CMU97

I've been listening to Dan and Andy, but didn't hear why Ibanez replaced Torres.

I have never heard Jason on a TV broadcast. Only listened to him once or twice on the radio during spring training, so I cannot comment on him much. But from what I have heard, I like. I loved Andy on the radio, and when he recently did a series ( I think Texas) on the radio, that was great. Dan and Andy are tremendously good together on the radio. I do have to say that Bobby Scales has gotten much, much better in the booth. He has found his wheels and fits very nicely with Dan now. Dan Petry is OK on the radio, not great and not bad. Alix Avila filled in a few times last year and he was also great. Carlos Pena was also strong this spring. I think the Tigers on the radio side are one of the better teams in baseball, and I do listen to a lot of other teams. Of course, that has a lot to do with Dan, who makes everyone better with the exception of Craig Monroe. No one could make him be decent behind the mic, I'm afraid. He was just terrible. As far as the 3rd person on radio, I enjoyed Daneilla last year. Good broadcaster, didn't get in the way, and knew the game.

I'm not a twins' fan, but you have to feel for the team and fanbase. Two guys who are arguably among the the best of their generation ( but can't stay on the field) are finally healthy and the team is beating up the rest of the league right now. I know it is baseball, but someone in Minnesota severely upset the baseball Gods.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45115659/pete-rose-shoeless-joe-jackson-players-reinstated-mlb Now we can officially start the debate (again): Will the HOF consider Rose and Jackson now that they are eligible? I think they will. And if some of his buddies are still around and on that committie (Bench, Morgan, Schimdt, etc), he will get in.

Old Friend Don Kelly gets first win as a manager. Pirates beat the braves to end a 7 game losing streak.

Chet was always one of my favorite players, and we were spoiled watching him in Center for long. I met him once in spring training 1990, and he couldn't have been a nicer human being. I mean he went above and beyond for all the fans that day, took time to ask everyone he met and asked how they were doing, etc. Although he was clearly an established star in what turned out to be his last year, he made it feel like he was honored that you wanted an autograph and wanted to talk to him, not the other way around. That has always stayed with me, especially when I see someone in A ball snub a kid for an autograph. He was a class player, but also an exceptional human being. RIP Chet.

The Upside of Anger. Not a bad overall movie, but not much baseball besides Costner trying to hang on to the glory days and stay in the spotlight although no one wants him there anymore. The BEST baseball movie ever is "The Slugger's Wife". And by best, I mean it is absolutely horrible. Lots of baseball in it, including Mark Fidrych pitching for the Astros. There were probably some other real baseball players in it too. Michael O'Keefe (the star of the movie) does not come as a baseball player. Or a very good actor. Edited because I cannot spell Fidrych.

The Pirates internal investigation determined the 20-year-old fan that fell out of the stands did not purchase, but did consume two beers during the course of the game. One legal person in his party purchased 7 beers on their credit card. A question for those of you who are much smarter on these things than me: Will, should, the Pirates be responsable for "serving" this underage fan? I have no idea what the legal answer would be. If the pirates are responsible, how do you keep this kind of thing from happening?

A story I read implied alcohol was involved. Right before the accident, witnesses said took off his shirt and poured a beer all over himself. To me, it looked liked he first grabbed the railing and pulled himself forward as he lept from his seat. The forward momentum was enough to kind of sling shot himself over the railing. Being 20, if he was drunk or even drinking, the Pirates are going to be in a lot of trouble. I don't think it was intentional at all, he was just excited, grabbed the railing and pulled himself up at the same time he was jumping to his feet. I hope he survives, and can live a normal life. My wife brought up a point I wouldn't have thought of. About 20 years ago she witnessed a college age man trying to cross a waterfall at the top. He didn't make it. He tumbled about 50 feet hitting every rock on his way down. He lived long enough to be taken to the hospital, but not long after. She said that every person that witnessed this guys fall in Pittsburgh will carry it with them for the rest of their life, and it will affect them. From seeing the look on his face, his attempt to grab the railing, and the fall. As a witness you are paralyzed at the event and can't do anything to stop it.

You got my hopes up on this one. I rushed right over to BR hoping, no praying. It would be a Sidd fynch grid. Or he at least was an answer. A couple of good ones; which former MLB player and felon did Fynch strike out in the tarped up batting cage? What MLB star played Fynch's French horn during drills? Now that would be a fun grid!

They don't mention the EV, but the articl posted above said of the 5 Yankees who are using the bats , 4 have increased their swing by 1-3 mph. The outlier was Goldschimdt, who only increased by .3 mph. Of course, he is 38.years old. Stanton used the bat last season, and had the fastest swing in MLB, a full 3 miles faster than the next guy.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44477141/mlb-2025-torpedo-bowling-pin-bats-new-york-yankees-taking-baseball Here is an excellent article describing the short history of the torpedo bat, the science behind it, and the early adapters. It was used by one player last year, with tremendous results.

From what I've read and heard, the concept has been around for a couple of years now. Different players have been experimenting with different types of the torpedo (wood, balance, taper, etc), and it has been a process to find what "feels right" to each hitter. Cody Bellinger said he used one last spring training with the Cubs, but never in a real game because it just didn't feel natural. Apparently, the Yankees were experimenting with these bats a lot during this year's spring training. I have no idea why no one noticed, or reported on it then. The concept is an excellent one, you want to hit the ball where the most wood, and therefore weight, of the bat lies. By moving the weight closer to the handle, you are also able to swing the same weight bat faster. If other teams weren't trying this before, they certainly will be now. BTW, Aaron Judge said he won't touch one for fear it will mess up his natural swing. And, his natural swing is working pretty well right now.

boo

Nice comeback Reese.

Really, Really good inning. Only 2 runs, but fantastic approaches and quality at bats.

We will see how the season plays out of course, but I think a big difference between the Harris/Hinch regime compared to anything else since Sparky, is that players are being told exactly what they need to do to play/stay in the big leagues. If they put in the work and show results, they will stay. If not, they are gone pretty quickly. None of this lets give them a huge leash and see what happens anymore. It is very refreshing from what we've had the past 7 years or so. And they are preforming. Battling. Getting better. So much better to watch. We can poo-poo Chris ilitch as much as we want, but he gets credit for hiring Harris and letting him do his thing.

Me too. I get to take in a local minor league hockey game tonight in Virginia. Blue Ridge Bobcats vs. Carolina Thunderbirds. At the end of two, Cats 4, Birds 2. In the beer line just now, I started a conversation with a guy wearing the English D, from Dearborn, and then the lady behind us joined in. She was from Lansing. What are the odds three people in the beer line at a hockey game in rural VA, would all be from Michigan?

Dita Von Teese?

After a walk no-less!!

No. No it is not. The super bowl is like a yankees-red sox game on Sunday night baseball before pitch clocks. Everything takes 3x as long, and then you have to do "God Bless America " and "Sweet Caroline" times 100 for the halftime show. JUST PLAY THE DAMN GAME. I know, I know, everyone needs to make their money, but it is unwatchable to me.

I had mountains and mountains of those, and everything else baseball related during that era. Topps started the. Sticker Book in 1981. Those had a white border, and there were pages for each team, and all stars. Same in 1982, except the national league had a blue border, and AL had Red. Or vice versa, i'm going by memory. 1983 and have 84 basically stayed the same. Fleer started stickers in 1982, although they called them "stamps", and they came in this little plastic thing similar to a pez dispenser. It was impossible to pull the stamps out without ripping them to shreads and you had to open the dispenser. In 1984 Fleer did regular stickers in a sticker book like Topps, and those had a gold border. That was probably my favorite sticker set from that era. I'm not sure how long the sticker fad lasted, they weren't worth much. and I stopped collecting them. My favorite favorite odd ball set from that era was the 1981 Topps Scratch off cards. They were about the size of an old lottery ticket, and you could play a complete baseball game with them. I believe they had red, green, and blue versions. All of this is by memory, so I may not be 100% accurate in my recollection.

I have a second hand Ricky story. In 1988 a high school teammate of mine got to be a clubhouse boy for the Yankees for a series in Detroit. His dad and Billy Martin were friends, and Martin invited the family down for the weekend. My friend was basically a gofer and picked up dirty towels, but he had the time of his life. The Yankees had their traveling clubhouse guy, and Detroit had their visitor's clubhouse guy who did most of the work but Donnie and another kid got to hang around and do the unwanted jobs. At the end of the series, Donnie asked the players to sign a ball for him. All did without hesitation. Except for Ricky. It is a custom at the end of a series for the visiting team to tip the clubhouse guys. Since Donnie was just there helping for free, he didn't expect anything but a few guys did give him some (not a lot) of money. Except for Ricky. Here is the story: Donnie asked him to sign the team ball, and Ricky said no, but gave him a $100 bill. Which was way, way more then anyone else did. Donnie was shocked, and quite didn't know what to do, so he said, "thank you very much Mr. Henderson, but I really only wanted your autograph." Rickey took the money and Donnie's pen, signed the $100 bill, and said, "there you go". Donnie was in shock, said thank you, and walked away. Other players and Ricky started laughing, and he said he was just joking, and then he signed the baseball. Donnie got to keep the autographed $100 bill and has an awesome story. The postscript to this story is the Tigers swept that series, and Martin was fired for the 5th and final time by Stienbrener the following morning.

Jordan Zimmerman was also 29 when we signed him. (turned 30 early in 2016).

I just did a quick search to see if Detroit ever had any other Cobbs besides Ty. The answer is yes. Joe Cobb in 1918. He might be our moonlight Graham. 1 game, 1 at bat, 1 walk. OBP of 1.000.