Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill
Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we drink a toast to the late Neil Hohlfeld, one of the great baseball writers ever in Texas.
* You know that the capacity at Arlington Stadium was approximately 42,000 and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is around 49,000. So? The Rangers are the last team to build a new ballpark with a higher capacity than their old one. Every new ballpark built since then holds less people than the facility it replaced.
* Ivan Rodriguez hit .369 after the All-Star break in 1999. Mickey Rivers did the same in 1980. That's the highest ever in Rangers history. Kenny Rogers' 10 wins after the break in 1993 is also the most in club history.
* Former Rangers catcher John Russell on Rich Gossage, who is going into the Hall of Fame this weekend: "Goose is one of the most intense, fierce relievers I ever faced and one of the most intense pitchers I caught. He deserves it. He did things right. He was a pleasure to be around. He focused on everything that he had to do to win."
* Michael Young has the highest fielding percentage among all shortstops in the Major Leagues.
* Rangers pitchers are throwing 156 pitches per game. That's the most by any staff in the Major Leagues.
* Dorados de Chihuahua? That's a team in the Mexican League and their 35-year-old shortstop is hitting .323 with ten home runs and 59 RBI in 102 games. Yes, Benji Gil is alive and well.
* So is Jose Hernandez, another ex-Ranger who turned 39 this month and is playing for Yucatan. And the immortal Matt Perisho, down in Nuevo Laredo, has the fifth most innings pitched.
* Just for the heck of it: Jeff Kunkel.
* Mark Cuban is one of three finalists to buy the Cubs but insiders say that Bud Selig will never let that happen.
* Hall of Famer Paul Molitor: "I had my 10 to 15 homers a year, but I'll take a base hit to right with the bases loaded every day of the week."
* Dick Williams, who is inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend: ""That's what managers are paid to do, win ballgames. We can talk all we want to about building character and grooming players for future success, but what keeps a manager in his job is winning games. That is the bottom line of the profession."
* Tom Hanks turned down the lead for the movie Field of Dreams
* Still believe that Cubs third baseman Ron Santo is the biggest omission among players who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
* McDonald's and the Texas Rangers will host instructional baseball clinics at the Dr Pepper Youth Ballpark on Wednesday, July 30 and Thursday, July 31 from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Participants include children from Greater Dallas Boys & Girls Clubs and the Fort Worth Latino Peace Officers Association "Cops Kids Camp." In addition to specialized instruction, the children will receive a goody bag and vouchers for a future Rangers game.
Interesting insights as always. Surprised at the info about new stadiums. Pleased to see the info about Michael Young, a real class act, and the comment about Goose. Agree and appreciate the observation about Ron Santo being the biggest omission among players who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame! Trust that can be remedied while he's still alive! Terrible injustice that Buck O'Neil was not inducted in that special election. W
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TR, as to your comment about the number of pitches the Rangers throw, I'll go back to a theme I've put forward for over a year now: The Rangers should hire Fergie Jenkins for organizational (and Major League coaching position as well), to teach these "throwers" to 1) keep a good, fast pace, 2) keep around the plate, moving ball up and down, side to side, and changing speeds effectively, 3) to bend but not break, 4) develop a superlative "out" pitch, 5) to not worry about the runners-to bear down like a laser beam on the batter, 5) to support Nolan's influence of all organizational starting pitchers to expect to finish the ballgame, and all the necessary mental positives that Fergie brought to the pitcher's mound. From watching him in his '74 season (where he, not Catfish Hunter, should have won the Cy Young award), going 25-12. If memory serves, he started with three days rest every start (over 40!), he finished I believer well over half the games (think of it, 9 whole innings!-what a concept), he had a terrific out-pitch (his slider), many of Fergie's games lasted just over 2 hours (What a concept!), he didn't worry and fret over runners on base--the batter was all-important, and the most amazing thing to me, is that one game he gave up 3 home runs to KC firstbaseman John Mayberry--ALL solos, and the Rangers won the game 4-3, because Fergie would shake off a bad pitch/homerun, and concentrate on the next batter. He didn't walk people. The fielders appreciated his fast pace which kept them on their toes. I remember the ease at which Fergie pitched, the pace, the unfazed demeanor, and the pitching acumen/location. I wish he could be hired to teach some of our pitchers HOW to pitch, not throw.
As to two other points, the Rangers began with a minor league stadium (Turnpike Stadium) which was augmented and made into a Major League Stadium over time. I abhor the "luxury box" mentality of the tea-sippers who really aren't true-blue Ranger fans anyway, and this is why Arlington Stadium wasn't deemed good enough--not enough luxury boxes for the tea-sippers, plus there was a large percentage of the stadium located in the "cheap seats" in the outfield, which didn't help revenue.......Fast forward to the old Major League cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, etc....who have newer, small venues---all of these teams had the mid-60's (ghastly) bowl-shaped, multi-purpose stadiums/monstrosities which accomodated the football AND baseball team, had astro-turf, etc....and the baseball purists and lovers longed for a return to "Forbes Field", "Sportsman's Park", "Ebbets Field", etc...which were cozier, baseball-only, and spoke to the history which most true baseball fans want to return to. I love the trend of the new baseball venues which at least look like a link to the past. Bravo!
Lastly, and for the heckuvit: Richard Hidalgo, Ken Caminati, Richie Zisk, Larvell Blanks, Jerry Browne ("the Governor"), Wayne Tolleson, Sonny Siebert, Nelson Briles and Jim Gideon. More later.
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Bingo, is Fergie Jenkins both willing and available? Add if so, could he - and this is the $64,000 question - teach these qualities? Could anyone? No one disputes that he had all of these attributes himself - and I agree with you that he should have won the Cy Young award in 1974 - but to be able to pass them on...? If he could, if he really could, he could write his own contract with any ballclub. He also had another quality. Modesty. When Catfish won the Cy Young Fergie was the first to say that he (Catfish) deserved it. We could certainly use another Fergie at Arlington.
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