The world according to Jim:
• I had this thought a couple of days ago, while watching Derek Jeter in an ad for BetMGM – not only pitching their gambling services but doing so while referencing his Hall of Fame playing career:
Anyone else of a certain age remember, during the late 1970s and early ’80s, when Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were hired as ambassadors for New Jersey casinos and were then declared “permanently ineligible” from the sport by then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn for as long as those employments lasted? …
• Yes, good ol’ Bowie – who could be as sanctimonious as anyone – seemed to be overreacting at the time. Imagine, two of the greatest players in the history of baseball having their ties with the game severed for essentially being casino greeters. (This was, of course, years before the Dowd Report helped lead to Pete Rose’s lifetime suspension.)
But with the 180-degree turn not only baseball but all sports have taken, from keeping the gambling industry at arm’s length to embracing it (and its ad dollars), I wonder if such caution is sorely missed today. …
• The latest on this subject: Cleveland relief star Emmanuel Clase, who had been considered a prime candidate to be moved before Thursday’s trade deadline, was put on “non-disciplinary paid leave” Monday over irregularities involving gambling, after Guardians starter Luis Ortiz had been placed on similar leave earlier in July. …
The reason for the investigation? Prop bets, in this particular case bets on whether a particular pitch would be a ball or a strike, and what seemed to be heavier than usual volume on certain pitches. Such prop bets are far easier to manipulate than the actual outcome of a game, should a player be inclined to do so, and that’s what appears to be the focus of MLB’s investigation. …
• Now do you understand the Pandora’s Box that was opened when the Supreme Court struck down a federal law barring sports betting in 2018? …
• And I certainly hope no one was taking any action on which players might be moved where at Thursday’s deadline. With all of the relievers who were traded, what kind of package would it have taken to land Clase under normal conditions? …
• Related, yet not related: During a visit to Las Vegas last week – an anniversary trip with the lovely and talented Mrs. Alexander – I got a look at what is eventually supposed to be the new stadium for the A’s, on the nine acres or so formerly occupied by the Tropicana Hotel.
Right now there are only some cranes and piles of dirt on the site. And I will believe that a major league stadium is actually going to rise there when the framework of a grandstand is visible. Until then I’m skeptical, and I suspect I’m not alone. …
• Ballparks, continued: Our Inland Empire metro columnist, David Allen, has amassed a fairly impressive list of stadia visited over the years, and last week he wrote about his visit to Houston’s Minute Maid Park while wearing what wasn’t a Dodgers T-shirt (he’s a St. Louis Cardinals fan) but resembled one. A brave man. …
• He has now visited 18 ballparks in his quest to reach all 30. I hope he makes it … but, yeah, I’m a little competitive. (And yes, I acknowledge I have the advantage of visiting the vast majority of these parks as part of the job.) …
• So here’s my tally.
Existing parks (13): Dodger and Angel stadiums, of course. Oracle Park, Petco Park, Coors Field, Busch Stadium, Great American Ball Park, Wrigley Field, Citi Field, Citizens Bank Stadium, Target Field, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium.
Old/defunct/no longer existing parks (13): Old Comiskey Park, Astrodome, Kingdome, Oakland Coliseum, Shea Stadium, Veterans Stadium in Philly, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Montreal Olympic Stadium, Milwaukee County Stadium, Old Busch Stadium, Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium, Candlestick Park … and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, for the Dodgers-Red Sox exhibition in 2008 celebrating the Dodgers’ 50th anniversary in L.A.
That’s 26. Can I add the Vegas stadium site with an asterisk attached? …
• One addendum to that 2008 game at the Coliseum: At the time, the McCourt-owned Dodgers promoted that crowd as a world record for a baseball game, announcing a crowd of 115,300 in what was then a 93,000-seat facility. (A large number of those 115,300 were actually mingling outside the stadium. This was far from the only time Frank and Jamie would exaggerate things.)
Wisely, those who are promoting Saturday’s Braves-Reds game at Bristol (Tenn.) Speedway and suggesting it will set a single-game attendance record have ignored that Coliseum crowd figure, as they should. …
• This week’s quiz: It was the trade deadline in 2008 when the Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez from Boston, a transaction that propelled L.A. into the postseason and made things really interesting around the Dodgers, at least until Manny predictably wore out his welcome. Meanwhile, the Angels made a major trade of their own the day before. Who came to Anaheim? Answer below.
• Seen in the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas, on the ride down the escalator to the ground floor: A banner saying, “Welcome to Raider Nation. (Good luck.)” Directed at Raider opponents, or their fans? …
• Whatever you think of “Happy Gilmore 2” – and the view here is stupid but funny – consider this: Hockey players will tell you their favorite movie is the legendary Paul Newman film “Slap Shot.” For golfers, the “Happy Gilmore” franchise fills that same spot, so is there any wonder so many current and retired pros have cameos? …
• Quiz answer: The 2008 Angels, who on July 30 had the best record in baseball (67-40) and an 11½-game division lead, acquired 28-year-old switch-hitting first baseman Mark Teixeira from Atlanta for Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek. It was a risk because Teixeira would be a free agent at the end of the year.
He hit 13 home runs, drove in 43 runs and had a 1.081 OPS and 3.7 WAR in 54 games as the Angels finished 100-62, won the division by 21 games and drew 3.336 million. But the Angels lost an American League Division Series to Boston in four games. That winter Teixeira signed with the Yankees, hit 39 homers with 122 RBIs in 2009 and helped the Yankees to their most recent World Series title.
My apologies for bringing up that unhappy ending, Angel fans.
jalexander@scng.com