Back in early September, the Mariners Double-A affiliate — hitherto known as the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx — changed their name to the Jackson Generals, both as a nod to an earlier incarnation of the team and also guns.

Now, the team would like to utilize the public’s collective imagination.

Boom, reportage:

The Jackson Generals have a new bulldog mascot and he needs a name. If you have an idea, complete the entry form with all required information and include a name you want to suggest for the mascot.

Grand Prize:

-Two (2) season tickets to 2011 Jackson Generals home baseball games

-The opportunity to introduce the mascot on opening day (April 13, 2011)

-A pizza party in the Grand Prize Winner’s classroom

In the event that you’re saying aloud, right now, “I am super desperate to hear Carson Cistulli’s thoughts on this particular matter,” well, you’re in luck, reader, on account of how I have (a) some free time and (b) a computer.

First of all, that prize confirms a suspicion I’ve long held — namely, that people will do any sort of thing for a pizza party. Though I haven’t stated it expressly in these pages, I’m not afraid to admit that I am, in fact, paid for this job not in dollars but in pizza. Believe me when I say I make some serious dough. Amirite?

Second, I’ll announce here that, on account of I’m an American wordsmith, I’ve personally submitted some ideas to the team.

Boom, creativity:

• Martial (or Marty, for short)
• Bell, The Bellicose Bulldog
• Jackson, The Dog That Oversaw the Forcible Removal of the Cherokees from Their Tribal Lands

Third, and less flippantly: there’s probably a smart and sensible discussion to be had here with regard to the use of military imagery in sport — the motivations for doing so; the differences between consumer-friendly cartoonish images like the one above and other, more realistic representations; how veterans themselves respond to portrayals of the military in popular culture.

Like I say, someone could have those conversations. Seeing as the blog form isn’t particularly friendly to informed conversation, though, I’ll opt instead just to crack wise and then hit publish.

H/T: Ben’s Biz Blog

Yankee GM Brian Cashman’s recent visit to free agent Cliff Lee’s home in Arkansas has been well-documented by the sporting news media; however, as smarter baseballing fans will already know, the Yankees’ overtures for the star pitcher certainly don’t represent the first instance of a team attempting to situate itself within the good graces of a coveted player.

In fact, since the inception of free agency in 1976, clubs have gone to great lengths to convince players of their (i.e. the clubs’) sincerity. Below are five totally not fabricated examples of such activity.

1989: Oakland proposes to Rickey Henderson an ambitious clause that would forbid the trade not only of Henderson himself but also of any baseball card bearing his image.

1995: Rockies GM Bob Gebhard learns entire French language in effort to retain services of slugger Dante Bichette. The downside? Bichette is actually from West Palm Beach. The up? Gebhard can now read all those smutty books the French are always writing.

1999: Talks with talented outfielder Shawn Green fall apart after Rays GM Chuck LaMar realizes his promise to show Green the “cool part” of Tampa is impossible to fulfill.

2005: Mike Scioscia performs drunken karaoke rendition of “Johnny Angel” to then-free agent Johnny Damon. “Simultaneously disgusting and beautiful,” raves LA Times music critic Mark Swed.

2010: Brian Cashman shows Cliff Lee the actual gazillion-dollar bill with which the latter would be paid.

Carson Cistulli has recently “become literate.” Allow him to celebrate his new skill by sharing selections from his reading list.

Text: A Brief History of American Sports. (Click here for Google Books page.)
Authors: Elliott J. Gorn and Warren Goldstein
Pages: 290
Pages Discussed Here: Preface and pp. 1-23

Read the rest of this entry »

Kerel Cooper of On the Black has submitted for the reader’s consideration some film footage of the 1962 New York Mets.

In the event that you’re unfamiliar with this iteration of the Metropolitans, here’s the first thing you might care to know about them: they were bad. Like, really bad. The club finished with a 40-120 record, worst of the 20 major league teams playing at the time, and a full 19 games in back of the next-worst Chicago Cubs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, Texas Governor Ricky Perry, making an appearance on TV’s The Daily Show, meditated briefly on the fate of very coveted free agent Cliff Lee.

Via the magic of the internet, you can watch the Perry interview in its entirety by clicking here. If that appeals to you zero percentedly, this is no problem, as the good people of Los That Sports Blog have transcribed the relevant exchange.

Boom, blockquote:

Stewart: “So in your mind… when did Washington go off the rails?”

Gov. Perry: “About a century ago, actually.”

Stewart: “Seriously?”

Gov. Perry: “Wilson, and the Progressive movement started. The Sixteenth Amendment, giving them the opportunity to take your money with the personal income tax. That’s the reason Cliff Lee is gonna stay in Texas…”

Having spent some time in Dallas, I can say two things about it: for one, it’s absolutely awash in public restrooms and, for two, you have to remove your shoes in order to enter it.

That I’ve only ever been to the airport part of it might color my experience of the city, however.

Kerel Cooper of Mets blog On the Black has recently shared with the public some photos from his tour of Citi Field.

The photo tour, it must be said, is an important genre. For those of us who self-identify as “indoorsman,” it allows us to experience the world without having to, you know, experience the world.

Having said that — and with all due respect to Cooper — there are some images that are conspicuous by their absence. Images such as:

• Paul DePodesta installing Linux on all the front office computers.
• Paul DePodesta convincing the stadium operations department to display WAR on the scoreboard.
• Paul DePodesta — uh, I don’t know. Paul DePodesta’s a nerd, is the point I’m trying to make.

Per the team’s official site, the Baltimore Orioles have announced that Camden Yards will undergo some renovations this offseason.

Behold, facts:

At the request of the Orioles, more spacious seats are to be installed on the club level and upper deck at Camden Yards, and sightlines on both levels are to be improved by the installation of less intrusive railings. Seating capacity will be reduced from 48,290 to 45,971, keeping in line with the capacities of many recently opened parks.

There are some other things going on, too, but the relevant information — for this author, at least — is the news that Camden Yards is now 20 years old. By way of reference, here are some things that have happened since the Orioles played their first game in the iconic stadium:

• Every episode of the hit sitcom Friends.
• Chris Tucker’s entire career arc.
• The inter-frigging-net.

There’s no indication — at this juncture, at least — as to whether the renovations will include the installation of more talented players onto the field part of the stadium.

Perhaps you’re the sort of person who knew this, but I, Carson Cistulli, am not.

In any case, some Paul DePodesta-related googling has verified it: apparently, back in April of 2005, Steven Levitt — progenitor of the Freakonomics brand — wrote a series of three posts for his blog in which he questioned the underlying causes of the A’s success under Billy Beane.

From one such post:

I am not necessarily implying that Billy Beane isn’t a good general manager who can stretch a small budget into a respectable record through good use of data, clever trades, etc. My only point is that there are a lot of people who are above average at their jobs, but they don’t become the subject of best-selling books. He had a book written about him because against all odds his team has been winning almost 100 games a year. And in the book, Michael Lewis sure makes it seem like the main reason is the clever stuff the A’s have done with analyzing hitting. And I am simply saying that is not the reason the A’s win.

In the spirit of data, the skeptics amongst you should tell me how many games the A’s need to win this year or over the next five years so that they would feel that Moneyball is validated. My own view is that if the A’s win 81 games a year for the next five years, it is more likely that Beane was lucky than good. If they win 97 a year, I’ll happily concede that Beane is the best. Even an average of 90 games
a year and I will acknowledge he is brilliant.

The A’s averaged just above 90 wins for the two seasons after Levitt’s statement, but then only 75 per year for the three seasons after that (i.e. through 2009). Here are the win totals, precisely: 88, 93, 76, 75, 75. Is that conclusive in either direction? I don’t know.

In a fourth post, from October of the same year, Levitt announced — with thinly veiled glee* — that Paul DePodesta had been fired from the Dodgers — partially confirming, for Levitt, that the Moneyball narrative was suspect.

*The post is called, perhaps a little too enthusiastically, “Unemployment-ball?”

I have only one real comment on Levitt’s claims — namely, I’m glad I wasn’t aware them at the time. Beane and Levitt are like the Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy of the baseballing world. Which, imagine if the Tooth Fairy started publicly questioning Santa’s ability to make lists and check them twice? That’s not fun for anybody.

Though it contains little in the way of breaking news, Frank Dell’Apa’s Boston Globe article about Boston owner John Henry’s (pictured right) recent purchase of Liverpool FC does contain some comments from Jeff L’Hote of LFC International, a New York-based soccer consultancy firm.

For anyone who’s familiar with world football, none of L’Hote’s comments will shock — ta-da! soccer presents different economic challenges than baseball! — but it is interesting to think (if only for like 30 seconds) about what happens when a preternaturally talented sporting owner takes over a British football club.

From Dell’Apa’s article:

“I think one of the key learning curves is the difference between the European soccer model and US professional sport,” L’Hote said. “Henry said he can’t believe players have so much control here — a contract doesn’t mean as much in the Premier as Major League Baseball, for example.”

— snip —

[Spanish Striker Fernando] Torres could have plenty of temptations, bids from several countries, should Liverpool continue to struggle. Unlike baseball, there are competing European leagues that can offer options to dissatisfied stars. Contractual obligations only go so far. And few elite clubs are willing to impose salary caps.

For those of us who work on the side of labor, the notion that players have control — well, that’s hard to dislike. But for those in baseball’s nerderati, at least, there’d also be no little pleasure in seeing Henry exploit the frig out of whatever market inefficiencies exist in the Premiership.

Carson Cistulli has recently “become literate.” Allow him to celebrate his new skill by sharing selections from his reading list.

Text: “Beyond the Game: The Imagery of Major League Baseball” from Journal of Sports & Recreation, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2009. (Click here for full text.)
Author: Roy F. Fox, Professor, English Education, Univ. of Missouri
Pages: 11 (including pictures)
Pages Discussed Here: All

Read the rest of this entry »