and the idea of mental training.

The Mariners have even gone so far as to provide sports psychologist Andy McKay with one of the highest positions in the front office, making him their director of player development. McKay will seek to fuse the worlds of physical and mental training, as he attempts to develop and enhance baseball players in a way that hasn’t been done before. It is McKay’s belief, as well as Mariners General Manger Jerry Dipoto’s, that psychology and mental training are the next great frontier in baseball. As McKay says, “there’s nobody that is doing it well. There’s an enormous gap between where we are as an industry and where we can get to.”iii

With McKay becoming one of the first major front office players to be trained in the field of psychology, what decisions he makes, and the success of his plans could make tidal waves in the sport. If McKay is able to master the art of mental training, there is no doubt that other teams will jump on the bandwagon to copy his strategies, and if/when that happens, it won’t be long before everyone in the game puts themselves back on a level playing field.

Ken Ravizza, an early contemporary of Dorfman’s and a current employee of the Chicago Cubs, provides an emphatic support of McKay and Dipoto’s belief: “People realize now that we’ve tapped the physical conditioning aspect. We’ve tapped the mechanics aspect. We’re tapping the computer aspect and all the numbers. I think now they’re realizing the next edge is the six inches between the ears.”iv

Hawkins is primarily a Dodgers fan, but has taken a strong rooting interest in the Mariners in recent years, due to the Dodgers’ television situation. He is currently finishing up his undergraduate degree at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, while also coaching a local high school team. His writing about baseball (and movies) can be found at dancelikedevito.com.

i Joe Lemire, “With psychologists, MLB teams try to win “six inches between the ears””. USA Today, accessed on January 8, 2016 from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/06/02/major-league-baseball-sports-psychology/28366403/

ii Tyler Kepner, “The Giants’ Pieces Remain, and Fall Apart”. New York Times, accessed on January 8, 2016 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/sports/baseball/the-pieces-remain-and-fall-apart.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

iii Greg Johns, “McKay steering Mariners through new frontier”. MLB.com, accessed on January 9, 2016 from http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/157245156/andy-mckay-brings-new-ideas-to-mariners

iv Lemire

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Ron Kaplan- Read All About It: Blogs That Will Keep You Up on Baseball Books

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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It’s been often said that baseball is one of the most literary of sports. I think it’s safe to say without the benefit of, you know, actual facts, that there have been more books on the national pastime than any other sport.

I launched my Baseball Bookshelf with the idea of providing a wide array of news about the genre, including original pieces plus links to reviews; interviews with creators, not just of words, but art, music, film; and other pertinent items.

But lest you think this is the only game in town, here are some other great places to find out what’s good in the world of baseball lit:

  • John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, often writes about books on his blog, Our Game, especially those that deal with the early years.
  • The Society for American Baseball Research has lots of information about books. Sadly, their Bibliography Committee is no longer around, but the newsletters are still somewhere on the site, which can be a bit intimidating to navigate. Some pages of their site can be accessed for free; others are members-only. But it’s well worth the $65 fee since SABR includes several wonderful titles each year as part of its premiums. The most recent: An assessment of baseball through the hit animated TV series, The Simpsons.
  • The National Pastime Museum recently concluded its series on “The Baseball Book That Changed My Life,” with essays from an assortment of authors and scholars.
  • Spitball: The Literary Magazine has lots of news and reviews about books.
  • Gregg Kersey posts his original reviews about baseball books.
  • James Bailey’s site is still up and although he doesn’t add to it as often as in past years, you can still find a good chunk of material.
  • Baseballbookreview.com is another defunct site that can still be an asset.
  • The Baseball Almanac includes several dozen reviews on this page.

Of course, you can simply do a web search for “baseball book reviews,” but these are among the sites that will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

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Ron Kaplan runs Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf and the author of 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. A signed copy will be given to one lucky donor to the GoFundMe page.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Nate Fish: Ezra, the Ballplayer

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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I got this email on November 18th, 2015.

“Hi Nate,
My name is Ezra Schwartz, I’m at yeshiva and heard about the baseball league. I played four years of high school baseball and would love to join the spring league if there is space. If you can send me details of how to register that would be great.
Thank you.”

I am the national director for the Israel Association of Baseball and get emails like this a lot, kids wanting to play, or invites to tournaments, and I breezed over it. I was not in Israel at the time. I was in New York, where I used to live, visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving, and was not in the mood to deal with work. When I did reply the next morning, it was short.

“Great. Will add you to our list and send you a mail when spring training is getting ready to start. We should start Feb 10ish, season will start about a month later.”

But Ezra never got my e-mail.

I was on my parent’s couch looking at Facebook on my phone seeing what my friends were doing later. People were still talking about the Paris attacks that had happened a week earlier. And there were more stabbings back in Israel. I was more interested in my friends than news or people’s opinions on terrorism, but the forth or fifth time it came up on the screen, I saw it, “American Teen Ezra Shwartz Killed in Israel.” Shit, I said loud enough that my dad came in the room to ask what was wrong. I pulled up my e-mails to make sure. It was him.

Ezra was attending a gap year program at a school in Bet Shemesh, near Jerusalem. He was taking food and water to Israeli soldiers in the West Bank with some of his classmates and a teacher. For those of you who have never been to the West Bank, it is not a war zone. You could drive there a thousand times and nothing would happen. We have baseball teams there so I go out to see the fields and meet with coaches. I do not particularly like going. I find it a bit eerie, the check points and fences and security vehicles. There is a tension, but it is not by definition dangerous, no more dangerous than neighborhoods in Chicago or most major American cities, for example. It was a routine trip for the students. On their way back to the school, their car stopped at a red light, and they were ambushed by a Palestinian fighter who fired several shots at the cars lined up at the light. Along with Ezra, one Palestinian man, and an Israeli Jewish man were killed and five others were injured. Ezra was taken to a hospital. By the time I replied to his e-mail, he was dead.

I posted a note on Facebook about Ezra. Hundreds of people shared it, thousands liked it. I started hearing from Ezra’s former coaches and people who wanted to help The press and all the Jewish organizations got on the story. And Ezra quickly turned from a kid to an idea.

Ezra’s family came to Israel last week (Editor’s note: Nate got this to me in on January 8), his parents and four younger siblings. His three brothers threw out ceremonial first-pitches at our Junior League all-star game, and we will hopefully build a field in his honor in Raanana where some of Ezra’s family lives. It’s all good PR. But there is one thing Ezra’s family would like more than good PR, and that is to have their son and brother back. So when I take the field this spring to play one of my final baseball seasons for the Jerusalem Lions, I will try to remember Ezra the kid, not Ezra the idea – Ezra, the ballplayer.

Nate Fish is the director of the Israel Association of Baseball, his Twitter is @KingOfJBaseball.

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This guest-post was part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Graveyard Baseball- Your guide to adopting an NPB team Part 12: Saitama Seibu Lions (埼玉西武ライオンズ)

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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Who are we?: We are an English blog writing about one of 12 teams in the Japanese professional baseball league known as Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). While the Saitama Seibu Lions are the primary team we cover, we will write anything that connects MLB and NPB, such as the recent signing of Kenta Maeda to the Los Angeles Dodgers. You can follow us on Twitter @GraveyardBall for any instant updates.

Part 12?  What?: This is the final piece in a 12-part series on a guide with who to adopt as your NPB team. We connected with some history, trivia and showing who played on each team with MLB on their resume.  You can see all posts at the bottom which covers each team.

Saitama Seibu Lions (埼玉西武ライオンズ)

The Saitama Seibu (西武) Lions were originally in Fukuoka (Kyushu island) as the Nishitetsu Clippers in 1950 for one season. Nishitetsu is an electric railway in Fukuoka which still operates today. After a merger with another team, they became Nishitetsu Lions one year later in 1951.

There would be a Black Mist scandal involving players fixing games from 1969-1971, similar to the Black Sox scandal from 1919. Nishitetsu would sell the team and they would be Taiheiyo Club Lions from 1973-1976, which is named after a golf course and resort developer. They would then be sold to Crown Lighter Gas, to be called the Crown Lighter Lions from 1977-1978.

Eventually, they were sold to Seibu Group and they moved to Tokorozawa in 1979, a place they still hold today. Their title would be Seibu Lions until 2008, where they added the prefecture name “Saitama” to the front.

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Ownership: Seibu Holdings

Seibu is a conglomerate which owns several businesses. The most well-known one is the Seibu Railway as it operates in greater Tokyo. The trains are one of the best ways to get to a game in Tokorozawa. Seibu also owns hotels, real estate, resorts and more.

Train stations in the area will often be decorated with Lions related colors. The name “Seibu” (西武) derives as an abbreviation from it’s kanji title of west Musashi, which was the old title of where present day Saitama prefecture was located. 西 (Nishi) means West in Japanese.

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League: Pacific

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Payroll rank in 2015: 9

The Lions are a team with a tight budget as they won’t spend a lot. However, they will pay players who prove their worth and this ranking can go up with multiple pay raises happening. Usually they are in the “pack”.

Location/Stadium: Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama prefecture

Tokorozawa is a suburb in greater Tokyo. It’s quite a distance from the capital itself, but the Lions represent Saitama prefecture, which is in the North. Saitama prefecture is known for some mountains in their scenery, with plenty of room to go hiking.

The most famous spot in the area, would be Hachikokuyama, which is a park right on the border of Saitama and Tokyo prefectures.  The park was used as an inspiration as the scenery for the movie My Neighbor Totoro. 


 Side note: I recommend everyone sees this short movie, which is nearly 30 years old now.

ixOSAy2u

Seibu Dome was originally an outdoor stadium when the Lions moved there in 1979. It was then known as Seibu Stadium. While there is a roof, you can see that in the outfield and all around the building that it can be exposed to wind and hot temperatures with the open face.  The domed roof was added in 1998. Due to one player being sold, the place underwent renovations after 2007.

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Mascots: Leo (right) and Lyna (left)

Leo is based off the character Kimba the White Lion in the Japanese Anime known as “Jungle Emperor Leo.” The Lions used to have this as their main logo and still use it for flags (such as what’s in centerfield near the country’s flag. That flag is also seen during the NPB Draft.

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Uniforms: The Lions have switched to Majestic in 2016, and had a ceremonial “kick-off” for them last Friday morning:

QnvleipjNote: The Lions used to wear a bright blue design with the Kimba logo since their move to Tokorozawa. However, a scandal in the 00s by then-owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi made them want to move on from it and rebranded to a dark blue design beginning in 2009.

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Cheer song:  Hoero Lions (吠えろライオンズ) “Roar Lions”

Instead of a 7th inning stretch of “Take me out to the ballgame”, Fans pull out balloons in 9 out of 12 stadiums and sing a cheer song as an alternative.  A video of this can be found here.

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Ōendan (Cheerleading) Songs: 2015 Player songs at 00:00, Hoero Lions at 7:03, Special Chance themes at 8:27, [ソリャセ] (Soryase, an equivalent of “Let’s Go”) at 10:42, Regular chance themes at 11:18, Scoring song at 15:08

Notes:

Every player has their own “song” to hear when they’re batting. Whether home or away, a portion of the crowd will always be singing. A Chance song is a special song when usually runners are in scoring position, hence drawing a “Chance” opportunity.

The regular chance songs for the Lions have similar tunes to “Cotton Eye Joe”, “Do you know the Muffin man?”, but notice how Chance #4 near the end has women and men singing separate lines. You can hear a cleaner version here. (Scoring song featured too)

The Lions are the only Oendan in Japan to wave flags as a group. They do this when scoring and well as during the [ソリャセ], which is almost like saying “We want more runs”.

The scoring song title translates into “I saw a Lion running on the Horizon”.  An up close version of the song can be heard in the video below starting at 2:41. They also sing “Happy Birthday” to players on their birthday, which you can see in the video as well.

Here is a link to a full version of the song as sung by a person. Lastly, here’s an instrumental version from a commemorative 1986 Nippon Series Champions box.


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MLB Comparison: Oakland Athletics

The Lions have found ways to be competitive with a low payroll more times than not. Since their move to Tokorozawa in 1979, the Lions have finished in the Bottom 3 of the Pacific League only three times.

Only difference is, the Lions have won a crucial elimination game multiple times in the 21st Century, including a Game 7 of the Japan Series. They’ve been competitive and avoided the cellar for the most part, which is good for a team that hasn’t been a high spender in recent years. Playing in what is viewed as the “ugliest” stadium in NPB also draws this comparison to the Oakland A’s, who play in the Oakland Coliseum.

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Notable former MiLB and MLB players to play for the Lions:


 Ryan Spilborghs, Esmerling Vasquez, Matty Alou, Terry Whitfield, George Vukovich, Kazuhisa Ishii

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Notable players who played in MLB: 

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kazuo Matsui

Note: The Lions used a portion of the $51.1 million they acquired for Matsuzaka on renovations to the Seibu Dome. You can see the original look of the Dome prior to renovations here. Matsuzaka paid for restroom upgrades, an HD scoreboard, renovated field turf as well as adding bullpen box seats on the side.

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Verdict


Why you root for them: 


 Because you’re used to being in a big market, but rooting for a team with less fans in numbers. The Lions are far from the city, which is a long train ride away to get to the Seibu Dome. Yes, they’re in greater Tokyo, but forgotten due to teams like the Yomiuri Giants controlling the market.

It could also be that you’re an Oakland A’s fan know what it’s like to compete on a lower budget. The Lions have benefited from their ballpark and developed pitching over the years. Like the A’s, they have a strong amount of success in their team’s history with 13 Japan Series championships overall when combining their time in Fukuoka with the Seibu era.

The Lions had a “Golden Age” where they won 11 pennants from 1982-1994 and took eight Japan Series titles in that timeframe. This dynasty gets overlooked, similar to how the A’s had a three-peat from 1972-1974, due to being in the Pacific League.

Here at Graveyard Baseball, we can provide exclusive coverage of the team and insight in English for anyone. As of the time of this writing, we’re the only blog to write about the Lions in the English language.

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Why you don’t root for them:


 Like the A’s, the Lions have had their share of disappointing postseason exits. They were a strong team in both 2012 and 2013, but lost in the opening round when they were favored. You also dislike ugly stadiums if not teams from a suburb away from the city.

Crowds are also half empty on week nights due to the proximity from the heart of Tokyo. The average person who works in the city would not be able to attend a game on a week night at first pitch. Assuming the game begins at 6:00 PM local time, it takes 90 minutes by train to arrive at the Seibu Dome from Tokyo, meaning it wouldn’t be worth it for a worker (known as salarymen in Japan) to attend a game late.

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Other NPB Teams in the series: 

Yomiuri Giants (巨人)

Hiroshima Toyo Carp (広島)

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (日本) 

Orix Buffaloes (オリックス)

Hanshin Tigers (阪神) 

Chunichi Dragons (中日)

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (楽天)

Softbank Hawks (ソフトバンク) 

Yokohama (DeNA) Baystars

Chiba Lotte Marines (ロッテ)

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (ヤクルトス)

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Follow us on Twitter @GraveyardBall

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Mike Oz: The History of Baseball Players Rapping, Abridged

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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As someone who loves both hip-hop and baseball, it’s a daily disappointment that these two lanes of my life don’t intersect more often.

It happened recently, when Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman made his rhyming debut, dropping a verse on Mike Stud’s “These Days” remix from his new album of the same name. There’s more here than just the same ol’ story of an athlete thinking he can spit a few bars. Stud is the nom de rap of Mike Seander, who was a college teammate of Stroman’s at Duke University.

After Duke, Stroman went on to a successful MLB career and Stud became a notable figure in the Drake-influenced frat-rap scene. So more than baseball players trying to get into rap, this was two friends reuniting for fun. Nonetheless, Stroman was surprisingly good. Better, in fact, than you’d think.

Using Stroman as a jumping off point, this seems like a timely opportunity to talk about other baseball-rap crossovers. Please enjoy this Abridged Version of the History of Baseball Players Rapping.

1. DEION SANDERS
When Prime Time jumped into the rap game, no one took it all that serious. He was hanging with MC Hammer and had already established himself as a profession-juggler. So, rapping, why not? He released an entire album in 1994, aptly titled “Prime Time” that people will mostly remember for the somewhat popular song “Must Be the Money.” It wasn’t good, but it was at least ahead of its time in the sense that modern day hip-hop also values people who rap about being rich even if they have no actual talent.

Notable lyric: “Hey, my snakeskin shoes gonna change into gators / Hey, my library cards gonna change into credit cards
/ You know what I’m sayin?”

2. KEN GRIFFEY JR.
Somehow, The Kid’s foray into rap doesn’t get nearly enough attention. In 1992, Seattle rapper Kid Sensation got Griffey to jump on a track called “The Way I Swing.” How that happened? Emoji shrug. History doesn’t remember any of this too well, but you know what? The beat to the song isn’t bad. Griffey isn’t a Hall of Famer spitter, but this is at least somewhat respectable.

Notable lyric: “Ken Griffey is a swinger, not a singer / A def rhyme bringer / A home-run hitter but I’m not a dope slinger.”

3. COCO CRISP
As part of the 2005 album, “Oh Say, Can You Sing,” veteran outfielder Coco Crisp showed his flows on an original song called “We Got That Thing.” This might be baseball’s version of Cedric Ceballos rapping on that NBA rap CD where you’re like, “Huh? This guy is rapping and … he’s not bad.” It’s bouncy and interesting and actually sounds good more than 10 years later. Well done, Coco.

Notable lyric: “That chain you wear is dental floss to me.”

4. JOSE REYES
It’s a surprise we don’t hear more Spanish-language rap coming from Latin baseball players. We do get it from Jose Reyes, though. His history in rap is more prolific than most people here, as he’s appeared on a number of different songs, usually as an offseason hobby. It’s hard to judge his lyrics, as a non-Spanish speaker, but his flow doesn’t sound bad.

Notable lyric (translated): “There are no friends / A friend is a dollar in my pocket / As soon as you turn your back your friends want to stab you in the back.”

5. TREVOR BAUER
The now-Indians pitcher made headlines a few years ago for his hobby rap tracks. There was even one that was perceived as a diss to former D-backs teammate Miguel Montero. That would be a baseball first. Bauer isn’t very good. Even he admits that. And these days, he seems more focused on pitching than rapping, but he at least has proven he can be his team’s hip-hopping cheerleader.

Notable lyric: “So what do y’all know bout Swisher and his swag / Smokin pitchers like cigars / Are you picturing that?”

6. MARCUS STROMAN
This brings us back to Stroman who, compared to Bauer, is easily the best rapping pitcher in the game. He doesn’t plan to rap a bunch — he’d much rather lead the Jays back to the postseason — but Stroman did sound at ease on his Mike Stud cameo.

Notable lyric:“Yeah, my vision is to get it while I’m living / I’ll keep winning / Legendary comeback, ACL incision”

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. You can find him on Twitter at and on Facebook. He lives in Central California and likes dope beats and tacos.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Matthew Kory: “My Friend Bud”

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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*phone rings*

“Ahoy-hoy.”

“Mr Selig?”

“Speaking.”

“Hi! It’s Rob.”

“Oh, you again, Mr. Frost. Stop calling me from beyond the grave!”

“No, no…”

“And while I’ve got you here, you can’t take a road not taken. Taking a road not taken means the road not taken is taken and then it’s a road taken so your poem is stupid and it’s garbage! Go back to the land of the dead, sir, and leave me be!”

“Manfred.”

“Who?”

“Rob Manfred. I took over for you?”

“Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but nobody takes over for Bud Selig!”

“As Commissioner, sir. Commissioner of baseball.”

“Oh! Ah ha! Yes! Rob Manfred. I remember now. I thought you were noted poet Robert Frost calling from beyond the grave. It was an honest mistake. So, what kind of pickle have you got yourself into, Rob Manfred, that you need to call Old Budrick Selig?”

“Budrick?”

“You can just call me Bud.”

“Thank you, Bud.”

“Mr. Selig.”

“Right, sorry. Mr. Selig.”

“So, what kind of pickle have you got yourself into?”

“Well, you see there’s this whole DH thing…”
“DH thing? Well I have to ask right off the bat, why are you shouting when you say DH?”

“I’m not shouting, DH is capitalized because it stands for Designated Hitter.”

“DESIGNATED HITTER?”

“Yes, but again, no need to yell.”

“Well, Manfred, the way I see it is one designated hitter (quiet enough for you?) is enough. Copying the NFL is a great way to go in almost all instances, but maybe this is one where we don’t want to go quite all the way.”

“Sir, I’m talking about adding the DH to the N… uh, national league.”

“Adding it, eh? Well. That’s quite a suggestion. Baseball is a game of history, Manfred. A game of history. And you just don’t go monkeying around with history.”

“Sir, you monkeyed with history quite a bit during your time.”

“Well right. That’s me though. I’m infallible.”

“In any case, do you think I should give the DH to the National League?”

“That’s a toughie, Manfred. A real toughie.”

“Sure is.”

“zzzzzzz”

“Mr. Selig?

“zzzzzzz”

“Mr. Selig!!”

“Dammit Lincoln this isn’t the theater.”

“Mr. Selig, I’d like an answer.”

“What, oh, sure. Fine. The answer, Manfred, is that the job is yours now. The decisions are yours as well. Also it’s baseball. It’s a game. So what if you change the rules a little bit now and again. Keeps it fresh. Keeps it current. Sometimes change is the best medicine. Though you shouldn’t eat pennies. Seriously. I know from experience.”

“But what about the National League owners? What about the fans?”

“Are you seriously telling me people want to watch pitchers hit? Of course they don’t. Paying money to watch pitchers hitting is like paying money to watch ants screw. Very little happens and then it’s over and you’re like, wait what?”

“That’s quite an analogy.”

“Nobody likes pitchers hitting. And they’re terrible at it. We have genuine issues facing baseball, Manfred. Cutting out one of the few bad parts shouldn’t be one of them.”

“Thanks, Bud.”

“Budrick.”

“Budrick.”

“Right. But you can call me Mr. Selig. In any case I’ve got to go. There’s a special on PBS about ants screwing right now that I don’t want to miss.”

Matthew Kory is a writer at many different venues, most recently FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, and Vice Sports. He’s written about lots of different stuff and googling his name will lead you to either him or a podcast called the Matthew and Kory Show. Litigation is ongoing. You can follow him at @mattymatty2000. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two kids, cat, and broken dreams.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Jeff Katz: Anniversaries and World Series

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

Karen and I met on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1985. By May, we were engaged. When Karen started looking for a place to get married near her hometown of Niskayuna, New York, I had one request.

“I just don’t want to get married during the World Series.”

It seemed a simple enough request to me. Sure, I wasn’t destined to play in the World Series, but I always watched it and it was very important to me. What I didn’t understand, the flaw in my plan, was that Karen had no idea when the World Series occurred. We were to be married the same day as Game 2 of what would turn out to be the Red Sox – Mets series.

“Wait,” she said with surprise. “Isn’t it ‘The Boys of September?’” What can you do?

The day before the wedding, my in-laws had a big spread, not a rehearsal dinner per se, but a nice gathering at their house. Everyone huddled around the TV to watch the opener, Bruce Hurst v. Ron Darling at Shea.

“Why are they all watching TV?” my mother-in-law wondered, in disbelief.

They were doing what was the only normal thing to do, watch the World Series. I left before the game was over, heading back to my hotel with my parents. My mother was ticked off at my in-laws because they didn’t have enough food. Why? My mother told them no one would come from New York City to upstate the night before the wedding. My mother-in-law ordered an appropriate amount of food and then, of course, a horde of New Yorkers came. A nice trap was set by my mother. What did I care? I just wanted to get back to watch the rest of the game, which Boston won 1-0 on a Tim Teufel error.

The next day, October 19, was beautiful and sunny, the last pretty day before fall gave way to winter. We had an outdoor wedding, well-attended, and well-remembered. As the afternoon went on, some guests had to leave. They had tickets to Game 2. I couldn’t blame them for the leaving early.

Karen and I didn’t leave the wedding together; we didn’t give it any thought. A worker at the hall said to Karen, “I’ve never seen the bride and groom leave separately.” It was no big deal and I had to get my stuff from the hotel. Our honeymoon wasn’t until December. We reconvened at her parents’ house and went to the Desmond Americana Hotel in Albany for the night.

At the hotel, in a nice two level room, we opened all our gifts on the first floor and ordered lots of appetizers from room service. Then, like all newlywed couples, we went upstairs to bed.

I watched Game 2, a Red Sox blow out.

Our anniversary has always revolved around the World Series, though now, with the extra layer of playoffs, the Series is usually the week later. We watch all the post-season games together, I tell Karen about the players, we snack, we drink and we have a blast. Not even the “Boys of September” have a better time.

Jeff Katz, author, Split Season 1981: Fernandomania, The Bronx Zoo and The Strike That Saved Baseball (Thomas Dunne Books) is also the Mayor of Cooperstown. You can find him at http://Jeff-Katz.com  and @splitseason1981.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Howard Cole: Thoughts on Retiring Roberto Clemente’s Number 21

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.
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First a shout-out to ESPN.com, if I may. There is no online publication as dedicated to baseball as ESPN.com, with more writers penning thoughtful pieces on a daily basis than most of their major competitors combined. Employing baseball writers, and lots of them, is a good thing.

There are almost too many scribes to commend without leaving someone out, but here are my favorites: Jim Caple, Jerry Crasnick, Buster Olney, Mark Saxon, David Schoenfield, Mark Simon and Jayson Stark.

ESPN.com is in the midst of a fun series called “MLB 2.0 – Reimagining Baseball,” with topics such as the overuse of replay, international expansion, robot umpires (good grief!) and the DH in the National League #Sacrilege. Whether baseball needs reimagining is a fine question, but one for another day.

Although not part of the 2.0 series, Buster has an interesting piece titled “MLB should retire Roberto Clemente’s number.” ESPN Insider is required, but here’s the key phrase: “This is why the time has come for Major League Baseball to honor Clemente in the way that it did Jackie Robinson, and retire Clemente’s No. 21, for all teams and for all time.”

I get the sentiment and it’s a beautiful thought, but if I were commish for a day – and it happened to be decision day on this one – I’d pass on the idea.

There’s no need to compare Jackie’s contributions to Roberto’s. This isn’t about that. While I would have had loved to have seen Robinson play, I was lucky enough to experience Clemente a bit. On NBC’s Game of the Week, with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek, in All-Star Games and in the World Series, primarily. And I loved him.

If I saw him as a child in Los Angeles I don’t recall, and that bothers me no end. I remember that awful New Year’s Day in 1973 like it was yesterday. I’ve also learned to take note of Roberto’s birth-day more so than, well, that other day.

Clemente is worthy of having his number retired. I just don’t think it serves the purpose intended.

From my perspective as a life-long Dodger fan, there was something about Jackie Robinson’s number being retired throughout the sport that bugged me. Made me jealous, actually. I mean, it was cool and all, but I couldn’t help thinking, “Why do the Giants get to celebrate Jack in this way? What did they do?” More importantly, I thought, “why the Boston Red Sox – the last team to integrate in 1959 – of all teams?”

And what about teams like the Rockies and Marlins, who might stick the glorious number 42 on a façade someplace 450 feet from home plate?

Pittsburgh is a great baseball town, and Clemente is such an important part of everything the organization does there. Why not allow the Bucs and their fans to have Clemente to themselves? To hold him close.

Similarly, while retiring a number does serve as a fine reminder of a Hall of Fame player who has come and gone, so to does keeping the number in use, with players from Clemente’s native Puerto Rico especially in mind. Ruben Sierra wore Clemente’s number 21 at several stops during his career, including at Texas, Oakland, Detroit and Seattle, for example, and I believe with distinction.

Houston Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa has said just last week while accepting the 2015 Rookie of the Year Award that he would like to wear his idol’s number 21, and can you think of a better player to carry the banner?

Let’s keep the spirit of Roberto Clemente alive in as many ways as we possibly can, shall will. With a little deference to the Pirates, and to the young men from Puerto Rico too, while we’re at it.

And remember, glove conquers all.

Howard Cole has been blogging about baseball since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.