Good and bad in baseball at the All-Star break:
Good: Cal Ripken, at age 38, goes 6 for 6 in
a game. Despite his horrible start, after which many columnists were begging him to retire, Cal is now hitting
.313. He recently signed a contract extension to play in 2000, and it looks like he'll get his 3,000 hits and 400
homers with no problem. He's one good thing to root for on the godawful Orioles.
Bad: The Orioles still have Albert Belle.
Good: Ted Williams rolling onto the field at Fenway, tipping his cap to the crowd for the first time in nearly 60 years. If you read Ted's autobiography, you'll find that Ted tipped his cap to the fans all the time in 1939 and 1940, his first two seasons. When the Boston writers got on him and the fans started booing him, he stopped. He didn't do it again till Tuesday. That was great to see.
Bad: I'm sorry that Ted wasn't wearing a Red Sox cap. He was wearing a hat that advertised his website. Oh well.
Good: The highest-spending teams, especially the Dodgers and Orioles, are floundering in the standings.
Bad: Nothing bad about that at all. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
Good: The umpires have all resigned en masse, effective September 2. God knows these arrogant, overweight buffoons are making the same mistake that the air traffic controllers made in 1981. The air traffic system survived, and so will major league baseball.
Bad: Having said that, one has to admit that major league baseball brought this situation on itself. They suspended Roberto Alomar for a piddling five games after he spit on John Hirschbeck in 1995. The umps respected the players' picket lines in the 1995 preseason, but the players refused to return the favor when the umps struck later on. There's enugh blame to go around for this potential mess. It's mostly, but not all, the fault of the umpires' union.
Good: Pedro Martinez of the Red Sox had a 15-3 record at the All-Star break. He's got a chance to be the first pitcher since Denny McLain in 1968 to win 30 in a season.
Bad: It won't happen. I was amazed to find that Martinez got a decision in every one of his starts so far in 1999. He compiled a 15-3 record in 18 starts! He can't possibly keep that up through the heat of the summer. He'll get 25 or 26 wins, I'll bet.
Good: The Sporting News picks Barry Bonds as Player of the Decade, 1990-1999.
Bad: I would have picked Ken Griffey Jr., with Bonds second, but I'm not complaining. Much, anyway.
Good: The Mariners are finally out of that architectural monstrosity, the Kingdome.
Bad: Safeco Field, their new home park, has a retractable roof to let the wet, humid Seattle air in on non-rainy days (yes, they have a few of them every year in Seattle). This means that the ball won't carry as well, cutting down Ken Griffey Jr.'s home run totals. So, maybe he'll hit 45-48 homers a season instead of 56-60, harming his chances of catching Hank Aaron for the all-time record of 755.
Good: The current All-Stars gathering around Williams, Mays, Aaron, Musial, and others at the All-Star game on Tuesday. Pedro Martinez sought out Tom Seaver to shake his hand, and Seaver said later, "He gets it. He understands that baseball isn't about him, it's about the past, the present, and the future. He gets it." It looked on Tuesday like a lot of the present players, like Ripken, Sosa, McGwire, Griffey, Gwynn, and others, are getting it, too.
Bad: The Orioles still have Albert Belle.