Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, here’s the best bastardization of baseball stats in the service of a pro-union message I’ve read since breakfast. “So we’ll march day and night, by the left field light tower; they have the brats, but we have the power . . .” Or something.

With that out of the way, between a pressing bit of legal work and the desire to get a jump on a three-day weekend, I’m going to have to call it a day. As usual, there are some posts over at NBC for your consideration (Griffey! The San Jose A’s! Papelbon! Trey Hillman!). Sorry, no Yankees-Red Sox red meat for the NBC masses today. They’re probably all shouted out for a couple of days anyway.

If you’re travelling this weekend, be safe. Come to think of it, be safe even if you’re not travelling. Even drinking at home can be dangerous. Just ask William Holden.

Have a nice weekend everyone.


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APBA Guy
14 years ago

Good luck getting the rights to SJ without massive intervention from the Commissioner and serious cash to the Gigantes.

Even though the transfer of SJ (actually, Santa Clara County) territorial rights to the Giants was relatively recent (during the Haas ownership of the A’s, after Finley), Bill Neukom (managing GP of the Giants and former General Counsel for Microsoft) will undoubtedly act and expect others to act as if those rights had been carried from the mount by Moses himself.

Given that this is Northern California, where everyone has an opinion and fervently believes that opinion is not only right, just, holy, and most importantly, better than yours, it will also take a massive and protracted effort to convince the locals in SJ to put a stadium anywhere near the confluence of train and interstate that would be required for access to fill a stadium even as small as the one proposed.

It’s too bad Los Angeles has learned it’s Al Davis lesson. If they would just cooperate and lure him and the Raiders back to LA, Oakland could do a rebuild of the Mausoleum a la Kaufmann in KC. Cheaper, plenty of parking, BART access, and no need to change names. That won’t happen, of course.

And for those who believe the Mausoleum is the worst stadium in baseball, I give you Tampa Bay. Much worse, and that is saying something. Oakland ranks 29th, IMO.

The Rabbit
14 years ago

Re Griffey: I was thinking about the very same thing last night when I was watching the Mariner game. One “obvious” solution might be to offer him a bench coach position. If media reports are accurate, he’s very positive influence on the younger players on the team.
In addition, Ichiro (I know he’s a veteran.) stated in an article this year that this is the first time he was actually “happy” and it was due to Griffey.
Might be a good idea to keep him around.
Re: Red Sox-Yankees: You mentioned Papelbon so that may be enough to get the those with fewer neurons to fire to write. BTW: If Papelbon would start talking to ball ala The Bird, maybe he wouldn’t be quite as annoying.
Have a great weekend, Craig and Shysterball fans.

Simon DelMonte
14 years ago

The ‘Topes win a game !  The ‘Topes win a game!

David
14 years ago

I love how MLB and the mainstream media celebrate Memorial Day with this laughably pompous lionization of the military (most hilariously, of living government workers in the military)….

….And yet when it’s Labor Day, nobody gives a f—- about the 5,000+ workplace fatalities in the U.S. every year.  (Oh, I almost forgot: work actually builds civilization and creates wealth.  But nevermind all that, America, go back to worshiping the military.  Don’t mind those Easterners from China and Sri Lanka and Pakistan and Indonesia who are smarter, hungrier, and harder working than you are.  Sure, American men might be utterly worthless morons who can’t create a damn thing, but who cares about all that “building” and “creating”, that’s for them queers!  We got us a military that’s mighty-fine at murdering Arabs!  What more do we need?)

I can’t wait to turn on ESPN’s games on Monday afternoon to watch them turn Labor Day into a celebration of the military.  I know that they’re gonna do it!  I guarantee.  (And if the 5% chance that they don’t actually occurs, I’ll own up to it.  But it won’t.)  I promise a celebration of the military before the first pitch and at the 7th Inning stretch.  It’s gonna be hilarious, and the impotent American men at the game are gonna just think it’s so precious, and Orel Hersheier’s gonna be talking about “All they do for us” [like take our tax dollars and run around with guns occupying countries that only 9% of Americans want to occupy?] and how he’s “honored” to be watching them in uniform.  Oh, man.  I might record it just so I can go back and watch it when I need a laugh. 

(The Tigers did this last year – they had Nate Robertson pretending to cry while he talked about how his dad’s-cousin’s-ex-husband’s-dad had once died in WW2 or some inane nonsense, and the telecasters spoke in these totally fake somber and apologetic tones.  Oh my God, it was classic!)

This Labor Day, screw men who create wealth, worship those who suck it, so decree MLB and ESPN!!!

(Just to be totally clear, “queers” was used in a wholly sarcastic sense, not derogatory.)

aaronempty
14 years ago

There’s power in the union, there’s power in the land, there’s power in the hands of the worker…there is power in the union

Will
14 years ago

David, could you ride your other hobbyhorse for a while? You know, the one about how corrupt the umpires in MLB are?

Ron
14 years ago

David, with all due respect, I spent 20 years in the military. So did my father. Both my brothers also served. I had a cousin wounded at St Mere Eglise, and an uncle who died of in France in WWI, as well as one who still suffers from events as a front-line troop in Vietnam.

Feel free to kiss my a$$ at any time.

David
14 years ago

Ron,

20 years, eh?  Well that means that you’re pensioned in (20 years to retirement….only in the government!) and your entire career was lived off taxpayer dollars.  So I’m sure that you have an especially strong love for Labor Day because it celebrates all the producers who’ve made your career possible, right?

As far as kissing your butt goes, We both know that you get PLENTY of that already, and I don’t like standing in lines.

Sorry, chief I will NEVER join modern America’s idolatry of you.  I’ll accord you the same civility and recognition I do all people: your life is axiomatically sacred to me, and I will give you the benefit of all moral doubts until proven otherwise.  But no idolatry, no lies about how you’re a hero and better than workers.

David
14 years ago

Happy Labor Day, American workers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yuc4BI5NWU

Greg Simons
14 years ago

“I can’t wait to turn on ESPN’s games on Monday afternoon to watch them turn Labor Day into a celebration of the military.  I know that they’re gonna do it!  I guarantee.  (And if the 5% chance that they don’t actually occurs, I’ll own up to it.  But it won’t.)  I promise a celebration of the military before the first pitch and at the 7th Inning stretch.”

So, did this happen, David?