By Andrew DeMarco
“I want the broadcast to sound like two guys sitting at the ballpark, talking about the game, with the viewer eavesdropping. It’s not High Mass, and it’s not a seminar – it’s a ballgame.” Joe Garagiola
With the baseball season just around the corner I thought I would regale all of you with what has become my annual Opening Day musings although some might call them rants. As always, with a new season hope springs eternal for all the teams and unlike other years even the Chicago Cubs have hope. This year presents many questions that will be answered over the course of the season and I would like to address a few of them here. After the Mets’ World Series appearance, one of the big questions here in New York is whether or not the Mets have taken over the town from the Yankees. Right now the answer would be yes but for Yankee fans hope springs eternal that will change over the course of the season and that they will make the World Series this year. I personally hope they do and get to play the Mets in another Subway Series so we can decide this once and for all, plus a Subway Series would annoy all the other baseball fans out there. (Yeah I’m a New Yorker; you got a problem with that.)
With David “Big Papi” Ortiz announcing his retirement this past November following the 2016 season, leads to another question. Will his retirement tour net him more goodies than that of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera? When Big Papi announced his retirement he clearly stated that he did not want anything like the circus that followed the retirement of both Jeter and Rivera. However, the chance of that seems slim since the festivities seem to already begun. At spring training Big Papi’s number 34 is already painted on the grass at the Red Sox training facility, so it should be interesting following his farewell tour. This led to another question as to why Alex Rodriguez would announce that he will retire after the 2017 season. I guess he wants to make one final repentance tour before he goes for the loot too, not that he or any of them need the gifts they get showered with. Here is an idea, no more retirement tours! Announce that you are done after the final game of the year and move on.
Here’s another question, how many ridiculously expensive cars does Yoenis Cespedes own? The early big news from Met’s spring training was Cespedes showing up every day with a different car each one probably more expensive that what the average fan earns in a year. This isn’t bad for someone who only five years ago defected from Cuba. While most found it amusing, which I did at first, I later thought of it as a slap in the face to the fans. They are the ones who help pay this man’s salary and yet they have to shell out a small fortune for them and their families to attend a ball game. Maybe Yoenis should sell one of his cars and take the money and treat a few families to a game and still take care of some charities which I hope he does.
Which leads me to a question for you. Recently Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage went off on players today calling them a disgrace and embarrassment with a few choice words which I cannot repeat here thrown in. I would like to know how you feel about his comments. Are players a disgrace today or have times and attitudes changed? Is it like comparing players of different eras? Let me know your thoughts on this
Finally, I would like to take a moment to remember Joe Garagiola who recently passed away and just about six months after his childhood friend Yogi Berra. These two took that road which Yogi always spoke about and when they got to the fork in the road, they took it, however not in the same direction. Yogi took the fork to the Hall of Fame as a player while Joe took the other fork and made it in as an announcer. Yogi would be known for his Yogi-isms while Joe would be known for his simple calling of the game and his sense of humor. I remember watching a Yankee game years ago and Joe was doing the play by play, it was a boring extra inning game and you can hear it in his voice. He then went on to describe a “vicious pop-up” to the pitcher, by saying that as a batter, “that hurts two things, it hurts your batting average, but more than that it hurts your feelings.” Yogi could not have said it any better.
As this season gets underway let’s remember these two sons of immigrants, who would and should both be examples that ballplayers of any era would be proud of and should emulate them. And as Joe reminded us that although we all love the game and cannot wait for a new season it is that, just a game, not a High Mass or a seminar. So let’s gather at the ballpark, the local bar or at home with friends and family and enjoy the season and hopefully your team will provide you with that feeling in October that Cousin Bob would call that ….. Rosy Glow.
Bob's Rosy Glow 