This 'Golden Bat' Is Too Tarnished To Use

Thought that Rob Manfred, the czar of Major League Baseball, was smarter than this.

He's a bright guy and I like many of the innovations that have been introduced to MLB. The pitch clock has sped up games. So has limiting the number of throws to first base to hold a runner, as well as the number of trips to the mound. Larger bases has led to more steals. Making the Designated Hitter a uniform part of baseball is a plus. Judicious use of instant replay gets things right.

The computer-generated strike zone they are experimenting with in the minors? Not so sure on that one. Have always liked the human element, even if the home plate umpire has been either generous or miserly with his calls. Or inconsistent -- what's a strike in the second inning should still be a strike in the ninth. That's a topic for another day...

But now Manfred has proposed something called "The Golden At-Bat" to liven up baseball even more.

As an idea, it sucks. It's really taking it a bit too far when it comes to refining the game.

Under Manfred's proposal, as I understand it, a team could substitute in any player for a one time, situational at-bat. Say you're the Los Angeles Dodgers (as if you don't already have a LOT of things going your way!). It's a crucial late season game, bases loaded in the sixth. Though he's not even close to being up, you can call on Shohei Otani to step to the plate for the at-bat. AND you can keep him in the game at his regular spot in the lineup.

Seriously?

Please, Mr. Commissioner. Absolutely. No. To. The. Golden. At-Bat.

The best thing about the first-ever 12-team college football playoff? NO ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE! Though the 9-3 team will probably bitch about it, they did lose to a 6-6 Oklahoma team by 21. And beating up on the likes of Western Kentucky, South Florida and Mercer (plus just being Alabama) shouldn't be enough to get you in the door.

Have seen egregious calls in NFL games before, but last Thursday in the Packers-Lions game may just take the cake. That's when the Zebras totally whiffed on the blow to the head that Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love took. Not that it cost the Packers the game -- terrible offensive play in the first half did that. But it sure didn't help.

Still, that one was pretty obvious.

Saw a note on social that cited a rule regarding a quarterback taking a knee -- and Detroit's Jared Goff did just that as he stumbled to make a handoff late in the game. Another blown call? Perhaps.

Wonder if that officiating crew will hear from the NFL league offices?

Thanksgiving Leftovers To Ponder

 Don't think I missed anything important while over the pond for a couple of weeks. But a few things to catch up of note since Thanksgiving.

Those loveable losers, the Chicago Bears, fired yet another coach, sending Mike Eberflus packing. This is a franchise with some talented players on the roster, and among their many loses (8-4) are six by just a single score -- so it's clear the desire and fight is there. Yet the Bears can't get out of their own way. In a stretch while the Green Bay Packers have had three quarterbacks (Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love), Da Bears have had nearly 40! Their latest, Caleb Williams, has ability. He desperately needs good coaching.

The Luke Fickell era, just two years old, stands at a 13-13 record after the Wisconsin Badgers posted their first losing season since 2001 at 5-7. 

The Badgers went gently into that good night, wrapping up the season with a horrific 5-game losing streak, the longest since 1991 and the early, early years of the Barry Alvarez run. Wisconsin ended a streak of 22 straight bowl appearances (some notable, some so-so, but a post-season game is still just that). 

Perhaps Fickell regrets going with Phil Longo and his vaunted "Air Raid Offense", maybe the worst thing to hit Camp Randall since Don Morton and his "explosive veer offense" that never did explode. Fickell let Longo go after the 16-13 loss to top-ranked Oregon, a game the Badgers had in hand had just a little offense shown up. A Badger win in that game and things might have gone in a different direction the rest of the year.

Don't expect Wisconsin to fire Fickell, even after this disastrous season. The reason is money, as the school would owe him nearly $34 million. Do expect a lot of portal movement, with players leaving early or recruits jumping ship after committing to the program. Can't blame them. 

Fickell will need to make some major changes to his coaching staff if Wisconsin is going to rebound from this 5-7 season.

Thought I was a pretty hard-core football fan, but will take a back seat to a pair of Philadelphia Eagles fans we met on our excursion. We learned that the Eagles were playing a Thursday night game while we were in a time zone that put the game at 2a or so.

At dinner, Jack and Theresa told the story of following the game via cell phone -- and trying not to wake the partner on the other side of the bed, only to learn said partner was ALSO following the game via cell phone. That's just too funny, and their telling the tale was even better.

I said in an earlier blog (Sept. 23rd, to be exact) that Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers should be crowned NL Manager Of The Year. Lo and behold, that prediction came true. And while the Brewers have lost some pieces, expect Murphy & Co. to reload and challenge for the NL Central Title again. This is team is too young and talented not to.

When The Team You Loves Leaves -- What Do You Do?

 

On a trip this past spring, made a friend who really, really carries a grudge. In a way, I can't blame him.

Howard was 12 years old in 1957 when the team he and his father loved, the Brooklyn Dodgers (known throughout NYC as Dem Bums) left for Los Angeles.

Howard told me "Of course, as a kid in Brooklyn, I always hated the Giants and the Yankees. After all both were in the Bronx (might as well have been Mars). But in Brooklyn we had Duke Snyder (the Duke of Flatbush), Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Don Newcomb (the only pitcher who was also a pinch hitter) and Jackie Robinson.

"And back then, every player stayed with the same team until he retired. It was like a family. At age 12 my heart was ripped out as owner Walter O'Malley pulled the plug and moved to LA. I still haven’t recovered. Ebbets Field was torn down and is an apartment complex. For the rest of my life, I never set foot in any baseball stadium. I never even embraced the Mets when they replaced the Dodgers. The LA team uniform still says Dodgers, even with same font, but it should be outlawed. The only genuine Dodgers are the Brooklyn Dodgers."

Since 1957, Howard has NEVER set foot in any other Major League Baseball ballpark. And while he did admit he watched portions of the World Series this past week, he "wasn’t rooting for LA (see, I can’t even refer to them with the D word), but I surely was rooting against the Yankees. That's just a spinal reflex. I don’t even have to think about that."

Wow, Howard really holds a grudge! He let his love of a TEAM overcome his love of BASEBALL.

I thought of family members and their reaction when the Milwaukee Braves skipped town for Atlanta in the 1966. Some switched over to following the Chicago Cubs -- I recall the NBC affiliate in Green Bay linking up with WGN to bring Cubs games to the Fox Valley and beyond -- some stayed neutral until 1970 when the Brewers came to town. Others, like Auntie Redbird, had been loyal to the St. Louis Cardinals before the Braves moved to Milwaukee from Boston in 1953.

Will admit I joined the bandwagon of Cubbie fans when exposed to them. Don Kessinger. Ernie Banks. Ron Santo. My favorite player was pitcher Fergie Jenkins, and when the Cubs traded him away, I washed my hands of the team -- but not of baseball.

That's A Lotta Yards

I know (hope?) y'all count on me to find odd little tid-bits to entertain. This one comes from The Athletic a couple weeks back.

A high school quarterback in Louisiana, Peyton Houston, accounted for  905 yards of total offense, passing for 817 yards in a single game. Playing for Evangel Christian (Shreveport, LA) in a game against Captain Shreve, Houston completed 53 of 68 passes for eight touchdowns and rushed for two more.

Yet his school lost the game in overtime, 77-76. Seems Evangel Christian scored first in OT, missed the two-point conversion, and Captain Shreve won.

Still, that's a lotta offense from a high school quarterback. There's probably guys out there who haven't thrown for 817 yards in a season, let alone a game.

Will Grier still holds the national record of 837 yards set in 2012 when Grier played for Davidson Day in North Carolina, according to MaxPreps. The site, which tracks high school sports stats, also noted that Houston set a Louisiana state record, topping the previous mark of 639 passing yards set by T.J. Finley in 2018 while playing for Ponchatoula High School.

Got me to wondering about Wisconsin High School football player statistics. We're well into the playoffs, but for the regular season a bit of research on the Wisconsin Sports Network's website produced the following regular season stats..

• Medford's Paxton Rothmeier, averaging over 10 yards a carry, led all state runners with 2,001 yards.
• Josiah Johnson, Milwaukee Academy Of Science, had 29 touchdowns (rushed for 1,975 yards, averaging 12.2 a carry).
• Matthew Buckman, Cambridge, passed for 2,720 yards and 34 touchdowns.
• Shaundel Williams, a junior at South Milwaukee, led all receivers with 74.
• Kiefer Parish, Cambridge, has 1,021 yards (averaging 15.5 per catch); sophomore Bryce Austin of Racine Lutheran caught 47 passes for 1,013 yards -- a whopping 21.6 yards per catch.

The WIAA football playoffs entered their second weekend. Of the large field, there were also 73 eight-man teams representing nine conferences (and six independents) taking to the playoff field.

Found this one hard to believe. Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price for any ball in any sport.

Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?

 We don't often have discontent within the halls of 1265 Lombardi Avenue. Player unrest is not the norm in Green Bay. Hasn't been for years, other than a situation here or there (named Farve or Rodgers, for example).

So this suspension of wide receiver Romeo Doubs, for "conduct detrimental to the team"  is puzzling. Also disconcerting for the Packers, since stellar cornerback Jaire Alexander had the same punishment last year. Remember when Jaire appointed himself a team captain and went out for the coin flip in his home town?

Granted, Alexander seems to bounce along to the tune of his own drummer, but I think his suspension set a tone. He popped back into place and has been a quiet teammate since.

What's the problem for Doubs? We may never know the whole story. Rumblings of unhappiness in the offense had bubbled up. Targets, production, things like that. In all fairness, the Packers did have a backup quarterback starting two straight games. And you can bet that Coach Matt Lafleur and company scaled down the offense for Malik Willis -- especially in light of his new exposure to GB following that trade from Tennessee. So throws down the field, where Doubs excels, were limited at best.

Do WE need to know what the problem was? No. Only that the air had been cleared and things are headed back to normal.

What counts in Green Bay, and the NFL for that matter, are WINS. Green Bay got one on Sunday and goes to 3-2 for the season. A good position to be in despite having to play a backup QB in two of those while Jordan Love got right.

Chin Up, Brewer Fans!

Thursday's gut-punch 4-2 loss to the New York Mets stings even today for Milwaukee Brewer fans.

The club had battled back in the wild card playoff with a dramatic win Wednesday. When Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 2-0 lead, it seemed like the stars had aligned in Milwaukee.

But then Pete Alonso, once a Madison Mallard, reached into our collective chests and pulled out our hearts, showing them to us as an amazing season came to an end on his three-run homer. 

What happened against the Mets?  Well, some of the veterans we were counting on failed to show up -- William Contreras was just 2x12, Willie Adames 2x11, Rhys Hoskins was an O-fer, as was youngster Joey Ortiz. In contrast, young guns like Jackson Chourio hit .455, Blake Perkins .500, Frelick .364 and Brice Turang .455.

And make no mistake about it, this was truly an amazing season. A Central Division title with a 93-69 record, both of which caught the baseball world (and pretty much all of Brewer Nation) by surprise.

What Milwaukee fans have to look forward to is the return of one helluva young corps -- Chourio, Turang, Frelick, Perkins, Ortiz, Contreras, Garrett Mitchell, Tobias Meyers. This is a bunch you can build around. There are holes to fill -- there always are. Some more team power, especially at first base, is needed.

Don't forget that Christian Yelich will be back, as will pitcher Brandon Woodruff. These two additions will help solidify the squad. Yelich is a pro's pro and a great example to the young guys.

The question pops up about the future of Adames, who becomes a free agent when the World Series concludes. The shortstop had a career year with 32 home runs, driving in 112 (one shy of the shortstop record of 113 set by Robin Young. Adames, 29, will be highly sought after on the free agent market. A very good defender with a solid bat.

As important to Milwaukee in the locker room as on the field, can the Brewers afford to keep Willie?

Only if he gives a "home town" deal to the club, pushes a lot of the salary down the road and is willing to settle for a three or four year contract. Otherwise, it's a safe bet we'll see him in somebody else's uniform next season.

The Brewers really had the turnstiles spinning for these three home games, drawing 120,968 fans with the tops a crowd of 41,594 on Thursday. After finishing the regular season 16th in the MLB with 2,537,202 fans (an average of 31,323, just 38 games per game behind Colorado) the playoffs bring that total to 2,659,170. You can bet that, without the roof over American Family Field, that overall total would be a lot smaller.

 

The Debate Over Pete Rose Continues

It's been a busy week at the Pearly Gates, and a sad one here as prominent actors and athletes shuffled off this mortal coil.

We lost Dame Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson and John Amos from the world of entertainment, along with Pete Rose and Dikembe Mutombo from the world of sports.

Perhaps the most tragic was Mutombo, who succombed to brain cancer at the age of 58. Great big man in the game; loved his finger wag no-no-no after blocked shots.

But I digress a little.

With the passing of Pete Rose, the rebirth of the debate over his Hall of Fame entry begins. The all-time hits leader in Major League Baseball was banned for life by baseball's commissioner for betting on baseball. Perhaps the most egregious while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

On the wall of every minor league and major league clubhouse I've been in was a poster warning against gambling on baseball.

Pete knew what he was doing and chose to do it anyway. And since pretty much every professional sport is now in bed with on-line gambling sites (and many states have legalized sports betting), it creates a murky, gray area for society.

If a lifetime ban applies to the person, then by all means let's put Rose in the HOF. Took an informal poll among friends who were all for his addition to the hall. A couple made very impassioned, convincing arguements.

Have always said I wanted to keep him out until he was beyond being able to benefit from it financially. So now, let him in. BUT be sure that, on Pete's plaque, it points out the lifetime ban and the reason for it.

And while we're letting Pete into the HOF, let's open the doors for Shoeless Joe Jackson, who died 73 years ago. Surely his "lifetime ban" has expired. Painted with the same brush as those Chicago White Sox who were caught fixing the 1919 World Series (the Black Sox Scandal), he was acquitted in court of law in 1921 of having anything to do with it. Yet Judge Kenesaw  Mountain Landis, commissioner at the time, barred him for life. The career .356 hitter had a fine World Series, batting a series-high .375 with three doubles, a home run and six runs batted in. In fact, he accounted for 11 of Chicago's 20 runs and did not commit an error. Hardly numbers of someone throwing the game.

Jackson couldn't read or write, so it's possible (as he said later) that a team lawyer talked him into signing a contract he didn't fully understand.

The average time for a 9 inning game came in at 2 hours, 36 minutes this year. Thank you, pitch clock.

There were only 26 complete games by a pitcher in the MLB this year. In 1975, Catfish Hunter of the Oakland A's had 30. Let's let that sink in for a bit.

Just Crown Pat Murphy NL Manager Of The Year And Be Done With It

 Sunday's wild come-from-behind 10-9 win over Arizona just showed once again that this group of Milwaukee Brewers has no quit in them.

This is the only team in Major League Baseball that has not lost four games in a row. That streak could have ended yesterday when the team was down 8-0 after three innings. And with the playoffs sown up, the Brewers could have shrugged and said "it's not our day, fellas, let's head home."

But quit? Not in Milwaukee.

That attitude starts from the top with manager Pat Murphy.

And let's just end the suspense and name Murph the NL Manager Of The Year today. With all the injuries, with all the pitching changes, Murphy has the Brewers in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven season. The team is 89-67 and clinched it's third NL Central title in four years early. Craig Counsell and his Chicago Cubs have had sore necks all season, looking up at Milwaukee in the standings.

This, by the way, is the first back-to-back division titles since the 1981 & 1982 seasons. Let's not forget that from 1983 to 2017, the Brewers only made the playoffs TWICE.

Green Bay gets a much-needed 30-14 win in Tennessee behind back-up quarterback Malik Willis. Not sure if Jordan Love will be ready for Minnesota this week, but Willis has done a stand-up job in back-to-back wins.

Lot of good things to focus on in the win, highlighted by the defense getting eight quarterback sacks and three turnovers, including a pick six interception.

But let's not overlook the 10 penalties the team had, and the continued struggles (and penalties) from left tackle Rasheed Walker. Dude is in danger of playing himself out of a job. Every time a penalty flag was dropped Sunday, I fully expected it to be on Walker -- and it often was.

And the Red Zone offense has got to get better. Settling for short field goals instead of touchdowns will not get you many wins. 

Have to feel a bit for Chicago White Sox fans. The club has matched the post-1900 record of 120 losses (those expansion New York Mets of 1962). May be time for new ownership on the south side of Chicago.

They have six games remaining, so the Sox won't catch the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who lost 139 games, and have already surpassed the 2003 Detroit Tigers (119) with the most losses in American League history

Peaks And Valleys For Wisconsin Sports Teams

The last two weeks have not been kind, all in all, to Wisconsin sports fans. The beloved Green Bay Packers lose a game, and their 220 Million Dollar Man quarterback, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Wisconsin Badgers, in the friendly confines of Camp Randall, get slapped around by an uber-talented Alabama football team.

Things got a little bit better when Malik "Been In Town Three Weeks" Willis played about as good a game as he could at quarterback on Sunday, leading the Packers to a 16-10 win. Shouldn't have been that close, folks, as by and large, the other 52 guys on the Green Bay roster played their hearts out before the home crowd.

The collective sign of relief around Wisconsin was long and loud.

Let's digress a bit to that season-opening game in Sao Paulo, a 34-29 loss to Philadelphia. Could well have been a win there for GB. But, for certain, this game was NOT a shining moment for the National Football League. Start with the slippery field that befuddled both teams. Go to the REALLY terrible effort by Peacock to broadcast the game.

Speaking of Peacock, my BFF, Charlie, is tech savvy as all get-out. That was the career he built on with 25 years in the Navy (yes, it was OURS) and later at Jacksonville University, running their IT department. Not spending the extra for Peacock, he figured a way around it -- says he watched it via a Canadian television feed. So, to break that down, here's a guy in Jacksonville, Florida, using Canadian TV to watch American football from Brazil.

If The Shield, as the NFL is often called, wanted to put it's best foot forward and grow the international game, it failed.

And by the way, announcers, the stadium where the Packers and Eagles met was already a football stadium one where soccer (football as it is known to the rest of the world) is played. Nit-picking, yes, but how many others caught that?

You can blame Ol' 61 for all this. Recently met up with Ol' 61 who said I should be blogging more. Be careful what you wish for!

Gotta love the season the Milwaukee Brewers are putting together. As this is written, the team is 23 games above .500 and hold a double-digit lead in the Central Division. The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals both have sore necks from looking up at Milwaukee.

The Brewers' 87 wins passes what I predicted (86) for them back in late March. Will be happy to see them north of 90 wins -- though today starts a big series with Philadelphia, the team with the best record in the National League.

Had the opportunity to attend festivities last week in Oshkosh at Titan Stadium (or J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium as it is now known). Oshkosh Lourdes Academy honored the 50th anniversary of the school's first, and only to this point, state football championship. The 1974 Lourdes Academy Knights shocked the WISAA world with a junior-heavy squad that knocked off powerhouse Green Bay Premontre 15-14, then repeated the score against Marshfield Columbus. Columbus had beaten the Milwaukee Thomas Moore to reach the finals.

In addition to the players, the game's MVP was on hand -- the right upright, as a potential game-winning Marshfield field goal doinked off of it as time expired, giving Lourdes the win.

A dozen or so players from that squad attended, from all over the Fox Valley, Wisconsin and beyond. When I started college at UW-Oshkosh, working part-time for the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, I was assigned to Lourdes Academy as my beat, and remained there for five years or so. Met some great people, made some life-long friends and appreciate being included in their "football family" during the festivities.

Rounding Up A Few Thoughts As Summer Draws To A Close

 Summer is a good time for stepping away and recharging. Time to clear the desk of some thoughts that have been bubbling on the back burner for awhile.

Take those amazin' Milwaukee Brewers, for example. Fresh off a 7-3 homestand and in the midst of a five-game winning streak after sweeping Cleveland, despite losing two of three to St. Louis to start the road trip, Milwaukee stands at 74-54 -- that's just a couple of games game back of  Los Angeles for the BEST record in the National League. And an 10-game lead over St. Louis and Chicago.

Was at last the recent game with the LA Dodgers that wrapped up the four-game series.. That 8th inning rally for the win was amazing in something of a playoff atmosphere and a crowd of 40,447 -- for a Thursday day game, no less!

Those young Brewers just continue to amaze. Jackson Chourio has been on a tear since the All-Star break and is on the cusp of being a member of the 20-20 club (home runs and stolen bases). He's only 20 years old, and could be the great-grandson of venerable announcer Bob Uecker (92).

Milwaukee averaging 31,428 per game (1,948,593), about middle of the pack in MLB. The could add another 600,00 or so before the regular season is done. Getting to 2.5+ million fans is a great accomplishment for a small market team like the Brewers.

Speaking of clubs, baseball's unicorn, Shohei Otani, joined the 40-40 club on Friday -- getting both his 40th homer and 40th stolen base in the same game. Guy is an amazing talent.

Hats off to the Oregon High School girls soccer team, state champs again. And recently, the coach of the highly successful boys program at Oregon was named the girls coach as well. How well will that work out for both programs? We'll wait and see.

The proposal to add a shot clock to high school basketball was voted down by the WIAA powers that be, 6-4. I think about the cost to small schools around the state and wonder if, say, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks (and maybe the Packers and Brewers) could get together and pick up the slack.

Good news out of Oshkosh this week, as it seems the Oshkosh Arena's financial woes are being addressed AND there's a handshake deal with the Bucks to keep the Wisconsin Herd in the facility.