To Absent Friends - Matty Alou

News arrives today that Matty Alou passed away today in his native Dominican Republic at the age of 72. Alou is, of course, famous for being one of the three Alou brothers who played in the major leagues in the 1960's and -70's.

Pirates fans will remember him coming to the Pirates after in 1966 in one of Joe L. Brown's great trades (Joe Gibbon and Ozzie Virgil went to the Giants). All Alou did in his five seasons with the Bucs was put together seasons where he produced batting averages of .342, .338, .332, .331, and .297, winning the NL batting championship in 1966. Over 15 big league seasons, he compiled a .307 lifetime batting average.

I will remember Alou as being a part of some of my favorite Pirates teams of all time in the late 60's when the Pirates often challenged for a pennant, but never quite made it, but, man could those teams hit...Clemente, Stargell, Clendennon, Alou, Mota, Pagliaroni....Some cherished memories there.

It might also be noted, that even when Alou left the Pirates, he served them well. He was traded after the 1970 season to the Cardinals for Nelson Briles and Vic Davillio, two key guys on the 1971 World Series Champions.

RIP Matty Alou.

The Clemente Picture

Below you will see a picture of the picture of Roberto Clemente that I won at the World Series Gala at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last week. We bought the frame and decided to hang it in a place of honor in our den at home.

Appropriate that it hangs below a painting of Forbes Field, don't you think?

Some Baseball News

Well, we can all calm down after that big Steelers win yesterday, and it has been three whole days since the end of the World Series, so why not kick off the Hot Stove Season right now.

In some not so surprising news, the Pirates made it official today that they will not be picking up the club options for four players for 2012: pitcher Paul Maholm, catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder, and shortstop Ronny Cedeno. The Maholm and Doumit moves are not surprising since they represent $25.25 million in salary obligations on the part of the team. The Snyder move is somewhat surprising because, while Snyder would have cost them $6.75 million in salary next year, they have to have somebody who can catch and at least have a reasonable chance at hitting the ball. The Cedeno move is a real surprise since his salary next year would have been a relative pittance, $3 million, and despite his mental lapses that tend to drive you absolutely crazy, it has been obvious that the Pirates have been unable to find - or pay - anyone who can do any better (see Wood, Brandon).

If you are keeping score at home, the Pirates have now pared off $35 million in salary obligations for 2012 and are in desperate need of a catcher, a shortstop, and at least one starting pitcher, and this is in addition to everything else a 90 loss team needs. What exactly will they do with that $35 million? Not nearly enough to sign Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins to play shortstop or CJ Wilson to pitch. Maybe they will sink that money into securing Andrew McCutchen or Neil Walker to long term deals. Or maybe it will go into "player development" and be used to help the long term plans of the team as the current team struggles to avoid 90 losses again next season.

As I read somewhere today, it's going to be an interesting off season watching GM Neal trying to plug these holes. Right now, I am having a very sinking feeling that the team we watch in 2012 could be a lot worse than what we saw in 2011.

*****

Elsewhere in baseball, more surprising news arrived with the announcement of Tony LaRussa's retirement. Those who know me know that I am no big fan of LaRussa's. I thought him to be smug and self-important and someone who relished the "genius" tag that the George Wills and Buzz Bissingers of the world bestowed upon him. I also thought that he was allowed to skate on that DUI charge of a few years back. To my knowledge, he never received a reprimand from either MLB or the Cardinals on that.

Be all that as it may, you cannot take away from his accomplishments. Only Connie Mack and John McGraw won more games as a manager, and he had to have had something to do with that two month run that the Cardinals just pulled off. So his eventual plaque in the Baseball of Fame will be well deserved.

And he is certainly going out on a high note!

*****

One other baseball note. Last week on Pardon the Interruption, Tony and Mike interviewed the newly appointed Cubs major domo Theo Epstein, late of the Boston Red Sox. When asked what it would take to turn the Cubs around, Theo spouted the usual baseball b.s. about player development, setting up a flow of talent that would turn the team into a contender year in and year out, and not just for a one shot deal and on and on and on. It was the same line that we have been hearing for Coonelly and Huntington since their arrival in 2007. I mean, word for word. I guess the big difference is that Theo had the unlimited checkbook of John Henry in Boston to make it work, and I suspect those same resources will be available to him in the Windy City.

Book Review: "Shock Wave"

I recently finished reading John Sandford's newest novel, "Shock Wave." Earlier in the year, I had read an reviewed Sandford's other book this year, "Buried Prey", which featured Sandford's signature character, Minnesota police detective chief Lucas Davenport. "Shock Wave" features Sandford's other series character, police detective Virgil Flowers.

(See http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-review-buried-prey.html)

Flowers was actually a minor character in the Davenport books who Sandford, I am happy to say, decided to spin off in his own series of novels. He still works for Davenport in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), and Lucas appears "off-screen" in these novels, usually as a sort of sounding board for Virgil as he conducts his investigations.

In this novel, a huge big box retailer, PyeMart, is planning on opening a new store in the small Minnesota town of Butternut Falls. Having this store in the community would virtually destroy existing small businesses in the community and, essentially, ruin the lives of many, many people in the town. So someone intends to stop it by planting bombs at both PyeMart headquarters and at or near the proposed construction site. Several people have been killed by these bombs. Finding the bomber is Virgil's job.

It's a great story with terrifically drawn characters. (There is one scene where Virgil is interviewing a teen aged boy who is working as a desk clerk at the motel where he is staying about a woman who might be somehow involved with a possible suspect. It is a classic scene.) This is the I believe the fifth Virgil flowers novel that Sandford has written, and while they are not yet quite the equal of the Lucas Davenport "Prey" novels, they are rapidly closing in on them.

Check them out.

By the way, when I read stories with series characters like these, I always try to picture the actors who would portray them if they were made into movies. I always had a hard time coming up with an actor for Lucas Davenport. I have recently earned that USA Network has made a movie of the book "Certain Prey" and that it will star Mark Harmon as Lucas. It will air next Sunday, November 6. I'm thinking that Harmon might be a little too old for the part, but I am also thinking that he just may be able to pull it off. I'm looking forward to watching it.

Steelers 25 - Patriots 17

Well, I certainly didn't see THIS one coming.

The Steelers certainly dominated New England this afternoon in that 25-17 victory. The closeness of the score doesn't reflect the dominating nature of the win, and as one Loyal Reader mentioned to me, NE had to screw up an onside kick to assure the win. And I do question the wisdom of the two pass attempts at the end that resulted in sacks that led to the Steelers having to punt the ball and give NE yet one more chance, albeit a slim one, to score again. Still, that was the New England Patriots and Tom Brady that they were playing out there. It wasn't supposed to be easy.

I almost screamed and applauded something that Phil Simms said in the broadcast. He referenced how people often say that the Steelers need to go back to "playing Steelers football", meaning a constant, pounding running game. While I can't quote Simms directly, what he said was that "Steelers football" in 2011 is NOT running the football. It is throwing the football. When you have an elite quarterback and a corps of receivers like the Steelers have, your are SUPPOSED TO RELY ON PASSING THE FOOTBALL. Thank you, Phil. I have been saying that for at least the last two seasons. However, I fully expect the talk show crowd, who don't realize that Woody Hayes and Jock Sutherland are dead, to be filling the airwaves starting tomorrow - if they aren't already - that "Ariens needsta be runnin' the ball more n'at."

The win today now assures that the Yinzers of Steelers Nation will be frothing at the mouth all week over the arrival of the Ravens at Heinz Field next Sunday night. It will be a big game for certain, and the hype will be waaayyyy over the top. Probably best to not turn on the radio much this week.

Quickie Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

Wow, it has been a busy time these last several days. Not a lot of time to post, but some quick thoughts:

• What a World Series! I am planning a more detailed write-up on this later in the week, but it sure was a dandy.


• Steelers vs Patriots this afternoon. I am not hopeful.


• Central advances to the quarter-finals of the WPIAL Soccer tourney. Next game on Tuesday night.


• With the World Series over, we finally caught up on all back-logged TV shows on DVR last night with a marathon three episode viewing of "Person of Interest." Lot of people died over that three hour period!


• Now there are all those movies I DVR'd from TCM over the last few weeks.


• The Pitt hoopsters opened with a 101-33 squeaker over D-II LaRoche college yesterday. Robert Morris opens with a similar cannon-fodder opponent tomorrow night, wheeling Jesuit.


• Off to see nephew Brian and the North Pittsburgh Ironmen footballers this afternoon. good prelim for the Steelers game!

Enjoy the day, everyone!

SABR Meeting

Just for the heck of it, I am sending along to all Grandstander Loyal Readers a summary of yesterday's meeting of SABR's Pittsburgh Chapter (some of you may have already read this in another forum):

The Pittsburgh / Forbes Field Chapter of SABR held its Fall meeting yesterday, October 29, at the Senator John Heinz Western Pennsylvania History Center. Despite a surprise pre-Halloween snowstorm that delayed the arrival of many of the attendees, a total of 45 people attended the meeting.

Our guest speaker was Joe Jordano, Head Baseball Coach at the University of Pittsburgh. Coach Jordano has been at the helm of the Panthers for 15 seasons, and in 2012, he will become the winningest coach in Pitt baseball history. He informed the group that since he became coach in 1997, over 50 Panthers players have been drafted and signed by major league teams. Pitt will be one of the strongest teams in the Big East in 2012, and Coach Jordano looks forward to the challenges that Pitt will face when they move to Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.

The Chapter plans on attending a Pitt baseball game as a group this spring at Pitt’s Peterson Athletic Complex on campus.

Thanks go out to member Marky Billson for arranging the Coach’s appearance.

The day also included the following member presentations:

Bob Sproule talked about attending the World Series Gala at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Bill Sproule presented “A Casual Fan Looks at Some Numbers” concerning the 2011 baseball season. Combining OPS and WHIP, Bill’s numbers had the eight teams that made the MLB Playoffs occupying eight of the first nine slots in his “final standings.”

Nina Schreiner talked about her summer as an intern at the Baseball of Fame. Great stories and pictures from her most interesting summer job were a part of her presentation.

Joe Guzzardi discussed the trend of more foreign born players entering the Major Leagues.

Jim Haller conducted the ballpark-themed trivia contest, won by Joe Elinich.

Len Martin discussed the possibility of SABR becoming involved in an attempt to preserve, by some means, a marking of the spot of home plate from old Exposition Park, site of the first World Series in 1903. Len and others from SABR had determined the spot of home plate back in 2003, and that land will soon be developed, probably as an office building, within the next year.

Sam Reich presented his ideas for leveling the playing field among all teams in MLB. It involves additional draft picks for some teams and world wide entry draft.

The raffle prize, a tee shirt from the Baseball Hall of Fame that featured the HOF plaque of Roberto Clemente, was won by member Alan Steinberg.

Future plans that were discussed for the Chapter for 2012 included attending a Pirates game as a group, the aforementioned University of Pittsburgh game, possible plans for SABR Day on January 28, attending the Cleveland chapter meeting on February 4, our winter Hot Stove gathering at SoHo Restaurant sometime following the Super Bowl, and another chapter outing to see a Pittsburgh Franklins Vintage Base Ball Game next summer.