the_nub.html
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/30/07)
Coach Charlie Rangel, who directs traffic on the left side of the
national playing field, flashed a sign to his Manhattan constituents
yesterday. One, recalling that Charlie had pronounced Alberto
Gonzales “dead” three weeks ago, asked at a political club gathering
what Gonzales was still doing on the field. “He’s dead,“ the
coach said. And then he gave the sign: a cross over his
heart.
Late Saturday afternoon, baseball’s steroid scandal became real to many
Nub-like fans whose life strategy is denial and avoidance (d’n
a). It happened when Fox sportscaster Joe Buck interrupted Red
Sox-Yankees play-by-play to say this about the expected disclosure of
“dozens” of players who bought steroids from a former Mets clubhouse
attendant: “(It) could shake major league baseball to its
foundations.”
The possibility of asterisk-filled record books subverting the
integrity of the sport loomed for awhile. On reflection, though,
it seems clear the cataclysm can’t happen. An indicator: the
Barry Bonds/Balco scandal has been public for well over a year and
Bonds, unmolested by the law, continues to close in on Hank Aaron’s
home run record. Bonds has not been indicted because he’s never
admitted using the illegal drugs to which he allegedly had
access. Another generic obstacle: the fact that the players union
is not cooperating in the MLB’s internal investigation. And
there’s the further fact that, if Congress subpoenas players to
hearings on the matter, they could refuse to testify on grounds of
self-incrimination..
A cynic might sum up by saying there is too much at stake - the
viability of a hallowed national institution and a major profit center
- to allow any dramatic action to damage the sport.
What does the Yankees’ bad spell and the steroid scandal have in
common? Just this: Nothing will happen to would-be culprits, in
the Yankees’ case Joe Torre. Talk of Torre losing his job when
the team tailspins is just as predictable as a sitting New York senator
mulling the possibility of running for governor. It’s sure-fire
filler material on a quiet news day.
After a busy baseball weekend, some almost-end-of-the-month stats jump
out as April draws to an end: The Yanks are only 1-5 in one-run games,
and just 6-3 when leading after six innings. The Red Sox,
by comparison, are 3-1 and 11-0, respectively. The Phillies
are showing early signs of vulnerability. Picked by many to win
the NL East, they are 0-4 in extra innings and only 1-3 in one-run
games. The back-in-first-place Mets have had a marginally
encouraging April - 2-0 in extra-inning contests and 3-2 in one-run
games. But injuries of undetermined seriousness to Orlando (El
Duque) Hernandez and Jose Valentin could make May an extremely
challenging month for the Mets.
(The Nub appears regularly on
perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics
- 4/27/07)
Seen through the prism of baseball, the message of Bill Moyers’ “Buying
the War” is this: The umpires took one side against the other in
the rush-to-war game played after 9/11.
Umpiring the action on the political playing field with fairness is the
traditional role of journalists trained to “call ‘em as they see
‘em”. That such objectivity was scarce during the run-up to
“shock and awe” is well documented in the PBS program. But Moyers
did identify three media people who performed honorably.
Reporters Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and editor John Walcott, of
the Knight Ridder - now McClatchy - bureau in Washington followed the
action closely and their calls went against the winning team.
In July of 2004 - nearly three years ago - Strobel was interviewed
about those calls. In his response he made clear he didn’t relish
saying the government was off-base, but that was what he saw:
“I have to believe that in my heart
of hearts that -- and again I'm not trying to be political here, but
just analyze it from a journalist's point of view -- I have to believe
that Bush and Cheney really believe that they were doing the right
thing. And they truly -- After 9/11, they felt that there were some
threats out there that had to be handled in a different way. But the
sad fact of the matter is that the intelligence did not support that
assessment.”
- Interview with Echo Chamber Project, 7/13/04
One term that dominated the talk on “Buying the War” was
“access.” Reporters relaxed their news-judgment standards to gain
- or maintain - access to high-level government sources. Too many
baseball news people cater to the teams they’re covering for
access-related reasons. An exception is Jon Heyman, formerly a
Newsday columnist, now with Sports Illustrated. Heyman never
allowed himself to become embedded with the Mets or Yankees during his
17 years with the Long Island daily. The other day he did a
column on the SI website in which he ranked the top active managers in
the game. He listed 12; the top six are 1) Tony La Russa; 2) Jim
Leyland; 3) Mike Sciosia; 4) Joe Torre; 5) Lou Pinella; 6) Bobby
Cox.
What prompted Heyman to make his rankings was Atlanta general manager
John Schuerholz calling Cox “the best manager in baseball.” Heyman
thinks the players Schuerholz brought to Atlanta were the key
ingredients allowing Cox to lead the team to 14 post-seasons, five
World Series and one world championship. He suggests that La
Russa did more with less, achieving 10 post-seasons, five World Series
and two world championships in 29 years of managing (the White Sox,
Athletics and Cardinals). Cox has managed for 26 years at Toronto
(where he went to the post-season once) and Atlanta. Going by
results, Cox clearly has the edge. But if the Nub could choose a
manager for its fantasy team, the choice would be Leyland.
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(baseball and politics, politics and baseball
- 4/26/07)
On opening day a few years ago, a call-in talk-show host asked members
of his New York-area audience why they liked baseball.
“Baseball gives me comfort,” said a first caller. “A Yankee fan,”
thought a nubber who happened to support the Mets. He knew, as do
most Met fans, that what the Mets give is
Agita.
Prompting that recollection is an article in The Politico pondering the
possible political persuasions of followers of the two NY teams.
Citing the views of “some fans,” writer Samantha Slater concludes that
“the Yankees and Mets represent different
ends of the political spectrum, with the clean-cut, corporate Yankees
suggesting all things Republican and the somewhat disheveled and
individualistic Mets exuding a more Democratic appeal.”
That is probably a fair generalization: the “corporate” Yankees spend
to make sure they have the resources to win; the Mets have until
recently scrambled on short rations to play “meaningful games in
September.” Yankee fans have capitalistic confidence their team
will make the playoffs; blue-collar Met fans can only hope.
Rudy Giuliani, perhaps the most prominent Yankee fan, indirectly
suggests another distinction between the two franchises and their
followers. Speaking in New Hampshire on Tuesday, he said his
other team - Republicans - would emphasize (Yankees-like) “offense” in
fighting terrorism, while Democrats, modeled after the left side of the
Mets infield, perhaps, would adopt a “mentality of being on
defense.”
Giuliani’s offensive posture is working in poll-based contests with two
of three major competitors on the Democratic side of the field.
Composite numbers put him slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton and John
Edwards and less than a point behind Barack Obama. The composite
poll stats put Giuliani ahead of his closest GOP competitor John McCain
by a 31-19 score.
Giuliani’s Yankees lead the AL in team batting with an average at
game-time last night of .281. As for the Mets, even with the 11-5
loss to Colorado yesterday, they maintain leads in the NL in
both hitting and pitching, with a team BA of .295 and an ERA of
2.88. Milwaukee and the Dodgers trail the Mets in hitting and
pitching, respectively. Oakland has the best team pitching record
in the AL, with the Yanks down in 10th place. The Red Sox
offer the only mild surprise in the stats rundown. While second
to the Athletics in team pitching, Boston was, as of last night, only
fourth in hitting, 18 points below the Yankees.
SNY’s Ron Darling, gathering momentum yesterday in praise of Rockies
rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki: “He looks like a ballplayer…He’s
going to be one of the better ballplayers in the league…He’s already
there.”
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitch.org)
(politics and
baseball, baseball and politics - 4/25/07)
Mayor Bloomberg scored big with his plan to create an
environmentally-friendly city. But not around Yankee
Stadium. Sandlot baseball players and fans in that area of the
Bronx know how plans that sound good can be slow to come to
fruition. Construction of a new Stadium next to the existing one
- in Macombs Dam Park - is an example As of last August it
meant the loss of four baseball fields. As announced by
Bloomberg, the new Stadium plan promised temporary replacement of
one of the fields this spring. But delays have meant no baseball
will be played there the entire season.
David Mojica, district manager of the local Community Board - #4 - says
the board opposed the plan, entailing loss of 21 acres of area
parkland, from the start. There was similar local opposition in
1993, when the city gave over 20 acres of parkland in Flushing, Queens
to the National Tennis Center. In both cases, creation of
compensating park space in different locations was - and is -
promised. Small comfort to 40 schools - and sandlot ball teams -
in the Stadium area deprived of places to play.
Lack of playing space is surely one of the reasons only 124 of roughly
400 city public schools have varsity baseball teams. Many of the
schools without teams are in African-American catchment areas, a clue
perhaps as to why the percentage of blacks in the major leagues has
shrunk from 27 to under 9 percent in last 35 years. Twenty-four
of 33 Catholic high schools field baseball teams. Among schools
that have dropped the sport are former powers Rice of Manhattan and
Loughlin in Brooklyn, both with substantial African-American student
populations.
- - -
It has been a treat listening to the Yankees play the Devil Rays the
last two nights, if only because Joe Girardi was in the YES broadcast
booth with Michael Kay. In the seventh inning Monday night, when
Tampa Bay scored three runs to put the game away, Girardi was at
his insightful best. He noted that relievers tend to be high in
the strike zone until they get their rhythm (as Luis Vizcaino completed
a walk started by Brian Bruney). He warned that ninth-place
hitter B.J. Upton was tough with men on base (before Upton hit a
three-run double). He then correctly predicted a safety squeeze
by Brendan Harris (“Why not?”). After an intentional walk to Carl
Crawford, loading the bases with one out, Girardi said clean-up hitter
Ty Wigginton could be handled because he “chases curve balls.”
Moments later, Wigginton reached out and grounded into a double play.
An incidental note on the Devil Rays: Five players - one-fifth of
the Tampa Bay roster - are African-American, the largest such
representation in the majors.
Kitty Carlisle Hart, doyenne of the Showbiz League, who died last week
at 96, was remembered for a quotation that made many baseball fans
think of a particular active player.
“With
a soupcon of courage and a dash of self-discipline,” she said,
“one can make a small talent go a long
way.” The player? David Eckstein, of the
Cardinals. Of course.
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball
and politics - 4/24/07)
Back when there were only 16 teams, and no wild cards, playoffs or
inter-league games, Braves president Lou Perini appointed himself
baseball’s goodwill ambassador. (En route to Atlanta, the Braves
had newly moved to Milwaukee from Boston.) Perini traveled around
the world, selling the game with some success. When he arrived in
France, however, the French sports establishment told him he was
wasting his time.
“We notice that in baseball there are long periods of inactivity,” said
the editor of France’s sports daily, “punctuated by spurts of action.
We like our games to have continuous action, with teams deployed like
armies on a battlefield.”
The rebuff prompted Perini to give up his portfolio and, ever since
(can it be a coincidence?) , the U.S. media have adopted an attitude
toward France like that of many baseball fans toward the
Yankees: resentment mixed with envy. We see it today in
disdainful accounts of France’s “welfare state” provisions, including a
35-hour work week and (at least) five weeks vacation..
“It’s outrageous,” goes the typical complaint, “how much that franchise
is spending on instant gratification.“ (“France Looks Ahead, and It
Doesn’t Look Good” was the headline on Sunday’s op-ed page in the NY
Times).
Meanwhile, Le Monde, the French equivalent of the Times, is calling the
results of the country’s intra-squad contest - the first round of its
presidential election - a “double victory.” A record turnout was
one win; the top finishers - Nicolas Sarkozy, who bats right, and,
Segolene Royale, who throws left - the other. French voters will
now have a “clear choice”, Le Monde says, when they go to the polls
again in two weeks.
Joe Torre had little choice Sunday night. He was stuck with a
fill-in battery - Chase Wright, and Wil Nieves - when the Red Sox
ignited their four-home-run explosion. Whether the injured Jorge
Posada could have helped the rookie tamp down the fireworks we’ll never
know. But words uttered by Tim McCarver a day earlier seemed
relevant during that lively third inning: Second-string catcher “is the
most important fill-in position,” he said.
Baltimore lefthander John Parrish is proving to be more than just an
extra member of the team’s relief corps. Going into last night’s
game against Oakland, Parrish had struck out 13 of the 26 batters he
faced so far this season.
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/23/07)
The field in Washington is set up for a double play. But can the
anti-Bush team erase the less-than-nimble Alberto Gonzales and Paul
Wolfowitz? Can those players’ clumsiness lead to their being cut
down, or will manager George W get away with not making a move?
Two scouts’ observations about the base-clinging of Gonzales and
Wolfowitz:
“What has doomed Alberto Gonzales
will keep him hanging on long after it's clear he should go. He serves
at the pleasure of the president, and the president's pleasure is his
only concern. It's hard to imagine things getting worse for this
attorney general. Yet somehow, and until the president shows him the
door, he doesn't see the situation as all that bad.”
- Dahlia Lithwick. Slate
“A White House spokesperson (has)
reiterated Bush’s “full confidence” in the troubled bureaucrat, stating
that the president believes Wolfowitz “has done a very good job at the
World Bank.” Maybe compared to the Iraq debacle, but not in the eyes of
World Bank staffers, who depicted a leadership in distress even before
the current scandal blew up.
- Robert Scheer, Truthdig.com
Of the two, Gonzales seems the more likely to be replaced.
He is too big a liability for his Republican teammates. Bush
might defy conventional strategy and keep Wolfowitz in the game.
Here at home, the World Bank president is a less prominent political
player than Gonzales. If Wolfowitz does indeed stay in the game,
he will also likely benefit from the fact that skipper Bush doesn’t
want to give in to a double switch before so many
spectators.
With his banged-up lineup, Joe Torre had to do a lot of switching in
Boston over the weekend. No injury was more hurtful than the
bruised thumb suffered by Jorge Posada. Before the series began,
Yankee (and former Bosocker) reliever Mike Myers told the Boston Globe
how indispensable Posada is to his team:
"He's one of the guys we couldn't live without. Look at what happened
when the Red Sox lost Jason Varitek last year. That's what he means to
our pitching staff."
To which Fox sportscaster Joe Buck added on Saturday afternoon: “Posada
cannot be replaced.“ Buck’s partner Tim McCarver, still sharp as ever,
predicted David Ortiz’s two-run homer in the fourth inning of game
2. “Ortiz has a bead on (Jeff) Karstens,” he said. “If
you’re the catcher you just cringe as you give the signs.”
On TBS the other night, a big, unfamiliar-looking Cubs pitcher was
shutting down the Braves with impressive dispatch. It wasn’t
would-be phenoms Mark Prior or Kerry Wood or current ace Carlos
Zambrano. Turned out it was Rich Hill, who by night’s end had
given up one earned run in 22 innings for an 0.41 ERA to go with his
3-0 record. Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo contends that, as of now,
Hill is the “best pitcher in the National league.”
(The Nub appears regularly
on perfectpitcher.com)
(baseball and politics,
politics and baseball -
4/20/07)
“It’s Armageddon 2007!”
Al Quaida versus the West? The wars in the Middle
East? No. Baseball writer Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe,
was talking in a podcast interview about the weekend series pitting the
Yankees against the Red Sox. Their first match-up of the season
(as everyone in Yankeeland and the Red Sox Nation knows) is
scheduled for tonight at Fenway Park.
Since the season is less than three weeks old (minus the many games
lost to bad weather) little is known for sure as teams begin the long
trek toward October. But off performances so far, the one
consensus pre-season prediction that seems to be on the money is that
the Yanks and Boston will both make the AL playoffs. And “money”
is the appropriate word. With $195 million and $143 million
payrolls, respectively, owners George Steinbrenner and John Henry have
succeeded in securing rarefied perches for their teams, high above the
competition. (The LA Angels are next on the AL’s high-rise
salary list with a payroll of $109,000.)
Baseball’s much-ballyhooed parity exists, but it becomes operative in
the AL only during the short post-season series when
spur-of-the-moment things can happen. Far from
world-shaking, the games starting at Fenway tonight are obviously just
warm-ups for a possible league championship series in the fall.
Then, with pardonable exaggeration, it might be fair to use the term
Armageddon.
The subject of the big money required to have Yankees- and Red Sox-type
advantages in major political races is a constant these days, as is the
talk of campaign finance law reform. The ramifications of the
need for intensive fund-raising were described eloquently 25 years ago,
when big money had just begun to be indispensable to winning or holding
office. Senator Alan Cranston, a California Democrat, explained
the facts to aspiring candidate Gore Vidal, which the author/political
gadfly recounted in his recently published second memoir:
“Say you’re elected to a six-year
term as senator. Say you would
like to be elected to a second term. Unless you sell out to one
of the great lobbies, you will be obliged to raise ten thousand dollars
each week for every week of your first term. That’s 312
weeks.”
- From “Point to Point Navigation” (Doubleday 2006)
Stacy Cohen, a Mets fan relocated in Los Angeles, decided to close out
Jackie Robinson week by recalling this on-the-air tribute to Jose Reyes
(and Robinson). It occurred during a Mets-Dodgers spring training
game described for an LA TV audience by Vin Scully:
“(Reyes)led off the game by beating
out an infield hit,..Then he quite
routinely stole second base… While the pitcher just stood on the mound,
Reyes took off for third, so catching the pitcher off guard that he
made neither a pitch nor a throw. Scully was raving about how
exciting Reyes was…Reyes danced down the third base line, taking a huge
lead since the third baseman wasn’t there to hold him on. This so
unnerved the already rattled pitcher that he threw a wild pitch. As
Reyes raced for home, scoring easily, the great Vin Scully said: “He
reminds me of Jackie Robinson.” If any other commentator had said that
I wouldn’t have related the story, but it was Vin Scully, and he said
it in a kind of hushed tone of wonderment. It was great!”
(The Nub appears regularly on
perfect pitcher)
(politics
and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/19/07)
Former Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Mario Cuomo was once asked by a
constituent his secret for giving an effective speech. “Make sure
you feel strongly about your subject,” the-then governor replied.
He also mentioned knowing your audience and checking out beforehand, if
possible, the speaking site.
The elder Cuomo’s advice could be useful to Council Speaker Christine
Quinn and any other ambitious current or would-be elected
official. A magazine gossip item had Quinn taking speech lessons,
presumably in anticipation of a mayoral bid in 2009. Her office
denied the report. The Nub hopes it was accurate, not because
Quinn is a bad speaker. If true, her effort to sharpen her stump
skills might be a sign that a de-emphasis on political speechmaking -
first signaled by Geraldine Ferraro - has ended.
Three years after Cuomo left office (1994), Ferraro asked an
acquaintance to support Peter Vallone for governor. “Vallone
can’t give a speech,” was the response. “Who gives speeches
anymore?” said Ferraro, who spoke with the authority of a former vice
presidential candidate. Implied was the fact that, owing to
listeners’ ever-shortening attention spans, predictable,
strung-together remarks had replaced elaborately prepared political
speeches. It would be good for the entire electorate -
especially with a presidential campaign already upon us - if serious
speechmaking makes a comeback.
“Surprise me! Tell me something I don’t know.” An aide to
the recently deceased Robert Drinan said such was the way the former
Congressman/Jesuit priest greeted the people who worked for him.
That also would be good advice for would-be effective speechmakers…and,
yes, for people who impart information about baseball.
The Nub commended occasional Yankees announcer Joe Girardi the other
day for giving fresh insights about the game to his listeners. A
similar commendation goes to ESPN’s Joe Morgan for a tidbit he passed
along during last Sunday night’s Padres-Dodgers game.
“It’s going to be a breaking ball,” Morgan said before a particular
pitch. “How do you know that?” his partner John Miller asked.
“Because there was only one sign.” said Morgan. “If the catcher calls
for a fast ball, he gives two signs.” “One for the pitch and one
where it should go,” said Miller. “That‘s right,” said Morgan.
Larry Dierker gets a commendation for being informative, too.
Dierker, now a color commentator for the Houston Astros, was a star
pitcher for the team in the ’60’s and ’70’s. The insight he
imparted - in a book, not over the air - is deceptively simple, but
should be kept in mind by fans at hope-springs-eternal time, otherwise
known as the pre-season. Dierker wrote the book “It Ain’t Brain
Surgery” soon after he managed the Astros from 1997 through 2001; he
was fired despite taking the team to the playoffs in four out of
five years. Dierker wrote that he was bitter about the treatment
he received in 2001, but felt better on seeing the roster his successor
Jimy Williams had inherited.
“I looked down that roster and said to myself ’There’s no way that team
can win’.”
It didn’t.
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitch.org)
(politics
and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/19/07)
Former Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Mario Cuomo was once asked by a
constituent his secret for giving an effective speech. “Make sure
you feel strongly about your subject,” the-then governor replied.
He also mentioned knowing your audience and checking out beforehand, if
possible, the speaking site.
The elder Cuomo’s advice could be useful to Council Speaker Christine
Quinn and any other ambitious current or would-be elected
official. A magazine gossip item had Quinn taking speech lessons,
presumably in anticipation of a mayoral bid in 2009. Her office
denied the report. The Nub hopes it was accurate, not because
Quinn is a bad speaker.
If true, her effort to sharpen her stump skills might be a sign that a
de-emphasis on political speechmaking - first signaled by Geraldine
Ferraro - has ended.
Three years after Cuomo left office (1994), Ferraro asked an
acquaintance to support Peter Vallone for governor. “Vallone
can’t give a speech,” was the response. “Who gives speeches
anymore?” said Ferraro, who spoke with the authority of a former vice
presidential candidate. Implied was the fact that, owing to
listeners’ ever-shortening attention spans, predictable,
strung-together remarks had replaced elaborately prepared political
speeches. It would be good for the entire electorate -
especially with a presidential campaign already upon us - if serious
speechmaking makes a comeback.
“Surprise me! Tell me something I don’t know.” An aide to
the recently deceased Robert Drinan said such was the way the former
Congressman/Jesuit priest greeted the people who worked for him.
That also would be good advice for would-be effective speechmakers…and,
yes, for people who impart information about baseball.
The Nub commended occasional Yankees announcer Joe Girardi the other
day for giving fresh insights about the game to his listeners. A
similar commendation goes to ESPN’s Joe Morgan for a tidbit he passed
along during last Sunday night’s Padres-Dodgers game.
“It’s going to be a breaking ball,” Morgan said before a particular
pitch. “How do you know that?” his partner John Miller asked.
“Because there was only one sign.” said Morgan. “If the catcher calls
for a fast ball, he gives two signs.” “One for the pitch and one
where it should go,” said Miller. “That‘s right,” said Morgan.
Larry Dierker gets a commendation for being informative, too.
Dierker, now a color commentator for the Houston Astros, was a star
pitcher for the team in the ’60’s and ’70’s. The insight he
imparted - in a book, not over the air - is deceptively simple, but
should be kept in mind by fans at hope-springs-eternal time, otherwise
known as the pre-season. Dierker wrote the book “It Ain’t Brain
Surgery” soon after he managed the Astros from 1997 through 2001; he
was fired despite taking the team to the playoffs in four out of
five years. Dierker wrote that he was bitter about the treatment
he received in 2001, but felt better on seeing the roster his successor
Jimy Williams had inherited.
“I looked down that roster and said to myself ’There’s no way that team
can win’.”
It didn’t.
(The Nub appears
regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics
and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/19/07)
Former Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Mario Cuomo was once asked by a
constituent his secret for giving an effective speech. “Make sure
you feel strongly about your subject,” the-then governor replied.
He also mentioned knowing your audience and checking out beforehand, if
possible, the speaking site.
The elder Cuomo’s advice could be useful to Council Speaker Christine
Quinn and any other ambitious current or would-be elected
official. A magazine gossip item had Quinn taking speech lessons,
presumably in anticipation of a mayoral bid in 2009. Her office
denied the report. The Nub hopes it was accurate, not because
Quinn is a bad speaker.
If true, her effort to sharpen her stump skills might be a sign that a
de-emphasis on political speechmaking - first signaled by Geraldine
Ferraro - has ended.
Three years after Cuomo left office (1994), Ferraro asked an
acquaintance to support Peter Vallone for governor. “Vallone
can’t give a speech,” was the response. “Who gives speeches
anymore?” said Ferraro, who spoke with the authority of a former vice
presidential candidate. Implied was the fact that, owing to
listeners’ ever-shortening attention spans, predictable,
strung-together remarks had replaced elaborately prepared political
speeches. It would be good for the entire electorate -
especially with a presidential campaign already upon us - if serious
speechmaking makes a comeback.
“Surprise me! Tell me something I don’t know.” An aide to
the recently deceased Robert Drinan said such was the way the former
Congressman/Jesuit priest greeted the people who worked for him.
That also would be good advice for would-be effective speechmakers…and,
yes, for people who impart information about baseball.
The Nub commended occasional Yankees announcer Joe Girardi the other
day for giving fresh insights about the game to his listeners. A
similar commendation goes to ESPN’s Joe Morgan for a tidbit he passed
along during last Sunday night’s Padres-Dodgers game.
“It’s going to be a breaking ball,” Morgan said before a particular
pitch. “How do you know that?” his partner John Miller asked.
“Because there was only one sign.” said Morgan. “If the catcher calls
for a fast ball, he gives two signs.” “One for the pitch and one
where it should go,” said Miller. “That‘s right,” said Morgan.
Larry Dierker gets a commendation for being informative, too.
Dierker, now a color commentator for the Houston Astros, was a star
pitcher for the team in the ’60’s and ’70’s. The insight he
imparted - in a book, not over the air - is deceptively simple, but
should be kept in mind by fans at hope-springs-eternal time, otherwise
known as the pre-season. Dierker wrote the book “It Ain’t Brain
Surgery” soon after he managed the Astros from 1997 through 2001; he
was fired despite taking the team to the playoffs in four out of
five years. Dierker wrote that he was bitter about the treatment
he received in 2001, but felt better on seeing the roster his successor
Jimy Williams had inherited.
“I looked down that roster and said to myself ’There’s no way that team
can win’.”
It didn’t.
(The Nub appears regularly on
perfectpitcher.org)
(politics
and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/19/07)
Former Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Mario Cuomo was once asked by a
constituent his secret for giving an effective speech. “Make sure
you feel strongly about your subject,” the-then governor replied.
He also mentioned knowing your audience and checking out beforehand, if
possible, the speaking site.
The elder Cuomo’s advice could be useful to Council Speaker Christine
Quinn and any other ambitious current or would-be elected
official. A magazine gossip item had Quinn taking speech lessons,
presumably in anticipation of a mayoral bid in 2009. Her office
denied the report. The Nub hopes it was accurate, not because
Quinn is a bad speaker.
If true, her effort to sharpen her stump skills might be a sign that a
de-emphasis on political speechmaking - first signaled by Geraldine
Ferraro - has ended.
Three years after Cuomo left office (1994), Ferraro asked an
acquaintance to support Peter Vallone for governor. “Vallone
can’t give a speech,” was the response. “Who gives speeches
anymore?” said Ferraro, who spoke with the authority of a former vice
presidential candidate. Implied was the fact that, owing to
listeners’ ever-shortening attention spans, predictable,
strung-together remarks had replaced elaborately prepared political
speeches. It would be good for the entire electorate -
especially with a presidential campaign already upon us - if serious
speechmaking makes a comeback.
“Surprise me! Tell me something I don’t know.” An aide to
the recently deceased Robert Drinan said such was the way the former
Congressman/Jesuit priest greeted the people who worked for him.
That also would be good advice for would-be effective speechmakers…and,
yes, for people who impart information about baseball.
The Nub commended occasional Yankees announcer Joe Girardi the other
day for giving fresh insights about the game to his listeners. A
similar commendation goes to ESPN’s Joe Morgan for a tidbit he passed
along during last Sunday night’s Padres-Dodgers game.
“It’s going to be a breaking ball,” Morgan said before a particular
pitch. “How do you know that?” his partner John Miller asked.
“Because there was only one sign.” said Morgan. “If the catcher calls
for a fast ball, he gives two signs.” “One for the pitch and one
where it should go,” said Miller. “That‘s right,” said Morgan.
Larry Dierker gets a commendation for being informative, too.
Dierker, now a color commentator for the Houston Astros, was a star
pitcher for the team in the ’60’s and ’70’s. The insight he
imparted - in a book, not over the air - is deceptively simple, but
should be kept in mind by fans at hope-springs-eternal time, otherwise
known as the pre-season. Dierker wrote the book “It Ain’t Brain
Surgery” soon after he managed the Astros from 1997 through 2001; he
was fired despite taking the team to the playoffs in four out of
five years. Dierker wrote that he was bitter about the treatment
he received in 2001, but felt better on seeing the roster his successor
Jimy Williams had inherited.
“I looked down that roster and said to myself ’There’s no way that team
can win’.”
It didn’t.
(The Nub appears
regularly on perfectpitcher)
(politics and
baseball, baseball and politics - 4/18/07)
Two comments published yesterday on the shootings at Virginia Tech -
one from outside Fenway Park in Boston, the other from Europe:
“
While joyous Sox fans filed into
Back Bay and intrepid runners made their way through Kenmore Square,
dozens of families were being informed of the loss of a loved
one. This was a senseless carnage that took place not on foreign
soil after a declaration of war. These young people were gunned down
while doing what college kids do -- sitting in dorm rooms and
classrooms. Safe havens, we thought.”
- Dan Shaughnessy, the Boston Globe
“On any given day about 80 people are
killed by firearms, the vast majority by murder or suicide. Gun
violence may cost $2.3 billion each year in medical expenses, but it is
a price, gun supporters believe, that is worth paying to protect a
fundamental freedom.
Virginia's gun laws are fairly
typical… Non-Americans may be amazed, but a state law of the 1990s
limiting handgun purchases to one per person per month was regarded as
a step towards curbing Virginia's reputation as a source of easily
acquired "illegal" weapons used for crime.
“There is no sign of attitudes
hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land,
Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on
semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favourite of violent
criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid
yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security
measures on campuses - not serious moves to reduce gun ownership.”
-
Commentary on “America’s love affair with guns,” The Independent, UK
Gun control, along with social security and Israel/Palestine, have
clearly become the equivalent of a failed suicide squeeze in U.S.
politics. Remember, John Kerry decoying his interest in duck
hunting during the 2004 presidential campaign. Rudy Giuliani
clearly feels obliged to avoid a similar pickle with the gun lobby this
pre-presidential year. "I used gun control as mayor," he said at
a news conference in Sacramento last Saturday. But "I understand
the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms."
* * *
Change of pace: Scott Swanay, the fearlessly precise NYC-based
statistician - remember, he predicted the Yankees would win 98 games
this season to 96 for the Red Sox, and that both Eastern Division teams
would make the AL playoffs - has weighed in on the National
League. Again with eyebrow-raising specificity, Swanay
picks the Phillies to win the NL East, and the Mets and Marlins to tie
for the wild card spot (no prediction on who will emerge from that
playoff). The Harvard-trained stat man also says audaciously that
the Cubs and Dodgers will win their divisions by 10 games or more, and
that the defending world champion Cardinals will finish under .500!
(The Nub appears regularly on perfect pitcher.org)
(politics and
baseball, baseball and politics - 4/18/07)
Two comments published yesterday on the shootings at Virginia Tech -
one from outside Fenway Park in Boston, the other from Europe:
“While joyous Sox fans filed into
Back Bay and intrepid runners made their way through Kenmore Square,
dozens of families were being informed of the loss of a loved one. This
was a senseless carnage that took place not on foreign soil after a
declaration of war. These young people were gunned down while doing
what college kids do -- sitting in dorm rooms and classrooms. Safe
havens, we thought.”
- Dan Shaughnessy, the Boston Globe
“
On any given day about 80 people are
killed by firearms, the vast majority by murder or suicide. Gun
violence may cost $2.3 billion each year in medical expenses, but it is
a price, gun supporters believe, that is worth paying to protect a
fundamental freedom.
Virginia's gun laws are fairly
typical… Non-Americans may be amazed, but a state law of the 1990s
limiting handgun purchases to one per person per month was regarded as
a step towards curbing Virginia's reputation as a source of easily
acquired "illegal" weapons used for crime.
“There is no sign of attitudes
hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land,
Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on
semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favourite of violent
criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid
yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security
measures on campuses - not serious moves to reduce gun ownership.”
- Commentary on “America’s love affair with guns,” The Independent, UK
Gun control, along with social security and Israel/Palestine, have
clearly become the equivalent of a failed suicide squeeze in U.S.
politics. Remember, John Kerry decoying his interest in duck
hunting during the 2004 presidential campaign. Rudy Giuliani
clearly feels obliged to avoid a similar pickle with the gun lobby this
pre-presidential year. "I used gun control as mayor," he said at
a news conference in Sacramento last Saturday. But "I understand
the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms."
* * *
Change of pace: Scott Swanay, the fearlessly precise NYC-based
statistician - remember, he predicted the Yankees would win 98 games
this season to 96 for the Red Sox, and that both Eastern Division teams
would make the AL playoffs - has weighed in on the National
League. Again with eyebrow-raising specificity, Swanay
picks the Phillies to win the NL East, and the Mets and Marlins to tie
for the wild card spot (no prediction on who will emerge from that
playoff). The Harvard-trained stat man also says audaciously that
the Cubs and Dodgers will win their divisions by 10 games or more, and
that the defending world champion Cardinals will finish under .500!
(The Nub appears regularly on perfect pitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/17/07)
On Patriot’s Day in Boston yesterday, Howard Zinn, author of the
“People’s History of the United States,” asked this question in a radio
interview about the patriotic resolve to stay the course in Iraq:
“Why should we win if winning means
destroying a country? And there's still people who say, oh, we could
have won the Vietnam war, as if the question was, you know, can we win
or can we lose, instead of what are we doing to these people?
“Yes, we could win in Iraq by
destroying all of Iraq. The Russians could have won Afghanistan by
destroying all of Afghanistan. We could have won in Vietnam by dropping
nuclear bombs instead of killing two million people in Vietnam, killing
10 million people in Vietnam. And that would be considered victory. Who
would take satisfaction in that?”
It was Zinn who lamented in a speech in New York City around the time
of “Shock and Awe” that President Bush and his advisors “have no
respect for human life.”
Respect for what Jackie Robinson accomplished seems to have been in
short supply among the New York Mets and New York Yankees. Major
League Baseball says approximately 250 of the 750 players in both
leagues wore Jackie’s number 42 to honor him on the 60th anniversary of
his breaking the color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mets
opted to have not a single player wear 42; only manager Willie Randolph
was to have worn the number in the rained-out game Sunday. Why?
The Mets were asked. “That’s what we decided to do” was the dismissive
press-office answer. Explained owner’s son Jeff Wilpon
inexplicably: “For us in our position it was the right thing to
do.” The Yankees had Mariano Rivera wearing 42, because that’s his
everyday number. Why did no other Yankee wear 42? “You’ll have to
ask the Commissioner’s Office,” we were told. Said the
Commissioner’s Office: “You’ll have to ask the Yankees.”
Former Dodger great Duke Snider found the Mets wanting on the playing
field last Friday night. Watching from the team’s TV booth
at Shea Stadium, he was clearly underwhelmed by the home team’s
performance against the lowly Washington Nationals. “We‘ll know
how good the Mets are,” he said, “after they play the Dodgers, Padres
and Diamondbacks.” Snider, who lives in southern California,
sounded confident the West Coast teams would get the better of the Mets
in those match-ups.
Slate, the on-line magazine, has begun tracking presidential match-ups
in the political prediction market. Bettors use such markets to
put money on candidates they think will win a major-party presidential
nomination. Slate reports that one prediction entity, the Iowa
Electronic Markets (IEM), has been consistently better at forecasting
winners than have pre-election polls. The latest IEM scoreboard
on top-tier candidates puts Hillary Clinton’s “market value” at $46.40
and Barack Obama’s at $38.50 (against a $100 payoff if she or he
wins). On the Republican side, IEM puts Rudy Giuliani’s value at
$30.70, John McCain at $17.80.
(The Nub appears daily on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and
baseball, baseball and politics - 4/16/07)
While Don Imus’s lip was distracting spectators around the country,
Democracy Now southpaw Amy Goodman zeroed in on the overriding issue of
the ruckus: corporate responsibility for how the airwaves are
used. Taking a political windup, Goodman fired away in her
syndicated column:
“The public owns the airwaves that are being used by the big corporate
broadcasters. The broadcasters, like NBC, ABC and CBS, have an
obligation to use those airwaves “in the public interest, convenience
and necessity.” These profitable corporations take these public
airwaves for free, then peddle them for exorbitant advertising rates.
“We have to ask…why are our airwaves, the single most important method
by which Americans get information about choosing the future president,
being held hostage by corporate broadcasters?”
The new Democratic majority in Congress, tentatively responsive,
is looking into the double-play combination of lobbying and
political contributions in the broadcasting field.
A later Jackie Robinson memory on this, the 60th anniversary-plus-one
of his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers: Shortly before his death
in October 1972, Robinson was guest at a luncheon in Manhattan at which
civil rights activist Charles Evers spoke. Robinson moved and
looked far older than his age, 53. Evers began his remarks
by addressing his hero: “You’ll never know, Jackie, what
you meant to us black folk in Mississippi. We would sit out at
night, listening to the Dodger games from St.Louis. ‘How is
Jackie doing?‘ You gave us hope…“
The man who helped lead professional baseball players out of the
wage-earning wilderness, Marvin Miller, turned 90 yesterday.
Miller organized the players union
in 1968, walking away 25 years ago, when its success was assured.
In explaining why he was retiring at the top of his game, he said
simply “I want to lead an intentional life.”
Boston Globe columnist Bob Kuttner accuses the Democrats of lacking a
long-range game plan at yet another time when Republican conservatives
seem to be on the run. Here is how he summarized the situation
while running down the lineup of Dem presidential prospects:
“Of the first-tier candidates, Hillary Clinton is most like her
husband. She would appoint competent people, and run a reliable foreign
policy. But she is closely associated with advisers who think budget
balance is a higher priority than social spending, and she's raising
distressingly large sums from Wall Street.
“No liberal can fail to be stirred by Barack Obama. Given the immense
damage done by Bush and company, nobody would be better able to redeem
the promise of America, both at home and globally. But though he is not
yet the front-runner, Obama already has a touch of front-runner disease
-- being distressingly vague about what he'd actually do. He is trying
to be both a progressive and someone beyond conventional categories.
Alas, there's no such thing.
“Of the three, John Edwards would seem the most likely to govern as a
true economic progressive. But his wife's medical troubles will likely
make it very hard for him to devote full attention to a campaign over
the next 18 months.
“How many times does conservatism have to fail before we get a
successor who reclaims American liberalism?”
(The Nub appears regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics
and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/13/07)
“Alberto is gone.”
Charlie Rangel was not talking about a sudden disappearance of the
player many consider the best hitter in the major leagues - Albert
(born Jose Alberto) Pujols - Wednesday night.
Rangel’s reference was to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose
management of the Bush Justice Department team has been widely
denounced after disclosure of the political firing of eight U.S.
attorneys.
Rangel did not elaborate on the remark, made at a Manhattan political
club meeting. But, as chair of the powerful House Ways and Means
Committee, his pronouncement suggested that the departure of Gonzales
is a done deal.
Rangel declined to go to bat strenuously for Hillary Clinton, whose
team he joined years ago. “Just because she won’t say she made a
mistake on the war is no reason not to support her,” was the way he
defended his backing of the New York junior senator‘s presidential bid.
While well over a third of the 750 major league players were, like
Pujols, born in Latin America, substantially less than a tenth are
African-American. The number of blacks in the early seventies was close
to the percentage Latinos now represent. The decline of baseball as an
inner city sport - owing to, among other things, shortages of playing
fields and education money - is a key reason for the dropoff.. When
Jackie Robinson broke the organized baseball color line in 1946, many
young blacks gravitated to the sport.
Baseball will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Robinson playing his
first major league game this Sunday. One Perfect Pitcher was at Ebbets
Field a year earlier, April 1946, when Jackie played an exhibition game
with the Montreal Royals against their parent team the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
The enduring image is of a single black player in a sea of whites
during pre-game practice. And the thought: “That doesn’t seem right.“
Another memory is the recognition that Robinson spoke in grammatically
correct sentences, a revelation to many whites living in a deeply
racist time.
A complaint made public before Rangel’s arrival at the Manhattan
political meeting concerned the Working Families Party. Where most
Democratic candidates, challengers and incumbents, welcome the support
of the WFP, and its Labor connections, Dem activists complain that
Working Families sometimes supports Republicans and is undercutting the
older party’s clout in the state’s electoral bailiwick. A situation
Democratic leaders might choose to purposely pass at the party’s peril.
(The Nub appears
regularly on perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/12/07)
The perennial MVP Jimmy Breslin emerged, however briefly, from the
retired list the other day to survey the presidential field.
Breslin as a rookie wrote the book on the fledgling New York Mets
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” In a Newsday column, he said
the media should cover each of the city’s candidates, Hillary Clinton
and Rudy Giuliani, “like a local baseball team.”
Breslin went to the record book on one of the candidates, Giuliani, and
targeted, not Rudy’s performance as a player, but his off-field
activities:
“We come to his marriages. He and his current wife, the former
Judy Nathan, have six marriages between them. A half-dozen
marriages. In May of 2000, he and his second wife, Donna Hanover,
ended their marriage. Giuliani announced it on television.
Already he was taking out Judy Nathan. We know about their
wedding at Gracie Mansion on May 24, 2003. She wore a tiara…”
Giuliani appears ready for brush-back pitches aimed at his personal
life. This is how he handled them in a recent interview, as
reported by The Politico’s Roger Simon:
“Giuliani…admitted that he has made some mistakes.
‘You have a balance of things you did right and things you did wrong,
and the mistakes you made are very public ones,’ he said. ‘The
question is: What’s the balance? Is the balance a balance of success or
not‘?”
So far the balance is in Rudy’s favor: composite poll numbers as of
this posting show Giuliani ahead of the Republican field by more than
14-and-a-half percentage points over closest opponent John McCain.
Another question - which has nothing to do with Rudy, but might
interest him: “Why does baseball refuse to avail itself of instant
replay?”
National Public Radio commentator Frank Deford, who posed the question,
noted that nearly every other sport, including gymnastics, uses the
replay to confirm - or deny - close judgement calls. This is how
he framed his argument:
“Is there anything more insane than you and me, and thousands — maybe
millions — of people sitting at home…watching a replay which shows
clearly that a ball the batter hit was foul, but the four umpires are
standing out there in the field debating what they thought they saw
when one of them called the ball fair?”
Baseball’s delay in embracing use of replays seems to mirror the
government’s inability to settle on a uniform voting procedure designed
to prevent election fraud. There’s a precedent in how sluggishly
the two institutions dealt - and are dealing - with racism and drugs,
respectively
The cosmic confrontation in Boston last night between Japan’s Ichiro
and Dice-K yielded the emergence in the East of a 21-year-old Seattle
fireballer, Felix Hernandez. His one-hit, complete-game
performance - a 3-0 victory for the Mariners - surely left New
Englanders and New Yorkers wishing he wouldn’t be playing so far
away.
(The Nub appears regularly on
perfectpitcher.org)
(politics and baseball, baseball and politics - 4/12/07)
The perennial MVP Jimmy Breslin emerged, however briefly, from the
retired list the other day to survey the presidential field.
Breslin as a rookie wrote the book on the fledgling New York Mets
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” In a Newsday column, he said
the media should cover each of the city’s candidates, Hillary Clinton
and Rudy Giuliani, “like a local baseball team.”
Breslin went to the record book on one of the candidates, Giuliani, and
targeted, not Rudy’s performance as a player, but his off-field
activities:
“We come to his marriages. He
and his current wife, the former Judy Nathan, have six marriages
between them. A half-dozen marriages. In May of 2000, he
and his second wife, Donna Hanover, ended their marriage.
Giuliani announced it on television. Already he was taking out
Judy Nathan. We know about their wedding at Gracie Mansion on May
24, 2003. She wore a tiara…”
Giuliani appears ready for brush-back pitches aimed at his personal
life. This is how he handled them in a recent interview, as
reported by The Politico’s Roger Simon:
“Giuliani…admitted that he has made
some mistakes.
‘You have a balance of things you did
right and things you did wrong, and the mistakes you made are very
public ones,’ he said. ‘The question is: What’s the balance? Is
the balance a balance of success or not‘?”
So far the balance is in Rudy’s favor: composite poll numbers as of
this posting show Giuliani ahead of the Republican field by more than
14-and-a-half percentage points over closest opponent John McCain.
Another question - which has nothing to do with Rudy, but might
interest him: “Why does baseball refuse to avail itself of instant
replay?”
National Public Radio commentator Frank Deford, who posed the question,
noted that nearly every other sport, including gymnastics, uses the
replay to confirm - or deny - close judgement calls. This is how
he framed his argument:
“Is there anything more insane than
you and me, and thousands — maybe millions — of people sitting at
home…watching a replay which shows clearly that a ball the batter hit
was foul, but the four umpires are standing out there in the field
debating what they thought they saw when one of them called the ball
fair?”
Baseball’s delay in embracing use of replays seems to mirror the
government’s inability to settle on a uniform voting procedure designed
to prevent election fraud. There’s a precedent in how sluggishly
the two institutions dealt - and are dealing - with racism and drugs,
respectively
(The Nub appears regularly on
perfectpitcher.org)
the_nub archive
