Well, those cookie cutter stadiums (and that's what they were not "parks") were a product of their times. The late 60's early 70's. They were built "multi purpose" to house both the baseball and football teams in various cities and they were ugly, cost cutting forgettable designs. Many of them have since seen the wrecking ball as well. They were built during the heyday of the earliest versions of the hard artificial turf which caused many knee problems for players of the era. One that comes immediately to mind is Andre Dawson when he was playing in Montreal's Olympic Stadium.
Yeah, everyone fell in love with the cost convenience aspect. And to be fair, we need to keep from over-romanticizing too much the ballparks many of those 70s stadiums replaced. Connie Mack Stadium was an aging dump located in a dangerous, unsafe neighborhood of north Philadelphia. Forbes Field wasn't bad location wise near the University of Pittsburgh (who took over the land and preserved the outfield wall) but it too was not fan-friendly at this point.
I completely understand that as the times changed, so did the areas that a lot of those old ballparks were in. I'm well aware that they all could not be saved or updated given these considerations. We're living in different times now. Location is an issue, parking is an issue, comfort is an issue, safety is an issue. Has it become more affordable to attend games in these lovely new retro parks though? Not so much.
But I do credit baseball with trying to bring back much of of the old while incorporating the new into the designs. I don't get the Braves needing another new ballpark in Cobb County when the one they were in already (Turner Field) was still a state of the art beautiful facility. That whole situation moving further away from Atlanta has a lot of people scratching their heads. I gather they feel their core fan base is further away from the city. But in the end does it/will it justify the cost? There are teams like the Oakland A's who still have to toil away in an aging old relic like the Alameda Coliseum and the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Yes, the Atlanta situation is baffling. It's a strange comment that the facility built for the 1932 Olympics lasts longer than the one built for 1996!
Tampa Bay and Oakland are disgraceful situations. The Giants have invoked their territory rights to stop the A's from moving to San Jose (even though that is further away!) and the Rays situation is the result of what happens when you build a stadium without a tenant and it doesn't get one for over ten years after its finished! (I remember when the White Sox almost moved there in 1988).
The cost issue I know does weigh heavily with so many of us today. I'll admit not quite so much with me since going to a game has all my life been a once or twice a year experience, but the idea of being able to go to many games a year is certainly more and more a distant memory in this day and age.
While listening to Ed Randall's "Talking Baseball" radio show this morning I just learned about the sad passing of former Detroit Tigers first baseman Dave Bergman at the age of 61.
Bergman spent 9 seasons of his 17 year career in Detroit, and he was a part of the Tigers dominant World Championship team of 1984. RIP.
While listening to Ed Randall's "Talking Baseball" radio show this morning I just learned about the sad passing of former Detroit Tigers first baseman Dave Bergman at the age of 61.
Bergman spent 9 seasons of his 17 year career in Detroit, and he was a part of the Tigers dominant World Championship team of 1984. RIP.
Dave was a longtime post baseball fixture in Detroit. He was on the Board of Sparky Anderson's Catch charity at Sparky's request. The charity is still going strong although with the passing of Bergie it took a personal hit. Dave died from bile duct cancer the same disease that killed the great Ernie Harwell.
He was originally Yankee property. I remember him going in as a late inning replacement in a 19-3 Yankee loss to Toronto I went to in 1977 (my second ever ML game). The Yankees traded him to Houston after the 77 season to complete the deal they'd made earlier in the year to get Cliff Johnson.
One memorable game of his I have on DVD is how a defensive gem of his helped preserve Jack Morris's no-hitter in the 84 Tiger dream season.
Look for The Legend of Dave Bergman for his amazing at bat against the Blue Jays in 1984, his first homer as a Tiger. Alan Trammel calls it the best single at bat he has ever seen. The radio broadcast by Ernie Harwell's partner Paul Carey is better than the TV play by play. He was also the master of the hidden ball trick, there are videos of it all over on the net.
I remember him being a good defensive first baseman. Sparky Anderson would often depend on Bergman for his glove. It's been said a million times, you can have a lot of superstars on a team, but you need players like Bergman who are smart and know their role and can fill a void in a pinch. And do it with the managers full confidence. Team players. Bergman was one of those guys.
Interesting to read that Bergman was first brought up in a pinch for a 1975 Yankees home game at Shea Stadium. The old Yankee Stadium was still being refurbished at the time and the Yankees had to share Shea with the Mets. I remember a lot of Yankee players back then were not at all happy about that. Including Bobby Murcer whose left handed power (so effective with the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium) was stymied while playing at Shea.
Dave Bergman catching the Orioles Alan Wiggins napping off the first base bag with the hidden ball trick.
Just a few more weeks before the full squads around baseball report to spring training.
There's nothing like tuning into an early spring training game being played in Florida when it's 28 degrees and still snowing like a "bastid" in Jersey. I'm all set once again for the Mets to give me agita this season. Only this year with the prospect of good starting pitching I hope it's a little less agita. As a fan hope springs eternal. We still need another big bat in the lineup. Cuddyer was a good signing, he can hit, but I don't think it's enough especially if he goes down for any length of time as has been his history.
All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies would have fit the bill perfectly if he is healthy after hip surgery. But at a risk. Contract and otherwise. Colorado wanted the wife, the kids, the cat, the house, and all of the Mets young pitching prospects in return for his services. "Stone Cold" GM Sandy Alderson I'm sure explored the possibilities, including the ever present Wilpon penny pinching budget constraints and decided to go with Wilmer Flores at shortstop for now. To be fair, the Mets have paid handsomely for damaged superstars in the past hoping things would go their way and all it got them once the last payments were made were some forgettable finishes in the NL east division since 2006.
I like Wilmer, he's been in the Mets farm system forever and is still in his early 20's, and this will be his big chance in the majors. His bat is what will eventually decide his fate. It's what he is most known for in his minor league career. He's not a natural shortstop so if his fielding is erratic and he doesn't hit right away things could get rough.. Both he and Daniel Murphy are going to have to work hard on turning the double play in spring training. On paper without Tulowitzki and his Gold Glove anchoring shortstop it's a shaky middle of the infield defensively at best.
The Washington Nationals are the clear favorites to win the NL East this season if all goes their way. And signing Max Scherzer and adding him to that already potent pitching staff they've got together with a great offense will make them tough to beat wire to wire. But we've said this about Washington a lot in recent years and they have hit the pavement in post season play.
V Mart had his surgery today and could be ready for the start of the season. Still pity opposing pitches facing Kinsler, Cabrera Martinez and Martinez and Cespedes. The Tiger TV broadcast both will be rotating color commentators with the addition of Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris.
I'm pretty upset about former Mets pitcher Bob Ojeda not returning to SNY in the pre and post game analysis role. Ojeda was a huge part of the Mets '86 World Championship pitching rotation winning 18 games that year after coming over from the Boston Red Sox. Bobby was a perfect fit for NY. He did not patronize the viewer as that would never fly, and he always came prepared. His superb analysis and breakdown of the pitching aspect before and after games was much appreciated by me personally and certainly by many other Mets fans. Bobby O did not pull any punches. Ever. He's going to be sorely missed in studio this year.
He told it like it is (As Keith Hernandez very often does in the booth during games) and perhaps that did not always sit so well with upper management. Supposedly, they were far apart on money in the proposed new contract. I don't know who SNY will bring in to replace Ojeda but I hope it won't be Bobby Valentine. Valentine always comes across as a cold fish in his stints on TV, and the few times he did share the pre and post game set with Ojeda last season all he did was state the obvious and suck up all the air in the studio.
You get to know these broadcasters over the course of years calling 162 games a summer. And they either become a huge asset in your enjoyment of the games, a "pal" who is along for the ride of a team they enjoy just like you or they don't connect. We are lucky with the Mets to have Gary Cohen as the lead in the SNY TV booth with Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling providing the color on the broadcasts for all these years.
Ojeda talking things over with 2014 National League Rookie of The Year Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom.
I'm ready to have warm weather and baseball back in 2015 and it won't be long now.
When I saw the pic of Degrom in the Post today all of a sudden I noticed that from that angle it looked like the old Oscar Gamble hairstyle had made a comeback!
Word has come out that the Yankees this year will be retiring the numbers of Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams and that Willie Randolph will be honored with a plaque.
Sadly, whenever these kind of announcements take place what usually seems to follow in some quarters is the absurd argument that the Yankees are somehow "cheapening" their history by giving these honors. Whenever I hear this argument I have to confess I start to roll my eyes because it comes from the kind of Yankee "fan" who thinks Yankee history should be confined to the pre-1973 world in which the only retired numbers were for Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. Now I'm not going to dispute that those four names are the Mount Rushmore of Yankee history but for someone like me, who only knows of that era of Yankee history *as history* it annoys me when I hear this carping about how the Yankee players who made their own set of memories and made their own mark in team history are not entitled to some honors as well. The fact is the "Core Four" should get these kind of honors and Bernie Williams, who didn't make it to 2009 was someone who was part of that same group. The fans who experienced that great run that is now over and done should be allowed to look back on the names who were part of it as legends for their time and their era and not have to hear this whining about how we're stepping on the toes of Babe and Mickey.
I think it's a very special thing for the players and fans when these numbers are retired. The number retirement ceremonies bring back floods of memories for fans. No one who plays for the Yankees are going to wear uniform numbers 46, 20, or 51 ever again. And Paul O'Neill's number 21 has not been worn by any other player since he retired as far as I know. Those guys were a special part of the teams history, and rather than keeping those numbers suspended in limbo for years (as many teams have a tendency to do including my own) it makes sense to display them out there in Monument Park for the fans to see to remember some glorious times.
In Queens, The Mets still only have three retired numbers up on the wall. 37, 14, and 41. Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, and "The Franchise" Tom Seaver. Seaver was our Joe D and Mickey Mantle all rolled up into one. And like those two he indeed transcended the game. If you were a pitcher as a youngster during the time he played you studied everything he did. And you appreciated the work ethic and how he carried himself. Just as the kids of previous generations copied DiMaggio and Mantle's batting stances at the plate.
Seaver's number 41 retirement ceremony at Shea Stadium from 1988. I just recently saw it again for the first time in decades. Tim McCarver and Fran Healy were in the booth for Sportschannel (Remember this Channel?) and Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy were on the field at Shea for the festivities. Both Ralph and Bob sadly are gone now. Gotta love Bob's eye popping mint green sport jacket worn over the white golf slacks with white shoes. Somewhere, Lindsey Nelson was smiling. What an amazing day for Tom and his family. And especially for Mets fans to be able to thank him in their own way.
Once, during the thankfully brief tenure of Letroy Hawkins in pinstripes, he wore #21 but when he was pitching poorly the fans became more self-conscious of not liking the fact he was wearing O'Neill's number so he changed it before the Yankees later got rid of him. He was kind of like when the Mets unconsciously made #24 available for the first time since Willie Mays to the immortal Kelvin Torve! (Though I think Hawkins had wanted #21 because of Clemente).
There are plaques in Monument Park for other Yankees who don't have their numbers retired. Randolph would be joining Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez in that category. Joe McCarthy has a plaque but no number retired because he never wore a number as Yankee manager.
In the end the monuments are the things that set apart the Mount Rushmore group of Yankees from the rest. Only Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Miller Huggins (whose monument came first after he died in 1929) are so honored and I suspect Berra's plaque will be replaced with a monument when he is no longer with us (which will hopefully not be for years to come).
I don't think the Yankees will be retiring Alex Rodriguez' number any time soon. Anyway, here's his handwritten public "apology" to the Yankee fans and management. As I said a while back, Rodriguez went on Francesa's radio show and flat out lied and denied. And then he proceded to torch the organization that pays him millions. Like him or hate him with a passion, A-Rod will suit up for the Yankees in 2015 after serving a one year suspension for PED use. We've been over this situation quite a bit in the past here.
The Yankees are officially stuck with the remainder of A-Rod's contract. Yankee management will probably dispute the bonus clauses for setting records that were part of the original contract. He'll most likely DH now, and play a bit in the field at third base. It will depend on how mobile he is. He's 40 years old and on two bad hips. He's also a former steroid user coming back after a year off at an advanced age for an athlete. He won't have steroids to help pad his numbers this time. If he hits, the fans will cheer. If he starts striking out and stinking up the joint at an alarming rate the boos will cascade down from on high like cherry blossoms in spring. It all boils down to if he can still hit the baseball.
Justin Verlander has packed on 27 pounds of muscle through weight training and states that last season he was just "not right" He has tossed bullpen sessions already and says his curve ball is sharper, he hasn't cranked up the fastball yet that will wait for game conditions. IF JV is back close to his old form the Tiger rotation is still one of the best in the AL Central.
And Miggy is healing nicely and should be ready by opening day or close to it.
I'm all set once again for the Mets to give me agita this season. Only this year with the prospect of good starting pitching I hope it's a little less agita. As a fan hope springs eternal. We still need another big bat in the lineup. Cuddyer was a good signing, he can hit, but I don't think it's enough especially if he goes down for any length of time as has been his history.
Still pity opposing pitches facing Kinsler, Cabrera Martinez and Martinez and Cespedes. The Tiger TV broadcast both will be rotating color commentators with the addition of Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris. 
