A Sports Record Overload Night

October 28, 2011

Compliments of Lance Carter, 10/24/11.

Compliments of a shot in the dark by Bill McCurdy, 10/27/11.

 

By this time Friday morning, the big news from the sports world is old news. The St. Louis Cardinals got off the deck twice from 2-run deficits in the 9th and 10th innings of Game Six last night, each time when they were one strike away from losing the whole World Series, and coming through with the big hit to tie the game and set things up for the game-winning home run blast to deep center field by David Freese, the lead-off man in the bottom of the 11th. With the 10-9 Cardinal win over the Rangers now in the books, we move with speedy anticipation to tonight’s Game Seven, knowing full well that it’s going to be hard to match Game Six for baseball greatness, no matter which team wins it all.

I only got to see innings nine through eleven because of an earlier commitment and loyalty to my alma mater, the University of Houston Cougars and a desire to see Case Keenum extend and settle some new records as a Division I NCAA quarterback, which he did just fine against Rice in spite of the wind and rain. Keenum’s nine touchdown passes pushed him into first place by four in that category while he also extended his records for total yardage and passing yardage by  bunch as well. On the night, Case Keenum rolled up   534 passing yards on 24 completions in 40 attempts with one interception, only his third of the season. WIth Keenum leaving the game in the 4th quarter, the Cougars only scored one TD for that period, but till ended up winning the game 73-28 without really trying to rub it in against the Game, but undermanned Rice Owls. The Owls simply could not defend the deep pass against UH’s speedy, sure-handed receivers and Keenum could not pass up that major chink in their defensive armor. He just hammered ’em.

Now, for the first time in school history, the UH Cougars are 8-0-0 with four games to play from their current number 17 ranking in the BCS poll. They are also the only school among eight remaining undefeated clubs that is not ranked among the top ten. Chalk that one up to part strength of schedule because few big name programs have the courage of UCLA to play UH; part the fact that UH resides in a non-BCS conference; and part due to the fact that UH lacks the empire status that makes it a little easier to get pollster support.

All right things n time, but in the meanwhile, it doesn’t matter to me what the UH haters say. This was the place that gave me my chance a long time ago, and, win or lose, the Cougars shall  hold my heart and get my support as long as I am able to bring it.

I got home in time to watch the rest of Game Six of the World Series from the bottom of the 9th through the walk off homer by Freese in the 11th. I was happy to see Lance Berkman handle the second of the Cards’ one-strike-away from total defeat situations with his two-out single in the 10th. Lance is now hitting .435 in the Series, the only man hitting over .400 on either club. Depending upon what happens in Game Seven, Berkman has to be in the running for Series MVP with Freese and Pujols because of his lights out three home run game. Prince Albert’s presence in the Cardinal lineup makes him the intimidating threat that helps his teammates get heroic opportunities they might otherwise never see.

At any rate, Thursday night was fun for me. I can’t imagine living anywhere away from America. I’m too much a junkie for the things that so many us think are fun. Chilling out on a mountain top – or spending each day on the beaches of some tropical isle where no one had ever heard of American baseball or football would not be my cup of tea for very long – especially during the World Series time.

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Baseball Stars on Early TV Quiz Shows

October 27, 2011

May 1996, St. Louis: A Moment in the Company of A Childhood God.

As some of you already know, Bill Rogers of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society sent me a link to that You Tube clip of Tony La Russa’s rookie managerial appearance on the old “To Tell The Truth” TV game show. It’s amazing how cheap the cash prizes were back in the old days and, in this instance, how little that either the guest panelists or other contestants knew about baseball. Tony himself wasn’t too swift either when asked the name of baseball’s inventor, but I guess he did come of age back when the baseball world was still buying into the party line.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the link to Tony La Russa’s spot on “To Tell The Truth:” …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHrygsiNfc

A number of other baseball stars also appeared often on another popular quiz show that began on TV back in the early 1950s. Here are links to the “What’s My Line?” appearances of six others – and these men are now all Hall of Famers:

Joe Di Maggio … 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYTIMCmemA8

Stan Musial …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsfm56autyk

Duke Snider …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkQNut9DUrs

Robin (“Forest Gump”) Roberts …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZToCwu3w0OM

Jackie Robinson …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LaRkuU-YjM

Satchel Paige …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxF1zW71_nU&feature=related

Thank you, Bill Rogers, for getting this snowball rolling all the way to Houston – and that’s saying a lot in these ongoing days of an endless summer drought.

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What Drives the Momentum Mojo in Baseball?

October 26, 2011

World Series Photo from Rangers Park by Lance Carter.

Even at my age, there are days in which I still wake up with more ambition than others. I guess this is one of those times because today I woke up wanting to writing about stirs momentum, for better or worse, in baseball. It has occurred to me that I have been working with “Old Man Mo” for years as a mental health professional and that I long ago stumbled upon this universal truth: People don’t always change for the better, but when they do, they generate old different flow of human energy in a positive directions when it happens. Writer/thinker/guru types from Norman Vincent Peale and Napoleon Hill in the 1930s to Tony Roberts in the 1990s have been feasting upon that phenomenon through their lectures and books for at least the past eighty years. Countless others have portrayed that momentum-building character in movies and literature forever too. Rember Robin WIlliams as the inspirational teacher in that movies of the late 1980z, “The Dead Poets Society?”

So what is this thing we call the Mojo? And what makes its presence so transparent on baseball’s biggest stage at the World Series? For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to describe it this way, even though that neurologically, psychologically, and spiritually, there’s so much else going on whenever it is present in positive form on the field. In baseball, momentum represents the presence of either confidence or doubt in one’s ability to perform well in a given situation that drives what happens next, even to the point of generating a similar reaction in other members of the same team.

In Saturday’s Game Three, Albert Pujols had the ability to ride the Mojo of confidence to a record night at the plate, infecting several other hitters  on  the Cardinal team with the same self-belief, if only for the night, that they too were bound for the Hall of Fame someday. Sunday’s Game Four found the Rangers riding the Mojo-pitching-confidence of their young Mr. Holland to a 4-0 shutout of the Cardinals. The new Cardinal doubt apparently carried over into Game Five on Monday. The Cards had their ace, Mr. Carpenter, going for them, but doubt kept them from scoring runs from numerous opportunities. Cardinal doubt just seemed to feed Ranger confidence in the home team idea that they could come back and win the game late.

Now it’s back to St. Louis, where the teeter-totter balance of confidence and doubt can easily swing either way agin. Both of these teams have the ability to win this World Series. WHich one will have the confidence to do so when the umpire cries “Play Ball” tonight?

In a way, baseball is tailor-made for shifts in momentum because there’s so much time to observe and analyze what is going on between plays. Just look at the exercise that launched from Craig’s abortive steal of second in the seventh inning of Game Five. – All it could do was add to the doubt card that already had fallen upon the Cardinals that night. And it did. Look at the negative momentum that unfolded simply from the first bonehead steal attempt by Craig in the seventh. If you favored St. Louis, you could almost see the Rangers’ winning hit coming before it ever  happened.

In a way, last place clubs are those who seldom if ever recover from doubt. Pennant winners are clubs whose confidence in their abilities seldom wanes.

Superstitions are not so crazy either when we view momentum in this light. You see, baseball players intuitively understand what “Mr. Mojo” is all about. If a guy doesn’t want to change his underwear after throwing a two-hit complete game shutout, it’s probably just because he’s trying to hold in place anything that seemed to precede and kick into motion the self-confidence that guided him through his remarkable achievement.

We can’t get very far without ability in baseball, but we can’t even harvest the fruit of our ability if we have no confidence in ourselves. That’s where Old Man Mo needs to show up on the positive side, more often than not.

Have a great day, everybody. Believe it so. And make it so.

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It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over

October 25, 2011

Is Lance's chance for a World Series ring slipping away?

Let’s go straight to the easy part first. On eighteen separate occasions in the World Series, teams have comeback back from a 3-2 deficit to win the whole thing with victroies in Games Six and Seven. Here’s the legendary list of those who’ve done it, according to MLB.COM:

Year Team Opponent
1924 Senators Giants
1925 Pirates Senators
1926 Cardinals Yankees
1934 Cardinals Tigers
1940 Reds Tigers
1946 Cardinals Red Sox
1952 Yankees Dodgers
1958 Yankees Braves
1968 Tigers Cardinals
1973 A’s Mets
1979 Pirates Orioles
1982 Cardinals Brewers
1985 Royals Cardinals
1986 Mets Red Sox
1987 Twins Cardinals
1991 Twins Braves
2001 D-backs Yankees
2002 Angels Giants

Also according to MLB.COM, we must note that the 2-3-2 home game format yields this further data from past results: In the 28 times that a club has gone home with 3-2 deficit in games won on their shoulders, 12 have rallied to win both Games 6 and 7 to take the World Series. That works out to be a 42.9 per cent success rate. On the other hand, the Texas Rangers have not lost two games in a row to anyone since late August.Now it’s “something’s got to give” time.

One thing that needs to give is how things are communicated from the manager to the bullpen. Either update the technology on the phones or get all the bullpen coach communicators tested on their hearing. It came out after the game that LaRussa had called down to the pen to have Motte ready to pitch to Napoli in the eighth, but that message got heard as “Lynn” and Tony’s choice wasn’t available when the time came. As a result, the Cardinals had to leave the lefty Rzepczynski in there to pitch to Napoli, who, of course, then delivered the two-rbi double that decided the game at 4-2.

How could “Motte” have sounded like “Lynn” over the phone? Was there something wrong with the hand crank on the dugout line? Who was taking the call in the Cardinal pen, Helen Keller? Why don’t they either use high-tech phones or visual HD screens that show the manager’s lips moving as he speaks the names of those he wants or even shows color coded cards for different choices? Hearing “I thought you wanted Lynn” could not have set well with Tony LaRussa once he learned that Jason Motte would not be ready for his rendezvous with destiny.

All those ducks left on the pond killed the cardinals in Game Five. And they sure weren’t helped by those two abortive hit and run plays late in the game either. As Tim McCarver kept explaining on TV, ad nauseum, sending Craig from first to second on either a hit and run or steal attempt with Albert Pujols batting was really unnecessary. With Pujols batting, the runner is already in scoring position at first. If the guy runs and is thrown out, that out may kill the rally or end the inning. If he makes it in safely, he simply takes the bat out of Albert’s hands, allowing the other club to walk Pujols and play for a force out.

Add all the 11 ducks left on the pond last night by St. Louis and the whole thing totals up to a deserved loss by the Cardinals. Now it’s back to Missouri to see if one more blink at home cooking makes any difference in Game Six and, hopefully, Game Seven. If not, then it will be the Texas Rangers, not the Houston Astros, that shall be forever remembered as the first club to bring baseball’s biggest prize back to the Lone Star State.

OK, Houston temporary Ranger fans, are you ready for all those Dallas egos blinking at us down here in MLB’s tent city of hope over the next decade or so? Because that’s exactly what’s coming our way from the Metroplex Area, if the Rangers win the World Series. To that possibility, I say, give the Rangers credit for finishing the job as champions. Nolan Ryan and his crew just did a much better job of building their team and getting the job done better than the Astros. If the Rangers win out, what other conclusion could we possibly draw?

If the Rangers win it all, luck and destiny will figure into the final outcome as well. And, as per usual, we will not be able to explain the presence of either. Just be ready for whatever is about to happen. That’s all we can ever do – in baseball in particular – or in life in general.

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Boerne White Sox Are Dedicated Vintage Ballists

October 24, 2011

EVERYBODY LOVES JIMMY! After posing with his home town favorite Houston Babies club on Saturday, Oct. 22nd, Astros Icon Jimmy Wynn also sat for a photo with Kristy Watson and the visiting Boerne White Sox at the George Ranch Field.

The feisty Boerne White Sox also came to town last Saturday, October 22nd, to participate in the one-day tournament with the Houston Babies and Katy Combine at the George Ranch Field near Sugar Land. It was their fourth trip to the Houston area in recent memory for the purpose of engaging our local clubs for a few rousing rounds of vintage rules base ball.

Miss Kristy “Horseshoe” Watson is the firebrand spirit of the White Sox, if not their designated leader, and you can see Kristy in the featured group photo that appears with this column. She is the only blonde and only female in the bunch – and the nicest representative of vintage base ball that anyone could ever possibly hope to meet. In fact, anyone from the San Antonio-Boerne area who may be interested in vintage base ball should check out the club’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/vintagebaseball and get in touch with Kristy about playing and sponsorship opportunities. Vintage Base Ball is the closet experience anyone could ever have to the thrill of our childhood sandlot days.

Boerne also boasts of a second newer club they call the Tusculum Freethinkers, a team with some overlapping involvement by members of the White Sox roster, but that’s cool too. The little Texas community that has spawned both these vintage clubs has something of an overlapping history with its own community identity.

A brief history of Boerne explains it this way: “Boerne, the county seat of Kendall County, is located on Cibolo Creek, Interstate Highway 10, and U.S. Highway 87 thirty miles northwest of San Antonio in the southern part of the county. In 1849 a group of German colonists from Bettina camped on the north side of Cibolo Creek, about a mile west of the site of present Boerne. They called their new community Tusculum, after Cicero’s home in ancient Rome. In 1852 Gustav Theissen and John James laid out the townsite and changed the name to Boerne in honor of Ludwig Boerne, a German author and publicist.”

Only in Texas do culture and commerce come together at the tap root quite so often in these same entangled ways. Or so it seems.

A more complete history of the community prepared by the Texas State Historical Association is available at

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hgb09

Kristy Watson & Boerne Company

The Boerne group is planning a vintage base ball activity for March of 2012 and we will do our best to keep you posted of those plans as they become known and made available to The Pecan Park Eagle.

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Babies Sing Happy Birthday with DH Sweep!

October 23, 2011

Astros Icon Jimmy Wynn joined the Houston Babies Legion Yesterday and the club responded like their own version of the Toy Cannon in taking a DH sweep from the Katy Commerce and the Boerne White Sox by Pujolsian Cardinal scores of 13-2 and 18-3.

What do you give a septuagenarian decade vintage base ball club manager on his birthday? If you’re the Houston Babies 1860 era local club, how about two pile-driving wins on his birthday, wins win which 31 total runs were scored, for starters? Then, how about throwing in several batters who post insane hit totals on the day, two pitchers who go insanely lights out on the mound, giving up only 5 runs total by the opposition while some of the younger Babies roam the pastures at the George Ranch Field near Sugar Land like so many sure-handed gazelles, recording more one and no bounce outs than anyone bothered to count?

Houston Babies Manager even got a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB” sign posted by fans in his honor as all this success and beautiful weather in the country blended quickly into a perfect day. Hey! On a day when he could not have possibly wanted for more, Bob Dorrill even got a personal visit by former Houston Astro great, Jimmy “The Toy Cannon” Wynn, as his primary guest and Numero Uno Houston Babies New Fan!

Oh, one more thing, the Houston Babies DH Sweep allowed the club to remain undefeated during the 2011 calendar year season. That certainly didn’t hurt the mood elevation of the unflappable Mr. Dorrill either, but nothing probably helped more than the list of the unbe-fluidly-lievable individual accomplishments:

Kyle Burns, with his “Octavio Dotel Style Socks” went 10 for 11 on the day to OUT-WOW all other phenoms, but those incredible others were not that terribly far behind in the pack of old form baseball assassins. – Larry Joe “Longball” Miggins went 8 for 9; Bill Hale was 6 for 7 and Travis Laird rang the bell at 5 for 8. – Alex Hajduk arrived in time for a 2-home run game against Boerne while Larry Joe Miggins, Kyle Burns, and Travis Laird each also had single shot round-trippers on the day. Alex Hajduk also hit for the cycle by banging out a triple, double, and single to go along with his two homers.

Bill Hale was the winning pitcher in Game One against Katy, 13-2, and Larry Hajduk took the pitching victory in Game Two against Boerne, 18-3.

As a batter, Bill Hale also admitted to playing one potential home run into a double for the simplest, most logical reason. “It’s a long way to second base,” Hale explains.

Other key contributors for the Houston babies included Robert Pina, Robby Martin, Jo Hale, and Alex Schmelter. And not just “by the way,” our Jo Hale did pretty darn well for herself this summer. She played for a Houston softball club that won their national championship in a tourney of which found that found Jo Hale to be the competition’s Most Valuable Player – and just another reason that the ever-still-humble Babies are playing so great these days.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Bob Dorrill! And Keep on Truckin’, Houston Babies!

Things are Looking Up, Mr. Dorrill. - Happy Birthday again - and thanks for all you do for both SABR and the Houston Babies!

The Houston Babies do not have another scheduled game until Saturday, May 5, 2012, at 10 AM at Katy Park on Avenue D in Katy as part of the Third Annual Katy Heritage Festival, but we are still trying to put together a league of four clubs to play on a regular league basis next season. Stay tuned for further developments.

We shall leave you today with a three-photo real person cartoon entitled …

Bill Hale on How To Throw a Vintage Fast Ball!

Panel 1: "You say you want to see my ancient white heat pitch?" - Bill Hale.

Panel 2: "Watch your head! Here comes the heat!" - Bill Hale.

Panel 3: "What day did you say Bill's fastball was due to arrive, Mrs. Hale?" - Katy Batter.

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What Corner Turns Tonight in World Series?

October 22, 2011

Series Shifts to Arlington Tonight, Tied 1-1.

What now?

Just when the Cardinals held the major hand and the chance to go up 2-0 in the second game in St. Louis, they blew the lead in the 9th, allowing the Rangers to come home tied at 1-1 and with Old Man Mo on their side. Do the Rangers  now build on that edge? Or do the Cards get off the deck and break service on the Rangers at home to guarantee a return of the Series to St. Louis for at least one game?

The Rangers’ win in Game Two seems pivotal from a pure numbers part. Had the Cards taken Game Two, they would be coming into Arlington tonight needing only two more to close – or needing only to win one of three in Texas to guarantee two final games in St. Louis as the conclusion of a seven-game series. Now, with the split in St. Louis in the books as history, the Rangers can finish it at home with a three-game sweep. And all of this balance swung over to Texas on the heels of their 2-1 comeback win in Game Two.

Baseball is big on momentum flows. And in the World Series, momentum carries over in between games, effecting, sometimes imperceptibly, how teams prepare and play their next meeting.

We also know that momentum can shift on a dime, In that regard, I’ve always felt that the first inning or two following a contest like Game Two is critical to either one of two outcomes: (1) The Rangers will do something early in Game Three to reenforce the deflation of the Cardinals in the 9th of Game Two; or (2) the Cards will come out slashing and turn the flow of energy lava back onto the backs of the Rangers. These shifts may come from pitching or some incredible play in the field, but most likely will fly off the clubbing of one club or the other at the plate. If they both come out banging hard early, then it’s everybody’s guess as a brand new ballgame –  and with the Series very much on the line and in reach of either club.

Right now, Mr. Pujols of the Cardinals is in need of a major momentum reversal on the heels of his 9th inning fielding error on that muffed cut-off play in the 9th of Game Two, but you don’t need me to tell you that there is no player on earth more capable of a dime-stopping 180 degree shift on the field than one Prince Albert Pujols.

The real answers start unfolding just about twelve hours away from this writing. We shall soon enough see what is to be.

In the meanwhile, where are you putting your own thoughts, hopes, or beliefs? Will the Rangers make themselves at home and keep their new Mo ball rolling? Or will the Cardinals turn it around on foreign soil and put the brakes on Texas for a new St. Louis roll?

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Nightmare on Crawford Street

October 21, 2011

"OMG will see you now. - Just don't go deeper into sleep in his presence."

I have this recurring bad dream.

In the dream, we baseball fans live in a strange land – one dominated by a seldom seen specter who only appears in image-form once we go to sleep – and only then, he appears for the sake of doing something underhanded that makes him happy and just about everybody else miserable.

Over the years, the specter has come to be known by those famous texting initials of utmost surprise – “OMG” – from the wild-eyed verbal reaction that almost all people have to the experience of seeing him for the first time. – He almost drew the name “YGTBK” from the predictably universal reaction that people have to his stock first-time introduction of himself: “Yes! I am OMG – the great and terrible Commissioner of Baseball! – And who are you to stand in the way of my will for the game?” (For those who my be unfamiliar with texting shorthand, “YGTBK” stands for “you’ve got to be kidding.”)

OMG made another appearance in a Thursday nightmare dream I just vacated a few moments ago and, as per usual, I awoke to find those same worst fears written into a story that appears on page C1 of the Friday, October 21, 2011 SPorts Section of the Houston Chronicle.

OMG! – The minor headlines scream loudly in behalf of the article written by the capable Houston Chronicle writer Steve Campbell: “ASTROS’ MOVE TO AL COULD BE IMMINENT: Crane May Be Compensated to Agree to Switch.” What a rude dream and ruder awakening story that is to all of us who love the Astros because they play the real baseball game by National League rules. With no designated hitters. No robot managers. And no place for home run-waiting offenses as the major mindset on navigating the bases.

Here’s the gist of our latest OMG Nightmare Taking Shape on Crawford Street: The delay in approving Jim Crane as new owner of the Astros may now be less about approving his credit and integrity lines and more about Commissioner OMG Selig leveraging him into accepting relocation of the franchise to the American League as a condition of the sale.

Word from the nightmare is that Crane may see that shift as doable if they knock off $50 million dollars from his $680 million deal agreed upon deal with current owner Drayton McLane, Jr.

McLane apparently is saying something like “No,no, no – no, no, no! – Our deal, Mr. Crane, was for $680 mil! Get OMG to pay you the $50 mil in comp bux, if that’s what does you.”

OMG is silent on the comp bux, so far, but these nightmares about the Astros being shuttled to the American League seem to be growing – and in blanket disregard for the wishes of most Houston fans.

Maybe, I’m wrong. Maybe most Houston fans don’t care which league the Astros are in, as long as they win. Maybe quite a few would even prefer playing in the AL because that would mean the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will be coming to Houston every season. Maybe some fans don’t mind losing the Cardinals and Cubs and Dodgers as regular foes – and maybe these same fans even prefer the DH rule to real baseball.

For those of us who do not want to see the AL move, the time appears to be running short. All we can do is sign petitions and write to Bud Selig and Jim Crane in the short-term. In the long run, if it does happen, and that is appearing more likely with each new published nightmare, all we can do is protest with our ticket-buying dollars.

OMG! That means we will have to stop buying tickets to Astros games and either throw our support behind some other National League club or else, transfer our local support to the new Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League.

I don’t like greedy people and their enterprises – and I especially don’t like businesses that either take my financial support for granted or those who go so far as to treat us individual customers as inconsequential.

If the fans of Houston are not willing to boycott the Astros for moving to the American League, then maybe the city deserves exactly what it will be getting – a variation of baseball that isn’t the real game at all because of the designated hitter. And, if the DH doesn’t bother you, there will be no harm done.

OMG.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great Expectations a Slippery Slope for Buff Fans

October 20, 2011

Buffalo/Busch Stadium, Houston, 1928-1961.

I was happy to see Lance Berkman get the critical single that drove in the two runs that eventually made the difference in the Cardinals’ 3-2 win over the Rangers in Game One of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis last night. It was also amusing to hear Lance own up to the disparaging radio remarks he made about the Rangers prior to the season. He had admitted last April that he had not signed with Texas because he felt they were an average team without the 2011 return of 2010 starter Cliff Lee, one that had caught lightning in a bottle for a single year on their way back to lower finish this season.

Of course, Berkman guessed right about the Cardinals and walked right into the greatest baseball town in America as a result. It hurts me to say that as an extremely loyal Houstonian, but it’s simply true. No other sport is more important than baseball in St. Louis and the average population of lifelong St. Louisans knows more about the game and its history than any other group of people on earth. Based upon my now considerably cumulative time in the fair Mound City over the years, I’m convinced of it. St. Louis, Missouri is the Heartland of Baseball as it was meant to be played.

Houston was like that too for those of us who grew up here in the years following World War II. Perhaps, it was an extension of the Cardinal aura or just a fact of life that came along with Houston being one of the minor league cradles and schools for future Cardinals. The roll call of later greater St. Louis Cardinals who started as Houston Buffs reads like an honor list of baseball greats and near greats: Dizzy Dean, Pepper Martin, Joe Medwick, Gus Mancuso, Watty Watkins, Howie Pollet, Red Munger, Eddie Dyer, Johnny Keane, Solly Hemus, Vinegar Bend Mizell, and Ken Boyer come to mind, just to name a few.

Great Expectations for Houston Buff fans in those days were a more tempered matter. After World War II, St. Louis had three higher minor league teams for polishing off their near-ready stars of the future: They had the Houston Buffs of the AA Texas League; the Columbus Red Birds of the AAA American Association; and the Rochester Red Wings of the AAA International League. The talent wasn’t always equally distributed at the Texas League AA level. Sometimes Houston was given a hot hand; other times they were given a bunch of over the hill old pros and raw rookies that doomed them to losing seasons.

In 1950, for example, the Houston Buffs finished in eighth and last place with a record of  61-93, a full 30.5 games behind the first place Beaumont Roughnecks. In 1951, the Buffs finished in first place with a 99-61 mark, a full 13.5 games ahead of the second place San Antonio Missions. The Houston pattern was not unusual for that era. As a minor league club fan, you just had to keep a bridle on your expectations as well as your hopes. You knew that a player who performed too well could be lost to a late season or injury-directed call up by the big league club at any time and that the needs of the major league club always superseded those of your hometown minor league team.

Oh well. I guess it’s like Mr. Biggio always tried to tell us in just about every post-game interview I ever heard him do: We just have to take our baseball one game at a time and go from there.

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Handy Reference: Series Team Records

October 19, 2011

UPDATED FOR THIS COLUMN THROUGH THE START OF 2011 WORLD SERIES!

One of my pet peeves is the absence of handy reference material for historic occasions when you need them – and no situation is more irritating in that regard than World Series time when we have a club like the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals playing and all the blah-blah talk starts about their numerous previous appearances with only oblique or incomplete mention of their earlier records in same.

To remedy that missing feature in 2011, here are the bare bones records of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers in their prior times on the World Series docket through 2010:

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: 17 World Series Appearances; 10 World Series Championships.

DATES, FOES, & RESULTS IN GAMES WON & LOST (WITH SERIES WINS IN BOLD TYPE):

1926 vs. New York Yankees, Won, 4-3.

1928 vs. New York Yankees, Lost, 4-0.

1930 vs. Philadelphia Athletics, Lost, 4-2.

1931 vs. Philadelphia Athletics, Won, 4-3.

1934 vs. Detroit Tigers, Won, 4-3.

1942 vs. New York Yankees, Won, 4-1.

1943 vs. New York Yankees, Lost, 4-1.

1944 vs. St. Louis Browns, Won, 4-2.

1946 vs. Boston Red Sox, Won, 4-3.

1964 vs. New York Yankees, Won, 4-3.

1967 vs. Boston Red Sox, Won, 4-3.

1968 vs. Detroit Tigers, Lost, 4-3.

1982 vs. Milwaukee Brewers, Won, 4-3.

1985 vs. Kansas City Royals, Lost, 4-3.

1987 vs. Minnesota Twins, Lost 4-3.

2004 vs. Boston Red Sox, Lost, 4-0.

2006 vs. Detroit Tigers, Won, 4-1.

TEXAS RANGERS: 1 World Series Appearance; 0 World Series Championships.

2010 vs. San Francisco Giants, Lost, 4-1.

2011 represents the 18th World Series appearance by the St. Louis Cardinals and the 2nd by the Texas Rangers. It should be duly noted, as baseball historian Cliff Blau points out in his comment upon this column, that this particular “Cardinal” franchise was known as the Browns during the 19th century and that they were involved in four pre-moder era world championship series as such from 1855 to 1888, winning the first two, although the 1885 victory was disputed. My reporting begins with the Modern Era (1900) and only covers the period of the modern World Series games played between the National and American Leagues, most often annually, from 1903 through the present time.

Historical Note Two: The original St. Louis Browns were members of the American Association from 1883-1891 before moving to the National League in 1892 and continuing their original identity as the Browns through 1897. After two full seasons of play as the St. Louis Perfectos (1898-1899), the franchise changed its name to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900 and the rest is history. They’ve been the Cardinals ever since.

What about those American League Brown? Easy. When the original Milwaukee Brewers of the new American League moved their franchise into the hands of competitive St. Louis interests in 1902, they also changed their mascot identity to Browns as an act of taunting competition with the National League Cardinals. The Cardinals and Browns were St. Louis competitors from 1902 through 1953 when economics finally won out in favor of the National League red birds. The Browns moved east in 1954, becoming the Baltimore Orioles that they have remained through this day.

As for the 2011 World Series, I say, “Go Cardinals! Go Rangers!” For the next week or so, you two clubs have the undivided attention of our large little baseball world. Please give us a Series that we will hate to say goodbye to when it’s done. The winter is a long time to spend staring out windows and waiting for spring as your first World Series manager, Rogers Hornsby, once described his personal formula for getting through the off-season. The time passes easier when we have a few thrilling plays and performances from a dramatic World Series to reflect upon during the long gray cold days of winter.

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