39 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 39 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Modern Manners: An Etiquette for Rude People by PJ O’Rourke. This part is from Making Famous People Comfortable.

When the famous person you’ve met is not in your immediate company, ignore him or her completely. This is the modern use of the “cut direct” mentioned in Chapter 3. Whereas, in former times, the cut direct was used on enemies, it has now evolved into a polite way to show respect for famous friends. It is an article of faith among celebrities that they are constantly pestered by the public. Of course there are so many celebrities, and so few of them are celebrated for anything, that most of the time the public can’t be bothered. But it’s only common courtesy to act as though the famous people you know are so famous that the public is very bothered indeed. You don’t want to be seen as part of that public. Wait for the celebrities to pester you. They will soon enough. If they weren’t infantile self-obsessed hogs for attention, then our kind of society never would have thought they were important in the first place.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Minor League news

Jim Street, MLB.com's Mariner beat writer, has a minor league report.

The #1 pick from 2007 is the top part of the article:

The Mariners took a bit of a pitching hit when they sent three Minor League pitchers to the Orioles for left-hander Erik Bedard in the recent blockbuster trade.

But the cupboard is far from empty.

Thanks the plethora of arms selected in the past three First-Year Player Drafts, the Mariners are stocked with good, young arms -- none better than right-hander Phillippe Aumont, selected in the first round (11th overall) last June.

But it took so long to get his name on a contract, the Mariners' farm system didn't reap the benefits of having one of the top pitchers beginning his pro career with one of their farm teams. Aumont, instead, pitched in the World Cup for Team Canada -- and won MVP honors.

This early work helps, right?

"He's going to be around big league players and see how they handle themselves," said Greg Hunter, the director of player personnel. "It also allows our Major League staff to become familiar with him, or at least have some familiarity when they are looking at reports and statistics throughout the season."

Here is a look at ex-Rattler Bryan LaHair ('04):

LaHair made a strong impression last spring, batting .387 (12-for-31) with five RBIs in 12 games and doing a good job at Triple-A Tacoma, batting .275 with 12 home runs and 81 RBIs.

"He needs to keep producing, have patience and realize that as long as he keeps putting up the numbers and doing what he needs to do, he will get his opportunity," Hunter said.

And a look at a two other '07 draft picks:

Third baseman Matt Mangini, a compensation sandwich selection for pitcher Gil Meche, spent most of his '07 season at Everett where he batted .291 in 22 games and could move up to Class-A Wisconsin this season.

"He's a left-handed power guy and I'm really looking forward to seeing him this spring," said Hunter, who also singled out Daniel Carroll, an outfielder from Valley View High School in Moreno, Calif. He batted .323 in 53 games with the Peoria Mariners.

40 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 40 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is One Pitch Away by Mike Sowell. The book is about baseball’s 1986 post-season. This excerpt is from the chapter on Houston Astro starter Mike Scott.

He had a good arm and a ninety-plus-mile-an-hour fastball, but he lacked consistency and a good breaking pitch. His career won-lost record was 29-44. He knew time was running out on him. He couldn’t last forever on his potential. He wasn’t going to get many more chances.

He had a wife and two young girls to support. He had to start thinking of other ways to make a living. That was why he had gotten his real-estate license in the fall. Maybe he could sell houses for a living. He also thought about selling insurance, or going back to school to complete his degree. None of his options sounded very appealing.

The phone rang. Scott answered, and on the other end of the line he recognized the voice of Al Rosen, the Houston general manager.

“I know you had a bad year, Mike,” he began, “but I want you to know you’re still our fifth starter next year. It’s your job to lose. I’m not saying you can go to spring training and get beat up and not lose the job. But don’t worry about last year.”

The words of encouragement helped. Scott had been really down, and his confidence needed a boost.

But that wasn’t the main reason Rosen called. He had something else in mind. Rosen’s friend Roger Craig, the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers, had taught several of his pitchers a new pitch, a version of the forkball called the split-finger fastball. It had worked so well the Tigers had won a world championship. Rosen thought the pitch might work for Scott, so he had persuaded Craig to teach it to the Houston pitcher.

“What do you think?” asked Rosen. “Do you want to go out and talk to Roger?”

“Sure,” said Scott. “I’ll go out there.”

What else could he say to his boss after the kind of season he had just had? All he needed to be told was what to do, where to go and when to be there. He didn’t know anything about this new superpitch everyone in baseball was talking about, but he was ready to learn.

At this point, Scott was willing to try just about anything to save his career.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Soul Patch Man

This Mariner's Notes part of the M's website has this little part about a new promotion at Safeco Field this season.

A few years after a popular promotion in which the Mariners offered free admission for fans willing to mimic Buhner's shaved-head look, fans entering Safeco Field will get to sport a little extra hair.

The debut of J.J. Putz Soul Patch Night arrives for the April 12 game against the Angels. The first 20,000 fans entering the park will receive a "stick-on" version of the chin tuft sported by the Seattle closer.

A month later (May 16), fans can get the full-body J.J. look, on his Bobblehead Night. Others scheduled to be immortalized in bobblehead likenesses -- or not -- are Ichiro Suzuki (April 25), Adrian Beltre (June 13), Hernandez (July 18) and Yuniesky Betancourt (Aug. 8).

Read the story of Moses Fleetwood Walker

Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com has this article that is well worth the read. Here's the start:

Even if Moses Fleetwood Walker had never played professional baseball, his life story would have been an exceedingly interesting one.

Walker was a well-educated and restless Renaissance man who logged time as an inventor, entrepreneur, lecturer and newspaper publisher (among many other professional and leisurely diversions). He also suffered from alcoholism, which played a role in several run-ins with the law. Most spectacularly, he was charged with second-degree murder in 1891 for his role in a violent incident outside a bar in Syracuse, N.Y.

What makes the story notable?

The details of Walker's dramatic and often contradictory life take on added meaning when one factors his race into the equation. As a mulatto who came of age in late-19th century America (and who was born before the advent of the Civil War), Walker inevitably was defined by the color of his skin first and his accomplishments second.

So it remains today. For Walker, to the extent he is remembered at all, is usually referred to simply as "the first black player in the history of the Major Leagues." He achieved this distinction when he spent the 1884 season as a catcher with the American Association's Toledo Blue Stockings, some six decades before Jackie Robinson's historic debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Now go read the rest.

41 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 41 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam. This is about the Yankee Clipper.

Joe DiMaggio was the most famous athlete in America. In fact, he seemed to stand above all other celebrities. Soon after he retired as a player, he returned with a group of friends to the Stadium to watch a prize fight. He was with Edward Bennett Williams, the famed trial lawyer, Toots Shor, the saloon-keeper, Averell Harriman, the politician-diplomat, and Ernest and May Hemmingway. Suddenly and immense mob gathered. Hundreds of kids, a giant crowd within a crowd, descended on DiMaggio demanding autographs. One kid took a look at Hemmingway, whose distinctive face had graced countless magazine covers. “Hey,” the kid said, “you’re somebody too, right?” Hemmingway said without pause, “Yeah, I’m his doctor.”

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Thursday Motivation (2/21)

They like it

The Tacoma Rainiers, PCL affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, look like they are set to sign a long-term lease to stay at Cheney Stadium.

Mike McCall, president of Rainiers owner Schlegel Sports Group, told Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg that his company initially wondered whether it would need to relocate the minor league baseball team, Ladenburg said during a meeting of Tacoma city, schools and parks officials. But the group has since concluded that things are working well in Tacoma and that it wants to remain here, Ladenburg said.

A deal, possibly in the range of 10 or 15 years, could be reached as early as March, said Mike Combs, public assemblies facilities director for the City of Tacoma. Negotiations between Schlegel and the city have been ongoing and will resume next month in Arizona during spring training for the Seattle Mariners, the Rainiers’ major league affiliate, Combs said.

McCall couldn’t be reached for comment. Rainiers President Aaron Artman said the team is encouraged by last year’s 10 percent increase in attendance, and by the response to the ballclub’s new emphasis on season ticket and group sales. The Dallas-based group bought the Rainiers in 2006.

The possibility of new development around Cheney Stadium is another positive factor, Artman said.

42 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 42 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis. This excerpt is about the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

The full and better-recorded salvo came late in 1800 and early in 1801, during the debate in the House of Representatives over the presidential deadlock between Burr and Jefferson. Since everyone knew that Jefferson was Hamilton’s implacable political enemy, the kind of elusive target who seemed to be put on earth by God to subvert Hamilton’s visionary plans for a powerful federal government, Hamilton’s strong endorsement of Jefferson as “by far not so dangerous a man,” who possessed “solid pretensions to character,” only served to underline his contempt for Burr. “As to Burr there is nothing in his favour,” Hamilton observed, then went on: “His private character is not defended by his most partial friends. He is bankrupt beyond redemption except by the plunder of his country. His public principles have no other spring or aim than his own aggrandizement…If he can he will certainly disturb our institutions to secure himself permanent power and with it wealth. He is truly the Catiline of America.”

This mention of Catiline is worth a momentary pause, in part because the reference is so unfamiliar to modern ears as to seem meaningless, and also because it was so familiar to the leaders of the leaders of the revolutionary generation as to require no further explanation. By accusing Burr of being Catiline, Hamilton was making the ultimate accusation, for Catiline was the treacherous and degenerate character whose scheming nearly destroyed the Roman Republic and whose licentious ways inspired, by their very profligacy, Cicero’s eloquent oration on virtue, which was memorized by generations of American schoolboys. No one in the political leadership of the early American republic needed to be reminded who Catiline was. He was the talented by malevolent destroyer of republican government.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Wednesday Baseball Movie (2/20)

From The Sandlot:

Following the leader

The Kitsap Sun has this story on JJ Putz ('00). There may be registration required.

Putz More than the M's Closer

He's the king of the ninth inning and the master of the postgame shaving-cream pie.

J.J. Putz's value to the Seattle Mariners goes well beyond his status as the American League's best closer and a practical joker who leaves teammates looking both ways before they sit down.

He's the glue that holds the relief pitching staff together, having become a mentor to a group of young pitchers who comprise one of the most important facets of the team.

Don't just call Putz a closer. To them, he's their leader.

"J.J. took me under his wing when I got called up," right-hander Mark Lowe said. "He gave me the dos and don'ts of this game and I've taken every single one of them and used them for myself. You see a guy with the success that he's had, you're stupid not to take something from it."

Answering a few questions.

Geoff Baker's latest Sights and Sounds You Tube video is up at his blog. About two minutes into the video. Mark Lowe ('05) answers a few questions about how his arm feels. Lots more in the video including Jeff Clement ('05) trying to catch a knuckleball from RA Dickey.

My, Oh, My!

Congratulations to Dave Niehaus.

Niehaus wins Frick Award

Happy birthday, Dave Niehaus, you're headed for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Niehaus, a fixture in the Seattle Mariners' broadcast booth since they entered the American League as an expansion franchise in 1977, was named the 2008 winner of the Ford C. Frick Award on Tuesday and will be honored at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies on July 27 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The news came on Niehaus' 73rd birthday. It marked the second consecutive year that the award for major contributions to baseball broadcasting has been won by an announcer who has covered his club since its inception. Niehaus follows Denny Matthews, the broadcaster for the Kansas City Royals since their debut season of 1969.

"What a birthday present," Niehaus said on a telephone conference call. "It's the most humbling experience. My phone has not stopped since the news got out."

'His Voice is Seattle Baseball'

Get out the rye bread, Grandma, longtime buddies Dave Niehaus and Dick Williams are going into the Hall of Fame together.

Almost three months after Williams was one of five managers and baseball executive elected into the Hall of Fame, Niehaus on Tuesday -- his 73rd birthday -- gained entry into the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine, as the 2008 Ford C. Frick Award winner. Both will be inducted on July 27.

"This is great, really terrific," said Williams from his home near Las Vegas. "We go way back, to when we were both with the Angels. We have known each other for a long, long time."

Their paths first crossed in 1974, when Williams became manager of the Angels and Niehaus was a member of the broadcast crew. They renewed their friendship a month into the 1986 season, when Williams took over as manager of the Mariners, and have been close ever since.

A boy with dreams, Niehaus now in Hall

Dave Niehaus remembers tossing and turning in his sleep, finally waking up at 6 a.m. with a new purpose in life.

"I was going to be a dentist. But I was at Indiana University and woke up and thought to myself, 'I can't look down someone's throat at 8 in the morning the rest of my life.' Can't do that.

"The hardest thing to do was to call my parents and tell them. They had looked forward to me becoming a professional person. They said, 'What are you going to do now?' "

Well, he wasn't exactly sure but he always had this special interest in sports, especially baseball. He followed up by walking into the campus radio station, WFIU, and offering an audition. He was hired to do the school's baseball broadcasts. That was more than 50 years ago.

"A lot of things have happened to me since I took that turn on campus in Bloomington, Indiana," Niehaus said.

Here is the Ford C. Frick Award page at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Site.

43 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 43 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Napoleon Bonaparte by Alan Schom. This part could be called Napoleon: The Early Years.

Facing Napoleon were the combined forces of the Austrian and Piedmontese armies, about fifty-two thousand men. His aim was first to sever all communications between the two allied forces, then defeat them one at a time, beginning with the smaller, less formidable Sardinian army, led by the fifty-eight-year-old general Baron di Colli-Marchi. The septuagenarian Belgian general, J.P. de Beaulieu, commanded the Austrian army, including General Colli.

When Beaulieu received word of Napoleon’s impending invasion, he was much alarmed and quickly set out from his GHQ at Milan down to Novi, ordering two divisions to move north and west to link up with him. The Austrian army was divided into three columns: a right wing, under General di Colli, was ordered to defend Stura and Tanaro; a center force, under Count d’Argenteau, was to cut off the left flank of the French army along the cornice at Savona; while Beaulieu himself headed the left wing en route for Voltri. From the outset, however, Beaulieu had problems with greatly dispersed troops, rarely in communication with one another or even with their own headquarters. Nor did the mountainous terrain help matters.

Acting quickly while Napoleon and his main force were still along the cornice, Argenteau reached Montenotte on April 9, 1796, catching the French off guard the next day and attacking them – unsuccessfully – at Monte Legino. Meanwhile, the same day, Beaulieu reached Genoa and set off for Voltri, where he attacked a surprised Laharpe, who was forced to retreat to Savona.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Some Spring Training Notes

The Everett Herald has this story on Phillippe Aumont and mentions a former Timber Rattler as a way to compare and contrast.

Ten years ago, a big first-round draft pick showed up at spring training with the Seattle Mariners and announced his potential with his mouth.

It was the second week of camp and Ryan Anderson, a 6-foot-10 18-year-old, threw a round of batting practice to a rusty group of Mariners hitters. They hadn't faced live pitching in months, and everything Anderson threw at hitters like Jay Buhner, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Alex Rodriguez sailed right past their bats.

Then Anderson said something that still makes M's manager John McLaren cringe.

"I dominated them," Anderson told reporters.

Griffey and Buhner read those words and decided to teach the kid a lesson. They got a dozen baseballs and had them delivered to Anderson's locker with instructions for him to sign them, "To Junior and Jay, from the greatest pitcher of all-time."

"They were putting him in his place," McLaren said.

It's 10 years later and there's another big first-round teenager on the mound for the Mariners at spring training. McLaren is confident this one will say all the right things and require minimal steering from the older guys.

Right-hander Phillippe Aumont grew up in Quebec idolizing former Mariner Randy Johnson, he speaks perfect French, clear English and has left hitters mumbling their own chosen words after facing his 96 mph fastball.

Go check out the whole thing.

Australian Ryan Rowland-Smith (WI '04, '05) is the focus of a long story over at the Seattle Times.

No one has to remind Ryan Rowland-Smith how far he has come from his days of watching major-league baseball on videocassettes in his native Australia.

The country had no television coverage of non-Aussie sports when the second-year Mariners pitcher was growing up. So, a friend's father dropped off tapes of the 1992 and 1993 World Series for Rowland-Smith, who watched them for hours, glove in hand, as he dreamed of a life playing in America.

He'd ignore subtle jabs from neighborhood pals pressuring him to play rugby and cricket, or surf the waves near his home in Newcastle, on the country's south coast. He endured four-hour round-trip car rides to Sydney three times per week to find serious baseball competition.

Most of all, Rowland-Smith learned to tame creeping self-doubt. Could someone living so far from where most baseball is played make a living at its highest level?

Oh, and it's not just about baseball.

"He's always had a passion, ever since he was little, for sports in the U.S.," said his father, Rob, in a phone interview from Sydney. Rob is a celebrity sports trainer known throughout Australia as The Sandhill Warrior. "He loves ice hockey, so I got him a stick. He loved the NFL, so I bought him a St. Louis Cardinals helmet and jersey."

You read that right. A St. Louis Football Cardinals helmet and jersey. That's different.

The latest M's Mailbag is up at the Mariners site. Plenty of ex-Rattler stuff and this one may help Rattlers fans as well.

Who is in charge of player development for the Mariners?
-- Gregory W., Selah, Wash.

Greg Hunter is beginning his first full season as the director of player development. The former Washington State University player -- and member of the of the Kirkland, Wash., Little League World Series team in 1980 -- has been with the organization for the past 11 seasons, working his way up from a player development assistant.

2002 Home opener

The article about 2002's home opener is over at the main Rattler site HERE.

Marvel at the exploits of Greg Dobbs, Shin soo Choo, Dan Head, Lanny Patten, and Bill Martinez as the season opens in Beloit and continues with a doubleheader against Burlington to start the home schedule.

44 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 44 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book was an obvious choice with 44 days until the first game of the season. It’s I Had a Hammer by Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler and it's about a time the Braves sent a scout to Eau Claire.

Around the end of June, one of the Braves top scouts, Billy Southworth, came to watch us play. I thought I made a pretty good account of myself when he was there, but I was surprised to read in the local paper that, when he was asked about the best prospects on the team, the only players he mentioned was a first baseman named Dick Enquist. [Wes] Covington and I were practically tearing up the league at the time. I’m not sure what the strategy was – things happened to black ballplayers that I still can’t explain – but for some reason, he didn’t want to single us out in the newspaper even though he knew we were the best players. I’m sure of this, because I’ve seen the report that he filed about me. He wrote, “For a baby-face kid of 18 years his playing ability is outstanding. I will see the remaining games but will send in the report now, ‘cause regardless of what happens tonight, it won’t change my mind in the least about this boy’s ability.”

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Foreign sports

This isn't just a baseball site. It could also be considered a broadcasting blog. Here are a few broadcasting notes from the weekend.

This first clip is of SkySports Soccer Saturday. If my five minutes of research is correct, the FA Cup is a national soccer tournament in the United Kingdom. Soccer teams from every level compete. The broadcasters are reacting like this because Barnsley beating Liverpool would be like the Timber Rattlers beating the Los Angeles Dodgers with a game winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth.

Stick with it to get the 'I Can't Feel My Face Move' by the Brian Howard, the Barnsley captain and goal scorer, when they go to the pitch after the match has ended. It's at around the 2:12 mark of the video.



I need to see if I can work the phrase: "Oh, Martin Atkinson, you bowled it!" into a broadcast this season.

Here is the goal...with the call...in French:


Sacre bleu!

Lastly, I found this one at Deuce of Davenport:

Australian Pool, sorry, Savage Speedball is different. Still can't decide what is my favorite part of this clip.

1.) The hexagonal table
2.) The heart rate monitor
3.) The lead announcer reminding fans to turn off their phones
4.) The announcer exchange that goes like this:

Analyst: He's doin' okay. He's doing all right!
Play-by-play: No, he's not, Tony! Not doin' well at all.

5.) The distance meter

45 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 45 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush by Christopher Andrew. The excerpt is from the Woodrow Wilson administration regarding the Zimmerman Telegram.

Wilson’s address to a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917, calling for a declaration of war on Germany, was one of the great speeches of American political history. It is best remembered for Wilson’s vision of a postwar world “made safe for democracy” with peace “planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.” Americans, said the president, remained “the sincere friends of the German people…however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts.” They had been brought into the conflict by “Germany’s irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and is running amok.” Among the evidence of “running amok” that Wilson cited were German intelligence operations:

One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friends is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

Ceilings

Jim Street has this piece on Jeff Clement (WI '05). It explains why the catcher won't be starting the season with the Mariners.

Clement's ceiling too high to ride the bench

"We're not going to carry Jeff Clement as an extra catcher, or as a pinch-hitter," manager John McLaren said. "He's going to have to be an everyday player at a position. I'm not saying he can't make this ballclub, but we're not going to have him as a third catcher or as a backup catcher. He has too high a ceiling and he needs to play. If he's a starter, he'll be on the club. If not, he'll be in [Triple-A] Tacoma."

The only two positions available to Clement are catcher and designated hitter and there are no plans to give him playing time at first base or in the outfield.

And neither looks promising.

"I'm looking at [Jose] Vidro as our DH and Kenji [Johjima] as our catcher," McLaren said. "We're pretty well set with those two guys."

Clement is just doing his job.

Clement is making progress behind the plate, but still needs more work to become Major League-ready.

"Obviously, my goal is to play in the big leagues and help the team win," he said. "That's what I want to do, but at the same time, if I don't make the team this spring, if I don't and have to go back to Triple-A and catch there, I'll show up and work hard."