Baseball On My Brain

Do you ever think it would just be easier to be a Yankees fan?

Pat Lagreid — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:23:48 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if it would just be easier to be a Yankees fan…you know, assimilate into the masses, wear the dark navy blue with the interlocked white NY logo, cheer for the winners, the big payroll, the history, the pomp and circumstance.

I grew up in Seattle, and wasn’t much of a Mariners fan until the arrival of Griffey, Jr. and the ’95 team. To be honest, I rooted for the Pirates. I thought the Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke outfield was the best thing since sliced bread. They didn’t win a World Series, but I thought they were pretty cool all the same.

But then I realized that it’s important to cheer for the home team. Now I live in Phoenix, and I root for the Diamondbacks. Yes, they’re struggling; yes, D-backs fans were outnumbered when the Yankees came to town a few weeks ago and are challenged for numbers when the Dodgers and Cubs come to town, but when you live six blocks from Chase Field as I do, pay your Arizona taxes and left one town in search of better opportunities in another, I think you have to show some love to the locals.

Of course, I still cheer for the Mariners, I still love Seattle, and I would love nothing more than a World Series between the Mariners and Diamondbacks, and I would be happy regardless who won.

But then again, I watch the All Star Game and wonder, would it be easier to just put on a Yankees hat and join the masses?

I’m seriously envious of 12,228 people right now

Pat Lagreid — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:15:15 +0000

Because they saw something I have yet to see – a perfect game.

I could jump on the angle of saying “this is why you need to go to the ballpark every day, or at least watch every game you can,” but I’m not going to – even though I feel that way, and truth be told it’s what drives me to the ballpark a lot of times. I simply don’t want to miss something great happening.

I know that going to every game isn’t practical for most people, so while in my utopia I would hope that would be the case, I know in this world it’s not practical.

But what is practical is to wake up and show up every day, because you never know what life has in store for you. Maybe it’s a perfect game in some other way — closing a big deal at work, your child’s first steps or first words, a great sunset, a delicious meal, the future love of your life – you just never know.

Sunday was sure a great day to be at the ballpark in Oakland. But everyday can be a great day to be wherever you are.

Would Zach Greinke be Zach Greinke if he didn’t play for the Royals?

Pat Lagreid — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:46:53 +0000

Just a question, but I wonder if Zach Greinke would be Zach Greinke if he didn’t play for the Royals? Give him more run support and/or a bigger market to play in, would he be the same pitcher?

Just a thought. There seems to be lots of calls for sympathy for him, or at least his won-loss record this year, but maybe Greinke is the pitcher he is simply because of the situation he’s in with the Royals.

My issue with the no-hitter code

Pat Lagreid — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:06:55 +0000

There’s been a lot of griping coming across my radar lately about people ruining a pitcher’s chance at a no-hitter. In particular, my friend Dave Sims, who is one of the play-by-play announcers for the Seattle Mariners, has had the public finger pointed at him a couple of times. Dave is adamant that he doesn’t believe in not mentioning no-hitters when he’s on the air, which hasn’t been terribly popular with fans of course, and he was even called out in the Arizona Republic for breaking the code.

It seems as if fans become so overzealous to see a no-hitter that when it doesn’t happen, they quickly look to pin the blame on anybody they deem even remotely reasonable. This is absurdly silly to me.

Here’s how I look at it: say you go to a game with 25,000 people in attendance, not counting the players, umpires, staff, broadcasters, and so on. Out of all those people, who has the gravitas to affect the events on the field? And why aren’t you pointing your finger at them?

What if some guy up in the nosebleeds with a gut that makes him look 29 months pregnant and has been pounding overpriced beers since getting off work looks up at the scoreboard between bites of his second hot dog and says “holy heck, this feller’s ain’t gave up a hit yet!” Could he be responsible?

What about a new usher who is unaware of the code and mentions it to a fan? They’re employed by the team, so maybe they have the ear of the baseball gods.

Of course, the broadcaster is a popular target, as they are behind the microphone and having their voice carried out via radio, television and internet to the masses who couldn’t make it to the game. They’re also generally employed by the team, so maybe it’s their combination of proximity to the game and the reach of their voices that is enough to disrupt the harmony of a no-hitter in progress.

Or what about the team being no-hit? If logic held, wouldn’t they all be talking about it in hopes of breaking it up? I wouldn’t be talking about anything but the no-hitter happening in hopes of notching our first hit. And that goes for their broadcasters, ushers, fans and heart-attacks-waiting-to-happen in the bleachers.

Truth be told, I don’t buy it. Any of it.

Now, I wouldn’t be one to talk about a no-hitter if I were playing in the game, unless of course I were on the opposite team. I generally don’t talk about them if I’m watching a game, but that’s just the tradition of the code manifesting itself after years of being around baseball. I don’t really believe it, but it still crops up every once in a while.

The truth of the matter is the only people that are truly deserving of pointing the finger at are the ones between the white lines on the field. If a pitcher leaves a pitch up in the zone and a batter turns it into a hit, then it’s the pitcher’s fault the no-hitter fell apart, or the batter’s fault if you want to place blame on a person for doing his job. Likewise, if a fielder doesn’t get to a ball, then it’s the GM’s fault for signing him or the manager’s fault for playing him in place of a better defender.

The let-down of seeing a no-hitter broken up is certainly understandable, as it’s one of the rare events that fans ever get to see. But to place the blame for the demise of a work in progress is simply not becoming of a true baseball fan. The true fan appreciates the wonderful performance put forth and hopes to see an even better one the next time they go to the ballpark.

I really wish I had memories of my first baseball game

Pat Lagreid — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:50:49 +0000

As I was walking to a Diamondbacks game the other day, I was waiting at a stop light when a family of four joined me at the curb and we waited for the light to change so we could continue on our way.

I happened to over hear the dad talking to his daughter, and the younger of the two – she was probably three or four – and was asking her if she was excited to see her first baseball game.

It was then that I realized that I don’t have any tangible mementos of the first big league game I saw — nor can I really recall the first game I ever saw. It saddened me a bit to realize this…

As I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of why I don’t recall this — I went to a couple of games in the Kingdome in Seattle, and I distinctly remember going to a Brewers-Rangers game in Old County Stadium in Milwaukee when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I remember going to some Mariners games when I was in high school – particularly one game in 1993 when I bought the Mariners’ brand new all-navy hat with the new logo at one of the concession stands on the concourse.

I remember watching games on TV at my grandma’s house – complete with Jiffy Pop in the pans you put on the stove and the aluminum foil puffed up into that silver bubble.

But for the life of me, I can’t remember the first Major League Baseball game I ever saw. Which is kind of a shame, because so many people have such fond memories of that game – who they went with, the players, the stadium, the food, and so on. It seems like one of those indelible marks that is made upon almost every American child.

Now, I’ve taken a few people to see their first baseball game, including my girlfriend when we were in college – an A’s-Giants exhibition game in Oakland – as well as her father and some of her cousins. So while I don’t necessarily remember my own, I am fortunate enough to remember the first games of several other people. But I’d still like to have some memories from my first time.

So, parents, keep some souvenirs from that first game that your child goes to – the ticket stub and some photos will more than suffice – and keep it in a place for them to look back on someday. Some day in the future, they just may want to when they see a youngster going to his first game.