RIP Greg Goossen

In 10 years, he doesn't have a chance to be 75.

RIP Duke Snider

I am broken hearted to mark the death of Duke Snider, one of the last of the Boys of Summer. Many may say he lived in the shadow of Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, but the Duke of Flatbush was a superb center fielder in his own right. His career took a serious dive when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, and a field shaped to crush a left handed pull hitter. But that did not matter. His legend was already secure from a decade of dominance in Brooklyn, the home of baseball.

It's a football day

But please, take a moment to remember Babe Ruth - 116 years old today. No one has ever been, could ever be, to football what Babe Ruth was to baseball. Pictured, Babe Ruth greets the similarly dominant Don Bradman, his guest at a game at Yankee Stadium.

To reiterate

The headline here should be that the Texas Rangers won the American League. Advancing to the World Series is a happy reward for that, but first and foremost: they won the damn league. But no. ESPN, Yahoo Sports, everyone leads with "Rangers advance to first World Series."

First things first, people.

Here's a simple test. Cast your mind back to 1951, when Bobby Thomson broke so many Brooklyn hearts with that home run. And if you listen to the radio, imagine that you hear Russ Hodges' epic call of the event, 2010 style:

The Giants advance to the World Series! The Giants advance to the World Series! The Giants advance to the World Series!

Nuff said.

It's a whole other country

But they still let Texas play in the American League - and they finally won the pennant, in the 50th season of the franchise - the first eleven being in Washington, DC. Game six ended with A-Rod (remember him on the Rangers?) looking at strike three from Neftali Feliz. Oh, the joy. Oh, the rapture. Oh, the irritating country music over the PA system.

Of course, nowadays no-one really cares about the pennant. It's all about advancing to the World Series. Well, I care. Winning your league is still a big deal to me. So congratulations, Rangers fans. You've earned this with half a century of waiting.

Another brick in the wall

After ten months of waiting, the demolition team has moved in and is tearing down much of the remains of Washington Park, Brooklyn. There is a small amount still standing, which Con Ed has promised us - basically the northernmost section along Third Avenue and around the corner on First Street. Why is that? Because they have been convinced that the northernmost part was built by the Dodgers, circa 1908, and the rest was built by the Edison Company, circa 1920. I can't see any reason to believe either of these propositions, dating the wall, after a good deal of study, to 1914 and the Brooklyn entry in the Federal League, better known as the Tip Tops.

That version of Washington Park was modeled after Weeghman Park - you might know it better as Wrigley Field. To lose any of this wall is a tragedy for baseball historians. But what can I do about it now? I could only think of one thing, today: I kept a piece for myself.

My little piece of Brooklyn's baseball history. I'm not letting it slip away.

Names in the news

And here I thought Randy Moss' return to the Vikings was going to be the sports story of the day. Then Roy Halladay went and pitched a playoff no-hitter. For the Phillies, no less.

I wonder which of those two events was less likely?

Weekend bullet points

In a packed weekend for me, a few observations and news items:

• St. Kilda and Collingwood continued a recent run of dramatic, tense Grand Finals (2005, 2006, 2009) by turning in a thrilling draw. Back next week for more...
  
• Gotham Girls Roller Derby regained the Eastern Region Championship, taking out the Derby in the Burbs tournament with a 30 point win over a fast finishing Philly team.
  
• My vote for best bout of the weekend, though, goes to Steel City's huge comeback win over Carolina to take 5th place. From 43 points down at half time, the ladies of Pittsburgh came out like a whole new team - super organized and disciplined - and won by 36. Amazing stuff.
  
• If you umpire a mostly social sport purely for the fun of it, you'll soon stop when the fun goes away. And believe me, the fun goes away very fast when people start sniping from the bench, openly questioning good decisions, and screaming in your face.
  
• Alabama retained the Silver Ball once more, although the underdog Razorbacks of Arkansas gave everything in their pursuit of the mythical trophy, barely falling short in a 24 to 20 game. Next week, previous holder Florida visits the Tide.
  
• Columbia ran away from visiting Towson, 24 to 10. Go Lions!
  
• Carmelo Anthony could be a Brooklyn Net soon. Stay tuned.

Outrageous

This is what a grotesquely inflated sense of entitlement gets you: rampant crime in a Yankees hat.

And yes, I'm bitter about my Cyclones losing the championship series. But I love them still. Wait til next year!

Rematch time

The Cyclones travel north to Troy, NY today to take on the Tri-City Valley Cats in game one of the New York Penn League Championship Series. This is the same team they played in the final regular season series, which the Cyclones took 2 to 1 in Brooklyn. The Valley Cats squeaked into the playoffs - their place was confirmed minutes before the last game was played - then beat Batavia in an epic series much like the Brooklyn-Jamestown matchup.

Nervous. Very nervous.

So what does an overly committed Cyclones fan do to relieve the nerves? He gets the team's logo etched into his arm, of course.

Photos to come after the big event. But right now, let me note that making yourself scared about a second thing doesn't help with the first thing at all...

The joy of sudden death playoffs

The Cyclones kept their season alive last night, tying the semi final series 1-1 with Jamestown. That sounds simple enough, but no game won 9 to 8 on a wild pitch in the 12th inning could ever be simple. I'm still too exhausted to recount all of the many, many ups and downs. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see if the guys are still alive after tonight's series decider...

Sports roundup

Carlton's AFL season ended in heartbreak in the first week of the finals, for the second year in a row, with a 5 point loss in Sydney. Brave, gutsy, and not quite good enough. Keep at it, Blues. Looking forward to next year. Chris Judd will be another half step slower, but the likes of Garlett, Yarran, and Armfield will be a year wiser. Could be a fun season. But please, can we draft some key defenders?

The Brooklyn Cyclones ended their dominant regular season with a 6-5 win over Tri-City, sending out a series of lesser relief pitchers and somehow surviving the experience. Cory Vaughn's 14th home run set a new team record, and his 56 runs batted in shattered the old mark of 46. Darrell Ceciliani's 2 for 3 effort was good enough to take the league batting title with a team record .351 average. He also set records with his 95 hits and 12 triples. On a personal note, I caught a foul ball and walked on the field for the first time after the game. That was a magical evening.

At the other end of his baseball career, 63 year old Bill "Spaceman" Lee went 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs, to pick up the win for Brockton over Worcester in the Can-Am league. That's a serious pro league. Impressive. Very, very impressive.

Darrelle Revis has finally signed a new contract with the Jets. This is fantastic news for me, because I can drag out my favorite line again: Welcome to Revis Island. Don't bother bringing a radio, cos there will be NO RECEPTION.

Congrats to Samantha Stosur on her epic three set win over Elena Dementieva. Not only was this the latest women's match in US Open history, finishing at 1:35AM, but our Sam saved four match points to stave off elimination. We're starting to expect great things at this point, which is always dangerous for Aussie tennis players. Fingers crossed for three more wins?

And then there's Jason Day, following up his excellent performance at the Barclays with a third round lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Go Jason! Golf is another one of those sports, like tennis and swimming, that Australia likes to think it can own. We have a bunch of good young players now, so maybe more majors are on the way soon. Who knows?

A near-perfect night at Staten Island. Of course, it helped that we saw the evil Yankees go down, 7 to 2 against the Vermont Lake Monsters. Five time NY Penn League champs they may be, but Staten Island's Yankees are nowhere near the 2010 playoffs. The Brooklyn Cyclones, boasting the league's best record, open up their playoff campaign on the road on Tuesday...

Cyclones win the division!

The Brooklyn Cyclones took to the road on Saturday, and pummeled the Connecticut Tigers 10 to 0 to wrap up the McNamara Division. With a 44-21 record, an 11 game lead, and an excellent shot at home field advantage through the playoffs, life is good for Cyclones fans right now. This has been a very special season, a lot like 2001.

But it's not over yet. I'm trying not to think about the championship, but it's been a long wait since that shared title...

A perfect evening

On an absolutely picture perfect late summer evening, the Cyclones beat the Ironbirds 2 to 0 - a beautifully pitched game on both sides, with the Brooklyn fielding being a shade better than Aberdeen's and making all the difference. The game was over in a very speedy 1 hour 58 minutes. Good friends, close contest, the usual fun and games in the stadium, gorgeous sunset, and a dazzling moonrise as the game ended.

What could be better?

Note: picture represents an earlier perfect evening at a Cyclones game. I did not have my camera this time.

Financial papers

With the current round of financial leaks from Major League Baseball clubs providing some sorely needed transparency in the sports world, I wonder what insurance the Nationals might have to cover Stephen Strasburg's elbow surgery. I hope for the sake of the organization that it covers a lot more than just the medical costs - ticket sales next year may well be catastrophic. Unless they rush Bryce Harper into the starting lineup for opening day...

The greatest keeps going

The Dodgers have announced that Vin Scully, contrary to reports from early this year, will return in 2011, calling all home games, and road games against the National League West.

This is wonderful news. However great or mediocre the team might be, listening to Vin Scully call a game is the definitive Dodger baseball experience.

Just as important: by remaining part of the organization in their various ways, Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda, and Sandy Koufax still form a real link to the Dodgers in Brooklyn, 53 years later. That means a hell of a lot to some of us.

A nearly fallen hero

Life magazine's superb photo archive has unveiled a previously unseen set of color photographs of Babe Ruth's last appearance at Yankee Stadium. The sight of the mighty Sultan of Swat, not long for this world and looking so frail, is something of a shock to the system, especially for those of us who have lost loved ones to cancer. But the pictures are beautiful as well as heartbreaking. Please, take a look.

Clemens to be indicted

The New York Times reports that Roger Clemens is to be indicted on charges of perjury, relating to his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2008.

Now, that looks familiar.

Will Barry Bonds' many apologists quit with the "it's all about race" crap?

RIP Bobby Thomson

The author of the most heartbreaking moment in Brooklyn Dodger history died yesterday, aged 86. I'll never learn to love that moment, but the Staten Island Scot has a special place in my memory.

When I was relatively new to the USA, ten years ago, I saw Bobby Thomson and his partner in history, Ralph Branca, at a trade show. They were attracting folks to a research agency's booth by signing photos of the Shot Heard Round the World, so being a good baseball fan I duly lined up. Someone in front of me was explaining to his colleague that the famous home run had won the World Series at Yankee Stadium. I took a moment to correct both errors.

When I got to the front of the line, as they were signing the picture, I mentioned that although the home run happened some years before I was born, it still broke my heart to think of it. Thomson looked up at me quizzically and said, "With an accent like that, what do you care?"

He had a fair point. But I did care, and I do care. And that home run still breaks my heart.