Jaybird's Jottings

Red Sox

"As a fan of the Boston Red Sox, I submit that the team is no more, and no less, worthy of my caring than they were five years ago, or thirty years ago. The winning has changed the labels applied to me, but the new labels are no more accurate than the old labels. – Mark Armour, My No-Longer Lovable Red Sox

Congratulations to the Red Sox. I’m very happy for MK, one of their long time fans. Through baseball and the Red Sox, I have gotten to know her in the past several years.

The Sahx are a great story, a cast of characters that include Bill James and Dice K. My connection with the team goes back to 1975. As a Giants fan, I “hated” the Reds. So when those two met in the World Series, I pulled for the Red Sox. We had a 13-inch black and white TV on a roller. My Mom let me take it from the living room to my room and watch the Series. Never forget laying on my bed and watching Fisk, then Little Joe.

Anyway, I’m happy today for my friend and Red Sox fans.

Babe who?

Wildfires

Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the Southern California wildfires.

My wife’s brother and family live north of San Diego and had to evacuate.

Wish we could do more to help.

Nats News

At the risk of repeating myself, let me say once again that the latest photos from Near Southeast blogger Jacqueline Dupree are some of her best yet. One particular shot, taken from the press box and looking past the rising buildings with the Capitol in the background, provides a preview for fans sitting in the upper deck. And as one Ballpark Guys commenter noted, “now that’s a power alley!”

And as far as getting to the ballpark, the Nationals, who continue to emphasize Metro, announced today that season ticket holders will be offered parking in nearby surface lots and garages.

Also:

"For fans without season tickets that choose to drive to Nationals Park, or season ticket holders who choose not to purchase parking, there will be free parking at RFK Stadium with a speedy and free roundtrip shuttle service to the games."

World Series

Sox-Rox. I can live with it.

The interesting thing for me is that I have a client who is a native of New England Red Sox fan and another who grew up in Denver and is a Rockies fan. I've worked for both persons for several years now and have enjoyed talking baseball with them from time to time.

I’m hoping for an exciting series that comes down to a Game Seven.

My pick for the winner?

I'll never tell!

Nationals Park: It’s a Throwback

What’s in a name?

For sports teams, the answer can be big time revenue for a stadium naming-rights deal. The Mets, for example, inked a $400M, 20-year pact with Citicorp earlier this year.

The Washington Nationals are getting in the name game, although not as soon as one might have thought. Holding out for a better deal, they recently announced that a naming-rights deal for their new ballpark probably won’t take place until after the start of the 2008 season. Until then, the 41,500 seat stadium will retain its working name of “Nationals Park.”

For history buffs of baseball in the nation’s capital, that name is a throwback to “National Park.” Built in 1891 at the corner of 7th and Florida Avenue in Northwest D.C., the eventual site of Griffith Stadium, (now part of Howard University's Medical Center) its first occupants were Washington’s entry into the American Association that season. (The Washington Post referred to them as the Nationals, some sources list Statesman).

Prior to 1891, fans in Washington had seen big league baseball played in 1884 and 1886 to 1889. Those teams played at other parks in the city such as Capitol Grounds (Union Association 1884), which featured, as will Nationals Park, a beyond-the-outfield view of the Capitol.

National Park was touted as the best playing grounds Washington had ever seen. This was a time when street cars were replacing horses for transit systems. The Seventh Street site was convenient to rail which made a stop right past the main entrance. Oak trees were cleared but a fringe of them was kept to provide shade. The Washington Post noted the grandstands would hold 2,000 and the same amount for the “bleachers.” Both were filled to capacity for the park opener on April 14 against Boston, as well as standing crowds in the hundreds.

In December of 1891, the National League expanded from eight to twelve teams. The new D.C. National League team also played at National Park (also known as Boundary Field) and stayed there for eight seasons (The Post called them the Senators).

After not having a major league team in 1900, Washington finally found permanency with a franchise in the new American League. The Senators/Nationals made their home debut against John McGraw and the Orioles on April 16, 1901 in front of an overflow crowd of 9,772.

The game, however, was not played at National Park. The National League owned its rights so the Senators/Nationals played at 12th Street and Bladensburg Road for the ’01, ‘02 and ’03 seasons.

When the National and American League made peace, the team moved back to National Park for the 1904 season. The stands were enlarged to hold 10,000 fans. Lawrence Ritter notes that the park was called “American League Park – or just League Park as it was often called, or National Park, the most common name of all.”

In March 1911, the grandstands of National Park burned to the ground. It was rebuilt in time for an Opening Day crowd of 16,000. In 1920, the ballpark was renamed Griffith Stadium in honor of Clark Griffith.

Although a certain segment of baseball fans detest corporate names for stadiums, team owners can’t be blamed for wanting to raise revenue through ballpark naming-rights. So look for something like Geico Park in D.C.

But also look for Nationals Park to hang on at the grassroots level. It’s easy to remember, sells the team and for the history gang, it brings a smile too.

Sources:

Washington Post

Diamonds: The Evolution of the Ballpark by Michael Gershman
Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebration of Major League and Negro League Ballparks by Philip J. Lowry
Lost Ballparks: A Celebration of Baseball’s Legendary Field by Lawrence Ritter
The Ball Clubs by Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella
The Washington Senators by Morris Bealle
Project Ballpark by Paul Healey

Photographs from the Library of Congress

There are several photos of National Park at the LOC website. The problem is, when I copy and paste the links, they don’t work.

If you go to loc.gov, click on Digital Collections and search for

American League Park, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia vs. Washington, May 6, 1905, attendance 9,300

Clark Griffith at National Park, Washington, DC, Washington AL (baseball)] 1912

Washington baseball team, season 1913

President Taft at National Park, 1910

Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World’s Finest Private Collections

“The vast majority of baseball fans know about the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but few are aware of the extraordinary private collections of baseball memorabilia, filled with historically significant artifacts, many of which have never been seen by the general public.” – Jane Forbes Clarke, Chairman, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Foreward to Smithsonian Baseball

When it comes to pictorial baseball books, I’m not a big fan. They tend to be expensive, unwieldy and the text can leave a lot to be desired.

I was pleased to discover, however, an exception to this rule earlier this year. The book is Stephen Wong’s Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World’s Finest Private Collections. A couple of weekends ago we attended his author appearance at Baird Auditorium located inside the Natural History Museum here in Washington. We spoke to him after his presentation. He was particularly proud of the photos taken by Susan Einstein. He said each one took hours to get just right.

Wong grew up in the Bay Area, played Little League there, was hypnotized by Willie Mays and became a Giants fan. During his high school years in New Jersey, a trip to the library for a non-baseball research assignment led him to discover baseball history and its incredible array of literature. Already an avid baseball card collector, he turned his interest to old scorecards and other baseball memorabilia.

In February 2003, Wong, who now lives in Hong Kong, was feeling burnt out from his job and stressed out from other pressures. His re-reading of “The Glory of Their Times” and thinking about Lawrence Ritter’s journey across the country to sit down with the players of the Dead Ball Era, inspired him to “consider a baseball journey of my own.” He ended up visiting 21 private collectors, covering baseball memorabilia from the Civil War period to around the 1960s.

Each chapter is devoted to one of the collectors. In some of them, Wong writes a small oral history of the collector. I enjoyed this aspect of his book the most. For example, Charles M. Merkel explains how he became a baseball fan and talks about some of the early history of collecting cards. Bill Mastro’s childhood story made me chuckle as he relates how he tore up his parent’s yard to make a place to play ball. My Mom and Dad would have torn me up had I done that to our yard but God bless them for letting us play on it.

Some of the chapters are less about the collector and more about the history of the game behind the items. As Wong notes: “The heart of any collection lies in the historical background of the artifacts it contains.” With the book spanning more than a century’s worth of baseball, this was a tremendous challenge. I confess to having not read the entire book yet but from what I can tell, Wong meets the challenge head on.

In addition to the chapters, there are essays on memorabilia collecting. The best advice, it seems to me, came from Mastro who said collect what you like.

Except for a few items, I don’t collect memorabilia. This book, however, really resonated with me. Seeing the yellow packages of TOPPS cards brought back memories of my childhood. I felt a connection with some of the collectors who spent their Saturday morning nickels and dimes buying the cards. I hoped for a Mays or a Giants or a great, checked out the stats, chewed the pink slabs of gum and showed off my best card to my neighborhood buddies and friends. It was also a great way to learn about the players.

Unfortunately, I count myself among that large legion of fans who did not save their cards or anything else except the memories. All we can do now is admire those who did save them and thank Stephen Wong for visiting them and writing this wonderful book.

MLB Announces “Bleary Bums” Campaign

MLB Announces “Bleary Bums” Campaign
By Jaded Roberts

Major League Baseball unveiled a “Bleary Bums” campaign today. Select fans who stay up late to watch Game Two and Game Four of the NLCS between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks will have a chance to win a special pin. Made to look like a blood-shot eye, the metal pins will be emblazoned with “I'm a Bleary Bum.”

“Fans of the San Francisco Giants will appreciate this one,” the MLB spokesperson said. “The Giants used to give out “Croix de Candlestick” pins for fans who stayed through the conclusion of extra-inning night games. With a start time of 10:00 pm for Game Two and Game Four, we realize fans in Eastern Standard Time might have to stay up as late as 2 a.m. to see the end of the game. We wanted to reward them for their loyalty and being deprived of half their sleep."

After the conclusion of those two games, fans can sign on to the MLB site. Their location will be verified as being in EST. The pins will be mailed to select fans.

Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig, responded to questions about the controversial late start.

“Sure, we’ll get a nasty-gram from AARP. But we’ve also signed a deal with No Doz. Look for specially marked, “Don’t Be a Baseball Curmudgeon” bottles at stores starting tomorrow. Fans over 50 years old will get ten percent off.”

Was The Braves Station

A small confession here, brought about by the news that TBS will no longer broadcast the Braves’ games across the nation.

For a couple of seasons (‘80-‘81), I kind of pulled for Atlanta. The brief fling came about through a confluence of events. The mediocre Braves weren’t a threat to the equally mediocre Giants, their players, guys like Bruce Benedict, Glenn Hubbard and Bob Horner, were likeable up-comers, and WTBS, known as the Superstation, started showing a lot of their games. Some of my Air Force buddies liked them and we often talked about their slow rise over lunch.

This was a time when the only baseball on TV was, if I recall correctly, WGN for the Cubs/White Sox and NBC’s Game of the Week on Saturday afternoon. Getting to see the Giants was the best part of it but the exposure to the Braves led me to start pulling for them, especially against the Dodgers and the Reds. I liked their announcers except for Skip Caray. He was a homer and I never liked his style. I remember one time he dissed the city of San Francisco. The class acts sat beside him.

TBS carries on with the LDS games. While their work needs polishing, I agree with those who believe they are a refreshing change to FOX and their excessive production ways. They will also broadcast 26 Sunday games next season.

Baseball's Exciting Finish

How about that finish to the season?? Put me down as believing 2007 ranks right up there among the all-time exciting finishes. It just might be the best ever!

As exciting as it was, especially the Rockies win over the Padres last night, television coverage of baseball’s final Sunday remains one of the greatest paradoxes in sports. When it all comes down to the final day, fans with Extra Innings and/or the web are set. For those in front of a TV, Sunday can be a mad and annoying scramble.

At 6 pm EST, I grabbed the remote. The Presidents Cup was over and I wanted to get the latest on the races. The NL East had been decided but the wildcard was still up for grabs. With the Padres losing to the Brewers, the Rockies were still in it if they could beat the Dbacks.

As much as I loathe them in certain ways, especially their incessant cynicisms of major league players, ESPN does fill in the gap a lot of times as far as keeping up with the latest on the scores. They provided coverage at 6 pm with both Baseball Tonight and their 24/7 channel ESPNews.

Neither gave the Colorado – Arizona score right away so I ran into the computer room and checked the score on-line with Gameday. The Rockies had scored twice in the ninth to make it AZ 4 COL 3. I thought about sticking with Gameday but I was eating dinner at the kitchen table, where we can watch TV at the same time.

I figured Baseball Tonight would be on top of it all. During the regular season, they do a great job of cutting in for the updates. As they go to the clip, they play their “da-dada-da-da-da” music. It’s like Pavlov’s Dog. Yea, gimme that snack.

For some strange reason, they delayed giving the Rockies – Dbacks score or update until about 10 minutes after it was over. That might not sound like a lot, but when the whole season compresses down to the final inning of the last game, a couple of minutes can seem like a long time in our information-now world.

The irony is that BT did not deliver at crunch time while ESPNews did. I think their programming was slated for The Blitz. They put Tim Kurkjian in the other chair and did a better job. Around 6:05, they showed the final out. I switched over to BT. They stayed with highlights and post-game interviews for both the Mets-Marlins game and Phillies-Nats. East Coast Bias for sure, but didn’t they realize fans would be waiting?

Around 6:10, Baseball Tonight's Karl Ravech said the COL-AZ was over and that they would get to it in a minute! Finally, around 6:15, they gave the score.

MLB has come a long way to provide fans with TV, radio and web options. In some ways we have it very good but it is remarkable that the deciding moments still aren’t covered on TV as one might expect. I was lucky this time but wonder who wasn't and what the future holds in this regard.