Baseball-Related Program Activities

Found while I was looking for something else: a newspaper ad for KWK radio in St. Louis.

Labels: advertising, Cardinals, kwk

6:02 -- Why, they've got a special graphic to use when Craig Biggio gets a hit.

6:11 -- Xavier Nady, who has a great name, hits a home run to tie the Pirates-Astros game at 2.
6:21 -- Hey, the Twins aren't on WCCO anymore, which is kind of like the Cardinals not being on KMOX anymore. Herb Carneal may well be rolling in his grave already.

6:25 -- The Pirates-Astros game isn't quite as speedy now that it's gone into extra innings.
6:32 -- Perhaps somebody with more time on their hands than Levi or me -- probably a member of SABR -- has calculated the percentage of World Series and/or pennant winners that won their first game of the season. I'm suddenly interested in what that statistic is.
6:33 -- Jason Bay hits a 2-run homer in the top of the 10th. He should be on the Devil Rays instead of the Pirates, given that both have "Bay" in their names.
6:38 -- The Astros strike out, in the bottom of the 10th, for the first time in the game.
6:42 -- The Pirates win a game! The Pirates win a game! And now there's only one game in progress.
6:43 -- In this post-literate age, "DQ Grill & Chill" seems to be the new name for "Dairy Queen Brazier." I wonder how Bob Greene feels about that. (The former columnist for the Chicago Tribune, not Oprah's personal trainer.)

You know, after I got fired two years ago, I should have tried to contact him to commiserate. We could have had a chat over Blizzards or something. I don't even remember exactly what our disagreement was about.
6:53 -- The Twins announcers are comparing former Devil Ray and current Oriole Danys Baez to Rick Sutcliffe, and talk about how he hooks his hand around behind him before he delivers the ball. At one point, they call him "a hooker."

Labels: astros, bob greene, Cardinals, craig biggio, dairy queen, danys baez, devil rays, herb carneal, jason bay, pirates, rick sutcliffe, twins, xavier nady

I became a baseball fan the summer I turned eleven. My mother was taking classes towards a degree in social work at a college about an hour's drive from Carmi, and my brother and I would ride along with her a couple of nights a week to the campus. On the drive, we would tune in to the Cardinals, carried at that point on the clear-channel powerhouse of KMOX. The Cardinals were very good that summer, holding off a tough Mets team to win the division and then the pennant before a disappointing World Series performance. Jack Buck and Mike Shannon described it all, and made us fans.

Sometime in the next few years, as my baseball fandom turned into the sort of obsession that only preteen boys, it seems, are capable of, I discovered on an out-of-the-way bookshelf in our house a musty, digest-sized baseball magazine previewing the 1974 season. Opening it, I discovered on the first page a nearly inscrutable scrawl, one bearing no little resemblance to my own:

June 1974--Play Ball, Boy! Love, Col.

It was a gift, given at my birth and no doubt tucked away at the time and forgotten, from my great-grandfather, Grandpa Colonel, about whom I've written before. Living his whole life in rural Kansas, he spent a lifetime enjoying baseball--and the Cardinals--the same way I grew up enjoying them: on the radio, far from the ballpark. Jack Buck may be gone--as is Grandpa Colonel--but the radio is still my favorite way to experience the game if I can't be there, and sound of baseball on the radio is still, for me, the heart of summer.

I never was much of a ballplayer, but I find myself thinking of Grandpa Colonel's admonition every spring. Last Sunday, I spent the morning playing catch with my nephew at Montrose Beach, throwing until our arms ached. Tonight, Stacey and I open the house to friends--several of whom haven't visited since October--for chili, brats, cornbread, and beer, all in honor of the return of spring. One of these days, we'll have to get Jim here for the opener.

It's the Cardinals and Mets. The last time we saw these two teams, they played one of the most exciting, stressful, and rewarding games I've ever seen. Tonight, like every spring, it starts all over again.

Play ball.

Labels: baseball books, Cardinals, Jack Buck, KMOX, Mets, Mike Shannon

Vivaelbirdos poster Brock20 found this video of a kid, all of about four years old, doing imitations of the batting stances of several Cardinals. He's got them cold--check out the swing and follow-through on Pujols--and the deadly home run stare. Hard to believe a four-year-old can mimic that ice-cold look, but he does. It's uncanny. His Jimmy Edmonds is really good, too.

Meanwhile, his kid sister sings "Row Row Row Your Boat" in the background.

Opening Day is getting close.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Cardinals, Jeffrey Maier, Jimmy Edmonds, youtube

Right now, this is my nominee for the best non-Cardinals-win-the-World-Series sports story of the year. Don Carman, he of the 53-54 record and the 4.11 E.R.A. over a ten-year career, is now one of my favorite players.

Close competition is Toby's excellent eve-of-the-World Series article about Carmi resident and former Tiger and Cardinal Bob Sykes. Toby, is that available online for me to link to anywhere?

And as we enter the holiday season, some baseball things I'm thankful for:
Jimmy Edmonds, and his new contract that makes him likely to retire a Cardinal.
Adam Wainwright's curveball and its ability to freeze Carlos Beltran, if for no other reason than my mom's good health. I'm not sure she would have made it had he hit the bases-clearing triple we all were clearly imagining.
Endy Chavez's catch, and the fact that it ultimately didn't matter
Manny Ramirez's swing. And his hair.
Dusty Baker's firing. Is that too mean for a holiday list?
Jackie Robinson. 'Cause you can't ever be too thankful for Jackie Robinson.
Rickey. GMs, he's ready to play. Just call.
Yadier Molina's October power surge. And his girlish smile.
Stacey's jack-o-lanterns. 10-0 in the Fall Classic and counting.
Labor peace.
J.D. Drew's silly, silly baserunning, and the fact that that play also involved Jeff Kent and his mustache.
The Big Unit, even though he's a Yankee and, apparently, past his peak. Oh, that slider, and that hair.
Mike Shannon. So long as he's broadcasting, a part of me will still be a kid.
Opening Day, and living a mile-and-a-half from a ballpark, a childhood dream unexpectedly realized.

And, finally and forever, Albert Pujols. 'Nuff said.

I know I'm forgetting dozens. Feel free, ye millions of readers, to add your own in comments.

Labels: adam wainwright, bob sykes, Cardinals, carlos beltran, don carman, dusty baker, Jimmy Edmonds, Manny Ramirez, Mike Shannon, randy johnson, Rickey Henderson, yadier molina

Jim pointed out the other day that Ed Goren, the President of Fox Sports, wrote to the L.A. Times in support of Tim McCarver. Among other things, he said that McCarver is "the best first-guesser in the business."

Now, much as I like to complain about McCarver, I'm sure there were times in this World Series when he displayed his reportedly impressive first-guessing ability. But the one example that Goren chooses to cite lays bare the reasons that Fox's baseball coverage is so utterly terrible.

Here's Goren's example: "Who else would have suggested that Tony La Russa remove right fielder Chris Duncan for defensive purposes in Game 5 before he botched a fly ball into a double?"

Hmm. Who else? Let's see:

1) Steve Stone

2) Me

3) Any Cardinals fan who had seen Duncan play at any time in person on on television, or who had heard a Cardinals game on the radio in which he played. Those people would know that Duncan is by trade a lousy first baseman, but that, given that there's no place for non-MVP first basemen in St. Louis this decade, he's learning to play the outfield. And he's not very good at it.

4) Any fan of one of the teams the Cardinals played against this season after Duncan was called up and began playing regularly.

5) And, oh, yeah: Anyone who had watched Game 5 of the 2006 World Series up to the point when McCarver suggested replacing Duncan . . . and who had therefore seen Duncan's earlier error, an embarrassing botched pop fly.

That Goren didn't realize himself that it might be worth removing Duncan is bad enough.

That he also didn't realize that many, many, many of the people watching might have figured out on their own that removing Duncan might be a good idea is bad enough.

But that he realizes neither of those obvious facts, and then, therefore, thinks that Tim McCarver is a genius because he points out what we've all realized tells you all you need to know about why Fox's coverage of baseball is so bad.

They do not care about, like, enjoy, or understand the game. Nor do they care about or understand those of us who do.

Labels: Cardinals, chris duncan, tim mccarver, tony la russa

Seven Octobers now we've been hosting Baseball Open House at the Rocketship, and this year's has to rank as our most successful:

* We had good friends in attendance throughout, ranging from two or three people all the way to a high of eleven (plus me and Stacey) for Kenny Rogers's glorious (pine-tar-aided?) dismantling of the Yankees in the LDS.

* Half a dozen or so friends made their first Baseball Open House appearance.

* We hosted people for every night game in the entire playoffs except three, two of which were graciously hosted by TITANIA, and the other, the World Series opener, which we watched with the whole Stahl family at my brother's house in Indianapolis following my running of the Indy marathon.

* We cooked up a mess of food, relying more than in any previous October on the seasonal produce that we get each week from our membership in a local community-supported farm; in that way, we were closer to the autumn outdoors than ever before.

* Stacey's baseball jack-o-lanterns ran their World Series game-winning streak to 10. Damon went 4-0 in 2004, Ozzie Guillen went 4-0 in 2005, and the Yadi-o-lantern went 2-0 to close out the 2006 series.

* Despite the brevity of many of the series--the teams only played six games over the minimum this October--we saw some very exciting baseball. As my mom put it on the phone minutes after Adam Wainwright struck out Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded to put St. Louis in the World Series, "That one nearly killed me!" Even the fans without a rooting interest in the game knew what she meant.

* We had champagne in the fridge, and we got to use it. We drank some after the aforementioned strikeout of Beltran, and we put back more of it after Wainwright snapped off the same curveball against Brandon Inge . . . which leads to the final reason this Baseball Open House was such a success . . . .

* THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES! FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD AND NOT YET REALLY A FAN!

Thanks, Cardinals. Thanks, everyone who came out. Thanks, Jim, for another season of BRPA. I'll try to be a more reliable poster in 2007, and maybe you can make it for Baseball Open House next October.

The only proper way to end this is to turn the mike over to the Rajah:

"People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."--Rogers Hornsby

Pitchers and catchers report in about 100 days.

Labels: adam wainwright, brandon inge, Cardinals, carlos beltran, food, tigers, world series

2006 ends as it began...with Chessie on the floor near a TV that's showing a baseball game.

Labels: Cardinals, cats, tigers, tv, world series

Levi's normally a vegetarian, except when the Cardinals are in the World Series, and that's because he has a superstition that involves eating Lit'l Smokies. And therefore...



Note that Levi is looking around furtively for any fellow vegetarians who might be ready to pounce upon him for this breach of vegetarianism.

Also note that this picture was taken Wednesday night, and Levi is in his kitchen instead of being in front of the TV. Suddenly introducing meat can cause problems for digestive systems that aren't used to it -- and something else that can cause problems for digestive systems is four episodes of "The War at Home" interspersed with Joe Buck telling America that it's still raining in St. Louis. So Levi is wisely attempting to minimize the amount of Kaopectate he'll need later.

On another note, after Johnny Damon in 2004 and Ozzie Guillen in 2005, this year's baseball-related jack-o'-lantern carved by Stacey is...



...Yadier Molina.

Also, in today's L.A. Times, Bill Plaschke writes a column that boils down to "the baseball season should start 10 days earlier so I'm not quite as cold while I'm being paid to attend the World Series." You know, it's warmer during the day, too.

Labels: Cardinals, food, jack o' lantern, tigers, world series, yadier molina

Hey, New York City

Wasn't this weekend supposed to be

the start of the big Subway Series?

Guess that's not happening.

Unless there's a subway between St. Louis and Detroit.

[adult swim]

Labels: Cardinals, Mets, tigers, tv, yankees

You know things have been going badly for your team when NPR has a feature on their near-choke. But after two weeks of unwanted drama, the Cardinals pulled out their sixth Central Division championship in seven years, which means that, because in the one year they didn't make the playoffs, 2003, the Cubs won the division, there's been a team in which Stacey and I have a serious rooting interest in the playoffs every one of the seven years we've been hosting baseball open house at the Rocketship.

Some notes from last week:

1) Wednesday night, when the Cardinals desperately needed a win against San Diego to end a seven-game losing streak, late in the game Cardinals broadcaster John Rooney said, regarding the extra-inning Astros-Pirates game, "You'll hear the crowd start bubbling in a few minutes, because the magic number has just dropped to four." Stacey and I, while listening to the Cardinals game on the Internet, were also following the Pirates-Astros game on mlb.com's Gameday, and from what we could tell, the game wasn't over--the Pirates had by no means won.

Rooney came back from a break for a San Diego pitching change saying, "We had some wrong information on that Pittsburgh-Houston game." But before he could explain what had actually happened, Albert Pujols hit one into orbit, giving the Cardinals a good-sized lead. Rooney got caught up in describing the action, and he didn't get back to apologizing and explaining for probably five minutes. Houston would go on to win that game, leaving Rooney in very real danger of having fatally jinxed the team.

2) That mistake also ties in with my brother's biggest complaint about Rooney, whom I've been a big fan of since his days keeping Ed Farmer in check on the White Sox broadcasts: he's profligate with his home run hopes. About once per game, he'll get all excited about a long fly . . . that dies short of the warning track. If you're like me and my brother, and still get most of your baseball through radio announcers (admittedly via the Internet), it's an extremely frustrating habit.

3) On Friday night, with Pujols at the plate again, Mike Shannon delivered the following call:

Shannon: Here's the pitch. Pujols swings, and Ha-ha! You can't sneak the sun past the rooster, boy! And the rooster just crowed!

Rooney: Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Rooney and Shannon work together better than Rooney and Wayne Hagin ever did. I hope Rooney's okay with Shannon's prominence on the broadcast, because they really do make a good team. Shannon, though not a great (or even good, really) play-by-play man, is a wonderful friend to listen to on the broadcasts. So long as he's there, I'll still feel like listening to Cardinals games is the same experience I grew up with, despite Jack Buck's death.

4) Saturday, Stacey and I watched the Cardinals on Fox--cleverly synching up the Internet radio feed to the Tivo so that we could hear Shannon and Rooney instead of Piniella and Whoever--through the end of the seventh. The Cardinals were down 2-0 at that point, but I gathered my things to go to Wrigley Field, because I had a ticket to my last game of the year, an inconsequential tilt between the Cubs and Rockies.

I hopped on my bicycle . . . and got two blocks away, to Wilson Avenue, before I thought, "Why am I leaving an important game, one that I care about, to go see an utterly inconsequential game?" I turned around and got back home for the bottom of the eighth, which allowed me to see Sandfrog lead singer Scott Spiezio's game-breaking triple. As soon as the game was over, I was back on my bike, and by the first pitch of the second inning at Wrigley, I was in my seat.

5) I hope there's no long-term karmic damage from my rooting for Larry "Chipper" Jones and the Braves this weekend. Similarly, I hope St. Louis doesn't get the punishment it probably deserves from the gods for doing the Tomahawk Chop a couple of times this weekend at Busch Stadium. As Lando might say, "There was nothing we could do. They arrived just before you did." Or something like that.

Go, Cardinals!

Labels: Albert Pujols, Cardinals, chipper jones, ed farmer, john rooney, Mike Shannon, scott spiezio, star wars

There's a Cardinals version and, in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, here's the Pirates version -- but the cutest one is, of course, the one with Li'l Mister Met. (The Angels one might be the cutest if it had monkeys -- but it doesn't.)

Levi and Mrs. Levi: are you sure you don't want kids?

Labels: angels, Cardinals, Mets, pirates

After Gary Bennett's out-of-nowhere performance against the Cubs this weekend (.700/.750/.833, with a homer and a game-winning single Saturday and a game-winning grand slam Sunday night), I hope each player on the Cardinals roster--including the guys on the DL--bought him a stiff drink last night.

And then I hope he staggered around the bar, drunk as a lord, shouting, "Don't you mess with me--I'm freaking Mike Piazza!"

Labels: Cardinals, cubs, gary bennett, mike piazza

This is from KWK radio in St. Louis in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and you can be the judge of whether they were thinking baseball, football, or both.

Labels: Cardinals, jingles

Levi was at the Cardinals-Cubs game today. I watched the Comcast SportsNet broadcast from home.

Levi had to watch the Cardinals not score any runs in the top of the 9th inning and lose 3-2, but I saw something else instead of the last two outs...



I remember being impressed back in 1989 that ABC had a slide specifically reading "World Series" at the ready to throw up on screen when they lost their feed from San Francisco. As you can see, Comcast SportsNet is not as classy as ABC. (And no wonder they're experiencing technical difficulties -- their cnntrol room looks blurry and smeared.)

Labels: Cardinals, cubs, tv

Remember, the Cardinals are no longer on KMOX. Now it's also possible that the Pirates may be leaving their longtime radio home, KDKA.

Labels: Cardinals, pirates, radio

From a Post-Dispatch article on Daryl Kile's abiding influence:

"Every once in a while -- not very often -- you come across people who make everybody else around them better," Matheny said. "I've never seen anybody put so much effort into other people and you could tell it was sincere."

Labels: Cardinals, daryl kile, mike matheny

Cardinals fans have spent the past couple of weeks worrying that the Cardinals might, as rumor had it, sign Jacque Jones from the Twins. Jacque Jones is not a very good baseball player, and he was destined to be overpaid.

So the Cubs signed him! For three years! For $16 million!

Dan Szymborski of Baseballprimer.com has a hilarious analysis of the signing at their Transaction Oracle. I can't figure out how to permalink to the post, so you should go here, then scroll down just a bit until you find the Jones signing. It's worth it.

Labels: Cardinals, cubs, jacque jones, twins

Matt Morris has reportedly signed a 3-year, $27-million deal with the Giants, reuniting him with his favorite backstop, Mike Matheny, and ending a nine-year career as a Cardinal.

Matt's been one of my favorite baseball players since his rookie season in 1997, when he went 12-9 with an ERA of 3.19. I learned that season that Matt sometimes rode his bicycle to the park on days he wasn't pitching, and that was all I needed. He was always fun to watch pitch. He comes across as one of those guys who manages to be ultra-competetive without being a prick. His Cardinal career also coincides exactly with the period of my most intense baseball fandom: post-college, with more time on my hands and the Internet to keep me close to my team. He'll always be one of the faces of that era of baseball to me.

His best moments in a Cardinals uniform, though, came in one week in October of 2001. Twice in six days, he dueled Curt Schilling and the Diamondbacks in the Division Series. The Cards came out on the wrong side both times, as Morris lost the first game 1-0 and took a no-decision after 8 1-run innings in a 2-1 loss in the deciding game five. It was tough, stressful baseball, the kind that makes us ordinary people wonder how anyone can block out the drama long enough to actually participate in it. Up against Schilling at his world-beating best, Matt Morris threw a couple of the best games of his life.

He ends his Cardinal career having started the tenth-most games in team history, 209. with a 101-62 record, a 3.61 ERA, and an ERA+ of 119*. He's fourth in team history in strikeouts, with 1337, and sixth in winning percentage at .620. Oh, and he's sixth in hit batsmen with 49.

Thanks, Matt. Good luck in San Francisco. I think you'll like the city and that big ballpark.

*ERA+ is a complex stat designed to show how a pitcher performed relative to other pitchers in the league that year. 100 is average, anything over that is good. Matt's best was a 166 in his injury-shortened 1998. Last year, an off year for him, he still managed a 104.

Labels: Cardinals, curt schilling, giants, matt morris

No reason for me to pause the TiVo tonight. If there's any good news for Levi, it's that he can now join all right-thinking Chicagoans (and probably much of the country as well) in cheering for the White Sox.

Labels: astros, Cardinals, roy oswalt, white sox

Well, well, well.

1) That was a nice reminder that what we're all seeing every time Pujols plays is a Hall-of-Fame career in the making. Cardinals fans are extremely lucky to have him, and we ought to appreciate it with every at-bat.

2) Even were the Cardinals to go on and get trounced tomorrow night, Pujols (and, to give credit properly, Eckstein and Edmonds, who had tough at-bats before him) at least took what had been a frustrating, disappointing series and gave us something we'll remember for a long time.

3) My brother's two concerns post-game? He was hoping the construction guys hadn't started the wrecking ball back in the 7th for Busch Stadium. (Fox had, as their highlight reel of Busch over the years demonstrated.) Second, he wanted to know if Fox had reconsidered their choice of Lance Berkman as Chevrolet Player of the Game--chosen, as usual, in like the second inning.

4) In the 9th, with one out, Barbara Bush--visible all game as a little Boglin head perched just above the railing behind home--started packing up her bag. "Why," she probably thought, "would I want to sully my beautiful mind with thoughts of Brad Lidge blowing this game?"

Labels: Albert Pujols, astros, brad lidge, busch stadium, Cardinals, david eckstein, jim edmonds, lance berkman

Well, Levi, I'm sorry the Cardinals didn't make it to the Series this year -- but White Sox vs. Astros, now there's a couple teams you don't see in the Series very often!

The game's not actually over yet, but I've got the TiVo paused with two outs in the top of the 9th, the Astros ahead 4-2, and Fox running all the Astros history footage they can get their hands on. So it's pretty much a foregone conclusion; I mean, the only hope the Cardinals have would be something along the lines of Brad Lidge giving up a 3-run homer to Albert Pujols, and how likely is that?

Labels: Albert Pujols, astros, brad lidge, Cardinals, white sox

Four consecutive complete games? In the postseason? The White Sox bullpen must really suck!

On another note, since Levi has some stuffed animals that he lines up to watch Cardinals games with him, I decided to do the same on Saturday night with my stuffed animal collection...



I'm sure all the birds were rooting for their brethren the Cardinals, and cats are always in favor of birds running around, and I told Wallace they put cheese on their toasted ravioli in St. Louis, so he was happy -- but I suspect Shaun the Sheep was pulling for Mike Lamb and the Astros. I have no idea what Goofy was thinking.

Labels: astros, Cardinals, mike lamb, white sox

The banner at Petco Park that turned "Western Metal Supply Co." into "Western Division Champions" was very clever. Perhaps in New Busch Stadium, the Cardinals can have a legend under the scoreboard clock reading "Central Time" that can be appropriately altered in applicable Octobers.

Labels: Cardinals, padres

When we left Bill James, he was at Royals Stadium for Game 1 of the 1985 World Series, complaining about having paid $30 for a ticket. But then he realizes, "No one has a divine right to attend the event, and if you're not willing to pay a good price for the tickets, you shouldn't be there." However...

All season, whenever Susie and I had gone into games we had been extremely fortunate as to the people seated around us; we made it through almost the entire season without being in earshot of an obnoxious drunk. On this memorable occasion, the law of averages caught up with us. We were seated three rows behind the last human being in the Western hemisphere that I would ever want to marry into my family; she is to this day known in our house only as That Dreadful Woman. That Dreadful Woman combined the virtues of a coquettish Southern Belle, the kind that during a Tennessee Williams play you always want to reach onstage and strangle to speed up the plot, with those of your ordinary garden-variety obnoxious drunken fan. She had a voice that would remind you of a clarinet with a broken reed, set to the volume of an airhorn, and I suppose that she had been a cheerleader two or three years ago, for she was determined to lead the section in cheers. She was a Cardinals fan, which was not the problem; in fact, the ingrained hospitality with which Midwesterners receive guests is probably all that kept her alive as the game progressed. Whenever anything happened...no, that's not right...whether anything happened or not she would leap to her feet almost with every pitch and, turning around and gesturing with her arms as if tossing an invisible baby into the air, implore the section to screech along with her and give her some sort of reassurance about how cute she was. After about a half-inning of this, every time she got up she would, naturally, be greeted with a chorus of people yelling encouraging things like "Sit Down," "Shut Up," "Watch the Game," "Lady, Pleeeese" and "Will you get your ass out of the way?" However, being apparently none too swift even when sober, she could not take in that it was not anyone in particular who was yelling these things, but everyone in the entire area taking turns. Having focused on someone who was abusing her, she would fasten onto the luckless soul -- several, I am sure, will never go back to a baseball game as long as they live -- and begin to whimper accusingly about how she didn't mean to do any wrong and she was just trying to enjoy the game and didn't they want to enjoy the game and didn't Royals fans like to have fun and what had she done except cheer for her team and couldn't they be friends? Eventually she would shake hands with whoever it was; this was, after all, the only way to get her to stop whining in your face. Then she would grab her camera and put her arm around her new friend and have her husband (or boyfriend, or whoever the poor bastard was) take a picture of the event.

She had other uses for the camera -- for example, she would try on a funny hat, hand off the camera to a stranger and have him take a picture of her. She would do this, mind you, with the inning in progress.

The rest of the fans in the right field bleachers were not exactly a prize aggregation, either. There was an ABC crowd camera near us, and scattered around were several dozen children and nitwits whose attention was entirely focused on it. Whenever this camera panned near us they would leap to their feet and hold up banners, requiring the people sitting behind them, which was all of us except the front row, to jump up and down constantly in an attempt to follow the game. There were several beach balls bouncing around, enough that it took the baseball fans in the area two or three innings to capture each one and neutralize it with a pocket knife. It was easily the worst Kansas City baseball crowd that I've seen.

Also seated around us were a number of die-hard, life-long Cardinal fans who had driven over from St. Louis (five hour drive) to see the game. By the fifth inning, That Dreadful Woman had most of them discussing whether they should continue to support the Cardinals or perhaps should switch to the Royals. Several people offered to buy the Dreadful Woman a beer if she would just go stand in line to buy it. She took one guy up on his offer, apparently not understanding the purpose of it -- she wasn't easy to insult, this girl -- and as she was leaving a guy about ten rows behind us shouted, 'Remember where your seat is -- section 342." Needless to say, Section 342 was in an entirely different part of the ballpark, but it didn't work. We enjoyed the game for a half-inning until she returned.

The next night, Bill James goes back for Game 2...

As Susie and I were walking down the aisle toward our seats the man in front of us yelled gleefully "I don't think she's here!" We broke out laughing; we were looking for the same thing. We had the same seats for all four games in Kansas City, if there were to be four games in Kansas City, and the thought of spending three more games trying to get HER to shut up had considerably dampened our enthusiasm for the event. We never saw her again, but it was easy to spot the people who had been in the same seats the day before. They were distinguished by the wary looks that they cast around until the offending seat was occupied.

Labels: bill james, Cardinals, royals, world series

Actual quote from an e-mail from my father: "Better you should have never been born, than to post something good about
Harry Caray." Obviously, I can't resist now. Bill James on Harry Caray, from the 1985 Baseball Abstract:

Cable television has arrived to the distant Balkan outland that I call home, and I have been watching Harry Caray whenever I get the time. It's the first significant exposure to Harry that I've had in fifteen years, and I realize with a sense of shock how much of my own attitude about the game and about my profession, which I thought I had found by myself, I may in fact have picked up from hundreds of hours of listening to Harry Caray as a child.

Or perhaps it is a false pride, but I love Harry Caray. You have to understand what Harry Caray was to the Midwest in my childhood. In the years when baseball stopped at the Mississippi, KMOX radio built a network of stations across the midwest and into the Far West that brought major league baseball into every little urb across the landscape. Harry's remarkable talents and enthusiasm were the spearhead of their efforts, and forged a link between the Cardinals and the midwest that remains to this day; even now, some of my neighbors are Cardinal fans.

This effect covers a huge area and encompasses millions of people, many times as many people as live in New York. A Harry Caray-for-the-Hall-of-Fame debate is in progress. To us, to hear New Yorkers or Californians suggest that Harry Caray might not be worthy of the honors given to Mel Allen or Vince Scully is a) almost comically ignorant, sort of like hearing a midwesterner suggest that the Statue of Liberty was never of any real national significance and should be turned into scrap metal, and b) personally offensive. That Harry should have to wait in line behind these wonderful men but comparatively insignificant figures is, beyond any question, an egregious example of the regional bias of the nation's media.

But besides that, the man is really good. His unflagging enthusiasm, his love of the game, and his intense focus and involvement in every detail of the contest make every inning enjoyable, no matter what the score or the pace of the game. His humor, his affection for language and his vibrant images are the tools of a craftsman; only Garagiola, his one-time protégé, can match him in this way. He is criticized for not being objective, which is preposterous; he is the most objective baseball announcer I've ever witnessed. He is criticized for being "critical" of the players, when in fact Harry will bend over backwards to avoid saying something negative about a player or a manager. But Harry also knows that he does the fans no service when he closes his eyes and pretends not to see things. A player misses the cut-off man, Harry says that he missed the cut-off man, the player complains to the press, and some sweetlicking journalist, trying to ingratiate himself to a potential source, rips Harry for being critical of the player.

Harry is involved in another controversy now over the firing of Milo Hamilton, onetime heir apparent to Jack Brickhouse. Hamilton as a broadcaster is a model of professionalism, fluency, and deportment; he is, in short, as interesting as the weather channel, to which I would frequently dial while he was on. Milo's skills would serve him well as a lawyer, an executive, or a broker. He broadcasts baseball games in a tone that would be more appropriate for a man reviewing a loan application. He projects no sense at all that he is enjoying the game or that we ought to be, and I frankly find it difficult to believe that the writers who ripped the Cubs for firing Hamilton actually watch the broadcasts. Is Harry to be faulted because the fans love him and find Hamilton a dry substitute?

People confuse "objectivity" with "neutralism." If you look up "neutral" in the dictionary it says "of no particular kind, color, characteristics, etc.; indefinite. Gray; without hue; of zero chromel; achromatic. Neuter." That pretty well describes Milo Hamilton. To Harry Caray, the greatest sports broadcaster who ever lived. This Bud's for you.

Dad, you'll be pleased to know that Bill James lost me somewhere around "Vince Scully." Surprised he didn't also refer to "Melvin Allen." Also, it seems Milo Hamilton must have run over his dog or something.

Another quibble is that broadcasters don't go into the Hall of Fame per se, they just win the Ford Frick Award. Harry Caray won in 1989, and despite Bill James's best efforts, Milo Hamilton won in 1992.

Labels: bill james, Cardinals, cubs, harry caray, jack brickhouse, mel allen, milo hamilton, radio, vin scully

Wonder how your favorite team keeps motivated over the long season?

Now you know.

PS If I'm very, very lucky, I'll get to see the Cardinals clinch their fifth division title in six years at Wrigley Field Thursday night.

Labels: art, Cardinals

Some days, you look out your office window and wish you'd taken the day off to go see the Cardinals and Cubs at Wrigley Field, like you used to always do back when tickets were more readily available after the first day of tickets sales and such outings didn't, therefore, have to be so rigorously planned.

Other days, you don't.

Labels: Cardinals, cubs

Acting as if I'm a real columnist having a lazy day, I present a "News and Notes" column!

1) Headline in the Sun-Times following the Palmeiro news: Caught 'roid-handed. Another good headline this week, despite not being baseball-related, was the Trib's headline announcing the appointment of a federal monitor to watch the city's hiring practices: City gets a Hall monitor. I imagine the headline writers are all staying up late these days practicing their headlines in the hopes of Daley being indicted. Me, I'm just practicing my gleeful chortle. Maybe I'll get to warm it up chortling over Rove.

2) Palmeiro and Sandberg are linked yet again, this time in Sandberg's Fire Sermon in Cooperstown on Sunday being followed so closely by Palmeiro essentially giving back his "Redeem in five years" ticket to the Hall. Those of you up on Cubs gossip will know how they were linked before, but if you need a refresher, contact me in some way that enables me to tell you the story while not being sued for libel.

3) Albert Pujols has stolen 11 bases this season without being caught. Next up for Prince Albert: some work in the offseason on his change-up so he can pick up some innings out of the bullpen.

4) Speaking of running, poor Lenny Harris, in legging out a three-run double against the Cardinals the other night in Florida, catapulted himself to the top of my list of worst baserunners in the game. He's been a slow runner for years, plagued by leg and weight problems, but these days, his build is Kruk-like and he runs as if he's on two peglegs. If this were a backyard whiffleball game, everyone would agree on special slowness rules for his ghost runner.

5) TV Guide is changing its format to not have nearly so many listings. How will I ever know when Scooter's going to grace my television? I guess I'll have to go to Jeanniezelasko.com to find out. I wonder if Jim has any thought about the changes to TV Guide?

6) In a discussion at work the other day about how to encourage bloggers who have written about our products, the idea of just contacting them with a thank-you came up. Or maybe we should send them minor-league baseball tickets?

7) After the Sox/Tigers game I attended recently at Comiskey, I was walking out next to a girl who said to a friend, "There's my bus, gotta go." She looked up to the ballpark, blew a kiss, and said, "Love ya, Comiskey."

8) After today, there's a third of the season left, and Ken Griffey Jr. has still not visited the DL.

9) For a while a few weeks back, an image search for Johnny Damon brought up a certain pumpkin as the fourth response. It's fallen back to ninth lately. Get to work, readers!

10) The Post-Dispatch reports today that the Cardinals are, after all, leaving KMOX and buying 550 AM KTRS. I think it's a big mistake, as do many other Cards fans, and I'm sad to hear about it. KMOX was the Cardinals for me for my childhood. But this is really a topic that deserves its own post soon.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Cardinals, johnny damon, ken griffey jr., lenny harris, radio, rafael palmeiro, ryne sandberg, steroids, tv guide

Don't ask me why I specifically remember this: on July 3, 2003, Levi and I were at Wrigley Field for a Cubs-Cardinals game when somehow the talk among Levi and his season ticket buddies turned to Viagra spokesman Rafael Palmeiro, and specifically, various baseball terms that had now turned into double entendres where he was concerned. I piped up with "He really got some good wood on that one," which was enjoyed by all. Actually, I probably remember it because it's one of those rare times I managed a bon mot at exactly the right moment, rather than 90 seconds later and after the conversation had gone in a completely different direction.

Anyway, slightly over two years later, on July 27, 2005, Bob Costas appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and used basically the same line.

I've got my eye on you, Costas!

Labels: bob costas, Cardinals, cubs, rafael palmeiro, viagra

In last night's Cards/Giants game, the last game before the dreaded All-Star Break, the 2nd-base mike caught a great bit of conversation among Lance (Son of Joe) Niekro, umpire Tom Hallion, and Mark Grudzielanek.

Niekro attempted a steal of second, and as Grudzielanek applied the tag, the pair got all tangled up, with legs and arms jumbled everywhere and Niekro's head getting intimately acquainted with Grudzie's crotch. They took several seconds to unravel (It reminded me of the way NFL refs pull guys one by one off a pile.), then Niekro said to the ump, "Was I out?"

"Yeah," Hallion replied.

"Shit," said Niekro.

"After all that," said Grudzielanek.

Labels: Cardinals, giants, lance niekro, mark grudzielanek, tv

Levi's wife Stacey called this to my attention via nacho.org: on July 16th, the first two innings of a minor-league game between the Schaumburg Flyers and Kansas City T-Bones will be played on an X-Box and projected on the stadium's video board. (Sorry, I think you may have to register to read that article on the Kansas City Star's site. But I've pretty much given you the gist of it.)

Incidentally, I know from the logs that Levi hasn't been visiting baseballrelated.com very often, and he obviously hasn't been posting as much as he did last year -- it could be he's busy at work, it could be there's not much to excite him because we're not doing a trip this year, or it could be that he doesn't have much to say about his beloved Cardinals because they've been winning all the time and will probably win the NL Central in a walk because every other team in the division is hapless, and therefore the Cardinals are downright boring. Or maybe it's because the comments are still broken -- sorry, but I'm waiting to deal with it until I get DSL installed at my not-quite-so-new apartment, which I can't do until SBC's computer system decides I have an account history.

Original comments...

Levi: It's primarily because I've been busier at work.

And the missing comments do take a lot of the fun out of it.

But I'm trying to make a point to visit more often and post reliably, because I miss it.

Labels: admin, Cardinals, kansas city t-bones, schaumburg flyers, stacey shintani, video games

I didn't realize it, but apparently, yesterday was Throwback Uniform Day throughout the major leagues. I was tipped off by my father, who I called for Father's Day today; he had gone to see the Devil Rays play the Cardinals Saturday night, and reported that the Cardinals were wearing their 1982 powder blue road uniforms -- from back when we as a nation decided gray didn't look good enough on TV -- and the Devil Rays were wearing early 1960s uniforms from the University of Tampa, i.e., Lou Piniella's old college baseball uniform. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could find showing the front of the Rays' uniforms.

Labels: Cardinals, devil rays

Levi saw the Cardinals win in New York today. Hope he didn't get spit on by any Mets fans, although if they hit his grungy old Cardinals cap, who could tell? Ha ha!

Still 4 hours and 55 minutes until the start of tonight's Dodgers game, for which I will be in attendance.

Normal train service has resumed between New York and Newark.

Labels: Cardinals, Mets, trains

As far as I know, Levi is in New York right now. He tells me he's going to the Mets-Cardinals game on Saturday (and I'm going to the Dodgers-Braves game here in L.A. on Saturday).

Now, he's with his wife and some friends from the U.K. Their plans were to rent a car and drive from Chicago to New York (and then back) so the British folks could see the country, or at least what one can see from the Interstate between Chicago and New York. Since even Levi knows a car can be a liability in New York, I first suggested two one-way rentals, but those were ridiculously expensive. So my other suggestion was that Levi park the car in New Jersey near public transportation, and the only good place I could come up with where he could definitely park it overnight and it would be reasonably secure was the long-term parking lot at Newark International Airport.

I gave Levi careful directions for how to get from the airport to the apartment the group is renting near Columbus Circle, via NJ Transit commuter train and subway. They were supposed to arrive this afternoon sometime.

This evening, this happened, on the very train tracks Levi would have been traveling over between Newark and New York. Perhaps Levi has started smoking, and threw his cigarette out the window when he saw the conductor coming. At any rate, I certainly hope Levi was safely in New York by that point, since my careful directions did not account for the possibility of trains not running due to a fire!

Levi, on the off chance you're reading this: if those tracks aren't open yet by the time you're leaving NYC, I think the best alternate way to get back to Newark Airport would be to take the downtown C train to World Trade Center, then take the PATH subway (separate fare) to Newark Penn Station, and then take the next NJ Transit train to Newark Airport.

Original comments...

Levi: The fire occurred about an hour after we crossed, right around the time I was praising Jim for giving us flawless directions that were easy to follow, and about four minutes before the crazy woman from whom we rented an apartment started hollering about how she wasn't told there would be four people staying there.

Big Ben: For future reference, the terminus of the Gladstone Branch of the NJT Morris & Essex lines (Gladstone Station) has free parking. I've parked there for as many as five days with no trouble. It's not necessarily secured, but it's in a quiet New Jersey 'burb that feels pretty safe. The Summit station on the same line has paid ($5/day) parking that is probably a little more secure.

levi's help-mate: hey there jim,

levi probably already told you, but we passed over that bridge two hours before the fire. and he probably also told you that on the way home we stopped in philly to catch the cardinals again!

- stacey

Labels: Cardinals, Mets, trains

Last night's Cubs game, an 11-9 loss to the Reds, is most clearly summed up with the following:

The Cubs, in the course of getting 15 hits, one walk, and two extra baserunners on errors, allowed the Reds' staff to get by with only 118 pitches.

The Reds, meanwhile, forced the Cubs staff--seven pitchers in the game, including four different lefties from the bullpen--to throw 202 pitches.

Adam Dunn--a BRPA 2004 favorite--managed to eat up 33 pitches all by his lonesome, going 2-4 with two walks and a home run.

The Cubs have, in the 13 years since I moved here and became a fan, never even come close to addressing their most consistent problem: their impatience. Only Grace--and New Sammy for a few years--understood the value of getting into a hitter's count.

Now, to be fair: when Eric Milton is pitching against you, the best method really might be to close your eyes and swing at whatever, since he gives up an astonishing number of homers (four last night). But when hacking is your approach for every plate appearance by every hitter, you should probably have a talk with your hitting coach and your general manager.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, the Cardinals drew eight walks and won 5-3 over Milwaukee, running their record to an NL-best 13-5.

Original comments...

thatbob: And I thought Milwaukee was unbeatable!

Labels: adam dunn, brewers, Cardinals, cubs, eric milton, reds

See, I'm not the only one to make the "cardinals"/"Cardinals" joke. Today's "Over the Hedge"...



Yes, it does say "chose" instead of "choose" in the second panel. What do newspaper syndicate editors do all day?

Labels: art, Cardinals

Hey, Levi, are you enjoying the fact that, so far this baseball season, there's been so much talk about Cardinals? Why, they've been getting a ton of coverage on cable news channels, not just ESPN!

Original comments...

Becky: I can't wait to see which one is going to the Pope. And will they let him do it from STL, or will the whole team have to relocate to the Vatican?

Pujols for Pope!

levi's help-mate: silly becky, the new pope will undoubtedly be from the more enlightened world of japan. check out what they are doing with cell phones!

http://www.mobile-weblog.com/archives/live_baseball_for_mobile_phones.html

Becky: I would like it if they showed your strat-o-matic games on your little phone cartoon

Jason: Cardinal Fang! Get.....THE COMFY CHAIR!!!!!!

Cardinal Fang: Yes sir.

Labels: Cardinals

Someone on Baseballprimer found a bunch of Korean baseball cartoons. As Dan Rivkin would say, they're awesome!

If you've got a lot of time to kill at work, you can read the comments to the post at Baseballprimer for some translations. And the guys at The Birdwatch have picked out some related to the Cardinals.

Original comments...

Dan: Wow, those ARE awesome!

Levi: In Korean, "Those are awesome" translates to: "그들은 최고 이다!"

At least according to a robot.

Dan: I think my favorite is the one with the nude Tony Batista, but I also really like the one with Bernie Williams and his guitar and the Yankees watching porn.

Labels: art, Cardinals, Dan Rivkin, korea

Hanger-on Jay passes along this note about the August 22, 2004 Cardinals-Pirates game: "At the game you attended in St. Louis, reliever Steve Kline got on base on a sacrifice and a fielder's choice and then scored on either a triple or a grand slam from Larry Walker. Well, it turns out you have personally witnessed every run that Kline ever scored."

Original comments...

Levi: I do love Steve Kline. I've been imagining him playing with his kids in the snow while wearing his new Orioles cap. Hunting deer while wearing his new Orioles cap. Changing the oil on Tony Womack's purple Lamborghini while wearing his new Orioles cap.

He'll be ready for Spring Training.

Luke, hanger-on: I'm not big on recounting dreams, but ...

Last night I dreamt I saw Stacey at a Critical Mass. I asked where Levi was -- and he was on a baseball-related trip to Florida.

Unfortunately that's all I remember.

Luke, hanger-on: I'm so sorry: Another dream. Apropos of nothing but baseball.

In this dream I'm organizing a trip to t