Bricks and Ivy

Bricks and Ivy tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2008-03-29:/70141 2009-09-09T19:32:42Z Random thoughts, photos and philosophical embellishments from a Cubs fan who hates the Cardinals but loves a Cardinals fan. Movable Type Pro 4.25 Catching up from this summer tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.1219751 2009-09-09T18:22:11Z 2009-09-09T19:32:42Z

Hello to my half of a half-dozen or so loyal readers and the other handful of you who will stumble upon this by accident. As you can tell, it's been a quiet summer at Bricks and Ivy. Part of it...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

Swept in Detroit

A friend and I drove all the way to Detroit in June to watch the Cubs lose three in a row to the Tigers. Among the observations and highlights:

* Comerica Park is a nice place to watch a baseball game. The area surrounding it is a little scary, as you might expect in a economically depressed, aging downtown area. But, despite all the stereotypes associated with Detroit, my car wasn't broken into and I wasn't mugged. And the number of panhandlers who approached was about equal to an average day at Wrigley Field. The real security concern happened to us during a game, when a couple of meatheads in our section got into a fist fight. Here are some pictures from Comerica and elsewhere around Detroit.

* The Detroit Zoo is a nice way to kill a few hours during the day before a night game. Brookfield and St. Louis' zoos are better, however.

* Also a nice time-killer (and money-killer), the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, which is a 15-minute walk or 5-minute cab ride from the ballpark. I ended up winning $60 at the slots, so the trip wasn't a complete failure. And here's a money-saving tip, if you don't mind walking a bit. Park for free in the MGM's parking structure and then walk over to the ballpark to avoid paying for a spot over there.

The place for sports

As mentioned above, the Bricks and Ivy headquarters moved into a new location over the summer. One of the highlights of the place is a room in the basement with a pool table and lots of shelves to display my Cubs stuff. And yes, I've saved room for the wife's Cardinals stuff. But as you can see, I've done pretty well filling up my side. The wife is still developing her collection. My mom and I helped her get things going for her birthday last week by getting her figures of Albert Pujols and Ozzie Smith.

9/9/9

Today is 9/9/09. The number 9 is closely associated with the game of baseball for a variety of reasons, so Major League Baseball is celebrating with a series of giveaways today through its Twitter page. I actually won one of the giveaways today -- a $9.99 credit to the MLB shop. There's a $9.99 sale page at the Shop today. The Cubs section doesn't have anything worth owning on it, so I think I'll be nice and get this for the Cardinals-fan wife. It can go on her side of the shelves.

MLB Network

Earlier in the season, I blogged about the silly Comcast channel lineups that discouraged me from ordering the cable package that includes the new MLB Network.

I'm happy to report that Comcast has seen the error of their ways (no doubt due to my series of sternly worded e-mails to the corporate office) and has moved the MLB Network into a package with other sports channels that only costs me an extra $4 a month instead of the $13/mo. package it was in earlier in the year.

I love watching the old games during the game and the instant live highlights at night. It'll be nice to watch something other than my old Cubs DVDs in January to feed my hunger for baseball in the winter.

A sad season

It's an understatement to say it has been a disappointing year for the Chicago Cubs. The highly paid stars (with the exception of Derrek Lee lately) just aren't pulling their weight. And the bullpen is just ridiculous. But you simply have to give the Cardinals credit. They pulled off some critical mid-season acquisitions that have made their lineup a lot better compared to Opening Day. I still think it'll be the Phillies and Yankees in the World Series with New York winning it and renewing their spot as the most annoying team in baseball.

While it's been a sad season for some of us here at Bricks and Ivy, I'm actually finding myself enjoying baseball a little more this September. The past two years, I suffered from the usual Cubs angst associated with clinching a playoff spot and worrying about what's going to happen (or not happen) in October. No such worries this year.

And while I am looking forward to seeing what Jay Cutler can do for the Chicago Bears this year, I will be sad to see the Cubs go away for the winter. I'll proudly don the blue hat this Friday as I take in the Cubs-Reds game. And while the outcome on the field will be meaningless, I'll still be sitting in the best place in the world to watch a baseball game.

]]> Observations from Busch Stadium tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.923721 2009-05-22T05:33:30Z 2009-05-22T07:33:25Z

ST. LOUIS -- Since the baseball game isn't worth commenting on, here are some other observations from my Thursday evening at Busch Stadium.* PARTY IN THE BACK: Mullets remain a viable and popular hairstyle for men and women.* SIGNS, SIGNS:...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

* PARTY IN THE BACK: Mullets remain a viable and popular hairstyle for men and women.

* SIGNS, SIGNS: Some fans need better guidance on good ballpark sign-making. A teenage couple behind us brought a two-posterboard-sized sign with them. On one side was the word "Charge." They held it up every time the organist played the "Da-Da-Da-Da, D'Daaaaa!" song. Which is fine, except for the letters were festooned with purple glitter. Inappropriate. The guy must have really liked the girl to keep holding that thing over his head. If it was me I would have "accidentally" left it in the car or let it fly out the window while doing 70 on I-55.

On the other side of the sign was a poem that mentioned the Cardinals, Albert Pujols, the Cubs and Lou Piniella. Didn't read the whole thing, because I didn't want to let on that I was interested. It went on for six or seven lines and was spelled out in 3-inch stenciled letters. Again, inappropriate. A good ballpark sign has a message that can be read and understood in 2 seconds or less. So for the average Cardinals fan, that would be roughly a one-word sign.

* MY HERO THE USHER: The mark of a good ballpark usher is how he handles annoying people or touchy fan-conduct situations. The guy overseeing our section tonight gets a gold star.

After the game, a group of young-20-somethings gathered in a section just beyond the left field wall. They were apparently haggling someone down on the field level to throw them a ball. At one point, one kid took off his shoe and lowered it over the wall by the laces, as a sort of baseball-lift system.

After a few minutes, the usher came over to tell the kids to beat it. They ignored him. So the usher went over to the wall, got someone to give him a ball. He then promptly gave it to a 3- or 4-year-old boy standing nearby.

The 20-somethings were extremely steamed and walked away in a huff. Nice work.

* SLOW TRAINS: After spending a week in Washington, D.C. last month, I find I am spoiled on fast-moving, always-there public transit. The subway trains in D.C. had numerous cars that can take in a big crowd and the next train was usually never more than 5 minutes away.

Tonight we took St. Louis' Metro from our parking spot at the East St. Louis riverboat to Busch. It gets the job done, but the relatively long wait between arrivals and the comparative lack of passenger capacity made me long for a D.C. Metro train to come gliding across the tracks tonight.

One thing the St. Louis trains do have going for it, however, is that they are a newer and brighter. And they probably smell better, although being smashed in with dozens of sweaty baseball fans makes it hard to judge.

* ARMS, LEGS and HOT DOGS: I'm always prepared to pay insane amounts of money for ballpark food. But a visit to Busch always reminds me things are a little more insane in St. Louis.

Upon arriving, we ordered two jumbo hot dogs (not really that much bigger than a regular frank), a beer and a small soda. Total: $24.

Such a small amount of food and drink for two people should never require me to pull anything more than an $20 bill out of my wallet. And most of the time, I should get some change back.

]]> My Opening Day tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.869671 2009-05-01T21:52:51Z 2009-05-01T22:15:55Z

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. But my real 2009 opener is Saturday when I visit Wrigley Field for the first time this year.

Special thanks to Cardinals-fan wife for getting me the tickets for my birthday and for being willing to sit through a Cubs-Marlins game with me. Hopefully, I'll also have to thank her for sitting through 40,000 people singing "Go Cubs Go," one of her least favorite songs.

There are supposed to be a few changes in and around the ballpark this year, including a $15, 2-pound pretzel for sale at the concession stand. We'll see if the wallet and stomach and muster the courage.

I'll have a recap of the experience at MLB's best ballpark later this weekend.

]]> Louisville: A surprisingly good baseball town tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.860781 2009-04-28T11:54:02Z 2009-04-28T21:03:08Z

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- If you're like me and the extent of your baseball fandom is centered on the major leagues, it's easy to overlook Kentucky. Yes, they have the Reds right over the border in Cincinnati. But for the most...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

No longer will this be the case for me. On our way back from our marathon trip to D.C. and Baltimore, we stopped in Louisville.

We had a great baseball-themed day on Monday, visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory during the day and then catching a Louisville Bats Triple-A game at night.

The bat museum, which you can't miss in downtown Louisville because of the massive bat leaning against the side of the building, reopened just two weeks ago after a renovation project that added new exhibits and generally freshened up the look of the place.

Among the new exhibits are the bat Joe DiMaggio used during his 56-game hitting streak in 1941 and a Babe Ruth bat, right, used during his 60-home run season in 1927. The Babe put a notch around the Slugger label for every homer he hit with it.

The museum also has lifelike statues of Ruth, Ted Williams and Ken Griffey Jr.

As for the factory tour, you're allowed to walk within a few feet of the workers and the machines that turn the billets (long cylinders of wood cut out of tree trunks) into the bats you see on the field, in the sporting goods stores and the souvenir stand.

It seemed the major project in the factory on Monday was creating the pink bats that will be used by major leaguers on Mother's Day next month. There were hundreds of them piled up or drying with order tags on them addressed to Derek Jeter and many others.

Oh, and I almost forgot the sweet souvenir at the end of the tour ...

... a 18-inch bat to take home!

In short, the place is well worth the $10 you pay to get in. Parking costs about $6 and is conveniently located in a city garage attached to the museum. Plus, it's in the middle of historic downtown, so there are lots of little shops and restaurants to check out after your tour.

***

Seeing a minor league baseball game wasn't originally on the agenda, but when we drove by Louisville Slugger Field, we had to at least check to see if they were in town. As luck would have it, they were.

The team's Web site bills the stadium, which opened in 2000, as the "finest minor league park in the country." I'm not 100 percent sure about that, but it is quite nice for a minor league facility.

We got tickets in Row Q behind first base for $10 apiece. Parking in a city garage a few blocks away was $5.

The only complaint was the slow service at the concession stand. CFW ordered an Italian ice and it literally took 15 minutes for the staff to track it down and serve it to her.

The game was pretty good, too. The Bats won 6-4.

I'm glad we ran across the stadium. We'll be sure to work it into any future trips that take us past the Louisville area.

]]> Oriole Park at Camden Yards: Still a classic tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.853161 2009-04-25T22:48:27Z 2009-04-27T11:29:29Z

BALTIMORE -- Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in downtown Baltimore in 1992 and marked the beginning of the "retro" park trend that has become the norm in every newly built baseball stadium since.Despite it being the oldest of...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

BALTIMORE -- Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in downtown Baltimore in 1992 and marked the beginning of the "retro" park trend that has become the norm in every newly built baseball stadium since.

Despite it being the oldest of the old-new parks, this place still does it right -- providing just the right mix of making you feel like you're at a stadium that's been there for years and the modern-day amenities that make your visit enjoyable.

We drove into downtown this time and were directed to public lots ($8) adjacent to the Ravens football stadium, located just to the south of the ball park. It was quite a long walk, under a highway, across a busy bridge and through a walkway -- about 15 minutes in all -- before we arrived at the ticket booth.

Seemed like too long of a walk, but I suppose keeping the big lots far away helps maintain the classic feel to it all. After all, my beloved Wrigley has hardly any organized parking system. You end up paying some dude $25 to back into his garage for the afternoon.

We got tickets again in the lower half of the upper deck behind the plate for $20 apiece. The seats were fine and provided a nice view of the Baltimore sky line and the famous B&O warehouses that loom over the right field wall.

Before we got to our seats, however, we entered the stadium through one of the Eutaw Street gates. Eutaw is a walkway that runs between the right field wall and those warehouses and is filled with food stands, gift shops, games and more. It reminded me of a carnival, and it really added a ton of character to the ballpark experience, something that was seriously lacking at Nationals Park earlier in the week.

We stopped by a BBQ stand on the Eutaw walkway. I ordered an extremely tasty roast beef platter that came with baked beans and slaw ($9). Cardinals-fan wife had the same thing with smoked turkey. Later, CFW sampled an Orioles O-shaped pretzel, right, ($4.50).

We usually don't invest too much money in team trinkets on these out-of-town stadium trips since we have no connection to the home team. But CFW couldn't resist picking up a tiny stuffed Oriole Bird, left. She declared it the second-cutest mascot in baseball, behind her own Fredbird in St. Louis.

If you're in Baltimore and are a big baseball fan, be sure to make time for a trip to the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum (pictured below) just a few blocks from the ball park. It's fairly cheap to get into ($6 a person) and only takes a 30-45 minutes to go through. But it's a must-do stop for any baseball fan/historian.

We also visited the National Aquarium in downtown Baltimore on Saturday. Big crowds and kind of expensive ($30 a person, plus another $21 to park in a downtown garage for 3 hours). If you're not a big fan of fish and feel like you're visiting it because someone told you it would be neat or because the travel brochure played it up, I'd suggest skipping. You can get as much out of the Inner Harbor experience by just walking in the area and taking in the atmosphere.

]]> Nationals Park: Pretty but empty tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.850161 2009-04-24T20:44:55Z 2009-04-26T00:27:48Z

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cardinals fan wife and I are on vacation in the D.C. area and headed over to Nationals Park Wednesday night for the Nationals-Braves game.

The game itself was a stinker. The Nationals lost 1-0, with the only run coming via a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.

But the beautiful surroundings of Nationals Park helped make up for the boring game. Here's a quick review.

The stadium itself is in a fairly undeveloped part of town, with the hopes that the arrival of the ballpark will spark something big. There is much construction work under way to help build the area into a thriving office/residential/entertainment district. (The initiative is known as Half Street.) But there's not much there now. So when we got off the train and exited the Navy Yard station, we walked down the middle of a shut-off street that had large walls on both sides. The walls contained advertisements showing off the Half Street plan. It was a little weird.

It seems most Nationals fans are trained to take the train to the game, which is good for the environment and everything. But since there is nothing around the park to do, everyone gets off the train and goes into the stadium, probably into the Center Field gate, which is the first one you encounter out of the station.

That makes for a very desolate situation elsewhere around the ballpark. We walked to the home plate gate and this picture was the scene one hour before game time. There wasn't a soul to be found anywhere. Very eerie.

We were surprised by the extreme friendliness of the ticket takers and other stadium employees. All were very happy to see us and greeted us with a hearty "Welcome to Nats Town."

As you might imagine, getting a ticket wasn't a problem. We sat in the front half of the upper deck behind the plate for $21 each. It was Earth Day, so we got $3 off the price of our tickets for showing our public transit card. Only 15,000 in the stands that night. Hopefully the crowds will come soon.

The views around the stadium are nice. I think they could have done more to make the most of the monuments around D.C. This photo at left is one of the best views of the U.S. Capitol from the stadium. It's in the concourse on the upper level. If you're in the lower level, you probably can't see this. From our seats in the upper deck, you could only see the top one-third of the dome.

All in all, D.C. seems to be moving in the right direction with baseball. If they can just get some investors to take a risk on the Half Street idea and the team can start putting their money toward some talent that can lead to some wins, baseball might actually stay in Washington this time.

Tonight, we're headed to Camden yards for Orioles vs. Rangers. We'll have pictures and a review tomorrow!

Addition: The ALO, an Abe Lincoln blog you should check out right after reading this, points out that I forgot to mention the winner of the famous Presidents' Race at the game. It was, indeed, our friend Abe. Teddy Roosevelt had a lead for most of the race. But then, being the politician he is, he decided to stop and shake hands with fans down the right field line, allowing Lincoln to charge ahead for the win.

]]> Odds and ends: Scully, road trip, birthday game tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.826881 2009-04-16T03:12:54Z 2009-04-16T03:41:39Z

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

* I've been thoroughly enjoying my free preview of MLB Extra Innings and NHL Center Ice. It's so interesting to watch the local broadcasts of games from all over, especially the ones emanating from Canada. The commercials between innings or hockey periods are so odd.

The best part of the package is getting to watch Los Angeles Dodgers' games and hear the play-by-play call of the legendary Vin Scully.

Scully, 81, is in his 60th (!) season of working games for the Dodgers. His voice is almost melodic as he vividly yet simply describes the action on the field. The other main bonus: He calls the game all by himself. No color analyst.

In an era when TV producers are stuffing too many people in the baseball broadcast booth (see ESPN's new "Sunday Night Baseball" crew of Jon Miller, who I can tolerate, and Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips, who I cannot), the Dodgers have got it just right.

* Cardinals-fan wife and I head out on a long road trip soon. Included on the itinerary are stops at the new Nationals Park in D.C. and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. After this trip, I'll have visited 15 of the league's 30 parks. Slowly but surely, I'll get there. Look for reviews of each ballpark right here on Bricks & Ivy.

* I also got a bonus trip to Wrigley Field added to my baseball schedule. Cardinals-fan wife was nice enough to buy us tickets for a Cubs-Marlins game on my birthday, which falls a few days after we return from our East Coast trip.

]]> Happy Opening Day! tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.794712 2009-04-06T17:05:07Z 2009-04-07T03:09:11Z

One of my favorite days of the year has arrived. Everyone's in first place and everyone's a World Series contender. Hopefully for the Cubs, the first place and contender thing last much, much longer than today.I have many friends who...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

I have many friends who take this day off to sit in front of the TV and watch games all day. I like to save my vacation time to attend actual games. So without a Opening Day ticket this year, I dragged myself into the office like a normal Monday. Bleh.

To mark the occasion, however, I am sporting the royal blue dress shirt and the Cubs winter jacket, left, which is necessary since it's only going to get into the upper 30s here in Springfield today.

I don't wear this jacket as much as I'd like to. By the time I can get up to Chicago for a game, it's much too warm to wear it. And wearing it to work on a regular basis is a little over the top, considering I work in a semi-formal office setting. But I make an exception for today. It's fun to see the dirty looks from the Cardinals fans. Hoping to get flipped off at some point today.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Cardinals-fan wife has a ticket to today's Opening Day game in St. Louis. She'll be attending with a girlfriend with plans to be in their seats by 2:30 p.m., when the pregame ceremony featuring the Clydesdales and the players being driven into the stadium parade-style starts.

She was a little anxious this morning about the frigid weather conditions and getting to and from the park. As it turns out, in her long career as a Cardinals fan, she's never had the opportunity to drive herself to a game at Busch Stadium. There's always been a friend, family member or, in the last two years or so, me to handle it.

So after helping her pack a bag (not exceeding the Busch Stadium security standard of 16-by-16-by-8 inches) full of winter clothing accessories and setting the GPS system to guide her car to the light-rail train station she will be parking at, I think she's set.

She did toss the camera into her bag. So if she can find it amid the piles of fleece and knit winter clothing items, we'll have some photos to share later.

Have a great Opening Day!

UPDATE: Cardinals-fan wife just called and said she got to the stadium just fine and arrived in her seats just in time to see the Clydesdales march onto the field. She is taking some photos, so we'll have those here later.

Until then, here's a shot she sent from her phone of the view from her seats!

UPDATE 2: Well, Opening Day is about closed. Cardinals-fan wife had a great time at Busch Stadium, despite the cold weather and the St. Louis closer blowing the game late. That's her below with her friend at today's game. I'm so lucky to have a wife who loves sports as much as I do. Hardly ever any fights over the remote!

The Cubs also got off to a nice start today with a win over the Astros. The performance of the Chicago closer didn't instill any great sense of confidence. But a win's a win. On to tomorrow.

]]> Fantasy Baseball review: Taking off the Cubbie glasses tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.786232 2009-04-03T03:23:07Z 2009-04-03T04:07:29Z

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

For the past several years, I've signed up to play fantasy baseball in an online league through CBS Sportsline. (Sorry MLB, which also has a nice fantasy game available on its site.)

My team name is "Bricks & Ivy." (Sound familiar?) My team logo, left, is the famous "W" flag that flies over Wrigley Field after a Cubs victory.

Each year, I play with a couple of buddies from college and several other random people who find their way to our league, which is named "Steve Phillips Makes Me Sad." (I didn't come up with that name, although he kind of does. I think "Sunday Night Baseball" is going to be a little more painful to listen to this year. I hope I am wrong.)

In short, I'm not that good at fantasy baseball. I am an attentive owner and make sure to get injured players out of my active lineup and pick up pitchers who have two starts in one week. But it's never enough. I've identified two reasons why:

* I'm too partial to Cubs players. I call it "wearing my Cubbie glasses." Since I watch the team so much and am such a big fan, I tend to have an unrealistic view of how much Cub players can help me in relation to other players who are on teams I don't watch and/or don't root for.

Case in point: Last year I drafted Kosuke Fukudome. He got me a few points early on, but he faded hard down the stretch. Ended up dropping him in August. There were plenty of serviceable outfielders I could have grabbed before him.

* I tend to grab too many players from the same team. At one point last, I think I held five Yankees at the same time. When the Yankees began to tank last year, my team did, too.

I think I've taken care of both of those issues with this year's version of Bricks & Ivy. Only one Cub on my team: Derrek Lee, left. I was tempted to pick up Milton Bradley, but then I remembered my Kosuke mistake last year and talked myself down from it.

I also don't have more than two players from any team. And there are only four pairs on my 21-player team. Two each of Tigers (Polanco and Galarraga), Brewers (Braun and Hoffman), Diamondbacks (Webb and Jackson) and Dodgers (Ethier and Wolf).

A couple of other reasons that I think it could be an up year for B&I:

* I got the first pick in the draft this year. In past years, the first pick has been a virtual no-brainer: Either Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez. But neither of those names were at the top of the suggested draft lists this year.

That would have been Hanley Ramirez, left, from the Florida Marlins. I hesitated at first since he is a Marlin, after all. Plus, he's a middle infielder, which aren't historically big fantasy point producers. But I bit the bait and picked him up. We'll see if the hype was warranted.

* I noticed today that three of my five pitchers (Cliff Lee of the Indians, Francisco Liriano of the Twins and Brandon Webb of the D-backs) are scheduled to be Opening Day starters for their teams. So let's hope they can live up to the hype behind that and get me some wins this year.

]]> Opening Day! But not for me tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.786051 2009-04-03T02:04:48Z 2009-04-03T02:30:30Z

Cardinals fan wife was lucky enough to score a ticket, left, to St. Louis' Opening Day on Monday. I probably could have claimed a ticket, too. But then I realized I'd be watching the Cardinals and Pirates and thought better...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

So CFW will be accompanied by her CF friend, Sandra while I toil the day away at work.

I've never been able to score an Opening Day ticket at Wrigley. However, I have never tried extremely hard to get one. Weather-wise, an early April afternoon in Chicago can be a crap shoot. Odds are it'll be crap.

I remember several years ago I did go to the Cubs' second home game of the year. There was a snowstorm the night before. They had the field cleared off for the game. But I still had to brush rock salt off my seat and wear about five layers.

Now, this isn't to say that if I were to somehow come across a seat to the Cubs home opener (April 13 vs. Colorado 1:20 p.m.) I would turn it down.

But really, I'll be just as content to have Pat and Ron in my ear while I'm upholding the appearance of working.

]]> Can we save the World Baseball Classic? tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.760482 2009-03-24T02:53:57Z 2009-03-24T03:24:30Z

For the past 2 1/2 weeks, we've been treated to the international spectacle that is the World Baseball Classic.It's become a cottage industry in America to royally rip this tournament to shreds because:* The U.S. players are at a disadvantage...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia r the past 2 1/2 weeks, we've been treated to the international spectacle that is the World Baseball Classic.

It's become a cottage industry in America to royally rip this tournament to shreds because:

* The U.S. players are at a disadvantage because they're still in spring training.

* The U.S. players are getting hurt because they're not properly ready to play such high-level ball this early in the year.

Personally, I think a lot of the disdain for the tournament resides in the fact that Americans are upset that they're watching Korea vs. Japan go for the title in a tournament featuring baseball, allegedly America's national pastime. (It's not, by the way. There are many more things that Americans spend much more time doing, including watching non-baseball TV and surfing non-baseball Web sites.)

I'm not going to join the chorus of people who say it's time to dump the Classic. It builds goodwill around the world for the game of baseball. Plus, it's heartening to see the national pride on display.

We need to find a way to make this work while still making the mighty MLB players happy.

I'm no expert on the situation. (That's why I'm a blogger!!) And perhaps this has been discussed, but what about running this tournament after the MLB season ends in late October?

As far as I can tell, most Asian leagues, including Japan, run their seasons April to October, just like MLB. The Latin winter leagues typically go late October through December.

There are enough year-round, warm-weather spots and domed stadiums in the world to make this work no matter what time of year it is.

Nearly 75 percent of MLB players will have had all of October off since their teams weren't one of the eight that make it to the playoffs. So most will have a nice break after the regular season but will still be in fairly good shape to pick up the pace again for the WBC.

And if players do suffer some minor strains, sprains and bruises in the Classic, they'll have all winter to recover and won't be hindering their home team going into the season.

Now, yes, there is the NFL factor to contend with. At that point in the year, many Americans are in full football mode and couldn't care less about baseball. But I think if the WBC just avoids the Sunday and Monday games, it has a chance to work.

]]> Don't miss 'Baseball's Golden Age' tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.757392 2009-03-22T22:57:12Z 2009-03-22T23:43:02Z

I wouldn't call myself a huge baseball history buff. I really didn't start paying close attention to the game until the mid-1980. And even then, it's was mostly paying attention to the Cubs. So I'm well-versed in horrible baseball and...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

Which is why I love the show "Baseball's Golden Age." The show debuted last summer, but I was reminded of its greatness again today after Comcast Sports Net Chicago showed it to fill time between the end of today's Cubs spring training game and the top of the hour.

In case you are not familiar, here's a description of the show from the Web site Fox Sports Net, which also shows it on their channels:

This is a show about the great players and teams of yesteryear. It's a show that looks back at a time in America when fathers and grandfathers passed down tales of their ball-playing heroes to wide-eyed sons and grandsons. Men whose legends were so large that the mere mention of their names -- Ruth, Cobb, Williams, Mays, Aaron -- invoked stories of incomparable feats and unparalleled abilities, always beginning with, "I remember when ..."

Each 30-minute show is an elegant, gritty compilation of remarkable rare shots and never-before-seen footage, culled from hundreds of hours of color film shot by the fans, the players' families and most importantly, the players themselves.

Woven throughout the collection of color videos from the 1920s-1960s are interviews with baseball luminaries, writers, broadcasters and former team employees all reliving baseball's simpler time: an innocent period of all-night train rides, day games, cigars in the stands and nickel hot dogs. A journey to the era when players spent their entire careers with one team, long before chartered jets, free agency and arbitration, a time when "playing for the love of the game" wasn't just a cliché.

The two things best aspects of this show are the restored footage and the narrator. It's so interesting to see Wrigley Field and other ballparks, not to mention the uniforms and players, back in the day.

The show is narrated by actor Alec Baldwin. I'm not sure how much of a baseball guy he is, but his unique delivery makes the story-telling that much more interesting.

One weird aspect of the show is the, as the Web site puts it, "interviews with baseball luminaries, writers, broadcasters and former team employees."

These are mostly very old men who wax philosophical about the players and the game from yesteryear. It's interesting to listen to, but somewhat uncomfortable to watch. For some reason, the producers insist on using very tight close-ups, unflattering lighting and no makeup to reveal every wrinkle blemish and all of the other plentiful imperfections on these old guys' faces. It's the one time I'm thankful I don't have a high-definition TV.

Nevertheless, the show is a can't-miss for anyone who wants to appreciate the guys your grandfathers and fathers told you about.

I haven't heard yet if they are going to have new episodes of the show for this summer. Until then, you should set your DVR to pick up the reruns from last summer.

I also hear that Time Life will be selling last summer's 13 seasons on DVD later this spring.

]]> My spring training state of mind tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.739051 2009-03-14T23:40:52Z 2009-03-15T00:29:19Z

So the Cubs were on the old No. 9 today. Len and Bob were on the air. Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and the gang were suited up in the blue pinstripes. I had the house all to myself with Cardinals-fan...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

I should have been basking in the awesomeness that is baseball. But I wasn't. It just didn't hold my attention. Instead, I found myself:

* Flipping on the PS2 to play a game of pretend baseball. I won!

* Watching the Illini choke in the Big Ten Tournament. They don't deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament!

* Searching the Internet for replacement parts for my gas grill. Found them! Hamburgers soon!

* Raking the leaves in the front yard. Yeah, I didn't get around to that last fall and, unfortunately, they were still there.

This is always the case for me during spring training. My mind just doesn't flip into baseball mode until Opening Day.

Part of it is because it seems players and broadcasters don't take the games very seriously and will write them off as "only spring training" when people try to point out problems with the team that become apparent in March.

Ask Soriano why he's batting .148 or why Lee's batting .182 (like they were before today's game started), and you know what they'll say?

"I'm not worried. It's only spring training."

And when the broadcasters can't tell me the name of the guy wearing No. 94 who has come in to pinch run for the unidentified guy wearing No. 81, they laugh and say, "Well, that's spring training for you!"

Because of my attitude toward spring training games, I don't think I'll ever have the desire to go to Florida or Arizona to see them in person.

I'll just wait for the real thing in April, when that baseball-fanatic switch flips on in my brain.

]]> Cubs ticket inflation hurts tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.735911 2009-03-13T15:16:43Z 2009-03-13T17:26:13Z

The Cubs put tickets on sale this morning for their "Bleacher Box," "Dugout Box" and "Bullpen Box" seats. These are special seats added to Wrigley Field in recent years that claim to offer great views or some other amenity not available to...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia elsewhere in the ballpark.

* The Bleacher Box seats are located in the right-field corner. The only benefit from these seats, that I can determine, is that they have backs on them as opposed to the benches elsewhere in the bleachers. Frankly, these seem like a ripoff, especially since I can sit around the corner from the foul pole for less.

* The Dugout Box consists of seats in the first three rows right behind home plate and between the two dugouts. If you don't mind having a screen separating your seat from the field, these are the best seats in the house.

* The Bullpen Box includes the first three rows behind first base, adjacent to the visitors' dugout and immediately behind the visitors' bullpen.

They're all great seats, with the exception of the Bleacher Boxes, in my opinion. But they sure have jacked up the prices for them this year.

In 2007, I took my then-Cardinals-fan fiancee (now my Cardinals-fan wife) to a Cubs-Cards game and sat in the Bullpen Box. As you can tell by this no-zoom photo Cardinals-fan fiancee shot of Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols, we had a great view.

I paid a total of $310 for that pair of seats. A little excessive, yes. But it's really one of those once-in-a-great-while ballpark experiences that a borderline-crazy fan will splurge on at least once.

I was nosing around cubs.com this morning to see what seats were available this year for a Chicago-St. Louis clash at Wrigley.

Those same Bullpen Box seats? $500 a pair!! That's a 61 percent increase.

Now, thanks to the multi-tiered pricing system that I covered in a previous post, I could grab a pair of Dugout Box seats this year for "only" $160. But I'd have to see a midweek game against Colorado or Cincinnati in April, San Francisco or San Diego in May, or Houston in September.

I'll skip the ticket splurge this year and be content with my run-of-the-mill seats in the grandstand. Because really, there aren't any bad seats at Wrigley, unless you get stuck here.

]]> Picture a Day: Wrigley signage tag:bricksandivy.mlblogs.com,2009://70141.730731 2009-03-11T14:16:55Z 2009-03-11T14:40:51Z

The baseball purists will always tell you that one great thing about Wrigley Field is there is a very limited amount of permanent advertising signage in the ballpark. What they often fail to mention, however, is the growing amount...

Jason Piscia twitter.com/jasonpiscia

Not that I mind either way. I've long been a proponent of some modest modernization to the old ball field. I'm sure I'll have more to say on that topic later this year after the communal experience of peeing into one of the infamous troughs in the men's room is re-burned into my mind.

These signs, which I photographed during a Cubs-Cards tilt last season, are a couple of the more famous ones that sit on a rooftop over the right-field wall.

The Miller folks are always changing the message on their sign, usually to coincide with the team that's in town that week.

On this day, however, the ribbing backfired as I was forced to sit through a 12-6 Cardinals beat-down of the Cubs. (Carlos Zambrano, making his first start after his no-hitter, gave up a grand slam to Adam Kennedy. So yeah, the game was that bad.)

The sign in the lower left of the photo is a constant reminder of the Cubs' futility in the playoffs. The Lakeview Baseball Club has it posted on their building. In short, it keeps track of the number of years since the Cubs' last division title, N.L. pennant and World Series championship. Last year, those numbers were "00," "62" and "99."

The "AC" stands for "Anno Catuli," which is a Latin translation for "Year of the Cub."

Looks like they'll be adding an extra digit to the sign this year so they can fit that "100" onto the end. Wonder if I'll ever see the AC 00 00 00 in my lifetime?

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