Joe Buck hates Mom, Baseball, Apple Pie. Loves the Bachelorette.

Y’know how every postseason in game chatter I am one of the few people who defend Joe Buck?

That ends now after I read this Awful Announcing post.

I’m borderline furious this morning and not just because I have to mention Colin Cowherd. Joe Buck was on ESPN Radio this morning, and you can’t make this stuff up, said he doesn’t enjoy Baseball anymore and chooses to watch the Bachlorette over nightly Sports telecasts during the week.

...
Without going off my rocker I just want to point out that this is the reason why everyone is upset with a lot of broadcasters in Sports. You have the coolest damn job in the World in Sports Fans eyes, and while you’re supposed to be serving as the voice of the fans, you act like you’re above the game. This is the main reason why Joe Buck and his kind are probably the worst thing for Sports. Buck wants to be a Hollywood star and doesn’t have time for the Sport that brought him to the dance. Well his father brought him to the dance in the family station wagon, but Baseball is ultimately who he’s partying with. You get my point.

Tip of the hat to the now Leitchless Deadspin.

Timmermann: In Memoriam: Jules Tygiel

Bob T, with the sad news…

Jules Tygiel, a history professor at San Francisco State University, passed away July 1 at age 59 from cancer.

Tygiel wrote two of the best baseball books I’ve ever read, along with numerous other works. He had a career that I only can dream I would have.

His greatest work was Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. The book came out in 1983 and has been republished numerous times. It was one of the first academic works examining the career of Robinson as well as the integration of baseball overall. Tygiel was able to interview numerous Negro League players and get invaluable first hand information.

...Tygiel also wrote Past Time: Baseball as History, which came out in 2000. That was a collection of essays about baseball history. The best one was about mercurial executive Larry McPhail. Tygiel seemed to expose McPhail’s overt racism for all to see. However, he also recognized McPhail’s positive contributions, such as bringing night baseball to the majors, as well rejuvenating the moribund Dodgers franchise.

New York magazine founder Clay Felker dies at 82

Clay Felker RIP: Former statistician for the New York Giants baseball team, broke the Casey Stengel is a drunk story and, I’m not quite sure on the timing of this...brought total SLOB’s Allen Barra and George Ignatin to the Village Voice.

Clay Schuette Felker was born Oct. 25, 1925, in St. Louis. Journalism was baked into his genetic code, as his father was managing editor of the Sporting News and his mother an editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He graduated from Duke University in 1951. In 1954, he was part of a team that developed Sports Illustrated. 

...His first journalism job out of college was as a sports writer at Life magazine, where he got the scoop on a Brooklyn Dodgers scouting report of the New York Yankees that highlighted Joe DiMaggio’s ailing arm.

“Weird. He was weird and delightful,” said Michael Lewis, the best-selling author who lives in Berkeley and wrote for Mr. Felker’s Manhattan, Inc. magazine. “He had an inchoate enthusiasm that overwhelmed everything. His hunches were unbelievably good.”

Aaron Gleeman: 2008 SABR Convention Recap

Now with muy disturbo pictures!~!

My little SABR clique is no less dorky than the rest of the convention, although we trade in knee-high black socks for flip-flops and swap suitcase-sized notebooks for bottles of beer. The bone-white legs remain, sadly. SABR may not like to hear this, but for me the annual convention is merely a reason for various bloggers, Baseball Think Factory posters, and The Hardball Times writers to get together in one place for a few days.

We hang out, goof on each other, go to a game, drink a whole bunch of alcohol, play some poker, and basically just act like we would if everyone knew each other from high school instead of from the online baseball world. We may not have the rugged sex appeal of Oller and certainly none of us can claim to have an exciting job like sports columnist for a second-string newspaper in central Ohio, but if you like baseball and enjoy shooting the #### with some great guys (and a couple girls), it’s tough to beat.

Baseball Analysts: Dusty Baker Manages, Fails; Observes, Succeeds

Reds Manager Dusty Baker put a bunt on with Votto at the plate.

Votto offered and fouled off a Marte pitch. He offered and missed the next. He fouled off an 0-2 pitch and then struck out on Marte’s fourth pitch to him.

Encarnacion came to the plate and battled through an impressive at-bat, only to strike out on the eighth Marte pitch he saw.

With two outs and Bruce set to come to the plate, Baker sent the reigning #1 Baseball America prospect back to the dugout in favor of...wait for it...Javier Valentin. “It couldn’t possibly be the Javier Valentin with the .222/.275/.286 line,” you say? It was. I watched it live. Valentin grounded out to end the inning.

WaPo: A 1,030 Word Speech from Paul Lo Duca

Before the regular BBTF contingent piles on, I’ll just point out that I think what Lo Duca says here is quite well put and heartfelt.  Selected excerpts:

I just felt, take pride, take pride in the game. You know, I’m in a situation here where I’m on the bench now, and I can’t pout about it. The kid, Flores, has played well. I’m in a situation where, if I go to another team, I go to another team. But I’m still a National [for now]… When you are a losing team or last-place team, a lot of things get magnified; when you don’t hustle balls out, or you don’t do the little things to win ballgames, things get magnified. And, you know, we don’t have the big boppers in our lineup, and we need to do the little things to win. And we need to take pride in that. And, not play for paychecks, but play for pride.

[...]

And I told them, do you think I really want to play outfield or first base? No. But it’s the way I’m going to get at bats, and I almost killed myself yesterday; I was out here at 2 p.m. taking fly balls, and I’m too old for that crap. But you know, that’s what I’ve got to do to get at bats and get in the game and show that I can still play. And I’m going to do that. And that’s the approach we need to take. Don’t take it for granted. I’m 36 years old, and my career is not over. I want to keep playing, and I want to take that approach until they take the jersey off of my back. And that’s what you need to do. This game is not about stats, it’s about going to sleep at night. I don’t care how much money you’ve got in the bank or whatever, I want to sleep at night with a World Series ring. I’ll tell you that right now. And I’m not going to stop until I get it. If I don’t get it, Hey, at least I know I gave an effort and tried. That’s the way I want these guys to look at it. You know, I gave Flo (Flores) a big hug after the game. That’s a professional at bat. He had four tough at bats, he’s gone in a little slump; that’s gonna happen. We’ve all done it. He comes up with a big hit when it counts. He doesn’t keep his head down. I gave him a hug and that’s how you do it.

[...]

But listen, you’re going to lose ballgames, you’re going to win ballgames, but you can’t lose ballgames by—like, even myself, missing cutoff men and doing little things like that. You don’t want to lose ballgames like that. You get out-hit and the guy on the mound shuts you down? So be it, you tip your cap. You’d rather lose ballgames like that than the way we’ve been playing—which has been sloppy.

[...]

I’m not saying I’ve got a lot of wisdom, but you know, I’ve been through a lot of hard times in this game. The last three years of my career have been hell, off and on the field, off the field more than on. But I’ve straightened my life out, I’m happy, I’m gonna get married again. I went through a bad divorce. I went through all of it...We’ve all got skeletons in the closet. But when you come to the ballpark, get here early, get your crap done and get ready to play. Go to that batter’s box knowing that I’m prepared. And that’s what we need to do: prepare ourselves. Baseball players, preparation is everything. And if you’re not prepared, that guy on the mound ain’t gonna make friends with you.

[...]

It’s not fun to be a last-place team. We’ve got the worst record in the National League. And we need to do something about it, and take pride about it. I don’t want to be the last-place team in the league. I don’t care if I’m playing or not. I’m not going to let that happen, and that’s the way I look at it.

Kallman: George Carlin, RIP: “The Object Is to Go Home”

Before the de-evolution, he nailed the salient distinctions between baseball and football with such aplomb that none can possibly transcend it.

George Carlin, who died of heart failure Sunday night, after bringing himself to a hospital complaining of chest pains, was once an effective, genuinely edgy wit and mimic who could murder the fooleries of popular culture without sweat or condescension.

...And, then, one night, he isolated why baseball is superior to football (and any other sport, really), the sole regret having been that he did it before Casey Stengel, who would have understood, could have lived to hear it.

In baseball, the object is to go home, and be safe—”I hope I’ll be safe at home!”

...May the angels forgive Carlin his disbelief in their Master—and, forgive every one of his witless, carping HBO specials—enough to speed him a gentle escort to the Elysian Fields, safe at home, if only on grounds that he earned it by coming the closest of any humourist to throwing “Who’s on First” out at the plate, on one hop.

Plus...King Kaufman on Carlin.

LA Times: Bert Shepard, 87; pilot lost part of leg in WWII, then was signed to MLB team (RR)

In all seriousness, Bert Shepard, along with Elmer Gedeon, Jake Jones, Phil Marchildon, and Jerry Coleman, among many others, are among my heroes…

On his way back from a strafing run about 70 miles northwest of Berlin, Shepard heard radio chatter warning of enemy fire. Flying low, just above a clump of trees, he felt the first shot hit his right foot—“like a sledgehammer,” he said later—and the plane soon crashed into a field.

Shepard woke up in a German hospital, where doctors had amputated his right leg several inches below the knee and treated a serious head wound.

“I pull the sheet back and there’s the leg,” he told The Times in 1995. “I looked up at them and said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’ ”

The State: Spear: John Buzhardt’s memory will never fade

John Buzhardt...RIP.  And one of my first cards.

John Buzhardt and I met at the Mid-Carolina Country Club grill room to talk about his professional baseball career, and seldom has an interview been so entertaining.

That journey into yesteryear comes to mind today with the news of John Buzhardt’s death Sunday at his home in Prosperity.

He pitched 11 years in the major leagues, worked for Carolina Eastman for another 21 and spent the September of his seasons enjoying life and spreading good cheer. A stroke suffered in 2002 kept him off the golf course, but nothing could interfere with his sense of humor.

Buzhardt’s 71-96 record in the major leagues does not attract much attention, but his career ERA of 3.66 tells far more. Many pitchers today would pay a king’s ransom for an ERA like his.

Thanks, I guess, to Baseball Musings.

Sportscaster Charlie Jones, 77, dies of heart attack

He was also a play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies...according to Wiki.

Charlie Jones, the deep-voiced sportscaster whose career as a play-by-play announcer dated to the beginning of the American Football League in 1960, has died. He was 77.

Jones died of a massive heart attack Thursday at his home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, said his wife, Ann.

...Jones started at ABC in 1960, the year the AFL made its debut. He moved to NBC in 1965, remaining with that network until 1997.

Jones announced 28 different sports, while with NBC, from golf to tennis, baseball to figure skating. He called events at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The Biz of Baseball: Brown: Baseball World Mourns the Loss of NBC’s Tim Russert

Tim Russert, the moderator for NBC’s “Meet The Press” has died suddenly of an apparent heart attack today while preparing for his weekly broadcast. Russert was 58.

While the broadcast, and political world passed on their condolences, so has the baseball community as Russert was a fan and supporter of Major League Baseball.

...George Steinbrenner said, “I join millions of others in mourning Tim’s passing. He loved the game of baseball and was a true friend of the Yankees and mine. Tim always batted in the cleanup spot for the media and always hit for the fences. May God bless him and his family.”

...On receiving the news of Russert’s passing, Lucchino said, “On behalf of John Henry, Tom Werner, and the entire Boston Red Sox organization, I express our deep sadness and profound grief at the news of the passing of Tim Russert. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family including his wife, Maureen, and his son, Luke, who always made him so proud.  Tim was a passionate fan of baseball, a great friend of the Red Sox, and a dear and beloved personal friend to many of us. He left us far, far too soon, but he leaves a gigantic legacy of professionalism, journalistic excellence, authenticity and friendship that will inspire us and generations to follow us. Red Sox Nation mourns the loss of Tim Russert more than we can express.”

Heyman: Randolph, coaches could be on the way out in Queens

A Mets official indicated that nothing was expected to be decided today regarding Randolph’s status. But that doesn’t preclude something from happening later this weekend. Front-office sources indicate his hold on the job is shaky, at best.

Should Randolph be fired, bench coach Jerry Manuel will take over, sources told SI.com.
.........
Minaya is also weighing other changes, which could include removing hitting coach Howard Johnson and pitching coach Rick Peterson, sources indicate. Some organization people believe sweeping changes must be tried.

Eliot Asinof, the author of Eight Men Out,” dies at age of 88

“Sports writers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your bar privileges.”

Eliot Asinof, an author who invited readers behind the scenes of the sports world with books including “Eight Men Out,” died Tuesday at the age of 88.

The Ancramdale resident died at a hospital in Hudson of complications from pneumonia, said his son, Martin Asinof.

...Asinof was himself a minor-league ballplayer, briefly playing in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization before joining the Army and serving in World War II. Earlier this year, he completed a memoir about his wartime service, his son said.

“He was writing right up to the end,” Martin Asinof said of his father.

Thanks to Bob T. Lardner.

TSN: Pujols leaves game with calf injury

#### #### ############ ###### ##### #### #### #### #### #### me.

Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols left Tuesday’s game against Cincinnati with an apparent calf injury.

In the seventh inning, Pujols reached out on a pitch and hit a grounder to first. He started to run out of the box, but after taking several steps he fell to the ground clutching his left ankle.

Let us have a moment of silence for the 2008 Cardinals playoff hopes.

Jim McKay dies at age 86

Jim McKay, the venerable and eloquent sportscaster thrust into the role of telling Americans about the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics, has died. He was 86.

McKay died Saturday of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md., said son Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports.

....

McKay also was a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

“The Orioles family mourns the loss of Jim McKay ... Even with all of his international success, he was committed to the city of Baltimore. The Orioles are fortunate to have had him as a valuable member of our ownership group. The entire Orioles organization extends its condolences to his family,” the team said in a statement.

Our thoughts are with the family of one of the finest sportscasters. Period.

Luther “Dummy” Taylor Grave Marker installed (Video)

Dave Anderson, the author of More Than Merkle along with the Kansas City SABR Chapter, the Kansas School for the Deaf, and two local Rotary clubs installed a new marker for Dummy Taylor last week.

Nice Memorial Day/baseball story.

Times: Brewer: Mariners have no leaders, no chemistry, no relief for fans

Jerry Brewer presents a bleak, grim, hopeless vision of the Mariners’ possibilities for this season.

Entering Saturday night’s game, the Mariners had scored 19 runs in their past 10 games. Take away the seven runs they scored in a victory over Texas on Monday, they have 12 runs in those other nine games, all losses. Despite the offensive futility, the players have generally continued to hack away at the plate, refusing to take pitches and work the count, free-swinging themselves to embarrassment.

It leads to games like Friday’s, quick ones in which you feel like the team has no chance to score more than two runs. It leads to statistics such as this one: The Mariners are 0-18 in games in which they fall behind by two runs or more. Get a quick lead on the Mariners, and they’re done.

The problem isn’t just that the Mariners are playing badly right now. It’s that they provide little evidence to suggest they can escape from this pit.

You’d think a team with Felix Hernandez making the minimum, and seven players making more than $8 million this season (and that payroll doesn’t even include Brad Wilkerson, because it’s just the active roster) would have a bit brighter outlook for the near future, and certainly would not “need to acquire a respected veteran who isn’t afraid to speak up.”

Also: Cultural Differences Don’t Hurt Unity of Clubhouse, Team Insists.  Maybe having a catcher who doesn’t speak either English or Spanish very well is more of a handicap than we thought a year ago.

Orioles Magic 2008: Because being over .500 this late in the season is worthy of song

As great of a song as “Orioles Magic” is, I think it is tempting fate WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much to being doing a “Superbowl Shuffle” style number at this time. Still, this further cements Kevin Millar as the baseball equivalent of William Shatner, only without Star Trek.

Kornheiser Among ‘Wash Post’ Buyout Takers

The Seinfeld Curse continues…

Kornheiser, the Post sports columnist who gained national fame on Monday Night Football and other ESPN network programs, announced on his radio show Wednesday afternoon that he was taking a buyout after 29 years with the newspaper.

“It just feels odd,” Kornheiser said on his radio show, according to a transcript posted on the “D.C. Sports Bog” by Post sportswriter Dan Steinberg. “It feels odd and it feels bad. It doesn’t feel sad, there’s no sadness to it, it just feels wrong.”

Kornheiser said “all I ever wanted to be was a newspaper writer.” “In my mind that’s what it says on the headstone, it says ‘newspaper guy,’ “ he added.

Kornheiser hasn’t written a regular column for the paper recently, but provides video for its Web site, with some items excerpted on the second page of the sports section. Kornheiser said on the radio that he might continue to contribute to the Web. He said he signed the buyout papers Tuesday night.

In addition to commenting on Monday Night Football, Kornheiser co-hosts a daily sports talk show “Pardon the Interruption” with fellow Post sportswriter Michael Wilbon.

Thanks to Can’t Stop the Bleeding.

Carmi Times: Keegan Dennis throws 172 pitches in Logan win

Hey, Coach Halstead...F you and the peppenhorst you rode in on!

“That’s obviously the most pitches I’ve ever thrown,” said Dennis. “I’ve hit 120 to 125 before, but it got to the point that my adrenaline was going so much. This is probably the best game I’ve been in intensity-wise, both teams playing well and people hitting.”

Dennis (5-6) scattered 10 hits, including four home runs, allowed nine runs and walked five batters, but the righty struck out 14 during his complete-game effort.

While most pitchers would have been pulled at some point, Logan’s veteran head coach Jerry Halstead had his own philosophy in this situation.

“What happens is you get to a point where you say ‘OK, it’s the second game of the tournament, and you’re not very good today,’” Halstead said. “‘Are we going to quit at 30 pitches so we can bring you back in a couple of days, or are we going to burn you?’ The next thing we know he’s at 70 pitches, so we’re going to burn you now.”

..."It’s about as gutty and competitive while not being close to being his best. As far as competing, that’s about as gutty a performance as I’ve seen in 25 years of coaching,” Halstead said. “He got knocked down two or three times and continued to pick himself up. That’s a true sign of a competitor. He didn’t go duck and hide. He got right back up.”

Isringhausen blows another one

Train of thought going through La Russa’s mind in the middle of the ninth.

“Hmm. One-run lead; who should I go with? Hey! How about the guy with the ERA of 6.60 and 4 blown saves already? That sounds good!”

Longtime O’s groundskeeper Santarone dies at 79

While the Orioles produced some of the best teams in baseball over three decades, beginning in the 1960s, they went unchallenged when it came to their garden.

The tomato plants that grew at old Memorial Stadium, and the competitions between head groundskeeper Pat Santarone and manager Earl Weaver that sprouted along with them, are almost as legendary as any championships that were won. Santarone died unexpectedly Tuesday at his home in Hamilton, Mont. He was 79.

“Pat and I were very close. He was the best man at my wedding,” Weaver said. “And he meant a lot to Memorial Stadium. He was just like a part of that park itself.”

...Players loved to monitor the competition between Santarone and Weaver over the tomatoes they planted down the left-field line. “They argued like brothers,” Dempsey said.

So who had the better crop each year? “Well, he was there when I’d go on the road, and I think there was a little tomfoolery,” Weaver said. “He might have been pinching off some of my buds.”

Thanks to Camden Chat…

The Biz of Baseball: Brown: Remembering Buzzie

Maury Brown and baseball loses a friend…

Buzzie, wherever you are right now, the world is a different place without you. Yes, you were part of the “old-guard”, but you saw so much, and lived more than anyone that I’ve ever met.

...The great thing about Buzzie was he kind of flew in the face of conventional wisdom of what an “old guy” was supposed to be like. For one, he had an email account, and checked it often (Bud Selig reportedly doesn’t have a compter, but here’s 92-year-old Buzzie surfing the web). And so, for the past 3 years I have been in contact with him regularly, asking him to weigh in on a variety of topics for The Biz of Baseball, as well as for Baseball Prospectus.

He answered every question I ever had of him. Well, all but one.

When I asked him to add to a compilation of comments on Barry Bonds, shortly after he was indicted, he declined.

“I prefer waiting before making a comment,” he said. “Barry could be guilty or innocent. Would be glad to make a statement at a later date.”

Sadly, that later date won’t be coming.

Daily News: Roger Clemens linked to John Daly’s ex

Welcome to the Daly News

Several sources told the Daily News Wednesday that Clemens had a relationship with Paulette Dean Daly, a former wife of champion golfer John Daly.

The sources said Clemens, a married father of four, arranged trips to Anaheim Stadium for Daly - the latest woman to emerge as an alleged Rocket flame - to watch him pitch for the Yankees against the Angels. Sources also said he spent time with her in Palm Springs, Cali.

John Marzano Found Dead In South Philadelphia

John Marzano…

Former Major Leaguer and sports broadcaster John Marzano has died at the age of 45.

Marzano, a native of South Philadelphia, was found dead inside his home on Passyunk Avenue.

A family member called police to break down the door shortly before noon, officials said. Marzano apparently fell down the stairs, but it is not known whether he suffered a heart attack or simply fell.

Mets fan dies after falling over railing at Shea

A man attending a New York Mets game with his family lost his balance on an escalator and fell two stories to his death, police said.

Antonio Nararainsami, 36, and several relatives, including his two young daughters, were leaving the stadium at the end of Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Nationals when he fell in a section below the left field stands and landed on a concrete floor. Nararainsami, a Guyanese native who lived in Brooklyn, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead half an hour later.

Borowski put on DL

The Indians placed closer Joe Borowski on the disabled list today with a strained right triceps muscle. Borowski has failed to convert his last two save situations, failing in spectacular fashion both times.

...

Manager Eric Wedge will discuss the closer situation before tonight’s game against Boston, but Rafael Betancourt, who pitched Monday, could get the first chance at the job.

Other injury choices were drill to the kneecap, 2x4 upside the head, and my foot square up his....well, you know.  I am hoping the dueling Raffy’s do well so he never ever comes back.

The Biz of Baseball: Brown: Best Screenplay Oscar Goes To: Four Men and a Jersey

I buried Papi...and other cranberry sources from Maury Brown.

The courtroom proceedings will add to the story. The Pedro-throwing-Zimmer-to-the-ground story ain’t go nothing up on this. If the Red Sox pick up the legal tab for Castignoli it will be priceless. One more chapter in a long line of Yankee/Red Sox stories. Maybe Castignoli should be the next President of Red Sox Nation. He fell in love with the Red Sox in ’75 after idolizing Jim Rice? Ya, gotta be kiddin’ me! Solid gold, baby! At the very least, the guy will never have to spend a cent buying beer at Fenway. He’s a hero to the Red Sox faithful. How long will it be before we have “Gino Castignoli Day at Fenway”?

...Look, baseball needs this stuff. It’s part of its DNA. The more the merrier, I say. You could do this at the new Twins stadium, but really… it lacks the drama. To all you construction workers building new Yankee Stadium, or doing work on the renovation at Fenway Park, here’s a suggestion… when you do something like this, try and be more secretive. You’ll be warm in knowing that you’ve added to baseball’s great colorful history.

Former major league outfielder, Mets front-office exec Tommy Holmes dies

Farewell, Tommy Holmes...at least you’re still not stuck at Newark.

Tommy Holmes, who hit in 37 consecutive games in 1945 to set a modern National League record that stood until it was broken by Pete Rose, died Monday. He was 91.

“Tommy Holmes was one of our sport’s truest gentlemen,” said Jeff Wilpon, chief operating officer of the Mets. “His passion for the game and up-and-coming players, along with his 30-year association with our franchise, was unsurpassed.”

Stone said her father loved baseball and watched games until the end of his life.

“When he played baseball, there would be days he’d leave early and he’d pass children playing and he’d stop to play with them,” she said.

Services Thursday for ex-major league player

Former ML outfielder Roy Foster.

Foster died Friday. He was 62.

Foster was the Sporting News’ selection as the 1970 American League Rookie of the Year. After being acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers three days before the season opener, he batted .268 with 23 homers and 68 RBIs. In his first major league game, Foster homered off Baltimore’s Dave McNally.