Baseball tour

When a friend from California asked me if I would be interested in visiting a bunch of ballparks with him, I hesitated for only a moment. 

“Heck yeah, let’s do it!”

We researched possibilities and agreed that a seven-day trip this month to six Major League Baseball parks and the Hall of Fame organized by Jay Buckley Baseball Tours was the best way to go. Even better, our wives agreed to join us on this adventure.

The trip began with my first official guided tour of my hometown, New York City, before our bus headed to The Bronx for a Sunday night game between the Yankees and arch rival Boston Red Sox at a very loud and packed Yankee Stadium. We followed the game winners to Boston and, after a tour of the historic Massachusetts city, went to ancient but charming Fenway Park to see the home team lose to the Tampa Bay Rays on a foggy night.

We spent the following afternoon in Cooperstown, the upstate New York village that is home to the National  Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It was my fifth visit to the site, each one of which has been more interesting than the previous. (I look forward to returning for a sixth visit one day.)

During the next three days we visited Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for a Phillies-Chicago Cubs afternoon game — the only time all week we saw the home team win — Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore for an Orioles-Detroit Tigers night game, and Nationals Park in Washington DC for a Nationals-Miami Marlins night game that was interrupted by rain.

We had time in Baltimore to see Babe Ruth’s birthplace, Edgar Allan Poe’s house and one of his gravesites. A non-baseball highlight of the trip for me was visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. We also got to eat at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

The tour came full circle in New York with a game between the Mets and Tampa Bay Rays in Flushing, Queens. Rain delayed the start of the afternoon game but did not dampen the enthusiasm of fans at Citi Field, which some people on the tour considered the best ballpark we visited during the week. I agree, but admit I may be biased! 

Six times during the week, I stretched during the seventh inning and sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” a song composed in 1908 by a couple of New York songwriters who supposedly weren’t baseball fans and didn’t attend their first game until many, many years later. I’ve been happy to attend over a hundred Major League Baseball games during my lifetime already, and look forward to visiting more ballparks in the future.

To see my pictures from Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Citizens Bank Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Citi Field, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, check out my Instagram posts.

Baseball's Nearly Forgotten Black Stars

Nearly a quarter of a century after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the National Baseball Hall of Fame finally began enshrining the stars of the Negro leagues and players from other Black teams. Satchel Paige, who played professionally for over 20 years before finally joining the Cleveland Indians of the American Leagues at the age of 42, was the first Negro leagues star to be admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1971. Paige is considered by many baseball experts and fans to be the greatest pitcher in the sport’s history. 

As detailed on the Major League Baseball website, “there are now 37 inductees -- players, managers and executives -- who have reached Cooperstown mostly or entirely on the strength of their careers in the Negro Leagues.” In addition to Paige, these include three Cubans whose careers ended before the color barrier was broken:

• Martin Dihigo, who according to MLB.com, “may have been the most versatile player in baseball history,” and “might have been at his best on the pitcher’s mound, where he twirled no-hitters and won hundreds of games while still winning batting titles at home plate.”
• José Méndez, a pitcher who was “a summer star in the United States and a winter hero in his native Cuba” according to MLB.com and “the first Cuban star of the pre-Negro Leagues era,” and
• Cristóbal Torriente, whose “legend was built on a national scale in 1920, when he outhit and outhomered Babe Ruth during a nine-game exhibition series in Cuba,” according to MLB.com

Among the teams Dihigo played for were the New York Cubans, who won their only Negro World Series in 1947. Minnie Miñoso, who will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame this July 24, was part of that N.Y. Cubans championship team, two years before joining the Cleveland Indians to start a Major League Baseball career that included parts of 17 seasons, the last of which was in 1980 when he batted twice at the age of 54! Luis Tiant Sr., father of the 18-year Major League Baseball player of the same name, was a pitcher on the 1947 N.Y. Cubans title team.

“A predominantly Latino team, the Cubans played at historic baseball institutions such as Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, N.J., and the Polo Grounds in New York City,” according to MLB.com. 

Decades before the New York Cubans, there was the Cuban Giants baseball team which, according to Leslie Heaphy’s 2003 book, The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960, were the first fully salaried African American professional baseball club. The team’s Wikipedia entry states the Cuban Giants were initially an independent barnstorming team that played games against major and minor league clubs, semiprofessional teams, college and amateur squads. Despite their name, no Cubans played on the team. They remained one of the premier Negro league teams for nearly 20 years and a model for future Black teams. 

Some former Cuban Giants players formed the Cuban X Giants in 1896, according to the team’s Wikipedia entry. Like the Cuban Giants, none of Cuban X Giants’ original players were Cuban, although the team would later sign Cuban players. According to MLB.com, among the team’s notable players were Rube Foster, “who would later become more widely known for his executive contributions to the sport, eventually earning the moniker, ‘Father of Black Baseball.’”

Foster is prominently mentioned in what many historians consider the definitive book about Black baseball before Major League Baseball's color barrier was broken, Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams, by Robert Peterson. First published 1970 and re-issued 1992, Peterson’s book is a real eye-opener about the indignities Black baseball teams and players endured – and the determination of people like Foster to keep moving forward – during the first part of the 20^th century.  

If you were fascinated by the “5th Inning – Shadow Ball” episode of the Ken Burns Baseball documentary miniseries which first aired 1994, then you should read Robert Peterson’s book about Black baseball. And while you’re at it, take a look at MLB.com’s stories about the nearly forgotten Black stars of baseball who were finally honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Queen of Corona

If me and Julio can ever find it

in the schoolyard,

we’re gonna beat the crap

out of it and be on the cover of Newsweek.

Then we’re going to make 

a basketball out of it,

and let every good college and pro player

pound it on the floor for a whole month.

And then we’re gonna turn it 

to a hard rubber disk,

and give every pro hockey player

a chance to whack it with a wooden stick.

Of course we’ll also shape it

into a soccer ball,

and make sure every futbol pro in the world

kicks it with all their might.

Eventually we’ll reduce it to a ball with strings 

wrapped tightly in cowhide,

and give every major league baseball player 

a bat to hit it hard hundreds of feet.

And then we’ll chisel it down even further

to a little ball with dimples,

and ask every golf tournament pro

to tee off on it with an iron club.

For good measure we’ll ask thoroughbred horse jockeys

and mighty race car engine drivers,

to run over it again and again and just leave it behind

in a trail of muddy dirt and dust.

But we can’t.

We can only avoid it like a plague

until it begins to whither and die.

And then me and Julio will find it 

and kill it off once and for all.

Copyright Charles A. Bruns, 2020

2017 baseball predictions

I've been making predictions for new Major League Baseball seasons for over 50 years. I've rarely been right about the World Series winner in my April prediction. Actually, I don't recall ever picking the correct World Series champion. That makes me as smart as the best baseball minds in Sports Illustrated, I guess.

This year, my baseball picks feature an unabashed bias for my favorite team, the New York Mets. Heck, if I'm going to be wrong again, I might as well go down with my favorite club. Then again, I haven't been right in the past being unbiased. So, let me try something new.

  

Charley's picks:

NL East: 1-New York, 2-*Washington, 3-Atlanta, 4-Miami, 5-Philadelphia.

NL Central: 1-Chicago, 2-St. Louis, 3-Pittsburgh, 4-Milwaukee, 5-Cincinnati.

NL West: 1-Los Angeles, 2-*San Francisco, 3-Arizona, 4-Colorado, 5-San Diego.

*wild cards

League championship: New York over Chicago

AL East: 1-Boston, 2-*Toronto, 3-New York, 4-Tampa Bay, 5-Baltimore.

AL Central: 1-Cleveland, 2-Kansas City, 3-Detroit, 4-Minnesota, 5-Chicago.

AL West: 1-Texas, 2-*Houston, 3-Seattle, 4-Los Angeles, 5-Oakland.

*wild cards

League championship: Boston over Texas

World Series: New York Mets over Boston Red Sox

By the way, Sports Illustrated picks the Dodgers to beat the Indians in this year's World Series.

Enjoy the season!

Photo of cover of Sports Illustrated The Baseball Book, 2006

The Seton Hall-Rutgers rivalry

When Seton Hall University's baseball team scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie Rutgers en route to a 7-6 win in 10 innings on Tuesday, my college friend Dave and I were ecstatic. We cheered and high-fived each other like some of the undergraduates in the stands. After all, it wasn't just another team our Pirates were playing that day. It was Rutgers, our intra-state rival. Yeah, the Rutgers we always get extra pleasure in beating.

A win against Rutgers, in any sport, on any day, has been extra special to me since I was a student at Seton Hall in 1976. That was the year Rutgers' mens basketball team finished its schedule undefeated, posting an NBA-like 119-93 win over the Pirates early in the season.  Seton Hall finished a very respectable 18-9 thanks to some outstanding play by Glenn Mosely, Greg Tynes and Tom Flaherty. But no, the headlines and talk were all about the great Rutgers team featuring Phil Sellers, Mike Dabney, Ed Jordan, Hollis Copeland, James Bailey and, off the bench, Abdel Anderson. Yeah, you could say I took some pleasure in seeing the Scarlet Knights getting beat (twice) in the Final Four round of the NCAA tournament at the end of March.

It was payback for the Pirates 13 years later, when Seton Hall trounced Rutgers at the Meadowlands, 96-70, en route to the NCAA championship game. That Seton Hall team, featuring John Morton, Andrew Gaze, Ramon Ramos, Daryll Walker and Gerald Greene, beat Indiana, UNLV and Duke in the NCAA tournament before being edged by Michigan in overtime of the final.  To some Seton Hall fans, however, the early-season win against a Rutgers team that would finish 18-13 was among the sweetest.

The Seton Hall-Rutgers basketball rivalry dates back 100 years. I'm happy to say the Pirates have more often gotten the better of the Scarlet Knights during that time, winning 38 of the 67 games they've played. Some of Seton Hall's wins against Rutgers occurred during seasons when the Pirates had mediocre teams. But, as long as the year included a win against the Scarlet Knights, it was not a lost season.

Many of the Seton Hall-Rutgers basketball games have been nail biters -- 20 of the last 24 matchups were decided by six points or less or went into overtime -- but not since the rivalry began contesting the Garden State Hardwood Classic two seasons again. The Pirates trounced the Scarlet Knights, 81-54, in Newark two winters ago, and humiliated Rutgers in Piscataway, 84-55, last December. Yeah, I like that!

The two New Jersey universities have also played 110 baseball games against each other during the last 70 years. Seton Hall holds a 56-53 (with one tie) advantage in the series. Few of the wins, however, could have been as sweet as Tuesday's. Down to its last out of the game with a runner on first base, Seton Hall batters drew three consecutive walks and then came through with a pair of hits to tie it. In the bottom of the 10th, the Pirates again drew three walks and then used an infield hit to bring in the winning run.

Seton Hall nearly did it again today at Rutgers, scoring with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth to pull within a run, but it was not to be as the Scarlet Knights held on to a 3-2 win. So, the Pirates tossed them a bone. Yeah, we'll remember the next time we beat them on the basketball court, baseball field or any other competition.

 

"They played baseball"

Cap Anson was a racist
Sam McDowell, a hopeless drunk
And except for one no hitter
Bo Belinsky mostly stunk

John Rocker was a dumb ass
Ty Cobb was filled with bile
Samy Sosa had his cork
Joe Niekro had his file
Yeah, it’s on file

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Dick Allen had detractors
Matt Stairs, his ups and downs
Ron Leflore had Jackson State
St. Louis had the Browns

Durocher had his lip
And Bob Welch his grapey wine
Piniella had his temper
Mendoza had his line
Oh, and it’s a fine line

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball

Scott Spiezio went psycho
Milton Bradley couldn’t take the stress
LaMarr Hoyt was a coke dealer
Poor Steve Howe was just a mess

And Barry Bonds had a swollen head
Cesar Cedeño may have killed
When Jose Canseco reached deck 5
I admit to being thrilled

Brooklyn called their own team The Bums
Mantle had his bum knees
The White Sox threw the Series
Lou Gehrig got his own disease
His own dang disease

And we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball

Now Mark Reynolds has his strikeouts
Delmon Young could be a boor
Ryan Braun’s confessing
And A-Rod, well he’s a, he thinks he’s a centaur

No need to idolize them
Or cut them too much slack
You take the bad times with the best
And keep on coming back
I’ll keep coming back

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball
--"They Played Baseball" words and music by Scott McCaughey, copyright 2014

To hear the catchy tune that accompanies these lyrics on The Baseball Project album, 3rd, click on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccqm2Bbj2Lc

100 years ago. 100 years from now?

A hundred years ago, the three most popular spectator sports in the U.S. were horse racing, boxing and baseball. Although college football was played, it would be another seven years before the National Football League was founded. The National Hockey League wasn't launched until 1917, and the National Basketball Association not until 1949. The first significant professional U.S. soccer league wasn't established until 1921.

What were some of the major sports highlights of 1915?

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series by beating the Philadelphia Phillies, four games to one. A 20-year-old rookie pitcher named Babe Ruth led the team with four home runs in 42 games. More importantly, he won 18 games and lost only eight on the mound, completing 16 of the 28 games he started. He sat on the bench during the World Series, however, going hitless in one plate appearance and never setting foot on the mound.

Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, lost his title to Jess Willard on a 100-degree spring day in Havana, Cuba.  Johnson said he threw the fight in the 26th round, others felt age and heat finally got to his 37-year-old body. Many boxing experts felt the fight was indeed fixed, which was not uncommon at the time.

There was no triple crown winner in horse racing in 1915, but it was the only year that fillies won two of three legs.  Regret won the Kentucky Derby and Rhine Maiden won the Preakness Stakes, but neither filly competed in that year's Belmont Stakes, in which The Finn earned the lowest winner's share in the race's history, only $1,825.

No one could listen to these big events on radio, which wouldn't begin broadcasting sports for five more years.  Only those fortunate enough to have an admission ticket could experience them live.  Otherwise, bulletins posted in public or word-of-mouth is how news about them spread until the next newspapers were published or news reels screened in movie theaters.

Television wouldn't begin broadcasting sports events until the late 1930s, when hardly anyone had access to TVs, anyway. The World Wide Web wasn't a source of news until the early 1990s, believe it or not.  Periscope, the social media app used by many to watch this month's Floyd Mayweather, Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao fight, was launched just this spring!    

Although baseball remains popular today, few would argue that football, boosted by the rise in televised games during the 1960s and 1970s, commands greater attention from most sports fans in the country. Basketball and ice hockey follow, although a good case can be made for pro soccer matching the latter's popularity in the U.S. today, especially with cable television easily making many international matches available.

The years have not been as kind to horse racing and boxing. Aside from the Saturdays in which the triple crown is contested, interest in horse racing has declined. Tracks around the country now look to casino gambling and sports betting to save them. 

The number of boxing fans has decreased since before heavyweights like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Mike Tyson were champions. In fact, the most intriguing figure in a ring these days for many people is neither a boxer or a heavyweight, but a Universal Fighting Championship bantamweight named Ronda Rousey.

Try imagining 100 years from now.

It's hard to picture pro football remaining the most popular sport in the U.S. by the year 2115. Perhaps basketball or soccer will continue their ascent and overtake football at the top. Maybe some extreme or hybrid competition that won't be organized until later this century will be more popular.  Or, as media continues evolving, will personal interactive entertainment make spectator sports as we know them today obsolete?

What do you think?

(Jess Willard versus Jack Johnson photo from fightsaga.com)

Is it baseball season yet?

Eventually, the weather around the New York City/New Jersey area will warm up.  Baseball fans will plan outings to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium without having to think about staying warm.  And, just maybe, the Mets will actually win more games than the Yankees.

Sports Illustrated thinks so.  The U.S.'s leading sports magazine predicts the Mets will finish 82-80 and the Yankees 77-85 this season.  That's not too much for Mets fans to get excited about, but it's been seven years since the city's National League team had a winning record.  Only once in the past 15 years have the Mets finished with more wins than their crosstown rivals -- and the Yankees beat them in the World Series that autumn.

Thanks to interleague play, the two New York teams will square off against each other at Yankee Stadium on April 24-26 and at Citi Field on September 18-20.  Optimistic Mets fans hope their team will still be in contention for a post-season spot during the latter series.

The Yankees hold a 56-42 advantage over the Mets in regular season games since interleague play began in 1997.  Mets fans, feeling their team is on the rise with the strength of its pitching staff, believe the Bronx Bombers are in decline and ready to cede most of the city's attention to Queens.  It's been 23 years -- when both teams finished in fifth place -- since the Mets have drawn more fans to home games than the Yankees.

Perhaps this is the year the Mets are once again a better team and attraction than the Yankees.  Maybe Sports Illustrated is right.  Then again, SI picks the Cleveland Indians to win this year's World Series -- which hasn't happened since 1948.  The last time SI picked Cleveland to win it all, in 1987, the Indians lost 101 games and finished in last place!  Don't bet on the Indians winning the World Series this year, either.

Charley's 2015 predictions:
NL East: 1-Washington, 2-Miami, 3-New York, 4-Atlanta, 5-Philadelphia
NL Central: 1-St. Louis, 2-Pittsburgh, 3-Milwaukee, 4-Chicago, 5-Cincinnati
NL West: 1-Los Angeles, 2-San Francisco, 3-San Diego, 4-Colorado, 5-Arizona
AL East: 1-Baltimore, 2-Boston, 3-Toronto, 4-Tampa Bay, 5-New York
AL Central: 1-Detroit, 2-Cleveland, 3-Kansas City, 4-Chicago, 5-Minnesota
AL West: 1-Seattle, 2-Los Angeles, 3-Oakland, 4-Texas, 5-Houston

What do you think, baseball fans?

Tumbling Dice

I've been keeping as busy with pictures as I have with words during the past month.  Many of my photos have been shared on Tumblr.  If you've missed some of them, click on the subheadings below to see the photos which accompany my short write-ups.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Is there anything more American in springtime than Opening Day in major league ballparks across the United States?  When the teams are from Washington DC and New York City and the pre-game ceremonies include a huge American flag, probably not!  

Back to campus on a gorgeous spring day

If you return to visit the college you attended a generation ago, it’s bound to confirm that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  At Seton Hall University, that means a statue of the Pirates mascot appears outside the Richie Regan Recreational and Athletic Center ready to charge the Walsh Library.  The sun continues to set on President’s Hall and the Immaculate Conception Chapel as it has since the 19th century.  And, students still enjoy a break from studies by playing wiffle ball on the University Green.

Cosmos Country, 2014

It’s NASL soccer on turf with an eclectic roster featuring Brazilian-born former Spanish international Marcos Senna, but today’s Cosmos is not the club your father may have seen a generation ago.  The 2014 edition plays second-division soccer in front of a few thousand fans at Hofstra University, not 40,000-70,000 as it did at the New Jersey Meadowlands, although it continues the winning tradition established in the 1970s and ’80s when it was among the world’s most famous soccer clubs.

Today’s New York Cosmos, however, features some things not seen many years ago — ultras standing and chanting for 90+ minutes behind a goal and a sponsor prominently displayed on banners and uniforms.  At yesterday’s home opener, Pele was even on hand to pose (sort of) for pictures with fans old and new.

Yesterday’s Coney Island, today

The Parachute Jump stands as tall as ever, its colors probably blinding the ghosts of yesterday’s thrill seekers.  Wonder Wheel cars slide through their circles, the sounds of the Cyclone and its shrieking riders a background soundtrack. An antique car sits by Nathan’s, like a picture from a vintage postcard or book. 

On a pleasant spring weekend day, Coney Island remains as vibrant as ever, attracting the tired, the poor, the huddled masses and many others, just as it did over a century ago.  Signs of new investments hint at possibilities of even greater summertime memories ahead.

Behind Wilson Hall

Many Monmouth County residents and vacationers have seen Wilson Hall as they peek to the south while passing through Monmouth University. Erlanger Gardens, situated just west of Wilson Hall’s back rooms, is another of the university’s architectural gems.  The garden occasionally hosts students and events, but often sits peacefully at sunset.

The Frenchman

He won’t be appearing in the World Cup for the first time in 20 years this summer, but Thierry Henry is expected to continue being in top form as the New York Red Bulls attempt to capture their first MLS Cup this season.

After scoring 51 goals in 123 internationals for the French national team, Henry has notched 45 goals in 106 matches for New York, including one in last night’s 4-0 win against Houston.  He remains difficult to mark as he roams around the pitch, and still gets past defenders who challenge him, always to the joy of Red Bull Arena ultras grateful for his skills and leadership.  

On the subject of Tumbling Dice, don't the Rolling Stones -- all officially senior citizens -- still sound great in concert?  (Thank you, Wang Lynn, for sharing your video of them performing the song in Shanghai last month.)   

A Cuban evolution?

The bearded one's time left on earth gets shorter. His brother talks of retirement. There are major changes in the leadership of Cuba that appear inevitable. Of course, the people on the island and the rest of the world have heard this before. Time will tell if the passing of the Castros will bring evolutionary or revolutionary change in one of the last bastions of communism on the planet.

One thing, however, is certain: Cuba's status as an international baseball power is history. This month's World Baseball Classic provided overwhelming evidence that Cuba is no longer an elite presence on a baseball diamond. Cuba's failures against Japan and South Korea during the 2009 WBC tournament were not an aberration. This year's elimination at the hands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a.k.a. Holland, was proof that Cuba is no longer an automatic finalist in international baseball tournaments.

Gold medalists in the 2004, 1996 and 1992 Olympic Games, and 12-time winners of the Pan American Games -- including 10 consecutive championships between 1971 and 2007 -- Cuba's elimination during the second round of this year's World Baseball Classic came on the heels of a third-place finish at the 2011 Pan American Games and runner-up spot in the 2008 Olympics (baseball was not played during the 2012 games) that sandwiched its 2009 WBC failure.

Different people will cite various reasons for Cuba's demise as an international baseball power. It's true that some of the country's stars have defected from the country, but this year's World Baseball Classic champion the Dominican Republic and other countries, including the United States, can also claim they were missing some of their best players during the WBC. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, with less than half its players affiliated with major league teams, can rightfully claim it had a bunch of second-rate pitchers and only a couple of budding stars on the field when beating the Cubans twice this month.

Cuba has clearly been surpassed by its neighbors the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico as Caribbean baseball powers and, as demonstrated in other recent international baseball tournaments, by Japan, South Korea, the US, Canada -- and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with its mix of players from Holland, Curaçao and Aruba -- elsewhere in the world. Time will tell if Cuba's downfall in baseball is part of a cycle that often happens in sports, or an evolutionary or revolutionary change that reflects broader developments in the country.