Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, March 20, 2009

100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die


Jon Weisman is a man who knows how to manage his time. For his day job, he is a features editor for Variety. When he's pretending to edit features, he blogs about the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times. On top of that he has three kids, one of whom just had his first birthday which, as you parents out there know, is when they start to require much more in the way of physical labor what with the walking and you having to beat them twice a day and everything. In short, Weisman is a busy freaking dude.

But somehow, possibly with the assistance of a time machine or that power those dudes from "Dark City" had, he has managed to write a book too:

Dodgers fans have experienced many good times, including multiple postseason appearances and five championships. But being a Dodgers fan is about more than following a winning team. 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die will help fans of the Dodgers get the most out of being a fan. It takes 125 years of Dodgers history from both Brooklyn and Los Angeles and distills it to the absolute best and most compelling, identifying in an informative, lively, and illuminating way the personalities, events, and facts every Dodgers fan should know without hesitation.

The book comes out in April, but you can preorder now. Show a blogger/father/working stiff some love and reserve a copy today.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 4:10pm (3) Comments

Where to Burn One


Sometimes I worry that my professional writing aspirations are hampered by the fact that I am mostly just interested in writing about baseball. Yeah, it's the world to us, but if you look at the numbers of it all, baseball writing constitutes darn little traffic on the old information superhighway, relatively speaking. Will someone pay me to do this full time one day? Am I really reaching enough eyes out there?

Then I realize that there are folks getting paid to write about topics far more narrow than just baseball. Such as where to enjoy a cigar while watching baseball:

Here’s the sad truth: Not one team from a cigar-producing nation remains in the World Baseball Classic. The happy truth is that the semifinal games and final are being hosted by Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium. Of all the cities in which this year’s classic has been played, L.A. is not as cigar-unfriendly as you might think. The City of Angels is actually very tolerant of cigar lovers . . .

. . . My favorite place to enjoy a cigar in L.A. while watching a ballgame is at the Buena Vista Cigar Club & Lounge in Beverly Hills. This place is owned by Cubans who love baseball and watching the Cuban team lose to Japan here was quite the thing.

OK, it's really more of an ad than an article and, rather than depending on his prose to pay the rent, the dude writing it owns a restaurant. Still, it's comforting to see that there is more esoteric stuff than what I'm writing out there. Almost as comforting as knowing where I can burn a big stinky cigar and watch a ballgame if I'm so inclined.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:29pm (2) Comments

Nolan’s Bank


A couple of years ago I may have scoffed at the idea of depositing my money someplace simply because of a baseball connection, but in light of recent events, it may not be the worst idea in the world:

Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and investment firm founder Don Sanders, co-principal owners of the Round Rock Express triple-A baseball team, are set to launch a new bank based in Round Rock. R Bank Texas, projected to open in early June, has raised $12 million in startup capital, according to filings with the Texas Department of Banking . . .

. . . The first Ryan-Sanders joint venture in the financial services sector was The Express Bank, which opened in 1990 south of Houston, after Nolan Ryan acquired nearby Danbury State Bank and renamed the charter. A year later, he acquired the Alvin branch of Merchants Bank-Houston and folded it into The Express Bank.

That two-branch franchise, with about $50 million in assets, was sold to Houston-based First Community Bank in 2002. The bank took its name from Ryan’s nickname, “The Express,” when he was a ballplayer.

It never occurred to me that you can make money by flipping banks, but then again, I never thought a guy that threw a ball 100 mph could pitch for 27 years either.

But be careful: if this bank issues bonds they, like the bank's owner, may be vastly overrated.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:00pm (1) Comments

Comment of the Day


Not everyone appreciates my little geek-out in response to the Evan Longoria news. Well, actually, no one does, but this guy appreciates it less than others:

section 34 said...

I can’t believe I wasted 5 minutes of my life here. What are you suggesting—that the US forfeit? In the semifinals? Because a couple players have been injured? Rob Neyer, please don’t link to this clown again.

Posted 03/20 at 12:19 PM

If you're reading Rob, now would be a good time to remind you that the checks will stop coming if you quit linking me. Your call.

But in all seriousness, no, I don't propose that the United States forfeit the WBC. I am inclined, however, to suggest that, rather than Evan Longoria, we send Martin Prado or someone like him to play out the remainder of the games rather than risk yet another team's superstar in the service of a preseason exhibition. Chipper Jones, David Wright, and Kevin Youkilis are hurt already. Let's stop the bleeding.

And no, I don't presume that even that is a plausible course of action given the roster rules, so how about this: starting next time, let's play the WBC in the fall so players won't be working themselves into shape during this thing. I mean, I know spring training sucks and these players are probably happy to be avoiding it, but I can't help but think the extra stretching, running, and fielding reps they do down in Florida and Arizona serve an actual purpose that this year's WBCsters are missing out on.

Update: Ok, Martin Prado -- born in Maracay, Venezuela -- is probably not a good choice for the United States' team. How about Jed Lowrie?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:35pm (14) Comments

Longoria to the WBC


So there's this part in "LOTR: Return of the King" where Denethor, who has descended into madness over the death of his eldest son Boromir , demands that his younger son, Farimir ride off in a suicide mission to retake Osgiliath, which has been overrun by the orc army.

Or, um, that's what some geek told me.

Anyway, the same storyline is playing out in the WBC:

Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was named Thursday to replace injured Chipper Jones in the United States lineup for the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic.

Longoria was among the players on the US provisional roster submitted before the tournament began. Classic rules allow substitutions between rounds so Longoria was eligible to help a US lineup with five injured players.

"With the opportunity to make a roster change, Evan is too valuable not to have on our club," USA Baseball chief executive Paul Seiler said.

Look, Seiler, sending Longoria out to replace the fallen Jones isn't going to save anyone's honor, and the way things are going, is only going to get yet another big name player hurt. Just stop the offensive, gather your forces back at Minis Tirith, and hope that Aragorn shows up with an undead army to save everyone's bacon, OK?

Don't judge me. That flick made over a billion dollars worldwide, so you probably saw it too.

UPDATE: Welcome Rob Neyer readers! If you think this is geeky, just scroll down to the comments. Let's just say I'm lucky that I'm already married, because if I wasn't, no woman would come within 100 yards of me based on some of my nerdy admissions.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:54am (42) Comments

The Ramirez Provision


Every office I've ever worked in -- and it's a list that keeps growing longer and longer for some reason -- has had a perky person in charge of the United Way fund drive. A couple of times a year they host a "kickoff" meeting at which ice cream and forms to debit money from your paycheck for the charity are passed around, and entreaties to push the office up to 100% participation are repeated over and over.

I'm pro charity, but these things bug me for two main reasons. First, I have some issues with how the United Way and other chairty clearinghouses spend their money, so I prefer to spend my charity dollars more directly. Second -- and it's kinda tied to the first reason -- I can't shake the suspicion that there's some lavishly wasteful insider party thrown for the people who get their offices up to this magical "100% participation" standard, because that goal is repeated like a mantra, usually divorced from any philanthropic impulse and sentiment. Like it's the end itself. Sure, charities are being helped in all of this, but I question the incentives and motivation and can't shake the feeling that, within the office, the United Way drive is more about networking and allowing the organizers to buff the "community activities" portion of their resume than it is about helping people in need.

Rather than the semi-annual fundraising push, maybe my employers should just insist on Ramirez provisions:

Manny Ramirez's presence will be felt long after his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers ends. The slugger's recent signing has inspired the club to institute a so-called "Ramirez provision'' in all of its future contracts.

Players signing with the team will be required to donate a portion of their salary to the Dodgers Dream Foundation, team owner Frank McCourt said Thursday.

"Every future Dodger will be asked to fill in a blank line,'' he said in remarks to Town Hall Los Angeles. "They're making a lot of money, these players. We won't tell them how much to contribute, that wouldn't be right.''

Look, I have nothing bad to say about the Dodger Dream Foundation, and I realize that requiring a donation to it isn't going to preclude most players from engaging in other charitable activities. But I'd much prefer that if a team is going to mandate charitable donations by its players that they at least give the players the choice of how to spend their money.

UPDATE: I didn't see this before posting, but there is a discussion about the United Way and other forced-charity fun over at BTF this morning.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:10am (22) Comments

A bar near Wrigley?  That’s it, I’m moving!


Finally! A place to drink near Wrigley Field!

Wrigleyville took stock Thursday of a new, year-round sports bar that will spill out of Wrigley Field and be open by the Cubs' first home game April 13.

Without much fanfare, renovations have been completed at what had been the Friendly Confines Cafe inside the ballpark. The new sports bar, to be run by Harry Caray's, will include that indoor space as well as a 7,000-square-foot patio featuring a 2,600-square-foot pavilion.

The year-round facility near the cobblestoned corner of Sheffield and Addison will increase commerce in a neighborhood already contending with 81 Cubs home games, playoffs the last two seasons, three night-time concerts in a single week this summer, a proposed hotel complex across the street and even a hockey game in January.

"The congestion," exclaimed Wrigleyville resident Kurt Govertsen as he stood across the street and watched construction. "My gut reaction was, 'God, it's one more thing.' "

This Govertsen fella is the only one complaining in the article. He goes on:

When there are night games, Govertsen said, it takes him 90 minutes to drive home from downtown. On concert nights last summer, Govertsen said he stayed in a hotel near his office.

One more sports bar next to so many others likely won't change the area much, he said. But the 12-year resident of the neighborhood wondered if this might be the thing that drove him to move.

"The traffic keeps getting worse and worse," Govertsen said, as concrete construction saws whistled across Addison.

"This might put me over the edge."

Let's see: Govertsen is a "twelve year resident" of the neighborhood, the night games are what bothers him, and the night games started there in 1988. I'll grant him that the concerts may be a bit much, but he should have known what he was in for when he moved in so my sympathy for his evening drive home is limited. And that's even before taking into account that he works and lives in neighborhoods served by a subway. I mean really: don't people who live in Wrigleyville and work downtown take the El? If not, why not?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:00am (18) Comments

The Marlins get a step closer


One down, one to go:

Miami City Commissioners approved a plan to build a $639 million Florida Marlins ballpark Thursday, nudging the long-debated stadium one step closer to reality.

With a 3-2 vote, the commission approved the 37,000-seat stadium on the site of the demolished Orange Bowl. Marlins president David Samson said afterward the team hopes Miami-Dade county commissioners will give final approval to the project at a meeting next week so construction can begin.

As for the "debate" leading up to the vote, Neil deMause at the excellent Field of Schemes blog put it best: "People in suits: in favor. People in casual clothes: opposed."

The people in suits won, of course. It kind of always works that way, doesn't it?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:30am (5) Comments

Wiffle House


This is the kind of thing I'd be all over if someone did it around here:

Despite the sandlot rules and the tiny, plastic snap of the bat, Wiffle ball is serious stuff . . .

. . . "Anybody can play Wiffle ball," coach Dan Gish said. There are no tryouts. And there is no need to run bases. The gym is divided into zones. Balls in the infield are out. An outfield bloop scores a base. Hit the back wall and score a double or better.

"It's like the games we played in the backyard when I was a kid," said Chris Albert, who also coaches the program. Somebody's roof or a fence found its way into the game. Each Wiffle ball game at Lewiston High features a green chair in place of an umpire to call the balls and strikes.

A ball that hits the chair is a strike. One that misses is a ball.

Though I suppose they'd disqualify me for using the big fat red bat instead of the skinny yellow one.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:00am (3) Comments

Today at THT


Things to read as you come to realize that if you're getting memos like these, you may work for the wrong freakin' company.

  • John Walsh takes a look at the worst thing a batter can do. Surprisingly, he's not talking about voting for Nader.


  • Craig Brown has five questions for the Kansas City Royals: Question number six: honestly fellas, Gates or Bryants? Because I'm torn.


  • Paul Singman expands on THT's fantasy rankings that ran a couple of weeks ago. As you might expect, the signings of Sidney Ponson and Livan Hernandez changed everything.


  • Finally, Alex Zelvin has a hit list of pitchers your marginal fantasy hitters can abuse in daily transactional leagues. Apologies in advance if these guys pitch for your favorite team.
    • Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:33am (4) Comments