Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Listen and watch as President Obama follows protocol and calls the San Francisco Giants (is it Bochy he’s talking to?) to congratulate them for winning the 2010 World Series.
Within 10 seconds, Obama doesn’t hesitate to invoke the Chicago White Sox, who “broke a much longer dry spell” in his conversation. Let it go, Barack… we’re ALL happy the SOX won what, five years ago??
Nevertheless, a fine call despite the fact it was probably scripted on both ends.
After taking care of their publishing needs in-house for over 100 years, the Cubs will now be outsourcing these needs to a Cincinnati firm, EMI Network.
So says Bleed Cubbie Blue:
Now, the Cubs are outsourcing their publications to EMI Network, a Cincinnati-based company that does publications for a number of other pro sports teams and various clients including Elmhurst College, Eastern Illinois University, PNC Bank, various large law firms and US News & World Report.
Under this new arrangement, EMI Network will operate and manage all aspects of the Cubs’ Publications & Creative Services Department, including publication of Vine Line magazine as well as photography, video and graphic services.
For a cynical guy, I can be pretty idealistic too. So for some reason this really bothers. I guess I need to let it roll over me. But maybe I can’t let go of the fact that the Cubs Vineline or the programs that us Cubs fans will buy at the Wrigley Field will be designed and published in the same city whose team has a former Cub manager.
DonS, a long suffering fan of TBZ, emailed me a response to my article in favor of the Cubs hiring Mike Quade. He makes some good points against the hiring I’m posting it tonight. -tbz
I said the following the day Lou left: “Lou leaving in mid-season” is the worst thing that could happen to the Cubs. What if the “Interim Flunky” hits a hot streak? Now you’re stuck with him.
Is that exactly what happened?. Quade went 24-13 (that projects out to 105 wins in a full season). So now the Cubs think this guy is the answer.
The guys on WSCR think this is a great move. But keep in mind: That’s a bunch of White Sox fans who hope the Cubs lose every game. Some endorsement, huh?
Nothing against Quade. But the guy spent 17 years in the Cub minor league system. In that time, I never heard him rumored to be a managerial candidate at the major league level, for the Cubs or for anybody else. Now, based on 37 games, he gets the job?
One More Thing: I said on the day of the hire, “If I am Ryno, I am outta there.” I heard yesterday that Ryno has left the Cub Organ-I-Zation. It sounds like he told Jim Hendry where he could stick his “Go back to Iowa” idea.
Seems obvious to me that the Cubs NEVER intend to hire him to be the manager. It’s not like they bypassed him for a proven manager, like Girardi or Torre. They had told him, “Go to the minor leagues, ride busses, work hard, … ” Something negative to Ryno must have happened in those four years.
Or maybe Jim Hendry is every bit the stumbling dunderhead that his critics think he is.
As the late Mike Royko often said, “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.”
What better way to honor your visit to Wrigley Field than to… throw a football??
From mlb.com:
The Friendly Confines will be transformed into a football field for the first time since 1970 when the Northwestern University Wildcats host the University of Illinois Fighting Illini for a special college game in a unique setting. The Cubs are opening the ballpark the following day, Sunday, November 21, for fans to play catch on the football field-all for Chicago Cubs Charities.
I’ll wait till next year’s Dunking Contest at the Friendly Confines.
A better way to spend your money perhaps is the Chicago Cubs Convention. Since the tickets went on sale today for the January 14-16 affair your luck in getting them through the normal channels may be thin. But there’s always Ebay and other popular web auction and reseller sites. I’ve had luck doing that in the past. 
Finally, if that money is still burning a hole in your wallet of yours, you could always buy a Cubs cookbook. No, the image to the right is not a joke. I wish it was. At least the proceeds go to a good cause… the Dempster Family Foundation.
I wonder if it includes goat stew… or humble pie.
I did an interview with former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof. I gleaned some questions from some of his Illini fans and ran them by him.
Roof has continued his success since leaving the Illini. This midseason, he advanced to Detroit’s AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mudhens. Once he got there, he caught fire hitting .354 for the rest of the year.
You can read the interview at my Illinois baseball blog, the Illinois Baseball Report.
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Whoever said that Baseball is a microcosm of all that is America was probably right. All you need to do is read a few of the countless forums out there tonight on the heels of the Giants’ World Series victory over the Texas Rangers.
Over at the MLB forums, you can find this gem:
BlueFan124 wrote:You hippie losers can take the WS but tomorrow we take our COUNTRY back!!!!!!!11/1/2010 10:58:16 PM
Hmm… Sandy Alderson. The Mets could have a whole lot worse.
Texas gets a win. MLB interviews with Lewis, Washington and Moreland.
2010 first pick Bryce Harper gets his first pro dinger in the Arizona Fall League
Jose Bautista had his monster year in 2010 but do you know who came in second in homers in the AL? Paul Konerko did. And the Diamondbacks are interested in him.
There’s a creepy looking costume of Ron Washington… but fortunately he’s flattered.
What is it with Cubs catchers and pot?
Cubs bullpen catcher Corey Miller was busted with 8.4 pounds of marijuana in the state of Nebraska. They frown on that kind of thing there. Even if you are a member of the Cubs organization… which will pretty much be in doubt at this point.
Miller’s conveniently contract expires tomorrow
This postseason, the baseball blogosphere (guh, I wince when I use that word but it fits here) has had a fascination with presenting data in a visual fashion. It seems to be a trend to almost move away from traditional numbers tables and go to more eye-pleasing visual presentations. The Hardball Times has a whole series of them during the 2010 postseason (a good example is their Paintomatic series).
But THT isn’t the only ones to incorporate this new brand of “visual baseball data”. You can find examples of this at The Biz of Baseball and even Baseball Reference’s blog.
Baseball history buffs should check out the Library of Congress’ archives of Spalding Base Ball Guides. These archives range from 1889 to 1939 and contain a wealth of historical information on National and American League base ball when the game we loved was spelled with two words) as well as some minor league info too.
Be forewarned, the pages of Spalding’s are scanned images and therefore not searchable or indexed. If you want to find something you’ll have look for it, But I guarantee if you’re a fan of old time base ball, the search itself will be worth it. You’ll run across some neat news tidbits and photos along the way.
Thanks to Cluke for passing this along! He wrote:
I was just geeky enough as a 14 year old and then later to spend many hours looking up old microfilm of newspapers and getting into the sports section (and other stuff) for hours at a time.If it’s old baseball stats- I never tire of it. The digital age is great for browsing from home but there’s nothing like the old micro film of the Trib and the times to follow along with past seasons of the Sox.