Home Run Derby!

[VicVegas 70]

Now that "you-know-what" is finally over, time for a sport that isn't all about guys in shorts bitching about getting kicked.

 

Boston's David Ortiz wins the Home Run Derby, the prelude to the MLB All-Star Game. This is such a fun event to watch. Great hitters launching balls into the seats.

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5375279

 

The actual All-Star game is coming up later today.

 

So, we're halfway through the baseball season. Who do you like? Both of my teams (Cubs and Royals) currently suck, but hey anything can happen in the second half.

[bigdelta 46]

Now that "you-know-what" is finally over, time for a sport that isn't all about guys in shorts bitching about getting kicked.

 

Boston's David Ortiz wins the Home Run Derby, the prelude to the MLB All-Star Game. This is such a fun event to watch. Great hitters launching balls into the seats.

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5375279

 

The actual All-Star game is coming up later today.

 

So, we're halfway through the baseball season. Who do you like? Both of my teams (Cubs and Royals) currently suck, but hey anything can happen in the second half.

If only he could hit like that when it counts-during the season.

On a sad note,the best owner in baseball passed away this morning,George Steinbrenner.

Yankees & Dodgers in series.

[Gonzo 419]

If only he could hit like that when it counts-during the season.

On a sad note,the best owner in baseball passed away this morning,George Steinbrenner.

Yankees & Dodgers in series.

I am truly sorry about the passing away of Georg Steinbrenner, an American of German descent.

[joekicker 53]

On a sad note,the best owner in baseball passed away this morning,George Steinbrenner.

 

Smart businessman to the end, dying in the only year without a death tax.

 

.

[joekicker 53]

Yankees & Dodgers in series.

 

I like Texas, but hard to vote against the Yankees. The Dodgers are really going to have to pick it up to have a chance. The Rockies are better right now, say. But I don't think they can beat anything in the East and I think it'll be Yankees and Atlanta.

 

.

Edited July 13, 2010 by joekicker

[JohnnyK 28]

Lots of people didn't like The Boss but he was a good owner.

He understod the Yankee tradition of excellence and didn't mind spending to put the best players on the field for his fans instead of just taking their money or bankrupting the club like those assholes have done with ManU.

He was a character, not a bean-counter in a suit.

[spike 236]

sorry Vic...can't go along with you on the home run derby...as I find it a bore.

 

former major leaguer F.P. Santangelo...who is now a sportscaster for KNBR, the SF Giants flagship radio station...said on the air yesterday that all the bats used in HRD are corked and they use different baseballs for HRD... that are wound more tightly with the hopes of epic longshots.

 

once upon a time..."Home Run Derby" was a cool TV show......

 

 

but the new version...IMHO...is a snooze.

[joekicker 53]

He understod the Yankee tradition of excellence and didn't mind spending to put the best players on the field for his fans instead of just taking their money or bankrupting the club like those assholes have done with ManU.

 

Er, well, he was the prime axxhole who organised the "superclub" Yankees/ManU deal. Tried to take a bunch of money from the rubes who came to Yankee Stadium wanting to buy Man You kit. Excuse me, The Stadium.

 

.

Edited July 13, 2010 by joekicker

[bigdelta 46]

Lots of people didn't like The Boss but he was a good owner.

He understod the Yankee tradition of excellence and didn't mind spending to put the best players on the field for his fans instead of just taking their money or bankrupting the club like those assholes have done with ManU.

He was a character, not a bean-counter in a suit.

After seeing nonstop coverage on ESPN today,I didn't know he was a football coach and that football was his first love,even as the owner.

Funny story-he was attending the OSU-Mich game and couldn't get a nice room,so be built a hotel and reserved the penthouse so he wouldn't have that problem again.Several anecdotes on TV today-also much charity work in Tampa area w/o folks knowing where it came from.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Lots of people didn't like The Boss but he was a good owner.

He understod the Yankee tradition of excellence and didn't mind spending to put the best players on the field for his fans instead of just taking their money or bankrupting the club like those assholes have done with ManU.

He was a character, not a bean-counter in a suit.

Understood Yankee tradition? By lying to Yogi Berra and fucking him over as a manager? How about Joe Torre? George was win at all costs - the man did not know the meaning of the word loyalty. The Yankee greats were win by talent. George could afford to buy all the players he wanted because he is in the richest sports market in the world and was filthy rich to start with.

 

I will give him credit for putting the Yankees back on the map after the miserable 70s but he was a lousy human being.

 

Bob Sheppard, the long time stadium announcer at Yankee Stadium just passed away at 99. He had more to do with Yankee Tradition than GS did, imho.

Edited July 14, 2010 by midlifecrisis

[VicVegas 70]

sorry Vic...can't go along with you on the home run derby...as I find it a bore.

 

former major leaguer F.P. Santangelo...who is now a sportscaster for KNBR, the SF Giants flagship radio station...said on the air yesterday that all the bats used in HRD are corked and they use different baseballs for HRD... that are wound more tightly with the hopes of epic longshots.

 

Wouldn't surprise me. Clemens and Sosa let me down - so why wouldn't they cheat in the HRD? Until the evidence comes out I just pretend they're all good guys and try to enjoy the game.

 

As for Steinbrenner, I won't shed a tear for him. He symbolizes most of what's bad about baseball. Yeah, he is capitalism personified, and that's the American way and blah blah blah, but I still never liked the guy. I'd like to see a list of all the free agents he threw money at who were flops.

 

I will give him credit for putting the Yankees back on the map after the miserable 70s but he was a lousy human being.

 

I think you got your decades mixed up. The Yankees won a couple of championships in the 70's, with Steinbrenner as owner. It was in the 80's, when they had Mattingly, that they sucked. Torre revived them in the 90's

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Actually they won their last AL pennant in 1964 and their next in 1976. So, technically mid 60s to mid 70s - when GS took over.

[brotherbuzz 3,206]

Smart businessman to the end, dying in the only year without a death tax.

 

.

Small world as me and a friend were discussing the tax yesterday. Radio said he paid 7 million for the team which is now worth a billion. Love him or hate him he was good for Baseball, IMO.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Small world as me and a friend were discussing the tax yesterday. Radio said he paid 7 million for the team which is now worth a billion. Love him or hate him he was good for Baseball, IMO.

There I disagree. Free Agency. The Yankees (and a few other big market teams) have driven the price of players sky high.

 

Ticket prices have risen dramatically, small market teams find it difficult to compete. The Yankees are among the elite because they have big bucks.

 

Before free agency the Yankees fell on hard times starting in 1965. Then they got players like Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter from the poor Oakland Athletics. They got Chris Chambliss from poor Cleveland, Don Baylor, Alex Rodriguez, on and on and on. The Yankees are a better franchise but I differ that baseball is better or that those of us that could afford to go to many games a year now can only go to one or two a year, if that. The poor have been priced out of the ballpark.

 

In recent years they have developed a good nucleus from their own minor league system (which they lacked when GS took over). Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano come to mind.

Edited July 14, 2010 by midlifecrisis

[VicVegas 70]

Nice to see the NL break their 14 year drought and finally win an All-Star game. Also nice to see one of my Cubbies (Marlon Byrd) make a big play to help them.

 

I agree with you MLC, the game has changed for the worse since the 70's, and certainly now it favors teams in big markets with big money. Still, there are a few facts that challenge the "big market vs small market" theory:

 

- Plenty of big market teams with big money that aren't consistently successful. Look at my Cubs, for example.

 

- Also a few small market teams have done well. The Marlins have two championships in the last 13 years, though they sold off all their high-priced talent after the first championship. The Tampa Bay Rays have been competitive with the Yankees and Red Sox in recent years. Then there's the Twins, a franchise that was almost eliminated a few years ago. They have been very competitive over the past 20 years.

 

- Despite rising ticket prices, baseball remains one of the most affordable professional sports - no where near as expensive as the NFL, NBA or NHL.

[joekicker 53]

There I disagree. Free Agency. The Yankees (and a few other big market teams) have driven the price of players sky high.

 

Have to disagree all round. The PLAYERS have driven the price of players sky high. Generally speaking, good on them. They are getting paid competitive wages finally. Finally, there's a generation of ball players who won't have to sit on the steps of 7-Eleven and drink beer, or chase balloons to eat after they're 40 years old. Not only that, they're actually helping to fund the LAST generation of cheated players so THEY won't have to live like dumb-axx Pattaya bums either.

 

So far as "a few clubs" and "big markets" ... well. The Yankees do win once in a while. So do the Marlins. So do the Red Sox and no, Boston is NOT a "big market" in any conceivable manner. They have built a product and found "buyers" (fans) and they market it well, but they are no New York, the perennial champion (NOT) L.A. or should I mention the fantastically successful big market of Washington D.C? And don't tell me about New England - Seattle has got it huge, St Louis has got half the United States still, almost.

 

Fact is that when salaries went up, owners had to admit to their shame that Billy Bean was right. Money Ball is real. It works. It puts the Rockies and the Phillies and Tampa Bay in the Series. It puts the Braves back on top.

 

I've changed jobs a bunch of times in my life and ONLY because it was good for me to do it. Why shouldn't ball players? Sure, I loved the guy who stuck with the club for 20 years, the hundreds of Todd Heltons, but times change. I loved 30-game winners and 145-pitch lefties and 12-innning, 1-0 games. I loved a winner-take-all season with no playoffs, just the Series. Times change.

 

,

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

yes I will surrender to you and Vic, Joe!