Field of Dreams - All things Baseball

[Merlin1958]

Isn't baseball just wonderful? I have some really talented kids this year, very capable of winning a trophy, if they don't "give it away", but they are truly a very good group of kids. Baseball makes America go around, no?


Bob, next time you are in AZ, let's have a catch!!!


Also, I have "Fans" SS, they do the "wave" every game and it's more than "15" for the record!!

[CRinVA]

Well if I'm ever in AZ again we will meet up for some catch! Last tiem I was there (only time actually) was a business trip to Fort Hauchuca! I did get to visit Tombstone and that was pretty cool! That was sometime around 199 - 95 if my old memory recalls!

I dont take many business trips these days - in fact I work from home and barely drive as it is. My wife lets me have the keys onteh weekend! LOL. I have only put 3K miles on my truck since last August! You'd think I was retired! LOL

[CRinVA]

You know my son is now the Ticket Manager for the Potomac Nationals (High A affiliate to the Washington Nationals and we are starting to go to more and more games. I bought tickets to ten games for me and my wife to get him some extra commission as the pay is pretty crappy, but he also gets us free tickets. And free parking vouchers and free food vouchers! It's a good deal and fun watching these kids play Sngle A ball all hoping to be moved up and out. Lots of fun and for the Minor Leagues I am a P-Nats fan now. Yesterday I couldn't go as I had another committment, but Doug Fister was doing a rehab start at P-Nats. My son came home with a signed ball - pretty cool. Now we hear Harper is on DL and if he does a rehab start maybe he'll get a Harper signed ball. That'd be cool.

As a bit of trivia, guess who is one of the P-Nats Bull Pen pitchers. This guy about a year older than Harper named Harper! Bryce's older brother!

My son had to get up early today - like 5am. He had to be at the park at 5:30am to give one of the players a ride to the airport an hour from here. I asked him when he got back where was he going and Brett just said he didn't want to ask in case he was being demoted. The AA affiliate is close enough that he wouldn't have taken a plane! I said maybe it was a family emergency or something. So he's Ticket Manager, driver, tarp puller, and he occassinoally gets dressed up as Uncle Slam the P-Nats Mascot for events. In fact, when they show the Uncle Slam commercial on the scoreboard screen, it's my son Brett in the suit. His moment of fame and no one knows it's him! He wore it one day to an event and he got to throw out the first pitch with these two guys. One was a former Big Leaguer (spent most of his career in the minors, and now runs a baseball academy and does some one-on-one personal coaching) that went to the same HS as Brett, and the other was his HS Varsity Baseball Coach. They had no idea Brett was out there with them. Once in the suit you are not allowed to speak!

[Iwritecode]

You kno my son is now teh Ticket manager for teh Potomac Nationals (High A affiliate to teh Washington Nationals and we are starting to go to more and more games. I b ought tickets to ten games for me and my wife to get his some extra comission as tehy pay crappy, but he also gets us free tickets. And free parking vouchers and free food vouchers! Its a good deal and fun watching these kids play single A ball all hoping to be moved up and out. Lots of fun and for teh Minor Leagues I am a P-Nats fan now. Yesterday I couldngt go as I had another committment, but Doug Fister was doing a rehab start at P-Nats. My son came home with a signed ball - rpetty cool. Now we hear Harper is on DL and if he does a rehab start maybe he;ll get a Harper signed ball. That's be cool.

As a bit of trivia, guess who is one of the P-Nats bull pen pitchers. This guy about a year older thabn Harper named Harper! Bryce's oplder brother!

My son had to get up early today - like 5am. He has to be at teh park at 5:30 to give one of the players a ride to teh airport an hour from here. I asked hinm when he got back ehre was he going and Brett just said I didnt want to ask in case he was being demoted. The AA affiliate is close enough that he wouldnt have taken a plane! I said maybe it was a family emergency or something. So hes ticket manager, driver, tarp puller, and he occassinoally gets dressed up as Uncle Slam teh mascot for events. In fact when they show the Unclse Slam commercial on the scoreboard screen, its my son Brett i the suit. his m oment of fame and noone knows it ' him! He wore it one day ot an event and he got to throw out the first pitch with these two guys. One was a former Big Leaguer (spent most of his career int he minors, and know runs a baseball academy and does some one on one personal couaching) that went to the same HS as Brett and the other was his HS Varsity Baseball coach. They have no idea Brett was out there with them. Once in the suit you are not allowed to speak!

I’ve never seen the non-word “teh” so many times in a single post.

[CRinVA]

Sorry I tend to be dislexic and forget to proofread! It's my most misspelled word ever! :-)

Many many errors just edited. Wow I need to proofread more often.

[mtdman]

Tigers are 20-9 and have the best record in baseball right now. They started shakey but seem to have gelled quickly. Really liking how the starting pitching is doing, how the young Castellanos is doing, and of course how Miggy is tearing things up. Price for Kinsler seems to have been a great trade for us as well.

Go Tigers!

[Ben Staad]

Yep. Go Tigers! Starting pitching is still top notch even without Fister. I'm hopeful that V Mart can continue playing well and that there are no major injuries. I also really like the pickup of Raja. He is playing great so far and added some nice speed to the team.

They should be a contender.

[Mattrick]

Edwin took the parrot for a walk twice tonight! WOOOO!!! Swept four straight games against the Phillies.

[Merlin1958]

Thats great, Matts!!


I know he is a "Yankee", but perhaps even a little more than, Mo (who is THE greatest closer of all time, despite recent claims to the contrary), isn't it a little sad, for all baseball fans to see the face of a franchise and even MLB hang up his cleats? You may have hated him, but you had to respect him, Derek Jeter!!! Sad day for baseball, when he says "Good Bye" to the game.

[Mattrick]

I hate Mariano Rivera because he spent his career in the same division as the Jays but he is the greatest closer ever. And I have a lot of respect for a guy like him who never let success get to his head, he was loyal and he never forgot the little people. Hearing that during his last season when he went to a park for the last time he took time out to talk with the grounds crew and stadium workers and the fans there...that's pure class.

[Ben Staad]

The stats do not lie. He is the all times saves leader by a good sized margin. If you look at him having over 600 saves in his career and compare that against the other greats there is not one player close. Trevor Hoffman is the only in the neighborhood and from there it takes a massive drop off.

...Mo (who is THE greatest closer of all time, despite recent claims to the contrary),...

[Iwritecode]

I remember one time I was in the car listening to the radio and the White Sox were playing the Yankees. The Yankees had the lead and the Sox failed to score in the bottom of the 8th. I simply turned the radio off because I knew that meant Mariano would be closing it out.

My wife looked at me and said “What happened? Is the game over?” I just said “Yea, it’s over.”

Spoiler:

I later learned that the Sox came back in the bottom of the 9th to give him a rare blown save and then eventually won it. But 9 times out of ten, when he came in the game was over.

[Merlin1958]

The stats do not lie. He is the all times saves leader by a good sized margin. If you look at him having over 600 saves in his career and compare that against the other greats there is not one player close. Trevor Hoffman is the only in the neighborhood and from there it takes a massive drop off.

...Mo (who is THE greatest closer of all time, despite recent claims to the contrary),...

I don't cotton to it, but there is an argument regarding the title as "Greatest of all time" that is somewhat valid. Goose Gossage is the one supporting it. The role of the closer is one that has definitely evolved over time to the present definition. Back when, Goose was the "Fireman" they often pitched two and three innings to get the save. Mo, generally pitched the ninth only except in the playoff's

Still, in my book, baseball has always been about the numbers and, Mo is light years ahead of anyone.

I do fondly recall the sight of that big, ugly Fu Manchu ensconsed face leering with deadly intent at the batters!!

[Ben Staad]

I certainly think Eckersly (sp?) was one of the most fearsome closers but Mo compiled the stats. Back in the day they didn't monitor pitch counts as much and I wonder if Goose had the same percentage of save chances as Mo? Maybe or maybe not. Would be interesting to compare that.

[Merlin1958]

I certainly think Eckersly (sp?) was one of the most fearsome closers but Mo compiled the stats. Back in the day they didn't monitor pitch counts as much and I wonder if Goose had the same percentage of save chances as Mo? Maybe or maybe not. Would be interesting to compare that.

As I said, the role of the closer is probably the single most evolving role in baseball in that past 100 years. It's the most debatable role in baseball, perhaps even more so than the "DH". The numbers will probably not correlate, but it would be cool to at least examine them. Just for the heck of it.

[Mattrick]

Smoltz was a great closer, probably the best to have taken that role after being a great starter too.

[Mattrick]

Jays are winners of seven in a row! Swept Boston (EAT IT FARRELL) and the MLB best Athletics (BYAH!!!!) and now it's time to sweep the Rays. We're the hottest team in Baseball and I don't see any extinguishers around!!!

[Merlin1958]

Jays are winners of seven in a row! Swept Boston (EAT IT FARRELL) and the MLB best Athletics (BYAH!!!!) and now it's time to sweep the Rays. We're the hottest team in Baseball and I don't see any extinguishers around!!!

They "were" the hottest team in baseball, but now those brooms look shockingly like the "Wicked Witch of the West" LOL All burned up!!!

[Mattrick]

Yet our AL East lead has barely diminished

[CRinVA]

So my son Brett currently works for the Potomac Nationals, the Single A (high) affiliate to the Washington Nationals. As part of the front office staff (he is the Ticket Manager) he has an access pass to the California/Carolina All-Start Game 2014. His team put him up in a hotel in Wilmington, DE and he and a few other "interns" went yesterday - they get to see the Home Run Derby tonight and the actual All*Star game tomorrow. Last night was kind of a meet n greet. Thus the reason for my post. Here's my son Brett with another Brett you might know!

[Iwritecode]

I saw something that actually warmed my heart this weekend. Kids playing some sort of baseball completely on their own. No adults, no organized leagues, no umpires…

We have a permanent site at a campground that we spend weekends at during the summer. Our site faces a playground and a basketball court. Both are just across a small gravel road.

The campground doesn’t have an actual baseball diamond but it’s not unusual to see a few people throwing a ball back and forth.

One pair of kids had the idea to simply use the basketball court as a baseball diamond. There were only two of them but they took turns just throwing a ball up and hitting it. Then they used the corners of the court as “bases” to run around. They even got their parents to come in and pitch to them for a few minutes.

I remember when I was a kid I would literally spend hours with just a bat and a tennis ball just hitting it back and forth across an open field. If we could get enough of the neighborhood kids together, we’d play something resembling an actual game. This was on top of the organized games I’d play at the local community center all summer long.

That’s just something you don’t see anymore. Baseball diamonds and open fields mostly sit empty now.

My daughter plays softball but she just doesn’t have the passion for it like I did and still do. We have a big field right across the street from our house and she never goes over there unless I go with her. Even when we are camping she never seems to want to get her glove out and throw a ball around.

I’m guessing if the two kids from the campground had a field like that near their house, they’d be there every single day, just like I was. But they seem to be the exception these days.

[Merlin1958]

So my son Brett currently works for the Potomac Nationals, the Single A (high) affiliate to the Washington Nationals. As part of the front office staff (he is the Ticket Manager) he has an access pass to the California/Carolina All-Start Game 2014. His team put him up in a hotel in Wilmington, DE and he and a few other "interns" went yesterday - they get to see the Home Run Derby tonight and the actual All*Star game tomorrow. Last night was kind of a meet n greet. Thus the reason for my post. Here's my son Brett with another Brett you might know!

You should have told him to give, George some pine tar!!! LOL

[Merlin1958]

I saw something that actually warmed my heart this weekend. Kids playing some sort of baseball completely on their own. No adults, no organized leagues, no umpires…

We have a permanent site at a campground that we spend weekends at during the summer. Our site faces a playground and a basketball court. Both are just across a small gravel road.

The campground doesn’t have an actual baseball diamond but it’s not unusual to see a few people throwing a ball back and forth.

One pair of kids had the idea to simply use the basketball court as a baseball diamond. There were only two of them but they took turns just throwing a ball up and hitting it. Then they used the corners of the court as “bases” to run around. They even got their parents to come in and pitch to them for a few minutes.

I remember when I was a kid I would literally spend hours with just a bat and a tennis ball just hitting it back and forth across an open field. If we could get enough of the neighborhood kids together, we’d play something resembling an actual game. This was on top of the organized games I’d play at the local community center all summer long.

That’s just something you don’t see anymore. Baseball diamonds and open fields mostly sit empty now.

My daughter plays softball but she just doesn’t have the passion for it like I did and still do. We have a big field right across the street from our house and she never goes over there unless I go with her. Even when we are camping she never seems to want to get her glove out and throw a ball around.

I’m guessing if the two kids from the campground had a field like that near their house, they’d be there every single day, just like I was. But they seem to be the exception these days.

Yeah, when I was a kid we'd leave the house first thing in the morning and not come home til dark. We'd take a break and start another game all day long. At lunch time we'd scan the woods for bottles and cans to pay for some deli meat and a loaf of bread!! LOL

[CRinVA]

When I was a kid we built a baseball field. We even got someone's Dad to put up a chicken wire fence for Home Runs. Back then it was always easy to get enough kids to field two teams. We always just jumbled up who was on what teams.

We also used to play a whiffle ball version in this friends back yard with a very thin bat! It was harder to hit the ball than playing the "regular" way!

And yes Bill. Out of the house in the morning only to return around supper time. No phones no parents really knew where we were and we made out just fine. Back then all you needed was a bike, a glove and be sure someone had a bat and a few balls. We'd play with the balls til they literally fell apart!

Life was good. T here is no way my kids would have been out of the house all day without us knowing where they were or keeping in touch by cell phone!

We also rode our bikes to school and just put them on the bike racks provided. No locks no problem! Kids do not ride bikes to school any more!

:-)

[Merlin1958]

Well, we had a great MLB weekend. Celebrated, Gehrig (As well as his iconic "speech") and the Independence of America, along with the continued march to the HOF for, Derek Jeter, who recorded his 3,400th hit!!! Not a bad weekend at all!!!