I
was, until ambulance chaser Peter Angelos bought and ruined the
Orioles,
an avid fan. When Angelos forced Manager Davey Johnson out, just
hours before he was named American League manager of the year (1997), I
quit. I've missed nothing but a lot of grief in the ensuing years.
Last year Hucker got my attention with tales of sensational play under
manager Buck
Showalter, and the club's return to building from below. This
enthusiasm got me to actually watch a full
game. I'm not a regular yet. For one thing I couldn't put a
name on a
single position; these guys were all strangers.
Now I Google
"Orioles" whenever I want a quick game
score. Today when
I checked, the O's were losing to Detroit 1-0. I fiddled with
some links
and found this amazing deal. It follows the game in real time,
instantaneously (seemingly) showing the flight of pitches thrown, and
what type of pitch it was, e.g., four seam fastball in
the dirt. You can at anytime listen to the radio
broadcast,  or watch
it live. I stayed with the computer generated version. I's
amazing how drama and tension builds, and it reminded of the old
days—before my time.
Dutch
Reagan's first job in broadcasting was doing play-by-play for the Cubs
for an Iowa radio station. In those days all he had to
work with were telegraphed pitch by pitch summaries sent by an agent
watching the game. He'd weave that into a
commentary that took the listener into the ballpark. That's what
I
thought of while this deal was running. And best, the O's
came from
behind to win 4-2.
Go to MLB.com,
find the game you want and select the baseball diamond
avatar.
Because player stats accompany each at-bat, it's easy to
learn who these guys are. There
really is no better game than baseball.
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Look at that gorgeous brick building in rt. field. Hard to believe, but originally the Balto assholes were going to tear that down, but for a last minute save, we'd have had to look at more of that sterile shit in center field that passes for architecture today.
ReplyDeleteI remember the building of its predecessor, Memorial Stadium, a memorial to our war dead from WW1 and WW2, on a site that hosted Baltimore sports stadiums since about 1920. I was there when thousands lined the streets to welcome the old St. Louis Browns to their new Oriole home in 1954. I still have the Oriole baseball cap and team picture they gave out for the occasion.
The O'Malley criminals tore that home to so many memories down, totally razed it, even the memorial wall, for political reasons, ostensibly because the spoiled brats complained it didn't have sky boxes or air conditioning. Old folks apartments are there now.
I went to many football and baseball games there growing up, even played there a couple times Thanksgiving Day.
I remember sitting in the upper deck behind home plate one game, and my Dad said "You watch this guy - you'll never see his like again." I can still see number 9 on his back - Ted Williams. Dad was right as usual.
Nowadays, when I go by Angelos' spread up I-83 or the York Rd. side, I hang my arm out the window and flip the bird in case he's home.
I do like baseball though. Thanks for the link Rodg - I'll give it a shot.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick
My Great-Uncle Frank came home from the First World War as a telegrapher. He wired the play by play for the Washington Huskies for Western Union. Deaf as a stone but still attending every Rose Bowl until the 1990's. A fine gentleman, I wish I'd learned more from him.
ReplyDeleteBaseball puts me right to sleep, however.
ignore amos
heh - Sorry Boss, but you failed to mention where Davey Johnson ended up... just a few miles south doing a bang up job with the Nats, though they don't seem to be as on fire this year as last year as some of their veterans are starting to show their age a little.
ReplyDeleteI try to watch every Nats game that is broadcast, but miss a lot with the out of market games. Thanks for the PSA on the MLB site! It never occurred to me to try that as I am too cheap to actually pay for their live feed - er it is free right?
MoSup and I used to go to Wash Senators games BK (before kids,) and quite often would be sitting behind President and Pat Nixon - behind the plate seats but half way up. The genuinely loved baseball.
ReplyDeleteAnother time we were coming out of the Observatory in Chicago, and ran into Pat Nixon coming up the steps with some group. We siad hi and she was very gracious.
My next door neighbor was one of the Air-Force One pilots, and had all kinds of stories about the Johnson kids using them as a taxi service to visit boyfriends, etc.
A guy across the street, a Filipino named Basa, was the White House mess steward. He arranged for us and my in-laws to have lunch in the executive dining room (Order anything you want) and later gave us all a full set of Tricia's wedding pictures and a carton of Pat Nixon's Marlboro cigarettes. Each pack was made of thin white plastic and bore the Presidential seal. Oh,if only I had kept them, bus every time I ran out of smokes I went to that well.
Oh yeah, we were scheduled to meet Nixon but Agnew returned from some trip and he ore-empted us. Pretty heady stuff.
You just found out about Gameday? I've been doing it for years. I am a semi-fan of the LA Dodgers and don't know whether to root for or against them. I'm still a Brooklyn Dodger fan. But I love Vin Scully, and he's on Dodger West Coast games when they are on Fox Prime Ticket. When not on Prime Ticket, there's always Gameday.
ReplyDeleteGameday has improved quite a bit over the years. It isn't a real substitute for a televised game, but it does fine when that's not available.
I don't like Major League Baseball, you see, I'm a Mets fan. I do, however recall a wondrous year, what was it, say, 1969 or so ? :)
ReplyDeleteNatty Boh's and the Oreo's, hun!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the birds giving my Sawx some competition for a change (at least it's been so the last couple of years)