TimeLine: From the Baseball Project

Using Powerpoint, I made this little image related to my project. It's a bit sloppy looking here, but it should impart some information. Hopefully it spells out some of what has happen in baseball history. The Presidents are guideposts to chapters I wrote. Either they were in office at the start of the period or more closely tied to the era that existed...Just my opinion.

Just Another Day: Musings from An Ethical Wallaby by me

I started out my paper route at 2AM listening to a talk series on Ethics as it applies to human rights and legal ramifications. As this Australian/Canadian author, Margaret Somerville, titled the first in her series An Ethical Wallaby – a ‘wallaby’ is a ‘walk about for enlightenment’ – it certainly caught some of my attention amidst throwing papers in boxes or in driveways.

With Scooter Libby getting his prison sentence commuted, the idea of ethics involving the highest office in the land comes to mind. When is it just to pardon or commute a sentence handed down by a judge after a jury of your peers found you guilty? Certainly this smacks of political favoritism – especially so close to Bush's front door – but why doesn’t it happen more often, in clearer instances of miscarriages of justice? Isn’t a pardon/commutation supposed to be reserved for those we are assured after the case was decided were innocent of the crime they were accused of? The fine Scooter will pay is small ($250,000) in relative terms to his income and probation will likely will not be a burden to him – likely a phone call, at best, from a disinterested parole officer.

Beyond that recent political intrigue, I was thinking back to college. Yes, those grand times when I did not do outstanding work or make any headway in putting behind the past.

I graduated with a 2.07 GPA and missed tons of classes, more than I attended in some semesters, while not getting to know my classmates in my major. For some reason, I found people in other majors more appealing to know. Liberal Arts, Management, English, Elementary Education, Philosophy and Poly Sci were all more enjoyable to talk with than a bunch of Engineer brainiacs.

Life was pretty Greek at Purdue. 25% or more were in those organizations. I was a GDI – and not ashamed of it – but I did not join any other organizations, aside from a semester of Pre-Law Society. Course, that did not go far…until later on in my life...

Somehow, I lost interest in learning and being after high school. Classes, socializing (unless just bullshitting) and giving back did not seem relevant. Sure, I knew it could be important, but then again, many of those flaky, superficial Greeks made situations very unimportant out to be the raison d'être to all of their (and their “brothers and sisters”) worldly ills.

My situational ethics later on would include people shown little sympathy today: Mexican Americans. I worked in a Kroger perishable warehouse as an Industrial Engineer for nearly two years. One of my major responsibilities was the setting of fair labor standards based on MSD (A Time Standard Method) using a labor system developed by Gagnon (Red Prairie.)

This system worked in concert with a fairly complex WMS (Warehouse Mgmt. Sys.) and Kronos (Time tracking system.) With that said, it did not work well at all when I got there. (Soon another Purdue Engineer and I were fixing this situation…at least from a technical aspect.) We also used an incentive program, up to 25% of an employees’ take home pay, to get workers to produce at the desired level, according to safe practices, OSHA standards and various other procedures.

However, this did not take place usually. And it was often a case of supervisors ignoring dangerous problems or chastising the wrong people, Mexicans most often, because many were illegal.

So, I did my own informal, if realistic study of people. I took the entire workforce and broke them into 4 classes: white, Mexicans that speak passable English, Mexicans unable to speak English well, and African Americans. I did not do this to support any report; nor to generalize for the sake of justification to a superior, but to know if there were any tendencies.

From memory, the breakdown out of 380 employees was:
35% white
19% Passable English
28% Non-English
15% African American
3% Other
Once trained (90 days selecting cases) the best performers were:
1. Mexican Passable – 117%
2. Mexican Non Passable – 109%
3. Other – 105%
4. African Americans – 101%
5. Whites – 98%

No one knew I did this. But it does reflect many who are here illegally are working much harder for the American Dream than our current legal population does. Upton Sinclair’s 'The Jungle' is alive, to a much lesser degree, as we hear about our non-English speakers getting screwed a great deal. Human Rights go out the door where the goal is to make a buck - even in 21st century.

I once tried to stop a Spanish-speaking supervisor from chewing out a Mexican illegal. He thought I could not understand Spanish – I did not have to know that much to know what he was saying was wrong – but for that interference the Operations Manager was none too pleased. He didn’t quite snap; but he wanted to, on me. (But he knew I had a point too.)

The point of this meandering diatribe is we are not all born to Ethics. Maybe I should have been more aware of what my future would be, if I had taken the time to involve myself in good causes, student organizations and cared about my major, then concrete Ethics might have took sooner. (To little too late if you've read other posts of mine.)

But then again, if I had Scooter Libby’s pull, the ideas of ethics and treatment of information vital to America’s safety, could be pardoned away by an Op. Manager not in charge of his mental faculties.

Baseball: Mid 2007 Predictions for the playoffs

No, I'm not Sara Freder, so I won't grant you insight into your future by using talismans and crystal balls for $39.99, but I figure I can look at the halfway point of a baseball season and figure who will represent both leagues in the playoffs.

Boston. It would be tough for them to lose this division, even with the Yankees in it. With a double digit lead, and the Yankees lacking a real pitching ace, it would take a collapse like 1978 for these Bo Sox to fall short. Unlikely with Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Dice-K, Beckett and a host of others battle tested and not at all afraid of the vaunted Yankee mystique.

Cleveland. At 49-32, this team has done a lot with lackluster work by Travis Hafner. But with CC Sabathia, Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore doing their jobs well, the team has a .352 OBP, 3rd in all of baseball behind Boston and the NY Yankees. This is a primary sabermetric tool to scoring runs and Cleveland will continue to do that. On the other side of the ledger, with Sabathia only walking a couple of handfuls of people, the Indians have allowed the fewest walks in MLB. While only in the middle of the pack in ERA, the Tribe should stay in 1st or 2nd in the AL Central.

Detroit. The Tigers are at it again. They are 4th in OBP, right behind Cleveland. They lead all of MLB in SLG% and thus also lead the MLB in putting runs on the board. However, many of their players are above their lifetime heads. Placido Polanco is a good little hitter, .302 lifetime. Not much power, but he's struggled to put together 150 games in a season. He's on pace for that. Does he continue to hit .330? Magglio Ordonez is another .300 hitter that is pounding it at .370. Will that continue? Realistically, those two will drop off 30-40 points and the Lion share of the scoring will have to come from Gary Sheffield and Pudge Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen.

Pitching is faltering, even with Justin Verlander no-no just recently. Their bullpen is shaky at best, with 39-year old Todd Jones still getting saves with a 5.85 ERA. Jones does not strikeout batters and that's a problem for a closer. The Tigers have been looking for answers as their number of pitchers used reflects. Eventually, these two aspects - less offense and shaky pitching - will put them in second in the AL East.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 6th in OBP, 5th in Runs Scored and 1st in AL West. They still get mileage out of Vlad whose 31, looks older, and has been at it for a decade or more. He is a 1st ballot HOF if he does it for 5 more years. With pesky, versatile Chone Figgins, the Angels just do it well with Mike Scioscia running the show. They have better pitching, with Lackey, Escobar and Santana eating up innings as starters and likely the best bullpen, or at least a top 5 bullpen in baseball with a 25 year old K-Rod and Scot Shields as the forces.

The Angels have two problems: Billy Beane and the Oakland A's. The AL West is a marathon usually and Oaktown is 8.5 games behind. Seattle too is only 4 games out, but managerial shakeup with Hargrove gone means likely the Mariners will not contend. The Angels are not a uber team; so, Oakland's manuevers could get them their. But realistically, the A's have not got much out of 3rd baseman Eric Chavez, SS Bobby Crosby and C Jason Kendall. Those parts are producing miserably and even with another Big 3 in Haren, Blanton and Gaudin, the A's are unlikely to surpass the Angels.

AL Playoffs: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Los Angeles.
AL Championship: Boston vs. Detroit.
AL WS: Boston.

National League

Chicago. Yes, yes, holy mackeral, the Cubs are going to play in the post season. They have the pieces (sans a durable right fielder) in the batting order: Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Theriot, DeRosa, and Floyd can produce runs. Zambrano, Lilly, Marquis and Hill can hold their own most nights in the National League - 5th in the NL in ERA and 2nd overall in Strikeouts of opponents.

Lou Piniella has done everything he could to manipulate this into a winning ballclub. In a weak division, Milwaukee is just not good enough. Aside from Ben Sheets and Prince Fielder, I don't get a warm fuzzy with their players on the field. The Cubs have more experience in playoff runs with Soriano, Lee, DeRosa actually going on to play in the World Series.

New York. The city liked so much they gave them 2 teams. The Mets are star laden bunch. Coming up short last year to the mediocre WS-winning Cardinals had to put them on edge. Unfortunately, the Altanta Braves are only 4.0 games back. What gives? They have a 3.65 ERA which is 3rd in all of baseball. They have enough offense to win? Bullpen has been terrible. Aside from little lefty Billy Wagner and Pedro Feliciano, they have Mota (5.29), Sele (5.26), Shoeneweis (5.46) and Heilman (4.19) that have blown up a few games.

Mets will win - with Pedro Martinez on the mend for August/September push - but not by double digits.

NL West. It's a good question: who will win this mess?

San Diego: 27th in OBP. 22nd in SLG%. 1st in ERA (3.03 ) by a half-run over everyone else.
LA Dodgers: 11th in OBP. 23rd in SLG%. 5th in ERA (3.73).
Arizona D-backs: 25th in OBP. 19th in SLG%. 8th in ERA (3.92).

Pitching wins championships. San Diego has veterans in Maddux, Wells and Hoffman to go with Jake Peavy. Their lineup is mediocre at best, they play decent defense and their home park is best suited for 3-2, 2-1 ballgames with a good bullpen which they have.

NL Playoffs: Chicago, New York, San Diego and LA Dodgers.
NL Championships: New York and Chicago.
NL Series: Chicago. (Biased ain't I?)

Boston v. Chicago: Boston in 6. Cubs still sans a World Series title....

U.S. History: Am I a Dunce, or what?

This a very short summary of America's History. I was looking at Gustavo Sosa's recent history of Uruguay and thought this was a nice topic to broach....aside from the lingerie models and beautiful woman postings....

Origins: about 500 years ago - a flurry of expeditions to seek out a spice/trade route to China. A century passed before Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth Rock (1620) established the first permanent settlements. During the next 150 years, the colonies grew less self reliant on the British and other Europeans because the US had more natural resources than all of Europe put together!!! The only thing they lacked was people. (And eliminating that pesky Indian problem - was just a way to rid the area for proper utilization.)

Revolution: The American Revolution was a guerilla campaign fought by terrorists (if you look at it from a British perspective.)

The reasons for the war were tied up in the economic powers desired by the Mercantile class that were restricted by the Brits. Also, the growth of new political philosophies such as Democracy and Republicanism were making the rounds among the elite minds of the time. Educated folk in America also saw an opportunity to be rid of the Brits – because this land had everything Britain never did, both economically and socially. Other European powers wanted a slice of the New World pie and fought wars against the British to get it. France for one, who became an ally during the Revolution, wanted to upset the apple cart of British supremacy. The Declaration of Independence, Continental Congresses and Common Sense were amongst the documents and meetings that forged resolve in the ever rising feud between colonists and Brits that started in the 1760’s. Many colonists disagreed, but that was often due to perks offered by the British Crown and old connections to the Europeans.

A Growing Nation: After the war, the meager government of the Articles of Confederation was found inept. The colonies needed a structure and several plans came forth – the New Jersey and Virginia Plans amongst several proposals. With the compromise on a bicameral legislature, an executive leader and an ultimate Court of the People, the U.S. went into uncharted waters for politics and government. Unfortunately, the idea of “all men are created equal” was more lip service than reality as Slavery was condoned and taken to new heights during the late 18th century. And soon after the American Civil War was to be waged by the North versus the South. (And still is even today, but just not as clear cut as far as sides are concerned.)

After the formation of the Constitution, the U.S. still needed a way to pay off everything. ‘Taxation without Representation’ was a catch phrase of the Revolutionary march, and people didn’t see it any different in the future of the country. But once the economic engine of America got humming, and the expansion west became a necessity, convenient policies were the mantra that drove this country. Manifest Destiny – the idea of one nation from sea to shining sea – became the ultimate democratic policy. After peacefully acquiring the Louisiana Purchase, the United States did fight conquest wars to rid the area for further colonization. When not fighting Native Indians, we fought Mexicans, the Spanish, and the British again, and laid claim to various areas to increase the power of the country.

The Superpower: At the turn of the 20th century, the USA was nearly complete. It had outstripped European nations in terms of production, had a busy population of immigrants and growing everyday. Isolationism in the Western Hemisphere had ruled for 50 years. Now, with two World Wars approaching, a shift to a world spotlight became a necessary and a fruitful reality. After WWII, The USA was the ONLY powerful nation left standing – due in large part to the lack of homeland attacks that everyone else got.

The Future: As we stand in mid-2007, this nation has squandered many opportunities to set a better example in leadership. Its growth has been historic; its people innovative and steadfast; yet we’ve grown fat, lazy, uninterested and uninteresting.

What was the point? To become a world leader only to go the way of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and the British Empire? Soon, China will finally be the next world power. And only because this country has failed its credos and convictions.

I wrote this off the top of my head...and linked the terms afterwards. American History in a nutshell...

Hey You!: Stop Reading this Garbage!

Yeah, that's right. I'm talking to you the reader of this tripe. The last few posts have been inspired by that insipid urge to share feelings and imagery from the great poets and the lowly, bilge pumping, lunatic inside of me.

No more! I say, like Stewie Griffin would say, ""By all means, turn me into a child star. Perhaps I can move to Californ-i-ay and wrangle me a three-way with the Olsen twins!" Wouldn't that be... awkward!!!!

I've gotten off track again...Damn you! (Not the GD or the MF or the SOB type, just you're regular old Damn. Damn.)

But I digress...oh, fiddle sticks!

The purpose of this blog, if ever one can actually relate a purpose persay, is to talk baseball, try not to go insane in the process, and relate a Jim Carey Pet Detective era like persona via a blog.

It has been a miserable failure much in the vein of Bruce Willis's recent career choices. ENOUGH with Die Hard!!! We get it! You are one bad ass mofo! Just couldn't keep Demi Moore around!

Speaking of bad Hollywood, Holly Hunter. Hello? You're not cute anymore! The southern twang went out with Vogueing and shall not return. You're not Kyra Sedgwick - Kevin Bacon's better 6th degree of seperation, Will Smith's attempt at serious acting, partner - and not a real closer.

Don't you hate when they see a show, and it's good and everyone is watching and they say, "why don't we find another actor that looks the same and just plug her into a script that has ultimately a connection to some higher purpose."

Ding! Ding! Holly Hunter time to resurrect your career. And we have just the part. Saving Grace! Like saving a career! Please! I feel like I'm on the deck of the QE 2 barfing up some $200 per ounce fish eyes whilst El Captain is calling out, "Hard a starboard and full astern!" hoping the Titanic will avoid that fucking iceberg.

It takes talent and talent is what Stewie has....My alter ego, in technicolor.

Put me in a show, like "PI Stewie" where Mike Spillane's Mike Hammer brutality meets a dosage of Elmore Leonard lyrical lines, with Sydney Sheldon's Other Side of Midnight thrown in for good measure.

Hell, I'll kill them!

When it's all said and done, and pilgrim, I'd say we are about there, the baseball game is at the heart of it.

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball," James Earl Jones whose stuttering was cured by being an actor of all things, put it right in Field of Dreams. A field of dreams that reality has to believe can come true.