We're All (Unfortunately) Part Of Baseball History

For baseball fans, this season is truly a historic one. We have never been through anything like this before, and we will hopefully never be through it again.

Baseball SHOULD have started a couple months ago. Instead, it looks like we're at least six or seven weeks away from a season. It all depends on the players and owners sorting out their money issues. You can bet that there are owners who don't want a season because they will lose too much money. There are players, and agents (I'm talking to you, Scott Boras) who are in the same boat.

It's history, and got me thinking about part of baseball history 14 years ago (May 28, 2006). We were spending a few days in San Francisco, and went to the Giants game with friends Mild Bill and Tina -- both both baseball fans as well. Lo and behold, we're part of history when we watched Barry Bonds launch a home run that passed Babe Ruth.

There was an announcement that fans should show up at a downtown location in a couple of  days with their tickets to receive a special commemorative something. We were slated to fly out the next day, so Tina volunteered to come back to San Francisco from their home in Sonoma to retrieve said gift. Many days later, in the mail, we got our "something special" -- it was the chintziest little tin button one could every imagine. It was something akin to a prize from a box of Cracker Jacks.

Boy, the San Francisco organization really thought a lot about the Bonds home run. True, he went on to pass Hank Aaron -- but we all know, in our hearts, that Aaron is The Home Run King.

THERE HAVE BEEN several plans put forth to have a baseball season. If MLB moves forward with a proposed mini-season that would  have regional games only, the Milwaukee Brewers would face the NL Central and the AL Central (Sox, Twins, Indians, Tigers and Royals). That's a pretty favorable grouping.

And, for this shortened season, the National League would have the Designated Hitter. This would REALLY help the Brewers. Christian Yelich, coming off an injury, could ease back onto the field. And Ryan Braun, on the tail-end of his career, would be a natural fit for the DH.

Look for teams, if and when they return, to expand rosters from 26 to 30 and have a "taxi squad" of maybe 20 or 30 players they can move up and down as necessary. This especially needed if there's no minor league season.

Milwaukee Brewers Remain Ever Optimistic

Got an email last week from the Milwaukee Brewers. A very optimistic email.

Seems the Brewers are all-in on getting a baseball season underway in 2020. They wanted me to be know that the Opening Day tickets (and parking pass) that I purchased for the then-scheduled March 26th game are still good.

They informed me that the tickets will be honored for the first regular season home game played at Miller Park in 2020. What if they play but don't allow fans? I wondered.

At this point, rumors fly around that the season will get on track July 1st, which would leave 78 games out of the normal 162. If baseball held off until after the All-Star break (the game was scheduled for July 14th), then that leaves a 73 game schedule.

Why the optimism? Well, the owners are losing money while the games sit idle. And the players? Oh my, they stand to lose A LOT of money if they don't get in games. Back in March, a deal between Major League Baseball and the player's union gained a key objective in bargaining: If no games played, each player would get the same amount of service time as he earned in 2019. And as part of the deal, teams advanced $170 million in salary -- but players give up clams to any more if the season is scrapped.

That leaves each player to earn a maximum $260,000, $60,000, $30,000 or $16,500 depending on his contract if there is a missed season.

Putting that in perspective -- if this was a normal season, Ryan Braun (top salary on the club) would earn $16,094,855 for the year, or $99,351 per game.

In the meantime, ESPN2 is carrying Korean baseball games. Yes, the Korean Baseball Organization -- the league that gave Milwaukee Eric Thames -- is ready to fill your baseball void for a handful of games. Sorta reminds me of the days when the Chicago White Sox came up to play at Milwaukee County Stadium, between the Braves' leaving and the Brewers' arriving. Back then, Bud Selig was angling to buy the White Sox and move them up the interstate to Milwaukee.

Don Shula's Passing & Other Notes

RIP Don Shula, legendary coach (33 years in the NFL) passed away this week at age 90.

Shula put up a 257-133-2 record in 26 years with the Miami Dolphins. He took the Dolphins to three straight Super Bowls (VI, VII, VIII), winning the last two -- including the perfect 14-0 season in 1972. He finished 2-2 in Super Bowls. His Baltimore Colts team fell to the New York Jets, 16-7, in Super Bowl III (that was the game in which the Johnny Unitas/Earl Morrall Colts were favored by 18).

As we go through this Covid-19 season, this came to mind. Many players, just entering their prime, have so far lost two months worth of season. That total will go up, I'm sure. This, in some way, compares to the baseball players went off to war in WWII or Korea. Different circumstances, for sure, and I won't begin to suggest that Covid-19 is worse than war. Just pointing out that players are losing time due to circumstances beyond their control.

You would NEVER see this about today's professional athletes. In the 1960s, NFL players had to take off-season jobs to make ends meet. In this quote from Paper Lion by George Plimpton (published in 1966) the Hall of Fame defensive tackle is described this way "Never know what Karras's going to do...One time he spent the off-season filling jelly doughnuts in an Iowa bakery for $2.75 an hour."

Karras was very much a free spirit and entertainer. After his football career, he turned successfully to acting. Still love his Mongo character from "Blazing Saddles".

ON THIS DATE notes are run in the Wisconsin State Journal as filler. Last week, it noted that, "in 1920, Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves and Leon Cadore of the Brookly Dodgers both pitched 26 innings in a 1-1 tie, the longest game in major league history."

In this era when major league pitchers seldom get past the SIXTH inning, you have to admire the guys who were iron men back in the day.