BATTER UP!

[LizzieMaine]

April 16, 1966 -- the auxiliary scoreboard catches fire at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium (Shibe Park) during a game against the Reds. The game goes on as the fans boo the park staff trying to put out the fire. The Phillies lose, 4-0. It's going to be a long season in Philadelphia.

 

[Harp]

...ahh. Had Theo listened to Chili the Cubs might not be three games south of St Louis...

 

[LizzieMaine]

May 30, 1958 in Brooklyn USA. Memorial Day marks a belated start to the season at Ebbets Field -- but not with a ball game. Instead, the turf is torn to shreds by Jack Kochman's Hell Drivers as bewildered spectators don't know whether to cheer or cry.

Although the Dodgers sold the park to developer Marvin Kratter in 1956, the team held a lease on the facility thru the end of 1959 -- a bit of strategy that not only ensured that the team would have a last-ditch place to play if, for whatever reason, the good voters of Los Angeles figured out what was really going on and decided not to give away 315 acres of Chavez Ravine in exchange for 9 acres in Compton, but also ensured that no other franchise could move in to fill the Brooklyn vacancy. And so it was that for two long years after the ball club left to bask in the California sun, a series of second-rate promotions, soccer games, college and high-school sports, religious rallies, and assorted cheesy gimmicks wrung the last possible cent out of Brooklyn and into the coffers of Walter F. O'Malley.

 

[Harp]

...assorted cheesy gimmicks wrung the last possible cent out of Brooklyn and into the coffers of Walter F. O'Malley.

As much as I blame O'Malley for what he did to the fans...ahh, I'll let those other dogs lie alone. Bastards. All of 'em.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The more you dig into that whole story, the more it reeks. The Los Angeles side of the picture fairly dripped with corruption and political sleaziness. O'Malley got his land giveaway by a margin of about 25,000 votes in the LA referendum, and only because he bought off the movie industry for a pre-vote propaganda barrage. As much as the revisionists ("Robert Moses is the real villian!") try to burnish W. F. O's image, their story doesn't bear up under investigation.

My own belief is that W. F. O. had his mind made up to go to LA by the end of 1953. Pretty much every move he made after he saw how well the Braves were doing in Milwaukee points to that conclusion: he pulled strings to make sure the Browns couldn't go to LA, although Bill Veeck wanted to take them there, he got rid of Red Barber -- who wouldn't have gone along with the O'Malley line the way Scully did -- and he made demands of New York that could not legally have been met -- a privately-owned ballpark was not a "public purpose" under the Title I program, and he knew it, and knew that Robert Moses knew it. All that before the end of 1953. Then over the next three years he made sure the A's and the Senators didn't move to LA, he sold Ebbets Field -- and immediately used the three million he got for it to buy the ballpark and territorial rights to LA -- and he made every effort to suppress attendance in Brooklyn by offering indifferent customer service, refusing to do any meaningful facilities maintenance, and most significantly, failing to do anything meaningful to keep up the quality of the team itself -- when it looked like the Dodgers had a chance to win the 1957 pennant, the team made strange personnel moves to ensure that they didn't. All this while continuing to negotiate behind closed doors with the city of LA while playing the aggrieved victim in the New York papers.

 

[Harp]

Midnight San Diego 10th inning heartbreaker last nite as Cubs fall to the Padres.

Reading between the radio interview lines, I suspect the front office will trade Kris Bryant later,
and Maddon's head might very well roll into the sawdust. The Cubs' core element is seen as lacking
plate prowess and I doubt that Bryant's free agency as suboptimal hitter will be supported; with years
remaining on his contract, time now is ripe to move for value. And the rotation needs an Ace card,
Lester is struggling while Darvish is considered an uncertain wild deuce. And the mercurial batting line
is another altogether issue.

 

[Fading Fast]

Midnight San Diego 10th inning heartbreaker last nite as Cubs fall to the Padres.

Reading between the radio interview lines, I suspect the front office will trade Kris Bryant later,
and Maddon's head might very well roll into the sawdust. The Cubs' core element is seen as lacking
plate prowess and I doubt that Bryant's free agency as suboptimal hitter will be supported; with years
remaining on his contract, time now is ripe to move for value. And the rotation needs an Ace card,
Lester is struggling while Darvish is considered an uncertain wild deuce. And the mercurial batting line
is another altogether issue.

Do you, Lizzie and others have thoughts on the Red Sox firing Peter Dombrowski?

 

[Harp]

Do you, Lizzie and others have thoughts on the Red Sox firing Peter Dombrowski?

Surprising execution for a Series winner.
Some talk on Chicago sports radio last night about Theo possibly moving back to Boston but only idle speculation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I hear a lot of speculation that something other than on-field performance was going on between Dombrowski, Henry and Werner to cause them to fire him before the season ended. There have also been hints that his failure to do anything at the trade deadline sealed his fate.

I'm waiting for the Globe to put out a full-on hatchet job explaining he's addicted to pills or something, like they did when Francona got railroaded. The Globe, is, of course, owned by John Henry, and is the main outlet for the Official Red Sox Line whenever something controversial is going on, and they're notorious for printing greasy rationalizations of inexplicable moves.

The Globe yesterday had a full page of analysis, and one theory that seemed to be shot down pretty securely was the Return Of Theo. Which may mean that he's already on the plane. The idea that seemed to get the most push, though, is that they're going to do away with the GM office altogether and replace it with a triad of executives, one of whom might be Eddie Romero, son and namesake of a former Sox utility player who seems to be a rising star in the front office.

 

[Fading Fast]

Surprising execution for a Series winner.
Some talk on Chicago sports radio last night about Theo possibly moving back to Boston but only idle speculation.

I hear a lot of speculation that something other than on-field performance was going on between Dombrowski, Henry and Werner to cause them to fire him before the season ended. There have also been hints that his failure to do anything at the trade deadline sealed his fate.

I'm waiting for the Globe to put out a full-on hatchet job explaining he's addicted to pills or something, like they did when Francona got railroaded. The Globe, is, of course, owned by John Henry, and is the main outlet for the Official Red Sox Line whenever something controversial is going on, and they're notorious for printing greasy rationalizations of inexplicable moves.

The Globe yesterday had a full page of analysis, and one theory that seemed to be shot down pretty securely was the Return Of Theo. Which may mean that he's already on the plane. The idea that seemed to get the most push, though, is that they're going to do away with the GM office altogether and replace it with a triad of executives, one of whom might be Eddie Romero, son and namesake of a former Sox utility player who seems to be a rising star in the front office.

Thank you guys, as you both imply - the real story hasn't come out yet.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Anyone heard of 2jakes, the last time??

 

[Fading Fast]

Anyone heared of 2jakes, the last time??

I sent him a PM over a month ago, but did not get a response.

 

[53Effie]

I sent him a PM over a month ago, but did not get a response.

I have been wondering about 2jakes as well. I think he last posted in April. I have enjoyed his comments and hope all is well with him.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's a fascinating shot from the spring of 1964 as the historic Polo Grounds nears its end. There's a lot that's interesting to see here -- note that the scoreboard, which the Mets put up for the 1962 season is a structure hung out from the front of the clubhouse building, with a cutout so as not to block the windows. It's set up in football configuration from the very last event ever staged there, an AFL game the previous December. The "H" and "E" in the Rheingold sign were back-lit plastic, and served as the hit or error indicator in the same way that the H and E in the Schaefer sign at Ebbets Field were used.

But the most interesting thing here is that there appears to have been a fire in the clubhouse -- note the smoke/flame damage on the scoreboard above the window. This had to have happened some time after the Mets moved their offices out of the building in Jamuary -- but I can find no description of what exactly happened or why. Squatters building a campfire on a cold winter night? Mets officials burning confidential files? A hidden stash of Horace Stoneham's Scotch spontaneously combusting? I want to know.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hard to believe the Mets by '64 had anything of confidential value .

 

[LizzieMaine]

The New Breed in action, 1963. You wouldn't see this crowd over at Yankee Stadium.

And there's something about that Hebrew National ad that makes me think it was painted by Robert Crumb.

 

[Harp]

I hear a lot of speculation...
The Globe yesterday had a full page of analysis, and one theory that seemed to be shot down pretty securely was the Return Of Theo. Which may mean that he's already on the plane...

There seems to be increased traction around Theo on air and some inside baseball heard elsewhere here
but most concede that with the Cubs four back from St Louis and tied with the Brew crew, wild deuces aside
Joe's head is likely to roll but he is seen as an all too convenient scapegoat. Lotsa blame to go round and Theo
gets tarred too. Both Theo and Jed are smart guys and quite decent. Tough times and hard decisions.

 

[Harp]

An improved National League standing at two games behind the Cards, and the red birds will soon be here
for the last seasonal meet; while the Brewers still in pursuit, with perhaps a wild card game against the Nats
to finish it. A pitcher's duel between Darvish and Schuerzer would be a fitting end.
I hope Joe Maddon won't be fired. And Theo start a farm system rebuild; a core staff to develop pitching within
the organization; metrics to be banished from Wrigley and confined to a Waveland Avenue basement office.
There is far too much front office encroachment inside the dugout. The calculator boys should stay away
from Wrigley-too many suits spoil the mood, and leave the diamond alone.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was reading an article in the Globe today about the coming front-office restructuring and my head glazed over from all the technobabble. I know advanced metrics are the thing today, but they do manage to leach much of the joy out of the game.

Fortunately, there was a pleasant piece by Dan Shaughnessy (imagine that!) about Mike Yastrzemski's debut tonight at Fenway Park, and his proud granddad's feelings about it, and there wasn't a single decimal point to be found.

 

[Harp]

Most front office radio interviews I've caught this season bemoan the Cubs' collective fault: last place bat contact,
and overall lack of production-all this from the boys who wave all the analyticis sheet music around while ignoring
emphasis on the game's basic fundamentals. Nick Castellanos, ex-Tiger mercenary can hit the entire field and since his
Wrigley Field debut has racked an .800 plate record; doesn't need a suit telling him anything he doesn't already know.
And if the team wants to keep him, Kris Bryant will need to be traded. The remaining core element: Baez, Rizzo,
and Contreras wield inferior bats to Bryant whose free agency the Cubs cannot afford to carry against his metric
subpar bat. The front office by placing so much weight on the metrics, arguably harm the team overall performance.
Baez, most notably, has the strength, though remaining an undisciplined impatient professional. His strikeouts
have cost the team in late innings when a better effort being a team player instead of a self-centered glory hound
might have proved the more productive route. And the inside baseball struggle between the front office and manager
over who rules the dugout roost sour it further. This season, if nothing else, should serve sufficient food for thought
along with serious introspection.