Baseball tryouts in Noblesville Aug. 23
The Indiana Cubs Baseball Club will host a tryout for the 2009 14U Club at Trinity Ballpark in Noblesville from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 23. Check-in will start at 3:45 p.m.Players will need to pre-register via the website on the 2009 Player Registration Button at www.indianacubsbaseballclub.com .
Practices will start in January and run through March Indoors on the North side of Indy. Outdoor practices will begin in April. Game season will start in mid-May and run through mid-July.
Copyright 2008 IndyStar.com
Major League Baseball and the Olympics just don't need each other
BEIJING. It is all temporary, the Wukesong Baseball Field - metal bleachers gussied up with flimsy banners that read One World One Dream, banners that would normally be used to block out some of the unsightly alleys in this Olympic city; trailers offering no sense of permanence. Baseball will not be in the London Olympics in 2012 and it's likely gone for good after these Games because the truth is, Major League Baseball and the Olympics just don't need each other.
It's all about money. The International Olympic Committee gets nothing out of a competition where the best baseball players in the world don't take part. And MLB doesn't get enough of a financial kick to shut down in the middle of its season. More to the point, the Olympics work at cross-purposes with the World Baseball Classic, which is held during spring training. Bob Watson, the point man for the baseball commissioner's office, was quoted last month as saying baseball club owners might be prepared to close their stadiums for a while to allow their best players to compete in the Olympics. He knows that's not going to happen. The fact is, the U.S.-based lords of the game view the IOC as a bunch of effete, sandal-wearing, Euro-centric foofs who have no appreciation for an anachronistic game played without a clock.
All of which is a problem for Greg Hamilton and his peers. Once baseball loses its status as an Olympic sport, Baseball Canada will lose about $250,000 that it gets from the Canadian Olympic Committee.
"The problem is that if you're not an Olympic sport, the money seems to go elsewhere," said Hamilton, the general manager of the Canadian team. "We'd still get Sport Canada funding, but that's one of two envelopes we depend on. The other is Olympic money. We'd probably be able to make up some of it through corporate sponsorship and through our alumni program, but in a lot of countries, you'd see baseball just stroked off as a sport."
The World Baseball Classic, which was an artistic and somewhat of a financial success when it was first held in 2006, might turn into the type of revenue-generating event that could bridge the gap. But Hamilton says its format makes it difficult to budget for any income, and it won't help the sport develop in far-flung reaches such as Russia. "It's a bit like the (National Collegiate Athletic Association) basketball tournament, in that the further you go, the more money you make," Hamilton said.
Canada did not advance to the medal round in the first World Baseball Classic, despite upsetting the United States. Hamilton estimated Baseball Canada took home about USD 150,000, minus expenses. In other words, it broke even.
"There are costs associated with it," Hamilton said. "These are major-league players. They're used to travelling a certain way."
Indeed, it's likely that Canada's growing trove of major-league players may be called on to help fund the program. They will, because there is an enormous sense of loyalty among players who have come up through Baseball Canada. Like anything else, the extent of corporate support will dictate how much of an international standing Canada has in baseball. That will be a tough road to hoe, what with the economy flirting with a recession and most of corporate Canada's sports sensibilities geared toward Vancouver and the Winter Olympics of 2010.
Baseball, which has been in the Summer Olympics since 1992, makes too much money during this time of the year to shut down.
The International Baseball Federation can change the rules however it wants (Beijing will use a silly tiebreaking format for games that go 11 innings in which a runner will be put on second base to start the inning) and can hope that a Barack Obama presidency would make Americans popular enough to give the Olympics to Chicago and open a door for baseball's return in 2016. But when sports such as cricket and rugby are dramatically overhauling their formats, baseball's days as an Olympic sport are over.
The IOC has also turfed softball from 2012 in London. It apparently doesn't mind the charade of playing a women's hockey tournament so the U.S. and Canada can meet in a gold-medal game. But it does not like softball, which has turned into batting practice for the Americans. The fact it's a women's sport means softball may come back. Quietly going its own way instead of hooking up with baseball would only help its cause.
Copyright 2008 CTV Globemedia Publishing Inc.
The voice in our heads
When baseball fans recall their fondest memories of the sport - a walk-off home run, a pitcher's perfect game, a clinched World Series - the soundtracks in their heads often are the voices of favorite announcers calling the action. For New York Yankees fans, it's most likely Mel Allen. Detroit Tigers fans had Ernie Harwell.
The Atlanta Braves had just such a classic, distinctive broadcast voice in Skip Caray - a voice, sadly, that has fallen silent. The son of legendary Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray died in his sleep Sunday at age 68.
Since 1976, he and sidekick Pete Van Wieren guided radio listeners, and later TV viewers, through the ups and downs of the baseball club that has come to be known as "America's Team." Caray's sarcastic wit played perfectly off of Van Wieren's straight analysis.
Caray was knocked often for being too pro-Braves during his broadcasts, but so what? Would a Georgia football game be just as enjoyable if Larry Munson stayed objective and detached? Caray's "homer" attitude, coupled with his sense of humor, has entertained untold numbers of baseball fans, and he is a beloved part of the Braves family.
So when you remember Sid Bream's home-plate slide in the 1992 National League Championship Series, or the final out of the 1995 World Series, it will be Skip Caray's lively baritone replaying in your mind. He will be in our hearts as well.
2008 The Augusta Chronicle
Cuban's Cubs ownership: not so crazy
In the extra-inning saga that is the Chicago Cubs sale, Mark Cuban has been cast in the part of the feared slugger left sulking on the bench.
Pundits predicted Major League Baseball club owners would never allow the bombastic billionaire into their exclusive club. But Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell seems determined to get Mr. Cuban in the lineup as he vies to get more than USD 1 billion for the storied franchise. And observers are no longer so quick to count out Mr. Cuban, especially after Mr. Zell's decision last week to rebuff the initial bid of the perceived front-runner, Madison Dearborn Partners LLC Chairman John Canning.
"Cuban's the lead guy now," says one bidder.
It's in Mr. Zell's interest to prop up Mr. Cuban's viability with the league if for no other reason than to force other bidders to maximize their offers for the team. Should his final offer prove to be an outsized, ego-driven bid, a possibility that has other bidding groups wringing their hands, it could leave the 29 team owners hard-pressed to turn down the brash owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise. Some media reports peg his offer at USD 1.3 billion, highest among remaining bidders.
"If he's got a bid that's a couple hundred million more than the next person, it's hard to see how (the owners) go back to the Tribune and say, 'We just don't like the guy,' " says a Major League Baseball source.
The prospect of a big offer from Mr. Cuban is tantalizing to Mr. Zell, a fellow billionaire who, like Mr. Cuban, eschews neckties and loves to play the outsider.
Mr. Zell showed little regard for Chicago's business establishment with his swift snub of Mr. Canning's group. But pitching Mr. Cuban would test Mr. Zell's sales skills with powerful league owners who are as accustomed to getting their way as Mr. Zell is to getting his.
The lobbying already has begun.
"There have been ongoing conversations with the league and there's reason to believe that, as long as the structure of the transaction is sound, he would be a viable and acceptable candidate," says a person involved in the sale. Mr. Cuban, who turns 50 on Thursday, is among six bidders who made the first cut last week in Tribune's auction of the Cubs and Wrigley Field, a person from one bidding group says. All remaining bids top USD 1 billion, this person says. Tribune also has bids to buy Wrigley separately.
WHO GETS TO SEE THE CUBS' FINANCES?
Others cleared to get a closer look at the Cubs' finances include Thomas Ricketts, who runs a Chicago bond-trading business and whose family founded Ameritrade; Sports Acquisition Holding Corp., a publicly traded company formed this year expressly to buy a sports team and whose board includes Hank Aaron and Jack Kemp; and Michael Tokarz, chairman of Purchase, N.Y.-based investment fund MVC Capital Inc. Tribune's investment bankers urged Mr. Tokarz to team up with Sports Acquisition to make a single bid. Real estate exec Hersch Klaff and investor Leo Hindery also made the cut, a published report says.
Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney declines to comment on the bidding process. Messrs. Cuban and Canning also decline to comment.
Major League Baseball owners can be a fickle lot. In 2002, the Boston Red Sox sold to the third-highest bidder for USD 700 million (still an MLB record) in a deal critics claim was orchestrated by the league. The highest bid was USD 790 million. In 1980, league owners shot down real estate developer Eddie DeBartolo's bid for the White Sox under pressure from then-MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, clearing the way for current owner Jerry Reinsdorf. (Mr. Reinsdorf, who also owns the Bulls, voted against Mr. Cuban joining the ranks of NBA owners.) But owners voting on any bidder Tribune offers up would have reason to look beyond personality. A big bid would instantly bump up the values of all pro baseball teams.
"The Cubs bid certainly can raise the value of the other franchises dramatically," says Maury Brown, president of Portland, Ore.-based Business of Sports Network. He says Mr. Cuban has a chance to get approved, although "Canning fits the mold much better in terms of the league's culture."
Mr. Canning, who still could jump back in by upping his bid, had been viewed as a favorite ever since Mr. Zell signaled his intent more than a year ago to sell the Cubs. He is part owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and a friend of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's. His bidding group is a who's who of Chicago's business elite, including former Aon Corp. Chairman Patrick Ryan and McDonald's Corp. Chairman Andrew McKenna.
COURTSIDE RANTS
In contrast, Mr. Cuban is best-known for his courtside rants against referees and opposing players. The NBA has fined him more than USD 1 million for infractions ranging from critical entries on his blog to running onto the court to break up a fight. He was fined USD 500,000 for saying of an NBA official: "I wouldn't hire him to manage a Dairy Queen." In a public relations stunt, Mr. Cuban later spent several hours serving Blizzards to throngs of fans at a Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas. Mr. Cuban, who made his fortune as a dot-com entrepreneur, has virtually no Chicago ties. A Pittsburgh native who attended Indiana University, he now lives in Dallas. If he emerges with the top bid, Mr. Zell probably will urge team owners to overlook the volatile personality in light of Mr. Cuban's success in Dallas and popularity among fans and players.
"I'm gonna pull out all the stops" to buy the Cubs, Mr. Cuban said in a radio interview in June.
Since paying USD 280 million for the team in 2000, Mr. Cuban has "turned the Mavs around from league laughingstock to one of the NBA's premier franchises," Forbes magazine said last year. It pegs the team's 2007 value at USD 461 million and Mr. Cuban's personal wealth at USD 2.6 billion.
In 2006, he inked a promotion with American Airlines to hand out 20,000 free round-trip airline tickets for fan-appreciation day. The Maverick's locker rooms are the NBA's poshest: Each player's locker is equipped with the equivalent of a home-theater system. His success in Dallas "will help lure Major League Baseball to say, 'You've done a great job with the Mavericks and we think you'll do a great job with the Cubs,' " says Michael Rapkoch, president of Sports Value Consulting LLC in Dallas, who is not involved in the sale.
"I would put my money on Cuban," he says. "I think if he wants it, he will get it."
Copyright 2008 Crain Communications, Inc.
MLB's Petty Play
Major League Baseball isn't doing the sport any favors by pursuing a policy of bullying smaller organization. That's exactly what happened recently when MLB insisted that the six Cape Cod Baseball League teams using big-league ball club names purchase merchandise from Major League licensees. Do it, said the Big Boys, or drop the team names and risk loosing the USD 100,000 annual contribution MLB makes to the Cape League. Dropping the team names wouldn't be the end of the world, many of the teams were simply known by their town name for many decades, before the Cape league became a more organized entity, and loss of the money, roughly a quarter of the annual budget, wouldn't cripple the league operation. However, league officials decided to give in to preserve the 40-year relationship between the two leagues. While Cape Cod Baseball League Commissioner Paul Galop called the issue "much ado about nothing," it is really a stark example of a huge corporation throwing its muscle around for no other reason than to protect and enrich its own coffers.
MLB has done this before, not only on the college level but to little league teams using Big League baseball club names. One begins to wonder if the Major League is protecting its franchises, as it claims, or simply exerting the sort of control that in an individual would be considered on the verge of mental illness. Really, is anyone going to mistake the Chatham Athletics for the Oakland A's? Or the Tinsley Park, Ill. little league teams for their Big League counterparts? The impact of the decision locally will be that several Cape-based vendors will lose business to Major League merchandisers from who knows where. Not only does that take the money out of the local economy, but it probably means longer lag times between orders and delivery, which could be a problem given the short time between season and playoffs. It also probably means higher costs, although league officials downplay that possibility.
Cape League officials decided to accept MLB's terms for the season, but the teams can opt out in the fall. As Chatham A's coach John Schiffner told reporter Eric Adler, the league can't fight Major League Baseball. "It just seems awful petty on their part," Schiffner said. We couldn't agree more. Major League Baseball should stop trying to squeeze small, local nonprofit baseball organizations and keep its attention on the game, which is still recovering from last year's steroid scandal.
Copyright 2008, The Cape Cod Chronicle.
On special weekend, Williams shows no class
I'd like to think he's just a pro wrestler at heart, a carnival barker having some fun, a prankster with no malice intended. But when the subject is the Cubs, Ken Williams never has been a good-times guy. He is genuinely bitter about the realities of Chicago baseball classism, Cubs as the blueblooded phenomenon with the national identity and charming shrine, White Sox as the other team that no hotel concierge ever recommends. So it shouldn't surprise us that Williams, on the eve of the first Cubs-Sox slapdown featuring both as division leaders, wound up and beaned Cubdom with yet another purpose pitch.
"It is so different. You might as well build a border, a Great Wall of China on Madison, because we are so different," said the Sox general manager, dabbling in the sociology of the rivalry. "We might as well be in two different cities. The unfortunate thing for me is it's a shame that a certain segment of Chicago refused to enjoy a baseball championship being brought to their city. The only thing I can say is, 'Happy anniversary.'"
How weird is that? How low is that, bringing up the 100-year plague? And how hypocritical is that, given his role in the ongoing civic grudge? For years, Williams has positioned himself as an executive who encourages Sox fans to hate the Cubs and, thus, has contributed mightily to dividing the city. Now, he chides Cubs fans because they "refused to enjoy" the World Series title won by the Sox in 2005? He wants Sox fans to resent the Cubs and Cubs fans to respect the Sox? And I thought Ozzie Guillen made no sense. Oh, but it gets stranger. Williams was asked by Sun-Times beat reporter Joe Cowley if he ever would work for the Cubs. "That would be a betrayal," Williams said. "God, I would really, really have to need the job. Oh, wow, really need the job.
"Let me just throw out one question: What happens if we win another one before they win one?"
Well, Ken, the Cubs still would be a global darling and the Sox still would be the second team in the Second City, a distinction that won't change in any of our lifetimes. The Sox had their one chance to blow up the local culture by winning another championship in 2006, but they collapsed in the second half, went dark last season and only recently have returned to respectability with their first-place surge in the shockingly weak American League Central. I've seen a lot more empty seats at U.S. Cellular Field, and while the Sox might make the postseason, they're clearly the auxiliary story as Chicago and America, await the Cubs' fate in their dubious centennial. Come on. How unfortunate is Williams' timing? We're experiencing a precious slice of local history here, the amazing blur of both local baseball teams charging toward October, and the GM is picking petty fights. As for his pained feelings about ever working for the Cubs, Williams might want to know that his crosstown counterpart, classy Jim Hendry, made arrangements Thursday for Guillen's family to have a suite at Wrigley Field. This after the Blizzard of Oz has called Wrigley "the worst field in baseball," complained about having to park his car one year at the Clark Street McDonald's and said "there's 20,000 rats running around." Paralyzed like everyone else in Cubdom by Carlos Zambrano and his impending MRI results, Hendry has many more important issues on his plate than Guillen's mood. "I hope it's not serious," manager Lou Piniella said Thursday night in St. Petersburg, where the Cubs were playing the Rays. "I hope we find out what's wrong and we can take care of it in short order."
In fact, Ozzie is the last guy Hendry should be helping. But he did anyway, which speaks volumes about the two organizations. This is why, as I've often concluded, that it's easy to like the Cubs and easy to loathe the Sox. I'm not talking about the fans or players but the people at the top. And I say that not as a fan of either team repeat after me: media are not supposed to be fans but as a neutral observer who continues to be amazed by the noxious fumes spread by Sox brass. Didn't they win the World Series three years ago? Didn't they beat the Cubs to the Holy Grail? Shouldn't the Sox be the ones who are sated, fulfilled and, thus, dignified about pulling off the ultimate act of oneupsmanship? Maybe the Sox are what they are because of the way they act. If you talk and think as if you're the lesser party, then maybe an inferiority complex becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? Not once have I heard Piniella or Hendry say a bad word about the South Side franchise. Yet there was Guillen the other night, ridiculing Piniella. "It took them three weeks to find a (body) double for Piniella," said Guillen, referring to Lou's waist size. "For mine, you just go to a model agency."
This isn't Ozzie being Ozzie, the company line. Let's get it straight: This is a jerk being a jerk. If you want to like the jerk, fine, but that's what he is.
"One thing about Sox fans, they show up and watch the game," said the Blizzard, moving on to a Wrigley vs. The Cell argument. "Some people go to Wrigley Field, I'm not going to say everyone, some people go to Wrigley Field from Europe and Paris and want to have a tour of the game. No one wants to have a tour here. They're legit fans."
Yep, I guess it's better to play in a concrete blob with empty seats than a world-famous sports destination filled with bodies. It's hopeless to keep asking Williams and Guillen to stop talking. On their dying days, they'll still be yapping away in their caskets, complaining about the Cubs. It's so silly and juvenile, especially when you consider they're in first place and should be thankful the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians are underachieving. Before Williams talks too boldly about winning a second World Series before the Cubs win their first, he might want to realize his offense is mysteriously hot-and-cold, his manager always is capable of a rant that disturbs the peace and it's still possible the Tigers and Indians will challenge in the second half. The Sox are a good baseball club, nothing more, and they wouldn't fare well against the Red Sox or Angels in the playoffs.
When Williams claims he'd "really, really have to need the job" to work for the Cubs, I'd like him to update us on the Latin American scandal that doesn't make his administration look too good. A month ago, Williams had to fire his close friend, senior director of player personnel Dave Wilder, and two scouts after "violations of club policy and standards" were discovered amid a federal investigation of the scouting business. If this happened to get very ugly, you never know when Williams really, really might need another job. For now, if you don't mind, I'd like to focus on a miracle I never thought I'd see in small newspaper type, CHICAGO atop one division, CHICAGO atop another division. The Cubs will let us do that this weekend. I'm not sure if Kenny and Ozzie have the ability to stay classy.
Copyright 2008 Digital Chicago, Inc.
Wrigley Field Rooftop Club Takes Cub Watching to the Next Level
The recently completed Wrigley Field Rooftop Club has officially joined the ranks of the 16 other rooftop clubs that surround Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs.
"It is all the upgraded amenities that set the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club apart from the rest," said Tom Gramatis, Wrigley Field Rooftop Club Owner. "The atmosphere at the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club makes it the perfect place to watch a game with co-workers, potential business clients or with groups of friends."
The 9,000 square foot, three-story facility features the Rooftop Level, the Club Level and the MVP Suite. With more than three times the number of stadium seats of any other rooftop, the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club still finds a place for a large bar area, tables and Hi-Definition LCD televisions at the Rooftop Level. The climate controlled Club Level includes a large bar with individual seating and tables, plasma television screens and individual men's and women's bathrooms. The MVP Suite is the place to find all the bells and whistles with the choice of upgraded menu items, wine keepers and premium wines, private in-suite restrooms, a bar area and a full espresso/cappuccino bar. The MVP Suite also offers a private space for pre-game meetings and high tech audio/visual equipment for presentations.
The Wrigley Field Rooftop Club is owned by the same group as the Ivy League Baseball Club and the Sheffield Baseball Club. Built in 1914, The Ivy League Baseball Club was the first Chicago Cubs rooftop club. Sheffield, Ivy League and Wrigley Field rooftops all offer similar amenities and are all officially endorsed by the Chicago Cubs.
Copyright 1997-2008, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
|
