January 27, 2009 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

I was listening to the "Mike & Mike" show on ESPN radio this morning.  Apparently Joe Torre has a new book coming out in which he allegedly disses Alex Rodriguez and claims that A-Rod is not respected by his teammates.  I would definitely put this in the "not cool" category -- what happens in the locker room should stay in the locker room.

But to hear Mike & Mike tell it, Torre may as well have confessed to eating puppies for breakfast and babies for lunch.  Their reaction was absolutely disproportional to the offense.  Although I guess when you have to fill 4 hours of air time every day, a little righteous indignation goes a long way.  

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January 26, 2009 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

Man - I haven't been to a baseball game since August 23rd.  And in fact it seems much longer.  I am ready for this winter to end already!

I should spend some of these long cold days updating the website with new pages from last year's Baseball Trip, something I usually have done long before January.  I'll get to it soon.  Not today, though.

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January 22, 2009 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

Baseball on the Big Screen

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning.  There are plenty of other websites that will discuss this in great length, and I'll leave them to it.

But it got me thinking about movies in general, and Baseball movies in particular.  Baseball movies never get Oscars.  Boxing movies -- now that's a different story.  Rocky, Raging Bull, Million Dollar Baby...  But Baseball flicks, not so much.

Still, as a fan of both Baseball and Film, there are plenty of Baseball movies I'm quite fond of.  These are my top 10:

10 - Rookie of the Year.  A bit of a sentimental choice, as I showed up for the extra call at Wrigley Field when they filmed this.  I was also at the doubleheader when they did some shooting between games for some scenes where they needed a full stadium.  It was a fun experience.  And the film itself?  Well, it's kind of a kid's movie, really, but a pretty well-done kid's movie.

9 - Eight Men Out.  I might have ranked it higher if it didn't take itself so seriously.  But still, it's a good historical account of the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal, filled with terrific performances.

8 - The Bad News Bears (original).  I was 12 years old when this came out, the perfect age to enjoy all the booger jokes and the dirty-but-not-really language, and still get caught up in the underdogs-overcome story line.  I admit I haven't seen this film in many years, and I'm not sure how well it would stand up through adult eyes, but fond memories from my childhood have earned it a spot on the list. 

7 - 61*.  I really enjoyed this made-for-HBO story of the 1961 home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.  Mantle was the fan favorite who was supposed to break Babe Ruth's record, but Maris had the nerve to challenge the record as well.  Lots of believable interactions between the players and some real tension.

6 - Cobb.  Tommy Lee Jones's performance is what makes this movie, about the biggest son-of-a-bitch in Baseball history.  You end up really caring about him, even as you can't stand the guy.  Brilliant.

5 - A League of Their Own.   "There's no crying in Baseball!" is one of the greatest lines in movie history.  Tom Hanks almost steals the show, but the terrific chemistry between Geena Davis and Lori Petty as sisters and teammates is the true heart of the film.  You can really buy the on-field scenes too.  And don't worry about Madonna and Rosie.  They don't ruin it too much. 

4 - The Natural.  I know, I criticized Eight Men Out for taking itself too seriously, and The Natural is guilty of that several times over.  But it's also a big, sweeping epic of a Baseball film, and if you let it, it will take you for a grand and moving ride.  The final scene, with the exploding lights and the fireworks, is so over-the-top you can't help but get sucked in.

3 - Major League.  Predictable? Sure.  Silly? At times. It's a comedy about a ragtag bunch of losers and has-beens who overcome adversity to -- here it comes -- win.  But maybe the best thing about it is that it never tries to be anything more than it is.  It's a raucous good time at the movies that actually manages to feel a little like a raucous good time at the ball park.  ...And you gotta love Charlie Sheen and that haircut!

2 - Field of Dreams.  "If you build it, he will come."  Everybody in the world knows that line (or perhaps a mis-quoted version of it).  This does lay the sap on a little thick, but there's enough humor to balance it out.  And Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, and James Earl Jones -- especially James Earl Jones -- really manage to sell it.  You're not really a Baseball fan if Jones's final speech doesn't stir something in you.  (Side note: the Field in Dyersville, Iowa is still open to the public; it surely won't be forever.  Get there if you can.  You won't be sorry.)

1 - Bull Durham.  I once heard somebody say that Bull Durham is a chick flick disguised as a Baseball movie.  Bull, I say.  The most interesting relationship in this film is the one between the two guys.  Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner knock it out of the park (sorry) as the kid on his way up and the veteran on his way out.  Every note of their growing and grudging friendship rings perfectly true.  Of course, it doesn't hurt to throw a hot Susan Sarandon into the mix too.  The Baseball scenes, though sometimes exaggerated, feel right on the money.  The supporting cast is a hoot, especially Robert Wuhl as Larry the harried coach, and there are plenty of real laugh-out-loud moments in here. It's a comedy, and a good one, but it runs a good deal deeper than it first appears.  

So there you go.  Agree with me or don't, but if you don't... get your own list.

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January 20, 2009 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

We have a new President!

My favorite visual from today's inauguration was easily Dick Cheney in a wheelchair.  I couldn't stop picturing Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life.  You know -- a warped, frustrated old man.  Official word from the White house was that "Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes into his new home in the Washington suburbs."  What??   The man was Vice President of the freaking United States, for crying out loud!  He has to move his own boxes?  Did he have to go and rent the U-Haul, too?  Sheesh.  Talk about getting no respect.

In all seriousness, I was more moved by the inauguration that I expected.  The word hope has become almost a cliché, to be sure, but I really did feel hope today.  Not so much for the upcoming administration -- there's really only so much the President can do.  And let's not kid ourselves -- Obama is not some aw-shucks-gee-whiz Jimmy Stewart type. He's a politician who knows how to play the game.  If he can fix health care, end the recession, and bring peace to the middle east, great, but don't hold your breath.

However, if he can manage to influence the citizens of his nation to rise to greater heights as individuals, to believe they can achieve more than they thought possible during these past 8 years of slumber, then his administration will be a success. Some may argue that by that measure, his administration is already a success.

Real change won't come from the government. But today I have hope that the change this country needs may eventually be coming, not from the top down but from the bottom up, from all the people who've been inspired by the rise of Barack Obama.

(...and, he sure as hell can't do as badly as the last guy.)

One downside, though: You have to go back to the Eisenhower administration (1958, to be exact) to find the last time the New York Yankees won the World Series during a Republican presidency.  A Democrat in the White House means bad news for Yankee-haters. 

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January 19, 2009 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

Welcome to the Blog!

I've decided to try something different. Well, different for me; maybe not different for the 11 gazillion other people casting their daily thoughts out to the net... 

But when I decided to start writing a column on this website over 6 years ago, I did so with the best of intentions to post new columns as often as I could.  Weekly, maybe.  Monthly, if not weekly.  The best of intentions.  I wrote a grand total of 10 columns in those 6 years.  

Why not more?  I think it was because I thought I needed something big and profound to say before I sat down to write.  Sure, when I got an idea that I could flesh out with a beginning, middle, and end, that added up to something resembling a point, I'd pound the keys like crazy.  Trouble is, that didn't happen as often as I'd hoped; and in between, all the fleeting notions and ruminations I had were simply lost to the ages. 

So I'm taking a new approach and going the 21st century blog route.  I'll be on here as close to every day as I can, to share whatever happens to be on my mind, even if I just pop in to post a few lines here and there.  There's a good chance it'll be baseball related, but certainly not always.  There's also a good chance nobody will give a rat's rump about what's on my mind.  Fair enough.

But if you'll come back to check in every now and then, I promise to have something new for you a lot more often than I used to.

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It is currently 18 degrees Fahrenheit here in Naperville.  That's 36 degrees warmer than it was 4 days ago.  Kind of hard to focus on baseball at such a time.  But this year's Minor Trips Newsletter has arrived, always a welcome sight inside a snow-covered mailbox.   Minor Trips is a neat little annual publication that's served us well in planning our Baseball Trips over the years.  It's a decidedly low-tech pocket-sized guide containing the schedules of every Minor League team in the U.S. and Canada.  And every winter there's the Newsletter to help tide subscribers over until the season begins, filled with short baseball-related articles, trivia, reader contributions, and more.  I highly recommend this little gem to every baseball fan, even if you don't plan to go anywhere.  It's just great fun.  Click that link!