Around The Horn

The way that the voters in the Baseball Hall of Fame perceive values is quite different than the way our country visualizes them. In baseball, what is the worst sin you could commit that would ban you from ever being inducted in Cooperstown? Lets examine the record of some of those that are in the HOF. First would be Ty Cobb, here are some of the crimes he committed. 1907: Slapped a black groundskeeper; when the man’s wife protested, he grabbed her by the neck. 1908: Assaulted a black laborer; shoved a black chambermaid down the stairs. 1909: Slapped a black elevator operator for being “insolent.” When a night watchman (also black) broke it up, Cobb slashed him several times with a knife. Fined $100. 1912: Pistol-whipped a would-be mugger to death; pummeled a crippled fan. 1914: Threatened a butcher with a gun and pistol-whipped his black assistant. It is safe to say that most of his crimes were rooted in bigotry, and were accepted by baseball, because baseball believed in bigotry. Besides he only committed one death, and that was way “in the past ” by the time Cooperstown opened in 1939. Then there is Cap Anson, the game’s first 3000 hit member. He also was known as the “Father of Apartheid in baseball.” It was because of his insistence that opposing teams, “get that nigger of the field,” that baseball banned blacks from the game for 60 years. On July 17, 1887 Anson spoke to the owners in NY, and on that day hence, a “gentlemen’s agreement” was made, and that white handshake stayed in place until 1947. Is that enough to keep Cap out of the Hall? Not to the 100% white voters back then.
Now the one sin that will keep you out of the HOF is posted in every clubhouse. “Betting on baseball is grounds for permanent banishment.” In football Paul Horning was suspended while he was a player for betting for an entire season, yet he was still allowed in the Football Hall of Fame. In baseball, it was the fear of betting that has caused Shoeless Joe Jackson to still be searching for his field of dreams, even though he batted .375 in that tainted World Series. In 1920 the courts acquitted Jackson and 7 others, but shortly after, the new Commissioner of baseball Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, said “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game, no player that entertains proposals or promises to throw a game, no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are discussed, and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever again play professional baseball.” In modern day lore Pete Rose was also guilty of the same sin and the last real Commissioner Bart Giamotti banned him for life because of his sins of gambling. Even though the courts put poor Pete in prison for taxes, that would not have kept him from the Hall, but his sin of betting did. That brings us to 2005. This conspiracy is a combination of JFK and Watergate. From Bud to Fehr, to McGwire, to Sammy, to Palmerio to Bonds. Each has committed a crime, perjury, but perjury is only a law of the land, not one of the rules of baseball. Last week in a vote of 165 voting members, Big Mac still got 65% of the vote. A lot more than Thurman Munson and Smoky Joe Wood combined. Mighty Mark could still be worthy of a bronze head in Cooperstown. Maybe everyone needs to look at the requirements for induction. There is one part that says something about “integrity of the game.” That clause should have more weight on getting in than a gambling slip. Each one of those “sluggers’ needs to look the sons of Roger Maris right in the eyes, and say they are sorry, but that will never happen, because as they would say. “What happened in the past, stays in the past.” It would also mean they each had some integrity, which done of them do. What this country needs is a real commissioner. Someone who really cares about the game. Someone who does things for the “good of the game.” Not someone who just wants to protect investments, but someone who wants to protect the integrity of the game. There is a another rule 5 in baseball. It is rule number 5, for the rules for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame that states: 5. Voting — Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. That rule should keep anyone that had steroid induced stats from gaining entrance. Then the next step is to ban all the records. Maybe this could be accomplished if the following sign could be placed in all clubhouses. “Anyone who cheats, lies, or defames the integrity of the game, will have all their records banned.”

The other rule that needs to be changed at the HOF is how to measure a player’s career. The number 1 reason for being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame should be the number of times your team won the World Series, the second criteria should be the number of pennants your team won. If you took the career of Elston Howard, I would bet he is the only player in history to play on 10 pennant winning teams, and 4 World Champions, and not be in the Hall of Fame. Next would be Roger Maris, with 7 pennants and 3 rings. throw in a couple of MVP’s, and a 61* and you would think it would be considered a Hall of Fame career. Look at Thurman Munson he was an All-Star 7 times, played on 3 pennant winning teams, and 2 World Champions, in 11 seasons, yet he only received 2 votes from the Vets. Then there is my favorite Smoky Joe Wood. He was a winner of the Championship 4 times. He switched from pitching to playing for 6 more years. He tied Munson for last he the recent voting. It isn’t just longevity that makes you a HOF’er. It is winning. That is why you need to change the format and criteria for election.

The Fan’s Commish

Rick Swanson

Lies.
It will all come down to lies, and the punishment for lies in our country is jail. Look at Li’l Kim, she got 20 years for perjury. She didn’t commit the crime, she just lied about it. Look at Rowland he lied and got one year in jail. Look at poor Martha, all she did was lie, if she just told the truth she would never have been put away. Baseball thinks it is worse to bet on a game, than it is to lie in Congress. Look at how many lied to Congress last week. Sammy said “I never used performance enhancing drugs.” He just lied to Congress; say it ain’t so Sammy but you are going to jail. Even Palmerio, who looked the part with his slick hair, showed he was quite the actor. He has his own commercial. He just took his own blue pills and his bat was ready to lie away. And then there is Bud. He will be compared to Nixon. If only tricky Dick tried the excuse that Watergate was in the past, he could have finished out on top. When people get convicted of a crime, it is always something they did in the past. Everyone except Schilling and Towers lied about the past. Poor old Bud, the used car salesman lied to Congress. His cellmate will be Don Fehr, and the two of them should have quite a bit to fear about in prison. Balco is going to put Giambi and Bonds behind bars, and then baseball will be ready to start over. Bonds should just retire because of his bad knees, and then it will only be the records that need to be revised. The words of Senator Jim Bunning should remain with us all. “they (the records) all should be withdrawn, altered or stricken from the books,” Bunning said.
If baseball historians think betting is worse than using illegal substances, than they better start reading up on the laws of the land.

Rick Swanson
The Fan’s Commish

Dear Senator Bunning,

In my opinion you should leave the Senate and become the Commissioner of Baseball. I can remember listening to you get Ted Williams for the last out of your no-hitter in 1958, on a high drive to deep right, that was caught by Al Kaline, just in front of the bullpen.
Now with baseball coming to Washington tomorrow, I hope that you can be the star pitcher again. Those that cheated with steroids should be banned from the game. In 1920 when there was a court case to see if Chicago fixed the World Series, all eight defendants were acquitted, but one year later Judge Landis banned them all from the game. This time the defacto commissioner, Bud Selig has said all of these fake records will remain. It is my hope that you and the rest of the government leaders will reverse this decision, by not only banning their records, but also by banning any active steroids player from continuing in the game. That would mean instead of “Say it ain’t so Joe.” the young fans will be saying “Say it ain’t so Sammy.” Not only do I hope that you and your colleagues ban their records, but that you ban them from ever playing the game starting this April. This needs to be done to restore trust in the great game of baseball. Speaking of trust, it is my hope that Washington will revoke the Antitrust exemption that baseball has lived by since 1922. America is built on trust, and why should one business, MLB be allowed to do something that is not trustworthy? Baseball is a monopoly, and it is NY that controls this. With the help of Washington you could break this stranglehold that the NY Yankees have on all of baseball. They are not guaranteed to win the World Series each year, but they are guaranteed to be playing in October each year. It is up to Congress to give hope to fans of all teams not just the fans of the Yankees. NY has bought all the top talent in the game, and has made a mockery of this system. Last year alone the Yankees had 11 players making over $9 million a year. No other team had more than 4, and that was Boston, which lost 2 of them in Pedro and Nomar. Please for the good of the game give the fans of every team in baseball, at least the hope in the springtime, that “Hope Springs Eternal” by eliminating the Antitrust clause in baseball and stopping the NY Yankees from keeping a monopoly on the game.

Thank you

Rick Swanson
The Fan’s Commish

Baseball goes to Washington again on Saint Patrick’s Day, not to play the game as an expansion team, but to defend it. What could Congress do to save baseball? How about winning a doubleheader for the fans? For starters all of the players going and all of the House members should be required to watch the movie 61* In it they will witness the Maris family as they carried the bat Roger used against Tracy Stallard, in honor of their husband, and father. The way that Roger Maris played with honesty and integrity of the game, should be noted.

The first question asked of Mark McGwire should be the following: “Did you play baseball with honesty and integrity?” If baseball and their leaders had those type of qualities they would lobby Congress to reinstall Roger Maris as the true home run king. Congress needs to find the truth, and in doing so, needs to invoke their true integrity, by having all of these last decade’s home run numbers wiped off the record book. That should be the first order of business and could be accomplished before the morning break.

The next piece of business needs to be baseball and the Antitrust clause. That will make Bud and Fehr cringe if they read that will be on the docket. The reason that our country has Antitrust laws are to protect against monopolies in our free enterprise system. In the year 2005 New York has a monopoly over nearly all of baseball. Did you know that through 2010 the NY Yankees have guaranteed contracts totaling $566.7 million? All of baseball has 2.8 billion for that complete time period. If 25% of the market is by one team, does that not constitute a monopoly? I don’t know what does! Last year NY had 11 players that made over $9 million. Boston had 4, and 2 are gone now. The Mets had 4 and added Pedro and Beltran. The Yankees added Randy Johnson.

Baseball has turned into nothing more than a NY monopoly. The headquarters of MLB is in NY. Back in 1958 when baseball went to Washington, Senator William Langer from North Dakota (Where Maris was born) asked Casey Stengel the following question: “I want to know whether you intend to keep on monopolizing the world’s championship in New York City?” Now Casey’s team was more of a monopoly than George’s is today, in terms of winning championships, but George has taken the hope away from other teams more then the Yankees of the 50’s. Each team back in 1958 had a star or two, but NY in 2005 has bought all the top stars in the game today. If Congress could subpoena the members of the Blue Ribbon Panel, they would find the real reason baseball needs Congressional Legislation. The panel’s finding back in 2000 said that baseball needs to get back to a time where every team, feels they have a chance, at least in the spring. Even Bud himself preached a theme of ‘competitive hope,’ where every fan believes his or her team has a chance to compete for a division crown every March.”I have witnessed the disillusionment that competitive imbalance has caused Major League Baseball’s club and fans,” Selig said. “Clubs like Minnesota, Montreal, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, Houston, Oakland, San Diego, and Detroit have all fallen prey to baseball’s inherently flawed economic structure.” Bud said that in 2001. Now today the disparity between NY and the rest of baseball is by far greater.

Restoring Roger Maris as home run king and making these cheaters say they were sorry, would be for a nice morning session, and then in the afternoon, revoking the Antitrust exemption of 1922 would make it a grand day for the grand game of baseball. A double dip sweep for the House. The last time that Congress tried to legislate baseball I wrote to all 38 members of the House Judiciary committee. Here is what I sent each of them:

Trust vs. Antitrust 11/28/01

As you are a member of the House Judiciary Committe I am urging you to vote next week to revoke Major League Basball’s exemption from the antitrust laws. It is my hope as a lifelong baseball fan, that all teams have an equal chance of winning each year, by having an equal amount to spend on player salaries. It is my hope that if congress revokes MLB antitrust status the playing field could become level for all teams, and fans. MLB needs to rid itself of the Antitrust. The Antitrust is bad, it is evil. Trust is good, virtuous, even our country is built upon “In God we trust.” Look at the companies like Enron and Worldcom. They took trust away and became the antitrust. Look what happened to them, they were brought out to the Congressional carpet. Baseball must rid itself of the antitrust. Bud.com needs to proclaim his faith in trust. This is the perfect time for all of baseball to cleanse itself from the antitrust, and instill trust in our great game. MLB needs to give up their antitrust status and become trusted. Now if you were part of the lower tiers of baseball would you want revenue sharing or salary cap? A salary cap is something you can trust, all is equal. Trust and equality go together. If you asked the fans of those lower salary teams would they want to keep baseball as it is? Right now one team is worth 15 Billion and another 15 Million. What would be fair, and what kind of contract can we all trust?

A fair and equal salary structure where each team spends the same amount of money for its players. Every team in baseball would like to have Jason Giambi, but only the Yankees bid for him. Baseball needs to restore the trust that it had when Bart Giamotti was in charge. This contract needs to restore trust in our fairness of all. Drug testing for all players. What kind of person feels they have the right to cheat? If you cheated I want all your records banned. If Bart were here, that is what he would do. First test Barry; if he were on the juice, his name would be bared from any MLB record, forever. That will restore trust in the players. Have each team vote on salary cap.

The next baseball contract in 2002 contract needs to contain the following 3 items

Rick Swanson
The Fan’s Commish

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, LISTING, PLEASE
Press contact: Timothy J. Haskell at 212.307.1118

That’s One Foul Ball
The Information She Carried
By David L. Williams
Beginning March 24th

FBERUARY 14TH, 2005 (New York, NY) – W and W Productions is proud to present the world premiere of the sport’s memorabilia aficionados meets conspiracy theorists play The Information She Carried by David L. Williams at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, 4th floor). Performances begin Thursday, Match 24th, open March 25th, and end April 16th, running Wednesday – Saturday at 8 PM with an added performance Sunday, April 10th at 7 PM. Tickets are $15 each and can be reserved by calling 212-714-5363.

In 1920 Ray Chapman became the only player in the history of Major League Baseball to have been killed by a baseball in a game. Many years later, a sportswriter/ high school baseball coach and current owner of the collectible, sent one of his players to his car to grab a ball to practice with. The kid innocently took the death ball instead. On the very first pitch, the ball was hit, went up the third baseline, took a very funny hop, and seriously injured the third baseman. These are historical facts.

The Information She Carried surrounds the story of lifelong conspiracy theorist SHARON NORTH who will not be deceived anymore! She needs to know the truth behind some of the world’s most notorious cover-ups – JFK, Roswell, Moon Landing, Alien Autopsy, 9/11, etc. Having concocted a well thought out theory that the “Chapman Death Ball” was actually the work of the infamous Illuminati and holds unspeakable power, she aims to steal it, and then trade it for the answers she has so longed for. Having arranged a meeting, Sharon begins to realize the truth about where she is and the strange woman speaking to her, and tries desperately to change the way things will turn out, hoping that she still might discover one bit of truth.

Playwright David L. Williams is a graduate of Cornell University, a member of the Dramatist Guild and the author of more than 16 plays. Some of his works include: the Riverside Stage Company Founder’s award-winning Ampersand, and four winners of the Heerman’s McCalmon Playwriting Contest, The Murder of Gonzago, Behind The Nine Ball, Near Tragedy, and Ingulf. Recently he wrote the book to the musical Tess’ Last Night as part of 2003’s New York International Fringe Festival.

“In an increasingly uncertain world, anything that can connect the dots and explain things away becomes more and more reassuring,” says playwright David L. Williams. “Within a few days of the Asian tsunami disaster, I was already reading postings on the internet of people who were blaming the Bush administration’s environmental policies. People would rather believe there is a powerful group of sinister people plotting to do them harm than have to face the fact that we have no control.”

The Information She Carried is being directed by Carolyn Malone. The cast includes Breanna Pine, Christine Carroll, Christopher Drescher, Judson Jones, Christa Kimlicko Jones and Matthew Morgan.

The latest voting in the Veterans Committee Hall of Fame elections last week was outright ridiculous. No one got in — and there are so many qualified players being shafted not the least of whom is Roger Maris. In this day and age of “juiced” records, steroid enhancing accomplishments, the man who “first” broke Babe Ruth’s season home run record is not being treated well. He finished with a mere 16 votes.

Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, one of the voters, said it would be “awfully hard” for anyone from the 25-player ballot to get into the Hall. “And maybe that’s the way it should be,” Seaver said.

The way it was for Roger Maris back in 1961 when he was going for the record was that Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that an asterisk would to be affixed to Maris’ mark because it was achieved in 162 games, rather than the 154-game season teams played in 1927 when Ruth broke his own record. Perhaps that was what “poisoned” the waters for Maris for all time for he was a heck of a ball player and the “first who broke one heck of a record

“When Roger Maris was going for the home run record he would eat only bologna and eggs for breakfast,” his friend Julie Isaacson recalled. “Every morning we would have breakfast together at the Stage Deli. We had the same waitress, and I’d leave her the same five dollar tip every time. After, I would drive Roger up to the Stadium.”

In 1956, Mickey Mantle had smashed 52 home runs for the Bronx Bombers and there were many who saw him as the man to break Babe Ruth’s season record of 60. Mantle was the favorite, Maris who had come to the Yankees in a trade with Kansas City was the outsider, the loner.

In 1961, Maris did not homer in his first ten games, but by the end of May had a dozen. There were 27 by the end of June. By the end of July Maris had 40 home runs - and was six ahead of Ruth record total that had stood since 1927.

“My going off after the record started off such a dream,” the Yankee outfielder said. “I was living a fairy tale for awhile. I never thought I’d get a chance to break such a record.”

Reporters lined up by the Maris locker in ballparks all over the American League. “How does it feel to be hitting so many home runs? Do you ever think of what it means?”

“How the hell should I know,” Maris, short-tempered, surly, shot back.

There were all kinds of commercial capitalizations. An enterprising stripper went by the name of Mickey Maris. The sales of M&M candy skyrocketed - a tip of the cash register to the “M &M Boys” who had not endorsed the confection.

Newspapers printed endless stories and charts comparing Mantle and Maris, Maris and Ruth, Ruth and Mantle, etc., ad nausea. Over-reaching journalists invented stories that bickering and animosity existed between Mantle who earned $75,000 that season and Maris, paid $42,000. The stories were completely untrue.

“Roger,” Mantle insisted, “was one of my best friends. The two shared a Queens apartment with Bob Cerv. The three young Yankee outfielders rode in Maris’ open convertible back and forth from Yankee Stadium.

Media scrutiny was unrelenting. Photographers insisted on pairing Mantle and Maris together in all kinds of posed shots. Maris was irked; Mantle was bemused. “We’ve taken so many pictures together,” he smiled, “that I’m beginning to feel like a Siamese twin.”

Against his former Kansas City teammates on August 26th in his 128th game of the ‘61 season, Maris mashed Number 51, eight ahead of the Ruth pace. It was about that time that Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that an asterisk would be placed next to Maris’ name in the record books if he broke the Babe’s record.

The “Mick” managed but one home run from September 10 on - Number 54, With Mantle a shell of himself and no longer a factor in the home run race, with the Yankee having clinched their 26th pennant, the pressure was now totally on Roger Maris.

Maris had 58 home runs on September 18 when the Yankees came to Baltimore for a four game series; controversy and media’s glare came along. In a doubleheader, games 152 and 153, Maris did not homer.

On September 20, Number 59 came off Milt Pappas But is was in game #155 - past the Frick asterisk proscribed time. Number 60 came at Yankee Stadium off Baltimore’s Bill Fischer on September 26.

It came down to the final three games of the 1961 season. It was Yankees-Red Sox. It was Maris-Ruth. The player they called “Rajah” was shut out in the first two games by Boston pitchers determined not to be the one to be linked with him in the record books.

It was October 1, 1961, a tired, bedraggled Maris faced 24-year-old Red Sox right-hander Tracy Stallard who got the powerfully built Yankee out in his first at bat.

In the fourth inning, Maris came up again.

On September l8, the Yankees arrived in Baltimore for a four-game series. Maris had 58 home runs. His chance to “officially” break Ruth’s record was restricted by the Ford Frick edict to the first three games. They fell within the 154-game schedule. Accomplishments after that date, the ruling read, would be designated by an asterisk.

In a twi-night doubleheader, games 152 and 153, Maris was shut out. On September 20, a night game, Maris faced Milt Pappas of the Orioles. It was a media circus with reporters from all over the country converged on the scene. But there were only 21,000 or so in the stands.

The man they called “Rajah” lined solidly to right field his first time up. In the third inning, Maris caught a Pappas pitch and blasted it almost 400 feet into the bleachers in right field - home run Number 59! He had passed Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg. Maris had three more chances that night to tie the Babe Ruth record. But he struck out, flied out and grounded out.

Five days later on September 26 in Game Number 158 for the Yankees in the third inning - Jack Fisher of Baltimore threw a high curve ball. “The minute I threw the ball,” Fisher moaned, “I said to myself, that does it. That’s Number 60.”

The record tying home run pounded onto the concrete steps of the sixth row in the third deck in Yankee Stadium.The ball bounced back onto the field and was picked up by Earl Robinson, the Oriole right fielder who tossed the ball to umpire Ed Hurley who gave it to Yankee first base coach Wally Moses who rolled it into the Yankee dugout. The ball and Maris, running out the 60th home run, arrived in the dugout of the Bronx Bombers at about the same time.

Maris picked up the ball and barely looked at it; cheering fans kept calling for him to come out and take a bow. Finally, Maris emerged. Standing sheepishly n the top step of the dugout, he waved his cap. An especially interested onlooker was Mrs. Claire Ruth, widow of the Babe.

In the Yankee bullpen in right field the pitchers and the catchers watched as the action played out. A $5,000 reward had been promised to the one who caught the ball.

“I told them,’ Maris said, “that if they got the ball not to give it to me. Take the $5,000 reward.”

Stallard retired Maris in his first at bat. The 23,154 roaring fans at Yankee Stadium were quieted. In the fourth inning, Maris came to bat again.

“They’re standing, waiting to see if Maris is gonna hit Number Sixty-one.” The voice of Phil Rizzuto broadcast the moment. “We’ve only got a handful of people sitting out in left field,” Rizzuto continued, ” but in right field , man, it’s hogged out there. And they’re standing up. Here’s the windup, the pitch to Roger. Way outside, ball one…And the fans are starting to boo. Low, ball two. That one was in the dirt. And the boos get louder…Two balls, no strikes on Roger Maris. Here’s the windup. Fastball, hit deep to right! This could be it! Way back there! Holy Cow, he did it! Sixty-one for Maris! ”

The ball traveled just 360 feet went over outfielder Lou Clinton’ head and slammed into box 163D of section 33 into the sixth row of the lower deck in right field. And a melee broke out as fans scuffled and scrambled, fighting for the ball and the $5,000 reward.

Roger Maris trotted out the historic home run. A kid grabbed his hand as he turned past first - Maris shook hands and then did the same thing with third base coach Frank Crosetti as he turned past third base and head home. His Yankee teammates formed a human wall in front of the dugout, refusing to let him enter. Four times he tried to no avail. Finally, Maris waved his cap to the cheering crowd of 23,154 fans that gave him a standing ovation. His teammates finally let him into the dugout.

“He threw me a pitch outside and I just went with it,” Maris would say later. “If I never hit another home run - this is the one they can never take away from me.”

“I hated to see the record broken,” Phil Rizzuto said. “But it was another Yankee that did it. When he hit the 61st home run I screamed so loud I had a headache for about a week.”

Yankee fans and baseball fans should be screaming loud now - perhaps the guys on the Veterans Committee will hear you.

HF

Harvey Frommer is the author of 34 sports books, including the classics: “New York City Baseball,” “Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,” “Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball’s Color Line,” “The New York Yankee Encyclopedia,” “A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball’s Greatest Team,” and the updated and revised 2005 edition of “Red Sox Vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry” (with Frederic J. Frommer). Frommer sports books are available - discounted and autographed - direct from the author.

In a previous story I ranked what I thought were the top ten games in Red Sox history. When I mentioned this to my lifelong Red Sox friend T. Nixon, he said the last 4 with NY had to be the top 4. I agree. He said that game 7 would rank as the second greatest game in RSH. To think I turned down a chance to go to that game.

A Boston leader wrote “I’m going to game 7 flak jacket and all do you want any tickets?” I said no I would wait for the World Series. When I showed the note to my teaching friend that morning in Bridgeport, he said get the tickets. My friend Sal from Brooklyn said if I got 4 tickets he could sell them for $2000. I could never do that, but if you think, stub hub and other legal scalping does take place today.

The Sox leader said he hated Yankee Stadium but was going. I said this game was not even going to be exciting, it would be like game 7 in 1934. St Louis 11 Detroit 1. It wasn’t quite that much but it was very memorable. Hitting the foul pole, Johnny Damon, celebrating on the hallowed Yankee Stadium mound, is one celebration I wish I was a witness to.

It definitely is something any member of RSN will keep it in their Red Sox hearts for eternity. T. Nixon said game 6 would be next. Someone from ESPN that took his 12 year old son said it was the scarcest moment in being in NY. When his wife called him and said that the play with the chop would be reversed, this fan let all his non-Yankee friends within ear shot that it would be called back. Vile NY turned its ugly head on the father of a 12 year old, and luckily riot control police appeared which NY is quick at doing.

Then there is the “bloody sock” in the same game, so it would have to be number3 in history. Number 4 would be game number 5 on that Monday. It was a good thing it started at 5 P.M. or half of RSN would not have survived the week. That is another concern. Why can’t MLB and TV agree that baseball should end at 10, not at 1:22?

The Revised Top Ten
1. Game 4 ALCS 2004
2. Game 7 ALCS 2004
3. Game 6 ALCS 2004
4. Game 5 ALCS 2004
5. 1967
6. 1975
7. 1986
8. 1978
9. 2003
10.1912

Rick Swanson
The Fan’s Commish

If you watch the TV program 24, you know that the entire season, takes place in one 24 hour period, from 7 A.M to 7 A.M. Now if you took that premise for a realty sports show, and you used it for one 24 hour period, this is how the true story went, for one lucky Red Sox fan, me. I woke up at 7 A.M on October 17, 2004 and wrote the 2 stories, The Sermon on the Mound, and 23rd Psalm of Baseball Hope. (see previous blog)

When I finished writing those, there was no doubt in my mind, that it would all come true. Later, at 2 P.M. as I wore my red Red Sox game shirt, a man approached me and said. “How can you even wear that shirt, I even gave away tickets to Game 4 because, I don’t want to see them lose four straight to the Yankees.” I replied with “Oh yea of little faith thy will be done.” I made the 100 mile pilgrimage to Boston hoping against all hope that my prophecy would come true. At 7 P.M. I took my son Ted, and we searched out Fenway to find the man that put this whole organization together.

When I met him I said “Did you read my story, and do you think it will come true?” His reply was sullen, “Yes I read it, and do I believe it will happen. All I can say is, you have more faith than I do.” I said “Don’t worry, this is the way it has to be done, just believe and it will.” All through the game, I felt confident it would be done. Then when the bottom of the ninth inning began, at 11:30 P.M. for the first time all day I had the same feeling inside that everyone else had since the last out of the 19-8 game. For the first 4 pitches of the ninth inning, when Mariano was pitching to Millar, I looked at the sad faces, on my boys, and all the other 35,000 in the park. I felt a tear welling up, and I thought, there is no crying in baseball, but there would be on this night. I started to think how I would really be the curse, going to the Bucky, Buckner, and Boone games, and also wanting them to lose Game 3, the night before.

And now witnessing a Yankee sweep. When Millar took ball four I began to remember what I had written that morning… “Yea, though I walk (on four straight pitches) through the valley of the shadow of (a sweeping Yankee) death, I will fear no evil (empire): for thou art with me.”

When Roberts went in to run, I could see the script starting to unfold. To watch him take off for second, seemed like it took place in slow motion. When the signal was safe, I knew it was a picture that would be framed in my mind for eternity. Before anyone caught their breath Mariano was trying to do a skate save, and Mueller tied the game. At 1 A.M. as the Red Sox came up for the last of the 12th, I told my boys, let’s go down closer until the end.

We sat in the third row, right behind third. When Manny reached to start the inning and Big Papi came to the plate I told my son Ted, “This is it, right now they are going to win.” I told my other son Casey to take footage of the next pitch because it would go down in Red Sox history.

With only 15 seconds of film in his camera he took footage of the greatest swing since Carlton Fisk, and the beginning of the biggest celebration in Boston baseball history. Looking up, the clock said 1:22 A.M. but it felt like midnight on New Years Eve. My son said I must have been closer to see Ortiz’s home run, than I was when Fisk hit his. I said I was 10 rows behind the batting circle in 1975. The drive home put us back in Glastonbury, CT at 3:45 A.M. At 6:00 I was on my way to Bridgeport to my job as a teacher.

At. 7 A.M. to end my 24. I called WEEI and Dennis and Callahan. I told them I was at the game, and they were forgetting the biggest play of the game. They asked me what was the biggest play. I said in the 11th inning NY had Jeter on second and Alex at bat. He sent a screaming line drive headed between short and third. I told them that Cabrera dove across his body, in less than 1 second, and ranged nearly 15 feet to make that catch, while holding a man on second. I was going to tell them what I wrote 24 hours ago, but I thought they would never believe me. But everything was true, and it all did come to fruition in only 9 more days. That’s my story of 24, I think I will remember every hour of that day, for the rest of my days on earth.

Rick Swanson

The Fan’s Commish

But really WLRSF World’s Luckiest Red Sox Fan

Where were you at 1:22 A.M on the morning of October 18, 2004. It was at that moment that there was a shift in the earth’s core, the Red Sox beginning of the ending of the curse had arrived. I was in the third row, by the third base dugout. The moment when Oritz swung will be the greatest moment in any Red Sox fan’s lifetime. On Sunday morning of October 17, it had to be the lowest feeling for Red Sox Nation. 19-8 was a score that would remain with the Red Sox futility against the Yankees. Not only that, but I told everyone, I wanted them to lose game 3. I wrote this to the trio of leaders in Boston right after game 2.

I’m going to say something now that probably no other Red Sox fan would even say, or even think. I hope they lose game three and fall behind 3 games to zero. Then I want to see the greatest comeback ever in the history of baseball. The 2004 Boston Red Sox will be the first team in baseball history to come back from the grave, and win a 7 game series after losing the first 3 games. Then on top of that they will then go on to win the World Series in four straight, over the Cardinals.

So as the entire RSN opened their eyes that morning, I decided to write a Sunday sermon to save the Sox. I called it:

The Sermon on the Mound

Oh yea of (Grady) little faith. If Red Sox Nation really is a religion of faith, then now is the time to find out who truly believes. Watching last night’s game, was like watching a crucifixion, each line drive another nail into the cross. I began to feel the pain when the first run crossed the plate, and my wife said, “this is your fault, you wanted them to lose, so now how does it feel.” It was very painful, and as the worshipers of RSN left the scene after the longest game ever, I’m sure the faith of our nation is at an all time low, with the haunting fact that the record is 0-25 for any team that trailed 3 games to none, in this the 100th year of post-season baseball. And now as we rise on this glorious Sunday morning after 3 losses. the giant boulder is placed in front of Fenway’s tomb, and someone needs to roll it away, the Angels are gone, they left last week. Each player and fan (and owner) needs to believe in this team more than ever before. Against all odds, down 3 games to none, we are on the verge of the greatest baseball story ever told. It starts today, the stone will be rolled away, The team really has risen. Everyone need to believe we will win this series. Then we all need to hear something to show NY how we feel. How about if the loud speakers today burst out with Queen, and “We are the Champions.” Let NY hear it over and over, let Jeter smirk when he hears it. Let George laugh in our faces, but Boston knows, it will be our song of halleluiah. They may think this is over, but in the words of Bluto, “It ain’t over until I say it is over” but we are going to be playing this song in the end, and they are the ones that will hear it ringing in their heads all winter long. It all starts with waking up today and truly believing it will happen. The Boston Red Sox will come from 3 games down and defeat the NY Yankees, keep saying it over and over, and believe!

The 23rd Pslam of baseball hope

The Sox are my (Bob) shepherd; I shall not want (more after ending this 1918 chant). He maketh me to lie down in the shadow of the green (monster) pastures: he leadeth me beside the still (muddy) waters. He restoreth my soul, (with confidence to hit and catch the ball): he leadeth me in the paths (of the baselines in spite of the third base coach’s poor decisions) for Smoky Joe’s name’s sake. Yea, though I walk (on four straight pitches) through the valley of the shadow of (a sweeping Yankee) death, I will fear no evil (empire): for thou art with me; thy bat and thy glove they comfort me. Thou preparest a seventh game before me in the presence of mine (NY) enemies: thou anointest my head with (glove) oil; my cap runneth over. Surely goodness and victory shall follow me all the days of these playoffs: and I will dwell in the house of Ted for the World Series.

The Fan’s Commish