Jaybird's Jottings

SABR's Winter Meetings

Outside, the bitter cold and gray of winter make spring seem so far away.   Inside, camaraderie and baseball talk provide the warm relief.   The Bob Davids Chapter (Washington and Baltimore) of SABR is gathering for their version of the Winter Meetings.   It’s their 37 Annual Hot Stove get together that took place yesterday at the Holiday Inn in Rosslyn. 

As I’ve noted before, moving this cherished event from November to late January has worked out well. Having said that, we also knew the change brought in the chance of snow.    Lady luck caught up yesterday, four to eight inches on the ground.   The getting home was treacherous, but, fortunately, the flakes held off until after everyone had arrived.   Attendance was about 120, a good figure, but about 10 or 15 less than what I thought.  No doubt the weather kept the same day sign ups down.   

This year, the faithful celebrated the first ever “SABR Day in America.”    Other chapters across the country, in Canada and Puerto Rico, and the ones overseas also marked it at their meetings.    The announcement produced some pride, but in essence, these meetings have always been a SABR Day for us.    It is good to see this new “holiday” and the P.R. push by the front office.  Brochures were handed out.  I almost didn’t take one home but did.   One thing from it that is worth passing on is the part about members.   

“I’m not a baseball researcher.  Is there a place for me in SABR?    Absolutely.”

That is so true.   A lot of SABR members are not researchers, although I would add that many, by virtue of a knowledge gained by collecting or reading or observing, can certainly fit in the extended definition.

At last year’s meeting in Columbia, Maryland, a friend and I discussed the quality of past speakers.   On the plus side, we’ve seen a good variety of baseball types, including major and minor league executives, managers, umpires, writers, broadcasters, lawyers, and other figures behind the scenes.   We’ve also heard from former players such as Mike Cabbage and Buck Martinez.   We hated to complain, but agreed it was disappointing we had yet to see a bigger name player.        

Enter Scott McGregor, the former Orioles pitcher whose presence yesterday stirred excitement among O’s fans old enough to remember a time when the Birdlanders had a lot more to cheer about.   Ok, so McGregor wasn’t in Jim Palmer’s league, but the crafty southpaw got enough batters out to pitch from 1976 to 1988, all in Baltimore.  McGregor is currently the pitching coach for the Aberdeen IronBirds.   An off-speed specialist, he won 138 big league games against 108 losses.   In 34 post-season innings, he gave up just 8 runs.   His crowning achievement came against the Phillies in Game Five of the 1983 World Series, a five-hit shutout in Philadelphia that clinched the Series.

I had to leave before McGregor got warmed up, but it was notable to see the body language of the audience.  Several members leaned forward, their better memories filling their hearts.    A dozen seasons have passed since Baltimore finished over .500.   Contrast that misery with the Earl Weaver Era that brought immediate success, and then the Series in '83.

When it comes to arranging a SABR regional, some chapters set up speakers that appeal to the local team.   Ours is an interesting challenge for the leadership.  Such things are only whispered, but make sense.   Nationals’ fans want the Nats highlighted, Orioles the O’s.    Balance is the key so having Bryan Minniti, the new assistant GM of the Nats, helped with the juggling.   The young, soft-spoken, new hire talked about his time in Pittsburgh where he handled transactions and other tasks.    Long hours, low pay marked his tenure.  Asked about the Nationals, Minniti cited his lack of experience, but did say the front office was putting together the pieces.     

Another thought I had about the speakers we’ve had was that we had not yet heard from a blogger.  Mike Henderson, a writer at Nationals Pride ended that drought.    This tipped the aforementioned balance to Washington, but since the chapter meeting was being held in NatLand, we’ll chalk it up to home field advantage.  I missed Henderson but spoke with him during one of the coffee breaks.   He said he was going to talk about Baseball Prospectus projections and the Nats bump up to 500.   Evidently the Davenport numbers were rushed out and needed tweaking.      

In addition to the speakers, there was the usual table talk, trivia, raffle, small publishers behind their book tables, and research presentations.   Home run historian David Vincent discussed Instant Replay.  Instituted in August 2008 after a series of controversial home run calls, there are only three circumstances for it – fair or foul, fan interference and the over the fence call.  In 2008 and 2009, there were 63 replays and 23 were overturned.    MLB has said the average wait for the call is 4 minutes.  One member wondered if the actual figure was higher.

Cort Vitty talked about the great pennant race in 1945 between the Tigers and the Nationals (Senators).   Washington stayed one to two games behind before folding in the last week.   The Tigers tasted sweet revenge, having been knocked out of the race the year before by the Nats.   Vitty, a Wartime Baseball aficionado, said team Clark Griffith helped his team by arranging for night games that allowed working class fans to see more games.  The cheapskate magnate also had several knuckleballers on the team who benefited from the games being played under the poor lighting conditions.    

Not quite as close a race was the powerhouse ’69 Orioles, who won by 19 games.  Steve Walker discussed their greatness and brought back memories of fan favorites such as Boog Powell, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer.   Walker’s methods were not sabermetric, but he professed to this, saying he wanted to be more widely understood.    During the Q&A, one member mentioned Rob Neyer’s book, which uses standard deviation to weigh really bad teams.   Walker acknowledged the weakness of the expansion teams.    His findings are at his website stephenjwalker.com

Dave Smith is always worthy of a separate paragraph.   The Retrosheet founder presented his usual insightful sharing of questions asked to him by the baseball media, the teams and ESPN last year.    Smith gets about 60 each season and also sometimes offers up the tidbits to the ballclubs.  The typical requests goes something like, the team or player did this amazing thing last night.   Has it ever happened before?     

My note taking was not fast enough so apologies for not having the full info.  One item Dave looked up was a bases-loaded triple occurring twice in one game.   He was pleased to find it happened in the same inning.  

All in all, a great start for the first SABR Day in America and another chapter meeting.    Now we wait for pitchers and catchers and this year’s history makers.

      

Update on Mays Book

 I received some information yesterday about the new book on Mays.   It’s a list of some of the things covered in the book.   Most have been touched on in previous books, but off the top of my head, here are two I don’t remember. 

1- How in the minor leagues soon after integration, three white players stayed in his hotel room and slept on Willie’s floor to ensure his safety.

2- The first black captain in baseball history. 

Of course, note that I said touched on.   The great thing about this book is, as we anticipate, more details than before on each aspect of Mays’s life and playing career.

The book website is now up (Thanks GIANTS WIN!).  Nicely done, more photos, most of which I have not seen before. 

The web site also lists Hirsch’s appearances.   Great to see he will be in SF for two talks.    I was puzzled at not seeing New York listed.   I asked him about it.   Part of his reply is the sad reality authors face these days.  Hirsch knows how much fans of Mays would love to hear him in New York but it’s not on his schedule due to budget cut backs publishers are making.   

Hirsch adds, "I very much hope that once the book is published and we get some publicity, some organization -- a library or a museum or some entity with a keen interest in Willie Mays -- will invite me to New York to give a presentation. I'm aware that Willie still has many, many fans in New York, and I would love to be able to chat with them, answer their questions, and share stories about him."

Been checking Amazon.  Yesterday Say Hey slipped to number five, but then went to number two.   I think it’s great Satchel (Larry Tye) has stayed at the number one spot for all these weeks.   He would no doubt love to stay there some more, but I believe Paige would not mind at all being replaced by Mays, who said he faced Paige in a 1947 Barons-Monarchs game.  

One thing is for sure, baseball fans in Alabama are feeling some fearsome pride, and anticipation is building for this book. 

 

Say Hey Climbing the Charts

 Less than two week’s to go for James S. Hirsch’s highly anticipated, 640-page, authorized biography on Willie Mays.    Pre-sales alone have vaulted his book to number three in Baseball History at Amazon.  Say Hey is batting clean-up in Baseball Biographies.

This lucky St. Louis writer got an advance copy and writes:

“it’s wonderful.”

You bet.

R-Jints

 Curious about who might be covering the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Giants new AA team, I found a couple of blogs that are.

Richmond Squirrels Super Fans

These guys covered the press conference a couple of weeks ago that announced the field staff.  They were impressed with the manager Andy Skeels.  The pitching coach is Ross Grimsley, batting instructor is Russ Morman.

Richmond Baseball

Richmond Baseball is also covering events and has some video.

The Richmond Times has some coverage including John O’Connor’s piece on the prospects (see below).   He will be the beat reporter this year.

Our Sports Central writes about the upcoming promotion schedule, including the all-important fireworks nights.

The official site is up.   Prices at The Diamond are $6, $8 and $10. 

The Flying Squirrels crack the nut (sorry, couldn’t resist) on April 8 in Bowie, a DC suburb.  Will try and make that game, but no promises.  

Thomas Neal -- 1B, 6-1, 226 pounds, 22. Right-handed hitter. Californian batted .337 with 22 homers, 41 doubles, and 90 RBI in 129 San Jose games last season.

Skeels: "Tremendous right-handed power hitter with a lot of energy for the game."

Roger Kieschnick -- OF, 6-3, 215 pounds, 22. Left-handed hitter. Texan batted .296 with 23 homers and 110 RBI in 131 San Jose games last season.

Skeels: "One of the big-time power prospects in all of minor-league baseball."

Darren Ford -- OF, 6-1, 195 pounds, 24. Switch-hitter. New Jersey native batted .300 with 35 stolen bases in 101 San Jose games last season. Has stolen 60 or more bases in previous seasons.

Skeels: "This is my 25th year in the game. The only person that I've ever seen that even compares to Darren Ford is Deion Sanders. That's how fast he is."

Brandon Crawford -- SS, 6-2, 200 pounds, 22. Left-handed batter. UCLA alumnus played much of last season at Double-A Connecticut (.258); batted .371 in 25 San Jose games.

Conor Gillaspie -- 3B, 6-1, 200 pounds, 22. Left-handed batter. Wichita State alumnus and supplemental first-round pick batted .286 in 126 San Jose games last season.

Nick Noonan -- 2B, 6-0, 180 pounds, 20. Left-handed batter. San Diego resident batted .259 in 124 San Jose games last season.

 

 

Cosmopolitan Grill

Winding its way through the eastern part of Fairfax County, Route One, also known as Richmond Highway, is a seemingly endless ribbon of stoplights, strip malls and eyesore places of business begging for re-development.     Finding something good to say about this vehicle-choked corridor is not easy.   In the past several years, however, some decent places to eat have sprung up along a two-mile stretch south of the Beltway.     Panera, Chipotle, Noodles Inc, Z Pizza and Famous Dave’s BBQ are all popular spots.   But as chains, they’re pretty much just more of the same thing in this mind-numbing suburban landscape. 

Offering a refreshing change of pace is Cosmopolitan Grill (Their website says Restaurant Cosmpolitan). Owned and managed by refugees Amela (Bosnia) and Ivica (Croatia) Svalina, this establishment debuted in 2004 in a small shopping center spot on North Kings Hiway, across from the Huntington Metro parking lot.   In June 2008, the Svalinas moved to the present location, a mile or so south in Hybla Valley, next to Gold’s Gym.     Despite being on the edge of most foodie’s radar, they’ve managed to nab accolades from both Washingtonian magazine (Cheap Eats) and City Paper (50 Best Young and Hungry Restaurants).

Don’t let the Cheap Eats throw you.  Their specialty, and the reason you should come here, is Bosnian and German dishes (Ivica learned to cook in both Croatia and Germany).   It’s not only good, but they are evidently the only place in the Washington area that offers Bosnian cuisine.  

Upon arriving at their strip mall location, one is not impressed.   But you know what that say about a book cover.   Patrons are greeted with a pleasant and modern setting, checkered tablecloths, and warm lighting.   Small windows look into the gym but this is just a minor distraction.    

The menu offers soups and salads, entrees, specials and sandwiches.  The Bosnian Burger gets raves, but we wanted to try their dishes and bread.   City Paper recommended cevapcici so I tried them on my first trip.   They’re tasty grilled homemade sausages, served with lepina bread, moist and fresh.   The bread dip, made of Greek yogurt, sour cream and feta cheese, is a nice break from butter and olive oil.

Some American classics like steak are offered, but it would be criminal to come in here and not try the authentic food.   Ivica told me his most popular dishes are the raznjici (grilled chicken on skewers) and the Wiener Schnitzel (Pan-fried veal).   I had the former on the second trip.   Very tasty and perfectly grilled veggies alongside.  

The only criticism I have is that I wanted to try their bureks (meat-filled pastry), but learned you have to order a day ahead. 

The irony with all this is that although we live nearby, we had not been here before.  But we figure to return some time real soon.   Enjoy if you go, and don’t let Route One stop you from doing so. 

Note:  Cosmopolitan Grill is about 10-15 minutes south of the Beltway.    Look for Five Guys, then Chevy’s and National Tire and Battery, where you make a right into the parking lot of Gold’s Gym, which is set back from the street. 

  

 

Flooding in Old Town

Around 1:30 this afternoon, I took these shots of some minor localized flooding in Old Town Alexandria.    Typical of past floods, the main problem spot is the intersection of King and Union.    On-lookers were somewhat amused, but several people couldn’t get to their cars behind the Starbucks and Mai Thai wasn't thrilled.  

Flooding in Old Town occurs through a combination of high tide, winds, and local heavy rains.    

Got up to 68 today, but the cold returns tomorrow.

 

 
 

 

Robert Darnton

 On Friday afternoon I attended an author event at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium.    On tap was Robert Darnton, author of The History of Books and the Digital Future.   He’s also Professor at the University at Harvard, with a specialty in the History of Books.    Darnton has been in the news lately, expressing concerns that Google Books will become a monopoly.  

The title of the program was The History of Books and the Digital Future.   With the Google Books case still up in the air and awaiting a final decision, I thought for sure  he would talk about the digital future aspect.    The issue (the Authors Guild has settled but some others still oppose Google) has enormous implications, but would it be enough to draw a crowd on a late Friday afternoon on a cold winter’s day? 

Something sure did.   My guess is about 250 filled the lower level auditorium to near capacity.   After an impressive introduction that included a joke about the irony of googling Darnton, this distinguished older man got up and began his talk.    Then he said it.   Paraphrasing -- I’m not going to speak about the future of books, but rather the history.  

I don’t know about the rest of the audience, but I was stunned.   Think an audience at a heavy metal festival being told the concert would be unplugged.  

Slowly I calmed myself, and decided to settle for the storyteller aspect.   Darnton spent years in France learning about book selling there in the middle of the 19^th Century.    Piracy was a huge market and not considered counterfeit.   Condensed forms of books were sold as the real thing.   Books were married together with pages from the controversial ones sewed inside the mundane.    If caught, smugglers could get nine years in prison.  Publishers went bankrupt and had to flee the country.  

On the surface, it seems Darnton, aged 70, is a curmudgeon.  But he does support web-based methods and is the founder of the Gutenberg e-program.   His main concern about Google is that they will charge monopoly prices.  He emphasized several times that older books and e-books can get along quite well,  said he plans to publish his forthcoming book on the French book trade in both forms.     The web version will provide hyperlinks to the research documents that will include things like the bookseller’s diary and scans of rare documents and original manuscripts. 

Yesterday was definitely a bittersweet experience.   I came away with no updates or inside information on the Google Book story, but felt richer by hearing from such a distinguished historian.    His lecture was a reminder that book publishing has a fascinating history and the next chapters, although uncertain, will be exciting too.    

Nats Get Unexpected Upgrade

  “Thanks, we needed that.”  

That’s what DC sports fans, or at least this one, is saying this week to Joshua Fisher, Dodgers blogger and writer for the Hardball Times.   In a three-part series he finished up this past Tuesday, he ranks “Fan Happiness” for each of the 30 major league teams.   

As a fan of the Nationals, I was girding myself on Tuesday, prepared to see the home team in their usual place, near or at the bottom.   In what amounts, however, to the most pleasantly surprising assessment the team has ever received, Fisher has Nationals Air arriving at Gate 21.   

That may not sound like a big deal, but it comes at a time when the sports scene here hit one of its lowest points in recent memory, and perhaps the lowest.     True, the first-place Capitals are keeping us sane, but within the last month, the Redskins fired their coach and the Wizards took down the large banner for Gilbert Arenas who pleaded guilty last week to gun possession and impersonating a mature and responsible adult.    A turnaround has hopefully begun with the Redskins hiring Mike Shanahan and a good staff, and the Wizards are poised to be owned by Ted Leonsis, who turned the Capitals into a model franchise.  

There was a time during the first half of the 20^th Century when major league baseball, for the most part, controlled the collective sports psyche of a city, state and region.    In some places like Boston that is still true, but not in the nation’s capital where a 33-year long drought produced ignorance, apathy, and fans who, like myself, pull for the Nats only as a second team.  

As bad as they are, it is still Redskins car flags and merchandise that outsell the Capitals, Wizards, DC United, and the Nationals.  But summer still belongs to baseball, and if the Nats can start winning, the city will be theirs in July and August, before sharing it in September and hopefully October. 

Until they get there, Nats fans are appreciating small things like the announcement today that MASN will televise all their games in HD.     Once again, that may not sound like much, but remember that the Nationals games were not televised their first year and this is the first year all the games are in HD. 

And I think that is part of what Fisher was getting at.    Washington will probably not have the 21st best record or higher this season, but when you’ve been fishing all day long, and your bucket is still empty, the sight of a jumping catfish can get you excited. 

Gastro-pubs

England, in the mid-80s, was a jolly good time for yours truly.   Well, not so much the job (how can you do more with less?), but once the stars and stripes were retired for the day, I hightailed it home to Felixstowe for a seaside walk followed by a pull or two of bitter with the regulars.  

The British do many things quite well, but when I was there, pub food was an oxymoron.    In the early 90s, however, two men at a pub called The Eagle in London decided you could have good food along with your darts and ale.    20 years on, gastro-pubs are catching on here in the States.   The word doesn’t conjure up the best of thoughts, and many of the American watering holes don’t have the history-soaked character found over the pond, but there is a market for good food made with farm fresh ingredients alongside local brews. 

Before going any further, let me say I confess to arriving late to this food trend.   As part of my catch up reading, I learned the Spotted Pig helped pioneer the stateside effort in Manhattan.    In 2007, Aaron Blake’s piece in The Hill noted that a handful of places, including Granville Moore’s, put DC in the league.   I also noticed The City Paper’s nod to Rustico as Washington’s Best Gastropub in 2008.   They have great beer and a casual setting, but we’ve been disappointed sometimes by their food.   I took that as a sign we haven’t missed too much. 

Then there’s the question of what exactly is a gastro-pub.   A google hunt led me to Pubology, a blog by a pub-crawling critic in London.   In what appears to be one of the better discussions on the subject, Ewan explains the concept in detail.   But his conclusion, “you will know a gastro-pub when you’re in it,” left me wanting. 

Further reading indicated some say gastro-pubs should offer sophisticated cuisine, but some say it doesn’t have to be.   Some places described themselves as a gastro-pub, but evidently weren’t.   Some were, but don’t tout themselves as such.

Ok, the mission was on.   Where to go in Washington to lose our virginity for this dining experience?  Urban Spoon and Yelp are usually helpful, but one wants reliable sources too.  Last week provided the answer with two reviews of Againn (Irish for “at us” or “with us”), a restaurant that opened in November on New York Avenue just north of the Penn Quarter.  Two sources I depend on, Jordan Wright and WeLoveDC, both praised it.   Executive Chef Wes Morton’s impressive resume includes kitchens in New Orleans, Half Moon Bay, D.C., and Texas.  

The better half said yes to my invitation to go there, pleased I broke out of my mold and suggested a Friday night date.  That was the plan, but she has been helping out with the Haiti relief effort so we shifted to this past Sunday for their brunch.    I know, all that build up and anticipation, and then just brunch.   But their fresh approach to a BLT (thick house-made bacon, marinated tomatoes), and creamy, perfectly seasoned grits were culinary delights.   For beer, I wanted the sure thing, Guinness on tap, but choosing a Wells Bombardier on tap with a matching pint glass proved very rewarding.     The service was first class, and bravo to them for having just three small TVs behind the bar with no volume.  

Several years ago we went to a party, and I discovered I was the only one there drinking beer.   I’ve also observed social climbing via a shift from beer to wine.  That’s ok, but as a beer lover, it’s good to see suds being appreciated.  

There is, however, a down side to all this.   One writer likened the gastro-pub movement to punk rock and the way it cast aside pretentiousness.   But Againn sports Scotch Whiskey lockers that go for $500 a year and some have said it is too pricey to be pub-like.  And although we saw patrons cozying up to the bar, the atmosphere does not feel quite like the homey pubs I frequented in England.  

On the other hand, Wright enjoyed Againn so much she elevates it to a higher category, and the manager we spoke with said they’re really a “contemporary British Isles bistro.” 

Well, not to worry.   It’s all about options, supporting green restaurants, and trying something different. 

Cheers!

 

  

 

 

 

King and Shonibare

The better half and I visited the National Museum of African Art yesterday to see the museum for the first time, and to take in the bold and provocative works of Nigerian contemporary artist Yinka Shonibare.   On display are his colorful fiberglass mannequins, abstract paintings and large, adult-themed photographs.   Another exhibit, more kid-friendly, is Artful Animals, which has 125 artworks for Africa’s 54 countries. 

It’s appropriate to talk about our visit today, the holiday and birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   Just as we paused to think about the meaning of Shonibare's art, all of us should pause today and reflect on the remarkable and inspiring life and legacy of Dr. King.   

Many of us have lived our entire life virtually free from prejudice and discrimination.  For others, this is not true.   Much progress has been made, but the work is not complete.