Lean Left

The Stadium Collection
Posted by tgirsch

UPDATED 27 April 2008: Add Kansas City Royals.
UPDATED 20 May 2007: Add Philadelphia Phillies.

I’m a sports fan, and I “collect” stadiums (stadia?). Especially major league baseball, NFL football, and NHL hockey. My goal, before I die, is to see a baseball game in the home stadium of every MLB team. It would be an added bonus if I could do the NHL and NFL venues, but right now, I’m focusing primarily on baseball.

Problem is, I keep forgetting where I’ve been, and losing count. Therefore, mostly for my own reference (and because I expect few others to be interested), I’m posting a list of venues attended below the fold. I’ve ordered them in roughly the order in which I first visited them, to the best of my ability to recall.

However, if you have comments concerning favorite (or least favorite) venues, feel free to leave them.

April 27th, 2008 | Sports, I do too have a life, NFL, MLB, NHL | 10 comments

The Season Can End Now
Posted by tgirsch

Who has the best record in the NL, and is tied for the best record in the majors? That’s right, it’s my Milwaukee Brewers!

I don’t expect this to last, of course (I remember last year), but I’m going to savor it while I can. Who knows? Maybe they’ll surprise me. In the good way.

April 7th, 2008 | General, Sports, MLB | 10 comments

Which Gagne Did The Brewers Get?
Posted by tgirsch

We have our answer.

Frickin’ frackin’ rassin’ frassin’ grumble grumble…

UPDATE: At least the Brewers came back to win that game…

March 31st, 2008 | Sports, MLB | 8 comments

Mitchell Report Open Thread
Posted by tgirsch

Per reader request. Knock yourselves out.

UPDATE: A list of players implicated is here, via the NYT.

December 13th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 12 comments

$10M For Gagne?
Posted by tgirsch

I don’t even pretend to understand this. I mean, we already have an inconsistent fireballer.

Maybe Melvin thinks Boston was an aberration?

December 12th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 2 comments

Off To Milwaukee
Posted by tgirsch

To watch the Brewers continue their implosion.

Back next week.

Hopefully Kevin will start pulling his weight around here again while I’m gone.

August 16th, 2007 | General, Sports, Bloggin, Travel, MLB | 4 comments

The Baseball Gods Can Relax
Posted by tgirsch

I’ve weighed in on this before, but as of last night, a bit of order was restored to the baseball universe. We just need someone like Sheffield to break Aaron’s RBI record, and everything will be as it should be in the record books.

On a more serious note, I don’t think there’s much doubt that Bonds juiced, but I question whether there’s anything realistic anyone can do about it. Even assuming Bonds juiced, he almost certainly played against pitchers who were also juicing (not that it justifies either one). And 755 was just a number. Hank Aaron will continued to be beloved not only as the true home run king, but also as a class act both on and off the field, by virtually all baseball fans from my generation and older generations.

In a way, Bonds even serves as a cautionary tale for the kids who might otherwise look up to him: All that talent, all that money, and all that fame hasn’t bought him a lick of happiness, and he’s widely reviled. Steroids or not, he’s a poster boy for how not to conduct yourself.

So all that’s left to say, really, is “Congratulations, Barry, but you’re still an asshole.”

August 8th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 36 comments

Not Their Year
Posted by tgirsch

Reality is a harsh mistress.

My Brewers are crashing down to earth. After leading the NL Central nearly all season, and by as many as 8.5 games as recently as early June, they’re about to cede the division lead to the red-hot Cubs. What’s the reason for this nose dive? It seems to me that it’s all about youth, inexperience, and inconsistency, with a dash of crummy pitching (as usual).

This weekend’s four-game series at St. Louis was a microcosm of how things have gone since June. The Brewers opened the series with a 12-2 thumping of the Cards. Then, in the first game of a split doubleheader, they blew a 6-0 lead (which was 6-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, and in which the Brewers scored all their runs in the first three innings), ultimately losing 7-6. They lost the second game 5-2. They closed the series on Sunday afternoon by blowing a 5-0 lead and lost 9-5. What should have been a 3-1 road series win, or at the very least a split, became another 1-3 series loss.

Buttressing the theory that youth and inexperience are to blame is the Brewers’ Jeckyll-and-Hyde road-home differential. At home, the Brewers are an NL-best 37-16; it’s the second-best home record in the majors. On the road, however, they are an abysmal 21-32; only the Pirates, Astros, Rangers, and Devil Rays are worse. What’s the biggest difference between a road game and a home game? Pressure.

Mind you, I’m not totally writing off the Brewers just yet. In a weak NL, a playoff spot is still a realistic possibility, especially if they continue to play so well at home. In fact, since I’ve vowed to bankrupt myself to get to the games if they make the playoffs (not to mention my promise to pee my pants), it wouldn’t surprise me if they did make it. They’ve certainly got the offensive firepower, and that will only get better if Ricky Weeks ever busts out of his slump.

But it’s clear that while the Brewers are finally a good team, they’re not yet a great team. Less than ideal, but after 25 years of mostly terrible baseball, I’ll take what I can get.

[P.S. Before anyone says it for me: “Waaaaah!”]

July 30th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 12 comments

Baseball Gripe
Posted by tgirsch

From a Yahoo.com MLB box score:

M. Reynolds singled to left, E. Byrnes scored, C. Jackson to third, M. Reynolds to second on left fielder A. Soriano’s throwing error

I hate the way they do this.
Sorry, but this punctuation is crap. There’s no way to tell which of the events occurred on the single, and which of the events occurred on the throwing error. Haven’t they ever heard of a period or a semicolon?

July 22nd, 2007 | Sports, MLB | one comment

Question fo the Day: A Rod or Pujols?
Posted by Kevin

Who is the better player. Pujols is younger and has slightly better offensive numbers. But A-Rod has speed that Pujols lacks, very good offensive numbers, and can play above average to extremely good defense at two different positions. Pujols has also gotten his offensive numbers in a league that has been inferior for at least the last half decade. So, if you had to pick, who is the better player?

July 13th, 2007 | General, Sports, Weekend Flame Bait, MLB | 17 comments

All-Star Thoughts
Posted by tgirsch

I only caught about the last three innings of the All-Star game, but I still think it’s a mere shadow of what it used to be. Despite the fact that the game now “means something,” it’s just an ugly, sloppy exhibition game, with almost no continuity and pretty much zero managerial skill. It’s all about the unwritten rules of getting every player some playing time, rather than actually trying to win the game.

Some striking stats:

• No AL pitcher pitched more than 2 innings, and no NL pitcher pitched more than one.
• Only one player — the Mets’ Jose Reyes — got more than three at-bats.
• There were ten players who got only one at-bat.
• In the game’s only legitimately memorable moment, Ichiro Suzuki hit the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history.
• So much for small-ball: Seven of the nine runs scored in the game came from home runs, assuming you count Ichiro’s two-run “shot.”

Another question: Billy Wagner gave up two runs in the top of the 8th to make the score 5-2 for the AL; then J.J. Putz gave up a two-out, two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 5-4 AL. To me, that should make Wagner and Putz the respective pitchers of record. Instead, Josh Beckett (who left after the fourth trailing 1-0) with a was credited with the win, and Chris Young (who gave up two in the top of the fifth) got the loss. WTF?

July 10th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 10 comments

Baseball Update
Posted by tgirsch

Via The Onion:

Report: Another Baseball Team Almost Does Something As Interesting As Yankees, Red Sox

NOT BOSTON OR NEW YORK—Something nearly worth reporting occurred either Saturday or Sunday—although no written records of the event exist, analysts claim it was the same day the Yankees beat the Mets to take the Subway Series—when the Minnesota Twins squandered a large late-game lead to the Brewers, but then won the game when Jason [sic] Morneau hit a walkoff home run in a manner eerily reminiscent of Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. “Manny Ramirez has really started heating up at the plate as of late, and you know what that means—opposing pitchers had better watch out,” ESPN’s Sean McAdam said when asked about Corey Hart’s eighth-inning homer that cut the Twins’ lead to two. “But if the Yankees rotation stays healthy and Abreu keeps swinging a big stick, it will be a tight race down the stretch. Should be a fun summer.” Prince Fielder, Torii Hunter, Jeff Suppan, and Joe Nathan were unavailable for comment, as they are not Derek Jeter, Curt Schilling, Johnny Damon, or Alex Rodriguez.

July 4th, 2007 | Sports, Satire, MLB, Humor | no comments

TGirsch’s MLB All-Star Picks
Posted by tgirsch

UPDATE: Seems I jinxed Cordero, who gave up his first home run of the season today, a two-out, two-run shot that cost the Brewers the game. So Cordero’s out, and Saito’s in.

Here they are:

My methodology? Rather than just picking my favorite players, I actually tried to be somewhat scientific about things, although even that turns out to be quite subjective.

June 27th, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 23 comments

Brewers Bloggin
Posted by tgirsch

Jeff asked for it, although I’m sure this isn’t quite what he had in mind.

I have taken the pledge!

May 11th, 2007 | Sports, MLB, Humor | 6 comments

Not a Colorblind Major League
Posted by KTK

This year, Major League Baseball is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s rookie season, which racially integrated the modern game. (There were in fact a few black ballplayers in the early professional leagues, before the same kind of belligerent yahooism we’re seeing again today swept the country and imposed segregation where, in some cases, it hadn’t existed before. That only underscores Robinson’s importance.) Robinson entered an all-white league that was not merely segregated but in many corners virulently racist. He withstood hostility from some of his own teammates and local fans, as well as vicious abuse, and even death threats, to prove the point that black players could succeed in the league. The history of baseball since is the history of Jackie Robinson’s achievement.

I was startled to hear, just recently, that Robinson’s Hall of Fame plaque does not say a single word about any of this. It merely lists his relevant statistics and records. It does not mention that he was the first modern-day black player, that he is credited with integrating the game single-handedly, that he was so respected for his courage in this and an earlier incident in which he faced court-martial - and won his case - for . . . refusing to sit at the back of a bus on a military base that he was cited as a specific inspiration by later leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, or that he spent the rest of his life as a civil rights icon and leader. It does not even mention that he was black.

That seemed . . . odd. But I wondered if it was perhaps a ham-handed way of honoring racial equality - since none of the white players are identified by race, race should not be mentioned in honoring the black player whose career, more than anyone else’s in history, was defined, and almost prevented, by race.

Today, though, on the Hall of Fame Web site, I discovered that there is a plaque honoring a member for achieving the racial integration of baseball.

It belongs to Branch Rickey, the white manager who hired Robinson to play in 1947. It lists as Rickey’s only two noted accomplishments that he developed the modern farm-club system, and the fact that he hired Jackie Robinson. It, too, does not mention integration, or that Robinson was black, leaving visitors to puzzle out why signing a second-base-player would qualify a former general manager for the Hall of Fame, but it’s there. To be fair to Rickey, his step was a calculated move to overcome baseball’s greatest shame, and it required courage and determination on his part, too. He deserves honor for it. But the fact that the only reference - even obliquely - to combatting racism in baseball by Hall of Fame members goes to the white guy who simply . . . refused to be a racist . . . and not to the black guy who faced down a whole nation to make it happen, makes one wonder . . . a bit.

             

Update: This site gives a synopsis of Rickey’s and Robinson’s collusion in breaking the color bar; it also mentions the early history of black players in the professional leagues. (It also retails the probably-apocryphal story of Pee Wee Reese standing by Robinson as he was being abused by fans in Cincinnati.) It includes the fact - another thing I didn’t know - that segregation of the league was instigated by Cap Anson, another Hall of Fame player, in 1887.  His plaque doesn’t mention that accomplishment, strangely.

UpUpdate: The site linked above mentions another fact I find compelling: It was exactly 60 years after the official segregation of the leagues that MLB finally integrated, making this year’s celebration especially appropriate. Major League Baseball has now been desegregated as long as it had previously been segregated. (In fact, this is the first year past the equilibrium point for professional baseball in general, if you count Robinson’s year in the minor leagues.)

May 5th, 2007 | General, Sports, Culture, MLB, News & Current Events, Race | 5 comments

I Am An Asshole
Posted by tgirsch

That’s really all I can think after my reaction to last night’s ESPN coverage of the Cardinals-Brewers game. Look, I understand that it’s a tragedy to lose a friend and teammate, and I understand that this is bound to affect people for some time in different ways. But it seemed as if the commentators, both in the booth and in the studio, had pre-written scripts for every possible outcome, all of which had the death of Josh Hancock as not only the focal point, but the reason for each result. As it was, the Cardinals got their asses handed to them, and this was because they were “distracted” by the loss of Hancock (not because the Brewers played well, or because Suppan pitched extremely well). All of the “mental mistakes” made by the Cardinals were blamed on Hancock’s death, as if they never would have screwed up if not for the death of a middle reliever. Meanwhile, Hancock’s replacement, just called up from AAA, pitched a scoreless inning, and this both “a fitting tribute” to Hancock (which I can understand) and motivated by Hancock’s death (which I can’t).

Had the Cardinals won the game instead of lost it, the story line would have been all about how the team “rallied around” the death of Hancock and were “inspired” by it. Again, I understand that his death was going to be a story line, but to cover the game as though it’s all about the death of the player, and secondarily about the Cardinals team, and not at all about the team they’re playing against, does a disservice to the sport, the teams involved, and them memory of the deceased.

Some may call me an asshole for this stance. I’ve pre-emptively done that in my title for you.

UPDATE: To his credit, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa has dismissed Hancock’s death as an excuse for his team’s poor play, noting that they were playing poorly even before that happened.

May 1st, 2007 | Sports, MLB | 3 comments

Random Imus Thoughts And The Intersection of Racism and Sports
Posted by Kevin

Some random reactions to the defenses and other thoughts about the Don Imus firing and a rumination on sports place in society.

1. Imus Was Trying to be Funny: Yes, but he was trying to be funny in a specific way for a specific purpose. I watched much of that Rutgers/Tennessee championship game and I can tell you flat out that Rutgers played awful. If he wanted to make a joke about the game, there was plenty of material related to the actual game play that he could have used. But he choose, instead, to attack them in a personal manner and to make fun of them in terms that were designed to denigrate and humiliate them. He was, in other words, trying to put them in their pace. That he was also trying to be funny is not an excuse.
2. Rappers Say Worse: So? Am I to excuse Pol Pot because Hitler killed more people, to use an extreme example? An Imus is not your average rapper, now is he? He is a prominent insider voice whose position can literally make book sales and aid political careers. When the rapper du jour gets to that level of power then maybe that might be a valid point. Until then, it’s like comparing Buicks to unicycles.
3. Other Radio Hosts Say Worse: So? See the above point. And then give me a list - -those people deserve to be fired, too.
4. Imus has Said Worse: Yes, he has. That does not mean that he should not have been fired; it means that he should have been fired sooner.
5. Imus Does Charity Work: It is entirely possible to be a racist and a sexist and to do charity work. The charity work does not excuse using a radio show to spout racism and sexism.
6. Now Other Radio Host Will Be Too Afraid To Speak Their Minds: Only if they are racist or sexists. If they don’t use sexist or racist language then there is no problem. Essentially you are telling me that Imus’s firing make sit harder for casual racism and sexism to be transmitted through commerical media. Why am I supposed to think this is a bad thing?
7. But Imus is a Shock Jock — This Is What He Does: So? That doesn’t make it right. Again, that’s not an argument that he should not have been fired, that’s an argument that he should have been fired sooner
8. CBS and MSNBC Only Fired Imus Because Sponsors Pulled Out: Maybe, maybe not. MSNBC’s chief in particular made it clear that he had gotten a lot of heated opinion from his reporters on the Imus issue. But, again, so what? Before the firing, MSNBC and CBS and the show’s sponsors were quite happy to take the money of racists and sexists. Today, they have learned that pandering to racists and sexists can cost you money. Again, why am I supposed to think that this is a bad thing?

The most fascinating thing to me in this story is how it intersects with sports. Don Imus has said much worse about politicians and reporters and gotten away with it for years. Indeed, there are precious few reporters and public figures who dared to ignore his show because of its place in the insider media food chain. But this first time — as far as I can tell — he personally attacked sports figures in this way he gets fired. Much of the discussion and the news I heard about Imus I heard through sports shows and sports talk radio. I don’t think its an exaggeration to say that millions more people heard his comments and about the uproar because of sports talk. I have to believe that it had an effect on the outcome. The more people who hear about the affair, the more people there were to put pressure on the sponsors. Rush Limbaugh went through a similar event. He made a racist comment about Donovan McNabb on ESPN and was fired. That comment was mild compared to some of the racist remarks he has made in the past, but it was that remark that caused him to lose a job and that remark that is the one I hear most often when his racist past is brought up.

I am not sure what this tells us. I suspect that it means nothing more than that sports is the one area where we still share a largely common culture in this country and that we, as a society, pay far, far more attention to sports than we do to journalism or politics. But it might also mean that sports — with it’s clearly measurable objectives and obvious markers of success — is the one are of our culture where racism’s inherent idiocy is most clearly revealed. It is easy, sometimes, for people not to see the effects of racism, to argue that minorities aren’t discriminated against in the real world, that they just don’t work hard enough. No one with a brain, though, could argue that the Rutgers players hadn’t worked hard and didn’t belong where they found themselves. No one could argue that Donovan McNabb wasn’t one of the league’s best quarterbacks or that he had gotten where he was because of some weird quarterback affirmative action. Sports fans expect their games to be honest and reflect of actual effort and ability. When someone implies the opposite, the fallacy is obvious and jarring in a way that it isn’t in almost any other activity.

Baseball is celebrating Jackie Robinson today. I have heard people say that Jackie Robinson the baseball player (the distinction matters; Jackie Robinson the man, it is often forgotten, was a tireless champion for civil rights from the day of his retirement to the day of his death) was the most important civil rights leader the country ever had. I used to think that was a ludicrous exaggeration. I still don’t believe it, but I think it’s a lot closer to the truth than I had believed.

April 13th, 2007 | Politics, Sports, Economics, Culture, Media, NFL, MLB, College Hoops | 13 comments

Say It Ain’t So!
Posted by KTK

America’s Pastime just isn’t what it used to be.

I went to my first Yankees game in a long time last night. Ticket prices have gotten so outrageous that I go to the local single-A minor-league games a lot more often than major league games - who can afford it? There’s less stupid commericalism and intrusive lights and signs and such in the minor-league parks as well. But somebody at work kindly donated some tickets they couldn’t use, and I was lucky enough to get them, so I rounded up a few friends and we took ourselves out to the ballgame. A series of shocks ensued:

I happened to glance at the face value printed on the ducats. Four tickets for decent but not spectacular seats in the mezzanine balcony were, together, over $250! Who goes to ballgames at these prices?!

Next: the season is getting too long. I know they’ve extended the post-season. I don’t know if they’ve pushed Opening Day back very far, but it’s pretty damn early. It was unbelievably cold at Yankee Stadium. In the 8th inning, it started to snow!

And: the games are too long. This one - a sloppy, high-scoring early-season game played in the cold - ran just minutes shy of four hours. It wasn’t long ago that they were complaining about three-hour games. It’s getting out of hand.

I know I’m not the first to mention either the extended season or the slow play, but . . . really. I’m sitting there last night watching them play baseball at 11 o’clock at night, in the snow! Although, technically, the season starts in the spring and ends in the fall, in terms of weather it essentially starts in winter and ends in winter. That just isn’t baseball.

And, finally, in one of the worst major-league games I’ve ever seen, I had to watch the Yanks get cleaned by the worst team in their division. It was ugly.

But through it all, it was still fun. There’s something wonderful about the game. No matter what they do to it, they can’t take that away.

April 6th, 2007 | General, Sports, MLB | 3 comments

The Case for Barry Bonds
Posted by tgirsch

For a long time, I’ve been complaining about Barry Bonds, and how the record books would be “tainted” if Bonds were to break Aaron’s career home runs record. After doing some research, and giving it some thought, I’m officially changing my position.

Let’s look at baseball’s all-time batting records, and see who holds them:

Hits: Pete Rose (2nd Place: Ty Cobb)
Home Runs: Hank Aaron (trailed by Bonds, previously held by Babe Ruth)
Walks: Barry Bonds (2nd Place: Rickey Henderson)
Batting Average: Ty Cobb
Runs Scored: Rickey Henderson (2nd Place: Ty Cobb)
RBI: Hank Aaron (2nd Place: Babe Ruth)
Stolen Bases: Rickey Henderson
Slugging Percentage: Babe Ruth

Do you notice something odd about this list? Notice that one of these things is not like the others? Hank Aaron is the only guy on this list who wasn’t/isn’t a major league asshole, or worse. Baseball has a long and storied tradition of having its most beloved records held by total dickheads. What’s a nice guy doing on this list? Clearly, Aaron doesn’t belong there.

Therefore, Bonds needs to break Aaron’s home run record, to restore the natural order to the record books. Anything less would be a violation of baseball’s most consistent tradition. And nothing is more important to baseball than tradition.

P.S. The RBI record is trickier. Bonds is the closest active player, and he’s over 350 behind Aaron. No other active player is even remotely close to that.

P.P.S. The consecutive games played record, held by Cal Ripken, Jr., gets a pass, because it was previously held by Gehrig, who as far as I can tell was also a nice guy. But baseball has room for only one exception, not two.

April 5th, 2007 | Sports, Weekend Flame Bait, MLB, Humor | 7 comments

Another Sad Milestone Approaches
Posted by tgirsch

I was just looking at the Milwaukee Brewers’ roster. As of right now, there are exactly two players on my favorite baseball team’s 25-man roster who are older than I am. It won’t be long before that number drops to zero.

Damn you, Dad! Why didn’t you ever teach me to hit a curve?! (Or throw… Or catch… Or run… Or bunt…)

April 4th, 2007 | Sports, I do too have a life, MLB | one comment