Baseball Randomness, Pt 1

1) For anyone who has been to both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, which did you like best?

I’ve technically been to both, though I’ve only seen games at Wrigley. One winter I was visiting a friend in Boston and before I took the train back to NJ I walked by Fenway and ended up getting to go inside for a few minutes to take some pictures. So, Wrigley at this point.

2) If you had been asked 10 years ago, would you ever have predicted that Matt Stairs would still be playing major league baseball in 2011?

Well, no.

3) Most useless stat… ever?

Let’s go with holds.

4) Was there ever a time in your life when you had a favorite baseball team other than the A’s?

Nope.

5) If you could play major league baseball, what would be your preferred position?

First base or pitcher.

6) Other than the A’s, which MLB team has the coolest uniforms?

I kind of like the simplicity of Kansas City’s home uniform but Detroit’s is a classic as well.

7) Spinning off #6, what is the ugliest MLB uniform ever?

Probably the San Diego brown and yellow or any of the all red ones worn by the Indians and Rangers in the 70s. I figured the ones by the White Sox the season they wore shorts was obvious as well. If we’re talking current, none of them are all that bad to me.

8) How would you rate Connie Mack? Great manager and poor owner? Great all around? Over-rated? Cool guy in a suit? Old guy in a suit?

Dead guy in a suit, now. He was a legend, though.

9) Greatest A’s (player) disappointment? (Someone you expected to be great, and it just didn’t happen.)

Too many to list here. Van Poppel, Grieve are just a couple.

10) How did the 1994-95 strike/lockout affect your fandom?

Not at all, and I was at A’s game that was the very last one to finish before the strike.

1) For anyone who has been to both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, which did you like best?

Been to Wrigley, but not Fenway, so I can’t compare.

2) If you had been asked 10 years ago, would you ever have predicted that Matt Stairs would still be playing major league baseball in 2011?

Always liked Matt, but no, I would never have thought he’d still be playing today.

3) Most useless stat… ever?

GWRBI. George Brett once said it was useless also… except at contract negotiation time.

4) Was there ever a time in your life when you had a favorite baseball team other than the A’s?

Was a Dodger fan from age 6 to about age 9. Young and impressionable. :-p

5) If you could play major league baseball, what would be your preferred position?

Catcher!

6) Other than the A’s, which MLB team has the coolest uniforms?

Detroit Tigers home unis, hands down.

7) Spinning off #6, what is the ugliest MLB uniform ever?

Late 70s Pirates, mid-70s Padres, early 80s Astros… so many from which to choose.

8) How would you rate Connie Mack? Great manager and poor owner? Great all around? Over-rated? Cool guy in a suit?

This one takes some thought. In spite of his overall losing record, I think he was a very good manager. Other forces, many of which were self-inflicted, but weren’t necessarily on-the-field related, factored into his losing record.

9) Greatest A’s (player) disappointment? (Someone you expected to be great, and it just didn’t happen.)

Mitchell Page. Ok, one very good year, one almost year, then nada I really had high hopes for him.

10) How did the 1994-95 strike/lockout affect your fandom?

I did a semi-boycott for about 4 to 5 years. Only went to two games in that time, and even then only because my son won free tickets in a raffle. By the time it was over I had really hard feeling toward both sides.

I’m running ou the door, but I’ll answer these later and REC it now!

1) Never been to either, so undecided
2) Not a chance
3) Most useless, yet also my favorite: lead off homeruns
4) Never
5) 2nd base (first left-handed 2nd baseman ever!)
6) Always liked the Royals
7) One word: camoflage
8) Can’t fault a guy with that many world series victories
9) Rich Harden, so tantalizing, never healthy. Makes me wonder what could have been.
10) It didn’t. I remember being 7 years old and going to see scrubs in A’s uniforms playing scrubs in Giants uniforms and enjoying myself

1. Haven’t been to either.
2. No
3. Reliver Hold
4. No
5. CF
6. Reds sleeveless w/ red undershirt
7. White Sox Shorts
8. Cool old guy
9. Todd van Poppel
10. It didn’t at all.

1. I’ve been to Wrigley, and I liked it, but not Fenway.
2. No
3. gotta be holds
4. I used to like the A’s and Giants equally.
5. Pitcher AND Catcher, like Ted Radcliffe.
6. HOME- Pirates, ROAD- Twins ALT- Royals THROWBACK- Dodgers
7. Toronto Blue Jays 2007-present
8. I actually WAS Connie Mack a couple of lives ago. Fine man, great manager,
        mediocre businessman at best.
9. Adam Piatt
10. I had grown away from baseball and into music during the early 90’s and the strike sealed the deal. I got my A’s fandom back in ’99, but my Giants love never returned.

1) Haven’t been to either, but I would love to go to both
2) Nope
3) Hmmm…….. not sure
4) Not really
5) Pitcher or 3B
6) Red Sox Alternate Home (the red one)
7) Not sure… camouflage sucks, but really most stuff that isn’t actually real (worn in the MLB). A lot of it is total trash.
8) Great guy. Absolutely amazing that he stayed in business for 50 years
9) Van Poppel is one, but there are a bunch
10) Not much, though it did disappoint me. I mean, I was just a kid, so I was just sad that they didn’t play.

1) For anyone who has been to both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, which did you like best?

Wrigley wins hands down for me, more so for who plays in it and even more, who watches in it. Steve Goodman is significantly less douchey than Neil Diamond. Red Sox fans just straight up suck. Every time I go to the Coliseum when the Red Sox are in town, I have to practice restraint in order to not get into a fight. That does not happen with any other group of fans. So in the end, they could play in effing Valhalla and I would not care.

2) If you had been asked 10 years ago, would you ever have predicted that Matt Stairs would still be playing major league baseball in 2011?

If you would have asked me if Stairs would be alive in a decade ten years ago, I’d have put the odds at even.

3) Most useless stat… ever?

Number of people slept with.

4) Was there ever a time in your life when you had a favorite baseball team other than the A’s?

No. I grew up an A’s fan in the middle of Indiana in the middle of them sucking in the early middle 80s.

5) If you could play major league baseball, what would be your preferred position?

Center field. It seems like the funnest.

6) Other than the A’s, which MLB team has the coolest uniforms?

Royals powder blues. I always liked the Twins unis, too.

7) Spinning off #6, what is the ugliest MLB uniform ever?

Those camo alts the Padres wear are hideous.

8) How would you rate Connie Mack? Great manager and poor owner? Great all around? Over-rated? Cool guy in a suit? Old guy in a suit?

Obviously a legend, but toward the end of that run, the fans had to think of him like Raiders fans think of Al Davis now: “Jesus, we love you, but wouldn’t you just die already?”

9) Greatest A’s (player) disappointment? (Someone you expected to be great, and it just didn’t happen.)

Bobby Crosby. His great rookie season, mixed with the subsequent disappointment and the departure of Miggy….damn. Especially painful watching Miggy in orange…

10) How did the 1994-95 strike/lockout affect your fandom?

My brother and me, who were season ticket holders prior to the strike, did not attend a single game until 1997. It was an intentional boycott. I would also say my brother’s fandom never recovered. He was an unrepentant baseball junkie prior to the strike and he has never bounced back. He never bought season tickets again. In fact, has baseball ever said they were sorry for that shite?

…Does anybody think his overall losing record as a manager detracts from his legacy?

1) For anyone who has been to both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, which did you like best?
Haven’t been
2) If you had been asked 10 years ago, would you ever have predicted that Matt Stairs would still be playing major league baseball in 2011?
Stairs could always swing it, so this isn’t entirely surprising
3) Most useless stat… ever?
catchers’ ERA
4) Was there ever a time in your life when you had a favorite baseball team other than the A’s?
I wouldn’t say favorite, but I watched a lot of Braves’ baseball on TBS when I was a kid. Still have a soft spot for them especially with Huddy there.
5) If you could play major league baseball, what would be your preferred position?
Pitcher
6) Other than the A’s, which MLB team has the coolest uniforms?
I like the “old style” Twins unis they wear in Target Field
7) Spinning off #6, what is the ugliest MLB uniform ever?
Mid 1980s White Sox unis. Don’t believe me? Click here
8) How would you rate Connie Mack? Great manager and poor owner? Great all around? Over-rated? Cool guy in a suit? Old guy in a suit?
Was around for 50 years. Must have done something right.
9) Greatest A’s (player) disappointment? (Someone you expected to be great, and it just didn’t happen.)
Ariel Prieto, Ben Grieve, Bobby Crosby, Dan Johnson
10) How did the 1994-95 strike/lockout affect your fandom?
Not in the slightest. I even went to a few exhibition games at the Coli with the replacement players.

1) I’ve been to neither, but about Wrigley: remember that Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks book from about 25 years ago? Dude went to all 26 (at the time) ballparks, critiqued each one. The pre-Mt. Douchebag Coli scored quite well, thank you Mr. Haas & Son…anyway, Wrigley- the author managed to get up on one of the bleacher rooftops, thanks to a clueless tenant. The other occupants vibed him out pretty hard at first, as they didn’t cotton to unattended and un-vouched-for strangers on their roof. He managed to convince them of the legitimacy of his project, and they chilled out on him after a few innings. I assume that these days those rooftop seats are generating revenue for the landlords, the Cubs, or both. Do the tenants now have to buy a ticket to go up on their own damn roof? Hope I’m wrong, but I bet they do!

2) Oh, hell no! But I tell you, it makes this middle-aged tub of guts weep with joy to see him doing it.

3) Well, GWRBI. Except for the fact that McGwire is the all-time leader (right?), I don’t miss it. There may be such a thing as “clutch hitting”, but this was no way to measure it. Crude and pointless. As to current stats, is this “Hold” nonsense the best metric we can come up with for middle relievers? I think something having to do with inherited runners, weighted by base/out scenario, would make more sense. But I suck at math, and can barely operate a computer.

4) No. I have never been unfaithful. Feels good to be able to say that about something.

5) LOOGY. I’m totally serious. I always thought that the Billyball-era bullpen got a bad rap, mostly thanks to Billy and Art Fowler. Lacey could have closed, Jones and Beard could have set him up, and Minetto could have loogy’d. It might have worked. The infield was as bad as advertised, though…

6) Detroit, for the tradition and elegant simplicity. Cards in the Other League for similar reasons. Padres camo is the worst thing ever. Seattle Pilots… you guys do know you’re not actually going to be flying a plane, right? Oh, and the orange Gnats unis from the late 70’s. Fuck the Giants.

7) Oh, guess I got a little carried away just now with #6…

8) If it weren’t for Mr. Mack, there would be no Athletics franchise as we know it today. There would still have been an AL team in Philly, probably called the Athletics, but you know what I’m getting at here. Dude ran the show for over half a Century, including the Great Depression. I’ll cut him a little slack on the won/loss record.

9) Ariel Prieto, the Cuban Hideki Irabu. Craig Mitchell, the American Craig Mitchell.

10) Squeak “The Little Bitch” Scolari of the Milwaukee Beers once said to his teammates something along the lines of, “Rip on me fourteen or fifteen more times, and I’m out of here!” That’s my relationship with baseball in a nutshell.

Damn, that was fun. Thanks!

That ghastly D-Rays logo looks like it was cut from a sheet of mylar. The last time I saw something that ugly, it was killing Steve Irwin. (too soon?)

1. Been to Wrigley, but not Fenway. Game at Wrigley was rained out, though; quite the disappointment.
3. Pitcher Wins
5. I played CF and 1B, some 2B, pitched some. Loved running in the outfield, feeling that rush of power on the mound, picking it down at first base. Don’t really have an arm, though, so I guess first base.
2, 6-10. Too young to answer satisfactorily. I defer to better judgment.