Sam Coonrod, SF Giants pitcher, was the LONE man standing for the National Anthem in a game between the Giants and Dodgers. All the Dodgers and Giants, except for Sam, took a knee. He cited the Black Lives Matter ties to Marxism and his Christian Faith for the reason. Stand tall Sam Coonrod. You’ve done more good with your actions than you realize.
Posted in A4 Uncategorized
This article reprinted with permission from Jack Marshall’s “Ethics Alarms” Jan 4, 2019
There is now rampant speculation that the twin prime-age free agents who have the so-called Hot Stove League in palpitations – the two are outfielder BRYCE HARPER and MANNY MACHADO, both 26, burgeoning superstars and, in the estimation of many assholes, including me – will not sign contracts until February. I find this difficult to believe, since it would be jaw-droppingly stupid (and unethical) but I hope hope hope that it happens, because the ethics lessons the consequences might teach could be momentous. (Continue to full article linked below)
https://ethicsalarms.com/2019/01/04/on-greed-stupidity-and-reality-my-baseball-wish/
You may have noticed or not that I’ve been away from my blog for awhile, not because I want to, but circumstances just sometimes get in the way. But in the Wall Street Journal this morning there was an article that made me want to pound the keys again.
Referring to the Designated Hitter, Houston Astros Pitcher Gerrit Cole says this ~ “I don’t want their pitching and their talent to be affected by having to do something they’re really not comfortable doing.” Well, excuse me, but boo-hoo, grab a binky and get comfortable …… please. With the MINIMUM salary a MLB Baseball player earns being in the $500,000 Range and taking into account a pitcher only plays once every 4-5 days, if he’s good, it’s hard to sympathize with this DH thing.
Official Rules of Major League Baseball. 1:00 Objectives of the Game. 1:01 1st Sentence. Baseball is a game between two teams of nine players each ………. and so it goes. And so it was from the beginning until 1973 when the American League decided to adopt a new rule, Rule 5.11. This rule allows teams to have one player, referred to as the Designated Hitter, to bat in place of the Pitcher which obviously means that team will have 10 Players listed on its Roster for that game. This rule has never been adopted by the National League, even though efforts to force them to do so have been made regularly since 1973. And this year is no exception.
So, you say, what’s the fuss all about? Baseball teams play 162 games each year, and the average player plays in most of them. Compare this to football, basketball, hockey, soccer where games are rarely played back-to-back. And there’s no time limit in a baseball game compared to these other sports. A baseball game can last from 2 hours to 5, 6 hours or even longer. The common inference is that baseball is a slow, lazy game so there’s not the physical exertion required in other sports. But when you play 4 games in a row, sometimes two in one day, that argument loses some credibility.
Why has there never been an argument for a DC, Designated Catcher? Can you imagine squatting for 9 innings? The catcher is probably the most athletic person on the field and most of them are pretty good batters.
My point is this. The average MLB Pitcher probably pitches maybe 40 games per year? And he’s only on the field maybe half the time? These are professional athletes and they should be hired not only for their positions on the field but “especially” for their ability to bat, to hit the ball. You want to pitch in the Majors? Then pick up a bat.
Because Baseball is a game between two teams of nine players each.
That’s the game. That’s what it is.
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Note: This is a “Re-post” of my 11/11/14 Blog. I’m currently on vacation in Central America but didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to salute our Veterans, and especially those Veterans who were named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We know that freedom isn’t free and we’re privileged to honor all Veterans everywhere, on this your special day!Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Listed below in alphabetical order by conflict are members / inductees (including non-players) of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown who are officially classified as Veterans – each having served in the United States Armed Services during wartime. |
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| “But the mainstay of the big leagues was the reservoir of 4-Fs – males of draft age who had been rejected on physical grounds by the Armed Forces. Not since harem attendants had gone out of style were men’s physical deficiencies so highly prized. ” – Frank Graham, Jr. in Farewell to Heroes (1981) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Be honest. Aren’t most of you secretly hoping for a Dodger/Yankee World Series? After all, baseball is about a whole lot of memories and what better ones to share than those of Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium. I didn’t come of baseball age until the early 1950’s so I may have a tainted view of what constitutes a valid baseball memory, but believe me, the Dodgers and Yankees are right at the top.
The Yankees have won the most World Series in history and it’s not even close. They’ve won participated in 40 while their closest contender, the SF Giants (okay New York Giants if you’re an oldie) is second with only 20. But no matter. I have different thoughts on who should even be in the playoffs. Back in those days there was only the American League and the National League. No Divisions. That was it. So the team that won the most games in each league were the Pennant Winners and automatic World Series participants.
And isn’t that the way is should still be? Good grief. It’s bad enough having really bad Division Winners being able to compete for the Pennant. Some teams under .500 can still compete for the Pennant depending on how bad the rest of the division is. And forget about the Wild Card. The only possible reason for having that competition is for gate receipts and MONEY. MLB is good at that. They’re running unbelievable ads during the playoffs trying to get kids, I mean 8 and 9 year olds, sucked into buying MLB products online. MLB.com? That’s what’s happening, reminiscent of Wheaties and Cheerios ads in the old days. Get ’em while they’re young. And that merchandise is expensive. How can the average joe afford to buy this stuff for his kids?
I digress. The teams with the best records in MLB for any given season should be the Pennant Winners for each League and they alone should advance to the World Series. And there should be NO INTER-LEAGUE PLAY DURING THE SEASON. Inter-league play undermines the Divisions. How can you say the best team in any Division is one or the other if they’re all playing each other during the regular season. That’s what the World Series is supposed to determine.
So here it is. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros – 2017 Pennant Winners. That’s the way it should be. (Well, actually Houston was one off from the most league wins but they’re there so we’ll leave it alone.)
World Series winner to be determined.
Baseball Surprises!
Recently, I asked my brother-in-law if he thought the Dodgers would be able to put together 100 wins this season. It seemed a given, but they’ve lost 9 of their last 10 games and it reminds me of the 2008 season when the first place San Diego Padres lost 10 in a row in the last month of the season to allow the Giants to win the division, and eventually the World Series.
I know. I get it. Us Giants fans are supposed to hate the Dodgers so we’re always cheering for their demise, but I’m older and have a different perspective. Back in the 1950’s when there were only 16 MLB teams, the closest being located in the Midwest, you had to be a Dodger or Yankee fan, but you couldn’t be both. I was torn because Mickey Mantle was my hero. But the Dodger’s were generally considered the underdog, so they had to be my team.
When the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moved West it changed everything. West Coast fans were of course delighted. Since I was an Oregonian at the time the closest MLB team was now San Francisco Giants. And that’s how it’s been since 1958, when I got to watch my first live pro baseball game between the Giants & Dodgers at Seal Stadium.
I may be the only Giants fan who’s delighted in watching Yasiel Puig, the snot nosed rookie from Cuba, dive in over his head to become a bonafide contender against the odds. And it wasn’t because he didn’t have the talent, he did. But his attitude stunk up the place and we generally cheered for his demise. His numbers aren’t all that great even now, but I still pay attention when he’s at bat. And then there’s Kershaw. If we could have him and the D’Backs Goldschmidt we could easily be back in the saddle again. But “what ifs” are for Fantasy players.
So this morning’s Wall Street J0urnal published a great article by Jared Diamond bringing up some memories of the 2001 Mariners and comparing that team to the current Dodgers in their win/loss record. The semblance is striking and should make the Dodgers a bit nervous about their chances in this year’s playoffs.
After the awful season the Giants have put us through this year, I’m going to root for the Dodgers and hope I can get some sort of satisfaction through them. I’ll just pretend it’s 1958 and start all over again.
Baseball nation is going nuts today over the brawl at the Giants and Nats game. Actually the disagreement was between Bryce Harper and Hunter Strickland after Harper was hit by a pitch thrown by Strickland. To be perfectly honest here, Bryce Harper has never been one of my favorite ball players. In fact, I don’t like much about the guy. He’s an arrogant hot head that gives baseball a bad name. Has anyone ever seen the guy crack even the smallest bit of a smile? Didn’t think so. But in fairness it sure looked like Strickland threw that pitch with intent to nail him, which I’m pretty sure he did.
But my words here are about the tweets, blogs and overall bad press Buster Posey is getting from his actions behind the plate. I mean, he didn’t make any effort to step out from behind the plate to help his poor defenseless pitcher who found himself in a real bind as Harper went charging at him like a bull in a china closet. The ESPN announcers kept bellowing about the fact that the Giants Catcher, Posey, did nothing to help his pitcher out ~ they’d just never seen anything like it, a catcher who didn’t jump in and join the fiasco.
Some thoughts about this, besides the fact Posey’s a leader so probably doesn’t feel a need to jump in the middle of the dogpile:
I mean, come on. Harper gets two home runs off Strickland two years ago and this is “pay back”? Give me a break. Not wise since they’ll probably both get fined and worse, suspended, causing problems not just for themselves, but for the rest of the team.
And tomorrow it’s likely the players will be warned ~ no inside pitches, and/or no hit by a pitch from either side or the pitcher gets ejected. What pitcher needs to play with that kind of pressure on him? So even if he accidentally hits a batter, the pitcher gets ejected and the batter takes the base.
Get your smarts in order pitchers. This is old school stupid stuff and has no place in today’s game. In my humble opinion, of course.
Posted in A1 Baseball, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals
Tagged Bryce Harper, BUSTER POSEY, HBP, hunter strickland, Mike Krukow, retaliatory pitch
Not a lot, and I have no idea why this video turned me into a blubbering idiot. Maybe it’s the fallout of the Giants/Dodgers game tonight, but for whatever reason, hats off to those 18,000 Canadians who sang their hearts out for our National Anthem. Here take a listen and see what you think …… Courtesy of You Tube Videos.
Posted in A1 Baseball, General
Tagged Anaheim Ducks, Brett Kissell, Canadian Hockey, Edmonton Oilers, National Anthem
This has been happening a lot lately. Almost every game in fact. The announcer bellows what a fantastic throw the shortstop has made to 1st base to throw someone out. And it’s usually true. They have. And it doesn’t have to be the shortstop. Could be the 2nd baseman, 3rd baseman catcher. You get the picture.
But the third time it happened tonight in the Giants vs Padres game I was compelled to grab my camera and take a snapshot of the TV screen. It was important to me to validate what a fantastic job the 1st Baseman does in catching (more like salvaging) a ball that, without his outstanding athletic ability, would have ended up in the dugout or worse.
I call it the First Baseman’s Stretch. And if you’ll watch for it, you’ll be surprised how often it happens. That’s probably why it’s a really good idea to get a 6’5″, left-handed guy to handle that base. Even while doing the splits this guy needs the wingspan of a 747 for the reach to make the play.
I just wish the commentators would be more aware of giving credit to the player that’s miraculously avoiding a pulled groin every time he stretches to make that catch while at the same time keeping at least one of his toes on that first base bag.
Above, Michael Morse makes it look easy ….. kinda ….. sort of.
Why in the world was Michael Morse warming the bench in the 9th inning Thursday night? Or in the 10th inning? We’re getting used to it really, because there’s always some silly reason you know? Like the DL injuries up the kazoo, just having an off-night, they outplayed us, outpitched us or we just plain stunk up the place.
But Thursday night was different. Michael Morse was a Giant again, something I’ve been waiting for since the day he left. So when he suited up at Spring Training this year there was hope. Hope there wouldn’t be another really, really lousy year like last year. Because now we really didn’t care if we had a really bad bullpen. We had a power hitter. Again.
So the line-up is announced on Opening Day and guess what? Michael Morse isn’t in it. And it’s okay. We’re getting used to it, remember? But Wednesday night was different because he was back wearing a Giants uniform. Ahhh, still hope. And he didn’t let us down.
So Thursday night I would have been really anxious with the score tied bottom of the 9th, but I knew Morse was in the wings and at least this time we had a chance. It would be okay. And we waited and waited and …… still waiting.
So I’m wondering why Michael Morse wasn’t called off the bench in the 9th inning. And I’ll bet there are thousands of other fans wondering the same thing. No big deal. Just curious, that’s all.
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