By Mile High Mouth
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news   

I don’t know if I can vie for the title of laziest writer at Baseball Big Mouth, but it’s definitely been a while since I’ve written for you guys. In case anyone liked my articles, my apologies. I’ll hopefully be writing more as my school year winds down (I’m a P.E. teacher in my day to day life). The school year ending is not all that’s been changing in my life. I’ve finished all my classes for my teaching license, and field day is now behind me. I’ll also be starting my summer work soon (maintaining trails in the foothills of the Rockies). However, the biggest change I am making to my life is the subject of today’s article.

Here at Baseball Big Mouth I have identified myself as a Red Sox fan. I can’t identify myself as that anymore. Yes folks, after taking up with the Red Sox upon my arrival in New England in September of 2000, I am renouncing them as my favorite team. The reason why can be summed up in one trip to Coors Field.

Red Sox nation now minus one, says Mile High Mouth

I get a text message during class. It’s my good buddy Dan. He wants to know if I want to come see the Rockies tonight. Of course I do! I love going to Coors Field, and nothing is as much fun as seeing a live baseball game regardless of the park. I check the schedule. The Twins are in town to take on the 2007 NL Champs. Being a man who has two favorite out of town teams, there are rules I follow. They went like this. Cheer for your favorite teams over the hometown team. If one of the favorite teams isn’t in town, you cheer for the home team. Since I had no particularly strong feelings about the Twinkies, I go home and put on my Rockies cap. I do like the Rockies after all.

I meet Dan at a bar just outside of Coors field and we hang out. Dan tests my intestinal fortitude as far as alcohol is concerned, and the group we’re with heads off to Coors Field. This is where it begins. As I’m walking I see them. Red Sox fans. How do I know they’re Red Sox fans? Hats. Shirts. And they’re talking about Fenway Park. They might have been wearing Red Sox underwear for all I know, but I didn’t check. I have to back track for a second here.

Since I moved to Denver, I kept on hearing (but not believing) the same line. Red Sox fans now are just as bad, if not worse, than Yankees fans. I hate Yankees fans. I consider them rude, callous, and obnoxious. I still do. To be compared to a Yankees fan is not something I take kindly to, but I just talk myself out of the idea. The 2007 World Series comes along, and the stories keep coming. I even have a friend who tells me he has to host his next door neighbor during Red Sox games because her husband (a Sox fan) becomes so obnoxious, that she can’t take it. I think that’s where this all started.

So there I am watching these people in their Sox gear, and Dan asks me a poignant question.

“Are the Twins in the same division as the Red Sox?”

“No,” I say “The Twins are AL Central. The Sox are AL East.”

This is when it hits me. These Red Sox fans are not nice fans. Here they are at Coors Field wearing the colors of a team that has robbed this town of it’s only potential World Series victory, and the team isn’t even in the same state that night. It’s rude, callous, and obnoxious. It dawns on me. They are just as bad as Yankees fans. But it gets worse for me. As the evening winds on, I see only a handful of Yankees hats in the stands that night. I see lots more people wearing the garb of the Fenway faithful. Then something else occurs to me. When I wear my Red Sox shirts….this is what people see. They don’t see someone supporting a team they love. They just see a jerk.

Frankly, I don’t view myself as a jerk and I have no interest in hurting other people’s feelings over baseball. I love baseball, but at the end of the day, it’s a game. It’s a great game, but it’s just a game. Baseball is something that’s supposed to make me happy. If it doesn’t it’s pointless. After the game I realize, being a Red Sox fan doesn’t make me happy. It just lumps me in with a crowd of people I can’t relate to anymore. So I renounce the Red Sox, but the aftermath to me is even funnier.

I tell a few friends, a fellow baseball writer, my sister, and some co-workers. I get a range of reactions. Some friends tell me that it’s interesting, others don’t care, most act like I was renouncing my religion. How do my friends in Boston feel? I haven’t told anyone. I have a serious fear that some people will stop being my friend over this decision. But to me, it doesn’t deter me from making the decision. In fact, it just reinforces it. Most people ask who will be my top team now. The Atlanta Braves of course. I’ve always loved the Braves, but I just liked the Red Sox more. However, I don’t feel like a Braves fan. I don’t feel like a Red Sox fan either. My sister asked me (without me mentioning the above part) “Are you in baseball limbo right now?” I guess I kind of am.

I don’t feel like a Red Sox fan anymore. I had a whole wall of my house dedicated to the Red Sox. Baseball hats hung on the wall surrounding a picture of Jason Varitek leaping into Keith Foulke’s arms after the 2004 victory and a wanted poster with the face of Johnny Damon on it. All of it’s gone now. I just hung Colorado sports hats up there (CU Boulder, Broncos, Avs, Rockies, and a hat from the school I work at). Why didn’t I make it a Braves wall? I’m not there yet. It’s an odd feeling. It’s like I lost a friend who got too into something they shouldn’t have. I don’t even recognize the Red Sox anymore. They aren’t the fighting underdogs with the hearts of gold. I remember Otis Williams of the Temptations said “Success makes you the person you really are.” The Red Sox fans have shown their true colors. I guess the same is true for me. We’ve parted ways, and all good things must come to an end. I just hope the Red Sox fans remember that when they are at the bottom again. All baseball teams go there sooner or later.

photo used with permission of Early Era Baseball Photos.com

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By Ismael Nunez
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news  

From 1947 to 1957 a New York City baseball team would win a championship in each respective season. The three major league teams present in New York City were the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers. Those 10 years produced some of the greatest players and names that the game has ever seen. The Yankees would win the World Series in 1947. Then would go one to win five World Series Titles from 1949 to 1953, would again win World Series titles in 1956, 1958. The Dodgers would win their only title in 1955, while the Giants would win their last title in the year 1954 before both teams were to move to California in 1957. Yet does anybody remember  the other Gotham baseball club that also won a championship that year? Does anyone remember the New York Cubans?

Even the great Satchel bowed to Dihigo’s greatness

Yes the New York Cubans, who won the Negro World Series Championship 1947, the same year the Yankees won the World Series. It was also the year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. Yet no one talks about the NY Cubans. It’s a shame, because this Negro League team had players who were just as good as the Major Leagues Players back then. Here are some of the players who played on this team: The average baseball fan today most likely has never heard of them, but in the heart and minds of the Latin Community, they still exist.

Among them Martin Dihigo considered by many to be the greatest ball player who ever played in the Negro Leagues. The only ballplayer elected to four baseball Hall of Fames. In U.S.A, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela. Long before Pete Rose became a All-Star in five different positions Dihigo did the same. He was called “El Maestro (The Teacher, or The Master). As a pitcher he won 256 games, ended up with a winning percentage of 653. With a bat he had a life-time batting average .303. Satchel Paige the greatest pitcher in the Negro Leagues said this when he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 “I’m not the best  — Martin Dihigo was!”

Tetelo Vargas (Dominican Republic) considered by many to be the “Father of Dominican Republic.” Long before fellow countryman Juan Marichal (elected to Hall of Fame 1987), Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero there was Vargas. He was known as the “Dominican Deer”. He excelled in defense, was a consistent hitter, good speed, base stealer. When you see Ramirez’s power, Guerrero’s arm, you see Vargas in spirit. Another outstanding player was Pedro Anibal “Perucho” Cepeda (Puerto Rico) who played the position of shortstop. He was the father of Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda. He was on their roster in 1941. An outstanding fielder and hitter finished with a .325 batting average, playing the position of shortstop. When you see Derek Jeter (NY Yankees), Miguel Tejada (Houston Astros) hitting those long balls that was Cepeda. Talk about the great hitting shortstops Honus Wagner and Ernie Banks, who knows how many records Cepada would’ve made

Could this team compete with the MLB Golden Teams 1947 to 1957? I say YES! Maybe the New York Yankees would’ve met their match! Martin Dihigo (a Hall of Famer elected in 1977) surely would have been ready for such a challenge.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We would like to welcome Ismael to our BaseballBigMouth.com family. His work will appear periodically on these pages. Well done, Ismael!

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By Beltway Boss
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news   

In the early going, as we near the end of April, several MLB teams have yet to distinguish themselves. With an eighth of the baseball season in the books, three teams, however - the Arizona Diamondbacks, who I wrote about last time and the red hot defending champions, the Boston Red Sox, plus, the surprising Chicago Cubs - have done just that, putting the rest of their division mates on notice of their intentions to take their respective top spots.

As sun sets on April ‘08 MLB, Red Sox have game faces on

The Boston Red Sox, recent winners of 8 out of 10, have a two game lead on the supposed to be rebuilding Baltimore Orioles; the retooled White Sox are clinging to a slim 1-1/2 game lead ahead of the rest of the AL Central; the Oakland Athletics, who like the Orioles, are supposed to be rebuilding, are a tied with the Los Angeles Angels. For the wild card, the Angels and Oakland lead the Orioles by half a game.

In the National League, the low budget Florida Marlins lead AL East powerhouse New York Mets by a game and a half and last year’s champion Philadelphia by two and a half, while the Chicago Cubs lead the Milwaukee Brewers by two games and the St. Louis Cardinals by two and a half in what could be the best divisional race.

The Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics, always batting it out for alphabetical superiority, both traded their best position player and best pitcher away citing the need to rebuild. Someone forgot to tell the players. Houston, who took on the suddenly 33-year-old Miguel Tejada from the Orioles, might wish they had that one to do over. Before their five game win streak, the Astros had one of the worst records in the majors despite Tejada’s strong play and having Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee in residence and strong performances in the rotation from everyone not named Roy Oswalt in the Astros fans might have hope for a turnaround in the next 140 games or so.

The Detroit Tigers who took on refugees from Florida, have shown some signs of a resurgence, going 8-2 in their last ten, but still rank near the bottom in the majors in runs allowed. The New York Yankees, still sporting a 200 million dollar payroll, areare two games out of last place. The team near last place in the American League East, despite all the recent noise about them showing some signs of something positive, is still - as always - the Tampa Bay Rays, saved only by the slumping Toronto Blue Jays now occupying the cellar.

Cleveland is another surprising last place team. Expect a turnaround, however. Their runs scored/runs allowed distribution is not what would be expected for a 8-12 team. Something closer to .500 should be expected. They have been tough to take the last 10 games, with just four wins in that span.

The third last place team in the American League is the Texas Rangers. Unlike some other struggling teams, the Rangers are the real deal. They have recently lost seven in a row and their runs allowed are near the bottom in all of MLB. Washington at 6-16 has the worst record in the majors. Like the Rangers, they are the real deal. It is a shame for Washington fans who have waited for so long that they do not have a winner to put their support behind.

Rounding out the league, the Pirates are near-last and Giants dead last the NL Central and West, respectively. There is some historical significance here. The Pirates are on the verge of their 16th consecutive losing season. The Giants meanwhile, now without Barry Bonds, were picked by this writer to set a record for most losses in a season. Nothing they have shown thus far is cause for any rethinking of that prognostication.

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