Tag Archives: perspective

Putting things in perspective

Posted on by
Reply

During the Athletics-Rangers game yesterday, I saw somebody (one of the Oakland reporters) retweet this:

Stephanee Neshek is the wife of Pat Neshek. Pat Neshek is a right-handed reliever for the Oakland Athletics, notable for his rather quirky delivery. He came up through the Twins system, and he’s one of the most fan-friendly guys in baseball. He had (and still has, although it isn’t updated much anymore) a website that is about his love of autograph collecting, with an address for fans who want to trade signed cards or if anybody had anything to be signed. During one of his stints in Rochester, after he had lost his spot in the Twins’ bullpen following Tommy John surgery, he brought his dog to the ballpark on a “Barks in the Park” day and played toss with the dog for the “first pitch”. For some reason that stuck with me: he’d lost his spot in the big leagues, he’d gone through Tommy John surgery, and he was stuck in AAA four years after he had been seemingly called up for good. And yet he was good-natured enough to bring his dog to the ballpark as part of a promotion.

Neshek found his way back to the majors, first with San Diego, and then this season in Oakland. And now it looked like he was going to have the best day of his life: his team was about to pull off a miracle final-week comeback to win the AL West, and he was becoming a father for the first time.

Which is why it was sad to see this in my Twitter feed this morning:

Suddenly, there was a realization everything that had happened yesterday, from the results on the field, to Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown, to even the presidential debates, were just so trivial. It was the best day of Pat Neshek’s life, and it turned into what was probably his worst.

So keep that in your thoughts when you think you are having a bad day. And keep the Nesheks in your thoughts as they go through this horrible tragedy.

Since the Orioles were last in the playoffs…

Posted on by
Reply

On October 15, 1997, the Cleveland Indians defeated the favored Baltimore Orioles in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series 1-0 in an 11 inning game on the strength of a Tony Fernandez home run.

And that was the last time that the Baltimore Orioles could have been said to be “in the playoffs”. Until now. Last night, September 30, 2012, the Baltimore Orioles clinched a playoff spot when the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels. Only time and the final 3 days of the season will determine where in the playoffs the Orioles will begin, but now is as good a time as any to put in perspective how long it’s been since the Orioles were “in the playoffs”:

14 years, 11 months, 15 days: The exact amount of time between 10/15/97 and 9/30/12.

7: Number of managers (including interims) who have managed the Orioles since 1997 [counting Buck Showalter]

Troy Glaus, J.D. Drew, Kerry Wood, Mike Lowell, Kevin Millar, Eric Gagne, Pat Burrell, Mark Mulder: Some of the noted players who have debuted in the Majors, had their entire careers, and retired, since the Orioles were last in the playoffs.

2: Number of new franchises that Major League Baseball has had since the Orioles were last in the playoffs (Diamondbacks and Rays, who began play in 1998).

17: New stadiums built or begun play in since the Orioles were last in the playoffs.

5 years old: Age of Orioles wunderkind Manny Machado when the Orioles were in the playoffs last.

2: Number of players on the 1997 Orioles who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame since the Orioles were last in the playoffs (Cal Ripken and Roberto Alomar). A third (Rafael Palmeiro) likely would have been if not for a steroid scandal and a fourth (Mike Mussina) has a chance at the Hall of Fame in the future.

LA Dodgers, Dutch National Team, USA National Team, Washington Nationals: Places that Davey Johnson has managed since he and Orioles owner Peter Angelos had a falling out that led to Johnson’s resignation shortly after the 1997 season.

Saturn and it’s moons: Current location of the Cassini-Huygens space probe, launched on October 15, 1997, which was also the last day that the Orioles had been “in the playoffs”.

Zero: Number of members of the 1997 Baltimore Orioles still active in the Majors (Arthur Rhodes didn’t pitch this season, although he is not yet officially retired)

Three: Number of members of the 1997 Cleveland Indians team that eliminated the Orioles that are still active.  (Omar Vizquel, Jim Thome and Bartolo Colon)

479: The number of home runs that Jim Thome has hit since then.

Zero: The number of times the Pirates have had a .500 season or better since 1997… because some things never change.