The boys of summer! (Baseball Thread)

[Rogue219]

Personally, I like Smoltz. Dude actually provides insight & knowledge. But you’re right, mute buttons are readily available. I’m biased but my favorite tv team is Hershiser & Joe Davis though I prefer Rick Monday & Charlie Steiner on the radio side.

Field of Dreams was cool. Wonder if they’ll do this once per season? Loved the Sox throwbacks. The best part was the players coming out of the corn field as a nod to the movie. Heard this was the fourth most expensive ticket ever with the 2016 WS being the first three highest tix.

1. Smoltz is ok. It's Rodriguez I can't stand. I follow the sport pretty closely and national broadcasts are pretty bad in general. They don't follow one specific team so it's a lot of nonsense. Nobody on Fox, ABC, etc. should call the Cubs "The Cubbies". Just stop.

2. It sounded like Manfred said they're going to commit to it again next year, but didn't confirm the Cubs would be involved. Brewers vs Twins in throwbacks maybe? Or stick with Chicago and go White Sox vs Brewers or Cardinals?

3. Fox and MLB treated this game like it was a huge deal. Fox did their best NFL broadcast for that game last night. Treated it like the NFL does their games. MLB needs to consider going all out for all their games that are on TV. Start by making them accessible to your fans and grow the fanbase. If you are of a certain age, you know the movie. You've seen it and probably liked it. So you like baseball and you're already in the audience. Make all the games like this, not just a special event in Iowa.

4. It was a game for the wealthy to experience. Personally, I thought they should have had Iowa teachers, first responders, nurses and doctors there. For free. THAT would have made for a cool story. Instead, only the rich, former players and celebs got to experience it because only they could afford it. Cool. Another American pastime.

5. They should wear those unis again this year. More than once. Believe Hendricks even said so during his in game interview.

Fun night, fun to watch. It's a great game full of great talent right now. They just need more people to see it.

 

[ACamp1900]

Last night was really fun. Also, I like Smoltz,... it's his partner that should have nothing to do with baseball imo.... yeah, I'm one of those.

 

[BobbyMac]

Fun night, fun to watch. It's a great game full of great talent right now. They just need more people to see it.

Most watched regular season game in 16 years. Tied the Yankees vs World Champion Red Sox season finale in '05.

 

[BobbyMac]

And hire Steve Stone for the night in '22

Absolute GOAT.

 

[Irish2155]

Sale on the bump today….

 

[Irishize]

And hire Steve Stone for the night in '22

Absolute GOAT.

I agree he’s one of the best. He put up w/ Harry for decades and always kept it cool.

 

[Irishize]

1. Smoltz is ok. It's Rodriguez I can't stand. I follow the sport pretty closely and national broadcasts are pretty bad in general. They don't follow one specific team so it's a lot of nonsense. Nobody on Fox, ABC, etc. should call the Cubs "The Cubbies". Just stop. Sadly ARod knows the game & can bring relative insight but he tries too hard to be chummy w/ his fraternity by using nicknames ad nauseam. Plus, everyone knows he’s a douche so every critique of him gets magnified through that lens.

2. It sounded like Manfred said they're going to commit to it again next year, but didn't confirm the Cubs would be involved. Brewers vs Twins in throwbacks maybe? Or stick with Chicago and go White Sox vs Brewers or Cardinals? Brewers/Twins would be sweet. They could even wear Pilots/Senators throwbacks if they really wanted to go retro.

3. Fox and MLB treated this game like it was a huge deal. Fox did their best NFL broadcast for that game last night. Treated it like the NFL does their games. MLB needs to consider going all out for all their games that are on TV. Start by making them accessible to your fans and grow the fanbase. If you are of a certain age, you know the movie. You've seen it and probably liked it. So you like baseball and you're already in the audience. Make all the games like this, not just a special event in Iowa. Agreed. MLB needs to be surgical in how they do these but my cynical side tells me they’ll find a way to screw it up.

4. It was a game for the wealthy to experience. Personally, I thought they should have had Iowa teachers, first responders, nurses and doctors there. For free. THAT would have made for a cool story. Instead, only the rich, former players and celebs got to experience it because only they could afford it. Cool. Another American pastime. Yeah, all kids would be great, too. I did see they let the two youth league teams that played in the adjacent field attend. That’s the least they could do.

5. They should wear those unis again this year. More than once. Believe Hendricks even said so during his in game interview. MLB has done throwbacks for decades and it’s finally starting to attract the young crowd. I know my 17 y/o loves them. He also loves the emotion expressed by all the young stars like Tim Anderson, Tatis, Alonso. He even gets a kick out of Ohtani disagreeing w/ a call. MLB is still far from perfect from a general viewing perspective. It’s all relative though. If travel wasn’t an issue, I’d love to see MLB teams play in their MiLB affiliates who are located in states w/o MLB.

Fun night, fun to watch. It's a great game full of great talent right now. They just need more people to see it.

 

[Irishize]

The SF Giants are no longer a fluke. They have dominated all season long w/ no end in sight. The closest thing they have to a future HOFer is Buster Posey who is having a year that harkens back to his prime. I don’t know if they can sustain it past this season but they have to be the odds on favorite to win it all b/c they have yet to hit a meaningful losing streak. I hate the Giants but I love that their success flies in the face of the fans who whine about how teams can just spend their way to championships. Laziest argument in MLB IMO.

 

[BobbyMac]

I agree he’s one of the best. He put up w/ Harry for decades and always kept it cool.

And another decade with Hawk.

First ballot Sainthood.

 

[Rogue219]

And another decade with Hawk.

First ballot Sainthood.

Indeed.

Steve Stone was a staple of my youth because of the reach WGN had, and I was never a Cubs fan. Just got to hear Stone doing Cubs games for a long time.

 

[Irishize]

And another decade with Hawk.

First ballot Sainthood.

Obviously wasn’t a Hall-of-Fame pitcher but turned in a Hall-of-Fame season in 1980 for the Orioles.

 

[Rogue219]

1. Smoltz is ok. It's Rodriguez I can't stand. I follow the sport pretty closely and national broadcasts are pretty bad in general. They don't follow one specific team so it's a lot of nonsense. Nobody on Fox, ABC, etc. should call the Cubs "The Cubbies". Just stop. Sadly ARod knows the game & can bring relative insight but he tries too hard to be chummy w/ his fraternity by using nicknames ad nauseam. Plus, everyone knows he’s a douche so every critique of him gets magnified through that lens.

2. It sounded like Manfred said they're going to commit to it again next year, but didn't confirm the Cubs would be involved. Brewers vs Twins in throwbacks maybe? Or stick with Chicago and go White Sox vs Brewers or Cardinals? Brewers/Twins would be sweet. They could even wear Pilots/Senators throwbacks if they really wanted to go retro.

3. Fox and MLB treated this game like it was a huge deal. Fox did their best NFL broadcast for that game last night. Treated it like the NFL does their games. MLB needs to consider going all out for all their games that are on TV. Start by making them accessible to your fans and grow the fanbase. If you are of a certain age, you know the movie. You've seen it and probably liked it. So you like baseball and you're already in the audience. Make all the games like this, not just a special event in Iowa. Agreed. MLB needs to be surgical in how they do these but my cynical side tells me they’ll find a way to screw it up.

4. It was a game for the wealthy to experience. Personally, I thought they should have had Iowa teachers, first responders, nurses and doctors there. For free. THAT would have made for a cool story. Instead, only the rich, former players and celebs got to experience it because only they could afford it. Cool. Another American pastime. Yeah, all kids would be great, too. I did see they let the two youth league teams that played in the adjacent field attend. That’s the least they could do.

5. They should wear those unis again this year. More than once. Believe Hendricks even said so during his in game interview. MLB has done throwbacks for decades and it’s finally starting to attract the young crowd. I know my 17 y/o loves them. He also loves the emotion expressed by all the young stars like Tim Anderson, Tatis, Alonso. He even gets a kick out of Ohtani disagreeing w/ a call. MLB is still far from perfect from a general viewing perspective. It’s all relative though. If travel wasn’t an issue, I’d love to see MLB teams play in their MiLB affiliates who are located in states w/o MLB.

Fun night, fun to watch. It's a great game full of great talent right now. They just need more people to see it.

Rodriguez is bad at the job. Week in and week out. Can't do sound. I've tried here and there but he's never gotten better.

Thought the same. Retro uniforms obviously makes a difference on a few levels. Fanatics had Field of Dreams CWS hats on their website when the game started. By the 6th they were gone.

Their reputation is that they will screw it up. On purpose or not.

Saw a lot of former players and celeb types. Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Walter Payton's son Jarrett Payton from WGN. It's a really cool thing to be a part of but for $3K a pop? There is a very small percentage of people who can afford that in Iowa or anywhere else for that matter.

I believe the White Sox wear throwbacks at home every Sunday they are at home but not from the Field of Dreams game. They have an opportunity to capitalize on more merch sales being that they are good this year.

 

[Rogue219]

Agreed. MLB needs to be surgical in how they do these but my cynical side tells me they’ll find a way to screw it up.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/nbcchicago/status/1427429798243184640[/TWEET]

Well, there you have it.

 

[Irishize]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/nbcchicago/status/1427429798243184640[/TWEET]

Well, there you have it.

Ugh. If I had to guess they chose Cincy b/c it’s the first MLB team to form and they want to beat a dead horse w/ the first original teams so they can play the old-time throwback uniform angle. What a joke.

 

[Rogue219]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/08/18/mlb-proposes-salary-floor-lower-luxury-tax-mlbpa

I picture the Pirates grabbing an Albert Pujols "bad money" contract to get to the floor. This is stupid.

The big increases in shared revenue over the last 20 years were because of the lack of competitiveness in baseball.

 

[IrishEyes1900]

Will this be good for the game? Especially in giving parity in terms of competitiveness. I've always thought that it's a salary cap that's needed.

 

[Rogue219]

Will this be good for the game? Especially in giving parity in terms of competitiveness. I've always thought that it's a salary cap that's needed.

The game's competitive issues are due to an excess of money, not a lack of it. This myth that lower payroll teams would be better if they had more money is just that. This is owners trying to suppress how much money players make.

The deal includes lower tax thresholds, more revenue sharing, more rules. Not what the game needs right now.

I think it is dumb and shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[Irishize]

The game's competitive issues are due to an excess of money, not a lack of it. This myth that lower payroll teams would be better if they had more money is just that. This is owners trying to suppress how much money players make.

The deal includes lower tax thresholds, more revenue sharing, more rules. Not what the game needs right now.

I think it is dumb and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Agreed. Some teams who can’t compete and are claiming to be poor simply refuse to spend the money to compete. They pocket the revenue sharing instead of reinvesting. Everyone loved to hate on Steinbrenner but look what happened to the Yankees when he took over and started to invest. They went from a non-factor that had become a joke to the Yankees of yore. In fact, the Yankees weren’t his original desire…he tried to buy the Indians. The Yankees were the fall back.

 

[Irish2155]

Not a Cincy fan but love watching Votto. How bout those Red Legs? Hope they can get in then make a run…

 

[Irishize]

Not a Cincy fan but love watching Votto. How bout those Red Legs? Hope they can get in then make a run…

Agreed. He’s got a sweet swing and has re-energized his career this season. He could be HOF-bound at his current rate.

Since you referenced “Red Legs”, I’m reminded of reading how the Reds changed to Red Legs in the late 50s for a few seasons due to the Red Scare and not wanting the nickname Reds to have an Communist connotations. That was the era when their power hitter, Ted Kluszewski; would cut the sleeves off his undershirt so that it looked like he was only wearing the vest and showing off his guns. I love looking back at the 50s-60s eras of MLB.

 

[BobbyMac]

Agreed. He’s got a sweet swing and has re-energized his career this season. He could be HOF-bound at his current rate.

Since you referenced “Red Legs”, I’m reminded of reading how the Reds changed to Red Legs in the late 50s for a few seasons due to the Red Scare and not wanting the nickname Reds to have an Communist connotations. That was the era when their power hitter, Ted Kluszewski; would cut the sleeves off his undershirt so that it looked like he was only wearing the vest and showing off his guns. I love looking back at the 50s-60s eras of MLB.

Originally went to IU to play football & basketball. Picked up baseball after getting injured in hoops. He got injured 8-9 years into his career and was never the same. Was 100% on his way to the HOF. Was the batting coach for the Big Red Machine and taught Joe Morgan how to cock his elbow... which Baby Mac used to do through Little League.

My friend has a signed "Big Klu" '59 card he got from Ted as a kid. If I out live him, it'll be in my trophy case someday.

 

[Rogue219]

Votto is a national treasure.

My goodness, if the Padres don't get a wild card spot....

 

[Irish#1]

Agreed. He’s got a sweet swing and has re-energized his career this season. He could be HOF-bound at his current rate.

Since you referenced “Red Legs”, I’m reminded of reading how the Reds changed to Red Legs in the late 50s for a few seasons due to the Red Scare and not wanting the nickname Reds to have an Communist connotations. That was the era when their power hitter, Ted Kluszewski; would cut the sleeves off his undershirt so that it looked like he was only wearing the vest and showing off his guns. I love looking back at the 50s-60s eras of MLB.

Those were my years growing up. I can still recite the starting lineup and key subs for the 61 Yankees. Saw the Reds and Cubs the last year Crosley field was open. Left field had an incline and raised up. About a foot IIRC. Made it tough for visiting teams to navigate LF.

 

[Irishize]

Those were my years growing up. I can still recite the starting lineup and key subs for the 61 Yankees. Saw the Reds and Cubs the last year Crosley field was open. Left field had an incline and raised up. About a foot IIRC. Made it tough for visiting teams to navigate LF.

Great era. Mine was late 70s/early 80s but I can still recite the starting lineup for the ‘55 Brooklyn Dodgers. Useless information that gets me nowhere!

 

[Irishize]

Originally went to IU to play football & basketball. Picked up baseball after getting injured in hoops. He got injured 8-9 years into his career and was never the same. Was 100% on his way to the HOF. Was the batting coach for the Big Red Machine and taught Joe Morgan how to cock his elbow... which Baby Mac used to do through Little League.

My friend has a signed "Big Klu" '59 card he got from Ted as a kid. If I out live him, it'll be in my trophy case someday.

Definitely on a HOF trajectory. IIRC he was traded to the White Sox for their WS run in 1959.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Over 20,000 men have played Major League Baseball; Miguel Cabrera became the 28th player in MLB history to eclipse 500 HRs in Toronto yesterday afternoon.

I've been a Tigers fan all my life and he is a special talent and just a fun character to watch play the game. Couldn't be happier for Miggy.

 

[Irish2155]

Headed out to Fenway next week to catch a couple games vs Cleveland then off to Martha’s Vineyard to watch the Irish kickoff on Sunday.

Proposing to my girlfriend while in town. RedSox were kind enough to display it on the big board (at cost of course) during our tour next Thursday. Wish me luck…

 

[BobbyMac]

Those were my years growing up. I can still recite the starting lineup and key subs for the 61 Yankees. Saw the Reds and Cubs the last year Crosley field was open. Left field had an incline and raised up. About a foot IIRC. Made it tough for visiting teams to navigate LF.

My neighbors were good friends with Moose Skowron. He and Beltin' Bill Melton were regulars during Spring Training 10 years ago.

 

[BobbyMac]

Definitely on a HOF trajectory. IIRC he was traded to the White Sox for their WS run in 1959.

Yep. That's the signed '59 card I was talking about.

 

[BobbyMac]

Headed out to Fenway next week to catch a couple games vs Cleveland then off to Martha’s Vineyard to watch the Irish kickoff on Sunday.

Proposing to my girlfriend while in town. RedSox were kind enough to display it on the big board (at cost of course) during our tour next Thursday. Wish me luck…

Congrats!

Now tell us about the important stuff and of course... we'll need pictures.