This year marks the tenth season of major league baseball in Denver. It is
clear now that none of us fully understood what we were getting ourselves into
when we allowed Rocky Mountain thin air to be unleashed on our national pastime.
Nine years and literally thousands of hanging curveballs, home runs, and
destroyed pitcher psyches later, we’re still trying to wrap our hands around the
conundrum that is baseball at altitude.
(And before you mention the word “humidor”, consider that with the recent run of
explosive offense at Coors Field, the Rockies and their opponents have combined
to score 11.74 runs per home game, compared to 8.61 runs per game on the road –
a 36% increase. It may no longer be the best hitters’ park of all-time – Coors
Field increased run scoring by 58% from 1999 to 2001 – but it’s still the best
hitters’ park of our generation.)
Fact: DuPuy exaggerated MLB’s operating losses by at least 22%.
The Baseball America website
features transcripts of lengthy interviews with the protagonists
in the current labor dispute:
Bob DuPuy,
MLB’s president and chief operating officer, and
MLBPA head Don Fehr. Editor Alan Schwarz sat down with each man for an hour, asking tough questions and following up as appropriate. Each transcript runs over 6,500 words.
Unfortunately, not all of those words are accurate.
While both men used the interview as a forum for presenting their positions
to the public, one went further. DuPuy made several unambiguously false
statements about the economics of Major League Baseball.
So how come every time it looks like there might be some sort of a labor stoppage in baseball, some group of people feels the need to put together some sort of “fan organization” with a bad acronym, with no apparent purpose except to whine?
Major League Baseball is a product. It’s packaged and sold in a number of ways. You can buy tickets and attend the games in person. You can sit through commercials and listen to the games on radio. You can either pay for a broad selection of games on TV, or settle for a more limited…
MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards.
It just goes to prove anybody with a bat in his hand at this level is dangerous, even Hideo Nomo.
MANAGERS AND EX-MANAGERS "You never expect the pitcher to get a base hit, especially against a guy like Randy Johnson, and especially after the swing he put on the pitch before that. It just goes to prove anybody with a bat in his hand at this level is dangerous, even Hideo Nomo." —Bob Brenly, Diamondbacks…
I’m seeing a lot of Raul Mondesi/Jesse Barfield comparisons from Yankee fans. I guess there’s a resemblance: both are right fielders with great arms and high strikeout rates who came to the Yankees in midseason trades.
It’s far too hot to write, or read, anything longer than three paragraphs or so: I’m seeing a lot of Raul Mondesi/Jesse Barfield comparisons from Yankee fans. I guess there’s a resemblance: both are right fielders with great arms and high strikeout rates who came to the Yankees in midseason trades. However, given what I…
If the off-season deal involving Roberto Alomar did not signal the direction in which the Cleveland Indians are heading, then the June 27 trade of Bartolo Colon certainly did. The Indians sent a clear message that they are rebuilding, specifically for the 2004 season.
Over the weekend, I attended my first Society for American Baseball Research convention. It was the 32nd get-together for the organization, of which I’ve been a member for about three hours.
Over the weekend, I attended my first Society for American Baseball Research convention. It was the 32nd get-together for the organization, of which I’ve been a member for about three hours. Prodded by BP’s Jeff Bower, I joined and made the trek to Boston for this year’s gathering, which kicked off this summer’s "Sheehan Across…