"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, October 30, 2004 ::

The 2004 Bottom-Of-The-Heap Awards

Since 1977, I have been handing out awards for the worst performances of the season, named after appropriate players from baseball history.

Click here for the 2004 B-O-T-H Awards, which I've posted today.

If you'd like a copy of any of the previous 27 years' awards, e-mail me.

I also compile an all-time major league standings list, with all franchises since the AL and NL began combined into one, which you will not find in most other places. You can find the updated list, complete, through the 2004 season, here.

Enjoy!

:: posted by Al at 7:42 PM [+] ::
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The Steve Stone Resignation

Since 1983, Steve Stone has been the TV color analyst for the Cubs (except for a two-year break he took for an unspecified illness), bridging the time between the broadcasters I knew as a kid, and the present day.

That ended yesterday when he turned in his resignation, after being offered a chance to stay for the last year of his contract, a chance that it appeared that he would take, up till yesterday.

This article contains the text of Stone's resignation letter, which raises more questions than it answers.

Look, I loved listening to Steve Stone; he was probably the premier analyst among local team announcers, and remembering back even farther, when he took over the play-by-play for half of 1987 after Harry Caray's stroke, with "guest announcers" beside him, is among the best baseball broadcasting I have ever heard, and I will always respect Stone for that, and for the rest of the 21 years.

The problems with the Cubs are well-known, and the problems didn't start when Steve Stone correctly pointed them out. I wish he had stayed to see out the correction of the problems, which begin with getting players in the clubhouse who care about winning instead of whining.

This was an object lesson that the Cubs surely could have learned simply by watching the Red Sox' run through the playoffs. Those guys won -- but they also looked like they actually enjoyed playing baseball, and having fun with each other.

The 2003 Cubs had that attitude, but the 2004 Cubs didn't. Team chemistry can be overrated, but it can also be underrated.

That's a tangent, but it's one I know Cubs management will address, even as they are addressing who to replace Stone with. A popular former player would be a good start, and among the people I wouldn't mind seeing there would be Joe Girardi and Eric Karros.

Now let's go out and get Carlos Beltran, so we can win.

:: posted by Al at 1:05 PM [+] ::
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I'm Almost Speechless

The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions.

Read that again, everyone. And you haven't taken the Wayback Machine to 1918, either. For one thing, you wouldn't be reading this if you had, because there weren't computers then, or as Joe Buck so helpfully pointed out on tonight's telecast, there wasn't reality TV then either.

Yes, the Red Sox really did win the World Series, finishing a stunning sweep of the Cardinals with a 3-0 shutout tonight in St. Louis.

I had to go back and read that myself to make sure it was true, and yes, it really is.

I missed the first six innings while at a local Directors Guild of America committee meeting, during which I found out, along with important things that have to do with my businesss, that a usual order for World Champions caps is about 200,000 on first run.

The Red Sox ordered two MILLION caps, and I bet they'll sell out in 24 hours.

Really, I couldn't be happier unless it was the Cubs winning. I've always felt the Red Sox were kind of like our big brothers, the team that actually did make it to the World Series, only to THEN lose in spectacular fashion.

Not tonight. The eight consecutive wins the Red Sox have reeled off is perhaps the greatest such run in all major league history, and I'm not overhyping it. To win eight games in a row, the first four of which were all win-or-go-home, under the pressure they have been under, is nothing short of amazing.

Let's also get one thing very clear. There is no "Curse of the Bambino" -- there never was, as this article makes quite clear in a nifty debunking of the alleged "facts" in this case. This "curse" is the invention of Boston sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy, and through manipulation of various facts, has become part of sporting lore, but is absolutely not real.

The Red Sox have been jinxed, not cursed. And yes, there's a difference.

And that jinx has been definitively ended tonight, and thus concludes one of the best, if not THE best, postseasons ever.

We Cubs fans salute Red Sox fans, albeit with a little bit of sad envy, wishing we could have been where you are tonight.

We're next.

:: posted by Al at 10:40 PM [+] ::
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Cubs 2005 Schedule, Updated Already

Today, the Arizona Diamondbacks released their 2005 schedule.

Why is this important to Cub fans?

Because their schedule lists different game times than the tentative Cub schedule times I acquired yesterday, and for now, I'll go with these (Central Daylight Time):

April 4, 4:40 pm
April 5, 8:40 pm
April 6, 8:40 pm

I'll also adjust yesterday's post in case you want to save it elsewhere.

:: posted by Al at 8:13 PM [+] ::
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Cubs 2005 Schedule

The Cubs released the 2005 schedule today in the in-house magazine "Vine Line", which some of you probably already receive. If you don't, or if you haven't seen yours yet, here it is, along with tentative game times and national TV dates:

(all times CDT, pm unless indicated)

April
4(4:40)-5(8:40)-6(8:40) at Arizona
8(2:20)-9(1:20)-10(1:20) Milwaukee
11(1:20)-12(1:20)-13(1:20) San Diego
15(6:05)-16(6:05)-17(12:35) at Pittsburgh
18(6:05)-19(11:35am) at Cincinnati
20(7:10)-21(7:10) at St. Louis
22(2:20)-23(1:20)-24(1:20) Pittsburgh
25(7:05)-26(7:05)-27(1:20) Cincinnati
29(7:05)-30(6:05) at Houston

May
1(1:35) at Houston
3(7:05)-4(7:05)-5(1:05) at Milwaukee
6(2:20)-7(1:20)-8(1:20) Philadelphia
9(7:05)-10(7:05)-11(1:20) New York Mets
13(6:05)-14(6:05)-15(12:35) at Washington
17(6:05)-18(6:05) at Pittsburgh
20(2:20)-21(12:20, FOX)-22(1:20) Chicago White Sox
23(7:05)-24(7:05)-25(1:20) Houston
26(7:05)-27(2:20)-28(3:05)-29(1:20) Colorado
30(9:05)-31(9:05) at Los Angeles

June
1(9:05) - at Los Angeles
2(9:05)-3(9:05)-4(9:05)-5(3:05) at San Diego
6(7:05)-7(7:05)-8(1:20) Toronto
10(2:20)-11(12:20, FOX)-12(7:05, ESPN) Boston
13(7:05)-14(7:05)-15(1:20) Florida
17(7:05)-18(12:20, FOX)-19(7:05, ESPN) at New York Yankees
20(7:05)-21(7:05)-22(7:05)-23(1:05) at Milwaukee Brewers
24(3:05)-25(3:05)-26(2:05) at Chicago White Sox
28(7:05)-29(7:05)-30(1:20) Milwaukee

July
1(2:20)-2(3:05)-3(1:20) Washington
4(6:05)-5(6:35)-6(6:35)-7(12:05) at Atlanta
8(6:35)-9(5:05)-10(12:05) at Florida
ALL STAR BREAK 11th-14th
15(2:20)-16(3:05)-17(1:20) Pittsburgh
18(6:05)-19(6:05)-20(6:05)-21(11:35 am) at Cincinnati
22(7:10)-23(12:20, FOX)-24(7:05, ESPN) at St. Louis
25(7:05)-26(7:05)-27(1:20) San Francisco
28(7:05)-29(2:20)-30(12:20, FOX)-31(1:20) Arizona

August
2(6:05)-3(6:05)-4(6:05) at Philadelphia
5(6:10)-6(12:20, FOX)-7(12:10) at New York Mets
8(7:05)-9(7:05)-10(1:20) Cincinnati
11(7:05)-12(2:20)-13(12:20, FOX)-14(7:05, ESPN) St. Louis
15(7:05)-16(7:05)-17(7:05) at Houston
19(8:05)-20(8:05)-21(2:05) at Colorado
22(7:05)-23(7:05)-24(1:20) Atlanta
26(2:20)-27(12:20, FOX)-28(1:20) Florida
29(7:05)-30(7:05)-31(1:20) Los Angeles

September
2(6:05)-3(6:05)-4(12:35) at Pittsburgh
5(1:10)-6(7:10)-7(7:10) at St. Louis
8(9:35)-9(9:35)-10(3:15, FOX)-11(3:05) at San Francisco
12(7:05)-13(7:05)-14(7:05) Cincinnati
15(1:20)-16(2:20)-17(12:15, FOX)-18(1:20) St. Louis
20(7:05)-21(7:05)-22(1:05) at Milwaukee
23(2:20)-24(12:20, FOX)-25(1:20) Houston
27(7:05)-28(1:20) Pittsburgh
29(7:05)-30(7:05) at Houston

October
1(12:20, FOX)-2(1:05) at Houston

:: posted by Al at 1:15 PM [+] ::
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