Orioles here. God help us this year.

Does Vancouver still have a Triple-A team, Amor?

The Canadians play 'A' ball these days. I don't go as often as I did when they played 'AAA.' Back then I lived fifteen minutes walk from Nat Bailey Stadium and used to walk to the games on warm summer evenings. It faces Queen Elizabeth Park and, on weekends you could watch the weddings going on in the rose garden. Minor league ball has much of the appeal of English non-league football.

That's a good analogy. With whom are the Canadians affiliated?

The Oakland Athletics.

Ursus how could you leave me off the list !

I am a BIG Red Sox fan. Have been since the early 1970's when I was in introduced to the game. It certainly influenced my decision on where to live when I emigrated to Boston in 1988.

So yes, Red Sox all the way. The best ballpark, which is sold out EVERY home game, win or lose. The most voiciferous fans. And Manny being Manny.

Vernons Pools wrote:

QUOTE:
So yes, Red Sox all the way. The best ballpark, which is sold out EVERY home game, win or lose.

How far in advance to they announce the result of the upcoming game?

Was just trying to smoke you out, Vernons.

And I wasn't sure if jefe still carried a torch for the O's. SocScrim doesn't really do baseball, does he?

I just want to clarify my position here. Even if I attend Nats games and boo them (which, I tend to do, since they usually stink) I'm still damned for eternity?

What if I do it wearing a Expos jersey?

Inca wrote:
[quote
How far in advance to they announce the result of the upcoming game?[/quote]

yes, my typing betrays my lack of college education.

What I mean to say, in the unedited version was;

Every Red Sox home game is sold out, whether or not the team had previously a winning or losing season and whether or not the team is not having a winning season. Basically, since the mid 90's you cannot walk up to Fenway Park and buy a ticket for the game about to happen.

But you already figured that out.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that I was always able to get tickets on the day in '78 and got my tickets for the "Bucky Dent Game" by simply walking over to the box office after the last out of the regular season.

The experience of attending a game (including that of getting a ticket) at both Fenway and Wrigley has changed dramatically in the last 25 years, much more so than at Yankee Stadium or Shea.

I was just joshing, Vernons.

Have they given up plans for a new Fenway?

These numbers for 2007 show that somehow the Red Sox managed to average beyond Fenway's capacity. Is that because of the Green Monster seats?

I'd also like to point out that despite the slurs against LA fans, the Dodgers and Angels were both in the top 10 in terms of capacity average, and the Dodgers are consistently at the top of National League attendance records.

(and one more thing--Pittsburgh averaged only 57.7% capacity at home, but over 75% for their road games. Odd)

JtS, It's actually very predictable as sports go. Because there are so many games, there's almost always "regression to the mean," i.e. the teams with talent may slump early, but they'll almost always recover (2007 Yankees). Likewise, a scrappy talent-light team may win a lot of games by the skin of their teeth early on, but then their luck will run out (2005 Nationals).

During the regular season, the teams with the most money will almost always be in first or second in their division, except there's usually one big money team every few years that is simply disfunctional and often this isn't clear until around mid-season (the Murdoch-era Dodgers come to mind). The lesser well-off teams will do poorly, in general, unless its the Twins or the A's in which case they'll make a good run of it put end up just out of the money in the end.

However, once the playoffs start, all bets are off. Anybody can get hot in the playoffs and win, although the team with the best three starting pitchers who aren't injured generally wins the world series.


My allegiances are torn. I was born and raised to be a Cincinnati Reds fan, but since my grandparents have passed on, we don't go to Cincinnati any more. My connection to the current team is very remote and I really only pay attention to them out of loyalty and nostalgia.

I've taken up rooting for the Nationals since I live in the DC area. I don't want to live in DC, but I'm stuck, so I figure "when in Rome..." Also, the Nats are in the same division as the Braves and the Mets, whom I hate.

I also keep an eye on the Twins since my best friend is a Twins fan in Minnesota.

I also follow the Pirates a little because their A-short season affiliate is my favorite minor league team, the mighty State College Spikes of the New York-Penn League.

QUOTE:
I just want to clarify my position here. Even if I attend Nats games and boo them (which, I tend to do, since they usually stink) I'm still damned for eternity?

What if I do it wearing a Expos jersey?

This is acceptable. Even a cap would do, if it were the pre-92 old-skool ABA-style cap.

I know naff all about baseball but nail my colours to the Dodgers mast on account of them being the only team I've seen play (at their Spring training place, Vero Beach, Florida).

As a further bonus...a notable Spurs club official (Charlie Roberts - from 190something till 1943) apparantly pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers and also tried to introduce baseball to White Hart Lane.

I like baseball because it seems to me to be the closest thing to English football in terms of history, stadiums, family traditions etc etc.

Hmmm.

I think the Charlie Roberts story is apocryphal. He doesn't appear on baseball-reference.com's list of major leaguers or the all-time Dodger roster on Wikipedia. All kinds of marginal players managed to make it to the major leagues during the latter years of WWII (most notably, Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder), but Roberts doesn't seem to be among.

Sadly, this is the Dodgers' last year in Dodgertown/Vero Beach; they are moving their spring training home west next year. From a tradition/history point of view, it is a real loss, which Inca and I bemoaned on the old board.

And I compeltely agree with you about the similarities with football in this respect; they go a long way to explaining why they are my two favourite sports.

OK, who's read National Pastime?

Not a super page turner, but I found the chapter on the origin of the concept of a "league" fascinating; the fact that the English League was explicitly patterned on the National League was new to me.

(It's hard to imagine, now, that sports could be organized into anything other than leagues, so completely has this meme colonized team sports).

Exploding Vole, of course, did a great job of showing how baseball was responsible for incubating (proper) football in the US.