Baseball knowledge is a constantly changing thing. It's like any other form of information: some of it is uniform, and some of it is constantly fluid, changing based on era, culture, and shared experiences. There is, though, one piece of baseball knowledge that pretty much spans the masses. It is this: having better talent is a good thing.
Local sports media markets are always a fun ride. Why, here in Chicago, we have quite possibly the most gloriously insane homer in all of broadcasting, Hawk Harrelson. In Hawk's mind, there has never been a strike zone that was favorable to the Chicago White Sox, never a close slide play called correctly, never a fair shake from the local media. (Who are, of course, in the tank for the Cubs.) It's actually beyond annoying now; it's just entertaining in that certain "Uncle Hawk's drunk again" sort of way.
Los Angeles is apparently not immune to this phenomenon. When the Dodgers clinched the pennant, the Dodgers TV broadcast team toasted to the accomplishment -- popping bottles of [cider], putting on division champs t-shirts, the whole bit. And the L.A. Times's media critic, Steve Springer, is not amused:
So what's the problem? This is an L.A. team being covered by a locally based outlet. What's wrong with a little hometown loyalty? Nothing, except a loss of credibility. Fans might love being fans, but they want to be informed fans. If they want inspiration, they'll go to a pep rally. If they want information, they go to the media.
But only if they think they'll get balanced analysis. Only if they think they can get an unbiased appraisal of their team. Telling us between gulps how great the Dodgers' chances are to raise the pennant doesn't result in much faith in the prognosis.
Springer's is a fair point, and it was probably a bit much. Kevin Kennedy sudsing all over his analysis -- that was an unfortunate verb, but I'm keeping it -- is not going to engender sober-minded analysis. But ... Springer is being a little too joyless here. Let it ride, Springy. It is possible, after all, to be happy about a team's success and still be able to correctly analyze that team's chances. Fans get that, because they're usually the harshest critics.
I doubt too many Dodgers fans saw Steve Lyons and Co., bottles in hand, and lost faith in America's journalistic institutions.
While most of the blogging world has been celebrating the resignation/firing of Jay Mariotti at the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday, it's not just those of us who read him that are happy to see him go. The Chicago White Sox have long been one of Jay's favorite targets. Whether he's ripping on team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, manager Ozzie Guillen, or even play-by-play announcer Hawk Harrelson, Jay never had anything nice to say about the organization.
So when the news reached the White Sox in Baltimore on Tuesday night that Jay's reign of terror was coming to an end, the Sox were quite happy to hear the news.
''When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you,'' [Ozzie] Guillen said. ''He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people's jobs over the years. I'm not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.
Awful Announcing (who else, right?) put it best when stating that the "the completely professional way that Jon Sciambi and Joe Simpson handled the worst call by an umpire well......ever" is pretty amazing, especially when you consider that these guys are the local Braves broadcast crew. You really would get more of a reaction out of an ESPN announcer (or FOX, or whomever) if this happened in a site neutral game than Simpson and Sciambi did. Which is hysterical too, when you consider the way they were hyping up John Smoltz' milestone strikeouts.
Can you imagine what would happen if this happened on Hawk Harrelson's watch?
While some scoff at White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson's advert homerism, there's a certain realism to it. Hey, he likes his team and he's not going to act objectively about it. Good for him.
This is no more apparent than in the above clip during what looked to be a Nick Swisher homer in a game earlier this week against the A's. (Dagummit!)
Oh, and if you're wondering what his partner Darrin Jackson is like, just listen to his enthusiasm after the catch. Man, that guy should probably chill out on the Red Bull. Via Home Run Derby.
As a White Sox fan, all of last year I was subjected to the nonsensical notion that the entire lineup was in a slump. Whether it was Ozzie Guillen telling me, Kenny Williams, or Hawk Harrelson, it was the only logical explanation to anybody who works with the organization.
As a fan with half a brain, I wasn't buying it. So this off-season when the team kept saying that it was some kind of magical slump, and then made no drastic improvements to the lineup, I wasn't exactly pleased. I was more in line with everybody else that it was just a case of veteran hitters getting older, and deteriorating as they did so.
Well, maybe the White Sox brain trust knew what they were talking about. With their 7-4 victory over the Twins this afternoon in their home opener, the Sox have scored 45 runs in their first seven games. They've also now won five straight games, which they never managed to do last season.
Though I still don't really think last year could be blamed on a six month slump. The biggest difference I've seen in the White Sox lineup this season compared to last is that they're not trying to hit every single pitch 550 feet. The approach the team seems to be taking this season so far is to go the other way, and look for base hits, not home runs.
It's working so far.
We're only a week into the season, but the Sox are looking a lot more like the 90-win teams we saw in 2005 and 2006 rather than the anemic 2007 version.
Oh sure, the Sox locked up a World Series appearance by trading for the vaunted Carlos Quentin, but Quentin shouldn't have to carry the load on his own!
Just when I was about to give up hope, the White Sox made an announcement on Thursday that while it won't help the team win any games, it will at least make listening to them lose a lot more tolerable. Steve Stone is going to be doing a few Sox games from the radio booth.
Stone, who has worked for WSCR-AM (670) the last two years as a baseball analyst, will expand his duties this summer for the White Sox' flagship station, joining radio team Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton in the booth for Friday home games.
'I'll get a chance to enjoy doing baseball in Chicago again,'' Stone said Wednesday. ''I've gotten along so well with [Farmer and Singleton], and [team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf] and I have been friends for a long time. He's one of the guys I really respect.
''It will be an unusual team. Ed will do play-by-play, and Chris and I will get to talk about how you set up hitters and go from there. It'll be fun.''
Stone filled in for White Sox tv analyst Darrin Jackson for a week last season, and that was by far the best week of the season to watch the White Sox on television. Yeah, they kept losing, but at least Stone made listening to the games tolerable. Instead of hearing about Hawk Harrelson's golf game, Sox fans were treated to actual analysis of a baseball game.
Hopefully Stone's tour in the radio booth will turn into a full time job come 2009, be it on the radio or television. The city of Chicago needs him.
And today? Jim Thome became the 23rd player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs. With the game tied 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth against the Angels, Thome hit a low and outside 3-2 pitch out of the park to left-center field for a walk-off job.
He was mobbed by teammates once he touched home plate as his wife cried tears of joy in the stands. Jermaine Dye and Jenks hoisted Thome up on their shoulders as he saluted the crowd.
"What a great day; what a great feeling," Thome told Hawk Harrelson just minutes after the historic shot.
Thanks to the running series MLB.com is doing on batting gloves, here's a little story you may not have known about: Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, he of odd catchphrases in the White Sox announcing booth, is credited as the inventor of the batting glove.
The story goes he was out playing golf before a game one day in 1963 and upon seeing a blister forming on his left hand, threw on the golf glove he had in his back pocket from the 27 holes of golf he had just played.
"In those days, the minimum salary was $6,000, and I was making more playing golf and pool than I was making playing baseball," Harrelson said. "When you are making $6,000 and spending $30,000, you have to supplement your income."
[ ... ]
"From that day on, I never hit again without one," Harrelson said. "That [glove] goes well with a blister, better than skin on bat, and then everyone started using them."
Harrleson claims he hit two home runs off Whitey Ford the day he first donned the glove. However, as South Side Sox points out, that isn't quite the case. But details such as that are pretty trivial. So let us raise our glasses and propose a toast for the Hawk.
I'd say this invention ranks right up there with the sandwich. Or the toaster. Or the pizza. Did I mention I was hungry?
For now, I'll avoid getting into the debate about who is far superior (See: Stone, Steve) and just alert you to the fact that Stone called Juan Uribe's walkoff homer in the bottom of the 13th last night against the Tribe. Via Sox Machine:
During Scott Podsednik's at-bat, here was the banter between Stone and Hawk Harrelson:
Stone: Well, I think you got the guy who's going to end this game in the on-deck circle... what a tough night defensively for Uribe, but he can certainly make up for it. Hawk: Is that your story? Stone: Yup, I think that's what's going to happen. Hawk: And he's sticking to it.
And as Uribe went ¡profundo!:
Hawk: And that ball hit hard! Way back! Sizemore looks up! You can put it on the boaaaaaaaaaaard, YES, STONE PONY! Stone: [after a beat] Thank you. First time to go, Hawk, that's just the way it is.
Ah Stoney, as even-keeled and confident as ever. Get this man a beverage, I say.
Baseball knowledge is a constantly changing thing. It's like any other form of information: some of it is uniform, and some of it is constantly fluid, changing based on era, culture, and shared experiences. There is, though, one piece of baseball knowledge that pretty much spans the masses. It is this: having better talent is a good thing. 
Local sports media markets are always a fun ride. Why, here in Chicago, we have quite possibly the most gloriously insane homer in all of broadcasting, 
While most of the blogging world has been celebrating the resignation/firing of 
As a White Sox fan, all of last year I was subjected to the nonsensical notion that the entire lineup was in a slump. Whether it was 
I haven't exactly been quiet about my feelings towards the White Sox and general manager 
Thanks to the running series MLB.com is doing on batting gloves, here's a little story you may not have known about: 
With White Sox TV analyst 
