"Field of Dreams" Venue Spared From the Plow

"Field of Dreams," Dyersville, Iowa
(photo: movie-locations.com)

The movie Field of Dreams featured a baseball diamond on which a passionate fan successfully conjured the ghosts of Baseball Past. The actual setting was a 193-acre Iowa farm which contributed more maize for ethanol than corn for entertainment.

According to the showbiz website deadline.com, the farm's owners recently sold the land to an investment group that includes former baseball star and Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. The plan is to transform the agricultural land into an amalgam of hardball and softball fields called "All Star Ballpark Heaven." It's unknown if Boggs will insist on serving fried chicken in his version of baseball paradise. During his playing days, Boggs attributed his batting prowess to his steady diet of poultry. 

S&P Downgrades NY Mets' Bonds

Will the bond degrade
mean curtains for Mr. Met? 

The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc., popularly known as the New York Mets, hit the dirt after receiving a chin-high fastball from Standard & Poor's. The rating agency knocked the Mets' bond rating down to the second level of "junk" status, Wall Street's equivalent of the Mendoza Line. The Mets' bonds are no longer "investment grade," which automatically prohibits certain pension funds, mutual funds, and other institutional buyers from purchasing these securities.

According to a bloomberg.com report, S&P raised concerns about the Mets' ability to meet certain revenue generation thresholds. It didn't take a wizard in financial modeling to realize empty seats and a lackluster squad equalled the proverbial downward slope for performance expectations. Considering the strength of the American corporate bond market, the downgrade is a disturbing event, one which Standard and Poor's and the Mets tried to bury during a slow, year-end holiday news period.

Overarching the ratings determination is the unspoken, but well known impact the Madoff scandal had on the Mets. The prevailing sentiment is that Madoff "made off" with much of the Mets' money. While the Mets' ownership has skated on this issue, the practical result has been the resemblance of the National League's #1 market to a small time operation. That is an unbecoming outcome, from which little good is likely to emerge.

Reflections on Roberto Clemente -- The Musical

Roberto Clemente's Plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame

Our friend Phil Dorsey, one of TheBocx.com's partners, suggested my wife and I join him to see a musical based on the life of the late, great baseball player and Puerto Rican icon Roberto Clemente. Phil has a personal connection to Clemente's life; Dorsey's father, a Pittsburgh postal worker, knew Clemente quite well. How well? The Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder entrusted Dorsey, Sr., with the keys to Roberto's Cadillac when Clemente was on the road. The musical -- DC7, The Roberto Clemente Story -- included a character based on Phil's father, and that piqued our interest in the play.

I thought Phil was pulling our legs (he is an excellent practical joker), but the press release about the play confirmed that someone indeed had made the stuff of Clemente's life into a musical. At first, the concept seemed an unlikely one. I had a hard time imagining a singer/dancer wearing a Pirate baseball uniform using Bob Fosse-styled technique and not looking ridiculous in the process. I had not factored an essential part of the musical, and a core concept of Puerto Rican culture: how music, dancing, and the dialogue between musicians and the audience informs the musical event. Once I heard and saw the performance's first number, I grasped the validity and necessity of treating Clemente's life in a musical form.

Today, the majority of major league baseball players are Latin. Few have significant commercial endorsements. It's tough for Latin players, even in the post-Clemente era, to feel local fans' and media respect.  For every Big Papi getting love from Red Sox Nation, there are many more, equally or more talented Latin players wondering why fans never fully embrace them. (Carlos Beltran, formerly of the New York Mets, quickly comes to mind.) The dialogue between baseball fans and players, just as alive and vital as that between musicians and audience, has a different dynamic for Latin baseball players playing in front of predominantly Anglo audiences.

It has been nearly a half-century since Roberto Clemente died during a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua. He was a leader for, among other things, respect for Latin ballplayers and the greater Latin diaspora in the United States. If Clemente were alive now, he would say there's a great deal of unfinished business to be done.

$3.6 Million Florida Marlins Pitcher Used False Name, Rigged Documentation For Years

What's in a name? For Juan Carlos Oviedo, this was no mere philosophical question. At the time, the 16-year-old Dominican baseball prospect had the right stuff, except one essential qualification. He was a year outside the big contract money. So, as with many resourceful or desperate wannabe peloteros, Oviedo did the practical thing. Probably through his trainer,  he obtained a fraudulent birth certificate and a new name. And just like that, the former Juan Carlos Oviedo became Leo Nunez.

It turned out Nunez had a 3.6 million dollar arm. His most recent team, the Florida Marlins, spoke highly of his character. The team also discovered that Nunez was really Oviedo. There was another issue that finally forced Oviedo out into the open: funerals.

According to the Miami Herald, the Dominican consul general noted that the player "told human stories of family members who had died and he could not go to the funeral under the name Juan Carlos Oviedo, because everyone in the Dominican Republic knows him as Leo Nunez..."He couldn't just show up at the wake as the relative of some Oviedo. That would be a problem."

Yes, a problem. The story, not exactly unusual in Major League Baseball, is a good one. Here's the link to it.

Harmon Killebrew RIP

Former home run king Harmon Killebrew, who passed away today, came from a baseball era that seems light years away from today's millionaire jocks, dull video replay, and luxury boxes no one can afford. Killebrew played on some good Minnesota Twins teams that included a great player (Tony Oliva) and a very, very good player (Rod Carew). The Twins had the mixed fortune of having a stingy owner. The players, including Killebrew, were dreadfully underpaid. However, the owner's frugality led him to sign talented Latin ballplayers. It's hard to imagine now, but having Spanish speaking athletes was something certain franchises avoided. The Twins and the Pittsburgh Pirates broke that mold, but for financial reasons and not to advance a social cause.

Killebrew and Minnesota's fans took to one another immediately. He was, as circa 1980s Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek noted, "Paul Bunyan in a uniform." Killebrew was a legit home run hitter in the grand style. He not only hit home runs, he hit majestic shots. His generation included some extraordinary home run hitters, including Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Frank Robinson. Killebrew's attendance in All-Star games put him on the same field as Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, and Al Kaline. That's pretty lofty company and Killer was worthy of it.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune obit offers a useful glimpse into Killebrew's life. One interesting anecdote, and one I did not know until today, was how Reggie Jackson loaned Killebrew money when Killer was on the heels of bankruptcy. A lot of people, both inside baseball and just plain folks, thought the world of a man universally cited as decent and giving. He'll be missed.

NY Mets to MLB: Hey Bud, Can You Spare $25 Million

The New York Mets baseball team, according to today's New York Times, tapped Major League Baseball for a $25 million loan late last year.

The loan was provided on the hush-hush to the Madoff-tainted franchise. The secrecy has raised eyebrows among many interested parties. Those include other major league baseball franchises (the Yankees must be having a very good laugh over this episode), the banks whom the Mets' owners have strung out to the tune of $400 million in IOUs, the team's sponsors, the players who must be wondering if Met ownership is solvent enough to meet its $140 million payroll, and the trustee of the Madoff mess who is suing the Wilpon/Katz empire for a cool billion dollars.

Yes, the Mets have issues. Spring training has just begun, and already "Let's Go Mets!" sound pretty hollow. It's going to be a very long, lonely season at Citi Field.

Playoff Baseball

I saw a few innings of the Philadelphia-Cincinnati baseball playoff game on television this evening. The game had some very exciting moments, including hit batsmen, defensive gaffes, and poised play. It also featured new faces to the playoff show, such as Cincinnati star Joey Votto and Philadelphia's extraordinary pitcher Roy Halladay.

Baseball desperately needed new, dynamic blood into its big time showcases. Fans across the country will now get to see underappreciated talents such as Texas' Michael Young and rising stars such as the Giants' Tim Lincecum. They're thriving, even though they play far from Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.

For a time, television networks assumed on our behalf that the only truly desirable baseball "products" were the Yankees and Red Sox. During the post-season, solid teams such as the Minnesota Twins, lost in the shadows of major market franchises, get their moment in the bright lights. I admit I root for the Yankees, but I enjoy how baseball's new generation of great players make a playoff baseball game something to savor.

Strike Three for Cal Baseball

UC Berkeley announced today that the university is dropping baseball from its sports program. The institution also eliminated men's and women's gymnastics, as well as women's lacrosse. Rugby, which at Berkeley nearly pays its own way, was reduced to a "club sport."

The loss of a major sport by a prestigious university demonstrates how far the mighty have fallen in California. There was a time, not so long ago, when the UC system offered nearly every sort of educational opportunity to its citizens. The Golden State was proud of its public colleges and universities. They offered a refreshing, desirable counterpoint to the dominance of East Coast intellectual life. Today, California's public institutions are reeling from the impact of the state's ruthless politics and feckless spending. Even for relatively popular activities such as baseball, there is no more funding, ever. It's strike three -- they're out.

The baseball card-style illustration shows UC-Berkeley alum Mike Epstein, who later played pro ball with the Oakland Athletics.

Baseball's Dog Days

The fourth week of August is, in the baseball world, its "dog days." They're aptly named. It's this period in the baseball season when the sport's wolves prowl on their prey. The hot weather, the season's length, and the road trips wear down weaker teams, while the strong survive and prosper. Consequently, the statistics of good players accelerate in a desirable direction, as the New York Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano has recently shown.

This season, the American League has the stronger teams, the better players, the more prosperous franchises. While the Yankees have the best record as of this morning, they may not even make the playoffs. That is indicative of the competition, the quality of players on each contending team, and the demands of the schedule. I don't know who will win the three American League divisions, or the identity of the league's wild card playoff team, but it promises to be an exciting race. And that's something a baseball fan -- and I am one -- can get excited about.

The Imperfect Game

An unusual event occurred in Major League Baseball last night. A pitcher for the Detroit Tigers threw a perfect game, only to have the first base umpire obviously miss a call that would have been the 27th and final out. The Detroit pitcher, by this egregious turn of fortune, ironically has become a sports celebrity beyond what his achievement would have typically merited him.

Sometimes, a seemingly cruel twist of fate leads to a situation better than one could imagine. When my wife Amy and I were on our honeymoon in France, we looked forward to celebrating my birthday in Paris. However, such was not meant to be. A French rail strike completely paralyzed transportation throughout the country and within Paris. Accepting local advice, we booked a hotel in a town we'd never heard of. The destination turned out to be a medieval town off the beaten track. I can still vividly recall the town, its quiet sense of history, its maze-like streets echoing ancient ways.

It was a birthday to remember.

A Texas-Sized Bankruptcy

Last week, the Texas Rangers major league baseball franchise declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. What was curious about the bankruptcy announcement was the identity of the largest unsecured creditor. If you guessed an insurance company, private equity firm, state pension fund, or other deep-pocketed investor, you would have been wrong. The correct answer was Alex Rodriguez, currently playing third base for the Yankees. He's owed $25 million.

The line score for the Rangers? No runs, nowhere to hide, and plenty of errors in judgement.