MLB Reports

Friday February 10th, 2012

MILWAUKEE/GENERAL MITCHELL AIRPORT (MKE)

Douglas “Chuck” Booth (Baseball Writer)– Just to give everybody a bit of background here, I have rented cars for 4 years and 6 months straight. I do courier work for a living. I have found that the unlimited mileage that car rentals give you are a lifesaver. I am not going to bore with huge mathematical details yet. What I will do is breakdown my knowledge for baseball road trips. Depending on where you live is the big determining factor in where you should rent a car from. For the Central to Midwest, this means doing any number of these parks: Minnesota, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago (AL), Chicago (NL). Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit and Cleveland- you should arrange for your trip to start off and end in Milwaukee. Read the rest of this entry →

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Tags: avis, baseball, baseball road trip, Chuck Booth, doug booth, fastest 30 ballgames, mlb, priceline, thrifty

Ballparks Are Using Gimmicks to Attract Females and Children

Monday February 6th, 2012

Douglas “Chuck” Booth (Baseball Writer)- At first you might say, what are baseball teams doing to our classic baseball parks? After a few minutes of thinking you will realize that your team is in business to make money just like every other multi-billion dollar industry. I am talking about ‘Gimmicks’ at the baseball yard of course. They are often there to attract more casual female fans and children into walking through the turnstiles. From a Ferris Wheel in Detroit, to increased kid/mom interactive coloring stations that are located in almost every park, these gimmicks give the casual fan something to spend their time doing at the ballpark. I consider myself a hard-core fan, so does this kind of thing bother me? Absolutely not… and I will tell you why.When I arrive at the ballpark, I am there to watch baseball only! I usually have traveled a long distance, spent a considerable amount of money, time and effort in order to watch these games from the stands. So what do I care if the stands are not full with people waiting for every pitch? To tell you honestly, I would rather the casual fans spend more time in the concourses occupying themselves, rather than disrupting anything in my realm of vision for the baseball game. Seeing kids throwing temper tantrums is normal in any public place, so if they are not in their seat while having a conniption fit- that is great.

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Posted on February 6, 2012 | Image

Sample of what my Friday Travel Blog will Cover

Feb 3

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Friday, February 03, 2012

Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)- Since writing about traveling to ballparks is what I know most about, I thought I would take the next 9 weeks (before the season starts) writing articles that extensively go through every part of my expertise. Over the course of the last five years I have done countless hours of research on this subject matter, so I am going to share my information with you in hopes you may save some time or money this 2012 MLB season. I am sharing my knowledge of: baseball tickets, maps, frequent flier miles/reward points, car rentals vs. driving your own car, hotels, airports and finally time management & budgeting. Here is a sneak preview of what I will be posting.

Car Rentals

The best way to ensure that you have money available on your credit card, (keeping in mind that most rental places take a $200 minimum deposit), is to bid on your car through www.priceline .com. There is a feature where you can bid on your car rental for specific airport locations called ‘BID NOW.’ You can offer a price that you have to pay immediately, but in most cases you will find a serious discount. I have often bid 40% of the average car rental per airport price and had the offer go through. Anyways, 80% of the time your winning bid will come back to rent from Alamo/National Car Rental.

Car Rentals

Alamo/National is the best car rental company by far in the United States. Not only do they have exceptional customer service—–they also do not charge your credit card for any $ amount more than the price of your rental. Do yourself a favor and also sign up for ‘The Emerald Club Rewards Program’ from National. They have airport bypass the counter options that enable you to USE self-serving kiosks that do not require you to stand in line at the car centers-rather pick your class of car and proceed to the exit. Other car rental companies have deposit charges that are held against your credit card. If you are going on a 4 city trip, you can easily have up to $800-1000 dollars locked up in these deposits, this can be harmful in you enjoying your trip. Not all of us have the affordability to have so much money unavailable. An average of 5-8 days is what it will take for the deposited dollars to be restored when your car rental is completed. National is the only car rental company in which you can redeem a free earned day car rental for a one-way drop off without paying an excessive fee if you have earned a free rental reward day. I will give you an example. This means you can rent a car in Los Angeles and drop it off it Albuquerque, New Mexico within the 24 hours for no money extra. Also with this incredible deal, is that you pay just pennies in taxes for your accrued free rental days, where other car rental places can charge up to $20-30 just in taxes alone despite offering you the free day for a rental reward. Perfect for that baseball traveler that wants to head in one direction!

Priceline

Priceline is great for bidding on car rentals, but is also fantastic for hotel rentals where you can use the same option to bid for your price of hotels. Honestly, when we are all in the middle of a big baseball road trip, the last thing we want is to spend excessive amounts of money on a hotel we are not going to use other than a quick sleep and shower. Wouldn’t you rather spend a lot more time at the ball yard? Again by bidding on the hotel, and paying for it right away you can ensure on a more of a budget/cost certainty. Even if the front desks take a small deposit at time of check in—these transactions are quickly released when you check out. The best to bid is too low-ball your first few offers, then gradually increase your bidding. Now Priceline does make you alter your bid for every declined request you submit, so the key is to not act aggressive in frustration when you don’t win the bid. The key here is to be patient. After 24 hours, you can re-open up all columns to bid again with an increased offer from your first one. Just chart your offers to slightly increase your amount until you have success. I would not suggest you use Priceline for airline flights because the winning bid will usually feature layovers, or more importantly, the times of the flights on won bids may not be conducive to arriving in time for a baseball game in your destination city.

HOTELS

For those economy travelers such as myself, I implore you to use Motel 6 and/or Super 8 as hotel chains to stay throughout the USA. They are decent hotels for the $value you pay. The best feature about these hotels is the ability to check in by 11am-12pm. Most 3-5 star hotels have check in times that start and 3 or 4pm. Again if you are flying or driving in from some other place do you really want to drive around for 3-4 hours sight-seeing because you are simply waiting for a check in time? Most baseball parks open their gates by 5PM for night games. Plus with these places cash is preferred, so they do not require a deposit on your credit card. If you are staying in the same city or have sufficient time to stay in one hotel, I would recommend you use Priceline to bid on your hotels. You can save up to 50% off with winning bids on 2-5 star hotels. Keep in mind that most of those hotels can save you money vs the budget hotels, with their free breakfasts.

Travel Note:Traveling to other cities with luggage is hard to finagle sometimes. When arriving in a new city, there may be time constraints or monetary issues that make you think about your luggage. Before you make any purchases for your trip, you must be cognizant of where your luggage will be at all times throughout the travel. You will not be allowed to bring your suitcase through security at the ball parks. Most cities will not even allow you to bring a briefcase into the games. So therein is a dilemma. If you are able to make it to your hotel before the game then your luggage will be okay. The same can be said if you have rented a car. The toughest games for luggage management are day games when arriving from other cities. For the Eastern Seaboard there is an ally you can use—and it is called ‘Amtrak.’

Amtrak Trains/Greyhound Buses

Both of these methods of transportation are a great way to see a bunch of baseball games fast while missing a lot of cluttered highway traffic, particularly in: New York-Baltimore-Washington-Philadelphia-Chicago-Milwaukee. Not only will you save gas/traffic scenarios-but Amtrak has a baggage check option at most stations for $3-4 dollars an item per day. All you have to do is have an itinerary, (coming or going) and you can check your luggage items. You will have to monitor the hours of operation for these places-however this option is exceptional when attending matinée games in any of these cities. New York’s Amtrak Station-(New York Penn Station), is a life saver when you can drop off your luggage and avoid renting a car. ‘Greyhound Bus Lines’ is also a good alternative for this in the cities of : Tampa Bay-Miami-Los Angeles-San Diego-Minnesota-Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Kayak.com

Early morning flights are usually the cheapest airfares. I always use www.kayak.com when booking flights into baseball cities. If you are flying to cities like Cincinnati-Milwaukee-Detroit-Houston-Atlanta-or Dallas you may be shocked at how much they charge for flights. There is a way to get back at those airlines. I have done the following several times. Since these are hubs for other cities from big airlines, I would check flights from your starting departure and use your intended city of these listed above as a stop-over and then you can walk off the plane during the stop-over if it is cheaper—-and providing you are traveling without checked baggage—example. Three years ago I had to fly from Pittsburgh to Detroit during a double-header attempt for the first day of my World Record Chase. I needed a Pittsburgh Northwest Airlines flight that left at 5:15 PM directly to Detroit that arrived at 6:28 PM—it was the only non-stop flight that I could get that would give me a chance to make the Detroit game on time. There was a problem when the price came back was $500 for what was less than a 500 mile flight! I went to work with my strategy. I came up with a flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago-with the 1st leg of the trip being my flight that arrived in Detroit at 6:28 as the layover. The price for this flight was $130. There are many instances of this. I will explain more in the book how I used this scenario for a flexible schedule in case of make-up games.

Air Lines Best To Fly With:

Southwest Airlines–‘I wanna get away’ feature at http://www.southwest.com is a good price point for all of this airline’s domestic flights. Southwest might be marginally higher in price than some other airlines, however they do not charge for the 1st 2 checked bags as you may have seen from their steady TV Ad Campaign. They also do not charge transfer flight fees. This airline is setting the pace for customer price gouging acknowledgement.

Air Tran Airways-Quite frankly, they are the best airline in the USA for MLB fans. They are cheap, have newer airplanes with the most leg space for a coach ticket. They also offer more one-way non-stop tickets in the morning. Oh yeah…They are the official airline of XM Sirius Radio. You can listen to MLB games live in flight, or during off hours you can catch up on all of your favorite shows on XM Home Plate. Air Tran only charges $75 in case you have to change your flight at anytime plus the difference in flight. This price is half of most of the legacy airlines. Should you miss your Air Tran flight they also let you fly stand-by for the rest of the day on any remaining flights to your city of destination.

This is just the start as I will provide a game plan for all of the 30 MLB cities. I will take a look at all facets/methods of travel-that will include money and time-saving tips. After all, don’t we all want to see as many baseball games as we can without being hit in the pocket-book?

*** Thank you to our Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for preparing today’s feature on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***

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 here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.

Tags: Air Tran Airways, airline, Amtrak, Atlanta, baltimore, Chuck Booth, Cleveland, detroit, Emerald Club, fastestthirtyballgames, flights, Greyhound Bus Lines, hotels, kayak, Los Angeles, luggage, milwaukee, Minnesota, mlb, Motel 6, National Car Rental, new York, philadelphia, pittsburgh, priceline, San Diego, Southwest Airlines, Tampa Bay, travel, twitter, washington

Young Phenom Pitchers May Ignite Your City

Jan 30

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday January 30th, 2012

Doug Booth- Baseball Writer: Perhaps it is because we see pitchers for more plays in any given baseball game, or maybe it is that young pitchers so rarely dominate to start their careers. But witnessing young pitchers start their careers with a flash- ignites the baseball cities they play for at epic levels. Sometimes these players may even captivate the baseball world across the nation or even the world. Today I take a look at 4 players that I have watched or heard about from my baseball experiences. These players are: ‘The Bird’ Mark Fidrych, Kerry Wood, Dwight Gooden and (the last player is underneath everyone’s radar,) former Blue Jays pitcher Juan Guzman.

Juan Guzman– Career Record was 91-79 with a 4.08 ERA. For those people that watched this guy burst onto the scene in Toronto, this was guy was virtually unhittable in his first four seasons. Barring any other person telling me different, he holds the record for winning percentage for his first 50 starts. Guzman started his career 39-11 (.780). Guzman helped anchor a pitching staff that won back to back World Series in ’92 and ’93, by going 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA in his postseason starts. Guzman would routinely walk batters and throw wild pitches, but when he was looking at runners in scoring position, he often left them stranded with a strikeout or a weak grounder. The early 1990’s Toronto Blue Jays were the model franchise in the Major Leagues. The SkyDome created enough buzz about futuristic ballparks to have all teams look at building their own new ballparks for themselves. Juan Guzman was there for much of the early successes. The fans gravitated towards him at the park. It seemed the more they cheered for him, the better he would bear down and concentrate. Even though Juan struggled after coming out of the lockout in 1995 (until he retired) going 51-69, he is forever entrenched in the Blue Jays championship seasons.

Dwight Gooden– Career Record was 194-112 with a 3.51 ERA. As a teenager at age 19, Dwight Gooden went 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA in capturing the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. In his next season, Gooden had one of the best pitching seasons in the modern era. He went 24-4 with a mind-boggling 1.53 ERA. He threw 16 complete games and 8 shutouts, while his 268 strikeouts in 271 innings pitched helped solidify the pitching ‘Triple Crown’ of wins, ERA and strikeouts. This New York Mets team was looking like they were on the verge of a dynasty with the likes of Gooden, Strawberry and veteran catcher Gary Carter playing so well. In 1986, the New York Mets won the World Series with Gooden as their ace. Even though he struggled in the postseason for his career with an 0-4 record, most times his ball club would have never made it to the playoffs without his strong regular seasons. By the age of 26, Gooden was 132-53 for his career(.721). He was headed for a Hall of Fame Career, however drug problems (as was the case with fellow Met Darryl Strawberry) caused the rapid decline of his career. Gooden spent parts of many seasons fighting the addiction. Gooden had his career revived with the New York Yankees in 1996. In wearing the pinstripes, he threw a no-hitter and helped the team win the 1996 World Series. His career winning percentage is still decent at .634, but what could this man have done if he was playing it straight? As years go by, he is still revered by both New York clubs. So who knows what could have been?

Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych– Career Record was 29-19 with a 3.10 ERA. This guy is the best of example of a phenom pitcher capturing a city by storm. At age 21, Mark Fidrych blitzed onto the scene with a 19-9 record, with leading the league in ERA (2.34) and CG (24), even though he did not make his first start until early May. He won the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award and his pitching galvanized the city of Detroit despite a 74-87 season. Fidrych displayed some of the weirdest antics on the mound. He would fix scuffs on his cleats, talk to the baseballs, manicure the pitching mound and throw back baseballs to the home umpire he thought ‘were going to make him give up hits.’ As a tall and lanky player, with constant body-jerk movements, he was given the nickname ‘The Bird” with his likeness to Sesame Streets character ‘Big Bird.’ Fidrych had his own fans come out for games at Tiger Stadium. These fans were often referred to as ‘Bird Watchers.’ He was a big draw for attendance for both home and road games. His 16 starts drew half of the teams 81 home games attendance in 1976. Fidrych was truly a national celebrity by the time he started his second year. However, a torn rotator cuff plagued him for the remainder of his brief career, as it went improperly diagnosed until Dr. James Andrews saw him in the mid 80’s. Fidrych was still a popular figure around MLB until he was killed while working on his truck in an accident in April of 2009.

Kerry Wood– Career Record is 86-73 with 3.64 ERA. Still only age 34 right now, Kerry Wood has been pitching in the Majors since 1998. In his 5th start as a player at age 21, Wood turned in one of the best all time single game performances. The man struck 20 batters in tying Roger Clemens established record. There were only two batters to reach base, a hit batsmen and a questionable hit that could have easily been scored an error, prevented Wood from throwing a no-hitter or perfect game. Instantly Wood’s name was recognizable across the Cubs fans. This was the year that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were going toe to toe in the historic single season homer chase, yet Wood was just as popular at Wrigley Field. Soreness in his elbow forced Wood to miss the last month of the season. He still registered a 13-6 record, en route to a ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. Wood spent 1999 on the shelf, from there he struck out 200 batters or more in three of the next four season. In 2003, the ace teamed up with Mark Prior to deliver a great regular season that ultimately led to a 3-2 lead in the NLCS before the Marlins came back to win the NL Championship (Bartman). The next 4 seasons were marred by injury, as neither he nor Prior could stay healthy for the Cubs. It was only a move to the bullpen that finally saw him revive his career in 2007. Wood was part of 2 division championships in his time with the Cubs, but the one that was sweeter was the 2008 season. He made the All-Star team as a reliever and the fans were able to cheer for him on a regular basis again. That season he converted 34 of 39 saves. After decent years with Cleveland and New York in 2009 & 2010, Wood took less money to return to the city that he loves and started his career with. Chicago fans will always return the love back for Wood. He is where he ought to be, wearing number 34 for the Cubs.

So who might be the new pitcher to take on this mantra? Could it be Matt Moore? Or maybe it will be Stephen Strasburg in a larger sampling? Whoever it is, that MLB team and/or baseball will be better served with another new pitching phenom entering its ranks!

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

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Tags: baseball, hurler, juan guzman, kerry wood, mark fidrych, mark prior, mike moore, mlb, phenom, pitcher, prospect, roger clemens, starting pitcher, stephen strasburg

The Modern-Day Baseball Doubleheader

Jan 27

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Friday January 27, 2012

Doug Booth- Baseball Writer: Gone are the days when baseball teams deliberately schedule two games in one stadium like teams used to do in past generations. If there is not a postponed game for the duration of your team’s schedule, you will not even have this occurrence. I am here to tell that modern-day traveling has opened up possibilities for two games in one day for separate cities like never before. For the extreme ballpark chasers, nothing is more exciting for a baseball fan when Major League Baseball posts the new season’s calendar. Usually the brass does this in mid-September. Across the world, ballpark goers mark their favorite teams mapped out schedule. A lot of fans check off what new or old baseball parks they want to visit in the next season. Plans formulate with a heavy thought to their own planned vacation time. For the most hard-core baseball fan, their whole lives revolve around this process. Posting the schedule mind you, is only part one of the process.

The baseball teams that are the smartest, post the starting times of the games as soon as possible, while some of the teams hold off releasing this information based for a multitude of reasons. There are a few baseball venues that are multi-purpose, or that factor in some big revenue streams that may affect the stadium availability. By the time the end of January rolls around, ninety percent of the starting times are posted. The ESPN Sunday Night Schedule is pretty much complete, except for the summer that based on a flex schedule. As of today, all of the teams have posted their starting times for the 2012 season except for the Cleveland Indians. This gives the extreme baseball enthusiast the chance to mark down all possible doubleheader attempts for the year.

When I failed my first two bids for the Guinness Book of World Records (for visiting all of the stadiums in the least amount of days), I had to research all possible doubleheader partners to match up. In the off-season before I broke the record, I spent days punching in all scenarios for each ball club. I investigated all forms of travel methods despite costs. There are some people that like to hammer out the most games conceivable in the least amount of days. I for one, have a job where I pay a surcharge daily for someone to run my business while I go vacation, so each day is important. There are people that downplay my philosophy, this I do understand. I would never suggest that someone rush their first visit to a stadium, or even a baseball city for that matter, but once you have been to the park and city before then I implore you to park hop like a veteran.

Here are the doubleheader park attempts I did during the 3 Guinness Book of World Records Attempt’s:

Minnesota Twins at Target Field Morning game/Chicago White Sox at Us Cellular Field Night Game. This was a successful bid as I used the #55 Hiwatha Train Line in Minnesota to my advantage, this was in conjunction with MSP Airport. When I landed back in Chicago, I paid $65 for a sedan service ride to the park.

Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Ballpark Day Game/New York Yankees at Old Yankees Stadium for the Sunday Night ESPN 8 PM Eastern start. This doubleheader was foiled to lengthy rain delays in Philly. The game was not aided by extra innings either. The logistics of this trip are still good. There is an Amtrak station about 6 miles from CBP, where you can catch a train ride that is 90 minutes long. From there you take the subway all the way to Yankees Stadium from Penn Station.

San Diego Padres at Petco Park day game/Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Another doubleheader perfectly executed. Any of the Angels, Dodger and Padres attempts are possible. The only drawback is that you might hit a crazy traffic jam at any point.

Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park day game/Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. This doubleheader looked great to try until Todd ‘The Hammer’ Jones blew a save for me causing an extra 90 minutes to the game. Had it ended at 4PM, I would have had 3 hours to drive 168 miles to Cleveland to complete the DH.

Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field day game/Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park night game. At the advice of a front office Cubs executive, I learned that driving was definitely not the way to go. After much research, I came up with the Amtrak maneuver. The game at Wrigley ended at 3:45. I used a sedan service to take me to Chicago Union Station for $50. This was a great alternative as I saved $20 on parking alone. I took a 5:10 Train that left me at Milwaukee Airport at 6:28 PM. I then drove the 20 minutes to the park.

Washington Nationals at Nationals Park day game/New York Mets at Shea Stadium night game. I used another Sunday Night game to complete this doubleheader. This trek looked like it was going to fail a few times. Again I used a sedan service to Ronald Regan Airport. The flight at DCA was at 6:00 PM, and landed at Lu Guardia Airport at 7:17, giving me 45 minutes to make the 3 mile journey to Citi Field. Mission accomplished.

Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field day game/Florida Marlins at Dolphin Stadium night game. The 12 PM start at the ‘Trop’ was well received by yours truly. I nailed this attempt after foregoing the pre-paid sedan service. I used a cab instead because the sedan service was late. I made a 4:50 flight in Tampa/arriving at Miami International Airport at 5:50. It was easy enough to make the drive to Dolphin Stadium via rental car.

Oakland Athletics at McaFee Coliseum day game/San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. The easiest doubleheader completion as there is only a bridge and 15 miles between the two cities.

Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park day game/Texas Rangers at The Ball Park in Arlington night game. The execution was perfect, using a sedan service I was at the airport in Houston for a 5:30 flight/arriving at DFW at 6:34. From there I would have had 30 minutes for what was a 15 minute drive on a Sunday night.

Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park day game/Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park night game. A poorly trained sedan drive missed my proper meeting point, this delayed me 30 minutes. The plan was a 5:15 flight out of Pittsburgh that arrived in Detroit at 6:28. A sedan driver would have given me a shot to make this game with about a 30 minute ride to the park.

I completed a Wrigley Field/Miller Park doubleheader driving. The Amtrak option was ruled out because of construction delays. I braved the elements of the road. I sprinted from the parking lot at Miller to walk through the doors with 3 minutes to spare.

Toronto Blue Jays at The Rogers Center day game/New York Yankees at New Yankees Stadium night game. I lucked out on this for several factors: There was a rain delay at the park in Yankees Stadium. I made my flight from Toronto by using my Fast Pass International Security Clearance for passengers and a sedan service only to be in weather delay at the airport. Once I arrived in New York, my sedan driver at LGA did not even know where Yankees Stadium was! I walked into the stadium at 8:15 PM. The games started at 9:40 PM. Had all of it worked out with proper weather, I would have missed this attempt. I would not try this again for a weekday game.

Cincinnati Reds at The Great American Ball Park day game/Chicago White Sox at Us Cellular Field night game. I paid for a premium parking spot that saw me blast out front of the traffic in Cincinnati. I caught a 5:40 Flight that landed in Chicago at 6:00PM because of the time change crossover. A cab ride enabled me to make it to the park 2 minutes before the 7:11 PM Start time. I was helped out by a rain delay once I walked into the park which helped me gain the necessary evidence I made it on time.

New York Mets at Citi Field day game/Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Ball Park night game. The 12 PM start time in New York was ideal for this DH. The 7 line train took me all the way to New York Penn Station. I took a 75 minute express train to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. My brother picked me up and we were at ‘CBP’ 20 minutes later.

Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field day game/Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium night game. I used the 12 PM game in Cleveland, plus a great light rail train all the way to Cleveland’s Airport. I caught a 4:50 plan that arrived in Kansas City at 6PM. I had a $50 sedan service take me all the way to the park. The driver actually had a security guard move a blockade in order to for me to be dropped off at the front door.

I made a Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers doubleheader to complete the DH portion of the streaks.

I will be writing a lot of blogs on this subject. I will be posting a Doubleheaders Master Schedule on my website in March. There will be every plausible scenario listed. Also look for my future blogs about travel tips. All of the best information can also be attained from my book ‘The Fastest Thirty Ballgames.’ The links to buy are also listed at my website below.

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Tags: baseball, doug booth, espn, fastest 30 ballgames, guinness, mlb, world record

Forget Strikeouts: Hit ’Em Where They Ain’t!

Jan 23

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday January 23, 2012

Douglas “Chuck” Booth- Baseball Writer: Back in the turn of the 20th century, baseball was a different game. Players had second jobs to supplement their baseball salaries, teams carried few pitchers and they used the same baseball for as much of the game as they could. There was a player named Willie Keeler who coined the phrase: “Hit ’em where they ain’t!” It was a slang term for hitting the baseball where outfielders were not located. This term would hold up for baseball players until Babe Ruth graced the baseball world with the retort, “I like to him them over the fence because the fielders are definitely not there.” Strikeouts were a different situation back then as opposed to the modern-day game.

Old time baseball players were ashamed of strikeouts. To them, you had done nothing to help your team in advancing the offence. While I never played baseball at a higher level than age 19, I came from this very philosophy and this was twenty years ago. My teammates and I all took turns throwing temper tantrums over striking out in Little League Baseball. Some kids even resorted to crying. The coaches of the teams all preached young men to cut down their strikeouts in favor of just making some contact. For the longest time I believed that the Major League Players thought along these lines. Media articles and sports broadcasters still interview retired players about striking out. All of them say that it bothered them a great deal. So what happened to change the philosophy? Was it Money Ball? How about Sabermetrics? I think that these both had a role in the ever rising strikeout totals the current players are experiencing each and every year. There are other factors like hard throwing relief pitchers and teams spending more money to keep aging veterans who have lost plate coverage, thus increasing their k rates.

In the 1990’s we also experienced the steroid era, where the bandbox stadiums were built and MLB went with the advertising campaign, “chicks dig the long ball!” It all had led to the increased strikeout total. To see just how far the epidemic had come, let’s go back 85 years; in 1927 Babe Ruth led the Major Leagues with 89 strikeouts. Oh yeah, he also hit .356 with 60 HRs and drove in 164 RBIs in 540 ABs. Lou Gehrig finished in 2nd that year with 84 strikeouts- but he hit .373 with 47 HRs and a whopping 175 RBIs in 580 ABs. Both men walked over 100 times each and slugged over .750. Yes pitching was not as tough as it is today. But these guys played in the dead ball era with humongous baseball stadiums.

Fast forward to 1961. 10 players had over 100 strikeouts that year. Much like 1927, the New York Yankees had two players leading the charge in offense with Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Despite hitting a record 61 HRs that season, Roger Maris had a keen eye for the plate in only striking out 67 times. There was a shift starting with the other players in league. A player by the name of Jake Wood stuck out a league leading 141 times. Amongst the other players to top the 100 strikeouts mark were Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew. It was a change in contrast to the power hitters of the league striking out on a more frequent basis. Players like Joe Dimaggio (369 SO, 361 HRs), Ted Williams (760 SO and 521 HRs) and Stan Musial (696 SO and 475 HRs) were standing out on the pier as players who adopted the contact concept. But they were becoming a rare breed of player.

In 1986, the number of players with 100 strikeouts escalated to 40. Yes there were an increase in the number of teams due to expansion. However, the rate of the players striking out 100 times a year far outweighed those added teams. There were definitely a few exceptions to the rule. Don Mattingly only struck out 444 times in 7721 Plate Appearances during his career. Wade Boggs only struck out only 745 times in nearly 11000 Plate Appearances. It should be noted the Boggs walked 1412 times and routinely fouled off pitches with two strikes deliberately to wear down opposing pitchers; otherwise his whiffs would have been much lower. The best of this era was Tony Gwynn, who only struck out 434 times in 10200 Plate Appearances. All 3 of these players were part of a baseball decade in which the 1-2 hitters were purely average contact hitters who did not strikeout very much and stole bases, while playing hit and run ball. Your power hitters belonged in the 3-4-5 slots and that was the only place to have an acceptable amount of high strikeout totals. The 6-8 hitters were also average contact hitters with speed.

In 2011, 80 players finished with over 100 strikeouts. There is one thing though that has remained constant. The home runs are still up way higher from the rate of the 1980’s. Now steroid testing has slowed down the balls leaving the yard from 10-15 years back, but more players still hit 30 homers a year than in the 25 years before the steroid era. You might want to also throw in the decreasing strike zone the umpires seem to implement each progressive season. Do not count on the umpires calling more strikes either, as it easier to pinpoint the botched strike calls now more than ever with technology. Umpires are simply not willing for the most part to give much leniency to the pitchers. Higher counts in ABs as a result will reflect in both more strikeouts and walks.

The baseball world has come to this. It is now acceptable for players (including the management and front office backing of the idea), to carry high strikeout totals and low batting averages- if the on base percentage/power numbers are still there. Leadoff hitters are not even immune to striking out on a regular basis. It is a mentality that has changed the game forever. So the next time you are wondering why all of the baseball games seem to last forever now: remember that more strikeouts equals more pitches seen. Which means the length of time each game lasts will be affected.

Tags: babe ruth, baseball, don mattingly, mickey mantle, mlb, roger maris, sabermetrics, strikeouts, ted williams, willie keeler

The Baseball Struggles of Tall/Heavy Players After 30: Is Prince Next?

Jan 16

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday January 16, 2012

Doug Booth- Baseball Writer: I am still astounded when I hear that Prince Fielder has not been signed yet. This man is a powerhouse that would help any ball club. So what is going on? When I thought about this a little more I realized that tall/heavy hitters really have a tough time keeping their productivity up once they are near the second half of their career. It is really not that hard to figure out. A player that is taller also carries a larger strike zone, where the overweight players will only lose any speed they had as their career starts winding down. For this particular article, I choose 4 players to study this exact scenario. Those players are: Richie Sexson, Tony Clark, Mo Vaughn and Cecil Fielder.

Tall Players

Richie Sexson-(Career .261 306 HR 943 RBI), is one of the tallest players ever at 6’6″. For the first 9 years of his career, this Oregon Native terrorized pitchers and routinely deposited baseball into the bleachers. During those years, the man clubbed 270 HRs and drove in 824 RBIs, power numbers that put him amongst the best in baseball. Despite being quite thin, Richie began having problems in the field and at the plate once he hit the age of 32. In 2007, Richie Sexson only hit .205 and was striking out on the outside pitch at the knees frequently. We are talking about a professional hitter who put together 6- 100 RBI seasons. Within a year, Sexson was out of the league without any takers. It wasn’t a real gradual drop either. At age 31 Richie Sexson hit 34 HRs and 107 RBIs for Seattle, a place where half of his games were played at pitcher friendly Safeco Field.

Tony Clark-(Career .262 252 HR 824 RBI), is 6’8″ and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1990 Amateur Draft. Clark started out his first seven seasons with the Detroit Tigers by hitting .277 with 156 HRs and 514 RBIs. While he was not as potent as Richie Sexson, Clark ended his career with Tigers with a slugging percentage of .502. At age 30, the Boston Red Sox now had Clark as their 1st baseman. However, this was short-lived as he struggled badly. In 2003 and 2004, Clark spent time as injury relief for both of the New York teams. The Mets used Clark when Mo Vaughn retired in 2003, while the Yankees had him play 1st base when Jason Giambi was out for the year with stomach pains in 2004. In both cases Clark responded with 16 HRs, in half of the at-bats of a regular year. Tony Clark played regularly during the next season for the Arizona Diamondbacks, hitting 30 HRs in only 130 games, while also slugging a career best .636. Tony struggled to stay healthy after that year, although he provided some nice pop as a pinch hitter. His career as a regular had been over since he had turned 33.

Heavy Players

Mo Vaughn-(Career.293 328 HR’S 1064 RBI), is listed as weighing only 225 pounds at baseball reference.com, but for those that watched him play, knew that was way under the weight Vaughn played at once he left Boston. Vaughn spent his first 8 years with Boston hitting .304 with 230 HRs and 752 RBIs. Vaughn was named the 1995 AL MVP when he hit 44 HRs and drove in 143 RBIs. The man was a beast in his Boston days. After posting 2 decent years with the then ‘California Angels’ hitting 30 HRs and driving in 100+RBIs, Vaughn signed with the New York Mets. Vaughn showed up to camp out of shape (at age 34) and slumped in his first year with the Mets. More health issues came up the next year and a knee injury brought the man to retirement. Those were knee problems that arose very likely from carrying all that extra weight on his frame.

Cecil Fielder-(Career .255 319 HR’S 1008 RBI), is a classic example of what I am talking about. With the Toronto Blue Jays, Cecil hit 31 HRs in only 504 ABs. But there was a problem. The Jays featured AL home run king Fred McGriff at that time with John Olerud in the system. So Cecil Fielder was off to play in Japan for a season. Earlier in Cecil’s career, he was much leaner until he joined the Detroit Tigers. In 1990, ‘Big Daddy’ signed with the Detroit Tigers and went on to hit 51 HRs and drove in 132 RBIs. It was the first time a player had hit 50 homers in a year since George Foster did it in 1977. Cecil Fielder led the league in RBI for his first three years with the Tigers, and he also finished with 44 HRs to lead the league in homers for his second year with Detroit. At the age of 32, he was traded to the New York Yankees at the deadline before helping them secure New York’s first championship since 1978. After the following season, the Yanks felt they were better suited to use Darryl Strawberry at DH and Tino Martinez at 1st base, so they let Cecil leave. At age 34 Cecil was big and slow and ended his career after a great 10 year run.

So maybe this is the reason that teams have not signed Prince to a huge 8+ years contract. Based on my research, the most I would give Prince is a 5-year deal. Pay him more annually if you wish, but do not make the mistake as other teams have made in the past. I do not want to add Prince to this list after his career is over.

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

1 Comment

Tags: baseball, cecil fielder, heavy player, jason giambi, milwaukee brewers, mlb, mo vaughn, prince fielder, richie sexon, tall player, tony clark

Adrian Beltre is Playing Himself into Hall Of Fame Consideration

Jan 9

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday January 9, 2012

Doug Booth- Baseball Writer: With today being the official day the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to finalize the 2012 Baseball Hall Of Fame inductees, I thought some more about Adrian Beltre as a potential candidate when he is finished playing the game. At first glance, Beltre would not seem like a viable candidate but I intend to plead his case for him. Adrian Beltre was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers while he was playing high school baseball at the age of fifteen. The Los Angeles Dodgers would later be suspended for a year from the Dominican Republic when this was revealed. However, this was a minor price to pay for securing such a great prospect. Beltre played in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball Academy in his own country before heading to the minor leagues. His minor league career was short-lived as he was called up as a teenager in 1998 at the age of 19. Beltre struggled with Major League pitching that year hitting .215, but showed some power with 7 HRs and 22 RBIs in only 195 AB. Beltre won the third base position out of training camp in 1999 and never looked back. Beltre then enjoyed 5 solid seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, providing great defense and above average power. It was 2004 that was his breakout year.

At age 25, Adrian Beltre had one of the greatest years of all-time offensively for a third baseman. Included in his numbers were: .334 with 48 HRs and 121 RBIs, 200 hits and 104 runs. Beltre had a slugging percentage that year of .629. Adrian finished second in MVP voting to Barry Bonds. Beltre picked a perfect season to explode considering it was his free agent season. The Seattle Mariners came calling with a 5-year $64 Million deal. The Seattle Mariners had also signed Richie Sexson that year to try and compete in the AL West for 2005.

The move did not pay off at the start, with Beltre struggling in the 1st half of the season. Yet there was a nice second half of the year, as he still managed to put up 19 HR’S and 87 RBI. Beltre was frustrated with his first year although he had optimism towards the future, citing the League switch (as it was hard to have a handle on pitchers you never had faced before). The next three years, Adrian cracked 76 HRs and drove in 265 RBIs. His average fluctuated a little between .260 to .280. Amongst the numbers that favored Beltre was that he hit 109 doubles in those 3 years. This next point is playing in certain ballparks can make a huge difference. As my regional team, I watched Beltre play for his entire Seattle Mariners career. I would say half of his doubles at home were launched off the fences of Safeco Field. Had Beltre played in a ballpark more offensive friendly, we are talking about a player capable of hitting 30-35 HRs every year. When you add up all of the extra base hits for Beltre, he is always in the top 10-15 every year. With 2010 coming, and finishing an injury plagued 2009 campaign for the Mariners, Beltre picked his worst year for a bad season (with him set to become a free agent for the 2nd time in his career). The Boston Red Sox finally came calling with a 1-year $10 Million contract.

Adrian Beltre was an outstanding fit at hitter-friendly Fenway Park, posting remarkable numbers of a .321 AVG with 28 HRs and 103 RBIs. It was another impressive season for doubles with 49 (which led the league). This was the second 80 Extra Base hits season of his career. Some would tell you that Adrian Beltre was the MVP of the Boston Red Sox in 2010, and that his absence from the team in the 2011 year was the main reason why the Red Sox struggled to start the season before missing the playoffs on the final day of the season. Adrian Beltre took his offensive talents to Texas for 2011, signing a 6-year $96 Million Contract.

Beltre tore it up in Arlington last season. Despite missing 38 games, Beltre clubbed 32 HRs and drove in 105 RBIs while carrying an Avg of .296. Beltre continued his torrid offensive pace in the playoffs, where he even had a 3-home run game in the ALDS versus the Tampa Bay Rays! Later in the World Series, Beltre hit a home run where he fell to his knees. At age 32 and with 5 seasons left in his contract with the Texas Rangers, this slugger shows no sign of slowing down. His career numbers are already impressive at .276 with 310 HRs, 1113 RBIs and 430 doubles. If Beltre can amass another 140 HRs, 170 doubles and 390 RBIs during these upcoming years(a yearly average of 28 HRs, 34 doubles and 78 RBIs), then you are talking about a guy that will have career numbers of 450 HRs, 1500 RBIs and 600 doubles. Those statistics would garner the man some serious consideration for the Hall of Fame… and he may not even be done playing after that. Beltre should have about 2800 hits by the time he is done as well. Beltre is also known as being one of the best defensive third baseman of late, which has culminated in 3 gold gloves over the last 5 years. With Beltre’s Gold Glove potential every year, there is no reason to think he will not win a couple more of these awards.

In the end, Beltre could have historical numbers for a third baseman, surpassed by only a select few like Mike Schmidt. I think it is very important for the writers of the BBWAA to talk to all of the announcers/broadcasters of all major league teams about the potential BBHOF candidates out there, as a guy like Adrian Beltre might just slip through the cracks. Ron Santo’s 2012 induction might just be a preview to the kind of third baseman who will one day join the fraternity. If you look up Beltre’s numbers as of today, their career numbers are already eerily similar.

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

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Tags: adrian beltre, baseball, chicago cubs, cooperstown, hall of fame, mlb, ron santo, texas rangers, third base

Is This the End of the Line for Raul Ibanez?

Jan 2

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday January 2, 2012

Doug Booth- Baseball Writer: If Raul Ibanez has indeed swung his last bat in the majors, he should hold his head up high considering the last decade he put together. I have long respected Ibanez for foraging a decent career out after being one of the dozens of left fielders to fail the trio of Buhner/Griffey (and insert Miscellaneous Left Fielder) that played alongside these Seattle Mariners All-Stars from 1992-2000. When Jose Bautista made his improbable 54 home run statement season in 2010 with the Toronto Blue Jays, people often wondered how a player could come from out of nowhere like this. I quickly thought of Raul Ibanez.

Ibanez was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the Amateur Draft of 1992. By the age of 24, Raul found himself in the Majors with the Seattle Mariners. But lackluster results mixed with trips up and down from the Minor Leagues forced him to sign as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals before the 2001 season. Ibanez was called up from Omaha that year and hit .280 with 13 HR’S and 54 RBI in 104 games. The next year was Raul’s first full season in the Majors and he hit .294 with 24 HR’s and 103 RBI with the Royals. Mariners fans were now sad to see that management let their draft pick go and flourish with another ball club. Raul spent 2 more productive seasons in Kansas City before rejoining the Seattle Mariners.

Raul Ibanez was planning on being a full time DH, replacing the just retired Edgar Martinez. It was a great idea by the Mariners who saw Ibanez become hurt in the 2004 season, but saw potential with his inspired play. Raul’s first 2 seasons as a DH were decent with .304 16 HR’S and 62 RBI’s in 2004- and .280 20 HR’s and 89 RBI’s in 2005. But after the 2005 fall they signed newly World Series winning DH Carl Everett for the 2006 season. This meant Raul would have to go back to playing the outfield. While he wasn’t the slickest of fielders, he was aided by defensive minded Center Fielder Jeremy Reed. Raul did work hard and steadily improved on his defense every year. However it was his offense that started to fully thrive. The Mariners had Ichiro Suzuki cracking out 225 hits a year out of the leadoff spot, setting the table for the middle of the order. Raul had his best offensive season in 2006, hitting .289 with 33 HR’S and 123 RBI. This is no small feat considering Ibanez played half of his games at pitcher friendly Safeco Field. Raul played 2 more seasons with Mariners, registering consecutive 100 RBI seasons and 3 straight overall. Ibanez had turned himself into an annual offensive threat. Ibanez’s 338 RBI between the years 2006-2008 were one of the higher totals amongst Major Leaguers. This landed him a 3-Year $33 Million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Philadelphia Phillies fans were treated to a hot Raul Ibanez streak out of the gate in the 2009 season, where he hit .309 with 22 HR’S and 60 RBI in just 64 games before the All-Star Break. Raul was invited for his 1st and only All-Star Appearance that year despite hitting 22 HR’s and 70 RBI for the Mariners before the break in the 2006 season. There was even serious talk that Ibanez was an early season NL MVP favorite-this was all occurring while Ibanez had just celebrated his 37th birthday. This was one of the things that you had to love about this guy. He had stretches during the season where he could deliver MVP caliber baseball and win several games for his team single-handed. Ibanez was also in the middle of a pennant race for a change. Ibanez slowed down a little bit towards the end of the 2009 season but still hit .272 with 34 HR’S and 93 RBI. Raul set career highs in HR’S, Slugging % and extra base hits with 69 in 2009. Raul went onto hit 2 HR’S and drive in 13 RBI in 15 post season games that resulted in a World Series loss to the New York Yankees.

In 2010 and 2011 Raul saw his numbers decline, however he was still productive enough to warrant his contract as an above average Left Fielder statistically. In 3 seasons with Philadelphia, Raul earned his keep by slugging 70 HR’S and 260 RBI. Most of the Philadelphia brass would have taken this production in a heartbeat following the 2008 season in which the team said ‘so long’ to offensively declining threat Pat Burrell. This may be the end for Raul Ibanez, but he was still one of the most prolific RBI men in the years from 2002-2011. Showing remarkable consistency, Raul hit.284 with 225 HR’S and 942 RBI for those 10 seasons with 598 of the RBI’S coming in the last 6 years. Included in these years Raul also had 4-100 RBI seasons. Not bad for a guy who was drafted in the 36th round. I hope a National League team decides to pick him up for some pinch hitting duties for the 2012 campaign. The only question that remains is in this regard-would the Philadelphia Phillies fans cheer or boo him if he returned to Citizens Bank Ballpark as an opposing player? I firmly believe that they would cheer for him because he is as blue collar as they come.

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

Tags: baseball, jose bautista, kansas city royals, mlb, philadelphia phillies, raul ibanez, seattle mariners

A Great DH Can Mean Winning the AL Pennant

Dec 28

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Wednesday December 28, 2011

Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer:

Watching the 2011 season, something really resonated with me while watching the American League: ‘Where have all the great designated hitters in MLB gone?’ It seemed only a few years ago that every team had a bopper capable of hitting .300 with 30 HR’S and 100 RBI’s. Upon further investigation, I found out some interesting facts. First, let us look at the top-3 DH’s this past 2011 season. Michael Young of the Rangers hit .338, 11 HR’S and 106 RBI, which was the best performance by any DH, in helping to win the Rangers a 2nd straight ALCS Pennant. A close second would go to Victor Martinez, who spent 112 games at DH and hit .330 with 12 HR’S and 103 RBI. The 3rd best DH was David Ortiz, who hit .309 with 29 HR’s and 96 RBI. The rest of the DH’s were average to below average.

The Yankees struggled with Posada and a rotation of Andruw Jones/Jesus Montero, although they hit about 30 HR’s combined. The Blue Jays never had a set DH, but received decent production from Encarnacion and Lind. The Baltimore Orioles had Vlad Guerrero, who had his worst year ever, as did the Angels’ Bobby Abreu and the Rays’ Johnny Damon. The Seattle Mariners had washed up Jack Cust and the likes of Willy Mo Pena by the end of the year. Oakland has steady Hideki Matsui, but not even a decent second half had him anywhere near his career average totals. Kansas City has been placing Billy Butler back onto the field, so his DH role was limited this season. Adam Dunn soon became a four letter word in Chicago’s South side. Aging and injury prone players Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner saw the most amount of work for the Cleveland Indians at DH, so yet again these players were far from being in their most productive years.

So what is the underlying theme here? If you have a great DH, you may just make the playoffs and win it all. Young, Martinez, Ortiz had their teams in contention all year for the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Rays were the 4th team in the playoff chase and managed to overcome the position thanks to superior pitching. One could definitely say that Michael Young vs. Bobby Abreu is worth a definite amount of wins at that position, considering what they each produced in the AL West.

I am going to go through the last 20 years of ALCS Pennant Winners as part of my study. 80% of the time (the team with a great DH) was in the World Series:

1992 TORONTO-Dave Winfield .290 26 HR’S 108 RBI
1993 TORONTO-Paul Molitor .332 22 HR’S 111 RBI
1994 WORLD SERIES CANCELLED
1995 CLEVELAND-Eddie Murray .323 21 HR’S 82 RBI
1996 NEW YORK-Cecil Fielder 39 HR’S 117 RBI (Acquired at deadline by NYY)
1997 CLEVELAND-David Justice .329 33 HR’S 101 RBI
1998 NEW YORK-Darryl Strawberry 24 HR’S 57 RBI (295 AB IN 101 GAMES)
1999 NEW YORK-Chili Davis/Darryl Strawberry (not the greatest year-but in middle of NYY dynasty of 6 ALCS IN 7 YRS)
2000 NEW YORK-David Justice .286 41 HR’S 118 RBI
2001 NEW YORK-David Justice (not the greatest year but it was a solid NYY team. Edgar Martinez led SEA to a 116-46 record and were prohibitive favorites but lost to the Yankees-Martinez year was .306 23 HR’s AND 106 RBI
2002 ANAHEIM-Brad Fullmer (hit .289 with 60 XBH in 130 games and a slugging % of .531)
2003 NEW YORK-Jason Giambi 41 HR’S 107 RBI
2004 BOSTON-David Ortiz .301 41 HR’S 139 RBI
2005 CHICAGO-Carl Everett 23 HR’S 87 RBI in 135 games
2006 Detroit Tigers-Dmitri Young (They did not have a definite DH after Young’s injury so this year so was the worst out of the 20 years.)
2007 BOSTON-David Ortiz-.305 35 HR’S 117 RBI
2008 TAMPA BAY-Cliff Floyd/Wille Aybar 22 HR’S 72 RBI combined (Again great pitching carried TB.)
2009 NEW YORK-Hideki Matsui .274 28 HR 90 RBI IN 456 AB
2010 TEXAS-Vlad Guerrero .300 29 HR’S 115 RBI
2011 TEXAS-Michael Young .338 11 HR’S 106 RBI

In 2006, half of the league possessed great DH’s: Ortiz .287 54 HR 137 RBI, Hafner .308 42 HR’S 117 RBI, Giambi 37 HR’S 113 RBI, Thome .288 42 HR’S 109 RBI, and Thomas hit 39 HR’S 114 RBI. This group is far more productive than the 2011 bunch. Given this Information, why wouldn’t more teams elect for permanent DH slots just to gain an edge over their competition? The Seattle Mariners had an incredible run from 1994-2004 with Edgar Martinez as a permanent DH. The Boston Red Sox have won 2 World Series titles and are perennial playoff contenders with David Ortiz as their DH. The Yankees have not been the same since Hideki Matsui has left the club as their DH. This leads me to the Toronto Blue Jays pitching an offer to Prince Fielder and making Adam Lind a permanent DH.

With a signing of Fielder, the Jays could move Adam Lind to just a DH. Could you dare envision a lineup of: Escobar SS, Rasmus CF, Bautista RF, Fielder 1B, Lawrie 3B, Lind DH, Arencibia C, Johnson 2B, and your pick of Thames or Snyder? This would free up your club to make a trade as well. If you are the Jays, and offered Yu Darvish the posting bid of over $50 million and another $60-75 million in salary, why wouldn’t you offer Fielder a 7 year deal in the $140-150 Million range? With Fielder signed, I think his presence would potentially alter the attendance by 8,000-10,000 fans per game to justify his salary (not to mention merchandise and television ratings). With a 3-4-5 lineup of Bautista, Fielder and Lawrie, I could see 120 HR’S and 350 RBI combined each year. The best aspect of these guys is that they are patient. If you add Adam Lind as the #6 hitter with 30 HR 100 RBI capability, then it will become lookout time for the rest of the league.

The Angels signing of Albert Pujols should not cause concern about his production. Even into his early 40’s, Pujols should be able to hit well given his dedication to personal fitness. The question is: why wait to move him to DH right now with the amount of 1st baseman they already possess with Trumbo and maybe a return from Morales? It is my belief that aging players should be shipped off to the National League when they can’t post impressive offensive numbers. A good example of this are recent NL pinch hitters Jason Giambi and Matt Stairs making a living off pinch such roles after failing as DH’s late into their careers. If the AL teams persist in signing aging players past their prime for the DH role, then I believe they will struggle. Vlad Guerrero and Johnny Damon would be perfect for an NL team at this stage of their respective careers considering this rationale.

So whatever players are ultimately signed by each team from this point forward or already have signed, whichever AL teams have the best Designated Hitters in the league for the 2012 season will likely have the best shot at winning the AL Pennant.

*** Thank you to our Guest Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for joining us today on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***

Posted in MLB Teams: Articles and Analysis

4 Comments

Tags: adam dunn, albert pujols, American league, baseball, carl everett, cecil fielder, chili davis, cliff floyd, darryl strawberry, dave winfield, david justice, david ortiz, designated hitter, dh, dmitri young, doug booth, eddie murray, fastest 30 ballgames, jason giambi, jose bautista, michael young, mlb, paul molitor, pennant, victor martinez, vlad guerrero

MLB Ballpark Traditions: National League

Dec 25

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Sunday December 25, 2011

Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer: The entire baseball community is looking forward to the ‘New Marlins Ballpark’ in 2012. This new opening will give some of extreme ballpark chasers a chance to tack another ballpark to their viewing history. I will be attending the opening of this Ballpark in April and that will make it 35 Major League Stadiums for me, 5 that are defunct and this park in Miami will help me re-establish the 30 current MLB Parks. We all assume that Oakland will have a new baseball park eventually so I will have a few years before attending a new baseball park again. These traditions only help the folklore of baseball. I believe it helps distinguish the sport from the other major sports leagues.

Here are the National League Parks Traditions:

Wrigley Field

1. 7TH inning stretch-made famous by Harry Caray and kept up by guests now.

2. They started throwing the ‘opposition’s’ home runs back onto the field and have not stopped even though it is illegal to throw the baseballs back on the field.

3. They have their own song “go Cubs go” which they play after every win.

4. Of course they have the curse of the ‘BILLY GOAT’ and also have not won a World Series in 103 years.

Minute Maid Park

1. They have a train that goes from side to side whenever they hit a homer.

2. They play the song “Stars at Night” right after 7th inning stretch

3. They play all their games indoors and only open up the roof when the park is cleared.

Miller Park

1. They do 2 really cool waves. One is a reverse wave where the goes clockwise all around the ballpark and then change direction. The other one they do is a slow motion wave which is hilarious.

2. They have the sausage race!!!

3. The sing the song “Over The Barrell” after “Take me out to the ballgame”.

4. ‘Bernie Brewer, (Brewers mascot) goes down the slide in upper left field bleachers-and has recently started throwing t-shirts from there.

5. They give out fridges for who has the best-“Tailgate Party”.

Busch Stadium

1. Easily the most respectful fans in baseball.

2. They cheered the 2004 Boston Red Sox even when they lost the World Series, so they are classy.

PNC Park

1. They have the pierogi races.

2. Between every inning they have text messages posted on-screen from people.

3. They have one of the coolest beginnings where they have a pirate ship full of pirates and they take over the opposing team’s ship on the scoreboard.

Great American Ball Park

1. They have fireworks that explode from the ship in center-field when there is a home run.

2. The Reds Museum is the best “Hall Of Fame” out of all the teams.

Dodger Stadium

1. The beach balls are still being thrown around.

2. It is routine to show up 4 innings into the game and leave at the 8th inning-Last year I watched a game that lasted only 2 hours and the parking lot was jammed because people had arrived late and did not leave early because the game was so quick. I still love the replay of the ‘KIRK GIBSON’ homer because of all the tail lights in the parking lot that were leaving.

AT&T Park

1. The Kayaker’s in McCovey Cove are fun to watch.

2. The hecklers in center-field always are after the opposing outfielders with this chant’ “What is the matter with (insert player here)? The answer is: “He’s a bum!” They do this all game.

3. They have a Panda Bear now because of Pablo Sandoval-(Kung-Fu Panda.)

4. They chart the splash hits that go into the cove.

Coors Field

1. They sell food and beverages outside the ballpark with their own vendors for a good price.

2. They use the ‘humidor’ to reduce the flight of the baseballs by 8-10%.

Chase Field

1. They sing “Sweet Caroline” like the Boston fans do.

2. They are the only park that plays a second verse of “Take me out to the Ballgame”.

3. They are very fanatical at security about you operating camera/videos so watch out.

Petco Park

1. There is a picnic area where you can watch the game for 5 dollars.

2. They are the most pet-friendly stadium as pets are allowed into the game a lot.

Turner Field

1. ‘The tomahawk chop’ is the worst tradition in baseball, but it is here to stay-routinely sections of people will get up and stand while doing the chop.

2. Skip Caray and Mark Lemke do the pregame show from the media gondola in center-field every home game.

3. They routinely have ‘concerts’ on weekend night games free of charge and are decent groups. I saw Arrested Development there last year.

Citi Field

1. The ‘BIG APPLE’ still comes out after every homer is hit (unless it is stuck which has happened at Citi Field).

2. There are planes that come over every five minutes–I find this very disrupting to the game and that is why I have the park ranked 11th overall.

Sun Life Stadium coming soon/New Marlins Ballpark in 2012!!

1. You can buy a parking pass that will work for any home date online-which is convenient.

2. The mascot is always featured on the big screen throwing fake pies at people in the stands who have on opposing gear.

Nationals Park

1. The president’s race is a definite highlight of every game-and one of them always falls flat on their face–usually it is Teddy Roosevelt.

2. They shoot t-shirts into the crowd-that have chili-dogs wrapped up in them–just ask the 20 people or so that were pelted with the contents when they failed to wrap the t-shirts tight enough with the food.

Citzens Bank Ballpark

1. The Phillie Phanatac is always in trouble with the ‘grounds crew’ because he whips around in the ATV.

2. There is about 4,000 S.R.O’S for every game and most hang out in ‘Ashburn’s Alley’.

3. They boo the home players more than any other team including Boston and both NY clubs. That is understandable considering they booed Santa Claus–and cheered when Michael Irvin was knocked unconscious at the old ‘VET’.

4. They have the biggest fine in the league for jumping on the field.

Click here to view Part 1 of Doug Booth’s Ballpark Traditions feature on MLB reports, with a look at the American League Traditions.

Tags: at&t park, baseball, baseball traditions, busch stadium, chase field, citi field, citizens bank ballpark, coorsfield, dodger stadium, doug booth, fastest 30 ballgames, great american ballpark, miller park, minute maid park, mlb, nationals park, petco park, pnc park, sunlife stadium, turner field, wrigley field

MLB Ballpark Traditions: American League

Dec 19

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday December 19, 2011

Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer: Since I finished writing the book on my experiences in chasing down the World Record by going to all the baseball parks, I decided to ask for help in my research. I went to every ballpark for two years in a row from 2008-2009, and am always fascinated by traditions and things each city does at a ballpark. Like Sweet Caroline is always played in the bottom of 8th at Fenway or…. Tailgate parties that I have seen in Oakland, New York and Minnesota. This could be something on field, in the air, outside the ballpark, after or before the game. Fans have their own way of celebrating. This is just what I have picked up. What else am I missing?

New York Yankees-Yankee-Stadium

1. They take roll call for every position player–and it comes from the bleachers once the game starts. Each 9 starting fielders in the TOP of the first gets their name called. The fans chant each of the BALLPLAYERS until they wave their hats back to acknowledge them.

2. Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” is played at the end of every game in an infinite loop.

3. You got the ‘DEREK JETER’ with rhythmic clapping after wards

4. They chant HIP-HIP JORGE for Jorge Posada–or they say his name to the famous chant of soccer—JORGE-JORGE-JORGE-JORGE-JORGE-JORGE.

5. Of course there are the famous calls of John Sterling for each player. Example,-“Teixeira sends a TEX MESSAGE TO RIGHT FIELD oh you are on the ‘MARK’ Teixeira.

6. Of course booing all the opposition is common.

7. Still play “GOD BLESS AMERICA’ before “TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME.”

Boston Red Sox-Fenway Park

1. Play the song Sweet Caroline in the bottom of the eighth.

2. They boo the catcher and pitcher of the opposite team every time they meet at the mound.

Toronto Blue Jays.-Rogers Center

1. They start at the time of 37-or 07 after the hour to accommodate both the Canadian and American anthem.

2. They have a chant in the stands where a guy counts from 10-1 and then everyone screams.

3. Other cities have called the some of the worst fans in baseball—they do the wave when they are down 10 runs—do you think they would do the wave in New York or Boston if their team was behind by 10 runs?

Baltimore Orioles-Oriole Park at Camden Yards

1. They chant “Oh” really loud at the time of the national anthem when the part says Oh say does that star spangle….”

2. There was a kid who would sprint out with a player’s jacket whenever there was a pitcher called in relief from the bullpen-is he still there?

Tampa Bay Rays-Tropicana Field

1. They play the “HEY RAYS” song when they win.

2. They post the starting lineups on a scoreboard outside the park whenever they are playing that day.

3. They light up the lights outside the ‘TROP’ on nights they win so that motorists can tell the home team won.

4. They have cowbells they use in the stands ‘for effect’

Chicago White Sox-US Cellular Field

1. Their come out song is “Thunderstruck.”

2. They always shoot fireworks after the home runs.

3. They have an old-time song they sing every game, what is it?

Detroit Tigers-Comerica Park

1. They have one of the only names retired instead of numbers with “TY COBB”S’ name being displayed but no number ahead of his name.

2. They play “Detroit Rock City”, by Kiss before the game

Kansas City Royals-Kauffman Stadium

1. They shoot the water fountains high between innings.

2. One of the only clubs that play western music, this includes a rendition of “I got friends in low places.”

Minnesota Twins-Target Field

1.TC(the Twins Mascot)-hits batting practice with a lucky fan before every game.

Cleveland Indians-Progressive Field

1. They have the loyal drummer in right field that attends every game.

2. They usually play the song “CLEVELAND ROCKS” at some point in the game.

3. There is always a clip from ‘MAJOR LEAGUE’ used too.

Seattle Mariners-Safeco Field

1. There is a train that comes through about every 10 minutes in the background-almost as frequent as planes at CITI FIELD.

2. They were the ‘original team’ of the theme “ZOMBIE NATION” by KernKraft 400.

Oakland A’s-McaFee Coliseum/now O.Overstock Coliseum

1. Get there early enough and you are sure to find half the parking lot tailgating. Note: “Worst park to where opposition gear, after all, A’s fan is also “RAIDER FAN.”

2. I would never suggest public transportation in this area, serious safety concern–pay the excruciating 17 dollars and park outside the stadium for easy access in and out.

Texas Rangers-The Ballpark in Arlington

1. They play the “Natural” theme song whenever there is a homer hit by the home team.

2. “They sing the STARS AT NIGHT SONG” as do the Astros.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-Angels Stadium

1. The staff used to wear the 20’s usher outfits until recently but they still all wear straw hats like lots of other staffs.

2. They have the waterfall going a lot-and they also have fireworks every time there is a homer hit.

These traditions make baseball great. I would appreciate any other traditions that you know of. If you are the game it makes the experience so much greater in participating. Booth7629@gmail.com

Get ready for Part 2 of Doug Booth’s Ballpark Traditions feature on MLB reports, with a look at the National League Traditions. Coming up this week on MLB reports!

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Tags: American league, baseball, baseball traditions, comerica park, doug booth, fastest 30 ballgames, fenway park, kauffman stadium, mlb, oriole park at camden yards, progressive field, rogers centre, safeco field, target field, tropicana field, us cellular field, yankee stadium

A Tribute to Jamie Moyer: Life Begins After 30

Dec 10

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Saturday December 10, 2011

Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer: In May of 1993, Jamie Moyer had spent the previous year entirely in the Minor Leagues with the Detroit Tigers and wondered if his signing with Baltimore Orioles in the offseason was a mistake. At that point in his career Moyer had posted a career won-loss record of 34-54 (.405) with the Cubs, Rangers and Cardinals. He was a soft-tossing Left Handed Pitcher who struggled with giving up home runs. Jamie was called up May.30/1993 by the O’s and began to pitch himself into respectability the next 3 seasons with Baltimore-achieving a 25-22 record. Baltimore was a contending team in the American League and thought Moyer was not going to help them with a championship bid the following year so they released him after the 1995 season. Boston signed him for the 1996 season. Moyer started out in the bullpen 7-1 that year and was later traded to the Mariners for Darren Bragg. It would be a trade that would give Jamie a new lease on life.

The Seattle Mariners were a powerhouse team back then with the likes of Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and a young phenom SS in Alex Rodriguez. The team had plenty of offense and just enough defense to help Moyer go 6-2 the rest of the 1996 season-to help his record to 13-3 overall that year which led the Major Leagues for winning percentage (.813). Moyer was a perfect complimentary pitcher to Randy Johnson went it came to style contrast. Johnson threw in the mid-nineties and buttered up the opposition-and Moyer was the perfect change of pace with crafty off-speed tossing. In 1997, Jamie Moyer went 17-5 with a respectable 3.86 ERA, that was not bad considering the Mariners played at an offence friendly Kingdome for half of the time. The next three years Jamie still went 42-27, but his ERA had crept up to 5.49 in 2000, which was more than a run and a half higher during his Mariners career. Jamie Moyer had still proved his critics wrong with his career renaissance. He was turning 38 in that offseason. The Mariners had moved into Safeco Field despite losing star players of Ken Griffey, Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez in consecutive years. The team looked to be in transition. Jamie still wanted to pitch and began training harder than ever.

The 2001 season was historical for the Mariners from start to finish. Playing in front of capacity crowds at Safeco Field the Mariners played inspired baseball. Right in the middle of the team’s incredible year was Rookie of the Year and MVP Ichiro Suzuki. His injection of youth and helped the Mariners finish the season with a record tying 116 wins. In those wins, Jamie finished the year 20-6. It was Jamie’s first 20 win season. Jamie lowered his ERA all the way down to 3.43 that year-which was one of his best ERA’s of his career. The Mariners lost out in the ALCS to the Yankees but Jamie Moyer had pitched the best year of his career. Jamie finished 4^th in Cy Young voting. Despite lowering his ERA to a career best 3.32 at that time, Jamie finished 14-8 in 2002. In 2003, and at the incredible age of 40, Jamie went 21-7 with a career single season best 3.27 ERA. Jamie was named to his only ALL-STAR appearance and finished in the top five of Cy Young voting once again.

In 2004, the Mariners had replaced Lou Piniella and had begun the downward spiral to the bottom of the AL WEST. Jamie was a gamer but sported a 7-13 record with an ERA of over 5 again. It looked like he was hanging on to his career by a thread again. Not even the comforts of Safeco Field were providing enough shelter for his game. Jamie had given up 44 home runs in 2004 which had led the American League. The team was not competitive in 2005 but Jamie bounced back with a 13-7 record and a 4.28 ERA. Jamie had worked several games with Catcher Pat Borders (1992 World Series MVP.) Each time the two 42 year olds would be the pitcher catcher tandem they set a record for the oldest pair. This exact tandem was the pitcher and catcher when I attended my first game in the United States at Safeco Field in June of 2005. In 2006, Jamie started the year 6-12 despite pitching well, (His ERA was back down to 4.39,) that is when the Philadelphia Phillies picked him up for the playoffs that year. Jamie left the Mariners as the franchise’s all-time winner at 145-87 (.625)

Over the next five years, Jamie continued to amaze the doubters by posting a 56-40 record (.583). At the age of 45, Jamie Moyer played the most pivotal of roles-with series saving performances in the 2008 playoffs en-route to the Phillies winning the World Series. It was a culmination of a career for the man. Jamie pitched okay in 2009, and saved some of his better performances for later in the season coming out of the bullpen-before suffering some torn muscles in his left arm that ended his season. 2010 saw Jamie post a respectable record of 9-9 before he was injured for the rest of the year just after the All-Star Break. Jamie tried to pitch in the Dominican Winter Leagues that fall but he tore up some more pitching muscles. Jamie Moyer needed Tommy John surgery at the age of 48. Jamie still plans on making a comeback in 2012 at the age of 49. Even if he doesn’t catch on with a team-his longevity and record is quite remarkable.

Jamie Moyer Key Stats

Started his career 34-54 before age 30 (.405) and then went 233-150 for the remainder of his career for a .608 winning percentage. His career record is currently 267-204 is still at a .567 winning percentage. His 233 wins after the age of 30 trail only #1 Phil Niekro (297 wins) and #2 Warren Spahn (273 wins) all time in MLB history but Jamie had a better winning percentage than both of them after age 30 at .608-to Spahn’s .594 and Niekro’s .540. Jamie was one of the top 2 winning pitchers from 2001-2010 decade with a record of 140-94 (.594), only Randy Johnson with 143 wins in the decade had more…rounding out that top 5 were: Roy Halladay with 139. Andy Pettitte had 138, Roy Oswalt and Tim Hudson had 138. Jamie also compiled a record of 103-70 (.595) after the age of 40. Jamie Moyer has thrown 4020 innings and struck out 2405 batters despite a fastball that ranged from 82-89 MPH in his career.

Will Jamie Moyer receive Baseball Hall of Fame consideration? He will garner some votes as his career is very similar to Tommy John. It is unfortunate the man could not achieve 300 wins in his career with such a slow start-but there is no denying that he should receive “The Most Unlikely to Have Such a Great Career Award.” He is a classy professional and is an even better human off the field, with running his Moyer Foundations all across the country. Jamie has touched countless people and is a great role model for all of those athletes who might feel like giving up. Kudos for having a great second half to your career Jamie Moyer!!

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

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Tags: alex rodriguez, baseball, darren bragg, edgar martinez, ichiro suzuki, jamie moyer, jay buhner, ken griffey jr, lou piniella, mlb, orioles, phil niekro, randy johnson, red sox, tigers, warren spahn

Time to Elect Don Mattingly into Cooperstown

Dec 5

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday December 5, 2011

Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer: Okay, it is time for me to make my argument for my favorite player of all time to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. There will be several people that will say that Don Mattingly’s career stats of: H-2154, HR-222, RBI-1099, AVG-.307 and 9 Gold Gloves are not enough in just 14 seasons. I am not counting his 7 game-stint in 1982 with this. As a rookie in 1983, Don only .hit .283 with 4 HR’S and 32 RBI’s. In Donnie’s first year as a full time first baseman, he led the AL with a .343 AVG-with 23 HR’S and 110 RBI’s, also leading the league in hits with 207 and 2B’s with 48.

They say that if you have a shortened career-(and Mattingly’s back injury in the late eighties certainly robbed him of a definite Hall of Fame Career,) then you better have an incredible stretch as the best player in baseball. It is my belief that Don Mattingly was the best all-around player from 1984-1989, with apologies to Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Dale Murphy, Don’s incredible consistency during this 6 year stretch included these numbers. A .327 AVG with 160 HR’s and a staggering 682 RBI’s with 257 doubles and 1219 hits. Nobody had more RBI’s and extra base hits in that time frame. Only Wade Boggs had more hits. The 6 year AVG breaks down to an AVG of .327 with H-204, 2B-43, HR-27 and RBI-114. What is most impressive is that Mattingly only averaged 33 strikeouts a season/or about 1/23 Plate appearances in this stretch.

During this stretch-Mattingly was also an All-star for 6 straight seasons-and was a Gold Glover for 5 years straight from 85-89. Donnie led the league in doubles three times, (84-86), hits twice, (84-86), total bases twice, (85-86), AVG in ’86, slugging and OBP in 1986. Don’s 145 RBI’s in 1985 were the most RBI’s by a left hander since the 1960’s. The same could be said for his 388 total bases in 1986. Other dominant stretches included his 1987 power streaks, in which he hit a record-6 grand slams(since equaled by Travis Hafner,) and also is still tied for homering in a record-tying 8 straight games (and should be the official leader because only Don hit 10 HR’S in that stretch of 8 games.) Mattingly is a silver slugger three times over (84-86), and The Sporting News Player of the Year for the seasons of (84-86). Don was the AL MVP in 1985, and finished 2^nd in 1986 to Roger Clemens, but for hitting he was listed as #1. His 1984 and 1987 seasons also garnered serious MVP considerations. All impressive for a man who was not considered a power hitting prospect.

Back injuries slowed Mattingly down from 1990-1995, where he lost most of his power, but he was a .290 contact hitter who would still drive in about 80-85 RBI’S per year. If he could have kept playing healthy, instead of retiring at the age of 34, he would have had nearly 3000 hits, and probably would have hit 600-700 2B, and 300 HR’s-with about 1600 RBI’S. He probably would have finished up career with an AVG. that was near .300. You could probably add 3-5 more Gold Gloves as well. Instead, he finished with 2154 hits. His .307 career average will be one of the higher averages never to be in the Hall of Fame if he is not voted in. Don’s average season is still .307 with 20 HR’S, 97 RBI’S, with close to 200 hits and 40 doubles.

Another fact that gets overlooked was Don’s strikeout ratio to plate appearances. Mattingly only struck out 444 times in 7721 PA’s, or once every 19 times. This stat is unbelievable for a modern age hitter-and 444 Strikeouts is only 2 less doubles than the man hit in his career with 442. Only Tony Gwynn has had a better ratio for striking out in the last 50 years. You add the 9 Gold Gloves-(2^nd all-time for a 1B), and this man should be gaining more consideration for the hall.

Other comparisons in numbers for players already in the Hall, would be Jim Rice and Kirby Puckett, Puckett for average and power, while Rice has similar offensive numbers for his 162 game AVG. Rice had a few more HR’s and RBI’s while Mattingly had a better AVG. and had more hits/doubles for an average season. Both played 14 seasons.

For all of those kids watching Donnie Baseball play live, or on TV, we saw a guy that exemplified a professional hitter. Amongst fielding 1^st baseman that I have seen, no one has ever been better. His swing was pure poetry in motion, even when he older, it must have drove pitchers crazy that they could not strike him out. I am only sad that Don Mattingly has missed out on all of the Yankees championship seasons.

At least his fans can always recall his last at bat in the 1995 playoffs where he crushed a homer in a 5^th game loss to the Mariners in the ALDS. It was a great career shortened by back injuries. If defensive prowess is deemed a lot more lucrative for a Hall of Fame bid, once again they have to consider ‘Donnie Baseball.’

*** Thank you to Doug Booth for joining us today on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

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Tags: baseball, cooperstown, Dale Murphy, don mattingly, hall of fame, jim rice, kirby puckett, mlb, rickey henderson, roger clemens, tony gwynn, travis hafner, wade boggs

Doug Booth: An Inside Look at the 2011 World Series Ballparks

Oct 23

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Sunday October 23, 2011

Jonathan Hacohen (Lead Baseball Columnist – MLB reports): We are very fortunate today to have author Doug Booth of “The Fastest 30 Ballgames”, join us today with a Guest MLB Blog. Doug, an expert on major league baseball parks, shares his knowledge on The Ballpark In Arlington (Texas) and Busch Stadium (St. Louis)- the sites of the 2011 World Series. We appreciate Doug taking the time out of his schedule to articulate his knowledge and experiences of these amazing ballparks. Enjoy.

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It’s Antlers & Claws vs. The Squirrel in the World Series

(AL)TEXAS RANGERS VS. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (NL)

The 2011 World Series features the second ever meeting of a series between the two clubs, with only a 2004 series in Texas has been played in the whole history of interleague. The Fall Classic may display some of the unique characteristics each city, park and all of the fans to display to the rest of the world. From the new tradition of the faithful Rangers fans joining in with players to do the antlers/claws celebration when powering up-or the entire Cardinal team taking the good luck pet squirrel-(both the real live one and the stuffed squirrel that was tossed into the Cardinal bullpen-and participated in the champagne celebration of the NL Champs,) this series will be entertaining.

First you have the Texas Rangers, formerly the Washington Senators, who moved to the state of Texas in 1972 only to wait for almost forty years for their first World Series appearance and have since gone back to the second time-to the Cardinals 3^rd trip since 2004-and them trying to add to their 11 World Series titles already. Ballpark fans will tell what to look for if you listen.

In Texas, and of course everything is always bigger in Texas, there will be sunny warm weather, plenty of cowboy hats and Stetsons, whereas the Cardinals fans will be decked out in their best red team shirts and jerseys. The Ballpark in Arlington will play the ‘Natural’ movie theme song every time their player takes the ball yard, while St. Louis will cheer their players for a homer with the warmest of exuberance while the weather may surface near freezing temperatures. The Rangers fans, with their loud and boisterous ways-will cheer for the Cardinals to fail at defense, meanwhile the Cardinals fans will always cheer a great baseball play even if it costs their team a chance to score and win the game.

There is plenty of tiered parking at ‘The Ballpark In Arlington.’ It is a price structure that is the fairest in the majors. The more you are willing to walk, the less you have to pay to watch an event there. Then you have the NL version of the ‘Yankees’, so much like downtown New York, in St. Louis you will be lucky to find a spot-and worst yet-you may miss your turn-offs from the highway. Busch Stadium displays one of the best iconic visuals in the Arch for the back drop of the park, in contrast-The Ballpark in Arlington has the biggest space in the outfield bleachers with the corporate offices staring down at the field. That means that the like of Nolan Ryan will always be watching even if the Cards are just practicing. If that doesn’t intimidate you at all you can always see the 1.2 billion dollar Cowboys Stadium across the street.

The fans will sing ‘Deep in the heart of Texas’ after the seventh inning stretch in Arlington. The Busch fans will probably blast ‘thank god I am a country boy, or cotton-eyed Joe’ on the loudspeaker.

After the games at Busch Stadium, the downtown district and especially Mike Shannon’s steakhouse, they will celebrate their team playing in the playoffs. In Texas, the streets that lead to the highways will be jammed causing some of the people to carry-on the partying in the parking lots or wait for other form of ground transportation by celebrating with other fans.

This series represents the 29^thand 30^th ballparks I ever saw. I had seen all other 28 ballparks in less than a month in 2008-and was delighted at the style and professionalism each ballpark displayed. The staff at Busch Stadium had my dad and me on the field being interviewed by Fox Sports-Midwest. It was an incredible gesture on their part. As for attending The Ballpark In Arlington right after, I was blown away by the size and structure of this behemoth park. I watched a game where the temperature soared into the 100’s, but don’t be afraid of attending the game-you can always cool off in centerfield by having an ice cream or smoothie in the little kids indoor concession stand that has air conditioning! Just always know what the score is because the concourses are so big you can’t see the game or scoreboard from them

So sit back and watch the baseballs fly out of both parks with what may be the best ever NL offence, and the best AL offence since the 1927 Yankees. I warn you, be prepared for all possibilities, I witnessed a 15 inning game at Busch in 2009 where they actually ran out of pop and the game ended at 1:15 Am in the morning, oh yeah and I witnessed a torrential down pour at the Ballpark In Arlington to add to my ballpark viewing resume.

The moral of the story is eat lots of food of water, be caught up in the parks different traditions-and finally stay until the final pitch is made. If the game happens to be in St. Louis and the Rangers win the World Series-watch how the ‘classiest fans in baseball’ will show the nation yet again of how nice they are. I am sure they would rather win still though.

DCB