It's been a while since I posted to you dear readers and I have to say it has been a rather eventful few weeks in both baseball and American history.
On July 20th, the day after I finished my stimulating class on baseball culture at Chautauqua, former president Trump narrowly missed assassination.
A few days after that, President Biden wisely decided to give up his re-election campaign, and surprisingly with little of the Democratic Party's typical awkward chaos, current Veep Kamala Harris has picked up the mantle of a presentable Presidential candidate.
At least in the early going she has clearly galvanized the Democratic base. Since I believe that most Americans don't take or should take an election seriously until after Labor Day, no more word on politics from me until then. (Or to be more accurate, until the end of this blog.)
As I post before the first games of the first full weekend in August, the Orioles and Yankees are in a flat-footed tie for AL East supremacy with the Red Sox still in the hunt only 5 games behind and the Rays only 3 games behind Boston.
The Oriole injury bug is very serious with infielders Jordan Westburg and Jorge Mateo out until late September at the earliest. The closer situation is very unsettled with aging Craig Kimbrel in his second "reset" of the season. The offense remains inconsistent.
If I felt truly comfortable playing the role of the Prince of Paranoia, I would have entitled this post, "Where Is Aaron Hicks Now That We Really Need Him?" The scapegoat for Yankee failures in recent seasons really helped the Birds last summer with big hits, good defense, and veteran presence, but after being cut by the woeful Angels in late April this season, he has not resurfaced in the majors.
I will try to take the long view that the Orioles are still a young team and because of the infield injuries, they now have promising but raw rookie Coby Mayo getting a chance at third base and the ballyhooed still only 20-year-old Jackson Holliday getting another chance at second base.
What I cannot abide though are the continuing injuries to pitchers. It's an epidemic that affects every organization, including the best ones.
Satire may be the only way to deal with it.
Dan Bern, the gifted and prolific folk-rock singer/guitarist/composer, has given me permission to quote from two of his trenchant songs about the situation.
"27 Pitchers Gettin One Out Each" begins:
"I ran into Dave Roberts
The Dodgers manager
He had a faraway look in his eyes
I tell you sir
He said I'm lookin forward to my winter
On the beach
Dreaming of 27 pitchers getting 1 out each
27 pitchers getting 1 out each"
A later verse laments:
"The pitcher's mound used to be an all-day chore
But now it's lookin more like a revolving door
Sandy Koufax used to throw all nine or more
That kind of ball has gone out with the dinosaur"
A few years ago, Bern penned "Tommy John Surgery" with this acerbic verse:
"Get your kid's tommy john surgery whee
Before they know their abc's
Jump-start the process do it for your kid
You will not be sorry you did."
(You can hear more of the music and lyrics of Dan Bern, a native of Iowa with a national and international following, on Spotify and other
platforms listed at danbern.com)
The sports world suffered a tremendous loss on July 17th with the passing of Pat Williams at 84 in Orlando, Florida, where he made one of his basketball successes as the founding general manager of the NBA's Orlando Magic. He brought Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway to Orlando where they made two championship finals before Shaq moved to the golden riches of LA.
Earlier, Williams made a success with the pre-Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls but he had a a great love of baseball, too. Scouts still talk reverently about his success at building a fan base for the Carolina League Spartanburg Phillies, a job that brought Pat the 1967 Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year award.
At the time of his death, Pat was trying to put together a group to either bring the Tampa Bay Rays to Orlando or create an expansion franchise.
His energy, vision, and genuine support for those like myself outside the loop of the entrenched power structure in sports will be sorely missed.
My closing thoughts come from Richael Greenberg's 2003 Tony award-winning play "Take Me Out" that recently enjoyed a NYC revival. The speech near the end of the first act delivered by Mason, the player-agent who is falling in love with both baseball and the baseball player Darren who is preparing to come out as gay (thus the title of the play), reads in part:
"Baseball is better than democracy - at least democracy as it is practiced in this country - because, unlike democracy, baseball acknowledges loss. While conservatives tell you, 'Leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you, 'Interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says,
'Someone will lose.' Not only says it, insists upon it."
Next time you are subjected to a screamer on talk radio going ballistic, think about this speech and the essence of our great game.
Thanks all for now. My mantras remain: Stay Positive Test Negative and Take It Easy But Take It.