New York Nine

Baseball the way it was meant to be, down and dirty with brutally honest analysis

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

An Ode to A Noble Game

Of all the games played today in the United States and abroad, baseball stands out as the most peculiar, simultaneously simple and inexorably perplexing all at once. Indeed, upon first glance a baseball game seems haphazardly put together, men standing around a diamond and a field, with a man throwing a ball from an indeterminate distance to a batter. And yet upon a closer inspection there really is nothing simple about baseball at all. In truth, over the years the spaces fielders stand has been made into a science, standing exactly where one needs to be to field properly. Or the pitchers mound, exactly sixty feet six inches away, just far away enough to give the pitcher deception and leverage on the ball, while still giving the batter ample opportunity to hit. I could go on but in short, baseball is unique because it can be so many things for so many people, a enjoyable game for a son to watch with his father all the way to what it has become today a science of sorts, infinitely studied and constantly being perfected. It is a game that has been with us since the civil war and before that, generations upon generations of Americans and people worldwide, constantly changing and adapting to the time and yet somehow staying essentially the same from when that first game was played at Elysian Fields between the New York Knickerbocker Club and the New York Nine. For sure, at the time I'm sure those men had no idea they were embarking on a game that would be handed down to generation upon generation, after all it was just a game. And yet even in the humble beginnings of the game there seems to be a bit of underlying destiny. Elysium in Greek mythology is the resting ground for the blessed chosen ones as ordained by the gods, for Hercules, and Achilles and the like, and so for baseball this too would be sacred ground(well as sacred it can get in Hoboken). So in summary I chose the name New York Nine to remind us of the humble and noble beginnings of this great game we love and for some like myself, follow obsessively. I do not claim to be any great writer or statistician, but a fan who can't get enough of this fascinating game and how it evolves and changes on a day-to-day basis and yet at its core is pure, good, and just damn fun to watch and play. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing this blog. I make no bones about being a New York-centric baseball fan as my blog name suggests, still worse a Yankees fan, but I am a baseball fan first and foremost, and I've got a lot of thoughts and ideas about everything and anything about this great game. Take care.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi all. This idea is awesome and burnsie should have some good stuff to post. although i have been a lifelong soccer fanatic (dont hate, if you do youre ignorant as hell and dont understand the passion of the sport) my growing interest in baseball in recent years makes this blog worthwile to say the least. Im gonna touch on two brief things: 1) mlb network and 2) yankees/mets.

I recently received mlb network on my verizon package to both surprise and joy. With tons of old games, harold reynolds, the baseball series documentary and in-depth historical analysis, the only thing i can complain about is red sox coverage. If you can get this channel do it its everything you could want so far as i see and once the season comes im anticipating serious satisfaction. Just watching it hits a nearly emotional chord watching the sickest players playing the national pastime.

The second topic is the yanks and mets. As a longtime mets fan, losing painfully (as being a jets fan also) is part of life. However, whether oliver perez gets paid out hte wazoo because scott boras is his agent or not, all we can hope for is consistency and to find that veteran voice to spiritually and morally bring this team to the next level. You can only hope and keep supporting your team, and if you dont, well then go root for the dallas cowboys and red sox. Any yankee fan that hates on the mets and says theyre garbage is ignorant, short-sighted, and not appreciating talent. However, their lack of clutch performance is deplorable, and the only clutch performance theyve had in the last few years is the rumor david wright, well righted sideline goddess erin andrews. Nonetheless, in the interim i appreciate the moves for a bullpen and pitching which cant hurt, and I hope that we can continue to develop talented, hard working (like the old days) players like daniel murphy, as well as some bullpen youngsters. I'm just glad the mets cant sign brett favre, and i think jerry manuel will continue to be sick as hell as a manager. Mind you that losing hte division is a relative victory considering how they were doing with randolp (who did a decent job overall during his tenure).

I can only applaud the yanks and their moves. Although burnett is injury fodder and cc's arm is due to fall off after his recent marathon inning seasons, they got the best available (whether or not you think lowe wouldve fit better; and i honestly think teixeira, despite not being the youngest, has winner written all over him. People i have spoken to from philly (like their opinion matters for dung) and other places despise the yankees, which leads to wonder: Why hate the succesful team? Although the yanks used money to buy happiness, my main problem, even as a mets fan (who people apparently think shouldnt like the yanks) I realize when teams piss excellence and when others exhibit ignorance. Yogi berra is nearly unknown to many bum fans, despite being the singular msot successful player in the history of baseball. In addition, with world titles and incredible past players I can only applaud this. It clicked to me that phillies fans will know mitch williams (gave up joe carters 1993 world series homer) as opposed to players such a thurman munson, graig nettles, bucky dent, don larsen or even whitey ford. This brings me to my final point. I give the yanks credit despite many of their fans stinking like gorgonzola and shouting slurred stupidity. However, role players made the yankees in their most succesful years. Burns made the great point a while back that the yanks are buying talent and not growing it like the rays and other organizations are. Although the talent of these glory years, such as my favorite yank, paul oneill were not home grown, this homegrown talent is a recipe for success that i hope will continue to benefit the mets (wright and reyes) that the yankees have deterred in their recent dry spell. Paul O'neill is my perfect example of this role player, despite not being homegrown. He is my favorite player for this reason: He worked his ass off everyday. The score could be 14-1 losing to the royals and he would swing so hard he'd almost hit himself with the bat in his follow through. Then he would go back to the dugout, while in transit bashing his bat over his knee and knock a gatorade cooler out like it was his wife awaking him out of a jack daniels induced coma. But the point is that in replacing role players like brosius, tino, paul o'neill, tim raines and charlie hayes with superstars, the recipe has yielded little results. One can only hope the superstar recipe has been mixed just right this year, because we all know there is only one expectation after their recession-proof spending bonanza: championship # 27. I will conclude these thoughts with a math lesson:

tobacco + hitting + strikeouts + womanizing + gall = PAT BURRELL, better than philadelphia since 1776.

Urb

January 13, 2009 at 9:12 PM  
burnsie77 said...

haha great stuff urban, you're dead on with those points and I also have the MLB network its fantastic its all I could ask for on TV i could watch it all day

January 14, 2009 at 5:25 AM  

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