BASEBALL!

[Wolfsong]

Originally Posted by Ciaran

I loved going to the old Yankee Stadium - the history and the ghosts were immense - so will be interesting to see what the atmosphere is like in the new stadium. I hope to get there in the summer.

I confess to complete and total jealousy right now. I would have loved to see a game in the old stadium. In an earlier post I mentioned that Roger Maris is my all time favorite player, but there are many others that also happen to have been Yankees.





This weekend is going to kind of suck. I had tickets to the White Sox-Cubs game @ Wrigley Field and decided to sell them because all of the out-of-town goons protesting the NATO summit are all over the place. One of them pushed an 80 yr old man down the day before yesterday. I'm not taking my wife down there.

[Ciaran]

Originally Posted by Wolfsong

I confess to complete and total jealousy right now. I would have loved to see a game in the old stadium. In an earlier post I mentioned that Roger Maris is my all time favorite player, but there are many others that also happen to have been Yankees. [/FONT]

I actually have an original architect drawing of part of the original Yankee Stadium. It was produced in 1921 by the Osborn Engineering Company of Cleveland who designed the stadium. It ultimately opened in 1923.

My favourite player of all-time is Tony Lazzeri although I also love the story of Lou Gehrig.

[Wolfsong]

Originally Posted by Ciaran

I actually have an original architect drawing of part of the original Yankee Stadium. It was produced in 1921 by the Osborn Engineering Company of Cleveland who designed the stadium. It ultimately opened in 1923.

My favourite player of all-time is Tony Lazzeri although I also love the story of Lou Gehrig.

Lazzeri was a Cub around 38-39ish. (Poor guy, they were 30 years into their slump by then). He did actually play with the Cubs in the World Series....against the Yankees in '38. They lost. An old, classic Yankee, played with both Ruth and Gehrig. Tony once said them;

"They didn't get along. Gehrig thought Ruth was a big-mouth and Ruth thought Gehrig was cheap. They were both right." - Tony Lazzeri

He was a good ballplayer. What made him your favorite all time?

[Ciaran]

Originally Posted by Wolfsong

Lazzeri was a Cub around 38-39ish. (Poor guy, they were 30 years into their slump by then). He did actually play with the Cubs in the World Series....against the Yankees in '38. They lost. An old, classic Yankee, played with both Ruth and Gehrig. Tony once said them;

"They didn't get along. Gehrig thought Ruth was a big-mouth and Ruth thought Gehrig was cheap. They were both right." - Tony Lazzeri

He was a good ballplayer. What made him your favorite all time?

Yes, Lazzeri went to the Cubs in 1938 - it was his only season there. He then went to the Dodgers, New York Giants and ended up in Toronto.

Why is Lazzeri my favourite plaver? It's strange but I'm not really a baseball fan in that it's not my sport. However, I love imagery of the Yankees of the 1920s and 1930s. I collect original Yankees photos from this period and have one of the best collections that exists.

Why do I like Lazzeri? Well, he wasn't as popular as Ruth or Gehrig but a damn good player. Also, I like his being Italian at a time when it wasn't always easy to be high profile and successful as a non-WASP.

However, above all, Lazzeri is my favourite player because he was so photogenic. I have photos of Lazzeri from his first days at the Yankees in 1926 and chart his career through the Yankees. What I find most interesting is that he had such a warm, alluring smile but that seemed to go after he left the Yankees. I've five or six photos of Lazzeri at the Cubs in 1938 but he's not smiling in any of these, same with photos of him at the Dodgers and Giants.

I recently purchased the original negative of a Lazzeri photo taken in the summer of 1946. In this, he was wearing a Yankees shirt as he was at a baseball summer school in San Francisco. He was found dead weeks later. I'm not certain but think that this is probably the last ever photo of him pictured in a Yankees jersey.

[Dominique]

The Pirates have struck out 43 times in three games. The Detroit Tigers, NEVER, in their 100 year history have stuck out so many batters in a three day series.

The season is one third over, and it's time for me to start calling this out (again) The Pirate organization did not fire that batting coach (Ritchie) last year when we were pitiful with offense and strike outs, and somehow it managed to get worse.

17 batters struck out today.

Pedro Alveres hits an occasional home run, and plays nearly every day. He's batted 123 times, and struck out 53 times. Thats 42% of no contact with the ball......why is he still in there?

Then there is Rod Barajas (the over weight catcher) he's thrown out 2 runners on 36 attempts. He had another passed ball today, and one yesterday...because he is as over weight as Prince Fielder and is more like a back stop than a catcher. His batting average is .217.....why is he still playing? The Pirates released Doumit because they said he couldn't catch (at least he could hit)

OK, rant over.

[Wolfsong]

I on the other hand am completely overjoyed that my Chicago White Sox rose to the occasion on the world stage (Games were broadcast on AFN & members of NATO attended) this week by sweeping the Cubs today 6-0.

We went from 4.5 out of 1st and in 3rd to 2nd at 2.5 and passed up Detroit. Bring on the Twinkies!!

[Dominique]

Keith Hernandez was on the air during this afternoon game (Mets vs. Pirates) totally dissing on Barajas for his lack of discipline and seemingly what Hernandez called an innability to just play the game............

I'd say Keith Hernandez knows a bit more about baseball (and catchers) than I do.

beyond embarrassment