11th and Washington

Lou Gehrig in Asbury Park

2014-07-04T17:16:00.000-04:00

Lou Gehrig, 1927, Asbury Park, N.J. (Personal collection)

A couple of years ago, I came across this photo on eBay. It's small -- maybe about 2x3 inches -- pasted to a blank postcard. On the back, in pencil, it says, "Lou Gehrig and [illegible] 1927 Ashbury Pk." The illegible name looks like Janu, but it could be anything. I suspect it might be the man in the dark suit directly behind Lou.

It was taken outside the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel the day Lou and Babe Ruth came through with their barnstorming tour in October 1927.

The game was delayed an hour because William Truby, the promoter, failed to produce the $2,500 cashier's check that he had promised. Walsh always demanded money up-front, with paydays ranging from $1,000 to $2,500, depending on the size of the town and the expected crowd. If receipts from ticket sales went beyond a predetermined level, he and his players would also receive a percentage of the gate. When a local politician offered to write a personal check for the $2,500 so that the game might begin, Walsh rejected it, saying only a cashier's check would do. He and Gehrig and Ruth went to the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel to wait. When the cashier's check finally arrived, Gehrig pulled a cardigan sweater over his baseball jersey, tucked his mitt under his left arm, and walked out of the hotel into the afternoon sun. Outside, cars were waiting to drive the men to the ballpark.

-- Jonathan Eig, Luckiest Man, p. 110

It's quite the record of one day in a legend's life, when he came to New Jersey.

The definitive SI baseball preview cover analysis

2014-03-26T14:39:00.000-04:00

{NOTE: Originally posted on April 1, 2010, this analysis is now updated yearly to show the latest accurate numbers. I haven't come across a study like this, but it doesn't mean it's not out there. Though it would be a bit of a downer if I found out I did all this research for nothing. With only a few exceptions, all links lead to images of the covers.}

After I posted the 2010 Sports Illustrated baseball preview cover on Facebook (in addition to here), my friend Brad left this comment:

One of my first SI issues was the 1987 baseball preview issue, with Cory Snyder and the Indians on the cover. The Indians, of course, went 61-101 that year.

And that got my mind racing. How accurate has the magazine been in its choices for the annual baseball preview? We all know about the cover jinx, but does the jinx hold up through an entire season as well as it seems to on a more short-term basis, from week to week? It didn't take me too long to whip up a spreadsheet, scroll through SI's covers gallery to find each preview and plug in the numbers, with the help of Baseball-Reference.

So I may get a little obsessive at times, assigning myself mundane tasks that, in the end, result in little more than some neat -- and possibly very arbitrary -- numbers to peruse. But I don't care. Here are the results, showing how many teams, players and positions were featured, plus the teams' and players' results that season, from stats to All-Star nods to awards, plus a little more.

The totals and general figures
Through 2014, SI released 60 baseball season preview issues (not covers, as I'll explain shortly), featuring 25 of the 30 franchises that exist today. If you count the Montreal Expos and two instances of the Washington Senators separately, there are 33 different teams in that time. Twenty-five have been featured on the cover; neither Senators club made it, but the Twins and Rangers have. Both the Expos and Washington Nationals have had players on a cover.

In 2013, the magazine also introduced full regional covers for its baseball preview for the first time. From 2009-11, the main image on all covers was the same nationally, but there were regional insets, which I chose not to count in the player totals. Those players will be noted in the yearly breakdown below, however. As for the regional covers beginning with 2013, I've decided to count those collectively as one issue for the 60 noted at the start of the previous paragraph (to indicate the number of years the magazine has produced a baseball preview issue) but have credited each player with a solo appearance (hence Sabathia's two solo covers).

In 2014, the Yankees broke their tie with the Red Sox to retake the lead with eight covers -- though one of Boston's was the 1990 cover featuring a long-retired Ted Williams and the headline, "Was it a better game in Ted's day?" That was one of two covers to feature an inactive player, along with the 1984 one with Yankees manager Yogi Berra, and one of eight that didn't have an active player at all. There were six years from 1956-65 that showed no players: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1963 and 1965.

Here is the team-by-team tally:
Yankees 8
Red Sox 7
Dodgers 6
Cardinals 6
Phillies 5
Orioles 3
Giants 3
Reds 3
Tigers 3
Royals 3
Angels 3
Mariners 3
Indians 2
Twins 2
Mets 2
Pirates 2
Nationals 2
Brewers 1
D-backs 1
Rockies 1
Cubs 1
Rangers 1
Padres 1
A's 1
Expos 1
Rays 1

There have been 74 different active players to grace the cover before a season, including 16 Hall of Famers (though Williams and Berra are among those), 41 players who would have All-Star seasons the year they appeared on the cover, two who would take MVP honors (both in the NL), four Cy Young winners (with each league represented), two who would break significant records, three who would win 20 games and 11 who went on to lead their respective leagues in one of the triple crown categories: batting average, home runs, RBIs, wins, ERA and strikeouts. Those 11 players led the way in 13 categories overall, particularly boosted by the Cy Young-winning pitchers. Hitters have averaged .295 (158-for-535) with 23 home runs and 85 RBIs. Pitchers have averaged a 14-8 record, 176 strikeouts and a 3.19 ERA (68 earned runs in 193 innings).

Starting pitchers have appeared the most, 32 times each (no relievers have appeared), followed by 20 outfielders, 11 first basemen, six third basemen, five shortstops, five catchers, two managers, two second baseman and one owner. Eleven of the covers have featured multiple people, but only four times has it been multiple representatives for one team. Mays, Derek Jeter, Mark McGwire, Steve Garvey, Roy Halladay, Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia are the only players to appear more than once (twice each), with Garvey, Pujols and Sabathia the only ones to be featured solo on a cover. Fifteen players were featured the year they joined a new team and 13 covers showed the defending World Series champions.

Now for some jinx-related numbers. Twenty-six of the 68 teams have reached the postseason the year they were on the cover, with six winning the World Series, five losing it, three losing the ALCS, two losing the NLCS, seven losing the ALDS and three losing the NLDS. Both Division Series stats include the 1981 strike-interrupted season, when the Phillies (first half) and Royals (second half) won half the season but lost in their respective division series. Twenty-three teams finished in first place in their divisions (or leagues, before 1969), 15 finished second, 18 third, six fourth, one fifth, three sixth and two seventh. Seven teams won 100 games, two lost 100. Over the years, the teams have averaged a third-place finish and an 86-72 record.

That's it for the broad strokes. Here are the year-by-year covers, broken down by decade. For simplicity, I stuck with the triple-crown stats (AVG/HR/RBI for hitters, W-L/ERA/SO for pitchers), even if that's not how we're supposed to evaluate players these days.

1950s
SI launched in August 1954 -- with baseball on its cover in the form of Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews -- so its first baseball preview issue did not appear until April 1955. The first team to appear on a season preview was the New York Giants, who had won the World Series in '54. The cover subjects were center fielder Willie Mays and manager Leo Durocher, flanking Durocher's wife, Laraine. The cover was controversial because Laraine Durocher, a white woman, is touching Mays, a black man. It has three pages dedicated to it in James S. Hirsch's recent Mays biography. The Say Hey Kid blocked out any distractions, though, and went on to an All-Star season that year and led the Majors with 51 home runs.

Following a series of generic covers, Mays appeared again in 1959, another All-Star season.

1960s
Orioles outfielder Jackie Brandt appeared in 1961, an average .297/16/72 All-Star season, followed by Tigers pitcher Frank Lary, who had a horrible 1962: 2-6/5.74/41. Sandy Koufax got things back on the superstar track in 1964, when he was an All-Star (19-5/1.74/223) and led the NL in ERA.

In 1966, Dick Groat became the first player shown with a new team (and perhaps that's why he was chosen). It backfired when he put up .260/2/53 that season. The editors went the same route, presumably, in 1967, when new Pirates third baseman Maury Wills got the cover and fared ever-so-slightly better (.302/3/45).

Lou Brock was up in 1968, when he led the Majors in doubles, triples and stolen bases and the Cardinals became the first featured team to reach the postseason, losing to the Tigers in the World Series. Brock's appearance also marked the first of four straight years in which the defending World Series champ was on the cover. In 1969, it was Tigers catcher Bill Freehan, who was an All-Star in a .262/16/49 season.

1970s
The defending champions trend continued with Mets left-hander Jerry Koosman (12-7/3.14/118) in 1970, surrounded by caps of the other clubs, and with Orioles slugger Boog Powell (.256/22/92, All-Star) in 1971, the first year that SI's pick went on to win 100 games and the World Series. Cardinals third baseman Joe Torre (.289/11/81) and his sideburns was the choice in 1972, snapping the streak of defending champs.

Though I didn't tally how many of the cover subjects were coming off an award-winning season, I did note that 1973 cover boy Steve Carlton of the Phillies was the defending NL Cy Young winner, following his 27-10/1.97/310 NL Triple Crown campaign. His follow-up was pretty much the opposite: 13-20/3.90/223 for the last-place Phils. Reds outfielder Pete Rose graced the cover in 1974, a nondescript year for him (.284/3/51), and Garvey made his first appearance in 1975, when he went .319/18/95.

The year of my birth, 1976, may have been the bull's eye of SI baseball preview covers. The subject was Reds second baseman Joe Morgan, a future Hall of Famer for the defending World Series champs. He went on to have an MVP and All-Star season, batting .320/27/111 as the Reds went 102-60 and won the Series again. Morgan was so good that year, I'll go a little sabermetric for you: he let the Majors with a .444 OBP, .576 SLG and 1.020 OPS.

As good as '76 was for SI's choice, 1977 was as bad. New Angels outfielder Joe Rudi -- "The Angels' $2-million man" -- went on to a .264/13/53 season for the fifth-place club. The first cover shared by players from different teams appeared in 1978, when Twins first baseman Rod Carew (.333/5/70) and Reds outfielder George Foster (.302/30/98) mugged for Walter Iooss Jr.'s camera. Iooss and the magazine repeated the theme in 1979 with Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice (.325/39/130) and outfielder Dave Parker (.310/25/94) of the Pirates, who won the Series that year. All four were All-Stars as well.

1980s
In 1980, SI asked, "Who is Keith Hernandez and What Is He Doing Hitting .344?" He underachieved at the plate that year -- just .321/16/99 in an All-Star season -- but his mustache, as always, had a Hall of Fame-worthy season. Perhaps foreshadowing the year to come, in 1981 SI split the cover and hit on two teams that would win their divisions during that split season: Mike Schmidt and the Phillies (the defending champs) and George Brett and the Royals. Despite All-Star seasons by both (Schmidt hit .316/31/91, led the Majors in homers and won the NL MVP; Brett hit .314/6/43), the Phillies and Royals each lost in their respective newly-created-for-one year-until-1995 Division Series. The Dodgers won the World Series in '81, prompting Garvey's second cover appearance in 1982, though his numbers (.282/16/86) weren't as good as after his first cover.

In 1983, SI managed to get Gary Carter in between team success -- his Expos reached the playoffs in that split '81 season, and he later starred for the mid-80s Mets, but in '83 he was just the game's best catcher with an All-Star line of .270/17/79. Only the second manager to appear on an SI baseball preview came in 1984, when new Yankees skipper Yogi Berra was shown. The Yanks finished third with an 87-75 record. New York was the subject again in 1985, but this time it was the Mets' Dwight Gooden, coming off his NL Rookie of the Year campaign. He topped that with his Cy Young, MLB Triple Crown season (24-4/1.53/268) for the second-place Mets (98-64). The magazine went up I-95 in 1986, choosing third baseman Wade Boggs (.357/8/71, All-Star) of the Red Sox, who lost the World Series that year to the Mets.

Now we have the cover that started this whole project, the 1987 issue featuring the Indians' Cory Snyder and Joe Carter. It is, perhaps, the single worst baseball preview cover choice in SI's history, though not through the fault of the players. Snyder his .236/33/82 and Carter .264/32/106, but Cleveland went 61-101 -- the first of just two 100-loss teams to appear on a baseball preview cover -- and finished last in the AL East.

The publication bounced back in 1988 with Bay Area first basemen Will Clark (.282/29/109, All-Star, NL RBI leader) and Mark McGwire (.260/32/99, All-Star), whose A's lost the World Series to the Dodgers. (I convinced my parents to subscribe a year later than Brad apparently did with his folks, because this is the first baseball preview issue I recall getting.) The decade closed with Padres catcher Benito Santiago looking up at the camera in 1989; we looked down on him, then looked down on his .236/16/62 season.

1990s
Following the Williams cover in '90, SI tabbed a future Hall of Famer in 1991 in Rangers fireballer Nolan Ryan (12-6/2.91/203). Another future enshrinee appeared in 1992 in the form of Kirby Puckett (.329/19/110), who led the Majors with 210 hits that year and was an All-Star. David Cone got the cover in 1993, the year he returned to Kansas City, but he went just 11-14/3.33/191.

Another split cover preceded baseball's worst season, 1994, when no one won a World Series that didn't happen. After appearing on the first fold-out baseball preview cover, Ken Griffey Jr. hit .323/40/90 for the Mariners, who were in third place (49-63) when the season was stopped, and Mike Piazza went .319/24/92 for the first-place Dodgers (58-56). When baseball returned in 1995, future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken was the face of the season, during which he was an All-Star and went on to hit .262/17/88 while breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played streak.

Burned by the Indians in '87, SI waited until the Tribe was coming off a World Series appearance to feature them again in 1996, with Manny Ramirez (.309/33/112) on the cover. Cleveland fared better this time, winning the AL Central before losing in the ALDS. The Big Unit's big face hit mailboxes in 1997, when Randy Johnson went 20-4/2.28/291 and was an All-Star for the NL West-winning (and ALDS-losing) Mariners. He finished second to Roger Clemens in AL Cy Young voting.

McGwire made his second preview cover in 1998, the year he broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record. McGwire's .299/70/147 All-Star year* got him second in NL MVP voting to Sammy Sosa. SI closed the decade, the century, the millenium with new Dodgers pitcher Kevin Brown, who had signed baseball's richest contract in the offseason and at least had a solid 1999: 18-9/3.00/221.

2000s
SI opened the decade in 2000 with a bang, choosing Red Sox righty Pedro Martinez the year he went 18-6/1.74/284 and won the AL Cy Young while leading the Junior Circut in strikeouts and pacing the Majors in ERA. Derek Jeter (.311/21/74, All-Star) followed in 2001, following his World Series MVP autumn, and the Yankees reached the Fall Classic again before losing to the Diamondbacks on the last night of the Yankee dynasty. New Yankee Jason Giambi was the pick in 2002, one of his great years (.314/41/122). A third straight Yankee cover tested the tolerance of the rest of the country in 2003, and it was truly overkill. Not only did it feature five starting pitchers (Roger Clemens, Jeff Weaver, Jose Contreras, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina) and the headline, "You can't have too much pitching," centered among all those pinstripes was George Steinbrenner, the only owner on a preview cover.

No Yankees in 2004, but an injury-prone Kerry Wood, who went 8-9/3.72/144 for the Cubs, who didn't win the World Series (again). But Jeter (.309/19/70) returned in 2005, when he and Johnny Damon (.316/10/75) exchanged suspicious glances and then both teams bowed out in the ALDS. SI got the World Series champions right in 2006 with Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols (.331/49/137) and new Red Sox hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-12/4.40/201) in 2007.

In 2008, a showcase of young talent brought six players representing five teams to the fold-out cover: Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Justin Upton of the D-backs and Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies made the front cover; Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox and Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals appeared on the fold-out flap. Braun (.285/37/106 and the only All-Star of the bunch) and the Brewers lost in the NLDS and Boston, with Ellsbury (.280/9/47, AL-leading 50 stolen bases) and Buchholz (2-9/6.75/72), lost in the ALDS. Upton (.250/15/42) and Arizona (second, 82-80), Tulo (.263/8/46) and Colorado (third, 74-88) and Zimmerman (.285/14/51) and Washington (sixth, 59-102) sat out the postseason.

In 2009, the Yankees' new import, CC Sabathia (19-8/3.37/197, MLB lead in wins) was the centerpiece and proved to be a big piece of the Bombers' 27th world championship. For the record, though not part of these stats as I said, the inset photos customized for six regions showed David Wright (lost season), Manny Ramirez (NLCS loss), Carlos Zambrano (face-plant), Carl Crawford (solid campaign), Dustin Pedroia (ALDS loss) and Justin Morneau (ALDS loss).

2010s

When Halladay joined the Phillies, he got the cover in 2010, with insets featuring Sabathia (21 wins, third in AL Cy Young voting), John Lackey (14-11, 4.40 in 215 IP), Brian McCann (.269/21/77, All-Star), Pujols (.312/42/118, second in NL MVP voting), Tulowitzki (.315/27/95, fifth in NL MVP voting) and Matt Kemp (.249/28/89). The next year, Halladay made history by being part of the main image (not the inset) in consecutive seasons when the entire Philly rotation got the cover in 2011. Halladay did well those years, winning the NL Cy Young in '10 with a league-leading 21 wins (against 10 losses), 2.44 ERA and 219 strikeouts. His 2011 was very similar (19-6/2.35/220) for an average line those two years of 20-8/2.40/219.5. Philadelphia won the NL East both years, going 97-65 in '10 (when they lost the NLCS to the Giants) and 102-60 in '11 (when they lost in the NLDS to the Cardinals).

In 2012, it was back to the single, true national cover, with Pujols making his second solo appearance after signing his huge free-agent contract with the Angels in the offseason. He started slowly but finished strong to post a respectable .285/30/105, even if the average and home runs were the worst of his career. He still somehow managed to finish 17th in AL MVP voting for a club that went 89-73 and finished in third place in the AL West.

Following a practice it has used often for college preview issues, whether leading into a season or postseason, SI printed six regional covers in 2013, unveiling them on Twitter at the rate of one an hour in the morning and early afternoon the day before they hit newstands. Stephen Strasburg -- and the magazine's pick to win the World Series, the Nationals -- led it off just after 9 a.m. ET, followed by David Price (the first Rays appearance in their history), Justin Verlander (amazingly, the first Tiger since Freehan in '69), Sabathia (his second solo appearance, joining Garvey and Pujols), James Shields (the first Royal since Cone in 1993) and Clayton Kershaw (the Dodgers' first appearance since Brown in '99). Using six starting pitchers also widened the gap between hurlers (31 to date) and the next-closest position, outfielders (19).

The 2014 preview went back to the one national cover, with a caveat -- three certain regions got their own unique images. Masahiro Tanaka drew the honors for the national cover, but those in the Northwest received Robinson Cano, the Southwest (I would guess) got Mike Trout and the Midwest got Yadier Molina. Tanaka and Cano, of course, fit the player on a new team criteria, with Tanaka (a Yankee) also on a team with postseason aspirations (sorry, Mariners). Molina's team, the defending National League champions, also is expected to play into October, and Trout is the best player in the game.

The Nationals, for the second straight year, are SI's pick to win the World Series. In '13, they missed out on the playoffs by four games, with a still-respectable 86-76 record.

My two Nationals fan friends asked in 2013 if the six regional covers meant just a 1/6th chance of a cover jinx for their club, and I suppose this spreading of the wealth could dilute such a hex, though the Nats remained the only club picked to win the World Series, so it wouldn't be an even six-way split, if you ask me. Not that it matters. I'm not sure there's a jinx so much as a heightened awareness of the teams and players featured -- who generally are the top teams and stars, at least in the past few decades -- so that anything short of a World Series title or award-winning season is seen as proof of a hex. I mean, are Mariners fans really going to blame the SI cover jinx if their team doesn't win the World Series in 2014?

But hey, I've run the numbers -- use them as you see fit.

Zack Wheeler's first Citi Field pitch

2014-01-05T17:46:00.000-05:00

Going through some photos from last year and came across this GIF I (OK -- Google Photos) made. I'd forgotten about it, even though I took these shots of his first home pitch with this specific plan in mind.

Here's hoping he does even half of what Matt Harvey did last year.

Mrs. Met is back!

2013-06-26T15:17:00.001-04:00

Today's Culinary All-Stars event at Citi Field was meant as an unveiling of the food offerings for next month's MLB All-Star Game at the ballpark, but it was the unannounced appearance of walking, gesturing Mrs. Met that drew as much attention as the myriad food samples on display at the Caesar's Club.

I tagged along with the wife, who was invited by Aramark, and if there was anything that was going to pull me away from the (limited edition) All-Star Meatball Hero, it was a big-headed woman walking into the club. She was there -- with a nametag, as if she needed one -- to glad-hand the guests and pose for photos. She looked hungry, though she tried to hide it behind that ever-present smile.

She's not much for words, so it's not like we chatted for a bit. I did talk with one of the retail (hats, jerseys, etc.) managers, who said that Mrs. Met does have a uniform, so I suspect she'll be making some appearances during ballgames, as well. We'll have to see this weekend.

As for the food ... I should have fasted more. As in skipped dinner last night. There was just. So. Much. The last time we went to one of these events, before (I think) Citi Field's second season, we split a Shackburger, simply for the pleasure of having a free Shackburger. This time, we didn't think of it, not with Mex Burger sliders (a smaller version of the burger from Keith's Grill), lobster rolls from Catch of the Day, mac and cheese (lobster, bacon and three-cheese options) from the suites menu, beef brisket sliders from Blue Smoke, fries from Box Frites and, from the in-house chefs, loaded tater tots (cheese, bacon and scallions), several panini sandwiches and the aforementioned meatball hero. And that's just what we sampled and shared between us. There was pizza and sushi and Pat LaFrieda meats and Mama's of Corona sandwiches. I'm not sure you could get through it all in a nine-game homestand, and this was meant as an unveiling for just a three-day event -- the Futures Game and Celebrity Softball Game, the Home Run Derby, and the All-Star Game itself. Anyone attending all three will definitely not go hungry.

If you're attending any of the three events, bring your appetite (and, no doubt, your credit card), and be sure to seek out the All-Star Meatball Hero (available near Section 138) and some of the other new or unfamiliar offerings. The Mets and the vendors are rolling out some all-star eats for an All-Star event.

Grilled shrimp po boys and lobster rolls at Catch of the Day

Box Frites with pesto, buffalo blue cheese and smoky bacon sauces

Major League Grilled Cheese -- swiss, cheddar, gouda and bacon

Sliced sirloin and cheddar panini, with pepper relish and crispy onions

Chef-carved grilled black angus skirt steak, with German fried potatoes and creamed spinach

A 1964 Shea Stadium postcard and the great Pearl Bailey

2013-05-05T15:42:00.002-04:00

I finally got around to scanning in a pile of various things I've picked up over the past year, and this is one of the cooler ones. It's not just the 1964 view of Shea Stadium in its first year, featuring the colored panels hanging outside the ramps, the old buses parked near the subway bridge, the vintage cars in the parking lot and the cartoons of the Jets and Mets (interesting number choice, by the way; No. 45 wasn't worn until 1964, by Ron Locke). Those things are cool, but it's a pretty common postcard. I've seen it plenty of times. What made me buy it was the back -- be sure to note the date it was sent.

First of all, I love old postcards that have been sent. I don't need to know anything about who sent it, who received it, or where it went. It's interesting to me just to get this small little window into one brief moment of a day or a trip in someone's life, decades ago. Of all the things they saw, experienced or had to tell someone, what was it that made them choose these details?

But back to this postcard: The Mets won the 1969 World Series on Oct. 16 at Shea; this postcard was mailed six weeks later from Flushing. Interesting choice by "Sidney," who makes no mention of anything but Broadway, the weather, and her (his?) flight. No talk of the Mets, no mention of the ballpark, no indication of why this postcard was chosen.

It's a shame Pearl Bailey wasn't in that Saturday performance of "Hello Dolly" -- Bailey and Cab Calloway starred in a very successful all-black production of the musical, and Bailey won a Tony Award in 1968 for her role -- because therein lies a connection not to just to baseball and the Mets, but also Game 5 of the '69 Series. A big Mets fan, Bailey sang the national anthem before Game 5 and took home a clump of sod from the field after the victory, according to The Amazin' Mets 1962-1969, by William J. Ryczek.

I wonder if Sidney had any idea of the subtle connection between that star and the front of the postcard sent to Miss Helen Phelps in Beaver, Pa.

News, notes and rumblings around the minors

2013-04-17T16:38:00.000-04:00

Skylands Park, 2005

I don't know what it is about expansion and relocation when it comes to sports teams, but it always piques my interest. It doesn't even matter if the team leaving is hundreds of miles away, or if it's moving to somewhere else that's also hundreds of miles away. I guess I just love the newness of it -- new uniforms, colors, logos, identity. A new community, new fan base, new history. There's not a league I could care less about than the NBA, but I still read all about the New Orleans club dropping the Hornets nickname for Pelicans (and I think it'd be boring, lame and a bit disingenuous for the Charlotte Bobcats to change their name to Hornets; it's been done).

So when there's talk of expansion or relocation in the minor leagues -- the latter of which brought affiliate minor league ball back to New Jersey in the '90s (to Trenton) and 2001 (to Lakewood); perhaps that's where the interest comes from -- my ears perk up. And there's been quite a few rumblings in recent weeks involving leagues -- and one site -- that play in or near New Jersey.

The New York-Penn League plans to move a club to Morgantown, W. Va., to share a ballpark with West Virginia University. The rumored team to make the shift is the Jamestown Jammers, who were next-to-last in NY-Penn attendance in 2012 (36,078 total, 1,031 per game), besting only their upstate New York neighbors, the Batavia Muckdogs. This would make the New York-Penn League the New York-Penn-Connecticut-Massachusetts-Vermont-Maryland-Ohio-West Virginia League. New Jersey used to be in there, too, before the Cardinals left Sussex County for State College, Pa.

Speaking of Skylands Park up in Augusta, the new owner is exploring all avenues for a tenant, including summer collegiate leagues. But the ever-expanding Atlantic League may have some interest, too.

As for the Atlantic League, it could soon find itself with franchises in Fort Worth, Texas (giving the Sugar Land Skeeters a neighbor), and in Virginia Beach and Loudon, Va.

And, finally, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson continues his push to bring a Double-A Eastern League team to his city to be a Blue Jays affiliate, which will only revive speculation that Binghamton, N.Y., could lose its Eastern League club (and its Mets affiliation, which currently runs through 2016). It appears unlikely that Binghamton would lose affiliated baseball completely, because there remains speculation that NYSEG Stadium could then receive a New York-Penn League team, likely Batavia. This one particularly fascinates me because of the added layer of player development contracts. I looked at some affiliations last February, and though the expiration dates are, well, out of date, few if any of the affiliations changed. I'm curious if PDCs have ever been broken, renegotiated, bought out or even traded before. I'll try to get in touch with some contacts for some background.

Brief thoughts on '42'

2013-04-12T17:03:00.002-04:00

I'm no critic and I don't aspire to be one. I don't have a technical eye. I don't go to movies looking for flaws, inconsistencies or mistakes. I've never walked out on a film because, if I've paid money to be there, I might as well get the full value from the pretty people and bright colors on the screen. So if you're looking for a review of "42," move along.

Simply as a fan -- of baseball, of movies, of Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers (I realized years ago that there's something about that team that would've drawn me to it -- I loved it. I loved the costumes and the cars, the reproduced uniforms (even if they got the Brooklyn caps wrong), the computer-generated ballparks from Florida to Jersey City to Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. I thought it was wonderfully acted, even if Harrison Ford seemed like a caricature. Chadwick Boseman was stellar and Nicole Beharie devine. I can only imagine what Rachel Robinson thought seeing a part of her life dramatized on screen.

But what I think I loved most were the baseball scenes. (I don't know who choreographed them or what former players, other than C.J. Nitkowski, may have suited up.) This may be the best, the most realistic baseball choreography I've ever seen on film. It's heavy on game action, and maybe once -- one swing -- out of all those recreations did I think it looked awkward. The first time Boseman steps into the batter's box as a Montreal Royal to face the Dodgers in a spring exhibition and the pitch comes in high and tight felt so real. It sounded just like when you're playing catch and you lift your glove to catch a hard one at your ear -- that sound of the air whooshing around the seams and then the smack of the ball into the glove: Fffffffffssss-THWACK!

Digital reproduction of real -- and long-gone -- places has advanced so much that scenes in the old ballparks looked more like they were filmed on location with a soft lens than with an actor in front of a green screen. Maybe it's me, but I thought some of the scenes at Ebbets Field or Forbes Field make "Titanic" look like it was filmed in a bathtub. The ballparks looked familiar, like I'd remembered them from visits even though they were all gone more than a decade before I was born. But I love to look at (and sometimes collect) photos of these long-gone cathedrals, and I've "played" a few games at Ebbets and Forbes and the Polo Grounds on various versions of Xbox and PS3 baseball games. The movie brought the pictures to live and put the video games to shame, even if they gave Forbes Field a wooden (?) green outfield wall -- not brick, and no ivy -- and put the flagpole behind the center-field fence instead of on the field of play.

I thought -- minor spoilers in this paragraph -- that limiting the setting to 1945 through the end of the '47 season provided the perfect window to squeeze Jackie's story into a manageable 128 minutes. There is little politicalization -- there's no dialogue about what Jackie's trailblazing will mean for society as a whole. Other than the voiceover intro and just a few off-field scenes of segregation and racism, nearly all of that discourse is presented in the context of a ballgame. We didn't need to see anything before 1945, and ending the film with a key home run may have been hokey, but it worked for me. I'll let that slide. And yes, I realize the Dodgers didn't clinch the 1947 NL pennant in Pittsburgh and that the game that day didn't play out as depicted, but I found that out only after coming home to look it up. I doubt anyone not alive that day to remember it didn't realize the artistic license until they got home and delved into baseball-reference.com, either.

The epilogue -- a few more spoilers -- captivated me. In typical biopic fashion, we're given updates on what happened to the real-life people after the timeframe of the film. The characters are shown one by one, with text on the screen listing their accomplishments. We see several actors, in scenes not shown earlier in the film, in action until the image freezes and the text appears. The splendid "Life Is A Ballgame" by Sister Wynona Carr plays, and after several actors in character have flashed by, up pops a black-and-white photo of Rachel and Jackie -- the people, not the actors. Jackie's accomplishments are displayed alongside photos of the man himself. It was actually a bit emotional and very well done. The slideshow then transitions into recent MLB footage of current players wearing No. 42, with text explaining how the number was retired throughout Major League Baseball and is worn by everyone on April 15 each year. And with that, events that happened nearly 70 years ago, to and by a man who died 40 years ago, are put into the context of today's game.

Whatever its flaws, "42" did it for me -- as a baseball movie, a biopic and a dramatization of historical events. There was even a moment in the film, when Branch Rickey tells Robinson that he saw a white boy in a sandlot pretending to be Jackie Robinson, that sounded a lot like what I wrote in a short story for a college class in 1997. If I had ever tried to write a screenplay, this subject would've been one I wanted to write about and parts of this movie would've been how I wanted to write it. And that's when I know I've loved a film.

BlueClaws helping to restore the Shore

2013-04-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

The Lakewood BlueClaws completed their opening-weekend series yesterday, but their record in the four games doesn't matter. What matters is that they raised $15,000 for the BlueClaws Charities Restore the Shore initiative after auctioning off the special jerseys worn throughout the weekend. Each jersey featured the name of a Shore-area town on the back, making some shirts more attractive to bidders and leading to some high-priced last-minute bidding as the auction came to an end after the eighth inning on Sunday. The money raised -- both from the auction and on related purchases in the team store -- will go to fund grants that will go to Sandy victims who apply. And though the game-worn jersey auction ended yesterday, I'm told that there will be a few additional jerseys going up for auction online soon.

I wasn't sure if I'd get in on the bidding, but after seeing my hometown, Little Silver, on the back of catcher Chad Carman during pregame warmups, two things stood out: First, he wasn't huge, and second, he wore No. 18. The number actually didn't matter much to me, though it helps that 18 isn't an unattractive number (worn by Darryl Strawberry and any number of Japanese aces not named Yu Darvish). But Carman's size (5-foot-10, 189 pounds) did. If my hometown had been on the back of 6'6", 220-pound first baseman Art Charles, for example, there's no chance I would have bid on that bedsheet.

After placing my initial bid -- and only the third on the sheet overall -- around the fifth inning, I went down to check on its status with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Someone had outbid me by the minimum $25, so I raised it another $25, but was willing to go only another $50 higher. Then I stepped back among the crowd of bidders to watch the game from the concourse. Another out; I was now one more from winning the jersey. Then a BlueClaws batter hit a fly ball into right-center, and I'd never wanted a ball hit by the home team to be caught more (at any game I've attended) than this one. But the diving right fielder came up short. We had to wait out another batter.

But then it happened: The next batter struck out and the BlueClaws staffers manning the tables quickly pulled up the tablecloths with the bid sheets taped to them and disappeared into the offices to sort through the bids. After the game, they collected the jerseys from the players and distributed them to the fans who returned to the concourse to pick them up.

Carman had the day off Sunday, so I didn't get to see my jersey in action, except for the innings when he came out to warm up the pitcher while yesterday's starter, Chace Numata, put on his equipment. But that was actually better, because when I picked up the jersey, it was clean and still smelled like laundry detergent. In fact, the jersey's final play in a game came on Saturday evening, when Carman fielded a throw from right fielder Brian Pointer and tagged out Kannapolis' Kale Kiser as he attempted to score the tying run to preserve Lakewood's 3-2 victory (its only win so far this season).

It had to have been interesting -- and perhaps educational -- for these players (only four of whom played in Lakewood last year) to join their new team but not wear the actual team name on their chests until the fifth game (which is tonight). I don't know if Chad Carman bothered to ask where Little Silver is or if any players inquired about the amount of damage sustained to any of the towns, but I'm sure some thought about it.

Opening Day thoughts

2013-04-03T14:42:00.000-04:00

Well, we're two days past Opening Day now, but I figured as long as I get this post up before the Mets play Game No. 2 tonight, I'm good. I just had some thoughts throughout the day -- both Mets-related and MLB-wide -- that I couldn't shake ...

I love Opening Day ceremonies. I slept in last year and arrived at my seat just as the Mets were running onto the field, and it just didn't feel like Opening Day. So we made sure to catch a train an hour earlier from New Jersey and were walking into the Rotunda right around noon. I love seeing all the players lined up along the baselines, the new guys getting their first exposure to the fans, last year's mid-season callups (Hey, Matt Harvey!) getting the Opening Day treatment. The national anthem gets star treatment (Emmy Rossum!), there's usually a huge flag stretched across the outfield (though nice touch this year with the NY heart and Hurricane Sandy support crews) and the first pitch is often a VIP (Rusty!!!).

Opening Day crowds. They may struggle to break 15,000 tonight in Queens (heck, it's supposed to be in the 20s -- 10,000 might be pushing it), but on Opening Day, no matter what the prospects for the season are, the crowd is full and enthusiastic. There's hope. Look at Houston -- I'm not sure you'll find 10 people outside the clubhouse who think the team can win 62 games, but those fans were jazzed on Sunday night. Sure, it helped to have the Rangers in town for the first American League game in Astros history, but that crowd was into it. I don't care who your team is or what the expectations are, 1-0 feels a lot better than 0-1, especially if you're in attendance.

Ballpark exploration. Each winter, teams take a look at what they offer their fans and ditch what didn't sell and come up with new offerings and upgrades. Some even release the new additions to great fanfare. Though the Opening Day crowds often make it a tough slog, I do enjoy taking a lap around the concourse to see what's new. Even if I don't get in line that day, I make a note to come back during the next (less crowded) game. But on Monday, when we realized Mom had bought tickets in the last row of the upper deck and the wind was blowing through us, we descended to the food court behind home plate to try Pat LaFrieda's steak sandwiches and Parmesan garlic fries and Oh. My. God. Shake Shack, you have competition. (And dammit, I saw Danny Meyer out in DannyMeyerLand before the game but didn't realize it was him before he walked off, so I didn't have a chance to thank him. Or more.)

I was happy to see the Padres line up in their road gray jerseys. I'm OK with alternate jerseys (used to be a fan, but now they're such a gimmick, I've come down with my enthusiasm), but not on Opening Day. Opening Day -- like the All-Star Game and World Series -- is a showcase. Come out in your finest, your dress whites (or grays), your primary look. Leave the black/blue/red tops in the clubhouse for the next game. (I'm looking at you, Pirates, Marlins and Rockies.)

Small sample sizes. The numbers are so much fun to play with. David Wright is going to steal 324 bases! Collin Cowgill will drive in 648 runs!

Changing addresses/new stars/absent stars. Maybe this was just the beginning of something special for Jackie Bradley Jr. or A.J. Pollock. It's also weird to see others in new uniforms. We got used to Kevin Youkilis in pinstripes, but not those pinstripes. And how strange (but nice, as a Mets fan), to see Chipper Jones throwing out a first pitch and not swinging at one?

The six covers of SI's 2013 baseball preview issue

2013-03-27T21:44:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year. Sports Illustrated released its baseball preview cover yesterday.

Actually, that should be covers. For the first time in the 59 years of SI baseball preview issues, the magazine has printed true regional covers, six in all, with a main image customized for four different regions of the country: Northeast, Mid-Atlanic, South, Midwest (both Rust Belt and Plains) and West. My comprehensive look at the history of the baseball preview covers has been updated to include this year, but in this post I'm going to take a closer look at each of the six produced for the 2013 season, in the order of success I think they'll have.

But first, what these covers do for the totals. By featuring six starting pitchers, SI widened the gap between starters (31) and the next-most-frequent position, outfielders (19). Five of the six players made their baseball preview cover debuts, pushing the total number of players shown over the years to 70. We've also got a team represented for the first time, bringing us up to 25 of the current 30 clubs, leaving out only the Blue Jays, White Sox (a bit surprising), Astros, Marlins and Braves (also quite surprising).

So here are the six 2013 preview covers listed, in my mind, from least deserving to most, with "deserving" defined as ideally being the favorite (or at least a top-two favorite) to win its division.

James Shields, Royals

Shields is the only one of the six this year to fulfill one of two themes that have come up frequently: a player on a new team or a player on the defending champions. The right-hander, of course, was traded to Kansas City (most of the "new team" players were free agents, with the Phillies' Roy Halladay in 2010 another trade exception). Shields is the first Royal on the cover since David Cone in 1993 -- when he was new to Kansas City after signing a free-agent deal.
The Royals are certainly an interesting story this year. They added Shields, Wade Davis (in the same deal) and Ervin Santana to the rotation and they have a deep, young core with Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler (and you can add Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain to the list if you'd like). And though expected to be dominated by the Tigers, the AL Central is otherwise a pretty balanced division, or at least one in which the Royals could make some noise. But I just don't see them as one of the top two contenders -- that'd be Detroit and Chicago -- like four of the other five covers feature.

CC Sabathia, Yankees

This is the issue that arrived in my mailbox today. Despite the cover (which I knew I'd receive), it was a pleasant surprise, because what used to be a regular Wednesday (Thursday at the latest) appearance in my mail has, over maybe the past year, become more of a Thursday-if-I'm-lucky/usually Friday/occasionally Saturday treat in the mail. So to have it the first day I could conceivably expect it was nice.

As for the cover subject, let's put this out there now: The Yankees are there because SI didn't want to omit the huge New York market. Robinson Cano would've been the better choice, but it certainly looks like these six cover subjects were chosen because they're all pitchers (clearly, I haven't flipped through the issue -- or read the headlines -- yet). But if you ask me, the Yankees don't fit the criteria of a top-two contender in the division, either. With their age and all the injuries (not mutually exclusive), I think they'll have an uphill battle to catch Toronto and Tampa Bay. The Yankees have holes at catcher, third/first base (wherever Kevin Youkilis doesn't play, and at least until -- though maybe after -- Mark Teixeira returns) and wherever Vernon Wells plays (but to be fair, SI had its preview in the bag before that deal went down).

But this choice makes Sabathia one of the rare two-time featured athletes. Only seven players have appeared on multiple covers (two each), with only three of those getting the featured spot to themselves. Willie Mays appeared in 1955 and '59, Steve Garvey in '75 and '82 (both solo), Mark McGwire in '88 and '98, Derek Jeter in 2001 and '05, Albert Pujols in '06 and '12 (both solo), Halladay in 2010 and '11 and Sabathia in 2009 and '13 (both solo, because I'm not counting the 2009 regional inset).

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

Kershaw is the first Dodger to grace the preview cover since Kevin Brown in 1999 -- the year he (wait for it) began a seven-year deal with Los Angeles. He was baseball's first $100 million man, signing for $105 million. The Dodgers are certainly one of the big storylines of the upcoming season, and it wouldn't have surprised me to see them featured nationally, had SI gone that route. But they still have to take on the defending World Series champions -- who didn't get a regional cover, despite a worthy hurler in Matt Cain, who I probably would've gone with over Shields. L.A. is a strong contender, easily a top-two pick in the NL West, but among these cover candidates, I think it has the fourth-best chance of winning the division.

David Price, Rays

With this image, Tampa Bay became the 25th active club to have a player featured on a preview cover. Not even the 2008 collection of '05 draft picks included a (Devil) Ray. (That's because Tampa Bay selected Wade Townsend eighth overall, passing on Red Sox coverboys Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz, not to mention Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Matt Garza, to name a few.)

Price is an apt choice as the defending AL Cy Young Award winner, the head of a strong, young pitching staff and a stud who's about to come into a big payday of his own. Plus, the Rays have a great chance to contend in (and win) an AL East that sees the Red Sox still trying to get their footing, the Orioles having made no major changes to the luckiest team in Major League history (an unprecedented -- and likely unrepeatable -- 29-9 in one-run games, not to mention 16-2 in extra innings) and the Yankees aging before our eyes. Sure, the Blue Jays are loaded after a busy offseason, but just ask the Marlins -- several of whom are now in Toronto -- how that worked out last year.

I should say, too, that the Blue Jays -- particularly R.A. Dickey -- would've been a great choice for a cover, too, but I wonder if he was omitted because SI is an American magazine and choosing a regional cover for Toronto might not fit into their marketing plans. The Jays have never been featured on a preview issue before (though the Expos have), but it certainly wasn't going to happen as a regional option.

Justin Verlander, Tigers

In reality, I'm considering this one a tie with the next one. In fact, I think Detroit has a better chance of winning its division, but I'm listing it here for a reason I'll get to in a moment. But as I said in discussing the Shields cover, it's going to take a mighty effort by the White Sox, Royals or Indians to overtake the Tigers in the AL Central, and with that lineup and this guy heading the rotation, it's unlikely.

Surprisingly for a franchise that's had Sparky Anderson, Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Cecil Fielder and currently the best pitcher in the game, Verlander marks the Tigers' first appearance on a preview cover since Bill Freehan represented the defending champs on the 1969 cover.

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

While I do think Detroit has a better chance of winning its division than Washington, I list this as the most deserving cover because the Nationals are SI's pick to win the World Series. In my mind, they'll have a tougher time fending off the Braves than the Tigers will holding back any of their division opponents, but if the magazine is picking the team to go all the way, then give it the cover, I say.

Strasburg represents D.C.'s second preview cover appearance, after Ryan Zimmerman on the 2008 fold-out issue. The previous Washington franchises -- both iterations of the Senators -- never got the honor. As I noted in the cover analysis post, my friends in Virginia aren't happy about the cover jinx touching their team, but one rationalized that it's only 1/6th of a jinx, on account of the regional covers.

We'll see about that. But one thing's sure: After what was seen as a surprising run to the NL East title last year, the Nationals won't be sneaking up on anyone this year. They're the favorites, and everyone will be gunning for them.

Samardzija joins short list of Opening Domers

2013-03-04T11:28:00.000-05:00

When Jeff Samardzija delivers the first pitch of the Cubs' season on April 1 in Pittsburgh, he'll be the fourth pitcher to come out of Notre Dame and make an Opening Day start in the Major Leagues.

And he'll be the first to do so in 99 years.

The last Domer to toe the rubber as a starter on Opening Day was Ed Reulbach, when he raised the curtain for Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on April 14, 1914, manager Wilbert Robinson's first game at the helm. Fellow Notre Dame grad George Cutshaw started behind Reulbach at second base and a future manager manned right field: Casey Stengel.

Brooklyn -- nicknamed the Robins in the days when nicknames were a bit more fluid (they had been and would again be the Dodgers) -- won, 8-2, over the Boston Braves with two runs in the second, one each in the third and fourth and four more in the fifth. Reulbach went seven innings, allowing two runs, six hits, one walk and striking out five. He had a hit and a walk at the plate, the free pass coming in the two-run second, which may have produced more runs had Reulbach not been caught trying to swipe home on a double-steal.

With Reulbach on third and Dalton on first the double steal was tried, but Whaling fooled Reulbach by feigning a throw to second and caught him between the bases. -- The New York Times, April 15, 1914

The start was Reulbach's second on Opening Day. He'd previously done so for the Cubs in 1911, a game that ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings. And the only other Domer to get a start in his team's opener was Willie McGill, who got the start for the Chicago Colts (later the Cubs) in 1893. Chicago lost that game to Cincinnati, 10-1.

So teams are 1-1-1 on Opening Day when a former Notre Dame player throws the first pitch. Whether or not Samardzija gets the decision, that record will change on April 1.

The Eagles: A sporting band

2013-02-21T11:33:00.002-05:00

There's no question that the Eagles were one of the most influential bands of the '70s -- their greatest hits album sold more copies than any other record in the 20th Century. But until watching the recent two-part documentary on Showtime, I had no idea that the band was also among the pioneers in jersey-wearing rockers.

It's a common sight these days to see musicians dressing like the rest of us -- that is, in an authentic jersey of a local pro team, or perhaps a customized shirt in team colors. Someone probably has a Tumblr of musicians in jerseys. Anyway, in the '70s, I imagine it wasn't such a common sight. But in watching the documentary, I caught several instances of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Felder and one or two others in a jersey or T-shirt that looked enough like a jersey to make this post worth my while.

All these photos were taken from my TV with the documentary paused, so the quality of some is rather poor. In some cases, the details in the shirt were much more apparent in motion than in any frames on which I paused. So if something's not clear in an image, just take my word for it.

So at the top, we have Glenn Frey in a three-quarter-sleeved baseball shirt during one of the band's pickup softball games. "This is a real healthy thing," Henley says in the film. "It promotes good feelings, you know, among the guys, and it keeps us from killing each other." Frey adds: "If we can yell at each other on a baseball field, then we don't have to yell at each other when we're working." Putting the numbers on the front left room on the back for what appears to be a nickname for the band's private plane.

Also of note: Frey throws left-handed, but plays guitar right-handed. We'll come back to Frey in a bit.

Next, we have the jersey that really piqued my interest and had me start taking pictures of all these images while watching the documentary. From the front, it just appears to be Don Henley in a mighty afro and a rather long shirt with the band's name across the front.

But after he passes the cameraman, who turns to follow the band toward the stage at an outdoor festival, we see that Henley's shirt -- more of a jersey than a, ahem, henley -- features his surname and a No. 13 on the back.

So not only did the band have numbered shirts for softball games, it appears that they also each had their own football shirts, because in this next image, someone else is wearing what appears to be the Eagles football (or football-like) jersey (that's Henley, second from right, so it's not him).

Sticking with Henley, here he is representing northeast Texas -- he's from Linden -- with a Dallas Cowboys T-shirt.

Sticking with the Cowboys, next we have one of the band members in what looks to be a satin Cowboys jacket in 1980. He's gesturing at a departing limo into which Don Felder fled following the infamous July 31, 1980, Long Beach concert that marked the breakup of the band.

Speaking of Felder, he joined in the sartorial sporting fun at least twice. First up is what appears to be a San Diego Chargers jersey-like shirt.

And then we have what appeared from the front to be a plain blue button-down collared shirt, but upon further inspection -- that is, looking at the back -- we find a Chicago Blackhawks logo. (I'm pretty sure this is Felder again. I didn't take any notes, and now that I think about it, I don't specifically remember who this is. And of course, they all had long, flowing hair in the '70s.)

Speaking of unsure I.D.s, here's a sound engineer in a shirt with the nickname (I presume) "Radar" and a zero on the back.

Now to the last big-name band member: Joe Walsh. He didn't appear in any jersey-like shirts until late in the documentary, but then he popped up three times. First was this grainy shot of him smoking weed in what looks like a football jersey.

That previous shot and this next one both came during the portion of the documentary in which Walsh discussed his addictions. Below, he's preparing for an interview in a white football jersey with what looks like sewn-on numbers. (Just before this frame, he asked the off-camera interviewer where he should look, took a swig from a beer bottle and then placed it on the floor to his left.)

And below, we've got the band at the end of a show, possibly in 1977 in Washington, D.C. (based on footage earlier in the program). Walsh is second from right in an Illinois sweatshirt; Frey is second from left in a University of Colorado T-shirt.

And that brings us back to Glenn Frey. He, more than any other band member, donned jerseys and T-shirts supporting various teams. First up, ~~an unidentified possible football~~ a likely Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, No. 7. [UPDATE: A commenter ID'd this one.]

Then we have a black-and-white photo of Glenn in a Chicago Blackhawks jersey.

Next up, the Detroit boy dons a wig and a Michigan football jersey shirt with No. 53 on the shoulders.

But this Michigan man has some good taste, because it turns out he owned two Notre Dame shirts, the first of which is similar to the Michigan one above.

And, to wrap it all up, we have the full band in custom Eagles varsity jackets, which were worn -- mostly by Frey, occasionally by others, including (I think) the manager -- in footage throughout the film. The simple old-English E is the only adornment on the jackets. The backs, as best I could tell, were blank. Left to right are Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

I figured a post about a rock band should end with a video, so here's the group in the video that opens the documentary -- with Frey in the Colorado T and Walsh in the Illinois sweatshirt. First, they perform a verse of an a cappella "Seven Bridges Road" before going on stage to play "Hotel California." The post says 1979, but the Showtime doc said it's a 1977 Washington, D.C. show.

Eagles - Hotel California 1979 (Live) by rooroo

The Babe

2013-02-06T19:49:00.001-05:00

The Babe calls his shot (1990)

As a kid, I became fascinated by Babe Ruth's called shot in the 1932 World Series. Not so much the legend that, in an important game for the championship, the game's greatest player predicted a home run and then followed through; instead, I became enthralled by the question of whether he really did point to center field, and then deposit the next pitch in that direction.

So I created this drawing, probably based on a print I saw of this painting. I figured The Babe's 118th birthday was a good day to post it. Yeah, his head's too small in proportion to his body, and the catcher looks like a child, though I could explain that away as artistic license used to depict The Babe as larger than life. But I'm a bit impressed by the detail in the uniform and a decent reproduction of his chicken legs.

We'll never know the truth, but considering Ruth's affinity for trash talking, it's possible he became the first player to call his shot. Or maybe he just gestured at the Cubs' bench or pointed at the pitcher, jawing at them the whole time. Either way, it made for some great drama.

The Mayor at the Mayor's Cup

2013-02-01T14:21:00.001-05:00

Mayor Koch at Shea, April 1989

I think Ed Koch was my first celebrity sighting. It was 1989 and my father, uncle, cousin and I had driven up to Shea Stadium for the Mayor's Cup game between the Mets and Yankees to end spring training. Our seats were in the upper deck, but we arrived early enough to walk around the loge section. As we made our way along the left-field line, I heard people cheering and then noticed a small cluster of men in suits in the orange seats.

When one turned toward the cheers and raised his hands in acknowledgment, I realized it was the mayor. Though we were from the Jersey Shore, all our network television broadcasts originated in New York City, so the nightly newscasts covered the Big Apple, and Koch was a familiar face to me. I had my Kodak Disc camera with me and managed to press the shutter at the precise moment when he raised his hands to the fans. I suppose it was my first perfectly timed photograph, too.

It looks pleasant enough for an April Sunday morning, but I think it turned blustery that day, the wind whipping around the upper deck and sending us all home with pink, wind-burned faces. I have no idea where the mayor sat or how long he stayed, but his two-handed wave to the fans has stayed with me all these years.

Looking at 2012 minor league attendance figures

2013-01-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

David Kronheim of numbertamer.com has put out his annual analysis of minor league baseball attendance, and it's got some illuminating tidbits among its 80 pages. You can download the full report at his site, but I scanned through it last night for some of the locally relevant figures.

(Note that when I refer to "minor league baseball," I mean teams affiliated with Major League organizations. Those not affiliated are referred to as independent teams/leagues. All analysis is Kronheim's; I'm just pulling the local figures. I threw in a few nuggets -- Roger Clemens, Rickey Henderson and Scranton's thwarted request to play in Newark last year -- but that's it from me.)

Lakewood BlueClaws

The Lakewood BlueClaws were one of two Class A teams to average more than 6,000 fans per game in 2012. The Claws' 6,031 over 68 home dates trailed only the high-Class A Dayton Dragons, who drew 8,532 for 69 dates and have sold out every game in their 13-year history. Dayton's run of 913 consecutive sellouts -- including postseason contests and an all-star game, and counting -- is the longest sellout streak in North American sports history, according to Kronheim.

Lakewood had the ninth-highest increase in all of minor league baseball from 2011 to 2012, with 28,043 more fans last season for a 2012 total of 410,113. The increase was mostly a result of nine games in 2011 lost because of weather; the 2012 season saw seven more home dates than the previous summer.

Lakewood was one of three Phillies affiliates to lead its league. Clearwater (177,297) led the Florida State League and Lehigh Valley (622,421) led the International League.

Lakewood led the South Atlantic League in both total and average per game and topped 400,000 for the 11th time in its 12 years (those nine 2011 rainouts resulting in the only blip).

The BlueClaws have led the Sally League in total attendance 10 of their 12 years, and in those other two years, they led in per-game average (more than 6,000 every year).

Lakewood's inaugural season in 2001 drew 482,206, still a South Atlantic League -- and New Jersey -- record. That was a "14-fold increase" (emphasis Kronheim's) over the 32,641 that the franchise drew in 2000, its final season in Fayetteville, N.C. Those Cape Fear Crocs drew just 32,641.

In his analysis of minor league baseball in Major League markets, Kronheim put Lakewood in the New York market, which the BlueClaws led. The independent Long Island Ducks were second with 377,473 on 68 dates, followed by the Somerset Patriots (350,295 for 66 dates).

Trenton Thunder

Kronheim places Trenton in the Philadelphia market, where it ranked third with 373,355 fans over 69 dates. Lehigh Valley led, followed by the Reading Phillies (426,623 in 67 dates). The independent Atlantic League's Camden RiverSharks drew 231,987 in its 67 dates.

Trenton set a Double-A record of drawing more than 400,000 fans in 14 consecutive seasons from 1995-2008, but Reading broke it last season with its 15th straight such season.

Trenton's all-time high of 457,344 was set in 1998. Of the 12 current Eastern League cities, only Binghamton (259,183 in 1992) and Bowie (463,976 in 1995) have older highs. Akron's record high of 522,459 came in 1999, but every other Eastern League franchise has set its high after 2000. The most recent were Harrisburg (294,325), New Britain (368,523) and Richmond (463,842 -- its Double-A high), all in 2010.

The Atlantic League

The expansion to Texas was a boon for the league. The new Sugar Land Skeeters drew 465,511 -- a modern-day independent league record. (With two dates boosted by Roger Clemens' starts.) Long Island's 443,142 in 2001 had been the previous high. Sugar Land's per-game average of 6,650 for 70 dates led all independent teams (Winnipeg set the record at 7,161 in 2003). Long Island, Somerset, Lancaster and York were among the eight teams that also topped 4,000 per game. (Long Island and Somerset were among five to top 5,000 per game.)

The Atlantic League's average per date of 4,409 set a new high (4,153 in 2009) and was up 324 over last year. The league's overall total of 2,367,578 led all independent leagues (and is a modern-day record) and was up 419,257, an increase of 21.5 percent over 2011. (Though removing Sugar Land, total attendance fell 46,254, or 2.4 percent.)

An Atlantic League team has led all independent teams in attendance since 1998: Bridgeport (1998-99), Long Island (2000-11) and Sugar Land (2012). Last year was Long Island's first year outside the top spot in its history and its 377,473 was an all-time low -- but still pretty impressive.

The Somerset Patriots' 350,295 was 21,787 fewer fans than in 2011 -- the fifth-largest dropoff among independent teams -- but that was due in large part to five fewer home dates because of weather. The Patriots still averaged 5,308 in 66 dates and have topped 5,000 per game in every year of their existence (posting a franchise-best 376,315 in 2004). Adding the five lost dates at just 5,000 per would have erased the dropoff from 2011 and neared the 2004 high. (But such figures can't be assumed. If the lost dates were in April or May, for example, the Patriots might not have drawn 5,000 on a chilly, rainy school night.) Their season total was still third among all independent teams, and they've topped 335,000 in all 14 years of operation.

The Camden RiverSharks' 231,987 in 67 dates marked another decline, down 12,241 from 2011. It's the team's lowest total in its 12-year history -- but it's still drawn at least 230,000 every year. Camden's high of 313,792 came in 2002.

The Can-Am League

The New Jersey Jackals' season total of 87,206 marked the club's first increase since 2007. Over 46 home dates, that averages out to 1,896. They drew 84,865 to Yogi Berra Stadium in 2011, meaning an increase of 2,341 last year. The Jackals' high of 129,179 came in 1999.

Newark drew 32,056 (just 668 per game) in 2012, its lowest total since the city came back on the scene in 1998. That figure was down 176,526 from 2002, marking the largest decline among independent teams that have been active in that time. (Though it should be noted that the Bears' home schedule now consists of just 48 dates; in 2002, they played 65 home games.)

In 2010, the Bears' last season in the Atlantic League, they drew 117,985 (with a longer schedule). Their modern high was 243,255 in 2001 -- an average of 3,525 per game. The city's all-time high was 342,001 in 1932, when they were an International League affiliate of the Yankees. The original Bears' final season in 1949 drew a total of 88,170, which remains the International League's all-time low.

The Can-Am League's total attendance fell 132,415 (21.1 percent) in 2012 compared to 2011, but that's a reflection of the loss of three teams. Average per date was up 237, to 2,087.

Other local notes

Lehigh Valley IronPigs: Led all U.S./Canadian teams with 622,421 and 9,153 per game ... The IronPigs were the visiting team in their home ballpark eight times in 2012, because the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees played all their games in other teams' ballparks. Officially those attendance figures were credited to Scranton, but if they were added to Lehigh Valley's total, Coca Cola Park drew 688,821 fans in 2012 ... The IronPigs have led the minors in average attendance the past three seasons and in overall attendance the past two ... They've had 290 sellouts since 2008 ... In 2011, the Phillies led Major League Baseball in attendance, and coupled with Lehigh Valley leading all of minor league baseball, it marked the first time that a team led the Majors in attendance and had one of its affiliates lead the minors in the same year. (The 1931 and '32 Yankees led the American League, while their Newark affiliate led the minors.) ... Lehigh Valley is the only team to top 600,000 total fans in each of the past five seasons ... Coca Cola Park's 8,089 seats put it among the smallest in Triple-A, but the IronPigs have exceeded capacity 290 times and topped 10,000 93 times with standing room and lawn seating.

Brooklyn Cyclones: The Coney Island crew had the highest attendance among short-season squads for the 12th year in a row -- 249,009 ... The Cyclones' 6,553 per game also led all short-season clubs for the 12th straight season ... Brooklyn ranked fourth in the New York market (behind Lakewood, Long Island and Somerset -- all in full-season leagues) and outdrew full- or longer-season clubs in Bridgeport, Newark, Montclair and Rockland County, N.Y. ... Brooklyn had 38 home dates, while Bridgeport had 65, Newark had 48 and the New Jersey Jackals had 46. The Cyclones outdrew the Bluefish by 116,870, Bears by 216,953 and Jackals by 161,803. No wonder the Mets wouldn't let Scranton-Wilkes Barre play home games in Newark. ... The Cyclones have 12 of the 16 highest single-season totals in short-season history (Aberdeen, Md., and Portland, Ore., each have two). Their all-time high -- and a short-season best -- of 317,124 came in 2002, their second season. ... Last season's total was up over 2011's all-time low of 245,087 ... With their 38 home dates, the Cyclones outdrew 46 of 60 full-season Class A teams, 10 of 30 Double-A clubs, 12 of 16 Mexican League teams and the Triple-A Tucson Padres ... Brooklyn's 6,553 per game bested all but one Class A team (Dayton), one Double-A club (Frisco, Texas), two Mexican League teams (Monterrey and Saltillo) and Sugar Land. The Cyclones' average also ranked higher than 16 of the 30 Triple-A squads.

Staten Island Yankees: Things aren't as sunny across the bay. The Yanks drew 141,163 and had the largest loss from 2011 to '12 among short-season clubs, drawing 51,405 fewer fans, or 1,949 fewer per game (the largest per-game loss of any affiliated team) -- and with four more games (38) on the 2012 schedule than they had in 2011, because of weather ... Staten Island's total loss ranked eighth among all clubs, behind four Mexican League teams, Double-A Mobile, Triple-A Pawtucket and Double-A Birmingham ... The Yankees did outdraw Bridgeport in the New York market, but trailed Hudson Valley and Rockland County ... Staten Island's all-time high (209,018) occurred only in 2010, a steep decline in just two years.

Other notes from the region: The Hudson Valley Renegades drew 12,568 more in 2012 than in '11, the best increase among short-season teams. The Renegades topped 4,000 per game for the 19th year in a row -- all in a ballpark with a capacity of 4,494. They've drawn at least 138,000 every year since they were born in '94. ... The Reading Phillies drew 6,368 per game, one of three Double-A teams to average more than 6,000 (Frisco and Richmond were the others). Playing in the same ballpark as in 1982, the R-Phils drew 344,748 more than they did 30 years ago, the biggest gain among Double-A clubs in that time. And yet, Reading saw a 30,334 decline from 2011-12, the biggest drop in the Eastern League. ... The Binghamton Mets drew 259,183 in their first season in 1992, but haven't topped 250,000 since. The B-Mets' 196,929 last year was 12,115 fewer than in '11 (209,044). ... And one historical note: In 1977-78, the Jersey City Indians (with Rickey Henderson in '78) drew just 88,993 combined those two years.

We'll always have 20

2012-12-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

I got a call last week from "my Mets ticket representative," who of course wanted to know what it would take to get me into a 2013 ticket package that day. But he started out by asking how often I come to games (usually about a dozen, though last year was the first in about eight that I didn't hit double-digits) and what my favorite memory at a game has been. Nothing tops the 2000 NLCS clincher over the Cardinals, but he meant at the new ballpark. And I didn't have an answer right away. At first, I answered that I wasn't sure it had happened yet.

And then I remembered: R.A. Dickey's 20th win in September. That is my favorite moment, and if it's not the new place's greatest moment, it might be equal to Johan Santana's no-hitter. I wasn't there for the no-no, so I can't say from experience whether Sept. 27 was better -- or even equal to -- June 1, but here's why Dickey's 20th stands out for me: On a weekday afternoon with school in session, a less-than-capacity crowd was as loud and enthusiastic as an Opening Day sellout or a Friday night opener against the Bronx boys (who of course have plenty of their own fans invading). The City rocked like Shea used to as we cheered on every strikeout as the game moved past the fifth inning, and when Dickey walked off the mound for the last time, everyone -- the group from The 7 Line in center field, the folks in the upper deck, those of us along the first-base line -- all stood and cheered the way you do for an ace.

Dickey was a great story -- and we've all heard it, several times, since his book came out last winter -- and it was wonderful to have that story on our team. Quite often, we'll hear from other fan bases that a player is getting so much publicity just because he plays in New York, but in this case, Dickey deserved it all. He was a great story no matter what team's jersey he was wearing. It was a pleasure to root not just for the knuckleball pitcher, but the person in that uniform.

So while I understand today's trade, while I know the Mets weren't going to contend this year, while I realize that Dickey's value would never be higher and there's a good chance they won't be good enough soon enough for him to have an impact on a contender, and while I love that they got a potential All-Star catcher in Travis d'Arnaud, I still find Dickey's departure a little hard to take as a fan. Just on the face of it, it's worse than saying goodbye to Jose Reyes. But at least Reyes left on his own, taking an offer that I'm glad my team didn't present to him. Dickey, though, was dealt away by the team, then signed a very reasonable offer that said team easily (even in their dire financial straits) could have made.

For now, I'm disappointed. I'd hoped to use the occasion of a Dickey contract extension to buy a new blue Mets alternate jersey with his name on the back. Now, I'm thinking 2013 might be the year my Opening Day streak (dating back to 2000) comes to an end. I'm not going to boycott the team and not go to any games, but I'm just not inspired to pay the money to be there for Game 1.

I know this move is better for the future, and the future is where this team's chances lie (because they're not in the present -- as in the 2013 season). But it doesn't make the waiting -- which Mets fans have been doing since 2006 -- any easier.

Porcello joins the ranks of those lending support following Hurricane Sandy

2012-11-20T11:33:00.001-05:00

Way to go, Rick Porcello! The Jersey guy had a chance to pick up a little gift in exchange for a couple of digits, but he chose a different route instead.

Torii Hunter asked his new teammate for No. 48, which Hunter has worn his whole career (since 1997) and Porcello has donned throughout his career -- which only goes back to 2009. In cases like these, the veteran usually gets his number -- for a price. But Porcello, to his credit, didn't want any money or a watch. He asked that Hunter donate the money to Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Porcello joins a growing list of ballplayers and teams lending a hand, either by volunteering their time or making a donation, in the aftermath of the storm. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a few of the more notable instances:

Foley's NY -- the self-described "best baseball bar in New York City" (and it's hard to argue) -- invited David Cone, Cecil Fielder and Joe McEwing in as guest bartenders last week and donated all proceeds (video). (Would have loved to have been there, but I was working.)

The Lakewood BlueClaws will be participating in "Restore the Shore" Fridays until Memorial Day and joined with representatives from the Phillies, Trenton Thunder and Philly affiliates Reading and Lehigh Valley for a community clean-up day on Monday. I wish I'd known about that one ahead of time to make plans to join them.

Major League Baseball and the Players Association donated $1 million to the Red Cross. The Yankees donated $500,000 to the Red Cross and will also donate 20 percent of proceeds from sales at nyyankeesfragrance.com (whatever that is) through November and December. Joe Girardi and CC Sabathia also greeted fans (video) who made donations at Yankee Stadium.

The Mets held a food drive that benefited Sandy victims and Johan Santana joined Jeff Wilpon on Coney Island to assist in the recovery (video).

And in a gesture that really struck home with me (having grown up just a few miles from Sea Bright), the Orioles collected supplies and had them driven directly to several Shore towns hit hardest: Toms River, Belmar, Sea Bright, Union Beach and Hazlet.

As I said, I easily may have missed some, so feel free to leave any additions in the comments.

The 2013 HOF Pre-Integration ballot

2012-11-06T11:36:00.000-05:00

The Hall of Fame unveiled the 2013 Pre-Integration Era ballot over the weekend, and it includes a New Jersey connection: Jacob Ruppert -- known as the Yankees owner who acquired Babe Ruth -- is also the man for whom Newark's Ruppert Stadium was named.

The Yankees owned the Newark Bears from 1931-47 (when they moved the franchise to Springfield, Mass.), and Ruppert's name was put on the stadium in 1934. It previously had been Davids Stadium and Bears Stadium. Should Ruppert be elected, the glory days of Newark baseball will be well-represented in Cooperstown (beyond the star players who suited up for the Bears and other teams), after the election of former Newark Eagles owner Effa Manley in 2006.

As for the annual player ballot -- you may have heard of it, what with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling and Craig Biggio eligible for the first time -- an announcement is expected at the end of the month, and any candidates selected for enshrinement will be revealed in early January.

MLB's original 16 meeting in the World Series

2012-10-23T02:05:00.002-04:00

What a run for these Giants, playing six games in which they faced elimination, and winning each one. In their long and storied history, they'd never won a Game 7 until last night (not counting Game 7 of the 1921 World Series, which was a best-of-nine).

In the 108th World Series, they'll face the Tigers -- another of the original 16 franchises from 1901 -- for the first time. That seemed surprising to me, but it's pretty common, especially when you consider that of the Cubs' infrequent appearances, four were against Detroit, or that while the Dodgers have 18 World Series visits -- ALL of which were against one of the AL's original eight -- 11 were against that team from the Bronx.

But all of this is more easily digested in table form, so here's the breakdown:

TEAMS	Braves	Cardinals	Cubs	Dodgers	Giants	Phillies	Pirates	Reds
A's	1	2	2	2	4			2
Browns/Orioles*		1		1		1	2	1
Indians	2			1	1
Red Sox		3	1	1	1	1	1	1
Senators/Twins	1	1		1	2		1
Tigers		5	4		1		2	1
White Sox			1	1	1			1
Yankees	4	5	2	11	7	2	2	3

*The Browns/Orioles franchise played one season, 1901, in Milwaukee as the Brewers before moving to St. Louis and then, in 1954, to Baltimore.

The Jeterian Code

2012-08-23T12:39:00.000-04:00

Midtown, 2008

A co-worker sent out an e-mail for an assignment yesterday, but added a twist. Next to each person on the list, attributed a saying, slogan or tall tale praising Derek Jeter, the joke being that Jeter is often adored/celebrated/defended by fans to the point of hagiography. This co-worker is not much for blogs or social media (he may be the last person of my generation I know who doesn't have a Facebook account, a Twitter account OR a blog -- not even a Tumblr or Instagram account), so I asked if I could borrow his list for a post here. All he asked was that I leave his name out of it. What follows is mostly his doing, though I omitted and altered a few that were inside office jokes.

So here then is The Jeterian Code, by a Co-Worker To Be Named Later. This list, of course, could be easily expanded. And neither the co-worker or I are claiming these are original ideas; maybe someone out there has uttered some of these before. But they were new to us.

Columbus didn't discover America, Jeter did
Zeus bows down before Jeter
WWJD stands for "What Would Jeter Do?"
Derek Jeter is the Keymaster
A.D. is no longer Anno Domini, it's now After Derek
Jeter's No. 2 is retired by all Nippon Professional Baseball clubs
Jeter is ticklish behind his parietal lobe
Dinosaurs were wiped off the earth by Jeter
JetBlue is renamed to JeterBlue
November shall now be known as Jetember
Santa has a Naughty, Nice and Jeter list
Jeter's birthday designated a galaxy-wide holidayJeter is the Keymaster
When you search for Jeter in a lexicon, it says "See 'God'"
No. 2 on calendars changed to the No. Jeter
Jeter knows the way to San Jose
The sun revolves around Jeter
Jeter was the man standing in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square
Jeter can read upside down
Melky Cabrera tested positive for too much Jeter
When Jeter retires, the Yanks will retire the position of SS
Jeter is Luke's father
DJ is a new element on the periodic table

Coming soon: The Ballad of Rupert Mills

2012-07-20T17:02:00.000-04:00

This is Rupert Mills, New Jersey born and Notre Dame educated. A four-sport letterman -- hence the basketball uniform -- and the last man to play in the short-lived Federal League (1914-15), he was the only Garden Stater on the Newark Peps. Mills made news in 1916 when, after the league had folded, he refused to be reassigned and, putting his Notre Dame law degree to work, insisted on being paid his $3,000 salary. It made for an interesting scenario in which he was the last -- and only -- player in the Federal League in 1916.

I post this because on this day 83 years ago, Mills passed away at 36, a hero for saving a friend's life, but losing his in the process. I had intended to prepare a full story about him to post today, but I've hit a snag in my research (involving unreturned phone calls), so it's not ready yet. I didn't want this anniversary to pass, so consider this a placeholder and a preview.

From ND to MLB: Aaron Heilman

2012-06-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

Aaron Heilman during the 2000 Big East Tournament in Bridgewater, N.J.

This post is about 11 months too late. I won't bore you with the details of why -- basically a combination of a vacation that followed the interview and the lack of a deadline (this is why I don't freelance; I can be a terrible self-starter) -- but suffice it to say that I would've preferred that I posted this last August.

This is how quickly it can turn. One July day, you're in the bullpen with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that relied on you for 70 games the previous season; two weeks later, after your release, you're preparing to pitch on "Halloween in July," marked with a skeleton-themed pullover jersey.

It's on this night I find Aaron Heilman in the Lehigh Valley IronPigs clubhouse at Coca-Cola Park. When a teammate takes a break from their game of dominoes to get some dinner, I, as a manner of introduction, point out our shared alma mater. We shake hands and I take a seat, but I don't reveal my allegiance to the Mets just yet. In hindsight, that may be part of my hesitation at writing this post. Because of our college connection -- Heilman's 1998 freshman season at Notre Dame overlapped with my senior spring -- I tend to view him in a more favorable light than most (OK, all) Mets fans I know. But then again, I don't #BlameBeltran for anything, either. While I understand how one mistake can taint you in the eyes of the fanbase for the rest of your career, I can't bring myself to dwell on the losses. I prefer to just move on to the next game, or the next season, and look forward to the next win.

So here we are, the pitcher from Logansport, Ind., and the reporter from the Jersey Shore chatting about South Bend across a table set in the middle of a surprisingly narrow clubhouse for a ballpark built in the last 10 years. IronPigs shuffle by, music blares from a stereo, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse from the kitchen of Hall of Famer named Ryne Sandberg, Lehigh Valley's manager.

Some might think that Heilman's Hoosier roots (his father, Joe, ran track at Indiana University) made Notre Dame an obvious choice for the top in-state baseball prospect in 1997, but it wasn't his first thought.

"I wanted to go South, wanted to go play someplace warm," he said while reshuffling the dominoes. "But after talking with Coach [Paul] Maineri and Brian O'Connor, I fell in love with the place. I took my visit there and called up the rest of my visits on Sunday and cancelled them. I was sold. It seemed like home, seemed like the right place for me to be."

Drafted by the Yankees in the 55th round, Heilman chose college instead, and from the start, he was right for Notre Dame. During his freshman season in 1998, he led the nation with a 1.61 ERA, going 7-3 with nine saves in 31 games (one start). He struck out 78 and walked 19 in 67 innings, holding opponents to a .198 batting average. Those numbers earned him third-team all-America and consensus first-team freshman all-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and second-team all-Big East accolades. He shared Collegiate Baseball's freshman of the year award with California's Xavier Nady and a left-hander from Auburn named Hayden Gliemmo, who was never drafted but played 42 games at Class A Cedar Rapids in 2003, his only professional season.

In 1999, his sophomore year, Heilman started 14 of his 20 games, completing six of them, with an 11-2 record and 3.14 ERA. He struck out 118 in 109 innings, breaking Frank Carpin's 41-year-old single-season Irish strikeout record (which he matched the next season). Heilman's sophomore campaign included a one-hitter over Miami (he pitched the final five innings, allowing the lone hit in the ninth of a 1-0 win, the first shutout of the Hurricanes in four years) and a 154-pitch win over Creighton in an NCAA regional (he allowed one run on five hits, with six walks and seven strikeouts). The honors came again: third-team all-America from Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association, and first team all-Big East.

2000 Big East Tournament program

Heilman broke out during his junior year in 2000, earning all-America, Big East pitcher of the year and unanimous first-team all-Big East honors following a 10-2, 3.21 season with another 118 strikeouts in 103 2/3 innings. He completed eight of his 14 starts and got into another three games in relief. In a 10-inning win at West Virginia, he tied a Big East record with 18 strikeouts, 10 of which came in the final 12 batters (including seven in a row). The Twins selected him that June with the first selection in the supplemental round, No. 31 overall, but Heilman chose to return to South Bend for his senior season.

"Once you go to Notre Dame, it becomes part of your family," he said, explaining how he still stays in touch with his college years, though it might also explain his decision to return. "It doesn't matter what years you were there, what dorm you stayed in. It always seems like there's some connection there, always something to draw you back."

2007 Upper Deck

And what a season that 2001 campaign was: He went 15-0 in 15 starts, completing 12 of them, with a 1.74 ERA and .173 batting average against. The Irish won a program-record 49 games and achieved their first national No. 1 ranking during the season. In 114 innings, Heilman struck out 111 and walked 31, allowing 70 hits and just three homers. He repeated as Big East pitcher of the year (the first since Connecticut's Charles Nagy in 1987-88), was a consensus first-team all-American and ranked second in the nation in wins and sixth in ERA. He still ranks among the top 10 in 14 of 15 career pitching categories listed in the 2012 Notre Dame Baseball Media Guide, including first in innings (393 2/3), wins (43, against just seven losses) and strikeouts (425, which is 110 more than runner up David Sinnes). His single-season strikeouts totals of 118, 118 and 111 rank as the top three in Notre Dame history. And -- if I may borrow from my 2002 self, as you'll see below -- the editors of the student newspaper, The Observer, named him male athlete of the year, ahead of quarterback Matt Lo Vecchio (who led the football team to the Fiesta Bowl) and basketball forward Troy Murphy (who helped the Irish to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 11 years).

When draft day came, Heilman's name was the 18th called -- as the first player taken by the New York Mets. At the time, I thought it could only be a good thing -- a player from my alma mater chosen by my favorite team. I didn't think about failure, because I didn't expect there to be any, not on a grand scale, anyway.

Heilman progressed quickly through the Mets' system, beginning at high-Class A St. Lucie after signing in 2001, splitting 2002 between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Norfolk. In April 2002, I drove out to Trenton when Binghamton was in town and sat down with Heilman in the visitors' dugout (click the image to the right for a larger, somewhat readable version of the article).

In 2003, Heilman started at Norfolk before making his debut on June 26 against the Marlins. I made sure I was there at Shea Stadium, and a classmate took a train up from Washington, D.C., to join me. The game didn't turn out like we'd hoped. Though Heilman was only charged with one earned run -- singled in by opposing pitcher Dontrelle Willis -- some sloppy play by the Mets and Heilman himself led to four unearned runs, three of them scoring on a Miguel Cabrera double in the fourth inning.

Four starts later, on July 21 in Philadelphia, Heilman notched his first career victory -- against the club that had signed him a few days before our interview. He allowed four runs in five innings, but benefitted from eight Mets runs in an 8-6 final. Jason Phillips (3-for-5, three runs, two RBIs, his seventh homer) and Cliff Floyd (2-for-5, two runs, three RBIs, his 16th homer) were the offensive stars, but I must not have been watching, because I remember none of those details.

But when I asked Heilman about what moments stand out -- so far -- in his career, it wasn't the individual accomplishments that he brought up. Well, not his, at least.

"Going to the playoffs with the Mets was a lot of fun," he said, though there was something left unsaid (and this is why I wish I'd been more diligent in reviewing my notes last summer, because there's an obvious follow-up here that I never got to ask). "I got the chance to play with a lot of great players that" -- and here he chuckled, which I didn't catch at the time, but if I get the chance to talk with him again, I'll ask him what he thought about pitching in the early 2000s -- "I'm gonna assume that most of them are going to be in the Hall of Fame. I played with guys like Billy Wagner, and Roberto Hernandez was a big help to me early in my career when I went to the bullpen."

But here's the individual accomplishment that's not his own:

"I think the moment that stands out the most to me was being able to be a part of Tom Glavine's 300th win," he said. "It was at Wrigley Field, just to be a small part of something like that. Such a great accomplishment for Tom, all the years of hard work. To be able to help secure a victory for him that day was pretty special."

My lasting Mets memory of Heilman's tenure was a game I didn't even see. On April 15, 2005, I was sitting in a Midtown bar waiting to meet up with my wife (well, fiancee at the time) and her parents. There was no TV, but a friend of mine texted me what happened at Shea against the Marlins, where Heilman pitched one of the now three dozen one-hitters in Mets history.

"And that one hit was by a future teammate of mine, [Luis] Castillo," Heilman said, shaking his head. "A swinging bunt ..."

He let the thought trail off ...

I sometimes wonder how things would've turned out if Castillo had made more solid contact with that pitch in the fourth inning, getting it to Mets second baseman Miguel Cairo just a little faster, with enough time to get the out at first. To that point, Heilman had started 20 of 21 career games. After that, he started five of 51 the rest of that season -- and hasn't started since, in the Majors or minors. Would the Mets have moved the pitcher who threw the first no-hitter in franchise history into the bullpen? Would he have been in the game in the ninth of Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS? ...

I didn't ask directly about that game, that pitch. I should have, yes, but I blanked. I led into it, but wasn't explicit ...

"I don't have any regrets," Heilman said, repeating my question. "You go out there and you play hard everyday. Certainly, things didn't always pan out the way I wanted them to. But you come to the park the next day with a good attitude of being able to get the job done, you turn the page and move on."

And moving on is all Heilman can do -- and has done -- these days, these past two seasons. When I caught up with him, he was back in Triple-A for the first time in seven years. He pitched in nine games with Lehigh Valley, giving up nine runs in 9 2/3 innings. Twenty days after I met with him, the Phillies released him. The day after that, the Pirates signed him and he went 2-0 in seven scoreless appearances with Triple-A Indianapolis, but Pittsburgh didn't re-sign him.

"Certainly, you like to stay in the big leagues," he said last July. "The idea is to play in the big leagues as long as you can. But sometimes you hit a bump in the road, you need to kind of take a step back and refocus and regroup, get things in order so that you can get back to performing at the level that you should be."

He spent spring training 2012 with the Mariners, but got released. He's now a sometimes-closer at Triple-A Round Rock in the Rangers' organization, having finished 10 of 26 games, saving six of them. He's 1-0 with a 3.58 ERA in 37 2/3 innings. He's struck out 33, walked 13 and held opponents to a .252 batting average. The numbers are actually pretty solid, comparable to his best with the Mets in 2006-07. But yet, with all the injuries to the Rangers' rotation, he's remained at Round Rock while Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels and the staff in Arlington give their pitching prospects a chance, and rightly so.

I thought the end of Heilman's days in affiliated ball had come back in March and that, when I Googled him today, I'd find him on an independent roster somewhere. So I was happy to see him with Round Rock, but I know that it's likely only delaying the inevitable. Still, there's a part of me that hopes Heilman gets one more shot to go out on a high note -- something better than the 6.88 ERA he posted last year at Arizona. Realistically, though, I know that D-backs red may be the last Major League uniform he wears, and I'll just have to think about some of those moments in his first one.

Spring Training, 2008

Watching history from New Hampshire

2012-06-04T11:37:00.004-04:00

Johan, in April

My father called during the seventh inning. I was up in New Hampshire, sitting in the living room of my college roommate's lakehouse after the four of us -- my wife, Bryan, his partner and me -- had returned from dinner. We were settling in to watch Lions for Lambs, a 2007 drama with Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Robert Redford (who also directed) that I had never heard of.

"Are you in New Hampshire?" he asked, checking up on our itinerary, I figured. "Have you checked in on the Mets at all tonight?"

I didn't get where he was going at first. "I saw Duda homered and they were up like 5-0," I said.

"Yeah. Well, Johan's through seven now, too. The Mets have the bases loaded ..." And then he went on to explain what the Mets had done in the bottom of the seventh. But I didn't care about that anymore.

"Oh! Right!" I said, cutting him off. "We're about to watch a movie, but I'll watch the game online."

"I didn't want to jinx it, so I wasn't going to say anything. But your mother" -- of my parents, she's the bigger Mets fan -- "said I should call you."

"No, she's right," I replied. After a few more words, we hung up and I pulled out the iPad. "Commercial break in progress," it said. We were heading to the top of the eighth.

Bryan stoked the fire and started the movie. I pulled out headphones and put them halfway in my ears, trying to follow the beginning of the movie in between Gary, Keith and Ron describing the game, commenting on history in the making.

One, two, walk, three -- Johan Santana was through eight, becoming the first Mets pitcher to take a no-hitter into the ninth since Tom Seaver in September 1975. He was, in fact, just the second person to take a no-hitter into the ninth for the Mets, because Seaver's three instances were the only other occasions.

But the pitch count is high -- 122 -- especially for a veteran coming off shoulder surgery and a year rehabbing. His spot in the lineup comes up in the eighth, and he strides to the plate, getting a closeup view of six pitches, then walking back to the dugout. The Mets are retired, and it's on to the top of the ninth.

I haven't been following the game, so I know nothing of Mike Baxter's amazing catch or Carlos Beltran's apparent hit down the left-field line ruled foul. I don't know how many balls have been hit hard or how many plays have saved hits, even in the early innings when anything beyond routine is just a nice play, not a history-saving highlight. I don't even know where the Cardinals are in their lineup, having spent the eighth half-watching, half-following the movie. But now I'm all-in; the earbuds are shutting out the dialogue on the TV. I'm not about to take my attention away from the game to see who is due up, so I just take it one batter at a time. It's probably better that way.

Matt Holliday is first, and I only have a moment to ponder how dangerous he might be before he swings at the first pitch and sends what at first looks like a soft, looping line drive into shallow center field. Well, that's it, I think. But it's not, it's out No. 25, hanging up long enough for Andres Torres to jog in and make an easy catch. I haven't watched baseball in a week; my judgement on fly balls off the bat is a little off.

Up comes Allen Craig. He's not a superstar, maybe even not quite a regular yet -- his biggest moments in last year's World Series came as a pinch-hitter -- but he's still young. Maybe he'll become an All-Star. Maybe he'll be a bit better than Jim Qualls. But his anonymity relative to the hitters on either side of him worries me. But on a 2-2 pitch, he flies out to Kirk Nieuwenhuis in left field.

Two outs. One more to go.

And it's David Freese. Uh-oh. Last year's NLCS and World Series MVP. The guy who is no stranger -- and apparently has no fear of -- pressure. A guy who quit baseball because he wasn't motivated, then came back to it and became an October hero. Santana falls behind immediately, then deeply -- three straight balls. And Yadier Molina's on deck -- the guy who drove Baxter into the wall in the seventh, the guy who kept the Mets from the World Series in 2006. Double uh-oh.

But Johan doesn't give in. He gets a called strike on a fastball on the inside corner -- though he probably could've asked Freese where he wanted it, and still Freese would've watched it go by. Then Johan goes back to the changeup, though this late in the game, on his 133rd pitch, his 80-mph changeup is only 6 mph slower than the fastball on the previous pitch. Freese swings and gets a piece -- but not enough, fouling it off. There's really little doubt as to what pitch is coming next: A changeup. Diving toward the dirt. No chance it's a strike, unless -- YES! Freese swings and misses! Strikeout! No-hitter! History!

Sitting there in a New Hampshire cabin, I softly hiss, "YESSS!!" and raise my hands above my head and clap three times. Everyone in the room jumps. Casey, who's used to this kind of thing from me, explains to the guys, "Yeah, this is what happens." I smile, my heart pounding as I watch the celebration on the screen, and apologize, explaining the significance of what just happened. They're not big sports fans, though they do follow the Red Sox and attend an occasional game. But they humor me with "Wow" and "That's cool" comments.

A flurry of texts and tweets with my mom and a few friends follow as I watch the interviews online. It's Mom -- who has followed the Mets from the beginning, or close to it, who probably enjoys it more than any of us -- who had the misfortune of being away from home with no MLB.TV account to follow it, and no sympathetic bartenders in the Philadelphia area who thought to switch off the Phillies game or whatever NBA playoff game was on one of the half-dozen TVs. You'd think they'd turn one of them to MLB Network or SNY (if they have a sports package) just so they could root for the inevitable hit, another close call for Mets fans.

But that hit never came. From the moment my dad told me what was happening, I knew I had to be watching through the last out. I don't know if it was just a hidden sense of this is finally it or the detachment from baseball I'd had all week along the Maine coast, where the only baseball I watched was the Red Sox game, if it was on in the bar. I think it was more that I didn't have a chance to think ahead, to predict when the hit would come, or to dread it's arrival. I guess it seemed fitting that it would happen when I was away from home -- away from work -- and not fully invested in the day-to-day of the Mets, or any baseball.

And I'm glad we don't subscribe to the events-that-shall-not-be-named theory. Not mentioning a no-hitter in progress is for the dugout. Maybe for the ballpark, if you're in the stands and want to play along. But somewhere along the way, back when the streak was in the 7,000s, I decided that approach hadn't worked for 40-something years of Mets history, so maybe another approach would.

This time, it did. And of course it would be Johan Santana to do it -- though I had started to believe that it had been so long that the first no-hitter in Mets history would be pitched by someone like Chris Schwinden, someone who would turn out to be a journeyman, with no chance of having his uniform number join Seaver's on the wall. (No offense to Schwinden, but his recent waiver acquisition by the Blue Jays makes him an apt and recent example.)

I woke up on Saturday morning with that familiar feeling of not knowing where I was, which often happens after the first night in a new bed. The rain on the roof reminded me I was in the loft of a cabin on Lake Winnipesaukee, and then I remembered what had happened the night before. It wasn't yet 8 a.m., but I reached for the iPad and pulled up MLB.com's extensive coverage, starting with the game story and working my way through every other link on the page. I learned about Beltran's near-hit and watched Baxter's catch again and read every word. History was made and I got to watch it and nothing else mattered at that moment than being a Mets fan.

The Dodgers return to New York

2012-05-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

Half a century ago, the Dodgers and Giants returned to New York for the first time as visitors. They came during the last days of May and the beginning of June to face the team that had replaced them in the National League -- and had replaced the Giants at the Polo Grounds -- the Mets, who would turn out to be not-so-amazin' that year.

Fifty years ago today, the Dodgers returned to New York from a game in Washington the night before, shuffling off to bed at 10:30 in the morning. But they didn't scatter to their homes in Brooklyn. Instead, they laid their heads in a hotel in Manhattan, visitors not just at the Polo Grounds, but in the metropolis they once called home.

On May 29, 1962, the Dodgers came back to New York for the first time since leaving for Los Angeles. They arrived following a Memorial Day exhibition game in Spokane, Wash. -- hence the midmorning arrival -- and had a day off to recover from the travel before facing the Mets at the Polo Grounds on May 30.

"Exhaustion will have evaporated by this afternoon, however," Arthur Daley wrote in The New York Times on the 30th:

That's when these one-time idols of the fanatics from Canarsie to Greenpoint will perform at the Polo Grounds for the first time in almost five years -- and as strangers. No longer are they the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. They are the Los Angeles Dodgers who spurned love for gold and ran off with the fast-talking Walter O'Malley. But do Brooklynites still carry the torch? We'll find out today when the Dodgers meet the Mets in a double-header.

The Mets had returned home from a long journey of their own, a 12-game trip from Milwaukee to Houston to Los Angeles to San Francisco. They lost the first to the Braves, won the next three, and then didn't win again. In fact, the trip out West and the visit from the Dodgers -- and then the Giants, who would follow their California neighbors as visitors to the Polo Grounds -- would be part of the Mets' season-long 17-game losing streak that saw them go from seven games under .500 (12-19) on May 20 to 24 games under (12-36) on June 6.

Before the Dodgers arrived, the Mets had played 15 home dates (with two doubleheaders, so 17 games total) to that point at the Giants' former home and had averaged merely 9,167 fans per game, drawing a high of 19,925 on Sunday, April 29, for a doubleheader vs. the Phillies and topping 10,000 only six other times. But the imminent homecoming would change that: Each of the five dates (the Dodgers and Giants each played a doubleheader) would draw at least 22,000.

"The appearances of the Dodgers and Giants, unseen here since forsaking Brooklyn and New York for Los Angeles and San Francisco after the 1957 season, caused National League fans to scurry out of their hiding places in droves," Joseph M. Sheehan wrote in The Times on May 30, 1962. "The advance ticket sale points to a crowd of at least 50,000 today. With good weather, as many as 200,000 fans may follow the all-but-forgotten course to the Polo Grounds over the five-day period."

They fell just short:

Wednesday, May 30, twin bill vs. Dodgers: 55,704
Thursday, May 31, single game vs. Dodgers: 22,884
Friday, June 1, single game vs. Giants: 43,742
Saturday, June 2, twin bill vs. Giants: 41,001
Sunday, June 3, single game vs. Giants: 34,102

Five day total: 197,433

In their previous 15 home dates, the Mets had drawn a total of 155,879. "The games will present an opportunity to gain acceptance," Sheehan wrote. Maybe it was the weather or maybe they did gain a little acceptance, because after the Dodgers and Giants left town, the Mets averaged 10,224 over their final 42 home dates (they played a lot of doubleheaders in '62). The Wednesday total against the Dodgers was the largest in the Majors to that point, according to The Sporting News.

Sheehan also listed the 10 players who would be returning who had once played when the Dodgers and Giants were in New York. The seven Dodgers were: Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres, the starters for the series-opening doubleheader; Don Drysdale; Ed Roebuck; Duke Snider; Jim Gilliam; and John Roseboro. Snider, though, was not expected to play because of a "jammed wrist." The Giants brought back Mike McCormick and Stu Miller. "One whom everyone will welcome back is wonderful Willie Mays," Sheehan wrote.

Over the next five days, the long-dormant fans would have a chance to come back to the Polo Grounds to root for -- though more likely against -- the teams, and a few players, they'd once called their own.

Happy 100th, Fenway Park

2012-04-20T15:14:00.001-04:00

Dad, sis and me

I've been to Fenway Park several times over the years (seeing the Yankees twice, once more than I've seen the Red Sox in the Bronx), but the first trip wasn't for a game.

My family stopped to visit my mom's cousin in Arlington, Mass., on our way up to Maine (our annual August migration). I knew the Red Sox were out of town -- probably by picking up a newspaper, because I'm not sure even cordless phones were in wide use yet -- but I still wanted to see Fenway Park, then 77 years old. (In '89, the year SkyDome opened, two years before New Comiskey and three before Camden Yards changed everything, Fenway was one of five pre-Depression ballparks; now it's one of two. And Camden Yards is the 10th oldest ballpark in baseball! I find that remarkable.) So on a day trip into the city, we made our way to Yawkey Way. It was a hot and humid day, a detail I recalled when looking at the hazy skyline in the photo of right field below.

As we walked along Van Ness St., we saw an open gate, through which we could see into the darkness of the narrow concourse beneath the first-base stands. Light shone through a ramp out to the seats, and I may have caught a glimpse of the Green Monster. As we stood there looking -- feeling the cool, damp air emanating from the concourse -- an employee walked by and recognized us as tourists. It may have been the mesh-backed Mets cap on my head.
He said hello and chatted with us for a moment before inviting us inside, waving us up the ramp for a look at the field. "Just take off that Mets cap first," he said to me with a smile. (He was joking. I think.) "And please stay at the top of the ramp." I did doff my cap, either out of fear of a stranger or respect for the Fens, resulting in the wonderful example of pre-teen hat head in the photo above.

We probably spent no more than two minutes gazing out at all that green of the grass and the wall and the red of the seats. The tarp was stretched out in right field, drying off (I think it may have rained the night before). I seem to have a memory of this visit being the day after the end of a homestand, which would put the date as Monday, Aug. 7, 1989. A couple of groundskeepers tended to the field. I took a couple of photos (seen below) and my mom snapped the pic of my dad, sister and me above. Then we headed back down the ramp, across the concourse and out onto the street. And I knew we had just received a treat.

I made it back for a game two years later, my dad and me getting seats in the second row behind the Yankees' bullpen in right field. I saw the ballpark come to life then -- and again in 1993 (vs. the Rangers), 1994 (Yankees) and 2009 (Mets). The fans were always there, even without seats atop the Monster or a right-field roof deck. No matter how you feel about those additions, the best thing about them and all the other enhancements made in the last decade is that they will ensure that Fenway lives on, so that those of us who made our first visit in the '80s -- or before -- can relate to those who made -- or will make -- theirs in the 21st Century.

And a couple of a cap cart on the street outside: