Paul Splittorff

I didn't appreciate this guy as much as he probably deserved. I don't even think I have a card of him. I wasn't much of a Royals fan, though I did follow that '78 team pretty well, probably a better team than either of their pennant winners. That season coincided with a dark period in the life of the Cardinals, so I would listen to Royals games on the radio and come out of my room to announce the results, usually a win, to my dad. He always seemed underwhelmed by this.

Anyway, here's good stuff on Paul Splittorff.

Killer Cancer

Harmon Killebrew has died.

I don't want to make anything more of this than it was - I didn't know him personally, he wasn't my favorite player or on my favorite team.

But he occupied a place in my childhood, as the 1968 Topps baseball card of mine (right) testifies. I knew who he was, of course. He was a mighty, mighty home run hitter, Paul Bunyanesque even, which is appropriate for an athlete tearing up the field in Minnesota. A terrific hitter and, by all accounts, a terrific person, which is good.

And yet, there is something very sad about Killebrew's death to me, something I can't quite put my finger on, but I have a notion what it is. I suppose what's bugging me can be summed up by critics as the usual sentimental and superstitious tripe that effervesces from a Christian worldview.

I have no desire to be maudlin, to drum up emotions that aren't there or even necessary. Something is just bugging me, that's all. Killebrew's death is sad and I hope his family finds comfort in the days to come. It is sad because another man whose work I admired as a child became old enough to die and that means the clock is ticking. For everybody. Maybe I'm just sobered by the brevity of life and the certainty of its end.

And maybe I'm sobered by the idea that being a terrific person isn't enough when the end comes.

Royals Gaining Ground

There was some angst expressed by some Royals fans as the recent Major League Baseball trade deadline passed over the moves the club made. Some referred to KC's actions as "a fire sale." Ridiculous.

I personally commented on this after some Facebook fans were all in a tizzy. The trade that seemed to bother the most was the deal of Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers. The Royals also dealt Rick Ankiel to the Braves. Both of these make sense. Trading away older players who don't figure into your future plans for prospects is wise.

These are not the old Royals, who traded away Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltran and other budding stars for prospects. Today's Royals are keeping their budding stars and trading away parts that aren't in future plans for more talent to stock the pipeline. All these pieces will begin to mature together at some point. But don't just take my word for it.

"Looking at how they're building," says one NL GM, "they can start to be very interesting the second half of next season (2011)."

Peter Gammons filed an article on the MLB.com website which recounted the travails of the Royals, Pirates and Indians, smaller market teams who have had success in the past, struggled, and had bad luck, but may be on the way back.

Here's the meat of the article for Royals fans:

If the Indians can develop a couple of their pitchers and avoid the plague of physical misfortune that has made 2010 so difficult, they can quickly be back in the competitive AL Central. It may be a season longer for the Royals, but by this time next season they will have a year's experience for Gordon in right field and Kila Ka'aihue at first base and DH, Billy Butler is an All-Star hitter and their two best prospects, first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas, should be ready for the Majors.

(KC GM Dayton) Moore is cautious. "I'd rather be a little late bringing a kid to the Majors than too early," he says. But Hosmer and Moustakas are impact, character players.

"Wherever Moustakas plays, his team wins," says Moore, who has seen his third baseman jump a teammate for complaining about his manager pinch-hitting for him. Farther on down the road are athletic outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Derrick Robinson, as well as 19-year-old catcher William Myers. Their top pick in June, Long Beach shortstop Christian Colon, should be quick to Kansas City."

On the surface it looks like there's one too many first basemen/DH types in the immediate future, but I guess they'll get that sorted out. The bottom line is it appears, from a baseball standpoint, that soon everything will be up to date in Kansas City.

Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog, Hall of Famer

You know him better as Whitey.

Here's a good article from ESPN.

UPDATE: Just watched Whitey's induction speech at MLB.com and it was a lot of fun, but I wish he had told more stories about Casey Stengel and talked about the good teams he had.

Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch has a nice tribute here.

Friday Night

Just finished watching the listless St. Louis Cardinals lose a baseball game to the scrappy Kansas City Royals. KC, which switched managers in mid-May, are roughly a .500 ballclub since the hiring of Ned Yost. Hats off to them. The Cards, on the other hand, continue in enigma mode. They appear to be playing below their ability and manager LaRussa's laidback, station-to-station style doesn't do anything to jumpstart the club.

Pujols does not look right to me - he appears to be lethargic in the field and he looks as lost at the plate as I have ever seen him. He does not appear to be in command like in years past. I don't know if it contract issues or not, but I think something's on his mind.

Hitting coach Mark McGwire comes in for some of the blame for the team not performing well. I think that's fair. I'll be glad to be rid of the LaRussa Gang.

Stepped on the scale this morning (on purpose) and saw a number that was below a number ending in zero that I had been well above for a long time. That's a rather obscure and convoluted way of saying I have dropped to someplace I haven't seen in a while. My lovely bride has switched jobs and is now working for a weight management establishment. I am reaping some benefits and she is losing some weight also. Huzzah!

Double Take

"You know, Fay, in every baseball game I see something I've never seen before." - Roger Craig

I am not sure if I know if this is true for me, but I am closer to believing it than I've ever been. More often than not I will notice something in a ballgame I've never noticed before.

Did you see the double play in the Royals game last night? The one "started" by Sidney Ponson? I will give you the link, but first, the description.

The Rays had runners at first and third. The Rays batter, Zobrist, scorched a line drive that hit Ponson and went to the Royals second baseman on the fly, one out. Both runners had left their bases when the ball was hit, so Callaspo tried to double off the runner at first, but the throw hit him in the back as he retreated to first base. First baseman picks up the ball and throws across the diamond to get the runner from third who had actually crossed the plate and couldn't get back in time, completing the double play. Two hit players, two outs. Crazy.

I had never seen anything like this before. Take a look.

The quote at the top is from former player and manager, Roger Craig, from a book by former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent. The book is entitled, "The Last Commissioner."

Fantastic Friday Facts (or Fun, Depending)

While at Hammons Field tonight (AA Baseball, Springfield Cards vs. NW Arkansas Naturals), I saw Albert Pujols (on TV) get a single to left in Kansas City to drive in two runs and pass Ken Boyer on the Cardinals all-time total bases list. I was looking at a TV because my bride was in line to buy a bottle of water.

Because the people who run stadiums these days assume that everyone in attendance is ADD and isn't at the ballpark for just the ballgame (Imagine!), and there MUST BE FEVERISH ACTIVITY EACH AND EVERY WAKING MOMENT, I read on the scoreboard that the man with the most Academy Award wins was Walter Elias Disney. Elias. I had no idea.

There was a time when trivia questions on the video board at a baseball game were actually related to baseball.

There was a time when (and not so long ago) there were no video boards at major league baseball stadiums, much less minor league stadiums.

Other non-baseball trivia from the video board (sheesh) - approximately 25 percent of the people in the world live on $200 a year, or less. We paid $3.00 for a bottle of water tonight, or roughly one and a half percent of somebody's income this year. Is it wrong? Or just different?

My friend Tim, whom I introduced here, has a funny basketball story I asked him to write, which he did at his blog. I link it there acknowledging his favorite team, the LA Lakers, who just won their 15th NBA title. Enjoy.

Blue Bloods

Two lengthy sports seasons wrapped up over the last few days and some mention of it is probably due from one who follows sports as I do.

So, there it was.

Now, to the really cool part, the uniform colors.

Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins, wearing black and gold, won the seventh and deciding game in the Stanley Cup series, defeating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Motown.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers, in their famous purple and gold captured the NBA championship by defeating Orlando's Magic in Florida.

Now, what do these two teams have in common? They both used to wear blue - and not just any blue, mind you, but what some might call baby blue or what I like to call Carolina blue. In fact they both had a combination of Carolina blue and a darker blue as a trim color. This, in my view, is one of the best combinations of colors going. Other teams using it would be the University of North Carolina (of course), the Royals (occasionally), Toronto Blue Jays (occasionally) and Tennessee Titans, off the top of my head.

The Lakers, who began in Minneapolis, began with the blue scheme, probably to coincide with their nickname which was suggestive of all the lakes in Minnesota. "Ten Thousand Lakes" the license plate used to say. They moved to LA about 1960 and switched to the gold and purple look in the middle of the decade.

The Penguins formed as part of NHL expansion in 1967 and also had the blue uniforms. They switched to black and gold in the early 70's which matched the other two pro teams in the Steel City, baseball's Pirates and football's Steelers. They do break out a blue sweater for 'throw back' days and it looks cool.

Baseball 2009

It's not wisdom to gack up the lead on Opening Day when you are hosting the most feeble team in your division. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 St. Louis Cardinals! (HT Bill Simmons)

With each passing year I have less and less desire to try and prognosticate concerning the outcome of the championship season. However, as a fan, it's hard not to have an opinion about the fortunes of your favorite team, and about the two leagues, as well.

I'm doing this without a net, so you might want to look away.

The Cardinals. Well, what can you say? They have gotten younger (read cheaper) and I get the feeling Albert's going to have to hit quite a few 7-run homers for them to be a contender. The starting pitching is intriguing, I think. The staff has a chance to be pretty good and thereby keep the team competitive. But, I'm not sure about the bullpen and the offense, aside from Pujols, worries me. Let's say third in the NL Central.

Kansas City is going to be fun to watch. We thought last year they were on the right track and it appears they are. Their division is not the powerhouse that it's been of late. I wonder if we might see a five-team scrum there this year, with not many games separating first from fifth. In that scenario, KC stands a chance to steal it, I think. But if somebody, maybe Cleveland or Chicago, gets it together and pulls away, I get the feeling the Royals are still a bit short, improving though, they are.

Boston and the LA Angels look to be the class of the American League, but don't forget about Tampa and Oakland. In the National League, I would expect to see the Mets, Phillies, Dodgers and the Team That Shall Not Be Named as contenders.

108. My Guess Was Wrong

Barring a Tom Eagleton-like breakdown, Mitt Romney will not be Vice President of the United States any time soon. My guess was wrong.

The next vice president with either be Joe Biden or Sarah Palin. I will bet dollars to donuts it will be Palin. I don't bet, of course.

I saw the announcement today from Dayton, Ohio and Palin is terrific. That seems to be the consensus of the blog world also or, at least, the portion of it that I bother with. Conseratives are stoked, by and large.

I think poll-watching will be fun over the next two weeks or so. By Sunday we should have all the Obama convention results in the poll. Whatever bounce he's going to get will be there. After that, it's all about how much the GOP can chip away. I am optimistic.

The Cardinals Toast Quotient is approaching critical levels. They are competing, they're playing hard, but they don't have the horses. The Cubs are beginning to pull away and St. Louis just can't seem to pick up ground on Milwaukee in the Wild Card race.

But, don't quit looking at them. Prince Albert is leading the National League in batting and may just bring home a batting title. He'll get lots of votes for MVP, but being out of the playoffs will depress his vote total.

I have to say that I thought we'd see more from the Royals this year, though they had a nice early portion of the season. I don't know what to say as I don't follow as closely there. I think the GM and the manager are solid. Probably a lack of horsepower in KC, too.

Mizzou starts tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see how good they will be. The National Title is the goal. Oh my! Are these the Missouri Tigers we are talking about?

Party Like It's 1985

I have written about my having made peace with the Royals, despite their insistance on keeping the World Series trophy from '85.

However, they should not get so uppity. Here's all you need to know concerning this week's series with the Cards - 3 games, 3 pictures -

It's Hard To Root Against . . .

Clint Hurdle.


I saw this article at espn.com and thought it was worth sharing.

Of course, more folks will see it at espn.com than will see it here (sigh), but I know that most of my reader doesn't usually look at the other site.


I remember the year Hurdle came up with the Royals, in fact, I had a copy of the Sports Illustrated that's pictured in the article. Hurdle was supposed to be baseball's next star, a phenom, but it never worked out for him and the article will tell you why.


In any case, whether you are rooting for the Rockies or not (and I have to admit some part of me is pulling for them), the story is nice and it's good to hear that the man has left his demons behind.

Some World Series hardware would be nice, too.


But whether in baseball or real life, I hope he does well.

I Think I'm Over It

OK, I think I'm finally over the '85 World Series.

Time heals all wounds, they say. I say that 22 years, 3 more Cardinal pennants and another World Series championship in St. Louis doesn't hurt, either.

In my post-85 anger and disappointment (we weren't supposed to lose) I tried to like all kinds of other American League teams instead of the Royals. I really did used to like them in the 70's. They had some very good teams then, especially the '77 team, which I think was better than either of the two KC squads to win pennants. And those KC teams, managed exquisitely by Whitey Herzog, were far more enjoyable than the Cardinals of the late 70's. Heity Cruz was a key player - that's all you need to know.

Anyway, we lived in Ft. Worth for a while, so I tried the Rangers. The Bobby Valentine years. Need I say more? By the way, I don't know where Valentine gets his cachet. He has never impressed me as a manager. Later we lived in Northern New York and I followed the Red Sox and the Yankees. Not very loudly, of course. Later it was on to Florida and, yes, I tried to follow the Devil Rays. It can't be done.

So we're back in Missouri and I've made peace with the Royals and tonight the Cards will invade KC for the annual (now) interleague battle with the Royals. Next week the two will hook up in St. Louis.

I can follow them both now, though my heart is firstly with the Cards. It feels good to be home.