Book Review by MLB Reports

Book Review

Sunday January 22, 2012  Posted by MLB reports

“Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book” –  By Ronni Redmond  (2011)

MLB reports – Jonathan Hacohen:  From baseball blogger to author. This is the story of Ronni Redmond and her website: “Garlic Fries and Baseball.”  As you have probably guessed from the title, Ronni loves ballpark food. Heck, she loves everything baseball. I had no idea what to expect from this book. Perhaps a list of top ballpark foods. A ballpark recipe book. It could have gone in many directions. It turned out to be a bit of everything. Probably one of the easiest and funniest baseball reads you will ever find. Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book, turned out to be an enjoyable baseball journey. Ronni threw just about everything but the kitchen sink into this one and produced a book to be proud of.

Ronni Redmond is not the Shakespeare or Hemingway of the baseball writing world. Nor does she profess to be. Ronni is a baseball fan, pure and simple. She loves talking about the game and sharing her insights. She does some deep level baseball thinking and likes to share her questions with the readers. GF&B is a book born from her website. From logging a baseball trip on-line (and you know I LOVE baseball trips), the website was born. In the book, Ronni shares the details of the road trip, from the parks she visited, the food she ate, to the hotels she stayed at. For anyone who has ever attempted or completed a baseball vacation, Ronni’s story will be one that you will appreciated. But once the trip was done, Ronni didn’t stop writing about baseball and her website exploded. It grew so much, that she felt the need to write this book.  I am certainly glad she did.

A San Francisco Giants fan, Ronni is not afraid or apologetic for sharing the love of her favorite team. That is an art that is missing sometimes in baseball writing. Even if a person writes and analyzes baseball, there is nothing wrong with having an allegiance to a certain team and/or players. Most, if not all, baseball writers are deeply rooted baseball fans from birth. We can love something and still be objective. It is an acquired skill, but definitely can be done. In GF&B, Ronni talks about her team’s climb to the World Series championship in 2010.  To hear the story from a fan’s point of view was interesting and heartwarming. Baseball fans live to see their teams go all the way. In 2010, Ronni got to experience those emotions and I enjoyed the ride through her eyes.

From baseball trips and a World Series win, Ronni then covers many more baseball topics. Derek Jeter. Stephen Strasburg. George Steinbrenner. Joe Mauer and shampoo. Recipes. Ronni has a little bit of everything in this one. If I could consider this book in Seinfeld terms:  it is a baseball book about nothing that seems to talk about everything. Sometimes I like reading autobiographies. Sometimes historical pieces. Other times give me statistical analysis manuals. But when I have had a hard day and just want to read, laugh and enjoy myself, GF&B was a good comfort book. A little chicken soup to the baseball soul.

Ronni Redmond: when I finished this book, I had a smile on my face. I laughed. I smirked. Sometimes I agreed with you. Sometimes I shook my head. But you got me thinking and talking baseball. Thus your book, Garlic Fries & Baseball is a success in my estimation. Well done for a first-time author. It will be enjoyed by baseball fans of all levels and ages. Also…I can’t wait to get my hands on some garlic fries. I love baseball food and they sound delicious!

***Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book is available to purchase as a kindle e-book and can also be found on the GF&B website:  http://garlicfriesandbaseball.wordpress.com.  Be sure to pick up your copy today and let us know your thoughts and comments. Half the fun of reading a baseball book is to share your experiences with our fans and readers!***

Jonathan Hacohen is the Lead Baseball Columnist & Editor for MLB reports:  You can follow Jonathan on Twitter (@JHacohen)

Please e-mail us at: MLBreports@gmail.com with any questions and feedback.  You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook .  To subscribe to our website and have the daily Reports sent directly to your inbox , click hereand follow the link at the top of our homepage.

Related articles

• A Thanksgiving Poem to Baseball (garlicfriesandbaseball.wordpress.com)
• Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book Review (mlbreports.com)
• Links: Baseball book giveaway contests (randombaseballstuff.com)

Fast Ball, Curve Ball, Slider ……What’s the Difference and Who Cares?

This video shows  a Tim Lincecum fastball and curveball delivery correlated at the release point and superimposed to provide an overlay comparison of the two motions.   The two pitches look nearly identical to my untrained eye. This YouTube video uploaded by laflippin on June 18, 2009.

So I’m  listening to play-by-play of  a game the other day and the announcer says instantly “that was a fastball (curveball, sinker, slider, doesn’t matter … you get the point) and I’m thinking how the hell does he know that?  I mean the ball’s traveling at 90-95 mph and he’s up in the announcer booth 200 feet away.   I know this announcer used to be a pitcher  so I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about, but how is that possible ~ to call the pitch instantly in split-second timing, almost before the ball’s even thrown?

I set out to research this so I might understand the difference between the  pitches and how a pitcher  might determine which pitch to throw and when to throw it.

The first article I ran into was “Fastball, Curveball, Change-up, Slider” ~ An Analysis by John Walsh, December 20, 2007, Hardball Times.  (See  ”Pitch Movement” Diagram here, looks  like a pap smear. I never figured out where the pitch was).  The article is only seven pages, but it took me nearly 2 hours to read, and re-read to realize there was no way I was going to “get it” no matter how many times I read it so I chucked it in search of another.  I mean this stuff’s really confusing!   I’m starting to understand why some of these kids decide to forego the draft in favor of college before embarking on a baseball career.

Eephus Pitch Courtesy Stevenellis.com

My next attempt at research didn’t end up much better.  I mean how can you go wrong with Wikipedia?   Did you know there are 33 recognized pitches at the Wikipedia website?   And did you know that an “Eephus Pitch” (I kid you not)   is thrown overhand like most pitches, but is characterized by an unusual high arcing trajectory and corresponding slow velocity, bearing more resemblance to a slow-pitch softball delivery than to a traditional baseball pitch.  It’s considered a trick pitch.   You don’t say.

Juan Marichal

Orlando Cepeda was quoted as saying that most pitchers have one or two pitches, curve ball and a fastball, but Juan Marichal had at least 16 different pitches because of the way he delivered them.  His entire body, arms and legs were in constant motion and his delivery changed constantly giving a distinct characteristic to different pitches.  It’s a good thing they didn’t decide to name all the different pitches, or maybe they did.

In any event, I decided to postpone my research for another day.   I’m way out of my league here which reminds me once again of my favorite Einstein quote, ”You teach me baseball and I’ll teach you relativity. You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball.”   Here’s to you Professor Einstein!  It really doesn’t matter to me whether the  catcher calls, or the pitcher throws, a fastball or a curveball or a slider.   Surprise me!

Related articles

• 12 Best “Novelty” Pitches in MLB History (bleacherreport.com)
• Pitching Tips: Not Rushing The Curveball (stevenellis.com)
• “See Ball. Hit Ball.” You Kidding Me? (garlicfriesandbaseball.wordpress.com)
• Guest Post: Batter Up (ryansrally.org)

“Who’s On First” ….. Classic Baseball Video

I intended to blog about the Texas Rangers job opening for an “accountability partner” for Josh Hamilton but had second thoughts.  It seems a little heartless to  talk about it, maybe even a little sad, so when I found this little ditty out there in YouTube land it was an easy change-over.  This is light-hearted good stuff!

So in case you’ve never seen it and even if you have here’s a wonderful version of one of Abbott & Costello’s finest routines.  Abbott and Costello performed this classic “Who’s on first?” baseball sketch in their 1945 film “The Naughty Nineties” first performed as part of their stage act.   This video now plays continuously on screens at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

In 1999, Time Magazine named the routine the “Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th century.    And who’s to argue with them?   No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it’s a classic that never gets old.

You can read all about it at Wikipedia, but not on Wednesday, January 21, as they’re having a “black-out” to protest the Freedom of Information Act being proposed in Congress.

“Who’s on First”  YouTube Video courtesy of, and uploaded by, Swancourt on Feb 16, 2007.

Related articles

• Don’t Confuse Questions with Answers (thwingr.wordpress.com)
• Josh Hamilton and the Rangers are Looking for Another Accountability Partner (backyardsportsblog.com)

This Day in History …… Hall of Fame Voters A Little Pickayunish!

January 10, 1945.  This Day In History baseball writers fail to elect a Hall of Famer as no one receives the required 75% vote.                                        

Yesterday on Twitter someone asked why a player would be elected to the Hall of Fame in subsequent years if they weren’t chosen in the first year.  After all, nothing had changed as far as the player was concerned, his statistics remain the same.

In 1945 Frank Chance, Rube Waddell, and Ed Walsh came closest and, in fact, all three of them  were actually elected to the Hall the next year, in 1946.  What changed from 1945 to 1946 that  allowed these fellows to garner 75% of the votes, when they were unable to do so the previous year?

I found this a little puzzling and set out to research the people who actually do the nominating and selection and what the process is all about.  After about four hours, I gave up the search.  I ran into overwhelming statistics such as  only 296  have been elected to the HOF since 1936, out of a possible 17 quadrillion players (17,275,882,859,193,771 to be exact) who have played Major League Baseball.   (I’m an accountant by trade and still had to count backwards in three’s to come up with quadrillion ~ it’s just a little mind-boggling). However,  Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson stated recently that only “207 players out of approximately 18,000 players who have appeared in the major leagues have earned induction to Cooperstown.”  Either way, you have to admit whether it’s quadrillion or thousands,  it’s still a pretty lousy percentage.

The common denominator in researching the Hall of Fame process as it relates to baseball is that it’s complicated at best and controversial at worst.   The rules have changed frequently.

•  The five-year waiting period wasn’t established until 1954.
• In 1936 all players were eligible, including active ones.
• From 1937 to 1945 there was no waiting period.
•  From 1946 to 1954 there was a one year waiting period.
• An exception to the waiting period was made for Joe DiMaggio because of his high level of support in previous years.
• The Veteran’s Committee can make exceptions to (some of) the rules.
• Merits of various candidates are subject to endless debate about who does and does not belong in the HOF.
• Players of the Negro Leagues have been considered at various times but only after 1971.

I added this little gem on January 17, 2012 from Bill Miller’s  On Deck Circle.  It’s a must-read article  entitled, “The Baseball Hall of Fame: A qualitative analysis, Part I.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Just nine years after The Hall’s initial Mount Rushmore election, the Veteran’s Committee apparently got drunk and elected every 19th century Irish ball player they could think of.  Maybe they were celebrating the end of WWII.”

There’s been a lot of leeway over the years.  For example, until 2001  Hall of Famers could decide which team they wanted to be linked with as opposed to which team they had the best statistics with.   That doesn’t affect the selection, but it’s just another example  of how the rules have changed.

Babe Ruth, Hall of Fame Plaque

It’s going to be a lot of fun next year when Barry Bonds comes up for eligibility.  That subject along with Pete Rose’s ban from baseball will make for an interesting read and lots of comments from good intentioned and well-informed readers  I’m sure!

For everything you’ve always wanted to know about the subject link here to National Baseball Hall of Fame courtesy of Wikipedia and Baseball Almanac.

Related articles

• MLB Hall of Fame 2012: Why Jeff Bagwell Absolutely Needs to Be a Hall of Famer (bleacherreport.com)
• Baseball Hall of Fame Class 2012: 5 Voting Criteria Writers Need to Stick to (bleacherreport.com)
• Barry Larkin Is a Hall of Famer. Bonds, Clemens & Steroids Are on Deck (bleacherreport.com)
• Barry Larkin is in the Hall of Fame (theoutfield.wordpress.com)
• Make Pete Rose Eligible for MLB Hall Of Fame Induction (philadelphiatale.wordpress.com)
• Would you believe a Hall of Fame ballot with Don Mattingly and no one else? (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com)

St. Louis Fans Missing Pujols? ….. Not so Fast!

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m a huge Albert Pujols fan.  But here’s another way to look at it, courtesy of Sully Videos with a little John Travolta thrown in.  Take a look ~

Related articles

• Here’s The Newspaper Ad Albert Pujols Took Out To Thank St. Louis Fans [Albert Pujols] (deadspin.com)
• Pujols’ wife explains slugger’s leaving St. Louis (espn.go.com)
• St. Louis Church Sending Albert Pujols Jerseys To Needy People In Los Angeles (tracking.si.com)
• Albert Pujols and the Anaheim Angels Both Made the Right Move (bleacherreport.com)

Bloggers Alliance Votes for Larkin & Bagwell For Hall of Fame

BBA RECOMMENDS LARKIN, BAGWELL FOR HALL OF FAME

In the annual polling of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell were recommended for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  This is the third year the organization has conducted this survey of the membership.

Larkin, a 12-time All-Star who fashioned an .815 OPS over 19 seasons, received the largest percentage of votes, being named on 84.25% of the 148 ballots cast.  This is the highest percentage garnered by any player in the three years of BBA voting.

Bagwell, who hit 449 HR and had a .948 OPS in his 15 seasons in Houston, was selected on 115 ballots for a 78.77% rate.  As with the official voting done by the Baseball Writers of America, a player must be named on 75% of the ballots to be recommended by the alliance.

Last year, the BBA recommended second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both of whom were inducted into Cooperstown during the summer.  In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA balloting, the year that outfielder Andre Dawson was selected for the Hall by the baseball writers.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America.  However, the BBA has often been a predictor of major awards granted by the writers.

The final voting results are as follows:

Barry Larkin 84.25%
Jeff Bagwell 78.77%  

Baseball’s Top Ten News Items in 2011

2011 World Champions St Louis Cardinals

The media’s full of articles and videos of the most newsworthy items about baseball this past year.   You might think this would be those articles you and I found the most interesting and representative of baseball throughout the country, but not necessarily so.

I compiled a list from a survey today of the “top 10″ from USA Today, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN.

Here’s the results and below that I’ve listed my own personal “Top Ten”.  How does your list compare?

TOP TEN FROM SURVEY

1. St. Louis Cardinals, World Series Champions
2. Justin Verlander,  AL Cy Young and MVP Winner
3. Game 162 collapse of the Red Sox and Braves.
4. Game 6 World Series between the Cardinals and Rangers
5. Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit
6. Ryan Braun’s Drug Test
7. Jim Thome’s 600th Home Run
8. Shannon Stone Fatal Fall at Rangers Stadium
9. Mariano Rivera all time saves leader
10. Bryan Stow beating at Dodger Stadium

GARLIC FRIES TOP TEN SURVEY

1. St Louis Cardinals, World Series Champions
2. Justin Verlander, AL Cy Young and MVP Winner
3. Ryan Braun, NL MVP
4. Game 5 NLDS Cardinals and Phillies
5. Bryan Stow beating at Dodger Stadium
6. Buster Posey and Scott Cousins collision
7. MLB takeover of Dodger operations
8. Shannon Stone fatality at Ranger Stadium
9. Mariano Rivera All Time Saves leader
10. Tony LaRussa retires

Derek Jeter’s No. 3000 hit was the only honorable mention on my list besides the Moneyball movie.   Geez, I really loved that movie!

"Happy New Year Everyone"

My personal favorite  in 2011 has to be the NLDS Game 5 with Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay  the starting pitchers.   I don’t know anyone who honestly thought the St. Louis Cardinals would/could beat the Philadelphia Phillies in that series.  It was truly the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and the most memorable game of the season.  At least that’s how I remember it.

Related articles

• MLB season, offseason, unforgettable (aol.sportingnews.com)
• 2011: Dickens Flummoxed (sports-central.org)
• Here’s to 2012: New Year’s resolutions for each MLB team (aol.sportingnews.com)
• Top 5 Stories of 2011: UCB December Project (stlfearthered.com)

“Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays”

“The Priests”, a classical musical group from Northern Ireland,  sing their version of “Oh Holy Night”.  It’s my very favorite Christmas song and I’m happy to share it with you.

Related articles

• Merry ChristmaHannaKwanzikuh… or Happy Festivus (susansheehey.wordpress.com)
• Merry Christmas to All! (hotmessprincess.com)

The Best All-time Baseball Movie? ….. You Decide!

There’s nothing better than a bucket of buttered popcorn and a good baseball movie .  I’ve seen a lot of them and up until a month ago my very favorite was probably “For Love of the Game” with Kevin Costner.  Who wouldn’t love Costner in a baseball movie?  He’s such a “guy” as Kelly Preston tells him in the movie.  It’s about the perfect game and except for some flashbacks the entire story takes place in one day on a quest for the perfect game.  I’ve seen it at least seven times and will undoubtedly watch it seven more.

Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"

But on November 24 this year I could hardly contain myself waiting for “Moneyball” to open.   I waited for it with excitement and anticipation like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Christmas morning,   especially after reading the book.  And I wasn’t disappointed.  I’ve seen it three times and will definitely buy the DVD and then I’ll watch it some more.  As expected,  Brad Pitt did a great job as Billy Beane, but I was taken back by the bean counter character played by Jonah Hill.  I still chuckle thinking about the deadpan one-liner’s that he slowly rolled out, one after another with precision timing.  But the kicker was the scene in Beane’s office when he was trying to negotiate for a player via telephone at the direction of Beane (Brad Pitt).  The exaggerated fist pump was perfect ~ if you saw it you know what I mean.

So I’m seriously wondering what the average reader would consider the best movie.   Let me know what you think.    I’ll publish the “best of the best” on a later blog.   Here you go:

Related articles

• First look at Brad Pitt’s latest movie Moneyball (heatworld.com)
• What is the best baseball movie ever? | Steve Busfield (guardian.co.uk)
• Where does “Moneyball” rank among your greatest sports movies? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ‘Moneyball’: How audiences fell back in love with screenwriting. Plus, Brad Pitt’s sexiest dimension (insidemovies.ew.com)

Bonds and Steroids ~ Impossible to Defend.

I’d like to talk about the obstruction of justice charge, not just in the Barry Bonds case, but about the charge in general as it’s used in our judicial system.   For example take this hypothetical situation in a court setting:

Question:  ”What did you find out?”

Answer:  ”I found out I didn’t find out anything.”

Question:  ”Oh yah?  How did you find that out?”

Answer:  ”I don’t know.”

Evasive answer?  Maybe.  Maybe not.   But after  years of investigation, interviews,  personal vendettas and dumpster diving, the prosecutors in the Barry Bonds perjury trial  ended up with obstruction of justice being the only charge that the jury found fit to find Bonds guilty of.

Our system is seriously flawed folks.  What does obstruction of justice mean?  It sounds to me like it means if, for whatever reason, the jury can’t find the defendant guilty of anything else, they can always charge him with obstruction of justice – meaning the defendant got in the way of a conviction on one or more of the other 75 charges.

And a jail sentence?   Excuse me, but I thought jail was supposed to be a way to protect society from those persons who were so violent and corrupt they had become a danger to the rest of us.   I’m understanding the new definition is that it’s now supposed to be a deterrent.  Well okay.  How’s that working out for you?  Judge Illston got it right on this one.

A similar situation happened to a close personal friend of mine a few years ago, not at the federal level mind you, but at the local level.  He won his case.  He won because 1) he had a superior defense counsel,  2)  the prosecutor was inept, and 3) he had a competent jury.   In the situation at hand, two out of three wasn’t good enough.

Our judicial system is seriously flawed.   A whopping 90% of those cases brought by the prosecutors are convictions in one way or another.  In the case I’ve outlined, the prosecutors offered a “deal” to reduce all charges to one little misdemeanor if the defendant gave the word, which of course he didn’t.   But that’s usually what happens.  They present the court with 35 “felony” charges and then drop it to a couple of misdemeanors in exchange for information, usually to go after a bigger fish, but sometimes it’s because they know they’re going to lose the case anyhow and just want to save face.  This is how they’re able to maintain their high “conviction” rate.

What a waste of taxpayer money.  Why’s the federal government even involved in this case?   It should be between Barry Bonds and Major League Baseball, who has finally decided to take  responsibility and issue  rules and regulations regarding steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

But you know what?  This is the only system we’ve got and it’s better than most of the systems in the rest of the world so we’re stuck with it.  But it doesn’t mean it can’t be changed. We’ll talk about that later.

And innocent until proven guilty?  The  Ryan Braun situation comes to mind.  We can talk about that later too.

Related articles

• Barry Bonds sentenced to two years of probation and is grounded for a month (sentencing.typepad.com)

Baseball Videos? These Come With a Warning!

Okay, maybe things were a little slow here today.  I mean there’s still a few more months until Spring Training and the football menu’s been a little lean since  Green Bay and the Niners  clinched their divisions, at least here at our house.   I spent way too much time looking at YouTube this afternoon, but did come up with a few little ditties to share with you.   Honestly, this stuff is addictive.  Take a look and you’ll see what I mean.

Geez!  They must have a really wide strike zone in Japan.  

Ouch!  Don’t try this at home kids.

I see a great career as a majorette if this doesn’t work out!

Seriously, this guy belongs on a football field.  Is there such a position as “baseball tackle”?

Note:  This is the end of my video selection.  If you are seeing an advertisement, my apologies.  It has been placed here without my permission. ~ Ronni, GFBB

Ron Santo ….. Newest Selection to Baseball Hall of Fame!

“Voice of Ron Santo Broadcasting”

I’ve spent most of the day researching Ron Santo and all I can say is I wish I could have known him.  What a character!  At least that seems to be the consensus of all who knew him.  A wonderful wacky yet sentimental man whose playing career ended in 1974, but is known more by the younger crowd of Chicago Cub fans for his career in the WGN broadcast booth as a color commentator.   Wikipedia has done an excellent job with a four page article that spans his birth in 1940 in Seattle,  Washington to his death on December 3, 2010 in Scottsdale, Arizona and includes his legacy and election into the Hall of Fame today.

Here’s a worthwhile commentary on Ron Santo’s Hall of Fame selection today by D. J. Short, Hardball Talk, 12/5/11

“The Veterans’ Committee just announced that the late Ron Santo has been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Ron Santo 1971

Santo was eligible as part of the new “Golden Era” ballot, which considered candidates from the 1947-1972 era. Others eligible included Minnie Minoso, Buzzie Bavasi, Jim Kaat, Allie Reynolds, Ken Boyer, Luis Tiant, Charlie Finley, Gil Hodges and Tony Oliva, but Santo was the only one to get the required number of votes.  12 votes were needed to secure election. Santo received 15 out of 16 votes. Kaat fell just short with 10 votes while Minoso and Hodges each received nine.

Santo’s election is considered long overdue by most. One of the best third baseman of his era, he had a .277/.362/.464 batting line over 15 seasons in the majors (14 seasons with the Cubs, one with the White Sox) to go along with 342 lifetime home runs and

Ron Santo with Chicago Cubs

1331 RBI. Santo’s highest vote total for the Hall of Fame was 43.1 percent in 1998, which was his last year on the ballot. It’s nice to see the Veterans Committee right a major wrong, as he was one of the best players at his position not in the Hall of Fame, but it’s truly a shame that he didn’t live to see the day.”