This series of interviews delves into the formative years of many of our favorite media members in baseball in an attempt to better understand the process of becoming a writer. Continuing the series, we are delighted to turn to Murray Chass, a distinguished baseball journalist that has been covering baseball for over forty years, most of them with the New York Times. A hearty “Thank You” goes out to one of baseball’s most seasoned scribes for ‘virtually’ sitting down with us to chat. You can find Mr. Chass’ most recent columns at MurrayChass.com.

Eno Sarris: Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school and what did you study?

Murray Chass:I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, where I worked on the school newspaper, the Pitt News, all four years I was there and was editor of the paper in my senior year. I majored in political science even though I intended to go into the business in which I spent my life. I remember the executive editor of The New York Times, James Reston, asking me in a pre-hire interview why a political science major became a sports writer. Reston himself started out in baseball – he was the traveling secretary of the Cincinnati Reds – before becoming a newspaper guy.

Read the rest of this entry »

In 1910, Franklin Pierce Adams wrote one of the two most famous poems in baseball history. Adams described “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”, articulating the plight of suffering New York Giants fans. The Giants were doomed to failure, Adams explained, because of the efforts of three slick-fielding infielders on the rival Chicago Cubs: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance.

A century later, baseball boasts a handful of great shortstops and second basemen. Some of those stars own far more impressive resumes than Tinker, Evers, and Chance (three of the least deserving Hall of Fame choices ever, who owe much of their candidacy to Adams’ oeuvre).

Yet despite the amazing resumes of Derek Jeter and other modern middle infielders, no double play combination has had a poem — or anything close — written in its honor in 100 years. This is especially sad in the case of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, arguably the best keystone combo of the past 30 years, given their combination of skill and longevity by each other’s side. If someone had written a great poem about the two Tigers greats, they’d likely be in the Hall of Fame, too.

Read the rest of this entry »

Roy Halladay, IRL.

Jon Robinson at ESPN has published a piece on the upcoming video game “MLB 2K11.” An incorporated interview introduces readers to Sean Bailey, MLB 2K11 game designer, and Roy Halladay, MLB 2K11 hood ornament.*

You have to be impressed by the marketing push 2K Sports has been mounting in advance of this game’s release. Consider for example the MLB 2K11 Wikipedia page, which in addition to being pretty much a 2K Sports press release, appears to actually be cut and pasted from a 2K Sports press release. Seriously. It’s written in the first person.

The above ESPN article does reveal one cool tidbit about the game though: improved pitcher worriedness animations.

“Now if you’re throwing a no-hitter, the pitcher is walking around the mound and he’s not looking at or talking to anyone. He just wants the ball back really fast. But if he’s struggling, he will walk around the back of the mound, and you can see the stress build up throughout the game. And these little things, while they don’t change the gameplay, they are the types of things that once they’re tuned right, they make the whole experience feel more real.”

Into the heads of pitchers is EXACTLY where these games need to go.

Here’s why. Baseball, by its questionably thought-out but now accepted rules, puts pitchers, who are normally crazy people, in charge of the game. As a result, baseball is at its best when the heat rises in the mound’s psychological crucible. Think of the moments: Jack Morris, powering through that Game 7, or Roy Halladay, somehow holding focus through a playoff no-hitter. But — Roger Clemens, throwing a bat at little Mikey Piazza, or Pedro Martinez, bodily evaporating on that same mound three years later in the ALCS. It’s like the Roman Colosseum, but the Christians are SPs and LOOGYs, and the lions are ball fours and Texas leaguers.

2K Sports should put more of that in the game.

* ACTUALLY, Mr. Halladay seems to have done a lot of work with the developers.

What sort of friend would I be if I didn’t inform you that another season’s worth of MLB.TV is now available in exchange for American currency.

Just by looking at the landing screen (which you can see in fullest glory by opening the image above in a new window), it appears as though the “Premium” option is the best value. Also, it has three extra checkmarks below it and all of those checkmarks are bigger.

If you don’t have $120 to afford the Premium option, might I suggest asking your parents? Or maybe like a wealthy aunt or something? Because that’s what I’d do.

Yesterday, in these pages, I proposed that, as is common practice for important figures in the Eastern Orthodox Church, that it might be appropriate to adopt “feast days” for baseball players who are important to the history of this honored game.

Today, we feast in the name of five players, as follows (each with accompanying prayer):

1. Vladimir Guerrero

Vlad!
You’ve taught us that not only is it impossible
to walk off the island, but also to walk
out of Montreal, Orange County, and the Dallas Metro area!
Hear our prayer!

2. Mookie Wilson

Mookie!
Somehow you’re both uncle to and stepfather of
former major-leaguer Preston Wilson.
Also, your name is Mookie.
Let’s celebrate our differences!

3. John Kruk

John Kruk!
You’ve demonstrated, via your six years on Baseball Tonight,
that some, if not all, things are better left unsaid.

4. Vic Wertz

Vic Wertz!
You hit the ball that Willie Mays famously caught
and then died suddenly while working as a beer distributor.
Not on the same day.

5. Tex Hughson

Tex Hughson!
You’re from a generation
that had some important ideas
about what to call a man.
Hallowed be thy nickname!

So this is an actual thing …

Hey, I thought it was a cool moment. Both guys handled themselves exceptionally well, and Galarraga in particular showed that a sense of equanimity is possible even in the throes of a screw-job, which is something of which I am wholly incapable. With that said, is this all it takes to sustain a narrative these days? I get that there are moments in time that, as book editors are wont to pretend, CHANGED EVERYTHING, but this happened roughly eight months ago. Have we really had time for sober reflection on anything beyond the epidermal layer of consequences? That is, how do we know that Joyce’s blown call CHANGED EVERYTHING?

And wouldn’t this make a better, I dunno, “Vanity Fair” article or something? How are you going to wring 250 pages out of this story? Sure, we’ll get the back-story on Galarraga and a portrait of the umpire as a young man, but what then? Pictures? Blank pages for note-taking? Clip-out flashcards so you can memorize details of their lives? Mazes? A choose-your-own-adventure chapter or three? A carved out space in which you can hide weed? If nothing else, they should change the title from Nobody’s Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History to I Kicked the Sh*t Out of It: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History. I’m surprised I even need to say this.

On the celluloid front, remember the story of the two Indian pitchers who signed with the Pirates after winning a reality show? The least shocking news ever is that their story is going to be a movie. Also unsurprising: The shlock merchants at Disney will be at the switch.

Normally, I don’t trust any Disney outputs that don’t come to me from the loving arms of Pixar. Partly, this is because I’ve never forgiven them for the sadistic lacerations I suffered from watching Old Yeller. (Seriously, you’ve never heard of rabies vaccinations, you rubes?) Mostly, though, it’s because you and I both know that Disney will one day kill us all. Combine Disney’s dubious sense of aesthetics with the central ingredients of bad cinema already present in this story, and the potential for groan-inducement is both boundless and without bound.

The one consolation is that Tom McCarthy will be writing the script, and McCarthy knows a little something about making good movies. Let’s just hope that the suits let McCarthy use the light, aware touch he showed in The Visitor, so we don’t end up with something like the provably awful “Outsourced” set on a baseball diamond.

Also: Actual. Baseball. Now. Please.

The Dodgers want you (yes, you!) to decide which throwback uniform they wear on six throwback jersey days over the 2011 season. These jerseys hearken back to the days in which the Dodgers resided in Brooklyn, first as the Superbas and then as the Brooklyn Dodgers. Here’s how I would rank the three choices.

#3: Brooklyn Superbas 1911 Road Uniforms

For the record, I like all three of these. This just happens to be the one I like the least. I have a feeling that the “Brooklyn” on the button panel will be difficult to see, particularly on TV. The pinstriped look is solid, and I love the stirrups. The hat lacks the flair that the Brooklyn Dodgers logo had. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn on the button panel just really doesn’t do it for me.

#2: Brooklyn Dodgers 1940s Road Uniform

The colored look would be an odd choice to wear at home, but I have to say I personally dig the powder blue, if even some are tired of it. I especially like the fact that the uniform is monochrome instead of going with white or grey pants. The Brooklyn script is classic and the uniform is simple, although I could do without the white outline on the shoulders.

#1: Brooklyn Dodgers 1931 Road Uniforms

Powder blue again, but this time as a secondary color to the primary white. I love the “B” on the chest, similar to one of my favorite alternate jerseys in the game. I’m usually not huge on white hats, either – I thought that many of the patriotic hats from this year looked disastrous – but with the powder blue brim as well as the navy trim and the classic Brooklyn “B” logo, it works here. The only real problem I see with these jerseys is the red trim on the socks, but that’s pretty minor and might even be covered up depending on how the players wear the uniforms.

Really, it’s a toss-up for me between the 1940s uniform and the 1931 uniform, but the uniqueness of the 1931 jersey convinced me to throw my vote that way.

Baseball turf is something we all probably appreciate when we go to a game, but what kind of grass is it, exactly? Surely it isn’t the same sod we go out and purchase for own own lawns. Different sports require different types of grasses, and a baseball field needs grass that will look lush, withstand the punishment of cleated feet flitting about, and be easy to grow. No one wants to look out of a dead field! Different parks choose different turfs due to climate, the style of play of the team, and the personal preferences of the team field manager. Here is a breakdown of the types of turf used in Major League parks:

Read the rest of this entry »

Though I’m not part of it, an aspect of the Eastern Orthodox Church that I admire particularly is their tradition of feast days for saints. Nor is this a pastime reserved merely for the big-time stars of the Bible, but one designed to preserve and observe the lives of minor church figures, as well.

For example, locating the appropriate page at the website for the Orthodox Church of America, we find that, today, Orthodox followers remember, among others, the Great martyr Theodore Stratelates (a.k.a. “The General”).

The briefest research reveals that Theodore was not only “endowed with many talents, and was handsome in appearance” but that he was also

arrested and subjected to fierce and refined torture. He was dragged on the ground, beaten with iron rods, had his body pierced with sharp spikes, was burned with fire, and his eyes were plucked out. Finally, he was crucified.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s frequently the case that the human interest-type stories one encounters are just naked attempts on the part of the news outlet in question to generate pathos and manipulate readerly emotions.

Other times, it happens that real life conspires to produce authentic instances of humans behaving well.

Conor Glassey’s story from today’s Baseball America represents the latter case.

In said story, Glassey introduces us to Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter, who literally gave a kidney to a freshman on his team, Kevin Jordan, after the latter had developed a rare illness affecting the organ.

Glassey writes:

Jordan moved from his hometown of Columbus, Ga., to Winston-Salem, N.C., for his freshman year in August. But two days before classes began, another doctor’s visit revealed his kidney function was down to 8 percent and a transplant was recommended as soon as possible.

When medical testing of Jordan’s family did not yield a good match, Walter stepped up to the plate to undergo the compatibility-testing process. The entire process took five weeks and the anxiety of not knowing what would happen was more stressful than deciding to start the process in the first place, Walter said.

Walter said that as soon as he had the support of his family, Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman and his team, donating a kidney to Jordan was a “no-brainer decision.”

“I would do anything to help any one of my players or any of my family members—anything in my power to help them have a better quality of life is something that I want to do,” Walter said. “Maybe it’s something as little as helping mentor them in their academic pursuits, or helping them choose a major, or something of a greater magnitude like this. My number one priorities in life are my family and my team and I’ll do anything to help any one of those people.”

Obviously, we can’t speak to Walter’s life in toto, but so far as conspicuous acts of generosity go, this is very clearly one of them.

More news like this, please!

H/T: Bad Badler