Across the Seams

Before You Panic About Maple Bats

Some things to consider about maple bats before screaming for a ban:

Are there enough non-maple bats available to get through the major-league season? (The answer seems to be no, but given that information, five seconds later ESPN's Steve Phillips said he'd ban them right now.)

Maple bats have been in the bigs for several years. Why the panic this year? What has changed?

The sport's goriest bat incident was more than 30 years ago, well before maple arrived on the scene.

Baseball leaders and the media like to lay this at the feet of the players union, but what about the minors, where baseball has total control? Where is the ban there?

Banning is not the only solution. Can there not be some sort of engineering done on bats to keep them in one piece? Are we married to wood? I'm not suggesting aluminum, heavens no, but there are all sorts of materials out there. Carbon fiber?

Consider the business aspects, namely the manufacturers, though one hasn't exactly helped his cause by suggesting that price fixing would clear up things.

Is safety the No. 1 concern? How many pitchers have been hit in the head with batted balls this season?

Aaron Memories, or Lack Thereof

With the Giants in Milwaukee, there's been a lot of Aaron nostalgia during the games. I was 11 when Aaron hit 715. I was at my friend Jim's house, playing ball out back, like we always did. Jim's father popped his head out to tell us to come watch the TV when Aaron came up. After the homer, we went back outside. Kids.

I can remember only one time where I actually saw Aaron play live. I probably remember more because it was on my dad's birthday than from anything that happened on the field. It was May 17, 1974, at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers proclaimed it as Hank Aaron Day, and posters were handed out. Alas, I don't have the poster, but I do have an oversized Hank Aaron photo badge.

Looking at the box score doesn't bring back any memories of the game. Could have been because we were in the upper deck, down the third-base line. Could have been that I wasn't a Dodgers fan. (I was brought up an Angels fan.) Looks like an interesting game. Al Downing pitched. The teams rapped out 26 hits. Eleven innings. But hey, I was there. I saw Aaron.

The Fool is Him

The New York Times has an interesting article about unwritten rules in baseball, prompted by the Alex Rodriguez-Toronto Blue Jays flap.

Rodriguez yelled something while the infielders were trying to catch a pop-up. One gave way and the ball dropped safely. Rodriguez says he said "ha" while the Blue Jays say he said "mine." (I'm siding with the Jays.) There have been countless quotes now about whether it was right or wrong for Rodriguez to have done this, and the Times article does an OK job exploring it.

There is a long history of deception in baseball, but I think what he did was wrong because it is a dangerous play. Why do fielders call for a ball? Because they are looking at the ball and the only way to communicate with the other fielders is to say something. They say "mine" or "I've got it" so that they don't run into each other. Now if you can't trust that voice, you've increased the likelihood of a collision or of a ball dropping because people are trying to avoid a collision. In other words, what Rodriguez did put people in the line of fire, and that's wrong.

Back, Back ... It's Over His Head

Noticed that Glenallen Hill was coaching first base for the Rockies the other night. Was going to say something but forgot about it until I had an IM conversation with my buddy Cliff, who opened with "GA Hill is back!"

I saw him in the background, then visited the Rockies site to make sure I wasn't seeing things, as hallucinating that you are seeing Glenallen Hill is a sure sign of mental slippage. His bio page made me laugh. "He will also coordinate baserunning and outfield instruction."

Ho ho, that's a good one!

Lidle and Darr

Cory Lidle died Wednesday when his plane slammed into a New York building. I was a little saddened by it, but it didn't affect my mood much, if it all. I was more intrigued by the crazy spate of IMs I received from friends and co-workers during the 10 minutes or so between the point when Lidle's death was a rumor to when it was confirmed -- if you could call it that -- via the authority of the New York Times. I thought of Thurman Munson immediately. Strange world.

Normally, I attribute my disinterest in celebrity death to my 20 years in journalism -- people die, a lot of them, every day. But as King Kaufman ably points out today, we don't really know these guys. Maybe it's better that way.

Kaufman added a little anecdote about how one little offhand incident made Mike Sharperson stand out. Enough that when Sharperson died, it shook him up.

That brings me to Mike Darr. Which is kind of weird, now that I think of all the details.

Darr was a slap-hitting outfielder who I was all too familiar with because he occupied a slot on one of my fantasy teams for a few seasons. Erik, my co-owner, and I every season would think that maybe this would be the one that Darr broke out into at least a threat to hit a double. Homers were pretty much a dream for us. I have no idea what the Padres were thinking.

So it's Sept. 22, 2001. Barry Bonds is chasing the single-season HR record, and I am following the Giants on a San Diego-Los Angeles road trip. It's the Tony Gwynn tribute weekend, which is sort of a scheduling snafu because of the delays caused by the planes flying into the World Trade Center two weeks back. It's Saturday night, the game is tied after nine innings. I've been sitting high up in the right-field seats, but I manage to sneak down to the third row or so in the right-field bleachers because Bonds is batting fourth in the 10th inning. The Giants go 1-2-3 in the top, so no Bonds. Trevor Hoffman is scheduled to lead off for the Padres, but you know that's not happening. The pinch hitter is Mike Darr.

I laugh on the inside, thinking that the Giants are pretty safe here. Darr lifts a fly ball to the left-center gap. I have a perfect view: Calvin Murray runs to his right, he throws up his glove, the ball hits it, and bounces over the wall. Home run. Game over.

That was Darr's second homer of the season, fifth of his career. It wasn’t even legit. But it was his last. In spring training the next season, he died in a car accident.

And I remember him.

Get Well Soon, Peter

My best wishes go out to Peter Gammons, who is in the hospital right now. Hurry back.

Snow

Just saw J.T. Snow ground into a double play. But that's not what brings me here. It appears he was either chewing tobacco or had a wad of snuff in his mouth. What is up with that?

No, I'm Alive

I've been preoccupied with other things for a while now, and baseball took a back seat. It's not like the Giants did anything since, oh, September to pique my interest. Matt Morris is nice enough. I'm sure M Sweeney (Mark? Matt? Mike?) is as wholesome as can be. Kline adds some spice, thank goodness, but it's still the Mild Bunch. You know, I miss Julian Tavarez.

I really do.

Now before you go pointing at Barry Bonds, let me tell you that I don't care. I may have said that before, so apologies for repeating it. The cross-dressing made for the scariest picture I have seen in years.

Besides that, the needle has barely moved on my excitement meter. I was dragged out of my baseball lethargy last week. Rotisserie drafts have a way of doing that to you. So I was forced to take a look at the teams in the National League, and it made me feel better. The Giants have the luck to be in one of the weakest divisions in modern history. And they aren't the Washington Nationals. Still, there wasn't anyone on the Giants roster who wound up at the top of my draft list.

Correction: It's not a draft, it's an auction.

This may explain why I have Barry Bonds on my roster for $26. So if Barry has health issues that keep him out of a lot of games, now you know who to blame.

Old Colletti Article

I wonder if the Dodgers had seen Colletti's  interview with Baseball Prospectus back in 2003.

We saw Ponson in the same vein we saw Jason Schmidt two years ago. Tremendous upside, on the verge of turning the corner from a good pitcher to a potential standout pitcher. That's proven to be case with Jason, we think it'll be the same thing with Sidney. It's a matter of maturing, figuring batters out, becoming completely healthy--they resemble each other a lot in where they were in their careers when we traded for them.

Oops!

One Strike Away

It was becoming difficult to remember why October baseball is so great. Thank you, Albert Pujols.

Sure, there would be no dramatic win without Eckstein’s little bleeder or Edmonds’ walk, but Pujols made the big play. I’ll admit that I’m rooting for the Cardinals in this series, and I was glad the way the inning played out. As Edmonds came to the plate, I thought that at least the Cardinals might get a shot with their best player. Can’t ask for more than that.