Those Were the Days
So yesterday I’ve got some free time. With nothing better to do, I go through the Palatial Video Archives and pull out the tape of the 1989 Cubs-Expos tilt that clinched the championship of the old National League Eastern Division for my heroes.
And for those of you rolling your eyes – I already said I had nothing better to do! So lay off…
Anyway, not a lot has changed in the 17-odd years since my mother taped the game (and the attending post-game hoopla) for me. But while the events are familiar, the benefit of hindsight helped me notice a few morsels I missed the first fifty or sixty times I’ve watched this tape:
** Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez started the game for the Expos. As the game proceeded into seventh inning, Harry Caray was amazed that Martinez was still out there. “He’s only got four complete games this year!” said the flabbergasted Hall of Fame broadcaster.
Yes, back in the day, a pitcher with only four complete games on the year was a girly-man. Nowadays, a pitcher with four complete games is considered the second coming of Joe McGinnity (unless he pitches for the Cubs, of course – then there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth about pitcher abuse…).
** During the post-game clubhouse celebration, our baseball media once again showed why they’re the best in the business as they found a dozen ways to ask both manager Don Zimmer and GM Jim Frey how a team they (i.e., the media) ridiculed as a last-place club managed to take the division.
Both Zimmer and Frey offered the platitudes we’ve come to expect from managers and executives. But they also both mentioned how they discussed the roster of the 1988 club and decided to jettison some players who they termed “too negative.”
Frey’s biggest trade in the 1988 off season was the deal the sent Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer, and some magic beans to Texas for Mitch Williams and a bunch of flotsam. OK, OK – it sent Palmeiro and Moyer to Texas for an assload of flotsam.
Knowing what we know now about Palmeiro, do you think it is possible that old-school fave Don Zimmer had an inkling that young Rafael was a potential juicer?
Let me be absolutely clear that this is the merest of speculation, and I’m most likely reading way too much into it, and there is nary a shred of evidence involved in it.
But still, one wonders…
** Finally, a local Chicago newscast took a few minutes out of its Cubs coverage that night to look in on the White Sox. When asked what would make the team better, one anonymous woman grumpily answered, “If they played on the North Side, people would think they’re better.”
Some things never change…
And for those of you rolling your eyes – I already said I had nothing better to do! So lay off…
Anyway, not a lot has changed in the 17-odd years since my mother taped the game (and the attending post-game hoopla) for me. But while the events are familiar, the benefit of hindsight helped me notice a few morsels I missed the first fifty or sixty times I’ve watched this tape:
** Dennis “El Presidente” Martinez started the game for the Expos. As the game proceeded into seventh inning, Harry Caray was amazed that Martinez was still out there. “He’s only got four complete games this year!” said the flabbergasted Hall of Fame broadcaster.
Yes, back in the day, a pitcher with only four complete games on the year was a girly-man. Nowadays, a pitcher with four complete games is considered the second coming of Joe McGinnity (unless he pitches for the Cubs, of course – then there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth about pitcher abuse…).
** During the post-game clubhouse celebration, our baseball media once again showed why they’re the best in the business as they found a dozen ways to ask both manager Don Zimmer and GM Jim Frey how a team they (i.e., the media) ridiculed as a last-place club managed to take the division.
Both Zimmer and Frey offered the platitudes we’ve come to expect from managers and executives. But they also both mentioned how they discussed the roster of the 1988 club and decided to jettison some players who they termed “too negative.”
Frey’s biggest trade in the 1988 off season was the deal the sent Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer, and some magic beans to Texas for Mitch Williams and a bunch of flotsam. OK, OK – it sent Palmeiro and Moyer to Texas for an assload of flotsam.
Knowing what we know now about Palmeiro, do you think it is possible that old-school fave Don Zimmer had an inkling that young Rafael was a potential juicer?
Let me be absolutely clear that this is the merest of speculation, and I’m most likely reading way too much into it, and there is nary a shred of evidence involved in it.
But still, one wonders…
** Finally, a local Chicago newscast took a few minutes out of its Cubs coverage that night to look in on the White Sox. When asked what would make the team better, one anonymous woman grumpily answered, “If they played on the North Side, people would think they’re better.”
Some things never change…
posted by Bob at
8:54 PM
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