Blog post

August 9, 2008 [LINK / comment]

The (baseball) mail bag

Lots of catching up on correspondence to do, as usual.

Jim Meyer of Overland Park, Kansas liked my hypothetical alternative version of Yankee Stadium and suggested that a whole section full of "fantasy" ballpark designs would be interesting for many fans. (I also did my own versions of Metropolitan Stadium and Nationals Park, and one of Candlestick Park is "on deck.") I'll certainly give that idea some thought, but as always, it depends on how much time I have available...

Regarding the possible restoration of League Park, Bruce Orser reminded me about the leaguepark.org Web site.

Brian Hughes has become intrigued by Nashville's old Sulphur Dell, which had a huge slope in right field, much bigger than at Crosley Field or Minute Maid Park, and drew my attention to sulphurdell.com. Brian also noticed that I omitted a separate roll-over link for the 1952 version of Griffith Stadium, so I added that. I also included the (tiny) press boxes on the 1950s diagrams.

And, as September approaches, more sports fans will be thinking about football. Brandon Henderson noticed that someone posted a bunch of football seating diagrams for baseball stadiums from 1964 at baseball-fever.com.

Nightmare in Anaheim

If you think the Washington Nationals have a vulnerable bullpen, they aren't so bad when compared to the New York Yankees this year. Of course, the Yanks don't have much in the way or starting pitchers, either, whereas the Nationals starters consistently perform well even without run support. Anyway, that glaring weakness was exposed on national television this afternoon, as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, playing in Angels Stadium of Anaheim, trounced the Yankees, 11-4. It was quite a pitchers' duel for most of the game, and in the bottom of the eighth inning Vladimir Guerrero hit a home run to take the lead, 4-3, starting an eight-run rally.

Corruption in Detroit

I don't know if this is connected to the city's decision to tear down Tiger Stadium (or most of it, at least), but Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was just freed from jail after posting bail. He is charged with shoving a sheriff's detective, and was previously implicated in sex and financial scandals. For more, see the Detroit Free Press.