A simple Christmas Story
While we wait to see what the Dodgers are able to do with their new found financial flexibility after trading one of the most popular Dodgers, I’ve decided to tell a little Christmas Story inspired by a CBS Sunday Morning episode about Sears. The CBS story isn’t a good story about Sears, it is about the rise and fall of Sears but it reminded me of one particular Christmas that was one of my favorites.
Like many people who are near my age and came from humble middle-class families, the Sears Christmas Catalog was how one turned their Christmas wishes to presents under the tree. In the winter of 1967, our family was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany and the five boys had gone through the Wish Book and put our initials next to everything we wanted. We knew we wouldn’t get everything we wanted, but we would always get just enough that Christmas was something to look forward too.
I have no idea how my parents decided which gifts to get, and which to ignore while making sure that it was a somewhat equitable distribution of gifts among five boys. Due to circumstance in 1967, my parents faced a stark decision. Sears had informed them that the Christmas order they put in would be late and would not arrive until early January. They had two choices. An empty Tree on Christmas day with promises of presents to come or biting the bullet and shopping local for immediate boyish gratification on Christmas day. The reason we used the Sears Wish Book wasn’t simply for convenience it was also a budget issue. We weren’t poor, my father was a Lt Colonel and was the commander at Fort Edwards, but that sounds more impressive on a resume compared to what it meant in actual money so they never spent money needlessly. I was not privy to the conversations that took place between my mom and Dad and I have no idea if they were in agreement or had a debate about what to do, but what they did do was to turn a normal Christmas into an outstanding Christmas.
They had decided that a tree without presents just wouldn’t do, so unknown to me (the youngest and most vulnerable to an empty tree) they went into Frankfurt and shopped like a local. If I had known that beforehand I’d been petrified that those bundle of presents would have somehow involved Lederhosen
as my mother had been trying to get me to wear a pair ever since we had arrived in Germany. What they did get me, a nine-year-old boy was my favorite Christmas present ever. A miniature medieval castle complete with knights, peasants, maidens, catapults, moat, drawbridge, and the animals. If memory serves me correct these weren’t cheap plastic toys. This was a German toy made in 1967 these things were detailed and unfortunately fragile. It just needed my imagination to make it all come to life and imagination was never something I was short on.
Whatever presents Sears finally delivered to us, I don’t remember. I thought it was cool that we got two Christmases even though Christ was only born once, but I haven’t a clue what I or my brothers got from the Sears Wish Book. I only remember my friends and I playing with that castle during the long winter months in Germany. Sixteen months later we were headed back to the states and I don’t think my castle made the trip. I have no memory of playing with it after coming back to the states, but I know that for a time it was my favorite way to past the time and I was always amazed that my parents had picked that out for me. I wish I had a photo but photographs of our time in Germany are rare after a flood in Alexandria destroyed most of them and a search of Ebay/Google didn’t find anything that resembled what I remember my castle looking like.
Shame, I would like to look upon that castle again.
My story does give the Sears Wish Book the short end which is not proper. That Sears Wish Book was a large part of my families history, and at one time, most of America.
for many kids, the arrival of the annual Wish Book was nothing less than the unofficial herald of the holiday season. We like to grumble that Christmas comes earlier every year, but the Wish Book would appear in late summer, just as school was returning; which meant, by Thanksgiving, the catalog was dogeared and mangled, its pages circled and scissored out, to act as helpful illustrations for wish lists to Santa
Ours was also dogeared with items circled with our initials. I don’t know when we stopped using the Wish Book, probably when we moved to Glendale and had a real retail Sears right smack in the middle of town but I do remember the palpable excitement when we were allowed to browse the Wish Book and make our choices. It says in the article that the book would arrive in late summer, so I think our parents kept it from us because I don’t think we got a look at it until after Thanksgiving but that could be why they weren’t able to deliver the presents in time for Christmas.
Anyway, I’ll always appreciate how my parents turned disappointment into joy by taking the extra step that they didn’t have to take. I’m a little embarrassed that my favorite Christmas moment involved a toy and not something charitable I’d done for someone in need. I need to fix that, maybe next year I’ll have a different Christmas Story, one I’m not embarrassed about. That would be cool.
LAD RF OPS+/bWAR cumulative leaderboard
Once you start looking at the cumulative leaderboard for LAD right fielders, you lose the Gary Sheffield’s and Pedro Guerrero’s because they played most of their Dodger career at other positions. It is still a strong group, and I was curious where Puig would stand since he had six full seasons at the position under his belt. From 2006 until 2018 the Dodgers basically had two right fielders. Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig. Puig was basically the 21st-century version of Raul Mondesi who manned right field for seven seasons before being traded for Shawn Green. Those two manned right field from 1993 – 2003 before Green turned into a 1st baseman. Basically from 1993 – 2018 the Dodgers made do most of the time with just four right fielders. Mondesi/Green/Ethier/Puig.
That will change in 2019, but right now we have no idea who that is going to be.
Player WAR/pos OPS+ PA From To Age BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Reggie Smith 19.4 152 2055 1976 1981 31-36 .297 .387 .528 .915 *9/H835 Shawn Green 21.0 130 3462 2000 2004 27-31 .280 .366 .510 .876 *93/DH8 Yasiel Puig 18.6 127 2765 2013 2018 22-27 .279 .353 .478 .831 *9/8H7D Frank Howard 10.9 125 2321 1958 1964 21-27 .269 .326 .495 .822 *9/H73 Raul Mondesi 21.6 122 3765 1993 1999 22-28 .288 .334 .504 .838 *98/7H Andre Ethier 21.2 122 5425 2006 2017 24-35 .285 .359 .463 .822 *97H8/D3 Willie Crawford 19.8 118 3199 1964 1975 17-28 .268 .351 .413 .764 *97H/8 Mike Marshall 10.2 117 3546 1981 1989 21-29 .271 .325 .449 .774 *937/H5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2018.
Puig averaged 3.1 bWAR during his six seasons with the Dodgers. If you add that to his cumulative bWAR of 18.6 he might have ended 2019 with 21.7 bWAR which would have made him the highest bWAR right fielder in LAD history. As it is, he will end his Dodger career in 6th place.
Player WAR/pos OPS+ PA From To Age R H 2B 3B HR RBI Raul Mondesi 21.6 122 3765 1993 1999 22-28 543 1004 190 37 163 518 Andre Ethier 21.2 122 5425 2006 2017 24-35 641 1367 303 34 162 687 Shawn Green 21.0 130 3462 2000 2004 27-31 505 842 183 12 162 509 Willie Crawford 19.8 118 3199 1964 1975 17-28 437 748 125 29 74 335 Reggie Smith 19.4 152 2055 1976 1981 31-36 314 516 89 11 97 301 Yasiel Puig 18.6 127 2765 2013 2018 22-27 365 686 129 19 108 331 Frank Howard 10.9 125 2321 1958 1964 21-27 293 567 80 14 123 382 Mike Marshall 10.2 117 3546 1981 1989 21-29 395 882 155 6 137 484
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2018.
Whoever becomes the Dodgers right fielder in 2019, if history is your guide, you can probably make a safe bet, that he’s going to be there for quite a while.
LAD RF Seasonal OPS+/bWAR leaderboard
The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a plethora of fantastic right fielders which ran the gamut from Ron Fairly – Yasiel Puig so cracking the leaderboards for LAD right fielders you hade to earn it. The names roll off your tongue, some of the greatest LAD players have been their right fielders. Frank Howard, Reggie Smith, Raul Mondesi, Shawn Green, Gary Sheffield, Andre Ethier, and Yasiel Puig. Willie Crawford should also be mentioned, possibly the most underrated player during the ’70s for the Dodgers.
Puig earned it. His debut season was one of the top five seasons for a LAD right fielder. His second season also made the top 20 cut. The criteria were 51% of games played in RF with at least 300 plate appearances.
Sheffield and Guerrero made the leaderboard but neither were full-time right fielders for the Dodgers, they just happened to play a lot of right field for one season.
Player WAR/pos OPS+ PA Year Age BA OBP SLG OPS Reggie Smith 6.1 168 603 1977 32 .307 .427 .576 1.003 Reggie Smith 4.5 162 531 1978 33 .295 .382 .559 .942 Gary Sheffield 3.4 162 383 1998 29 .316 .444 .535 .979 Yasiel Puig 4.7 159 432 2013 22 .319 .391 .534 .925 Pedro Guerrero 6.8 156 652 1982 26 .304 .378 .536 .914 Shawn Green 7.0 154 701 2001 28 .297 .372 .598 .970 Shawn Green 6.9 154 685 2002 29 .285 .385 .558 .944 Reggie Smith 4.3 151 362 1980 35 .322 .392 .508 .900 Frank Howard 4.1 150 459 1963 26 .273 .330 .518 .848 Frank Howard 3.4 146 538 1962 25 .296 .346 .560 .906 Ron Fairly 2.5 146 301 1961 22 .322 .434 .522 .956 Yasiel Puig 5.1 145 640 2014 23 .296 .382 .480 .863 J.D. Drew 3.2 145 311 2005 29 .286 .412 .520 .931 Ron Fairly 1.8 142 409 1966 27 .288 .380 .464 .844 Mike Marshall 3.5 141 564 1985 25 .293 .342 .515 .857 Raul Mondesi 5.7 140 670 1997 26 .310 .360 .541 .901 Willie Crawford 5.3 140 543 1973 26 .295 .396 .453 .849 Darryl Strawberry 3.7 140 588 1991 29 .265 .361 .491 .852 Al Ferrara 2.5 140 384 1967 27 .277 .345 .467 .812 Duke Snider 2.3 140 435 1959 32 .308 .400 .535 .935
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2018.
As good as Andre Ethier was, he couldn’t crack this leaderboard when sorted by OPS+. Let’s see what the top 20 looks like sorted by bWAR:
Player WAR/pos OPS+ PA Year BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Shawn Green 7.0 154 701 2001 .297 .372 .598 .970 *9/8H3 Shawn Green 6.9 154 685 2002 .285 .385 .558 .944 *9/HD Pedro Guerrero 6.8 156 652 1982 .304 .378 .536 .914 *985 Reggie Smith 6.1 168 603 1977 .307 .427 .576 1.003 *9/8H Raul Mondesi 5.7 140 670 1997 .310 .360 .541 .901 *9/H Willie Crawford 5.3 140 543 1973 .295 .396 .453 .849 *9H7/8 Yasiel Puig 5.1 145 640 2014 .296 .382 .480 .863 *98/HD Raul Mondesi 4.8 123 580 1995 .285 .328 .496 .824 *98/H Yasiel Puig 4.7 159 432 2013 .319 .391 .534 .925 *98/H7 Raul Mondesi 4.7 123 673 1996 .297 .334 .495 .830 *9 Reggie Smith 4.5 162 531 1978 .295 .382 .559 .942 *9/H8 Reggie Smith 4.3 151 362 1980 .322 .392 .508 .900 *9/H8 Frank Howard 4.1 150 459 1963 .273 .330 .518 .848 *9H/7 J.D. Drew 4.0 126 594 2006 .283 .393 .498 .891 *9H/D Darryl Strawberry 3.7 140 588 1991 .265 .361 .491 .852 *9/H Willie Crawford 3.6 130 540 1974 .295 .376 .432 .808 *9H/8 Andre Ethier 3.5 123 618 2012 .284 .351 .460 .812 *9/HD8 Mike Marshall 3.5 141 564 1985 .293 .342 .515 .857 *9/3H7 Gary Sheffield 3.4 162 383 1998 .316 .444 .535 .979 *9/H Frank Howard 3.4 146 538 1962 .296 .346 .560 .906 *9H/7
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2018.
I’m always shocked to see Willie Crawford on this list whenever I do them. Not just once, but twice. Willie Crawford was better as a Los Angeles Dodger right fielder than Darryl Strawberry was. Let that sink in.
The Wild Horse has left the corral
It seemed inevitable that number 66 would not be a Dodger in 2019 but when the news came yesterday that the Dodgers had moved the iconic right fielder in an effort to clear salary space for possible future moves it still left many Dodger fans stunned that one of their favorite players would no longer be making tongue wags at them after some type of sensational play.
Number 66 was a victim of an overcrowded outfield, a top prospect who plays his position, or a possible free agent who also plays his position, along with the fact this was his last season under Dodger control.
Blake Harris at TrueBlueLA does an excellent recap of the Puig highlights. I can’t improve on that but I can impart my own little Puig history.
In the summer of 2012 Puig had been signed but very little was known of him. Well-known baseball writer Keith Law didn’t have many positive things to say about Puig but at some point, we got a photo of Puig playing in the Arizona rookie league and the basic reaction was Holy Shit. Puig might have been the best-muscled player I’d seen and word was starting to reach us that he had power, a gun for an arm, and was a bit of a wild card. Still, this was a man playing against boys in the rookie league so his stats were taken with a grain of salt.
That changed the following spring when Eric Stephen and Craig Minami were covering the team. Report after report came out that Puig was destroying the ball, and Craig who is the last person to get involved in hyperbole was saying that the sound of the baseball was just different when Puig was hitting.
As fans and bloggers, we were all excited but the Dodgers didn’t put Puig on the roster to start the season. Eric used to do a thing where he would ask all the contributing writers for Truebluela to write up Season Predictions and I wrote it up and forgot about it until Eric wrote this post at the end of the season.
There are some things we got right, many things we got wrong, but mostly this is an exercise to embrace the genius of Phil Gurnee.
Yup, I’m pulling a Trump and making this about me. It turns out I had been lucky enough to predict the exact date that Puig would make his debut and even though I wrote over 1,000 articles for TrueBlueLa from 2007 – 2013 this little lucky ditty is what I’m remembered for.
By June the Dodgers can not hold back the Dodgers fan chants of PUIG PUIG PUIG, and Yasiel Puig is inserted into the every day lineup against the Padres on June 3
For the next six years, Puig would infuriate but mostly entertain me with his antics. He was truly one of kind. I suspect that Puig will go one of two ways, The Raul Mondesi route where the highlights of his career all occurred before the age of 27, or the Roberto Clemente route whose talent explodes after his age 27 season. I hope the Reds and health give Puig a shot at 600 plate appearances, and like many, I plan to be in the stands on April 15th when the Reds come to Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers and Reds have become quite the trade partners. Who knows, on April 15th the Reds could have Scott Schebler, Jose Peraza, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Kyle Farmer, Connor Joe, and Alex Wood in the lineup. Wouldn’t that be something?
Fab Five Dodgers
This is two days too late to properly asses how much Yasiel Puig was beloved by Dodger fans but it is something I wanted to do this week. Back in February of 2010 Michael White wrote for TrueBlueLA and did a fab five edition in which each of the regulars or even the semi-regulars commentators would list who their current five favorite Dodgers were.
We had quite a few replies and it was a fascinating look into how Dodger fans view their favorite players. Mike himself had a strange five that included James McDonald. How many of you even remember James McDonald? His full five were Billingsley, Kuo, Kershaw, Manny, and McDonald.
My five at the time were:
Posted by meercatjohn on Feb 12, 2010 | 10:57 AM
Bills
Kemp
Kershaw
Broxton
Ethier
Posted by Eric Stephen on Feb 12, 2010 | 11:28 AM
If I had posted this yesterday morning my fab five would have been very tough to come up with. Unlike 2010 I like so many of these Dodgers. The team is full of good folk with Bellinger, Muncy, Seager, Turner, Taylor, Buehler, Kershaw, Hill, Ryu, Urias, Ferguson, ad Jansen among the contenders.
But number one the list would have been Yasiel Puig. He simply made watching baseball fun.
So my list yesterday morning would have been:
Yasiel Puig, Walker Buehler, Kershaw, Bellinger, and Justin Turner.
My list today would be:
Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, and Max Muncy
It is a strange list that includes Max Muncy but not Corey Seager or Kenley Jansen, but Max Muncy just had one of the most bizarre seasons in baseball history and while he may not even be on the team next year at this time, right now, he’s a fab five.
Surprisingly, Harper is still on Dodger radar
On the surface, a match of the Dodgers and Harper does not seem like something you’d expect from a team who has more outfielders than they have spots on the roster. You could make a case the Puig/Bellinger/Taylor/Joc/Kemp/Verdugo/Toles/Hernandez are all at least average, running from average (Toles, Kemp, Hernandez), to above average (Joc, Puig, Taylor, Verdugo), to star quality (Bellinger).
I estimate that a Harper contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers would be in the ballpark of ten years, $360 million, split up into three different stages of the contract.
Jason Reed gave the above estimate as something he thinks the Dodgers and Harper can agree too. The key to that kind of contract are the option years. It remains to be seen if Dodger management would do that kind of deal.
That still doesn’t seem likely to me, but what if the Dodgers do pull that off? Puig would for sure need to be traded. I’d say even Verdugo would need to go. If they sign Harper, I’d expect that Verdugo is the centerpiece headed to the Marlins for Realmuto. With Verdugo the centerpiece, I think a trade of Verdugo / Dennis Santana / Will Smith should be good enough to net them Realmuto.
Now they have to figure what to do with Puig. I love Puig, but if you have signed Bryce Harper to be your right fielder, Puig is the first odd man out.
Before we move Puig let’s look at the lineup with Harper and Realmuto in it.
| Against RHP | POS | Against LHP | POS |
| J.T. Realmuto | Catcher | Chris Taylor | Left Field |
| Corey Seager | Shortstop | Corey Seager | SS |
| Bryce Harper | Right Field | Justin Turner | 3rd Base |
| Justin Turner | 3rd Base | Byrce Harper | Right Field |
| Cody Bellinger | 1st Base | David Freese | 1st Base |
| Max Muncy | 2nd Base | Kiké Hernandez | 2nd Base |
| Joc Pederson | Center Field | J.T. Realmuto | Catcher |
| Andrew Toles | Left Field | Cody Bellinger | Center Field |
| Walker Buehler | Pitcher | Walker Buehler | Pitcher |
| Kiké Hernandez | Joc Pederson | ||
| Chris Taylor | Max Muncy | ||
| David Freese | Andrew Toles | ||
| Austin Barnes | Austin Barnes |
Can’t say I’m a huge fan of the possible lineup iterations. Signing Harper makes us lefty-heavy with Joc, Seager, Harper, Muncy, and Bellinger as the big left-hand hitting group. Plus, J.T. Realmuto crushes RHP (.875 OPS) which is why he’s leading off against RHP, something he did alot of in Miami. That group should mash right-hand pitching.
The right-hand hitting group is no piece of cake either with Turner, Taylor, Freese, Harper, and Kiké all likely to tear into left-hand pitching.
The hitting part I like, but in the scenarios above, Max Muncy is basically a 2nd baseman. Can we live with that? Do we want Cody bouncing from CF to 1st base depending on who is pitching? Chris Taylor only has a part-time role and he seems better than that. Andrew Toles is the left fielder against RHP, but if he fails, Chris Taylor can simply take that job full time.
I’m starting to talk myself into this roster. With Puig/Verdugo/Kemp all gone, we are one roster spot shy. I added Toles back to the 25 man roster from the forty man roster, but we need one more player. I would look to add a left-hand pinch hitter but I don’t have a name for you right now.
This seems like a delicious roster, is it something you’d be comfortable with? Bryce Harper is an enigmatic player, someone who is at times the best player in the National League, and others no better than Yasiel Puig. The salary would be huge, would it be worth it? We have to remember that after this year Puig is a free agent so we’d only be moving him a year early.
The Dodgers could move Joc Pederson instead of Verdugo and they just might try to do that. Let’s say they do move Joc / Puig / Kemp and sign Harper. Let’s say they create a complicated three-way deal involving several of those three that brings Realmuto to the Dodgers. Let’s also say we believe Dave Roberts when he says that Bellinger/Muncy are full-time players.
How does that lineup look?
| Against RHP | POS | Against LHP | POS |
| J.T. Realmuto | Catcher | Chris Taylor | Left Field |
| Corey Seager | Shortstop | Corey Seager | SS |
| Bryce Harper | Right Field | Justin Turner | 3rd Base |
| Justin Turner | 3rd Base | Byrce Harper | Right Field |
| Cody Bellinger | Center Field | Kiké Hernandez | 2nd Base |
| Max Muncy | 1st Base | J.T. Realmuto | Catcher |
| Alex Verdugo | Left Field | Max Muncy | 1st Base |
| Chris Taylor | 2nd Base | Cody Bellinger | Center Field |
| Walker Buehler | Pitcher | Walker Buehler | Pitcher |
| Kiké Hernandez | Alex Verdugo | ||
| Andrew Toles | David Freese | ||
| David Freeze | Andrew Toles | ||
| Austin Barnes | Austin Barnes |
I think I like this iteration better. The defense is much better, and while the offense against LHP will suffer from Cody and Max getting full-time at-bats, we do have Freese sitting on the bench waiting to crush LHP if Cody or Max don’t produce enough.
Anyway, at least I can see how Harper fits if he shocks me and signs with the Dodgers.
I personally would give Puig 600 Plate Appearances in 2019 and sign a backup for Austin Barnes instead of signing Bryce Harper for a bazillion dollars but I can understand those who want Harper in Los Angeles.
This could play out many ways, it is not like the Dodgers would have to trade for Realmuto if they sign Harper. They may think they have enough offense they can carry Barnes. Remember Barnes is still a great framer, one year removed from a break out offensive season. If he can just get back to an average hitter, with his defensive and framing skills he’d be fine as a full-time catcher.
I’m just not sure what they can move Puig for. Maybe an elite second baseman? Heck, just one year ago Brian Dozier was an elite second baseman and now he can’t get anyone to give him a contract. I’d love a Scooter Gennett but why would the Reds move him and his great contract?
The Dodgers could go big or simply do nothing. Right now I’m okay with either scenario.
She was in a league of her own
A few months ago I started thinking about Penny Marshall. I play softball with Fred Fox who was the showrunner for the iconic TV series Laverne and Shirley. The senior softball league I play on in the San Fernando Valley was created by Gary Marshall and is filled with folk who worked in the local TV industry. When Fred told me about his involvement with Laverne and Shirley I remembered how Penny used to be one of the few celebrities who came to the old Sports Arena to watch the Clippers. I don’t think she was a big fan of the Clippers, just of basketball but the few fans would still give her a big shout out when she was spotted. You could tell she was only there to watch basketball, not to be seen.
I hadn’t seen Penny at a Clipper game in years, and I wondered if she was doing okay. Evidently, the answer was no. Penny passed away yesterday but she left behind quite a legacy. Only those of a certain age will remember Laverne and Shirley and I have no idea if it has aged well, but during it’s run, it was a madcap sitcom that made me laugh on a regular basis. Laverne was a character that has never been matched and it is hard to be a one of a kind after seventy years of sitcoms.
As good as Penny was as Laverne, I never expected her to direct one of my all-time favorite movies.
Penny Marshall was able to do what Kevin Costner has tried to do multiple times. Make a great baseball movie. Not only is “League of their own” my favorite baseball movie, but it is also my favorite sports movie. This may have been the first “sports” movie my wife enjoyed as much as I did. Some movies are good signals. If your significant other did not like this movie, maybe they shouldn’t be your significant other.
Geena Davis has a had a long and varied career but she will always be Dottie to me. Lori Petty is and always will be Kit, not Tank Girl.
Gary and Penny Marshall are both gone now, but they left behind quite a legacy. They made us laugh, think, and cry.
Hell of a duo.
Yikes!!!! Dodgers extend Charley Steiner
for three years so if you live in the West San Fernando Valley you won’t have to lament the fact you can’t get KLAC 570 anyway.
I’ve tried to be fairly snarkless when I moved from TBLA over to here but it is hard when a move is made that doesn’t seem reasonable on so many levels. Normally, in the media world of 2018, who is doing PBP on the radio is of little consequence but in Los Angeles, it matters because of the Dodger TV deal with Time Warner that has left thousands of fans out of the loop when it comes to watching the Dodgers on TV.
The other alternative is the old-fashioned one that brought many a fan into the Dodger family. The Radio. With that being the case you would think the Dodgers would try to hire the best possible play by play announcer to be the voice of the team for those who don’t have the Time Warner option.
Instead, the Dodgers have plugged away with Charley Steiner who is considered the worst play by play announcer to ever grace a microphone in Los Angeles. One has to ask why? I’ve met Charlie, he’s a good guy, he loves the game of baseball, he is passionate about the game of baseball, but…………he isn’t good at being the play by play announcer of baseball for radio. This isn’t a new thing, Charley has been the play by play guy since they unceremoniously removed Ross Porter from the gig back in November of 2004. and even fourteen years ago you noticed the drop off from Ross to Charley.
There are two compelling reasons for not extending Charley Steiner. The foremost is that he simply can’t describe over the radio the action on the field well enough that you have any idea of what is happening. He can handle the simple plays when he takes the time to actually tell you what happened, but give him something complex and you can forget about it. Am I alone in this assessment? I don’t think so, it seems fairly unanimous across the multiple modes of communication (bloggers, blog commentators, sports radio commentators, writers, fans at the stadium, twitter, Instagram) that the majority don’t think he’s good at his job. I could give you all the links but that is a lot of work, and rarely does anyone who reads this drivel ever click on a well-researched link so I’m going to save myself some time and expect you to believe me because I’m an older white male and if you can’t trust the opinion of an old white male, who can you trust in today’s environment?
The other reason is problematic. Charley is old school. The Dodgers are the new school. Charley still thinks wins and RBI’s are important and every game he’ll try to explain why he feels that way. The Dodgers went out of their way to hire a progressive young TV announcer by the name of Joe Davis. Joe has tried very hard to enlighten Dodger fans on what it is to be a baseball fan in the 21st century. He hasn’t turned Nomar but it is fairly clear that Orel is on the bandwagon. Dodger management makes every baseball decision using the latest baseball knowledge and you can bet that “wins” and “runs batted in” are not part of those equations. Wouldn’t they want their radio voice to also be part of that group think? Why give voice to those who still live in the 20th century? Why not try to educate them?
Those are the two major reasons I would not have extended Charley, but I have a third and it may surprise many of you. I’m sixty, I was basically aged out of my career at the age of 56, so I’m a little sensitive about discrimination against seniors. Charley is 69 years old. He wasn’t good at his job when he was 55, and he’ll only get worse. There are very few job openings for play by play announcers in major league baseball. It would have been nice after a lengthy career, for Charley to simply retire and let one of these would be announcers get a chance.
At any given moment, Major League Baseball’s 30 clubs have at least 750 roster spots to fill. Between the 60 full-time play-by-play jobs and other assorted radio and TV gigs, there are a fraction as many broadcasting jobs in the majors. The play-by-play positions are the pies in the sky for minor league broadcasters, and it’s basically impossible to rise quickly or cut corners in pursuit of one of those.
Charley got his chance and ran with it having a long and varied career announcing sports. I think he should have stepped aside and let someone else get his shot.
But wait a minute. What about Vin Scully, he was on the job for 66 years and no one was asking him to retire at the age of 69, why should we ask Charley Steiner to retire at age 69?
Because, Vin Scully was Vin Scully, the best at his craft in describing the action on the field and even at age 69 he was still in his prime as a play by play announcer. Charley Steiner is not Vin Scully, Charley is the nice guy in the office who let you hang around because he’s a nice guy but you’d replace in a minute if you found someone who could do the job better, and believe me the minors are filled with folk who can do the job better.
Yet, the Dodgers went with Steiner, and like a host of other fans, if I’m driving and the Dodgers are playing, my only choice is Charley Steiner, so for the next three years I’ll continue to curtail my driving experience while the Dodgers are playing because I can only take so many shivers down my spine when hearing Charley try to explain a close play at the plate while trying to finish a story he started that we have all heard one hundred times before.
Hours after I wrote this post, the Dodgers announced they added Tim Neverett to their broadcast team. I was unaware when Charlie Steiner signed his extension that he was cutting back his schedule, so when he takes a day off, Tim Neverett will handle the play by play duties. Tim will also be seen on the TV side when Joe Davis does his national assignments.
Tim has a varied background whose latest work was doing radio play by play for the Red Sox but buried in that resume was some work for the Dodgers AAA team when they were in Las Vegas. He has been in the business since 1985 and I’m happy to see the Dodgers give someone with that extensive resume a shot. All the other play by play announcers who have been toiling for thirty years in the minors will have to wait their turn.
Here is a snippet of Tim talking about his gig with the Red Sox.
Here is a snippet of Tim being made fun of by his TV mates when he drops a fly ball
Here is a snippet of Tim doing a big radio call of the Red Sox winning the 2018 ALDS
Ducking in with Donald
Duck – Two years into your term and it seems everyone who has worked for you has either been fired, resigned, or indicted and that is before the Democratic House takes over in January where the grill will only get hotter. Is this what you meant about “Making America Great Again”?
Donald – No President has done more in their first two years of office than I have. Even with the Mueller witchhunt hanging over my boys, we have managed to pass the greatest redistribution of wealth back to the rich via our tax cut in history, removed many of the regulations that make our water safe, our air breathable, and stop the flow of brown people from shithole countries into our communities.
Duck – that is quite a list of accomplishments. Anything else you are proud of?
Donald – Sure, we also managed to get a man accused of drunken sexual assault confirmed to the Supreme Court. You know how hard that is? Imagine every Republican member of Congress voting for that guy after demanding that Al Franken resigns as Senator because he fake coped a feel of a passed out female friend.? That would be like getting elected President even with the candidate bragging on tape that he could grab anyone by the pussy because he’s a celebrity.
Duck – that was impressive, no one in your party stood up to the nomination.
Donald – the Russians are good at their job. They got stuff on everyone. Just imagine what they have on Lindsey Graham. for him to become my golfing buddy.
Donald – We may have lost the House but there were many weak candidates who didn’t embrace me. I was able to get additional Senate seats during the mid-terms so we will continue to fill the Federal courts with partisan Judges who don’t think much of our constitution or allowing everyone to vote. Democracy at it’s finest. The Electoral College is something else. Those founding fathers sure knew how to rig the game.
Duck – you lost the house and will no longer have the speaker letting you get away with whatever you want. Do you have nightmares of Pelosi and Schiff?
Donald – Nah, as I said the Russians are good, I’m sure when it comes to push or shove they will find some stuff on Pelosi that we can use. Hell, she’s been a politician forever, you have to had done some bad things in fifty years. I am worried about that upstart gal from the Bronx. She is trouble. And Hot. Mike Pence won’t be able to sit in the same room with her.
Duck – you must mean the Puerto Rican congresswoman to be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who will be the youngest House Representative in history at age 29. She also graduated cum laude from Boston University.
Donald – Puerto Rican? She must be grateful for everything I did for that country even though I didn’t have too.
Duck – Puerto Rico isn’t a country it is an unincorporated territory of the United States and most reports would say the US response to the hurricane was inadequate but that might have been more about Fema not having a plan in place for such a disaster instead of simply racist ignorance. Though I’m pretty sure it was about racial indifference. But yeah, even I have daydreams about Ocasio-Cortez. Of course, my daydreams are more about her intelligence and enthusiasm for the disenfranchised but I would be disingenuous if I didn’t mention I was also bewitched with her physical appearance.
Donald – That has been a huge success. By destroying thousands of families through either gross negligence or simply not caring we have planted the seed that any person in the brown world that would consider seeking asylum to stay away from our country or risk losing their children. Stephen Miller should get an award for this policy. It is diabolically clever.
Duck – Diabolical, like a James Bond Villian?
Donald – Sometimes the villains have the big ideas that the small minds are afraid to implement. It takes a lot of courage to destroy families simply because we don’t want to share our wealth with those who were born outside our borders. For that matter, we don’t like sharing our wealth with our citizens. We got bombs and missiles to make, we can’t be feeding people.
Duck – you can now add manslaughter to that list with the report today that a 7-year-old girl died of dehydration after being taken into custody by your World Class Border Patrol.
Donald – that was very sad, but that is all on the parents for bringing her to the US.
Duck – yeah, what the hell were they thinking, trying to find a better life for their children? They should have looked harder at the pigment and realized that they stood a better chance with the sex traffickers, drug traffickers, vicious street gangs and corrupt politicians that control many levels of society in Guatemala than they did with our asylum process.
Donald – If we didn’t stop the flow across our borders, terrorists would intermingle with them and put Americans at risk. I”m making America safe.
Duck – for all the concern you floated about foreign terrorists, it is the disgruntled Citizen with a gun who is killing fellow Americans at unprecedented rates. In a 2016 report, Americans now have a 1 in 315 chance of dying by gun violence compared to a 1 in 45,000 chance of being killed by a foreign-born terrorist.
Donald – but railing against gun violence doesn’t get you elected President, railing against anything foreign does. It could be China trade, Mexicans, Muslims. That is how you get to be President.
Duck – you do know your base. I mean your cult.
Duck – With the new court filings this week about your one-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen, it would seem the only thing keeping you from prosecution might be the fact you are president and ironically the only reason that you might be charged is that you decided to run for President.
Donald – those are ridiculous charges. I was simply making these payments as a private citizen to protect my family. I did nothing illegal and if I did, that was my lawyer’s fault, he should have known better, he’s the lawyer.
Duck – it does seem throughout all of this, you seem to forget that you were running for president and were no longer simply a private citizen. Paying off woman so they don’t talk and influence an election, taking foreign help for the campaign, working with Russia to further your real estate dealings while running for President. These are all campaign crimes, and this is why those who know about such things were clamoring for your Tax Returns so they could look into conflict of interest areas.
Donald – My tax returns are my private business
Duck – they were until you decided to run for President, at which point they should be all our business. If you wanted to be left alone to run your money laundering empire, you shouldn’t have run for President.
Donald – everyone told me not to run. But you know, my gut said I could make even more money by doing everything I wanted when I became President.
Duck – didn’t your advisors tell you that as a President and not an authoritative ruler like Putin you had to follow rules?
Donald – probably, but I don’t listen to anything but my gut and my gut wanted to do whatever I wanted to do. And for the most part, I have.
Duck – you aren’t concerned that someday you, your family, and anyone who has worked for you will have to pay a price for being the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States?
Donald – Nah, my base will revolt if anyone tries to hold me accountable for simply doing what must be done to make America Great Again. Remember my base owns most of the guns. Besides, we have set up Eric to take the fall for the rest of us.
Duck – luckily it is time for me to migrate to Southern California where the weather is warm, and the majority of folk enjoy their diversity while dodging fires, floods, and waiting for the big one to hit. I never got to ask about raking the forest, all the golfing, the Tariff King, the Khashoggi murder, the Prince of Saudi Arabia, the lack of trust in the US intelligence community, the ludicrous idea of having a head of state who refuses to read memos, refusing to believe or care enough to do anything about climate change, NRA peddling influence, a lightweight scam artist like Matthew Whitaker to be acting Attorney General, the failing war in Afganistan, or even Putin. And that is just the first paragraph.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 