Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Wrigley Rooftops and Social Equality


Maybe it's crazy to look for hidden benefits in all of the recent economic strife, but I try to do it anyway. One of them -- and I realize that it may be pie in the sky as opposed to a silver-lined cloud -- is the possibility that the bad times may lead to an increase in social equality. I don't mean direct economic equality really, because we're not likely to have that, but rather, an increase in the spheres of human activity in which people from disparate backgrounds can meet and interact as equals.

Yes, there have always been havens for the very rich, but it used to be that a far greater proportion of the population had to go down to the post office and wait on line together, or leave from the same train station, or get sick, get better, or die at the same hospitals. It's only been very recently that anything approaching a significant number of people had the means and inclination to opt-out of public or quasi-public institutions via the purchase of previously exclusive goods or by gating themselves off from the masses in ways both figurative and literal. To put a baseball spin on it, the great grandstand of yesterday has all but disappeared as more and more of us have aspired to luxury boxes and club level seats, usually paid for by corporations rather than ourselves.

I don't know if such a dynamic has a quantifiable impact on our health as a nation, but it does seem like we've lived in an unprecedentedly decadent, and socially-isolating age. On one level I suppose access to the finer things is the very promise of modern capitalism. When I think about it, however, it strikes me that the aspiration for exclusivity flies in the face of the democratic ideals which have made modern capitalism possible. And when I get in such a frame of mind, stories like this make me feel better:

Break out the sunscreen and come hungry for a hot dog or two. Because of the struggling economy, seats on one of those cool rooftops across the street from Wrigley Field can now be yours for a dozen or more Cubs games this season.

The recession has forced companies to scale back-back-back on corporate outings and entertainment, so the owners of one rooftop are getting creative in their efforts to keep people coming by. And they're going old school to do it, using that tried-and-true method of season ticket deals and inviting regular Joes back up for the fun . . .

. . . The rooftop phenomenon started a few decades ago, when neighborhood residents would tote grills and coolers up to their roofs to watch the Cubs with friends. It brought back memories of an era when fans could peek through knotholes in fences or watch games at the Polo Grounds from behind ropes across the outfield.

Then someone realized there was money on those roofs. Small, friendly get-togethers gave way to corporate bigwigs and bachelor parties shelling out as much as $200 per person for the view, food and drinks. Ratty lawn chairs were replaced with bleachers — two and three decks of them, in places.

I suppose its naive to think that the Wrigley rooftops will ever return to the relatively non-commercial entities they once were -- if indeed they ever were -- but maybe this is symbolic of something bigger. Maybe the bad times which we're currently enduring will beat out of us the notion that the professional classes and the moderately well-off are the class-apart we've allowed ourselves to believe they (we) are. Maybe some 20 years down the road, when the owners are looking to renovate or replace the stadiums they built in the past two decades, they'll feel compelled to build in more grandstands and fewer club level seats.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 4:03pm (11) Comments

The Giants’ Japanese Initiative


The Giants are looking to do more in Japan:

If you can't beat 'em, recruit 'em.

On a day the Giants lost to Japan 6-4, they announced a hiring that they think will help make them competitors for top Japanese talent.

Shun Kakazu, a Japanese native and Harvard grad who worked the past three years for Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines, was named the Giants' coordinator of Japan operations and will scout and gather information on professional and amateur players.

Question: do they have 36 year-old corner players coming off of fluke seasons and demanding three-year deals in Japan? If so, Sabean's interest here is obvious.

OK, that was a cheap shot. Good on the Giants for doing everything they can do to get better. They are only the fifth team to have a full-time Japanese operation, and the earlier you get in to any market, the better you'll do. As far as wooing the Japanese, however, this may be the best thing they could possibly do:

Early Wednesday, Willie Mays was in the Giants' clubhouse signing three dozen balls for Japan's players and coaches. It was his idea, and one of the Japanese clubbies who brought back the balls called the gesture "unbelievable."

One would think that based on the five-hour shorter flight time from Tokyo alone San Francisco would have a leg up on other teams trying to land Japanese players. Add in some Willie Mays schwag and you've got yourself a seriously cool hearts and minds campaign.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:40pm (5) Comments

Comment of the Day


From our friend MooseinOhio, in the Think of the Children thread, on baseball's ability to provide teaching moments:

As a parent and uncle to children under six who are already expressing a real interest in baseball (nephew memorized Red Sox yearbook latt year) I wonder when it is appropriate to talk about the negatives of baseball. There is a long history of negative issues associated with baseball including the Black Sox scandal, the exclusion of non-white players, racist ownership groups that did everything possible not to integrate, Pete Rose’s saga and why he is not in the HoF and why players have a history of abusing their bodies with items such as excessive alcohol, uppers and PEDs.

I guess what I am saying is that steroids is only the most recent negative story regarding baseball and as a parent we can teach our children lessons from the mistakes of others. I intend to teach my child some great life lessons such as why cheating is wrong (Bonds, CLemens), the importance of personal responsibility (Rose)taking care of your body (Mantle) and about bigger societal issues such prejudice and discrimination (Negro Leagues, Yawkeys).

I can help my daughter embrace her Puerto Rican heritage with discussions about Hiram Bithorn and Roberto Clemente and we can talk about the history of prejudice and discrimination impacts her as an African America as well. Obviously as a white man that mean she will be questioning why one side of her family treated the other side of her family in such a way. These are not easy life lessons but if baseball helps me bring some sense of context to these difficult life lessons then baseball has benefitted my life in yet another wonderful way.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:00pm (2) Comments

Papers please


Italy is apparently trying to make bloggers register with the government.

So much for my plan of retiring from the law and producing ShysterBall from a little Ligurian village.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:00pm (1) Comments

The Return of Spolitical


Last year Fox's Dayn Perry started -- and then suspended -- what looked to be shaping up into a must-read blog called Spolitical, which focused on the intersection of sports, politics, business, and society. The suspension was for a good reason: he owed a book to a publisher, and as I'm finding out, it's hard to maintain a job, a blog, AND write a book (or in my case, pretend to write a book). For the record, I think the book was about how to rig the fantasy league you run so that you win the championship. Or at least it should be, because Dayn's an expert in that area.

Anyway, to the joy and delight of us all, Spolitical is back, and Dayn is posting at a feverish pace. Check it out. You'll be happy you did.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:15pm (3) Comments

Won’t somebody think of the children?


There was a story on NPR last night about a man trying to reconcile his young son's love of baseball and the steroid era. The subject, Jim Gullo, has an eight year-old son who is becoming a hardcore baseball freak, but who, at the same time, is acutely aware of Barry Bonds' issues, the Mitchell Report, and the rest of the ongoing steroid saga. This, according to the piece, presents a problem:

Gullo, 52, introduced his son to an old baseball board game that he used to play as a kid. He also was Joe's Little League coach. When Joe turned 7, Gullo got him a PlayStation 2 baseball video game that his son fell in love with. But that same year, the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball was released. Gullo suddenly had to confront a dark reality of cheating and lying, and drugs. Many of the top players in Joe's video game were implicated in the report, as was the player whose name was on Joe's new baseball glove. Joe's prized baseball card collection became possible evidence of wrongdoing. He started separating cards that had suspicious home run numbers — a big surge in home runs, followed by a drop-off. He'd crunch the numbers and then ask his dad if the player did steroids.

"What do you answer to that?" Gullo asks. "I have no idea, and I don't know how to counsel my kid" . . .

. . . "Frankly, I am reluctant as a parent to really push baseball as a passion right now," he says, "because I don't know what's going to come out next, or how this is all going to shake out, or who else is going to be named."

Gullo is now working on a book about his connection with Joe and baseball. As part of the project, Gullo is considering a summer trip with his son. To find, as he says, a new kind of baseball hero.

This all seems rather weak and contrived to me. If you listen to the actual audio of the story, it's plainly obvious that his son is not suffering any lost love for baseball whatsoever. Indeed, he sounds like a more amped-up version of me when I was eight combined with the healthily skeptical adult fan you can find anywhere these days. At the same time, the father doesn't exactly come off as the "won't somebody think of the children?!" type either. Certainly not the kind of guy who is outsourcing the role model business to pro athletes. He loves baseball. His son loves baseball. They're both able to talk about it intelligently and with perspective. What's the problem?

After listening to the story, I can't help but think that this "dilemma" and the search for "a new kind of baseball hero" is being played up a bit in the service of the memoir Gullo is writing. My guess is that that in the book, the "new kind of baseball hero" is going to end up being Gullo himself for introducing the game to his son and taking him on what sounds like will be a great trip. Which is how it should be.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:06am (14) Comments

CC Starts Slow


CC Sabathia is having a rough spring:

This was bound to happen.
Despite the money and the expectations and the hope for perfection, there was bound to come an outing in which CC Sabathia would be wholly ineffective.

Might as well come in Spring Training.

Sabathia experienced his first frustrations with the Yankees on Wednesday, serving up five runs to the Tigers in 1 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits, walked a batter and struck out none. And he came out of it -- considering the time of year -- concerned to a greater degree than might be expected.

CC himself notes in the article that he started last year in atrocious fashion: 0-3, with an ERA of 13.50 and nearly a walk and two hits per inning. I'm sure a huge number of Yankees' fans are unaware of this and will immediately expect the Sabathia they saw last September once the season starts. If that doesn't happen, the Bronx Zoo is going to open early this year.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:30am (7) Comments

Indians’ Camp an Isolating Experience


Bob Young of the Arizona Republic is reviewing the new Cactus League spring training complexes. Yesterday was New Dodgertown. Today it's the Indians' new place, where he found some unhappy folks:

Their complaint wasn't with the ballpark itself, but with the "Recreational Complex" that includes the team's development facilities, clubhouse and practice fields. For some, the only thing missing from the place is razor wire.

"It's like Fort Knox," said Jennifer Cuenot of Brooklyn. "They've distanced the players physically from the fans," said her father, Randy Cuenot, who lives in Columbus, Ohio. "Newer isn't better. You can't get near anyone. There's security everywhere."

Bill Russell - a 20-year Indians season ticket holder, not the former Dodgers shortstop - agreed. "I'm actually insulted here," said Russell, who is the father of 6-foot-8 White Sox pitcher Adam Russell. "I could care less about autographs, but when you come to spring training you want to be able to get close enough to see who's taking batting practice or stand behind a fence and catch home run balls. Occasionally you'll see a retired player who you can talk to. You don't have any of that here. I enjoy spring training more than I do the regular season, or at least I have. ... I hope they do something about it because they're going to lose some true fans if they don't."

Quite true. It's been a while since I've visited spring training, but my sense is that folks don't go so watch semi-competitive baseball games played by minor leaguers and NRIs. They want to walk around, rub shoulders with ballplayers, and pretend to be scouts or beat reporters or something. That's awful hard to do from a distance.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:00am (2) Comments

Gearing up for the San Jose A’s


The idea of bringing the A's to San Jose is quickly moving from thinking out loud to formal campaign:

The campaign to bring the Oakland Athletics to San Jose will be launched at the April 7 City Council meeting, city officials decided Wednesday.

Speaking before a crowd of 40 plus representatives from TV and radio stations at the city’s rules committee meeting, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said the city has a second chance to bring baseball to San Jose now that Lew Wolff, owner of the baseball team, has given up on Fremont.

“All right, it’s time for baseball. We know we have a great market for professional sports and we have a site identified,” the mayor said referring to the property assembled by the city on Park Avenue and Autumn/Montgomery streets. “Although the EIR is done, it’s not 100 percent ready. But we can prepare ourselves.”

Not that everyone is on board:

In the crowd were several people who spoke against the idea of building a stadium near downtown, including one man who hoisted a sign that read “A’s OK in San Jose But Not Taxes.”

Kathryn Mathewson, a representative of the Shasta Hanchett neighborhood, said no other issue has raised as much interest among her neighbors as reopening the discussion of whether to bring the A’s to San Jose.

“There’s so much interest, mostly negative,” she said. “It’s the location. From what I’ve seen of the ballpark in San Francisco, it destroyed the neighborhood. A deadening happens. The kind of businesses that come to a ballpark are not what I want to see in San Jose.”

"A deadening?" Is that really true? I'm no expert on San Francisco history, but my understanding was that the South Beach neighborhood -- where AT&T Park sits -- was basically homeless encampments, dilapidated warehouses, grown-over storage yards and rusty piers. Sure, the kind of development seen around the ballpark there comes with its own set of concerns -- pricing out lower income people and businesses chief among them -- but we're not talking about an even arguably vibrant working class neighborhood, are we?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:22am (11) Comments

Mets/Willets Point


Citigroup and any other business that buys naming rights obviously wants more than their name on the building. They want the name to be used constantly as people refer to the place in conversations, on broadcasts, in directions, in news stories, and everywhere else for that matter. "I'll meet you at Citi Field." "We're located just off the Long Island Express Way, two blocks from Citi Field!" "Hello again everybody, and welcome to beautiful Citi Field, where today the Yankees play the Red Sox in a game relocated due to Yankee Stadium's destruction at the hands of Dr. Manhattan." That kind of thing.

In reality, the majority of these efforts are thwarted in that people either continue to use the old name for the stadium or the name of the stadium the corporate name is replacing, or more creatively, people come up with cutesy new names in an effort to avoid using the corporate name. BOB. The Phone Booth. That kind of thing.

The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority is taking it one step further, telling Citigroup that if they want their name used on a subway station, they'll have to pay for the privilege.

Good for the Transit Authority.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:30am (22) Comments

Older Posts >>