I have no complaints about the late August weather in my beloved home town of NYC. Humidity has been a constant issue but, fortunately, temps have remained in manageable 80s. I haven't posted too much since my return from another glorious week teaching about baseball culture at Chautauqua because I'm heading in for left knee replacement surgery on Fri the 28th. Getting my apartment cleaner and paths open for walking without stumbling have taken high priority. I'm approaching a 50th anniversary of living in the shadows of Riverside Park and a mere 1/2 mile from my undergraduate alma mater Columbia (where, incidentally, the always-contending women's basketball team just returned from 10 days in Japan, giving clinics, playing a very competitive exhibition against the Japanese national team, and exploring many of the remarkable points of interest in that island-nation.)
What does "Laura" have to do with all of this? Well, TCM devoted much of yesterday M Aug 24 to the films of Dana Andrews. I had seen at least a couple of times the 1944 film "Laura" (produced/directed by Otto Preminger with David Raksin's title tune and effective accompanying score) which was a breakthrough for both Andrews and Gene Tierney who played the title character. I've always been fascinated that in the film's first scene Andrews as a detective investigating a murder is doodling with a hand-held game "Baseball" as he interrogates supercilious radio personality Clifton Webb. I didn't realize until last night that there is a second scene with the Baseball game during which Webb complains that the game is "getting on my nerves" and sneers that it must have been "something you confiscated in a raid on a kindergarten." Andrews replies calmly, "It keeps me calm." (Exploration for future research: Whether Vera Caspary's original story had anything like a miniature hand-held Baseball game or any baseball reference.)
Baseball probably was simpler in the days of "Laura," especially diluted wartime baseball with most of the stars in military service. Because there is nothing calm about the wacky MLB season especially in the under-achieving American League where there is a good chance that the third wild card might have an under-.500 record. A longtime Tigers fan disses his division as the AL Comedy Central. As for me, I have basically given up any hope that my Orioles can ever reach .500 in the 30+ games remaining in the regular season. Whenever I think they are ready to make a push towards the respectability of .500, they fall backwards. The biggest problem IMHO is that I see no hunger in the so-called "core" of players that Mike Elias the "President of Baseball Operations Who Needs No General Manager Below Him" claimed nearly three years ago were ready for "liftoff".
I sometimes wonder if Elias picked up the term "liftoff" from his right hand man Sig Mejdal who prior to his baseball career worked for NASA. I may be wrong but I don't think Mejdal has been very visible these days. The Elias crew does deserve credit for the addition of slugging Pete "Polar Bear" Alonso who has excelled in every aspect of the game, not least team leadership. Credit must also be given for picking up their utilityman Blaze Alexander from Arizona where he was stuck behind Ketel Marte (who unfortunately missed a Dbacks game recently and was discovered to be at a casino - all of MLB and its fans must hope that a gambling problem is not at the root of Marte's problem). Despite the plusses of Alonso and Alexander (BTW Blaze is his real name, a homage his father paid to a minor leaguel teammate), I think a change after 8 years of this front office crew is merited after the season.
The problem is that the lockout by the owners is almost definitely occurring on December 1. If prior lockouts are any guide to the future, no baseball business of any kind will be allowed after December 1 until ? I for one have never believed that the entire 2027 season will be wiped out even though the hard core owners want a salary cap and salary floor at any price. But no one knows for sure. Maybe the only truth about baseball has always been, "Every season is different," lockout or not.
I want to close on a positive note. There have been many great individual exploits this season, often associated with contending teams. High on my list is 6' 8"
RHP Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers. He is only 24 and in his FIRST FULL SEASON in MLB, he is setting astounding strikeout records. More importantly, Mis is showing a maturity rare in today's baseball He doesn't want to keep throwing harder in the 100+ mph range. I just hope he stays healthy and doesn't succumb to media pressure to break mph records. The same good wishes to the young pitcher Mis has currently eclipsed, Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes. Also only 24, Skenes seems to have a good head on his shoulders and more power to him as he tries to work out the reasons for his declining velocity. What may be a key is that Skenes may weigh around 260 pounds, more than 50 pounds heavier than Misiorowski. It may be that his kind of huge athletic body needs somewhat of a reshaping. Just a guess on my part. As Tom Seaver said in THE ART OF PITCHING that I collaborated on over 50 years ago, "Every pitch has velocity, movement, and location, and velocity is the least important."
See you sometime in September and always remember Stay Positive Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!