Cup of Coffee: August 27, 2024
Bill James, the Mexican League, baseball's "what ifs?" gatekeeping, the world's oldest man, 50,000 ton forging presses, the dangers of oversharing, and "Nighthawks"
Good morning!
Today we talk about Bill James being Bill James, the changes to the Mexican League, and our baseball “what ifs?”
In Other Stuff, you shouldn’t gatekeep music, but if you do, at least be old enough to properly gatekeep, the world’s oldest man does not, for once, have any wisdom for us, how to build a 50,000-ton forging press, more dangers of oversharing, and the worst way to see Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.”
And That Happened
Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 1; Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 3: As advertised, Danny Jansen appeared in this game for both teams, what with it being continued from June 26. Even better, he struck out to end the game! Well, not better for him, but it was cooler for history. He did single for Boston in the fifth at least, going 1-for-4 and donning the tools of ignorance for both sides. Otherwise, it was scoreless until the seventh when George Springer homered. Vlad Guerrero Jr. doubled in two more runs in the eighth, after which Addison Barger doubled in Vlad.
As for the game scheduled for yesterday, George Springer homered again — this time a three-run shot — Addison Barger followed with an RBI single and Ernie Clement hit an RBI double to complete a five-run fifth inning. The Red Sox committed four errors.
Royals 4, Guardians 3; Royals 9, Guardians 4: Another twinbill, with the first game being the makeup of a rainout from June 5. Cleveland took a 2-0 lead early in the first game but MJ Melendez hit a three-run jack in the fourth. Josh Naylor tied it back up at three with an RBI single in the seventh but Bobby Witt Jr. hit a solo homer in the eighth which proved to be the winner.
Cleveland took an early lead once again in the nightcap, this time 3-0, but blew that too. It was tied at four after four and that’s when Sal Pérez went to work, hitting a solo homer in the fifth and a grand slam in the sixth. Thanks to an earlier run-scoring groundout, Pérez drove in six on the night.
Cubs 18, Pirates 8: Well, that was a pasting. It was 3-2 Chicago entering the sixth when Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam to cap an eight-run inning, ending the competitive portion of the proceedings. The Cubs had 21 hits and eight stolen bases in this one too. Pete Crow-Armstrong led the way with three steals, Ian Happ added two, and Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki had one swipe each. Chicago has won seven of ten.
Phillies 3, Astros 2: Shay Whitcomb doubled in two for Houston and Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos hit solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. It remained tied at two through nine and a half, but in the bottom of the tenth Bryce Harper singled in Manfred Man Kyle Schwarber for the walkoff win.
Yankees 5, Nationals 2: Aaron Judge did not homer. That’s so unlike him. I do hope someone checks on him to make sure he’s OK. Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. did homer, however, and DJ LeMahieu had not one but two sac flies. Nestor Cortes allowed just one run while pitching into the seventh. That’s his third outstanding start in a row, with each of his previous two outings featuring seven shutout frames. Cortes not pitching like a tomato can would be a big deal for the Yankees down the stretch. In other news, Nats top prospect Dylan Crews made his debut and went 0-for-3 with a walk. It happens.
Atlanta 10, Twins 6: Matt Olson hit a three-run homer and a two-run double for a five-RBI night. Whit Merrifield went 5-for-5, Travis d’Arnaud homered, and Marcell Ozuna singled and doubled in runs. Max Fried went ive innings and allowed just one run to pick up his first win in over two months. Despite the loss, the Twins gained on both Cleveland for the division and Boston for the Wild Card due to both of them getting swept in doubleheaders.
Padres 7, Cardinals 4: Mike Shildt came back to town and his men beat his old club pretty handily. Manny Machado hit a two-run homer in the first and Jackson Merrill hit a two-run single in the third to make it 4-1 Padres. In the firth both Machado and Merrill struck again, this time with RBI singles and Xander Bogaerts hit a sac fly. Alec Burleson tried to bring St. Louis back single-handedly with an RBI double in the seventh and an RBI single in the ninth but he didn’t have enough help.
Tigers 6, White Sox 3: Spencer Torkleson hit a three-run homer and Parker Meadows hit a solo shot as a part of a five-run seventh inning which brought the Tigers back from behind and helped them finish the four-game sweep of this wraparound series. The White Sox have lost eight of nine and have just four wins in their past 38 games.
Rockies 3, Marlins 2: Ryan McMahon hit a tie-breaking homer in the sixth and the Rockies’ bullpen worked four scoreless innings. Griffin Conine, son of Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine, made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter. He struck out, but he still managed to make all of us who were actual adults when the Marlins began play in 1993 feel old.
Mariners 5, Rays 1: The Rays came to Seattle and their old friend Randy Arozarena greeted them with a tie-breaking three-run homer in the third to help send them to defeat. Bryce Miller helped that process along too, allowing two hits and striking out ten over seven innings. Jorge Polanco added a solo shot.
The Daily Briefing
Javier Báez is done for the year
The Detroit Tigers announced yesterday that they have transferred shortstop Javier Báez from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list with lumbar spine and hip inflammation. He’ll undergo season-ending hip surgery.
Báez finishes the year at .184/.221/.294 (44 OPS+) in 289 plate appearances. The good news is that he’s owed $73 million over the next three seasons!
Water Wet
Saw this from the once-interesting Bill James yesterday:
I swear to God it was in some Bill James book or article where I first read the then-eye-opening but now-obvious observation that good teams always beat up on the bad teams and good players get fat on bad pitchers, with all of their numbers looking far worse against the better competition. It makes total sense the moment you think about it, but you don’t always think about it that way.
Apparently James, who once thought about it that way, now believes it’s a problem or a scandal or something. Or else he’s just looking for engagement. Which I suppose is better than the way he usually looks for engagement these days, which is offering some pretty gross and often racist-adjacent dog whistles. Progress, man.
The Mexican League is being taken over by foreign players
Like a lot of non-U.S.-based baseball leagues, the Mexican League has long had a cap on how many foreign-born players can be on a given team’s roster. The purpose of such rules is to keep Americans, Dominicans, and Venezuelans with major league experience or near-major league talent from taking over the league. But for 2024 the Mexican League increased the number of foreign players allowed on each team’s 30-player roster from seven to 20, and it has led to a massive influx of non-Mexican players
This has all happened at a time when the Mexican League has undergone something of a transformation from its rough-and-tumble history to a sleeker, more modernized kind of game and stadium experience. A lot of that has to do with money being poured into clubs by both the Mexican government and wealthy owners. All of that, plus the relaxation of foreign player roster limit rules — and the elimination of some 450 minor league roster spots due to MLB contracting the affiliated minor leagues — has made the league far more attractive. From The Athletic:
[Benji] Gil, the manager of the Mexican national team, has reservations about the declining opportunities for Mexican players. But he believes the addition of former major-league stars like [Robinson] Cano — who hit a team-record .431 for the Diablos Rojos this season — could serve as a recruiting pitch to other big-league stars.
“It’s a huge selling point,” he said. “And not only that, but they also have friends that are in the big leagues. And they’re like, ‘Hey you know what, you’re not getting enough of an opportunity in Triple A, even though you’re making good money. Well, over here you’re going to make just as good of money, but you’re gonna get to play every day. You’re playing to win, you’re not sitting behind a prospect.’”
Of course there are downsides. The influx of foreign players limits the opportunities for young Mexican players. And, while this is a subjective point, there are those who have been around the Mexican League for decades who lament how the shift to professionalism and commercialism has changed the vibe of Mexican baseball from what it once was. There are always people who miss the past even if the past was full of problems, I suppose.
Best part of the article: it only mentions Trevor Bauer once, and it’s only in passing.
Here’s a fun prompt
There wasn’t a lot of substantive baseball news outside of the actual game action yesterday, so let’s share this:
I’m not gonna think too deeply about this — or go too big on either Major History or the “what if so-and-so-stayed healthy” thing, because those seem easy — so I’ll just go with the first one that popped into my head: “what if Lonnie Smith didn’t get deked by Chuck Knoblauch in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.”
For those who don’t remember or who weren’t yet born, Smith singled to lead off the seventh against Jack Morris, then Terry Pendleton hit a gapper that went all the way to the wall. Smith should’ve scored, but he lost the ball somehow, Knoblauch and shortstop Greg Gagne deked him into thinking a relay throw was almost to the infield, Smith all but stopped, and then trotted into third base. Jack Buck and Tim McCarver tore him a new one on the broadcast. Smith was stranded, of course, and the Twins ended up winning 1-0 behind Jack Morris’ history-making shutout.
Smith scoring there might not have guaranteed an Atlanta win, of course, but it would’ve made it way more likely. And if it did happen, not only would Atlanta have an extra championship, which would’ve recast the franchise’s 1990s run, but there’s a decent chance that Jack Morris never makes the Hall of Fame if he doesn’t win that game or, at the very least, if he doesn’t go the distance, which he may not have had Atlanta put a run on the board. What a crazy historical turn on one bad base running play!
There are obviously many more consequential ones than that. That was just a personal one that, at the time, made me want to die, so it’s sort of stuck with me. I’m sure all of you have at least half a dozen banging around your head, so let’s hear ‘em.
Other Stuff
A play in three acts
Seen in the wild, in response to the Oasis reunion:
So the guy who was a toddler during Oasis’ prime is gatekeeping who is and who isn’t a real Oasis fan and who is more entitled to tickets? That makes sense.
Gatekeeping: not even once, kids.
“Just Luck”
The most copy-and-paste articles you’ll ever see are those about the world’s oldest-living people. They always contain (a) a reference to some historical event which happened the year the subject was born; and (b) the subject offering their secret to longevity. There are scattered bits of bio too, but it always comes back to “Hedy was born during the First Boer War and her secret to a long life is an iced sloe gin and a can of sardines every night before bedtime.”
I sort of love these articles for that very reason — if I manage to live a long time I’m totally making up batshit stuff as to how I did it — but they’re so predictable.
The latest one comes from The Independent and it’s about the world’s current oldest-man, John Tinniswood, who resides in Liverpool. Mr. Tinniswood was born in 1912, so as you may have guessed, he gets the “he was born the year the Titanic sank” treatment. But ol’ Johnny pulled a Crazy Ivan when the reporter asked him about his secret to a long life:
“Just luck . . . why I’ve lived that long I have no idea at all . . . I can’t think of any special secrets I have. I was quite active as a youngster, I did a lot of walking. Whether that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But to me, I’m no different. No different at all . . . You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it.”
He was also asked the third-most common question in these articles, which is “what are the biggest changes in the world you’ve seen over the course of your life?” Tinniswood said, “It’s no better in my opinion, or hardly any better, than it was then. Probably in some places it is, but in other places it’s worse.”
So his secret to longevity is being a realist. I absolutely love that.
How to build a 50,000-ton forging press
I’m the last person who could tell you anything useful about engineering and my ability to understand anything beyond the most basic of engineering concepts is pretty damn limited. That said, I was riveted — ha, ha, get it? — by this article about the history of massive forging and extruding presses which are used to manufacture high-performance military aircraft.
I won’t attempt to summarize it because I’ll just mess it up, but if you read the first couple of paragraphs and find it interesting you’ll find the whole damn thing interesting. If your eyes glaze over 300 words in, however, just navigate away and pretend we never had this conversation.
This post is brought to you by the realization I had many years ago that I honestly do not know how most things work and that if aliens abducted me and asked me about the science behind anything as simple as a ProctorSilex toaster, I’d have absolutely nothing intelligent to say. So whenever I encounter a science or engineering article I CAN follow, boy howdy, I’m all over it.
Some more on oversharing
Last week I had a couple of items about the problems that can come with oversharing on social media or in one’s writing. But that stuff pales in comparison to the problems some social media influencers are encountering as a result of their habit of putting it all out there. From the Los Angeles Times:
Victoria Paris was in Europe, and everybody who watched her videos on Instagram and TikTok knew it. The 25-year-old social media influencer, who posts about design and style as well as tidbits from her daily life, has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 2 million on TikTok.
On May 5, while she was away, her Silver Lake home was burglarized. Security cameras caught a man breaking in and leaving with designer purses and jewelry. He took a Louis Vuitton duffel bag, two Paco Rabanne bags, a Miu Miu bag, a laptop and all of Paris’ jewelry, she reported to police . . . Paris is among those who have been targeted in a rash of burglaries and robberies over the last few years after posting their locations and high-end goods online.
Lots of people post when they’re on vacation, of course, but this influencer had posted photos and videos from her yard and inside her house, which gave a clear view of her neighborhood and the whole security situation such as it was. She showed her car and made it clear that she parked in her driveway, so people could more easily tell when she was home or not. She also made a big show of the sorts of designer valuables she kept on hand. And, of course, given her popularity, a huge number of people saw all of this.
You can probably get away with either sharing your whole life OR letting people know when you’re gone, but you probably shouldn’t do both.
“Nighthawks” in broad daylight
When I was in New York the weekend before last I thought about walking over to the Whitney Museum to go look at some Hopper paintings but I’ve done that a couple of times before and decided to do something else. After reading Bob Greene’s latest column in the Wall Street Journal I’m sort of glad I skipped it, because to get there I would’ve walked past this:
On a visit to Manhattan late last month I was walking north along the Hudson River and decided to veer inland a few blocks. Out of nowhere, there it was, at the intersection of Gansevoort and Greenwich streets, like a mirage of something familiar during these sometimes disorienting American days. It was Edward Hopper’s haunting “Nighthawks,” come to life . . . But what was this strange tableau doing on New York’s streets on a radiant midsummer afternoon? Before me stood a stage-set-like replica of the diner, its front wall and window frame constructed of wood but with no glass pane, its counter a life-size version of Hopper’s brushstroke image right down to the stools, the twin metal coffee urns, and an actor dressed in white like the counterman in the painting, poised to serve some java.
There’s a photo of it in the column, but it’s pretty much what he describes. A sort of janky movie set version of Hopper’s most famous painting with empty stools for you and your friends to get in while the dutiful soda jerk actor poses like the figure in the painting for your photo. The whole thing, Greene notes, was put on by the Whitney itself, which has the largest repository of Edward Hopper's artwork in the world. Though not “Nighthawks,” which is at The Art Institute of Chicago, but forget it, they’re rolling.
I’ve traveled a fair amount over the past year or so since my kids went away to college and one of the things that I’ve noticed is just how many more photo opportunities like this are scattered around cities these days. Most are nowhere near as elaborate as this, but there are a lot of formal setups of various sorts where people can take a photo or have their photo taken.
And I don’t just mean purpose-built sets like this. They’re often just normal things which have been roped off so people can formally line up for their turn to take a snapshot without having to worry about people being in the shot. In the more touristy areas of London, for example, several of the classic red telephone boxes have people basically running them as dedicated photo shoots now, managing lengthy, though orderly lines so people can pose in front of the phone booth with Big Ben or whatever in the background. I noticed a setup like that in a particularly strategic place on the Brooklyn Bridge too.
I sort of struggle with these things when I see them.
On the one hand, I don’t want to come off like some old man, bashing people for wanting to do get that perfect photo for Instagram because we should let people enjoy things and not get worked up about stuff that doesn’t affect us. On the other hand, I’m someone who enjoys taking photos — even corny, touristy ones — but a huge part of the fun of that for me is stumbling upon just the right place to do it. The spontaneity of it, even if the resulting photo is not exceptional or is something of a cliche. The notion of someone else finding that “perfect” photo op, then arranging it so that everyone else can stand in line for their five seconds of getting the identical photo everyone else is getting leaves me pretty cold.
I guess none of that is as bad as the Hopper thing, though. I mean, if it was any other painting I wouldn’t be as bugged by it, but, as Greene accurately describes it, “Nighthawks” is “a symbol of big-city loneliness, of solitary souls come out of the darkness with their private thoughts.” Yet here is some brightly-lit simulacrum of it with a line of a dozen or two people champing at the bit to get into it. It’s all just . . . weird.
Yeah, I think I’ve used that song before, but what the hell else song could go here?
Have a great day everyone.
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