Narrative of a Perfect Game

We have talked all semester about the narrative in baseball and how most of the time a game is not a game without a story behind it. Story-lines add drama to the game and are often the main focus throughout the nine innings. A perfect game is the ideal game to be filled with drama and to offer up an appealing narrative.

This past week the Chicago White Sox's pitcher Philip Humber pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners but it wasn't just his performance during the game that created an interesting narrative. Coming into this season Humber, the 29 year-old, was coming off of Tommy John surgery, which is one of the toughest injuries/surgeries to come back from. Going into the game last week against the Mariners, Humber had yet to win a decision this season and nobody saw his perfecto coming due to his previous outings.

Nonetheless, Humber took all the story-lines and wrote a new narrative by pitching the 27th perfect game in MLB history. The ending of his game also contained some drama as his final pitch bounced in the dirt but was called a swinging strike by the home umpire. A blog featured on BBTF's primer newsblog written by Allan Barra calls the strike into question and asks how "perfect" his perfect game was. Narrative never stops with baseball and even after a game has been completed the talking and storylines continue.

It was a memorable game for Humber and something that he will never forget. To pitch one of only 27 perfect games ever to be thrown is something special. He will never forget but what about the public? There are several other "no-name" pitchers to throw a perfect game but I'm guessing that the majority of people could not name the last 10. So that brings me to the question of how long can a narrative be carried on?

In this specific case, certain fans and experts will remember Humber's game at the end of the season but the casual fan might forget his name by year's end. Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that a narrative is only effective or memorable if it continues well past the event.

Jamie Moyer Comeback Leads to Nostalgic Thoughts

Jamie Moyer is 49 years old and is still attempting to make the Colorado Rockies' roster even after going through off-season Tommy John surgery. He pitched his first game way back in 1986 when some of the Rockies players were not even born yet but is still hoping to join those guys on the opening day roster. This offseason the Rockies have shipped out some of their farm grown talent for more established veteran players including Moyer. They are giving him a shot and hoping that he can drum up some of the pitching success he had when he was a bit younger. He is having a few setbacks in his attempt at a return to the Big Leagues but will continue to push through because that is the type of player he is.

This is all good and well but the Rockies are stretching a bit in hoping Moyer can have legitimate success at his age. It seems that Colorado is feeling a bit of nostalgia by bringing him in and were imagining some of his past pitching performances returning as he buttoned up his Rockies jersey. In the novel Underworld by Don DeLillo the main character Nick Shay often has nostalgic thoughts about the past and what he was thinking or feeling at the time. Nostalgic thoughts are not always positive thoughts but when it comes to the Rockies all they can afford to think when Moyer comes to mind is thinking positively. They don't want to think of the injuries he suffered in 2010 and 2011. They want to think of the Moyer that became the oldest pitcher to post a shutout and the pitcher that became only the third to win 100 games past the age of 40.

Whether Moyer will make the roster or not is yet to be seen. He is currently on a minor league contract with a spot in spring training available to him. He has not pitched that well in some of his outings so far this spring giving up 4 runs on 6 hits in less than two innings in his last appearance. Moyer has said that this year he will either take a step forward or a step backward into retirement based on his performance. Taking a step back will allow everyone to also look back and remember the good times that Moyer had as an MLB pitcher. Nostalgia will be rampant if he retires and that's never a bad thing.

Baseball and the American City- A's and San Jose

Talk surrounding the Oakland A's effort to relocate to San Jose have intensified over the past week with the A's releasing a statement about their intentions by moving to San Jose. The SF Giants have fought against the move saying that the relocation would encroach on their territorial rights in the SJ area. To rebuff the Giants wishes the A's released a statement making their case for the move. Their case states that moving to San Jose will not encroach on the Giants' minor league team located in the city, rather it will "move over 35 miles further away from the Giant's great venue and it will establish an exciting competition between the Giants and the A's." However, the Giants see this as move more from the standpoint of corporate dollars instead of just territorial rights. Moving an MLB franchise into the same city that a minor league team already inhabits will kill that teams revenue. There is the argument that a Giants fan will stay a Giants fan and still support the minor league team but I think that offering a more polished product will draw a lot of fans away. The move would also allow the A's to be less dependent on revenue sharing where they are currently located in Oakland.

This brings up the argument made in the Cambridge's Companion to Baseball, more specifically "Baseball and the American City". It brings up the argument of sharing a market between teams. When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles they did it with the thought that they wouldn't have to compete with another team for a market (Cambridge pg. 97). Although the Giants would not be competing directly with the A's for an MLB market, they will still have to be competing for their minor league squad's attention.

Is it the right move for the A's? It depends on what perspective you are taking.They need to get out of Oakland and a move to San Jose would revitalize the organization and attract a larger fan base by moving further away from San Francisco. They need an updated modern ballpark and San Jose can assist in making that happen so they can get away from the out-of-date Oakland Coliseum. If you're the Giants you want to vote against the move just because of corporate dollars supporting your minor league team. They don't want that to happen so they will continue to fight against it. In my opinion I think the best move for the MLB and for the A's is to move to SJ to get a new start. It's all about the fan support and in SJ they would receive a larger portion of the attention.

What Makes a Hero?

In the Cambridge Companion to Baseball it suggests that the public wants to view the baseball players as wholesome "All-American" "Boy Scouts". But in reality that is not particularly possible.

With the announcement of the Ryan Braun drug test being thrown out it's hard to see any baseball players as "All-American". Before all of this happened Braun was one of the players that fans looked up to for winning the right way, having success the clean way. That's not the case now as details are being revealed on how the drug test was dismissed. It wasn't for the urine to be free of steroids, it was for a "mishandled collection process" of submitting the sample to the testers. It's hard to trust any player now that may post similar numbers in the future and that's unfair to the players who are actually clean and play the right way.

ESPN's Buster Olney talked to dozen's of players about the subject and pretty much all of them disagree with the decision that was made. Furthermore, they are mad at how the appeal challenged the process of submission and not the actual substance of the drug test. His appeal spits in the face of the process and basically screams "GUILTY" but you submitted it wrong so I get off scott free. It throws off the whole balance of the testing for steroids and the players sincerely want the process to be effective in punishing the guys who cheat to get ahead.

It's a shame that this has to be a subject of conversation but it has to be discussed. The players don't like it, the managers don't like it and the commissioner especially doesn't like it because it holds a cloud over the sport. One of the worst parts about this whole thing was that Braun was recently crown NL MVP! If anybody else has his numbers in the future, it's going to be in the back of the fans' mind that the player is possibly on steroids. That's not fair but it will be the truth.

All that can happen now is that the MLB change the ruling in order to avoid this fiasco down the road. Like it or not, Braun got let off the hook on a technicality but it's just like a crime case being thrown out because of an improper warrant, it's the rules.

In my opinion, baseball took a huge black eye for this just like the justice system does when a case is thrown out due to a technicality. Commissioner Bud Selig is furious with the ruling because it makes the sport of baseball look bad and the drug testing system vulnerable to successful appeals based on technicalities. Baseball was just moving past the Barry Bonds era and the steroid issue looked to be shrinking but now it's thrown right back into the forefront.

Billy Beane's Moneyball Move

Billy Beane just received an extension to stay with the Oakland Athletics as their general manager through 2019. One of his first moves after his extension was to sign Cuban defector, center fielder Yoenis Cespedes. This was a move very similar to what Billy did in the novel Moneyball and it has it's supporters and detractors.

Peter Gammons of MLB.com says that the signing of Cespedes is logical, "in Oakland's picture". Basically what he is saying is that the move makes sense for Oakland but the rest of the league is scratching their heads. Why would Oakland sign a 26 year old to a 4-year $36 million contract? Isn't 26 too old to start an MLB career at? But Gammons' point was this: Cespedes comes to the A's as a bargain, a player that can hit with power and play the middle of the field. The upside of signing him was that if he has a solid year, then makes adjustments, the A's will have him during his prime years between the ages of 27-29.

Shortly after unloading their best players, Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Bailey, Beane signs Cespedes to help "replace" them. He got rid of his big name talent and brought in a skilled replacement at a bargain. Cespedes is a 26 year old center fielder that the A's will only pay about $9 million a year to keep around. That's quite a deal for what Cespedes can bring to the club.

With that said, many experts are scratching their heads at this move. Ken Rosenthal wrote an article explaining that the move does not make sense for the A's or the "Moneyball" type of signing.

Most experts are predicting him to bat in the .250-.260 range with power and be an above-average defender in center. He understands the game and works very hard to get better and as one scout put it, "he cares about his craft, not flamboyant off the field and he has a lot of pride."

But does Beane care about the scouting report or the predictions? Beane's not into predictions and he changed the way the game was played by looking at the numbers instead of predicting the certainty of a players ability. Cespedes doesn't necessarily fly under the radar like many of the players did in the novel but he's the same type of player. However, they are getting a player that will work hard and get better and, in the end, isn't that what Beane wanted from his players in Moneyball?