Tag Archives: baseball

Baseball needs a better trophy

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On Monday, the Stanley Cup was handed out. It is a a nearly 120-year-old trophy that is more revered than the actual event that is played for the right to have it. People have drunk out of it, had their kids baptized in it, it’s been thrown in rivers and pools and knocked off tables. There are names on it that are misspelled or put on as gags. Wherever it goes, it has at least one concierge with it. Every year, it produces a instant image that would become etched in the mind of that team’s fans: the captain hoisting it above his head, parading it around the ice.

In October, the winner of the World Series will receive the Commissioner’s Trophy (did you even know it had a name?), a rather uniconic statuette that has a new copy made every year for the champion, unlike the Cup, which goes from team to team. It only dates back to 1967. There are no iconic images of the Commissioner’s Trophy: no hoistings by the team leader, no images of a unflappable star weeping as they hold it and certainly no thrustings into the air as confetti falls. Why, the default pose with the Commissioner’s Trophy is just kind of holding it, like Lance Berkman did. Although Pedro used it as a hat, which is kind of cool.

(more after jump)

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They call the AAA team the Norfolk Tides (but the All-Stars don’t wear blue)

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Miguel Tejada (left) chats with Brian Roberts before a ballgame in Rochester. Photo by Dan Glickman.

Brian Roberts. Miguel Tejada. Nate McLouth. Jamie Moyer. Between those four players, there are 10 All-Star Game selections. And yet, all four of them are currently at Baltimore’s AAA affiliate in Norfolk. There are several other ex-MLBers on the Norfolk roster as well, such as Bill Hall.  I recently saw three games involving the Tides. Here are some impressions of this unusual group of players who all have found their way to the International League, whether due to injury, poor play, bad luck or an attempt to make a comeback.

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No-Hit Fever!

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After six Mariners combined to no-hit the Dodgers last night, it is now official: America has no-hit fever. And the only solution is… I have no idea. It was enough when no-hitters were getting thrown against bad teams like the Twins and Mariners, but now we’re having no-hitters thrown against the defending champion Cardinals and the Dodgers, who have the best record in the league. Even the Rangers were almost no-hit by Jarrod Parker not that long ago. In other words, this is getting close to ridiculous.

Not bad, really, just ridiculous. We have come to the point where, every night, we feel as if a no-hitter could happen. This is one of baseball’s great strengths: anything could happen at any time, in the most unexpected places.

Still, this made me curious as to what season saw the most no-nos. The fact is, the four we have seen so far in 2012 actually aren’t that many, historically. The pre-modern 1884 season had eight no-nos, while 1990 and 1991 both saw seven no-nos. In fact, June 29, 1990 saw two no-hitters thrown (one by Dave Stewart, one by Fernando Valenzuela), which brings up the question of what ESPN led off with that night.

So, when will the next no-hitter happen, and is there a chance we could see seven or eight of them? I don’t know, but that’s the beauty of it: we could see another no-hitter tomorrow, or there might not be another one for a few years. They just… happen.

Great predictions in History: Interleague Play… in 1955

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From Baseball Digest in January 1954:

Interleague in 1955? Well, apparently it was considered. Nate Dolin, the Cleveland Indians director of operations and AL schedule representative, wanted it to happen. He even got Walter O’Malley to agree with him. He proposed that the season would look like this:

  • 158 game schedule (instead of 154)
  • The 22 games-between-each-team-in-their-league balanced schedule would be cut to 18 games between each team in their league.
  • Each club would have two two-game series with each team of the opposing league.

Of course, it never happened. But it’s interesting to note that, starting next year, interleague won’t only just exist but will be expanded: there will be at least one interleague game every day, since both leagues will have 15 teams.

But it could have happened… even earlier!

Back Then: Red Sox Fans

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The Library of Congress has lots of pictures from the earlier part of the 20th century available for free online. Take this picture of Red Sox “Royal Rooters” during the 1910s:

(Click the picture for a bigger view)

As you can see, everybody has a hat on, they are all white men, they are waving pennants, wearing suits, and generally looking old-timey. Although there is one guy on the right who seems to be making a finger-pistol at us.

I wonder what would happen if a group dressed like this showed up at Fenway today…

What is wrong with the Orioles?

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It’s too early to declare the Orioles’ season, which I wrote about awhile back, as heading down the tubes. But it is definitely not looking as good as it once did. They’ve lost six straight. They’ve fallen out of first. Nick Markakis is hurt. The AL East is becoming even more of a gigantic no-holds-barred brawl than it was.
So what happened?

What happened was that the pitching- especially the starting pitching has been having a tough week. They have been routinely falling behind early. They fell 5-0 on Friday night, for example, giving up all of those runs in the first inning. They were falling behind to the Blue Jays early in games. In other words, the Orioles are getting dragged into the same kind of shooting-gallery, pray-we-can-outhit-them-because-our-pitching-cannot-stop-them kinds of games they’ve been getting stuck in the last decade and a half or so. Spoiler alert: They usually can’t.

The Orioles are by no means out of it yet. They are only one game back. A win today would get them tied for first again. Two wins over the weekend would get them to first outright. All of the AL East teams have flaws, and the Orioles still have a very good bullpen, something that is essential in this day and age. They also have Adam Jones, who can, on some days, win a game by himself.

The question is: Can they pull themselves off the mat, or will, like so many season before, the Orioles squander a good start and fall back into the basement?

Only time will tell.

Exit, Magglio

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Magglio Ordonez will retire this weekend. He’ll go down as one of the better right-handed hitters of his generation and should receive at least some consideration for the Hall of Fame. I don’t think he’ll make it, but he should at least be in the conversation.

Look over his statistics: In 1848 games and 7745 plate appearances, he hit .309, with a .871 OPS (on-base plus slugging), and a respectable 294 home runs and 1236 RBIs. He made it to six All-Star Games, won three Silver Sluggers and came in second to Alex Rodriguez in the 2007 MVP voting, the year he won the AL batting title. Had it not been for injuries, he could have accomplished even more.

There certainly have been people who have gotten into the HoF with less.

I, personally, don’t think he should make the HoF, but he is a better candidate than many of the other “Hall of the Very Good” candidates that get thrown out there every now and then.

Well, that was weird.

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Okay, so yesterday:

  • The Texas Rangers lost to Seattle 21-8. Normally weird stuff like that happens when the Rangers play the Orioles.
  • Matt Kemp is hurt again. I blame the SI Cover Jinx.
  • Hawk Harrelson lost his mind.
  • The Orioles and Rays have done their best to make the AL East even more insane, going 2-8 and 4-6 respectively in the last 10 games. The AL East now has first and last separated by 2.5 games, with all teams above .500. Oh, and the Blue Jays are being accused of stealing signs. Again. I could have sworn this has happened before.
  • All the teams in the NL East are above .500 as well.
  • Pittsburgh’s win brought them back to .500. Which is always notable because, well, they are the Pirates.
  • The Marlins have now won 21 games in May. Well, I’d say April showers bring May flowers, but they have a retractable roof now, so…
  • Carlos Gonzalez had three home runs. Josh Hamilton is unimpressed, I’m sure.
  • Oh, and Justin Verlander hit a home run in batting practice.

Somebody sign Jamie Moyer, please

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Jamie Moyer was designated for assignment on Wednesday. Only time will tell whether he will get picked up by somebody else. But I hope he will. He is, by all accounts, one of the best people in the game. And, what’s more, I think he probably could still do pretty well in a park that is more of a pitcher’s park.

You see, although the humidor has done wonders for changing Coors Field from a pinball machine into something more like a normal ballpark, it still is, in many ways, more of a place for hitters. Last season, for example, the Rockies hit .277 at home but .244 on the road, and hit over 50 more HRs at home than they did on the road.

A team like San Francisco, Anaheim, St. Louis, the Marlins or the Dodgers could use a guy like him near the back of the rotation, as their more pitcher-friendly parks would be better suited for Moyer’s style.

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Amazing Mystery Funnies #22 has exploding baseballs

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There is a story that, during one of their several hundred attempts to assassinate or overthrow Fidel Castro during the 1960s, the CIA considered sending him baseballs that would, after a time, explode in his face.

With that in mind, perhaps the story featuring the “Fantom of the Fair” in Amazing Mystery Funnies #22 has more truth to it than it appears.

(more after the jump)

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