Sports Then and Now

Bob Feller enlisted in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor and missed nearly four full baseball seasons.

(Editor’s Note: In honor of Memorial Day Weekend, Sports Then and Now is re-running this article that reflects on the personal sacrifices made by some of the great stars of baseball. May we always remember and appreciate the sacrifices that so many have made to keep our country free.)

The names Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Bob Feller conjure up images of greatness on the baseball diamond, but a lack of overwhelming career statistics often hurts these superstars when the discussion turns to the greatest players in baseball history. What is generally forgotten is that all three missed significant time in the prime of their careers while defending our country.

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Here’s a name you should not know but probably do: Joe West

Aside from his aspiring (or is it perspiring) country music career, Joe West is the best known umpire currently in the major leagues.  But pay attention to that sentence because best known is very different from being the best, or even generally good at his job.  Most talking heads agree, Joe West is an average to below average official.  More importantly, he refuses to fade in to the background of the games he calls as a good umpire should.  Instead, West enjoys his stage and, on occasions like Wednesday’s White Sox game, he demands center stage.

West called Chicago’s Mark Buehrle for two balks in the first three innings of their game against the Indians.  Buehrle, known for an exceptional move to first, didn’t like the first one, and his manager, Ozzie Guillen, came out of the dugout, argued with West, and got himself tossed.  Now, Ozzie getting tossed is not even really news worthy, although most observers seem to agree that what Buehrle did in the second inning was not a balk.  In the third inning, West called Buehrle for another balk that was not a balk.  This time, when Buehrle dropped his glove on the ground in disgust, West tossed him.  It did not appear that Buehrle yelled anything at West prior to his ejection, and it was clear that West was waiting for any excuse.

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Now, balks are a dubious thing at best – most fans I know can’t even explain clearly what constitutes one.  The real issue here isn’t balks, however, it’s roles. Life is much nicer when you and the folks around you know what roles they are in and play them.  Joe West’s role is supposed to be, to steal a line from Full Metal jacket, “In the rear with the gear.”  The is most assuredly not where Joe West wants to be.

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In the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s Red Sox/Yankees game, his team down 5-1, Josh Beckett’s plant foot slipped a bit on the wet mound of Yankee Stadium.  That pitch resulted in a pop up for Alex Rodriguez, and Beckett faced the next batter.  Once that batter, Robinson Canoe, had hit a two-run double, Beckett was pulled for an injury.  The Yankees bench, stating that he was not hurt but that the injury was being faked so that a reliever would be given ample time to warm-up, played the remainder of the game under protest.

Joe Girardi protested Josh Beckett's 5th inning exit from Tuesday night's game stating he did not really have an injury.

Given the fact that Josh Beckett was placed on the 15 day disabled list, it seems unlikely that the umpires decision to allow time for Manny Delcarmen to warm-up would be questioned seriously by the league, even considering that the Yankees went on to lose the game, 7-6.

So what exactly is the deal with protests in baseball? Read the rest of this entry →

New York, New York. Twins face the Yankees in stern 3-game test.

Remember last October when the Yankees swept the Twins in the American League Playoffs? This was after the Twins had clawed their way back to win the Central Division crown while the league-leading Tigers swooned. Impossible to forget.

Remember the final moments of Twins baseball inside the Metrodome? With its artificial landscape contained by a shabby, baseball-colored roof that held and intensified noise to exhausting, bone-jarring levels—the Dome rocked and rolled. On that final Sunday there were 54,735 fans packed inside, all screaming for a win until the last pitch.

Remember being down 4-1 in the bottom of the the ninth as Twins third baseman Brendan Harris stood in the batters box with Michael Cuddyer safe on second base? Within that deafening roar as the count stood 2-0, Harris swung hard, hitting a ground ball to the shortstop who threw him out at first.

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The Phillies recently signed to Ryan Howard to a five-year, $125 million contract extension.

The economy obviously isn’t bothering Major League Baseball teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Phillies. Everyone knows that the Yankees and Red Sox will go buy any free agent that can help their team. Some say that the Yankees and Red Sox have ‘bought’ their World Series Championships. And the Phillies have had two straight World Series appearances… So can a team ‘buy’ a championship?

The Phillies just recently gave their star first baseman a 5-year, $125 million deal. Thirty-year-old Ryan Howard has 226 HR, 657 RBI, and a batting average of .279 in his career. Howard has struck out more than 900 times in his career. He isn’t very solid defensively either, yet the Phillies still make him one of the highest paid players in baseball.

So if Howard is ‘worth’ $25 mill a year, and A-Rod is ‘worth’ $33 mill a year, what does this mean for future players? Albert Pujols is arguably the best player in baseball. So how much is he going to be ‘worth’ at the end of the year? Is he ‘worth’ $40-50 million? Wow! The Padres and Pirates whole team payroll is less than $40 million a year! Read the rest of this entry →

On April 22nd, the lead story after Dallas Braden’s 4-2 win over the Yankees was not Braden’s then 3-0 record or his 2.77 ERA.  Instead, the most savory tidbit for post-game was the altercation between Braden and Alex Rodriguez after A-Rod’s disrespectful stroll over the mound.  Whether it was the fact that they were playing in Oakland or Braden’s reverence for the nuances of the game and disdain for high-paid prima donnas, he told Rodriguez, “Stay the [expletive] off my mound.  A-Rod’s response (aside from claimed ignorance of the significance of his trespass) was to break a second unwritten rule by impugning the skills of his opponent by saying, ” I’d never quite heard that, especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career.”  Later, when asked about further comments made by Braden, A-Rod said, “I really don’t want to extend the 15 minutes of fame he already has.”

Box score from Braden's perfect game.

Grammar aside, Rodriguez’s hopes that Braden was going to be out of the papers crashed and burned on Sunday. During the Oakland’s Mother’s Day game against Tampa Bay , Dallas Braden went a long way to showing just how talented he can be and exactly who the pitcher’s mound at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum belongs to.  Braden became only the 19th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw a perfect game. Read the rest of this entry →