It’s that time of year again. It’s mid-April and the boys of summer are almost in full swing. What’s better than going out to Jack Murphy, excuse me, Qualcomm Stadium on a nice sunny afternoon and hearing the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and the whining of Rickey Henderson demanding to be traded every day?
Our national pastime is in its third week of play, and already this season has had its share of surprises. Larry Walker and the Colorado Rockies have done surprisingly well on the road, the New York Yankees are off to a shaky start and, more importantly, Roberto Alomar has kept his saliva to himself.
The season hasn’t gotten under way without a few problems. With the extra wild card team added to the playoffs a couple of years ago, major league baseball has had to start the season earlier to fit in a 162-game schedule. Sadly, Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated.
Last week, 17 games had to be postponed because of inclement weather. Many fans decided not to endure the harsh weather conditions. Only 746 people showed up to a Chicago White Sox game last week, even though Roger Clemens was taking the hill for the Blue Jays against the dynamic duo of Frank Thomas and Albert Belle.
Chicago fans aren’t the only ones who have had to suffer in the cold. With a wind chill of 15 degrees last week in Kansas City, Mo., fans were served free hot chocolate at the concession stands. Imagine getting something free at ballpark concession stands! Maybe the owners really do care about the fans.
The fans aren’t the only ones suffering. After all, the players are the ones who have to take to the frozen diamonds. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Eric Davis has voiced his displeasure with the early season games.
“We’re guarded as professionals, but to endure what we had to was pathetic,” he said in USA Today. “The people making those decisions are sitting up in a warm booth and don’t know what it’s like on the field.”
Your heart has to go out to Davis and all the other players. Here they are just trying to get by with what little money they make. They play a sport we all played as kids, and they’re forced to take the field in the cold. I don’t know how these guys do it.
One baseball team hoping for more cold weather is the Chicago Cubs (0-12). Somebody must have forgotten to tell them the season has started because they’re off to the worst start in National League history. Their 0-12 start broke the record held by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines. The way they’re playing, there’s a good possibility the Hale-Bopp Comet will return before the Cubs win a game. Things have gotten so bad in Chicago that outfielder Brian McRae had to ask his wife to go on a trip because he felt he wouldn’t be any fun to be around.
The players aren’t the only ones feeling the hurt of the team’s bad start. Announcer Harrey Carey who has reduced the price of beers in his Chicago tavern to 45 cents until the Cubs win a game, is losing money at a fast rate. Even people from out of state have flocked to take advantage of this bargain. Too bad Monty’s didn’t do the same thing for the 0-12 start of the San Diego State men’s volleyball team.
At the other side of the win-loss spectrum is the surprising start of the San Francisco Giants. Even though they’re out of the gate with a 10-3 record, I can’t see the Giants keeping it up the whole season.
Giants outfielder Barry Bonds recently said on ESPN’s “Up Close” that part of his reason for signing a contract extension to stay with the Giants was his belief that “God is gonna turn things around in San Francisco.” I hate to say it, Barry, but I think the Giants could sign Jesus to play center and Allah right and they still wouldn’t win the World Series with their pitching staff.
Pitching could also be the downfall of the Chicago White Sox after losing staff ace Alex Fernandez to free agency. What the White Sox didn’t expect this season was the struggles of Frank Thomas and Albert Belle. Belle, who joined the White Sox this offseason after signing a $55 million contract, recently went through a 1-for-27 slump. That’s not the kind of production tight-fisted owner Jerry Reinsdorf was expecting after signing the controversial Belle.
Baseball is back, and things couldn’t be better unless you’re a Cubs fan. It’s time to grab a hot dog, a bag of peanuts and a nice cold one. Maybe even leave the parking lot and actually go into the stadium and catch a couple innings. Where else would you rather be?
Shawn Jansen is a junior and a staff writer for The Daily Aztec.
