I have been to my fair share of baseball games; both minor league and major.  and ever since I can remember all I have wanted to do was catch a foul or home run ball on the fly.  probably my best chance was 2005; I saw something like 40 games that summer (thanks to the bread bags!)  And I ended up with about 5 foul balls that were hit in the vicinity and retrieved by me.  that’s not the same as catching it on the fly though.

so last night as I took my seat in section 114 at dunn tire park, a foul ball was the farthest thing from my mind.  I had pretty much given up on the idea; I mean you could go a lifetime without catching one.  fast forward to the bottom of the second.  a few foul balls have already been hit, so what’s one more?  I briefly peer up from my text messaging to see where the ball is going; safety first kids!  I see it is coming towards me but I quickly look away as it appears like it will pass us by.  something then compels me to look again and the ball seems to be hanging in the air.  I look at Phil, and we both slowly stand.  This cant be happening. I think.  I have my phone in my hand, why now?  So I quickly pocket the phone and a second later I’m reaching to my right and pulling it back red, sore and ball in hand!  I then receive the obligatory round of applause and clap some high fives with folks.  finally!  I think, check that one off the list!

after catching it though, I got to thinking.  the situation had to be perfect for that.  luckily I was sitting in a section with older people.  what if I was around younger, more eager fans?  what if someone from behind me was taller?  or bumped me out of the way?  so much had to be, and was right for this to happen.  so cool!

on a more nostalgic note.  I’m glad I caught it this season too.  Cleveland is switching affiliations next season and they are how I’ve come to know the Bison’s and love baseball again.  it just means a little more this way.

About two weeks ago, I went on my third vacation of the summer to the wonderful cities of Chicago and Milwaukee.  I love to go and watch baseball games and back in February, I purchased two tickets to the Chicago White Sox versus the Boston Red Sox.  Just two seats over from us sat this gentleman pictured above.  This man may have been able to fool the average person, but I am not the average person. 

I dug down into the depths of my pop culture knowledge to expose this gentleman for the fraud that he is.  Back in 2004 I made a trip to Beantown to the place that everybody knows your name.  It's a quaint little monument to honor one of the top-rated television shows of all time.  THAT my friend's is where Sam Malone made his money after baseball!  A TED DANSON YOU ARE NOT!!!! 

Sam "Mayday" Malone was the fictional character played by Ted Danson in the hit series Cheers.  Malone was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox according the plot line of the television show.  According to the show, his career was derailed by his alcoholism.  I can just imagine the conversation between him and his AA advisor. 

"What are your future plans since your baseball career is over?"

"I plan on opening a bar in the city."

"Perfect!  The only way you can face your addiction is by being around bottles and bottles of alcohol all day."

I have digressed from the original point of this column.  I understand that people out there purchase jerseys of your favorite team.  Hell, I own numerous different Chicago White Sox jerseys.  I even understand the narcissistic need to own your favorite team's jersey with you last name planted on the back of said jersey.  I mean, since you don't actually play for the team, why not fool the rest of the world into thinking you do.  But get the name of a fictional television character on the back of your jersey, that's just plain stupid!  The only thing dumber in my opinion would be to plant the word Jackass on the back of his jersey and go walking around in public with it. 

So Sam Malone, Ted Danson, Jackass, whatever your name my be you mysterious Boston Red Sox fan.  Why don't you go ahead and hang that Sam Malone jersey back up in your closet.  Put it next to that toga you still hold on to from the phenomenal frat party you were at back in the 70's or the 80's.  Let's not ruin Ted Danson's name anymore than he has already done himself.

Riley wanted to punch something. Her wrist felt fine. She was lucky she got hurt early in the season, and she was well aware of it. Getting back in the game, however, was going to get more difficult for each start she missed.

“I’m going nuts here,” she countered. “If I don’t see some action, I’m gonna start climbing walls.”

Ben slapped his hands on the paper-covered desk. The sound was muffled, but it was loud enough to startle Riley.

“You are going to Ohio for rehab. They got a good catcher from the Double-A that will take the knuckleballs. We’ve been looking at matching him up to you anyway. Get a few starts and try it out—after Sam clears you for that knuckler.”

Riley clenched her fists. Her left wrist tightened where the screws held it together.

“Thanks a bunch, Skipper.”

She stalked out of his office. Outside the locker room door, she paused. Pulsing rock music tickled the bottoms of her feet as she inhaled of whiff of sweaty socks and talc. The guys would want to see her before she flew to Ohio.

At the far end of the otherwise empty concourse, she saw players filing in to the visitors’ locker rooms. She started to turn away when a familiar face got her attention.

“Burr!” she yelled. She knew he’d been traded after the pitch that stole a chunk of the season from her. Here he was, big as life with his new team. “Burr, you jackass!”

The pitcher slowed his stride long enough to get a look at her in her street clothes and sneered.

“Hey, if it ain’t little Riley-girl,” he jeered. “Can’t take the heat of playing with the big boys?”

Breathing popcorn and beer fumes through her nostrils, she marched in his direction. His new teammates kept their distance as they watched how the confrontation would play out.

“You’re a pond scum-sucking rat who shouldn’t be allowed out of its cage,” she barked. “When I get back out there, everybody will forget you ever pitched to me.”

Burr wiggled his fingers in mock horror. “Ooh, you got me pissin’ my pants. I better watch out.”

“What the hell is going on here?”

Ben Kemp ran toward Riley and Burr. Less than five seconds later, half her team showed up behind him.

“Nothing,” she said. She knew her gritted teeth and narrowed eyes told a different story. “We were just discussing techniques—you know, like the difference between a great pitcher and someone who’s only mediocre.”

Burr’s face turned burgundy. He looked ready to say something, but he was herded away as his manager stormed up to Ben.

“She’s a hothead, Kemp. She keeps mouthing off like that, and she’ll find herself out on her ass.”

“Is that a threat, Tony?”

“It is what it is. My guys deal with more than enough. They don’t need a hysterical girl distracting them.”

Riley opened her mouth, but Kemp stopped her with a glare.

“My pitcher will do what’s necessary for this team. That’s all you need to know.”

Riley grumbled an impressive chain of obscenities that the opposing manager couldn’t hear. Some of her teammates did, however. When the other guys retreated to the locker room, the first-baseman stayed back and snagged Riley by her good arm.

“Tim, let go,” she ordered.

“In a minute.”

He pulled her out to the box seats above their dugout. Guys were beginning their pregame stretching on the field.

“See those men?” he barked. She nodded, unsure where this was leading. “That’s your team, and they’re relying on you to get back in one piece.”

“That’s the plan. I’m working my ass off so I can get back on the roster. What more do you want?”

Tim rounded on her. “If you go picking fights, it’s going to get you in trouble. You’re too classy for that shit.”

She shook him off. “And I’m supposed to let people walk all over me? I’ve worked too hard for that.”

Ben yelled up at Tim from the field. Fans were starting to trickle in for the game and to watch batting practice.

“I don’t have time for this,” Tim told her. “I’ll just say that it’d be a damn shame if you sink your career by doing something stupid. There’s a lot of idiots who’d love nothing more than to see you fail.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. But you have to get that arm healthy and be better than ever. Stow the attitude, too. It doesn’t fit.”

Excited chatter halted the speech, and Riley was grateful. Signing a few autographs and getting out of there sounded a lot better than getting lectured.

“Get us some runs,” she said. “I’ll call you.”

Tim nodded and trotted down to the top of the dugout, where he hopped off the roof. Riley heard at least two coaches yell at him as he joined the rest of the team. Once she was free of him, she signed a few balls and jerseys then slipped away from the growing pregame crowd.

She would’ve liked to stay and support the guys, but an assignment waited for her in Ohio.

☼

…to be continued

☼

This story may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission from MJ Twain.

Sabathia was traded from the Cleveland Indians to Milwaukee in exchange for a slew of prospects as the Brew Crew tried to solidify their push of a playoff spot.

Before the trade, it was the worse of CCs with Sabathia recording a 6-8 record in a post-Cy Young award-winning letdown.

Since the trade, Carsten Charles has been mowing down the competition.

He has eight wins and five shutouts in nine starts. He has 69 strikeouts while limiting 15 batters to walks in 73 innings pitched. He has even produced at the plate with one home run and four runs batted in.

Sabathia is single-handedly keeping the Brewers atop the National League Wild Card chase and is making a case to not only be known as the best acquisition before the 2008 trading deadline, but he could go down as the greatest trade deadline acquisition ever. In any sport.

Sabathia (with Cleveland): 6-8 3.83 ERA 123 strikeouts 34 walks 122.1 innings pitched.

Sabathia (with Milwaukee): 8-0 1.60 ERA 69 strikeouts 15 walks 73 innings pitched.

Put those numbers together and you'll get a mighty large paycheck when the Winter Meetings roll around.

Well he's in the news again. Not because the Yank'mees signed him to help with their ailing bullpen but because he allegedly assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer.

That's right 20! Top that all you would be alcoholics.

Irabu, became an unhappy former Yank'mee camper after his credit card was rejected. He "allegedly" pushed the bartender against the wall, pulled his hair and smashed at least nine liquor bottles at a bar in Osaka, western Japan, a police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

What no crane kick? What's up with that?

The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette : 50th Anniversary Edition clearly states that one is not allowed to assault the bartender until he or she has:

A.     Taken the keys away from your drunken ass

B.     Actually serve you beer in a glass

C.     Run three separate credit cards with no avail.

It's clear that Irabu was lawfully in the wrong and apparently lacks proper bar manners as well.

The bartender sustained no injuries. Irabu paid the bill with another credit card.

The police official said Irabu admitted the assault before spewing in the back of their nice clean Po Po car.

Irabu started his career with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League and joined the New York Yankees in 1997 on a four-year, $12.8 million.

He spent six seasons in the majors with the Yankees, Montreal Expos and Texas Rangers before signing with Japan's Hanshin Tigers in 2003. Irabu had a career major league record of 34-35 with a 5.15 ERA.

He retired in 2005 and currently lives in California.

“It’s broken.”

Doctor Gould cringed as he delivered the news, although Riley wasn’t surprised.

“How long will it take to heal?” she asked.

Gould looked to Sam and the Knights’ general manager, John Hicks. The GM had taken a lot of risks during his tenure, but none more so than backing Riley’s ascent to the Big Show. He was the last person she wanted to let down.

“It’s a bad break,” Gould said. “You need surgery. Beyond that, it’s wait and see.”

“When will I be able to throw?”

Gould shook his head. “I don’t think that you’ll be able to pitch at this level again. I’m sorry.”

Riley slouched further into her seat. She was in her sophomore year of the big leagues. Her career couldn’t be over just like that. Not yet.

“What are her chances?” Hicks asked.

Gould sighed. “It’s hard to say.” He crouched before Riley. “We’ll do all we can, but I sure as hell won’t promise anything. I will say that if anybody can come back from an injury like this, I’d stake my bet on you.”

Riley nodded without looking at him. She had to make it back. Baseball was her life. Her fans were next most important. Countless girls found their inspiration in her story. It was her supporters who made all her struggles worthwhile.

“Fix me up,” she told Gould. “I won’t let it end like this.”

“That’s my girl,” Hicks said. “You’ll be back on the mound before you know it.”

“Damn straight,” she answered. She stood. “Let’s get on with it.”

As her boss spoke with the doctor and team trainer, Riley turned away to hide her face. She only wished she was half as confident as she sounded.

☼

... to be continued

☼

This story may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission from MJ Twain.

Good evening West Texans and all you good, fine, friendly folks out there who wish you were . . .

JIM LEFEBVRE SOLD HIS SOUL TO ROCK AND ROLL

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/baseball/news;_ylt=AgZer.2YJmriKthvzrYD9acGqZp4?slug=ap-bbi-china-us&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=reu-baseballdc&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Can I tell you how much it bothers me to see Americans going on the take to help China try and win medals? It probably shouldn’t bother me, but it really does. Particularly in a game like this where things turn ugly and I’ve got to think that Lefebvre had a role in it.

Again, it’s one thing to want to be a part of the Olympics. The thing that makes it matter though is representing YOUR country, not getting paid by another. I hope it’s worth it to Jim Lefebvre. If it were up to me, I’d blackball the guy from baseball in America.

MORE LATER

HYATT

Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima (who the hell names their kid "Kenji"?) was charged with a passed ball on another errant pitch in the fifth. The Twins scored on two of Dickey's wild pitches. Top that one Ricky!

..................................................

....................................................

"It was moving violently. If I could have thrown it for strikes, it would have been a real fun day I think," Dickey said. "But I couldn't throw it for strikes."

Too bad one of those pitches didn't hit Tim Tebow.

Dickey became the fifth major league pitcher to throw four wild pitches in an inning. Philadelphia's Ryan Madson was the last to do it, in 2006.

Another knuckleballer, Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, is on the list. So is Hall of Famer Walter Johnson and current Marlins closer Kevin Gregg - who was with the Angels when he tied the record.

Word is R.A. learned the knuckleball from someone that goes by E. Ainge.

]]> http://alanfurst.wordpress.com/?p=821 Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:33:53 +0000 alanfurst http://alanfurst.wordpress.com/?p=821 Baseball is the one sport that is still better on radio.

A great broadcast team can bring a game to life in ways television can't.

The best radio baseball broadcast team of all time? Bob Murphy, Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner, the original Mets crew.

Oh, no I'm not a homer. Not me.

Actually there have been many good teams.

Milo Hamilton and Larry Dierker were excellent on the Astros games in the 80s.

Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall were great together doing the Reds on radio.

Phil Rizzuto and anyone he worked with was entertaining on Yankees games, even when Phil wasn't watching the game.

Today with XM you can hear all of the home teams and get a good idea of what their broadcast teams sound like.

During Mets road games, I'm forced to listen to the other team's broadcast. Sometimes it's painful.

They sure aren't Howie and Wayne, the Met's broadcasters. (That homer thing again)

Saturday night, the Pirate's play by play and color broadcaster were clearly doing the same game. But they were holding separate conversations with neither acknowledging the other person.

They reminded me of the couple who lived next door for a while. The wife talked non-stop, the husband talked non-stop, yet neither one heard a word the other said.

After a while the broadcast became well, annoying. Just like my former neighbors.

The broadcasters should sound like they're having one conversation and working together.

After all, this is a major league baseball broadcast.

To make things worse they had no crowd mic or stadium sounds.

The broadcast sounded sterile like it was done from sound proof studio miles from the stadium.

This started me thinking about problems I hear in the fall with local play by play.

High school and college football season is just around the corner. This is the time when many local stations hire outside help for play by play.

If you are responsible for the broadcast team, listen and keep a few key points in mind.

• Is your audio quality clean so your broadcasters can be heard easily?
• Is your team telling the full story of the game?
• Are they bringing the excitement of the event through sound, like crowd noise?
• Are they talking to each other, or are they having one-sided conversations?
• Are they playing off what each other is saying?
• Is your color person focused on doing color by adding depth and understanding to the play by play?
• What kind of preparation are you requiring your team to do before the broadcast?
• How much time are they spending discussing their coverage before going on the air?
• Are they reviewing the broadcast afterwards and making notes for what can be improved the next week?
• Do you have good examples of radio (not TV) play by play and color announcers that you can use to demonstrate the right way to present a broadcast on radio?
• Remember TV and Radio are vastly different because of how pictures and replay are used on TV.
• Does everyone on your broadcast team understand their role?
• Have you worked out visual signs between the broadcast partners so they know when not to talk?
• Many high school and college play by play and color broadcasters are former coaches with no radio experience, make sure you spend time directing them.
• Do you have a plan for those nights when a game is a blow out?

Basically, this article mentions that, when it comes to the Olympics medal count, the US ranks countries in order of total medals won while China and most of the rest of the world rank countries by how many GOLD MEDALS they've earned. The article then mentions that, due to their disparate ranking methods, the US and China will both probably claim victory at the Gamez.

There's one big problem with this criteria that the article typically fails to mention: the ONLY OFFICIAL FUCKING MEDAL COUNT IS THE GOLD MEDAL COUNT. This is the only fucking ranking criteria the IOC uses or has ever used. In other words, we've decided to play by our own rules. So we can call ourselves the winner but we'll be the only ones that do.

Here's my awesome analogy: In Major League Baseball, wins is the only stat that will get you into the playoffs. So imagine if the Cubs get 100 wins and get into the playoffs but meanwhile the Cardinals won 99 games but scored more total runs, missing out on the playoffs, but then hold a victory parade declaring themselves champions because they scored more total runs during the season.

Awful analogies aside, I hate the medal count, especially because it encourages dumbass big powers like USA, China and Russia to invest in sports that their countries don't give a flying fuck about to begin with just so they can steal a few more medals.

kicknz

Even though I’ve only just hit 30 years old, in the media world I’m considered to be a dinosaur. You see, I’m part of the increasingly rare tribe that actually reads newspapers – and I don’t mean just online (although I have the New York Times and Washington Post websites open pretty much all day), but physical newspapers that come to my doorstep every morning. Part of this is a function of riding the train into work, so I have time to pore through the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune on a daily basis. However, there are also benefits that you get with a physical newspaper in contrast to browsing online – you’re more likely to encounter stories that are outside of your normal reading agenda and I’m perfectly content spending an entire Sunday with the fat weekend edition of the paper.

That being said, while most of the world has been focused on Sam Zell’s quest to sell the Chicago Cubs at the maximum price (and nearly tax-free, no less) with Mark Cuban in the mix, his new plan for changing the newspapers at Tribune Company is particularly disconcerting and may have a more lasting impact on life in Chicago. (The Cubs have long been a marquee baseball franchise with deep pockets and a high payroll, which will continue no matter who the next owner might be.) The plan is reduce staff and close bureaus to slash costs and redesign the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and other Tribune Company newspapers to make them more in tune with what focus groups supposedly say they want, which are more charts, colorful graphics, and shorter stories. This essentially means that Zell is looking to make the Tribune and its sister papers look like USA Today.

The problem, though, is that he is advocating what we call in the legal world “form over substance” – that is, switching things around on a page but not really changing anything meaningful. There are really only three newspapers in the United States that have been able to weather the erosion of paper circulation in this country over the past three decades: the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today. The Journal and Times have made their mark by taking the high road of in-depth investigative reporting and a commitment to resources both here and abroad. On the other hand, USA Today has famously gone after the lowest common denominator as the “McPaper” with lots of charts and graphics. One would think that more newspapers that try to make turnarounds would try to emulate the Journal and the Times, not just because of some amorphous ideal of high journalistic standards, but rather that they are able to charge a premium to advertisers because they draw readers with exceptionally high levels of income and education. This means longer-term revenue streams that are less susceptible to economic downturns.

Certainly, the Tribune has long positioned itself as one of the elite metropolitan papers in the country. (Let’s contrast this with the Chicago Sun-Times, which has lately been putting out lots of hard-hitting stories, including this one referenced on the front page a couple of weeks ago. On a related note, I think all red-blooded American males can agree with this viewpoint.) Yet, every single story that I have ever seen about newspapers getting overhauled show owners going the USA Today route of slimming the paper down for the supposed masses. This occurs even though I have never met anyone that actually has a subscription to USA Today – it’s a paper that’s largely provided for free to travelers staying in hotels. So, Sam Zell and a whole lot of other newspaper owners appear to believe that the path to success for local papers that depend on hometown buyers and subscribers is to emulate a model that has proven profitable for a publication that is passed out free to people while they are away from their home markets. I have worked with Zell’s old REITs before and believe that he is as shrewd of a businessman as anyone, but his approach to the Tribune Company is showing that real estate investment skills aren't necessarily transferable to the media world.

Here’s the mistake that nearly every newspaper owner in the country is making when they are trying to attract the elusive Generations Y and Z: they equate short attention spans with smaller papers containing fewer stories about substantive national and international issues and more blurbs about Hollywood. This is a ridiculous notion since when you take a look at the top 100 websites in the United States by numbers of visitors, you won’t see USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, TMZ.com, People, or any site focused on celebrity news on the list. However, the New York Times, BBC, and Washington Post websites are all on there. People over 30 fail to understand that people under 30 are the most media-savvy consumers anywhere and can instantly identify fluff versus well-written stories. While young people certainly like their junk food stories about the latest travails of Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan along with snarky commentary from a slew of blogs and other media sources, they also crave substance and they will turn to media sources that provide them with that. Even if you grant that physical newspapers are eventually going to go extinct and media companies should focus on the web, the success of the Times and the Post websites ought to be an indicator that going for the high-end of journalistic scale is a lot more successful in drawing readers (and the advertisers that pay for such readers) either online or offline than a bunch of cost-cutting measures and flashy graphics.

So, as a Generation Y guy whose main complaint about today’s Tribune is that it has introduced too many empty journalistic calories (the What’s Your Problem? feature is more suited to a community flyer as opposed to the top paper in the nation’s third-largest media market that features multiple Pulitzer Prize winners, while the Trib's Starbucks fetish has been well-documented), the path to long-term survival in the newspaper industry, whether it’s with ink and paper or on the web, is all about substance over form as opposed to the other way around.

(Note: The Online NewsHour has some excellent analysis of the Tribune Company's proposed moves that largely reiterates what I have stated above. For an alternate viewpoint, the Recovering Journalist takes the Tribune Company employees that are protesting Sam Zell’s moves to task in this post. This is an interesting take, particularly for a former journalist. I agree with the notion that the newspaper industry needs to undergo drastic changes, but Zell's proposed moves aren't necessarily the right moves to make.)

(Image from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University)

Every Major League ballpark we visited this summer holds a special memory for me.

We've now completed our journey and seen them all. Halfway through this BaseCrawl, I posted a blog ranking the first 15 we visited. Now I come to you with my final thoughts on all 30.

It’s proven hard to look back and try to rank some of the parks we've seen. Let’s face it, any day you get to sit down and watch a ballgame is a good day, no matter where you are. Some of the top choices were easy to rank. Others I just slapped a number next to because I had to put them somewhere. This doesn’t mean I didn’t like them, it just means some places hold an extra special memory. 

With this in mind here’s my rankings and reviews of all 30 parks:

No. 1: Fenway Park – Boston, Massachusetts

This is the ballpark of all ballparks. It just narrowly edges out Wrigley Field for my favorite park. I spent a fair amount of time walking around Yawkey Way interviewing fans who couldn’t get a ticket. It’s been increasingly hard to score a seat here over the years and for good reason. Even if you’re not a fan of baseball you need to go here. Sitting in the outfield we felt like we were in the movie "Fever Pitch." Everyone felt like family around us. Watching a night game at Fenway and seeing the lights above the Green Monster is as good as it gets in baseball. Going out in Boston afterward also is a treat.

No. 2: Wrigley Field - Chicago, Illinois  

Believe everything you have ever heard.  I had to go with Wrigley Field for the history alone and it’s a very close second to Fenway. Sitting in this ballpark cannot be explained. Forget about parking unless you want to pay $30 to pull into someone’s garage like we did. The atmosphere around the park is phenomenal.

No. 3: AT&T Park – San Francisco, California

Hands down the best new park of the bunch. Incredible views of everything San Francisco. You can kayak outside the park. We found a FREE parking spot although it took me doing an 87-point turn to get the Jeep properly positioned. I’ve been to San Francisco before and it’s definitely a city I would live in.

No. 4: PNC Park – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Sitting on the banks of the Allegheny River, this park has an old-school feel and is an amazing place to watch a game. It starts with the walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which is closed to traffic on game days. Troy and I had to take a 10-hour drive to Pittsburgh from Boston and I had spent the whole previous night and morning at a bar in Cambridge. Even though I resembled a zombie when I got to PNC Park, I was still awed by the atmosphere.

No. 5: Petco Park – San Diego, California

I have had a love affair with Petco Park and the city of San Diego ever since I first visited it in 2005. Nothing has changed. I still love San Diego and it’s on my short list of places I would like to live. Petco is right in the heart of downtown, right next to the ocean and the park itself has a great baseball feel.  However, they need to outlaw the ketchup/mustard machine.

No. 6: Camden Yards – Baltimore, Maryland

I had a hard time ranking Camden Yards ahead of Safeco just because I like Seattle so much but I give a slight edge to the park in Baltimore. Plus, it was a special night because I got to watch a baseball game with my mom. She's the one who took me to my first-ever game at Shea Stadium and helped fuel my Mets fanaticism. We had great seats at Camden Yards and the atmosphere of the park has that great summer night feel to it.

No. 7: Safeco Field – Seattle, Washington

For some reason Seattle sticks out among all the cities I have been to. I would live there in a second and the ballpark is equally as impressive. Of course Todd Foster kept us liquored up through the whole thing so that may have skewed my impressions. Drunk or not, Seattle and its park gets a high rating.

No. 8: Coors Field – Denver, Colorado

Skiing plus baseball plus Coors Brewery equals a No. 8 ranking. Actually, when I put it that way maybe it should be No. 1.

No. 9: Busch Stadium – St. Louis, Missouri

I still wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking about the Mets losing to the Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS. I will not hold this against the park. It’s a great place to watch an evening game. The summer sunset made the whole stadium glow to make a perfect setting to watch baseball.

No. 10: Kaufmann Stadium – Kansas City, Missouri

This is a hard ranking to explain. Kaufmann is in the middle of nowhere. There's absolutely nothing to do around the park. It has none of the bells or whistles of the newer parks or the history of the older parks. Yet it ranks fairly high on my list. Troy and I agree this was one of our better days at a ballgame. The atmosphere was great. The fans love their team although they haven’t done much in the past 23 years. It was a classic BaseCrawl experience.

No. 11: Yankee Stadium – Bronx, New York

Another fun experience although Nolan and I were stupid enough to wear our Red Sox and Mets jerseys to the game. I spent the first 23 years of my life living in the state of New York but this was my first trip to Yankee Stadium. To be honest it was kind of a crap hole, but it was still fun to think of the legends that had once played here. After the game we headed out on the town and had one of the most fun nights of the trip.

No. 12 Minute Maid Park – Houston, Texas

This day was one of my favorites. I dressed up like a puma and watched the whole game with The Little Pumas -- an interesting perspective, to say the least. The park is certainly unique although I still have a problem with baseball being played indoors. The roof is primarily closed during the summer because of the unbearable heat.

No. 13 Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, Florida

Now this wasn’t one of the nicer stadiums we went to and you hear a lot of negative things about Florida baseball, but I really enjoyed my experience here. As far as experiences go this stadium actually should be ranked much higher. Of course this was due to the company we kept. We got to spend the game with the smoking-hot Emily Rice and her awesome friends Kevin and Nicole along with several other people who were fun to hang out with. We had great seats, spent a couple innings in a cigar bar, and saw some Rays in a fish tank in the outfield stands. Combined with drinking before and after the game and a wild trip through the KFC drive-thru and you have a great day at the ballpark.

No. 14 Great American Ballpark – Cincinnati, Ohio

On this day we were interviewing fans about Pete Rose. As I approached an older-looking man who I thought might have something interesting to say, I asked him, “Excuse me sir, I don’t mean to bother ..." Before I could get out the complete sentence, he said, “Then don’t!” That guy did a great job at pissing me off, but it couldn’t spoil the time Troy and I spent on the outfield porch at Club Red. We spent the majority of the game drinking beers, talking baseball, and generally enjoying the laid-back atmosphere.

No. 15: Turner Field – Atlanta, Georgia

Not only did I get to wear a Mets hat into enemy territory, I got to sit next to a crazy Braves fan who thought my hat was disgusting. Our host Emily (crazy Braves fan) was gracious enough to guide my Braves-hating mentality all over Turner Field. Even though temperatures once again soared into the “holy shit” range it was a great day to watch a game. Especially interesting was the old Fulton County Stadium wall which still stands in the parking lot. 

No. 16: Miller Park – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Once again I’m not a big fan of watching baseball indoors. They closed the roof on this day because of some lightning and a little bit of rain. I think there are nicer parks than Miller that are under it on this ranking. I ranked it higher because of the tailgating alone. I still don’t really understand why baseball and tailgating don’t go together. Of course Troy and I tailgate at every park whether it’s allowed or not but it’s a much nicer atmosphere when everyone around you is doing the same.

No. 17: Comerica Park – Detroit, Michigan

I didn’t realize I was walking into a carnival as I walked into Comerica. Troy and I actually rode in a ferris wheel inside the park. As if two grown men riding a ferris wheel wasn’t weird enough we sat next to John Lynch, who played Drew Carey’s brother on the Drew Carey show. The park was very family oriented but had a nice baseball feel to it. It had a nice view of downtown and the front entrance was the sweetest of the whole trip.

No. 18: Texas Stadium – Arlington, Texas

It took Troy and I a while to get into the stadium as we really enjoyed spending time in the parking lot reminiscing about our trip and wondering how it could almost be over. For those of you who can’t understand why we sometimes take so long to get into the stadium call Troy and ask him about the principal of marginal utility. He will gladly take some time out of his busy schedule to discuss. As for the stadium itself it was a nice place to watch a ballgame. We spent the second half of the game sitting next to Shirley “The Cookie Lady” Kost. This was a treat as she is a die hard Rangers fan and we got introduced to everyone. This includes ushers, security guards, and the girls who shoot T-shirts at you.

No. 19: Citizens Bank Ballpark – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This was another really nice park that unfortunately started blending in with all the rest. We had a tailgating session with some great Philly fans that didn’t hold it against me that I was a Mets fan. On top of it I was front row and center for a hilarious moment on BaseCrawl that saw Troy trying to scalp tickets.  Even though it rained almost the whole game we didn’t care. The Mets lost but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

No. 20: Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, California

I know there's a lot of history that is connected to the team and this park. I felt some of it at times but the laid back attitude of Southern California does not translate to Chavez Ravine. We got hassled from the second we got there. No tailgating, no cameras, no talking to fans, no backpacks, no gate entrance if you didn’t have the right ticket, no watching the game, no eating hot dogs, no talking, and absolutely don’t have any fun. Give me a break.

No. 21: Nationals Park – Washington, D.C.

This was a tough day for me. After our 10-hour drive to Pittsburgh from Boston we had another short night and then five hours to D.C. I was exhausted and was actually looking forward to the game being over. I was revived after getting to the park but when I saw the Nationals play I almost fell asleep. It’s not a very exciting team but the park is brand new and makes a nice home for the one-time Montreal Expos. Although it’s new it still didn’t stand out like some of the other retro parks. It felt a little vanilla but serves its purpose.

No. 22: Chase Field – Phoenix, Arizona

This was our last stop on BaseCrawl but not the least of all the parks. Once again we had to watch baseball indoors but once again we were at the “holy shit” alert warning for heat so I appreciated the air conditioning.  Unbelievably they wouldn’t let us take our camera in, which was completely unexpected and they lost some points for that, especially after an overzealous security guard on a power trip gave Troy a mouthful and a personal frisk. #%$^& you Roy if you ever read this. On the positive side, there's a bunch of cool places to have a beer around the park and we tested a few out. Indoors we had the best seats of the whole trip. Again, a nice park but nothing about it caused me to set it aside from all the others I’ve seen this summer.

No. 23: Progressive Stadium – Cleveland, Ohio

"The Guy” who set off the fireworks for the team let us hang out with him on top of the parking garage across from the stadium. Just another surreal moment on this trip. A nice park that had nothing really wrong with it but it’s getting hard to rank these things.

No. 24: Angel Stadium – Anaheim, California

Their mascot is an actual live monkey. This is hilarious unless you sit in the front row. I wouldn’t want to be around the dugout when this thing starts throwing its own crap at people.  I felt like I was in a retirement community when outside the park. It didn’t have the historic feel of Dodger Stadium but is a nice place to watch the best team in baseball.

No. 25: U.S. Cellular Field – Chicago, Illinois

Had serious attitude when we went there, whether it was the local law enforcement or the fans. Of course it was an interleague series with the Cubs. The area around the field is shady at best and doesn’t have the community feel that Wrigley and the north side of Chicago had but you could tell the fans really loved their team. They didn’t show a lot of respect but I understand to a certain extent because of the rivalry. I could have done without all the fights. The park is nice enough and the tailgating is fun.

No. 26: Metrodome – Minneapolis, Minnesota

I just took a virtual tour of the new ballpark which is due to open in 2010. This is great news for the twin cities because the Metrodome was really bland. The city is great and I got a good vibe from the fans but lets just say I’m looking forward to the new park.

No. 27: Dolphins Stadium – Miami, Florida

The day after the game Troy and I chilled on the beach and had some Corona’s at a local grill. It was an amazing laid back atmosphere and I wished we could have stayed a little longer. As nice as the beaches were the football stadium did little for me. I enjoyed tailgating outside the stadium under the palm trees but baseball inside didn’t evoke feelings of a baseball trip. The Marlins need a new stadium or they need to move the team somewhere that deserves it. The average stadium attendance this season is just over 16,000 per game. Ouch. Compare that to a Yankees game where an average of almost 53,000 people show up to a game. Now I know that Miami will never get the same popularity as the Yankees but give me a break.

No. 28: Rogers Centre – Toronto, Ontario

In all honesty I just moved Canada up a spot. I had just written a whole diatribe on why Canada doesn’t deserve baseball but decided I wasn’t being completely fair. The day we went to Toronto was one of the weirder and uneventful spots on our trip. No one was at the game and the upper concourses looked like ghost towns. Canadians also were genuinely scared and perplexed at our interview attempts. I never felt so out of place in my life. But the city is very interesting and as of this writing the Blue Jays rank No. 20 in attendance. That’s better than 10 other teams in the U.S. So once again Oakland gets the cellar.

No. 29: Oakland Coliseum – Oakland, California

I have to apologize to my brother-in-law, Bret. He’s a huge Oakland Raiders fan and I heard through my sister that he was upset over my previous review of McAfee Coliseum. Sorry again Bret because it’s once again ranked last.  I’ve heard Raiders games are crazy but its just not happening at A’s games. The fans that did show up were good fans. The area sucks. There's nothing there except parking lots and old warehouse buildings. 

Unranked: Shea Stadium – Queens, New York

OK, most of you who know me probably saw this coming. I can’t rank Shea Stadium No. 1 but I can’t rank it lower than that, either. I just can’t. In all reality Shea is a rundown crap hole that no one in their right mind would rank higher than 29th. Having said that there's no place I would rather watch a game. I saw my first game here in April 1989 and continued to watch my Mets at Shea a scattering of times over the past 19 years. My last visit here was a great one. I found myself explaining all things baseball related to our host Becky, who put us up for our entire stay in the New York area. It was a perfect night for baseball. I bought Becky a beer and we talked about why the outfield apple should be saved and why pitchers suck at hitting. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad as the game was nearing its end. You get a great view of the new Citi Field over the left field wall and although I look forward to the new-and-improved home of the Mets my heart will always be with Shea.

So there it is. Each of these places holds an awesome memory that I will never forget. Towards the end our trip I had a recurring nightmare that when we arrived home we were stunned to find out that there were actually 31 teams. Don't think I haven't checked on this several times. I want to write one more blog to sum up this trip so stay tuned.

(There's more on this and our other adventures at BaseCrawl.com.)

Gary Sheffield and Jim "Black Lung" Leyland have been sparring in the media since Monday due to Sheffield's comments he made to a reporter for the Boston Globe.

"I can be in the outfield and play every day. I don't want to DH," Sheffield told the Boston Globe. "I don't feel like a baseball player when I DH. I don't know how to be the leader that I am from the bench. I can't be a vocal leader. I can't talk to guys from the bench because I don't feel right about it."

"I come in some days and I don't play and some days I play. That's platooning to me," Sheffield said. "You might think it's different. It's not a big deal, but that's the way I feel."

"I don't know how to be the leader that I am from the bench."

Who's writing this guys material? This is the funniest thing I have ever read. Sheffield a leader? That's a riot!

"I'm in a role now where I don't know what to do, really. The guys are out there busting their butt for nine innings, they come in and they hit and they grind. I just sit down and hit. That's all I do, so I can't be in a leadership role from that position."

Hey Gary guys that are batting .222 don't get to complain about playing time!

When you are batting .222 and playing almost every day, you should be quiet and accept your role. Especially when last time you got a chance to play in the outfield everyday you went on the disabled list less than a week later. If you do not like your role, give the money you are due back to the team for the next year and a couple months and go find a new job.

Sheffield is upset because if he's a DH, he can't purposely throw the ball into the stands like he did when he was with the Brewers years ago when he was unhappy. Errr, ummmmm, when he was unhappy implies that he is happy sometimes, so let's just leave it at when he was with the Brewers and didn't want to be with the Brewers so he purposely cheated the game and threw the ball into the stands to get management upset and trade him. Why he was never suspended from baseball when he admitted that, I'll never know.

Black Lung said he's "flabbergasted" by Sheffield's comments and fired back with nicotine filled vengeance:

"I told him that all I had here for him was a DH. If he did not want to accept that, do not accept the trade. I'm still confused by the article because it talks about 'platoon doesn't set well.' Gary Sheffield never platooned here.

"Platoon is when you have a left-hand hitter and a right-hand hitter. One plays against right-hand pitching and one plays against left-hand pitching. That is a platoon."

"Anybody that has a brain knows that's not a platoon," Leyland said, "I tried to play him in the outfield. It didn't work; he couldn't throw in from the outfield."

What else is there to say? If there was no DH, he'd have been bothering his neighbors three years ago. Give me $12 million & I'll be a DH. Hell I'll even be the bat boy too!!

Well Black Lung Jimmy also will get the last laugh because yesterday Sheffield was placed on waivers.

Teams aren't permitted to comment on the waiver process, so it's possible the timing is coincidental. (wink wink nudge nuge)

So it seems likely that Sheffield's latest remarks have prompted them to see if interest in him. Sheffield is a cancer so good luck with that.

Sheffield has always been a spoiled prima dona who will try to whine his way out of his current situation. He has done this from the beginning of his career at Milwaukee and has kept it up. The only reason people put up with him is because he used Barry's clear and could hit like a monster! Good Riddance Gary!! You are just as much a product of the juice as Barry or Giambi and now that you aren't on the juice you find yourself injured a lot.... Hmmm, connection?

When John Danks throws over 6 innings of no-hit ball and the White Sox still lose to the Red Sox, it’s a day when I should avoid writing about baseball. Here are some links on other issues in the sports world today:

1. The Great Conference Debate (Sports Illustrated) – While these types of rankings that sports websites tend to run during the dog days of summer often carry many flaws (please see last month’s ESPN.com rankings of the nation’s college basketball programs), the methodology used here by SI to compare the BCS football conferences is on the better end. I do believe that national title game appearances should be distinguished from other BCS games (and the lack of such distinction partially explains the Big Ten’s drop from first to fourth), but it is a relatively fair assessment overall. As SEC fans continue to bloviate about how even the worst of their teams could dominate the Big Ten (other than what happened in that pesky game last New Year’s Day where Michigan beat Florida in the Gator territory of Orlando, which has been conveniently forgotten by everyone south of the Mason-Dixon Line), it’s important to note that the SI rankings themselves show that the Big Ten was considered to be by far the strongest league during the first part of this decade. College football goes in cycles and the Big Ten is going to be a much tougher conference this year with Ohio State returning almost its entire team and improved squads at Wisconsin and Penn State (and hopefully Illinois). It’s also refreshing to see a balanced assessment of the performance of the ACC (as opposed to a lot of writers that have been very quick to pile on the conference for taking teams from the Big East five years ago while proclaiming that Rutgers is all of the sudden some type of powerhouse after its first two winning seasons since the school gave birth to college football over a century ago) – Florida State and Miami have simultaneously performed about as badly as possible over the past few years, which has masked the increased depth of the conference (while also providing the ACC much more upside if and when those schools get back on track).

2. So far, so good for NBA at Olympics (Sports Media Watch) – For those of us real Americans that don’t live in the Pacific and Mountain time zones and are able to watch many Olympics events live, we know that the most important development from NBC’s Olympic coverage is the resuscitation of John Tesh’s NBA on NBC theme song for basketball games. (If there’s one thing that you should know about me, it’s that I will find every opportunity possible to post old NBA on NBC intros from the 1990s Bulls dynasty. This golden classic from 1991, where Marv Albert speculates whether Michael Jordan would go down as one of the greatest athletes to never win a championship, with footage of Ernie Banks and, of course, O.J. Simpson in the days when he was simply a high-profile Hertz salesman, is the sole reason why YouTube was established.) At the same time, with over one billion people watching the U.S.-China basketball game on Sunday, there’s empirical evidence that Asians love basketball almost as much as they love gambling. Being half-Chinese, I can attest to that fact since every time I see a pop-a-shot machine, my hands start to tremble uncontrollably until I’m able to spend twenty bucks on the game to win 5,000 tickets (which I subsequently redeem for a couple of Tootsie Rolls or, if I’m lucky, a plastic dreidel).

The interesting thing that Sports Media Watch points out is the irony that interest in Olympic hoops in the United States has probably increased because of Team USA’s losses to other countries over the past few years. This is right on the mark – I’m truly going out of my way to watch the basketball games this year for the first time since the original 1992 Dream Team and this is speaking as someone that’s a monster hoops fan. For all of the issues that David Stern has had to deal with over the past few seasons (the Tim Donaghy scandal, the Pistons-Pacers brawl, etc.), the one thing that he’s got going for him is that the NBA is the only American professional sports league that has made legitimate inroads on the international landscape in a broad sense. Baseball has been very popular in a few Latin American countries and Japan for a number of years yet has struggled to break out of those regions, while basketball is being more widely adopted as the second major team sport after soccer on all of the continents (as shown by the fact that five countries, including Yao Ming for the host nation of China and not including the United States, chose current or former NBA players to carry in their flags in the opening ceremonies). The other sports leagues talk a lot about international expansion and may play a game here or there overseas, but the NBA is really the only one that is positioned to become a truly global league as opposed to a curiosity in other countries.

And finally...

3. The Helmet Project – This site has supposedly been in existence for quite awhile, but I just stumbled onto it today (which resulted in me canceling all of my meetings during the afternoon). The comprehensiveness of this site is astounding, as it covers the helmets from all of the various professional sports leagues since 1960 (i.e. USFL, CFL, XFL, etc.) as well as all levels of college football. (Even Minneapolis Red Sox can check out his favorite St. Norbert helmets through the years). As much as I love the Illini, the helmet designs throughout our history have been pretty lackluster – our current helmet, which has been around since 1989 with some minor color adjustments, is essentially an orange version of the New York Giants helmet from the 1980s (which they wisely scrapped a few years ago). The old “Illini” written on the side used through much of the 1970s and 1980s was never really impressive, either. An orange helmet with a blue Block I would be simple, clean-looking, and an exponential improvement, in my opinion.

(Image from New York Times)

SAN JOSE, Calif. - It's late, I've spent most of tonight being angry about the train system in Silicon Valley and I have to get up early in the morning if I want to have any chance of spending a good amount of time in San Francisco.

But I feel like I ought to give some kind of accounting of what I did today, so I'll do most of it through pictures instead of words.

After going to AT&T Park, I rode the MUNI (which I like, as opposed to the confusing and infrequent VTA light rail system in San Jose) to Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, it's the city's biggest tourist trap. But it's also home to an In N' Out Burger. Of all the culinary opportunities I've had on this trip that is unquestionably the one I can't replicate at all on the East Coast.

Maybe the food made me feel lazy, or maybe the tourist-filled air overcame me for a few minutes, but I decided that instead of taking the regular MUNI back to Market Street I'd take a cable car. Five dollars and a really long wait later, I was on my way up Hyde Street at something like a 60-degree angle to the ground.

I suppose the ride was worth it, though the driver had a somewhat discomforting habit of stopping right in the middle of every intersection we crossed on the way back down the hill.

From there, I made a brief and unsuccessful attempt to find some free wi-fi. It was a few minutes before 4 p.m., and I figured I had enough time before meeting a friend for dinner that I could try to get over to Golden Gate Park.

I succeeded, and ended up spending almost an hour wandering around the Japanese Tea Garden. For as much as I like the development in the ballpark district, the Japanese Tea Garden is probably my favorite place in all of San Francisco.

After that, it was off to dinner - at a California Pizza Kitchen. Which may seem odd, but it's really hard to get in Philadelphia. Then after an hour or so at a nearby Kinko's, where I managed to upload a few photos to Flickr, it was time to head back to San Jose.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - It took a mighty long time, but I've finally made it to the Bay Area.

I last blogged when the train left Colfax. Soon after that, we  were given permission by Union Pacific to divert onto a different track and pass the freight train that had been delaying us so much.

We ended up reaching the next station, Roseville, at 8::00 p.m. - five hours and five minutes after the scheduled arrival time. Roseville is best known for being home to a massive Union Pacific depot, and it's no coincidence that right after we left there we took off like a rocket for Sacramento.

The timetable lists the travel time between Roseville and Sacramento as one hours and 16 minutes; we made it in 30 minutes. Obviously, there's some schedule-padding in there, but there's clearly good reason for it.

Sacrament to Davis is listed as 31 minutes but we made it it in 25; Davis to Martinez is listed as 42 minutes but we made it in 30.

Then came the final leg of the trip, and the railroad gods decided to play with us again. Martinez to Emeryville is listed as a 46-minute trip. After leaving Martinez at 9:25, we got to within a few hundred yards of Emeryville at 10:05. But because we were so late, all the platforms were full when we arrived. So we had to wait until 10:23 for a train to leave, and we finally disembarked at 10:26.

Emeryville is a major hub for long-distance and commuter trains in the Bay Area. In addition to trains that go north to Sacramento, they also go south to Oakland and the San Joaquin Valley. But there is no BART station anywhere near Emeryville; instead, you have to go 19 blocks across town to MacArthur Boulevard. It's not walkable, and it's even less walkable late at night.

Problem was, there weren't any taxis at the station. It took 20 minutes for one to show up, and the driver wasn't in a great mood. But after a very fast ride across town, I only had a brief wait for a train.

Forty minutes later, I made it to Fremont and met an old college friend who I'm staying with in San Jose until I leave town late tomorrow.

I woke up this morning at 7 a.m., and headed out a few minutes after 8. My friend lives all the way across town from the CalTrain station, so it took a 15-minute walk and a 30-minute light rail ride to get where I am now: en route to San Francisco.

We're supposed to arrive at King Street just after 11 a.m. That means my first stop after getting off will be SBC Park, the spectacular home of the San Francisco Giants. I went to a game there three years ago and totally fell in love with its dazzling views of San Francisco Bay.

After that, I'll probably hop on the MUNI towards Fisherman's Wharf and walk around for a while. I'd like to get out to the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park, but I'm not sure I'll have enough time.

I also have to get to a Starbucks or a Kinko's somewhere along the way, because I've been working off the aircard ever since leaving Chicago and I have a gig and a half of photos to upload.

A look at the roster reveals some names that have not been spoken of in years (Wil Cordero, Jeff Fassero, Sean Berry and Ken Hill), some of baseball's best young player at the time (Cliff Floyd and Moises Alou) and two future hall of famers (Pedro Martinez and Larry Walker).

Alou and Walker used their high batting averages, power and a penchant for driving in runs to form one of the better offensive combos in the league at the time. And the 'Spos five-man rotation was one of the best in the league. Four of them had ERAs under 3.50, Ken Hill won 16 games that year, Pedro struckout nearly a batter per inning and Butch Henry (who?!) had a team-best ERA of 2.43 in 107 innings (15 starts).

That team had a six-game lead on the division when the season was called off. It's 74-40 record was the best in the Majors, and the squad was en route to only the second post season berth in franchise history. But in a sense it was all for not. It was a magical season that will forever be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

No not all Cubs are classless morons but the select ones that are take the cake or in this case the water jug.

A tall, semi-attractive female reporter is attempting to do a news report outside Wrigley Field.

However, a Chicago Cubs fan covered entirely in blue paint thought it would be cool to dump a cooler full of water on her. Is that guy the Gargamel/Smurfette love child?

Then again on the south side they just beat the shit out of visitors, so pick your poison.

Of course "cool acts" such as these are always videotaped and uploaded to YouTube by such classless dimwits.

The idiotic ironic of this is the guy yelling, "Welcome to Chicago," at the end of the video.

I've been to Chicago several times; hell I almost took a job with the Rockford police department years ago. Rockford is the second largest city in Illinois and 30 minutes from Chicago for those that didn't know. Funny nothing like that every happened to me when I was there which is good thing because I would have been arrested for murder.

Further proof that:

1. Cubs fans are idiots
2. Cubs will never win the World Series
3. You can never trust the Orientals (joking :) )

The suspension of De La Cruz is effective immediately.

He is currently with Boston's Dominican Summer League team.

- Steve

I covered a lot of ground, from the Magnicficent Mile to Soldier Field and a lot of Millenium Park in between.

Once again, I took a lot of pictures. You’ll find highlights within this post and the full batch here.

I started in Deerfield with breakfast at the house of a friend of the friend I’m staying with. I always forget how nice people in the Midwest are, and because of that I once again got caught off guard by pleasantness.

I was at this guy’s family’s house because my friend was driving him into the city for some stuff they had to do. After enduring a horrific traffic jam on Interstate 94 because of a long-term construction project, I was dropped off at the Kimball CTA station. It’s the last stop on the Brown Line, and after leaving Deerfield just after 10 I made it to the Loop at 11:30.

From there, it was off to Michigan Avenue for a walk down the Magnicifent Mile. With another day of brilliant sunshine overhead, there were plenty of people out enjoying the weather. I didn’t do any shopping, but took lots of photos and enjoyed the vibe.

I stopped for lunch almost literally underneath Michigan Avenue on the banks of the Chicago River. The restaurant advertised a riverside seating area, but it was closed for a private party. So I went inside and found it to basically be a cafeteria. But there weren’t too many other options around, so I stumped for the salad bar.

After that, I kept walking down Michigan Avenue and arrived at Tribune Tower. I know it’s a really old building, but I found it a bit gaudy even by Chicago architecture standards. Still, the inscriptions on the walls were cool, especially this one:

I wonder if Sam Zell ever noticed it.

Eventually, I got to Millenium Park. The last time I was in Chicago was just after it opened, and I’d never been through. So I once again turned myself into a stereotypical tourist and wandered through to look at all the pretty things.

Perhaps the most famous pretty thing in the park is the big metal orb, officially called Cloud Gate. I took lots of pictures, including this one from directly under it:

After walking through most of the northern part of the park, I decided to head down to the Museum Campus/Soldier Field area. Headed to Millenium Park and walked around for a while, then decided to head to Soldier Field. Though I could see the Field Museum from Randolph Street, it was two miles away. So I went downstairs into the Metra station and rode the train three stops to 18th Street.

After getting off the train, I walked alongside the stadium and took a bunch of pictures. The design for the new Soldier Field was controversial when it was announced and even more so when it was built, but I actually rather like it:

I then walked up to the Roosevelt CTA station and rode the Green Line around the loop to State/Lake. I had an hour and change to kill before the show, so I decided to check out Marshall Field’s.

Oh, sorry, I mean Macy’s. Because they’re all Macy’s now: Marshall Field’s, Strawbridge’s (Philadelphia) and Hecht’s (Washington) have all been condemned to history’s trash can along with the sense of identity those names brought to their respective cities.

But Macy’s seems to have kept the new store at the old store’s size, which means there are seven floors of shopping. And the corporate types thankfully knew better than to mess with the Frango mints, which had a nice display. Then again, it was on the basement level:

I had dinner at a cheesily-named but reasonably authentic sports-themed place called InField’s, which served a much better hamburger than I expected when I ordered it.

For some strange reason, I have an affinity for department store restaurants. Probably because I ate lunch with my mother and/or grandmother many times at the Café AmericanStyle at Lord and Taylor in Northwest D.C., but I also like the restaurant at the Lord and Taylor-turned-Macy’s in Philadelphia.

Then it was off on a quick walk to Dearborn and Madison, and a descent underground into the Chase Auditorium. The place was swarming with smiling-but-uptight (and self-assured in that very NPR sort of way) fans of “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!”

I must admit that I wasn’t too optimistic about getting a good seat when I saw how many people were already there when I arrived, and I got there an hour before the show started.

As with so many things in life, this was a case of hurrying up to wait. After walking rather quickly (and seemingly not at all at the same tempo as everyone else on the street) to get to the theater, I found myself not just in a line to register but in another line to wait for the theater doors to open.
This one was arranged in an almost militaristic fashion, with a cheery but forceful volunteer arranging everyone in a single-file snaking line. Somehow, it worked to the inch despite the lack of any kind of space-defining cordon or barrier.

(Yes, I just used the word ‘militaristic’ to describe something related to NPR. I couldn’t pass up the chance.)

The show was fun, moving along briskly at times and slowing down at others for laughter and all manner of digressions from the script (as such). But I got to meet Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts and scorekeeper Corey Flintoff (filling in for the vacationing Carl Kasell).

I didn’t bother with the line to meet show host Peter Sagal because it was 20 groupies deep by the time I got there. So I headed back outside, and eventually got on the subway to meet my friend and head back to Deerfield.

I met her at Wrigley Field, because the concert she’d been playing was a few blocks away on Clark Street. That gave me a chance to take a nighttime picture of the ballpark, and though it took a few tries I finally got a good one:

So we drove back to Suburbia, stopping along the way to unload some instruments at the apartment of one of her friends. Now I’m off to sleep, though I suspect that I won’t quite have had enough of it by the time I wake up.

As a member of the Padres, Sheffield gave a serious run at the feat, finishing first in batting average (.330), third in homers (33), and fifth in RBI (100). And while the end result did not become stuff of legend, it was the run at the accolade that fueled the interest in Sheffield and transformed this card from a common semi-star to one with a price tag near $20.

Whenever I see the market these days react to incredible acts on the field -- most recently the love affair with Josh Hamilton -- I remember this card as an example of what can happen, and most likely what will happen to most cards, particularly those that are not real rookies. In the 16 years since his magnificent season, this card has returned to Earth so to say and now rests comfortably in the $1.50 range, pretty much where it started.

I actually went back through my archive of Beckett Baseball Magazines to confirm my notions and found a copy of the October 1992 issue, which actually has Sheffield on the cover. In the magazine, a story about Sheffield's chase for history briefly mentions why collectors were turning to this card: "While hobbyists again are showing interest in Sheffield's 1989s RCs, his shorter-printed 1990 Leaf issue is proving just as desirable as he makes a run at the Triple Crown." (Pg. 7, issue 91.)

The new Beckett.com has an interesting feature, a set of charts that shows the different price points the card has had during its lifetime. One problem, the chards are only available back to 2006. Seeing this card analyzed on a chart would have been classic.