Sports Then and Now

In 2010 28 of the 30 MLB teams will be playing on natural grass.

There’s a famous quote from one of my all time favorite baseball players, Tug McGraw, that goes something like this:

REPORTER:  Tug, Which do you prefer: Grass or AstroTurf?

TUG:  I’ve never smoked AstroTurf…

You have to love the Tugger!

Since its hay day back in the 70’s, artificial turf has been prevalent in professional sports, particularly in baseball.  It’s first appearance in the Houston Astrodome in 1965, and plastic grass has been the bane of baseball purists everywhere from just about day one.

The Astrodome was the world’s first domed sports stadium and, as luck would have it, grass doesn’t grow in the shade.   While the name “AstroTurf” is a trademarked product, the phrase gets used to cover just about all of the nasty dangerous stuff that players have been ravaging their bodies on for decades. There’s the painful “Turf Toe,” which is essentially a type of tendonitis common for athletes playing on artificial surfaces.  Earlier versions used rubber based under-matting that could leach chemicals in to the water table.  The stuff also had the pleasant distinction of needed to be disinfected at regular intervals to prevent mold and smell. Read the rest of this entry →

There is no shortage of money being spent on baseball salaries, but which teams are getting the most bang for their bucks?

Given that they spent half a billion dollars more than any other team over the last decade, it should come as no surprise that the New York Yankees top the list of Major League Baseball teams when it comes to cost per victory. However, in an interesting article posted on SportsIllustrated.com, Tom Verducci contends that the Yankees got much more bang for their buck than some teams that spent less money during the decade.

Just looking at the raw numbers, the Yankees top the sport by spending $174,600 for each of their league-best 965 victories. The New York Mets ($133,300), Boston Red Sox ($127,000), Los Angeles Dodgers ($116,200) and Chicago Cubs ($112,400) round out the list of the top five teams in spending per victory.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees and Red Sox are the only two teams to claim multiple World Series titles in the decades. However, using a formula that weighs playoff success and then compares it with total payroll to illustrate efficiency and inefficiency, Verducci suggests that the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals got the most for their money over the past decade.

But, Verducci also points out the flaw in his system when considering the comprehensive success of those teams during the decade.

The Cardinals spent $843 million (eighth highest in baseball) while winning 913 games (third in MLB). They also reached the playoffs eight times, appeared in two World Series and claimed the World Series title in 2006.

While the Marlins equaled the Cardinals with one World Series title (2003 over the Yankees), their rise to the top of the efficiency scale is tied primarily to annual place at the bottom of the league when it comes to team payroll. The Marlins spent only $349 million during the decade, which is $50 million less than the other team in Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays. The 2003 championship was the only playoff appearance for the Marlins and they finished within five games of making the playoffs only one other time in the decade. Read the rest of this entry →

It was summer, in the late 1950s. I was a young kid about to enter the “Sandblasters”, an intermediate baseball league, just a step below Little League.

My old hand-me-down ball glove was feeling it’s age, so I was saving my money for a new one. The fact that all my friends were sporting new gloves may have fueled my motives as well…

Finally the day arrived when I had enough cash to plunk down $8.95 at the Montgomery Wards store and buy my very own mitt. I didn’t care that it was a Hawthorne, Wards’ economy “house brand”.

It had a great new-leather smell and it was a Stan Musial signature model.

After the initial thrill began to wear off, I noticed it was rather stiff and felt awkward in my hand. It had no “pocket”, like my old glove.

A pocket is important in a baseball mitt. It is the very heart of the glove—a vague, but tangible “sweet spot” inside the webbing, where every hit or thrown ball would ideally be captured.

In the mind of a yet unspoiled and innocent lad, the pocket held a certain mystique—a magnetic attraction to any spherical horsehide object in motion.

My older brother told me how I could quickly form a pocket in my new glove: oil the mitt generously with goose grease, place a ball in the web of the glove, then close the glove around the ball and tie it tightly with a rawhide shoelace.

For some yet unknown reason, it was also important to place the bundle under my pillow and sleep on it. Read the rest of this entry →

Injuries have been a big part of the story for Carlos Beltran and the Mets in recent years.

The saga continues. Once again the question arises when it comes to the Mets medical staff and the organization leadership: Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Obviously not. With so many players injured during the course of the 2009 season, the way the players were or were not treated medically sparked a very real concern among Mets fans everywhere. Of course it really goes back to the 2008 season with the handling of Ryan Church following his concussions.

I had hoped to put the disaster of 2009 behind me and start writing real positive articles about the team I love. I have been quiet during the off season primarily because pretty much everything has already been said regarding 2009.

I have ripped manager Jerry Manuel and his boss General Manager Omar Miniya to the core, however I had no choice since they have both been retained to start the 2010 campaign. Omar has been overall very good in the offseason. It is his non-moves, especially at the trade deadline, that have frustrated me during his reign. Read the rest of this entry →

Mark McGwire admitted to steroid use, but believes it didn't impact his success.

“The Truth Shall Set Me Free,” so says Mark McGwire after releasing his statement to the press yesterday that he was indeed a steroid user for the better part of the decade. It was McGwire along with Sammy Sosa who revived the sport of Major League Baseball from one of its lowest places in the history of the sport.

McGwire, who never tested positive for any illegal substance during his playing time, stood up before a Select Committee of United States Congressmen and said he would not talk about the past. From that moment on, McGwire has been vilified by the fans, the press, and broadcasters throughout the U.S.

What all of us learned yesterday for the first time was what went on behind the scenes of that committee meeting. According to McGwire, he had every intention of coming clean that day before Congress but his lawyers advised him in order to avoid prosecution he would need to get immunity. His lawyers met with the two key members of the committee, who could not promise immunity, so they all agreed that McGwire who refused to lie about his steroid use could say that he would not speak about the past.

Does that make a difference to anyone? It does to me. The committee knew what McGwire was going to say, and they agreed not to push the issue.

Perhaps, the most amazing part of his revelation was that Mark did not feel that his performance was accelerated by the use of steroids. His claim about taking low doses just to help heal his injuries and himself to “feel normal” comes across as either terribly naive or just plain stupid.

McGwire feels that if he were healthy and never took steroids he still would have managed to hit 70 home runs in one season and 583 overall. Really? Read the rest of this entry →

After spending a fortune on Matt Holliday, will the Cardinals have the money to resign Albert Pujols?

Watching the post-season wraps ups for Major League Baseball this past November, you could have been easily convinced that Albert Pujols was the greatest player to every swing a bat.  If you were convinced, it was not only because everyone and their brother was talking about it as the MVP unveiling drew nearer, but also because even a quick look at Pujols’s numbers leaves people wide eyed.  He’s every smart fantasy player’s automatic number one draft choice and someday the term “highlight” itself will be replaced by “Pujols”.

So why is it that the Cardinals have all but decided to jettison Pujols by giving Matt Holliday his new opus magnum  $120 million contract?

First of all, am I the only one who realizes that Matt Holliday is not another Albert Pujols.  That’s not an insult as we could go decades before we see another AP.  But if the Cardinals are telling Holliday that he is worth this much green, how much will they have to give Pujols , the better player, in order to keep him?

Holliday will be getting roughly $17 million per year over the next seven years, not counting a list of bonuses for things like MVP, Silver Slugger, and playoff wins (exactly the same bonuses as Pujols’s current contract.) Read the rest of this entry →