Season Wrap

I suppose it's about time to wrap the season and put it to bed. Actually, I should have done this sometime in September. My season was a wash. It was June before I watched a full broadcast, largely depending on Baseball Tonight for season's progress.

It's possible to reconstruct a game fairly accurately by comparing the line and box scores. Most newspapers outside major markets don't waste the column inches though. This season, as with most, was all about who can beat the Yankees? One by one the prospects fell. Towards the end I thought the Dodgers would be an interesting match, if only because of Joe Torre, not to mention all that historic rivalry between the two teams.

My other great disappointment with the World Series is the broadcast team. Joe Buck is flat, and clearly not that interested in baseball. Fox is actually superb at the technical coverage, but shouldn't be allowed top take cameras on the field during the games. We don't need that POV of the home run trot from third to home.

Only 4 months until spring training.

Biggest Butt in Baseball

The BBB is a fan statistic. It's an idle statistic invented by a woman from Minnesota, where the unofficial Hall of Fame record holder played. Doesn't Major League Baseball want to marked its product to women? Attribution will be revealed if/when it is mentioned on-air on ESPN's Baseball Tonight or Sports Center.

Only getting a few late inning Rangers games listening on the radio this season, so my qualifications for nomination are not great. Pitchers seem to be the most likely candidates. Don't think we'll see position players like Kirby Pluckett or Tony Gwynn again, excepting Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder a few years from now.

From what I've seen so far, my nominations are C C Sabathia and Carlos Zambrano.

Many the Great

Off Base is more than a little behind the news cycle, but judging by visitor statistics, no one is relying on me for breaking news.

Biggest news over the past few weeks was that Manny Ramirez was suspended from playing in the next 50 Dodger games for chemically balancing his estrogen level. I'm starting to entertain an idea mentioned recently by Daniel Schorr. Legalize performance enhancing drugs in professional sports and let the freak show run wild.

Good Grief A-Roid

Firstly, pardon the visual mess of the blog layout. It's a work in progress.

Broken news announced that MLB is looking at the accuracy of A-Rod's statements about his steroid use. Will this be just another back and forth with lawyers, agents, and the commissioner? Likely so. Will Alex take the high ground and give full disclosure? Unlikely.

Rodriguez makes more in salary during one game than most of us earn in a year. He's not likely to fall on his sword for ethical reasons, at least until he holds all the holy achievement records in baseball. Just when we're rid of Barry Bonds a new bligh appears.

Baseball will never be the dear sport again until A-Rod resigns/retires. I can't afford good game seats anyway.

Seattle Once Upon a Time

Dave Niehaus, long-time Seattle Mariners radio announcer created the A-Rod moniker. He was also the originator of the Big Unit tag for Randy Johnson, which he later regretted. He tried to shift to RJ, but the locals wouldn't have any of that.

Those were the heydays for the Mariners. They had Junior, Edgar, Bones, The Unit, A-Rod, and the bonus of being managed by Sweet Lou (Piniella). Pitching never got them all the way to the World Series, but they did manage to eliminate the Yankees once.

One of my favorite footnotes to the mid 90"s Mariners was the acquisition of closer Heathcliff Slocum, from the Boston Red Sox. The Mariners traded Jason Varitec and Derek Lowe for Slocum. One of the best or worst trades ever, depending on your allegiance. Boston fans referred to him as Heart Attack. He saved 13 games for the Mariners over 1 1/2 seasons, with a statistical WL record of 2-9. He generally put the first batter on base in relief, which was not a good pattern for a closer. He was big and intimidating. Lots of heat, as they say.

My wife, who keeps unofficial track of such things, named him one of the biggest butts in baseball (1997), on the Kirby Puckett gold standard. One might argue that Tony Gwynn or Rick Garces (El Guapo) both were sitting on that title. Heathcliff's career sadly ended 2 years after his stint with the Mariners with a line drive to the groin while pitching for the Padres. He lost a ball in the play. Off Base hopes he's happily retired in his native Jamaica.

The New York Yanktons

Baseball is good, but is it precious? Certainly the Yankees didn't anticipate that a large number of Wall Streeters wouldn't have enough disposable cash to drop a few G's to see them slug or be drubbed on a regular basis. That center field camera shot of empty seats is more than an embarrassment. It's loss.

Baseball has the longest season in major professional sports, unless you figure in tennis, which just crosses the equator and keeps going. Soccer too, I suppose. Regardless, Off base thinks we'll see a contraction of salaries soon, and hopefully ticked prices as well. The physical infrastructure has become a problem to teams.

Many great ballparks have been built over the past few decades and the public has largely shared in the cost. It's doubly  a bite in the ass for fans to shell out  such a chunk of cash for attending a game. American League teams have been inflating gate prices when the Yanktons are in town. Your correspondent thinks this is not in keeping with the ethics of baseball, no matter how rosy or dark the socks may be.

Sport is entertainment, and entertainment is a luxury. As a fan, my $1.50 admission to a game between Oaxaca and Veracruz close inside 1st base was just as entertaining and significant as the A's beating the crap out of the Yanktons for $14, home plate advantage.