Give "Back" to a Good Cause

As I watch this torturously late Phillies-Rockies National League Divisional Series playoff game (11pm Eastern Time, with only 2 innings in the books), I had a thought... I think it's time to reevaluate the batboys' uniforms.

Huh?

Just follow me here.

So the batboys for each game wear the home team's uniform and usually the back of their jerseys are emblazoned with the clever statement of "BATBOY."

Instead of wasting this prime space, which is seen by millions of people every game, why not give "back" to a good cause by outfitting each batboy with a shirt that features a local non-profit's name, website, and/or logo? And perhaps after each game, the shirt gets signed by some of the players and given to the charity to get auctioned off. This simple act raises awareness for the charity, then raises a bit of money via the auction, rather than wasting the space on the jersey with an uninspiring noun.

Just trying to think of some ways to give back in this age of big-business baseball. Maybe I'll even have some more ideas to throw out there before the end of this (long) night...

A Thought on Home Plate Umpires

Whilst watching the Phillies lead the Dodgers in game 1 of the National League Championship Series, I had a thought about home plate umpires who are charged with the unthankful task of calling balls and strikes.

As anybody who has watched baseball can attest, the best umpires are those that can make accurate calls on balls and strikes the vast majority of the time, and do it quickly.

Well what if we gave the umps a half second extra or so to just pause and think about the pitch and make sure it was a ball or strike? During the course of a game there are dozens of pitches that will be right on the borderline, but it is expected that the ump make the call immediately after it hits the catcher's glove, causing the ump to make a judgment based on instinct rather than analysis. Would fans be willing to allow a momentary pause to think about what he just saw and make sure his initial instinct is accurate? I would think this would increase the accuracy of the calls over the course of the game.

One of the allures of baseball is the quick action the bang-bang of the ball hitting glove, umpire pumping his fist or calling a ball instantly afterwards. And perhaps the heated debates that ensue after a controversial call is made is also part of the allure of baseball. As is the catcher slinging the ball down to third base after the ump calls strike 3.

But perhaps every now and then it wouldn't be a bad thing if the ump took a quick mental pause to ensure the accuracy of the call. Just a thought.

Strike three on a swing and a miss, Phils win game 1. Who cares about the umps! Go Phils!

Phillies... Playoffs???

I know, I know, it's sacrosanct to utter the "p-word" when talking about the Phillies until they actually clinch the right to go to the p-word, but I just had to delve into a little bit of history, to discover some trivia gems. To wit:

-Should the Phillies make the postseason in 2008, it will be the first time since the Wild Card system was enacted they made it in back-to-back years.

-The last time the Phillies made the playoffs in back-to-back years, it was 1980 and 1981. And yep, we all know what happened in 1980... Tug McGraw jumped off the mound to celebrate the team's World Series victory.

-Prior to that, in the team's 125 year history, the Phils had back-to-back playoff appearances only one other time, and that was in 1976, '77, and '78.

-Interestingly, the Chicago Cubs, the NL Central winner last year and this year (they clinched already), also hadn't been in the Major League playoffs in back to back years since the Wild Card system was implemented, and the last time that they earned playoff rights in consecutive years was in 1906, '07, and '08. And guess what? They won the World Series in 1907 and 1908.

Little eerie, huh?

Thanks to baseballreference.com for allowing me to do some playoff research.

Lee Elia's Back on the Scene

Lee Elia, the native Philadelphian who managed the Phillies from 1987 to 1988 and compiled a 111-142 record during that time, has been hired as, and I quote: "an on-field consultant" for the Seattle Mariners.

If this doesn't sound like a cushy job, then I don't know what does. The job description, according to SI.com:

"He (will)work with the team for approximately half of spring training. Periodically throughout the season, he will assist manager John McLaren and the coaching staff while in uniform."

I guess when you're 70 years old and have 50 years of baseball experience, you can pull off jobs like that. Congrats Lee and good luck with the Mariners.

For those of you wondering, here's a summary of Elia's stats as an infielder for his Major League years of 1966 and 1968:

.203 batting average
3 home runs
25 RBIs
17 runs scored

And now for the best entertainment of the day!... Lee Elia's expletive-filled rampage in 1983 when he was managing the lowly Cubs... click here and be sure to scroll to the bottom and listen to the WAV file. AMAZING. That's true Philly 'tood right there folks.

Hidden Cams, Steroids, and Sandpaper... OH MY!

So with all this talk about the Patriots allegedly cheating (and I use the word allegedly very loosely!) by videotaping the signal calls of other teams, not to mention all of the chatter about the widespread steroids use in baseball, football, and elsewhere, I couldn't help but think back to a rather humorous cheating incident in Philly history.

According BaseballLibrary.com, less than 2 weeks after Atlanta's Phil Niekro was busted for filing a baseball down to get more movement on his pitches, the Phils' Kevin Gross was nabbed for having sandpaper in his glove and scuffing the ball in a similar manner.

The sad part is that Gross was 9-16 for the 80-82 Phils that year, according to BaseballReference.com. Just makes you wonder what his numbers would have been like without cheating. And by the way, he was also in the top 10 for pitchers for the following categories:

Most hit batsmen (#1)
Most losses (#2)
Most walks (#6)
Most home runs allowed (#10)

So let that be a lesson to all you youngins out there... sandpaper's for master craftsmen, not struggling pitchers.

Phun with Numbers: Looking at the Phillies' Attendance Figures

A few curious fun baseball stats to point out to my fellow dedicated and tortured Phillies fans out there...

-In 1980, when the Phillies last sipped from the Stanley Cup (err, raised the Lombardi Trophy, err, sorry, it's been so long I forget what happens when a team wins the World Series), the team averaged 32,736 fans per game in the cavernous Vet Stadium which held over 60k. The team that year also had some of the most talented players this city's ever seen: Rose, Schmidt, Carlton, among others.
-In 1994, AFTER the Phils lost the World Series, the team averaged 38,183 fans per game to watch a comparatively wearier squad whose season got cut short by the infamous strike before the end of the year.

-Apparently Philadelphia is not very nostalgic about its ballparks. In 2003, the Phils attracted only 27,901 per game during the last ever season at the Vet, less than half the capacity. Ditto for the last season at Connie Mack Stadium when the attendance averaged 8,853 compared to a capacity of about 20,000. However in each of the following years, the attendance jumped about 50% and 120% respectively. Out with the old, in with the new!

-The Phils' first year of averaging over 10,000 people per game came in 1946, after WWII, when about 13,401 people came per game. Prior to that, the team's highest average attendance came in 1916 with 6,524 folks per game.

-Lastly, the Phils have had two years of 3,000,000 fans: 1993 and 2004. The Yankees, for comparison, have had 8 years in a row up through last season of 3,000,000+ fans. But I guess it helps being located in a city that has 6 times as many people in it than Philly has. But sheesh, every Yankees game should be sold out with 8 million people hanging around the city every day!