A pet peeve. When watching that video of the play at the plate, I know the runner was out. But do they not teach the outfielders to catch the ball close to the right shoulder to decrease the distance they have to move the ball before the throw? We were taught that in high school. And I was a catcher, but I remember being taught the same thing – keep your glove back, let the ball get to you because the ball travels faster than your hand can travel to get the ball into a throwing position. I guess I should just be grateful that I had excellent high school coaches that taught us those fundamentals…
Aha. Now we have it. The secret of continuing to love baseball, even when your team is inept, is to view it the same way Soviet ‘party members’ viewed communism. Find ‘fun’ outliers and suffer through the rest. Wow … Joe has really been on a journey since those early SI days. He’s now going full Dostoevsky (an amazing writer). Go Joe! Go!
If you are born and raised in Tank Town, you are stuck rooting for a bad team. Forever, it seems. Each season is a replay of Hamlet that starts out with noble aspirations but by the end everyone is dead. Yes, every now and then the Orioles beat the Yankees but only on nights when the Yanks are hungover. Yes individual players get to experience "one of those moments" - but afterward the team is still in last place. Sorry, but I can't enjoy watching a game between two bad teams. But, hey! I don't have to watch them and I certainly don't have to pay ballpark admission when I visit Tank Town.
Who knows? Every once in a while some nobody shows up and is Fernando Valenzuela. You think, this can't last. And it just keeps going. Alas, of course, Fernando's situation is mainly famous because it rarely goes like that.
Maybe MLB should approve a rule that if your team is perpetually struggling for a victory, then at least you get to witness the pain in one of the most glorious home ballparks on the planet. Yep, talking to you, Pirate fans. Hang in!
I love hometown guy makes good game stories. I remember when Manny, the Pride of Morningside Heights, played his first game in the Stadium as a rookie with Cleveland. His family and friends filled a whole section, screaming and cheering, in an otherwise largely empty midweek stadium, and Manny responded. Two HRs and a double (or 2 doubles and a homer). By the end, even the Yankee fans were cheering for him.
Also, Joe, you might do a story on the Orioles' home run chain, which is as magnificently cheesy and fun as the Yankees's stuffed parrot from a few years ago.
I wonder if Joe is trolling us all, trying out stories for "Why We Love Baseball" without telling us. :)
But I have to say, the most gratifying moment of this story as someone who roots hard for the Milwaukee Brewers but grew up in the '90s, is NOT seeing my team listed in that final paragraph. The Mark Attanasio ownership era has been spectacular. Being a Brewers fan was certainly no better (and probably a lot worse) than being a fan of those other teams in the '90s and the first half of the '00s, the era in which I fell in love with the game (I graduated high school in 2005); to see how good this last 15-ish years has been is really awesome.
I love this story. My eyes were sweating, too. I thought the same thing when they sent Vogelbach home! How DO you get to all the details of the everyday games while you are writing, speaking, etc.? Impressive.
I was stunned when I opened the video of Vogelbach's triple and saw the video only lasted 20 seconds. There's no way Vogelbach can run from home to 3B in 20 seconds, is there?
Oh, sure - that's 90 yards in 20 sec. Even I can do that, or close to it, and I am old and was never fast to begin with. 20 seconds is longer than you think it is. 😁
Reminds me of the great Onion article from when Prince Fielder hit an inside-the-park homer. They didn't need to get fancy, they just printed a photo of him sliding, and this headline:
Untrue. Maybe the slowest major leaguer is faster than the average kid in HS. But not the fastest high schoolers. In my HS we had some burners. A couple of guys were sprinters on the track team too. And there were a lot of teams with faster runners than we had. I was above average, and I feel pretty confident that I'd have beaten Vogelbach by at least 30 feet around the bases. Conservatively. Today? I'm over 60, so he'd beat me. But not when I was 17.
I’m not sure what it says about MLB, but it’s sad that the four teams Joe mentioned (Pirates, Reds, Orioles, Royals) were all very successful franchises from the 70’s to early 90’s and since - with a few brief exceptions like 2013-15 - have basically been laughingstocks.
I think as a fan you can grudgingly accept the financial disadvantages - your team will never spend like the Dodgers - but it’s much more difficult to take the incompetence in drafting/signing/developing young players. There’s no small market excuse for being so awful at that for 30 years. Put the money you do have into being the best at that. You should at least be able to be like the ‘94 Expos, even if you wind up losing those players in free agency.
It’s hard to have hope when ownership is cheap and management inept, and both seem fine with the status quo.
Stories like Suwinski are fine but fans of those teams deserve more than just a few bits of fun while the rest of the season is like cheering for the Washington Generals.
From my perspective, there are no laughing stocks in baseball, Mike. Mostly players and teams are giving it their heart and soul! (The money is another story...)
I should clarify, I didn’t mean to call the players laughingstocks or question their effort. And it is nice to see when someone perseveres and achieves their dream of making it to the majors.
Ownership/management is what I consider a joke, and a bad joke at that. I don’t believe ownership is committed to spending what it takes to build even competitive teams, much less winners.
A pet peeve. When watching that video of the play at the plate, I know the runner was out. But do they not teach the outfielders to catch the ball close to the right shoulder to decrease the distance they have to move the ball before the throw? We were taught that in high school. And I was a catcher, but I remember being taught the same thing – keep your glove back, let the ball get to you because the ball travels faster than your hand can travel to get the ball into a throwing position. I guess I should just be grateful that I had excellent high school coaches that taught us those fundamentals…
I just about spit my coffee out at "And Jack Suwinski knocked the kielbasa out of the ball." hahaha well done, Joe!
Aha. Now we have it. The secret of continuing to love baseball, even when your team is inept, is to view it the same way Soviet ‘party members’ viewed communism. Find ‘fun’ outliers and suffer through the rest. Wow … Joe has really been on a journey since those early SI days. He’s now going full Dostoevsky (an amazing writer). Go Joe! Go!
Another classic! Fantastic story! Thank you, Joe!
If you are born and raised in Tank Town, you are stuck rooting for a bad team. Forever, it seems. Each season is a replay of Hamlet that starts out with noble aspirations but by the end everyone is dead. Yes, every now and then the Orioles beat the Yankees but only on nights when the Yanks are hungover. Yes individual players get to experience "one of those moments" - but afterward the team is still in last place. Sorry, but I can't enjoy watching a game between two bad teams. But, hey! I don't have to watch them and I certainly don't have to pay ballpark admission when I visit Tank Town.
Vogelbach looked like Chris Farley, as he jawed at that catcher.
Who knows? Every once in a while some nobody shows up and is Fernando Valenzuela. You think, this can't last. And it just keeps going. Alas, of course, Fernando's situation is mainly famous because it rarely goes like that.
Maybe MLB should approve a rule that if your team is perpetually struggling for a victory, then at least you get to witness the pain in one of the most glorious home ballparks on the planet. Yep, talking to you, Pirate fans. Hang in!
“And Jack Suwinski knocked the kielbasa out of the baseball.” That sentence is pure JoePos and must have been a particular pleasure for him to write.
I love hometown guy makes good game stories. I remember when Manny, the Pride of Morningside Heights, played his first game in the Stadium as a rookie with Cleveland. His family and friends filled a whole section, screaming and cheering, in an otherwise largely empty midweek stadium, and Manny responded. Two HRs and a double (or 2 doubles and a homer). By the end, even the Yankee fans were cheering for him.
Also, Joe, you might do a story on the Orioles' home run chain, which is as magnificently cheesy and fun as the Yankees's stuffed parrot from a few years ago.
I wonder if Joe is trolling us all, trying out stories for "Why We Love Baseball" without telling us. :)
But I have to say, the most gratifying moment of this story as someone who roots hard for the Milwaukee Brewers but grew up in the '90s, is NOT seeing my team listed in that final paragraph. The Mark Attanasio ownership era has been spectacular. Being a Brewers fan was certainly no better (and probably a lot worse) than being a fan of those other teams in the '90s and the first half of the '00s, the era in which I fell in love with the game (I graduated high school in 2005); to see how good this last 15-ish years has been is really awesome.
I love this story. My eyes were sweating, too. I thought the same thing when they sent Vogelbach home! How DO you get to all the details of the everyday games while you are writing, speaking, etc.? Impressive.
Joe calls it "research." Lucky duck.
Like seeing a new character pop up on your favorite television story without warning or explanation. Poochie!
Pretty sure that baseball Suwinsky hit died on its way to its home planet.
I was stunned when I opened the video of Vogelbach's triple and saw the video only lasted 20 seconds. There's no way Vogelbach can run from home to 3B in 20 seconds, is there?
Oh, sure - that's 90 yards in 20 sec. Even I can do that, or close to it, and I am old and was never fast to begin with. 20 seconds is longer than you think it is. 😁
Reminds me of the great Onion article from when Prince Fielder hit an inside-the-park homer. They didn't need to get fancy, they just printed a photo of him sliding, and this headline:
Prince Fielder Dies Of Inside-The-Park Home Run.
Even the slowest MLB player is faster than the fastest kid in your HS. These guys are on another level.
Untrue. Maybe the slowest major leaguer is faster than the average kid in HS. But not the fastest high schoolers. In my HS we had some burners. A couple of guys were sprinters on the track team too. And there were a lot of teams with faster runners than we had. I was above average, and I feel pretty confident that I'd have beaten Vogelbach by at least 30 feet around the bases. Conservatively. Today? I'm over 60, so he'd beat me. But not when I was 17.
I’m fit in my fifties and feel pretty good that I can go from home to third quicker than that. He has Molina spped.
He did it in about 17!
I’m not sure what it says about MLB, but it’s sad that the four teams Joe mentioned (Pirates, Reds, Orioles, Royals) were all very successful franchises from the 70’s to early 90’s and since - with a few brief exceptions like 2013-15 - have basically been laughingstocks.
I think as a fan you can grudgingly accept the financial disadvantages - your team will never spend like the Dodgers - but it’s much more difficult to take the incompetence in drafting/signing/developing young players. There’s no small market excuse for being so awful at that for 30 years. Put the money you do have into being the best at that. You should at least be able to be like the ‘94 Expos, even if you wind up losing those players in free agency.
It’s hard to have hope when ownership is cheap and management inept, and both seem fine with the status quo.
Stories like Suwinski are fine but fans of those teams deserve more than just a few bits of fun while the rest of the season is like cheering for the Washington Generals.
The Rays can use some fans and we have a great big tent …
From my perspective, there are no laughing stocks in baseball, Mike. Mostly players and teams are giving it their heart and soul! (The money is another story...)
I should clarify, I didn’t mean to call the players laughingstocks or question their effort. And it is nice to see when someone perseveres and achieves their dream of making it to the majors.
Ownership/management is what I consider a joke, and a bad joke at that. I don’t believe ownership is committed to spending what it takes to build even competitive teams, much less winners.
Thanks, Joe from Joe Charboneau, Max Alvis, and Jack Heideman.