Jaybird's Jottings

Bruce Bochy

Well, the move doesn’t have the ink drain of Leo Durocher’s leaving the Dodgers to manage the Giants in 1948. And the Padres, according to a poll at Giants Win, aren't too much the bad guys.

Still Bruce Bochy's arrival from San Diego is noteworthy.

Here then are some other Giants managers who had enemy stickers on their baggage.

1993-2002 Dusty Baker played for Dodgers 76-83
1985-1992 Roger Craig played for Dodgers 55-61
1981-1984 Frank Robinson played for Dodgers 72
1979-1980 Dave Bristol managed Braves 76-77
1969-1970 Clyde King played for Dodgers 44-45, 47-48, 51-52
1965-1968 Herman Franks played for Dodgers 40-41
1961-1964 Alvin Dark played for Braves 46, 48, 49
1948-1955 Leo Durocher played for Dodgers 38-41, 43, 45, managed Dodgers 39-46, 48

World Series: Ratings and Temperatures Are Down

"The networks, including ESPN, make the rules. "Play during the day?" they say. "Don't be crazy. We can get a bigger audience at night." "Sure," say the fans and players, "but think of the fun of listening or watching the game while you're at work, at lunch, taking a break, talking about the game with other people. Now that's America's past-time. The World Series at Night is just another reality show." - How I See It Blog.

When it comes to the media’s coverage of the World Series ratings, the articles we typically see tell us very little other than, shock of shocks, they’re down from seasons past.

SI’s Jon Wiesman goes beyond the fluff with a good article on the topic. He suggests having at least one game played during the day saying:

“It certainly wouldn't help the short-term ratings, because more television sets are on at night, but it could be a valuable loss-leader to attract more kids, not to mention their parents and grandparents."

And:

"The best solution for fans would probably be for the sport to embrace what it is rather than make the sacrifices -- awkward starting times, long commercial breaks, etc. -- to compensate for what it isn't."

Pleas for earlier starting times have fallen on deaf ears in the past. There seems to be, however, some rekindling of such desires. Andrew Zimbalist, in his recent book “In The Best Interests of Basebal” writes, “It may still be in the industry’s long-term interests to begin at 6 p.m.”

Giants blogger Giants Win also makes an appeal. Day games would be warmer and you would have more time to wait out any rain delays.

I have to admit I am not very hopeful, and would just settle for an actual game start of say 7 pm.

Regards a daytime start for at least one weekend game, the Commissioner said he’s “looking into it.”

Top 50 Greatest Playoff Performances

Rob Neyer has put together a Top 50 Greatest Playoff Performances. Christy Mathewson’s three shutouts in the 1905 World Series ranks number one. Dusty Rhodes comes in at number 12 for his two clutch pinch hit homers in the ’54 World Series, Mays’s catch in the same series is 19th best and Bonds’s 1.294 OPS in the 2002 Series ranks 34th. (Note: The article has it as 1.924)

I would add these as other great performances by Giants.

1912

Mathewson 1912 28 innings .94 ERA
Rube Marquard 18 innings .50 ERA

1913

Mathewson 19 IP .95 ERA
Dave Robertston 11 for 22

1933

Carl Hubbell 20 IP 0.00 ERA
Ott 722 Slugging, Series Winning Homer in Top of Tenth in Game Five.

1951

Monter Irvin 11 for 24.

1962

Jack Sanford 23 IP 1.93 ERA

1971 NLCS

Willie McCovey .857 Slugging

1987 NLCS

Jeff Leonard .917 Slugging
Dave Dravecky 15 IP .60 ERA

1989

Will Clark 1882 OPS, Pennant Winning Hit

1997 NLDS

Jef Kent 900 SLG

2002 NLDS

Bonds 824 SLG

2002 NLCS

Bonds 591 OBP 727 SLG

2003 NLDS

Edgardo Alfonzo 529/556/765

Cardinals - Tigers Rematch

Mrs. Boggs, my sixth grade teacher at Sedgefield Elementary loved baseball. Whenever we lost to the other sixth grade team, she would give us a talking to.

When the World Series arrived in 1968, she brought a small black and white TV into the classroom and let us watch the game. I remember when the National Anthem came on, she said something like, “Well, what are you waiting for, stand up!”

Mrs. Boggs, I’ll be thinking of you as these two teams play the rematch. By the way, the Fall Classic isn’t for the kids anymore.

Sign Stealing: Part of the game or disgraceful cheating?

I’m about a third of the way through Josh Prager’s The Echoing Green and enjoying it immensely. Some will say it has too much detail but I say that’s its strength.

Prager does an excellent job of documenting previous cases of sign stealing. Some of these are already covered, with Paul Dickson (The Hidden Language of Baseball) being a notable source. But Prager also found some cases going back to the 19th Century.

One was the 1889 Dodgers who took a 3 games to 1 lead over the Giants. The evidence, a quote from Brooklyn shortstop Garmany Smith, is not as reliable as some of the others. Smith said, “The Brooklyns would have beaten the New Yorks for the World’s championship if [catcher Buck] Ewing hadn’t discovered that we were on to his signs.”

I’m not sure but this may be the first time anyone has written about this case.

The thing that is fascinating about this story is the back and forth that goes on in your mind. On the one hand, I do feel some shame about the Giants stealing signs with a telescope. On the other hand, many teams have stolen signs with binocs and the like.

The paradox is that there have been resolutions to specifically ban sign stealing using binoculars and such. The magnates, however, have not, as far as I know, enacted a rule against it.

Clapton Rocks DC

The music world has been blessed with some great guitarists and Eric Clapton is one of them. The better half and I got to see him list night at the Verizon Center in downtown DC. I had never seen him before and it was well worth the wait.

I have to admit I was disappointed Clapton did not play more "hits" and he didn't mix them in with the set list. There was a five or so song stretch that the sold-out crowd of 20,000 did not react to. The other knock was that Slowhand did not address the audience. I’ve been to a lot of concerts and I think all of them had at least the obligatory Good evening, bla, bla, bla.

Clapton, however, did his talking with his trusty Stratocaster and his emotive playing. His six-string pals were amazing too. Robert Cray came on stage and jammed for several tunes. Lefty Doyle Bramhall was excellent and stoic faced Derek Trucks was a fabulous bonus. He nearly stole the show on one of the extended solo jams. And to think he plays without a pick!

After the show, we listened to the local radio station that played several Clapton tunes that he did not play such as Lay Down Sally. I then pulled out a rock history book and went through his career. People forget his early career that goes back to The Roosters in 1963 and includes time with Casey Jones and the Engineers (1963), The Yarbirds (For Your Love, 1965), John Mayhall and the Bluesbreakers (1965-1966), the power trio Cream (I Feel Free, Strange Brew, Sunshine of Your Love, White Room, Badge, 1966-1968), Blind Faith (1969-1970), Delaney and Bonnie (1970) and Derek and the Dominos (Layla 1970).

It was a shame Clapton only played Crossroads from his Cream days. But it didn’t really matter. At 61, the man is still bending the rock blues with the best of them. A living legend, he and his band gave us more than our 45 bucks worth of the blues and good ol' rock and roll.

New Book on Curt Flood

"Snyder masterfully recounts Flood's long and lonely legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court and helped establish free agency in baseball and other team sports." — Washington Times, October 8, 2006

I met Brad Snyder several years ago at a monthly Talkin Baseball get together in Columbia, MD. Very approachable, he was there to talk about Beyond the Shadow of the Senators, his great book about the Homestead Grays.

His latest effort covers the struggles of Curt Flood. It too is getting rave reviews.

In addition to his book signings in NY and DC, his publicist notes that he “may be making appearances in St. Louis, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.”

Geddy about the A’s and the Tigers

I couldn’t help but think of Geddy Lee on Saturday, as the Tigers celebrated their fantastic victory over the Yankees. Seven years before Detroit won it all in 1984, Lee displayed his affection for the team. It came in a photo of RUSH, inside their album A Farewell to Kings. The Toronto native, a huge baseball fan, is wearing a pair of tennis shoes. On one of them is the Tigers Old English D.

It wouldn’t surprise me that Lee also enjoyed seeing the A’s get the monkey off their backs. In one of RUSH’s tourbooks, he mentions Frank Thomas as a favorite player.

Both these teams are great stories. Detroit lost an incredible 119 games three years ago and their fans have endured some rough seasons since 1987. Oakland has a low payroll, a GM who is good at getting undervalued players and finally some October luck.

Buck O’Neil: 1911-2006

For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the Game. - Grantland Rice

Hats off for Buck O’Neil, who passed away yesterday. I first fell for his charming ways in Ken Burns Baseball series.

Buck played the game beautifully and was a great ambassador for baseball.

We'll miss him a lot.

October 3, 1951

Deborah Amos of NPR’s Morning Edition has a brief interview with Joshua Prager. I'm reading his book now. It is meticulously researched and well-written.

If you want to hear Hodges' call, Prager has it at his website.

Note: He's in Los Angeles tomorrow and San Francisco on Thursday.