SB Nation User Blog: BTown Birds fan

Interview with "As They See 'Em" author

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:16:42 -0000

Interview with "As They See 'Em" author

Bruce Weber, the author of the recent book "As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels In The Land Of Umpires," was interviewed last week on the NPR program Fresh Air. It's a really interesting interview, touching on such topics as the 13 "official" infractions for which a player/coach can be tossed, umpire salaries (which start in the $90K range for first year MLB umps), umpire training (including how to take off your mask and how to deal with angry players/coaches), and how many umps like to develop signature strike calls. It's about 33 minutes long and definitely very much worth a listen.

"The Baseball Project" CD

BTown Birds fan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:34:46 -0000

I just came across a music CD called "The Baseball Project Volume 1: Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails." It actually came out last summer, but there doesn't seem to have been any mention of it here. Officially the group itself is also called The Baseball Project, but it's really more like the latest incarnation of The Minus 5. There are 13 songs, most of which are about different individual players, although there's also a song about closers generally and one about baseball nostalgia generally. I bring it up because two of the songs are about former Cardinals - "Gratitude (for Curt Flood)" and "Broken Man," about Mark McGwire.

There are also songs about Ted Williams (or "Ted Fucking Williams," as the song is called), Satchel Paige, Fernando Valenzuela, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays (kind of - the song is more about the singer remembering a game he went to with his dad, which the Giants won on a HR by Mays), Ed Delahanty (I had to look up who the hell he was), Harvey Haddix, and Jack McDowell.

Here's the link to the Yep Roc Records page for the album, and here's a link to all of the lyrics for the album.

If you're familiar with The Minus 5 the overall sound of this album will also be fairly familiar to you. It may be my own bias showing through, but I think the two Cardinal songs are among the best ones, especially the Mark McGwire song. The Koufax and Robinson songs are also pretty good; the Mays song not so much. I'm a pretty big fan of The Minus 5, but on first listen I don't think this is one of their better albums. But maybe it'll grow on me, and anyway it's pretty entertaining to have an entire rock album dedicated to baseball, including a song about how Curt Flood doesn't get enough respect.

A quick sampling of the Cards song lyrics (these are both partial):

"Gratitude (for Curt Flood)"
On the day that I died and they laid me in the ground where was everybody?
They couldn’t be found.
I’m gone and they don’t know my name.
No plaque, no speech, no hall of fame..
A-Rod, Zito, Posada, Tejada, Johan, Manny, Maddux, Mussina.
Who’s the one who paved the way with blood?
Go say my name—it’s (Flood!) Curt Flood!

You call that gratitude?"

***

"Broken Man"
We all need to gain the upper hand.
An edge to do even better than we can.
No one seemed to care when it brought back the fans.
It’s a broken record, strike up the band for the broken man.

A crowd so loud and a son so very proud.
The powers that be counting money, handing me a crown.
Only now they decide that it’s time to take a stand.
It’s a broken record, strike up the band for the broken man.

"Play Like a Cardinal" ads

BTown Birds fan — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:34:04 -0000

"Play Like a Cardinal" ads

As pointed out by Derrick Goold today, the "Play Like a Cardinal" ads are up at the Cards' official site. I can't say they did a whole bunch for me overall, although I did like the Pujols superhero cape spot.

Nate McLouth fears the Carp

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:58:22 -0000

Nate McLouth fears the Carp

From an interview with Nate McLouth at Yahoo Sports:

Q: Is there a pitcher who keeps you up at night the night before you face him?
A: There’s plenty. If I had to name one, probably Chris Carpenter from St. Louis. He’s got four great pitches. He locates well. Unfortunately for him, he’s been hurt the past couple years. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years. But he’s tough.

"Appreciating the genius of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa"

BTown Birds fan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:31:23 -0000

"Appreciating the genius of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa"

An appreciation of TLR by Joe Posnanski.

Bonus link: a "caption contest" at Yahoo Sports for a photo of TLR looking at his line-up card and casting a long shadow, with the question "So what happens when Tony La Russa sees his shadow?"
The best submission so far: "Six more weeks of Chris Carpenter on the disabled list."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/C-a-C-So-what-happens-when-Tony-La-Russa-sees-?urn=mlb,144455

"25 Random Baseball Things: Aaron Hooks of Cardinals Diaspora"

BTown Birds fan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:07:22 -0000

"25 Random Baseball Things: Aaron Hooks of Cardinals Diaspora"

They're doing this for a blogger for each team at Yahoo Sports. A couple examples:

16. Cardinals fans are the most polite fans in the entire world ... except when it comes to Tino Martinez. We loathe Tino Martinez.

17. Willie. McGee. Rules.

Cardinals "Hot Stove Daily" column at Yahoo Sports

BTown Birds fan — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:00:43 -0000

Cardinals "Hot Stove Daily" column at Yahoo Sports

They're doing one of these for every team. Not too informative, but it's always fun to read about the Cards. He does mention that Glaus is out until mid-May, which is longer than initial estimates - maybe there's new info on him I hadn't heard. Also, you'll be shocked to discover that Aaron Miles' last name is actually Giles.

"The Clear" apparently wasn't a banned steroid...

BTown Birds fan — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:01:31 -0000

"The Clear" apparently wasn't a banned steroid...

...at least at the time Bonds was taking it. A story just came out that grand jury testimony indicates that The Clear was neither illegal or banned by MLB when Bonds was taking it (apparently it is now).

"Pujols clear choice as player of the decade"

BTown Birds fan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:25:49 -0000

"Pujols clear choice as player of the decade"

Injury insurance...?

BTown Birds fan — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:19:19 -0000

Apologies for the double post, but I just put this on the morning thread then saw that a game thread was up, and it seems like a reasonable topic/question for a diary.

Does anyone know what sort of insurance teams usually have on their high $$ players? I vaguely remember an insurance-related issue with Bagwell a couple years ago, where whether or not Houston could recover any of his salary for the year (from the insurance company, not him) depended on if/how much he played in spring training.

Taking Carp's example, it looks quite possible that he's done for this year, and maybe 2008 as well. Do the Cards have an insurance policy on him? Can we recover anything if he only pitches one regular season game this year? Can we recover anything if he doesn't pitch at all next year?