End of an Era in Baseball

[Subdeacon Joe]

The last ever game of a Bridge Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.  

 

The announcers kept mentioning that,  but I took it as the last for the season.  Then my wife said that with the A's leaving Oakland that the era of the Bay Bridge Series and rivalry is over. 

 

Kind of a bummer. 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

So they were playing cards together?

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

So they were playing cards together?

 

Nope.  The Cards were playing the Dodgers in St. Louis. 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Subway series ended when the Dodgers and Giants left NYC.  That was the end of an era.  No, Larsen no sandwiches were involved.

Edited August 18 by Tex Jones, SASS 2263

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

4 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

So they were playing cards together?

No the cards were playing the dodgers.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

What difference does it make?

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

What difference does it make?

 

About as much as a John Wayne movie  

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

John Wayne movies are entertaining.  You are talking about baseball.

[Subdeacon Joe]

39 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

John Wayne movies are entertaining.  You are talking about baseball.

 

Which is entertaining.   

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

What difference does it make?

 

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

About as much as a John Wayne movie  

 

1 hour ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

John Wayne movies are entertaining.  You are talking about baseball.

 

35 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Which is entertaining.   

If you like them, yes. believe it or not, there ARE people who don't like The Duke. The difference is that people don't paint their bodies to look like The Duke, or almost go into mourning when his movies are over.

Nobody talks about what "we" did while watching a movie, or spends time in a bar yelling at the TV screen when he's on. Sports fans do.

Don't get me wrong, if that's what people want to do they're free to do so. But at the end of the day, the sun will go down, and rise again the next morning whether "their" team won or lost.

Edited August 19 by Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770

[J-BAR #18287]

Kinda like the end of "Border Wars" between Missouri and Kansas:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_War_(Kansas–Missouri_rivalry)

 

Rivalries can be fun!!

[Subdeacon Joe]

55 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

The difference is that people don't paint their bodies to look like The Duke

 

No, but they spend thousands of dollars on " the look."

 

And get all melancholy when he dies in a  movie. 

 

And hold him up as some sort of demigod. 

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

40 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

The difference is that people don't paint their bodies to look like The Duke, or almost go into mourning when his movies are over.

Point for Sgt Sabre. 
 

I enjoy a good sporting match on occasion. International soccer is fun every four years.  The offbeat stories from Paris kept me watching for a week or so.  With some teams I have a bit of personal attachment. (Think Army football.). I understand people who love college football and the 4+ years of memories, even though NIL and the legal bagmen are changing the culture for the worse.

 

I completely do not get the emotional investment that people make with professional sports teams.  The teams are all made of highly paid entertainers at all levels (players, coaches, front office, executives) whose sole purpose is to maximize the dollars extracted from the pockets of so-called “fans”.

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

6 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

No, but they spend thousands of dollars on " the look."

 

And get all melancholy when he dies in a  movie. 

 

And hold him up as some sort of demigod. 

Didn’t you just describe half the people in our game?

[Rye Miles #13621]

3 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

The last ever game of a Bridge Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.  

 

The announcers kept mentioning that,  but I took it as the last for the season.  Then my wife said that with the A's leaving Oakland that the era of the Bay Bridge Series and rivalry is over. 

 

Kind of a bummer. 

It is a bummer for fans of those teams especially the A’s fans. The Oakland A’s are going to Las Vegas but they’ll play for 3 years in Sacramento. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

46 minutes ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

Didn’t you just describe half the people in our game?

 

Did I?

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

No, but they spend thousands of dollars on " the look."

 

And get all melancholy when he dies in a  movie. 

 

And hold him up as some sort of demigod. 

John Wayne was an American patriot. He stood tall as an example for all Americans. Was he just a man? Sure. Was he flawed? Absolutely. But the characters he portrayed on the movie screen were an inspiration to at least two generations of people. 

Ball players are just that, players. Especially these days, kneeling instead of standing for the flag and country. 

When you root for The Duke, you are rooting for the Good Guy. Maybe some don't, but most of us here aspire to BE the Good Guy. 

[Blackwater 53393]

Ball players are examples of people who work hard to learn skills that make them better at what they do!

 

The best of athletics is doing your best at what you’re doing and in team sports, making your best effort to support your teammates while striving toward a common goal!

 

Just because and athlete is talented and excells at his game doesn’t make him a good athlete or teammate!

 

SO! Team sports AND individual sports are both entertainment!  They are also excellent illustration for our youth to demonstrate the importance of teamwork, discipline, dedication to your craft, the constant need to improve, and the importance of fair play!!!

 

Maybe they ARE overpaid, but even THAT is a great example of why one should do their best!! You’re certainly more likely to get better pay if you do the best at your job, WHATEVER IT IS!!

 

As far as the over the top, hysterical fans, ANYTHING can be taken to ridiculous extremes!!  It’s wrong for the naysayers of sports to paint all fans and enthusiasts with that brush!  I wouldn’t go to that extreme, but I pity those who can’t get really excited about at least one thing in their lives enough to whoop and holler about it!!

 

I’m glad I have several!!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

3 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Kinda like the end of "Border Wars" between Missouri and Kansas:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_War_(Kansas–Missouri_rivalry)

 

Rivalries can be fun!!

Those were the days. During my KU career, Ted Owens was the b-ball coach and Norm Stewart was MU’s. That was when they were student athletes who played their 4 year eligibility. It was fun to watch teams mature thru the years.
 

These days they’re one and done and head to the NBA. Division I is now an NBA/NFL farm system with players making a lot of money. I don’t follow it any more. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

10 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

John Wayne movies are entertaining.  You are talking about baseball.

I’d rather watch a baseball game ! I’ve seen John Wayne movies many times. I could see them anytime. Baseball is entertaining to us baseball fans. I’ve been a fan since I was 7 yrs old!

[Cypress Sun]

The modern 'rules' of American baseball were codified sometime between 1845 to 1860, long before the Wild West era that most of John Wayne's movies are time set in. Sure, baseball can be boring at times...but I'll wager that no one knows the end (final score) before the end of the game...unlike John Wayne movies.

 

Maybe Wayne should have starred in a baseball themed movie based in 1870...although he probably would have used a Winchester 1892 as a baseball bat.

[Rye Miles #13621]

11 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

The modern 'rules' of American baseball were codified sometime between 1845 to 1860, long before the Wild West era that most of John Wayne's movies are time set in. Sure, baseball can be boring at times...but I'll wager that no one knows the end (final score) before the end of the game...unlike John Wayne movies.

 

Maybe Wayne should have starred in a baseball themed movie based in 1870...although he probably would have used a Winchester 1892 as a baseball bat.

Now that’s just too funny!!😂😂

[Blackwater 53393]

Baseball is NOT for those who seek instant gratification!! Each game UNFOLDS as it progresses. I liked the game much better before they got the clock involved.

 

While it IS a game of skill, there is also a lot of science/tactical knowledge to the game, as well as a generous helping of pure luck!!

 

Watching on television will never be a satisfactory substitute for seeing a game live, in person, at the ballpark!  AND! For the knowledge fan of the game, the announcers are usually a downside to a game!!

 

One of the biggest assets to the Major League game has been the rivalries! Cross town, cross the state, across state lines, even across the country, traditions are formed by these rivalries that flavor certain games.

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

13 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

It is a bummer for fans of those teams especially the A’s fans. The Oakland A’s are going to Las Vegas but they’ll play for 3 years in Sacramento. 

Please figure out a way for Oakland to keep them.

We (Las Vegas) don't want them.

 

They can have the Raiders back too.

Edited August 19 by Creeker, SASS #43022

[Blackwater 53393]

42 minutes ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

Please figure out a way for Oakland to keep them.

We (Las Vegas) don't want them.

 

They can have the Raiders back too.

 

Apparently somebody wants the Raiders!! They built that nice new (really ugly) stadium for ‘em and folks are paying lots of money for tickets to see ‘em!! 

[Subdeacon Joe]

On 8/19/2024 at 8:38 AM, Blackwater 53393 said:

Baseball is NOT for those who seek instant gratification!! Each game UNFOLDS as it progresses.

 

Like this:

 

On this day in 1941, Pirates manager Frankie Frisch was ejected from a game at Ebbets Field after coming onto the field with an umbrella to protest the rainy playing conditions. The heated argument between Frisch and umpire Jocko Conlan was later immortalized in a famous Norman Rockwell painting - a classic scene capturing the passion and drama of baseball. Frisch's umbrella protest has become an iconic moment in MLB history.

#mlb #baseball #pittsburgh

 

[paradiddle]

Baseball is too cerebral for about 70% of Americans now.

 

There isn't a single athlete that is overpaid in any sport.  They are paid exactly what the market pays them.  Within the obviously union involvements it's a pretty pure system.  Teams learn, or not, and overpay, or don't, but trust me - owners makes money and us fans have no real clue as to total value players bring.

F the A's and Oakland, and frankly the rest of Nor Cal and LA.  They had plenty of time to fix the situation and spend some money on a winner and get a stadium.  That stadium is old, shitty, unsafe, and that city has become a cesspool of third world magnitude.  That stadium has always been terrible for baseball.  Which is why no one goes...

 

Jeff

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

5 minutes ago, paradiddle said:

Baseball is too cerebral for about 70% of Americans now.

 

There isn't a single athlete that is overpaid in any sport.  They are paid exactly what the market pays them.  Within the obviously union involvements it's a pretty pure system.  Teams learn, or not, and overpay, or don't, but trust me - owners makes money and us fans have no real clue as to total value players bring.

F the A's and Oakland, and frankly the rest of Nor Cal and LA.  They had plenty of time to fix the situation and spend some money on a winner and get a stadium.  That stadium is old, shitty, unsafe, and that city has become a cesspool of third world magnitude.  That stadium has always been terrible for baseball.  Which is why no one goes...

 

Jeff

 

The stadium used to be pretty decent - even when shared with the Raiders, prior to the Raiders bailing out of Oakland back in 1982.  A bunch of buddies and family and I would go to a LOT off games; but even back in the early 70's we'd voice opinions about Oakland not deserving the team.  Even when they where a championship team there were times when attendance might be around 3,000 fans.  Or fewer.  On a weekend!  And it got even worse in modern times.

 

Now, about the Raiders - when Al Davis brought 'em back to Oakland in '95, to accomodate him the city of Oakland altered the stadium to a point where it was undoubtedly the worst baseball park in the country.  It is absolutely horrid!  My late Uncle Frankie was one of the construction superintendants on the re-model job; perhaps the most cheerful man I've ever known, but at times he'd almost have tears in his eyes when talking about it. 

 

After the work was completed, I remember listening to a game on the radio one day and the announcers were discussing it ~ one of 'em flat-out said "tear it down, Oakland.  Just tear it down!"

 

Now, maybe they will.  Or the new owners:  On May 23, 2024, the city of Oakland announced its plan to sell its one-half share in the existing 155-acre Oakland Coliseum complex (63 ha) for a minimum of $105 million to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group, whose plans for the site include residential and commercial uses.

[Cypress Sun]

47 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

The stadium used to be pretty decent - even when shared with the Raiders, prior to the Raiders bailing out of Oakland back in 1982.  A bunch of buddies and family and I would go to a LOT off games; but even back in the early 70's we'd voice opinions about Oakland not deserving the team.  Even when they where a championship team there were times when attendance might be around 3,000 fans.  Or fewer.  On a weekend!  And it got even worse in modern times.

 

Now, about the Raiders - when Al Davis brought 'em back to Oakland in '95, to accomodate him the city of Oakland altered the stadium to a point where it was undoubtedly the worst baseball park in the country.  It is absolutely horrid!  My late Uncle Frankie was one of the construction superintendants on the re-model job; perhaps the most cheerful man I've ever known, but at times he'd almost have tears in his eyes when talking about it. 

 

After the work was completed, I remember listening to a game on the radio one day and the announcers were discussing it ~ one of 'em flat-out said "tear it down, Oakland.  Just tear it down!"

 

Now, maybe they will.  Or the new owners:  On May 23, 2024, the city of Oakland announced its plan to sell its one-half share in the existing 155-acre Oakland Coliseum complex (63 ha) for a minimum of $105 million to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group, whose plans for the site include residential and commercial uses.

 

One of the worst things NASCAR ever did was move the Clash from Daytona to the Coliseum. It is, by far, the worst race of the year and they're going to do it again next year. I won't be watching a lap of it...it's that bad.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

41 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

One of the worst things NASCAR ever did was move the Clash from Daytona to the Coliseum. It is, by far, the worst race of the year and they're going to do it again next year. I won't be watching a lap of it...it's that bad.

 

I know... it is.  

[Blackwater 53393]

3 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

One of the worst things NASCAR ever did was move the Clash from Daytona to the Coliseum. It is, by far, the worst race of the year and they're going to do it again next year. I won't be watching a lap of it...it's that bad.

I don’t know WHY they keep putting races in places that historically have NEVER drawn a crowd!!

 

The spring race in the Coliseum was poorly attended! So badly so that they covered whole sections of seats and avoided having the cameras show those huge empty rows and sections of seats!!

 

Years ago, they decided to try to branch out to the west.  There was a great race every year at the old Riverside Raceway, but local politics killed the track. Then they tried Ontario, a neat super speedway style track, but again, politics and land development closed that down! It’s blatantly obvious that the state and most local governments either couldn’t care less or plain just don’t want racing around! ( It ain’t just NASCAR! Remember Lions Drag Strip??)

 

The road course at Sonoma has had some pretty good racing, but it doesn’t seem to play to a “packed house” like Watkins Glen!!

 

In the meantime, they stopped racing at North Wilksboro, the old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, and Rockingham, even though those tracks CONSTANTLY sold out and all three are still or once again up and running, (Nashville never closed).

 

All three of those tracks have had or are having major face lifts and would be “packed to the rafters” if a CUP race was held there!!!

 

Maybe Portland, Oregon would be a better choice for a western race!  Xfinity seems to do well there.  Las Vegas SEEMS to do okay.

 

I don’t have a problem with trying out new venues, but there are great tracks with rock solid proven attendance records and great racing heritage and history that have been slighted by the arbitrary cancellation of long standing events!!

 

 

Edited August 22 by Blackwater 53393