Author: Teddy Ballgame

Boston Ace(?) Josh Beckett got bombed again, this time by the A’s in a 15-3 loss. Beckett has a winning record of 11-5, despite leading the league with 27 homers allowed, and a 5.12 ERA. There is a serious concern he may develop whiplash from watching balls sail over his head as they leave the ballyard, or post tramatic stress syndrom from so many bombs going off.

Maybe David Ortiz would have won the HR hitting contest in Pittsburgh had he used teammate Josh Beckett as his pitcher, especially if David told Josh to try to get him out.

With MLB taking a few days off it gave me time to think, it didn’t hurt that the other three major sports also have the days off the day before and the day after the All Star game. These are the only two days all year, which feature no scheduled games among the four major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). I started thinking about my youth, you might do the same when you turn 50, anyway my thoughts went back to a friend of mine when I was a kid – wiffle ball. When I was a kid we would play this game for hours behind my house in Chicago in the alley. You had to be a straight away hitter, because if you hit it into a yard you were out. A grounder that bounced by the pitcher was a single, there were marks in the alley signifying doubles, triples, and homers. A really big game would be three on three. We would bat just like our major league heroes, lefty/righty, and imitate their stances. A yellow plastic bat with black tape would be used to try to hit the dancing, curving, dipping sphere as it was hurled plateward. We didn’t call balls & strikes, hence the nickname The Statue of Liberty one player earned as he held his bat high in the air, just like Carl Yastrzemski, waiting for his pitch.

Click here if you wanna learn the history of the game and here if you wanna know about upcoming wiffle ball tournaments. Wiffle ball will live on forever in my memory, but I’m glad to report it is doing better than ever today.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!! LET’S GO AL!!!

KC Royals Billy Butler, game MVP

The USA Futures All Stars defeated the World Futures All Stars 8-5, thanks in large part to a five run third inning. Since 1999 Baseball America and Major League Baseball have selected the best young players in baseball to play in the ultimate prospect game. This year’s game MVP Billy Butler (2004 1st round draft choice) was 2 for 3 with a two run homer, nothing but time stands between him and a starting leftfield job with the Royals. The Royals 2005 first round pick Alex Gordon also was 2 for 3 with a double & two runs knocked in. The Royals are coming, as last year’s game MVP was KC’s own Justin Huber. Other Futures who shined were the Rockies Joe Koshansky 1 for 3 with a two run blast and the White Sox Josh Fields 2 for 3 with a double, their paths to the bigs may be a little less clear as they are blocked by Todd Helton & Joe Crede respectively. DonS & I both saw Koshansky & Fields mash in Spring Training in Arizona. San Diego Padre catching prospect George Kottaras had a nice day with the bat for the World team ripping a double & homer in two at bats. You can get all the history of the Futures Games here.

Last year I visited Milwaukee’s Miller Park for the first time and boy did the Brewers ever get it right! Not so much with their new ballpark, but with Helfaer Field which sits where old County Stadium used to be. County Stadium holds fond memories for me as it’s the place where I saw my first major league baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and my Chicago White Sox. It was the annual Boys Benefit Game held April 7, 1968, the game didn’t count, but try telling that to a couple of kids out to see their heroes duke it out, my cousin Bill bleeding Cubbie blue and me being a rabid White Sox fan. If anybody has a scorecard from that old game, I’d sure appreciate it. And now it seems a fitting tribute that the site where I saw my first game is home to a baseball field where kids can play a little baseball.