Editor’s Note: Today we begin a five part series on Spring Training over the past 40 years. Each Friday between now and March 6 we will feature a snapshot of what Spring Training was like in 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015. Today we focus on 1975.
From a personal history perspective, 1975 was the most important year of my life, because it was the year I was born.
To be specific, I was born during Spring Training of 1975, and have had a love of Spring Training and baseball ever since.
Of course, to be fair, I do not remember much about that first Spring Training of 1975. I would not see my first Spring Training game in person until 1985.
But the world of Spring Training in 1975 was certainly different than the Spring Training that will begin next month.
For starters, there were only 24 Major League teams in 1975 compared with the 30 ball clubs of today.
While the 30 clubs are evenly divided this year with 15 teams in Florida’s Grapefruit League and 15 clubs calling Arizona’s Cactus League their spring time home, the world of 1975 had a very Florida feel with all but 7 of the clubs calling Florida home.
The Grapefruit League clubs of 1975, and the towns where they held spring training were, the Cincinnati Reds (Tampa, FL), Boston Red Sox (Winter Haven, FL), Pittsburgh Pirates (Bradenton, FL), Baltimore Orioles (Miami, FL), Kansas City Royals (Fort Myers, FL), Los Angeles Dodgers (Vero Beach, FL), Philadelphia Phillies (Clearwater, FL), New York Yankees (Fort Lauderdale, FL), St. Louis Cardinals (St. Petersburg, FL), New York Mets (St. Petersburg, FL), Texas Rangers (Pompano Beach, FL), Minnesota Twins (Orlando, FL), Chicago White Sox (Sarasota, FL), Montreal Expos (Daytona Beach, FL), Atlanta Braves (West Palm Beach, FL), Houston Astros (Cocoa, FL), and Detroit Tigers (Lakeland, FL).
The Cactus League teams of 1975, and training city were, the Oakland Athletics (Mesa, Arizona), San Francisco Giants (Phoenix, Arizona), Cleveland Indians (Tucson, Arizona), Chicago Cubs (Scottsdale, Arizona), California Angels (Palm Springs, CA), San Diego Padres (Yuma, Arizona), and Milwaukee Brewers (Sun City, Arizona).
Current Major League Baseball teams who were not yet on the map in 1975 were the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays.
Over the next few weeks of our every decade snapshot of Spring Training, we will be readdressing the teams and watch how the Spring Training addresses of some teams changed through the years, while others stayed put decade after decade.
While Spring Training and Major League Baseball in general have changed through the years, one constant remains. That constant is the promise that every season starts on the field at a Spring Training Ballpark where ticket prices are relatively low and memories that last a lifetime are made.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another decade of Spring Training to get ready for.
The National Football League season came to a conclusion Sunday with the playing of the Super Bowl where the Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots, who depending on one’s opinion, are either led by the greatest duo to ever exist on the gridiron in Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, or are led be the evil emperor and Darth Vader who commute to their games in a death star and treat the NFL rule book like a collection of suggestions.
The path to Super Bowl glory for the Patriots was not without controversy. There were allegations that the Patriots cheated their way into the big game by having their balls a tad bit softer then the rules allowed.
However, regardless of how soft or hard the balls in Tom Brady’s hands were, the fact remains for the next year, like it or not, the New England Patriots get to call themselves World Champions.
Regarding those soft balls used during the first half of the AFC Championship game, the NFL’s investigation into just who let the air out is still underway.
While the tin foil hat society can continue debating whether there was one lone deflator, or a grassy knoll full of deflators, in the bigger picture, the end of football season means that the arrival of the baseball season is that much closer.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy football. However, after six months of Omaha, hut, hut, I am beyond ready for the sights and sounds of the National Pastime to arrive.
I think if the powers that be of the NFL were honest with themselves, they would also admit that they are ready for another sport to take the spotlight for a while so that the league can recover from a season where players were often making headlines more for their off field activities than anything they did on the field.
That is not to say that baseball players do not have off field problems as well. In fact, Major League Baseball is preparing for the return of Alex Rodriguez after a one and a half season suspension for getting caught putting things in his body that are not allowed to be inside the bodies of Major League Baseball players.
While MLB prepares for the headaches of A Rod drama, few can argue that the past season was one of the biggest public relations headaches for the NFL in its history.
Hopefully, the NFL can use the off season to better define policies and procedures to provide clear cut, consistent responses across the board when issues arise; instead of the shoot from the hip inconsistent approach that took center stage this year.
Speaking of inconsistent approaches, the advertisements in this year’s Super Bowl were all over the map with very few hitting the mark of viral success for making viewers laugh or cry for the right reasons.
It is almost like all of the other ad agencies decided that the beer company that is famous for spots featuring horses and golden retrievers was going to win the hearts of viewers regardless of what they did. So, they just phoned it in when it came to their ads.
Another item hurting companies when it comes to Super Bowl success, is the early release of their ads on the internet.
While one used to have to wait until Super Bowl Sunday to see the ads at great peril to their bladders, now many ads are released days and weeks before the big game. This early release means that any impact of the ad often already occurs before the game.
While this approach may lead to fewer full bladders during the commercial breaks, it does take a little out of the Super Bowl experience by changing the way the game is watched for many.
The commercials I enjoyed the most were the ones I did not have prior knowledge of. There is just something about seeing a Super Bowl commercial for the first time during the Super Bowl as opposed to seeing an ad that has already been trending for a week before the game.
Hopefully marketers will realize that the best ads are the ones that are a surprise to the viewer, and the trend of premature commercial release will be reversed faster than a bad call by a referee.
Ad agencies are now on the clock and have a whole year to figure out their ads for the next big game.
And with Super Bowl 50 coming next February, I am hoping for some truly epic commercials, as well as a game featuring some good teams with properly inflated balls and no Death Stars parked in the employee lot.
Whoever gets selected as the halftime performer also has a tough act to follow as by all accounts Katy Perry and her dancing sharks and roaring cat set the bar very high for all who come after her.
And while a pitcher shaking off a sign from his catcher does not provide the same sound bites as a quarterback calling an audible at the line, who knows, maybe one of the umpires will add “Omaha, you’re out” to his strike out call to help those fans who are going through football withdrawal until the start of organized team activities and spring games in a couple of months.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a baseball season to get ready for.
Editor’s Note: In the spirit of seeking sunshine during a gray winter, and to help usher in the upcoming baseball season we will be featuring baseball movies every Monday between now and Opening Day. Today we look at the fantasy baseball aspect of Major League Baseball with the trend that started it all in Moneyball.
Few people can argue that the game of baseball was forever changed when the sabermetrics element of the game was moved from the back rooms, and fantasy baseball leagues to the general manager’s office.
Like it or not, the advanced analytics are here to stay. Those game changing metrics are featured in the movie Moneyball.Moneyball is the true story of how one team’s front office broke with tradition by using charts and graphs to build a team in a way that forever changed the game of baseball.
The film is based on Michael Lewis’s 2003 book, Moneyball, which follows the Oakland Athletics 2002 season and general manager Billy Beane’s (Played by Brad Pitt in the movie) attempts to assemble a competitive team through nonconventional means.
Instead of relying on the eyes and ears of baseball scouts on the road, the new analytical baseball method relied on computer programs showing where certain players excelled based on historical averages and on base percentage.
Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill star in Moneyball which brings the world of sabermetrics to the big screen. Photo R. Anderson
The idea behind this new approach was that small market teams could spend more wisely on players who got on base more often instead of trying to go dollar to dollar with big market teams who spent more on a single player than many teams spent on their entire rosters.
While a new concept when it was introduced by the Athletics in the 1980’s, almost every team today using sabermetrics to one degree or another to build their rosters each year.
Whether sabermetrics is good for baseball in the long run is still up for debate. It has certainly allowed many smaller market teams the ability to be competitive and stand toe to toe with the big spenders in baseball for the past few decades.
The big spending teams are still around, but through Moneyball inspired roster building, a few smaller teams have found ways to crash the playoff party now and then.
Even the big spending teams have adapted some of the sabermetric philosophies including the Boston Red Sox who used a variation of the Oakland formula to compile the roster that won the 2004 World Series.
While the past few decades have certainly proven that sabermetrics is not going away any time soon, for those wanting to see how it all began Moneyball is the way to go.
Now if you’ll excuse me, all this talk about statistics and math has me feeling a bit queasy.
This past Saturday the Houston Astros hosted their annual Fan Fest.
Fan Fest is a time when fans can go to Minute Maid Park and take in the sights and sounds of the Ballpark before the team heads off to Florida for the start of Spring Training.
There are games for the kids and opportunities to take batting practice. There is even a chance to run around the bases like a Major League Baseball player.
Additionally, there are various state of the franchise forums where team management outlines their expectations for the upcoming season.
Fan Fest is also a place where fans can purchase player autographs, past promotional items and other things with the proceeds all going to the team’s charity.
Batting Practice is just one of the activities for fans during the Houston Astros Fan Fest. Photo R. Anderson
On the surface, Fan Fest is a win for everyone and is a great way to spend a sunny Saturday in January.
Unfortunately, much like the Astros players have a tendency to strike out at the plate, the past couple of Fan Fests have been mostly a swing and a miss from my perspective.
I have attended around six or seven Fan Fests through the years, and this was the second one that I had attended since the new ownership took over the team.
While I am sure there are still growing pains to address, I was really not too impressed with what I saw.
For the second year in a row, instead of letting fans move throughout the whole ballpark with activities spaced out, activities were limited to a U shape on the concourse which created log jams of humanity having to turn around and move back upstream like spawning salmon when they reached the two black curtain dams.
This meant that there was less elbow room than in past years, which made for a bit of a claustrophobic situation.
I am sure that there were many nice activities, but with so many people in such a small space it was hard to tell.
In the future, I would recommend spreading the activities out a bit more to avoid the packed sardine feel.
Another disappointment came in the annual garage sale of past promotional items.
In previous years, I have been able to get many team hats, shirts, and bobbleheads at the garage sale while doing my part to help charity.
This year when I arrived, the garage sale was already sold out of items. I find it very hard to believe that there were more people buying items this year to the point that they would be sold out an hour after the doors opened. I more likely scenario is that the team made less items available for the fans to purchase.
Speaking of things for fans to purchase, both team stores were open to allow people to stock up on hats, shirts and other gear ahead of the season.
The only problem with this was the proximity of the children’s bounce house zone to the store.
I have nothing against bounce houses, or even children inside bounce houses. My issue is with the proximity of the bounce house to the team store.
Anyone wanting to get to the main team store had to fight their way through lines of people waiting to get their bounce on.
There has got to be a better location for the bounce houses that allows the children to play and the adults to get to the store without having that salmon feeling again.
It is very likely that there were people who did not even go to the team store since they did not want to fight their way through bounce house land to get there. So, in this way, the placement of the bounce house zone likely cost the team money.
I did not venture to the Club level to hear any of the forums with team personnel since that would have been another upstream battle to get to the stairway that led to the forums.
In previous years, the fan forums were located in the Union Station lobby next to the team store and were easily accessible without battling the compressed humanity.
I am sure that the forums were good. I certainly wish I could have seen for myself, but it just wasn’t to be.
After two straight disappointing Fan Fest experiences, I will certainly think long and hard before returning next year.
I am sure I can find other ways to mark the arrival of the baseball season without swimming like a salmon with thousands of other fans crammed into a tight space.
Now if you’ll excuse me, all of this talk about salmon has me hungry for some seafood.
Editor’s Note: In the spirit of seeking sunshine during a gray winter, and to help usher in the upcoming baseball season we will be featuring baseball movies every Monday between now and Opening Day. Today we fall in love with the game and visit the first side of the Kevin Costner baseball triangle.
Kevin Costner has made three baseball movies in his career. In those movies Costner has played a Minor League catcher who creates rain delays and catch phrases, a farmer who hears voices in the corn and builds a ballpark, and a Major League pitcher who dates John Travolta’s wife.
Today, we are focusing on the movie where he played a pitcher, For Love of the Game, which also happened to be the newest of the three Costner baseball movies.
By the time the third leg of the Costner baseball triangle rolled around, like an old journeyman pitcher who has bounced around from team to team it was clear that he did not have much left in the tank.
The third side of the Kevin Costner baseball triangle is For Love of the Game. Photo R. Anderson
While Bull Durham and Field of Dreams provided entertainment from start to finish, along with a few tears, For Love of the Game has moments where it turns into that extra inning game that you just want to end so you can fight the traffic and go home.
Still, it is hard to not count the complete Costner trilogy in a listing of baseball movies, since each one contributes pieces to the entire picture.
The movie focuses on Costner as a 40 year-old pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Throughout the course of pitching what could be the final game of his career Costner flashes back to various points of his career both on and off the field. Each of these flashbacks force Costner’s character to think about the events that made him the person that he became.
The movie is helped by the presence of Vin Scully calling the on-field action as only Vin Scully can.
When the day comes where Vin Scully is no longer able to call baseball games, it is nice to know that his voice will live on not only through his massive archive of actual games called, but also through a few silver screen games as well.
There truly is no one left in the world of baseball who calls a game like Vin Scully.
For Love of the Game is not just a baseball movie.
Like the previous movie on our countdown, Fever Pitch, For Love of the Game probably could also fall into the romantic “Rom Ball” category. However, as Fred Savage’s character in The Princess Bride comes to learn, you likely won’t mind the “mushy stuff” as the movie draws to its conclusion.
For the most part, the baseball action is strong, and the flashbacks do not seem to water down the present day action.
Not to give anything away for those who have not seen the movie, but viewers are rewarded in the end of the film in much the same way that a fan is rewarded with a walk-off home run after watching a 21-inning game into the wee hours of the morning.
Again, For Love of the Game is not Kevin Costner’s strongest baseball movie, but it does deserve a place on the shelf next to the other two sides of the Costner baseball triangle if for no other reason than to say that you own the complete triangle of Kevin Costner baseball movies.
And, like I said, there is Vin Scully to listen to so one really can’t go wrong there.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to listen to some vintage Vin Scully broadcasts.
It has often been said that there are at least two sides to every story, and somewhere in the middle is the truth.
I have been thinking about that saying lately as I read the news coverage about the falling price of oil and gas, which depending on who you ask, is either the best thing ever for consumers, or the beginning of the end of western civilization as we know it.
There are many oil companies in and around Texas. When a gallon of gas was sold in the $3 to $4 range they were giddy and beside themselves as they swam Scrooge McDuck style in their big vaults of money.
To be perfectly honest, oil companies probably do not have a big money vault, but if they did there is no doubt that they were swimming in it like a Disney duck in a top hat.
With the average price of a gallon of gas below $2, and falling, many oil and gas companies are shedding employees as they try to stay competitive in a changing market. Photo R. Anderson
Now, that the average price of a gallon of gas is below $2, and falling, those same companies are screaming that the only way they can remain in business at such low prices is by shedding employees as they try to stay competitive in a changing market.
Former oil executives are also telling anyone who will listen that the price of oil will soon rise again much like the phoenix rising from the ashes and that $5 a gallon gas is coming.
All the while, the bulk of the country finds more money in their pockets since the price to fill up at the pump is dropping.
More money not going to gas means more money available to spend on other things. Common sense says in theory more money in people’s pockets should help the economy.
Restaurants and other retailers should benefit from consumers spending less money in gas to arrive at their establishments.
Plus, companies spending less on gas to ship items means they are less likely to need to pass the costs on to those same consumers.
While I do not have an advanced business or economics degree, it seems a very simple equation that lower fuel costs are good and higher fuel costs are bad.
When I first started driving many years ago, gas was still under $1 a gallon.
I remember the uproar when gas stations had to add the third number on their signs when the price of a gallon of gas had the audacity to cost more than a buck.
The rumblings continued each time gas surpassed another dollar milestone as people dug deeper into their wallets each time they went to the pump as $3 and even $4 gas became a part of life.
The only people who would benefit from $5 a gallon gas also happen to be the only ones saying that it is coming. I guess they are hoping for a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Of course, gas is not the only factor affected by the laws of supply and demand.
Prices are higher when demand is great and supplies are low.
Conversely prices tend to drop when supplies raise and demand drops.
The factors of supply and demand are not limited to just oil commodities and play a role in the world of baseball as well.
When a team is red hot and demand to see them in person is high, the prices go up. When a team is struggling in the standings and the turnstile prices usually do not go up.
Under dynamic pricing fans are charged more to see the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees compared with other teams where demand is not as great. Photo R. Anderson
Teams call this the dynamic pricing model. In Houston, the Astros use this practice to raise the price of admission whenever the Yankees and Red Sox come to town since they know that more people want to see those games and are willing to pay the higher prices.
Personally, I have always thought that the same seat in a Ballpark should cost the same amount of money regardless of who the opponent is.
However, it seems that dynamic pricing is here to stay as teams try to find ways to make as much money as they can by pricing differently depending on who the butts in the seats are watching.
Ticket prices are just one of many factors that go into the makeup of a competitive baseball franchise, just as the price of a gallon of gas is just one of the factors that drives the economy.
Falling gas prices will not doom the economy, and baseball fans will still pony up the dough if they want to see a team bad enough.
So, with Spring Training around the corner, it is time to take advantage of the low gas prices and take a road trip to see the action at the Ballpark.
Just don’t be surprised if you see oil executives in fancy suits on the side of the road holding up their sky is falling signs along the way.
After all, those private jets won’t pay for themselves.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Spring Training trip to plan.
Editor’s Note: In the spirit of seeking sunshine during a gray winter, and to help usher in the upcoming baseball season we will be featuring baseball movies every Monday between now and Opening Day. Today we travel to Red Sox Nation on the big screen.
In the movie What About Bob?, the title character, played by Bill Murray, sums up the world as being comprised of two types of people, those who love Neil Diamond, and those who do not.
My aunt falls into the category of someone who loves Neil Diamond. Her love of all things Neil Diamond goes so far as having “Sweet Caroline” as the ringtone on her phone.
While this causes some members of the family to burst out into fits of side splitting laughter whenever she gets a call, it is something that she enjoys.
Like Neil Diamond, one tends to either love the Boston Red Sox, or hate the Boston Red Sox.
It probably is not too surprising then that Neil Diamond and the Red Sox are so intertwined that Red Sox fans belt out that same Neil Diamond song as my aunt’s ringtone during every home game.
While the Red Sox have a long history of winning, they also had a long period of “cursed” play where the diehard fans wondered if their beloved BoSox would ever hoist the World Series trophy again.
The world of a Boston Red Sox fan is explored in the baseball movie, Fever Pitch. Photo R. Anderson
After winning World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013, the Red Sox have certainly been on a bit of a winning streak lately.
But before the start of the winning streak, members of Red Sox Nation had to look towards the silver screen to see a place where the Sox could be champions.
Enter the movie Fever Pitch which explores the fanatical side of Boston Red Sox fandom, while also exploring interpersonal human relationships in the form of a baseball romantic comedy or “Rom Ball.”
At its surface, the terms romantic comedy and baseball should not really be uttered in the same breath. But upon deeper inspection, one can accept that baseball fans have long had a romance with the game that often starts when they catch their first game or pick up a ball and glove for the first time.
In Fever Pitch, the romance is between a Red Sox loving man, played by Jimmy Fallon, and the conflict that arises as he tries to choose between his love of his team and the pressure he feels to grow up.
The movie resonates with fans in different ways depending on where they see themselves along the spectrum.
For some people at a crossroads, they can think about whether they need to give up their childhood love of the game and get a real job.
For others watching, perhaps they long for a return to when they loved the game as much as the characters in the film.
Others may be somewhere in the middle finding balance between a so called normal life and support of the home team.
Regardless of where one stands in terms of their personal baseball journey, Fever Pitch offers a glimpse into a year of fandom related to one of the teams with the most rabid fan bases in all of baseball.
Of course, the movie also may or may not have helped break some of those dreaded Red Sox curses. So, it should be a must have for any member of Red Sox Nation along with a Niel Diamond greatest hits album.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I suddenly have the urge to listen to some Neil Diamond.
Over the weekend the Tampa Bay Rays continued their A to Z roster rebuild by trading long-time fan favorite Ben Zobrist to the Oakland Athletics.
The Zobrist trade is the latest move in a busy offseason for the Rays.
Since October, the Rays have had to find replacements for president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who went to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and manager Joe Maddon, who is now manager of the Chicago Cubs.
After nine seasons with Tampa Bay Ben Zobrist became a member of the Oakland A’s this weekend. Zobrist is just the latest of many players to be traded by the Rays as they retool their roster. Photo R. Anderson
Friedman and Maddon were the two people who were most often credited with the turnaround of the Rays from cellar dweller to playoff contender.
Under their tenure, the Rays experienced their first winning seasons in team history along with some trips to the playoffs including a World Series appearance in 2008.
With the departures of Maddon and Friedman, a sort of free for all trading of players ensued as the new president and manager sought to put their stamp on the franchise.
In addition to Zobrist, the Rays have also parted ways this offseason with their 2014 Opening day right fielder, left fielder, second baseman, catcher, shortstop along with six pitchers. By any calculation, that is a very busy two and a half months.
With months to go before the start of the season, it is entirely possible that even move roster moves will be made before Opening Day.
The only safe player on the roster appears to be Evan Longoria at third base. However, something tells me that the Rays would even entertain offers for him if they felt they could get enough prospects in return.
If recent history is any indication Alex Cobb will be the next pitcher to be traded by the Tampa Bay Rays. Photo R. Anderson
While each of the moves have stung to varying degrees, the Zobrist trade is perhaps the most puzzling.
By all accounts, Ben Zobrist was one of the most popular members of the Rays organization having spent his entire nine-year career as a super utility player filling whatever spot in the infield or outfield needed him.
Off the field, he was involved in numerous outreach programs within the committee that helped show that he was more than just a player there for a paycheck.
Speaking of that paycheck though, Zobrist was due to be a free agent at the end of the 2015 season and was certainly due for a raise in salary.
The baseball economists will say that small market teams like the Rays need to trade players like Zobrist to get value in return instead of watching them depart in free agency.
The business model the Rays seem to embrace is shedding some salary and gaining some prospects in return that they hope will turn into Major Leaguers that they can sign on the cheap and then trade away when they are due for a raise. Lather, rinse, repeat and hope all goes to plan. That is far from an ideal way to run a fan driven business.
The Tampa Bay Rays made their first and only World Series appearance in 2008. That season also marked the first winning season in franchise history. If things do not turn around the club may be headed back towards their losing ways. Photo R. Anderson
Despite the focus on television contracts and corporate sponsorships as revenue streams, the fact remains that teams still need fans to be successful.
Most fans understand that baseball is a business and roster moves need to be made from time to time, but when fans continue to see their favorite players traded year after year they can start to resent the organization.
In college athletics, especially basketball and football, turnover is extremely high as players leave college early to start their professional careers.
In the professional ranks however, fans do not want to have to learn an entire roster every year.
Of course, fall out from trading popular players like David Price last year and Ben Zobrist this year are far from the only issues facing the Rays who seem on the cusp of returning to their devilish losing ways.
Before when the Rays made their famous midseason salary dumping trades, there were still enough key pieces left on the roster to absorb the losses.
History also showed that the traded players seemed to struggle after leaving the Rays leading to the belief that the trade worked out in favor of the Rays.
But as the trades became more frequent, the remaining roster was left weaker and the returns diminished.
Instead of a team poised to win the American League East Division year after the year, the Rays find themselves once again as sellers among a retooling division that is adding pieces at a breakneck pace.
Joe Maddon instilled a winning tradition with the Tampa Bay Rays before opting out of his contract and joining the Chicago Cubs. Time will tell if the Ray way can continue without its ringleader. Photo R. Anderson
Most teams go through a natural process of up and down years. So, a couple of bad seasons will not necessarily spell doom for the Rays.
However, any prolonged losing streak risks further alienating a fan base and making it more difficult to get the new Ballpark they so desperately want full of those suites for the big corporate sponsors.
There is no doubt that should Ballpark discussions continue to break down in St. Petersburg, cities like Montreal and Charlotte will be all too happy to make room for the Rays.
Montreal and Charlotte are certainly both good cities that both have a long history of supporting baseball, but I do not think either of them should get the Rays.
Personally, I hope that the Rays enjoy a long and prosperous run in the Sunshine State and return to their winning ways sooner rather than later.
Failure to do that may mark the end of Major League Baseball on the west coast of Florida leaving the Miami Marlins as the only Florida based MLB team.
If the Rays do make the trek up to Montreal, I hope they put heaters in the sting ray tank and find a warm winter coat for DJ Kitty.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a new roster to learn.
In the musical/movie, Annie, the title character sings a song about the sun coming out the day after today.
While the song about a sunshine filled tomorrow has more to do with an orphan’s wish for better days during the Great Depression than actual meteorology, for many people the gray days of winter have them wishing that they could bet their bottom dollar to get the sun to come out.
This is the plight I have found myself in the last couple of weeks as my section of Texas has had more gray skies than blue skies.
And while the gray in the sky has me asking just who stole my sunshine, there is one place where the sun always shines and the grass is always green.
I am referring to the world of cinematic baseball where even when a movie is filmed during the winter the action on the screen invokes warm days and clear skies.
To be clear, not all baseball games are warm. I have sat through many cold early season baseball games including a particularly cold Pensacola night. However, somehow even freezing at a Ballpark seems warmer than just walking around on a gray day.
There is just something about a Ballpark that warms one down to the core.
In the spirit of seeking sunshine and to help usher in the upcoming baseball season, we will be featuring baseball movies every Monday between now and Opening Day.
That equates to about 12 weeks of cinematic baseball to get you in the mood for the arrival of the Boys of Summer in April.
Today we kick off our 12 week countdown to opening day with Bleacher Bums.
We are kicking off Baseball Movie Monday with Bleacher Bums.
The film follows a group of season ticket holders over the course of a season and explores the interpersonal relationships that develop when you spend several hours a week surrounded by people who share a common interest, in this case baseball.
I have often said that baseball is a sport that is best experienced live at the Ballpark. There are so many sights, sounds, smells and other sensory sensations that just can’t be captured on television.
But in the spirit of our quest for cinematic sunshine, Bleacher Bums can provide that in Ballpark feeling. You may want to have some hot dogs and popcorn available to fully recreate the sitting in the bleachers feeling.
While the actual baseball scenes in the movie offer a few errors, the film connects on the interaction of fans and the conversations that often break out during the course of a game.
Through the years, just as I think I have heard almost everything imaginable in a Ballpark, something new is overheard from my seat and I am reminded of Bleacher Bums and how it captures the Ballpark conversations to a science.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to check the weather forecast once more to see if there is any sunshine coming in the 10-day forecast.
The other day, it was announced that four players had been selected as Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2015 inductees.
Three of the inducted players were making their first ballot appearance, while the fourth was elected on his third year on the ballot after missing induction by two votes last year.
While the four elected players represented the largest induction since 1955, once again players who were deemed tainted by the steroid era in baseball were left on the outside looking in.
In fact, several of the roughly 500 men and women who comprise the voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BWAA) have gone so far as to say that they will not vote for any players who spent their careers in the steroid era; regardless of whether or not they ever failed a drug test.
In taking this stance, the “anti any whispers of steroid use” voters cite the character clause in the Hall of Fame selection process as their reasoning for boycotting players from the so-called steroid era of baseball.
And speaking of the character clause that seems to be so en vogue with certain voters, are we to believe that every member of the Hall of Fame was an Eagle Scout and a scholar off of the field?
There can be character clause cases made against a number of the titans of the game who currently reside in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.
Two players currently caught in the crossfire of the character clause point of view are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
I grew up watching both players. Aside from a collection of baseball cards with their likeness on them, I was also fortunate to see both players in action at Minute Maid Park.
Barry Bonds, shown in plastic figurine form, was once again passed over for the Hall of Fame along with several other players who were believed to have used banned substances. Although known of the players were shown to be dirty some voting members of the BWAA refuse to vote for anyone who played during the so called steroid era regardless of what was or was not proven against them. Photo R. Anderson
While neither Bonds nor Clemens would be the type of athlete I would want to emulate off of the field based on the amazing egos both men seem to possess, by all accounts, those very same egos drove them throughout their careers and should have made them locks for first ballot induction to the Hall of Fame.
Both men had lengthy careers and put up the type of numbers that made a statistician blush and opposing players and fans curse.
Unfortunately late in their careers, both Bonds and Clemens were caught up in the net of suspicion regarding performance enhancing drugs, or PEDs, and were brought in front of a congressional subcommittee to face charges that they lied about their use of PEDs.
Despite both men being acquitted of the charges against them, and with Hall of Fame caliber numbers, they still are not in the Hall of Fame despite calls from more than 75 percent of fans to let them in.
This year, only a third of the guardians of the gate with their golden ticket votes determined that Bonds and Clemens are Hall of Fame worthy.
With only a few more years left on the ballot, it is entirely possible that two of the best players of their era will be on the outside looking in when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
And therein in lies the rub and the disconnect related to Hall of Fame voting.
The Hall of Fame is decided by around 500 people who have been BWAA members for at least 10 years.
There is no requirement that they ever played the game, but merely that they have covered the game as members of the media who have paid their club dues for 10 years.
Another wrinkle in the BWAA rules is that only 10 people can be included on any given ballot despite there being more than 10 eligible players each year.
I am not suggesting that the Hall of Fame turn into a sort of American Idol situation where fans can call in their votes for their favorite players.
But, I am also not sure that allowing 500 members of the media, who have different philosophies on what constitutes a tainted player, should be the only people guarding the gates of Cooperstown and determining who is in and who is out.
In all likelihood I will never be a member of the BWAA, nor will I ever cast a Hall of Fame ballot.
But if I were able to ever cast a ballot I would be sure to do my homework on the players and consider their numbers as a whole and not in a vacuum. I would also not use my vote as some sort of political platform.
If steroids were as widespread as Jose Canseco and others would have us believe, than the playing field was level in a certain way in that the numbers put up by players during that era were against other “enhanced” players so they should not be banned from the Hall of Fame, especially if no proof exists that they ever took banned substances. Photo R. Anderson
For example, if steroids were as widespread as Jose Canseco and others would have us believe, than the playing field was level in a certain way in that the numbers put up by players during that era were against other “enhanced” players.
And by all means, with players such as Bonds, Clemens and others who never failed a drug test for any substance banned by Major League Baseball, one cannot ban them from the Hall of Fame because they might have been dirty.
I might have run a red light today, or I might not have.
Should I get randomly pulled over by a police officer and given a ticket just because at some point when no one was looking I may have run a red light? Of course not.
That would be overstepping the authority of the police and go against the letter of the law that one is innocent until proven guilty.
Players need to be judged on their on-field performance and if their numbers support admission they need to be admitted.
Yes, there was a time when the game of baseball was riddled with steroids. However, it was not the only time in the history of the game where players sought to get an edge.
Are we supposed to go through all the way back to Babe Ruth and others to determine if their numbers were enhanced through supplements? No we are not.
I am glad that drug testing is part of the sport, and I do hope that the use of steroids can be contained. However, players always have and always will look for an off the field edge to help their on the field performance.
The practice of using some vague interpretation of the character clause as a way to deny admission to players who have been found guilty of no crime except being guilty by association needs to be stopped.
Unless a player drops their pants at home plate Forrest Gump meeting LBJ style and injects steroids into their buttocks in front of 35,000 witnesses, we need to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Players with a Hall of Fame career deserve their proper enshrinement in bronze if they have never failed a drug test.
Now if you’ll excuse me, all of this talk about baseball and foreign substances that shouldn’t be injected into a body has me craving a hot dog.
Copyright 2015 R. Anderson
Observations from the cheap seats, the beach seats and everywhere in between
