Reblogged from Healthy, Unwealthy, and Becoming Wise:

If you've read this little corner of the web for the last little while, you may remember when I discovered a love for baseball. 

Since that post nearly one year ago, I've discovered so many things about the game of baseball. The major discovery, and arguably the most important one, is that baseball is full of players who are giving of themselves and of their time and talents when it comes to charitable events and causes.

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Reblogged from Verdun2's Blog:

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1. He was born Francis Joseph O'Doul in 1897 in San Francisco.

2. In 1912 he played for his school team, whose coach was female. O'Doul credited her with teaching him fundamentals of the game. The next year he dropped out of school to work with his father as a butcher.

3. Playing semipro ball on Sundays brought him to the attention of the San Francisco Seals minor league team.

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This is a copy of a BLOG I posted last year on Mother’s Day ~ it’s still relevant.  Hope you enjoy it!

‘PINK BATS A PERFORMANCE ENHANCER?  YOU DECIDE!

Occasionally I’ll find an article so unique I’m tempted to “plagiarise”!   This is one of those articles, but reprinted with permission from a really hard-working blogger who went to an amazing amount of work to produce this delightful piece for all of us!   Thanks to Mike Clair at  Old Time Family Baseball  for sharing this. 

 ”There’s something wonderful about seeing a group of men finally stop the macho act and swing pink bats in honor of their mothers and to help the fight against breast cancer. (Plus, baseball players can finally realize how well pink complements their skin tones.) In lieu of a full game recap for the Mother’s Day games, I thought I would collect a master list of the players who did or did not use pink bats and finally see if ones love for their mother is a performance enhancer.A few ground rules:

• This does not take into account players wearing pink accessories, only their bats.
• I counted the starting nine on each team, so any pink-bat-swinging pinch-hitters or late-game substitutions have been left out.
• I used MLB.tv footage as my guide, so if I couldn’t tell the color of a players bat, I considered it a non-pink bat. Some players like Brian Roberts appeared to have a a little bit of pink of around the handle of the bat, but because it was so pale and hard to identify, they were left out.
• Due to a lack of a variety of things, time being among them, I have only used hits, at-bats, home runs, RBI, and runs scored as my guide. Sorry, my sabermetric brethren, maybe next year. 
• I’m only one man, so any updates or corrections can be sent here or left in the comments.

Without further adieu:   Pink Bats: 685 AB, 193H, .285 BA, 15 HR, 85 RBI, 84 R

Non-Pink: 287 AB, 42 H,  .216 BA, 6 HR,  27 RBI, 31 R

Is this just a small sample size, do better hitters choose pink bats more often, or is there a Mother’s Day boost? That will have to wait for next year to see if the numbers are straightened out, but here are some notes:

• Pink batters clearly did better, hitting nearly 70 points higher than their non-pink counterparts.
• Pink batters also homered once ever 45.67 AB compared to 47.83 for people who don’t love their mothers. 
• 187 of the 270 starters used pink bats, good for 69% of the Major League population.
• Neither Hairston brother swung a pink bat.
• Derek Jeter and A-Rod didn’t use pink bats. Alex Rodriguez clearly hates mothers while Derek Jeter didn’t want to detract attention from breast cancer survivors. 
• Yorvit Torrealba used a bat with a black handle and pink barrel, the only player I noticed with such a combination.
• Rockies starters who didn’t swing pink sticks? They went 0-17. Love your mothers, fellas.

Click here for individual team and player info.

 Final note, only players who used pink bats are listed. Consider this to be the master list of 2011 pink bat users as it will be updated if new information becomes available.”

Guillermo Guiroz. Click for MLB Video

Baseball’s unlike any other sport.  It’s the only one I know that’s not given time restraints.  A one-half inning lasts as long as it takes to get three outs.  It could last for only three pitches, or it could go on for hours, or seem like it.  Take the fifth inning in last night’s game between the Dodgers and Giants.   The Giants lead 5-0 at the beginning of the 5th, and then it all fell apart as the Dodgers scored seven runs, one after the other, on and on and on.  I thought it would never end, but finally it did and by the end of the 9th inning the score  was tied 9-9, and we were in overtime ~ extra innings.

It’s a fluke that third string back-up catcher Guillermo Quiroz was even on the roster last night.  Hector Sanchez is the regular back-up catcher for Buster Posey and had been sent back to the Minors only the day before.   So when Quiroz steps up to the plate I’m thinking what the heck’s going on.  I mean doesn’t Bochy know it’s the 10th inning?  I was already a little perturbed with Boche after leaving Vogey in to get really hammered in the fifth ~ he should have taken him out earlier.  So when  Guillermo steps up to the plate I turned up the volume and went to the kitchen to do the dishes. 

What happened next happens all the time in baseball.  In fact, it happened the night before with Buster Posey and was no big deal.   Well, it was a big deal, but we’ve gotten a little spoiled with Buster so you rather expect this sort of thing from him. 

And it isn’t even that Guillermo Quiroz really smacked the hell out of that first pitch for the game-winning home run.  It was what happened after, as he looked out at that ball flying towards infinity, and you knew that he knew it was gone.  No doubt in his mind.  And when his arms went up in the air and he started towards first base he had a huge smile on his face, yelling something that made you realize that “spirit of victory” that we’ve all heard about so often is more than just a saying …..it’s why we love the game.   And we really loved the game tonight.

And to be honest, I was smiling and yelling right along with him.  The dishes could wait.

Reblogged from The Professional Opinion on Sports:

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by Jed McKeehan

Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday.  Actually it was three days ago.  My Cubbies are playing away at Cincinnati and clinging to a 2-1 lead going in to the bottom of the ninth.  The Cubs starting pitcher, Carlos Villanueva with his incredible mustache, has pitched a phenomenal game.  If you know anything about the Cubs, you know what happens.

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Reblogged from CalHiSports.com:

With the start of the Major League Baseball season underway, we thought we would help give you a rooting interest in any game that you may turn on to watch this season, even if it doesn't involve your favorite team. Go inside to see a list of every team and a California player to watch.

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I’ve been to Fenway Park on two separate occasions and both times the music  rang out as loud as you can possibly imagine and was absolutely fantastic.  The first song belted out by 35,000 crazy fans was The Kingston Trio’s  “MTA.  This had a very personal meaning  for all of us out-of-towners who triumphantly mastered the friendly transit system that very day.    The second was the wonderful classic “Sweet Caroline” and it’s been one of my favorites ever since.

“So good….So good…So good…So good!

To tell you the truth I’ve never quite figured out what Sweet Caroline has to do with Boston or baseball, but it doesn’t matter.   The fans have made it their song and if you’ve ever stood and waved your arms and shouted and yelled ”So Good!” at the top of your voice (and you will ~ it’s contagious) in unison with 35,000 other fans it will be your song too. 

I love this YouTube video.   It brings back wonderful memories of Boston, Fenway and baseball.  And it reminds me of how proud I am to be a patriotic flag waving American .  Not that I need reminding.  Some things are engraved so firmly on the spirit and the soul they can bring you to tears.  They surface often and they surface when you least expect them.  For me, baseball and patriotism are two of those things.  

Thank you for this week Boston.  You did good!

Reblogged from McKenna:

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Spent the evening with the Seattle Mariners.

Reblogged from Our Sports Report:

Posted by: Curt Ashcraft (@cashcraft740)

Edited by: Tommy Parrill (@DearTommy)

There is one thing in this world that everyone has in common. We all have opinions. If you are somewhat of a baseball fan, then you have an opinion of Zack Greinke.  Some believe that he is an amazing talent and others believe he is overpaid. But I think he is a punk that was never told no, and complains about everything. 

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Reblogged from Leather Wing Media:

2013 World Series Ring!

HERE’S AN UPDATE TO OUR WORLD SERIES RING RAFFLE OF 2011. 

https://secure.mlb.com/sf/community/gcf/ring_raffle.jsp

World Series Ring Raffle to benefit Giants Community Fund

Tiffany & Co. has generously donated a ring to be raffled off with proceeds benefitting the Giants Community Fund. The Giants World Series Ring Raffle offers fans the chance to win a 2010 World Series Championship ring, identical to the rings given to Giants players and coaches. The ring will be personalized with the winner’s last name.

The San Francisco Giants have announced  they will be selling raffle tickets for one of the Tiffany designed World Series Rings, through July 26, 2011.  Raffle tickets and information are available online at sfgiants.com/ringraffle.  Minimum purchase is $10. Tickets go on sale Saturday, April 9 at 7:00pm PST and will close Tuesday, July 26 at 11:59pm ET.  The lucky winner will be announced during the Giants telecast on Wednesday, July 27th.   

Reprinted from SFist.com 4/10/11 .   “The SF Giants unveiled their swanky, new 2010 World Championship Ring, created by Tiffany & Co.   It’s the first MLB World Championship ring made by Tiffany & Co., and as you can see it’s quite a dazzler.

According to MLB.com, the Giants dressed their best for today’s ceremony, decked out in gold-embossed caps and jerseys with gold lettering and numerals. The Chronicle’s “The Splash,” has details on the ceremony, reporting that the rings were “escorted to the plate around the warning track, by motorcycle cops, cops on horses and inside vintage cars,” as a band played Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

The ring is made primarily of white gold and consists of a total of 77 diamonds weighing just under one carat. The classy design pays homage to earlier eras and was inspired by the Giants 1933 World Series ring. More details include

The ring top features the team’s “SF” logo set with round diamonds encircled by a bezel of yellow gold flanked by two round diamonds.One shank has the year 2010 flanking a yellow gold tower of the Golden Gate Bridge — the iconic symbol of San Francisco. The other shank has the recipient’s name in a ribbon over the World Series trophy. Within the top of the trophy is one mandarin orange spessartite representing the San Francisco championship and at the base of the trophy are five diamonds representing the five New York championships.”

You can watch the full video of the San Francisco Giants Ring Presentation Ceremony at Frisco Fastball,. courtesy of MLB.com.

But today, instead of being at the game, I was watching from my comfortable chair, all decked out in orange and black, with a box of Kleenex and a paper bag (to dispose of the used tissues) nearby.  And I did pretty good until they introduced the Cards Manager, Mike Matheny, and the crowd broke into near hysteria in support of this fellow, another of my very favorites.  And I lost it, never to fully recover for the rest of the ceremony. 

I’m not sure why I was so emotional today, but it probably had something to do with the affection the Giants fans feel for their team, and the entire organization for that matter, but also for anyone who has anything to do with the Giants!  The crowd cheered just as loud for each of the St Louis Cardinal players who were former Giants as they did for the current Giants themselves.   It’s been a long dry spell, this post, post-season, and finally today, after five months we have our kids back home ready to dance around the mound, and the plate and the field.  ”It’s the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you” ……..as if I was singing the song to each of them individually as they walked out onto the field.  And I meant it. The only thing missing were the Navy Jets, but since our country’s broke I guess we  can’t afford them, with the sequester and all I mean. 

Well, okay then.  Here’s a re-post of the blog from that most wonderful moment  in baseball history, at least most wonderful in my mind!  This is one of my favorite blogs out of the nearly 300 I’ve written so far.  Hope you enjoy it ~

“THOSE CLASSY CARDINALS”

Giants 2011 Home Opener vs Cardinals

A few weeks ago I saw an article in the Bleacher Report that listed all of the Major League Baseball Teams in order of Fan Loyalty and Support.   The fans were judged on the basis of commitment, knowledge, participation and attendance.  It didn’t surprise me to learn the winner was the St. Louis Cardinal fans.    For one thing, Tony La Russa’s been the Manager of the Cardinals for the past 16 years.  During an interview back in 2004 by MLB.com’s Mark Newman, La Russa made this statement;

….I think they say St. Louis is the best because fans are as enthusiastic as in other places but are probably more fair-minded.  You can get booed here some, but you’re not going to get embarrassed.  Here, you never see nastiness from our fans.  If you like knowledgeable people who are fair-minded to the other side, this has got a chance to be the best.

Cardinal fans have even been known to give a standing ovation for a strikeout, which occurred when Larry Walker, a newcomer, came to bat for the first time as a Cardinal, promptly struck out and received the standing ovation.  One fan explained they stood because they were saying, in effect, thanks for coming here kid.  We’re glad you’re a Cardinal.   They have the reputation of not only being some of baseball’s most knowledgeable fans, but also the most polite. 

So I’m reflecting on this as I’m watching the pre-game ceremonies yesterday at AT&T Park in San Francisco.   This was the first league home game for the Giants since they won the World Series back in November and, believe me, it was a big, big thing!  Huge!   I don’t know who plans these events, but for some reason, the first thing they did was introduce the visiting team, the St. Louis Cardinals, one at a time as they usually do.  They individually trotted to their place in line on the field to a smathering of applause, some boo’s, the usual stuff. 

Then they began the round of festivities.   And this is when I really first noticed those nice, polite St. Louis Cardinals.  Here they are, standing almost at attention, almost in a perfect line, hardly moving while the Giants organization did the following:

1. Introduced “Train”, the band, live, who performed their local hit, “Save me San Francisco” in honor of the World Series Champions.
2. At the end of the song, the Giants started streaming into the park  from Centerfield, walking at first, then breaking into a trot as they made their way to the 3rd base line, where they, too, would stand at attention, well, sort of.  This was to the roar of 42,000 crazy fans who were delighted at just the sight of them!
3. The members of the Giants organization were then introduced, one at a time, beginning with the bat boys, and including the clubhouse assistants, the clubhouse managers, trainers, assistant trainers, massage therapists, the coaches, the bench and finally the starting players for this game.
4. Then a memorial tribute was given to those from the organization who had passed away during the offseason.
5. The Color Guard was then introduced.
6. The singing of the National Anthem was then played which ended in the fly-over of the Navy jets.
7. During the National Anthem the flag was beautifully rolled out onto the full scope of the field displaying its colors.

Now all of this really nice ceremony took place while the St. Louis Cardinals were standing on the 1st Base line, still as steel, and as patient and polite as you can possibly imagine.   After the National Anthem was played, the festivities continued, though the players did get to retreat to their dugouts.  We were then introduced to a gentleman who had been a season ticketholder since 1958, and Brian Wilson presented him with the World Series game ball.  During this time the big screen was showing the most memorable scenes from the playoffs to the wild applause of the fans, and this was followed by presentation of the MVP and Babe Ruth awards from the World Series.   Approximately 45 minutes later, Willie Mays presented Bruce Bochy with the World Series flag which was passed on down the SF Giants line to end up with Brian Wilson, who then trotted out across the field and up the stands and hoisted the World Series flag above the stadium.  It was emotional and very impressive;  at least to me and the other fans. 

The Polite Pujols & Posey

But I kept watching the St. Louis Cardinals and wondering what they must be thinking during all this.  Maybe they were really enjoying it and thinking about when it would be their turn again, and maybe they were happy for the Giants and their fans.  Maybe they admired the Giants ability to overcome huge obstacles that allowed them to come to this point.  But more than likely it’s possible they were just thinking, “For pete’s sake, would you hurry up and get this over with ?”  Which it finally did, 45 minutes later. 

I had noticed during the introduction of the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the fellows in front of me, probably in his mid 30′s, politely clapped and applauded as each Cardinal was introduced.  Remembering the best fans in baseball, I thought this is probably something the Cardinals did for us when we played on their home turf.   Later I approached this man and mentioned to him how impressive it was that he applauded the visiting team members.  He just smiled and said “It’s just a game.  Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do”?  I asked him where he was from and he said he lived in San Francisco, but his grandma lived in St. Louis.  Uh Huh!  And it passes down from generation to generation.  His dad’s probably the same way.  Anyhow, I had a good feeling throughout this game.  Not that we’d win or lose, but that we’d experienced probably the worst of baseball fandom the previous week, and we were experiencing  some of the best of baseball fandom today.  The spirit of St. Louis is alive and well and the spirit of baseball is too.