Category: sports

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Sports: Baseball, Why We Love It.

Baseball, the American pastime, is still the sport of the people.  Yes, football has supplanted baseball as the most popular sport in America, but for the first time in a long time, it seems to be making some inroads.  Even with the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal, baseball seems to be thriving. Baseball has survived the steroid cheating, the strike of 94, when there was no World Series, the cocaine use of the 80’s, and various other scandals, over it’s long history.  Baseball is still the sport of America, with it’s own language that no other sport transgresses.  When you say Spring Training, DH, OPS+ and Opening Day, everyone knows you are talking baseball. There is even a movement  to make Opening Day a holiday. What is it about this game, that seems to grab the sports fan to love it, like no other sport even with all it’s warts and problems.  It is the American Pastime, which describes it perfectly.

The first thing about baseball, it is by far the hardest sport to play.  I am not saying that baseball has the greatest athletes, or the strongest.  From a skill set, baseball requires more from its players than any other sport.  Except for the DH, players have to play both offense and defense.  What position do think Tom Brady would play on defense, free safety about 50 yards deep.  In baseball, you need to be able to hit, run smartly, catch the ball, throw the ball, and in the National League pitch and hit at the plate.  What other sport is there, where you are 30% successful at something, and you are considered excellent.  Can you imagine if a goal keeper had a 30% save rate, a quarterback a 30% completion rate, and a basketball player a 30% free throw shooter.  Even the 3 point shooting percentage in the NBA, is between 35 and 45%.  In baseball the .300 hitter is considered one of the best hitters in the game.  There were only 19 players in the major leagues last year, that hit .300 or better.  In baseball, you simply have to do it all.  Baseball has the most strategy of any of the other sports.  Even if you do not agree with that, the fact of the matter is, baseball has enough time in the game to execute that strategy.  Do you really think that most “plays”  in hockey and basketball, go according to how they are drawn up.  I think not.  In baseball, decision making is more critical than in any other game. Having no clock, however, is what makes baseball totally unique.  You can not sit on the ball in baseball. There is no need for a 24 second clock. In order to win a baseball game, you have to perform a function, getting the third out.  There are many teams out there, still looking for the third out that never happened.  Yes, I agree today’s game is too slow, for numerous reasons, and because baseball is on the rise, the powers to be don’t really want to do anything about it.  Most of their ideas are bad anyway.  Baseball has never been, and never will be about clocks. Thank God, for the infamous inning.   It is the heart of the game.

The way football is going, with a weekly arrest of their athletes, concussions, and greedy owners, who are just making their sport a television show, with no consideration of the fans, I feel baseball, someday will be back where it belongs, as the number one sport in America.  Baseball will  have to speed up the action, if it is going to maintain this momentum.   The game is the best team game there is, and a beautiful thing to watch. The game is over 150 years old, and it is heading into it’s next renaissance. Opening day is coming soon.

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Sports: Spring Training

Spring Training, everybody knows what that means, without saying anything else. In other sports they all have camps.  If you say summer camp, this could be something your kid is doing, not the start of the NFL season. When you say Spring Training, you know baseball has started, thank God.  This year, Spring Training is taking on a different feel for more than one reason.  You have teams apologizing, managers and general managers just acquiring jobs, and this weird feeling that the season is already over. I will explain that later. Spring Training, just has a nice ring to it.  Spring is coming, wonderful. The players are training, because that is what baseball requires. It is the most difficult game to play, but that will be for a future blog.  The game is swimming in money, and there is just something about baseball, that  makes you feel good.  But let us look at what is making this Spring Training, very unique.

First there is the “apologetic” Houston Astros.  The Astros would have been better off, just letting the media talk to individual players, rather than have Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, make those pathetic statements of apology. Then to top it off, their owner, Jim Crane, said that he did not feel the Astros sign stealing methods, affected the outcomes of games.  If that doesn’t prove that money is not synonymous with brains, then nothing does.  It also supports the theory that one of the biggest factors in being successful, and making a lot of money is luck.  Just think about what he said for one moment.  He said, that knowing what pitch is going to be thrown, is not really that much of an advantage.  REALLY REALLY.  Why not lobby to make what the Astros did, to be within the rules. Why did you fire your manager and your general manager.  I have never seen an organization make things worse for themselves, on a daily basis.  Because of the illegal sign stealing scandal  we had three teams scrambling for managers and a general manager to run their teams.  We will see how this affects the Astros, Red Sox, and Mets.  If the Astros win the division, I will be shocked.  I also look for the Mets and Red Sox to perform below expectations.  The other thing that makes this Spring Training unique, is that you have the feeling, that you could go to sleep, wake up around October 20th, and be certain that the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, will be playing in the World Series.  MLB Network likes to talk about the super teams in baseball, and will name 2 to 3 teams, in each league,  that they feel fall into that category.  This year, the Dodgers and Yankees have separated themselves from the rest of baseball so much, that both of their years could be historic.  The Yankees could break the all time record for wins in a season.  I think 120 wins would not be unrealistic, considering some of the bad teams, that are going to be in the American League, again this year. The Dodgers could do this too, but face stronger competition, in a more balanced National League.  Yes, I know the games have to played on the field, and injuries could affect any team severely, but if nothing unusual happens, I don’t see anything stopping these two teams from dominating the entire season.

Then there is my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates, who enter spring training with a whole new regime of coaches and a team that is basically unchanged. In my view, a team that has done so little during the off season, is harder to evaluate, than a team that has made a lot of moves. I will not do a final analysis, until just before the season starts, but you still have to wonder, what are they doing?  I was not for a complete tear down and rebuild.  I thought this team needed a third baseman, right fielder, and one or two starting pitchers, and they would be able to contend for the division title.  This is not a long list.  They did none of this. In fact, they lost their center fielder and really have not found a replacement, that approaches his value.   The few additions they have made, were  large defensive upgrades, at their positions.  That makes sense.  The Pirates were one of the worst fielding teams in baseball, no matter what defensive metrics are used.  There are moves that still can be made.  Even if the Pirates stay exactly as they are now, I do think that they are going to be better than most projections. The one on USA Today had them losing 102 games.  I still have to take a wait see attitude on the new regime.  So far, they have not done a lot to impress anyone, but the season has not even started.  Like I wrote, spring training has begun, and it still gives me that nice warm and fuzzy feeling, even though it is only 20 degress outside here in the Burgh.

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Sports: Pirates Rebuild, Just One Problem

When the Pirates finally traded Starling  Marte, the media jumped on this, as the sign that the Pirates, were going into rebuild mode.  There were chants of tear it down, and a list of other players to trade, to make this happen.  Ben Cherington on a radio broadcast gave the impression, that this might not be the case.  Many would say that he is not being has forth right as he should be, because this tear down and rebuild mode, is not being looked at too kindly, by major league baseball.  Since Baltimore and Kansas City seemed to have tanked the last two years, there is the feeling that every team should try to compete every year, to be fair to their fan base. This tanking  formula is credited to  the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros, who had some really bad years before they became World Series Champions and recent perennial contenders. Now, tanking is being frowned upon by MLB.  Giving the benefit of the doubt to the rebuild proponents concerning the Pirates, lets say that this is what the Pirates are going to do.  It appears that the target years for the Pirates to contend, would be 2023 and 2024. Before we look at future moves, the Pirates may make to do the rebuild, lets look at the Marte trade.

Starling Marte would be considered one of the best three players on the Pirate team.  You could argue for him being any number, from 1 to 3, but third would be the worst position that you could rank him on the team.   Once he became an Arizona Diamondback, this made the Diamondbacks the number one challenger to the Dodgers for the division title, and an immediate wild card contender, according to many media sites.  In other words this was a significant acquisition for the Diamondbacks.  What did the Pirates get in return?  They got two top 10 prospects that are 19 years old, one pitcher and one shortstop.  They were labeled as high risk, high reward returns.   You do not want to emphasize high risk, but you can not totally ignore it.  On face value, I have no problem with the trade.  Starling Marte is heading into his age 31 season.  He is already showing defense decline.  His abilities to steal bases is not going to improve.  He is not an analytic favorite, because he never has had plate discipline.  His walk percentage has always been low.  Watching Starling Marte play everyday, was at times frustrating, because at times he seemed to have mental lapses out there. Even considering all of this, he is a top 3 player on the Pirates.

So who is left to trade.  The names mentioned are Josh Bell, Adam Frazier, and possibly Joe Musgrove.   Let me add Bryan Reynolds to the list.  What would be the return? Are any of those players going to bring more than Starling Marte.  Josh Bell may bring a little more in the American League, because teams would not have to put up with his way below average defense. These players may bring a little more value at the trade dead line when teams are making a stretch run.  Musgrove’s value may increase at that time if he can improve , as teams are always looking for pitching down the stretch. Even if you want to stretch reality and say that these 4 players could bring back exactly what Marte did, do you really want 8 more high risk, high reward players.  Maybe you get one prospect for them that is closer to being major league ready but teams  do not like parting with prospects, unless the return is solid.  There are teams that are more prospect rich, and if they are in contention at the deadline, may be more receptive to such a deal. You are probably not getting much in return, for the Pirate  players that may be available. The  reason is, that none of them have had that long of a track record.  Bell had a great first half but became mediocre in the second half.  Even Reynolds had a bad September.   Frazier’s first year at second base, was a double surprise, as his fielding improving greatly but his bat seemed to falter.  From a fans perspective, if they stay on the Pirates, there is a good possibility  that they all can improve and build on their success in 2020.  From another teams perspective, they are all players that a wait and see attitude may be the best path before you give  up anything to acquire these player.

Whatever the Pirates do from this point on may be dictated by how they perform in the first 90 games of the season.  Last year, at the All Star break the Pirates were 44-45 and 2.5 games out of first place.  This was a two edged sword.  Two and a half games out of first place was nice but one game under 500 is really not all that great.  Most people feel that the Pirates have no chance of repeating this in 2020 for the first 90 games. We  do not know what, if any, more moves management will make.  If the Pirates could get in that same position that they were last year at the 89 game mark, you have to wonder what they will do.  They certainly will a lot of room to spend on some trade deadline pick ups.  This could be the shortest  rebuild in history.  There is the problem.  Just what do the Pirates have, to rebuild with.   What kind of prospects can they get.  In my view, not much, in order to win in 2023 or 2024.   That could change in a big way if the above players make a big leap forward. Are you listening Joe Musgrove?   I do not know how well the Pirates are going to do, but I do know this could be one of the most interesting seasons in Pirate history.  This would just be fitting, if Pirates became the team that tried to tank, but couldn’t.

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Sports: Super Bowl, Oh So Wrong

This Sunday will be Super Bowl 54, with the San Francisco Forty Niners playing the Kansas City Chiefs. This will be the last time you see the names of the teams, in this blog.  The first Super Bowl was in January 1967, and the powers to be in the NFL, decided to make this a unique game.  Pete Rozelle, the commissioner of the NFL at time, gets a lot of credit for bringing professional football to the top of the rung, in professional sports.  This is one place, where he went off the rails.  Everything the NFL did, and continues to do concerning this game, is just succumbing to the whims of the television networks, who do not have the games best interests at heart.  Lets face it, the Super Bowl is nothing more than the NFL Championship game, just like the World Series, the NBA finals, and the Stanley Cup finals is to those sports.  Maybe football has a bit of an inferiority complex, because it is only one game that decides their championship, rather than a series. During the playoffs, you never hear that old adage, the NFL use to sell, that any team can be beat any other team, on any given Sunday. Where did the NFL go wrong when it started the SUPER BOWL. Let me count the ways.

First, they decided to play the game at a neutral site. The reasoning was they wanted to make weather less of  a factor in such an important game.  This, despite the fact that some of the most iconic games in NFL history, have had weather has part of the equation.  The very next year was the famous Ice Bowl of 1967.  There was also the feeling, that this was too important of a game for one team to have a home field advantage.  The  result of this was giving the fans, who had supported the team for all those years, the shaft.  In this day and age, it takes most fans their life savings to go to the Super Bowl.  This ended the electricity of the home field created by those home field fans.  Just think of all those terrible towels at Three Rivers Stadium, or Hines Field, if the Steelers would have been able to play some of their Super Bowls, at home. Thank God, that the other professional sport leagues did not follow this idiotic  thinking.   The home field is what gives the other sports that special feel for their championship series and games. Pro football will never have this, and they really don’t care, since everybody is getting their pockets lined.

The decision to have two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.  Another decision to increase the hype, but in my view led to games that were not very well played.  Athletes are creatures of habit, and back when the Super Bowl started, there were no bye  weeks and no first rounds byes.   Once the season started the games were played every week with no breaks until boom, 2 weeks off till the Super Bowl.  Even today there is a debate, if a first round bye is a good thing in the playoffs.  I think the two weeks off is less of a factor today, because teams do have bye weeks during the season, and the bye week in the playoffs. There is no need to take the two weeks off, other than to increase the hype of the game, and give people a chance to make travel arrangements.  The game has gotten lost in the shuffle of what the Super Bowl has become, a non football event.

Yes, here is the final coup d’etat. Because of the HALF TIME SHOW, half time at the Super Bowl is about twice as long as the regular season.  Half time during the regular season is about 15 minutes.  The Super Bowl halftime  usually takes about 30 minutes.  To hell with what the players are use to, and the natural flow of the game.  This would be like making the 7 inning stretch in baseball 15 minutes, during the World Series.  You have to wonder,  do players warm enough before the start of the second half.  Then there is the commercials.  Many times  you see on social media, that someone says, I only watch, because of  the commercials. A new use for the DVR  fast forward the game and watch the commercials. This is pro football at its finest.  You have to wonder if the players realize how insignificant their championship game is, or are they just too concussed to know.  The Super Bowl is still one of the most watch events in the world, so nobody really cares, that it is being watched for all the wrong reasons. The NFL has taken a great game and turned it into a carnival.  Last years version was about as dull as it could be, so  is this finally starting to affect the players.  This years Super Bowl, sans the New England Patriots, is one of the most anticipated in a long time.  Everyone is expecting it to be a great game.  Sunday, we will find out if the players are more interested in winning a championship, or watching J Lo perform at halftime like the rest of the world.

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Sports: Thoughts

Lot’s going on in the sports world, and not all of it good or uplifting news, but I will discuss some of the bigger stories, and some things going on in Western Pennsylvania. Most of the problems in sports are, in my view, media driven.  The media, a lot of times, even creates the problem, and does little to come up with a solution.  Every problem has a solution, but sometimes it is never found.  One media driven problem is that baseball will have a strike when the labor agreement ends. It is the example of the media’s obsession with predicting gloom and doom.  The media, whether its the sports or news, thrives on trying to create fear, anger, and stress.  They like to call it keeping everyone informed. Do they ever keep you informed of good things?  The answer is rarely.  But now to the world of sports.

Baseball elected two new members to the Hall of Fame.   Derek Jeter and Larry Walker became the newest members of the Hall.  Both players were deserving, and it is a shame that Walker had to wait until his last year on the ballot to gain entrance. The steroid issue came up, with Bonds and Clemens making very small gains, around 1 to 2%, which does not bode well for their future chances. Many of the same people that are appalled at the Astros sign stealing methods, still voted for Bonds and Clemens.  They acquired their astronomical statistics from cheating.  You hear all kinds of excuses for voting for Bonds and Clemens.  I am not even going dignify these lame reasons by listing them.  Here is a possible solution to the problem.  Take away all the stats they acquired while on PED’s.  Everybody knows when they started to take the drugs.   All you have to do is look at Bond’s and see when his head got as big as a basketball.  This may help Bonds and Clemens get into the Hall of Fame because their stats are that good before they took PED’s.  The record book will look a lot better with Hank Aaron at the top of the career leader board and Roger Maris the season leader in home runs.    Of course the media is still talking about the Astros.  They want the players to apologize and if they do, then everything will be fine. Please move on from this but I know this will not happen.

Then there is the Pittsburgh Pirates.  What are you doing? I don’t mean the what are doing, when you see someone putting peanut butter on a medium rare filet mignon. I mean, the what are you doing with the rest of your life.  Are they going to rebuild or not.   Of course, by the time I get to the end of this sentence Starling Marte could be traded, but lets assume the Pirates are going with what they have in 2020.  What  they have is 6 solid players at 1st, 2ond, SS, LF, CF,and catcher. In fact they have a top 10 first baseman, left fielder, and center fielder, in all of baseball.  The two big holes are 3rd base and right field. There are two things that this management team must be hoping for, or counting on. One, that Gregory Polanco can play 130 to 140 games. I don’t think they even care how well he plays them, just that he plays them.  Two, Ke’Bryan Hayes is ready for the major leagues.   The other big weakness in 2019 was the pitching staff.  Without any additions to the staff, management is hoping for the new coaching staff to really improve the performance of this staff.  It could happen.  As a long time Pirate fan I am very comfortable with the current situation, and I think this team could contend with the above happening.  Even though the moves of this team have been very very modest to say the least, they have upgraded a horrible defense.  We are about 2 months from opening day and a lot could still happen, which could change the outlook, but for now I say things are looking up.

A couple of brief comments to finish up.  I only follow college basketball peripherally, during the regular season, but it does seem that the top 5 in basketball, is losing on a regular basis.  I often think, that there will be an NCAA basketball tournament someday, that will have the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th seed as the final four.  Maybe this will be the year.  Another week, where a couple of NFL players were arrested, which still makes me think that there should be a clock on NFL.com running with the caption, it’s been this long since an NFL player has been arrested.  A week from Sunday is the SUPER BOWL, between Budweiser and Frito Lay.  I think that Budweiser will win the commercial battle by 2.  I have one final question. Does anybody watch all of the Super Bowl pre game shows, from beginning to end, even just on one network.  I hope not, but there probably is. There is something wrong when the event is bigger than the game.  Congratulations NFL for making your championship game, irrelevant.

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Sports: Astros Much Ado About Nothing

The sign stealing scandal of the Houston Astros has the baseball world talking, with   MLB Network almost giving  it 24 hour coverage.  There is outrage everywhere, and talk of vacating the Astros World Series title. According to the media, players have been scarred for life, because of the way the Astros beat them.   Some of the coverage and writing acts like this is something new to baseball, cheating.  You have got to be kidding, me.  Baseball has had the most cheating, and circumventing of the rules than any sport in history, and this goes back to the very beginning of the game.  The team of the 90’s, the Baltimore Orioles were one of most cheating teams in all of baseball.  The Baltimore Orioles were the  team of the 90’s? Yes, they were the best team of the 1890’s.  More on that later, but let me clear up one thing here.  I do not condone what the Astros did in the least.  In fact, I am not sure the penalties were harsh enough.  I suspect that Alex Cora may get a 2 year suspension.  However, this idea that the Astros title should be vacated is absurd.  None of the biggest cheaters have ever had their records removed from baseball.  Go to any statistical site and you will find that Barry Bonds is  the all time home run leader.  In my mind Hank Aaron still is.    People that write about vacating the Astros title, probably vote for Bonds and Clemens to get into the Hall of Fame.  Let’s look at all the cheating that has gone on in baseball over the years, and I will try to keep this brief, but it will be difficult.

There are many areas of the game that players and coaches have figured out, how to cheat. . The steroid era, which saw so many home run records broken, and MLB did nothing about it, until forced, because home runs started to fill the seats, when it was desperately needed.  In fact, 6 of the top 15 home run leaders all time were considered steroid users.  Considering the steroid era lasted around 10 years, that is quite a high number.  Nobody is changing the records books any time soon. Many people feel that steroids saved baseball, because of all the exciting home run races and the records that were broken in a short period of time.  Next we have pitchers, doctoring up the ball, by applying substances to the ball or roughing up the ball with sandpaper and nail files.  The spit ball has a long and interesting history.  It  was made illegal, when it was thought a spit ball  hit a player in the head and killed him around 1920.  What was interesting about making the spitball against the rules, was that pitchers that were highly skilled in throwing the pitch were grandfathered in, and were allowed to throw the pitch until they retired.  See, baseball has always had screwed up thinking.  The advantage of  making the ball slippery whether by spit, or a substance like vaseline, is that it would take spin off the ball so the ball would act a lot like a knuckle ball, but with more speed.  The most famous spit ball pitcher of the modern era was Gaylord Perry  and of course he was rewarded for his cheating by being elected to the Hall of Fame.  Another victory for cheating in baseball.  Then we have doctoring the bat by using pin tar and cork.  The best bat doctoring though has to be by those 1890’s Baltimore Orioles, who would shave down one side of the bat to make bunting easier, which was a major part of the game at that time.  Finally there has been gambling, that has tainted baseball.  Pete Rose and the Chicago White Sox of 1919 and the players involved were banned from baseball for life.  You can do lot’s of things in baseball but don’t bet.

Now, lets turn to that team of the 1890’s the Baltimore Orioles of the National League, the only league at the time. They were, by far, the dominate team of the decade.  This team did not stop at just shaving bats to gain an edge.  This team sneaked balls into the outfield so if a ball got past them they would be able to get to the other ball quicker. They blocked opposing runners in the base paths. They interfered with foul balls near their dugout. They did many other things to break the rules.  The press called their play “aggressive” and chastised teams that played more by the  rules.  The entire National League was a rough and rowdy league.  Fans were finally beginning to tire of the act.  Thus the American League was born, and vowed to clean up the game and play by the rules.   The league was founded in 1901, which was basically a league derived from the Western League.  Their success was rapid to the point, that the first World Series was played in 1903 between the two leagues, with the Boston Americans beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 9 game series.  If it wasn’t for cheating the American League may have never existed.  That brings us back to sign stealing, which has been going on forever.  Now, even Bobby Thompson’s shot heard around the world is “tainted” because the Giants devised something to get the info to Thompson before the pitch.  Really now, after almost 70 years that home run is diminished.  Maybe we should vacate the Giants National League pennant.  Let’s face it cheating has benefited the game more than it has hurt it.  Steroids brought the crowds back into the stadium, it helped start the American League, and it got rid of the dead ball era after the Black Sox scandal. Ten years from now someone will find a new way to circumvent the rules.   Cheating is part of the folklore of baseball and despite the severe penalties for this latest sign stealing scandal, the game will move on and most likely thrive. Let’s hope the media can, but I am not too sure.

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Sports:1965-66 Pittsburgh Pirates the Team Time Forgot

The Pittsburgh Pirates last World Series Championship was 1979, with the Willie Stargell, we are family Buccos, and a thrilling 7th game win over the Baltimore Orioles. The other championship seasons for the Pirates were 1909, 1925, 1960, and 1971.  The group that won the championships in 1909, 1925, and 1971, had some good runs of 3 to 4 years, that included a championship season.  The 1960 and 1979 Pirates had, that one year, of a magical combination of camaraderie, skill, and luck that led to a world championship. Then there was the  run of the Barry Bonds Pirates, that won three straight division titles in 90, 91, and 92, but could never quite make it to the world series. They are still talked and written about today. But a team that is rarely mentioned is the Pirates of 1965 and 66. For 1.9 seasons, they played some of the best baseball, this town has ever seen. From May 21 1965 until Oct 3 1966 the Pirates won 173 games and lost 108. From May 21 in 1965 they finished the season 81 and 48 for a winning percentage of .628.  Translated into a 162 game season that would be 102 wins for the year. In 1965 they were 90 and 72 and in 66 they were 92 and 70.  Unfortunately, there was a team out in Los Angeles that was simply better.

The beginning of the 1965 season marked the end of the first Danny Murtaugh era in Pittsburgh.  He had managed the Pirates to the 1960 World Series victory over the Yankees and the Pirates had mostly good years under his regime which began in mid season of 1957.   The new manager of the Pirates was Harry “The Hat” Walker.  Nicknamed the hat for way he always adjusted his hat between pitches, when he was batting.  There were no helmets in those days, when Walker played.  He was one of the most respected hitting instructors in baseball, and the Pirates developed into one of the best hitting teams in baseball during the next 2 years.  The Pirates still had a good core from the 1960 team which included Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente Bill Virdon and pitchers Vernon Law and Bob Friend.  But this was a team with lots of new faces.  Don Clendenon was at 1st, Gene Alley was the new shortstop, and a young Willie Stargell was the left fielder.  Bob Bailey, the new Pirate bonus baby as they liked to call them in those days, was the third baseman.  Jim Pagliaroni  and veteran Del Crandell anchored the catching.    The pitching staff besides Friend and Law had the fire balling Bob Veale and Don Caldwell to round out a solid rotation and Tommie Sisk was a spot starter. The season did not get off to a great start to say the least.  Bill Mazeroski had a broken foot suffered in spring training, and would not  field his position until mid May.  Roberto Clemente suffered a thigh injury in winter baseball, that would hamper him the first half of the season, and cause him to miss about 10 games in April.  Despite all of this the Pirates jumped out to a 5 and 2 start thanks to some very strong starting pitching, particularly by Bob Veale. But then they went on a skid, that would take them to 9 and 22.  Bill Mazeroski started his first game at second base on game 32, but even that could not get the Bucs going as they lost their next 2 games to drop to a season worse 9 and 24. At this point in the season, Harry Walker was considered more of a pain in the ass with his incessant talking and constant hitting instruction.  He really seemed to bug the great one, Roberto Clemente.  But from that point on this team really jelled.  They won their next 12 games, and became one of the best hitting teams in baseball the rest of the season and into 1966. After the 12 game winning streak, they lost their next 2 games, but then ran off another 7 in a row.  For the rest of the summer they treaded water, and finished at the All Star break 44-43.  They continued to have ups and downs after the break, until about mid August, and then they ran off a nice 12 and 2 streak.  The streak was highlighted by a great double header win over the Dodgers at Forbes Field. They beat Sandy Koufax in 11 innings in the first game 3-2, and Vernon Law out dueled  Don Drysdale 2-1 to win the second game, and move the Pirates to within  2.5 games of first place in the National league.  But alas, that would be as close as they would get. Even though they finished strong, by winning their last 4 games to finish 90-72, it would not be enough and they finished 3rd.  But it was one hell of a run in 1965. Vernon Law got the comeback player of the year, as well.

There was great hope entering the 1966 season with that great finish of 65.  The Pirates now loved the fact that Walker talked so much.  Even Clemente was getting use to hit. The 66 season saw the Pirates contend from the beginning. They got out of the gate quickly and were in first place from April 18th to May 4th.  They stayed near the top the rest of way until they regained first place on July 14th.  They remained in first or second except for one day until September 28. They were only 1.5 games out of first place with 3 games to play but were swept by the Giants and finished 3rd again only 3 games back.  It was the first year that Steve Blass contributed to the season in a big way with a an 11 and 7 record and ERA of 3.87.  This team could hit and they were a grinding team.  Their longest win streak was 6 and longest losing streak was 4.  They were never below .500 for the entire season.  They did everything well.  They seemed like a team that could take it all in 1967.  But again, it was not meant to be.  They acquired Maury Wills in the off season and it seemed that this would be the catalyst to propel the Pirates to the World Series.  The 67 team did not jell, however, and Walker was fired in mid season with Murtaugh taking over, but the results were the same.  It would only be Blass, Stargell, Clemente, and in a minor way Mazeroski, to be around for the run in the early 70’s that would bring the next title to the Pirates.  But, for  that two year period, this Pirate team played some great baseball, and was an exciting group to watch. They just couldn’t get to the big stage.  In my mind, it still does not diminish the way they played the game. I will always remember them and that magical stretch they had from mid May of 1965.

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Sports: Pirates, Management Team in Place, What’s Next.

Well, the Pirates have a manger, a general manager and a President, finally.  They shall remain nameless in this blog to protect their families.  The question now is, what are they going to do.  The consensus is that the Pirates need to tear it down and rebuild.  If you watch MLB Network, there doesn’t seem to be any other way for the Pirates to get back on top. Certainly, for the new management team, this is the safest way to go. If you are rebuilding you are going to get at least a 2 year reprieve on criticism and maybe even a third.  It is the cheapest way to go.  Even though the payroll of the Pirates is one of the smallest in baseball,  it can be pared down even further, by trading Starling Marte, Chris Archer, Gregory Polanco, and Keone Kela.  With the exception of Polanco, they should all bring back some good prospects and they are, by far,  making the most money.  Trading them would more than make up for the money be paid to Huntington and Hurdle over the next two years.  Polanco was called one of the most disappointing players in all of baseball, by Joel Sherman on MLB Now, the show for the thinking fan. Geeze, and I thought I was hard on Polanco. The point is, he probably is not going to get much of a return.  The rebuild proponents, which there are many, point to  the 93 losses the Pirates suffered this past year, as the reason this team needs to start over.   But let’s just wait one gall darn minute here.  At the All Star break this team was 44 and 45, and about 3 games out of first place.  Then they collapsed mightily, on and off the field.  So are you going to base a rebuild on just a 2 month bad stretch.  Granted, they have not come close to making the playoffs since 2015, but at least when they take the field this is not a bad or old team.

According to Baseball Reference, by measuring , Wins Above Replacement, a player value stat (WAR) the Pirates have 5 solid Major Leaguers in Josh Bell, Adam Frazier, Kevin Newman, Bryon Reynolds and Starling Marte.  WAR is a production number, so the more you play the more your WAR can go up. Jacob Stallings with only 71 games played and 210 plate appearances had a WAR of 1.4 with 2 being a Major League starter.  With more starts Stallings should be able to hit that 2 number easily. That would give the Pirates 6 position players considered Major League starters. Compare that with the rest of the NL Central at the moment.  The Cincinnati Reds have just one, the Milwaukee Brewers 3, the St. Louis Cardinals 5 and the Chicago Cubs 7.  I know that gives Stallings the benefit of the doubt on a small sample size but who cares.  The Pirates starting 8 is pretty good and the oldest member of the group is Marte at age 30.  The Pirates have 2 glaring weaknesses third base and right field.  How they will deal with that I have know idea and again I do not care.  I know the pitching is a mess but there is lot’s of pitching out there on the free agent market.  The management team has not really given us a clue on what they will do, but it will become evident, as this offseason moves along what’s going to happen.

Derek Shelton, the new Pirate manager, (sorry Derek I mentioned your name) said that this will be a fun clubhouse.  He may be the first manager to win Manager of Year and lose 95 to 100 games, if he can keep that promise.  I can hear Bob Walk saying after the 95th loss, ” This is the happiest I have ever seen the Pirate clubhouse since I have started broadcasting. They weren’t this happy when they first made the playoffs in 2013″.  Bringing happy and losing together, would be quite an accomplishment for the new Pirate manager. In case you haven’t figured it out, I am against the rebuild solution to the Pirate situation.  Have a 140 million dollar payroll,  make a few good trades, and this team can contend. What ever happened to that saying, the nucleus is there.  How big does a nucleus have to be for it to be significant.  The Pirates have 6 in the field and despite the pitching being such a disaster they have about 4 or 5 solid arms. In my view that’s enough to add on, not tear down and start over again.

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Sports: Devaluing Conference Champions

This week is Championship Week in college football.  There are the 5 power conference championship games, this weekend, that will have little or no significance on the College Football Playoff rankings.  This week more than any other shows the fallacy of the playoff system in college football.  The best thing you can say about it is, it’s better than nothing and better than picking just two teams.   You will hear on Sunday night such terms as meeting the eye test, most deserving and total body of work, on the self serving ESPN network.  This is a perfect example of a sport, and a sports network  thinking that their fan base is just plain stupid.  There is no other sport that picks their champion by such obscure phrases.  All other championships are decided on the field, not by some closed door committee. Granted, there are some at large bids for the NCAA tournaments, but the majority of the teams are in the tournament by winning their conference championship games, and there are 64 teams in the tournament.  Let’s look at what will probably happen this weekend, but also, what could  happen this weekend, which will have little bearing on the final four.

The biggest game of the five is LSU vs. Georgia, for the SEC Championship. This game will dictate what the weekend will be like.   LSU is about a touchdown favorite to win the game and a victory would eliminate Georgia from the top 4, unless a lot of other things happen. This puts Georgia under more pressure to win the game.   If Georgia pulls off the upset, then LSU would most likely stay in the top 4, and compete for the National Championship. For Georgia, it is a win or most likely go home scenario, which doesn’t seem quite fair.  The same thing can be said of the Ohio St. vs Wisconsin game.  If Wisconsin  pulls off the big upset, that probably won’t get them in the top 4, but it is unlikely to knock  Ohio St. out of the top four.  Wisconsin, would probably have to win by 14 or more points, to put Ohio St. out.   If  OSU, LSU, and Clemson, all win, and Clemson is almost a 30 point favorite to beat Virginia,  then it all boils down to the two winners of the Big 12, and Pac 12 Championship games. Then the committee would have to choose one and those phrases will be rolling off everybody’s tongue, come Sunday night. No matter what happens, one conference champion will not get in the playoffs, and if one or more upsets occur, as many as 3 conference champions will not have a crack at the National Championship.  Talk about making conference championships insignificant, the NCAA does it again. Of course, there is an easy solution to the unfairness of the whole mess.

The winners of the five conference championship games make the playoffs.  These are the five power conferences, and if you win your championship game you should move on. This is what sports are all about. What happens when Notre Dame has a great year. Just join the ACC Notre Dame, they need you really bad, and with this system, now you need them.  The end of the season games are more significant, and a conference championship game should be a playoff game. So how would the playoffs go from that point on.  The two lowest ranked teams that won would play the next week, and the winner would occupy the fourth spot. The schedule would then proceed as it is now.  Let’s look at those three disgusting phrases that are now used to pick the 4 teams. This team meets the eye test.  In other words, they look like the best team when you watch them play, and in many stats categories.   How many teams in other sports look great to the observer, but still lose the big game.  Try, too many to count.   The most deserving team, due to a tougher schedule, some  heartbreaking losses or who knows what.  Some times you don’t always get what you deserve.  Welcome to the real world.  The total body of work.  Three teams,  Ohio State, LSU, and Clemson, are going into these Championship games undefeated and untied.  Many people are of the belief, if these teams lose, they are one loss teams that DESERVE to go on, because of their total body of work.  Should they have made the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots twice, because the Patriots were 18-0 going into that Super Bowl. That was a nice body of work, until the Super Bowl.  How can any team have a chance at a National Championship in football, and lose their conference championship game. The committee and ESPN will try and convince you, if that happens.  There is only one way to determine a champion and that is on the field.  Playoff football is different.  When is college football ever going to realize this.

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Sports: John Henry Johnson

John Henry Johnson was one of the best running backs in NFL history, playing from 1954 to 1966. When he retired, he was the fourth leading rusher of all time.  However, it took 21 years to get him elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  So what made me think of John Henry Johnson this particular week, a running back who played over 50 years ago.  For some reason, his career has always been over looked by the media, and the football hierarchy. This past 2 weeks, it has happened again, and to me, it just seems mystifying.   The NFL, celebrating 100 years, is starting to announce all time teams, and John Henry Johnson was nowhere to be found.  When the Browns and Steelers met 2 weeks ago there were local articles about some of the more memorable Steeler-Brown games. Of course, they left out the most memorable Brown-Steeler game.

It was October 10, 1964, on a Saturday night, at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium before 80,000 fans.  This was the second of  8 games, where Pittsburgh went up to Cleveland on Saturday night, beginning in 1963, and ending in 1970.  This was the only game the Steelers would win on Saturday, in Cleveland, but that was not the reason this game was the most memorable of the series.  The 1964 Browns would go 10-3-1, and win the Eastern Division title and then go on to beat the Baltimore Colts 27-0, after a scoreless first half, to win their last NFL title. But on this rather pleasant Saturday night in Cleveland, the Pittsburgh Steelers would reign supreme.   This was the John Henry Johnson game.  He would carry the ball 30 times, gain 200 yards, score 3 touchdowns and lead the Steelers to the upset win 23 to 7.  There were many things that were significant, in this performance.  He is still the oldest player in NFL history to rush for 200 yards in a game, being about 5 weeks shy of his 35th birthday.  He went on to gain over a 1000 yards for the 14 game season and is still the oldest running back in NFL history to rush for 1000 yards.  This against one of the best Cleveland Browns team in their long and illustrious history.  This is by far, the most memorable Pittsburgh-Cleveland game.

Now, one season, and one game, where you out shine the great Jim Brown, does not make you one of the top 12 running backs of all time.  John Henry Johnson, however, had a long and illustrious career. He had a better career than either Steve Van Buren or Marion Motley who are on the top 12 running back list.  He played in more games, rushed for more yards and had more receiving yards than both players. He was between Van Buren and Motley on career touchdowns.   He won an NFL Championship with the Detroit Lions in 1957, and to this day is the only black player to win an NFL Championship in Detroit.  But, he was known just as much, for his outstanding blocking.  Maybe too well known, and described better, as vicious blocking.  He reportedly broke many a jaw and face and some of these in exhibition games.  He ended Charlie Trippi’s career with a hit that broke his nose and fractured his skull, in an exhibition game.  Was it this style of play, that made people want to forget John Henry?  When someone ask Jim Brown, arguably the greatest running back of all time, who is the best running back he had ever seen, without hesitation, he said John Henry Johnson.  Johnson started his career in San Francisco, where he was part of the million dollar back field, of Y. A. Tittle, Joe Perry, and Hugh McElhenny. He did more blocking during those years or his stats would have been even better.  This is the only backfield that has all members in the Hall.   It was always a bit of mystery why he was not elected to the Hall of Fame sooner.  People that truly know the game,  knew that he was one of the top 12 running backs of all time, maybe even in the top 6. When Cleveland comes to Pittsburgh this Sunday to face the Steelers in round 2, and we know how the first game ended, I will be thinking of John Henry Johnson, one of the all time greats.  The thing I will be thinking is, I wonder whose jaw he would break to retaliate. He probably wouldn’t be fined or suspended either.  John Henry Johnson died in 2011. At his Hall of Fame induction speech, in 1987,  he said he thought he would be dead first, before he got into the Hall.  Thank God, he was wrong.   I don’t think it was a coincidence that he was in the same class as another Steeler, Mean Joe Greene.