Tiger's Baseball: A Short Tale

"It's hard not to be romantic about baseball".  -Billie Beane, as portrayed by Brad Pitt

Sunday, April 15, 2012 marked not only my first Major League Baseball game of the 2012 season, but it was my first Tigers' game on the year as well.  I try to make a point of seeing them play live whenever they come through Chicago.  It's actually really nice because they have at least two or three series against the White Sox every year down here on the South side.  This year is a bonus year because the Tigers are playing the Cubs at Wrigley as well.  As I said before, I try to get to at least one game of every series.  And that's exactly what I did this past weekend.

We had pretty nice seats for my season opener.  Thank you Stub Hub for selling tickets at ridiculously low prices less than 12 hours before a game.

It was almost magical.  Sitting there taking in the sights and sounds, listening to Thunderstruck being played over the loud speaker.  It almost moved me to tears.  Baseball is at its finest when you go see a game live, and I don't care who is playing.  But it's even more special when it's the Detroit Tigers...and even more special when your spouse puts up with it.

So, we progress into the pre-game festivities...Elmo threw out the first pitch.

Morel and Ramirez are so terrible they found a couple of local boys to fill in for the day.

I should also mention at this point it was Jackie Robinson Day, so everyone wore #42 in honor of his greatness and achievements in the game of baseball.  They honored Minnie Minoso before the game.  He was Chicago's first African-American Major League Baseball player.  He's the older one on the left in the #42 jersey.

Here's Gene Lemont being a boss.

Overall it was a fun afternoon.  The weather was perfect.  Cabrera and Fielder are just too awesome.  It was fun to be that close to the action.

Here is a cool shot of Justin Verland and Alex Avila discussing their next start together.  

"Hey Justin."  

"Yeah, Alex"

"You should throw a no-hitter your next start."

"Ok"

You heard it hear first.

Final score Tigers 5, White Sox 2.  

Umpires

I know umpires aren't perfect, but sometimes they are just terrible.

I've had the opportunity to coach freshman baseball this spring and it's been an absolute blast.  Naturally, when working with freshmen it comes with its own set of issues.  Immaturity, silliness, and not quite getting what you want them to get are all just part of the gig.  But for the most part, they are a lot of fun.

As of this publication our team is 4-6.  We've played some close games, we've lost some bad games, and we've won some great games.  Today was no exception.  Today was an epic disappointment is what it was.  Let me set the scene.  The score is 2-1 going into the bottom of the 7th inning (we only play 7 innings in high school), two outs, man on 3rd, we are losing.

*Flashback to 3rd inning*  One of our guys hits a ground ball, close play at first.  Bang, bang, we beat the play.  "Out!", calls the umpire in the field.

*Fast forward to the 4th inning*  Same thing, hard ground ball, third baseman can't handle the ball, bang, bang play.  We beat the throw by a step.  "Out!", calls the umpire.

"What!?  NO!  He was safe!  Sir, this is two plays now where we have beaten the play."

*Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth* Let me remind you there are two outs, we have a runner on third.  Our guy steps into the batter's box.  Ball one.  Next pitch is fouled off.  The next pitch is hit hard to the shortstop.  He bobbles the hard ground ball.  He bobbles it again!  The throw to first....our batter steps on first, takes a step after the bag THEN the ball comes into the glove of the first basemen.  I at this point am holding my arms out indicating "safe" and clapping my hands in excitement.

In that split second I look at the umpire.  He looks back at me.  Raises his fist.  "Out!"

Game over.

I immediately run over to him.  "You've got to be kidding me!  There hasn't been a more obvious call all day!  Our guy should be standing on first in a tie ballgame right now and you know it!

The umpire looks at me and says in a quiet, I-told-you-so, attitude, "out".  "What!?!?", I respond.  "Maybe if you haven't been yelling at me all afternoon", he replies.

At this point in time my head coach has run from the third base line and has begun to intercede, pushing me away.  I don't know what they said to each other.  It doesn't matter.

I need to clarify that I was in the umpire's ear in the 3rd and 4th inning.  I was not yelling, I didn't speak in a condescending tone, I only spoke loud enough for him to hear me. For him to use that against our batter in a close game, where he just hit the game-tying RBI, is sickening.  I was so mad at this umpire for deciding a close game based on his resentment towards me.  I was merely trying to defend my players because we told them never to argue with an official.

Judge me how you will, but as a coach, I'm going to defend my players.  I'm not the kind of coach who argues with an umpire for the sake of arguing.  If it's a close call but I think he made the right call, so be it, I'll keep my mouth shut.  But in today's game something had to be said because this umpire was giving the other team free outs.  So for him to do that at the end of the game set me off.  That's wrong.

If I run into this umpire again I will of course shake his hand and apologize.  It's probably the right thing to do.  I just don't want him to continue ruining games for us if he thinks I have a grudge.

I know umpires aren't perfect, but umpires or any official should never use their feelings toward a coach and have that affect the result of the game.  It's not fair to the athletes, it's not fair to the parents.

Thanks for letting me vent.

New Beginnings

Blogging apparently takes a back seat when life gets busy.

Since my last entry the high school basketball season has come to an end, thus ending my announcing for the season.  The team in which I announce for went down to state and ended up getting 3rd.  They had the talent to win it all.  Sad to see them lose.

Also since my last entry I have begun coaching baseball at the freshman level.  It's pretty much what you imagine, except probably more stupid issues to deal with.  It actually wouldn't be that bad if half our team was borderline ineligible.  Seriously!  10 out of 21 guys have at least a D or F if not multiple Ds or Fs.  It could get ugly really fast if they don't get their act together.  Other than that, I love it.  Coaching baseball is a lot of fun.  Our first game is next week Tuesday.  We look to have a lot of promise this year.  For freshmen, they're pretty good.

Another knew beginning since my last update is there is now a baby being formed in my wife's womb.  I'm pretty sure it's mine.  Kidding.  It's mine.  Ours.

All kidding aside, we are very excited about being future parents.  Personally, it hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm going to be a dad.  Everyone I've talked to says it's the best thing to ever happen to them.  I guess it will become very real soon enough.  Anna is due mid-August.  I hope for her that it is a cooler summer (I also hope so for the sake of our A/C bill).

I am going to do my best to continue blogging more regularly.  I know this post is a little scatter-brained, but that's ok.  I'm writing this and watching the latest episode of Psych at the same time, so whatever.

I foresee my blog shifting and changing shapes over the course of the next several months.  I think in the long-run I'd like to see this become my humorous observations of being a dad.  Not necessarily a "hey-look-how-cute-my-kid-is" blog (although, it will probably happen, so I apologize in advance), but a "hey-my-kid-did-this-really-funny-thing", or "I-made-this-quirky-observation-about-fatherhood" blog.  We'll see.  It's way to early to tell.

I leave you with this:

Announcing

I'm starting to realize God has blessed with so much.

Among a hot wife who loves me, a dog, a home, a job, friends and family who care about me, I've also been blessed with a voice.  I don't mean a voice to speak or to sing.  I mean a voice to be an announcer.  I didn't realize this until a few years ago.  I had the opportunity to fill in for our basketball announcer at the high school I worked at, and realized I really enjoyed it.  Besides having the best seat in the house, I got to call all the action as it happened.  It started out announcing a game here and there, and then the following year it became more frequent.  At this point I didn't start to think about announcing as a job so to speak.  It was just something to do to make some extra money.

I was honored to be asked to announce those basketball games, and people were always really nice by complementing me on my "performance".  I just shrugged it off, hoping to not think to much about it because I knew I wasn't going to go anywhere with it.  Summer of 2010 was when it started to become real.  I had received a phone call from our Athletic Director.  He informed me the previous football announcer was not going to be returning in the Fall, and he wanted to know if I would take the mic for the 2010 football season.  I of course said yes.

I started to get the hang of it.  Working with my spotter, calling the numbers and names of those involved with the play.  Making sure I was being articulate and enunciating correctly I began to fall in love with being a public address announcer.  Again, people would graciously complement me and for the first time individuals were telling me I should think about doing this announcing thing more often.  I kindly accepted the complements and kept doing my thing.  Moving from football to basketball season I continued to practice and fell even more in love with what I was doing.

One late winter's day I heard on the radio the Chicago Cubs were seeking a new public address announcer for the 2011 season.  "Oh my gosh!", I thought.  I could be the next voice of the Cubs!  All I had to do was read a script and make a YouTube video.  Easy enough.  So I did.  I began to draft dreams of becoming a professional public address announcer.  ~Spoiler alert - I did not get the job, nor is the video still online, sorry.

Through that experience I learned what a professional baseball team is looking for in an announcer.  Most of which could not be found in my audition video.  Out of curiosity I Googled* public address announcing jobs to see what else was out there.  Maybe there was some truth to all those who told me I could be a professional announcer.  The second hit was a link to the Windy City Thunderbolts, a minor league baseball team out of Crestwood, IL.  The site told me to show up to the stadium on a certain day and they would be hosting live auditions right then and there.  So I showed up.  One of 30 or so and the only one in a shirt and tie I patiently waited my turn.  While I waited I sat and listened to those going ahead of me.  As you would expect there were those who were pretty good and there were those who were just plain bad.  I knew at that point I had no right to judge them myself, but when you hear someone you know if they're good or not.  Finally, after about 15 people I got to go.  I sat in the chair in front of the mic overlooking the field.  I focused, took a deep breath, and belted out the best starting lineup I could come up with.  Long story short, I became a top-three finalist and eventually got the job.

I spent my summer announcing 48 home games between May and September.  I absolutely loved it.  I got paid to watch baseball.  How awesome is that?  I'm honored to say I will be returning Summer of 2012.  Stop on by if you're in the neighborhood next summer.

Since then I've become The Voice of the Hawks (title given to me by the Athletic Director) of a high school in the district I work in.  I've been announcing their boys and girls basketball games, and look forward to another great season.  Maybe in the future I'm announcing a professional sport.  Anyone out there reading who knows anyone in the professional sports world, I'm available after February 2012.

The point of all this is not to just say I announce and I love it.  As I mentioned earlier, I've been blessed with a voice.  Some are blessed with the ability to throw a football 50 yards, others are blessed with the ability to build a space shuttle, others are even blessed with the ability to take amazing pictures.  I, on the other hand, have been incredibly blessed to be a public address announcer.  I am thankful for the voice God gave me, even though I don't like listening to myself on a recording (am I the only one?).  I pray daily that God uses my voice for good, that I can honor Him in using my voice in whatever I'm doing.  It's a constant reminder for me to use my voice wisely.  Without it, I can kiss my dreams of being a professional goodbye.  May it be a reminder for you as well to use whatever gifts you've been blessed with to honor Him.

*Googled is not a proper word.  I get the red squiggly line underneath it.

Baseball's Finest

Tonight is Game 1 of the 108th World Series in baseball history.  The Rangers will take on the Cardinals to see who will be crowned baseball champions.  The baseball fan-hood in me should be ecstatic, but I have mixed emotions this year.  A large part to my uneasiness comes from the Tigers being eliminated just 4 days ago by the very team that will be competing tonight.  I honestly believe the Tigers had the most talented starting pitching and the most explosive offense in this year's AL playoff race.  It was utterly disappointing to see them lose in such a fashion as they did last Saturday night.

Baseball is a crazy sport.  It's all about who gets hot at the right time.  Tigers got hot mid-August and steam rolled their way into the postseason.  The Rangers on the other hand took advantage of a worn out Tigers lineup and bulldozed their way past Detroit.

So I move on.  This year's World Series should be a great matchup between two great baseball organizations.  The Cardinals have the second most World Series wins (10) to only that of the Yankees (27).  The Rangers on the other hand are seeking their first World Series victory in only two attempts, and have all the tools necessary to win.

Being a Tigers fan I generally become a fan of any other American League team when the Tigers are not in contention to win.  I hope the Rangers knock the socks off the Cardinals.  Nothing against Tony LaRussa, arguably one of the greatest managers of all time, but I'm still a little sore from 2006 (Cards swept the Tigers).

The Rangers have an incredible lineup, and an even more amazing bullpen.  The depth of the Rangers is something I don't think the Cardinals can cope with.  I may not even watch any of the World Series this year.  I think I've tortured my wife enough with all the baseball I've been watching, but we'll see.

I predict Rangers in 5.