Leading Off with Tom Bartsch

Fan Witnesses Every MLB Matchup
Posted by Tuff Stuff

Among the mountains of press releases and assorted mail we received in the last week came a rather interesting publicity piece about a baseball fan in Racine, Wis.

For the past 55 years, John Salvo has been attending baseball games, which can be said for a lot of people. But he claims with the Oct. 2 game between the New York Mets and Houston Astros, he will have personally witnessed every possible Major League Baseball matchup in both leagues – 442 games total, with 13 games at every American League location and 15 at every National League venue.

As part of the release, there is some neat background on Salvo and his baseball-watching career. He attended his first game in 1954, when Cleveland visited the Chicago White Sox. He began travelling long distance to attend games in 1962 and guesses he has spent more than $100,000 in completing the quest.

As part of the tally, Salvo said he has been to 955 games and attended 57 different stadiums, half of which are no longer in use. As you might have guessed, he’s witnessed a few milestone events along the way, including two no-hitters and a triple play. He’s even caught 15 foul balls. Among the irritants of jet lag, traffic jams and the like from so many travels, Salvo said the most irritating aspects of the journey are “the wave” and “the chop” in Atlanta, along with fans stating some variation of “suck” in their taunts to opposing players.

But here is something that might even be more impressive. I’m gong to straight from the source for this one: “In the mid-1980s, I determined from my travel records that I had driven about 70 percent of the interstate highway system. I set out to systematically finish the remaining 30 percent,” Salvo said. “In October 2007, I completed the goal of driving/riding on every mile of every interstate highway, excluding three-digit spurs/bypass routes. As new interstates are built, I go there to drive them.”

Sounds like Mr. Salvo is in the business of achieving lengthy milestones. He either has a good car, or some serious rental miles.

Salvo said his favorite player of all time is Nellie Fox, and the best baseball moment in his life was the next-day celebration of the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series Championship. He even named his dog Ozzie Guillen.
Here’s hoping the Mets faithful hold a celebration for such loyalty to the game on Oct. 2.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:26:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

My Dream Job Involves Hot Dogs
Posted by Tuff Stuff

It’s a question you start writing about in grade school and something you discuss until you pass on, unless you actually achieve it: what would be your favorite job?

It was suggested that Baseball HOF President Jeff Idelson might have the best job in the world as the caretaker of the some of the finest memorabilia in the world. Hob-nobbing with diamond greats wouldn’t be too shabby either.

But I was thinking about some other “dream” jobs in the sports world, so I thought I’d share some of mine and in turn hope to hear some of yours. This is a fantasy that doesn’t deal with how much money you make, rather the enjoyment of the position.

One of the first jobs I would like to try is being a promotions director for a minor league baseball team. You get to use your imagination to come up with new promotions and on-field entertainment, and the crowd always enjoys the sideshow. As long as you avoid dynamite, nickel beers and scary clowns, you should be all right.

I think another great job would be serving as a bullpen catcher. You suit up with the team, handle all of the pitchers and do . . . nothing else. Sure, it would be nice to actually be on the field, but this is the next best thing. Plus, you still get to hear insults from the opposing crowd on the road, and some of that is really entertaining.

Being a mascot has always been intriguing, but after watching kids beat on the Kool-Aid man before a Milwaukee Bucks game in the early 1990s, I’ve softened on that one. But if I could be a mascot that does all those crazy slam dunks off of a trampoline, that might win me over.

I was also thinking about being one of the guys that holds the yardage markers on the sidelines in football games, but you see too many guys get drilled by a running back headed out of bounds. Perhaps being the sound guy that carries the big saucer-like device would be better – I could use that for protection.

I also figure a “spotter” in NASCAR can’t be that difficult, although you can’t control the driver so if he does something unexpected that makes your reporting inaccurate, you might catch the blame for wrecking an expensive car. I’d take the chance though.

I didn’t mention anything about being a professional athlete, because I knew early on that wasn’t realistic. But shooting hot dogs from a gun is.

Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:46:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Friday, September 18, 2009

MLBPA Taking Aim at Youngsters
Posted by Tuff Stuff

MLB Players Association summer hobby shop promotion, dubbed the Big League Blast, concluded in August, reportedly with solid results from the 250 hobby shops that participated in the four-month promotion.

During the promotion’s run, customers who visited participating hobby shops and purchased a pack of any Topps or Upper Deck baseball product received a ticket for an entry into a monthly drawing, with prizes ranging from Majestic baseball jerseys to autographed photos and other licensed products.

“The idea for the promotion came from a New York Times article I read late last year when the economy softened talking about the need for small specialty retailers to create events to bring people into their stores and give them a reason to shop. That really applied to my hobby shops,” said the MLBPA’s Evan Kaplan about how the program got started. “We’re able to tap into a lot of our product credits and build a nice prize pool. But we also wanted to build awareness for the new releases, so we were able to accomplish that.”

Hobby shops got a big boost from the promotion as well, as evidenced by the outpouring of positive comments from dealers who e-mailed Kaplan during and after the promotion’s run. Here’s an example: “We had so many people in here for this drawing there was barely enough room to move around in the store. We sold out completely of all featured product and most of everything else we had in baseball,” said Dale and Matt from Mr. Dale’s Tradin’ Card LLC.

There were dozens more just like it, which is nice to hear when so much of the hobby news tends to be on the negative side.

Kaplan also shed a little light on the Baseball Card Clubhouse program the MLBPA conducts with stores aimed at Boy Scout troops and other youth organizations. He said more than 500 stores are currently participating with more signing up all of the time. This will continue well into 2010, with new ideas currently in development.

“The feedback has been phenomenal, but the best feedback is when the kids come back after the initial seminar and become regular customers,” Kaplan said.

You always hear in this hobby about how youth need to be a focal point. Well, here are two programs that are actually working. I plan on getting regular updates on these promotions and will fill you in on the details.

Friday, September 18, 2009 3:02:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Ernie Davis Story Got Me Thinking
Posted by Tuff Stuff

There are plenty of times when you run across names in the sporting world and, aside from knowing they won a particular trophy or award, you know little else about them, either biographical or how they got on the big stage in the first place. Unfortunately, you never take the time to go a step futher and learn more about the player.

Such was the case with me regarding running back Ernie Davis. Yes, I knew Davis won the Heisman Trophy in 1961, becoming the first black player to do so. But I didn’t know about the racial hardships he endured – even while accepting trophies – nor the story behind why he never played a down in the NFL (he was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away at age 23). It took a viewing of the movie The Express starring Rob Brown as Davis for me to get most of the story, but I learned the background on a sports legend all the same.

It makes you wonder as the years and decades roll by how many of these background stories will survive. As the people who saw these events first-hand start to dwindle, it comes down to people learning about these events through hand-me-down stories and/or doing some research.

Davis is probably fairly well known, but let’s say Rick Ankiel, an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, happens to win the World Series MVP this year. Will collectors 10 years from now remember he came up through the ranks as a dominating strikeout pitcher before experiencing strike zone command issues and then blowing out his arm?

Always a good hitter, Ankiel returned to the majors after switching to the outfield and is a better-than-average player for the Cardinals today.
There are tons of stories like these in professional sports and I think it would make for a great book idea, if one doesn’t already exist. The stories are already there – all someone would have to do is compile them, do some interviews and the result would be a great read in my opinion. Perhaps I’ll get to it in my free time.

The size might be a problem, but the stories could be condensed to make it a manageable read.

I’m curious if any readers have a particular favorite athlete background story, either well known or not. It could even be a personal experience with said athlete. I think it’s those details that are nearly as fascinating than what an athlete does on the field, ice or court.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:36:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Thursday, September 03, 2009

Team-signed balls are a love/hate affair
Posted by Tuff Stuff

I have found a new collecting category for my world that is rather aggravating, yet quite rewarding at the same time. I’ve been branching out from simple yearbooks to autographed balls. In particular, I’ve been intrigued by team-signed balls.

I think to have a piece of memorabilia connected to a specific memorable season, be it a World Series year or when a certain player hit a milestone, is pretty special. Heck, if I had a team-signed ball from my Little League days, I’d get a kick out of that, too. You can run down the names and remember little things about the season. In Little League, that might have been as simple as, “This guy always ducked out of the box with every pitch.”

I think a 1986 New York Mets team-signed ball would be neat to have, but you’d have to have the ’86 Red Sox team ball, too, to tell the whole story from that season. And any Yankees or Milwaukee Braves team-signed ball would be special, as both franchises had some legendary Hall of Famers go through their ranks. But a Big Red Machine or Musial-led Cardinals ball would be nice, too. There are definitely plenty of high-caliber choices.

But as I have been digging around in this category, I’ve also found that it can be a rather frustrating hunt. For instance, just because it says “team-signed ball,” that doesn’t mean it was signed by the entire team. With a roster usually consisting of 25 regulars, you’d like to find a ball with all of those regulars.

That means if it’s a 1987 Twins ball, I want Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven and Jeff Reardon, along with Randy Bush, Al Newman and Gene Larkin. And every team-signed ball should have the manager on the sweet spot, regardless of the future Hall of Famers on the roster. Good or bad, the manager was the leader of that team and should be recognized as such. (It carries a little more clout when it’s Joe Torre vs. Ned Yost.)

The other part I find maddening is trying to figure out who on the team did sign the ball. Some of the signatures are illegible and even with the help of Baseball Almanac, which lists complete rosters, I am lost. It doesn’t help that some team-signed balls include September call-ups.

Along those same lines, and I’ve said it before, it’s amazing how much easier it is to read older team-signed balls compared to more recent versions. I understand the autograph demands of today’s players is probably far greater and less cordial than 50 years ago, but you’d think team-signed balls, usually completed in a controlled setting, would be a good place to put forth a nice signature. Obviously, most players today don’t care.

Sure, you could get one of the stamped team-signed balls and accomplish some of the same goals I mentioned earlier, but everyone knows that’s not the same. Clubhouse signatures are another burr in my saddle. All of the players should sign the ball themselves, or it’s not a team-signed ball, plain and simple.

Another angle I’m considering is All-Star team-signed balls. I figure that’s one way to get a bunch of great stars (at least for one year) and future Hall of Famers in one spot. Plus, it’s humorous to see which players made the team, especially in the modern-era when you have that stupid rule where one player from every team is added to the All-Star roster. If you’re an All-Star, you’re an All-Star. A Washington Nationals fan isn’t going to stop watching just because Adam Dunn didn’t make the team. But I digress.

In the end, I’m a signed ball guy these days, for good or bad. For now, I’ll keep searching to make sure Rob Picciolo is on my ’82 Milwaukee Brewers ball.

Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:48:22 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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