singapore sox fan: the red sox from half the world away

Tomori Reunion

More on Denny Tomori. His real name is Tomori Yui, and apparently the "Denny" name is a means for him to try to meet his father:

The reason why he goes by "Denney" is because he has never met his father, a U.S. serviceman. Just like Sachio Kinugasa, he has hopes of someday meeting his father, and that's why he decided to have "Denney" stitched on the back of his uniform. He thought that by doing that, then he could catch the attention of his father, wherever he might be. (Japanese Baseball)

So, if your last name is Denney, you were posted in Okinawa and were seeing a local in early 1967, and the guy below looks like you - give the Sox a call. (Baseball note: the combination of a high leg kick and a sidearmer seems really mechanically confusing.)

West Coast swing: Beane talks blogs

Via Daily Kos, an Athletics Nation interview with Billy Beane that mentions why Beane thinks sports blogs rule:

Right, and that's what is interesting about these trades. And that's what I love, for lack of a better word, about the blogger's world. There is a tendency to really analyze things in detail. Ultimately, because there is so much conversation and investigation on a site like yours, people may not ultimately agree with it, but they stumble onto what you're trying to do. Someone emailed me something written on a Cardinals blog, and they had nailed all the things we were talking about. The economic reasons, the personnel reasons, and the reasons we made the exchange. The world of a Web log will lend itself to a lot of investigation. And you will often stumble across the answer more than someone who has to write in two hours to meet deadline just to make sure something is out in the paper the next day.

I've linked to Athletics Nation before, to an interview they did with Michael Lewis - it's really one of the best baseball blogs around. Can't say my occasionally puerile humour counts as "analysing things in detail", but hey, it's nice that even people within baseball (albeit a maverick like Beane) are noticing blogs.

So that's where they went

Immature, I know, but the following photo made me laugh:

(From the Taipei Times.)

New Sox blogs

Just added to my blogroll these Sox blogs that I've recently discovered: Empyreal Environs (who had this funny piece on Wally supporting Spongebob) and Hoo's on First. Speaking of which, here's the legendary "Who's On First" bit by Abbott and Costello.

Rich Garces found

Apparently he was on the beach. Since the article's in Spanish, I fed it through the Google translator, which gave me:

The ex- relevista of the Red Averages, Richard Garcés, appeared safe and sound in the Guaira, after ten days of disappear, according to the Dazzling Venezuelan newspaper.

Garcés, which according to the Boston Herald it had expressed a preoccupation to be kidnapping in Venezuela when it was in Great Leagues, was sending in Venezuelan Liga with the Navigators of Magallanes, and the last time that their relatives had known of him was after a party in the University Stage of Caracas.

Garcés affirmed when appearing that soon of the party of the 17 of January, it had spent days in the beach in the Central Coast.

The relatives of corpulento throwing had gone to the Division of People Misled of the Police Body of Investigations to denounce the supposed disappearance of the player.

Garcés, that sent with Boston from 1996 to the 2002, had mark of 23-8 and effectiveness of 3,78 with the Red Averages; one inquires that it is in talks with the Orioles to return to the Great Leagues.

Wow, so he went on a 10-day bender on the beach? Bizarre. But endearing.

Japanese pitcher updates

The Sox have apparently signed Denny Tomori, he of the claimed 95mph/152kmh sidearm fastball. He certainly seems like the eccentric sort the Sox quite like, more in the Millar-Damon mold. And he has a nice leg-kick. Some analysis of Tomori here. I wonder if anyone out there saw him pitch in the Pioneer League for Butte?

Also, Hideo Nomo got signed to a minor league contract by the Devil Rays. Good luck to him, I'll never forget watching his 28-up, 27-down 1-hitter on the TV at Lanes and Games in Alewife, back in 2001. Great game.

Sosa to Baltimore

Boy, it looks like the Cubs really wanted to get rid of Sammy Sosa, sending him to the Orioles for Jerry Hairston and prospects. Jerry Hairston! And the Cubs are picking up a lot of Sosa's salary as well. One of the first trades this offseason moving a major hitter from the NL to the AL (Beltran fortunately stayed in the NL, and Delgado went to the NL).

Man, that makes the Orioles even more annoying this season. I don't really mind that the Devil Rays are terrible, since they're uniformly terrible. I do hate that the Orioles play the Sox tough and then roll over for the Yankees.

The Arroyo album

Apparently, Bronson Arroyo is following in Ortiz's footsteps and releasing an album. I guess he's not just a ballplayer... he's an entertainer. (Okay, so I just re-watched "The Office".)

Metropolitan domination

I always enjoy Jayson Stark's column on random facts - this week he does the favour of pointing out that for all the NFL's supposed parity, MLB has had different champions every year since 2000, and in the last 8 years, 16 out of 30 MLB teams have made the LCS, almost identical to the 17 out of 32 NFL teams that have made the conference finals.

Stark also points out the four times a city's teams have won both the Superbowl and World Series in the same calendar year:

2004, of course (Sox and Pats)
1989 (49ers and A's - does the Bay Area count as one city for these trivia purposes? Well, there was no way the Bay Area wasn't going to come away with the World Series title in 1989, earthquake or no earthquake)
1979 (Steelers and Pirates)
1969 (Jets and Mets)

But while the Superbowl is held in January or February, it's the climax of a season that's largely played in the preceding year. So we could go with the following variation that we were talking about in the Boston Sports Media Watch forum: what city has won both the World Series and Superbowl for the same season? In which case the answers would be:

1986 season: New York Mets (ugh) and Giants (for Superbowl XXI, played in 1987)
1979 season: Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers
1970 season: Baltimore Orioles and Colts

And the Pats again have the chance to add to this list, with a win in Superbowl 39. Okay, I know I should say "XXXIX". But when you have to use these many letters for the Roman numerals, isn't it better to just switch to the Arabic numbers, instead of having something that looks like an obscure adult film category?

More on Garces

The Boston Herald has more on the alleged kidnapping (fingers crossed) of El Guapo:

According to one member of Sox management, Garces had expressed fears of a kidnapping in the past. Each time Garces signed a new contract, he asked that the salary not be released until after his family had left Venezuela for the start of the season.

1337 hitters

w00t!! Pointed to Progressive Boink's very funny Dugout, which envisions ballplayers instant messaging. A sample:

WinBenSteinsBrenner: Now, before we begin, I have a very important and personal question to ask you.

WinBenSteinsBrenner: WHO'S YOUR DADDY clap clap clapclapclap WHO'S YOUR DADDY clap clap clapclapclap.

Vote4Pedro: I was born in the Dominican Republic to a man named Paulino Martinez.

WinBenSteinsBrenner: I see. Well, that clears THAT up! (Link)

And as for Mientkiewicz going to the Mets for Bladergroen (he of the .992 OPS in Class-A), I can see just the circumstances:

Theo, to himself, at keyboard: Let's see... i before e especially before cz... Mientkiewicz... damnit, it takes forever to type in that guy's name properly.

Minaya, to himself, at keyboard: Bladdergone? Bladergroin? What the? He's only in Single-A and I have to spend all that time trying to get his name right?

Some phone calls later, a trade gets made.

Help a Yankee blog

The house of Larry Mahnken, blogger at Replacement Level Yankees Weblog (one of the Net's few sources of lucid, clear Yankee analysis) and writer at the Hardball Times, has burned down. If you have the means, please do support him by leaving a tip in the tipjar on his site.

Pedro on Mientkiewicz and the ball

"I would like to keep the ball, too. ... I think everyone on the team should have gotten a little piece of the ball. He's the only one who noticed to keep the ball. Not even Keith Foulke thought to." (From ESPN)

Kevin Millar has a posse

Random Internet surfing brought me to Number Fifteen, a Kevin Millar fansite. Interesting - I've heard many debates about the relative merits of Millar as a player, but I've never really heard someone gush over him. Well, until now. Fun stuff - even has photos from in-store appearances.

Anna Benson retraction

A Large Regular points out that Anna Benson was only joking about sleeping with all the Mets should she find Kris cheatin':

There's no way I would touch some of those guys with a 10-foot pole. I don't care what Kris did. Some of them are disgusting.

I can hear it now - Pedro and Beltran are going "wait a minute... you can't just take away a promise like that!" It's funny that her reason for not having revenge sex isn't anything to do with moral scruples but just the sheer fact that some ballplayers (or at least some Mets) are disgusting.

And from that same article I learnt that Anna Benson has a reality show coming out. And that she has late-night TV aspirations: "I'm hoping in five years or so I'll have racked up some experience to do something like that." Is it just my sophomoric side that finds it funny that she said "racked"?

Singapore Football(s) Fan

Slight baseball deviation... I finally got to see the Pats on TV! Sadly NFL doesn't have anything like MLB.tv, so those of us over in distant shores have to got to go with whatever's on Monday Night Football (shown Tuesday morning here) and the playoff games. Great job by Brady. Whoever said he was just a dink-and-dunk short-passer? Clearly the best big-game QB in the business. Huge game by Branch - he likes the big stage, methinks, as does Vrabel. But the Harrison return gets my vote for best moment of the game.

And in news from another sport called football - i.e. what Americans call "soccer" - my favourite English Premier League team Everton lost 1-0 to Charlton over the weekend. Fortunately it was a week of weird results, so excepting Charlton no one from 5th place to Fulham (in 13th place) won, and Everton's 4th place remains secure for another week. Phew.

Lefty with a right hook

Y'know, I've been thinking a bit more about Randy Johnson's little Manhattan conniption, and one thing struck me - he used his right hand to block the camera. Funny how no matter how angry pitchers such as RJ or Kevin Brown get, they always know to use the non-pitching hand in moments of anger. I guess that's years of conditioning.

Rich Garces?

Has Rich Garces been kidnapped? I certainly hope not.

The Magallanes Navigator's closer Richard Garcés is missing since last Monday the 17th, when he played as a reinforcement for the Pastora team against the Caracas Leones (Lions).

Juan Miguel Barrios, the player's cousin, informed that Garcés talked to his wife last before the aforementioned game, but that Ms Lisbeth de Garcés tried to contact him afterwards and up until yesterday had not learned anything of his whereabouts.

The well-known player was supposed to return to his house in Maracay once the season was over, but he didn't show up for the last two games, didn't answer his cellphone, and didn't receive his "Comeback of the Year" award, which was finally given to his daughter. (From the Venezuelan Press, translation courtesy of the Reds forum linked above.)

Stay safe, El Guapo.

Oil Can comes back

So Oil Can Boyd wants to make a comeback. It's quite shocking that he's only 45, I really do think of him as belonging to another era completely, forgetting that he retired at the tender age of 31. Clearly he loves Massachusetts: last team he pitched for was Lynn, pitched in an exhibition game in Cambridge last summer, and now he's trying out for Brockton.

Here's a good report on his exhibition game:

When [a] fan politely asked Oil Can to add his John Hancock to the [old Fenway Park] seats, the Can replied, "Brother, let me get three up and three down and I'll come right back and sign your chair." What a fabulous response. Sure enough, the Can (who still throws pretty well for his age) sat down the opposing team, came back to the dugout, and signed the chairs.

Incidentally, "Oil Can" is a great nickname, and the Can's Film Festival (when Boyd racked up hundreds of dollars of late fees for porn movies during spring training) is one of my favourite bits of baseball lore.

Clemens signs for $18m

So one of the greatest ex-Sox pitchers ever surpasses another in the money stakes: Roger Clemens agrees to pitch for the Astros for $18m, surpassing Pedro Martinez's record $17.5m salary for a pitcher.

I visited the Sports Economist, which made me think about the contract. If Clemens' ultimate goal was to get a contract worth $18m (as opposed to serious hemming and hawing over whether to keep on pitching), a strategy of submitting a ridiculous figure like $22m makes sense. Clemens could've submitted the $18m proposal to an arbitrator and taken the risk that he would get either $18m or $13.5m. Instead, Clemens submits $22m, a figure that can be read either as a reflection of Clemens' self-valuation (7 time Cy Young winner, only made $5m last season) and a ludicrous figure based on irrational logic. The fact that the $22m figure is still within the realms of a plausible award for the arbitrators acts as a a credible threat to the Astros, who don't want to risk going that high.

Contrast this to an $18m proposal by Clemens. An $18m proposal might have caused the Astros to say "wait and see" since they clearly would be happy with either offer (as indicated by the fact that they agreed to this final contract). From Clemens' point of view, he faces the risk that he might end up with $13.5m. By contrast, a $22m offer means the two sides definitely negotiate, and Clemens almost certainly gets the $18m he wants.

The point is this: it makes economic sense for Clemens to act irrationally to a certain degree and submit a figure that was within the realm of the possible but based on non-economic logic (e.g. the symbolism of a uniform number). That figure would serve merely as a signal that he wanted a huge chunk of change to keep on playing. Weirdly enough, a high bid transfers all the risk to the Astros; a low bid means Clemens takes on the risk that he might not pitch even when he wants to.

Contractual obligations

Some funny bits on contract clauses from Jayson Stark's column:

Terry Adams always wanted to be a starter. Apparently, the Phillies haven't completely dismissed that possibility - because his new contract would pay him an extra $875,000 if he makes 32 starts this year.

The Red Sox didn't give Jason Varitek the flat no-trade clause Scott Boras was looking for - but did give him a clause that would pay him $1 million if he's traded. The Sox then turned around and inserted the same clause in Edgar Renteria's deal.

Don't expect Randy Johnson to move to New York year-round. His new Yankees contract allows him to keep his two courtside tickets to Suns games through the 2007-08 season - and includes six premium seats to Diamondbacks games for the first five seasons after he retires.

Funny that the RJ contract has the Yankees buying D-back tickets... more screwing over of the Yankees by Arizona, apparently. And $1 million is a sweet amount for moving expenses.

A-Rod Hearts Curt, Not

A-Rod shoots his mouth off again, this time on Curt:

"We beat him up a couple of times during the season, and he sat crying on the bench," Rodriguez recalled of Schilling. "Then he lost Game 1 in the series, and he wasn't talking.

"Then he won Game 6, and he's still talking today. We, as players, are accustomed to these things. I hope he continues to talk about me and the team. It's great motivation to beat him in the future."

Hey, I'm no fan of Schilling seemingly appearing on every outlet for talking about sports conceivable either, but 1) Schilling brings it and 2) A-Rod, whine much?

I'm also not sure what A-Rod means by this profound statement on his thinking about the ALCS loss: "It was like being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with no waves." Huh?

Doug digs Doug, dig?

Doug Mirabelli talks about Doug Mientkiewicz and the storm-in-a-teacup that was Ballgate:

"You are the dumbest guy in America if you give the ball back," Mirabelli told Mientkiewicz. "I tell you right now, if I had that ball I'd lock it up and bury the key somewhere." Mirabelli said

Mientkiewicz did not tell him what he plans to do with the ball.

"If you can handle the pressure of the organization making you feel bad ... I mean, can you imagine what that is worth?" Mirabelli said. "That's one of the most beloved World Series balls. He made reference to his kids' college funds."

Good to see Minky's teammates supported him. (And given the Sox's reputation for extracting maximum value out of everything, is it not a surprise that the players would respond likewise? Kind of like the economic/anthropological concept of gift-giving...)

The same article has Mirabelli talking about how much he loves being in Boston and on the Sox:

"I just decided that I am happy in Boston," Mirabelli said. "Playing for a team that would lose 100 games just to say I am a starting catcher isn't what drives me. You have to have fun coming to work every day or it becomes monotonous.

"In Boston, it's unbelievable. I probably get more kudos for playing there and being a good backup than I would being a starter in other places. It's ridiculous how much love those fans have for the team. After 86 years, why leave now?"

Um, Doug, you're not the one who's been there for 86 years, but still, we get the drift. Good man.

Sox fan entered coma just before World Series win

I can just imagine the trailers for the inevitable TV movie: What if they won it all... and you weren't awake to see it?

I'd watch out for those line drives

From the Boston Herald's "Inside Track" column, which often has nice bits on the Sox... this one's about a Sox player's naughty bits.

In other shocking Schilling revelations, No. 38 confesses that nothing comes between him and his Red Sox uniform.
"I don't wear a jock,'' he said. "I pitch commando.''

Three words: Too. Much. Information.

Clemens in arb

So Rajah Clemens wants $22m. That's ridiculous. You can ask for your uniform number for arbitration now?

To be fair, Clemens did get only $5m for 2004, of which $3.5m was deferred. And $27m total for 2 seasons including one Cy season is actually around the market rate (Randy Johnson got $13.5m for last season). Pity the market doesn't work by compensating for past performance...

Bellhorn and Arroyo signed

So it looks like the Sox signed Bellhorn and Arroyo to one-year deals. Great to see 'em back.

These deals mean the Sox avoid arbitration. Funny how it's called "arbitration" but the process seems to be "let the arbiters choose between either the player's proposal or the team's". If there's no meeting in the middle, how is that arbitrating?

Leskanic retiring?

So says this article, courtesy of some comments in Surviving Grady:

A fond farewell to reliever Curtis Leskanic, who has told friends he intends to retire. Leskanic, a boisterous character, played 12 seasons, ending his career as a member of the world champion Red Sox.

Thanks for Game 4 and getting Bernie Williams to flyout, and thanks for snow angels in the grass.

Satchel Paige forever

More news in this slow news week: apparently Mark Bellhorn has been signed to a 2-year extension, which is great.

Meanwhile, since it was my mother's birthday last week (happy birthday Mum!), I though I'd dig up Satchel Paige's six rules for a long life:

1. Avoid fried foods which angry up the blood.
2. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in public. The social ramble ain't restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

Here's the box score for his last game, pitched against the Sox at the age of 60. 3 innings, 0 runs. Ageless.

Pats-Colts, and Schilling

And the big wheel keeps on turning. I'm not a football fanatic by any means (round here, football refers to soccer; we call the game with the pigskin "American football" - it's a good game, but it hardly involves the feet!), although give me 15 minutes with Cold Hard Football Facts and I'll talk the talk at any bar. But of course I'm a de facto Pats fan by dint of my time in Boston, so I got up at 5.30am on Monday morning to watch Pats-Colts. Great game. Funny to see Peyton dismanningtled. Actually, my take on Peyton Manning is kind of like my take on Derek Jeter, insofar as it's annoying in both cases that they've been anointed as the Great Ones, but to be fair, that's the media's fault, not theirs.

Meanwhile, Schilling the Steelers fan (nice enough segue?) talks to Jayson Stark, although as usual he gives the corporate "I love these guys" schill about the new guys. I think his assessment of his own Hall of Fame chances is very fair:

"I don't think I'm going to play long enough to win enough games. But you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm going to retire, and I want the people I played with to say, 'If I had to win a game, that's my pitcher.' And if I can do that, the other stuff is going to be pretty much inconsequential.

"And that's not to diminish the Hall of Fame. To be in the Hall of Fame, you have to be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. And I don't think I'm one of those. I think Randy Johnson is. I think Pedro Martinez is. I think Nomar [Garciaparra] will be. Manny [Ramirez]. I've played with some Hall of Famers. I don't have that kind of perspective on my career."

I'd put Schilling in my Hall of Very Good. Schilling's certainly a notch up from Jack Morris, whose HoF claims are mostly centred around his big games, but is he Hall-worthy? I wouldn't think so, barring a next few amazing years, but I wouldn't be unhappy to see him there either, let's put it that way.

Slow baseball news day

One month till pitchers and catchers report, and it's one of the slowest times of the year for a baseball fan. Such a blah day that Gordon Edes ends up noting the obvious: that the Sox were happy that the Mets got Beltran and not the Yankees, because Bernie Williams is decrepit in centerfield (ho-hum)...

Fortunately, Bostonians can look forward to Pats-Colts in a bit, while I just had the pleasure of watching my country lift the Tiger Cup soccer trophy. Otherwise, as they say, I got nothin', not unless you count the fact that I read an old November issue of People magazine in the bathroom today and duly noted that Johnny Damon is apparently one of the Sexiest Men Alive.

Spring, come quick.

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya

Sir Sidney Ponson now hates being in Aruba. Yeah, being a local celebrity, getting a knighthood, owning a large house on a tropical island... life must be tough.

On the bright side, Ponson did drop from 266 lb to 248 lb after his stint in jail, for which the Orioles must be thankful.

Moral fibre

So, probably thanks to all the reports of him downing Metamucil to calm his stomach during the postseason (he drank it before every one of those last eight wins), Terry Francona is now Metamucil's spokesperson. I guess this adds to his "regular guy" tag...

Thank you Derek Lowe

Thanks, Derek. Thanks for the no-hitter, the amazing K and ensuing Tejada-insulting crotch-thrust in the ALDS, and thanks, most of all, for that spectacular 2004 postseason. Best start on 2 days' rest since Koufax, whose #32 you wore in Boston. And nice that despite getting no love from the Sox front office, you were gracious:

"There's something to be said about tradition," he said. "I came from an organization that has tremendous tradition" - on #32 already being retired at the Dodgers (Link)

Another Sox blog

Every now and then I like to click on the "Next Blog" button I see in some blogs, and today that button brought me to The '03 Dynasty, a sabermetric Sox blog I hadn't heard of before. Adding, of course, to the comment in Felines for Anarchistic Green Democracies that the Sox seem to have more blogs than anyone else...

One out

Here's a study of one-batter pitchers from the Hardball Times. The one-out guy is a modern phenomenon, and Clearly the teams that are good at using one-out guys last season were the Cards (54 PAs, 54 outs - wow. Thank goodness Steve Kline was left off the WS roster), the Marlins (31 PAs, 32 outs - the count includes pickoffs, caught stealings, and GIDPs), the Royals (28 PAs, 30 outs), and the Orioles (27 PAs, 27 outs).

Interestingly enough, the AL East on the whole was pretty terrible with one-out guys (or rather one-batter guys, since more than any other division the AL East didn't get the one out they were looking for): the Sox had a 78% out percentage from their one-batter pitchers, which is worse than every other team in MLB except for the Blue Jays (76%), the D-Rays (74%), the Giants (73%), and the Yankees (61% - thank you Felix Heredia). Yup, 4 of the worst 5 teams at using one-out guys were from the AL East, which probably just shows nothing other than the fact that the AL East clearly didn't opt to spend its riches on LOOGYs("Lefty One-Out Guys") - Mike Myers and Trever Miller weren't very good in their roles, and Felix Heredia was clearly atrocious.

Randy gets handy

So Randy Johnson shoved a hand into a camera. Unfortunately, while I hope RJ's career is like Sean Penn's in reverse - starts off great at his profession, then attacks paparazzi, and finally becomes a washout married to Madonna - I don't think this reveals anything we don't know about the Big Unit and his temper. Can he handle Noo Yawk? Probably, but at the first sign of things going wrong they'll drag up the video of the incident and point to it as some fundamental "flaw" of character...

And in the video RJ looks clean-shaven. Freaky. Never thought I'd want to see the mullet back.

Gidget goes surfing

So Derek Lowe is almost likely a Dodger, and Rob Neyer's really happy. That's interesting. The usual spin on Lowe is that in 2003 he was average and 2004 bad, but got lucky with run support. But Neyer notes that the sabermetric-leaning teams, with the exclusion of the Sox, ranked him #3 among the available starters.

Lowe in Dodger Stadium is probably a good fit. Those ground balls, the pitchers' park, the defense of Izturis et al... he'll have a better regular season than 2004, I'd guess. I can't imagine how he could top his postseason - ever.

Analysis aside, Lowe's always been one of my favourites - I'll always remember his no-hitter, Game 5 against Oakland, and of course all those big games in the postseason this year. And when that good sinkerball was on, he had some of the best stuff in the league. Thanks for the memories, Derek.

Back in Singapore

Back from a short excursion into Jakarta. On the news that occurred over the weekend: it's Minky's ball. I don't see any way that it isn't. And good luck to Beltran with the Mets. Omar Minaya with a budget - we'll see how that pans out. (I'm guessing that the Mets will be decent, but the Braves will somehow find yet another way to win the NL East.) And finally, thanks to Surviving Grady for the shout-out.

Mays, Williams, and DiMaggio in the outfield

A sad tidbit on Sox racism in the past in this Globe article on scout George Digby:

"Eddie Glennon, the GM of our club in Birmingham, called Cronin," recalled Digby. "The owner of the Black Barons had told us we could have Mays for $4,500. I said, 'I'll be back to you by tomorrow.' Glennon had asked me, 'What do you think?' I said, 'I think he's a big leaguer.' We could have had Mays in center and [Ted] Williams in left.

"Cronin sent another scout down to look at him, but [owner Tom] Yawkey and Cronin already had made up their minds they weren't going to take any black players." (Link)

Mays and Williams in the outfield (together with Dom DiMaggio)? Somehow I think the whole "86 years between World Series" thing wouldn't even have been an issue had that come to pass - and that's not even taking into account the fact that Jackie Robinson also tried out for the Sox... Shows the effects of institutional racism.

As noted on some discussions, the Celtics and the Bruins were the first teams to integrate in their respective leagues, and the then-Boston Braves were one of the first, so the Sox's shameful failure to integrate wasn't anything to do with Boston as a city, but of the Sox ownership and leadership at that time. I'm no Dan Duquette fan, but part of his legacy was that he made Dominicans like Pedro and Manny superstars in a team that only integrated in 1959.

Tangential article: the late Ralph Wiley on the decline of baseball participation among African-Americans.

Edit: Glenn Stout has contacted me to note that the Massachusetts Historical Review, just published by the Mass Historical Society, includes an 8,000 word story called “Tryout and Fallout: Race, Jackie Robinson and the Red Sox.” Sounds damned interesting - will try to get my hands on a copy...

Elections

So Boggs and Sandberg are in the Hall of Fame, as they should be. I know there have been misgivings - I think it boils down to "Boggs was a good hitter, but somehow lacked a certain X-factor" - but the 92% vote for Boggs shows most people know what they were seeing. Lord knows why Sandberg was shafted was so long. A power-hitting second baseman (most homers for a 2B till Jeff Kent came along) who could play the pivot - what more do you want?

This must be a banner year: the two most underrepresented positions in baseball get some members into the Hall. Maybe the hangover effect came into play: just as 3Bs seem to be judged against Mike Schmidt, 2Bs might be judged against Joe Morgan - patently high standards that are near-impossible to fulfil.

Reese sets sail

Pokey Reese is now a Mariner. As with anyone of the 2004 squad, I wish him nothing but the best of luck - except when he plays against the Sox. Here's to some inside-the-parkers in Safeco!

Boggs for Hall of Fame...

... should be a no-brainer, yeah? Not the nicest of people, perhaps, but he's definitely among the top 5 third basemen ever. And yet people such as Mike Downey (in the Chicago Tribune) and Chris Lynch (for Yahoo! Sports) are saying he shouldn't be - and Downey even has a vote. Bizarre. Apparently you can't be a Hall of Famer unless you're at Mike Schmidt's level - yeah, only the greatest third baseman ever. Another example of the ridiculous HoF standards to which 3Bs are held...

Johnny Damon gets married

Congratulations to Johnny Damon on his wedding. Many female fans' hearts must be broken. What a random guest list:

Among those expected to jam were Sevendust drummer (and groomsman) Morgan Rose, former Creed members Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips, and Brian Marshall, American Hi-Fi guitarist Jaime Arentzen, and bassist Drew Parsons, Jeremy Taggart of Our Lady Peace, and Michael Eisenstein, formerly of Letters to Cleo

And Brian Johnson of AC/DC was also at the wedding. I suppose "Back in Black" isn't a great wedding song...

Competitive balance in baseball

For the new year, some thoughts on competitive balance in baseball, given the idea that's been floating around that the Sox with their $130 million payroll aren't that different from the Yankees in terms of spending a lot on payroll. (Ignoring the obvious point that the difference between the Yankees and the Sox dwarfs the difference between the Sox and the Angels, the Mets, and other big spenders in baseball.)

How far does one need a level playing field?

I agree that some fairness is necessary, but you don't necessarily want to reward teams that are badly run, which is my key gripe about revenue sharing - it takes only payroll as a proxy for which teams are "small-market" and "big-market", which leads to ridiculous situations such as Philly being a small market team in the past and a potential recipient of revenue sharing, even when the Phillies play in the largest single-team city in all of baseball. Even now Detroit spends more like a mid-market team. It's nice for roto leagues, that everyone starts with equal amounts of cash to spend on players, but in the actual business of baseball should "equal" be defined from payroll?

So I believe that teams should have equality of opportunity, but not necessarily equality of outcomes. Yet the way the luxury tax and revenue sharing are currently constituted are outcome-focused. Thus we have perverse outcomes such as Carl Pohlad of the Twins, the richest owner in baseball, trying to plead poverty and get public funding for a new stadium. Minnesota residents, smartly enough, seem to be resisting. But really, perhaps the solution to any perceived imbalance might be a payroll floor, rather than a salary cap.

At the crux of my thinking is that the Sox may have more money, but they play in a city that's hardly the second-largest AL town, going by population. Indeed, the Sox play in a city smaller than Philly, Dallas, Miami, Houston, and half of Chicago or half of LA. So for reasons historical (1967 and all that - Rob Neyer has observed that the Sox and the Cubs are the only two teams which seem to always draw fans regardless of winning percentage) or economic, they're extracting more money per person in the region and/or channelling more of their revenues into payroll. Is it fair to punish teams for being better at generating revenues than similar counterparts?

How much of an imbalance is there?

In the first place, there's not that much of an imbalance in baseball. Firstly, one effect of the current 3-division alignment is that it's created divisions such as the AL Central, which are comprised of teams whose home city may not have the income base that teams in other divisions such as the AL East do. This arguably gives teams like Kansas City a much better shot of making the playoffs. Even as recently as 2003 KC looked like it had a shot.

Let's look at the American League. For the 2000s in the AL, the teams that've made the playoffs are: the Sox, the Yankees, Minnesota, the ChiSox, Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim. 8 out of 14 teams (57%) actually made the playoffs. Of the rest, KC looked like it had a chance in 2003, and Texas in 2004.

Thus of the 14 AL teams, only Toronto, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and Detroit had no hope in the 2000s. Given Toronto and Baltimore's success in the 90s and Tampa Bay and Detroit's obvious mismanagement I think I need more convincing before I would say that that's a function of natural revenues.

Incidentally, I also think that the existence of some dynasties (rather than total parity) is what sports fans like to see - despite what they might say in surveys about wanting fairness, people still flocked to the NBA when the Bulls were dominant, for instance. Given the natural ebb and flow of good management, luck, and circumstances, it would be unusual, actually, if one team wasn't dominant at any one time - the Big Red Machine of the 70s, Oakland in the late 80s, Toronto in the early 90s. The only issue is if some teams forever have a dynastic advantage. Which is where I come to the next part:

Is the imbalance permanent?

I will admit that there may be a permanent revenue imbalance in one glaring example, New York. This is because there's a vast difference in the population base the Mets and Yankees can draw on.

Personally, I think that it's so hard to disaggregate how much a revenue stream is due to a market's inherent "health", which fluctuates from year to year, from how well a team is run that perhaps the easiest fair way is just to try to get teams competing for roughly the same number of heads.

Most MLB teams play in one-team cities with Metropolitan Statistical Area populations of 1.84 million (KC) to 5.6 million (Philly). (2000 Census data - admittedly this does not count Toronto or Montreal. Incidentally, the data also show why DC is glaringly in need of a baseball team - it's the only city in the largest 25 that doesn't have a team.) Chicago has 2 teams in an MSA of 9.1 million. L.A. has 2 teams in an MSA of 12.4 million (including Orange County).

By contrast, New York has 2 teams in an MSA of 18.3 million. That's a full 5.9 million more people than L.A. - i.e. enough to support at least a mid-market team. So the more I think about balance, the more I think the fairest solution is a new New York or New Jersey baseball team - bring us back to the halcyon days of Yankees-Dodgers-Giants. Not that Steinbrenner or the Wilpons would ever accede to that.

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