What's your favorite baseball team?

[That Announcer]

Hmmm... I abhor the Red Sox. I guess I'd say the Cubs are my favorite team.

 

[Ziffel]

Not a Bluejays fan eh, That Announcer? Or a former Expos fan?

Also, I see at this one baseball site that the San Francisco Giants are about to become the first team to win 10,000 games. (9996 currently). You would think the Yankees would have more wins but the Giants go back to 1883 (New York Giants back then) and the Yankees franchise goes back to 1901 (as the New York Highlanders). The Yankees do have the best all time winning percentage, though (.566) and, of course, by far the most World Series wins.

 

[That Announcer]

Not a Bluejays fan eh, That Announcer? Or a former Expos fan?

You kiddin' me? Us Canadians don't have a bloody clue about how to play sports!

 

[Ziffel]

Haha well at least in 1993 Toronto beat Philly in the World Series. And in hockey the Maple Leafs are pretty good but just can't win the Cup (well, of course NO ONE can now with this lockout lasting forever). I actually never followed hockey much. But I have some family in Toronto who love the Leafs, so I like to see them do well. Been a long time since they won a Stanley Cup but neat that the last time was in my birth year - 1967. Oh and by the way, I think the first time I ever heard of Nova Scotia was in connection with hockey. In the mid 70's or so after we moved to New York I think in the newspaper I would see Nova Scotia listed as one of the AHL teams.

 

[That Announcer]

Oh yeah, the Mooseheads! I usually see one or two of their games per season. OK, they're alright, perhaps some Canadians can play sports...

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

Oooh the ULTIMATE in long-suffering right there. But I'm sure the RedSox winning their first Series since 1918 last year has comforted the many Cub fans wanting them to end their 1908 drought!

True. Now if only the Cubs could stop losing 1/3 of their team to the disabled list every year...

-Kim

 

[Docnzhoss]

True. Now if only the Cubs could stop losing 1/3 of their team to the disabled list every year...

-Kim

Try losing the only player worth a darn to the DL for 35-40 games every year. The Royals Mike Sweeney finds about any way he can to get hurt and leave our team with a bunch of fledgling dinkers who historically go on a surge during the first few days of his absence then suffer a collective epic slump until he gets back.

I would talk about some bright spots the Royals have going for them this season (Tony Graffanino proving himself lucrative trade bait, DJ Carrasco pitching very well, Emil Brown channeling Bo Jackson, David DeJesus' spectacular fielding, Mike MacDougal's re-emergance as an effective closer) but letdowns like Jose Lima, shoddy pitching, hitting and defense and a manager who just walks away out of utter frustration two months into the season overshadow the good things. Not to mention the fact that the Royals are once again owners of the worst record in baseball.

I'll hang on to hope that the Yankees keep finding ways to lose. Even if the season is lost I'll always have that magical series in which the Yanks got themselves swept by my Kansas City Royals.

 

[McFraggle]

You kiddin' me? Us Canadians don't have a bloody clue about how to play sports!

LOL.

 

[Ziffel]

Even if the season is lost I'll always have that magical series in which the Yanks got themselves swept by my Kansas City Royals.

Yeah times have been hard for the Royals for a long time now but at least they had a great decade between 1975 and 1985 (Hey that's the same time span of "The Jeffersons"!). A lot of good players back then, like Frank White and Amos Otis, but George Brett clearly the greatest and one of the greatest hitters of all time. And I saw that classic pine tar incident live. Hey that would be a good question in the category of, "Where were you when ..."
Well since you are only 25, Docnzhoss, and this happened in 1983 I guess you first saw this later in old films. For me, I was 16 and living in New York and watching my Yanks against the Royals on tv. A friend of mine came over and wanted to shoot some baskets in the driveway. I told him I'm watching the game and it's in the 9th inning and a good one. He said we could bring the radio outside and listen to it while we shoot. I agreed to do that and then shortly afterwards as we were playing basketball we heard George Brett hit a homerun. But then we heard Billy Martin was protesting and the umpires were in a long conference together. When this standstill continued for several more minutes, my friend and I were really curious to see what was going on so we went back in the house to the tv. And as soon as we turned it on the umpires broke out of their conference and one of them walked up to the Royals' dugout and signaled to Brett that he was OUT! (because of pine tar on the handle of his bat). And that's when Brett flipped out and charged the umpire and was restrained.
Pretty cool that I happened to turn on the tube just in the nick of time to see that.
Note: The Royals ended up losing the game but appealed and the decision was overturned. So Brett's homer counted and they had to replay from where they left off, and KC hung on to win.

 

[Docnzhoss]

That's cool, Ziffel! The Pine Tar Incident has worked itself into Kansas City lore since then and has gone down as perhaps the most memorable incident incited by an individual athlete in Kansas City history. I think a recent local sports channel poll proved it to be the most memorable Royals-Yankees game ever, though they did play some good ones back in those days.

It's nice to be acquainted with a baseball fan who knows and appreciates all aspects of the game. Everyone here in KC is so jaded what with the issues about player salaries and payrolls, steroids, even the 1994 strike that people just don't talk baseball anymore. It's tough for small market teams like us who fall in love with All-Star caliber players then watch them get traded or sign with other teams. Our most recent painful losses include Jermaine Dye (a favorite of mine because he came over from the Braves while I was still a huge Atlanta fan), Carlos Beltran (who does not deserve to be a starter in the All-Star Game), Paul Byrd and my wife's favorite, Joe Randa. Our hope was that when David Glass bought the team, he would invest some decent money into keeping high-caliber players but so far the only long term contracts we have are with Mike "Too Oft Injured" Sweeney and Angel "Streaky" Berroa. Luckily, the Royals finally seem to be dedicated to a true youth movement and perhaps the future will hold good things.