York Yankees Scorecard
Connie Mack or Joe Torre...A fair comparison?
Connie Mack was once a catcher, but made his mark as a manager. After a stint at the helm of Pittsburgh, he assumed control of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901 and continued for 50 years until retirement at the age of 88. "The Tall Tactician," best remembered as a dignified, scorecard-waving leader in a business suit, won five World Series crowns and built two dynasties - with four pennants in five years from 1910 to 1914 and three in a row from 1929 to 1931. He holds the mark for wins (3,776) by a skipper.
Joe Torre, manager of the New York Yankees will definitely be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
Is it a fair comparison or are we comparing apples and oranges by comparing Torre against Mack?
Could we switch Connie Mack and Joe Torre and still have winning seasons?
I think it's a fair comparison.
Both managers have proven that they can win when given great teams. For Torre, it's been the $200 million Yankees loaded with stars for the past decade. For Mack, it was guys like Home Run Baker, Eddie Collins, Eddie Plank and Chief Bender, then studs like Mickey Cochrane and Jimmie Foxx.
Both have proven that, given a crappy team, they can also lose. Mack has a career losing record because of the seasons that the A's would inevitably suffer whenever they sold off their players. Joe Torre had a losing record in his pre-Yankee career because he, too, wasn't working with his current group of Yankee superstars.
I don't think either is a bad manager, but I think that they both point towards the fact that a manager can only do so much, and that it comes down to the players on the field.
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I don't really care whether we win or lose, but it's always nicer if we win. The walk back to my car after a winning game is a lot more fun. When we lose, just about everyone is down in the dumps, and it's hard to engage any fans in conversation after a loss.
What I like about going to an Orioles game is being at the ballpark. I look forward to buying my peanuts, sodas, and other munchies for the game from the outside vendors. Outside the ballpark you can get a soda for one or two bucks, but inside you're looking at four bucks for a soft drink.
Same thing with peanuts. Outside you'll spend a couple of bucks. Inside, a small bag will cost you three bucks or more. It's not that I can't afford the extra money inside. But I know the vendors outside the park are trying to make a living and working hard. I usually buy from the same people each time.
I'm one of those score-keeping fans. I used to pay $5 or so for a program, but Outside Pitch sells their newsletter outside the ballpark for only $2, and that includes a stapled-in scorecard and a pencil. I regularly buy the newsletter for the articles, but I don't like their scorecard, so I print out a few before I leave for the ballpark and use my own.
After the ballgame I look forward to a couple of musicians who always play outside the game. Yes, they're looking for some money ... the hat is always out front when they're playing. The trumpet player, though, is good enough that I'll stand and watch/listen to him play for ten minutes before I walk away. Both my son and I generally add a buck or so to the pile in the hat.
We used to have a drummer outside the park who played upbeat rhythms as we walked to our cars. I haven't seen him for about a year. I hope he's back this year. He was worth a buck or two for the entertainment. Instead of a drum set, he was using upturned plastic tubs. And he was good at it. He usually drew a crowd. Again, I hope he's back this year.
I also have a favorite place to park. It's a few blocks away, but by the time I get to my car, all the traffic is gone and I never have a wait in traffic (except maybe a wait to get out of the parking lot). Once I leave the lot, I'm home in 20 minutes (I live about 10 miles away).
Oh, yeah, I enjoy the game too. Keeping score means I don't worry so much whether we win or lose. I'm keeping score on my scorecard. That's the important part of the game for me. I hope that there's more high numbers on the Orioles' side of the card. But just keeping score alone keeps me interested in the game, no matter what happens.
Hope to see you at the game.
Wayne Stoler is head of Letter Perfect Mailing Services, a company that handles mailings for over 2,000 companies. Letter Perfect also sells mailing lists, and specializes in small to medium size mailings. Wayne's clients keep coming back because he has years of experience in getting mailers read, and even more years in dealing with postal regulations. He can be contacted by email at wstoler@us.net or call him directly at 800.397.8973. You can read about his Orioles obsession in his blog at http://baltimore-orioles.topsitenow.com
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