Quote made by George Herman “Babe” Ruth As of now, Jose Molina holds the distinction of having hit the final home run at Yankee Stadium. Opening day April 18, 1923 The Babe hit the first home run: a three run shot that helped the pinstripes defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-1. Since then, the Yankees have won 26 World Championship titles and 39 American League Pennants. Love them or despise them the legacy left at the stadium will leave an indelible mark long after the last brick is hauled away and the new stadium is opened mere feet away.

Not only has Yankee Stadium been home to the Bronx Bombers, there have been multiple other events staged at the cathedral. 4 popes have said mass. Boxing matches have been held. The New York Giants played their home games from 1956-1973. Multiple movies have been filmed there (Die Hard with a Vengeance, Big, Anger Management, and of course The Pride Of the Yankees to name a few). George Costanza worked there as the “Assistant to the Traveling Secretary.” Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, and Simon and Garfunkel have all performed concerts at the venue.

My earliest memories of the stadium were during the 1977 World Series and Game Six of the series when “Mr. October” himself hit three home runs. Only 4 years old, but yes, I do remember watching it on television with Howard Cosell’s luminous tones broadcasting. I also do remember the Reggie Bar. Of course, I was raised on stories of the Greats: DiMaggio, Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi, and more.

So, although the Bombers will not be present in the post season for the first time in (I believe) 12 seasons, the cathedral was closed tonight in style.

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Final score: Yankees 7, Orioles 3. Andy Pettite gets the win and Jose Molina indeed hit the last dinger. Ironically, a Yankee pitcher hit the first and a catcher hit the final homer. Now… GO CUBBIES!

While chuckling through one of the daytime serials that my mother insists upon DVRing while she drives the school bus, a newsbreak came on and announced the following: “A little league player is told that he can no longer pitch because he is too good. He throws a 40mph fast ball.” Nine-year old Jericho Scott is like many a young man who enjoys playing baseball in a summer league in Connecticut; however, he finds himself in the middle of a full blown controversy. Opposing teams have forfeited games when they see the pitcher on the mound. Officials for the league have threatened to dismantle Jericho’s team, and either redistribute the players to the other teams, or offer the kids a refund of the $50 sign-up fee. However, Jericho’s coach has not given up and refuses to disband the team.

I suppose there are two ways to look at this. I’m not sure that at nine years of age, I would like to face an opposing pitcher who threw at 40mph. Parents may not want to face the outcome if their child is hit by a ball of such velocity. However, it was reported that Jericho has yet to have his pitches hit even one batter.  Would this not make the opposing teams WANT to work even harder?

If you ask me, the one who is really suffering is Jericho, himself. He misses doing what he loves to do: pitching. Although he has played different positions, should he have to suffer when he has been told that he is really good at something? While thinking about the article, I began to see similarities to Jericho’s dilemma and adults in the work place. Many times, a person is told that he is OVER-qualified for a position because they have received advanced training in the field for which they have applied. Am I correct in assuming that this often boils down to the prospective employer not wanting to pay the person for time learning the trade?

I just think that this is a sad tale and a terrible position in which to place a nine-year-old. Punishing a child because he is “too good” is a horrible message to send to a child.

Ironically, this came to light mere days after a team from Hawaii defeated their Mexican opponents to capture the Little League World Series crown.

Recently there was an article on cubs.com about how it’s been 20 years since Wrigley Field started night games for the Chicago Cubs, i.e. got lights in their stadium.  That made me feel kind of old because I remember that event, and it was 20 years ago: 8-8-88.  Sigh.  Since when can I remember 20 years ago?  But anyway, I remember an elderly gentleman (turns out he was 91 in 1988 and actually remembered the Cubs winning the World Series in 1908 – a stark reminder that there is NO ONE left today who can say the same…) flipped the switch to turn on Wrigley Field’s lights for the first time ever.  Funnily enough, it was a bit too early in the evening, and many fans and spectators said they couldn’t see a difference in the lighting on the field.  But it was symbolic, and Wrigley Field finally had its lights, even if it was the last major league ball park to get them.  And the event was proven even more symbolic than functional that night when the game was postponed because of rain.  So the first FULL baseball game at Wrigley under the new lights was actually 8/9/88.

Apparently the lights were snuck into the field in the middle of the night, under cover, literally.  They were hoisted into place quickly by helicopters, for fear that protestors would shoot them in order to try to preserve the neighborhood’s charm and innocence.  But the plan was not foiled, and 20 years later, we still get to enjoy night games at Wrigley.  GO CUBBIES!!!

Recently Skip Caray passed away, a son of famed Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray.  Skip was actually famous for his work announcing the Atlanta Braves rather than the Cubs, but his death in the news made me think of his father and everything he brought to Cubs games.

Since I didn’t watch many Braves games, I wasn’t really familiar with Skip’s work, so I looked him up on wikipedia.com and found the following:

Skip Caray’s broadcasts were characterized by his witty and sarcastic sense of humor, a personality trait that endeared him to most fans, but alienated him from others.  For example, during a particularly long losing streak in the 1980s, Skip declared at the start of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates “And, like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field”.  More recently, in a game against the Florida Marlins, the Braves had loaded the bases, to which Caray quipped, “The bases are loaded, just like (Marlins manager) Jack McKeon probably wishes he was.” During the 2004 season, Caray frequently made fun of Braves relief pitcher, Jung Bong, declaring every time the opposing team got a hit against him, “that’s another hit off of Bong”. In 2008, a player popped a fly ball so high that Skip said “That would’ve been a home run in a phone booth.”

Sounds like a funny guy, and I’m sure he’ll be missed by legions of fans, much like his late father, Harry Caray, the voice of the Chicago Cubs.

I got this video via email from my mom the other day; it’s a piece the local newspaper did about my dad’s softball league.  When my dad tells me about his softball games, I wasn’t really picturing old men playing softball.  I mean, you don’t really see your parents as old people, at least I don’t…  but seeing some of the men in the league playing softball…  now those are old people playing softball!  My dad seems to be one of the younger of the bunch, and it is very admirable that they would all go out and do this at their age just for fun.  I just hope no one gets hurt, and they can continue having fun…  Thanks for sending this to me, Mom!

Click here to see a clip of the Naperville Illinois Senior Softball League

Ok, there is a war on drugs, a war on terror, a war on wars, but now awar on beer pong.

I never really heard of this game until I was with some young people just after my daughter’s wedding last summer. I never really saw much point to the game, and it seemed to me that the people playing were drinking just as much beer while playing the game as they were forced to by the other team making a point. Not much to the game at all.

But it was going to be released for the Wii and all heck breaks loose. I can see why you wouldn’t want to condone the game, but it isn’t any worse than some of the other games out there. Judge it with you Dollars folks. If you don’t like it don’t buy it. Bad products will fade away in time. Drawing it to our attention in the news is just free advertising. I didn’t see it there, but I wonder if beer pong spread anymore after the announcement of the beer pong fight…

Oh well…

Anyone care to join me the the Star Trek drinking game. 😉

This blog does not condone the use/abuse of alcohol. Please remember don’t drink and drive. Alcohol should only be used by adults over the age of 21.

IF you don’t like anything you read here, you can just ignore it. It may just go away on its own.

There seems to be a lot more shattered bats during a major league baseball game these days. I’ve heard the talk that the newer maple bats tend to shatter, while the ash just split. A news article I just read discusses this ‘new’ event in major league games.

I understand why they don’t use aluminum/metal bats in the major leagues. If you ever saw a ball jump off of the new metal bats in college ball, or even the local softball leagues, you can guess why you wouldn’t want one of those in the hands of a major league hitter. The pitcher would have to be 90 feet away just to be safe. I am wondering if some sort of material could be designed for baseball bats. Keep the elasticity (bounce of ball of the bat) the same as current wood bats, but have it much stronger to prevent splitting.

With the problems with Ash borers in the midwest (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and maybe Pennsylvania), there may be a supply problem with Ash baseball bats in the future anyway. I think they may need to do something, before more people get hurt sitting in the stands.

A little bit of sports trivia. The only bit of major pro sporting news yesterday was Baseball’s All Star Game. Today outside of that last game that really counts for yesterday’s scoreboard, there is no major pro sporting event going on.

No Pro Football, Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Hockey, Arena Football, or even Soccer. The British Open in Golf will start tomorrow. That’s right folks, today is a downer day for sports fans. After we finish talking about the All Star Game, there are no other scores to talk about. Tomorrow, until the British Open first round scores start coming in, and MLB starts again, there will be no scores to talk about.

Today is the one day for the year, you can be sure there will be no sport scores other than the game that started the day before. Interesting? or a MLB conspiracy? Will we ever find out?

Just thought you would like to know

It was the bottom of the 9th when I decided to check on Baseball’s All Star game. Little did I know it would continue into the 12th inning. I’m just watching it on Gameday, so I haven’t seen much of what has transpired. I do know that both teams have had scoring chances in those extra innings. The game should be over by now.

The game will now go into the 13th inning… They should be able to get everyone in now, don’t you think?

15 innings!!!

It is extremely interesting to learn that one of  the most recognizable  songs sung at sporting events has had such a long history.  The tune is celebrating its 100th anniversary and has only been officially sung at events since 1976 when Harry Carey (then a Chicago White Sox broadcaster) went from singing it between commercial breaks to himself to initiating the traditional seventh-inning stretch.  Funny how something that he initially frowned upon would become one of his trademarks.  So much so that after his death, celebrities were invited to go up to the box at Wrigley Field and sing to varying degrees of success.  Read the interesting history of the song

Take Me Out to the Ballgame Now 100