Sports Then and Now

Roger Clemens was on trial for lying during a 2008 Congressional hearing.

Given that the “Steroid Era” in baseball has been built on a series of lies, accusations and uncertainties, it seems almost normal for baseball’s darkest era to come to an end with a mistrial in a federal courtroom that accomplished nothing and left as many questions as answers.

Ever since baseballs started flying out of stadiums at uncanny rates beginning in the early 1990s, the game of baseball has been in a civil war between those who believe in preserving the history and sanctity of the sport and those who saw the opportunity for greater success through artificial means.

This battle has left baseball with nearly two decades of inflated statistics and history that no one really knows what to do with.

Baseball purists have always pointed to the purity of statistics as being one of the components that make baseball special. For generations they contended that you could directly compare the statistics of players like Joe DiMaggio, Tris Speaker and Lou Gehrig with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax to legitimately determine the greatest players of all-time.

Now in reality that argument is unsupportable as each era has its own nuances that make it difficult to compare with other generations.

Frank “Home Run” Baker earned his nickname by leading the American League in home runs four consecutive years between 1911 and 1914. During those four seasons, he blasted a combined total of 42 home runs, including 9 to lead the league in 1914. Yes, NINE! He finished his 13-year career with 96 home runs and 103 triples.

Just a few years later, a giant lefthander pitcher named George Herman “Babe” Ruth switched from being one of the American League’s most dominant pitchers to being its greatest slugger. He led the AL with 11 home runs in just 95 games in 1918 and in his first full season playing in the field in 1919 set a new single season record with 29 home runs. He hit 54 home runs in 1920 and 59 the following year and in 1921 became MLB’s career a home run leader, a distinction he would hold until 1974. Read the rest of this entry →

Thanks to the play of their young star Andrew McCutchen, the Pittsburgh Pirates are among the small market teams having surprise success in 2011.

Don’t look now– or perhaps you have looked— at the tables on the Sports page, but 2011 is becoming the year of the small market team. The Brewers have been climbing the standings in the NL Central, the Indians have been in and just barely out of the top of the AL Central, the Pirates have been over .500 more than they’ve been under thus far, and the Nationals (not a small market team but a small market performer) have been bobbing up and down along the .500 line.

And that’s only baseball. Oklahoma City made a run in the NBA. Buffalo had one of the best records in the second half of the last NHL season, taking Philadelphia to seven games in the playoffs. Western New York (Buffalo-Rochester) is currently dominating Women’s Professional Soccer. In men’s soccer, Real Salt Lake has emerged as a power. And of course the mother of all small market towns, Green Bay, won the mother of all American sports championships, the Super Bowl.

So what’s going on?

Perhaps there’s a lesson in what seems to be driving the US Women’s National Team in the World Cup. Despite coming into the tournament as a favorite, the US team hasn’t made the cup finals since its last victory, in 1999, and had to play in this year, after losing four matches leading up to the tournament. If you know enough about sports to be reading this, you know the story. And while the United States is anything but “small market” in almost every respect, we are certainly small market in the soccer world, despite more success in the women’s game. Read the rest of this entry →

Derek Jeter is only the 28th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 career hits.

Given how much money they have spent to acquire the best players from across baseball over the last century, it is ironic that the first player to reach 3,000 hits as a member of the New York Yankees has spent his entire career in Yankee pinstripes.

It didn’t take Derek Jeter long after coming off the disabled list last Monday to get the last six hits needed to reach the prestigious milestone. With a home run in the third inning Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays (part of a 5-hit day that also included the game-winning RBI), Jeter became the first player to reach 3,000 hits since Craig Biggio in 2007 and joined Wade Boggs as the only players to hit a home run to reach the plateau.

It is likely that the next player to reach 3,000 hits will also be a Yankee as Alex Rodriguez is within reach at 2,762 career hits. Though a pair of future Hall of Famers, Ivan Rodriguez (2,842 hits) and Omar Vizquel (2,831) are currently ahead of A-Rod, both are nearing the end of their careers and seem unlikely to stick around long enough to join the club.

Now that he has become the 28th player in baseball history to reach this milestone, it is interesting to analyze where Jeter stands in the pantheon of Yankee and all-time greats. Read the rest of this entry →

Pete Rose knocks over Ray Fosse for the winning run in the 1970 All-Star Game.

With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game one week away, it’s time to take a look back at some great moments from All-Star Games past.

Here now, are the 10 Greatest MLB All-Star Game Moments.

10. 1933
It was only fitting that the first home run in an All-Star game is hit by Babe Ruth.

Ruth’s blast comes off Cardinals pitcher Bill Hallahan in the bottom of the third to give the American League a 4-2 in the inaugural All-Star game.

9. 1983
Fifty years later in the same ballpark, the first grand slam is hit as Angels center fielder Fred Lynn sends Atlee Hammaker’s 2-2 pitch over the wall.
It is still the only time a Grand Slam has been hit in the All-Star Game.

8. 1955
The National League pulls off the greatest comeback in All-Star Game history as they overcome a five-run deficit to pull out a victory in extra innings.

Trailing 5-0 entering the bottom of the 7th inning, the NL scores two runs in the inning, then score three runs in the eighth to tie the game, and then win the game in 12th when Stan Musial hits a solo home run. Read the rest of this entry →

Derek Jeter will be starting in the 2011 All-Star Game despite hitting .260 with 20 RBI.

Despite continual tweaking designed to make the process as fair and consistent as possible, the selections for the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game follow the history of rewarding past accomplishments and dominant teams while overlooking a number of deserving players.

Selecting the players for the All-Star Game has been a challenge for generations.

The most egregious example of exploiting the system occurred in 1957 when ballot stuffing in Cincinnati led to the Reds having the top vote getter at seven of eight field positions. Eventually, two of the players were replaced in the lineup and fans lost the right to vote for the All-Star starters for slightly more than a decade.

Since fan voting was restored in 1970, the biggest problem has not been ballot stuffing, but instead a tendency for fans to vote some of their favorite players into the lineup regardless of whether they were having the best year of a player at that position.

Some all-time greats, including Brooks Robinson, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Reggie Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith and Johnny Bench continued to be selected by the fans even in years when they were clearly not the best player at their position.

The unintended consequence of this desire to see certain fan favorites is that other deserving players don’t get the recognition of being All-Star starters in years when they were obviously the best player at their position.

One such example was first base for the American League during the late 1970s and early 1980s. After moving from second base, where he was an eight time starter, Rod Carew was voted by the fans as the starting first baseman every year from 1976 through 1984. Read the rest of this entry →

Derek Jeter has struggled with injuries and inconsistency so far this season for the Yankees.

At the risk of sounding like a New York Mets homer and an unabashed hater of the New York Yankees, I must tell you, that I am a New York Mets homer and an unabashed hater of the New York Yankees. I know, my subtlety and boldness is overwhelming, but all jokes aside, there are a multitude of reasons why the 2011 installment of the Yankees will miss the playoffs altogether, despite the fact they currently sit atop the American League East division. So, my heartfelt apologies, Mr. Bloomberg, but there will be no American League East championship, no wildcard, nothing, just the stench of another failed run at a World Series crown, for a team whose success is unequivocally defined by championship rings, not playoff berths.

Red Sox Nation
Despite a recent four-game losing streak, the Sox have a record of 20-10 over their last 30 games. Stop right here. I already know that you’re going to rebut my point with the fact that the Yankees are also 20-10 over their last 30 ball games. You see, records can be deceiving, much like the looks of that blonde you chatted up at the club over the weekend after you enjoyed a few beers. During this stretch, the Sox took two of three from Cleveland, three of four from Detroit, and they ripped off a nine-game winning streak, including a sweep of the Yankees in the Bronx. Boston also impressively won series versus Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. All told, that is five series wins against five of the top ten teams in the league in terms of overall record. Sure, the Yankees did take three of four from Cleveland and swept a Texas Rangers squad who sits atop the AL West. Let’s be honest though, The Rangers pitching staff has the consistency of bleu cheese crumbles.

Oh, did I mention the Red Sox own an 8-1 record against the Yankees in 2011? The Sox have outscored the Yanks 60-37 in the nine games this year and have swept them twice in the Bronx. With nine games remaining between the two teams, it is hard for me to envision the Yankees enjoying any success against a team that has dominated them in every facet of the game.

Stingray Alert
Not convinced the nine matchups against Boston over the final 86 games should be cause for concern? Fine, how about 16 more games against the pesky and very dangerous Tampa Bay Rays? The Yankees will close out the first half of the season with four games versus Tampa in the Bronx and will also face the upstart Rays in five of the last eight games of the season.

The Rays, fueled by consistent pitching, have benefited greatly from the impressive numbers put up by James Shields, who is once again living up to the “Big Game” moniker he was noted for in the Rays 2008 AL pennant run. Thus far in 2011, Shields has outpitched David Price, posting an impressive 8-4 record with a staggeringly low ERA of 2.29.

Speaking of impressive, it would be an egregious oversight if I overlooked what Evan Longoria did to the Houston Astros over the weekend. Longo was a beast at the plate, posting a .571 average with 3 HR’s and 10 RBI. If Longoria can continue to rake and post numbers like he did in Houston, the Rays offense will become one of the most balanced attacks in the American League.

Nobody could have envisioned the Rays sitting two games back in the AL East, especially after their abysmal start to the 2011 campaign. They are a young, hungry and well-managed team, and they have the best road record in the league at 26-16. Read the rest of this entry →