“There is no bigger baseball fan in the world than me.” =
"I love it so much, I'm going to take it away from dozens of counties and municipalities that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on facilities that either the parent club or the owners should have paid for. And then, thanks to the pandemic, I'm going to buy out those minor-league teams for pennies on the dollar. Because I love baseball and have absolutely no long-term vision whatsoever."
All commissioners across the major sports leagues are just extensions of the owners, he’s no exception. To me, the owners saw what the NFL has in Goodell and wanted that in a commissioner. For the most part Goodell is seen as the NFL villain, MLB owners seem to have found their “Roger” in Manfred.
I think the problem is that his quote wasn’t transcribed properly, and “baseball” should have been “Baseball” (with a capital B). As in “There is no bigger fan of Major League Baseball than me.”
He loves the business and the brand of The MLB way more than anybody else, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Since most sane people don’t think of it that way...
I'm convinced of two baseball-related things over the next decade.
1. All developmental teams will be centralized at sites, either at existing ST locations or facilities in home cities.
2. There will be a window for someone to jump in and put together a Continental League-type organization of cities without MLB franchises (Columbus, Nashville, Charlotte, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland, etc.), most of which will have relatively-high-level minor-league facilities available for some in-person fans and can focus on getting TV and Internet money as the basis of revenue.
Craig, great reading your newsletter today... "Craig Calcaterra unplugged." Thanks. I imagine the MLB Network will not be calling you anytime soon to have you come on and talk about Manfred. Be safe, Lou
Wouldn't "Craig Calcaterra Unplugged" be more Craig typing out CoC on a non-electric typewriter, occasionally stopping to pick up his Martin D-28 acoustic and play us a James tune or two? I'd say this more more "unleashed' than "unplugged" ;)
This is silly, but looking at the lead photo of Manfred in an ill fitting suit, it strikes me that if I made 11 million a year, I would get my suits tailored.
To be fair: that pic is from 2014, when he was still just baseball's COO, not its commissioner. I don't have an AP/Getty license for the newsletter so I had to use a publicly-available pic with open user rights and that's the newest one I could find on Wikimedia Commons. Lol
“ To see a guy who once bought a chain of appliance stores for the purpose of liquidating their inventory, firing their workers, writing off losses to offset tax liabilities, and then flipping the land on which the stores were built to a company building mixed-use developments hoist that World Series trophy mere days before he tells his GM to let the team’s star right fielder walk in free agency in order to get under the luxury tax threshold.”
Yeah, this is the best sentence about the reality of pro sports that I've read in years. I'll be assigning some of these posts as readings for my Sports and American Values class next semester.
Oh damn, that would amazing! Actually, one of the notable things about this class is that it is officially called Baseball and American Values, but after teaching it many times and learning how little GenZ cares about baseball, I am broadening it to more sports. I always had to use football and basketball analogies to make them understand what I was talking about. And I want to make this change of focus part of the course: what is the cultural, political, and historical meaning of their indifference to baseball? This tells an important story on its own. Do you want to Guest-Shout about that? ;-)
Since you did the deep dive on Manfred, I’ll just say this. I can;t hint of a worse commissioner in professional sports in my lifetime. I mean Gary Bettman has the thankless job of leading the NHL, but could you imagine him ever referring to Lord Stanleys trophy as “piece of metal”? Or being proud to hand it to an owner? Not the players who proudly take turns with it for one day after they have won it? His disconnect from the actual game is pretty startling.
Bettman is a bureaucrat, and has rightfully taken a rinkload of crap over the years for some of the decisions he and the league have made. But he's arguably embraced the role of "CEO-actually-not-commissioner" more successfully than anyone else over that period. He knows he's the heel, and he's willing to wear all those boos for the actual ongoing success of the league.
Goodell and Silver still try to cosplay as "commissioner" whenever possible, and in the former case you can tell that even as he tries to play the Bettman heel role Goodell hates the reactions he gets. And Manfred of course is *gestures at everything*.
I am currently dog sitting at my exes house. Where I used to live for 14 years. It’s pretty drama free situation all around. But I tried to sleep in the room we used to share, and man was that uncomfortable. I guess I dozed off after a while. But eventually gave3 up any real rest, and took the dog out earlier than he normally goes, and managed to miss the massive thunderstorm that rolled through.
My point is, your story of hanging in the daughters room was very similar to my experience. She thoughtfully changed the sheets for me. Of course all 8 useless pillows were on the bed. But, while not necessarily dark, it was a very uncomfortable experience. I’ll just crash on the couch tonight. Oh, and one of the cats hissed at me when I tried to pet it. So that was a little dark.....
Oh, and the universe just lining up Jackie Robinson day with the current unrest in the United States, and sports in general, but baseball specifically, is pretty sweet. Hope it’s not lost on Brian Urlacher. Tool.
I feel it should be added that the Red Sox dithered for hours on making an announcement about whether they were playing yesterday. Even after the lone African-American on the team — Jackie Bradley — announced he wasn’t playing no matter what. And that, by the time they finally decided to have their teammate’s back, Mother Nature had sort of forced their hand.
My favorite part of the BVW mess is when BVW says his story is for "the three of us" and it "doesn't leave this room." A room with TV camera and mics. If only someone else in MLB had very recently been caught on a hot mike saying something awful...
I wouldn't be surprised if a small part of him WANTED it recorded and released. I mean, he's still an agent by training, and that clip, whatever it says about the dysfunction among the Mets and the MLB, does show him defending his players and taking their desires seriously.
It may just be me, but I'm finding that I appreciate your work today more than I ever have over the past 10 years. Great job on the first week of content!
I love both the sentiment on Rob Manfred and the sentiment on the energy from your daughter's room. This is why I bought the deluxe subscription, for these and the Anna insults. Thanks Craig.
The baseball content was as great as always, Craig. But, honestly, saying you understand how much you don't understand about your teenage daughter (and respect it) may be your finest moment.❤
If MLB makes it through the season and completes the World Series, I think Manfred should should hand "the piece of metal to a lucky owner" and declare him the series MVP. That would encapsulate his attitude about baseball perfectly.
Came for the baseball, stayed for the parenting stuff. (And axe murders.) Thanks for sharing.
The last paragraph is golden.
“There is no bigger baseball fan in the world than me.” =
"I love it so much, I'm going to take it away from dozens of counties and municipalities that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on facilities that either the parent club or the owners should have paid for. And then, thanks to the pandemic, I'm going to buy out those minor-league teams for pennies on the dollar. Because I love baseball and have absolutely no long-term vision whatsoever."
All commissioners across the major sports leagues are just extensions of the owners, he’s no exception. To me, the owners saw what the NFL has in Goodell and wanted that in a commissioner. For the most part Goodell is seen as the NFL villain, MLB owners seem to have found their “Roger” in Manfred.
I think the problem is that his quote wasn’t transcribed properly, and “baseball” should have been “Baseball” (with a capital B). As in “There is no bigger fan of Major League Baseball than me.”
He loves the business and the brand of The MLB way more than anybody else, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Since most sane people don’t think of it that way...
I'm convinced of two baseball-related things over the next decade.
1. All developmental teams will be centralized at sites, either at existing ST locations or facilities in home cities.
2. There will be a window for someone to jump in and put together a Continental League-type organization of cities without MLB franchises (Columbus, Nashville, Charlotte, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland, etc.), most of which will have relatively-high-level minor-league facilities available for some in-person fans and can focus on getting TV and Internet money as the basis of revenue.
Craig, great reading your newsletter today... "Craig Calcaterra unplugged." Thanks. I imagine the MLB Network will not be calling you anytime soon to have you come on and talk about Manfred. Be safe, Lou
Wouldn't "Craig Calcaterra Unplugged" be more Craig typing out CoC on a non-electric typewriter, occasionally stopping to pick up his Martin D-28 acoustic and play us a James tune or two? I'd say this more more "unleashed' than "unplugged" ;)
Goodbye, Mr. Manfred.
This is silly, but looking at the lead photo of Manfred in an ill fitting suit, it strikes me that if I made 11 million a year, I would get my suits tailored.
To be fair: that pic is from 2014, when he was still just baseball's COO, not its commissioner. I don't have an AP/Getty license for the newsletter so I had to use a publicly-available pic with open user rights and that's the newest one I could find on Wikimedia Commons. Lol
You don't?
Exactly WHERE is our money going then, Craig?
(For the record, "bourbon" is an acceptable answer.)
“ To see a guy who once bought a chain of appliance stores for the purpose of liquidating their inventory, firing their workers, writing off losses to offset tax liabilities, and then flipping the land on which the stores were built to a company building mixed-use developments hoist that World Series trophy mere days before he tells his GM to let the team’s star right fielder walk in free agency in order to get under the luxury tax threshold.”
Rendon plays third, not right field, actually.
But Harper did. ::crying face emoji::
No ring for Bruce.
But he did promise in Spring Training 2019 that he looked forward to bringing a title to DC so we're all grateful ;)
Yeah, this is the best sentence about the reality of pro sports that I've read in years. I'll be assigning some of these posts as readings for my Sports and American Values class next semester.
If you need a guest shouter, er, speaker, hit me up! :-)
Oh damn, that would amazing! Actually, one of the notable things about this class is that it is officially called Baseball and American Values, but after teaching it many times and learning how little GenZ cares about baseball, I am broadening it to more sports. I always had to use football and basketball analogies to make them understand what I was talking about. And I want to make this change of focus part of the course: what is the cultural, political, and historical meaning of their indifference to baseball? This tells an important story on its own. Do you want to Guest-Shout about that? ;-)
As a father of two Gen-Z kids who don't give a damn about baseball, it's something I know well. Heh.
Since you did the deep dive on Manfred, I’ll just say this. I can;t hint of a worse commissioner in professional sports in my lifetime. I mean Gary Bettman has the thankless job of leading the NHL, but could you imagine him ever referring to Lord Stanleys trophy as “piece of metal”? Or being proud to hand it to an owner? Not the players who proudly take turns with it for one day after they have won it? His disconnect from the actual game is pretty startling.
Bettman is a bureaucrat, and has rightfully taken a rinkload of crap over the years for some of the decisions he and the league have made. But he's arguably embraced the role of "CEO-actually-not-commissioner" more successfully than anyone else over that period. He knows he's the heel, and he's willing to wear all those boos for the actual ongoing success of the league.
Goodell and Silver still try to cosplay as "commissioner" whenever possible, and in the former case you can tell that even as he tries to play the Bettman heel role Goodell hates the reactions he gets. And Manfred of course is *gestures at everything*.
I am currently dog sitting at my exes house. Where I used to live for 14 years. It’s pretty drama free situation all around. But I tried to sleep in the room we used to share, and man was that uncomfortable. I guess I dozed off after a while. But eventually gave3 up any real rest, and took the dog out earlier than he normally goes, and managed to miss the massive thunderstorm that rolled through.
My point is, your story of hanging in the daughters room was very similar to my experience. She thoughtfully changed the sheets for me. Of course all 8 useless pillows were on the bed. But, while not necessarily dark, it was a very uncomfortable experience. I’ll just crash on the couch tonight. Oh, and one of the cats hissed at me when I tried to pet it. So that was a little dark.....
Oh, and the universe just lining up Jackie Robinson day with the current unrest in the United States, and sports in general, but baseball specifically, is pretty sweet. Hope it’s not lost on Brian Urlacher. Tool.
Unfortunately, it is lost on him.
I feel it should be added that the Red Sox dithered for hours on making an announcement about whether they were playing yesterday. Even after the lone African-American on the team — Jackie Bradley — announced he wasn’t playing no matter what. And that, by the time they finally decided to have their teammate’s back, Mother Nature had sort of forced their hand.
https://twitter.com/peteabe/status/1299073956104806413?s=21
My favorite part of the BVW mess is when BVW says his story is for "the three of us" and it "doesn't leave this room." A room with TV camera and mics. If only someone else in MLB had very recently been caught on a hot mike saying something awful...
I wouldn't be surprised if a small part of him WANTED it recorded and released. I mean, he's still an agent by training, and that clip, whatever it says about the dysfunction among the Mets and the MLB, does show him defending his players and taking their desires seriously.
It may just be me, but I'm finding that I appreciate your work today more than I ever have over the past 10 years. Great job on the first week of content!
Not just you! I like Unbeholdened Craig!
I love both the sentiment on Rob Manfred and the sentiment on the energy from your daughter's room. This is why I bought the deluxe subscription, for these and the Anna insults. Thanks Craig.
The baseball content was as great as always, Craig. But, honestly, saying you understand how much you don't understand about your teenage daughter (and respect it) may be your finest moment.❤
Aww, thanks. Any parent who claims they do are deluding themselves.
If MLB makes it through the season and completes the World Series, I think Manfred should should hand "the piece of metal to a lucky owner" and declare him the series MVP. That would encapsulate his attitude about baseball perfectly.