Because You Miss Baseball

 

It's the MLB offseason and YOU miss baseball!

 

The Dodgers shocked (but didn't shock) you by signing Zack Greinke, you followed the RA Dickey saga until he got deported and you have stayed up nights hoping Michael Bourn will roam the (insert your team's stadium here) outfield in 2013 and beyond.

If you are a Pirates fan, you grimace at the thought of Joel Hanrahan being shipped off for questionable return. If you are a Phillies fan, you (for some reason) see Michael Young as a top of the order savior. If you are an Angels fan, God bless you and God bless Mike Trout.

Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal, Jon Morosi, Danny Knobler and the rest of the breaking news guys feed your need to have every single rumor spewed on your timeline. Whether it is a potential signing, trade or roster move, these writers want to report everything that tickles their ears; AND YOU LOVE IT! At this point, you know SOURCE better than you know yourself.

You hear rumors that don't come to fruition. You hear reports from 100 different people once a transaction is completed. You hear things that ruin the element of surprise. But you don't unfollow these guys because you miss the game too much. It's mid December and there are still five major holidays between you and Spring Training.

The game you love isn't happening every night. Your (insert your beloved NHL team's name here) is locked out, you can't find yourself to watch the NBA under any circumstance and there are just too many days between Sundays. You long for more fulfilling times, when turning on the TV at 7:05 meant something other than missing the first five minutes of a Seinfeld rerun.

Once March comes around, you'll welcome the annual return of America's Pastime. But until then, you NEED the scoop on every single roster move, because you sure as hell aren't getting scoops from your local ice cream place (run by jerks) that closed in October.

You hear things and get worked up, but you can't live and die on every single rumor. Thoughts like "Is (insert your team's General Manager here) gonna sign any free agents?" and "Will (insert your team's beloved player here) gonna get traded today?" get you on pins and needles all day and night.

You should absolutely appreciate the offseason news, because it's a way to stay connected to your team during the four dark months. But, in all seriousness, cool your jets. Unless your NFL team is the Jets. Which sucks. In that case, you probably like the Mets. Which also sucks. Quite honestly, your time might better be served ringing the bell for the Salvation Army or something. Get to that.

Keith Hernandez to Shave the 'Stache

Mothers and grandmothers beware.  Keith Hernandez is shaving his iconic mustache. 

I know, it just doesn’t sound right.  I’m sure my grandma is tortured by the thought of her favorite baseball player of all time shaving his famous upper lip sweater.  Hernandez, who is now in the broadcast booth for the Mets, also played for the Met’s for 7 years in the 80’s. 

Who knew that a long-retired Major League Baseball player and broadcaster for bottom-of-the-barrel team could create such a buzz by buzzing his ‘stache?  Why would a fine sports business blog such as us be covering such a momentous occasion?  Because it has been spun into a sports business phenomenon, of course!

Most men can simply walk into the bathroom and up to the sink with simply a razor and some shaving cream.  Keith Hernandez is not most men.  Ever since Hernandez mentioned shaving the graying ‘stache, the buzz of the media and the razor has grown louder and louder.  Now on Thursday September 27 prior to the Mets-Pirates game at Citi Field, a local barber will do the honors. 

As the whisker clipping of the century rolled on and created more media buzz, Schick caught wind and wanted in.  Schick decided to provide a Schick Hydro razor to do the honors and they will also donate $5000 to a foundation that Hernandez started for Alzheimer’s. 

Of course such a big day in New York Mets history could not be missed (this has to be top 5 right?), so SNY decided that they will air the shaving of the mustache during their pregame show, during the game, and possibly online.

This opportunity is a unique one because it’s not every day that high profile guys are coming out and shaving their iconic facial hair.  The Mets, Schick, and SNY are milking this opportunity for all it’s worth and doing a great job with it.

All information was obtained from an article on The New York Times Baseball Blog: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/keith-hernandez-to-shave-mustache-at-mets-final-home-game/.

Once Upon a Box Score

Welcome to the Route 30 Detour! US Route 30 intersects at I-95 in Philadelphia and goes from coast to coast, including passing through Pittsburgh and the home of Drexel University SMT student and blog contributor, Bryan Fyalkowski (@fyalkowski)...




Sometimes I miss the simplicity of sports before the emergence of the internet, most notably the newspaper. There are many reasons why newspapers are dying, and the traditional box score is dying with them.

Do not get me wrong, watching an in-depth online box score update every thirty seconds has its benefits, but the classic look of a newspaper box score has always been very appealing to me. In fact, I learned how to do basic math by adding up the stats in the MLB box scores.

There is something so innocent about knowing only the basics of a box score, while being able to piece the stats together to use your imagination to create your own specifics of the game. There is no play-by-play, just a grid of stats and list of happenings.

AB, R, H, RBI, BB, K and AVG for hitters. IP, H, R, ER, BB, K, NP and ERA for pitchers. The stats our forefathers created and nothing more. A list of the extra-base hits, not separated by team. Letters next to players in association with notes at the bottom to signify when they pinch-hit and who they pinch-hit for. It is utter brilliance in simplicity.

The Philadelphia Inquirer sports section from July 8, 2012.

On the other hand, a typical ESPN box score is a perfect example of getting all the information you could possibly want out of a two-dimensional game story. In addition to the stats in the newspaper box score, this has added intricate numbers such as OBP, SLG, NP (for hitters), GB/FB (for pitchers) and a play-by-play of the scoring.

It really is the age of basics vs. the age of the all-knowing. To be honest I have not been reading newspapers at all since I came to college because of some of the reasons expressed in the first link of this post. Newspapers cost money, the internet is on my computer and iPhone and I want the immediacy of information.

But from time to time, I think back to the time when I walked down my front steps every morning to grab the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and peel it open to the sports section. It was a simpler time but a restricting time, which has since evolved. Sadly, because it had no other choice.

Enjoy your trip back to I-95 and I'll see you next week!

Miami Marlins - A Continued Disgrace

Last year, the Florida Marlins languished into one of the forgotten clubs of Major League Baseball.  They finished with a 72-90 record; a mere 30 games behind the NL East winning Philadelphia Phillies.  The fans weren’t necessarily behind their team either as seen by the average attendance that was barely an arm and a leg above 19,000 (19,007 to be exact).  Barely reaching 19,000 fans per game put the Marlins in the solid position of 29th out of 30 major league ball clubs.  Something had to be done.

The Marlins brass had a plan.  Getting out of the dump that was Sun Life Stadium was step number one for the organization.  That was covered with the new $500 million+ Marlins Park that was opened on opening day of the 2012 season.  It was new. It was bold.  It was located in Little Havana, the perfect location to reach that strong Latino following.  They changed their name from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins. 

To go along with the change of name, the team needed a change of color.  The team decided on a bold new color scheme of red-orange, yellow, blue, black, and white.  It was new.  It was hip.  It was the new thing to wear.  Merchandise sales rose.

Of course, the team needed a fiery new manager that would burn just as hot as that red-orange highlighted “M” on the Marlins’ cap.  Ozzie Guillen was the logical choice after burning a rift so deep that the White Sox could not wait to move him along.  To make the choice in manager even better, Guillen relates well with the Latino community due to his Venezuelan heritage (let us ignore Ozzie’s Fidel Castro gaffe.  We can chalk that up to “Ozzie being Ozzie”.).

Last but certainly not least, the bold new Marlins made the bold offseason moves that were seemingly needed to make the team a contender.  They went down to the wire in talks with free agent superstars Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson.  The Marlins went bigger than ever before in the franchise’s history by signing Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell.  The team jumped its payroll from just above $57 million in 2011 to a club record $118 million in 2012. 

The Miami Marlins seemed to have rebranded themselves as a winner in a state of the art ballpark.  The hype machine was certainly churning as the 2012 season approached.  This team was bold and brash and brazen just as the planned wanted them to be.  Things were finally looking up.  Well, things were looking up on paper at least. 

As the trade deadline looms, a mere four days away, the Marlins seem to be in the midst of another of their infamous fire-sales due to being 13.5 games back of the division leading Washington Nationals (as of Wednesday 7/25).  In the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, the Marlins traded Hanley Ramirez, the face of their franchise (or at least he was supposed to be), to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a very underwhelming package of minor leaguers.  The key point of the deal, you may ask?  The Dodgers agreed to pick up all of the rest of Ramirez’s contract (in typical Marlins fashion). 

The worst part is that Hanley Ramirez may not be the only player traded.  Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante were traded to the Detroit Tigers earlier in the week.  Right handed power pitcher Josh Johnson is rumored to be getting shopped around by the team.  It is most likely safe to assume that a contract like Jose Reyes’s isn’t safe come 4pm July 31st either. 

So what is actually wrong with the Marlins being sellers at the deadline?  Major league teams do it each and every year, so what really is different?  The Marlins organization tried to build a brand; a brand of a winning ball club.  However, the Marlins’ suits seem to have forgotten that plans for rebranding a professional baseball team and building a championship team don’t happen overnight.  They certainly do not happen in the course of one season either.  These things take time.  Half of one Major League Baseball season isn’t exactly enough time. 

It seems that the Marlins are panicking.  Attendance at the new Marlins Park is the lowest among first year stadiums in the past three decades.  The team is selling off franchise caliber players.  In the process of their deadline dealings, the Marlins are alienating their fan base.  By the way, this is a fan base that has cost the team well over a billion dollars when stadium, merchandise design, and player contracts are considered.  Then to go sell out on those fans that the team worked so hard to earn just because the team isn’t in the playoff hunt?  Have some patience!  This is the reason that players are signed to long term contracts anyway.  Instead of creating more holes by trading away able-bodied and able-minded major league players for prospects, shouldn’t the current holes on the team be filled?  The first year of not only a new stadium but an entire organization wide rebranding effort as well is paramount to sustained success.  The organization must commit to the plan, not give up on it half way through year one. 

People will argue and point to the team’s World Series championships in 1997 and 2003.  Yea, those are great, but we are about 10 years past that.  Frankly, this team is poorly run and it comes from team owner Jeffrey Loria at the top.  His typical style has been to be bold for a little while and then to fizzle out for a longer while.  This time, the Marlins gave up too quickly.  The team will be lucky to retain any significant amount of fans after this season.  The Marlins may have a different home, a different look, and different players on the field, but this team is just what they have always been: a disgrace to Major League Baseball.