"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, November 15, 2003 ::

Major League Baseball All-Time Standings

Most record books, in my opinion, leave out one of the most important parts of baseball -- the standings. They'll list franchises with their won and lost totals, but will disconnect franchises that obviously belong together, such as the A's and Braves (listing totals for each city separately), and they never put it in any sort of standing order.

So, about ten years ago I wrote an article for SABR's "The National Pastime" journal in which I put all this stuff together and listed it as "standings". Each year since then, I've updated it and put together some notes on how the teams have been doing over the years.

Click here for the 2003 standings, posted today. If you'd like a printed copy or a copy of any of the previous editions, feel free to e-mail me.

One other note today: former major league pitcher Bill Singer, who is now a "special assistant" (and just what do those people do, anyway?) for the Mets, made some racially insensitive remarks while at the general managers' meetings last week in Phoenix.

Seriously, don't these people ever learn? I suspect Singer had had too much to drink (this was at 11 at night) and it loosened up his tongue, which is probably going to loosen him from his job.

Then Bud Selig and the other honchos will cluck-cluck about this for a few days, and pay lip service to getting more minorities involved in management.

And in the end, nothing will change.

:: posted by Al at 3:16 PM [+] ::
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Cub Notes

The spring training schedule was released today. It includes a night game at HoHoKam Park on March 22, and what has become the traditional spring-ending games vs. the Diamondbacks at the BOB on April 1 and 2.

There is still a possibility that the Mariners and A's might play a season-opening series in Japan next March. If this occurs, look for the last week of the spring schedule to be modified.

Also, as mentioned on The Cub Reporter, the Hall of Fame is bringing a new component to the voting for next year's Ford Frick Award, for a broadcaster to be honored. Now, 99% of the world considers that to be "induction" into the Hall of Fame for a broadcaster, though technically it's not.

Ron Santo is on the list of nominees and you can vote for the finalists. Fan voting will be part of the Hall's process to decide who's on the ballot. You can vote once each day through the end of November.

There are plenty of other interesting names on the ballot, including Chip Caray and Pat Hughes, and also several announcers who are already Hall of Fame players, including the late Lou Boudreau, Brooks Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Joe Morgan, Don Sutton, Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline and old-timer Waite Hoyt.

:: posted by Al at 7:38 PM [+] ::
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Now, They're REALLY All Gone

Lloyd Pettit, who broadcast Chicago Blackhawk hockey in the 1950's and 1960's, and was Jack Brickhouse's sidekick during the '60s on Cub telecasts, died last night in his hometown of Milwaukee at the age of 76.

Pettit's signature hockey call of "A shot! And a goal!" helped create a generation of young Blackhawks fans, myself included; unfortunately the pigheaded attitudes of the Wirtz ownership have steadily eroded that over the 33 years since Pettit shocked the Chicago broadcast world with his sudden "retirement" at the age of 43.

Why did he retire? Because he married one of the wealthiest women in his native Milwaukee, Jane Bradley, heir to the Allen-Bradley fortune. Allen-Bradley is a manufacturing company that's now part of Rockwell Automation, and is perhaps best known among Chicagoans for the huge clock that you can see near downtown Milwaukee as you drive in on I-94 (for a time, it was the largest clock face in the world).

Anyway, Pettit and his wife became known for their philanthropic donations to all kinds of worthy causes, and in the mid-1990's spent $71 million of their own money to build the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, home of the Milwaukee Bucks.

He was a terrific broadcaster -- I really missed him in particular in comparison to his successor, Jim West, who was a really nice guy (I worked with him briefly at WGN in the late 1970's), but West couldn't hold a candle to Pettit as an announcer.

Now, all the men who broadcast Cub games when I was a kid are gone.

Maybe now we can win.

:: posted by Al at 5:36 PM [+] ::
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Notes

Some of you have dropped me e-mails by clicking on the "contact/comment" link above.

Since that e-mail address is "out there", I occasionally start getting spam via that address, so from time to time I change it. If you've sent me e-mail in the past and you try to do so again and it bounces back as undeliverable, come back here and check the current e-mail address and try again. Thanks.

I also wanted to give a plug to Jose Pulido, who e-mailed me the other day about Hee Seop Choi. He's got a blog himself -- about the Magallanes, Venezuela ballclub. Check it out. Yes, it's in Spanish, but you can run it through a translator such as Babelfish and get at least a sense of what he's talking about.

The CubsTalk.com site has posted their list of the top ten Cub games of 2003. Not saying whether I agree or disagree with the list, but it does contain some of the great highlights of the season.

:: posted by Al at 9:48 AM [+] ::
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Tribune Co. Tries To Slip One By

My buddy Mike e-mailed me the other day asking me if I had seen an article in last Friday's Tribune (free registration required) which was mostly about the city's efforts to save a landmark South Side church.

Buried in the article were the following paragraphs:

Meanwhile, a committee of the Landmarks Commission preliminarily approved a request from the Chicago Cubs to disassemble the brick wall behind home plate at Wrigley Field and move it about 9 feet closer in order to accommodate 210 more seats.

The committee also gave preliminary approval for the Cubs to replace the LED scoreboard under the existing center field scoreboard and add two upper deck scoreboards along the right- and left-field foul lines.

The proposal to add seats was originally put forth by the Cubs more than two years ago, along with the bleacher expansion (which may have now been shelved), buying the car wash at Clark & Waveland and building a Hall of Fame/restaurant/museum there (pending the city's decision on whether the Cubs actually own the right-of-way next to it, which used to be part of Seminary Avenue), and a proposal to slowly go from 18 to 30 night games a year (which has been given preliminary approval and could begin as early as 2004, with two additional night games next year).

Click here for some renderings of what the additional 210 seats will look like. It appears they are going to shoehorn three rows of 70 seats each in between where the dugout steps now are, and replace the brick wall in front of them. This will seriously reduce the amount of foul territory behind the plate (and I think this violates current MLB policy on how far the backstop has to be behind home plate), and could have the effect of raising batting averages, as more foul balls will wind up in those seats.

Just in case you missed it, which you probably did; it got no coverage anywhere else in the Chicago media, to my knowledge, and I'd have missed it myself if Mike hadn't pointed it out to me.

:: posted by Al at 8:26 PM [+] ::
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Some Cub News From Venezuela

I received an e-mail from Jose Pulido, a reader from Venezuela (gosh, it's cool to know my blog's being read all over the world!), who passed along this useful information about Hee Seop Choi's play with Magallanes:

For this season, Magallanes hired Hee Seop Choi to play first. He has played in a dozen games and I think he could win the batting title if he stays with the team all winter long. He has a sweet swing and patience but has shown problems with curveball pitchers, particularly over-hand. He also seems to get distracted at first, erratic at times. However, he is a great prospect. This is a pitchers league, with big parks and bad lighting. He is hitting 333, with an amazing 554 OBP and 4 homers. Contact, power and patience make a great combination. I think he is going to be a huge upgrade next season for the Cubs.

Thanks, Jose. I do worry about his weakness hitting the curveball, which has been part of the "holes in his swing" that some people I know have criticized Choi for. Otherwise, it sounds good so far, and I sure hope you're right about Hee Seop's potential for 2004.

:: posted by Al at 4:09 PM [+] ::
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Free Money!

No, unfortunately, not for you, but for me!

As many of you may recall, I went to see the Cubs play in Toronto last summer. Today, I received a letter from the Blue Jays that read, in part, as follows:

"As you may be aware, the Ontario government announced a retail sales tax ("RST") holiday from May 1, 2003 to September 30, 2003 affecting purchases of admission to places of amusement including Toronto Blue Jays home games. As a result, our records indicate that you are entitled to a sales tax refund of $19.10."

That's about $1.50 US. No, just kidding. It's really about $14.75 in US dollars. The letter goes on to show the formula by which they calculated the refund, along with an offer to credit it to games in 2004. Well, I'd think about it if the Cubs were playing there again, but since they're not, I called them and asked for a check. (Or in Canadian, a "cheque".)

Hey, we did our part to support the Toronto economy during SARS time. It's nice to know that somewhere, government incentives are not only (a) being given, but (b) actually being given in an efficient fashion.

:: posted by Al at 3:47 PM [+] ::
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Theater Review: "The Lion King"

Yes, it's November, and time for Al the Culture Vulture to catch up on all the stuff he missed during the baseball season.

Actually, this choice of date was deliberate; I bought these tickets back in July, knowing the baseball season would definitely be over by now.

And so, my dad, my kids and I hied on down to the Cadillac Palace Theater (and yes, I hate the corporate name too; you'd think the tickets would be a little less than $82 with the corporate sponsorship, but I guess that kind of makes you feel like you're seeing a Broadway show on Broadway, with the New York prices).

You probably already know the story of "Lion King"; who hasn't seen the film? (OK, I see a few raised hands out there.) As my dad pointed out, it's loosely based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet", where the evil uncle kills the noble king, and sends the heir to the throne away, only to see him redeem himself in the end (and get the girl, too).

The real stars of this show are the costumes, sets, staging and lighting, all directed by the amazingly talented Julie Taymor, who directed the acclaimed film "Frida" a year or so ago. If you've seen the film (and if you haven't, you should), you'll instantly recognize her wild color schemes and sets that seem to meander all over the place, but all have a purpose, and there's a particular scene involving Simba (the lion son and heir) and his father, all done with special lighting effects, which is particularly effective. The animal costumes are totally believable, without overwhelming the humans operating them (particularly fun are Timon and Puumba, the animals who befriend Simba after he's exiled by evil Uncle Scar), or being silly, like the costumes in "Cats".

Everything was done first-rate in this first touring company of "Lion King", and in fact it closes here at the end of this month. If it comes to your city, and I know it's got a worldwide tour planned (in addition to playing in London), don't miss it. There were a lot of kids in today's audience, it being a matinee, and all of them were entranced by the show -- there are plenty of fun things for them, as well as humor that's aimed at adults, and well-behaved to boot.

Which leads me to today's rant.

Seated behind us were what appeared to be civilized and well-dressed adults. But what I learned after the lights went down and the curtain went up is that they were absolute boors, talking throughout both acts. People, it's really simple: I paid $82 per ticket to hear the actors perform and sing, not listen to your inane commentary behind me. Talking in movie theaters is bad enough, but talking during a performance where the performers are live on the stage in front of you (and we were close enough that I'll bet the actors could have heard these idiots) is beyond rude.

Put a sock in it, people. If you must say something, whisper.

And I haven't even mentioned the morons who stopped in the middle of the intersection of LaSalle and Randolph to drop people off, ignoring my horn, while I was stuck in the middle of the intersection while the light changed.

[end rant]

Anyway, while those were annoyances, they certainly weren't enough to ruin a terrific afternoon at the theater. Highly recommended, especially if you have kids, though I'd think it would take a six-year-old or older to really "get" it. Younger kids might be too restless to sit through a two-hour-thirty-minute performance.

Don't miss it.

AYRating: ****

:: posted by Al at 7:50 PM [+] ::
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