Last Saturday evening, my wife and I enjoyed a most memorable game between the Cubs and the Reds on a beautiful Saturday evening in Cincinnati.  This is probably the closest major league town to our current home in Nashville, and the drive was an easy one.  Our seats in the club section were secured a couple of months ago before the current Cubs winning run when the price was right.  A small army of Cubs fans keep us company in the section as we watched Lee and Soriano dump a few into the opposite seats.  But even though the location was very comfortable with actual attendants to ferry your specific food and drink choices to your seats, the venue can never come up to the class and character of Wrigley Field.  

However, the Great American Ballpark does have one thing on our home field and town.  The Reds Hall of Fame and Museum provides a fitting tribute to the Cincinnati Reds.  As a baseball history buff of long standing, the museum was a highlight of our trip - to be later upstaged by the convincing Cubs win on the field.   Currently, the first floor is a monument to Pete Rose celebrating an anniversary to his hitting streak.  Banished from Hall of Fame, this will likely be his most celebrated legacy on display to the "ages."  

The third floor holds items of more interest to me.  The earliest days of the franchise are on display here.  Displays on the 1919 World Series are special, and bring back last week's discussion on the "importance" of statistics in judging teams and players.  The 1919 display makes the assertion that the Reds would have won the series even without the highjinks of the Black Sox!  A range of statistics was presented on the 1919 Reds, demonstrating their argued superiority to the Black Sox!  

Leaving the facility, I could not help but wish for a speedier completion of the Chicago Baseball Museum.  Chicago is certainly due for such a facility, and the sooner the better.  Can anyone provide a realistic time line for the opening of the Chicago Baseball Museum?

Well, the Cubs find themselves in the thick of this bit of infamous history that may play out this coming week in San Francisco. Bonds is set to break the Babe Ruth homer milestone.  He'll be out of the line up today but sure to return with the rookie Hill on the mound.

Hopefully, the line up of Hill, Zambrano, and Marshall can hold off this nonsense for a few days longer.  I'd prefer not to see the replays ad infinitum.  I turn my head and hope.