Baseball On My Mind...

My Oasis

If you're curious about why baseball matters so much to me, a big reason is because
it provides me a place of refuge from the madness that is everyday life in these United States.

Is "madness" a bit too strong a word? I don't believe it is. Here are just a few of the items in the news just in the last 24 hours or so:

• A Planned Parenthood executive brags about doing abortions in such a way that body parts are preserved for later sale.
• Not content with their various successes at getting the Confederate battle flag shoved down the memory hole, progressives now want to start defacing public parks and monuments.
• In a related story, the city of Memphis, Tennessee wants to dig up the bodies of a Confederate general and his wife and relocate them somewhere else. In this particular instance, it is possible that anti-Confederate sentiment is just a smokescreen for a more venal agenda. (Apparently "rest in peace" doesn't apply to people who offend modern progressive sensibilities.)
• A "deal" that will certainly result in Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is imminent, and Republicans in congress have actually made it impossible to prevent that from happening.

When it all gets to be too much, I can lose myself in baseball, in its lore and history, in its endlessly fascinating statistics, in the lively discussions about who is good and who is not, about which teams are good and which teams are not, etc. And there is always more Bill James to read. What a treasure he is...

I can't live in that oasis all the time, of course. But you'll have to forgive me if I take some time to revel in the annual mid-season celebration of America's Pastime. There will be plenty of time to talk about this fucked-up world of ours tomorrow...and the day after tomorrow...and the day after that...

"You know Bryce Harper is better than Mike Trout, right?"

What I know is that anyone who believes that is an idiot...

Baseball and the Bunny

As an avid baseball fan during my childhood, this cartoon featuring my smart-aleck hero Bugs Bunny playing the game I loved was one of my favorites. Watch him paste some pathetic palookas...

Turning Point

As I look forward to watching several of my beloved Kansas City Royals participate in the All-Star Game tonight, I can't help but reflect on how several of those players wound up in Royals blue...

After the 2010 season, the Royals traded young star pitcher Zack Greinke and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt (who was essentially worthless, and who has been out of baseball since 2013) to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for outfielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar, and pitcher Jake Odorizzi. The consensus of analysts regarding the trade was that it meant the Brewers were going "all in" to win in 2011. And the Brewers did, in fact, make the playoffs in 2011, winning the National League Central Division and eventually reaching the National League Championship Series, which they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. Greinke did not pitch well in the playoffs, starting 3 games and finishing 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA. The Brewers traded Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels midway through the 2012 season when it became obvious they weren't going to make the playoffs that year anyway, and needed to start rebuilding. Adding Greinke didn't get the Angels to the playoffs either, and now Zack is starring for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and will be the starting pitcher for the National League in tonight's game.

Meanwhile, Cain became a fixture in center field for the Royals, and Escobar did the same at shortstop. They're now All-Stars, while the Brewers haven't sniffed the postseason since they traded Greinke away. And even Jake Odorizzi contributed to the Royals blossoming, as he was part of the deal that brought rotation anchor James Shields and All-Star reliever Wade Davis to KC. The Royals won the American League pennant last year, and came within a whisker of winning the World Series. They have the best record in the American League this year heading into the All-Star break, and Cain, Escobar, and Davis are big reasons for that success.

As it turned out, the Zack Greinke trade was a turning point for both franchises. Needless to say, I'm happy the Royals were on the winning end of the trade. I'm sure Royals (and now All-Star) manager Ned Yost is happy about it too, since the Brewers fired him with two weeks to go in the season in 2008 and the team poised to make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. Since they let him go, Ned has become the winningest manager in Royals history...

"I think it's fair to say KC pretty much ate Milwaukee's breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Yes, yes it is...

Baseball Humor

From the wonderful Gary Larson's The Far Side:

Until Next Time...

I was at Kauffman Stadium (its name had been changed from Royals Stadium at a special ceremony earlier in the season, on July 2) on the night of September 29, 1993. I had risked getting fired from my job by staying on the phone for over two hours in order to get tickets to the game. My (now ex-) wife, my three-year-old son, and I huddled under a blanket (it was a chilly night) in the nosebleed seats down the left field line. That night was a big deal because it was George Brett's last game in the stadium he had called "home" for his entire 21-year career.

George was the player who really catapulted my beloved Kansas City Royals from expansion team to contender. He was selected to his first All-Star team in 1976, the year he also won his first American League batting championship. Following that debut, he would be on the All-Star team for the next 12 straight years, usually as the starting 3rd baseman. He was the face of the franchise, a league MVP, and eventually a Hall of Famer (with one of the highest vote percentages in MLB history). I wasn't about to miss that game...

George went 1-for-4 and drove in a run in a game the Royals won 3-2. Of course there was quite an emotional ceremony after the game. Duh. Eventually, there would also be a statue...

Today's send-off is the music they played over the stadium PA system after the game that night as George was driven around the ballpark in the bullpen golf cart, so fans in every part of the stadium could have their chance to wave and say a last good-bye.
I can't listen to Randy Newman's evocative closing theme from The Natural without tearing up, because it always reminds me of this moment...