GaryMrMets
03-04-2002, 05:53 PM
http://baseball-almanac.com/legendary/li162bb.shtml
In April 1997, baseball columnist Andrew Postman wrote a superb article for Diversion magazine giving one-hundred sixty-two reasons why he was happy baseball was back. It may be recent history, but it is still nothing short of legendary.
162 Reason's We're Glad Baseball's Back
by Andrew Postman
# Reason
1. World Series afterglow. The 1996 triumph by the long-lost Yankees left a sweet aftertaste in almost every fan's mouth - except perhaps Ted Turner's.
2. For the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs, this is next year.
3. Baseball moves faster than golf.
4. The labor agreement between the owners and the players. Pinch us.
5. Great new baseball names like Arquimedez Pozo, Ugueth Urbina, and Pork Chop Pough.
6. This is the year we finally catch a foul ball.
7. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully.
8. Dick Vitale only covers college basketball.
9. Fewer guys are wearing goatees.
10. Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield will continue to get batters out with that cockamamy knuckleball.
11. The bratwursts at Milwaukee's County Stadium.
12. Maybe this year former World Series goats Mitch Williams and Bill Buckner can enjoy some peace. (Who am I kidding?)
13. A new batch of rookies in their first-ever at bats.
14. Every rookie (see no.13) who singles in his first-ever at bat, then stands on first, nonchalantly tucking his batting gloves in his back pocket and trying to look cool, when everyone can tell a smile is just aching to explode across his face.
15. Ninth-inning, two-out rallies.
16. Yet another season for fans to marvel at how that crafty old ploy - pitcher-fakes-throw-to-third-then-wheels-around-to-mail-runner-napping-on-first move - continues never to work. Never, ever.
17. The strike zone will get bigger. (Logic? It can't get smaller.)
18. The chance to see if Seattle Mariner Alex Rodriguez is for real, after he gave us the most phenomenal season by a middle infielder. Ever. While barely more than a rookie.
19. The opening-month fantasy: the one that has you calculating the seasonal stats of your favorite player, who, if he can just maintain the pace he set in the season-opening, three-game series against Colorado Rockies pitching, is on pace to hit 216 HRs and 648 RBIs.
20. The throwing.
21. No clock.
22. The Baseball Encyclopedia.
23. Right before the Super Bowl, The New York Times had to pad the front page of its sports section with profiles of Dennis Rodman and Brian "the Boz" Bosworth.
24. 6-4-3.
25. Cubs rooters, those beacons of dignity who, awash in a national sea of fair-weather fans, continue their traditions of throwing back enemy homers and never doing the wave.
26. TV doesn't need to make the ball a blue dot or a red whoosh to get us to watch.
27. The phrase (about any player who had only the briefest of major league careers) "He was up for a cup of coffee."
28. Interleague play. Get ready Ohioans: Indians-Reds games count now. As do, Bay Area fans, meetings of the A's and the Giants. Et cetera.
29. This is still the only sport you can enjoy on the radio.
30. The hope, if utterly unfounded, that the quality of callers to sports radio talk shows will improve.
31. After three-plus decades in the game, Yankees manager-good guy Joe Torre finally gets a World Series ring.
32. The upper-deck, right-field facing at Tiger Stadium.
33. A team at the bottom of the payroll list (maybe Montreal or Milwaukee) will give the big-bucks boys (the Braves, the Orioles, the Yankees, the White Sox) a run for their money, at least until September.
34. Better April weather than in 1996. We hope.
35. The American flag snapping in the afternoon wind at Wrigley Field, a sure sign that despite the earnest efforts of pitchers who take the mound that day (all 14 of them) the game will end up a 19-17 affair.
36. Atlanta Braves ace Greg Maddux, having not won the Cy Young for the first time in four years, and having lost the final game of the World Series, actually has something to prove. Scary.
37. The trend in stadium design toward greater intimacy (Baltimore, Cleveland, Texas) and real grass (Kansas City, St. Louis and Denver).
38. Some hotshot young announcer with a great home run call. (May I try mine? "High. Far. Gone. End of Story!" Okay, maybe not.)
39. Great Cuban born players, such as Osvaldo Fernandez of the Giants and Ariel Prieto of the A's, making a good living playing with and against their equals.
40. Chalk, rosin, eye black.
41. Seattle Mariners fireballer Randy Johnson once more composing chin music.
42. Oakland A's slugger Mark McGwire uncoiling from his stance and giving the hoi polloi in the fourth deck a chance to scramble for a loose ball.
43. National League umpire Jerry Crawford making a third-strike call, with mustard.
44. Blue Jays catcher Benito Santiago gunning a runner down at second, with time to spare... from his knees.
45. Kenny Lofton (Indians) and Marquis Grissom (Braves), Havoc Lads nos. 1 and 2 on the base paths, provoking migraines on the mound.
46. Perennial batting champs and future Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn (San Diego) and Wade Boggs (New York) taking a close pitch and getting the call. Deservedly.
47. The fastball of Atlanta Braves stopper Mark Wohlers.
48. The motion of New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera.
49. Florida Marlins outfielder-alchemist Devon White climbing the wall to turn a homer into an out.
50. Cal Ripken Jr. just sitting in the Baltimore dugout, with blue-eyed intensity, watching the game.
51. A season of severely decreased macarenas.
52. The chance to pick which Dodgers phenom wins Rookie of the Year (five in a row and counting).
53. The chance to pick which Braves pitcher wins the Cy Young. (Are you listening, Denny Neagle?)
54. Third base coaches giving signs.
55. Michael Jordon is sticking to hoops.
56. Brian Jordan, former Pro Bowl defensive back and current St. Louis Cardinals star outfielder, is forgoing football.
57. The 1996-1997 Boston Celtics.
58. Some player thought to be in the twilight of his career will turn back the clock. (The 1996 crop: Roger Clemens fans 20; Dwight Gooden tosses first career no-hitter; Gary Gaetti flashes renewed home run swing.)
59. The All-Star Home Run Derby.
60. Leagues Grapefruit and Cactus.
61. A chance to see if Aussie Graeme Lloyd can actually pitch more than on inning for the Yankees without some announcer using the phrase "Down Under."
62. Teams who, believe it or not, are actually using the same uniform motif and colors for the second year in a row.
63. The hope, if dim, that one starting pitcher, on a team not based in Atlanta, will be allowed to go the full nine innings.
64. The sound of wooden bat meeting ball.
65. Sox. White, Red, Blue, Argyle, whatever.
66. World Series broadcasts: This year they'll be land-mined solely by the usual and numbing corporate hectoring of Nike/GM/Bud Light, and not also by nasty and numbing political commercials.
67. It's the 100th anniversary of five-foot-four-inch Wee Willie "Hit 'em where they ain't" Keeler's greatest (and only) .400 season, a phenomenal .432 in 1897.
68. It's the 50th anniversary of Al Gionfriddo's famous World Series catch against Joe DiMaggio. (The Dodgers won the game, but naturally, managed to lose the Series.)
69. It's the 25th anniversary of Oakland A's catcher Gene Tenace's becoming the first player ever to homer in his first two World Series at bats. Okay, maybe this one's a stretch.
70. Speed guns.
71. On Opening Day, all 27 clubs who didn't win the 1996 World Series will fully believe that they have learned from last year's mistakes.
72. For Pittsburgh Pirates fans: only 13 weeks to the start of Steelers training camp.
73. For Houston Astros fans: This September can't possibly be worse than last year's shoot-self-in-foot September.
74. For Boston Red Sox Fans: This April can't possibly be worse than last year's dig-crater-too-huge-to-climb-out-of April. (Also for Red Sox fans, as well as everyone else, Mo Vaughn.)
75. For St. Louis Cardinals fans: the chance to erase the sting of a 32-1 hammering by the Braves in the final three games of the season.
In April 1997, baseball columnist Andrew Postman wrote a superb article for Diversion magazine giving one-hundred sixty-two reasons why he was happy baseball was back. It may be recent history, but it is still nothing short of legendary.
162 Reason's We're Glad Baseball's Back
by Andrew Postman
# Reason
1. World Series afterglow. The 1996 triumph by the long-lost Yankees left a sweet aftertaste in almost every fan's mouth - except perhaps Ted Turner's.
2. For the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs, this is next year.
3. Baseball moves faster than golf.
4. The labor agreement between the owners and the players. Pinch us.
5. Great new baseball names like Arquimedez Pozo, Ugueth Urbina, and Pork Chop Pough.
6. This is the year we finally catch a foul ball.
7. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully.
8. Dick Vitale only covers college basketball.
9. Fewer guys are wearing goatees.
10. Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield will continue to get batters out with that cockamamy knuckleball.
11. The bratwursts at Milwaukee's County Stadium.
12. Maybe this year former World Series goats Mitch Williams and Bill Buckner can enjoy some peace. (Who am I kidding?)
13. A new batch of rookies in their first-ever at bats.
14. Every rookie (see no.13) who singles in his first-ever at bat, then stands on first, nonchalantly tucking his batting gloves in his back pocket and trying to look cool, when everyone can tell a smile is just aching to explode across his face.
15. Ninth-inning, two-out rallies.
16. Yet another season for fans to marvel at how that crafty old ploy - pitcher-fakes-throw-to-third-then-wheels-around-to-mail-runner-napping-on-first move - continues never to work. Never, ever.
17. The strike zone will get bigger. (Logic? It can't get smaller.)
18. The chance to see if Seattle Mariner Alex Rodriguez is for real, after he gave us the most phenomenal season by a middle infielder. Ever. While barely more than a rookie.
19. The opening-month fantasy: the one that has you calculating the seasonal stats of your favorite player, who, if he can just maintain the pace he set in the season-opening, three-game series against Colorado Rockies pitching, is on pace to hit 216 HRs and 648 RBIs.
20. The throwing.
21. No clock.
22. The Baseball Encyclopedia.
23. Right before the Super Bowl, The New York Times had to pad the front page of its sports section with profiles of Dennis Rodman and Brian "the Boz" Bosworth.
24. 6-4-3.
25. Cubs rooters, those beacons of dignity who, awash in a national sea of fair-weather fans, continue their traditions of throwing back enemy homers and never doing the wave.
26. TV doesn't need to make the ball a blue dot or a red whoosh to get us to watch.
27. The phrase (about any player who had only the briefest of major league careers) "He was up for a cup of coffee."
28. Interleague play. Get ready Ohioans: Indians-Reds games count now. As do, Bay Area fans, meetings of the A's and the Giants. Et cetera.
29. This is still the only sport you can enjoy on the radio.
30. The hope, if utterly unfounded, that the quality of callers to sports radio talk shows will improve.
31. After three-plus decades in the game, Yankees manager-good guy Joe Torre finally gets a World Series ring.
32. The upper-deck, right-field facing at Tiger Stadium.
33. A team at the bottom of the payroll list (maybe Montreal or Milwaukee) will give the big-bucks boys (the Braves, the Orioles, the Yankees, the White Sox) a run for their money, at least until September.
34. Better April weather than in 1996. We hope.
35. The American flag snapping in the afternoon wind at Wrigley Field, a sure sign that despite the earnest efforts of pitchers who take the mound that day (all 14 of them) the game will end up a 19-17 affair.
36. Atlanta Braves ace Greg Maddux, having not won the Cy Young for the first time in four years, and having lost the final game of the World Series, actually has something to prove. Scary.
37. The trend in stadium design toward greater intimacy (Baltimore, Cleveland, Texas) and real grass (Kansas City, St. Louis and Denver).
38. Some hotshot young announcer with a great home run call. (May I try mine? "High. Far. Gone. End of Story!" Okay, maybe not.)
39. Great Cuban born players, such as Osvaldo Fernandez of the Giants and Ariel Prieto of the A's, making a good living playing with and against their equals.
40. Chalk, rosin, eye black.
41. Seattle Mariners fireballer Randy Johnson once more composing chin music.
42. Oakland A's slugger Mark McGwire uncoiling from his stance and giving the hoi polloi in the fourth deck a chance to scramble for a loose ball.
43. National League umpire Jerry Crawford making a third-strike call, with mustard.
44. Blue Jays catcher Benito Santiago gunning a runner down at second, with time to spare... from his knees.
45. Kenny Lofton (Indians) and Marquis Grissom (Braves), Havoc Lads nos. 1 and 2 on the base paths, provoking migraines on the mound.
46. Perennial batting champs and future Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn (San Diego) and Wade Boggs (New York) taking a close pitch and getting the call. Deservedly.
47. The fastball of Atlanta Braves stopper Mark Wohlers.
48. The motion of New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera.
49. Florida Marlins outfielder-alchemist Devon White climbing the wall to turn a homer into an out.
50. Cal Ripken Jr. just sitting in the Baltimore dugout, with blue-eyed intensity, watching the game.
51. A season of severely decreased macarenas.
52. The chance to pick which Dodgers phenom wins Rookie of the Year (five in a row and counting).
53. The chance to pick which Braves pitcher wins the Cy Young. (Are you listening, Denny Neagle?)
54. Third base coaches giving signs.
55. Michael Jordon is sticking to hoops.
56. Brian Jordan, former Pro Bowl defensive back and current St. Louis Cardinals star outfielder, is forgoing football.
57. The 1996-1997 Boston Celtics.
58. Some player thought to be in the twilight of his career will turn back the clock. (The 1996 crop: Roger Clemens fans 20; Dwight Gooden tosses first career no-hitter; Gary Gaetti flashes renewed home run swing.)
59. The All-Star Home Run Derby.
60. Leagues Grapefruit and Cactus.
61. A chance to see if Aussie Graeme Lloyd can actually pitch more than on inning for the Yankees without some announcer using the phrase "Down Under."
62. Teams who, believe it or not, are actually using the same uniform motif and colors for the second year in a row.
63. The hope, if dim, that one starting pitcher, on a team not based in Atlanta, will be allowed to go the full nine innings.
64. The sound of wooden bat meeting ball.
65. Sox. White, Red, Blue, Argyle, whatever.
66. World Series broadcasts: This year they'll be land-mined solely by the usual and numbing corporate hectoring of Nike/GM/Bud Light, and not also by nasty and numbing political commercials.
67. It's the 100th anniversary of five-foot-four-inch Wee Willie "Hit 'em where they ain't" Keeler's greatest (and only) .400 season, a phenomenal .432 in 1897.
68. It's the 50th anniversary of Al Gionfriddo's famous World Series catch against Joe DiMaggio. (The Dodgers won the game, but naturally, managed to lose the Series.)
69. It's the 25th anniversary of Oakland A's catcher Gene Tenace's becoming the first player ever to homer in his first two World Series at bats. Okay, maybe this one's a stretch.
70. Speed guns.
71. On Opening Day, all 27 clubs who didn't win the 1996 World Series will fully believe that they have learned from last year's mistakes.
72. For Pittsburgh Pirates fans: only 13 weeks to the start of Steelers training camp.
73. For Houston Astros fans: This September can't possibly be worse than last year's shoot-self-in-foot September.
74. For Boston Red Sox Fans: This April can't possibly be worse than last year's dig-crater-too-huge-to-climb-out-of April. (Also for Red Sox fans, as well as everyone else, Mo Vaughn.)
75. For St. Louis Cardinals fans: the chance to erase the sting of a 32-1 hammering by the Braves in the final three games of the season.