Baseball Between Us

The Red Sox never made it to the playoffs and the Boston Globe did some great original reporting to find out why. Turns out the Red Sox choked on their own arrogance.

There were too many egos and a circus atmosphere that allowed certain players to drink beer and eat chicken and biscuits in the clubhouse – while the game was in progress!

Throw in a distracted manager who was going through a divorce and allegedly living on pain pills and you have a recipe for disaster! No wonder the GM Theo Epstein is leaving for Chicago. In the meantime, you can read all about it here:

Red Sox Collapse

Victor Martinez, the embattled designated hitter for the Detroit Tigers, hit a massive home run Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers. But Martinez injured himself on the swing. In fact, he was in so much pain that he couldn’t even trot around the bases and had to walk part of the way home.

Dead Man Walking

But Martinez showed plenty of grit by staying in the game and vowed also to return for Game 4 on Wednesday. In fact when asked if he was positive about playing, Martinez channeled his inner Yogi and said, “The only way that I don’t play tomorrow is if I wake up and I’m dead.”

I love this game!

The beauty of baseball is that it’s unpredictable.  Or as baseball scholar Yogi Berra once said, “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

Yogi was right. The baseball experts predicted the Phillies were a lock to win it all.  They were wrong. The Cardinals picked that lock and showed they are the better team. The experts predicted the Red Sox would be American League champs. Instead they became American League chumps. Click here to see how many pundits punted on their predictions:

The Experts Were Wrong

I must confess I fell for it. At the beginning of the season, I truly believed the Red Sox and Phillies would meet in the World Series. I mean after all, the Phillies had assembled one of the greatest rotations in baseball with Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt and Lee, plus a  kid named Vance Worley from Sacramento’s McClatchy High School, who won 11 games for Philadelphia this year. The Phillies were loaded for bear, but the Cardinals were hungrier. Who knew?

In the American League, the Red Sox featured  a powerful lineup with David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez leading the way. Boston’s pitching was superb on paper: Beckett, Buchholz, Lackey and Lester plus Wakefield – with Papelbon the fireman to save the day. Who could know that injuries would make the names on the roster look like invisible ink? Or as Yogi Berra put it,  “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.”

So now that the Red Sox and Phillies are history – and my favorite team, the Yankees are toast – it’s time to predict who will win the World Series.  I’ve decided I’m done making predictions. Instead I will root for two teams that have never captured the flag: the Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers. Both have goose eggs when it comes to World Series Championships, so why not crown a new winner this year, just for fun? While the “smart money” is probably on the Tigers and Cardinals – I’ll just root with my heart for the two underdogs (I mean after all the Brewers have a losing record on the road). But the Brewers are exciting to watch with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, while the Rangers have great players in Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. Plus Ron Washington is a great manager who is very under-rated.

For a look at previous World Series Champions, click here:

We Are The Champions

While the Yankees lead the way with 27 Championships,  maybe this year we’ll have a new winner. After all, as Yogi once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

It was 50 years ago this week that Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season into the Yankee Stadium seats. There were only 23,000 fans in attendance to see the historic event and they were less than enthusiastic. Why? Because in their eyes, the wrong Yankee had just beaten Babe Ruth’s 34-year old record. Yankee fans were in love with Mickey Mantle and wanted him to break the record, but the Mick ended the season with 54 homers. The other half of the M&M Boys, Roger Maris was the guy who hit 61. New Yorkers never really counted Maris as a true Yankee – after all he didn’t originate from within the system like Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

The Forgotten Record

Yet Maris’s record would last for 37 years, until the bulging biceps of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa would eclipse that feat in 1998. Of course McGwire and Sosa are now tainted with the stigma of performance-enhancing drugs, as is Barry Bonds, who set the single season home run record with 73 in 2001.

Many baseball purists believe Maris should be credited with the single season record. But even that is controversial. For every heroic deed it seems there must be an anti-heroic force trying to undermine it. And in 1961 it was Ford Frick, the all-powerful commissioner of baseball.  Frick was a baseball traditionalist who idolized Babe Ruth, who hit 60 home runs in 1927, when the baseball season was just 154 games long.

Baseball expanded its season from 154 games to 162 in 1961 in order to add two new teams – the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators.  But because Roger Maris hit his 61st homer on the last game of the season, Frick declared his record should be marked by an asterisk * to indicate that Babe Ruth – and not Roger Maris – was the real home run king.

Never mind the fact that Maris had missed a couple of games and ended up with only seven more at bats in 1961.  Frick was determined to slight the Bronx Bomber with a lesser achievement.  It wasn’t until many years later that a new baseball commissioner by the name of Fay Vincent would remove the asterisk from the record books forever, crediting Roger with the glory he so justly deserved.

Roger Maris is buried in his home town of Fargo, North Dakota. I visited his burial site several years ago with my son Matt, who spotted Maris’s diamond-shaped gravestone.

Roger Maris grave site in Fargo, North Dakota

As we got closer, I noticed it said “Maris” on it, with the words “61 in ’61” etched into the marble, along with the phrase, “Against All Odds” – the same words inscribed on a plaque in Yankee Stadium.

As I walked closer I noticed a dozen baseballs at the base of the grave, each of them a gift from fans, offering a simple tribute to the man who symbolized Fargo in death as in life.

Kneeling at the gravesite, I was overcome with emotion. Here was the burial spot of the man who had won the American League MVP award in 1961. As a right fielder, Maris had a powerful arm that could gun down any runner who tried to score from second base. More than anything, Maris wanted to be known as a complete ballplayer and not just a home run hitter.

I silently thanked Roger for all the great baseball memories he had provided me in my youth – how he and Mickey, “the M&M Boys,” had enriched my life with the love of baseball.

“Thanks for giving me a passion for the game,” I whispered to Roger’s grave. “And thanks for being a dedicated dad and devoted family man – that’s truly the greatest accomplishment any man can achieve,” I said silently.

Here we are in the hunt for October’s grand prize – the World Series trophy, but I’ll be thinking about Roger Maris – and how he hit that 61st home run on October 1, 1961 – a feat that is overlooked by many, but something true baseball fans should never forget.

You can read much more about Roger Maris in Baseball Between Us, which will be released on March 1, 2012.

I’m excited to share some good news. Bernie Williams, the 5-time All Star for the New York Yankees and current Jazz guitarist, just gave me a big endorsement for my book.

Bernie Williams Endorses Baseball Between Us

I interviewed Bernie two years ago in Sacramento, where he was promoting his new jazz album Moving Forward

Here’s a great video of Bernie performing a baseball classic at the old Yankee Stadium:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

From 1991 – 2006, Bernie Williams patrolled the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, where he ruthlessly gunned down any runner trying to stretch a single into an extra base hit. But the six foot two muscular athlete is now “Moving Forward” into a successful musical career.

Williams’ first album made the Billboard Top 100. His second release on Reform Records features jazz legend Dave Koz, singer Jon Secada and a live performance of “Glory Days” with the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. But the inspiration for Moving Forward comes from somewhere else. The album “marks being in a sort of transitional period between being a professional athlete and just kind of segueing in this other career,” Williams says. And the person who best personified that transition for Williams was another talented athlete turned jazz musician. Wayman Tisdale played Power Forward for the Sacramento Kings from 1989 1994, before launching his own jazz/funk career. Wayman teamed up with Bernie Williams on this album, playing bass on the title track in one of Tisdale’s last performances before he tragically died of cancer in May 2009.

“He was a great influence,” Williams reflected. “He was the person I guess who I sort of modeled myself after,” he continues, “and the fact that he was a person who was very successful in sports, he made a very successful transition into the music arena. Then he was in jazz, even though he could probably play everything. And you know, I’d look at that example and I’d say ‘Well, if he can do it, why can’t I?'”

If Tisdale was an inspiration for the aspiring musician, then Bruce Springsteen was his closer. The two stars met at Yankee Stadium following a game. Williams’ teammate, Paul O’Neil, brought Springsteen into the clubhouse where Bernie just happened to have his guitar on hand. “It was actually a brand new Telecaster,” he recalled. “I had a pen and I said I would like for him to sign a ball, but you know, he might as well sign my guitar.” Springsteen handled the request like a pro. “Oh this is great,” he said. “This is kind of unusual to sign a guitar in a clubhouse, a baseball clubhouse,” Then he wrote, “To Bernie, if you ever get tired of baseball – Bruce Springsteen.”

To read more from my interview with Bernie Williams,  click here: Bernie Williams Interview

Bernie is now touring the East Coast and his next stop is Ridgefield, Connecticut, where my brother Russ is hoping to catch him in concert: Bernie Williams on Tour

I’m honored that Bernie likes the book. Ed Sprague likes it too – he’s the Head Baseball Coach at the University of the Pacific in Stockton – and World Series star for the Toronto Blue Jays. Ed is the only player in baseball history to win back-to-back college World Series (Stanford University 1987 and 1988) and Major League Baseball World Series (Toronto Blue Jays 1992 and 1993) and also win a Gold Medal in the Olympics (USA 1988).

Baseball Between Us Endorsements

Baseball Between Us will be in the stores March 1, 2012, but is now available for pre-orders via Amazon’s Web site:

Pre-Order Book on Amazon

In the meantime, I’m providing updates on my Facebook page.

Baseball Between Us on Facebook

I hope you will “like” it!

Mariano Rivera of the Yankees has done it again, pitching a scoreless 9th inning in relief to record another save, his 599th. In shutting down the Angels, Rivera is now just two saves away from tying Trevor Hoffman, baseball’s all-time saves leader with 601.

Rivera Gets 599th Save

Rivera shut the door on the Halos to notch his 40th save of the season and help the Yanks snap a 4-game losing streak, with a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Bronx Bombers are now 3.5 games ahead of the Red Sox with 17 left to go. Rivera has pitched in 57 games this year with a 2.13 ERA.

As the 41-year old veteran took the mound today, he peered into the glove of a catcher nearly half his age. Austin Romine, a 22-year old rookie entered the game in the 7th inning as a defensive replacement, for his Major League debut. With youth behind the plate and experience on the mound, Rivera simply mowed down the Angels to prove he is a timeless wonder, who will most likely break Hoffman’s record before the season is over. There’s little doubt that when Rivera does retire, he will be considered the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history.

Stephen Strasburg threw nothing but goose eggs in shutting down the Dodgers for his 2011 debut. The triple-digit hurler struck out 4 and pitched 5 scoreless innings in his first Major League start of 2011.

Strasburg Fans Four

The Washington Ace left the game leading 3-0, but sadly for the Nationals, Strasburg’s rehab assignment was overshadowed by shoddy relief pitching, which led to a 7-3 victory for the visiting Dodgers. Still, Strasburg was brilliant for five innings, throwing 56 pitches, 40 of them for strikes. The Dodgers couldn’t catch up with his fastball, clocked at 99 miles-per-hour on the radar gun.

Strasburg Hits 99 MPH

Imagine how much fun the Nationals will be next year with Strasburg on the mound – and hitting phenom Bryce Harper in the lineup.

The Washington Nationals won’t make the playoffs this year, but they’ll be the center of attention Tuesday night September 6, when pitching phenomenon Stephen Stasburg takes the mound for his 2011 Major League debut. Strasburg, whose fastball has been clocked in triple digits,  hasn’t pitched in a more than a year, after injuring his  torn ulnar collateral ligament. He’s been through Tommy John surgery and will be facing the Dodgers Tuesday night – for no more than five innings, as the Nationals are being very cautious with their franchise player.

Strasburg Video

Strasburg is represented by super agent Scott Boras, who says his star client is now 15% stronger than before he was hurt.

Boras Says Strasburg Stronger Than Ever

Strasburg is expected to pitch 5 times before the season is over – against the Dodgers, Astros, Marlins, Phillies and Marlins again. He is one of baseball’s most exciting players and should be fun to watch. Imagine the excitement next year of seeing Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper playing on the same field for the Nationals.

Scott Boras on Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper is of course, the 18 year old phenom who’s considered by many scouts and seasoned baseball experts to be the top prospect in all of Major League Baseball.

The San Francisco Giants have scored fewer runs than any other Major League team. They don’t cross home plate very often. But a front office employee is now accused of trying to steal a home against them. The team’s payroll  manager is now facing felony charges for allegedly embezzling $1.5 million from Giants players, by diverting money from their direct deposit accounts.

The payroll manager might have gotten away with it, but she was thrown out after trying to buy a home in San Diego. The bank grew suspicious because the loan application listed $300,000 in bonuses for helping the team win the 2010 World Series. Really? How does a payroll manager help the team win a championship? The FBI was brought in – and with that, the game was over.

Here’s the inside scoop from investigative reporter Dan Noyes:

She Tries to Steal Home Against the Giants, Gets Caught by FBI

In Boston, they rave about Fenway Franks – the delicious hotdogs you’ll find at Fenway Park. But did you know you can also get a Lobster Roll there? I tried one on my last visit to Fenway – and found it to be a delicious New England treat – and something you won’t find at any other ballpark. Chomping down on a Lobster Roll and singing “Sweet Caroline” in the 8th inning makes Fenway a fabulous place to see a game – whether you root for the Red Sox or not.

Meanwhile, Boston’s arch rivals, the New York Yankees, offer a delicious Philly Cheesesteak at Yankee Stadium. It seems incredible but you’ll become a true believer next time you visit the House that Ruth Built (II).

And if you’re ever in Baltimore, be sure to visit Boog’s BBQ, run by Boog Powell, the American League MVP in 1970. I got to meet Boog at Oriole Park at Camden Yards three years ago and he’s always happy to talk baseball or BBQ ribs.

If you’re looking for cuisine that is  completely different, try the Walleye (fish) sandwiches at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. You’ll find it at Town Ball Tavern, which features pictures of semi-pro parks from around Minnesota – and also includes the original hardwood floor from the Minneapolis Armory – where the Lakers hosted basketball fans from 1947 – 1960 before moving to Los Angeles. Target Field features everything from Asian wok cooking to bratwurst on the grill. While you’re there, be sure to savor the flavor of “Twins Brews”, featuring lagers from Minnesota and Wisconsin, including my personal favorite Leinenkugel. And since you’re watching the Twins, it’s perfectly okay to  have two.

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers may be near the bottom of the National League West, but their franks are the top dog. The Dodger Dog is a classic at 10.75 inches long, sitting plush on a steamed bun. Fans can get them either steamed or grilled “the classic” way, which is my personal favorite, loaded with mustard and chopped onions.

In San Francisco, I love the hot dogs at AT&T Park, hot off the grill and loaded with sauerkraut.  You’ll find them at the Doggie Diners located throughout the park. And for a real treat try Orlando’s for the authentic Caribbean Cha Cha Bowl, plus tri-tip sandwiches. Or if you’re in a crabby mood – there’s the Crazy Crab Wharf, featuring a grilled crab sandwich and crab cocktails, located in the Promenade Level above Center Field.

And for dessert, be sure to sample the pearls of wisdom from Yogi Berra – a compilation of quotes from baseball’s wisest philosopher, located on the left field wall near the Coke sign – they’ll give you food for thought. Or as Yogi once said, “You better cut the pizza into four pieces – I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”

And if you’re still hungry, check out this menu of ballpark samplings from this blogger from Chicago:

Bleacher Report

You can read all about ballpark food and baseball in my book, Baseball Between Us, coming out next March – just in time for spring training. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your personal favorites when it comes to stadium cuisine – just log in to share your comments.