Porking out at the Ballpark on Mother’s Day!

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 Some of the above pictures courtesy of  Fox Sports MLB’s Best Food List.

I just found out I’m going to the Oakland A’s – Detroit Tigers game on Mother’s Day so I went online to find out what’s for dinner!  My search found this great website  with such tantalizing food pictures I think I’ll conjure up some ballpark food for dinner tonight!

One of my favorite ballpark foods is the Primanti Brothers Sandwich at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.  When I was there the fans were lined up around the block for this one.  The special sandwich (pictured above) includes not only the roast beef, but also the salad and french fries  stacked high and part of the sandwich.

And someday I’m going to try those Rocky Mountain Oysters at Coors Stadium.  Or maybe I’ll watch someone else try them but it’ll still be an experience.

And for dessert it’s a toss-up between those yummy looking cupcakes at Safeco Field in Seattle and the  funnel cakes at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

If you don’t have plans for your mom, your kid’s mom or someone else that’s really special on Mother’s Day why not consider taking her to dinner at the Ballpark!  You’ll get to enjoy the camaraderie of some the greatest fans in all of sports, hopefully a great game and some really terrific food.

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“TOP BASEBALL PLAYERS OF PAST 60 YEARS!” A Mathematical Study.

This is the third year we’ve published this study by Dr. Don Davis.  It’s one of our most popular blogs and we’re happy to be able to share it again with you.  Be sure to link to his website  for additional information, changes and criteria he used in compiling his study.

“2011 Baseball Players Mathematical Study, written by Don Davis, Department of Mathematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA., and printed here with his permission.”

Pos’n	First team	Second team	Third team	Fourth team	Fifth team
P,1	Roger Clemens, 266.0	Tom Seaver, 181.1	Bob Gibson, 140.4	Juan Marichal, 107.9	Curt Schilling, 85.1
P,2	Randy Johnson, 202.1	Warren Spahn, 167.5	Sandy Koufax, 137.8	Gaylord Perry, 102.8	Phil Niekro, 84.9
P,3	Greg Maddux, 197.5	Bob Feller, 157.6	Robin Roberts, 136.5	Roy Halladay, 102.1	Johan Santana, 84.6
P,4	Pedro Martinez, 187.5	Steve Carlton, 143.5	Jim Palmer, 133.2	Fergie Jenkins, 87.2	Nolan Ryan, 83.7
C	Johnny Bench, 111.2	Yogi Berra, 92.9	Gary Carter, 75.6	Mike Piazza, 74.8	Ivan Rodriguez, 71.0

Veterans Day and Every Day ….. Thank You!

Arlington National Cemetery

“But the mainstay of the big leagues was the reservoir of 4-Fs – males of draft age who had been rejected on physical grounds by the Armed Forces. Not since harem attendants had gone out of style were men’s physical deficiencies so highly prized. Ulcers, hearing defects, and torn cartilages were coveted by team owners.” – Frank Graham, Jr. in Farewell to Heroes (1981)

This and the following list of Hall of Fame Members Courtesy of  Baseball Almanac.

Baseball Hall of Fame Members  who Served in the Armed Forces.

The Civil War
Morgan Bulkeley	United States Army
World War I
Grover Alexander	United States Army
Happy Chandler	United States Army

Update: 2011 MLB Payrolls & Individual Salaries.

Courtesy TTF Baseball

Here’s the 2011 update to our 2010 Major League Baseball listing published November 22, 2010.  This comes to us compliments of USA Today.  If you’ll click the individual teams, you can access the individual players salaries.  It will be interesting to note the annual salaries of the teams that make the playoffs;  in other words, did they get what they paid for?

 TEAM                          TOTAL P/R             AVG SALARY       MEDIAN

New York Yankees	$ 202,689,028	$ 6,756,300	$ 2,100,000
Philadelphia Phillies	$ 172,976,379	$ 5,765,879	$ 2,625,000
Boston Red Sox	$ 161,762,475	$ 5,991,202	$ 5,500,000
Los Angeles Angels	$ 138,543,166	$ 4,469,134	$ 2,000,000
Chicago White Sox	$ 127,789,000	$ 4,732,925	$ 2,750,000
Chicago Cubs	$ 125,047,329	$ 5,001,893	$ 1,600,000
New York Mets	$ 118,847,309	$ 4,401,752	$ 900,000
San Francisco Giants	$ 118,198,333	$ 4,377,716	$ 2,200,000
Minnesota Twins	$ 112,737,000	$ 4,509,480	$ 3,000,000
Detroit Tigers	$ 105,700,231	$ 3,914,823	$ 1,300,000
St. Louis Cardinals	$ 105,433,572	$ 3,904,947	$ 1,000,000
Los Angeles Dodgers	$ 104,188,999	$ 3,472,966	$ 2,142,838
Texas Rangers	$ 92,299,264	$ 3,182,733	$ 1,251,000
Colorado Rockies	$ 88,148,071	$ 3,390,310	$ 2,318,750
Atlanta Braves	$ 87,002,692	$ 3,346,257	$ 1,275,000
Seattle Mariners	$ 86,524,600	$ 2,884,153	$ 825,000
Milwaukee Brewers	$ 85,497,333	$ 2,849,911	$ 1,050,000
Baltimore Orioles	$ 85,304,038	$ 3,280,924	$ 1,425,000
Cincinnati Reds	$ 75,947,134	$ 2,531,571	$ 825,000
Houston Astros	$ 70,694,000	$ 2,437,724	$ 467,000
Oakland Athletics	$ 66,536,500	$ 2,376,303	$ 1,400,000
Washington Nationals	$ 63,856,928	$ 2,201,963	$ 1,050,000
Toronto Blue Jays	$ 62,567,800	$ 2,018,316	$ 1,200,000
Florida Marlins	$ 56,944,000	$ 2,190,153	$ 545,000
Arizona Diamondbacks	$ 53,639,833	$ 1,986,660	$ 1,000,000
Cleveland Indians	$ 49,190,566	$ 1,639,685	$ 484,200
San Diego Padres	$ 45,869,140	$ 1,479,649	$ 468,800
Pittsburgh Pirates	$ 45,047,000	$ 1,553,344	$ 450,000
Tampa Bay Rays	$ 41,053,571	$ 1,578,983	$ 907,750
Kansas City Royals	$ 36,126,000	$ 1,338,000	$ 850,000

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Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book

Update:  Now available at Amazon as Book and Kindle.

Finally it’s here!  My book’s been in the works since February and  it’s being published today.  It’s available for sale here first, and will be available on Amazon.com early next week and in Kindle form  soon thereafter.

The book’s a compilation of some of my favorite blogs, some in expanded form, with a few little ditties added in and formatted in such a way you’ll hardly recognize it!  I have to admit ~ writing a book is a great experience, but it’s much easier writing a blog!

Let me know what you think but please be kind.   This is my debut you know ♥   Ronni

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Mad Bum and Glory ….. Pretty Cool!

Madison Bumgarner, the ultimate Pitcher!

Remember that old  “thrill of victory,  agony of defeat” thing?  It was an ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” theme  back in the 60′s and it’s been going through my head as I’m writing about Madison Bumgarner’s performance tonight.  Last Tuesday, for those of you who’ve been in solitary confinement or otherwise unable to know what’s going on in the baseball world this past week,   Madison Bumgarner broke some records.  Well not actually broke them, but matched those that

Discussing the Cy Young?

hadn’t been touched since the early 1900′s.  It was the most unbelievable first inning I’ve ever watched in baseball….any baseball, including T-ball and Little League.  The Bum lasted exactly 1/3 inning in which time he  allowed nine hits and eight runs, and recorded only one out in the first third of the first inning.  It was an inter-league game between the Giants and Minnesota Twins.  I could hardly breathe watching Bumgarner leave the game and head towards the dugout to sit and watch the remaining 8 2/3 innings in shame and embarrassment.  After the game he somehow managed to hold his head high, speak  intelligently with reporters and answer each question thoughtfully, speaking softly in a monotone, and promised to learn from his mistakes and do penance and say one our father and three hail mary’s.   I really felt for this kid and all day I was going through some sort of anxiety wondering how he, and I, would make it through tonight’s game after the first “ball” was called, probably on the first pitch.  

So tonight when the 5:05 game between the Giants and the Cleveland Indians started right on time, on ESPN, in front of the entire world to see,  Madison Bumgarner threw his first pitch.  And then another, and another.  And he proceeded throwing precision pitches culminating with 11 strike-outs through the seventh inning!   OMG!  It’s what we  live for in baseball…..our local hero just did the impossible and the crowd’s giving him a standing ovation and I’m giving him hoots and  hollers jumping around the living room telly.   

Just another usual ordinary game for the Giants, ending with a final score 3-1.  Same old stuff.  But as far as the SF Giants 21 year old pitcher Madison Bumgarner goes?   He’s back!   Mad Bum and all his glory and I’m back there to watch him do it all over again.  Tuesday – total disgrace; Sunday – en route to the Cy Young!   Don’t you just love it?  Baseball, I mean.  Pretty darn cool.

 

MLB Standings vs MLB Payrolls …. How do they measure?

Okay, so we’re maybe 25% through the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.  How is your team doing?  How is your team doing in relation to their total payroll?  In other words, are they getting what they paid for?

Here’s an interesting article published by Hayes & Taylor recently.  I’m always amazed at the amount of work some of these guys put into their daily blogs;  I mean who has time for this stuff?   In any event, this is a great chart and one of the better blogs and I wanted to share it with you.

“The Cleveland Indians are in first place in the AL Central. They have the fifth lowest payroll in all of baseball. Which got me thinking, how do the other teams in the MLB rank in the standings relative to their payroll. It turns out that the Indians aren’t even the best example right now.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the second lowest payroll in the majors. The are currently in first place in the power packed AL East. Ahead of the number one payroll in baseball the Yankees, the number three payroll in Boston and numbers 19 and 24 in Baltimore and Toronto. The Royals, Marlins and A’s are all over .500, and are all in the bottom ten payrolls in the league. Not to mention all are very alive in the playoff races.

If the season ended today, four of the eight playoff teams would come from the bottom eleven in payroll (Rays, Indians, Marlins, Reds). On the other side, only three would be coming from the top eight in payroll (Angels, Phillies and Giants).

What does this all mean? Talent wins in baseball and not always how much you pay for that talent. If money was how you win, the Yankees would win every year, but they don’t. That makes me very happy. I love to see underdogs win. I love the fact that some of the lower payroll teams won’t be trading away all of their talent this season to teams who will pay whatever it takes. Baseball is stronger than ever right now.

Click here to link to a chart that shows  where all 30 teams in major league baseball rank in payroll and where they are currently in the standings. Is your team over or under achieving?”

Joe Mauer and Head and Shoulders. Why?

“The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that’s it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it.” Ty Cobb

I was intrigued by the video this morning,  posted by one of my favorite blogs, “Babes Love Baseball“.  Okay, it’s no secret the girls love Joey Mauer, as noted in one of their recent blogs which, in effect,  proclaimed Joey Mauer one of the sexiest men in Major league baseball.

Personally, I have trouble linking the personal looks (sexiness if you prefer) of  baseball players, or any athlete for that matter, to the actual sport they play.  I don’t know.  Maybe that’s just me.  I mean, what difference does it make?

The point I’m trying to make is why would Joe Mauer feel a need to do a shampoo commercial?    It’s certainly not about the money, and it can’t be about the media exposure.  Is this one of those pesky tasks MLB assigns to the players each year?  Or maybe it’s a requirement of the  Minnesota Twins, you know, part of his contract.  Doubtful.

“Joe Mauer’s lucrative new deal  kicks in this year, and he’ll make $23 Million this season.  According to Charley Waters, the Twins’ catcher is doing so well with off-the-field endorsements, he won’t even have to touch his MLB paychecks, which are supposed to come in bi-weekly to the tune of $1.92 million. If you’re wondering, Mauer’s $23 million this year is only $11 Million less than the Pittsburgh Pirates (entire) payroll in 2010.”   Big Lead Sports 3/7/11

According to the article quoted above, Mauer’s making so much from his endorsements he doesn’t even have to touch his regular paychecks, which will  total a cool  $23 Million this year.   Okay, I’m starting to get  it.  It’s not about playing for love of the game.  It is about the money.  And Joe Mauer’s not the only one.  A lot of guys are doing it.  But “Head and Shoulders”?  Isn’t anything sacred anymore?

Top Baseball Players of Past 59 Years!

“2010 Baseball Players Mathematical Study, written by Don Davis, Department of Mathematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA., and printed here with his permission.”

(GFBB Note:  I found this  information fascinating and posted the 2009 study last August.  This is the 2010 updated version with a few variations.  You can view the entire study here:  http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/baseball.html    It explains the  criteria used and the history behind the study as well as a wealth of other information related to it.  You can contact Dr. Davis directly for more information regarding the list@ dmd1@lehigh.edu )

Pos’n	First team	Second team	Third team	Fourth team	Fifth team
P,1	Roger Clemens, 266.0	Tom Seaver, 181.1	Bob Gibson, 140.4	Juan Marichal, 107.9	Phil Niekro, 84.9
P,2	Randy Johnson, 202.1	Warren Spahn, 167.5	Sandy Koufax, 137.8	Gaylord Perry, 102.8	Johan Santana, 84.6
P,3	Greg Maddux, 197.5	Bob Feller, 157.6	Robin Roberts, 136.5	Fergie Jenkins, 87.2	Roy Halladay, 84.1
P,4	Pedro Martinez, 187.5	Steve Carlton, 143.5	Jim Palmer, 133.2	Curt Schilling, 85.1	Nolan Ryan, 83.7
C	Johnny Bench, 112.9	Yogi Berra, 94.9	Gary Carter, 77.3	Mike Piazza, 76.6	Ivan Rodriguez, 72.7
1B	Albert Pujols, 158.9	Jeff Bagwell, 99.9	Eddie Murray, 91.6	Willie McCovey, 88.4	Harmon Killebrew, 80.8
2B	Joe Morgan, 140.6	Rod Carew, 100.5	Ryne Sandberg, 94.8	Jackie Robinson, 93.8	Roberto Alomar, 81.1
3B	Mike Schmidt, 184.1	George Brett, 120.9	Eddie Mathews, 112.2	Wade Boggs, 110.5	Brooks Robinson, 105.1
SS	Alex Rodriguez, 151.9	Cal Ripken, 121.6	Ernie Banks, 97.6	Robin Yount, 88.2	Derek Jeter, 83.4
OF,1	Barry Bonds, 270.7	Stan Musial, 208.6	Frank Robinson, 141.2	Al Kaline, 119.2	Reggie Jackson, 111.5
OF,2	Willie Mays, 243.2	Mickey Mantle, 208.3	Rickey Henderson, 138.4	Ken Griffey, 117.1	Pete Rose, 99.4
OF,3	Ted Williams, 219.8	Hank Aaron, 201.3	Carl Yazstremski, 131.8	Roberto Clemente, 112.1	Tony Gwynn, 97.1
DH	Frank Thomas, 101.0	Paul Molitor, 58.8	Edgar Martinez, 53.4

 

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Ho Hum……Yankees Won. Care for a cup of tea?

Phil Hughes pitched seven shutout innings, Marcus Thames and Nick Swisher homered and the Yankees beat the Twins 6-1 Saturday night to complete yet another three-game sweep of Minnesota and return to the AL championship series.    Once again,  New York Yankees 6 and Minnesota Twins-1.   Take a look at this video and you’ll see the reason behind the Header’s obvious sarcasm:  (Be patient, it takes a minute to load)

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=12795971

Yankees Advance to ALCS

 I watched it live as it happened and thought how utterly bizarre ~ the players are walking off the field, chatting to each other, an occasional smile and wave to the crowd.  In the first few scenes some of the managers are immediately walking down the steps to the clubhouse.   I envision white tablecloths set out with tea and crumpets being served.  Okay, so I think the Yankees are spoiled.   Or maybe they’ve just won so many times they expect to win again.  No big deal.   Well, you know what?   This is a big deal!  Four more wins and they’ve won the Pennant.  And another four wins they win the World Series!  Ye Gods man!  This is serious business!    I searched for some photos of individual players and found the same thing.  Might as well been wearing their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and bowing to the crowds.   I’m

Jeter the Gentleman

pretty darn sure of one thing though.   If the tables were turned and this were the Minnesota Twins with a 6-1 win over the Yankees, or over anyone as far as that goes, at the end of the game, when that last out was made,   there would have been 25 Twins out on that field acting like a bunch of 10 year olds and caps would have been flying all over the place.  And I would have been cheering right along with them.   It’s not that I’m unhappy the Yankees won.  It’s just that a little enthusiasm would have been nice, you know?   Kinda of like it might have been a surprise to them too and then trying to engage the crowd into their little celebration would have been really, really nice!

Okay, I’ll be honest, there’s another way you can look at this.  Could it be those dang Yankees were so sure they were going to win, it didn’t even cross their minds they should look and act like complete fools to pretend they were ecstatic about

Here we go again!

something they knew was going to happen anyway.  And could it be this is the way “professionals” are supposed to act?   I’m just saying,  no one’s had more experience at being winners than the New York Yankees.  Perhaps that’s the way it’s supposed to be.   Tea and crumpets anyone?

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Best Players in Past 58 Years ……. A Mathematical Study!

Roger Clemens

Greg Maddux

Randy Johnson

Pedro Martinez

Johnny Bench

Albert Pujols

Joe Morgan

Mike Schmidt

Alex Rodriguez

Barry Bonds

Willie Mays

Ted Williams

Frank Thomas

I came upon an interesting study a few months ago.  It was written by Don Davis, Mathematics Professor at Lehigh University, Bethleham, PA.   There’s a lot of criteria used in determining different aspects of this study, but for the most part the players names are all recognizable and only a few to make the list are surprises.   The following table lists the top five All Star Teams, using 4 pitchers per team.    It also lists the overall rating percentage by player.   Take a look:

Pos’n	First team	Second team	Third team	Fourth team	Fifth team
P1	Roger Clemens, 266.2	Tom Seaver, 166.9	Bob Gibson, 129.2	Jim Palmer, 106.4	Johan Santana, 85.4
P2	Greg Maddux, 203.9	Warren Spahn, 160.5	Robin Roberts, 128.3	Gaylord Perry, 96.1	Tom Glavine, 84.8
P3	Randy Johnson, 202.4	Bob Feller, 143.7	Sandy Koufax, 126.0	Phil Niekro, 96.1	Curt Schilling, 80.7
P4	Pedro Martinez, 185.7	Steve Carlton, 140.7	Juan Marichal, 109.5	Fergie Jenkins, 91.7	Bob Lemon, 79.9
C	Johnny Bench, 115.5	Yogi Berra, 97.2	Mike Piazza, 82.2	Ivan Rodriguez, 77.7	Gary Carter, 75.5
1B	Albert Pujols, 145.4	Jeff Bagwell, 103.2	Eddie Murray, 95.2	Willie McCovey, 92.1	Harmon Killebrew, 86.4
2B	Joe Morgan, 140.3	Rod Carew, 94.5	Ryne Sandberg, 92.4	Jackie Robinson, 82.4	Roberto Alomar, 81.1
3B	Mike Schmidt, 173.2	George Brett, 119.2	Eddie Mathews, 111.7	Wade Boggs, 108.0	Brooks Robinson, 88.4
SS	Alex Rodriguez, 145.4	Cal Ripken, 113.6	Robin Yount, 93.0	Ernie Banks, 90.7	Derek Jeter, 81.6
OF1	Barry Bonds, 270.7	Stan Musial, 205.2	Frank Robinson, 145.3	Ken Griffey, 114.2	Tony Gwynn, 100.3
OF2	Willie Mays, 226.8	Mickey Mantle, 198.3	Rickey Henderson, 141.5	Al Kaline, 110.1	Pete Rose, 99.7
OF3	Ted Williams, 213.4	Hank Aaron, 195.6	Carl Yazstremski, 127.5	Reggie Jackson, 108.9	Roberto Clemente, 99.3
DH	Frank Thomas, 115.0	Edgar Martinez, 64.4	Paul Molitor, 62.4	David Ortiz, 43.4

Are you kidding me?  Can you even begin to imagine a game with all of these guys on the same team?  What was particularly interesting to me is  that mathematically Roger Clemens is the highest rated pitcher and Barry Bonds is the highest rated batter.   These  ratings are through the 2009 season,  and personalities and private lives are not taken into account.   This is just  using good old fashioned baseball statistics.  

I found the study intriguing and spent a lot of time viewing the criteria used in coming up with the lists.  Rather than go into all the particulars here, you can view the study yourself @ Lehigh University   http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/baseball.html  

 This information is being used with the permission of Professor Davis.

Whew! 7 Days of Baseball and 10 Different States…..

Who wouldn’t love this?   Never mind the early mornings, late nights, blisters, junk food and sunburns!   Looking back who’ll remember any of this stuff?   What I’ll remember is getting to sleep on the bus (our reward for getting up on time and actually making it to the bus) and those great movies (Corner Gas?  Who Knew?) and great food and the comraderie of great baseball fans gathered together for the experience of  baseball, ballparks, and ballpark food.    And that’s exactly what we did!   We could ask Dan anything and if he didn’t have the answer, our driver, Mark, did.  A pool of knowledge from these two!   And the best part was sharing their baseball experiences  with us.  The time flew by and now I’m safely home just in time to cheer my home team out of a 7 game losing streak ~ sure glad I could help!    There’s something very special about baseball fans.  When you’re sitting in a stadium with 40,000 fans cheering and clapping for whichever team, there’s a common bond that says it really doesn’t matter, just for today, what’s wrong with the economy.  And just for today I’ll let BP worry about that oil mess and I’ll let someone else solve the world problems because today I’m watching grown men throw baseballs around a field shaped like a diamond, hopefully hitting  more baseballs and scoring runs, just because they can.  Well, I can’t explain it, but there’s something very special about baseball fans!  

We’ve waited all winter, withstood snow and cold Thru free agent signings for millions in gold. “Play ball”, “Batter up”, the umpire will yell, Peanuts and crackerjaks the vendors will sell. Like Bogey has said with panache and glitz, “A hot dog at the ballpark beats roast beef at the Ritz!”

Baseball: ‘Ode to Opening Day by Mark H. Young ©