Baseballhead:
The '70s Are Back!

Michael Cox

Welcome to another Baseballhead, brought to you this week by the Chi Chi Rodriguez Energy Band! Les Nessman says, "Use it!"

It's been a frantic couple of weeks around the Strikethree.com offices, what with the playoffs and our offseason plans...yes, the whole wacky gang will be here throughout the fall and winter to keep you satiated with news and features. There are a few surprises cooking on the hot stove, so stick around after the new champs are crowned!

Dateline: New York - The Yankees are back in full force, and after managing to hang a step back in '96, Da Boss is finally reliving his 1970s glory days -- holding court in the locker room, making up his own rules as he goes along (even when those rules are supposed to be set by MLB) and generally blowing as hard as a blowhard can blow.

Steinbrenner is reminiscing about the old Bronx Zoo, when Reggie, Billy and Lou bickered and drank and played some damn fine ball. Only this isn't then; it isn't even close. As much as he doesn't want to hear it, as much as he lays out money for guys like Irabu and Wells who remind him of a generation past, Steinbrenner's antics can only harm the 1998 Yankees.

The team got unfocused for a while near the end of the season, and again during the ALCS, and can ill afford to have the distraction of their owner dissing Sammy Sosa, dissing the umps, dissing Major League Baseball, and dissing the fans with whatever the hell they called that ticket allocation out at the Stadium. If the Yankees win, he'll go on all the talk shows again and blabber about how it was "good for baseball".

Earth to Boss: You've fielded the best team money can buy. Let them handle things.

Other tidbits from the playoffs so far:

Item: Network postseason coverage has been, in a word, predictable. NBC got it wrong, teaming Costas and Morgan instead of their superior broadcast teammates, Jon Miller and Bob Uecker. Morgan was at his absolute worst, apparently being paid by the word for his stint in the over-the-air broadcast world. The bright spot: Costas finally feels MLB has recovered enough not to spend half the game pontificating on the "ills of baseball." Thank you, God.

Item: Meanwhile, over on the "Melrose Place" network, Tim McCarver hasn't changed at all -- he still represents the Mendoza Line of baseball broadcasting. Choice commentary: after Walt Weiss popped up a bunt attempt, McCarver informed us, "The bat just dipped below the plane of the ball! That's why he popped up that bunt!" Well, you never know -- there may be a six-year-old or two wondering how that happens.

And at least Morgan maintains a near-monotone that allows one to tune him out much of the time. McCarver gets into near-screaming frenzies, often triggered by some kind of disgust for his viewership. Sample, after Ken Caminiti hit a first-inning HR off John Smoltz in Game 5: "In the morning all the papers will say Smoltz made one mistake! He didn't make a mistake! People have to learn! And some players and managers too!"

Wha'?

Also dismaying were the whooshing and "blork"-ing sounds made by the various FOX graphics. Mark my words, we're this close to seeing two bat-wielding, cartoon transformers pummeling each other after each run, and from there, a baseball with an electronically-generated red trail is sure to follow.

Item: Whose playoff coverage did I like? Well, aside from the usual decent radio coverage, I didn't mind ESPN's Jon Miller/Ray Knight one-game duo, if only because every time Knight got excited, I imagined the theme from "Deliverance" in the background.

While I'm on the subject of ESPN, their nightly Baseball Tonight playoff wrapups have been kicked off with the now-cliched clip-montage music video. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if they hadn't run out of suitable music after about the third night.

Item: The Indians are now 0-3 in postseason history against a Hernandez family member...

Item: Gammons pissed off David Justice by suggesting that Justice asked to be removed from the lineup in Game 5 of the ALCS. Gammons will deny doing so to his grave: "I'm not going to apologize for something I didn't say."

You be the judge: "He told Mike Hargrove that he wasn't comfortable against Wells," Gammons said, not mentioning at all that Justice's absence was due to an injured elbow. Hargrove told the media that he felt Justice wasn't comfortable against lefties with the injury -- not that Justice said he wasn't comfortable. The implication Gammons made through his "adjustment" of Grover's statement and omission of other information was certainly that Justice asked to be removed.

If Gammons couldn't see at least that his comments could have easily been interpreted as Justice had done, he's blind. Then again, you may have already suspected that...

 

about the author

Michael Cox is filling in during the playoffs when other writers blow off their deadlines. Send Vivarin to mc@strikethree.com.