Grand Old Game

BARCELONA, Spain -- Perhaps we should be grateful Fidel Castro won't permit Cubans to play in the majors. These guys make those nightly American League marathons look like sprints.Some teams panic when they get down 5-0 in the first inning. The Cubans take a siesta, rousing themselves only to try another pickoff throw or tie another shoelace.What's the hurry when you can drive the opponent crazy?Last night, Cuba spotted the U.S. Olympic team the aforementioned five runs, then crawled back to win, 9-6. The game lasted four hours, ending at 1 a.m. Barcelona time.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- For a few magical minutes, he makes you forget about the surliness of Barry Bonds. And the selfishness of Roger Clemens. He makes you forget about the arrogance of Scott Boras. And the absurdity of Bud Selig. And players shilling themselves by injecting steroids. And killing themselves by driving drunk. I wish everybody had a chance to do what I did Thursday afternoon. You want to feel good again about the national pastime? Sit in the dugout for a half-hour and talk baseball with Don Zimmer - the grand old man of the grand old game.

Reading Time: Two Minutes.Hey, collectors and just plain rabid Orioles fans, here's a deal you cannot refuse: Nikco Sports, the people who provide the Rawlings baseballs for the Grand Old Game, just delivered about 75 dozen balls for next week's All-Star Game at OPACY. But it made 12,000 of them, featuring black and orange stiching and the Orioles logo, and they can be scooped up with a display cube for $20. In case anyone asks you, special balls have been prepared for the World Series and All-Star Games since 1978.

Major League Baseball officials couldn't wait to hurt themselves again. Within 48 hours of the 97th World Series, possibly the greatest ever played, they shot themselves in the foot by announcing that league owners voted yesterday to eliminate two teams before the start of next season, even though they wouldn't specify which ones. Talk about a bummer. The leftover champagne at Arizona's stadium wasn't even warm yet. Diamondback pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling hadn't even cleared a spot in their trophy cases for their MVP awards before commissioner Bud Selig pulled the plug on the nation's post-game party.

It's official! The sports world has gone totally bonkers! (Love those exclamation points!)The players, owners, fans and the media, we've all gone crazy, slipping into a state of abject confusion with no leader in sight to lead us out of bewilderment.Just a few days without baseball and men who have been involved with the game for years are asking if the strike will extend through the 1995 season. And, if so, is this the end of the Grand Old Game (Little League, high school, college, amateur ball included)

Baseball announcer Tim McCarver has always given the impression he's as clued in about the game as anyone could be: What transpires on the field, front-office follies, what makes the players tick and kick, the history of the Grand Old Game, it's all there.But the former All-Star catcher and man conceded to be the best game analyst on television made a major slip recently. While trying to feign interest in a New York Mets exhibition game in Florida, McCarver reviewed the strike situation and concluded, "It's a weird time, maybe the weirdest in the game's history."

Let's face it: Unless you're into golf, infomercials, professional wrestling, syndicated shows or retread movies, Saturday afternoon television is a fetid wasteland.That is, except for the saving grace of baseball. Yes, the grand old game has taken its lumps of late, but the term "couch potato" was invented with Saturday afternoon baseball in mind.A bag of chips, a lovely beverage, a remote control device and a sofa. Who could ask for more?But, this weekend, for only the third time in the more than 125-year history of major-league baseball, there was not one Saturday afternoon game played, much less televised.

Major League Baseball officials couldn't wait to hurt themselves again. Within 48 hours of the 97th World Series, possibly the greatest ever played, they shot themselves in the foot by announcing that league owners voted yesterday to eliminate two teams before the start of next season, even though they wouldn't specify which ones. Talk about a bummer. The leftover champagne at Arizona's stadium wasn't even warm yet. Diamondback pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling hadn't even cleared a spot in their trophy cases for their MVP awards before commissioner Bud Selig pulled the plug on the nation's post-game party.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- For a few magical minutes, he makes you forget about the surliness of Barry Bonds. And the selfishness of Roger Clemens. He makes you forget about the arrogance of Scott Boras. And the absurdity of Bud Selig. And players shilling themselves by injecting steroids. And killing themselves by driving drunk. I wish everybody had a chance to do what I did Thursday afternoon. You want to feel good again about the national pastime? Sit in the dugout for a half-hour and talk baseball with Don Zimmer - the grand old man of the grand old game.

If memory serves, it was a sunny day at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., the Orioles were playing the Mets and out of the rightfield bullpen ambled this tall, rangy kid to mop up a spring training game.For no apparent reason, a press guide was consulted and its revelations ordered one and all to sit up and take notice. It seems the just turned 20-year-old lad had fanned 272 batters in just 183 innings while going 17-2 at Greenville the previous season. At the same time, he had walked 127.Yes, it was pre-historic Nolan Ryan, and this picture popped up last night as the already legendary pitcher threatened yetanother hitless performance, this one a perfect game.

It's an experiment that's still playing out, an independent baseball league in which the maximum player salary is $15,000 and there's more fun generated from the concept than anyone thought possible. Welcome to the Atlantic League, where the Aberdeen Arsenal holds forth. Bill Ripken, director of baseball operations for the new club, said the idea far exceeds his fondest hopes and believes future acceptance is assured. Crowds have been conspicuous by their absence, but that can change.

HE HUNKERS AT THE plate, as thickly padded as an armored vehicle. He has the clearest perspective on the field: Nearly everything happens in front of him. He's in on every single play -- calling pitches, setting up hitters, blocking, throwing. No other fielder affects outcomes as deeply. And while baseball's boundaries, the foul lines, theoretically extend to infinity, he squats at their intersection, right at the heart of the game. As the Orioles' 47th season opens, take a look at the National Pastime -- as we did during spring training -- through the iron mask of one of its most accomplished catchers, Baltimore's own Charles Johnson.

Goodness knows there hasn't been much in the way of on-field drama through the first two games of the World Series, so perhaps the thing to watch is how Fox manages to juggle the traditions of baseball with the need to drag the sport into the 20th century.(By the way, someone did tell the Yankees that you actually have to mount an effort to win these games, didn't they?)Anyway, Fox has pledged to take the grand old game to new places, and, for the most part, the network is doing well.The zippy graphics have been nice, but the hallmark of Fox's presentation has been the sound of the game.

ATLANTA -- After just one telecast, his network is done with baseball until October, but, from the sidelines, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol is keeping an eye trained on how the grand old game performs for Fox.During a recent interview, Ebersol, whose network passed on a regular-season deal for a five-year All-Star Game and postseason package, said baseball's regular-season value to a network is "lost" because there are so many games available to the...

Let's face it: Unless you're into golf, infomercials, professional wrestling, syndicated shows or retread movies, Saturday afternoon television is a fetid wasteland.That is, except for the saving grace of baseball. Yes, the grand old game has taken its lumps of late, but the term "couch potato" was invented with Saturday afternoon baseball in mind.A bag of chips, a lovely beverage, a remote control device and a sofa. Who could ask for more?But, this weekend, for only the third time in the more than 125-year history of major-league baseball, there was not one Saturday afternoon game played, much less televised.

Baseball announcer Tim McCarver has always given the impression he's as clued in about the game as anyone could be: What transpires on the field, front-office follies, what makes the players tick and kick, the history of the Grand Old Game, it's all there.But the former All-Star catcher and man conceded to be the best game analyst on television made a major slip recently. While trying to feign interest in a New York Mets exhibition game in Florida, McCarver reviewed the strike situation and concluded, "It's a weird time, maybe the weirdest in the game's history."

ATLANTA -- After just one telecast, his network is done with baseball until October, but, from the sidelines, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol is keeping an eye trained on how the grand old game performs for Fox.During a recent interview, Ebersol, whose network passed on a regular-season deal for a five-year All-Star Game and postseason package, said baseball's regular-season value to a network is "lost" because there are so many games available to the...

If Tom Clancy, an artist with words whose novels sell into the millions and command record monetary returns, had endeavored to anticipate the baseball shutdown by way of creating it in manuscript form, it would have been rejected on the basis of implausible fiction.But here's Clancy, who abandoned an earlier interest in a possible pro football franchise for Baltimore so he could be close to baseball ("a family decision," he called it), wondering why a suspension in play ever had to happen.

The suspicion here is that Dennis Rodman is running baseball . . . and he's not even working full time at it, sort of taking it up as a diversion during color rinses as he sits out another NBA suspension.What other possible explanation could there be for the rampant foolishness that has beset the game for months. . . heck, years?Consider, there hasn't been a bargaining session in a month (as of yesterday).Unfair labor practices have been filed by both labor and management with the National Labor Relations Board, an outfit that already sees the owners as creeps for improperly withholding a $7.8 million payment to the players' pension fund last summer.

If Tom Clancy, an artist with words whose novels sell into the millions and command record monetary returns, had endeavored to anticipate the baseball shutdown by way of creating it in manuscript form, it would have been rejected on the basis of implausible fiction.But here's Clancy, who abandoned an earlier interest in a possible pro football franchise for Baltimore so he could be close to baseball ("a family decision," he called it), wondering why a suspension in play ever had to happen.