The clock continues to tick down to Major League Baseball's Opening Day, the day fans everywhere look forward to, beginning, oh, roughly ten minutes after the final out of the World Series the previous year. Hang on, we're down to just over a day left before the start of the new season.
In 2008, of course, MLB proves just how small our little world is getting, as Opening Day will take place in Tokyo, Japan, joining 2000 and 2004 as the only time regular-season baseball games will have ever been played outside of North America.
To celebrate the occasion, the two teams the bigwigs in charge of scheduling at MLB chose to represent the sport on this foray into Asia are, quite naturally, the Boston Red Sox and the...uh...Oakland A's?
Picking the Sox to represent MLB is a no-brainer for a couple of reasons, the most obvious being that they are the reigning World Series champs, and who better to show off the sport than its' crown jewel, based on last season's results?
The other thing that makes the BoSox an obvious selection is the fact that two key components of their pitching staff made their way to the shores of this country just one year ago from Japan - Dasiuke Matsuzaka will fill the Number Two slot in the rotation after winning 15 games in the regular season and striking out over 200 batters last year, and Hideki Okajima came out of nowhere, dazzling major league hitters to the tune of a 2.22 ERA in 66 appearances and making the A.L. All-Star Team in his rookie season at age 31.
So sending the Sox to Japan to kick off the 2008 season makes perfect sense, but Oakland is another story entirely. A glance at the Athletics active roster shows exactly zero Japanese players. It appeared Kurt Suzuki might be a possibility, but he was born in Hawaii, meaning he probably is as familiar with Japan as I am.
Now, I realize the point of the trek halfway around the world is to show off Major League Baseball, not bring as many Japanese players back to their homeland as possible, but given the intense interest Japan's people have shown in following the progress of their native players in the big leagues, wouldn't it have made more sense to send either the Seattle Mariners or the New York Yankees to Tokyo as opponents for Boston, rather than Oakland?
Seattle, it would seem, is the obvious choice. One of the closest teams on our shores to Japan in terms of distance, the city also features one of Japanese baseball's biggest former stars, Ichiro Suzuki. Wouldn't it have been a treat for the fans in that country to see Dice-K face off against Ichiro in one of the two regular-season games?
Or how about the Yankees? In addition to the fact that MLB would have had an opportunity to showcase one of the sport's biggest rivalries, the Yankees also feature one of Japanese baseball's biggest former heroes, Hideki Matsui. The same argument applies to a Dice-K-Matsui matchup that applies to Dice-K-Ichiro, and that is this: It only makes sense to offer the rabid baseball fans of Japan an opportunity to see two of their own people who have made it big in the Bigs, up close and personal, rather than Dice-K facing off against, say, Oakland's Jack Cust.
Once again - big surprise - it appears the people in charge of baseball have shot themselves in the foot. There is no doubt whatsoever the two-game series between Boston and Oakland will be a success and will be followed by other MLB regular-season matchups in the Far East, but come on, Bud Selig, you're pulling down in excess of $15 million a year, couldn't you have used a little common sense in choosing this historic matchup?
It's really a shame Client Number Nine didn't hold out for this: "An exclusive experience for those with discerning taste who seek the very best that life has to offer. You will delight in the premium amenities, including cushioned seats with teak arms, in-seat wait service, concierge services, private restrooms and a delectable selection of all-inclusive food and beverages."
Oh, yeah, and don't forget your own private entrance, elevator and concourse. Presumably, a date with "Kristen" is extra, but the literature doesn't really make that clear.
What are we talking about here? An exclusive gentleman's club? A place for high-rolling VIP's, all those people with more money than brains who are out in the cold now that the Emperor's Club has been shut down by those cold-hearted ####s in law enforcement who don't understand the pressures that people who run big business and big government in this country face?
Well, no, not exactly, although if you subscribe to the notion of the New York Yankees as the Evil Empire, it could be considered an Emperor's Club of sorts. This is all what awaits you at the brand new, $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium, coming to a Bronx near you in the spring of 2009.
Of course, if you're a Regular Guy, none of that stuff awaits you, not unless you earn enough money at your Regular Guy job to pay up to $2,500 per game for your ticket. That's right, the first five to eight rows of seating in the home plate area of the new Yankee Stadium will cost anywhere from $500 to $2,500 per game per ticket.
To put that in perspective, even the cheapest seats in the "exclusive experience" will cost you $40,500 if you want to attend every Yankee game. That's a bargain, though, compared to the most expensive $2,500 seats, which will run you a whopping $202,500 for the season. Jeez, no wonder Eliot Spitzer turned to Kristen in Washington, D.C. for entertainment. He got priced right out of Yankee Stadium.
And that's not all! You have to commit to those seats for a specified period of time ranging from three to ten seasons, with a specified scale of price increases included too, of course. After all, it would be totally unfair to expect the Yankees to have to put up with your measly $2,500 per game five years from now. Inflation, you know.
So now, if you commit to your $2,500 seats for the minimum of three years, you are up to a total of $607,500 to see your Yankees play. And that's assuming you go by yourself. If you want to be able to bring some company on those warm summer nights - After all, what's the point of concierge servieces and private restrooms if you can't show them off to someone? - the price doubles, bringing the bill to a staggering $1,215,000. Even Billy Crystal might balk at that.
Not to worry, though, even if you're not Bill Gates or A-Rod's wife, the Yankees assure you there is still room in the new palace, uh, ballpark, for you. According to Lonn Trost, the club's Chief Operating Officer, there will be about 11,000 non-premium seats at field level and 12,000 at the main level. "Of the non-premium seats, 88 percent will be less than $100."
He fails to mention those "non-premium seats" will be located in New Jersey, so don't forget to bring your binoculars to the game.
This is surely all a bitter pill to #### if you're a non-billionare who has been following the Yankees for your whole life, but hey, that money to pay A-Rod's new $300 million contract has to come from somewhere, right? The House That Ruth Built will no longer be a house, it will be the biggest, gaudiest McMansion on the block, "premium amenities" and all.
In case you're not familiar with the expression, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," or you don't believe it's necessarily true, here's a little affirmation for you. Almost two years to the day after George Steinbrenner guaranteed the Yankees would win the World Series, before the team had even completed their first full workout of the spring (Now For the Weather, Continued Dark til Morning), son Hank, who is working non-stop, night and day without so much as a coffee break to live up to his father's Type-A legacy, has one-upped the old man.
According to an article published by Kevin Kernan in the February 20 edition of the New York Post, Joe Girardi will...well...how do I put this. To avoid any misunderstanding, let's quote the young Steinbrenner word for word: "Truthfully, I think Girardi is going to end up being one of the greatest managers in the history of the game. That's my gut feeling."
Wow. Girardi is the guy who, just in case you blinked and missed it, has managed exactly one full season in the big leagues, artfully guiding the undermanned Florida Marlins to a 78-84 record in 2006 before being rewarded for his accomplishment by being forced to walk the plank in Florida.
Joe Girardi is, by all accounts, a hard-working, bright young manager who would appear to have a heckuva future in the game. Isn't that enough, at least for now? Is it really necessary for the Big Boss to make Girardi out to be the best thing since Casey Stengel or Sparky Anderson or Billy Martin, thereby inflaming the New York media unnecessarily, before the poor guy has even figured out whether Jeter takes his coffee with one sugar or two?
Ah, but there's the thing. Steinbrenner goes on to compare Girardi, not to his predecessor Joe Torre, but to the oft-fired (by his father) Billy Martin. Everything that went on in New York before Torre took his leave of the Bronx Zoo seems to have left a trace of a bad taste in Blowhard the Younger's mouth, to the point where, as in the darkest days of the Soviet Empire after party hacks disappeared, all traces of them were removed and it was as if they had never existed.
Because, in New York, if you're talking all-time great managers, wouldn't Torre be a good place to start? His office chair is barely cold, so even the youngest Yankee fans would remember him, and all he did during his stay in the Bronx was win ten division titles and four World Series.
Billy Martin? He led the league in fights and firings, but only won two division championships and two World Series with the Yankees. Not a bad record by any means and this is not a knock on Martin, but aren't results supposed to be the ultimate measuring stick? If so, then Torre would seem to be the obvious point of comparison.
In any event, for a while it appeared the Hank Steinbrenner era was going to be stable and boring, but perhaps not. For his part, Girardi seems to be handling the coronation from his boss as one of the all-time greats well, at least so far. According to Kerner, when told of the quote from Steinbrenner, "Girardi was touched. 'That's a nice compliment,' he said as he sat on the edge of his office desk."
It's not like he's new to the bombast in the Bronx; Girardi spent four years of a fifteen year playing career in New York and undoubtedly will not be surprised by anything coming out of a Steinbrenner's mouth. But just in case, it's good that he's practicing sitting on the edge of his chair - that's likely where he'll be for most of his tenure in New York, even if he does become "one of the greatest managers in the history of the game."
Hey everyone, I know it must seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but it's nothing like that.
I've been busy writing - two full-length novels so far, plus over a dozen short stories - and working hard to try to get an agent. If you are curious and have a few minutes, check out my website, www.allanleve rone.com.
If you're a literary agent or if you know one, by all means contact me! In the meantime, I'll be here when I can - love this forum - and as always, thank you for checking out my blog, especially considering how many great ones you could be reading instead....
