On Friendship, Bars and Opening Day

Today is one of those days. It’s one of those days that people look forward to. This afternoon, I’ll be in my usual spot down at Jane’s Little Coalinga. This will be the 12th consecutive year I’ll have been down there on this day. Not necessarily this date, but this day. For today is the Chicago Cub’s home opener. Yes, I’m a Twins fan. You already know that. But I’ve got ties to Chicago and the Cubs. Twelve years ago, my friend Nate asked if I’d like to come down to the Little Coalinga to watch the Cubs home opener. I went, and the rest is history. The following year, Mrs. Spike made her first appearance. She is a Cubs fan and was asked by a mutual friend. The rest is history. Twelve years ago, shortly after watching the Cubs home opener (I don’t recall if they won or lost, and really, does it matter?), I met Doug at Buffalo Wild Wings. Doug and I became fast friend and when Mrs. Spike and I got married (in Chicago of course), Doug was our wedding party. For years after Doug moved back to Chicago, we would call him from the Little Coalinga. He was usually at the game or at a Wrigleyville bar. If we didn’t call him, he’d call us and ask us how the Coalinga was doing. Sadly, Doug passed away in a car accident a little over two years ago. We still miss him and still think about him every year. In fact, we’ll raise a toast of Old Style to him. While watching Mike and Mike this morning, they mentioned how nice it is to have baseball on again. Greenberg told of how while he was unpacking in his hotel room last night, he had the game on and how comforting it was. He’s right. While I realize that yesterday was the actual opening day of Major League Baseball, today is the Cubs home opener. It’s also the Twins season opener. There’s something very comforting about the baseball season starting. It’s like an old friend that you haven’t seen in a while. Through the long, cold and unforgiving winter, the hope, promise and beauty of a brand new baseball season is always just around the corner. Rogers Hornsby once was asked what he does in the winter. He replied, “I sit and stare out the window and wait for spring.” Spring is here my friends. No, it doesn’t really feel like spring today, but baseball will be played. That is a good thing. Our old friend is back, we can sit comfortably in it’s familiarity and simply watch and take it all in as a glorious baseball season unfolds. The true beauty of this is that if for some reason you can’t watch a game today, there is no worry. Baseball is luxurious in the fact that while the season seems fleeting, it’s pace can meander as it wants. There is no clock, there are only innings. The game is over when it is. So put up your feet, my friends, take out that well worn glove and inhale deeply from it’s pocket. I know you do it to. Baseball is here. And the rest will be history. Eventually.

Blogging

I read a lot about baseball.  As much as I can actually.  Books, magazines articles, newspaper articles (both online and dead tree editions) and I listen to people much wiser than I about baseball.  I know we can learn a lot about baseball and ourselves by doing this.  And let’s be honest, I love baseball.  I’m a Twins fan through and through, but first and foremost, I’m a baseball fan.  But there are times when I sit back and shake my head.  Today was one of those days.  Aaron Gleeman is a blogger I’ve been reading for quite a few years now.  He knows the game, he’s a good writer and he loves the Twins.  Here’s a link to his blog

Aaron Gleeman

Today, he wrote about the Twins trading away Billy Bullock so they could retain the rights to Rule 5 pick Scott Diamond. He questions the trade based on the fact that Bullock is universally regarded as a better prospect than Diamond. The Braves didn’t protect him on their 40 man roster, he slipped all the way to the Twins with the 27th pick, passed through waivers and isn’t the kind of power arm the Twins are supposedly now looking for. He wonders why they made this trade. He does admit that he’s probably a bigger Bullock fan than most, but I think the reason this stuck out to me so much is that bloggers like Aaron (I’m not singling him out. Really, I’m not), who are into sabermetric statistics seem to focus more on those stats than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a stathead as much as the next guy. Back in 1991, before I even owned a computer, a friend and I started our own fantasy baseball league. We wrote up our own rules and kept all of our stats by hand using USA Today. But there comes a time when I have to trust the powers that be who are running these baseball clubs. Sure, we can point our fingers at Ron Gardenhire and say he made the wrong move by bringing in a righty to face Mark Texeira when he should have turned him around to bat from the right side. We can wonder out loud why he seemed to be so in love with Nick Punto (and believe me when I say, I was trying to get to the front of that line). But at the end of the day, I’m inclined to think that Gardy, Bill Smith and anyone else involved in these decisions has more information at their disposal than we’ll ever have. While I don’t always agree with what they’re doing, I know that they’ve forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever learn. And so while I liked Billy Bullock as much as the next guy (by the way, isn’t that a great baseball name?), I know in my heart that the Twins did the best thing they could do for the franchise in this situation.

Oh, and what I’ve written above certainly does not preclude me from complaining about this trade in the future.