Posts Tagged ‘baseball’
My Favorite Baseball Team, the Milwaukee Brewers, Are on the Brink of Elimination
Folks, I’m still in a holding pattern with regard to my housing situation, but I can at least write about my favorite baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, even if it’s not what I had hoped to write.
“What are you talking about, Barb?” you might be asking.
The Brewers are in the National League Championship Series (NLCS for short) against the “best team money can buy,” the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have a huge payroll that’s almost four times as much as what the Brewers can afford (Milwaukee is the smallest “market” in major league baseball, though if you add in the entirety of the state of Wisconsin, it’s comparable to a few others even if nowhere near the Dodgers), and in particular, their pitchers are very highly paid because they’re all proven winners.
That being said, you still have to perform. You have to do what got you here, or you’ll lose. That’s true for any team at any time, regardless of how much (or little) they’re getting paid.
So, the Brewers had the best overall record in MLB this past year. They beat the Dodgers six times and lost none. That had Brewers fans optimistic that this may finally be the year the Brewers go back to the World Series (the team hasn’t been there since 1982; I was very young then but still a huge fan and did attend a World Series game), even though the playoffs can be a “whole different animal.”
But it appears our optimism was misplaced. The Dodgers have steamrolled over the Brewers, and with the exception of game one (where the Brewers had loaded the bases in the ninth inning, only not to score the tying run), they have dominated every game they’ve been in.
Bluntly, the Dodgers have looked like the champions they are and have been for many years. The Brewers batters have looked more like chumps than champs, though most of the pitchers have been excellent and have done exactly what they’ve needed to do to give the slumping Brewers hitters a chance to tie or win the games.
I hate to write words like that, mind you. These guys try hard, and I know no professional athlete wants to end their season in a huge slump. No one wants to have a season that started with “Win one for Ueck!” (Bob Uecker, our longtime radio announcer, also a comedian and TV actor, passed away at the beginning of 2025) end in such ignominity.
But the facts don’t lie.
Now, if I were a sports psychologist, I’d tell the Brewers hitters one thing, and the Brewers pitchers another, but it would amount to the same thing. “Control what you can control” is the overall message, but I’d say to the pitchers that they did everything they could and controlled what they definitely could control. But the pitchers can’t bat for the hitters (with the exception of someone like Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers superstar, pitchers no longer bat), and they can’t control those at-bats or what the hitters do whatsoever. I’d tell the hitters that all they can control is how they approach the at-bat. (Some of the players have had long at-bats that have helped to tire the pitcher out over time, and those are considered successful at-bats or at least not failures even if they don’t result in a hit or walk.) Are they going up there confident in their abilities, confident in what they’ve shown all year long? Or are they going up there expecting to be beaten? (The latter is almost impossible for a professional athlete, mind. You don’t go into that field if you are that defeatist because the odds are very long to get to “the show,” as MLB is called, at all.)
See, if you put it that way, the athlete knows he’s doing his best. (No women, not even female umps, yet in MLB, though there are some female executives and coaches.) He can focus on the process of hitting, rather than dwell on the outcomes they’ve seen. Every day is a new day, and providing you’ve maximized your odds and done what you can to play your best, you have nothing to apologize for.
Anyway, the fact is that the Brewers must now win four games in a row against a Dodgers team that suddenly seems like the best team ever (AKA the 1927 New York Yankees, which featured both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, among other superstars). This seems like too big of a bridge to cross, at least from what I’ve seen out of the Brewers in this series. Yet, I still have hope that the Brewers can win at least one game, so their fans won’t feel awful, and so they, themselves, won’t feel awful.
Last year, I said to my friends and family that I felt the wrong team went on in the playoffs when the New York Mets won against the Brewers (a last-ditch homer by Pete Alonso, the slugging first baseman of the Mets, was the killing blow). This time, I can’t say that, because the Brewers have simply not been on the same level as the Dodgers during this series.
I will note, for the record, that there have been two teams in the 2000s that have forced a Game 7 after starting a seven-game series down three games to none. Those teams were the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who won Game 7 and advanced to the World Series, and the 2020 Houston Astros, who battled back from that three-game deficit but lost in the decisive Game 7. I will also note for the record that my favorite ever team, the 1982 Brewers, were down two games to none against the then-California Angels in a five-game series and won the final three games to advance to the World Series that year. (The Brewers lost. But they played hard and well and the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin celebrated them then and continues to appreciate them now. They were the equivalent of this year’s “Average Joes” in having a blue-collar, anything for the team outlook.)
So, it is theoretically possible that the Brewers can still win a game or two and make things feel less awful for themselves and their fans. It’s even theoretically possible that they can still advance to the World Series…but if they’re going to do that, they need to win later today. And as big of a fan as I am, I can’t be sure of that.
Still. The Brewers should focus on winning game 4. Do that, and then you can focus on winning game 5.
I hope they can do that. I’d feel a whole lot better about things if they did, even if they still lose this series and even if the Dodgers still advance to the World Series.
My reasoning for that is simple. The rallying cry “Win it for Ueck!” won’t work next year. So if they really do want to win it for Bob Uecker, the time is now.
No Housing News Yet…But Milwaukee Brewers Continuing to Thrive
Folks, I knew I owed you all some sort of update regarding my housing situation. I wish I had a better one. I’m still looking for a place and remain on quite a few waiting lists. I am moving up on those lists, but not quickly enough.
I’m still staying with a relative. This is not an easy situation for either one of us. I appreciate the help, though I wish I didn’t need it, and every day is a struggle.
One of the few bright spots I’ve had to consider has been the overall play of the 2025 version of the Milwaukee Brewers. Last year, in the MLB playoffs, the Brewers were eliminated in the first round at the very last minute by the New York Mets (a late homer by Pete Alonso, a slugging first baseman/superstar, off our star closer, Devin Williams, was what caused the Brewers to be eliminated). So this year, in order to have a better playoff chance, the team set a new record for wins with 97 and had the best overall record in the entirety of MLB. This guaranteed the Brewers would have more home games than road games in the playoffs, and also guaranteed a first-round bye so the team could heal up a little.
What’s been so outstanding about the play of the 2025 Brewers is how everyone called to help has stepped up. There was an outfielder called up during the summer, Steward Berroa, who made a great highlight-reel catch in centerfield to save one game, and he was only up a few days with the Brewers. Other standouts were the pitching of Chad Patrick, shuttling back and forth from Triple-A to the big-league club, the pitching of Logan Henderson (who showed without a doubt that he’s a big-leaguer, but was not able to stick in the bigs due to too many people ahead of him at the position), the fact that good players like Blake Perkins and Robert Gasser were able to heal from injuries and come back to contribute…no matter what, the Brewers found a way to win.
And they even turned one odd situation into an advantage, in that pitcher Aaron Civale did not want to be a reliever even on a team that could well win the World Series. He felt he would not make enough money next year if he became a reliever, so the Brewers had to find a trade partner in a hurry. They did. The Chicago White Sox had a struggling first baseman named Andrew Vaughn, who they’d sent to Triple-A over his lack of productivity at the plate. The Brewers swapped Civale for Vaughn, and that was one of the turning points for the Brewers as Vaughn (after an injury to starting first baseman Rhys Hoskins) stepped up in a big way for the Brewers and became not just a star with the team, but a fan favorite.
There’s no quit in the 2025 Brewers. They just keep going. They’re relentless. Their manager, Pat Murphy, has described them as “woodpeckers,” which seems accurate as they just keep pecking away. They are a resilient and determined team, they get along well with each other (always a plus), and they’ve just found a way to keep getting better all season long.
Right now, they are preparing for Game 4 against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago. The Brewers lead this series, two games to one. (The Brew Crew lost last night to Chicago, 4-3.) And they’ll have their very best starting pitcher, their ace, Freddy Peralta, pitching tonight.
No major reporter for MLB picked the Brewers to be as good as they turned out to be. (Most had the Brewers finishing in fourth place, and not even winning more games than they lost. They were quite wrong.) Even now, the Brewers are not expected to beat teams they handily beat all season long if they continue in the playoffs (I’m looking squarely at you, Los Angeles Dodgers), and they’re certainly not expected by the major media outlets to be the National League’s entrant in the World Series.
I hope they will be, though. I like this team a lot. It reminds me of my favorite-ever team, the 1982 Brewers (then in the American League), which was another team that just did not quit and kept going no matter what. The ’82 team is the only one that has ever reached the World Series, and it did not win (though it did take seven games to eliminate the Brewers and end their season without the WS win). It’s about time a new Brewers team gets a chance to win a World Series…and the 2025 team is in an excellent position to do just that, providing they can get by the Cubs and whoever else they might have to play in the next round (the NL Championship Series, or NLCS) — right now, it would appear that team is likely to be the Dodgers, but it could still be the Phillies if the Phillies scramble and are able to win three games in a row (they won one game last night; two to go).
This team, like the ’82 Brewers, gives me hope that if you try hard enough, and you maximize your talents, and if you get some lucky breaks, you can still do very well for yourself. (The Brewers had a fourteen-game winning streak after an eleven-game winning streak earlier, and an eight-game winning streak as well. To win fourteen games in a row meant there were some good breaks happening; that’s when the phrases “Uecker Magic” to commemorate late baseball announcer and friend of the Brewers team Bob Uecker, and “Brewers Magic/Milwaukee Magic” were coined.) Mind you, that doesn’t mean you can take your eye off the ball. You have to keep doing your best, even when it seems hopeless, even when it seems like there’s no way you can win…you can only lose if you give up inside your head, and I refuse to do that.
So, I will cheer on my Brewers tonight as they take on the Cubs in Chicago. I’ll also keep trying to find a good place to live, one that I can afford, that has heat in the winter and air in the summer, in order to improve my overall physical health and give me the best chance to write, edit, and compose music.
Recent Heckling of MLB’s Ketel Marte Troubling
Folks, most of you who’ve read this blog for any length of time know I’m a baseball fan. And while my favorite team is the Milwaukee Brewers (always has been), my heart goes out to players who’ve suffered from life.
Take the Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte, for example. Most people wouldn’t know he’s suffered loss, as he often smiles, laughs, and jokes around on the field…but recently, a fan heckled him in Chicago and it upset him dearly.
While I don’t know exactly what was said, Marte’s mother was invoked. It was apparently far beyond a “your Mama wears combat boots” type of insult, which most MLB players have heard since their days in Little League. My guess is it went like this: “It’s a good thing your mother’s already dead, considering what you just did.”
That’s wrong. It shouldn’t have happened.
See, Marte’s mother died in 2017. He still grieves for her. She died in a car accident, which means it was a sudden and completely unexpected death.
Marte is now thirty-one years old. He’s still a young man. But most of his success in major league baseball has come after the death of his mother, and that’s been very hard on him.
Maybe some of you are thinking, “He’s making big money. Why should I care?”
You should care because you’re a human being and you’ve likely suffered loss yourself.
I know that I understand how he feels. If someone heckled me about my late husband, I’d be first livid and then later very sad. It’s hard to stay above such personal insults. It hits you on a raw spot, even years later.
As for the unnamed fan, he’s been indefinitely banned by not just the White Sox, but by the entirety of MLB.
Baseball players are human beings. Their careers are often quite short. The money they make seems nice on its face, but there are a lot of trade-offs that come with that money, including constant travel, the potential for serious injury, the loss of time with their families, and much more. It’s not a job most people would want if they considered all the downsides, including possible interactions like with this dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks fan.
Most baseball fans have reacted the way I have, whether they’ve lost someone close to them or not. They know that insults like that are not acceptable and cannot be tolerated by civilized human beings.
I really wish everyone would try to remember that we only get this one life to live. We should approach people with dignity and respect as much as possible.
So if you’re going to yell insults at a baseball player or other athlete, stick with how they’re playing. Leave the parents, spouses, children, etc., out of it.
But better yet, don’t heckle at all. Life is too short for that.
Cold Weather, Bob Uecker, and Reggie White…
The past week at Chez Caffrey has been bleak, cold, and miserable. It’s also coincided with a lot of angst, stress, and difficulties that I can’t go into, but have nothing to do with my writing, my editing, or my music.
Except, of course, for draining my energy, but that happens. Hopefully I’ll get it back at some point.
Anyway, I thought I’d discuss a bit more about Bob Uecker, the Brewers broadcaster (also an actor and comedian), as something came to me after I’d written my post not long after Uecker’s death had been reported to the media. Uecker reminds me, somehow, of Packers legend Reggie White, nicknamed “The Minister of Defense.” Mind you, Uecker could be profane in private (he admitted this), whereas Reggie White did not swear at all. But both men had the ability to talk with you, one on one, and make you believe you were the most important person in their life at that time.
How do I know this? Well, while I didn’t meet Bob Uecker, I did meet Reggie White years ago. (He died at the untimely age of forty-three due to obstructive sleep apnea.) He was signing one of his books at the local mall (as he knew most of his audience was likely to be in Wisconsin, he spent time at quite a few malls), and I went to talk with him. I told him I could not afford his book, not then, but I would try to get it later (I did, too; while I don’t have the copy anymore, I enjoyed reading it as it was half-affirmations and half-tough love).
Now, there are a whole lot of things people can do when someone comes up to them and says, “Hi, I see your book and can’t buy it right now.” Some responses aren’t polite. Some are, but are the equivalent of a brush-off, like “Go away, kid, you bother me.” Then there’s what Reggie did.
As there was a momentary lull, he said he needed to stretch his legs (he put this differently, but it was very polite), and would I like to walk with him? (I did not use a cane then.)
My answer was, “Absolutely yes!” (I would’ve said “Hell yes,” but Reggie was a minister. Couldn’t say that!)
At any rate, Reggie and I chatted. About football. About life. About the Bible, as I had a question for him…after this, he offered to give me a copy of his book because he knew I’d been telling him the truth (I wanted it, but hadn’t been paid yet, so couldn’t get it). I told him no, that I would buy it — and I did, with my next paycheck.
Bob Uecker and I never met. I might’ve seen him a time or two going into Brewers games when I was younger at old Milwaukee County Stadium, but my interactions, such as they were, tended to be at arms-length: his broadcasting, his acting, and his comedy.
That said, the people who had one magical conversation with him said much the same things of Uecker that I just said about Reggie White. And Uecker’s star power was akin to White’s, especially in Wisconsin, where Uecker was born, raised, and died.
It’s good to know that fame does not change some people, and they remain good, kind, decent, and honorable despite the temptations in their path to do and be otherwise. Bob Uecker and Reggie White were good people, and while Uecker lived to be ninety and White lived to be only forty-three, their impact on people will last far longer than their lives.
That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Brewers Season Recap, Plus Personal Update
Folks, I am down with a sinus infection. I probably had this for a couple of weeks…I felt like I was barely conscious, if that makes any sense, and had several migraine headaches that added more distress to the already awful mix.
Because of this, I haven’t blogged — as you know — in several weeks. But I am back now to write about one of my favorite subjects, the Milwaukee Brewers.
After former manager Craig Counsell left to go to the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 2023 season, I would’ve been like many Brewers fans and thought that 2024 was going to be a rebuilding year. The Brewers also traded away their ace, Corbin Burnes, while their second-best pitcher (who could’ve been an ace anywhere else), Brandon Woodruff, was lost for the 2024 season due to needing arm surgery. While young phenom Jackson Chourio was on the horizon, it was impossible to know that he’d play the whole year with the big-league club rather than, say, a few months with the Triple-A ballclub affiliated with the Brewers.
So, the Brewers hired Pat Murphy as their new manager. He had been Counsell’s bench coach since 2016. He is in his mid-sixties, had already suffered a heart attack, had a terrible bout of Covid…but is quotable, relatable, and gets the most out of his players. The Brewers quite rightly picked him, figuring he knew the team, he knew the players, and the players — at least in one case, that being Brewers superstar outfielder Christian Yelich — lobbied hard for Murphy.
It was the right move. Murphy was a college coach, a very successful one, for many years before becoming a coach in MLB. Since much of his team was quite young (one of the youngest teams in the entirety of MLB), Murphy knew how to help them develop their potential.
Because of him, the general manager Matt Arnold, other staff, and all of the various coaches (including new associate manager Rickie Weeks, himself a longtime Brewers second baseman when he was still an active player), the Brewers massively overachieved. They ran away with the National League Central division, and were the third seed in the playoffs.
But it was a season unlike any other. Seventeen different pitchers started games for the Brewers due to more injuries from two other key pitchers, Wade Miley and rookie Robert Gasser. Miley pitched only a couple of games before going down with arm issues necessitating surgery, and Gasser looked lights-out for half a dozen games before he, too, succumbed to needing arm surgery. (Gasser went to three different specialists, mind you, hoping to avoid surgery.)
In addition to all of that, the Brewers best hitter, the aforementioned Christian Yelich, had to have back surgery in late summer after making the All-Star team due to his excellent first half. He did not want to have this surgery (same as Gasser, in some ways), but he tried to rehab it for nearly a month with no success and no surcease, either. (As someone with long-term back problems, I can definitely relate.)
So, despite all that — all the different pitchers, all the injuries, all the various issues — the Brewers won their division. Chourio at just age twenty became an up-and-coming player, showcasing his power and speed along with a better than average arm in the outfield. Three different Brewers — second baseman Brice Turang, right fielder Sal Frelick, and center fielder Blake Perkins — have been named Gold Glove finalists (meaning they are among the very best defensive players at their positions) despite all being second-year ballplayers. (This only rarely happens. Trust me.) A pitcher no one had ever heard of before this year, Tobias Myers, had a steady season, and the Brewers best healthy pitcher, Freddy Peralta, took the ball all thirty-two times he was asked to start. The hitters weren’t always great, and one new player, Joey Ortiz, looks all defense and no hit at third base. (Ortiz, as I’ve told several baseball fans I know, reminds me of shortstop Mark Belanger of the Orioles. Great, great defense. But Belanger rarely hit much, and his best skill in a high-leverage at-bat was to take a walk so someone else could drive him in.) But they did more than enough to win their division, and were one of the hottest teams entering the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the Brewers once again (as in previous years) ran into an even hotter team in the New York Mets in the playoffs. The Brewers played their hearts out, and they’d taken a late lead in the decisive game three of the best-of-three playoff series…but the Mets were ultimately the victors. It was a demoralizing loss for Brewers fans, not to mention the Brewers coaches and players…this looked like it was finally going to be the Brewers time to shine, and it just didn’t happen in the playoffs.
Still, they had a great year. Pat Murphy deserves to be the Manager of the Year and I hope he gets the hardware along with the recognition he assuredly deserves. Matt Arnold deserves to be the Executive of the Year, too (I can’t remember if that’s the title now, for GMs who overachieve, but there is an award for GMs of some sort). Jackson Chourio is in the mix for Rookie of the Year. And as I said before, three second-year Brewers players, all young men, were nominated for Gold Gloves.
I had to wait a few weeks, mind you, to get over the pain of how the Mets bounced the Brewers from the playoffs before I could post this. Many Brewers fans feel this way, too. It feels like the postseason was snatched out of the hands of the fans and players and coaches (and GM Arnold) at the very last minute (Mets power-hitter Pete Alonso hit a crushing three-run homer in the top of the ninth off Brewers star closer Devin Williams), and while that left a very bad taste in my mouth, I still can’t help but recognize how well the Brewers played overall.
Here’s a stat for you that proves it: The Brewers were the only team in baseball that didn’t lose more than three games in a row all season long.
That’s quite unusual.
So, while the end was difficult to bear, the season itself was a rousing success. Yelich should be back, healthy, for 2025. Chourio has nowhere to go but up after an excellent rookie season. Our three Gold Glove finalists will continue to play stellar defense. Woodruff should be healthy for the 2025 season, and he and Peralta should make an excellent one-two punch with Myers being a durable starter as well. Brewers catcher William Contreras will be back after a season where he put up MVP-like numbers, and there’s still a chance the Brewers can re-sign excellent shortstop Willy Adames (he’s been called the heart and soul of the Brewers, and for good reason). Murphy will also still be back as the manager, Weeks will still be Murphy’s right-hand man, and the various coaches (all of whom did stellar work) will all be returning as well.
The future looks promising. Very, very promising. And as a long-time Brewers fan of (mumble-mumble) years standing, I can’t wait to see what happens in 2025.
Paying Tribute to Willie Mays (dead at 93) #mlb #heroes #SFGiants
Tonight, baseball legend Willie Mays, who played most his career with first the New York Giants, then the San Francisco Giants after they moved coasts, has died at age 93.
Mays was a true original and one of the greatest men to ever play any variety of major league baseball. (I don’t know if everyone knows this, but many of the Negro Leagues now have major league status. It’s long overdue.) He played in the Negro Leagues for a little while, then played for the Giants for the vast majority of his career. Despite needing to take a few years out for military service in the United States Army, Mays amassed an impressive career.
Mays had 660 home runs, 3293 hits, a .301 batting average, 1909 runs batted in, 339 stolen bases, and 2068 runs scored. (Stats were pulled up via baseball-reference.com.) He also was a tremendously gifted center fielder, partly because he had such speed and partly because he had a very strong arm, winning twelve Gold Gloves for his defensive excellence.
The Encyclopedia Brittanica has a few pages about Willie Mays, saying that many people recognize Mays as the greatest all-around player in the history of Major League Baseball. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, also has a page recognizing the greatness of Mays’s career. Mays was also given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 for his contributions to the United States as a whole and major league baseball in particular.
So, many people knew him and many people admired him. For example, my late husband Michael told me he’d met Mays, along with several other Giants greats over the years, because the Giants were one of the first teams to be known for their philanthropic efforts. Mays was a “special ambassador” for the Giants from 1986 to his death, and was well known in San Francisco due to his sunny and exuberant personality as well as his various duties with the Giants over the years, and I assume that’s how and why Michael would’ve met Mays. (He also met Barry Bonds, and said Bonds was far more gracious in person than Bonds had ever been given credit for. YMMV, of course.)
I never met Willie Mays, but I admired him. He was a brilliant player, a kind-hearted man by all accounts, loved baseball, and loved his life. He gave of his time often, especially if it would help children in any way, with much of that philanthropy being done quietly and with no fanfare. Mays was one of the first African-American superstar players to enter MLB after the pioneering efforts of Jackie Robinson (NL and MLB-wide) and Larry Doby (AL), and he always conducted himself with grace and class.
In short, Willie Mays was my type of guy. I mourn his death but am grateful for his well-lived life and for everything he accomplished in baseball.
Latest Interview, Health Update…and Baseball?
Folks, the book promotion efforts continue apace.
So, here’s my question: Have you met me yet?
(No, I’m not just being snarky, here.)
If you haven’t, or if you’d like to know more, and haven’t seen this interview, please go forthwith to Goodreads.
Why?
It might intrigue you. It might keep you motivated.
Or if nothing else, it’ll answer a question I’ve been asked over and over again regarding my newest novel: why did I set the story of CHANGING FACES in Nebraska, of all places?
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: I lived in Nebraska for three years when I went to graduate school. I felt the heat, I saw the vivid colors of the sunsets and sunrises, I felt the scorching cold, and I knew exactly how to describe it.It’s hard to explain, otherwise, but I’ll do my best.
If you’ve experienced something, that helps you to describe it. And I experienced Nebraska. I even met some LGBT people in Lincoln, when I lived there; there weren’t many, but there were some, and most of them, at the time (this being the late 1990s/early 2000s) did not want to call attention to themselves. The goal at that point was for civil unions to be accepted in various churches, and there were many disagreements about this.
So, it was important to me to set this story in Nebraska. These are two people who could live anywhere. They have talent in music, they are creative, they are honest, they love each other. But one of them is transgender and gender-fluid, and yet their love is like anyone else’s, and their communication problems are like anyone else’s, too.
It’s important that society as a whole comes to realize that people are people, and regardless of gender expression or sexuality, they are deserving of love and happiness and care. Whatever form that love and happiness takes (providing it’s consensual, preferably monogamous, and with people who are adult so they can make their own choices and take their own risks) ultimately does not matter.
Only the love matters. And that’s why I set this story in Nebraska in the first place, because it showcases just how much times have changed…and yet, remained the same.
Want to know more? Please go to the interview and take a look!
Now, as far as the health update goes…I continue to improve. I am a bit low on energy, but I wrote a new guest blog (for author Adriana Kraft and her readership, that will be posted Sunday if all goes well), I even worked a little bit on my fiction, and I’m starting to feel more like my normal self.
(Just in time for Friday, eh?)
I don’t plan on throwing any wild parties any time soon, mind, but I at least can write some again and I’m grateful for it.
Otherwise, I wanted to talk a little bit about baseball, as we’re nearly up to spring. (Hey, don’t correct me. I know it’s a few weeks, yet.)
One thing I noticed, recently, is that major league baseball has changed their way of indicating an intentional walk. Before, a manager had to call for it, but the pitcher had to actually throw the four balls (very wide of the strike zone) before the runner could take first base. This occasionally would result in a wild pitch or passed ball, but most of the time was a fairly routine deal.
Now, MLB is going to do it differently. The manager will somehow indicate that he wants an intentional walk, and the batter will go take first base. The pitcher will not have to throw the four balls, wide of the mark or otherwise.
What do I think of this? I don’t like it at all. I think it’s silly. I think it’s stupid.
And the reason they gave for it? They want to speed the game up.
(I don’t see that as being a particularly speedy thing, mind, but whatever.)
To my mind, the only legitimate basis for this rule-change is to save the pitcher unnecessary wear and tear on his arm. If, over time, this actually works, and a few pitchers here and there won’t hurt themselves, I might actually — someday — begrudgingly, of course, be willing to entertain this.
But for the moment, I think it’s stupid, nonsensical, and wrong.
What do you all think, baseball fans? Does this rule-change make any sense to you? (And if they really want to improve the pace of the game, why don’t they stop guys from getting out of the batter’s box over and over again during the same at-bat? Wouldn’t that be a lot more conducive to getting the speed down than merely eliminating the four pitches from the intentional walk?)
Just Reviewed “Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty” at SBR
Folks, I wanted to point your attention toward my latest book review of Charles Leerhsen’s TY COBB: A Terrible Beauty, which is up right now over at Shiny Book Review (SBR for short, as always).
Now, why am I so proud of this review?
I think it has to do with two things. One, Mr. Leerhsen’s baseball scholarship is superb. And two, I was pleased to realize, after reading Leerhsen’s book, that Cobb was not at all the virulent racist he’d been portrayed to be.
See, all of the stuff I thought I knew about Cobb was wrong — well, except for the actual baseball facts. (I knew Cobb hit .367 as a lifetime batting average, for example, and was the all-time hits leader until Pete Rose moved past him in the mid-1980s.)
Basically, Ty Cobb, since his death in 1961, has been the victim of a shoddy narrative. Apparently his “biographer” Al Stump was no such thing; instead, Stump invented the wildest flights of fancy about Cobb, figuring that as there was almost no film or still pictures or even radio accounts of Cobb’s play, Stump could do as he liked and no one would be the wiser.
Besides, monsters sell. So Stump made Cobb a monster.
Leerhsen proved just how fallacious Stump’s account actually was by going back and reading all of the various newspaper reports, which were readily available in the archives. (Thank goodness for archives, eh?) Stump made so many erroneous assumptions that it’s hard to believe Stump didn’t know what he was writing was dead wrong; in fact, Cobb himself was in the midst of a lawsuit at the time of his death, because he’d gotten wind of what Stump was about to do to him in the guise of Cobb’s “autobiography” (which was ghost-written by Stump), and wanted no part of it.
The most egregious fallacy of Stump’s was to paint Cobb as a racist. Cobb was anything but — in fact, according to Leerhsen, Cobb used to sit in the dugout with players like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige during Negro League games, and famously remarked that “The Negro (ballplayer) should be accepted, and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly.” And Cobb was a big fan of Roy Campanella’s, plus he enjoyed Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson.
And as far as being a mean, nasty, vicious old cuss — well, how mean, vicious and nasty could Ty Cobb have been if he was willing to help the young Joe DiMaggio out when Joe D. signed with the Yankees? (Cobb understood baseball contracts, and young Joe didn’t.) How mean was Cobb when he helped Campanella and his family out after “Campy” became paralyzed? And how vicious was Cobb when, after his playing days were over and he had nothing at all to gain by it, he and Babe Ruth became fast friends?
Leerhsen has dozens of stories about Cobb, and very few of them depict anything close to the man Stump portrayed (and Tommy Lee Jones later masterfully acted in the movie version, Cobb).
While Cobb was a difficult man to know — he was prickly, quick to anger, and settled things with his fists more than once — he was not a monster.
Instead, Cobb appears to be the victim of one of the worst narrative frames in the history of all narrative-framing.
So do, please, read my review of Charles Leerhsen’s book TY COBB: A Terrible Beauty. Then please, if you have any interest whatsoever in early 1900s to the “Roaring Twenties” Americana, baseball history, or just want to find out what’s actually the truth about Ty Cobb, go read his masterful book for yourself.
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