Stupid People do Stupid Things

As I’m sure that everyone has heard, Buck O’Neil died Friday at 94. I had never heard of Buck O’Neil until I watched Ken Burns PBS documentary “Baseball” in 1994. I was living with my dad at the time and I remember watching every episode of that with him.

This was a great documentary. But up until the interviews with Buck, its watchability was average at best. I love baseball and was enamored by the look back at the old times. But Buck really injected life into the series. Yeah they had other former players that did interviews, but they seemed like old men who could barely remember what they had for breakfast, let alone what happened in 1930. But Buck O’Neil brought those black and white videos to life with stories that made my dad and me laugh. He was not only a great baseball man, but also a national treasure.

So looking back on this past year’s Baseball Hall of Fame vote is just another chapter in baseball, and more specifically MLB, screwing up another PR opportunity. Yes there were 18 deceased Negro Leagues administrators, players, and coaches inducted, but the two living legends on that list, O’Neil and Minnie Minosso were left out. Buck O’Neil missed getting in by one vote. To me that’s inexplicable. O’Neil was a great player on one of the great franchises in baseball history (KC Monarchs), the first black scout in MLB (he signed Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Lee Smith, and Joe Carter to name a few), and became the first black coach in MLB with the Cubs. Not to mention that he has been a living, breathing, storytelling link to the great players of the Negro Leagues. But this wasn’t enough for that pretentious group of voters.

The only good that came from the whole ordeal was that Buck was man enough to do the right thing and gave the induction speech this past summer for those 18 lucky people. The fact that the board had the gall to ask him to do such a thing is a slap in the face to me, but to Buck it was an honor. Hopefully some day the Hall of Fame gets its act together and opens its doors to one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever known. It’s just to bad that it will be too late for Buck to be here to enjoy it with all the people he touched while on this earth.

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So I obviously took a nosedive on my MLB playoff picks. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that I don’t bet on baseball. Thanks to the Cardinals for getting me off the schnide.

So with the CSs ready to go, I’m going to give some quick picks.

Tigers over A’s in 6.
Look for Rogers and Bonderman to be huge in this series. Rogers has always owned the A’s, and Bonderman was drafted by them. Bonderman is dyslexic and was insulted by A’s management who said something like, why should we pay someone a lot of money when they can’t read the contract? Needless to say he loves pitching against the A’s. Even in his worst season (2003, 6-19) he still managed to pitch his best game vs. the A’s (8IP, 3H, 1ER). The A’s will win Game 1 behind Zito, Detriot in Game 2 Verlander shuts down the A’s weak hitting lineup. Game 3 Rogers shows that he still owns the A’s with 7 strong. Game 4 Bonderman throws a CG shutout. I’m calling it. Game 5 will go to Oakland giving them hope going back west. Zito will torture the free swinging Tigers lineup. And Game 6 will see Verlander closing things out. Six strong, followed by Zumaya in the 7th and 8th, and Jones shutting it down in the 9th. Oakland’s anemic offense finally catches up to them in this series.

Series MVP: Justin Verlander and Ivan Rodriguez

Mets over Cardinals in 7.
Yes, this will go 7 games. As bad as the Cardinals pitching is they still have the best pitcher in the NL. The Mets pitching, to me, is just as bad. Glavine isn’t what he once was (though he looked like it against LA) and after that they have Steve Trachsel, a rookie (Maine), and a guy who hasn’t been good since 2004 (Oliver Perez). At least the Cardinal have Suppan who is capable is giving you a quality start and Weaver (even those he’s capable of melting down at any time, especially in New York). Mets in Game 1 with a solid game from Glavine and 5 shaky innings from Weaver. Cards in Game 2, Suppan is solid and the Cards lineup lights up Maine. Game 3 to the Cards, the way he’s looked I’ll be shocked if anyone beats Carpenter this postseason. Game 4 will be a shootout with Marquis and Perez pitching, and since the Mets have the better lineup I see them knotting the series here. Game 5 I’m going with the Cards, their bats will catch up to Glavine and Weaver will get a rare win at home thanks to the support of the red-clad faithful. Game 6 Maine gets his revenge on Suppan as the Mets bats knock him around a little bit. And finally Game 7. I know I said that Carpenter won’t get beat, but it won’t be him that loses. Trachsel hangs tough for 6, and once the Mets get into the Cards pen its over. A valiant battle by a resilient, veteran team.

Series MVP: Jose Reyes

I’m not even going to write about the weekend in football. Except to say that Mo Carthon is the dumbest coach in the NFL. Not just offensive coordinator. There are ball boy assistants that could run the offense better than him.