Major League Baseball '96

Guess who's hot? The *Cardinals*. Without any relief pitching, they have gotten right into the thick of things.

Paul,. youre nutz... Cubs all the way in '96! r.

Sammy Sosa, the major league's first 50-30 man!

Sorry Max, Sammy's not to be (he got injured). Sorry to see Sammy get deprived because of the injury, but he may make a return in the final hour of this season. The cubbies are movin' up on my Cards! Look out!

I'll be the first to post in here for awhile.......I guess all the Ranger Fans have disappeared (Almost just like the Team!!) But, I won't post this just to piss y'all off only to say that MARINERS are only 1 GAME BACK. Seems the baseball gods are aligning with the M's as if perchance there is a tie, the game would be played in the King-DOOM(stRangers new name for Kingdome).....Anyway, there's only 8 and 10 games to be played by both teams, and its gonna be fun!!!!

The Braves and Yanks World series is rolling toward what may be an exciting finish, if the last game was any indication. Andy Pettites 1-0 shutout was one of the best games all year. And all the chops in the world couldn't get Atlanta a win at home in the last three games. Could the "mighty Braves" be ready to bite the dust. Ted and Jane, say it isn't so.

reprinted by permission ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Howard Bryant, Staff Writer San Jose Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park Dr. San Jose, CA 95190 Direct: (408) 920-5091. Fax: (408) 920-5917. E-Mail: ohmy@well.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #234 of 235: Willie McGinest (ohmy) Wed Oct 30 '96 (15:35) 18 lines People have told me that my official status as a Red Sox fan should be permanently revoked because not only did I NOT have a problem with the Yankees winning the Series, but I was actually *rooting* for them. I stand by that. The NYT piece on the parade was great stuff and I think a Yankee WS win was about the best thing that could happen for the game. Baseball needed this. What the Lords do with it is another story, but I don't remember people talking about a WS like this for a long time. In addition, the NYT talked about the parade as another marker signalling the revitalization of the urban center, and I liked that. The idea of baseball as a unifying force _ subway fodder, etc.._ has been lost. This was really fun. And, I don't think this Yankee team had the loathsome characters of my past. I don't hate Williams, Charlie Hayes or especially Gooden. Nor Fielder, Jeter or even Wetteland. These guys aren't *Yankees* in the classic sense. They're just a bunch of great players who wear pinstripes. Maybe that's a sad part of today's game, though. Topic 790 [sports]: The 1996 World Series #235 of 235: Willie McGinest (ohmy) Wed Oct 30 '96 (15:36) 4 lines I guess to clarify, what I mean is to me, on first reference, Fielder is a Tiger, Gooden and Strawberry are tragic characters and Mets, Hayes is a journeyman, Torre is a national leaguer, etc... I just couldn't hate these guys. Thanks ohmy

sports.357.93: Doubt All (josh) Sun 9 May 93 16:28 Bah. Baseball is the last sport left where the playoffs are for the BEST. At the other extreme, in the NBA and NHL you can get teams with losing records in the playoffs. The teams meeting each other in the early rounds have already proven their relative superiority over an extended season; long playoffs pretty much make the regular season an expensive and frustrating irrelevancy. Especially in baseball, where the regular season is 160-odd games -- why should a five-game series betwen Los Angeles and San Francisco, for example, mean more than the twenty games they played early on? Grummph. The sport suffers. quoted with permission of josh@well.com

Good comments Josh!

I'm sorry that this category has the caveat '96 in it, and I'm equally sorry that it's been over two years since anyone posted in a baseball category. I have to admit to shedding tears while watching the All-Century team introductions tonight before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series. I am also shocked at the uncalled-for prosecutorial tone taken by NBC's interviewer to one Peter Edward Rose, one of those selected by fans to be on the All-Century team, and the greatest pure hitter who ever lived. Baseball is the great American game, our national pastime, but contrary to the postulate of Field of Dreams, it is not perfect. From the segregated status of the majors in the first half of this century, which will never be fully made up for, to the continued travesty of the exclusion of Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson from the Hall of Fame, the game is marvelous, but somewhat shy of perfect. But with the introduction of such luminaries as Rose, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Stan Musial, I fo nd myself unable to control the outpour of my emotions.

Amen John!!! Truer words were never spoken - trite as it sounds, and the emotions were shared by at least one other Hilo resident. I have been a baseball fan forever (But, you knew that!) and the way they have handled Pete Rose is nothing short of a travesty. It is as dishonest as they proclaim him to be. Have you seen any of the greats play in person?

I've seen many great baseball players. I went to many games at Wrigley as a child. When I was quite young, the Cubs had Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and Lou Brock. Cubs and White Sox fans are almost mutually exclusive, but my uncle Ernie (not Banks) took me to a Yankees-White Sox game in 1964, where I caught a foul ball off the bat of Phil (Harmonica) Linz. Players in that game included Luis Aparicio for the White Sox and the vaunted 1964 Yankees, who signed my ball, including Mickey Mantle Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Clete Boyer, Bobby Richardson, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford (who pitched), and Tony Kubek. Visitors to Wrigley that I've seen play included Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Maury Wills, Willie Davis, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Bobby Bonds, Lou Brock (coming back to haunt us after being traded to the Cardinals), Stan Musial, Ken Boyer, Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Steve Carlton, Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Lou Burdette, Joe Adcock, Nolan Ryan, Dick Allen, and Richie Ashburn. I also got to see Satchel Paige with a barnstorming team when I was a kid. Satch was in his late 50s and was playing a local semipro team, but my parents had told me stories about him as long as I can remember, so I was impressed that the old man had enough guile to pitch three innings and retire all nine of the local yokels he faced. When I was the P.A. announcer for the Hawaii Islanders, I saw both Tony Gwynn (a gentleman and a scholar and Barry Bonds (a horse's ass) play on a daily basis. And I've seen some pretty fair players while they were still playing college ball: Joe Carter Tyler Green and Darren Dreifort(Wichita State); Jeromy Burnitz (Oklahoma State); Glenn Braggs and Scott Karl (UH-Manoa); Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Thigpen (Mississippi State); Roberto Kelly (Arizona State); Benny Agbayani (Hawaii Pacific University and of course, our late lamented Hilo Stars); and in the Hawaii Winter League: Gabe Kapler (West O hu Canefires), Onan Masaoka (Waiakea H.S. & Hilo Stars), Jason Giambi (Honolulu Sharks), and Japan's "Pete Rose", five-time Central League Batting Champion Ichiro Suzuki (Hilo Stars). I've been blessed to be able to see that many good to great players in person.

Wow! That is amazing - and I thought I was going to amaze you! Before I was born (I cannot be that old!) I went to the Polo Grounds and watched the Pennant winning NY Giants play the Brooklyn Dodger and actually beat them for once. I got a ball signed by the entire team (which my mother threw away)- so I saw some of the same players as you did! I was a huge NY Giants fan - and was heart-broken when they went to San Frnacisco...!

Oh yes, Did you know that Ray's father's cousin was Honus Wagner?!

In the immortal words of Johnny Carson "I did not know that!" What a shame about the ball. I have mine wrapped in saran in a safe deposit box. It looks like the day it was signed. Lucky me. Hey seeing the Giants and the Bums at the Polo Grounds is impressive. And of course Russ Hodges' call of Bobby Thomson's home run off Ralph Branca "the Giants win the pennant! (x4)" is immortal. Ernie Harwell is working ESPN radio for the playoffs and World Series this year. He must be pushing 80, but is still mazing.

And when the Giants moved to San Fran, our beloved Les Keiter wrote a big chapter of his own legend doing S.F. Giants recreates for the Big Apple.

Incredible memories.. I was watching the game before a piano lesson and when Bobby Thonpson hit the home run I was totally out of control (for me) - my piano teacher sent me home...! I can still hear him saying what he said over and over and over - it had been so long in coming. Leo Durocher was Giants Manager at that time and I thought he was wonderful! (He behaved back then!) You are keeping your precious ball in precisely the right conditions. Most excellent! (was that whose voice it was - it has been MANY years since I heard him...!)

When Les was guest speaker at the annual Vulcan Booster dinner Ray bought me his book and I had his sign it and we discussed the polo Grounds and such...it was fun! Have you read it?

Yes. I emceed that night and Les signed a copy for me as well.

...now that you mention it...Indeed he did! Fascinating speaker because he spoke of things I knew first hand. I think it was the only time that has happened with a guest speaker of any kind...He attended some of the same events I attended. I found that remarkable!

Who better than you to have been the EmCee?! The more I think of it - it just HAD to be! At the Yacht Club...I remember it well!

Early this morning as I was trying to awaken in the 5am dark I was listening to the Jay Mariotti (Sp?) show on the Honolulu station which carries him. He was defending Jim Gray (Sp?)who did that terrible interview with Pete Rose. Not a single caller in about 2 hours of my listening on and off (from 3am on)agreed with Mariotti and all thought the interview a fishing expedition - just as you did, John. I think this will not go away quietly. I hope it does not, anyway!

Well, I was asked about college baseball, and until there is a topic for it I will use the MLB topic. It was great to be out in the sun (finally!) with the new scoreboard working (finally!) and old friends and fans around me again. I watched the softball game against the alumnae while I listened to John do play-by-play for the baseball game going on a few miles away. We lost that game against U San Diego. I will get to see them play again Monday evening. My favorite time to watch a game. Let's see. Boiled peanuts and boiled soybeans are the order of the day and I shall have mine. If it gets cold I shall have some hot saimin. Ummm!!! Can't wait!

Goodness...I forgot to say who "we" are. The University of Hawaii at Hilo Vulcans is who we are.