Lee Lowenfish

Opening Day in baseball is not as special as it used to be but what is these days? If I had my way, Cincinnati would host the home opener as it often did last century because the Reds franchise is the oldest MLB team, its roots going back to the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869.

 

This year MLB actually opened in Seoul, Korea on Mar 20 & 22 with the Dodgers and Padres splitting games. During the Korean trip, the shocking news broke that over $5 million of the bank account of Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers' new superstar hitter-pitcher, was used to pay off the gambling debts of Ippei Mizuhara, his American-born interpreter/roommate/best friend since Ohtani's arrival in the USA as a member of the Angels in 2018.    

 

After Mizuhara initially told ESPN in an exclusive interview that Ohtani had full knowledge of the payments but the interpreter insisted that he never bet on baseball, 24 hours later word came from Ohtani's camp that the prior interview was inoperative.  Ohtani's people didn't actually use the word "inoperative" in their statement, but it is one of my favorite words from the Nixon White House as the Watergate scandal metastasized over 50 years ago.   

 

The Dodgers quickly fired interpreter Mizuhara and word came out that his resume claiming that he previously had worked for other baseball teams turned out to be George Santos-like in its falsehoods. The team is charging Mizuhara with "theft" of the 5 million from Ohtani's account.

 

How big this scandal becomes is up to how thoroiugh media coverage will be as well as the depth of the MLB investigation which was somewhat belatedly promised. I am among the large group of skeptics who wonder whether such a probe will actually happen given the status of the popular Ohtani who signed in the off-season a $700 million Dodgers contract for 10 years with the money heavily backloaded. 

 

The wits and wags are already having a field day with this story. My favorite so far is: "If Pete Rose had an interpreter, he'd be in the Hall of Fame." (Thanks to Jay Goldberg, creator of the "Memory of America" project taping reminiscences of people's first baseball game, for sharing that beauty.)

 

This case broke in California because it is one of only 12 that doesn't allow legal bookmaking. In the Murphy v. NCAA case decided in May 2018,  a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the long-standing NCAA edict against players betting on its games violated the constitutional rights of the 50 states.  

 

As a historian needing to stay aware of the decaying civic life of his country, I cannot ignore this story. Yet I remain more devoted to the game on the field and the sagas of those who play this difficult and beautiful game. 

 

So let me turn now to my Orioles' promising start which actually began with a 23-5 record in spring training games, however meaningless the results were. With brand-new onwer David Rubenstein in attendance, Baltimore won its home opener on Th afternoon Mar 28, 11-3, over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, not exactly a prime opponent. 

 

New ace Orioles starter Corbin Burnes, a 2021 Cy Young winner for the Brewers, gave up a solo home run to Mike Trout in first inning and nothing more in six sterling innings that included 11 strikeouts.  

 

They took a 2-1 lead on Jordan Westburg's timely two-out single in bottom of the first and never looked back. How I love driving in the run from third with two out!  If I have a tombstone, it will read: AT LEAST HE DIDN'T DIE ON THIRD. 

 

Long home runs by right fielder Anthony Santander, a free agent after this season as will Corbin Burnes, and centerfielder Cedric Mullins added rich icing to the tasty cake of starting the year 1-0. 

 

It is a heady feeling for an Oriole fan to root for a genuine contender.  I like it, I like it.  Last year I put aside my alter ego Masochist Mel as the Birds soared to 101 regular season wins.  They couldn't handle the eventual world champion Texas Rangers in the playoffs but no team could. 

 

One other aspect of Opening Day that was especially heartwarming was the first ball thrown out by 10-year-old Aubree Singletary, the daughter of a Baltimore city postal worker.  The look of awe and bliss on her face as she walked on the field and gazed at the 45,000 people in the stands and the billowing Oriole flags on the field were enough to make a prince of paranoia forget his doubts about the future of his team and our great game itself. 

 

Cal Ripken Jr., who will be a part of the new ownership group, caught Aubree's short toss from in front of the mound.  What made this moment especially endearing is that David Rubenstein is the only child of a Baltimore city postal worker. 

 

Back to some reflections on the game. Westburg, a native of New Braunfels, Texas and a product of Mississippi State's fine program, was starting at DH but he should also see action at 2B and 3B during the year.  The Orioles seem loaded at almost all positions with a lot of hot young prospects - infielders Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo and outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers, among them - starting the year in the minors. 

 

Thanks to my quick finger on the remote clicker, I was able to see Yankee newcomer Juan Soto's great throw from right field that prevented the Astros from tying their home opener in bottom of 9th innning. One out later, the Yankees could enjoy an impressive 5-4 come-from-behind victory.  If Soto's performance in the field picks up to match his offensive productivity, the Yankees may be a worthy adversary for the Orioles throughout 2024.

 

Of course, it is far too early to make any accurate predictions but the rest of the AL East could be very competitive making for a great race.  Unfortunately, the so-called "balanced" schedule has cut intra-divisional games from 19 to 13 so there will be fewer dramatic August-September matchups. 

 

 

Now on to some brief basketball post-mortems for my favorite college teams:  The Wisconsin men and the Columbia women will have to wait until next year.   The Badgers landed with a thud on Friday Mar 21 when the upstart James Madison Dukes from Harrisonburg, Virgina rushed out to a 18-5 lead and never looked back.  But on the following Sunday, the blue blood Duke Blue Devils gave JMU a thrashing of their own to make the Sweet Sixteen against powerhouse Houston on Fri Mar 28. 

 

Wisconsin was led in scoring this year by St. John's transfer AJ Storr but he thinks he is NBA ready and will not return next season.  Thanks to an Ian Eagle comment on a CBS broadcast, I learned that Storr previously had attended FOUR high schools before choosing St. John's and then Wisconsin.

 

Whenever I throw up my hands at the transfer portal and the NIL opportunities for the players (Name, Image, Likeness), I remind myself that the coaches have always had the opportunity for free agency.  The latest example is Mark Byington, who led James Madison, will now coach at Vanderbilt.,  

 

It seems to me that Purdue and Connecticut are heading for a final matchup in the men's March Madness (spilling of course into April) but we'll see.  As Red Barber wisely advised us, "That's why they play the games." 

 

On the women's side, I was saddened to see Abbey Hsu's brilliant Columbia career end on a minor note as the larger and defensive-minded Vanderbilt Commodores held her to 13 points on 3-14 shooting in Columbia's debut in the NCAA tourney. The final score was 72-68 but the Lions never recovered from a big hole in the second period that led to a Dores' 10-point halftime lead.   

 

It was still thrilling to be part of a crowd of over a thousand that watched the game from the Virginia Tech home court on the big scoreboard screen in Columbia's Levien gym.

 

Vanderbilt was spanked by Baylor three days later and now the NCAA and the ESPN-ABC TV combine are hoping that Caitlin Clark's sparkling game can carry the Hawkeyes into the women's Final Four. 

 

Clark wasn't that impressive in Iowa's narrow win over West Virginia's plucky team that knocked out Princeton, the perennial Ivy representative.  It says here that Dawn Staley's undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks will be hard to dethrone but once again we'll see what happens. 

  

On the college baseball side, Columbia won two of three from Harvard last weekend and now faces defending Ivy champion Penn in a Sat doubleheader on Mar 29 and a single Easter Sunday game at noon, all games at Satow Stadium just north of Columbia's football field overlooking the Hudson.  In a short 20-game league season, these early matchups are especially crucial because only two teams qualify for the best-of-three playoff at the home of the first place team.   

 

Rutgers won a series over UConn last weekend and are on the road at Michigan State the weekend of Mar 28.  They return home to Bainton Field for local matchups against Hofstra Tu Apr 2 at 3p, Marist W Apr 3 at 6p, a weekend series against Purdue April 5-6-7 at 6p, 3p, 1p.

They travel to Seton Hall in South Orange on Tu Apr 9 at 4p and host Nebraska F-Su Apr 12-14 at 6p 3p, 12N. 

More on these programs and the perennial area powers St John's and Seton Hall and NYU's Division III team in the next post.

 

And now some TCM Turner Classc Movie tips into early April. The starred ones have some baseball and/or sports content.

*M Apr 1 1PM  Buster Keaton in "The Cameraman" (1928).  His baseball pantomime filmed at an empty Yankee Stadium is a special 4-minute masterpiece.

 

Tu Apr 2 Ann Dvorak day in the daylight hours. 

115P "Dr. Socrates" (1935) dir. William Dieterle and co-starring Paul Muni.

*645P "Racing Lady" (1937) Ann is hired by a well-to-do millionaire (a film so obscure it isn't even Leonard Maltin's indispensable guide!)

 

Th Apr 4 - two classics back-to-back

8P "Annie Hall" (1977) - Woody Allen and Diane Keaton and Christopher Walken as Keaton's weirdo Wisconsin brother 

10P "Diner" (1982) one of Barry Levinson's bouncy Baltimore-based films

 

F Apr 5

*1015A "Woman of the Year" (1942) the first Tracy-Hepburn film with Spencer as sportswriter and Katherine as international political influencer 

     Later in the evening come back-to-back Billy Wilder classics

8P "Double Indemnity" (1944) Stanwyck and MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson

10P "The Major and the Minor" (1942) Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland and a Robert Benchley moment early in film always worth re-seeing 

 

Sa Apr 6 more back-to-back classics

545P "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) dir. John Huston with Bogart/Walter Huston/Bruce Bennett/Tim Holt

8P "Blood on the Moon" (1948) dir. Robert Wise with Robert Mitchum/Barbara BelGeddes/Robert Preston (pre "Music Man"!)

 

Su Apr 7 12M "Violence" (1947) Noir Alley brings you Michael O'Shea/Sheldon Leonard/Nancy Coleman

   later that evening two music-themed movies of interest

8p "Young Man With A Horn" (1950) dir. Curtiz. Kirk Douglas/Lauren Bacall/the great Juano Hernandez

10p "New Orleans" (1947) a bit too talky but good performances by Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday

 

That''s all for now.  Stay positive, test negative, and always remember:  Take it easy but take it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent the week of March 13 in and near Sarasota, Florida. I saw my Orioles win a couple of games but I'm don't get carried away by victories in exhibition games because no manager makes moves to win those games.  Usually late inning pitchers are prospects (or suspects) just getting some exposure. 

 

I am looking forward to the first full season of switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman, the top prospect from Oregon State U. who in his mid-twenties may be emerging as a team leader.  After a slow start this spring due to a minor wrist injury, young Gunnar Henderson, another top prospect signed after high school in Alabama, looked like he was finding his batting stroke.  He seems ticketed for third base but can also play a good shortstop.

 

I'm rooting for RHP Dean Kremer, the last player in the organization from the Manny Machado trade a few seasons ago.  Kremer is the first dual Israeli-American in MLB history.  He pitched well for Israel in the World Baseball Classic and is proud of his long hair that occasionally becomes a man-bun. 

 

I am prouder of his desire to pitch deep into games. At least into the sixth or seventh inning to not only save the bullpen from over-usage, but also to defy the analytic shibboleth that pitchers cannot deal with a lineup a third time through. Puhleeze, let's get more pitchers wanting to extend themselves, learning to pitch while a little tired. 

 

Kremer becomes more important - as does another RHP Kyle Bradish who came over from the Angels some years ago in a trade for faded prospect Dylan Bunday - became word just came that DL Hall and Grayson Rodriguez, two projected top starters, will need more seasoning at Triple A Norfolk. 

 

Sarasota and nearby Bradenton have wonderful spring training baseball history.  Sarasota also has some great museums. If you have a chance, the Tiffany exhibit at the Selby Gardens near downtown Sarasota runs through Su Jun 25.  Charles Tiffany loved exploring nature as well as working with glass and Selby's mainly outdoor exhibit does great honor to his memory. 

 

A less well-known Sarasota attraction is the Marietta (Lee) Museum of Art and Whimsy open only three afternoons a week, Th thru Sat from 1-4p.  Located less than two miles south of the famous Ringling Museum, it features an astonishing array of offbeat paintings and sculptures that extend into the bathrooms. 

 

There is also a piano that anyone can sit down and play.  Somehow my romantic realist self managed to render an at-least melodically correct version of the Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Burke 1940s classic "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." 

 

I didn't see the Yankees and Mets play, but kudos to the Yankees for giving young Anthony Volpe, a Jersey guy, the shortstop job, at least in the early going.  Nothing like young blood to push and invigorate the veterans. 

 

On the other hand, the Mets have sent back to the minors their top prospects, third baseman Brett Baty  and catcher Francisco Alvarez.  One of manager Buck Showalter's fortes has always been developing youngsters.

 

He made Bernie Williams feel comfortable as a young Yankee center fielder and did the same in Baltimore for infielders Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop. One wonders if these decisions were

truly approved by him. 

 

The baseball season is so loooooong! I wish it were shorter but nobody listens to me on the macro

issues.  So let me conclude this post with paeans to how well the Columbia women cagers and surprisingly the Wisconsin men are playing.  

 

Columbia's women under 7th-year coach Megan Griffith narrowly missed the NCAA tournament.

Selfishly, I was glad because I could see the games at increasingly rocking Levien Gym, now

easily accessible at Broadway and 120th Street.  (No longer does one have to negotiate a lot of

steps on the campus.) 

 

"Creating a winning culture" is one of the great cliches of today's sports, but it is ever hard to achieve. 

Coach Griffith, an especially youthful 37, played for so-so Columbia teams under 4 different coaches. She became a 1000-point scorer in her career. 

 

After pro ball in Finland, she started a coaching career in the USA, spending several years at Princeton where she learned a lot about winning.  She is never afraid to talk about the W word.

 

So much of any winning philosophy comes from realizing that there are no such things as "small things".  Big things don't happen unless the small things are executed.  

 

Two examples from Columbia's recent NIT run have stood out.  First, when senior Duke transfer Jaida

Patrick fouled out of a stirring comeback 88-82 win over Syracuse - a rare occurrence by the

way because Columbia players know how to play in foul trouble - I noticed Jaida taking a clipboard on the bench and helping out with stats. 

 

My second observation came just before the second half of Sunday Mar 26's quarter-final win over Harvard, the 3rd Columbia W over a big Ivy rival in 4 games this season.  I noticed junior sharpshooter Abby Hsu and senior forward Kaitlin Davis quietly talking to each other as they slowly headed to the bench.  

 

Normally consistent scorers, they were out of sync in the first half, maybe not surprising because when you play a team four times, there are no secrets.  I had the sense though that they knew what to do in the second half.  Sure enough, Columbia opened up a 20-point lead and then held on to beat the Crimson 77-71. 

 

On Wed Mar 29 at 6p EDT, Columbia squares off against the Bowling Green Falcons on their home court in Ohio. The game will be televised on the extra-pay ESPN3 channel. A matchup between 27-5 Lions and 31-6 Palcons should be a doozy. 

 

The winner will face the winner of the Washington at Kansas game. We won't know definitely until after the Wed games where the final will be held but that game will be televised at 530p Sa April 1 on CBSSN which is channel 315 on Spectrum.

 

It has been a great joy to watch Griffith's five over the last few seasons, slowly but surely getting near the pinnacle of a championship.  It had to be a special treat for her to coach two more member of the 1000-point club, senior forwards Kaitlyn Davis and Sienna Durr. 

 

As for the Wisconsin Badgers' surprise run to the NIT Final Four, they are playing N. Texas State in Las Vegas at 7p Tu Mar 28 on ESPN.  The winner will face either Ohio Valley or UAB (U of Alabama Birmingham) at 940p on Th Mar 31 on ESPN.  

 

It took a disappointing year and only the second failure to make the Big Dance since 1998 for the

Badgers to re-awaken.  With Michigan State's loss to Kansas State in the Elite Eight at Madison

Square Garden, Wisconsin is the last Big Ten team standing even if it is "just" the NIT.

 

The emergence of junior transfer Max Klesmit as a clutch scorer as well as a gritty defender has given Wisconsin a huge boost.  So has the occasional offensive eruptions of junior 7-foot center

Steven Crowl.   Enigmatic sophomore point guard Chucky Hepburn doesn't have to be the only

big game shooter now. First year guard Connor Essegian has a shooting touch reminiscent of Columbia's Abby Hsu and maybe the ankle of versatile veteran Tyler Wahl has finally healed. 

 

That's all for now.  Next time more on the short but intense college basseball season in the NYC

area with such solid teams as Columbia, Fordham, Rutgers, and St. John's are in regular action.

Of special interest to me is the rare visit of UConn to Columbia on Tu aft Apr 4 at 330P.

 

Always remember - Take it easy but take it, and these days, stay positive, test negative.