Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, March 06, 2009

The Hotel Hana


Just surfing before stepping out for the day when I came across this interesting little nugget in a travel piece about Hana, Hawaii in the San Francisco Chronicle:

At the end of World War II, San Francisco industrialist Paul Fagan built the first-ever Hawaiian hotel outside Waikiki. He could hardly have chosen a more obscure location: It had been only 20 years since Hana, on the island of Maui, was linked to the outside world by a rough dirt road, and it would be almost two decades more before it was paved.

To get publicity for his venture, he enlisted the help of the San Francisco Seals baseball team, which he also owned. He brought the team to Hana for spring training and invited along a boatload of sportswriters who could be counted upon to churn out feature stories about "heavenly Hana" for readers back on the mainland.

"The place beggars description," wrote Harry Borba in the old San Francisco Examiner in February 1947. "The Seals should pay for the privilege of training in such indescribably beautiful surroundings."

I know it's not practical in this day and age, but I've always been taken by the idea of teams just sort of disappearing to some warm and isolated locale for spring training. They used to do it all the time, spending a month or two doing deep knee bends or whatever in some far off town in the cotton fields somewhere, and then barnstorm their way back home for opening day. The spring training reports of the time read like dispatches from a far off land. I'm guessing they whetted the appetite of the bugs and cranks something fierce. And when the hometown nine made their first appearance in April, I imagine it truly was a dramatic unveiling.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:01pm (6) Comments

Rick Burleson Interview


The Angels' blog Three Days of Cryin' has a lengthy interview with former Red Sox and Angels shortstop Rick Burleson. I always knew who Burleson was, of course, but before this interview I really couldn't tell you much about his career beyond the highlights and lowlights of the teams on which he played, so this was a supremely enjoyable read. Highlights: Burleson's very centered and reasonable take on the life of a minor league manager and the behind-the-scenes details of what it's like to suffer a major injury as a player.

Definitely worth your time today.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:23am (6) Comments

Brady Anderson: Interior Designer


Every retired player has to have a hobby, and it looks like Brady Anderson's is flipping houses (last item):

Brady Anderson, a former major league baseball player, has become a house designer with his re-do of a Malibu home he listed at slightly under $9 million.

The 3,500-square-foot, contemporary two-story has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and ocean views. The home also has vaulted ceilings, sliding glass doors in the living room, a kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances and a terrace off the kitchen. There is an outdoor dining area with a fire pit and an observation deck with a spa.

Given the rumors about Anderson -- the steroid rumors, that is -- his timing was impeccable, in that he retired just before PED testing began. I'm less impressed with the timing of his entry into the high-end real estate market. But hey, dude made $42 million in his career, so I suppose he could afford to lose a couple of million on California real estate.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:04am (6) Comments

You just knew this was coming


Ian O'Connor thinks it might be wonderful that the Yankees are going to be without the second best player in baseball for an extended period:

And yet this is no cause for the mass hysteria that greeted Y2K. The team could lose its most feared and productive hitter, and yet the sky isn’t falling on Tampa, the Bronx, or on any other corner of the Yankees’ vast universe. Why? Because an extended A-Rod absence would swing open a door of delicious opportunity, that’s why. The Yankees could go back to being the Yankees. They could go back to being the team that won four championships in five years with reliable pitching and a harmonious band of position players that didn’t need a slugger whose favorite teammates are Me, Myself and I.

“It was all about the team for us,” Tino Martinez said. “There were no real stars. You had Bernie [Williams] and [Derek] Jeter, but not superstars. We just figured out ways to get a lead and win games. “Position by position, this year’s team has much more physical talent than we did. It’s a way better team than our championship teams. But we knew how to come together, and that’s the trick” . . .


. . . The Yankees have no interest in devaluing an asset like Rodriguez, not when they have nine years to go on a contract worth more than $300 million. So they’re not about to declare themselves a better, happier team with A-Rod on the bench. But facts are facts: The Yankees haven’t reached the World Series in Rodriguez’s five seasons, and they reached six in the eight seasons before he arrived. Coincidence, or guilty as charged?

If the ability to crush a baseball was as insignificant compared to character and teamwork as O'Connor implies, why doesn't he advocate for the Yankees to just sign O'Neill, Martinez, Brosius and, hell, Chili Davis right now? I'm sure their character is still intact, even if their bat speed isn't.

Update: I should have probably just linked this and said nothing more.

(link via BTF)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:30am (15) Comments

Crazy Talk


As I said in a comment the other day, I've been fighting the last war with respect to public funding for ballparks for quite a while now. Really, the time to rally against this sort of thing was a good 15-20 years ago, as the majority of teams have already gotten their taxpayer handouts. But even if whatever I say about this stuff constitutes an exercise in deck chair rearranging, I can't give up the fight, even if it's a losing one:

A South Florida lawmaker wants to give Miami-Dade County voters the right to approve whether public funds are spent on a Florida Marlins stadium. Rep. Richard L. Steinberg of Miami Beach has filed an amendment to a bill dealing with public funding of professional sports teams. Steinberg says voters should have the right to weigh in on whether tax dollars should be spent on a stadium.

Governance by referendum can be an inefficient thing, but when it comes to big giveaways that, over the long term, are only going to benefit some very narrow interests, it's probably not a bad idea to let the people have a say.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:00am (5) Comments

Worldwide Draft


I missed this the other day, but in light of the problems in the Dominican, the chatter about a potential worldwide draft is increasing:

Recent cases of fraud and potential corruption involving the signing of baseball players in Latin America have cast new attention to the possibility of a worldwide draft in major league baseball.

Increasingly, there is a call for baseball and its union to adopt an international draft in the next collective bargaining agreement in 2012 as a way to streamline and clean up the way players from outside North America are acquired, particularly in talent-rich places like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Moreover, supporters say a draft would provide an equal playing field among teams that recruit in Latin America.

And there certainly are problems down there and in other countries not subject to the draft. It's worth noting, however, that apart from addressing the kickbacks and other unseemliness, the powers that be in baseball have another, less-noble incentive to institute a draft, and that's to scale back the bonuses Dominican free agents have been getting in recent years. There's no escaping the fact that an international draft would work to lower salaries. And maybe that's worth doing if it does other good things. But in light of this obvious effect, you'd think that the writer would have asked someone from the union for a quote or two.

(thanks, as always, to Pete Toms for the link)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:00am (8) Comments

Gettin’ ‘em when they’re young


USA Today looks at why, apart from simply being a baseball-mad country, Cuba is able to produce so much talent:

"Everyone plays all positions until about age 15," says Adelio Garcia, manager for this team of top 13- and 14-year-olds from the western Havana district of Playa. "They like kids with many skills."

"They" are government scouts who seek out top talent in Cubans as young as 7, sending gifted athletes in all sports to special district schools. Those who excel are tapped for boarding academies where they get coaching, practice and individualized diet and exercise regimens.

Cuba's powerful sports machine weeds out all but the best talent as youngsters age, helping this tiny country crank out droves of world-class athletes. But it begins in places like this: A rocky field where kids who have yet to hit puberty practice on a leisurely Friday afternoon.

"We look for talent from infancy, always thinking about sending (kids) to high-performance schools," Garcia said. "There is always talent. Cubans have baseball in their blood."

Physical education begins at age 6 and baseball is a mandatory part of the curriculum, said Tony Castillo, head of scholastic development for the Cuban Baseball Federation. Tryouts at 7 or 8 can win kids a spot on a district team like Playa's, and the chance to attend non-sleep-away schools for baseball players.

You read this thing and your first impulse is to be taken somewhat aback at how serious they take this. Then you realize that the traveling leagues and all of that jazz that we put our kids through is no less odd.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:15am (9) Comments

Today at THT


Things to read while you fume over the fact that a last minute hearing scheduled by your opponent in litigation is preventing you from being able to wear jeans to work today:

  • Guest contributor Jon Daly looks at the major sports commissioners who walked the Earth in the 60s and 70s. You know, back when polyester and sideburns were in the best interests of the game.


  • Rich Barbieri's This Annotated Week in Baseball History focuses on players from non-baseball-mad countries in Asia. There have been more countries represented in Major League Baseball than I realized. Still no Mongolian Jackie Robinson, however.


  • Finally, over at Fantasy Focus, Alex Zelvin tells us how to win Yahoo! leagues. Attention: everyone in my Yahoo! league: um, I went ahead and read it already and there, uh, nothing in there worthwhile. Please move along.


    • Speaking of that hearing, things may be a bit slower around here than usual today. Apologies, but unfortunately, my kids insist on eating and stuff.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:50am (4) Comments