Baseball Between Us

Andre Ethier is on fire, with a game-winning hit to cap an April record 24 game hitting streak.

24 Game Hitting Streak

Will he break the magic 56 set by Joe Dimaggio? I doubt it. Others have tried – but no one has topped Joe D. since he did it in 1941.

Wee Willie Keeler (Hit ’em Where They Ain’t) is 2nd on the list with 45 consecutive games, set in 1896-97. Pete Rose is 3rd with 44, set in 1978. The fact that no one else has
come close in the past 3 decades tells you the Consecutive Game Hitting Streak may be baseball’s most enduring record. As a batter, you have to be good – and consistently good, every game. Sluggers may get hot for a week or two in hitting bombs out of the park, but to beat the streak, you have to be hot for two months in a row – with no room for failure. I’d like to see Ethier get close to 56 games, but no one will beat it.
Or as Yogi Berra once said, ” I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

Commissioner Bud Selig just threw a curveball at the baseball playoffs, by inviting 10 teams into the post-season, instead of eight.
Selig’s Big Announcement

This move smacks of desperation. It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. The baseball playoffs are exciting because unlike the NCAA college basketball tournament, not everyone can get in. The regular season actually matters.

Eight is the perfect number for baseball playoffs. allowing the 3 division winners in each League to compete against just 1 wild card team. The talent doesn’t get watered down and only the best teams can compete for the title.

This move is all about maximizing television revenue and works against Mother Nature. Baseball is about the Boys of Summer, not Winter Warriors. With 10 teams in the playoffs, will the World Series be played at Thanksgiving? Think about snowstorms in Colorado if the Rockies get in or sleet at Fenway Park in mid-November.

I’ll leave it to the great baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, who once described the October shadows at Yankee Stadium by saying, ” It gets late early out there.” Imagine what Yogi would think of a late November World Series. He’d probably say, “the future ain’t what it used to be.”

One of baseball’s most famous franchises got a key save today from a relief pitcher no one expected: Bud Selig. The baseball commissioner moved swiftly to take over day-to-day control of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team that’s been batted around like a ping pong ball in the epic divorce battle involving Frank McCourt and his soon to be ex-wife Jamie. The animosity, venom and legal bills have strangled the McCourts and put a choke hold on the Dodgers, who have seen season ticket sales plummet to 17,000 from 27,000 just 4 years ago.  (See article below from L.A. Times)

L.A. Times Article

With the financial future of the team in great doubt, Major League Baseball took over the reigns. The Dodgers have a storied past from their days in Brooklyn with Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and other Hall of Famers – to their Los Angeles home in Chavez Ravine, where Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills brought excitement (and World Championships) to the ballpark in 1959, 1963 and 1965. In the 70s the Dodgers sputtered against the Yanks in back to back World Series (1977, 1978), but came back to beat the Bronx Bombers in 1981. The Dodgers also emerged on top in 1988 against the Oakland Athletics. Since then, its been a long drought for the Dodgers, who have been through many ownership changes.
The McCourts were too busy fighting in court to spend money on the team and it showed. They cut back on security and charged extra money to park at the Stadium – forcing fans to park offsite, much to the chagrin of their Chavez Ravine neighbors who didn’t like drunken hooligans relieving themselves on their lawns.

Having MLB in charge will be good for the Dodgers and good for baseball! And even if you dislike the Dodgers (or really hate them like Giants fans do), the league is better served by a competitive team from Los Angeles – a historic franchise featuring one of the most beloved baseball gems: Vin Scully, the fabled announcer who has inspired sports fans from coast to coast for half a century with his wonderful stories from the diamond.

What’s this world coming to? A promising young pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds making nearly half a million dollars a year gets caught shoplifting $60 worth of shirts at Macy’s. Mike Leake beat the Pirates on Saturday. Next assignment: How to beat the rap.

Cincinnati pitcher caught Red-Handed

Now that Barry Bonds has been convicted of obstruction of justice, baseball fans are debating his long-term legacy. Should he be inducted into the Hall of Fame as the greatest home run hitter of all time – or is he tainted forever by performance enhancing drugs? As you’ll see in this New York Times article,  Judging Barry Bonds , voting for the Hall of Fame is based upon not only the player’s career stats – but also integrity, sportsmanship and character: 3 pitches on which Barry Bonds is likely to strike out.
I interviewed Ron Hyde, who knows Barry better than most, having served as his unofficial babysitter when Bonds was just a boy. Ron offers these thoughts in Baseball Between Us:

“Many people have suggested they should have a separate wing in the Hall of Fame. Still, in that era, which is loosely 1990 – 2005, steroids or not, pitcher, position player or not, he was indisputably the best player of his era.”

“And as time passes, people will be a little more forgiving as they look at Barry Bonds, as one of the greatest players of all time,” Ron added.

“And let’s face it, those years we were watching him, no matter whether you were a Giants fan or not, when you heard the name Barry Bonds step up to the plate, no matter what you were doing around the yard, in the house, you dropped what you were doing to watch him bat. And few players could ever exceed what Barry Bonds did as a player, no question about it.”

I think Ron is right. Barry Bonds was his own worst enemy. But I do know from personal experience that Bonds was the most exciting player I’ve ever watched at the plate. Whenever he was up, everything else stood still as fans watched and waited for the crack of the bat that could produce bedlam in every park.

Matt and I were at AT&T Park when Bonds hit home run #715 to surpass Babe Ruth in 2006. I’ll have plenty of stories to share about Barry Bonds when Baseball Between Us comes out next March – In the meantime, do you think Bonds should make the Hall of Fame? Let me know your thoughts.

My friend and former colleague Susan Siravo has this take on Baseball Between Us:
Susan Siravo\'s Blog

Dodger fans in Los Angeles have raised more than $20,000 so far for the Bryan Stow Fund – in honor of the injured Giants fan who was assaulted March 31 in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. $20,000 Raised for Injured Giants Fan. He’s in the hospital now with significant brain injuries.

But baseball fans have gotten it right – and shown true class – by coming together to show support for one of their own. It doesn’t matter if you root for the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees or Red Sox – rivalries are great, but respecting the game is even more important. Root passionately for your team with all your heart, but leave your fists out of it. Keep baseball fun for the entire family. And let’s think positive thoughts and good prayers for Bryan Stow and wish him a speedy recovery.

Jared Weaver of the Angels struck out 15 Blue Jays in a masterful pitching performance Sunday night. Weaver Fans 15

Weaver’s dominance on the mound reminded me of the great Sandy Koufax, who fanned 15 Yankees in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series. Somehow my dad miraculously scored tickets to the game and he took me to Yankee Stadium. I got to miss school and see the World Series all in one day.

But I went home shellshocked that my beloved Yankees could lose with Whitey Ford on the mound. Yet Koufax was better that day, and the Dodgers would go on to sweep the Yanks 4-0.

What’s the most dominant pitching performance you’ve ever seen in person?

New York Yankee teammates Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera have now accomplished what no other trio has ever done. They have played together on the same team for a 17th consecutive season – longer than any other streak in baseball, basketball, football or hockey, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The previous baseball record was set by the Milwaukee Brewers. Jim Gantner, Paulo Molitor and Robin Yount played together for 15 season as members of the Brew Crew.

Manny Ramirez retires suddenly. Was it the .058 batting average, or the undisclosed drug issues? Or maybe both.

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