Mount Davis vs. Tower Bridge
There's a lot of criticism of the Athletics' plan to play in a Triple-A park in West Sacramento until their new digs in Vegas are ready. But Sutter Health Ballpark is an upgrade from the Coliseum.
TOP OF THE FIRST
This time Pete Rose was not the jerk
Imagine if you will, Shohei Ohtani is entering the last game of the regular season with 49 home runs.
The Dodgers are visiting the Colorado Rockies, and neither team has anything to play for. The playoff pairings are set for the Dodgers, and the Rockies have been out of contention for months.
The only significant aspect of the game is if Ohtani can become the first MLB player to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season.
The Rockies send out ace — at least by Rockies’ standards this season — Cal Quantrill, who throws four pitches a foot wide of the plate.
Rockies manager Buddy Black has decided the Rockies will end this season by denying Ohtani the milestone. And in Ohtani’s subsequent plate appearances, the Rockies don’t even bother to throw the ball when Ohtani is up. They simply send him to first.
What would the reaction be?
I’d venture that about 99.9% of baseball fans would think Black and Quantrill were in the wrong.
The great streak
On Aug. 1, 1978, we had something akin to my hypothetical scenario above when Gene Garber faced Pete Rose.
Rose had a 44-game hitting streak, tying the National League record, and was 12 games from Joe DiMaggio’s legendary hitting streak. It captivated the nation. The only thing comparable in my time following the game was when McGwire and Sosa were chasing the home run record in 1998.
Rose was hitless against the Braves going into the ninth inning. The Braves led the visiting Reds 16-4. The game was wrapped up. The only thing on the line was Rose’s hitting streak.
The stands were still largely full and the crowd in Atlanta gave Rose a standing ovation as he came to the plate with two out.
If Rose walked, the streak was over. Garber threw five pitches. The first one was a little inside. Rose, batting left-handed, tried to bunt it down the third base line. It was foul. The next two were further inside. Then Garber threw a low pitch that Rose bounced foul. It might have been a strike.
The final pitch was a breaking ball that was outside. Rose swung in desperation and missed. Five pitches. Maybe one was a strike.
Rose is best remembered as MLB’s hit king, not the walk king. But he had a good eye. He led the National League twice in on-base percentage, including the next season in Philadelphia. He surely would have taken that last pitch if the streak had not been on the line.
Garber raised his hands over his head and jumped in the air.
How is Rose the bad guy?
Rose was disappointed and frustrated, and he made a hash out of the postgame interview and was cast as the villain.
Earl Gutskey wrote for the Los Angeles Times:
Rose had an odd reaction after Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber had collared him with a 0-for-4 night. He seemed angry that the two were bent on getting him out.
“Garber was pitching like it was the seventh game of the World Series,” Rose groused.
When told of Rose’s remark, Garber replied, “I had an idea Pete was hitting like it was the last game of the World Series.”
Rose complained that Garber owed it to Rose “to challenge” him and that the Braves ace Phil Neikro would have given something to hit.
The baseball situation called for Garber to throw strikes. The last thing you want to do with a huge lead is walk people. Garber modified his strategy to stop the streak.
Rose’s remarks were taken to mean that Rose thought Garber should have grooved a pitch to him. Rose clarified the next day that was not what he meant at all.
But it’s been the narrative ever since. Here is a good example from Craig Calcaterram who wrote for Hardball Times: “Gives you yet another reason to hate Pete Rose, and believe me, if you don’t already hate Pete Rose, you simply haven’t been paying attention.”
Even before Rose’s other scandals, many sports media people didn’t like Rose, largely because he bowled over Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game.
But it’s not just malice. Truth be told, and I say this as one of them, many sports media types are as dumb as a box of rocks — opinionated rocks at that.
Why am I writing about it?
I will fully admit I was a big Pete Rose fan back in the day. That phase passed about 40 years ago.
There was a mention of Garber on a site I read a few days ago, and some reader comments that got me fired up.
And the Cubs threw a no-hitter at Wrigley Field.
It is the first Cubs no-hitter at home since 1972. That 1972 gem is the only time I remember a pitcher being a little upset after throwing a no-hitter.
Milt Pappas retired the first 26 Padres batters he faced. He ran the count to 3-and-2 on Larry Stahl. WGN didn’t use the centerfield camera for the next pitch, but in the footage from the broadcast, the 3-2 pitch looks outside.
Bruce Froemming saw it that way, too, and Stahl walked. Pappas was furious, believing Froemming should have found a way to call one more strike.
Business as usual
Many think the umpires should give a little leeway when a pitcher is going for a no-hitter or a perfect game.
Dale Mitchell always claimed Don Larsen’s final pitch in his World Series perfect game in 1956 was outside. Others have suggested Mitchell's check swing would have been called a strike anyway. Still, others feel umpire Babe Pinilli made the right call because Larsen deserved it.
“I’m not a fan. I’m umpire,” Froemming told MLB TV decades after Pappas’ near-perfect game.
I think Froemming was a confrontational jerk throughout his long umpiring career. But he was right on this one.
Rose turned out to be a bad guy. But Garber, who seemed like a nice man, was in the wrong on Aug. 1, 1978.
I think it is OK for players to alter their approach when chasing a record or a milestone.
If Ohtani wants to swing for the fences, so be it. And I don’t think someone should groove a pitch to him so he can hit a 50th homer or pitch around him to deny him the opportunity.
For the umpires and opposing players, it should be business as usual.
HEART OF THE ORDER
Sermon on the Mount (Davis)
Sacramento’s ballpark is hardly a comedown from the Coliseum
Let’s get this out of the way.
I would have preferred the Athletics get a new ballpark in Oakland or elsewhere in the Bay Area.
I think Las Vegas is a sketchy market for MLB. I wish the A’s were staying. But it doesn’t look like they will be in Oakland after the end of this month.
I feel bad for the fans in the Bay Area who are losing their team.
And maybe it would have been nice if the A’s stuck around in Oakland until they moved to Las Vegas.
But that didn’t happen.
Plans call for the A’s to move into Sutter Health Ballpark in West Sacramento through 2027 — at least through 2027 — when their Las Vegas ballpark is ready. The A’s will share the park with the Sacramento River Cats, the club in the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A team.
Bashing Sutter Health Ballpark
What has been a surprise is the reaction of media, players, agents, and fans has been overwhelmingly negative.
Here’s a recent headline from the San Francisco Chronicle website:
MLB players, agents wrap their heads around A’s playing in Sacramento: ‘It’s going to suck’
I get that MLB players don’t want to play in a run-down facility in front of sparse crowds. But that describes the Ring Coliseum much better than Sutter Health Ballpark.
Let’s go point by point:
Age: Sutter Health Park opened in 2000. The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum opened in 1966 for AFL’s Oakland Raiders. The Athletics moved there from Kansas City in 1968.
While a 25-year-old stadium isn’t new, sports venues built in the 1990s and beyond aged better than their predecessors.
I will use the NBA Phoenix Suns’ arena as an example. The building is more than 30 years old, but it seems newer and nicer than the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum the first time I visited it. Veterans Memorial Coliseum was then less than five years old. It didn’t seem old, but it didn’t seem new.
The clubhouse is beyond center field, not behind the dugouts: Yeah, that is farther than the position players have to walk to the clubhouse than at other MLB parks.
And if someone needs something from the clubhouse pronto, this will be a hassle. But bullpens are usually beyond the outfield fence these days. No one seems to worry that it’s too far for pitchers to get to the clubhouse.
No one seems too worried about it during spring training, even though some facilities have a similar setup.
The heat: It’s too hot in Sacramento.
Or maybe it’s too cold in Oakland.
The average high in Sacramento in the summer is in the low 90s. That’s a little warm. But it is usually pleasant at night.
That is slightly warmer than Kansas City, St. Louis, or Atlanta, and a little cooler than Dallas, where they played major-league games outdoors until 2020.
The average high in Oakland in the summer is in the low 70s. That means you will need a sweater or a jacket for a night game.
People who live in places like Oakland and Seattle seem to think that wearing a wrap for a night game is a sign of ideal weather. Let’s keep it respectful and just say some of us like it warmer.
Sacramento has been home to A’s and Giants Triple-A players since 2000, and they seem to have handled it OK on their journey to the big leagues.
I think all the players will survive.
The atmosphere: Since 1996, players and fans in Oakland have enjoyed a view of Mount Davis, the empty seats and luxury boxes built for Al Davis’ Raiders football team after he brought them back from Los Angeles.
I’m sure many will find a view of the Tower Bridge that connects West Sacramento and Sacramento and gazing on the Sacramento skyline more appealing.
With a capacity of 14,014, Sutter Health Park will be far and away the smallest ballpark in MLB, dwarfed by the Coliseum, which has a listed capacity of 46,847 but is expandable to 56,000. But the A’s were only averaging 9,843 per home game through Sept. 10.
If the A’s draw that well in Sacramento — and they are expected to draw better— the park will be a better atmosphere for fans and players.
Before the 1980 NFL season, Anaheim Stadium was reconfigured to accommodate the Los Angeles Rams, the new tenants. That meant enclosing the stadium and adding about 23,000 seats. After the remodel, the facility had a capacity of around 65,000 for baseball.
The Rams left after the 1994 season. The Angels and the city of Anaheim reduced the capacity again before the 1998 season.
As a spectator for many games from 1990 through 1997, I can tell you how much of a buzzkill that sometimes was, even with 35,000 fans. If the crowd was quiet, the place seemed empty.
Sutter Health Park’s field dimensions are cozy — 330 feet down the left field line, 325 down the right field line, and 403 to center field. With the warm weather, that means a lot of homers.
“It’s going to be hot, but it’s going to be a great place to hit,” Milwaukee first baseman Rhys Hoskins told the San Francisco Chronicle. Hoskins grew up in Sacramento and lives there.
Expect plenty of complaints from pitchers who were helped for decades by the relative cold and the acres of foul territory in Oakland.
So the ball will be flying and the crowds will fill up the stands. What’s not to like?
Artificial turf: With a Triple-A and MLB team sharing the field, 156 games are scheduled. The field might look threadbare by the end of the season.
So the powers-that-be are installing Shaw B1K turf, which debuted in Chase Field, home of the D-backs, in 2019. It has since been installed in Marlins Park and the Rangers’ Globe Life Field. The Shaw company’s turf has received good reviews as a playing surface.
Those are all ballparks with roofs, and there is concern that the turf in the Sacramento sun will make for a long, hot summer on players’ feet.
Shaw BK1 has been installed outdoors at college baseball fields, such as Vanderbilt and LSU. But college baseball season finishes up in early June. Even in the South, that is not the kind of test Sacramento will offer.
Of all the concerns, this is the only one that might be legit.
However, this artificial turf is not the old plastic indoor outdoor carpet on a thin rubber pad on cement version from the late 1960s and 1970s. This is not even the rubberized grass with sand and rubber that was developed more recently.
Shaw Sports Turf uses what it calls geo-fill, coconut husks, and claims it reduces heat from the paying surface by 40%.
BONUS FRAMES
A return to the Goldy Standard?
Paul Goldschmidt won the 2022 MVP for the Cardinals when he slashed .317/.404./.578 with OPS of .981 and an OPS-plus of 177 in his age-34 season.
He hit a respectable .285/.369/.844 through the All-Star break last season, but his production began to slide. His post-All-Star production fell to .246/.355/.409, and he batted just .209 in the final month.
His woes at the plate continued when 2024 started. Through the the All-Star break, he was hitting .230/..291/.373. But post-break he has been better., compiling a slash line of .281/.326/.500 through Sept. 11.
From Sept.1 through Sept. 11, he hit .361/.378/.611 with a homer and six doubles.
It’s not enough to salvage Goldy’s season, but it is a sign of life.
Homage to Dave Stieb
Dave Stieb holds a special for Blue Jays fans. On Sept. 2, 1990, Stieb pitched the franchise’s first no-hitter. And thus far, it is the Blue Jays’ only no-hitter.
But for those of us of a certain age, Steib is remembered as much for his near misses as for his gem.
Three times, he came within an out of a no-hitter. Steib took another one into the ninth before surrendering a hit.
Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis seems to be paying homage to his franchise’s legend. On Sept. 11, he took a no-hitter into the ninth and surrendered a homer to Francisco Lindor. He was pulled after that .
On Aug. 23, he took a no-hitter into the ninth and gave up a homer to Taylor Ward in a 7-3 win over the Angels. Francis was taken out after surrendering the blast.
Since Aug. 12, he has had two other starts where he went 7 innings and gave up just one hit.
Francis is 28 and never started an MLB game before this season. Through Sept. 11, he had an 8-4 record with a 3.50 ERA.
A turning point — and a clip
Lindor’s homer off Francis sparked a six-run ninth inning as the Mets beat the Jays 6-1.
Mets announcer Gary Cohen mentioned that it might be a turning point in the Mets’ season.
Now it’s true that the Mets had won nine straight through Sept. 6. But they were in danger of slipping back. If they had lost to Bowden in the Jays, it would have been three losses out of four.
You can imagine, the tabloids ripping the Mets for slipping back into their mediocre ways.
So it was a big win.
Turning points in a baseball season are difficult to pinpoint. They seem to have a lot to do with what makes a good story.
This brings to mind one of baseball’s greatest turning-point stories: the Phil Linz harmonica incident with the 1964 Yankees.
The Yankees were battling the White Sox and the Orioles for the pennant. The team was on the bus heading to the airport after being swept by the Sox in a four-game series in Chicago and falling into third place.
Linz had sat on the bench the entire series. He began playing his harmonica. Manager Yogi Berra told him to stop. Linz threw the harmonica. Berra fined him and Linz complained that he was being blamed, even though he had nothing to do with any of the losses in Chicago
It became a big story. Linz got an endorsement contract from a harmonica company, and the team went on to win the American League pennant. So it was seen as the turning point.
Except that the Yankees lost their next two games after the harmonica incident. And they went a hardly torrid 8-6 in their 14 games after the harmonica incident.
Johnny Carson has some fun with it on The Tonight Show.
The relevant part starts at around the 2:20 mark