Wow. When I was 10-12 years old, I was huge into baseball history. I used to watch and read everything I could get on the subject, and it was clear that Campy's accident affected people in a way that was (and is) really hard for me to understand. I remember an episode of Lassie (I think) when Timmy meets a wheelchair-bound Campanella and gives him a ball to autograph. But of course he can't, and so Timmy says if Camaenella can hold the ball in his hand that would be just as good. It was really odd to see a major television show going out of its way to honor an injured athlete.

I am not a baseball historian (apart from odd bits pre-96 when it became on TV in the UK)

I saw the Braves - Nats game and thats what I call a good start. Hudson was excellent, Chipper is Chipper, and they still lose. Poor Moylan (sic). They bigged him up over here, and he was throwing absolute filth, and then he hangs one to let Mr Z make an openday hero.

Apologies to all the Expos fans, but I really like the Nats. They have a great stadium, the team doesnt look too bad, and if anyone can beat the Braves, cool.

Comments about GW: I was really surprised that they booed him... I was laughing my ass off, but a little annoyed. And his pitch was a nightmarer (then they showed his pitch at the zoo in '01, and I let him off... curve ball for a dinger)

Aside from that, good luck to the Nats. They have a possibly decent side, who wont win too often, but will look and sound good.

As an aside, I just paid for NASN and they are taking the piss in not connecting me. Its raining, so I dont miss the Yankees... (thank you sopcast)

I'm looking forward to going to the new Nats ballpark, although I enjoyed seeing them play at RFK because it was relatively cheap. I watched the end of the game on TV last night and it looked great. What a great finish for the first game.

GW also threw the first pitch for the first Nats game three years ago and threw it high then too. I think he's just overcompensating because he's affraid he'll bounce it. In ceremonial first-pitch protocol, I think its generally considered better to overthrow it than to bounce it.

Or you could do what Mayor Mark Mallory did in Cincinnati last year and inexplicably throw it into the dugout.

Bush was in the ESPN booth for part of the game and specifically said that he didn't want to bounce it.

I liked the footage they had of the old way of doing it - the dignitary throwing it from a box and the players basically having a mad scrum to catch the ball.

Great ending indeed. Zimmermann is great at moments like these. July 4th, Father's Day, Mother's Day, he's hit important home runs on all of these. Someone needs to tell him at the start of every game that it's a holiday.

Meet the new Cubs, same as the old Cubs.

The Wood as closer experiment is not off to an auspicious start. Fukudome has a statiscally perfect debut, and we still manage to lose.

It is going to be a long season.

I turned on the Cubs game in my hotel just in time to see Fukudome's homer and then through the 9th. But after that I unexpectedly fell asleep for four hours.

Last year I went to a sparsly attended Nats game against the Padres at RFK in which Zimmerman hit a bomb to the left field upper deck that went into the tunnel.

During the offseason, the Dodgers hired away a Red Sox VP named Charles Steinberg, who was largely responsible for community outreach and special events. Here's what the Globe said about him:

QUOTE:
Steinberg, who served the Orioles as team dentist in addition to his front-office duties (!), leaves an impressive legacy in Boston, where he oversaw the team's public and community, electronic and live entertainment, television and video production, and advertising and customer service. He created the Fenway Ambassadors program, was the guiding force behind the team's grandest ceremonies, like the World Series rings presentation in 2005 and the Tribute to Ted Williams, and was the innovator behind such popular occasions as the Father's Day catch at Fenway.

Sounds like he started with a bang yesterday:

QUOTE:
Hats off to the new Dodgers show producer, Charles Steinberg. The ceremony before today's opener evoked "Field of Dreams." While a dramatic beat played across the stadium, an old man in a retro uniform hobbled in from behind the centerfield fence to take his position. Duke Snider. From the bullpen, another old man ambled to left field. Wally Moon. One by one, every position on the field filled up with ex-Dodgers: Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Ron Fairly, Wes Parker and Chuck Essegian from the Coliseum and 1960s. Don Newcombe, Carl Erskine and Roger Craig from Brooklyn. Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Eric Karros, Bobby Castillo and Lee Lacy from more recent years. Snider found himself surrounded by fellow CFs Rick Monday, Ken Landreaux, Don Demeter and Steve Finley. Fernando Valenzuela strode to the mound in a shiny suit, to big cheers. While Tommy Lasorda walked slowly from the bullpen to the pitching mound, me and I'm sure many others began to wonder: did they entice "the lefthander," as Walter Alston used to say, back to L.A.?

Yep. Sandy Koufax rose out of the dugout, recognized even out of uniform, and walked to the hill looking as fit as anyone on the field. While the crowd was still ovating, all the old men came in to gather around Sandy and hug it out while the current Dodgers rushed the mound to join in. It was a baseball moment. In the first base dugout, it looked as if all the Giants were standing at the rail taking it in.

Sounds completely cornball, but I bet it was very impressive to see.

Here's Koufax:



There's Fernando in the background, in the suit.

Awwwwww.

He's still the best pitcher I've ever seen live (and likely always will be, as impressions like that formed when one is between the ages of 5 and 8 are seriously hard to shake).

While the crowd was still ovating,

Am I alone in reading that as "ovulating." Has "ovate" always been a verb or is it one of those new-fangled ones?

With you all the way Amor.

I'm going to be in San Francisco in 2 weekends. Anyone ever been to a Giants game at their new place; I'm considering going to see them play the Reds.

I've been and highly recommend it. The difference with the "Candlestick Experience" cannot be overstated.

Tickets were very difficult to get early in the park's life, but should be considerably easier to find now, given the Giants' craptitude and Bonds' absence. Try to go early so you have time to walk around the park and sample the wide range of things to eat and drink. The upper deck is rather steep, but the view is not bad.

I just saw a highlight from the Dodgers game last night, and I was shocked to hear Vin Scully. I didn't even know the guy was still alive, much less doing games.

I am pretty sure that Vin intends to die in the booth, unless he is unlucky, and departs this mortal coil during the off-season.

When that happens, it will be difficult for me to believe that what is being broadcast is actually a real Dodger game. He's been doing them for almost 60 years.

Vin is 80 now, with horrible dyed hair. He doesn't call the full season of games--the only road games he announces are those against NL West opponents, to cut down on his travel. This is the last year in his contract, and he hasn't decided if he's going to retire.

I'm still not used to not having Chick Hearn call Laker games, and I know a lot of people will feel the same way about whoever replaces Vin. Maybe they can get Harry Shearer--he does a pretty mean Vin Scully impression.

A recording of Scully's call of Sandy Koufax's 1962 no-hitter against the Mets recently came to light (NPR story and highlights of the recording).

As I've noted on here before, the only baseball team I hate more than the Dodgers is the Mets (who I hate more than any other club in any other sport anywhere).

But I love listening to Vin Scully.