The Enemy Within

What do you have when millionaires and multi-millionaires can’t agree? You get the National Hockey League labor dispute, which two weeks ago boiled over to the point where the NHL owners group decided to “lock out” its players until an agreement is reached. At the center of the dispute is the institution of a salary cap, which the owners strongly support and the players vehemently oppose. At the moment, talks have been broken and both teams appear prepared to hunker down for the long run, which resonates much the same way that the baseball labor war eventually cancelled the remainder of the 1994 season and the first few weeks of the 1995 season.

Even if a “miracle on ice” occurs and the owners and players are able to come to terms before all is lost, perhaps we are witnessing the slow death of a major sports league in the United States for the first time in our lives. The NHL has expanded from “the Original Six” to 30 teams less than 40 years; this increase, which on paper seems to indicate the popularity of the sport, has proven to be a double-edged sword. While there is more exposure of the league in several major markets, the talent level of the league has also watered down and ticket prices have soared dramatically to try and keep pace with the ever-increasing average salary. With that, the popularity of the league has dwindled and, according to Bettman, that translated to losses of more than $1.8 billion in the last ten years, more the fault of a collective ownership that cannot police itself.

So what should baseball take from this debacle? If anything, Major League Baseball may be faced with a similar problem once the collective bargaining agreement expires in December of 2006, just over two years from now. An eleventh-hour deal in 2002 prevented the possible loss of another post-season as the owners and players came to agreement; Bud Selig, representing MLB owners, and Donald Fehr, representing the MLB players association, stood side-by-side and called the agreement “historical” with the agreement to raise the league minimum by 50 percent while creating a luxury tax penalty for teams that exceed defined payroll thresholds instead of a hard cap. However, this has been a band-aid solution to the problem; small-market teams continue to wallow in the basement of their respective divisions while a certain owner who’s name will remain unspoken (hint: rhymes with Steinbrenner) continues to thumb his nose at this agreement, hiking his payroll to eye-popping levels in defiance of these sanctions.

As the NHL travels towards an uncertain future, possibly destined for extinction, baseball needs to recognize that the path of its league does not stray far from where pro hockey is heading. Economic instability and a lack of parity are slowly dragging this league down to the point where interest outside of major markets like Boston and New York is demonstrated by half-empty baseball stadiums and abysmal television ratings. Another strike that plays out as it did ten years ago might drive fans even further away to the point that they are no longer interested in supporting the league with their hard-earned paycheck. With the focus of baseball shifting to the playoffs, the owners and the players should shift focus after the season back to talks on a balanced work package, one that does not punish either side but instead creates better economic sense for the health of baseball. Otherwise, the bell might toll for two major sports this decade.

Give Credit Where It’s Due

The Anaheim Angels were still looking for the license plate of the bus that ran them over repeatedly for three straight days at Fenway Park, having been swept by the surging Boston Red Sox. The win gave Boston a 4-1/2 game cushion in the American League wild card race over the same Angels and a six-game lead over the Texas Rangers, who will pay a weekend visit to Boston starting tonight. The win also kept Boston just 3-1/2 games behind the New York Yankees, whose once seemingly insurmountable lead of 10-1/2 games had been whittled away in just over two weeks. Life is good for the legion of fanatical Red Sox fans that is suddenly savoring the possibilities of some exciting October baseball.

Looking back just over a month ago, this same legion was scratching its collective head as it tried to make sense of a team that seemed to be underachieving. Was this not practically the same team that just last year was five outs away from heading to a World Series for the first time in many years at the expense of the dreaded Yankees? Were they not that much better with the addition of Curt Schilling in an already strong rotation and Keith Foulke as the dominant closer?

Even more so was the question of the team’s leadership. Was manager Terry Francona, who has not much more experience than his predecessor, Grady Little, just not the dugout leader this team needed to motivate the club to win consistently? Had the young general manager, Theo Epstein, gone mad by trading one of the most popular players in Red Sox history, Nomar Garciaparra, in return for a one-time Gold Glove first baseman and an anonymous shortstop from a lame-duck Canadian team?

Much has been said about the roles of these two gentlemen on this team and not much of that has been positive. Francona, with just four years of head coaching experience at the major league level, did not carry with him the awesome respect of a Joe Torre or a Jim Leyland when he was brought in during the off-season to take over for the disgraced Little. Epstein, at age 30 years the youngest GM in MLB history, had been given leeway during his first year in 2003 and was applauded for his success, but some wondered if that aura was wearing thin.

While it would have been easy to make excuses in relation to the injuries and the clubhouse distractions, the two instead ignored these critics and did their parts; Francona continued to find a game plan that worked while Epstein continued to look for ways to improve the club. Now, the team has gelled at the right time and has left a path of destruction over the last month of baseball like a twister through a trailer park.

For that, you almost have to tip your cap to these two for staying poised and true to task. The two have also put the club on a road to future success; Francona has shown the flexibility to go with the flow of the game and Epstein, with Nomar in his rear view mirror, has set the club up to sign two of its key players that will become free agents at the end of the season, Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek.

True, at this point, even with 30 games that remain to be played, there are no guarantees. A team does not make the playoffs because the club is more deserving; to paraphrase former actor John Houseman, it must earn that shot. However, with a team an upstart general manager has assembled and a no-nonsense manager now leads, you must feel pretty good right about now. At least, you must feel better than the Angels.

“Impossible” Still Possible?

Red Sox fans this morning were ecstatic, albeit still a little sleepy, after staying up late to catch the end of Boston’s sixth straight victory won in dramatic fashion, thanks to back-to-back, late-inning home runs from sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, over the nose-diving Chicago White Sox. It was the first time since late April that the Red Sox had swept a road series and earned Boston some revenge after losing two-of-three last weekend at Fenway to these same White Sox. It also meant that, after being 10-1/2 games behind New York at the start of last week, they had climbed back to with 5-1/2 games thanks to New York, who had lost five-of-six last week and were swept over the weekend at home by the red-hot Anaheim Angels.

Just last week, a lock for the American League East title in 2004 seemed like a foregone conclusion for the Yankees and, for the seventh straight season, the only chance for the Red Sox to see the post-season would be to focus on two or three other teams that were competing for the coveted wild card playoff spot. Suddenly, with the Yankees sputtering and the Red Sox flying high, even the most pessimistic Boston fan is paying attention once again to the division race.

It’s still going to take quite an effort for Boston to catch New York in the standings. If the Yankees play just over .500 ball for the rest of the season (20-19), the Red Sox would need to win 27 of the remaining 40 games left on the schedule. Put another way, with 12 series that remain to be played, the Sox could not afford to lose more than one game in each series. Two of those series will be played against the Yankees: one three-game weekend series at “The House That Ruth Built” followed by another three-game series at “Friendly” Fenway.

Boston also has a more difficult schedule left to play. 13 games remain against West Division opponents and three of those teams are in the playoff hunt: the Angels, the Oakland Athletics, and the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox play two of those series at home against Anaheim and Texas, then fly straight to Oakland to play three more games before wrapping up the road trip with four in Seattle. Meanwhile, other than Boston, New York will face just one other team that has a record better than .500: the Minnesota Twins. The rest of these games include three series with Toronto, two each with Cleveland and Baltimore, and one each with Tampa Bay and Kansas City; New York is a combined 31-8 against all these teams, not including the slumping Indians with whom they have yet to play.

The wild card edge, without a doubt, goes to Boston, and I don’t say that just because of my loyalty to the Boston nine. Head-to-head against the other three contenders, Boston is even in strength and should stand toe-to-toe with them; with two of these series coming at home, the Red Sox should have a slight advantage. Also, Anaheim, Oakland, and Texas must all play each other several more times before the season ends while Boston has several division series against weaker opponents that should be easy to take. Thus, the three West Division rivals should tear each other apart while Boston enjoys the view from the sidelines and moves further ahead in the wild card lead.

So, with the wild card so easily within reach, are the Red Sox only hurting themselves if they attempt to catch New York? To quote a well-known former Yankee great: “It ain’t over until it’s over.” History proves that New York is resilient and that they will fight right down to the final out. Plus, given an easier schedule over the next few weeks, perhaps some young pitching staffs will help New York regain it offensive edge while the club’s own pitching staff tries to regroup. However, nothing is set in stone and, if the Sox can stay hot, those two series between the two clubs could prove interesting. To say that I would love to see a reversal of fortune come in favor of Boston would be wonderful but, to put it in another perspective, a division crown is not the most impressive piece of hardware that can be placed in the trophy cabinet at the end of the season.

Nomar’s Gone, Let’s Move On

Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra

The inevitable was approaching whether we wanted to believe it or not and Ted William‘s frozen head must have spun inside that liquid nitrogen-filled container when the news broke. After ten years in the organization and seven-plus years with the parent club, the face of the franchise was sent packing in a four-team deal and a sad chapter closed the book on the relationship between the Boston Red Sox and shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Whereas no one ever expected a few years ago that he would play anywhere but here, the relationship had cooled – perhaps had even become colder than an arctic breeze – and there was no getting around the fact that a break up was necessary. So the Red Sox sent employee number five to Chicago and that was that… or so it would seem.

It’s been less than a week to this point and, already, I’m tired of reading the he said/she said commentary that has been given considerable space in the sport sections of the local papers. The Red Sox organization blames Garciaparra’s agent who told them that his client deserved no less than $16 million per season when Boston had offered roughly $15 million instead. Boston sportswriters, known for being a rather vicious bunch that loves to make mountains out of pitching mounds, tell us that Garciaparra faked the extent of his injury in an attempt to stick it to the organization. They also claim that the organization did everything that it could in the final weeks before the deadline to try and mend fences, only to have it thrown back in their faces and told that he wanted out, whether it was now or after the season ended.

The truth is that we will never really know who is to blame for this mess or if there is any blame to place. The facts were that Garciaparra was coming to the end of his current contract and it was apparent that the two sides could not agree on a new one. It is also fact that Garciaparra will play at least the rest of the 2004 season with another team looking to bring a championship to its city for the first time in many, many years. What is also important is that we put the matter behind us so that we can concentrate on the other fact: that the team that takes the field now is the one that we are counting on to try and help end this championship drought. Whether we agree with the trade or not, there are no do-overs; what’s done is done and we must move on.

There is no question that Garciaparra was, for the most part, a fan favorite during his tenure in a Boston uniform. He dazzled us with his amazing ability to snare ground balls and then whirl around to fire a bullet to first for the out. He peppered the field with hits all over the park, never fearing to swing at the first pitch he saw, and came through in the clutch in opportunities that were too plentiful to count. Most of all, whether he was happy or not with his situation off the field, he played 100% on the field, never doing less than what he felt the fans deserved to see from him.

My most vivid memory of him comes from an October night in 1998 when, following the end of a loss to Cleveland that eliminated Boston from post-season play, Garciaparra came out of the dugout and began clapping his hands in a gesture to show his appreciation for the support that the fans had given his team all season. While the rest of the team, including a soon-to-be-departing Mo Vaughn, quietly filed back into the clubhouse, but the young shortstop was not about to let another disappointing season spoil the chance to let the Fenway faithful know that he considered them the tenth player for that team.

Hopefully, in another week, the sting will be gone and everyone involved will have moved on, as is the business of baseball. Players come and go and it’s never easy to see a fan favorite depart, perhaps for greener pastures. Although it doesn’t feel right to not see employee number five taking the field for Boston, we must not let the bitter taste of what was an ugly divorce ruin the memories of what was a great stretch of time to be a fan of the Red Sox.

Analyze This, FOX Baseball

First off, I’m going to apologize right away because this column is nothing more than personal therapy so that I can get something off my chest that has been bothering me for at least eight years and counting. Well, actually, it’s not as if I’m losing sleep over this, but every time the situation rears its ugly head once more, the stabbing pain in my brain returns. In the end, I hope that, if I accomplish nothing else, I will be able to relax the next time I am forced to deal with this matter.

I’ve reached the breaking point with having to endure Red Sox games that are broadcast by the FOX Sports Network on Saturday afternoons. Granted, the game I watched between my beloved Boston nine and the New York Yankees was a “classic” if you were rooting for the Sox. You had both teams trying to out-slug the other, whether it was with the bat or with the fist, and the emotions swung in all directions for the players and the fans. In the end, Boston won in dramatic fashion off ever-steady New York closer Mariano Rivera, who surrendered a one-out, game-ending, two-run home run to light-hitting Bill Mueller to give the home team an 11-10 victory.

However, what made it most unbearable for this Red Sox fan, besides the edge-of-your-seat drama, was the two idiots squawking in the broadcast booth. I’m referring to play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and color analyst Tim McCarver. These two have been ruining my afternoons for the better part of the last eight years or so, especially when the main entrée happens to be the Red Sox and the Yankees. They have to be, bar-none, the worst broadcast tandem in sports. They offer nothing but inane chatter for three straight hours or more.

I’ll start with Joe Buck, son of legendary, Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck. I don’t want to sound trite, but I believe that the only reason that he has this gig is because he is the son of a legend; in short, he is average at best. His attempts to induce the dramatic in his calls seem to fall flat and he repeats the same tired clichés over and over.

Then again, Buck is not even half as bad as his two-bit partner-in-crime, Tim McCarver. The former catcher played for 21 seasons in the major leagues and you would think, with all that experience, he would be able to offer more insight and depth to the game. Instead, he points out the obvious and rambles on and on about nothing in particular; I once heard someone likening him to a kindergarten teacher explaining how to tie your shoelaces. I also cannot count the number of times that he makes a point only to have it discredited almost immediately; he’ll second-guess the effort a player is making only to then watch the player make a great play in the field or punch a timely hit down his throat.

Together, these two just pollute the airways, whether they are calling a regular season game, the All-Star Game, or the playoffs. They are the essence of FOX baseball coverage, which spends more time fooling with cutting-edge graphics and goofy sound effects then trying to develop the formula of a successful broadcast. The game seems more like an opportunity to promote the newest reality show or the next Simpsons episode and less like a chance to watch and enjoy some afternoon baseball.

I think that it’s time to give the weekend baseball broadcasts back to NBC or have ESPN broadcast all the nationally televised games; let FOX concentrate its efforts on other sports like football and NASCAR. I don’t know how soon the contract runs out, but perhaps my fellow baseball fans can start a collection to buy out the remainder of the agreement. Surely, I can’t be the only one who feels a headache every time I have to watch and listen to these broadcasts; otherwise, I’m just going to have to kill my television, turn on my radio, and enjoy the games as my grandfather did.

2004 Mid-Season Review

Well, you certainly cannot look back on the first half of the season and wonder if it would have been the Yankees that were seven games back at the break and thinking wild card had the Red Sox had the lineup that was drawn on paper by Theo Epstein during the off-season. However, even as it stands, Boston enjoyed what, for many teams, would have been a successful first half: ten games above .500 and poised to make a run at a playoff spot in October. There are 76 games left to play in the 2004 season; as we enjoy the All-Star break, we look back on the studs and duds of the first 86 games.

Team MVP: Manny Ramirez
First runner-up: Curt Schilling

Even though this is his fourth season in Boston, it almost seems like we are meeting Ramirez for the first time, and the faithful are enjoying his company. The suddenly easygoing left fielder is enjoying a banner year: his .344 batting average, 26 home runs, and 77 RBI are tops on his team and have him at or near the top of the American League leader board. Not only is he a legitimate AL MVP at this point, he has a chance to become the first batting Triple Crown winner in nearly forty years. It’s hard to imagine that he was nearly sent packing over the winter; never have the cheers been louder when he comes to the plate or he makes a sensational catch in left field.

Team Goat: Derek Lowe
First runner-up: Kevin Millar

Perhaps he feels that he is being picked on, but Lowe has certainly not carried himself well enough on the field to be worthy of a multiyear deal that his agent, Scott Boras, is looking to get him this off-season in the $11 million per year range. His ERA of 5.57 is one and a half runs per nine innings higher that Tim Wakefield‘s as a starter. His seven wins do not look good next to eight losses in seventeen starts. It’s true that his defense has not always been there to support him; the 21 unearned runs scored against him are the most on the team. Still, he should be doing better than this and he knows it; hopefully we will see him turn things around in the second half.

Biggest Surprise: Pokey Reese
First runner-up: Johnny Damon

When Boston signed this two-time Gold Glove winner, they knew that they should expect greatness in the field and he has not disappointed. If you went through a reel highlighting the ten best plays of the first half by the Red Sox defense, we’re certain that he would be in better than half of those. With a career .250 batting average, you would not expect him to contribute much at the plate, but he has driven in 26 and scored 50 runs. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that we will see him anywhere but in the number nine spot in the lineup and, with Nomar Garciaparra back from injury, his playing time will be limited, but everyone knows how valuable he’s been to this team; those cheers for him whenever he comes to bat are backed with respect for his efforts.

Biggest Disappointment: Cesar Crespo
First runner-up: Byung-Hyun Kim

He was given ample opportunity to prove his worth and, by his own admittance, he blew it. In 79 plate appearances, Crespo batted .165 while driving in just two runs, never walked, and struck out 20 times. Perhaps you can argue that, given his limited playing time, he never had a chance to find his groove. Explain then how Doug Mirabelli, with seven less plate appearances, hit .306 with seven home runs and plated 17 runners. Sorry, but when you wear a major league uniform, you have to player like you belong.

Second Half Outlook
Let the good times roll!

It’s well known by anyone who had followed Boston this season that, after a 15-6 start, the Red Sox barely maintained a .500 pace (33-32) while New York surged from 4-1/2 games back at one point to seven games ahead in first place. The second half is not going to be any easier as Boston will play 24 games in 25 days following the All-Star break. This includes a trip out west, then three games in two days at Fenway against that pesky Baltimore, followed by a weekend home series against the rival Yankees, then ended with two weeks on the road against Baltimore, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Detroit.

At the moment, they also stand one game ahead of Oakland in the wild card race. Knowing that, it doesn’t mean that Boston could not pile on the wins in the second half and surge past New York into first place in the AL East. However, the point is to make it to October and perhaps the collective energy of the Red Sox is better spent trying to stay ahead of the wild card rivals. They have enough strength in the starting lineup and depth in the bench that they should be able make a run for that elusive World Series title.

As a side note, don’t forget that this might be the last chance to see Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, two recent Red Sox legends, playing in a Boston uniform. Without a doubt, one or both of these fine players will be gone at the end of the season. Say what you will about them, but they have enjoyed some sensational years here and are have contributed mightily to the recent success of the Red Sox. We don’t know yet just how much we will miss either of them.

For The Love Of Manny

Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramirez

Manny Ramirez had no reason to change his public persona; after three productive years in Boston, he had proven well enough that, despite a hefty salary, he was a presence in Boston. Between Aaron Boone’s home run to end Game 7 of last year’s American League Championship series and the first day of spring training, Ramirez found his name in the news more than once. The subject of trade talks, until Alex Rodriguez ended up in Yankee pinstripes, you would have had every reason to believe that he would carry a huge chip through the season.

For those of you who hibernated from late October until late February, Boston placed Ramirez on waivers early in November in the hope of unloading his remaining $100 million salary on George Steinbrenner, who had watched his team lose its second World Series in three years. After that failed, Ramirez was all but on the plane to Texas as the Red Sox and Texas Rangers agreed to a trade that would bring Rodriguez to Boston. Instead, the player’s union intervened and, upon further review, nixed the deal because they felt that Boston was trying to cut too much of Rodriguez’s record $252 million contract.

So, after two failed attempts to send his lifetime .317 average and 337 home runs to another town, wouldn’t you expect a 12-year veteran player known for his bat and his silence to show even less emotion on and off the field? Instead, this season we are seeing something new: a suddenly affable Manny Ramirez. Is this the same player who rarely had anything to say to the media suddenly becoming the go-to guy, giving direct quotes for the media hounds to scribble on their notepads? Is this the same Ramirez that suddenly has time to give off-field interviews? Do our eyes deceive us, but is that Ramirez sitting in the dugout during the game, making comedic gestures at the camera, looking relaxed, and smiling?

Ramirez has even had a web site developed in his name, where he goes so far as to answer people’s direct questions. It’s not that he was never friendly with the fans. I recall a co-worker telling me that Ramirez, while waiting for batting practice at spring training, turned around every time a kid called out his name for a picture and held a pose and smile until he or she got the shot. He is also more than willing to spend a few extra minutes signing autographs and does considerable charity work, most of which we never read about in the paper.

What has suddenly turned a man who once shunned reporters for more than a year after being questioned about his hustle into a media darling? Does he suddenly realize how great it is to play in front of Boston fans that, through most everything, have stayed loyal to him? Have David Ortiz and Kevin Millar, who never fail to keep the team loose with the ups and the downs, cracked his shell? Did three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve?

Though the jury is still out on how the 2004 season will end for the Red Sox, never has there been such camaraderie in a Boston baseball clubhouse. Red Sox Nation is engrossed in the everyday events of this team, 365 days a year, and it has never been more evident than the fact that, through Sunday, the team had enjoyed 103 straight sellouts at Fenway Park. Search up and down the lineup, and it’s hard to find a player that the fans don’t love.

Manny is no exception to this observation, and maybe more so now that he has become less of a mystery to the fans who chant his name when he comes to bat and erupt in celebration of a home run over the Green Monster. They’re even tipping their hats when he makes a great play like the great diving catch he made last Friday against Philadelphia with his good buddy Pedro Martinez on the mound. “Citizen Manny” (apropos after becoming an official US citizen in May) seems to have finally joined the ranks of Red Sox Nation, and no one seems happier than he.

A Marriage Made In Heaven?

One week into interleague play and Boston can feel good about taking four-of-six from the National League at home. Excitement griped the Hub this weekend when the Dodgers, who had been to Boston once before in the 1916 World Series but never played in Fenway Park, battled the Red Sox and fans were witness to two great games (we’ll just overlook the beating that Los Angeles gave Boston on Saturday). There was even some pleasure in watching the Red Sox tangle with the Padres earlier in the week; Tuesday’s pitching duel between David Wells and Pedro Martinez ended in a rare but memorable 1-0 win for Boston.

It’s been eight years since the two leagues began playing against each other and interleague baseball is now an integral part of midseason baseball. Still, as in any relationship, you always find something that you want to change to make it even better. While this does not involve a clean shirt or a different haircut in our case, the look of interleague play needs a tweak here and there. The problem is that there are some glaring imbalances that should be corrected for it to be better.

First, there needs to be another realignment of the leagues. With the National League having two more teams than its American counterpart, the divisions don’t match up; only the AL and NL East have the same number of teams while the NL Central and West divisions have one more team than their AL counterparts. This imbalance forces two National League teams to play each other in the midst of interleague play as they would at any other time of the season.

One solution would be to bring Milwaukee back to the American League to give each league fifteen teams, but that would mean interleague meetings every day throughout the season and the owners will have none of that less it cheapen the interest. The second solution would be to contract two teams, although you will never get the approval of the player’s union to do that. Expansion is the third option, but you’ll never get me to agree to that solution.

Second, we need to get rid of the “natural rivalry” games. As a Sox fan, I’ve almost dreaded seeing the Braves come to Boston or the Red Sox fly south to Atlanta for years because we were constantly playing against a superior team and that usually guaranteed at least four or five losses each season. Meanwhile, the Yankees were facing the Mets in a Subway Series and the New York American League representatives were easily taking it to their weaker cross-town rivals.

Sour grapes aside, the schedule seems a little imbalanced when the weak sisters of baseball have to play against perennial powerhouses because they seem like natural adversaries. Plus, some of these rivalries that have been created make no sense. What did the Diamondbacks do to earn the wrath of the Twins? Who knew that the Tigers and the Rockies are natural enemies? Major League Baseball did, but somehow the memo must have been undeliverable to my mailbox. Why not just rotate the interleague rivals as they do in the NFL and let the chips fall as they may?

Third, a decision needs to be made on what to do with the designated hitter rule. I’m impartial to keeping it because I would rather see David Ortiz swing for the fences than watch Martinez flail away at the ball, but it seems like an unfair advantage for National League teams who have pitchers that have faced live pitching for a couple of months. It’s hard to believe that, after thirty-one years, an agreement has still not been reached between the two leagues on whether the DH should become universal in or dropped from Major League Baseball. I don’t have a solid argument either way – perhaps I’ll save that for another column – but this sticking point should be the easiest to address.

All in all, though, what I once believed was just a passing novelty has proven to be a remarkable “gimmick” for baseball. When you consider that, in every other major sport in the United States, everyone gets to face each other at least once every few years or so, it makes for more excitement and more interest. I’m looking forward to watching Martinez face off against Barry Bonds next weekend, even if I might have to stay up a little later to see the game here on the East Coast. Maybe next season, should it not happen this postseason, I’ll watch the Cubs and Sox face off in a rematch of the 1918 World Series. It’s true that not every game will feature “classic” match-ups, but it makes for some interest in an otherwise long season and, with maybe just a tweak here and there, has proven to be a winning formula for baseball.

All-Star Shame

In a little over a month from now, Houston will host this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park; it will be second big sporting event for Space City this year after hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII in February. As they have for so many years now, the league has encouraged fans to vote for the starting nine for both the American and National League squads; fans will also get the opportunity to vote for the last selection for each team for the third year in a row. Oh, and just so we’re all clear on this, as former Chicago mayor Richard Daley once proclaimed, vote early and vote often.

Earlier this week, they announced some of the leading vote getters for the American League and, surprise; the leading candidate to play shortstop has been on the disabled list for Boston since before the season began. In second place is another player who has struggled at the plate this season for New York. There are probably many more deserving players that should be named as a starter in their place, but that doesn’t really matter, does it?

The obvious truth is that the All-Star game is nothing more than an overblown, hyped-up spectacle that gives owners a chance to rake in some extra cash for the coffers. The game, for all intent and purposes, has become more and more meaningless as time passes. Players no longer even want to participate, and at least a few bow out for “personal reasons” so they can instead spend a few days off soaking up the sun on a beach somewhere or visiting family and friends. Even offering home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league is a joke.

It would not be surprising to me if television ratings were better for the Home Run Derby the night before than for the game itself. I had the opportunity to sit in the bleachers and watched Mark McGwire hit the light pole over Fenway’s Green Monster a few times in the 1999 home run exhibition. I’ve noticed on many occasions that ESPN likes to rebroadcast that event to fill some space on its Classic channel, but I have never once seen a repeat of that All-Star contest. People are obviously interested more in watching super-human forms smack a few dingers than see Randy Johnson pitch to Larry Walker.

All-Star games have suffered in every major league sport in America; that is no mystery. The NHL All-Star game throws checking and defense out the window less anyone gets hurt, the NBA All-Star game is anything but fantastic, and the NFL Pro Bowl gets lower ratings than local access. That’s because the contests are clearly void of any form that is representative of the game itself. Plus, the passion of the participants is noticeably missing; there is no care for whether or not your squad wins the match, but whether a bonus clause in your contract guarantees a little extra pay in your next check.

Perhaps the time has come to rethink the significance of these games and ask whether they are even worth the effort. Years ago, it might have meant more to read about Bob Feller facing Stan Musial or Ted Williams playing in the same outfield as Joe DiMaggio. Today, a wealth of media services gives people the chance to follow a player from any team on any given day swing for the fences or pitch a perfect game, so the mystique is just not there. Sorry, Major League Baseball, but I’m going to save my opportunity to vote for this November; the outcome of those contests means more to me and many other people than that of next month’s competition.

Here Comes The Spider-Man

Major League Baseball changed its mind very quickly when, after announcing plans to put ads for the upcoming summer movie, Spider-Man 2, on every base in major league parks during a weekend in June, howls of rage from baseball purists helped decide that this was a bad public relations move. The same fans also got their knickers in a twist when ads showed up on the uniforms of players during a season-opening series in Japan between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the New York Yankees. The victory for these fans, however, may only be short-lived.

Go to any major league ballpark today and you can’t avoid seeing ads everywhere for newspapers, major retailers, cell phone services, and soft drink companies. A blank wall space is nothing more than a potential spot to make a few extra dollars for a club that goes towards the cost of running a major league team, of which a good percentage counts towards player salaries. I can even stand at a stall in the bathroom and read an advertisement for exotic automobiles available at a local dealer. Don’t forget, too, that almost every ballpark now bears a brand name: Tropicana Field, Comerica Park, and Network Associates Coliseum, to name a few.

So where does the line in the sand get drawn between the genuine nature of the game and the chance to squeeze as much revenue out of the fans of baseball? Is it wrong for the playing field to have an ad for Home Depot carved into the outfield grass by the grounds crew? Should baseball players double as walking billboards for Coca-Cola? Have we entangled ourselves in this web of advertising that we have accepted the inevitable, on which Major League Baseball is counting??

In other sports, advertisements have become commonplace in areas that baseball fears to tread. At professional hockey games, you find large ads painted under the ice and possibly even a product name glued to the side of player’s helmets. Uniforms sported by European soccer teams have ads for adidas, Sony, petrol companies, and many other businesses. NASCAR is the best example of product placement gone mad; ads are plastered on every square inch of the cars, painted on the infield grass, and sewn to the jumper suits worn by the drivers. Regardless, the popularity of NASCAR grows every year. Would baseball be able to adopt some of these practices in a manner that does not detract from the game?

Those who favor the tradition and integrity of the game of baseball will eventually lose this battle because Major League Baseball, through no fault of its own, puts the bottom line above all else. At the end of the day, no matter which team ends up on top and who finishes last, the question will be: how much profit did we generate this season? What we, as fans of the game, can hope for is that the game itself does not change. A grand slam by Manny Ramirez scores the same number of runs whether or not an ad for Claritin prominently adorns his pant leg. A diving catch by Johnny Damon in the outfield is recorded as an out whether or not he slides across the Golden Arches painted on the grass.

Still, I want the field and the uniforms to remain untouched. I love the beauty of the green grass in the outfield, the red dirt in the infield, and the white glow from the bases and the foul lines under the sodium lights. I also love the white home uniforms of the Red Sox, with BOSTON boldly printed on the front and the players’ numbers printed square on the back. It would be a shame to have to deface the iconic images of America’s pastime in the name of revenue.