2004 Season

 

   2004 Season

Edition No. 27

August 31, 2004

Gentlemen:

Because of a "misunderstanding" by Brother Magpie about who was to do the newsletter this week –– we will take him at face value on this –– there will not be a guest column for your enjoyment this week, and we will revise our schedule of guest authorship as follows:

Week 22 (next week) Tricko

Week 23 Stretch/B.T.

Week 24 SloPay

Week 25 Skipper

Week 26 Skipper

But as long as I have your attention, here are the standings through 21 weeks:

STANDINGS THROUGH AUGUST 29, WEEK 21

1.

Wahoos 8097.0

2.

Redbirds 7967.0

3.

Skipjacks 7942.5

4.

Senators 7852.0

5.

Tigers 7841.5
6. Reds 7591.0
7. Irates 7291.0
8. Cubs* 7212.0
9. Bombers 7153.5
10. Chiefs 7079.0
11. Blues 6940.0
12. Tribe 5305.5

And the weekly point totals for last week:

WEEK 21 POINT TOTALS

1. Wahoos 489.0
2. Redbirds 470.5
3. Irates 463.5
4. Cubs* 402.0
5. Reds 400.0
6. Senators 393.0
7. Tigers 383.5
8. Skipjacks 373.5
9. Chiefs 350.0
10. Blues 320.0
11. Bombers 282.0
12. Tribe 190.0

AND MORE
 

° We are posting this week an updated and corrected summary of the Hot Stove League trips, beginning in 1985 and running through this year’s trip to San Diego. The running total is now 20 trips, 19 cities, 23 ballparks, 27 teams, and 50 games, including the 1998 All-Star Game in Denver. Wow. What a record!  [Linda's note:  The revised summary will be posted on Friday.  I forgot the revisions at the office.]
   
° Who can guess the three major league teams that we have not yet seen play on an official HSL trip? Hint: Two of these teams are in the National League, and one of them is in the American League. Post a message on the Message Board if you have a guess.
   
° As aforesaid, our Hot Stove League sojourns have now taken us to nineteen different cities to view baseball. The nine current major league cities that remain on our list are: Miami (maybe when they replace Joe Robbie with a real baseball park); Minneapolis (I’m never going back to the Baggie Dome); Montreal (soon to be removed from the menu); Oakland; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Francisco; Seattle; and Tampa Bay (never, ever, again). There is talk about heading to the City of Brotherly Love for next year’s trip, which would be great, but one of these years we need to think about a San Francisco/Oakland/Seattle triad. If it’s logistically doable, this would be a pretty awesome trio of ballparks to hit on one trip.
   
° I think most of us agree that PETCO Park really grew on us as our weekend in San Diego progressed, and that while we did not have our socks blown off by our initial walk-up to the stadium, the more we saw of it, the more we liked it. Personally, I am still trying to figure out where Bark Park fits in my ranking of the thirty current stadiums. I jotted down a new list of rankings during our flight home, and am now in the process of fine-tuning it. PETCO does not crack the top five, but I am pretty sure it will end up in my top ten. I know you will all be breathlessly waiting to find out.
   
° Lastly, let me provide my ringing endorsement for the terrific book The Teammates by David Halberstam, which explores the relationship between Red Sox teammates Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr. It is a short, fast, and very entertaining read. My favorite story in the book is about an event that happened in the mid-1950s when Pedro Ramos, a rookie pitcher with the Washington Senators, struck out Ted Williams, which was a large moment for Ramos. As the story goes:
 
    He rolled the ball into the dugout to save, and later, after the game, the Cuban right-hander ventured into the Boston dugout with the ball and asked Ted to sign it. Mel Parnell was watching and had expected an immediate explosion, Ted being asked to sign a ball he had struck out on, and he was not disappointed. Soon there was a rising bellow of blasphemy from Williams, and then he had looked over and seen Ramos, a kid of 20 or 21, terribly close to tears now. Suddenly Ted had softened and said, "Oh, all right. Give me the goddamned ball," and had signed it. Then about two weeks later he had come up against Ramos again and hit a tremendous home run, and as he rounded first, he had slowed down just a bit and yelled to Ramos, "I’ll sign that sonofabitch, too, if you can ever find it."
 
  Anyway, this is required reading for the Hot Stove League. You will love it.

                                                                          Skipper

 

 

 

 

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