Rounding Third : CBSSports.com Blogs

An Addled Mind

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:12:03 EST

The addled minds are those of some of the members of the BBWAA who will be deciding who will or will not be inducted into Cooperstown this summer. It is only a few more days before the outcome of the voting is shared with the public and this has to be the most controversial new group of candidates ever. But this not about whom they will or will not vote for nor is it about my opinion about who is or is not qualified, it is about the reason that they give for why.

I cannot give you every voter’s name, but where I have it I will. My first are two voters who offer the same rational yet very opposite ballots. They both object to being put in a position of being judge, jury, and executioner of the candidates. It is understood that the candidates in question are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa as well as Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, and Jeff Bagwell. All of these former players have been suspected of using PEDs. The level of suspicion is less developed with the latter three. One of our voters is not going to vote at all while the other will vote for Clemens and Bonds.

Crack of the Bat

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:34:31 EST

Your team’s best hitter is at the plate with the winning run dancing off second, you hear the crack of the bat and see the ball laced to the left of second base and a potentially lethal shard of maple helicoptering toward the seats behind the visitors dugout. The introduction of maple as a bat composition is credited to Joe Carter in 1991. Some 50 years earlier ash had replaced hickory as the wood that bats were made from. Maple wasn’t illegal, but when the obvious danger was recognized it should have been universally banned by MLB and the MLPAA, but it wasn’t.

The players and fans had seen the potential for injury or worse. Pirates coach Dale Long hit in the head with the barrel of a broken bat. Tommy Lasorda knocked to the ground. Then Cubs player Tyler Colvin, whose arm was speared by a 15-inch shard of maple while trying to score from 3rd base and Dodgers fan Susan Rhodes, struck in the face at Dodger Stadium. Players spoke out but little was done.

Class, My Ass

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:56:43 EST

Actually it should read Classic, my ass. I felt that my application of artistic license was a better title. This blog is about the World Baseball Classic, which is rapidly approaching, and my perspective as a fan and a fan of the Mets. Don’t stop reading if you are a fan of another team and just happened to stumble across this piece. It applies to you and I will enlist your input at the end.

2009 was the last WBC, which someday in the future it may be referred to as WBC II, if Commissioner Allan Huber Selig’s plan comes together. Selig speaking at this years Owner’s meeting was quoted as saying “ This is important. This is going to be the biggest World Baseball Classic we’ve had. If we do our work properly, you won’t recognize this sport in five years.”

Show me the Money

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:03:51 EST

Yesterday the ballet for the Hall of Fame was released and three names have already created controversy; Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa. All are highly suspected of PED use, but none were proven to have used.

Yesterday Boston Globe writer Pete Abraham announced that he is changing his mind regarding Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa and now will vote for them. Abrahams on MLBN Hot Stove explained that he doesn’t know how to figure out if they used or not and it’s unfair of the Hall of Fame to put him in the position of judge, jury, and executer. Both Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci both responded alike. Judge, jury and executioner is what being a voter is. For Abraham’s sake I will apply the sniff test.

Sammy Sosa

The Day that Baseball Died

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:34:30 EDT

Sitting behind the big desk at MLB headquarters in NYC is the ninth commissioner, Allan Huber Selig. The position of commissioner dates back to 1920 when baseball ownership decided it needed an independent party to handle the threat of gambling and the Black Sox scandal of 1919. The first Commissioner was a former Federal Judge, Kenesaw Mountain Landis who only accepted the position if he was given the absolute authority to act in the best interests of baseball and without means of appeal. Ownership accepted the conditions and established the parameters of the Office of the Commissioner. Landis served 25 years and was replaced by a formerUSSenator. Others to fill the position included a retired Air Force General and the President of Yale University. Each of these men while not perfect served until death or until they choose to step down. That is until Fay Vincent who was ousted by ownership in 1992 by a group that included Selig.

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 9:13:19 EDT

Several days ago thomasam arguably the most respected member of the Mets board shared that at age 30 he shed tears when longtime voice of the Mets Bob Murphy passed away. My understanding of that was it was as much the loss of a familiar and constant link to the Mets and his boyhood as it was Bob Murphy himself. This past long slow winter without baseball I came to the understanding that as much as anything I wanted Gary, Keith, Ron and Kevin back in my life.

As the players raced to the mound to encompass Johan last night my eyes welled up and I shed tears as well. It was for me from that first game in April of 1962 against this very same franchise, the Cardinals until last night to see a Mets pitcher throw the first no hitter. I was happy for Johan Santana, and to see the joy on the field and in the stands. The monkey on the back of Mets fans everywhere was finally gone. It wasn’t until hours later that I realized what the truths were for me. The tears may have been a creation of the relief of tension as well as joy. My feelings of Johan and the no-hitter hadn’t changed, what did was there never was the burden of a monkey on my back.

Wall to Wall

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:00:16 EDT

Allen Huber Selig “loves” interleague play. Selig whose title on “Rounding Third” is Angel of Death works at MLB headquarters on Park Ave. in Manhattan; he occupies the office once held by Faye Vincent who was the last independent Commissioner of Baseball. Selig and his minions arranged the removal of Vincent in 1992.

For those not familiar with mid-town Manhattan, Park Ave. is one block removed from Central Park East, RadioCityMusic Hall, the Empire State Bldg. and the Guggenheim Museum. It is among the most expensive real estate on the planet and it takes serious money to put that address on your business card. Money is what “Toxic” Selig is all about. Selig likes being called “Bud”, pencil-necked geeks love nicknames, it makes them feel like one of the guys. Hope he likes his new one.

Say it ain't So

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:45:56 EDT

In the sixteenth century the explorer Ponce de Leon sailed to the new world in search of the Fountain of Youth. He landed in what is now called Florida.

I am not a Yankees fan, I am not a Derek Jeter fan, but as a baseball fan I could separate Derek Jeter the man and Yankee ballplayer from the ability of the player. I didn’t have to admire the ability but I could and did acknowledge it.

Could we as fans be so naive to look at Jeter’s offensive play today and say “no, he never would use PEDs”? If you don’t think so, where you in early Sept. 1998 when Mark McGuire hit the then record breaking 62nd home run. Sammy Sosa, who was engaged in a home run battle with McGuire, was there in Right Field. Sosa congratulated him, as did the family of Roger Maris. McGuire’s son was there as well. Those of us watching were thrilled by the spectacle of a baseball hero who took less money to stay with the Cardinals set a new record. Yea, we were that naive.

Stop the Insanity

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 9:06:58 EDT

At some point in the future baseballs historians will ponder discuss and disagree upon when the 2012 baseball season began. Some will point to March 28 in a foreign country seven time zones removed from the continental United States. Opponents will disagree and offer as evidence that the game was aired live only by the Mariners network at 3:00 AM PCT and not shown at all by the A’s Comcast Sportsnet.

Further discussion will hover about whether MLB should be entertaining baseball fans in a foreign country at the expense of the fans of the country that gave birth, nurtured like a National Treasure and supported the game for over a hundred years. The answer is absolutely not, especially since the owner of the Mariners for over twenty years, Hiroshi Yamauchi founder of Nintendo, had never seen his own team play. Not even in 2001 when the team won 116 games. Make no mistake about it this was not an effort to globalize baseball, not in a country that has played professional organized ball since 1934, a sum of seventy-seven years. The fans of this country were sold out for money in the form of merchandise sales The effort to squeeze every dollar or yen by Allan Huber Selig knows no limits. Besides don’t we have a globalization abortion of a program known as the World Baseball Classic, wink, wink?

2012, Gateway to the Future

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:56:34 EDT

Vision a beautiful stadium, sun shining, Division Pennants and World Championship banners rippling in the air. On either side of the field is a door located between the infield and the outfield wall. The LF door leads to the Mets locker room of the past three years, the RF door opens to the Mets farm system. At the entrance of each door is a threshold, it is the threshold to the playing field of the future and of those who will sweat, ache, bleed and excel in this arena.

We enter the LF door leading to the Mets locker room; it is a gloomy place with the shadows of the past three years hanging in the air. Yet the some of the future of the team that will compete, succeed and revel on that field in the sun are here.

All players fall into one of three categories; potentials, unclassified, and space keepers. We will not be spending time with the space keepers who are short time getting the team to the threshold but are not part of the future.

Sleazy Agent Men

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:04:34 EST

This is a look at three high profile agents and three high profile players.

Agent one and player one are Peter Greenberg, and Jose Reyes.

This past off season Jose Reyes signed a 6 year 106 M dollar contract with the Miami Marlins. The contract did not contain a no trade clause. Why do I mention that aspect? The Marlins do not have a solid fan base in the best of seasons and despite winning the World Series in 1997 and in 2003 have drawn 3 M fans only once. That was in the Marlins first season 1993, in 1997 when they won the first Championship attendance was 2.4 M. By the time the Marlins won their second Championship the fan base was jaded. Owner Wayne Huizenga broke up the 1997 team and with it the fan base. By the time newest owner Jeff Loria won the second World Series, the attendance in that year was an embarrassing 1.3 M with a payroll of $45 M. Once again the Marlins sold off the team and by 2006 the opening day payroll was $15 M. In the last 14 seasons the Marlins payroll has been in the bottom 20% of the League in every year but one. Loria has been exceptionally fortunate; Allan Huber Selig gave him the opportunity to purchase the Marlins for 158 M including a 38 M no interest loan from MLB by taking the Montreal Expos off his hands. He stepped into a situation where the Marlins won the World Series the following year. After he sold off the assets of that team he fielded a team with a payroll of less than MLB was giving him in revenue sharing for a number of years. He was also the beneficiary of a 500 M taxpayer bond to pay for a new stadium. That stadium is going to open this year and is the reason why Loria signed Heath Bell to 3 years 27 M, Reyes and Mark Buehrle to a 4 year 58 M $ contract which is only 17 M owed in the first two years. The Reyes contract of 106 M only pays Reyes 20 M over the first two years leaving an eight-six million dollar balance in the remaining 4 years. Jeff Loria has been a snake in the past and the handwriting on the wall is that he has his exit strategy already laid out. New stadium gratis of the taxpayers, big name signings with back loaded contracts equals maximum revenue while the payroll is low and before the stadium allure is over. The Expos won’t be the only team he dumps on MLB. Peter Greenberg cannot be that dumb to not see what the future holds, but he can be that greedy to put his percentage of 106 M over the next highest bid of 80 M in front of the well being of his client. Why not? It will be Reyes’ last big contract and if Reyes ends up in Kansas City, so be it.

The NFL and Alphabet City Crap on NY

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:43:02 EST

The Giants and Cowboys game which was a 1 PM scheduled game has been hijacked by NBC and will now air at 8:20 PM and will likely conclude in the early hours of Monday January 2. The rational is that Monday is a Federal holiday and schools are closed. It seems to me that in order for all those Federal employees sleeping in and those teachers that didn't set the alarm clock there must be someone picking up the tab for all that unproductive time. There is, it is the tax payers who will get out of bed on January 2nd, it is the tax payers who would have watched the game in its entirety but now will make a call in the third quarter whether to stay with it or go to bed. Prime time sports (ESPN, CBS, NFL, FOX and NBC) serve the networks, the NFL and it's owners, the players and their agents who can call for more money. It doesn't serve the fan that picks up the tab and labors the next day on too little sleep. 78,000 Giants fans who hold tickets to a playoff game have just had their plans and possibly their ability to go to the game altered inorder for the NFL and the network brass to line their pockets.

Trapped!

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 9:39:24 EST

A quality that championship teams have is maturity, maturity not measured in years but in wisdom. The Giants lack of maturity has caused them to fail in two trap games this season and they face another against the Redskins. Some would call the first Redskin game a trap game but it doesn’t meet my definition of a trap game. I view a trap game as a game that is not given full attention because of their record, your team’s recent accomplishments and the perceived importance of an upcoming game and finally what happened to both teams in subsequent weeks. The Washingtong ame was the first of the season and the Giants were not viewed as a serious team due to preseason injuries and players lost to free agency. Plus they had two games each with “America’s Team” and the “Dream Team” in addition to games against the 49ers, Patriots, Saints, Packers, and Jets. Third in the division and a record of 8-8 was an often repeated forecast. Game one of the season was not a trap game.

Survivor's Guide

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:03:28 EDT

The World Series begins tonight in St Louis where the weather will be 47 degrees at game time with winds at 16 out of the NW. There is also a 40% chance of rain. You would have to go all the way back to 1984 to find the last World Series game played outdoors in the sun. They were games 4 & 5 (Sat. & Sun.) at Tigers Stadium.

I have prepared a check list for those of you who may have tickets and plan on going to the game.

2 World Series tickets, check. Bernard will love going to his first game.

Heavy Down Parka, check.

Osi, Shut Up and Play

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:52:49 EDT

Football isn't my prime passion, but I am a long time Giants fan and have followed them from Yankees Stadium and Charlie Conerly, Rosey Grier and Sam Huff until today. This posting is apart from baseball which goes back further than the football Giants and is my first love (God, Country and Family aside).

I am tired of Osi Umenyiora and his whining. In 2005 he signed a 5 year 41 M extention which runs through the 2012 season. He signed this contract midway through the 4 year deal that paid him 2.5 M. The 15 M guaranteed was the highest amount ever offered to a player with only three years of service time. Through the first three years Umenyiora was paid 21 M of the front loaded contract despite missing the entire 2008 season. This year Umenyiora is earning 3.1 M and may take the field for the first time this season, but not without adding his own brand of distraction. Osi Umenyiora is “constantly disrespected” as the Giants prepare to play the Cardinals.

A Change for the Worst

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:43:11 EDT

In a booth discussion with Gary Cohan and Ron Darling, Sandy Alderson was open and frank about Mets team thoughts going into the 2012 season. One of these disclosures was that the team was seriously considering a major change to the dimensions of Citifield.

This strikes me as a reactive approach to a problem than can be resolved and create a home field advantage for the team for years to come.

This week the movie Moneyball opened, Alderson who while not depicted in the movie was a factor in the whole Billy Beane/Athletics story. Essentially it is about have an edge on the competition, in the Athletics’ case it is information and in the Mets case it could be an 81 game playing field that is not level by any means.

It has been three years since Citifield and its hitter unfriendly dimensions opened. In the first year David Wright’s Hrs dropped from the 30 average he had hit in his Mets career to 10. Year two, we invest 66 M in a left fielder who averaged over 30 Hrs over the 5 previous years before joining the Mets and has hit 18 in the two years since. In the three years that Wright has played at Citifield he has struck out 392 times in 397 games, his last three years at Shea 346 Ks in 474 games.

Absolutely Clueless

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:43:50 EDT

No one should have been surprised that the worst Commissioner in the history of baseball made another bad decision yesterday on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country. The two cities that bore the brunt of those attacks New York and Washington DC were told by MLB not to wear the caps of the first responders for the Mets or the Navy Seals for the Nationals. Joe Torre, formerly the Yankees manager in 2001 was the messenger, but there can be no doubt that the author of that edict was Allan Huber Selig.

What profit would baseball garner by having the nation watch a game with the players wearing the unauthorized caps of the NYPD, the FDNY, the Port Authority of NY ? None. This on Selig’s watch is unacceptable.

The NY Mets and Tomorrow

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:45:13 EDT

I thought that this might be entertaining. Some players need no further comment as to their placement, with others I offer my opinion. All the players that have made the big club this season and their status, as I see it, for 2012.

KEEPERS

Johan Santana, Not going anywhere with his contract and unknown status.

Jason Bay, Contract and he hasn’t played up to it.

Victory

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:46:36 EDT

There is a settlement and the NFL is in business again. Most baseball fans will now devote a growing proportion of attention on their football teams as the start of the NFL season begins and the baseball season draws to close. Every columnist I read Bob Glauber (Newsday), Mike Lupica and Gary Myers (Daily News) were all complimentary on the fairness of the CBA and the part that Jeff Saturday played in the negotiations. It amounts to 10 more years without having to revisit lockouts, decertification and a work stoppage. If only the MLB had a Players Association and a Commissioner who did not more resemble the Allied Forces and the Axis Forces facing each other on a battlefield than the NFL joint leadership.

MLB and the Players association have had eight labor stoppages since 1972 with a significant loss of games (712) in 1981 that resulted in two half seasons. The 1994 work stoppage was far more costly when baseball shut down and the rest of the season and post season were lost. The contention was over the subjects of a salary cap and revenue sharing, but the adversarial relationship had been brewing for years.

Here's a Thought

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:47:26 EDT

I understand that this entry will raise the BP of fans in a number of cities. But it shouldn’t be too many since these fans are pretty much alone without a large fan base to share the victories and loses of their teams. This thought came to me as I watched the FOX Game of the Week featuring the Phillies and the Padres. Despite a game effort bySan Diegothey were a team overmatched and predictably lost.

Divide the major leagues into three pieces, National, American and Freedom. The National and American leagues would conduct business as usual and playing for the Commissioners Trophy after some restructuring into two five team divisions (East & West). If necessary they could even continue the distracting practice of interleague play. The Freedom League, free from competing against 100 & 200 Million payrolls would also divide into two 5 team divisions and would conduct its own postseason. All leagues would send its top two finishers onto the post season. The Freedom League would participate in all major league activities; free agency, the draft, trading deadline, and revenue sharing.

Mama don't let your Babies

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:48:15 EDT

grow up to Allan Huber Selig, Commissioner of Baseball. aka, former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, owners lackey, leader of the Great Lakes Gang which ousted Fay Vincent. Selig, could also be found cowering beneath his desk if the Players Association’s Gene Orza or Donald Fehr showed up to see him.

This is the week that the Major Leagues pause to conduct the Midsummer Classic, the All-Star Game. First played as part of the 1933 Chicago Expo, the game provided a tableau for the best players of the American and National leagues to face each other and also given national coverage it gave baseball fans in remote areas and in cities with only one team to listen to the broadcast of the game and to hear the exploits of players they had only heard about. In 1933 and until the early 1950s eleven of the sixteen major league teams were located in just five cities. New York had three, Boston; the Red Sox and Braves, the Athletics were in Philadelphia, the Browns in St. Louis and Chicago had two. Each of these cities had players of both leagues ready available to see play. Cincinnati, D.C., Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh had one team. Prior to the mid 50’s less than 50% of families owned automobiles, so travel to see a game was somewhat restricted. The spread of television ownership in the early 50’s gave the All-Star game a boost and increased fan interest. That interest continued through the 70’s. During the 1980’s we started to see a change in the player’s commitment to the game. Players began passing on attending, others limited themselves to three innings before that became more the norm, and some who had played three left before the game was over, with this player attitude, fan interest also waned. The Home Run Derby was created to regenerate interest and to produce revenue for the media as well as baseball. Perhaps the fans in the park get a kick out of it, but it is three labored hours of batting practice and Chris Berman. It may be the singular reason that remotes have ‘off buttons’. Another blow to the game was struck in 2002 when the team mismanagers ran out of players in the eleventh inning and the commissioner (Selig) called the game a tie.

Is the Fan Base Forgotten?

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:49:10 EDT

2011 marks the fiftieth year of Mets baseball starting with the 1961 expansion draft led to the first pick of Hobie Landrith, which then sparked manager Casey Stengels’ response to the press’s question as to why the team had chosen Landrith first “without a catcher there would be a lot of passed balls”. I am convinced that if the Mets had selected Elio Chacon first instead of second, Casey would have said ‘without a second baseman there would be a lot of ball hit up the middle into centerfield’. I was no longer the baseball version of Phillip Nolan; I was now a fan with a team. Fifty years represents over 8000 games played, probably well over 2000 players who dressed in a Mets locker room, 20 managers, 4 World Series appearances, and 3 home stadiums.

Getting it all Wrong

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:51:12 EDT

Not able to fix the problems that plague baseball such as lack of a salary cap, suspected use of HGH, the slippage of baseball’s standing amongst other sports, the DH, and the over exposure of inter-league that has limited the more critical intra-league component, Allan Huber Selig has taken it upon himself to create a new twist that should never see the light of day.

Under pressure from the owners of teams in the NL Central Major League Baseball is looking at a two league 15 team format which would advance three teams each into the playoffs and have the fourth and fifth place teams play a post season series for the wildcard.

The NL Central is the only 6 team division in baseball, hence making the competition for the playoffs more difficult. This can be traced back to 1998, when baseball’s AL and NL were both 14 team 3 division leagues. 1998 is when baseball expanded once again adding the Devil Rays to the AL and the Diamondbacks to the NL, realizing that 15 team leagues wouldn’t work Selig had his former franchise the Brewers moved from the AL to the NL creating a six team division. Now in the chase for the last dollar MLB wants a fifth playoff team from both the AL and NL, hence formats that will give us inter-league play from day one until day last. There are two other configurations possible assuming that Selig wants to pursue fixing that which wasn’t that badly broken. Contract two teams and return to the 1997 balance of that day and as long as we traveled back to 1997 delete inter-league all together or limit it to one 4 game series per year between geographical or historical rivalries. I confess that I don’t know whether the concept of contraction falls under the CBA or not, if it does the Players Assoc. will never agree to the loss of jobs. For the sake of this discussion, it does not. My parameters for contraction would be attendance and I would grandfather all teams that made up the Major Leagues prior to the 1961 expansion which added the Angels and the Senators which replaced the team that became the Twins and later moved from Washington to Texas and became the Rangers. Safe among low attendance teams (2008-date) would be the Athletics, Indians, Orioles, and Pirates. The first contraction team should be the Marlins who have never received fan support and have finished last in attendance in two of the last three years and are currently last as we speak. The problem, the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County are on the hook for 500 M on the 634 M dollar stadium. Jeff Loria, team owner, and David Samson (son-in-law) team president have threatened to move the team repeatedly and have claimed poverty despite a 38 M operating profit in 2008. Miami Mayor Carlos Alverez who engineered the stadium deal was later voted out of office 88%-12%. The next expansion team that consistently appeared on the list low attendance is the Kansas City Royals, followed by the Blue Jays. Should the Marlins get a pass and avoid contraction? I would vote no, but with Selig’s finger prints all over the purchase of the Marlins by Loria they would be safe. When 2002 dawned, John Henry owned the Marlins having bought the team from Wayne Huizenga. The Boston Red Sox were on the market and Jeff Loria was unhappy in Montreal. Selig brokered a deal in which MLB bought the Expos for 120 M, Loria bought the Marlins for 160 M and John Henry bought the Red Sox from the Tom Yawkey Estate. The Expos ultimately moved to Washington and were bought from MLB in 2006 by Ted Lerner.

A Common Denominator

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:00:41 EDT

What do David Wright, JasonBay, Ryan Church and Justin Morneau all have in common? All suffered concussions in recent years and all have experienced a drop in performance.

Church was the first of the four when he slide into the knee of the second baseman on May 20th 2008, he PH in a game two days later and then flew with the team to face the Rockies. At that time he was hitting .315 (.383 OBP) with 9 HRs and 32 RBIs in 162 ABs. He had also struck out 39 times. Church went on the DL June 5th, was activated on June 29th, returned to the DL July 6th, and returned on Aug. 22nd. Through the end of the 2008 season he hit .219 (.305 OBP) with 2 HRs and 13 RBIs. The 114 ABs resulted in 33 strikeouts. Thru 2009-2010 Church never regained his HR ability and the K/AB remained higher than pre-concussion.

A Giant has left us

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:01:53 EDT

If you are reading this blog and are not from the NY metro area you may not know the name Bill Gallo. He was the iconic sports cartoonist from the NY Daily News for over 50 years, he passed away on 5/10/11. Outside of an interruption in his newspaper career called WWII when he was a Marine who saw combat action in some of the bloodiest battles of WWII including Iwo Jima, his career spanned 70 years.

My love affair with Bill Gallo began more than 50 years ago when I was twelve. I got a job at a ‘candy store’ in Hempstead, NY, my job was to insert all the sections of the Sunday papers to make the final package. Some sections arrived on Thursday, others on Saturday and the main and sports sections on Sunday morning….early Sunday morning. In those days Hempstead was the primary shopping center for a large portion of Nassau Cnty. And there were only two stores that carried the papers. What that meant was a lot of newspapers to insert, and a lot of choices The New York Times, the NY Daily News, The World-Telegraph & Sun, The NY Post, NY Mirror, the Herald Tribune, and The Journal American. When my week was finished, a cumulative 10-12 hrs, I was paid my 5 dollars (minus 15 cents SS) picked up the Journal American for my father and a Daily News for myself and walked back home.

73* - 762*

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:13:43 EDT

Fifty years after Roger Maris hit 61 homeruns and received from Commissioner Ford Frick the mythical asterisk. The current holder of the single season home run record, Barry Bonds received from a jury of his peers a verdict of guilty on a charge of Obstruction of Justice, a verdict that carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. Last weekend I heard a voice on sports radio discuss the dumbest individual to ever step into a locker room, this sportscaster said that even with Manny Ramirez being caught a second time for PED use (not counting the 2002 Mitchell testing) he will vote for him for the Hall of Fame. He went on to say that would include Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens based on their credentials before they started using PEDs’. The question is, and I don’t know, “when did they start cheating”? I don’t wish to stigmatize any group, but my analogy is if a priest has had an exemplary career and is now considered for a position as a bishop. Should the knowledge of a recent pedophile incident void all the previous years of dedicated duty? Roger Maris is not in the Hall of Fame because his career was not worthy. Bonds doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame because he cheated Hank Aaron, Maris and every other player who played the game without steroids or HGH.

Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:14:20 EDT

This is not the review of a new movie, nor is it the title of a biography about the Three Stooges. Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest is all embodied in the person of one Manuel Aristides Ramirez, aka ‘Manny’. Manny Ramirez recently announced his retirement from baseball while hitting .059 for the Tampa Bay Rays and leaving $1,925,000 of his 2 million dollar contract behind. It wasn’t pride that prompted Ramirez to retire; if that was the case he would have walked away in 2009 after signing a 2 year 45 million dollar contract with Frank McCourt and the Dodgers. Five weeks into that season in which he was the highest paid player in the National League he started serving a 50 game suspension for testing positive for a masking agent used to conceal steroid use. While this was his first time penalized, his name was one of those leaked from the 2002 testing used in the Mitchell Report. While suspended, the Dodgers saved $7,362,498. Ramirez’s pride tolerance allowed him to finish that 2 year contract, although he finished it in a White Sox uniform. Manny Ramirez didn’t retire because pride told him he didn’t have it anymore and rather than be a burden to the team the right thing to do would be step aside. Ramirez retired because he got caught cheating again. Ramirez’s retirement coincided with the announcement that he would be facing a 100 game suspension. Today I listened to a host on a sport radio station say he would still vote for Ramirez to go into the Hall of Fame, because “his numbers before he used steroids were dominant”. Does anyone know when Manny Ramirez began cheating? Sports talk radio host doesn’t, I don’t, but I do know when he was caught cheating. Apparently common sense is not a requirement to talk sports professionally.

Of Their Own Doing

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:14:56 EDT

Earlier this year the BBWAA voted on the 2011 Hall of Fame candidates. For the fifth year Mark McGwire failed to garner much support for election as his vote total fell to under 20 %. In his five eligible years he has yet to gather even one third of the required 75% of the vote necessary for election. This year he was joined by two new additions to the PED and Hall discussion. Rafael Palmerio with 569 HRs, over 3,000 hits and 1,800 RBIs was supported by the voters to the tune of 11%. Palmerio will be remembered by his “I have never used steroids, period” denial driven home by a finger pointed at the chairman of the congressional committee investigating steroid use in baseball in 2005. Several months later he tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanzolol. Also joining Palmerio was Juan Gonzalez with 434 HRs, 1400 RBIs, and 2 MVPs. Gonzalez was cited by Jose Canseco as a steroid user and was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report. Gonzalez escaped being a one and done candidate by 4 votes with 5.2% of the vote. Without the shadow of PEDs anyone of these three would have been first ballet Hall of Famers, so what is wrong with this picture? In my mind nothing, the voters have gotten it right.

A Change Up

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:16:13 EDT

If you have read “Rounding third” in the past you may get the idea that I’m a older fan who is not altogether content with the direction that one of my passions has taken over time. If so, your impression is totally on target. I have critized the inequity between the haves and have not’s, expansion, the power of the players association, and the impotence of the current commissioner. It is time to take a break and lighten it up.

You are ‘baseball’ old if you remember that the National and American Leagues had 8 teams and only one went to the postseason.

You are ‘baseball’ old if you recall the World Series being over before mid October and every game during the day.

You are ‘baseball’ old if you could go over the days outcomes at dinner.

Mutually Inclusive ?

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:11:59 EST

How much is payroll a factor in making the playoffs in baseball. You could focus on the Yankees who outspend every other team in baseball and by a ratio that can be 5-1.

For this entry, I went back nine years to 2003 which was the first year of the ‘Luxury Tax’. The Luxury Tax is relevant to the topic as it is a threshold agreed upon by the players union and MLB as a point where those teams that spent over that threshold would pay a tax to the MLB (for the development of baseball and player benefits). I looked for the number of teams in the top ten payrolls of each season that made the playoffs, and made the World Series. In each season the spread from the NYY (#1) to the tenth team was an average of 2.1-1 an indication that even the tenth highest payroll was already at a major disadvantage.