Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Last night I went down to St Louis to see the University of Illinois baseball team play at Busch Stadium. They were playing the University of Missouri Tigers. The game was billed as “The Battle at Busch”.
Despite a quick 4-1 lead after two innings, Illinois ended up losing 7-4. The experience was fun though. And I got to see an excellent example of a delayed double steal by the Illini. Woo!
I posted a quick summary and a few photos at the Illinois Baseball Report.
Chicago Breaking Sports (an oddly chosen, yet perhaps appropriate name for WGN/Chicago Tribune’s Sports site) has posted an interview of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts where he “discusses life as Cubs’ owner”.
On Lou Piniella’s future
Ricketts said general manager Jim Hendry ultimately will make that decision. "If you insert yourself into that discussion, you’re not adding value, for one thing, and you want accountability," he said. "It’s Jim’s responsibility, and he knows it."
Passing the buck..
Seriously, good to hear that one fat cat owner isn’t going to micromanage his team.
The New York Times just sold some of its stake of the Boston Red Sox.
The deal with Henry McCance for 50 of the media company’s 750 units in New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which owns the Major League Baseball team, reduces the Times’s stake to 16.6 percent from 17.75 percent.
Before we get all sentimental thinking it was a move to be more loyal to the Yankees, my bet is that it was a purely economic move based on the Times financial situation.
The University of Illinois baseball season is underway. All right, the season is over a month old but the Illini just had their home opener last night so I’m very excited.
Illinois crushed Chicago State 18-2 for their first game at Illinois Field. I have a wrap-up and photos of game over at Illinois Baseball Report. Matt Milroy, who was chosen by the Red Sox in the 2009 MLB draft, got his first win for the Illini.
Interesting note: Chicago State came in with a 13.57 ERA. Illinois still managed to increase it significantly.
The one thing more fun than a home opener is the first Big Ten series at home. Penn State comes to visit this weekend. At IBR, I did an interview with Larry Fall who blogs about Penn State baseball at Happy Valley Hardball in anticipation of the big series.
Go Illini!
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com has a rather interesting article regarding Stephen Strasburg and former MLB first round picks. His point is simple… we’ve gotten some real goodies with the #1 pick (Griffey, Arod, Chipper, Mauer) but at the same time, there have been some duds, too.
Crasnick trots out some examples to make his point. Players like Brien Taylor (who never even made to the majors), Matt Anderson, Paul Wilson to name just a few. When I take a cursory look at Baseball Reference’s list of first round picks, I come away with the opinion that position players seem to have better luck than pitchers. Hence the concern about Strasburg.
Don’t get me wrong… this isn’t an indictment by me on Stephen Strasburg’s talent or the possibility he may develop into a first-rate pitcher. Rather it’s a concern that the media, baseball pundits and fans may expect too much too soon from someone who has yet to pitch in a regular season baseball game.
This pre-season, the media and other baseball are falling over themselves trying to cover this guy. I get the feeling they’re also falling in love with him too (sometimes in the weirdest way). The day of his first start in spring training, everyone was all abuzz (and a-twitter) about it. I pretty much got an over-excited pitch-by-pitch account of his appearance. If he scratched his nose, I heard about it.
Now that it’s been decided that Strasburg will make his debut later this year (some have said “delay”), I’m sure the media will no doubt keep an eye on his minor league development.
I really would like to see this guy succeed. So let’s give the guy some room and maybe not so much pressure. I’d hate to have another Mark Prior on our hands.
Shonda Schilling, the wife of former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling, has come out with a book. And unlike most books penned by former athletes or their wives, this one has peaked my interest. It’s called The Best Kind of Different: Our Family’s Journey’s with Asperger’s Syndrome.
One of the Shillings’ sons has Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. The book is written mostly by Shonda with help from Curt (he also wrote the foreword). There’s a lot I could tell you personally about AS but if you’re interested, read the book. I had the chance to listen to an interview with both Schillings on March 26th’s episode of ESPN’s Baseball Today where they spoke about their challenges and joys of raising an AS kid.
The Baseball Today interview did around to baseball, by the way. Curt Schilling does NOT miss baseball though he did take part in a fantasy league for the first time (he says he won the league “against some media types”.
Bet that made him feel good.
Over at Seamheads.com, they’re holding a fun contest. Guess the old-timey baseball players whose photos make up their website’s banner.
I can tell you now that one of them is a gimme and few more I know right off the bat. Others have me befuddled, though.
Go ahead and give it a try. The winner gets a free Seamheads t-shirt or mousepad.
Jeff Sullivan from Lookout Landing did an admittedly unscientific but still somewhat interesting study on Lasik eye surgery on ballplayers and how it affected their hitting.
His post has some significant stats. Again, not scientific but his results??
Based on our very limited sample, it seems that LASIK eye surgery can indeed help hitters perform at a higher level. Which we’d expect, given that a good hitter has to be able to, you know, see.
Hmm… very eye opening.
Yesterday would have been Howard Cosell’s 92nd birthday. For you young ‘uns, here’s a clip of him broadcasting in Earl Weaver’s last game as a manager:
Yes, Cosell was outspoken, egoistic, and even controversial but even as a younger baseball fan I liked him. I liked his voice and I liked his over-confident, outlandish style.
There’s no doubt there are many of you out there who disliked him as a broadcaster. And quite honestly, in this day of cookie-cutter sports analysts and broadcasters, Cosell probably wouldn’t have a job.
Here’s to you Howard… hope you’re enjoying your birthday wherever you ended up.
Centerfielder Jim Edmonds is making a comeback. After an ill-fated 2009 when his wife died of a cocaine overdose and he spent most of the rest of it recuperating from that, Edmonds is back in baseball.
The Milwaukee Brewers are taking a flier on Edmonds hoping he can help the team. A good move in my opinion if only because they’re getting him on the cheap.
The Gold Glove centre-fielder, making a comeback after taking the 2009 season off, had his minor league contract purchased Thursday, giving the 39-year-old a spot on the 40-man roster.
The move put US$850,000 in Edmonds’ pocket, with the ability to make up to $1.75 million in bonuses.