77 thoughts on “January 16, 2020: Ballparks Like Grains Of Sand”

  1. Current: Minnesota, both Chicagos, Kansas City, Cleveland, Baltimore, Toronto, Seattle, Pittsburgh,
    Washington, and St. Louis.

    Former: Old Yankme (Game 1, 2004 ALDS- the last playoff game won), Metrodome

  2. Current: Target, Chicago, Chicago, Milwaukee, StLouis, KC, Philadelphia, Yankees, Cleveland, Boston, San Diego, Colorado, Washington.

    Old: Metrodome, StLouis, Milwaukee, Yankee.

  3. Current: Target Field, Kauffman Stadium, and Citi Field*.

    Past: Metrodome.

    * He Who Must Not But Often Is Named's son hit a walkoff home run.

        1. Actually, at the time I went to a game at Mile High Stadium, they were still the minor league Denver Zephyrs. Maybe that means it doesn't count, I don't know. But it became a major league stadium, so I count it anyway.

  5. Current: The Cell Guaranteed Rate, Target Field, The Big A Angel Stadium, Busch Stadium, Kauffman Stadium, Dodger Stadium

    Past: Jack Murphy Stadium, the Metrodome, Metropolitan Stadium, old Busch Stadium

  6. Current: Target Field, Miller Park, Guaranteed Rate, Wrigley, Fenway
    Past: Metrodome. Metropolitan, Milwaukee County, Comisky, Yankee, Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

  7. Current: Target Field, Kauffman, Comiskey, Wrigley, Miller, Great American, Camden Yards

    Defunct: Metrodome, Shea, Veteran's Stadium (Philly), Busch

    Still sorta mad at myself I didn't make a better (any) effort to see games at Arlington and Houston when I lived in Austin

    1. This was the inside of the door at the parking garage at work today.

      I should note that the vestibule I stood in as I took this picture is heated.

  10. Current: The LOL, Petco Park, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Wrigley Field, Coors Field, Safeco Field, Miller Park, The Cell
    Former: The Dome, County Stadium

    I feel like Tiger Stadium was my biggest miss.

  11. Old Yanqui, Fenway, Camden, Memorial, the Ted, old Busch, Wrigley, Old Comiskey, New Comiskey, Jack Murphy, the Coliseum, Safeco (now T-Mobile).

    And, of course, the Met, Hump, and Target.

  12. Combining last night's list with today's, I think we're missing Tropicana, Marlins, and Comerica; or a former park of those teams. That's assuming I correctly interpreted "the Ted" as Mr. Turner's park.

      1. I've been there. I was going to a wedding near Detroit on a Saturday and realized on Friday that I was watching a Twins game in Detroit. Immediately got tickets for the Sunday game. Kubes hit a granny if I recall.

        Besides that, just Wrigley, the GRate, Miller, Metrodome, Target Field... I think that's it.

      1. That leaves the Marlins. Anyone visiting Florida this year during the season needs to arrange to watch a game now.

    1. We've tried to visit a new baseball stadium each summer with little G. I know I've listed these before, but he's off to a good start:

      2014 - Coors Field
      2015 - Arlington
      2016 - Target Field
      2017 - Comerica
      2018 - Guaranteed Rate + Wrigley
      2019 - Miller Park
      2020 - Tropicana for sure (grandparents in Tampa) + maybe Cleveland, maybe Fenway

      1. Met Stadium, Bloomington
        Metrodome, Minneapolis
        #2 Target Field, Minneapolis
        Miller Park, Somewhere in Sconnie
        Citizen's Bank Park, Philly
        Old Yanquis Place, Bronx
        New Yanquis Place, Bronx
        Pac Bell Park, San Frisco
        #1 Camden Yards, Baltimore
        Minor league:
        Rock Cats, New Britain
        Yard Goats, Hartford

        1. Well, if we're going to count minor leagues:
          Sixty Sixers, Inland Empire (San Bernardino)
          Quakes, Rancho Cucamonga
          Storm, Lake Elsinore
          Indians, Spokane
          Other possibilities (can't remember for sure):
          Aquasox, Everett
          Hawks, Boise
          Also, I've watched my boys play baseball at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino, which used to be the home field for the San Bernardino Spirit and the spring training field for the Pirates and the St. Louis Browns. (It was built in 1934).

  14. One of my least favorite Wolves player ever finally gone

        1. According to Calcaterra, she's not listed as employee, but she was hired as one last year. Unclear what the status is but definitely a situation in which you should recuse yourself. Plus, MLB explicitly instructed teams and their employees to not comment on it. Especially the Dodgers.

          1. Sounds like Jessica Mendoza still works for the Mets (update to Calcaterra’s piece):

            In regards to the Mets, I want to make it extra clear that my advisor role with the team does not shape my opinion in any way, shape or form on this matter. I feel this way regardless of what teams, players or managers are involved.

            She also claims what she meant to say is that she thinks Fiers should’ve “surfaced” this through MLB. Manfred’s remarks to Tom Werner about having to investigate the Red Sox indicate Fiers was right to go to Drellich & Rosenthal.

        2. To do the right thing and expose cheating that leads to punishment for the cheaters, it's hard to swallow. Might as well be the motto of our times.

  16. This is a huge bummer for me. Rugby has been so vital to me over the last 12 (?! Holy crap that long?) years.

    USA Rugby is broke. (PDF)

    Some choice quotes

    BACKGROUND
    USAR finds itself in dire financial straits.

    Strong opener.

    the RWC cost was $700,000 more than budgeted. … Our national team was funded at roughly $2.5 million.

    Not sure how you’re off by almost 25% on how much the World Cup’s gonna cost. Not like it was a surprise.

    Second, commercial income was dealt a severe blow by the misguided preoccupation of RIM [Rugby International Marketing] on the Rugby Channel, which squandered the $7.2m investment into RIM.

    RIM was the biggest boondoggle. I knew they were awful, but $7.2M down the drain?!?!

    I was able to find my very first player registration. Back in 2008, my membership in USA rugby was $23, though I think that was prorated because I joined mid-season. 2011 was $35/year. Now registration is $50/year. I won't be surprised if their fix is to try to squeeze more out of the grassroots players and end up killing the game.

    A friend has indicated that he's heard they may not play the National Championships next year. Last year, the location was a disaster. Changed at the last minute if I recall.

        1. Aye. I’ve been a hater of organ meats my whole life, although I do like an occasional braunschweiger on pumpernickel rye sandwich (with thin red onion slices and spicy brown mustard). And I don’t detest liver patè.

            1. My dad loved chicken gizzards and I’ve tried them but I’m not a big fan. Never had tail or tongue served to me. I tried Rocky Mountain oysters on a drunken dare but don’t remember how it tasted. I use shanks to make bean soup, but I’ve rejected headcheese every time it was offered. I just prefer eating high on the hog.

                1. It took me a hot minute to get into head cheese, but I’m glad I eventually got to the party. Boudin, cracklings, emulsified meats, pate of all kinds.... thank goodness I live in the land of Cajun meat engineering.

              2. I much prefer heart and liver to gizzard. You have to cook gizzard a long time with moist heat to make it edible. Fine for giblet gravy....

                Beef Tongue is awesome.

                1. In that smalltown MN school I went to, I knew a bunch of the Japanese kids there. We'd do yaki niku parties now and then, and they were very happy that the local butcher sold beef tongue on the cheap.

    2. Looks yummy. OK I see maybe 2 cabbages, cilantro, tomato sauce, pork, limes, I'm guessing there's some heat there.

      1. Red Chile dominated broth. Could have been more porky (but there was a LOT of pork). Garnished with cabbage, onion, cilantro and jalapenos (or maybe serranos) and lime.

        Mild heat.

  18. Well, here's Trevor Bauer corroborating a story from Beltran's niece that Altuve & Bregman wore buzzers under their jersey that they could buzz from the back.

    If you look in the replies, there's a video of Altuve holding on so his shirt didn't get ripped off after his walk off in game 7 of the ALCS. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

    2. If true, this is super sad. Altuve & Bregman go from still somewhat likable to full out awful.

      1. I've seen way too many athletes, entertainers, politicians and other icons fall from grace to expect much more than self-service from most human beings. There's just not enough Jim Thome in the world anymore.

        1. That's why I never point to any public figures as role models. We've seen too many who were wonderful human beings until all of a sudden they weren't.

    3. Jomboy* has issued a correction, but a qualified one:

      He also tweeted this a while earlier, lending credibility to the claim.

      This tech seems expensive. If the report is accurate, where did the budget line come from? I’m guessing the Alex Cora didn’t pay for this setup out of his pocket. Furthermore, this seems like the kind of thing that a well-resourced club might experiment with for a few years. It’s innovative, which matches the Astros’ MO, but the development cost seems like it required resources & coordination beyond the clubhouse (or the franchise?).

      * I don’t follow him, but he’s sure been on top of this since November.

  19. Here’s something that hasn’t sat right with me since Cora was implicated in Manfred’s report:

    After retiring from playing, Cora became a color analyst for ESPN. He had no prior MLB coaching experience, yet he was hired to be the bench coach of the Astros, a position that is typically occupied by a seasoned coach or ex-manager who supports the manager. Manfred’s report states “[e]arly in the season, Alex Cora, the Astros’ Bench Coach, began to call the replay review room on the replay phone to obtain the sign information.” Two months later, Cora was arranging for a direct video feed from the center field camera to a monitor outside the dugout. That...escalated really quickly.

    Why would a player without any coaching experience get that gig? What low-level baseball ops employee in the replay room was providing the budget for this? I’m no trying to get into tinfoil hat territory, but I’ve wondered about those details.

  20. Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, Busch Stadium, Coors Field, Wrigley Field, US Cellular Field, Dodger Stadium, T-Mobile Park, Target Field, and the HHH Metrodome. I went to Metropolitan Stadium once in college, but it was for a Kicks game so I don't know if that counts.

  22. So, thinking of skipping Fort Myers for this winter and had a crazy thought of going to Puerto Rico the week that the PGA tour is there. Thought it would be the best opportunity to be able to actually follow a few specific groups around the course. Tickets are only $25/day to get into the event. Any of you travel there? Any tips?

    1. I've been to Puerto Rico but I was in a resort for a wedding and it was pre-hurricane. I don't think I'm much help.

      1. I’ve been, but it was only for a couple of days, and was almost 10 years ago, so I don’t have much input either. We did some typical touristy things, I think. I know we went to the fort in San Juan and enjoyed that, but I don’t remember anything else that particularly stands out.

    2. Back in 2016 when the Ryder Cup was at Hazeltine, Younger Daughter went to the celebrity golf event to see Niall Horan because she's a big fan. She invited me to go along, but I declined the offer because I was working and didn't give a rip about following Niall Horan around the course for four hours, so she gave her other ticket to someone else. The next day I asked her how it was. She said it was fun as hell because Horan's group happened to include Bill Murray. I still have the palm marks on my forehead from that one.

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