The premise: a baseball fan fondly recalls his childhood memories of obsessively opening and collecting packs of baseball cards.
While watching an A’s game one afternoon at the Coliseum (which he rightly describes as a “post-apocalyptic crater ringed with hot dog stands”), he wonders what the players featured on the cards he collected as a kid were doing with their lives after their baseball careers had ended.
After purchasing a pack of cards on eBay from 1986, (the first year the author remembers having baseball cards), he sets off on a road trip across America to find and hopefully meet the 14 players featured in this 30-year-old card pack.
High jinks, hilarity and even important life lessons ensue.
This was just a great read and I highly recommend it for any baseball fan. Check it out on Goodreads.
Those who know me are aware of my intense love for the Dodgers. Despite living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 10 years now, it’s something that I haven’t been able to shake.
This year marks the 25th anniversary since the Dodgers last won the World Series. Because of this, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to read Miracle Men, which takes a look at the scrappy Dodgers team that ultimately went on to win the World Series in 1988.
For the most part, the book is fairly dry read, mostly rehashing play-by-plays from various games during the course of the 1988 season. I’d wager this sort of thing is less exciting than reading a game recap from the night before. That said, it was fascinating to read about so many baseball players that are tied to some of my earliest memories of baseball: Steve Sax, Orel Hershiser, Mike Scioscia, Ramon Martinez, Tim Belcher, Mikey Hatcher, and more.
The areas where this book excelled and became completely interesting were in some of the deeper stories — Hershiser’s pursuit of the consecutive scoreless innings streak, early clubhouse shenanigans during spring training that offended Kirk Gibson, interviews with players on other teams 25 years later, and of course reflections on Kirk Gibson’s incredible home run in game 1 of the World Series.
Some of my biggest takeaways were how different the game was played only 25 years ago. Managers completely abused their pitchers (130 and 140 pitch complete games were the norm, pitching on 2 or 3 days of rest were fine). It surprised me to find out how often balks were called (over 900 times in 1988). Insane!
Bottom line, you’ll probably only enjoy this book if you’re a Dodgers fan. On top of that, you’ll most likely only want to read it for some of the more interesting stories that happened in 1988. It’s a quick read and provides some interesting context on how a scrappy team wound up beating on of the most intimidating teams in baseball in the World Series.
One of my favorite computer games, Out of the Park Baseball, released its latest version just in time for the 2015 baseball season (one of the biggest features this year is the official MLB license — that means real team names and logos!). I’ll have to write up a more in-depth review later, but first I wanted to share this screenshot from a recent game.
The situation: I took over management of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015 (sorry, Andrew Friedman, I know you just got this job and all, but it’s time for a new sheriff) and I eventually navigated them to the 2017 World Series!
In game 2, Zack Greinke is pitching for the Dodgers, and LA ends up scoring 7 runs in the first inning! Greinke hits TWO homeruns during the game and on top of all that, Texas still came back and nearly won. Crazy!
(Click screenshot for larger view.)
Anyway, the Dodgers would go on to win the 2017 World Series by sweeping Texas in 4 games. 😉
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired utility player Skip Schumaker from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor league shortstop Jake Lemmerman, the Dodgers announced Wednesday.
Schumaker is a .288 career hitter over eight seasons, all in St. Louis. He has played all three outfield positions, as well as second base.
The move seems to have been prompted by the recommendation of new Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire, who worked with Schumaker in St. Louis.
I’m not one to gloat (okay, I sure am), but let’s take a trip back in recent time. Back to the good old dog days of summer, July 27th, 2012.
A surprised Melky Cabrera [San Francisco Giants outfielder] categorically denied an Internet rumor that he had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, saying neither he nor the Players’ Association has received any such information from Major League Baseball.
The article continues…
Cabrera said he had nothing to be worried about and credited his success to hard work. He speculated that perhaps a Dodgers fan created the rumor as a way to distract the club heading into the big, three-game series between the two rivals.
All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera was suspended for 50 games without pay Wednesday after the San Francisco Giants outfielder tested positive for testosterone
[…]
Flashing bright orange spikes, Cabrera singled and hit a two-run homer last month in the NL’s 8-0 All-Star win, which secured home-field advantage for the World Series.
Oops!
It’s going to be especially awesome when the Dodgers get home field advantage for the World Series later this year. Thanks for the kind words, Melky!
This loss against the San Diego Padres last weekend was especially embarrassing. Double steal of home in the top of the 9th inning.
Of course, the blame rests solely on myself. About 10 minutes before this, I was telling some friends who are Giants fans that, “there’s a reason we’re in first place.”
Yeah, no.
I’m going to rename my fantasy baseball team the “God Damn Dodgers.”
Thank the gods! The Dodgers will have new ownership this spring (MAGIC JOHNSON!), ending the tumultuous, devastating, and demoralizing reign of the evil Frank McCourt.
5. The uniform: Crisp, clean and classic, the Dodgers’ home whites have remained virtually unchanged for decades (notwithstanding McCourt’s poorly received decision to remove player names in 2005-2006). In a league where teams switch from purple and teal to “sedona red” in a heartbeat, the Dodgers’ sartorial consistency represents a comforting adherence to, well, looking damn good. All hail the red (number), white (polyester moisture-wicking performance mesh) and blue (Pantone 294)!
He also mentions traffic as one of the great things. I’m inclined to disagree. Anyway, it’s a new day in Los Angeles. I think I’m excited about baseball again!
