Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

“The President George W. Bush Owners Suite”


Eh, if a guy like Comiskey can have two ballparks named after him and a guy like Yawkey can have a Way, then I certainly don't have any problem with this:

The Rangers are renaming the owner's suite at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington after President George W. Bush.

Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, was the Rangers' managing general partner from 1989-94 before becoming Governor of Texas. The suite, located directly behind home plate, will be named the "President George W. Bush Owners Suite."

What gets me the most though is this:

Bush was the head of an ownership group that bought the team from Eddie Chiles in 1989 and eventually sold the team to Hicks in 1998. Bush was elected president in 2000 and did not return to the Ballpark until he threw the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day this season.

The dude spent something like six weeks every summer of his presidency on a ranch 120 miles away. I know he was probably busy and everything, but the guy is the biggest baseball fan to ever hold the office. You tellin' me he couldn't have had the chopper take him to a game or two? Hell, if I were president I'd use the office to get me into so many ballgames that they'd impeach me after the first summer of my term.

"Hey John? Yeah, it's me, President Calcaterra. Hey, I just thought I'd come up to Fenway this weekend to throw out the first pitch . . . Well, yes -- , um yes, yes I know I did it last weekend . . . and, yeah, on Opening Day too, but . . . uh-huh . . .well, I just thought you'd like the President to be there, that's all . . . yes, I HAVE heard of StubHub you smartass . . . well maybe I WILL call Hal. And by the way, your antitrust exemption is revoked . . . yes, just yours! [click]"
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:51pm (27) Comments

Reminder


I'd just like to remind everyone once again that there is quite a fascinating, high-level, and mature conversation going on in the Geoff Baker Redux thread. Fascinating because Geoff Baker has been showing up for a couple of days and, to his enormous credit given what I've written in the past week or so, taking on all comers. High-level because there's talk of ethics, sharp analogies, and reasoned argument. Mature because, contrary to popular belief, the blogosphere just lends itself better to adult conversation than do newspapers and television.

Put differently, ShysterBall commenters kick ass, and there's great evidence of this on display in the thread.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:33pm (0) Comments

My Morning in Exile


Things I wrote while wondering how on Earth a basketball arena could cost nearly half a billion dollars. Titanium floors instead of parquet? Title banners woven from saffron?

  • Jose Canseco says he's going to sue Major League Baseball. Good luck with that.


  • The Dodgers and Sox to soon get Manny and Smoltz back. Respectively, that is. It's not like they have some weird player-sharing thing going on.


  • The Cubs have a pathetic offense and its getting worse by the day. They also happen to have the best starting pitching in baseball. You'd think, then, that they'd be out scouting hitters. They're not.


  • Congress is investigating Sammy Sosa for perjury. As we touched on here yesterday, I really don't think that's going to go anywhere.


  • How do rumors get started? They're started by the jealous people and they get mad about somthin'theyhad, and sombody else is holdin'.


    • Omar Vizquel: King of Venezuela.

    (thanks to Lar for the Orlando Arena link)
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:19am (4) Comments

    And That Happened


    Orioles 6, Mets 4: Matt Wieters hits the first of what the prophecies have foretold will be a thousand career home runs, each more majestic than the last. The real story was the middle of the O's order -- Markakis, Huff and Mora -- who combined to go 8 for 11 with four RBI.

    Blue Jays 7, Phillies 1: I sat back on the couch and watched this game, hoping to relax after a long day. But then Sutcliffe and Co. start talking about the Jerod Morris/Raul Ibanez affair. Look, I don't come into your house and talk about your work when you're off, so what makes you think you can do it to me?

    Nationals 3, Yankees 2: Wang pitched, but he was way less responsible for the Yankees losing than was John Lannan (8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER). Five run game, three of them scored on homers.

    Angels 4, Giants 3: Six straight wins for the Angels, who hung around long enough to finally get to Tim Lincecum. It's nice when you can pinch hit Vlad Guerrero and Torii Hunter late in the game.

    White Sox 4, Cubs 1: Piniella after the game: "Danks pitched a good game, they executed a good squeeze bunt, and we didn't do much offensively. That's about it. That's the ballgame in a nutshell." Hey Lou, I do the recaps around here, got it?

    Reds 4, Braves 3: Micah Owings' three run homer was the big blow of the game. If he played for the Braves, he'd be the team's second best outfielder in terms of OBP. Javier Vazquez has pitched better than anyone could have hoped entering this year, but the dude is still only 4-6 because, I dunno, the universe hates him or something.

    Red Sox 6, Marlins 1: The Brad Penny trade deadline audition continues, with the commodity in question giving up 0 ER on three hits in five innings, though he had to make 100 pitches and gave up four walks in the process. David Ortiz walked twice, got a hit and scored all three times on base. Pedroia had a big game too. The team made a big deal out if it being the 500th straight sellout, including the fans in all kinds of fun. The game story doesn't say whether or not anyone dangling their free tape measures or gawking at the giant "500" mowed into the outfield realized that the sellout streak is why they had to sell a kidney in order to buy their tickets on StubHub.

    Cardinals 4, Tigers 3: A couple of Curtis Granderson homers aren't enough for Detroit, as the Cardinals and Tigers trade little jabs all night.

    Pirates 8, Twins 2: Andrew McCutchen over his first 13 games: .339/.381/.492. That's better than Nate McLouth is doing, both on the season and since the trade. Are Pirates fans still supposed to be mad about this?

    Rockies 5, Rays 3: David Price has to pitch in Coors Field. That's bad. But he lasts a bit longer into a game than he has been lately. That's good! He still gives up ten hits and five runs and loses the game. That's Bad. But he gets more economical with his pitches, walking no one. That's good! The postgame spread contains sodium benzoate . . . That's bad. Can I go now?

    Rangers 5, Astros 4: The battle for Texas rages on! So far, Houston is down 2-0. If they don't turn things around soon, they're going to be stuck with Texas.

    Diamondbacks 12, Royals 5: Greinke's return to Earth continues, as the Dbacks rough him up for six runs over six and two-thirds (four earned).

    Brewers 9, Indians 8: Trevor Hoffman blew his first save of the season, but the Brewers pull it out in extras. And really, it's the Indians' bullpen that should be ashamed of itself, having given up 21 hits, 14 walks and 18 runs in 14 innings against Milwaukee.

    A's 5, Dodgers 4: Trevor Cahill started wild, but settled down and then somehow managed to survive three errors by his mates which led to three unearned runs. The A's will take it.

    Mariners 4, Padres 3: Rob continues to claim that the American League is "playing a different game" and "a better game." And he may be right. But how much of that difference is attributable to the Padres alone? I mean, jeez, they've lost 13 straight games to the AL, and that sort of skews things a bit, doesn't it?
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:39am (13) Comments