Show us the game--and by that I mean one game

I decided to watch some MLB pennant chase action last week, and I first turned to MLB Network so I could see ongoing coverage of all the games. Then I saw that one game was in the eighth inning, much closer to the end than the other big one, so I decided to go to ESPN--a reasonable move, I think you will agree, since it was its game to show.

As soon as I got there, I saw that both games were side by side on a split screen. Strike one. I would have tolerated that as a temporary thing, but it was like that the whole time--well, until I got driven away by...

Well, before I get to that, ESPN had a huge HUNT FOR OCTOBER banner at the top and similar "screen dress" at the bottom of the screen. This significantly reduced the amount of space available for the actual baseball, which was already less than it should have been because of the split-screen deal.

I might have tolerated even that for more than a few minutes. However, ESPN couldn't resist treating audiences to a little "jocularity." The crew calling the Brewers game started chatting with the crew covering the Rockies game, which wasn't yet on the main ESPN because the FIRST game was still in progress.

Not just in progress, mind you, but in the eighth inning and still very much in play.

So the "gang" in game 1 starts chatting up with David Ross, who I guess was at Game 2, and they all start chumming it up. "Hey, guys, this is great. Baseball should be like this all the time!" or something to that effect was Ross' comment. No, it isn't! Competitive games and pennant races are great, but shrinking the games so that you can't follow any of them is not.

"Rossy, was it like this when you were on Dancing with the Stars?" It was only a matter of time before someone brought up Dancing with the Stars, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Then they showed a pic of the game 2 announcers waving. All this is going on while the Brewers and Cardinals are in a tense showdown, a showdown hard to follow because of the horrible visual presentation and the inane chatter.

So I turned it back to MLB Network, where rights issues forced them to show 4 or 5 guys standing around in front of a TV and watching a local feed which we could see in the background. That was superior to what was going on over on the other channel because at least those guys were focused on the one game and commenting on it.

This is the kind of thing that has killed Sunday Night Baseball--misguided efforts to lure fabled "casual viewers" with gimmicks, bells and whistles, and an abundance of goofy chitchat in the booth. There was a degree of jocularity on MLB network from the jocks, but it didn't feel forced, and it was in service of explaining the game to the viewers.

MLB Teams Ranked in Ascending Order of the Coolness of Their Managers' Surnames

THE BOTTOM TIER (Nondescript/not much to say about them):

30) Philadelphia Phillies Gabe Kapler

29) Atlanta Braves Brian Snitker

28) Milwaukee Brewers Craig Counsell

27) Cincinnati Reds Bryan Price

26) New York Yankees Aaron Boone: Aaron just doesn't seem as outdoorsy as Boone, so he suffers from the dissonance.

25) Anaheim Angels Mike Sciosia: I checked 3 times and still can't spell it right, and this is a guy I remember catching for the Dodgers.

24) Miami Marlins Don Mattingly

23) Texas Rangers Jeff Bannister

22) Boston Red Sox Alex Cora: Needs a cool nickname, like "CoCo Cora."

MIDDLE-TIER (sound like decent salt-of-the-earth types you could have a beer with)

21) Chicago Cubs Joe Maddon

20) San Diego Padres Andy Green

19) L.A. Dodgers Dave Roberts

18) Washington Nationals Dave Martinez

NEXT TIER: (Something distinctive but not worthy of the top tier)

17) Detroit Tigers Ron Gardenhire: Decent guy, runs the hardware store, fixture at the local VFW.

16) Tampa Bay Rays Kevin Cash: Maybe a tick away from having a good action star name.

15) Cleveland Indians Terry Francona: I am ranking him higher than he deserves because I can't detach him from the "Tito" nickname.

14) St. Louis Cardinals Mike Matheny: Elevated slightly by the alliteration.

13) Toronto Blue Jays John Gibbons: Sounds like he should be a snooty Humanities professor at a Liberal Arts school--not that it's a bad thing, mind you.

12) Seattle Mariners Scott Servais: I always liked the fact that at one point there was a Scott Service and a Scott Servais on active MLB rosters. Hey, is Scott Service managing anywhere?

11) Minnesota Twins Paul Molitor: I was always fascinated by the name "Molitor," which I have never heard anywhere except attached to this Hall of Famer-turned-manager

10) Chicago White Sox Rick Renteria: bonus points for "Rick."

9) Arizona Diamondbacks Torey Lovullo: This name just...confounds me. I don't know what to make of it.

8) New York Mets Mickey Callaway: Should be playing Vaudeville as part of a family act.

TOP TIER

7) Baltimore Orioles Buck Showalter: BUCK earns a man automatic entry into the upper tier of baseball names.

6) Houston Astros A.J. Hinch: Similar to "Buck."

5) Oakland Athletics Bob Melvin: This name is so uncool that it somehow becomes cool. This is like the Pabst Blue Ribbon of baseball names.

4) Pittsburgh Pirates Clint Hurdle:  I am a big Pirates fan, but I like Clint because he sounds like he's one syllable away from being a Flintstones character.

3) San Francisco Giants Bruce Bochy: "BOACH" may be the best managerial nickname in all of baseball. It sounds like a crude gesture of some kind.

2) San Diego Padres Bud Black: I mean, this could be a superhero's secret identity.

1) Kansas City Royals Ned Yost: I don't think Ned Yost is a particularly cool manager, but yyou betcha he has a great salt-of-the-earth kind of name. I KNOW they don't make "Ned Yosts" anymore, but the question is, do they even HAVE Ned Yosts anymore? Well, they got one here in Kansas City, and maybe another one in a bowling alley in Iowa, and that's it, so let's appreciate them while we have them.

My annual pack of baseball cards

Happy Opening Day, everyone! Time for over 6 months of smug baseball writers mocking older writers, sports radio hosts, and dumb fans for their "takes." Of course some of the highlights of the season include the annual smug expression of superiority when discussing the Hall of Fame, the smug rejection of non-"smart" opinions around the trade deadline, and best of all the smug lambasting of awards voters who don't agree with the cool kids.

If I sound cynical, it may be because the Pirates won't contend, I haven't renewed the MLB.TV package (and why do the blackout rules still apply to that, anyway), and when I bought my annual pack of Topps baseball cards the other day, I could only find a jumbo pack that cost 5 bucks.

I still  love baseball, even though I have all but stopped regular watching of basketball, tennis, boxing...Australian Rules Football (OK, I weaned myself off that one years ago), and curtailed my overall sports viewing. Buying a pack of cards is a ritual for me, a way to reconnect with the game and summon nostalgic feelings for the days when I didn't grasp just how much of a ripoff these things were.

I would have liked a chance to get a smaller, less pricy pack, but on the bright side, I got more cards and more chances to get some of my favorite players, like...Well, I think I need to develop some favorites. I hoped to get some Pirates, and I did get two--Opening Day starter Ivan Nova (see what I said about the Pirates in the second paragraph) and John Jaso, who looks cool on the card but is no longer in The Show.

Here are some other scattered impressions I have after looking at my cards:

*I say it every year, but, wow, these pieces of cardboard look and feel better than they did when I was scooping them up and actually collecting.  Great graphics, good stock, attractive photos--and these are the "regular" ones.

*I never knew exactly what "embossed" meant, but Topps has embossing all over these cards.
*The wrapper touts "ONE EXCLUSIVE KRIS BRYANT HIGHLIGHTS CARD INSIDE!" This may be a dumb question, but why? I do indeed have a Kris Bryant card now, but why does HE get a card in every pack? Does his uncle run the company now?

*I remember when "League Leaders" cards were LAME, but this Jose Altuve (led the AL with a .346 BA) looks pretty much just like a "regular" card with only an unobtrusive label above his name on the front. It's like, hey, I got a Jose Altuve. Cool.

*I am not a big fan of the "Legends in the Making" subset. The design just doesn't appeal to me.

*Other notable players I got:  Adrian Beltre, Carlos Carrasco, "Fielding Award" Nolan Arenado," Daniel Murphy, Luis Severino, Avisail Garcia.

*By far the coolest card in the pack: A Sandy Koufax in the style of the 1983 Topps set.  I'd almost pay another 5 bucks to get another of these special cards.

Play ball!

10 Things I Loved in 2018

Don't consider this a top 10, but consider it...a 10. Don't consider this a Bo Derek 10, but consider it...Ah, you get the idea. Here are 10 things I loved in 2017. I recommend you check these out, love them, and create your own list of 10 including these exact things at the end of 2018. Just please try to change the wording a bit.

*The Lego Batman Movie: I didn't see all of the superhero movies that came out this year, or hardly any of them, but you'll have a hard time convincing me any of them are better than Lego Batman. It's so good that I am willing to endure 10 more Will Arnett live-action sitcoms (the idea of them, not actually watching them).

*The Terrible Podcast: Minute for minute, kilobyte for kilobyte (OK, I don't know what I'm talking about), no sports podcast--maybe no podcast, period--gave me more joy in 2017 than this Pittsburgh Stillers show, "just a couple of Daves talking Steeler football." In season, they do 3 shows, almost always an hour apiece, and with absolutely no ads or ad reads. It may be the best bargain in 'Burgh sports (insert Mike Hilton comment). Even when my enthusiasm for football dims, I look forward to this podcast.

*The Honeymooners on Blu-Ray: One of my favorite presents last Christmas brought me all kinds of entertainment throughout the year and continues to do so. I remain both delighted it was so cheap on Amazon and also sort of offended that it was.

*Comic Book Fever: See my review here of George Khoury's delightful exploration of seemingly 50% of everything I loved as a kid.

*Eight Is Enough on Warner Archive Instant: This comfort food is the TV equivalent of eating an old sock. Wait, I think I screwed that up. WAI deserves criticism for, uh, not doing anything for months on end, but as long as it has all 5 seasons of EIE, I'm there.

*800 Words on Acorn TV: I signed up for Acorn to watch Doc Martin, but I stayed because of this charming, simple dramedy about an Aussie family that moves to New Zealand. Well, actually I didn't stay, but I will be back eventually. It's also a fun comfort-food kind of show.

*Burger with fried egg: I tried this for the first time this summer and loved it. The truffle fries didn't hurt, either. I had another one recently at a different location, and while I now acknowledge the legitimacy of egg on burger as a concept, it was really the specific location that made the meal so awesome. Plus there was undoubtedly some kind of fattening sauce, butter, and, what, two different kinds of cheese. Dag, I'm hungry now.

*MLB.TV: The Pirates looked awful at times, but this was the first season I had MLB.TV and access to all of the games (well, almost all; let's not get into the inane blackout rules right now) for a whole season, and it was splendid, even if I get sick of seeing the same commercials over and over and over again.

*Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond: I said after I watched this that either Jim Carrey is one messed-up dude or he is a fantastic and pretentious BS artist. Probably a little of both. This documentary showed up late in the year on Netflix and mesmerized me with its combination of Hollywood history, Hollywood ego, Hollywood nuttiness, Andy Kaufman, pro wrestling, and, yes, maybe even a little bit of the human condition.

*SeanMC's YouTube Channel: I love, love, love, old TV promos--I launched a recurring feature devoted to sharing them on the blog this year--and Sean Mc is a reliable uploader of great vintage 1970s/1980s content, much of it absurd hype jobs voiced by legends like Danny Dark, Ernie Anderson, and Casey Kasem. Opening YT and seeing Sean posted a batch of fresh vids is like--uh, I'm out of strained similies, but it's awesome.

Brooks on Books: Disco Demolition

This is an odd but totally compelling book. I admit I just love the fact that someone wrote a whole book about one of the most infamous nights in Major League Baseball history: Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 12, 1979. The idea was to blow up disco records on the field in between games of a White Sox/Tigers doubleheader. Things escalated quickly, the field was a mess, and a rare forefeit was called as the second game was canceled.

There's the compelling part accounted for; it remains a notorious event in the annals of sport, and I would have enjoyed any book about it.  As for the oddness of it...It's credited to "Steve Dahl with  Dave Hoekstra and Paul Natkin," but Dahl only wrote an intro, and Natkin contributes many of the vintage photographs. It's nice of Hoekstra, a Chicago columnist and radio personality, to share credit, but it is odd that Dahl, the Chicago DJ who was the ringleader of the original event, disappears as a direct voice despite the author credit.

Also, Dahl refers to the book as an oral history, and while it is structured almost like that, it's not a direct oral history as we think of, say, the SNL and ESPN books. There are lots of short paragraphs and plenty of white space in between them, but it is not just direct quotations. Hoekstra makes it more of a narrative (though one that jumps around) than just an oral history, though the dozens of interviews he conducted are the framework of the book.

Here's another unusual thing: I expected more baseball, and there isn't a lot of actual baseball content. It's far more about Chicago, specifically the musical and cultural scene of Chicago in the 1970s. I expected there to be a lot of interviews with fans who actually attended the game, hopefully some who stormed the field, but there isn't much of that, either. The emphasis is on the Chicago radio landscape and how disco rose and fell in the decade.

There is some discussion of how critics called the Disco Demolition Night event racist, but it's mostly from a defensive stance, with interview subjects saying, "Some people claimed it was racism, but..." Yet there is not a good context showing just how exactly it was called out as racist. Frankly it sounds like a ridiculous accusation to me, but I would be open to a deeper dive into it. As it is, it reads as unorthodox to have so many people bringing up an argument that's not fully presented.

All that said, this is a fascinating book. It's a slim book--under 200 pages--and the white space means there  isn't a ton of text, but it is a hardcover and feels substantial. The art design is stunning, with colorful disco-style graphics and lettering throughout. The pictures are great. And though I was left wanting a bit on the baseball end of it, you do get a full view of how the main participants felt.

There are some unusual choices in the book--a whole chapter devoted to Dennis DeYoung's thoughts, for example--and it seems geared more for a Chicago audience, but it is a fun book.  I wish the text were a little more cohesive and that there were more about the event itself and less about side detours into Chicago nightclubs and whatnot, but I was glad I picked this up.

Brooks on Books: Ahead of the Curve by Brian Kenny

Longtime ESPN/MLB Network personality Brian Kenny is often confrontational in his new book, Ahead of the Curve, but he does not attack individuals. He attempts to expose lazy analysis, using specific examples to lay out entertaining arguments against outdated conventional wisdom. Kenny's book is lively and entertaining throughout, and it never seems shrill nor unfair. Instead, it is a fun volume that ultimately stands for something more than it does against something--and what it supports is critical thinking.

It was particularly interesting to read Ahead of the Curve during this 2016 Major League Baseball postseason, when one of Kenny's big points--the benefits of revisiting bullpen usage--was being played out before a national audience as managers like Terry Francona summoned top relievers early in the game rather than waiting for traditional spots like the beginnings of late innings. This issue is a great example of what the book accomplishes--Kenny doesn't just try to persuade you that managing for the save stat (and holding your closer in reserve unless it's a save situation) is wrong. He demonstrates why using your best pitchers in high-leverage situations, even in the fifth inning, is optimal. If that isn't enough, Kenny also examines why so many managers DO refuse to use their best relief pitchers if it's not the ninth inning, showing the history of bullpen usage throughout baseball and how it changed.

Kenny does not just throw numbers at you, though he does use cogent advanced stats where they fit and explains them with clarity. He reaches back into the early days of the sport to show, for example, why pitching staffs were handled so differently then and why that traditional approach is no longer the best way. The result blends history and modern baseball with intelligent analysis, all with vivid real-life examples.  Although Kenny is sensitive to critiques of "statheads" ruining the game, he is not defensive; he anticipates common counterarguments and exposes them, often revealing that advanced sabermetrics helps the game rather than ruins it. Without modern analysis, many deserving players would be overlooked or perhaps not even get a chance because of our inherent human biases to certain physical types or things that our minds can see more easily.

Some of Kenny's big suggestions are: Throw away the win as a pitching statistic, ignore errors, deemphasize batting average. These ideas become more and more mainstream each season. Kenny also forecasts a day when  baseball teams are managed by committee, with the charismatic square-jawed traditional leader supplemented by specialists who focus on offense, defense, and other areas of the game.

My favorite chapters deconstruct MVP and Hall of Fame votes and make a case for reevaluating the way they are approached. Again, his ideas sound a lot less unconventional than they would have even 5 years ago, but Kenny's style is so lucid and--let me use this word again--entertaining that it will leave you thinking, "Yeah! Isn't this obvious?"

Kenny does not want you to think just like HE does, though. Quite the opposite--he wants baseball fans and especially sportswriters and analysts who are PAID to look at the sport to avoid groupthink. Ahead of the Curve makes an excellent case for rejecting old ways of looking at things, or at least for not continuing the same ways just because they have always been used.

Brooks on Books: A Baseball Doubleheader

I'm going to try to catch up on a few MLB-themed reviews while the playoffs are ongoing, but don't worry: I do read about things other than baseball! I recommend two fine books this week.

A Pirate's Life by Steve Blass is an engaging and unique sports memoir. Most sports books are written by successful athletes or ones who never really made it, but it's rare to see someone able to write so extensively about reaching the top and finding massive failure (not related to drugs, booze, or other personal demons, that is).

Blass was a standout starting pitcher for the excellent Pittsburgh Pirates 1971 championship team, but soon thereafter he suddenly lost the ability to throw strikes. "Steve Blass Disease" is attributed to pitchers who find themselves unable to reach the strike zone for no particular reason.

Blass faces the  issue head on. He never really figured out what caused his decline, but he (with co-author Erik Sherman) recount with eloquence all of the efforts he made to figure it out. It's interesting to see a top-level athlete talk so much about failure, and Blass' candor is enthralling. He takes you inside what it feels like to go through something like this--not just the experience itself, but having to answer questions from everyone about it, dealing with well-meaning family and friends, et cetera. Blass doesn't hold back from criticizing himself for lack of commitment to his loved ones, either.

It's not all struggle, though, as Blass has experienced many highs in his career as a Bucco player and then a longtime broadcaster. This amusing, fun book is a delight for any Pirates fan, and I think the uniqueness of his career makes this a thumbs up for serious baseball followers of all types. My one disappointment is that I wish Blass included more stories from his broadcasting career. After all, that's how I grew up knowing him, as the color voice of the team, not as a star pitcher.

Another quality baseball book is by an author who happens to be the mayor of Cooperstown, New York, which is home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Split Season: 1981--Fernandomania, The Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball is an illuminating look at one of the game's most unusual seasons. Katz ably covers the phenomenon of Dodgers rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela and some of the turmoil that unfolded in New York with the Yankees, but the focus of the book is what it should be: The player strike that led to an unprecedented playoff structure dividing the season in two halves.

If your eyes glaze over at the thought of detailed coverage of labor negotiations, this isn't the book for you, as chief negotiators like union head Marvin Miller and owners'  rep  Raymond Grebey are the real stars of the text. Also, I warn any "they make too much money" types that Katz's account is sympathetic to the players. How could it not be, though?  As the author lays out, the owners were disorganized, self-contradictory, and bargained in bad faith.

Katz makes what could be a depressing slog an entertaining read. Miller's key role in the transformation of the game has been chronicled elsewhere, but it's great to see the thinking of player reps like Bob Boone. Katz takes us inside the negotiations and inside the machinations of each side. Given the circumstances, the strike seems sadly inevitable when it occurs, but so does the eventual return to the basics. It still seems like a waste.

And what is NOT inevitable is the odd playoff system the owners come up with, one attempting to reward "first-half" winners but one that actually encourages tanking by certain teams in the second half. Katz breaks down the absurdities of this scenario while also providing a lucid account of what actually happens.

Split Season is a unique book, a story of a season that, by necessity, covers as much off the field as it does on the field. I highly recommend it to anyone not turned off by reading about labor relations in baseball. Everyone else will be rewarded with lovely coverage of what could have been some dry subject material, coupled with an examination of the on-field action in 1981.

Fall TV 2016: Pitch on Fox

I love baseball. I love television. I sure would love a great television show about baseball.

Unfortunately, I could not get through 15 minutes of  Pitch, a new Fox show about the exploits of the fictional first female Major League Baseball player. On the one hand, the cooperation of MLB gives it a nice patina: Real uniforms, real logos, and a real team for the subject (the San Diego Padres), but the surface baseball verisimilitude ain't worth much when everything else feels so phony.

Someone please let me know if the pilot gets better after the point at which I bailed, but I just couldn't stand it. It was an overwritten collection of clichés and unlikable characters. None of it felt real to me. Leaving aside the issue of whether a woman could actually pitch in MLB at this time, I am willing to buy into that concept, but I don't want to see her and everyone her talking faux-cutesy dialogue attempting to...I don't know what the goal was.

It's like someone was trying to imitate Aaron Sorkin writing a show about baseball. The beginning tries to establish the lead and her agent as oh, so cool and oh, so determined. The laughable thing is the agent and one of her minions, trying to own the room and show how great she is, name-drop two male celebrities--one clearly in a romantic sense, one implied--widely thought to be gay, making someone's idea of hip chatter even lamer.

Then the pitcher, who I don't blame for having a chip on her shoulder given all the crap the character has no doubt had to endure in her career, faces off with the team's big dog superstar (an unrecognizable Mark-Paul Gathalazzzabhagugyar--uh, the guy from Saved by the Bell), and he gives her a pat on the butt. Really? I'm surprised he didn't grab his jock and spit chewing tobacco in the scene, too.

So of course there is a "showdown" between the two which they resolve with an inane Leonardo DiCaprio reference that brings to mind that forced scene in Crimson Tide when Denzel Washington has to respond to crewmen arguing over which artist's version of  Silver Surfer was better. At least Crimson Tide had an excuse--someone paid Quentin Tarantino a lot of money to "punch up" the screenplay with that stuff--but what is Pitch doing with execrable exchanges like this one? It's supposed to be witty banter that shows the characters feeling each other out, then quickly bonding, and I think it's also supposed to establish the pitcher does not deny her femininity, but it plays like an embarrassment.

Don't think I am letting the male characters off the hook; what I saw of them was just as bad, but the first quarter of the episode was dominated by the ladies. I just have no desire to watch any more of this phony entertainment when real baseball is here and in playoff mode. There may have been a time years ago when the novelty of a strong female lead was enough to make a TV drama distinctive, but now so many quality programs revolve around such characters that you need better writing in order to make it worthwhile. If Pitch lasts through real spring training and I hear it's decent, I may revisit it, but for now, I've seen enough.

Hey. let's not forget about Dick Enberg

The deserved outpouring of appreciation for legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully overshadowed the retirement from play by play of another outstanding broadcaster, Dick Enberg. Enberg has only been doing San Diego Padres games for a few years, and despite a lengthy stint as the voice of the Angels in the 1970s, he's more known as a national guy and not even really for baseball, but more for being an all-around guy.

(Scully, of course, did many sports as well for many outlets and was the national voice of MLB for years on NBC, but calling the same team's games for 60-plus years gives you a certain identity.)

So consider this an appreciation of Enberg, who didn't quite maintain his standards into his 80s like Scully did (to no one's surprise, a self-effacing Enberg has acknowledged this in recent days while paying homage to his colleague), but who still had a tremendous career. I don't have one standout moment I associate with Enberg, as I do for Scully, and in fact I am embarrassed to admit that I started to read his memoir a few years ago, had to put it aside, misplaced it, and am still waiting to read it. But I'm still a Dick Enberg guy!

I grew up as an NBC guy for some reason. It was my favorite network, and that extended to sports. Even though Enberg was pushed out of its baseball coverage in the early 1980s (when they snagged Scully!), I considered him the top guy at my network of choice because of his two big jobs: PBP guy at Wimbledon, and #1 guy on the NFL's AFC package.

Wimbledon was a fascinating experience, one of the only international sporting events that really appealed to me (most of the others were also tennis), and there was something exotic yet comfortable about the setting and the ambience. Really, though, when you have athletes like McEnroe, Lendl, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf...it didn't matter that the environment was so cool. It was, though, and a big part of that was the amiable but enthusiastic team of Enberg and Bud Collins.

And even though my favorite team (America's Team, the Steelers) wasn't good enough in the 1980s to draw NBC's top broadcast team on a regular basis, I still loved watching games on WJAC and hearing Enberg and Merlin Olsen. For some reason, one thing that sticks out is seeing, say, the Raiders playing the 49'ers in the 4:00 window and hearing Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out" as bumper music as Enberg threw to commercials. I'm not sure how much I would enjoy Dick and Merlin as an adult watcher, but as a kid, I loved them even if I hated the Broncos and probably got sick of seeing them on NBC all the time.

It never seemed right to me when Enberg went to CBS; though he continued on NFL and tennis for years, I still considered him an NBC guy. In recent years, I discovered his work as a game show host. Thanks, ESPN Classic, for resurrecting "Sports Challenge," a great series pitting actual athletes against each other in trivia competitions...and not playing for charity, either!

I always found him polished and an ideal television personality, someone who drew me in and never sought to overwhelm what he was calling. I'll miss Dick Enberg, and I swear I'm gonna find that book he wrote and actually read it this time.

My favorite Vin Scully moment

Writing about an old episode of Alcoa Theatre called "Flashing Spikes" a few years ago, I described long-long-longtime L.A. Dodgers broadcaster as America's unofficial most beloved broadcaster. Well, it's Vin's final season, and I think it's now official. As Scully goes out in his usual classy fashion (you just don't hear stories that begin with, "Remember the time Vin had to apologize for..." or "Did you hear him in the eighth? More like GIN Scully..."), players, fans, and fellow media members are sharing their favorite memories of the legendary announcer.

I'm pretty sure I fall into the middle category--I try not to brag about my "B" League pitching/third base experience back in the day--so let me join the chorus. My favorite Vin Scully moment is a simple one. It's not an elaborate turn of phrase, and it's notable as much for his restraint as anything, but it's a moment that gives me chills each time I see it.

Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is one of the all-time classic baseball moments. The Dodgers rallied in the ninth inning against the heavily favored Oakland A's, and injured star Kirk Gibson hobbled off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit home run off closer Dennis Eckersley. It was a storybook ending as long as you weren't rooting for the A's, and you still see the home run over and over again, accompanied by Scully's perfect narration, a combination of awe and respect for the moment.

I like to back it up before the actual home run, though, to when Gibson starts walking out of the dugout. I can't say why, exactly, I love this so much, but the way Scully says, "And look who's coming up," as he sees Gibson gets me every time. The crowd is buzzing, and everyone at home and in the booth knows what a big deal it is. Yet Scully doesn't belabor the point. With one simple phrase--"And look who's coming up"--he manages to set up the moment in a perfect manner, conveying a certain sense of, "Oh, wow," without yelling or otherwise ruining the drama. Then he and partner Joe Garagiola let the drama build for a minute while the Dodger fans go nuts.

If you haven't seen this, especially in context, it might seem ridiculous to identify "And look who's coming up," as the single best moment in a career that spanned over 60 years and countless events.  It's one of my all-time favorites, though, and it's something I like to watch every year or so. It's hard to describe just why I love it so much, but to me it blends my favorite sport, a great announcer, and history in a moment that never fails to rekindle my love of baseball.

Fall Book Preview (that is, a list of upcoming books that I want to read)

Nothing against literary fiction, mind you, but I'm focusing on the books I really want to buy this fall.
Here, in no particular order, are books I might actually read and would love to get this season:

1) American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin: An account of the Patty Hearst case, loaded with social context, no doubt.

2) Powerhouse by James Andrew Miller: The guy behind the oral histories of ESPN and "SNL" (what exactly did credited co-author Tom Shales do on those books, anyway? Nobody ever seems to talk with HIM about them) returns to tell the story of Creative Artists Agency.

3) Monsters in the Movies by John Landis: OK, the guy may be liable for a few movie set deaths here and there, but he knows his monsters! This is actually a paperback reissue of a book that came out 5 years ago. I confess I totally missed the original.

4) Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hell's Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day by Joel Selvin: Title says it all.

(Note: Books 1-4 are all out now)

5) Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by Robert Bader: I think we can count on this Marx expert to deliver a fantastic read. (October)

6) That's Me, Groucho: the Solo Career of Groucho Marx by Matthew Coniam: Sounds great, but it's from McFarland, so unfortunately, it's 40 bucks MSRP for 188 pages. (September)

7) The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H.W. Brands: I enjoy Brands' works of popular history, and this should be a good read. (October)

8) Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen: I'm not a hardcore fan of the Boss, but I'm curious to see how this book turns out. (September)

9) Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy by Mike Love and James S. Hirsch: Yes, Brian Wilson has a memoir coming out, too, but I have to admit I'd much rather this one even if I won't believe all of it. (September)

10) Disco Demolition: The Night Disco Died by Steve Dahl and Dave Hoekstra: Tells the story of the infamous disaster known as Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979, an event that got out of control and actually led to the cancellation of the second game of a doubleheader. What a great idea for a book! (August 30)

11) Based on a True Story: A Memoir by Norm McDonald: How could this not at least merit a look?
(September 20)

12) The Best of Shoe by Jeff MacNelly: On one level, a hardcover collection almost seems inappropriate for this strip, but since nobody's making pocket-size paperback reprints anymore, it'll have to do. (October)

13) Super Weird Heroes (Various) Giant Yoe Books anthology of oddball Golden Age comic book stories.

14) TV: The Book: Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz: That title is a lot more pretentious than these guys' actual writing. Two perceptive and entertaining critics use this gimmick to survey all of TV history. I expect an addictive read.(September)

15) A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph: This sounds fabulous: An exploration of film collecting and a history of the FBI's efforts to harass the collecting community in the 1970s. (August 25)

Shameless self-promotion: Underrated baseball movies at ClassicFlix (plus my favorite "modern" ones)

Check out my newest feature at ClassicFlix: a look at underrated baseball films. Tell 'em Cultureshark sent you, and don't you dare miss it!

Underrated Baseball Films
By Rick Brooks

As a lover of both baseball and old movies, I enjoy discussions of the best films about the national pastime. Unfortunately, too often arguments begin, say, 40 years ago and concentrate on modern times while excluding fine works from Hollywood's past. The Pride of the Yankees is deservedly beloved; one of the iconic movies of the golden age of studio filmmaking, but it often stands alone as the token "classic" choice in the conversation.

(Click here to read the rest)

 

Now, this piece looks only at pre-1970 efforts. Some of my favorite post-1970 baseball movies include:

 

*The Natural (I loved it as a kid and hadn't read the novel beforehand. I was puzzled that so many grumbled about it at the time).

 

*Field of Dreams (Sappy? Yes, but I confess I liked it much more than "Bull Durham," which I almost didn't even consider a baseball movie at first because I was so annoyed by Susan Sarandon. I should revisit that one.)

 

*The Naked Gun (Hey, the last, what, 20 minutes takes place at a ballpark, and it's some of the funniest baseball movie footage this side of "The Babe Ruth Story.")

 

*The Rookie (Underappreciated recent gem--earnest and moving with a great Dennis Quaid performance)

 

I think all things considered, the best baseball movie ever might be John Sayles' Eight Men Out, which really brought a fascinating historical era to life. 42, by comparison, seems a bit sterile to me, though I think it is quite good in its own right.

 

Shameless Self-Promotion: TV--Uh, I mean, a REVIEW at ClassicFlix!

Please head on over to the good folks at ClassicFlix and check out my look at "It Happened in Flatbush," an entertaining movie combining baseball, Brooklyn, and Bub (the great William Frawley in a supporting role). Lloyd Nolan is top notch as always, and this is an underrated Fox picture that doesn't get mentioned in baseball movie lists (and stay tuned because I should have one of those coming to ClassicFlix as well).

Here's a sneak peek:

It Happened in Flatbush (Fox Cinema Archives)
By Rick Brooks

I'm a pushover for old movies that romanticize baseball, and It Happened to Flatbush certainly does that. However, this 1942 Fox film is not as much a love letter to the national pastime as much as it is one to Brooklyn. After credits roll over a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge, the whimsical opening titles inform us that the following fictional story occurs "on a strange island just off the eastern coast of the United States"...

Enjoy, and don't you dare miss it! Tell 'em Cultureshark sent ya!

Ball Bloopers

Last night, through the magic of Roku, I was wandering through local TV news from around the country (No need for an intervention--this is the only time I've done it, and I can quit whenever I want), and I somehow ended up watching an LA TV station's "Extra Innings" baseball highlights show. There was a segment on an Angels player and a ticker of MLB scores running at the bottom of the screen. Looked semi-interesting.

Turned out I was just in time for "Baseball Bloopers." Well, who isn't down for some amusing diamond mishaps? "Yakety Sax" started playing to get viewers in the mood.

First up was Cleveland Indian Mike Napoli's terrible slide into third base on a triple last week. He came up short and sort of sputtered his way to the bag. It looked awful and made for a classic blooper, especially with the wacky music and the shots of teammates cracking up in the dugout. Good stuff if you're into "The Lighter Side of Baseball."

But the next two Baseball Bloopers were home plate umpires getting nailed in the family jewels with baseball. Ouch! Now, we have a proud tradition in this country of laughing at men getting hit in the balls with balls, but often a funny fail video will give us a shot of the victim laughing, giving a thumbs up, or otherwise providing some indication that he's OK.

Not so "Baseball Bloopers"on "Extra Innings." After each shot of a poor fella being smacked in the nether region, the producers showed a catcher and/or team trainer attending to the hunched-over ump. The effect was to make the impact seem WORSE. It was like they wanted to reinforce that each blow wasn't something they could just shake off, but a painful, devastating injury.

And by the way, "Yakety Sax" played the whole damn time! You know, just so we remembered that these were funny bloopers, not just chilling snapshots of the last moments two adult males were able to conceive children.

I guess if they had played "Shake It Off," it would have been worse.

Shameless Self-Promotion: The Kid from Cleveland reviewed at ClassicFlix

I have a new review up at ClassicFlix, and it's a fun "social problems" movie that happens to have a ton of footage of the old Cleveland Indians--Paige, Feller, Boudreau...even Tris Speaker and Bill Veeck. Check it out, and tell 'em Cultureshark sent ya!

http://classicflix.com/Baseball-Fights-Juvenile-Delinquency-in-The-Kid-from-Cleveland-r-2422.html

Baseball Fights Juvenile Delinquency in The Kid from Cleveland      
Olive Films' Blu-Ray release of Republic Pictures' 1949 feature The Kid from Cleveland is a fascinating time capsule for fans of baseball history that includes vintage game footage of the Cleveland Indians, as well as numerous glimpses of the team's personnel "acting" in this socially relevant drama about juvenile delinquency...

MIA: The Baseball Bunch

Ready to play
We're learning the way
To do it right
We're the Baseball Bunch

Let us talk about the power of Cultureshark. You will remember that some time ago I wrote about the mysterious disappearance of "Gimme a Break" from the pop culture landscape. Mere months later, Nell-a-holics--or is it Breakers--must be giddy with the show's surfacing on TV One. Perhaps today's post will be a lucky charm to resurrect this program: "The Baseball Bunch."

When I first thought about this 1980s Major League Baseball production, it was when baseball season was starting up, and I looked on YouTube for episodes and found virtually nothing. Now there is at least one episode available, but it doesn't have the theme song. I appreciate the upload, but The Baseball Bunch without its theme song is like Ozzie Smith without his glove. Hey, guess who just happens to be in that episode?

Yep, it's the Wizard of Oz, who gives the kids some fielding tips and is showcased in a montage of his fantastic defensive plays set to the music of--ah, ah, ah, I'm not going to say it for the same reason I'm not linking to that episode. Why give someone another reason to yank it? Suffice to say the song is a soft rock staple of the early 1980s, a mellow tune with a title spot-on for a sequence of Ozzie Smith plays.

The premise of "The Baseball Bunch" is simple: Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench hangs around with a bunch of kids and teaches them lessons about baseball and sportsmanship because...well, he's not their coach. He's not related to them. He's...He's...Hmm, maybe the premise isn't as simple as I thought. But it is a lot more innocent than I just made it sound.

The episode I watched recently had all the elements I wanted to see besides that theme song, though. There were some good tips, a cameo by a star player, and most importantly, Johnny Bench being exasperated by the San Diego Chicken. Come to think, he kind of comes off as a bit of a jerk. You spent a decade sharing a clubhouse with Pete Rose, but you can't tolerate the lovable Chicken's zany mix-ups? What we DO miss in this episode is Tommy Lasorda as a genie (I don't remember ever cursing a Dodger Blue streak on the mascot on the show, but if he did, someone send me the audio). You just don't get those kind of hijinks from Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

In fact, you don't get this kind of show, period, anymore. I wouldn't want to see MLB try to do this today, as it would probably be lame and forced. The Bunch appeared in first-run syndication from 1980 to 1985, and these days game shows, courtroom shows, and talk shows rule first run, not shows that are...good. There IS one remaining bastion of syndicated kid-friendly programming, though: the numerous weekend and early-morning E/I slots waiting to be filled by TV shows that somehow trick the FCC into believing they are educational. I'd like to see reruns of "The Baseball Bunch" fill some of those E/I positions. I mean, Jack Hanna can't take care of all those hours, can he?

The least Major League Baseball could do is just make those episodes available on its own network. MLB Network runs the same talking heads shows over and over again, especially during the offseason. I think it could spare the time to run a few "Bunch" episodes. A DVD release would be welcome, too, something like the surprise 1978 season set of "This Week in Baseball" they quietly introduced last year. Actually, the LEAST MLB could do would be to just dump them up on YouTube, and I'd be fine with that. I just want to see Johnny Bench, the Chicken, and Spike, Katie, Butch, Donna, Red, Myron, Darnell, Christina, and Th'Qaar VI (OK, I may have fabricated the kids' names) released from captivity so they can teach me and my kids the right way to play.

We've got a hunch you'll love
The Baseball Bunch!

Baseball plus TV plus self-promotion = this post

My latest TV Time column is now up at ClassicFlix together. Get revved up for the pennant drive by checking out my All-Star team of baseball players who appeared on classic TV shows:

http://classicflix.com/beta/TV-Time-Baseball-Players-on-Primetime-a-28.html

TV Time: Baseball Players on Primetime
By Rick Brooks

One national pastime arrives around springtime each year, while another one never goes away. Yes, baseball’s return is a cherished annual ritual, but one might argue the real national pastime is watching television. Baseball and television together is a powerful combination.

Here, then, is my All-Star team, by position, of major league players based on their appearances in classic television. We’ll focus on the days before everything was changed by rampant commercialization and ridiculous salaries. Baseball was pretty different then, too.

Let's start in the outfield with a trio of Hall of Famers who were New York superstars and national icons. Instead of going with a strict left field, right field, center field arrangement, I couldn't resist choosing, as the Terry Cashman song puts it, Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.

OF: Willie (read more)

Speaking on Sports

I compiled some sports-related "Shark Bytes"-ish comments into a single post. If you aren't into sports, though, feel free to turn right to the page with the horoscopes and the Jumble.

*I don't know why so many of us thought that Fox Sports 1 might provide a decent alternative to ESPN's Sportscenter, but we kind of did. My early thoughts are that the clutter is too much, the highlights are too little. and I can do without the panel segments. I haven't seen much of the personalities yet, but I just don't think there's anyone there besides Charissa Thompson who is compelling enough to keep me from changing the channel. That said, I like the idea of someone making an effort to give the Worldwide Leader some competition.

*I caught a little bit of ESPN2's new "Olbermann" the other night. This show stars former Sportscenter anchor...Larry Biel. No, it's Keith Olbermann, of course, and he is full-on Olbermann for better or worse. I thought what I saw was pretty good, but I was puzzled that he led off with a Johnny Manziel monologue, then had John McEnroe on to talk about Johnn Manziel. I love Johnny Mac, and it was a decent enough chat, but it was in the middle of the U.S. Open. Eventually Keith thanked McEnroe for leaving the tournament early to come to the studio, and I thought, "OK, next segment, they'll talk about tennis." But, nope, that was it! Maybe Tim Tebow will buy a racket and start taking lessons, and then the sport will be important enough to be spotlighted on ESPN's main shows.

*At some point it became acceptable for announcers and sports journalists to talk about "my" team, meaning the teams they root for. That was a terrible point in sports media history. I think hearing some guy talk about "my Patriots" or whoever in the middle of an analysis segment is even worse than hearing him talk about players being on his fantasy team.

*I have long hated the Philadelphia Eagles so much I don't even want to sit through their games long enough to root for their opponent, but with Chip Kelly putting in a fast-paced offense, the team might actually be fun to watch. That's good to know as we get ready for the weekly NFC East Game of the Week on Fox and NBC.

*I don't know if I can ever be more than a casual college football fan again. It's the combination of what happened at Penn State ("my" Penn State, that is) and the idiocy of the NCAA and all the off-field nonsense. Oh, well. I still check out the games when I can.

*Fascinating story by Don Van Natta for ESPN on the possibility of Bobby Riggs throwing the infamous Battle of the Sexes tennis match with Billie Jean King. I feel sorry for King, who has been proud of her victory for years and now has to confront the possibility that Riggs tanked to settle gambling debts. "Outside the Lines" had a good piece on this story. Hey, you know what would have improved it, though? Inviting John McEnroe to come on and give his take...on Johnny Manziel.

*This is a dumb thing to place as the seventh bullet point, but the one thing that annoys me about the advent of football season is how many people are willing to kick baseball to the curb.

*I've been waiting for the cheapskate special on MLB.TV. Last year, membership from September 1 to the end of the season was only $10. This year, the special is in effect now, and it's $20. I don't even think there's any discount there. It might just be a prorated amount based on the regular season price. Point being, it really isn't a cheapskate special at all. MLB, I guess you don't want my money, or at least the small amount of money I was willing to give you after not paying you all season for the regular version of your product. Well, fine, then!

On the Road: PNC Park (Part 3)

Still MORE stuff I learned while watching some baseball with my father in the 'Burgh...

*"Turn It On Again" by Genesis is a pretty cool song in the right circumstance: PNC Park played this Wednesday night to get the fans excited...then abandoned it. Hey, it's a pretty good "get pumped" song. I am all in favor of more Philbert Collins at the ballpark. I would support a campaign to make him Official MLB Ambassador of Getting Pumped.

*The National Anthem is also pretty stirring, even in a 'Burgh accent: Before Wednesday's game, the Steel City Enrico Caruso several rows behind us sang along to the "Star Spangled Banner" in full Pittsburgh voice. In fact, I was surprised the guy didn't sing, "O, say, can yinz see?"

After his spirited, entertaining, but not disrespectful rendition, the guy told his companions he was "fired up." Was it the game? Was it the song? Was it Phil Collins? I suspect it was the beer, as I heard him mention he had been drinking earlier. (Un)fortunately, he was pretty quiet once the game started.

*Pittsburghers, like fans everywhere, can have the dumbest arguments: And of course the level of discourse in the stands is inversely proportionate to the amount of beer flowing. The second night we were at the yard, Dad and I overheard some of the most inane chatter imaginable. A fan of that night's visitor, the Atlanta Braves, was in a heated running debate with some tanked hometown faithful about 10 rows down.

I can only hint at the conversation because we unfortunately forgot to send a self-addressed stamped envelope and request a transcript before we left town. Basically the talk degenerated quickly into hockey boasting, with the Bucco booster asking, "Does your town have an NHL team?" He said it more like a statement than a question, as if it alone was the definitive end to the baseball argument they were having. This led, of course, to an attempt to compare Stanley Cups won and Super Bowl rings.

The oddest thing about this chat session, and the thing that made it one of the most absurd I've ever heard in my life, was the fact that the Atlanta representative was wearing a Pirates hat. This stimulated a natural question, namely, "Why are you wearing a Pirates hat?" The unhelpful but amusing (to us) reply? "I NEVER liked them!"

This whole scenario was a solid argument in favor of cutting off beer sales at a certain point in the game, but I will say that at no point did it become too obnoxious. It mostly ran throughout the evening as occasionally jarring but mostly entertaining background chatter. Dodger fans get to take a radio and listen to Vin Scully as they sit and enjoy a game; Pirate fans get to sit back, stretch out, and take in the sounds of intelligent conversation such as that.

On the road: PNC Park (part 1)

My dad and I enjoyed an outstanding road trip to see a few Pirates games at PNC Park a few weeks ago, and I learned a lot during our visit to the Best Ballpark in America. This week Here is some of the wisdom I can pass along to you:

1) PNC Park is the Best Ballpark in America: Don't believe me? Just ask anyone that works there. It's on banners, it's in their promotional videos...I suspect if we had gotten a speeding citation within earshot of the stadium, the cop would have scribbled it on the ticket. Hey, when your team hasn't had a winning season since 1992, this is the kind of thing you market.

2) Manny's there on the weekends: It seems like every major league stadium has a food stand area that is allegedly owned and operated by a former team standout. At PNC, Manny's BBQ sells...salads and low-fat smoothies. No, I'm kidding; it sells BBQ, and I suppose it sells the prestige of eating at former Bucco catcher Manny Sanguillen's place. In reality, the pulled pork was pretty good, but there wasn't an actual "place" with tables so much as a tent where you paid for and then left to go find somewhere to stand and eat, and the old backstop wasn't there. A guy came up as we were getting our grub and asked, "Where's the old catcher?" In fact he asked it several times before he grasped what the worker told him, that he only shows up on the weekends (this was Wednesday, and Manny must have been at home prepping another colossal batch of BBQ sauce). "Tell him his old golfing buddy ___ showed up to say hi," the guy said. I guess he wanted a little more of a connection that just a sandwich. The woman staffing the BBQ stand, to her credit, didn't roll her eyes.

3) Manny may not be there, but the camera is ALWAYS there: One evening, during one of those ubiquitous "let's show fans dancing while we blare rock music" segments between innings, the giant scoreboard showed men and women, young and old, all getting down to U2's "Vertigo." Then we suddenly got a shot of a girl about 7 or 8 who was finding a different kind of groove--a tunnel in her right nostril, one she was digging with her own finger. Not all Pirates fans like to search for buried treasure, but, yes, some of us do.

She realized right away she was on the big board and yanked that finger out, clearly mortified, but at that point it was too late. The segment was no longer about enjoying the music. My dad and I felt terrible for the poor little girl. Oh, we laughed our asses off, of course, but we felt terrible.

More to come this week. Stay tuned!