(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) Patrick Dubuque: A Ghost Among Cardboard

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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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Baseball cards are a kind of clumsy yearbook, a collection of forgotten names and awkward photographs. Each bears a moment frozen unnaturally, the cheesy portrait grin followed by the unnatural, bent-back elbow of the pitcher. They demonstrate the historian’s drive to squeeze the eyes tight and remember: not only the championships, not only the highlights and the heroes, but the busted prospects and the utility infielders. All the losing teams and players get their 1/nth share.

GAC1But no set has room for every player, let alone every moment; there are too many minor league callups, too many injury replacements who come and go. Topps neglected to create a Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card in 1989, his having no major league experience, but picked Mark McGwire out of the Olympic roster two years before anyone else. Rookies are hard to predict, but guessing the right ones, giving kids a whale to hunt, is good salesmanship.

It’s a little strange that, given the parabolic path of the average career, a player’s most valuable card is generally his first one, and always descends from there. Perhaps in our hearts, all rookies are Babe Ruth or Cy Young until time gives them the opportunity to prove otherwise. Perhaps it’s our drive to feel like investors, to get in on the ground floor. But while rookie cards are traded and sold at a premium, the opposite, the last cards, rarely even exist.

There’s no real pattern as to who gets a final stat line. Mantle got a final card in 1969, but Aaron was left off of the 1977 set; Mays got a card in 1974, but not his own, only a World Series highlight, his bat looking heavy in his hands. It’s a common paradox for baseball cards: representing the year before, they’re sold the year after. So many retired players, no longer around to root for on summer afternoons, rarely have their final year’s stats commemorated. Some of it is timing in the print runs; some of it, one assumes, is alchemical.

GAC2There’s a variation in one of the 1988 Topps checklists. You couldn’t be blamed for missing it: one line has been changed, #455, Steve Carlton. The Hall of Famer was cut from the set at the last second, replaced by orange chip prospect Shawn Hillegas.

Lefty was essentially done by 1986; starting the year with the Phillies, he was cut just shy of 4,000 strikeouts, and signed with the Giants to reach the milestone. When they gave up on him as well, he moved on to the White Sox, and pitched just well enough to latch on to a last-place Indians ballclub in the offseason. Topps dutifully gave him three different cards with three different teams: a White Sox regular 1987 issue, an Indians traded issue, and a Giants box-bottom highlight card (his jersey and cap painted on him, since no photographer caught up with him in his six-game San Francisco career). Perhaps it was too much.

Apparently in 1988, Topps had had enough, and even though he put in 150 innings with the Indians and Twins, and refused to retire even then, they decided to ignore his sad final full season. Fleer alone, of the Big Four companies of the time, gave Carlton a final card. It proved a fitting tribute. It’s a strangely tragic still life, an old man in a foreign uniform on an empty bench, staring off camera at the rest of his life. He looks speechless.

GAC3Did Carlton deserve that final card more than Hillegas and his 58 innings of middle relief? It seems strange that an industry couched so deeply in nostalgia flinches at the final sad days of a ballplayer. Maybe Topps didn’t want that last image of Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, throwing slop down the middle of the plate, to burn into our retinas. And maybe it’s a good thing they stop making yearbooks after high school. But sports aren’t about what we want to have happen; they don’t let us choose our memories. Only rain can undo a game.

It’s ironic that Griffey’s own denouement, twenty-some years later, proved just as tragic as Carlton’s. And like Lefty, he too failed to receive that final card when he closed his own career midseason. But while it requires extrapolation to combine that Griffey with the one of our childhood, we all do it; we can appreciate them all as one man. Heroes can be young and old at the same time, even frail and human. Carlton’s weary despair, caught on a single, worthless card, is every bit as much baseball as Griffey’s boyish smile.

Patrick Dubuque co-edited the 2016 BP Annual and serves as jester/editor at Lookout Landing. You can follow him on Twitter @euqubud.

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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) Stephanie Liscio- Forgotten Champions: The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes

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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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The 1945 Homestead Grays boasted five eventual Hall of Famers – Ray Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, and Jud Wilson. They were a powerhouse team, the kind of team on which dynasties are built. So how were they defeated in the 1945 Negro League World Series by the Cleveland Buckeyes, a team with zero eventual Hall of Fame members that was relatively new to the Negro League circuit? That 1945 series is a true tale of David versus Goliath, one in which a vastly underrated team not only defeated their heavily-favored opponent, but shut them down completely.

Negro League baseball struggled in Cleveland for years before the Buckeyes came onto the scene. They city had their first entry into the formal league structure in 1922…it fell apart before the end of the 1923 season. Cleveland (and the league hierarchy) refused to give up on the Negro Leagues in the city. They continued to introduce brand new teams, sometimes as often as each year, between 1922 and 1940. In that 18-year span, the city hosted 10 different Negro League teams. The reasons for their failures varied; the Depression played a role in the demise of several teams, while poor management and bad play were behind some of the others. By the time the Buckeyes were formed in 1942, they were buoyed by a surge in popularity in Negro League baseball nationally, and war workers that had more disposable income to spend attending games.

Of those 10 early teams in Cleveland, only two had non-losing records – the short-lived 1931 Cleveland Cubs (which had a winning record), and the 1939 Cleveland Bears (who finished at .500). As an example of the struggles of some of these teams, the 1926 Cleveland Elites only won six games the entire season. It is no wonder that some folks were likely skeptical about the potential success of the Buckeyes. However, during their first year they already proved competitive in the Negro American League with powerhouse teams like the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, and the Birmingham Black Barons. In the past, when those teams travelled to Cleveland, they made a mockery of the home team. The Buckeyes managed to hold their own against some of the best competition the league could offer.

By 1945, the team started to pull everything together under the tutelage of new catcher/manager Quincy Trouppe. The local African-American newspaper, the Call and Post, dubbed the Buckeyes’ lineup as a “murder’s row” prior to the start of the season, and while they were quite good, they couldn’t compare to a Grays lineup that included one of the greatest power hitters of all time in Josh Gibson. The difference came from the Buckeyes’ pitching staff; a group of arms that were definitely not household names, and while talented, were viewed as somewhat unthreatening to the Grays. However, they shut Homestead’s offense down as they went on to win the series four games to none.

Game one saw a pitcher’s duel from Buckeyes hurler Willie Jefferson and the Grays’ starter, Roy Welmaker, as both took a shutout into the seventh inning. Trouppe hit a triple and was driven home on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Johnny Cowan to make the score 1-0. The other Buckeyes run came in the eighth inning on an RBI single from outfielder Willie Grace. The Grays managed to make some noise in the ninth inning, after the made the score 2-1 on an RBI single from Gibson. However, the Buckeyes managed to hold on for the 2-1 win.

In game two, the Buckeyes were shut out 2-0 until a solo home run from Grace to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning made it 2-1. They were able to tie the game later in that inning, after outfielder Buddy Armour scored on an error (he doubled to reach base). The game was still tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, when Trouppe doubled and later moved to third on a passed ball. The Grays intentionally loaded the bases, but a sacrifice fly from pitcher Eugene Bremmer made that a moot point.

These first two games were played in Cleveland; game one was played downtown at the cavernous Cleveland Municipal Stadium, while game two was played at League Park in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. (The Indians split their time between Municipal Stadium and League Park until owner Bill Veeck chose to move the team downtown permanently in time for the 1947 season – the Buckeyes rented their facilities from the Indians). Game three was scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh; however, a rain-out moved it to Washington, D.C. This wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, since the Grays spent some of their time playing in DC, plus Negro League teams often traveled around to increase their gate receipts. Game four was played in Philadelphia.

The first two games in Cleveland were close affairs that were both won in the later innings. The same could not be said for games three and four; the Buckeyes were in the driver’s seat for both of those match-ups. George Jefferson (brother of game one starter Willie Jefferson) got the win in game three as the Buckeyes defeated the Grays 4-0. In the final game, the Buckeyes closed out the series with a 5-0 victory. Even though the Grays had what was considered the more threatening lineup, the Buckeyes managed to tame their bats and put some runs of their own on the board.

Even though this World Series win was the high point of Negro League baseball in Cleveland, a time when the city was finally able to put forth a team capable of running with the big boys (and beating them), it was still a bit bittersweet for them in hindsight. Just a month after they closed out their win against the Grays, Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, a harbinger of the upcoming integration of the formerly all-white major leagues. Within a few years, other MLB teams started to sign players from the Negro Leagues; Cleveland became the first American League city to do so with Larry Doby in 1947 (formerly of the Negro National League Newark Eagles). While integration obviously was the first and most important priority, it essentially signaled the downfall for the Negro Leagues. The Buckeyes managed to return to the Negro League World Series in 1947 as they lost to the New York Cubans; but by 1949 the team attempted a move to Louisville, Kentucky in a bid to survive in a city without an integrated team like the Indians. That experiment failed, and they returned to Cleveland by the 1950 season. The Buckeyes had trouble making payroll though, and longtime star Eugene Bremmer went to the press in May to discuss the fact that he’d never been paid. The team’s owner and general manager owed money to what seemed like everyone; the team didn’t even make it to the end of the season, and collapsed and disbanded in the summer of 1950.

While some Negro League teams lost tons of players to the major leagues, only Quincy Trouppe and star outfielder Sam Jethroe would go on to play in the majors from the Buckeyes. Trouppe spent a very brief amount of time with the Indians in 1952 (and spent time in the minors prior to that), while Jethroe had a very successful rookie season in 1950 with the Boston Braves, earning him the title as the oldest person to win the Rookie of the Year award. However, the Buckeyes had to contend with an Indians team that not only signed Larry Doby in 1947, but also signed one of the Negro League’s biggest stars when they inked Satchel Paige to a deal halfway through the 1948 season. The Indians’ 1948 World Series title dramatically increased their popularity and set a single-season attendance record that held until 1962. In addition to their progressive moves on the field, the Indians also integrated the press box, hired African-American vendors, and hired track and field gold medalist Harrison Dillard to work in a public relations role with the team. African-American fans embraced the Indians and stopped attending Buckeyes games. While a few Negro American League teams were able to survive into the 1950s, the Buckeyes weren’t one of them.

Last fall, it was the seventieth anniversary of the Buckeyes’ surprising win over the Homestead Grays. Even though this was a great moment for Negro League baseball in the city of Cleveland, it’s often forgotten; overshadowed by an Indians team that continuously made headlines in the late 1940s. It deserves recognition as a great baseball series though, when the underdog unseated the giant.

A side note – The Buckeyes’ home park for the 1945 season, League Park, was recently refurbished by the city of Cleveland and features a brand new baseball diamond and the renovation of the park’s original ticket office building. Located at the corner of E. 66th St. and Lexington Ave. in Cleveland, it is also the home of the Baseball Heritage Museum. (http://baseballheritagemuseum.org/)

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Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio) is the author of Integrating Cleveland Baseball: Media Activism, the Integration of the Indians, and the Demise of the Negro League Buckeyes, and co-owner of the ESPN SweetSpot Indians affiliate blog It’s Pronounced Lajaway (http://itspronouncedlajaway.com).  A Ph.D. student in history, Stephanie has also spent the past six years as president of Cleveland’s SABR chapter.

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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) Stacey Folkemer: Baseball is more than a game, it’s part of the family

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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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Baseball has always been a part of my family life. I can’t remember a time when summer evenings didn’t include the ballgame on the radio or television, or when a holiday passed that my uncle didn’t offer his opinions on how to fix the rotation while my grandfather complained about a slugger who strikes out too much.

For most of my life, the Baltimore Orioles have been a bad baseball team. They’ve had their moments, but I was born after their glory years. And for my entire adult life until four years ago, the Orioles weren’t just bad, they were a laughing stock. But it was during those years that they became an even bigger part of my familial relationships as I grew into adulthood and my grandparents, especially my grandmother, advanced in age and became less a part of the everyday world.

If you have spent time with someone who doesn’t often leave the house, you understand how difficult it can be to come up with new and fresh things to talk about. My grandmother spent many of her last years confined to her home, limiting her ability to speak about things that she didn’t see on TV or hear about from someone else. But thanks to baseball, we always had plenty to say during our visits. She watched every game from her living room and had strong opinions on every player.

She and my grandfather were two very different types of fans. She was the ultimate pessimist. The Orioles were never good enough, they’d never going to return to their former glory with these players or this manager. It was an extension of her personality at large, where she was often times harsh but passionate for those people and things that she cared about. But she never gave up on them, even if she expected them to lose. If the game was close in the ninth inning, she couldn’t take it. She’d take refuge on the patio, smoking a cigarette and waiting for me to come out and tell her who won. If the answer was the Orioles, she’d smile but comment on how it’s just like them to almost throw it away.

My grandfather, on the other hand, has always been a baseball optimist. Even in the darkest years, as the O’s losing streak stretched across a decade, he always believed they could win. Every year during Spring Training, as reports flooded in that players were in the best shape of their lives, my grandfather believed them all. “They’ve got the hitters, the pitching might come around,” he’d say, as my grandmother and I disagreed and told him he was crazy. He and I had a conversation before the 2012 season in which he repeated the same optimism he’d shown every year prior, and I laughed at how misguided he was. We made a bet on their record, with him claiming they’d be over .500 and me stating that they didn’t have a chance.

Well, if you recall the 2012 season, the Orioles won 93 games, captured the Wild Card, and made it to game five of the ALDS before their season came to an end. I heard a lot about my pessimism that year, let me tell you. I still hear about it sometimes, almost four years later.

As a fan myself, I have to admit that I’m more like my grandmother. Even now, with the Orioles having four straight non-losing seasons and two playoff appearances since 2012, my natural instinct is to think the worst. The starting pitcher will always implode, the offense will never get a hit in the clutch, the Orioles of 2012-15 were a fluke.

I wish I didn’t have that attitude. Outwardly, I have tried to take on the more optimistic view that has always been modeled by my Granddad. Over the last few years I have argued on Twitter and my internet home of CamdenChat.com about how the Orioles are better than people think. When the game is on the line late I profess my faith in my team despite a sinking feeling in my stomach. I am trying to fake it until I make it, basically, but I don’t think I’ll ever be fully successful.

We lost my grandmother to cancer in 2008, so I was never able to share the winning Orioles with her as an adult. As the O’s participated in the 2012 playoffs, I thought about her a lot, wondering if she would have changed her pessimistic ways after watching the magical 2012 team. Probably not. We are who we are, after all. I imagine that she would have seen Jim Johnson’s implosion coming from a mile away (or at least claimed she did). She wouldn’t have witnessed Brian Matusz giving up a walk-off home run to Raul Ibanez in game three of the ALDS (she would have been on the porch, unable to take it) but she never would have forgiven Matusz for as long as he was in an Orioles uniform. But she still would have been ecstatic for our guys even as she cursed them, and I’m sad I didn’t get to experience that with her.

I have been able to spend the last four seasons of good Orioles baseball with my grandfather, and for that I’m grateful. Finally, he has seen a return on his optimism. The ultimate payoff would be a World Series win (though he, unlike me, has at least gotten to see three of those for the Orioles in his life), and maybe he’ll soon be rewarded for his faith in his team.

I wouldn’t count on it, though. Have you seen the starting rotation?

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Stacey Folkemer has been writing for Camden Chat, SB Nation’s Baltimore Orioles blog, since 2008. You can find her there or follow her @StaceyMFolk. She lives in Maryland with her husband, who is also a sports writer. In the winter she dreams of baseball. In the summer she watches it from section 334 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

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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) The Answer Key to Diane Firstman’s Crossword Puzzle

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Yesterday, Diane Firstman kindly gave us all a crossword puzzle to try our hands at.

Well, it’s now been 24 hours, so here is the answer key:

Screen Shot 2016-01-31 at 12.48.46 AMSo, go and check to see how you did, then get ready because the Blogathon resumes in one hour! And don’t forget to donate!

(Blogathon ’16) James Attwood: Slow to Change is Not Always a Bad Thing

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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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Baseball, as we know it, has evolved greatly over the years. Prior to the 1880s, the ball was actually tossed underhand to a “striker”, not a batter, and it was tossed up there, not how the pitcher wished it, but how the striker called for it. There was rarely an outfield fence, and like the flagpole that recently sat in center field in Houston, trees and the like were not uncommon in the field of play. No gloves were used, and catching the ball on a single bounce still resulted in the striker being out. Also, there was only one umpire, and that person sat or stood slightly behind and to the side of play. When calls were contested, sportsmanship was expected to win out. When it did not, the umpire could consult the crowd for input on making a definitive ruling.

Once the game underwent the fundamental change of being played for money in 1871, the gentlemanly nature of the sport took a back seat, and the competitive edge was ratcheted up. Yet, despite all the changes that have taken place, the game has always more or less resembled the one we have now. Baseball has always been a mutable sport. But just how mutable? Sure, all those differences seem extreme when compared to the game we watch now, but the vast majority of changes all came about before 1900. That’s right, the vast majority of changes to the game came within the sports first 45-50 years of play. Over the following 115 years, the changes to play have been minimal, and have come only after the slowest of deliberations.

The biggest, and most fundamentally changing was the integration of baseball with the debut of Jackie Robinson during the World War II era. In 1903 it was determined that foul balls would be considered strikes. In 1910, cork was added to the interior of the baseball, marking the end of the “dead ball era”. Today’s uniform size and weight ball standard was established in 1934. In 1969, a year after pitching dominated the game like no time since 1918, the pitcher’s mound was lowered five inches, a change that was years in the offing and brought to a head by the likes of 30-game winner Denny McLain (the last of the 30-win pitchers) and the ever-intimidating 1968 NL Cy Young winner and HOF pitcher, Bob Gibson. The last big change to come about that was anything other than a technological evolution (machined bats, instant replay, games under the lights) occurred in January of 1973 when commissioner Bowie Kuhn. This new rule, much like the changing of foul balls to strikes was cut from whole cloth and not some gradual evolution, making it one of the biggest changes made to the game in the modern era.

Sure, over the last 30 years, we have added extra divisions, expanded playoffs, gone with interleague play during the regular season, and even made the All-Star Game “count” for something in allowing it to determine home field advantage in the World Series. None of that actually impacts how the game is played though.

Rob Manfred worries for the future of baseball. Manfred’s solution is to “modernize” baseball by implementing some changes to the game. Unlike the previous changes though, Manfred is in a hurry to get there as soon as possible. The minor leagues have already started implementing pace of play rules and pitch clocks. Those rules are likely headed to MLB in the near future. Even bigger though, Rob Manfred wants to take the AL DH experiment and make it a part of both leagues as a permanent part of the game.

This change would indeed “level the playing field” between the leagues, something that is not nearly as skewed as some would like to claim. It would allow pitchers to pitch and hitters to hit. A few extra aging sluggers would get to artificially extend their careers. It would also all but eliminate an entire aspect of baseball that has existed since the earliest days, that of in-game strategy, most notably, that tied to playing small ball.

With all due respect to Madison Bumgarner and the mind-boggling performance he turned in during the 2014 World Series, without the DH there is no way he gets to put on that show. Some might say that allowing the DH both ways only increases the chances of such a performance. Really though, how often is a performance for the ages going to be turned in? How much different does that game playout if the managers, especially Bruce Bochy, has to start worrying about making a pitching change after only 2 innings of Bumgarner? Other than filling out a lineup card and making the rare defensive switch in the 8th or 9th inning, exactly how much influence does a manager’s ability to call a game matter if the game is turned into hitters hitting and pitchers pitching?

Manfred says he wants to appeal to a younger crowd. How many youths will be trying to decide by the time they are 10 or 12 if they want to throw the ball or hit the ball? Part of what has always set baseball apart from the other sports was the number of athletic skills a player needed to be good at all at once in order to excel at the game. Only the very best of the best hitters and pitchers can reasonably expect to go deep into amateur careers and possibly reach the majors if they are not able to, at some point, hit field, run, catch, and throw all with some semblance of authority.

There is a push to possibly have these changes in as soon as 2017. That is an awful lot of fundamental change in a very short period of time. One could argue that NL organizations cold need as many as three seasons to properly align themselves to adopt the DH. As far as pace of play goes, these changes are not cutting significant time off of the game. In many cases, it is under 15 minutes being shaved from the average league-wide. Baseball was never designed for or intended to be consumed by a generation of people looking for and expecting instant gratification. Furthermore, if the DH is adopted across both leagues, scoring will go up, this will erase any pace of play gains made by keeping the game on a clock.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to modernize the game and appeal to a younger demographic. Baseball makes changes of such a magnitude at a glacial pace though. That’s something that should never change. Small tweaks followed by periods of evaluation to determine what is and is not working can have just as big of an impact as those changes that fundamentally change how the game is played.

Regardless, this game will continue to resemble the one I have grown up loving. I will not walk away simply because I can no longer watch a chess game between managers in the dugouts. For a game so steeped in history, and so tied to the identity of all-around athletic excellence, I do wonder if the game could ever “feel” like it always has, or if it will simply feel like a poor imitation.

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(Blogathon ’16) Dan Weigel: Ranking the 15 most entertaining European baseball team names

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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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Minor League Baseball teams are notorious for using odd and unusual team names, logos, and mascots, much to the delight of many fans. For fans of the Montgomery Biscuits, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, or Fresno Tacos names, allow us to take odd names a few steps farther, across the Atlantic to European club baseball, where top minor league names find serious name competition.

Each of the 15 listed teams placed in the top 50 or received an honorable mention in Mister-Baseball’s latest rankings, meaning that they are all good baseball clubs! While they all may be good on the field, some make this list due to similar dominance of naming their team, but others make it for opposite reasons.

15. Beograd 96

Serbia’s capital city has a surprising number of athletic teams, including an American football squad. What they do not have, however, is a baseball team with an easily understandable name.

14. Astros

Despite ranking number 20 in Europe, Astros give us no clues as to where they play their home baseball games.

13. K. Borgerhout Squirrels

Borgerhout is a very good name for a suburb of Antwerp. Couple that with an ultra-threatening mascot like squirrels, and you have a winning team name.

12. Sant Boi

Technically a suburb of Barcelona, this Spanish team feels no need to include a mascot – understandable with a location that sounds as hip as Sant Boi. It remains to be seen if Big Boi is a fan.

bgi boi

11. SSHOR 42

I do not know what this means but this is a good name for a baseball team.

10. Zurich Barracudas

Switzerland loves Barracudas.

9. Montpellier Barracudas

Most French-sounding city pick least French-sounding mascot. Evidently barracudas are cool in France too.

8. Minsk

I’ll never rock a Minsk coat in the wintertime like Killa Cam

Or rock some Minsk boots in the summertime like Will.I.Am

wil i am7. Solingen Alligators

What’s cooler than a barracuda? German alligators. Europe loves cool animals.

6. Espoo Expos

Reaching into the honorable mentions here, but Finland’s top club includes both the classic Expos moniker and a location with tongue-twister alliteration. Well played.

5. Heidenheim Heidekopfe

Speaking of matching mascots and town names, the Philadelphia Phillies may have met their match.

4. SDUSOR – Diamonds

Similar to the Russian team with a similar name above, I do not wish to know the meaning behind this Ukrainian club’s rather unique name. The addition of Diamonds is a nice touch.

3. Baseball Klub Nada SSM Split

Less is definitely not more for this Croatian club. When in doubt, just make the name as long and odd as possible.

2. Reds Sleepwalkers

This club appears to have two nicknames…until you consider Hungary’s communist past. To be fair, it is unclear why “Reds” was chosen, but in any case, coupling it with sleepwalkers results in an odd mixture of politics and comatose baseball players.

1. Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks

You get middle-school humor and a non-threatening mascot, but my favorite part of this name is the specificity that these are not just ordinary ducks – these are diving ducks! Oh the intimidation!

Dan Weigel writes about pitching at Sporting News and occasionally about pitching and sometimes other things at Beyond the Box Score. His former European club, the London Mets, slots at number 29 on Mister-Baseball’s rankings but unfortunately did not beat out Beograd 96 for the final spot on this list. Follow him on twitter at @danweigel38.

(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) Greg Gay: Victim of Circumstance

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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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Circumstances conspire to form our major league baseball alliances. Perhaps we live near a team and going to games forms an unbreakable bond with the franchise. Maybe our rooting interests were handed down, family member to family member, a continuous line of Cubs or Reds or Orioles fans.

My circumstance was my mother handing me a pack of baseball cards.

She had just returned from the grocery store. It was 1974 and it was the first time I had ever seen or even heard of baseball cards. It was a cello pack, which contained around 35 cards back in the mid-1970s. Don’t ask me how I remember this, but the first card I pulled from that pack featured someone on the brink of a career-threatening injury. They thought he’d never pitch again.

I didn’t know any of that as an 8-year-old. I just knew that I liked this Tommy John fellow, standing there on this piece of cardboard, with a glove held up in front of his chest, his mouth half-open as if he wanted to tell me something. Instantly, I pledged allegiance to the team featured on that card, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers were my team from that moment, even though I lived 3,000 miles from where they played their games. It was a tenuous relationship, which could have withered and died, if not for circumstance.

A few years later, during the first year that I actively watched baseball on TV — my interest in cards had blossomed into a full-fledged love for baseball — the Dodgers made the World Series. My Dodgers. The guys I collected on bubble gum cards.

I lived in Upstate New York, Yankees country. Almost all of my classmates were Yankees fans. They were relentless. I could never hold onto Yankees cards because everyone around me always wanted to trade for them. Gradually, I grew tired of their hounding, their superior attitude as they bragged about how good their teams’ players were. And now my Dodgers were playing their Yankees.

My Dodgers lost. Something about Reggie Jackson hitting three home runs in Game 6. The following year, my Dodgers played their Yankees again in the World Series. Something about Reggie Jackson sticking out his hip. I was deflated. Two years in a row of my team losing to the team everyone around me thought was so superior.

I resented them. But the experience strengthened my resolve. Circumstance saw to it that I remained a Dodgers fan.

In 1981, the Dodgers obtained their revenge, beating the Yankees in six games, just as L.A. had been beaten in six in ‘77 and ‘78. I saw that my team COULD beat their team in the ultimate series. I went to school the next day and announced to the Yankees lovers in the hallway, “How about those Dodgers?”

In 1986, I picked up a book called “The Boys Of Summer.” I was in college, a journalism student. Roger Kahn’s famed memories of the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers appealed to me as a fan and a future writer. But I didn’t know how fascinated I would become with my team, thanks to that book.

Kahn’s very human stories of the very human Dodgers, and what became of them, sealed my allegiance forever. I was proud of the stories my team had to tell. Jackie, Pee Wee and the Duke. Campy, Billy Cox and Joe Black. The Dodgers’ history is as rich as any team in  professional sports. I wanted to follow a team like that.

Circumstance — an interest in stories and the human condition — drew me tighter to this team. Forever to this team.

Today, I appreciate every moment of my Dodgers’ history. My favorites — Kirk Gibson in the ‘88 World Series, of course — are both large and small. Ron Cey’s crazy RBI April in 1977. Reading about Fernandomania from afar on the floor of my dining room in 1981. Shawn Green’s four home runs against the Brewers in 2002. I could go on for pages. And the characters–so many. Tommy Lasorda. Mickey Hatcher, Nick Punto.

The Dodgers, in my lifetime, have experienced highs (the epic 4+1 home run comeback game against the Padres)  and lows (which franchise gave up both Hank Aaron’s and Barry Bonds’ record-breaking home runs?) . They illustrate the humanity of baseball as well as any team. Bob Welch’s and Steve Howe’s battles with substance abuse. Brett Butler’s battle with cancer.

Living so far from my team, I have watched them play in person only once (Eric Gagne’s blown save in his hometown of Montreal in 2002). But thanks to my third-shift job and night owl habits, I can keep careful track of my favorite team from a distance, far better than when there was just a newspaper and a Saturday Game Of The Week.

I am a victim of circumstance. A faithful fan following his team from the other side of the country, spurred on by a single baseball card and some well-placed moments in time.

And to think my mother — not a baseball fan in the least — started it all by handing me a pack of cards in 1974.

Thanks, Mom.

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Gregory Gay is a editor and sportswriter for a newspaper in Upstate New York. He operates the popular baseball card blog “Night Owl Cards,” under his blog alias “night owl.” His twitter handle is: @nightowlcards.

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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) CLASSIC CONTINUUM- BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: COSMIC SLAM

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This piece from the blog’s archives 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.

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

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Originally posted Nov. 19, 2013

I’m coming to you from the Auxiliary Headquarters of the Continuum… AKA a Living Room instead of my usual Family Room or Bedroom writing area, due to the great Wi-Fi Crisis of 2013. The reason I have braved such perils is simple: Cosmic Slam. The sequel to Shortstop Squad, and another great epic from the folks at Ultimate Sports Entertainment (AKA “Ultimate Sports Force”). Just as Shortstop Squad brought us late-90s shortstops fighting monsters and aliens, Cosmic Slam does the same with late 1990s sluggers. Jeff Bagwell, Sammy Sosa, David Justice and Mark McGwire all grace the cover, and Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Frank Thomas all show up in the story as well.

It also involves Bagwell complaining about missing a fishing trip, Sosa making a corked bat joke, Greg Maddux‘s fastball being insulted, and of course, the making of a baseball bat out of the body of your defeated foes.

No, I’m not joking about the last one. Seriously, that really happens.

So, place your tongue firmly in cheek and go below the jump for Cosmic Slam.

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