MLB vs WGN ? !

Somewhere, somehow, someway I got very confused early this evening. Maybe a fellow Cubs fan or anyone else with WGN can help me.

In my early Friday evening remote control scanning I ended up on the MLB Network and the Cub vs Padres game was on. I thought to myself good for the MLB Network, broadcasting a a Cub game !

The game was in the top of the third inning with the Padres leading 2 to 1. At the end of the inning I went remote control scanning again and after about 50 channels and finding news, news, stock market, history, drama, infomercials, more news and more financial stuff to bore me greatly (it was a Friday night just waiting to go out), I came across WGN.

The Cubs / Padres game was on and it was in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Cubs were leading 4 to 2. Had I really spent three innings of channel surfing ? It seemed to be only 45 seconds or so !

Both WGN and the MLB Network were broadcasting the game but about 30 minutes delayed. I have heard of a seven second delay on tv but not three innings worth !

Does anyone have a rational answer to why this has happened or am I going to just chalk it up to an odd programming thing that confused the heck out of me. By the way the Cubs did win 5 - 3 an if I was a betting man I could have made some money on those only watching the MLB Network.

Thanks to WGN and MLB I got to watch an unofficial doubleheader.

They really know how to make me cry

. . . well, I did not actually cry but the MLB Network had a long (way too long in my opinion) segment on the 1969 Mets. The "Miracle Mets" as they have been called.

First they played almost flawless baseball and overtook the Chicago Cubs down the stretch in September, then go on to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS. And then to make their year complete, they faced the highly favored Baltimore Orioles and rose once again and beat them 4 games to 1 for their first World Championship.

The pitching staff that included Seaver, Koosman, and Ryan shut down all opponents when they needed to. Jones and Agee provided the defensive highlights and clutch hitting by Weis and Kranepool was all they needed.

These are three of my least favorite cards in my collection. No, I wont ever burn them or destroy them . . . they just make me think of the day when the Cubs will "celebrate" and become World Champions. I just dont like being reminded of the "collapse" and heartbreak from 1969.

I guess after forty years one should "get over it" and be able to watch highlights but . . . my boyhood memories are as strong as ever. Thanks MLB Network for reminding me . . . and almost making a grown man cry, almost.

What is more important ?

Last night on the MLB Network they highlighted a segment called Prime Nine – counting down the nine greatest “something’s” in the history of baseball. They bill this show as “not to end any arguments but to start them”. I am not a confrontational kind of guy . . . and everyone is entitled to their opinion . . . but . . .

Monday night they showcased the greatest Center Fielders and greatest Home Runs of all time. Center Fielders I wont argue with; from #1 being Willie Mays to # 9 Kirby Puckett (see complete list below). But the homerun list . . .

Since when is winning a pennant more important or a greater accomplishment than winning the World Series ? The 1960 blast by Bill Mazeroski is the ONLY world series ending game 7 walk off homerun in the history of the game. I know that Thompson’s 1951 pennant winning homerun was “heard around the world” but it did only win the pennant for the Giants (who eventually lost in the World Series to the Yankees). Flip flop the top two and MLB Network got it right.

I highlighted Mazeroski’s 1961 card in an earlier post, take a look in December 2008.

As far as the Cub players go, no greatest moments in these two categories; we may just have to wait for 3rd baseman (Santo), 2nd base (Sandberg), 1st base (Banks), LF (Williams) and Pitchers (Jenkins). Former Cub Joe Carter and Wrigley Field (Ruth’s “called HR” at Wrigley in 1932).

Here is the MLB Network list of greatest CF’s and HR’s in case you missed it.
Center Fielders: 9. Puckett 8. Edmonds 7. Snider 6. Griffey Jr 5. DiMaggio 4. Speaker 3. Mantle 2. Cobb 1. Mays

HR’s: 9. Chambliss 1976 pennant winning 8. Boone 2003 Pennant winning 7. Fisk 1975 world series 6. Ruth 1932 “called HR” 5. Aaron # 715 4. Gibson 1988 game 1 3. Carter 1993 game 6 w/s 2. Mazeroski 1960 w/s 1. Thompson 1951 pennant

Between the MLB Network and my blog . . . my wife wants to know when I will come back to reality ? ! I gave her a prime nine count down with various dates. Now that is something to argue about.

Happy Birthday to You !

Today, January 2nd, is my wife’s birthday (I will keep her age a secret, because that is something girls don’t like to tell). Let’s just say that we have been married for over 22 years, have one beautiful 17 year old daughter, a calm and friendly Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie, named Winnie) and we live in “paradise” (that is what we call life in Sarasota Florida).

For her present, she asked me to promise that today I will not look through my cards, go on the computer to read blogs, look for sales or cards online, write about anything sports related, refrain from watching the MLB Network and simply “spend a day with her”.

Well, I tried, lasted all of fifteen minutes . . . I have too many baseball cards and memories to ignore (most from before I ever met her), too many blogs to write (and stay on top of things), too much to learn and read about and today is just the second day of the MLB Network and Don Larsen’s perfect game in the ’56 World Series is on.

So . . . Happy Birthday Karen ! I will take you to dinner, I got you a card (non baseball related) and will spend some of the day with you (you do tell me that I drive you crazy most of the time anyways).

I am not a strong person and cannot stay away from my cards for an entire day, certainly not the second day of the year when there is so much cardboard to talk about.

My wife, she is not a “collector” so she really does not understand this disease. To be fair, she is a writer, reader and shopper. She collects books and clothes.

She has now promised me that she will leave me alone on my birthday (in May). Just goes to prove another difference between the genders. Happy Birthday, Karen !