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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Throw your repulsive cap in the air!.....Celizic just graduated from the Michael Kay Iftheyain’tyankeesfuckem Institute!
It’s doubtful that any team has ever arrived at the World Series with less cachet and name recognition than the Rockies. Most of the team’s players couldn’t be more anonymous if they were in a witness protection program.
...Who are these guys?
Brad Hawpe? Is that a right fielder or a typo? Tulowitzki — that’s a tropical disease, right? Josh Fogg? Is he any relation to Phileas? Then there’s Yorvit Torrealba. I know Torrealba — that’s a resort in the Yucatan, or maybe Majorca, right? But Yorvit? Sounds like one of those designer Scandinavian vodkas that comes in a frosted bottle and costs $12 a shot. Even their manager, Clint Hurdle, is named after a piece of track equipment.
Repoz
Posted: October 16, 2007 at 04:07 PM | 61 comment(s)
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I read this in Dane Cook's voice in my head.
which is exactly why he isn't as famous as Joe Torre or Terry Francona.
Dick Pole sounds like a pole vaulter using the western roll technique.
Best Regards
John
The NFL does not have this problem.
Sure you are...
I think at this point, Celizic knows that his audience is old fogeys like himself that a) doesn't give a hoot about baseball teams created post-division era and b) would actually laugh at his crappy jokes. I will say that I had an amusing image of Josh Fogg having his own Passepartout - maybe like Pedro's Nelson de la Rosa?
I saw Jason Sudeikis doing a Cook "actober" parody on SNL; I had never actually seen or heard Cook himself, but Sudeikis' take was mildly funny anyway.
Then, I saw one of the "actober" things with the real Cook last night, and I was amazed by how little Sudiekis exaggerated Cook's obnoxiousness in the ads. Cook's standup act may be great, I have no idea--but those ads are pathetic.
It isn't because it starts this way, the media, this as an example, makes sure it ends up this way.
It's not great. His jokes have no punchlines.
AM I ASKING TOO MUCH?
BTW, I saw a Celizic book in the library yesterday. It was about 16 years old and he had the hat back then.
Then, I saw one of the "actober" things with the real Cook last night, and I was amazed by how little Sudiekis exaggerated Cook's obnoxiousness in the ads. Cook's standup act may be great, I have no idea--but those ads are pathetic.
I hadn't seen it. Clip here. It doesn't come close to matching Cook's obnoxiousness.
I'm trying to think of some other WS teams that might not've benn well known. '65 Twins? '66 O's?
MLB is more or less dictated to by the networks, which is why we've gotten to the point where ESPN during the year is Yankees, Red Sox, Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox.
In the NFL (aka The King) it's the opposite: they tell the networks how things are going to work, which is why the Denvers, Kansas Citys, and Buffalos of the league actually get shown on national television once in a while.
'61 Reds?
There's probably a player named Ramirez haha!
To be honest, the Kansas Citys and Buffalos actually get shown on national television once in a while these days because they get shoe-horned into national games involving Dallas or the Patriots. (To my knowledge, both of those teams have played six games, and both have had six games broadcast either in prime time or at the featured national CBS or FOX match-up.)
But I do see your point: I don't think ESPN does a second Monday night game of AZ/SF unless the NFL wants it that way.
I just read Pennant Race. Not as good as The Long Season, but a good read. The '61 Reds were sort of like the '91 Twins or '91 Braves and a little like the Rockies: not a super young team, but a team that came together suddenly and had a few guys people knew. I think FRobinson and Brosnan himself, based on his first book, were the most famous guys on the 1961 Reds.
What is amazing about the Rockies is not that they won, but how they won. What is the closest historical parallel to a team being on the fringes of the race and going on a run like this that extended into post-season? The '14 Braves? The '69 Mets?
Sudeikis was actually a toned-down version of Cook - that's the sad thing. Cook's a ripe target for parody and the actober ads are terrible, but I thought the Cook bits were kind of a lost opportunity. I did like "Brandon Webb. Pyoo! Spider-Man reference." though.
I think I said this before, but Dane Cook is the "Poochie" of the stand up comic world.
Cook is popular with the college crowd, I believe. Bringing him in is a pretty blatant attempt to bring in younger fans.
Ironic that he would come up in a Celizic thread.
The 1990 Reds seemed kinda anonymous to me, maybe I'm wrong. And I was a big fan of that team
Lynch became famous during the year--"Lynch in a pinch."
I actually prefer Pennant Race to The Long Season, but I'm sure that's because I'm a Reds' fan, and its great to have one of their pennant-winning seasons described that way. Vada Pinson was an All-Star in both 1959 and 1960, so he was pretty well-known by 1961. The four Reds All-Stars in 1961 were Robinson, Joey Jay, Eddie Kasko(!), and Bob Purkey. With the exception of Robinson, not exactly household names in 1961.
There's a great essay in Bill James' original Historical Baseball Abstract (I'm not sure it's in the new one) that looks at the building of the team in detail. It's one of my favorite pieces by James.
Nope, he was the best known Soviet born ballplayer. How do we know?
In America, if you play baseball--you shoot beaver.
In Soviet Union, if you play baseball--beaver shoots you!
Best Regards
John
kidding kidding, I hope they win.
kidding kidding, I hope they win.
Part of me is hoping that the Red Sox win, because that should get a lot of dumb Red Sox Nation money flowing into Vegas to create a good opportunity.
I am a Reds fan, too, but two things I like about The Long Season are that Brosnan covers spring training/off season, whereas Pennant Race starts on Opening Day, and I think the fact that Brosnan is struggling a bit, hates Solly Hemus, and gets traded, makes for a more interesting narrative POV than Brosnan as minor on-field star/known author.
.
As you note, Brosnan himself fails to make the team, and in the book leading up to the game, he thinks he has a good shot. he is very upset about it in the book. He handles it with his usual wit, but you can tell he wanted it pretty bad.
Brosnan is 77 or 78 now. He was honored, along with Bill James, at the recent "Hall of The Immortals" induction but apparently missed the ceremony due to being in a fall. I keep hoping that Brosnan will write something or be interviewed one day, and it will get linked. I have thought about trying to email him myself if I could get contact info (although he makes disparaging references to fan mail in both books).
Not really. The 1914 Braves were well into the race by mid-August, and the Mets were within 2 1/2 games on Labor Day.
-- MWE
Right, that is why I said "closest." Has there really ever been anything like the 2007 Rockies?
I thought of the 1964 Cardinals. That may be the closesst, with the Mets (kind of) playing the role of the 1964 Phillies.
The team payroll is around $54 million — one of the bottom five in the game, and if you take away Helton’s $16 million, the other 24 guys are making a combined $38 million, which isn’t enough to pay the left side of the Yankee’s infield.
That’s another reason we don’t know much about them — their salaries. We live in a society that equates income with importance — what other explanation is there for the national obsession with Donald Trump and Britney Spears?
[...]
None of that should diminish what they’ve accomplished or lessen the luster of the terrific crop of kids the team’s management has assembled. In an ideal world, which is one in which people are celebrated for the accomplishments and not their bank accounts, their presence in the playoffs would swell the national television audience instead of shrinking it.
Go ahead and ignore them if you can’t be bothered to get to know who they are. Then sneer at the ratings they bring to the World Series, if that’s how you get your jollies.
I think Gibson was a household name. If Hershiser hadn't been one before the season (doubtful), he certainly was by the time the playoffs started. Everyone knew Lasorda. Steve Sax was well-known, so was Guerrero. Alfredo Griffin had been around for a while. Jesus, Fernando Valenzuela! I doubt any Dodger team could really be anonymous, but this one definitely does not qualify.
Yeah, their whole rotation is pretty anonymous. In fact, I don't even know who was in their rotation at the end of the season besides Brett Tomko. Chad Billingsley?
Russell Martin is pretty famous, though. There was a Sports Illustrated feature article about him. Or at least he will be after one more All-Star appearance.
Petty as it is, I was sort of rooting for the Dbacks just so not every game WS would be played in 40* weather.
Yeah, after I posted I realized that they kind of are. But I still say that the '88 edition was certainly not.
The 1978 Yankees spent most of the season behind the Red Sox, pulling ahead September 13 and never looking back thereafter, going 14-6 in their last 20; they beat the Dodgers in six, including a comeback after losing the first two at Dodger Stadium.
The 1976 Reds swept their first seven games in the postseason, the only team to do so IIRC.
Imagine snow delays occurring in early November World Series games played between either of Cleveland/Boston and Colorado.
Omar Minaya can hardly wait for him to become a free agent!
Tomko was in the Padres' rotation by the end of the year.
The Dodgers rotation was
Brad Penny - who had won 2 world series games for the Marlins a few years back.
Derek Lowe - who had won the clinching game for all three series the year the Red Sox won the World Series.
Chad Billingsley - unknown for those who don't pay attention to top prospects.
David Wells - threw a perfect game for the Yankees a few years back
Various dreck alternating in the fifth spot.
Not unknown, at least. The '88 Dodgers were known mainly for Sax (and his throwing disease), Gibson, and Hershiser (who became known for the consecutive shutout innings record that season). I don't know if any of them coming into the season was as well known as Helton before this season.
And I thought Tomko was with the Padres most of the season and then switched to the Dodgers, but Wells was vice versa. This was exactly wrong as well.
Shouldn't that read:
Brad Penny - who dated Alyssa Milano.
'35 and '38 Cubs?
The former was in third place, 2.5 out on Sep 4, and didn't lose again until after they clinched.
The latter was in third, 7 games out on Sep 4, and went 21-5 the rest of the way to win by 2.
Couldn't that describe half the pitchers in MLB?
I kid. At least she has the taste to be a Dodger fan.
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