My baseball vacation postcard
It was a nutty week off. The Cards games in St. Louis provided memorable moments. Tuesday night's match-up with the Red Sox also held the distinction of being my 100th game at Busch Stadium. McGwire hit his 61st home run of 1998 in game #50, and #99 was the third game of last year's World Series. The Cards won in easy fashion Tuesday, but were shut out by David Wells on Wednesday. I know what you're thinking. Wells is fat. But in his defense, he only eats what he catches.Wednesday's game was preceeded by a three hour rain delay, which means my friend and I had four hours to wander around Busch Stadium and reflect upon the old lady's 40 year history. The new ballpark is a sight to behold from the outer concourse of the upper deck, looking south. The new Busch will partially envelop the space occupied by the old so you're not looking at the exterior of the building during construction. You're standing now in what will in effect be Jim Edmonds' centerfield, and you can easily identify the future pressbox, the luxury suites, and the various seating levels from the old park.
For the record, I applauded Edgar Renteria his first time up both nights as a member of the Red Sox, but I remained silent and seated each proceeding time (no booing,) which I feel was the appropriate manner in which to greet this former Cardinal.
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I met Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller for the fourth or fifth time on Saturday. We interviewed him for a few minutes for our radio show, and aired the recording tonight. I took the liberty of asking him about his former Cleveland teammate, Norway, IA native Hal Trosky. He assessed him quickly-- good low-ball hitter, left-handed power, signed by the same "bird-dog" scout out of Cedar Rapids, good friend, died in 1966. According to info obtained at the Feller Museum, Trosky was also at first base for Feller's first no-hitter in 1940.
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Yes, the Cards have indeed claimed bragging rights over the New York Yankees by taking two out of three games this weekend and added to the legacy of their three of five head-to-head series dominance in the Fall Classic. It's difficult to fathom how the Yankees can have such a poor team with a $208 million payroll, but it's even more difficult to figure out why I had to listen to Saturday's game on the internet while our local FOX affiliate aired the Cubs/Red Sox game. Let me lay this out-- the Cardinals and the Yankees have combined for 35 World Championships since 1920, while the Cubs and Red Sox combine for one. The Cardinals host baseball's most successful and well-known team as both the defending National League Champions and the first place club in the Cubs' division.
And people wonder why football gets higher television ratings.
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I can't blog tomorrow night. I'm finally going to bust out my I-Cubs media credentials when Kerry Wood pitches in Des Moines. Media Dining Room, prepare to pleasure me.
posted by CM @ 9:14 PM
5 Comments:
I can't feel sorry for you since I got stuck watching the Cardinals/Yankees game on Saturday on my local FOX station. But for markets without a defined local team, I think the Cubs/Red Sox was the right choice if FOX was looking for ratings (which I have a sneaky suspicion is their plan). The Red Sox, in all their grand history, had never been to Wrigley before this series, and the two teams had not met since the 1918 World Series. The Cards and Yanks have played as recently as 2003. Besides, the greatest sports moments involve an underdog and the Cubs and Red Sox are the poster-boys for underdogs. So, take your 9 World Series Championships and go cry somewhere else, America doesn't want to hear it.
Chris, you whiner. All this from a guy whose admitted to me that in the Des Moines market, the Cubs are almost never on anymore.
I found Saturday's close game at Wrigley to be very entertaining. (Though I had an even better time last night watching the Red Sox shellacking. Good to see it out of their system before the Reds come to Fenway tonight.)
Apparently, Chris' fear of the Cards' shaky first place standing is revealing itself, as he fears even the sight of the Cubs on TV.
My money's on the Reds though, who, as of late, have made a habit of scoring 10 runs every game.
Internet?...InterNOT
Sorry for the Newsradio humor...
Anyway, where are you listening to these games at?
The Cards' radio flagship is KMOX Radio. It streams at www.kmox.com.
The Red Sox are World Series Champions with a payroll of $150 million. They're not underdogs. Also, you had Randy Johnson vs. Mark Mulder in St. Louis, the two winningest left-handers over the last five years (and I'll bet you'd be surprised to know which has more,) and you had Joe Torre back in St. Louis.
This was a big story in STL, but not New York. After reading on-line coverage of the series in New York tabloids, I realize how little this series meant to the Yankees, who are so self-obsessed they don't even notice who they're playing. Of course, they noticed when old hung-over Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander fanned Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded to ice the 1926 World Series, and bone-head Babe made the last out trying to steal second base off Bob O'Farrell. They noticed when the "St. Louis Swifties" in 1942 came into Yankee Stadium with the series tied 1-1, and swept all three games, giving Joe DiMaggio his only World Series loss in ten tries. And they noticed in 1964, when Bob Gibson put the hammer down on Maris and Mantle and ended the Yankee dynasty for the next 15 years.
They probably won't notice this year. They'll be watching Jets or Giants games.
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