My favorite boradcasters that are of the scully branch, tell stories about the players. Human interest things interwoven in throughout the broadcast. That's how I know marquis grisom was named after the car his dad was a factory worker bukding, and that Uggla means owl.
I enjoy insight like what craig pointed out "that's the left fielder's ball" I enjoy, I'd go slider in the zone here"
I am a sabr adjacent guy and I like spins rate exit velocity and sprint speed, but I know when the broadcasters don't know what anything means ("that was 101 off the bat!!!) and it doesn't add to the commentary. It's a sometimes food that needs Context to be meaningful.
Tell stories between pitches, don't tell me "Joe Rando is an excellent 2 strike hitter, he lets the ball get deep and loves to drive it" you don't know that's true and you say it about everyone.
Ugh, completely agree. Why do I have to know he is broadcasting from his freakin' water-adjacent home in the basement with no view of the water...when he has 4-freakin' levels of water views. WHY? Overprivileged much? I muted the game at that point, wish I had earlier than that. Not to mention that the rest of his commentary during games just hurts my ears.
The only reason I would have to root for the Yankees: there is no way in hell that di Blasio or Cuomo would let there be any public celebration at all for a Yankees World Series win. (I think, in fact, that by the time the Series is over, NYC will be under more of a lockdown anyway.) If the Rays win, we see the same dangerous bullcrap again.
And my god, those games yesterday were a slog. If baseball wants casual fans back, it cannot have every last playoff game be longer than The Irishman.
Thank you for that section on Arod. He has been absolutely driving me crazy too for all the reasons you mentioned. I looked it up, the guy bunted 33 times in his entire career and 17 of those were bunting for a hit. Honestly, why would a guy with his skills ever bunt anyway? The willful ignorance of the research that has been done on the game by Arod and so many other announcers (Joe Simpson and the whole Braves crew are definitely good examples) is infuriating.
A thing that bothers me about discussions of announcers is when someone says "I love him" or "he's awful" and there are no specific reasons why. Craig, and all of us who have listened to even 1 inning of A-Rod (or Morgan!) have plenty of specifics and we get more with each game. The other night he said Bieber should throw more fastballs. When Torres (two fastballs later) took Bieber deep A-Rod said, "well, you don't double up the fastball, that gives the hitter a chance to time it" (Torres fouled off the 1st one). THAT comment by A-Rod would have been great had he uttered it *prior* to the HR. He stinks!!
(FWIW I'm a Yankees fan who thought he got the short end in NY given that he carried us to the '09 crown and that Jeter is as much a phony as A-Rod is)
- maybe the Joe Morgans and A-Rods of the analyst world are worried about their playing time being diminished. It seems Morgan started to get like he was when power hitting middle infielders started taking off. A-Rod is probably a mix of that and maybe wanting to impress MLB leadership.
- Henry Cavill’s fame came from his role as Superman before the Witcher, but as Sherlock, I’d have major reservations about that.
- umm, never mind the risen commode in the bathroom, it’s the carpet in there that gets me. Is that a thing in Ohio?
This Trump having Covid story, once you get past the momentary glib "That'll teach him to discount it as the flu", is really bad news. The best case scenario is he gets mild symptoms, but that will just reinforce his and his supporter's contention that it's all overblown and isn't that serious. The bad case is he gets sick and, like Boris Johnson, has his approval ratings increase from sympathy thus helping his reelection chances. The worst case scenario of course would be him dying from it, but that's a pretty remote chance. Particularly with the top medical care that he'll get.
Boris Johnson did, and his early Covid response was questionable too. I could see it among the undecided. (Though I can't understand how some people can still be undecided at this point)
This is making the very big assumption that he does indeed have it. The medical reports from his camp have historically been.....let’s just say FLAT OUT LIES.
There are any number of reasons to think that this is just yet another dumb political ploy, to simultaneously show how strong & manly he is by defeating this horrible disease while also showing how COVID is really no big deal since he got through it with no problems.
If he really had it, I’m convinced he would have either come out swinging and blamed Typhoid Joe for infecting him during the debate, or completely ignored it and gone on business as usual.
Weirdly it posted twice, I tried to delete one and it deleted both. I'll repost -
Trump does have it. So do several staffers including at least one they are publicly saying is negative but who actually tested positive two hours *before* Hicks' positive test. I know a congressional staffer who was present when all this went down in the white house.
I don't wish Trump dead. I want him to have a nasty case that does not end until the election is over and he's lost. Then I want him to fully recover in time to be carted off to jail. Then his debts can come due.
Actually, the worst case is that he has to be pulled from the ticket. What happens then? People have already cast ballots.... The ONLY thing that is absolutely certain is that Biden does NOT become President by default.
I'm curious about why you think "the worst case scenario of course would be him dying from it." Personally, I would not mind that one bit, but I can understand other people might not be as vicious and mean-hearted as I am. I truly, seriously, and honestly hope that he dies from it, and I think it would be most wonderful if it happened after he learned he had been defeated in a landslide. But if you'd care to elaborate on why you think that would be a bad thing, go ahead.
Well, first of all one never wishes anyone to die in polite society. (Or at least you don't admit it) But more importantly, that would make him a martyr, which is the last thing I want. Have him go down as someone you speak in reverent tones about because he died in office? The Republicans would never let it go and they'd want him on Mt. Rushmore and the $20 bill. Similar, though in a lesser degree, to how JFK is treated. Due to the way he died his tenure is imagined as some idyllic period immune from criticism where had he served out hos term he likely would be regarded as just another president.
And on if you will the hope that he survives to face possible prosecution after he leaves office. Though that's probably a forlorn hope because he'd pardon himself before he left office, and even if he didn't Biden probably would just to avoid furthering the country's partisan divide.
I don't think Donald Trump and polite society have ever been introduced, and I definitely don't feel a need to be polite about terrible, horrible, no good, very bad people. I fervently and openly wish, hope, desire and yearn for the death of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, and a whole bunch of other loathsome creatures who desecrate the government of the United States of America. With open heart and clear voice I pray and beseech the powers that be to destroy these people in all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly ways.
I do not regret being hateful, only that my hate cannot by itself cause their demise. But that will not keep me from trying.
I don't think he can pardon himself for crimes he has not been charged with, but if he does survive, I fervently and openly wish, hope, desire and yearn for him to be prosecuted and incarcerated. Still, that would not be as satisfying as having him dead, expired, ceased-to-be. Oh, the glorious thought of him rotting in the ground and being eaten by worms gives me joy.
They should have him lie in state so people can stand in line to spit on him, and charge a fee to piss on his grave, the proceeds from which we can feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate the uneducated, wipe out the national debt, and build a monument that shows him burning in an eternal flame.
Hatred is terribly underrated and misunderstood. Hatred is good, hatred is cathartic, hatred is empowering. I hate that man to death, and I hope his comes soon.
It would be fun to watch him be convicted for various crimes, but he wouldn't go to pound-me-in-the-ass prison and kill himself with a bedsheet, he'd go to Club Fed and have catered meals and a masseuse recommended by Robert Kraft.
Besides, who wants to go through months or years of court bullshit? I want him gone, never to be seen again. I figured when he loses the election and eventually has to leave the White House, he'd get his own TV show (probably his own network) and still be a pain in the ass all the time, but if he dies, that solves everything!
It's hard comparing players of different eras, but yeah. Eddie Collins was right behind Horsnby (127) with a 123 career WAR. Nap Lajoie 107, Morgan 100. Hard to think of a player who did everything well better than Morgan though. But I see bref doesn't love Morgan's defense based on defensive WAR.
Yes always difficult comparing eras, and many people are biased towards more recent players. The deciding factor, for me, is that Morgan was the best 2B in baseball for four or five seasons (give or take a Carew); while Hornsby was the best 2B in twelve or thirteen seasons, bookended by Lajoie/Collins and Gehringer. Big difference.
I understand the difficulty of being wired different. It was in high school I realized I would never “fit in” and be like everyone else but still craved being accepted. I was the kid who always was a problem because I questioned everything and couldn’t go with the flow. People saw me as a rebel while I saw myself as normal and was confused why everyone accepted everything without question.
It took a very long time to come to terms with being on the outside of the majority on almost everything. That would lead to anger and then depression. In adulthood the social shunning stopped but was replaced with eye rolls and being labeled as difficult.
I’m in my 50s now and mentally I’m in a better place but the anger still rises up occasionally. I’m not as frustrated as before, but I do feel tired, because in this social media driven connected world I’m now constantly stuck between what has become two conformities based on our two party political system. While I lean much more towards one, it is still laden with expected compliance.
When I read Craig's "push and pull" take that he wrote when Bouton passed away a light went on. For me it perfectly summarized my relationship to Bouton's struggle. In the 1980s I walked into a NYC firehouse as a proby, naive to think being a Jew and a college grad wouldn't be a detriment. My dark skeptical sarcasm (in a world of the same) was perceived as a threat to the status quo. I wanted to fit in, but was not willing to be someone I wasn't.
Great point. A good case could be made that the Cards are an even better fit than the Marlins. I feel like a Cards-Astros WS would nauseate most of the country (and I say this as a Cards fan....lol).
ARod's "small ball" evangelizing is, I think, mostly just lazy conventional-wisdom pandering. A huge chunk of baseball's TV audience consists of aging white men. That demographic, generally, not only doesn't subscribe to Moneyball or "chicks dig the long ball" or what have you, they're actively against it. They at least claim to want bunting, hit and run, and base-stealing. They think walks are boring and that the defensive shift is unfair. They claim to dismiss anything analytics-based as coming from nerds who want to overthink the game.
It doesn't help that a huge percentage of the non-TV media covering the game thinks this way. Some more than others, sure. But the loudest voices in the press box probably do.
It also doesn't help that not bunting, etc., is easier to second-guess. If the inning doesn't work out, the critic can latch onto a singular failure - you should have moved the runner over!
My guess is ARod knows that lots of what he's shoveling is bunk. But he's an entertainer and he knows how to ID and play to his audience.
There have been rumors that David Cone might go to national games. Right now he's really analytical but I wonder if that would change if he was on, say, ESPN? I don't know about ESPN baseball demographics but I suspect Old, white, probably suffering from ED with a desire to see the game played "the way it should be" would be pretty close. I wonder if production is the problem encouraging announcers to talk up small ball.
Bouton's 'Ball Four' gave me two pieces of advice I have carried with me ever since. The first is the one about how if you want to be relaxed, start behaving the way a relaxed person would. As someone who tends towards anxiety in certain situations, I can say that it doesn't always always always work, but sometime it really does.
The other is the one (which I believe came from his wife at the time) about how sometimes you apologize, not because you think you were actually in the wrong, but because you're trying to preserve a relationship, which is more important than your 'but I was right!!!' pride. Obviously you can take that point of view to harmful extremes, but again, in a lot of cases, it turns out to be the best thing to do.
The 17 pitchers was the most pitcher used in a 9 inning non rain delay playoff game since [checks notes] the A's and White sox game 3 of the 2020 ALWC that ended during the first inning of the SD STL game.
My favorite boradcasters that are of the scully branch, tell stories about the players. Human interest things interwoven in throughout the broadcast. That's how I know marquis grisom was named after the car his dad was a factory worker bukding, and that Uggla means owl.
I enjoy insight like what craig pointed out "that's the left fielder's ball" I enjoy, I'd go slider in the zone here"
I am a sabr adjacent guy and I like spins rate exit velocity and sprint speed, but I know when the broadcasters don't know what anything means ("that was 101 off the bat!!!) and it doesn't add to the commentary. It's a sometimes food that needs Context to be meaningful.
Tell stories between pitches, don't tell me "Joe Rando is an excellent 2 strike hitter, he lets the ball get deep and loves to drive it" you don't know that's true and you say it about everyone.
I concur. It's also right on the river so there are lots of cool things to do / places to stay
Agreed, Sutcliffe is awful. My wife was asking from another room last night who I was telling to shut up.
Ugh, completely agree. Why do I have to know he is broadcasting from his freakin' water-adjacent home in the basement with no view of the water...when he has 4-freakin' levels of water views. WHY? Overprivileged much? I muted the game at that point, wish I had earlier than that. Not to mention that the rest of his commentary during games just hurts my ears.
The only reason I would have to root for the Yankees: there is no way in hell that di Blasio or Cuomo would let there be any public celebration at all for a Yankees World Series win. (I think, in fact, that by the time the Series is over, NYC will be under more of a lockdown anyway.) If the Rays win, we see the same dangerous bullcrap again.
And my god, those games yesterday were a slog. If baseball wants casual fans back, it cannot have every last playoff game be longer than The Irishman.
Thank you for that section on Arod. He has been absolutely driving me crazy too for all the reasons you mentioned. I looked it up, the guy bunted 33 times in his entire career and 17 of those were bunting for a hit. Honestly, why would a guy with his skills ever bunt anyway? The willful ignorance of the research that has been done on the game by Arod and so many other announcers (Joe Simpson and the whole Braves crew are definitely good examples) is infuriating.
A thing that bothers me about discussions of announcers is when someone says "I love him" or "he's awful" and there are no specific reasons why. Craig, and all of us who have listened to even 1 inning of A-Rod (or Morgan!) have plenty of specifics and we get more with each game. The other night he said Bieber should throw more fastballs. When Torres (two fastballs later) took Bieber deep A-Rod said, "well, you don't double up the fastball, that gives the hitter a chance to time it" (Torres fouled off the 1st one). THAT comment by A-Rod would have been great had he uttered it *prior* to the HR. He stinks!!
(FWIW I'm a Yankees fan who thought he got the short end in NY given that he carried us to the '09 crown and that Jeter is as much a phony as A-Rod is)
Couple of things
- maybe the Joe Morgans and A-Rods of the analyst world are worried about their playing time being diminished. It seems Morgan started to get like he was when power hitting middle infielders started taking off. A-Rod is probably a mix of that and maybe wanting to impress MLB leadership.
- Henry Cavill’s fame came from his role as Superman before the Witcher, but as Sherlock, I’d have major reservations about that.
- umm, never mind the risen commode in the bathroom, it’s the carpet in there that gets me. Is that a thing in Ohio?
This Trump having Covid story, once you get past the momentary glib "That'll teach him to discount it as the flu", is really bad news. The best case scenario is he gets mild symptoms, but that will just reinforce his and his supporter's contention that it's all overblown and isn't that serious. The bad case is he gets sick and, like Boris Johnson, has his approval ratings increase from sympathy thus helping his reelection chances. The worst case scenario of course would be him dying from it, but that's a pretty remote chance. Particularly with the top medical care that he'll get.
Boris Johnson did, and his early Covid response was questionable too. I could see it among the undecided. (Though I can't understand how some people can still be undecided at this point)
It's also not clear to me that the sympathy would have extended to the voting booth. There's really no good comparable situation here.
Can you think of any other world leader more similar to Trump? I can't.
Fair enough.
It'smore sympathy motivation to go to the polls. His support has a hard top. he needs those people motivated.
I would like to think that this would at least stop him from making fun of people wearing masks. Probably too much to ask.
This is making the very big assumption that he does indeed have it. The medical reports from his camp have historically been.....let’s just say FLAT OUT LIES.
There are any number of reasons to think that this is just yet another dumb political ploy, to simultaneously show how strong & manly he is by defeating this horrible disease while also showing how COVID is really no big deal since he got through it with no problems.
If he really had it, I’m convinced he would have either come out swinging and blamed Typhoid Joe for infecting him during the debate, or completely ignored it and gone on business as usual.
Weirdly it posted twice, I tried to delete one and it deleted both. I'll repost -
Trump does have it. So do several staffers including at least one they are publicly saying is negative but who actually tested positive two hours *before* Hicks' positive test. I know a congressional staffer who was present when all this went down in the white house.
I don't wish Trump dead. I want him to have a nasty case that does not end until the election is over and he's lost. Then I want him to fully recover in time to be carted off to jail. Then his debts can come due.
Let him see it all fall apart.
I do not think the Trump test results are fake. That said, my first thought was to the last part of the Tim Robbins film Bob Roberts.
Actually, the worst case is that he has to be pulled from the ticket. What happens then? People have already cast ballots.... The ONLY thing that is absolutely certain is that Biden does NOT become President by default.
I'm curious about why you think "the worst case scenario of course would be him dying from it." Personally, I would not mind that one bit, but I can understand other people might not be as vicious and mean-hearted as I am. I truly, seriously, and honestly hope that he dies from it, and I think it would be most wonderful if it happened after he learned he had been defeated in a landslide. But if you'd care to elaborate on why you think that would be a bad thing, go ahead.
Well, first of all one never wishes anyone to die in polite society. (Or at least you don't admit it) But more importantly, that would make him a martyr, which is the last thing I want. Have him go down as someone you speak in reverent tones about because he died in office? The Republicans would never let it go and they'd want him on Mt. Rushmore and the $20 bill. Similar, though in a lesser degree, to how JFK is treated. Due to the way he died his tenure is imagined as some idyllic period immune from criticism where had he served out hos term he likely would be regarded as just another president.
And on if you will the hope that he survives to face possible prosecution after he leaves office. Though that's probably a forlorn hope because he'd pardon himself before he left office, and even if he didn't Biden probably would just to avoid furthering the country's partisan divide.
I don't think Donald Trump and polite society have ever been introduced, and I definitely don't feel a need to be polite about terrible, horrible, no good, very bad people. I fervently and openly wish, hope, desire and yearn for the death of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, and a whole bunch of other loathsome creatures who desecrate the government of the United States of America. With open heart and clear voice I pray and beseech the powers that be to destroy these people in all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly ways.
I do not regret being hateful, only that my hate cannot by itself cause their demise. But that will not keep me from trying.
I don't think he can pardon himself for crimes he has not been charged with, but if he does survive, I fervently and openly wish, hope, desire and yearn for him to be prosecuted and incarcerated. Still, that would not be as satisfying as having him dead, expired, ceased-to-be. Oh, the glorious thought of him rotting in the ground and being eaten by worms gives me joy.
They should have him lie in state so people can stand in line to spit on him, and charge a fee to piss on his grave, the proceeds from which we can feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate the uneducated, wipe out the national debt, and build a monument that shows him burning in an eternal flame.
Hatred is terribly underrated and misunderstood. Hatred is good, hatred is cathartic, hatred is empowering. I hate that man to death, and I hope his comes soon.
If the law of Karma is real all those things will happen to him. I will feel satisfied .
It would be fun to watch him be convicted for various crimes, but he wouldn't go to pound-me-in-the-ass prison and kill himself with a bedsheet, he'd go to Club Fed and have catered meals and a masseuse recommended by Robert Kraft.
Besides, who wants to go through months or years of court bullshit? I want him gone, never to be seen again. I figured when he loses the election and eventually has to leave the White House, he'd get his own TV show (probably his own network) and still be a pain in the ass all the time, but if he dies, that solves everything!
"I'm kalinedrive, and I approve this message." Paid for by the committee to Never See Trump again.
Rogers Hornsby. He of the 1.010 CAREER OPS.
It's hard comparing players of different eras, but yeah. Eddie Collins was right behind Horsnby (127) with a 123 career WAR. Nap Lajoie 107, Morgan 100. Hard to think of a player who did everything well better than Morgan though. But I see bref doesn't love Morgan's defense based on defensive WAR.
it's especially hard since they didn't play against the best players
" Hard to think of a player who did everything well better than Morgan though. "
Rickey Henderson comes to mind, but I'm glad someone else mentioned Rogers Hornsby among the 2B.
Yes always difficult comparing eras, and many people are biased towards more recent players. The deciding factor, for me, is that Morgan was the best 2B in baseball for four or five seasons (give or take a Carew); while Hornsby was the best 2B in twelve or thirteen seasons, bookended by Lajoie/Collins and Gehringer. Big difference.
I understand the difficulty of being wired different. It was in high school I realized I would never “fit in” and be like everyone else but still craved being accepted. I was the kid who always was a problem because I questioned everything and couldn’t go with the flow. People saw me as a rebel while I saw myself as normal and was confused why everyone accepted everything without question.
It took a very long time to come to terms with being on the outside of the majority on almost everything. That would lead to anger and then depression. In adulthood the social shunning stopped but was replaced with eye rolls and being labeled as difficult.
I’m in my 50s now and mentally I’m in a better place but the anger still rises up occasionally. I’m not as frustrated as before, but I do feel tired, because in this social media driven connected world I’m now constantly stuck between what has become two conformities based on our two party political system. While I lean much more towards one, it is still laden with expected compliance.
When I read Craig's "push and pull" take that he wrote when Bouton passed away a light went on. For me it perfectly summarized my relationship to Bouton's struggle. In the 1980s I walked into a NYC firehouse as a proby, naive to think being a Jew and a college grad wouldn't be a detriment. My dark skeptical sarcasm (in a world of the same) was perceived as a threat to the status quo. I wanted to fit in, but was not willing to be someone I wasn't.
Who in their right mind puts carpet in a bathroom? Are they collecting for a science experiment?
I thought the big black thing was a refrigerator - was wondering if the TV was on the opposite, unseen, wall .....
So good. So glad I subscribed.
Would the Cardinals making it to the world series be some sort of monkey's paw twist on your desire for a plague team to make it?
Great point. A good case could be made that the Cards are an even better fit than the Marlins. I feel like a Cards-Astros WS would nauseate most of the country (and I say this as a Cards fan....lol).
maybe if it were cardinals yankees WS, whatever doomed parallel universe we were cast into after the cubs won will be corrected
ARod's "small ball" evangelizing is, I think, mostly just lazy conventional-wisdom pandering. A huge chunk of baseball's TV audience consists of aging white men. That demographic, generally, not only doesn't subscribe to Moneyball or "chicks dig the long ball" or what have you, they're actively against it. They at least claim to want bunting, hit and run, and base-stealing. They think walks are boring and that the defensive shift is unfair. They claim to dismiss anything analytics-based as coming from nerds who want to overthink the game.
It doesn't help that a huge percentage of the non-TV media covering the game thinks this way. Some more than others, sure. But the loudest voices in the press box probably do.
It also doesn't help that not bunting, etc., is easier to second-guess. If the inning doesn't work out, the critic can latch onto a singular failure - you should have moved the runner over!
My guess is ARod knows that lots of what he's shoveling is bunk. But he's an entertainer and he knows how to ID and play to his audience.
There have been rumors that David Cone might go to national games. Right now he's really analytical but I wonder if that would change if he was on, say, ESPN? I don't know about ESPN baseball demographics but I suspect Old, white, probably suffering from ED with a desire to see the game played "the way it should be" would be pretty close. I wonder if production is the problem encouraging announcers to talk up small ball.
Bouton's 'Ball Four' gave me two pieces of advice I have carried with me ever since. The first is the one about how if you want to be relaxed, start behaving the way a relaxed person would. As someone who tends towards anxiety in certain situations, I can say that it doesn't always always always work, but sometime it really does.
The other is the one (which I believe came from his wife at the time) about how sometimes you apologize, not because you think you were actually in the wrong, but because you're trying to preserve a relationship, which is more important than your 'but I was right!!!' pride. Obviously you can take that point of view to harmful extremes, but again, in a lot of cases, it turns out to be the best thing to do.
The 17 pitchers was the most pitcher used in a 9 inning non rain delay playoff game since [checks notes] the A's and White sox game 3 of the 2020 ALWC that ended during the first inning of the SD STL game.
Lol I saw that after I sent today's newsletter out and said, to no one in particular in a house where everyone else was asleep "FUCK A DUCK"
I did this the other morning, but because I had literally and not figuratively stepped in something. Almost as satisfying as cleaning off my foot.