The House That George Built

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The Frieze

I saw three games at "New" Yankee Stadium, the so-called "House That George Built," as my 19th ballpark of the summer. It wasn't my first visit, Mrs. Nomad and I had been there once before, so I knew what the Stadium was like. New and Old Stadiums - New on the Left via www.digitalcentrality.com I believe baseball stadiums are shrines to a team's baseball legacy. Each game played in the park honors that legacy. The stadium itself is perhaps the most visible statement about a team's respect for the past. Additionally, teams honor their greatest players with retired numbers and statues. SunTrust in Atlanta and Yankee Stadium have monument gardens, to name just two examples. Many teams have Hall of Fame areas in their stadiums that provide an important historical connection to the past for the fans of the future. Amateur Fields Occupy the Original SIte The original Yankee Stadium was the “Cathedral of Baseball.” So many vital events occurred at the original site, it's sad that it was torn down. Amateur baseball fields across the street now occupy that site. Building the replacement across the street was in my opinion, a tragic blunder. It's inconceivable that the Yankees, an organization that says it values its legacy and traditions more than almost anything else, demolished the old stadium. Baseball deserved better. The Yankees have broken a few of their other traditions as well. The Yankees Legacy From 1913 to 1922 the Yankees shared Manhattan’s Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants. Giants owner, Charles Stoneham and manager John McGraw found it frustrating that the upstart Yankees were a bigger draw than the World Champion Giants. The Yankees had this kid named Babe Ruth who was in the process of revolutionizing baseball and sports celebrity. Stoneham and McGraw's reaction to Ruth and the Yankees' increasing popularity was to evict them after the 1922 season. The Yankees ownership always wanted a permanent home in the area and built their new stadium right across the Harlem River in the Bronx. Legends Hall at the New Stadium The mammoth Yankee Stadium which people referred to as "The House That Ruth Built" opened at the start of the1923 season. For the next 85 years, Yankee Stadium was the center of the baseball universe. In that span, the Yankees won 39 pennants and 26 world championships. Great Yankee players like Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter thrilled the home town fans. Most of all, some very significant moments in baseball history happened there: Ruth's 60th home run Lou Gehrig's "luckiest man on the face of the earth" farewell Roger Maris' 61st home run Don Larson's World Series perfect game Jackie Robinson stealing home in the World Series Yankee Traditions As The Yankees won championships, they codified a series of traditions. The Yankees have: worn their iconic white pinstripe uniforms since 1912, continuously since 1915 worn plain gray uniforms with block lettered “New York” since 1916, continuously since 1931 never worn names…

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Farewell to Citi Field

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I ended my previous post about Citi Field saying that I couldn't go back. As I was, sitting in this ballpark I love and watching the team that I have been a fan of for over 50 years, I realized, that it's all a bit of a facade. Citi Field is a mere replica of Ebbets Field, located in Queens, not Brooklyn, and the home team is the Mets, not the Brooklyn Dodgers. The organization mimics a modern MLB club, the way its stadium mimics the great ballpark of Fred Wilpon (The Mets owner) dreams. So, I'm saying "Farewell to Citi Field" until things change. NOTE: I'm quite aware that as I started writing this piece, and decided to publish it, the Mets started winning. As of Monday morning August 5th, the team is 15 and 6 since the All-Star break. They are firmly back in contention for a wild card spot in the playoffs. I still stand by my statements herein that the Mets organization and ownership is weak and needs to change. Citi Field at Night I love the team, bleed orange and blue, etc, but I can't handle the owners' mismanagement and poor decision making any longer. The problem is not that the Mets have finished under .500 eight out of the last ten years. The sad fact is that Fred and Jeff Wilpon are horrible owners. They don't seem to want to build a competitive organization focused on putting a great product on the field. The last two years have been especially troubling. Credit Where Credit is Due That's not to say that the Mets front office has not had some successes. Quite the contrary, they drafted and developed last year's Cy Young Award winner - and possible baseball's best pitcher Jacob DeGrom. Additionally, the starting staff is also one of the best. The organization drafted or acquired in the minor leagues a good core of young players. These include Pete Alonso, this year's Home Run Derby winner and possible Rookie of the Year and Jeff McNeil who is in contention to lead the majors in hitting. The Mets will always be my team. I'll read about them and watch them at home, but I can't go to Citi Field until I see something positive from the organization. The Problem Is… Leadership Theo Epsteinslate.com Consider two baseball executives, Jeff Wilpon, and Theo Epstein. Both Wilpon and Epstein became head of baseball operations for their respective teams in approximately 2002. Epstein was hired based on his talent and experience. Wilpon took over when his father bought the team with little ability and no experience. In the approximately twenty years since they assumed their roles, Epstein broke the Boston Red Sox's 96-year and the Chicago Cubs 110-year eras of futility. Meanwhile, Jeff may be considered one of the worst leaders in the game. Jeff Wilpon Jeff Wilponamazingavenue.com Wilpon's defenders could point out that the Mets have come close to winning a championship during Wilpon's tenure. The Mets came…

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The Business of Baseball – Part One

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"Baseball is too much of a sport to be called a business and too much business to be called a sport."Philip Wrigley Bryce Harper is now happily ensconced in Philadelphia - Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado have signed big deals. In reaction, the Angels are considering a $350 million contract that will make Mike Trout an Angel for life. Pardon the pun. Thus ends a contentious offseason where some players signed epic deals. However, I'm leaving on my spring training trip, and there are still critical free agents without a home. Moreover, some players are so disgruntled that they are discussing striking when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) ends. I'm sure fans everywhere are wondering how millionaires could be so disgruntled. So what gives? I am a reasonably knowledgeable fan but have only a cursory understanding of the business issues at hand. So, I've decided to focus some of my attention and this summer's blog posts on the current labor situation. In so doing, I hope to become better versed in the subject and so can you, if you want to. To start, let me outline what I understand to be the issues that affect the current labor market situation. I'll explore many of these in detail in later posts. The Players Share of Baseball Revenues Always remember that the players are the product. Fans don't buy tickets to watch owners own or general managers manage. Fans want to see great players play. As such, the players should naturally expect to receive the lion's share of MLB's revenues. These revenues continue to increase year over year. Total baseball related revenue in 2018 was a record $10.3 Billion. The sport has experienced dramatic revenue increases since 1992 when Bud Selig became commissioner. Revenue is up an inflation-adjusted 377%. However, the players’ share of these record revenues has decreased from 57.3% in 2015 to 54.2% in 2018. This rate may have accelerated since signing the latest CBA before the start of the 2017 season. Why would payrolls decrease in a time of prosperity? The disparity of Team Revenues One argument is that some teams can pay higher salaries than others. Each team generates its income from ticket, concessions and merchandise sales. Significantly, each team receives different sums from their local TV and radio agreements. Thus, revenue per team is uneven, and only the higher earning teams can afford costly player salaries. For example, in 2017, the top-earning team, the Yankees, generated $619 million in revenue. In contrast, the Athletics made the lowest revenue, $210 million. Median revenue was $281 million. Naturally, the A's shouldn't be expected to match the Yankees payroll. The disparity is likely a factor, but only to a certain degree. If it was the only cause, then we would see a correlation between revenue and payroll. However, it's hard to see this pattern. Note what happens when rank the teams by their 2018 opening day payrolls, leaving the 2017 revenue in the chart. While I expect some of…

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Hitchcock, Suspense and the Designated Hitter

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“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” -Alfred Hitchcock- I'm likely not the first person to suggest that a baseball game is like a nine-act play. Usually, it's a bit of a melodrama. Hopefully, it's never a comedic farce. Each inning is an act. The game flows from act to act and builds suspense through a series of finite events. The finite nature of the game's elements separate it from other sports and makes its form of suspense so unique. For example, the only finite element in football is that the game is over after 60 minutes of play, unless it goes into overtime. However, participants can stretch the time using timeouts. Similarly, one could argue, that the number of downs is finite, however, the downs repeat. There are only eleven players per side, but they are interchangeable, and players can reenter the game. Basketball and hockey are similar. In contrast, baseball is vastly different. Consider these finite elements: Players can’t reenter the game, once removed Hitters only hit four or five times a game The best hitter can't hit in critical situations if its not his turn Pitchers can only throw 100 pitches or so before he risks injury The most valuable commodity is outs, each team gets only 27 - three per inning It's the way teams use these finite elements throughout the game that creates the building suspense. The suspense occurs when the participants are forced to face the consequences of the plays and decisions already made. These are the times when baseball is at its best - the times when spectators are compelled to sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the next pitch. We should avoid anything that takes away from the chances to make the game suspenseful. Hitchcock’s Definition of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock was a wonderful storyteller the master of suspense. He always kept his viewers on the edges of their seats. This is how Hitchcock defined suspense: "We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, 'Boom!' There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: 'You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!” The baseball game with the…

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