Bud Selig Fiddles While Baseball Continues to Burn

The Cardinals of St. Louis have won the World Series. In a little less than 36 hours we were able to witness the good, the bad, and the ugly of what was once America’s Pastime. For those of you who missed the last two games, first the good... Game six was incredible. I know we are not supposed to use adjectives like often, but in this case, it fits. Twice, the Cardinals were down to their last strike before somehow managing to pull even. The stadium was rocking in the ninth inning when with two outs and two strikes David Freese tripled to the wall in right to tie the game and send it into extra innings. The Texas Rangers struck quick and the Cards once again saw themselves headed home in the bottom half of the inning. This time the hero was Lance Berkman who singled to bring in the tying run and we were on to the 11th. As if on cue, David Freese found himself at the plate again. Hometown hero David Freese, a modern day Roy Hobbs, connects and drives the ball over the wall in dead center sending the series to a game seven finale. But that’s the good, now we move on to the bad... The game ended at 12:45am on the east coast. I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, 10:00pm was my latest bedtime on a school night, and that was the exception. How is baseball going to draw kids into the fold if they cannot see their sports idols in the Fall Classic? How many young kids in Pittsburgh never would have given baseball a second thought had they not been witness to Bill Mazeroski’s famous home run that beat the mighty Yankees in 1960? In the 60’s and 70’s, baseball ruled the US sports scene and the World Series was a huge part of the reason why. With Curt Gowdy and later Vin Scully calling the games on television and the home town announcers helping out on radio, time stood still in America for 3 hours in the middle of every game day. If you were not watching the game somewhere, you smuggled a transistor radio into school or work and listened on your crummy little earplug. And then, if you were a kid, you went outside and became not only Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, and Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, but also unlikely heroes Bucky Dent, Gene Tenace, and yes David Freese. Because you had witnessed their greatness on the World Series stage. But if that is the bad, what’s the ugly? The St Louis Cardinals winning the World Series. Now I have nothing against the storied St. Louis franchise. They won the games they needed to win, and in stirring fashion to boot. Coming back from from the grave during the season, as they did, should serve as a testament to the old cliche “it ain’t over til it’s over.” But they did not deserve to be in the World Series. They finished second in their division. Baseball was the last of the major sports to suckle up completely to the teat of television and allow losers into the championship. And the man most responsible for that is baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Since assuming the mantle of commish, Selig has a record that, while delivering millions to the owners, has left the game a shell of its former self. A missed World Series, an All Star Game tie, interleague play that has diluted the Fall Classic, steroids, and the wild card, allowing second place teams a chance to play for the championship are just a few of the foibles of Bud Selig’s reign of terror on baseball. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The fans, after witnessing it all the last 36 hours can only say, “Hey Bud Selig! You know what you are? Just a dirty son of a bitch!”

Strike Three Called... Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers Strike Out

I awoke this morning to the news that pigs were flying, hell had frozen over, and that apparently, after a month of Sunday’s, the apocalypse was upon us. For those raised on the steady stewardship the O’Malley family provided the storied Los Angeles Dodgers for over 40 years, news this morning of their bankruptcy filing was like a sucker punch. This is a franchise that was once one of the most valued in sports. And the most innovative. Baseball farm system? Developed by the Dodgers. First black baseball player? A Dodger. West coast baseball? Pioneered by the Dodgers. Tiered stadium design so all fans had open sight lines with no columns? Yep, that too came from the Dodgers. Campanella, Snider, Reese, Koufax, Drysdale, Garvey, Orel, Fernando, and of course, Jackie Robinson. Mike Piazza might have made that list, but after O’Malley sold the team, the new owners didn’t think he was worth keeping around. We have been assured in press releases from the current owners today that there will be "no disruption to the Dodgers' day-to-day business, the baseball team or to the Dodger fans." What the current owners, Frank and Jamie McCourt, fail to understand is that their ownership constitutes a disruption of the Dodgers baseball team and is itself, a continuing nuisance to the fans. From the moment the political leadership of Los Angeles rebuffed Peter O’Malley’s offer to build an NFL Stadium on Dodger property and bring football back to LA, we were doomed. O’Malley saw the writing on the wall. Understanding that it was becoming increasingly hard for a family to make money with baseball as your sole business, he thought he would use his own money and build a brand spanking new state of the art football stadium in LA. Los Angeles politicians however were still wedded to the aging Coliseum downtown and told him to back off. They had it handled. Strike one and O’Malley sold the team to Rupert Murdoch, head of FOX Broadcasting. Soon after taking over, FOX axed the famous grilled Dodger Dog and then handed future Hall of Famer and fan favorite Mike Piazza his walking papers. Strike two. Murdoch then sold the team to longtime Boston residents, Frank and Jamie McCourt, who learned nothing from Murdoch about respecting local legends and fired broadcaster Ross Porter, a Los Angeles sports institution almost before the ink dried on the contract. Now I can understand that it is your team, and you should have the right to hire and fire who ever you want, but when you choose to whack a 28 year loyal employee, don’t you think a personal call might be in order? The McCourts let Porter know he was being let go after 28 years by leaving a message on his answering machine! It was called third strike in the heart of the fans. And that was before we knew the lovely duo of Frank and Jamie had leveraged the team finances in a single handed bid to save the Los Angeles real estate market. Today the Los Angeles Dodgers are bankrupt. I hope the judge that will settle this understands that this bankruptcy extends well beyond the finances of the Dodgers. I hope he understands that it reaches into the very soul of this once great Los Angeles institution. Like Murdoch before, the McCourts have failed. Let’s hope there is indeed some disruption in the “day to day operation” of the Dodgers, because since the O’Malley family sold the team, that operation has struck out.

All Eyes Are On Washington Tonight

*Update Below* Tonight is the night. The phenom takes center stage in Washington D. C. and I ain’t talkin’ about Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Barack Obama, or any other politician. Nope, today is not about primaries, tea parties, and oil. Today is about Stephen Strasburg, the fireballing right handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals. To hear his backers tell it, this guy is Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and Walter Johnson all wrapped in one, with perhaps a little Carl Hubbell on the side. The savior of a franchise. The Lord of the mound, the anointed of Major League Baseball. I am not sure we need to really play the game tonight. After all, it is against Pittsburgh, one of the worst teams in the National League for as long as I can remember. Let’s just give the guy a win and call it good. Even Dan Patrick and the Danettes were musing on the radio this morning about the possibility of a no-hitter. Not one to want to throw cold water on a party, but we’ve been down this road a few times before. Here’s the pattern. Young player is dominant in high school or college, signs for millions in bonus money and is quickly brought up to the bigs because no owner is making this type of investment to watch a kid play ball in Toledo. Now some of these kids make it, but for every Koufax, who took 7 years to become the dominant pitcher he was, there is a Mark Fidrych, a one year respite from the doldrums of summer. I am not saying young Mr. Strasburg will not have a long, spectacular career. I hope he does. I am just saying let’s keep our wits about us. While it is entirely possible this kid is the second coming, it is also possible he will be just an average pitcher, struggling with control and lacking a major league curve ball when it counts. Besides, even if he flames out quickly, we’ll soon have Bryce Harper, baseball’s newest 17 year old future star coming up soon. He was just drafted last night and will be signing for about $345 million dollars to play for the same team as Strasburg, the Nationals. I wonder where Rich Reichardt is today? *Update* In his debut, Strasburg struck out 14 in seven innings while walking none. A pretty impressive performance for the rookie pitcher.