Cup of Coffee: June 3, 2024
Tommy Pham, Fenway Park, old friends, a cruise and plans for Cape Cod
Good morning!
As I mentioned on Friday, I’m in Boston. The weekend was spent doing some things with friends and going to the Sox-Tigers game on Saturday. Today through Wednesday I’m visiting a very old friend and her family, hanging out, catching up, and things like that.
As a result of actually sort of living a life during this time, today’s and the next couple of newsletters are going to be quicker hits — at least compared to my usual standard — as opposed to regular editions. I hope that’s OK. Because if it’s not we’re gonna have a really big problem when I go to England next week. This may be the busiest June, in non-working terms, I’ve had in some time but, again, I hope you’ll understand.
Anyway, today I talk a bit about my Saturday in Fenway Park and a couple of other bits and bobs.
Settling the Scores
Back in my NBC days, if I was on vacation or otherwise wasn’t around to do And That Happened, either Bill or Aaron or DJ or Drew or someone would put up the previous night’s scores, sans recaps, so that there would be a comments thread for people to discuss the games. I don’t remember which of them named it “Settling the Scores” but it stuck. I suppose there is no real reason to do that here given that there is only one comment section as opposed to several different ones a day, but (a) recaps are going to be the main casualty of my busy week out of town; and (b) I like the callback.
So. Here are the scores. There ain’t no highlights.
Twins 4, Astros 3
Rays 4, Orioles 3
Atlanta 3, Athletics 1
Tigers 8, Red Sox 4
Blue Jays 5, Pirates 4
Rangers 6, Marlins 0
Nationals 5, Guardians 2
Diamondbacks 5, Mets 4
Brewers 6, White Sox 3
Royals 4, Padres 3
Reds 5, Cubs 2
Yankees 7, Giants 5
Mariners 5, Angels 1
Dodgers 4, Rockies 0
Cardinals 5, Phillies 4
The Daily Briefing
Tommy Pham Tommy Pham’d yesterday
Not sure why I think of this tweet whenever Tommy Pham is in the news, but I do.
Yesterday Pham made the news after he was easily thrown out at home plate while tagging up in the White Sox’ loss to the Brewers. Pham had a lane to go to the plate, didn’t take it, and initiated contact with Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, but to no avail. Pham walked away but then decided he didn’t like Contreras’ celebration of the putout and had to be held back from starting something. Well, kinda. It’s not like Pham looked like he was ready to fight anyone. He mostly just looked annoyed.
Not that you’d know it from his postgame tough guy quote which, in addition to throwing his third base coach under the bus, provides yet another example of Pham’s somewhat sad, somewhat disturbing tough guy schtick:
"It was a shallow fly ball to left field. You would expect the left fielder to throw the baserunner out on that play. The third base coach sends you, you've got to go. I'm nailed out at home by a mile. I'm going to the dugout. I hear the tough guy [Contreras] with all the hoorah shit. I never start anything, but I'll be prepared to finish it. There's a reason why I do all kinds of fighting in the offseason. Cause I'm prepared to fuck somebody up. So, take it as what it is."
I guess he might’ve actually started something if Contreras had, I dunno, talked smack about fantasy football or something, but kudos to him for his restraint in this instance.
The Mets retire Darryl Strawberry’s number
As they did for Dwight Gooden earlier this season, on Saturday the Mets retired Darryl Strawberry’s number 18. They also altered the famous home run apple in honor of their all-time home run leader:
During the actual retirement ceremony Strawberry said, "When they came and got me out of class, they said you've been drafted by the New York Mets -- No. 1 -- I said, ‘Where the heck is New York at?’ Little did I know that I would come to the greatest place to play baseball. Little did I know I would play in front of the greatest fans, forever. There was nothing like playing in Queens. There was nothing like playing at Shea Stadium."
You can see the whole ceremony here:
Strawberry was the number one overall pick in 1980 and hit .263/.359/.520 (145 OPS+) in his eight seasons with the Mets. He smacked 252 home runs in a Mets uniform, setting the franchise record. He is second in RBI (733) and walks (580), third in runs scored (662) and extra-base hits (469), fourth in total bases (2,028), and fifth in stolen bases (191).
Strawberry left the Mets via free agency following the 1990 season and some 19 Mets players wore Strawberry’s number 18 in the 32 years which followed his departure. Unlike the previous owners, the Wilpons, who were often neglectful of the franchise’s history, current owner Steve Cohen has made a point to engage with and celebrate that history, and now no one will ever wear that number again.
A Day at Fenway Park
On Saturday I went to Fenway Park to take in the Tigers-Red Sox game. Some observations:
- It was the first time I had been to Fenway since I covered the 2013 World Series. On the one hand, it’s hard to beat the excitement of a World Series, and the Sox clinching it in Game Six made for a fantastic experience. On the other hand, as I was working and writing and things, I could not drink beer and cheer and stuff back in 2013, whereas I could on Saturday. From a purely selfish and personal perspective, being able to do those things beats covering a World Series;
- The purpose of the trip was that one of our friends, Kat, is turning a certain multiple of ten years old soon and a weekend in Boston with friends was her birthday party. No one in the party is from Boston and no one else in the party other than me had ever been to Fenway. Kat is trying to get to all 30 MLB parks one day, so this was a good chance to pick one up.
- Because it was a special occasion, we decided to spring for some decent seats. Kat got us tickets down in the Field Boxes just behind third base, where the wall juts out a bit, thereby allowing the seats to directly face the infield:
- Photos often make it look like you’re farther away somehow, but these were excellent seats with a great view of the action. Also: thanks to the John Henry-era renovations, they were padded and there was some legroom and, oh my God, that makes a difference. Old parks like Fenway are charming but some of the old park stuff like wooden seats made for malnourished people who were born in the Victorian Era and topped out at like 5’3” ain’t worth preserving.
- When I tweeted that I was at the ballpark, Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor replied, asking me if I had any requests. I said “any Britpop?” A little while later he played Blur’s “Parklife” and, folks, Josh Kantor is a hell of a guy.
- We got Kat’s birthday on the scoreboard:
Oh, it’s THAT multiple of ten. So she’s still a spring chicken.
- Some dude proposed to his girlfriend during the game. It wasn’t just a message, either. They got him kneeling down and proposing live on video on the big scoreboard and everything. I was screaming “noooooooo!” but she said yes. Or at least said yes there so as not to create a scene and then, later, told him that she’s really not ready for marriage and that she didn’t appreciate being put on the spot like that in front of 33,806 people, God, Alex Cora, Javier Báez, Jason Benetti and everyone else. Yeah, I’m a romantic.
- Kat and Allison are born Tigers fans. I don’t think Kat’s husband Paul — who is a subscriber, so hi Paul! — was born one, but he is one now. I was a Tigers fan as a kid and, though I later drifted away, I still like to see them do well and I have a lot of Tigers gear. As such, our group was a Tigers rooting section. I wore my 1970s-80s-style Tigers road jersey, which the Tigers should TOTALLY return to, BTW. Allison wore her home Tigers jersey. Kat wore the City Connect jersey and a Tigers Pride cap. We had the bases covered.
- There were actually a great number of Tigers fans in the crowd on Saturday, all over the streets around Fenway and Back Bay, and in our hotel. Tigers fans travel pretty well for a team that hasn’t been relevant for a decade. The power of being one of the O.G. franchises, I suppose. I guess all of those folks were disappointed because the Tigers lost, but that’s baseball and, hey, they earned the split yesterday. And, even if Saturday was a bad day for the Tigers, we all still got to see multiple doubles off the Green Monster, a homer over the Green Monster, a homer just past the Pesky Poll and 30,000+ people half-drunkenly singing “Sweet Caroline” on a picture perfect June afternoon, so what the hell else can anyone reasonably ask for? Except, you know, them not doing the “Sweet Caroline” part, but when in Rome, etc.
For as obvious and cliche as it is to say it, Fenway Park is just a fantastic place to watch a ballgame. Yeah, it’s been all scrubbed up and upgraded and things over the past decade or two, but it’s still an old-timey park that’s about baseball and only about baseball. It feels right, it smells right, and the before-and-after game stuff in and around the park is what baseball is supposed to be, at least in my book. There are vanishingly few of those places left in the world and I’m glad Boston has one of them.
Other Stuff
An evening on the Bay
Allison got on a plane back to Columbus yesterday afternoon. I stayed because I am visiting my friend Rebecca and her family in Sharon, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. I’ve known Rebecca since high school. Neither of us were native West Virginians but both of our dads were federal employees who took their families to Beckley for a few years, so we had stuff in common from the jump. I don’t keep in touch with many people from back in those days, but Rebecca is someone who has always been important to me and always will be, so I’m glad I’m here.
Rebecca picked me up yesterday afternoon and took me to Plymouth, where a substantial portion of her large extended family had gathered for a bay cruise in honor of an uncle’s and a cousin’s birthdays. I imagine for some people that being brought into a captive social setting in which they do not know anyone might create stress or anxiety, but the way I looked at it (a) boat rides are always fun; (b) there was an open bar and raw bar; and (c) since I am highly unlikely to see any of those people ever again, I had no pressure to remember anyone’s names and stuff. Honestly, it was just about perfect.
A couple of photos:
First: Rebecca is not the tallest person on the planet, but she’s not this short either. Forced perspective is a hell of a thing.
Second: The Pilgrims/Plymouth Rock thing is total horseshit. There is no historical evidence whatsoever which confirms that the Plymouth Rock was in anyway involved, let alone that it was significant, in the Pilgrims’ arrival.
For one thing, they didn’t even land at Plymouth first. They landed at Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod and then, a month later, made their way to Plymouth. For another thing, the passengers of the Mayflower made no written references to setting foot on a rock as they disembarked, as the old grade school tale goes. It was like 100 years later that some old coot who wasn’t even there made the story up and the town fathers of Plymouth ran with it, probably for tourism reasons which still hold today.
Also, Plymouth Rock itself is just kind of sad. There are probably ten bigger rocks in the metro park near your house. Back in the early 70s my parents took my Great Aunt Ruth and Great Uncle Harry on a road trip through New England and when they got to Plymouth Rock, the family story goes, Ruth started cackling and loudly exclaiming “Thats IT?!” I saw it when I was 11 or so and felt the same way as Aunt Ruth. I’m guessing that a lot of people feel that way, but good for the ice cream shops, bars, and restaurants which have sprung up around it.
This was the boat we took, with Rebecca’s relatives boarding it.
You don’t have to twist my arm to eat oysters. Especially free ones.
The cruise itself was lovely. It went out to (I think) Duxbury. After some eating and drinking and some meandering and a flyover of a plane pulling a “Happy Birthday” banner for Rebecca’s uncle and cousin, we were back in Plymouth around three hours later. I’ve definitely had worse Sunday evenings.
Today we’re heading out to Provincetown. I’ve never been on Cape Cod at all, let alone all the way out to the end of it, so that should be fun. Also: it’s Provincetown and it’s Pride Month, so I’m guessing it should be a pretty festive experience, even on a Monday. Either way, it’ll probably be a full day, and I may be pretty tired by the time I’m back to Becca’s house, but I shall report on it all tomorrow morning!
Have a great day everyone.
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