For newer Cubs fans, The Sandberg Game
was one of many, many amazing games that did not result in a World Series title.
In the Beginning
Josh is the greatest living writer you've never heard of. Also, he likes bugs.
Latest posts by josh (see all)
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86 Responses to “In the Beginning”
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Sandberg game was awesome.
His WPA that game was 1.063. Wow.
The lowest WPA Of Sandberg’s career came against the Cardinals also: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN199609190.shtml
Some of my earliest memories in life are the Sandberg game.
I think the contributions of Lahair + Soriano this year have averaged out to be the same production from the 2 spots combined through the season. Scary how their seasons’ have basically been the opposite so far.
April
Lahair: 1.251 OPS
Soriano: .513
May
Lahair: .792
Soriano: .944
June
Lahair: .686
Soriano: .951
@ mb21:
That’s only slightly more than Aramis had yesterday (.991).
I posted a video from The Today Show about Bussey, Iowa (small town Iowa). The guy that it’s about has painted a mural on the side of a wall and is a very impressive man (both in the video and in person). The mural is equally impressive. It’s the town in which my great grandparents lived and my grandfather grew up. You can see in the mural Mick Foods, which is one of the several business my great grandfather and later grandfather and great uncle owned in Bussey. It’s a cool story and it’s only about 5 minutes long.
The video is up on the home page: http://www.obstructedview.net
The transcript is here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47997194/ns/today-today_news/t/payback-painter-thanks-town-kindness-mural/
The Cubs were 2nd in the bidding for Darvish. Too bad their offer wasn’t within $31 million of what the Rangers offered.
Suburban kid wrote:
(dying laughing) and thank you. We’re not going to become millionaires if all you guys have adblock on.
1 wrote:
That was a cool story.
Bussey is a good little town. God damn, it’s only going to be a week or so before Vitters sets a new high walk total for a season. Crazy.
I don’t care how often I point this out, but the Sandberg Game was on my 12th birthday and I was there. Nothing has compared since. Nothing. Kerry Wood’s game might have if I had been there, but I was an adult by then. Nothing beats a game like that when you are a kid. It will definitely finish in the Top 5 of all time best days in my life.
@ mb21:
That’s cool.
@ Aisle424:
I was only like 5 that day, so I don’t remember it. I remember taking a bus from Dubuque, Iowa, to Chicago to see two different Cubs games and they lost, but I didn’t really pay attention. Later, I was about 10 when we saw the game I mention in the comic. Whoever they were playing tied it up and the friend I was with wanted to leave because he was kind of a punk. I begged my dad to let us stay. We did, and they won.
@ Aisle424:
Fuck the Sandberg Game, I was at the George Mitterwald Game.
Cubs had six homers including two each by Buckner and Mitterwald, including a clutch game tying solo shot by the latter in the bottom of the 12th to win 16-15 in 13 innings. I think the wind was blowing out that day.
Both Reuschels pitched as relievers – Paul came in for the 4th and pitched 3.1 shitty innings, and big brother and SP ace Rick came in in the 13th. In the bottom half, he got the rally started with a two-out single and scored the winning walk off run on a single by Davey Rosello.
The Reds lineup featured Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Johnny Bench and Davey Concepcion, who along with Mike Lum and Cesar Geronimo combined for 5 HRs themselves.
Bruce Sutter pitched for the right side in this game.
@ josh:
Dawson, Sandberg, Mitch Williams, Harry Carray singing the stretch ——–> fan for life.
@ Aisle424:
@ josh:
@ Suburban kid:
I was too young to care about baseball when the Sandberg Game happened. I thought the Kerry Wood game was cool but my favorite Cubs moment was pretty much all of 1998 with the homer chase. Sammy Sosa + Mark McGwire FTW.
Rice Cube wrote:
Al came out blogging when he was born
His mom said “Cubs win!” until the break of dawn
I saw a replay of the game once and I think I remember seeing someone waving a confederate flag in the bleachers at some point in the game.
Cliff Lee allowed a run. That means he deserves to lose (and probably will).
@ AB:
That was SK. He took it off a Confederate soldier he killed when he was younger.
It’s possible I was conceived moments after the Sandberg game.
Also, happy America everyone.
@ GBTS:
1:10 ——> Bubbles?
@ GBTS:
No way. Alvin would have blogged about that if it were true.
@ mb21:
… are you implying Alvin is my father?
Looks like Cliff Lee is going to pull through, after all.
cliff lee loves america
AB wrote:
They were playing the Cardinals, right?
@ mb21:
I wasn’t that young.
Carlos Lee ————-> rejects trade to Dodgers
Carlos Lee ————> accepts trade to Marlins
So this is the game SK is talking about: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197707280.shtml
@ Suburban kid:
Compared to your age when you attended the Mitterwald game you were.
Return for Carlos Lee (and presumably a dump truck full of cash) is Matt Dominguez and Rob Rasmussen, Miami’s #6 and #10 prospects by KG’s preseason rankings.
If a barely in it team like the Marlins can give that up for the bloated corpse of Carlos Lee, things could be looking up for Thoyer
@ mb21:
I forgot about all the wacky position changes. Bobby Murcer playing SS etc. That was some crazy shit. I think Herman Franks kept moving him back and forth between 2B and SS based on whether the hitter was RH or LH.
@ Berselius:
Miami v. LA. Seems like a wash to me.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-minor-league-instructor-gets-oneyear-ban-for-intentional-balks-20120703,0,2408418.story
california league acting like they are something other than a patsy for the major leagues
Castro steals home!
I guess it’s officially a Fielder’s Choice since Rizzo was thrown out at second. Lame.
Soto takes strike 3 with 2 outs and a runner on third. I guess it’s not as bad as doing it with less than 2 outs, but still…
Who’s doing the color commentary tonight?
The from MLB The Show
@ shawndgoldman:
Carrie Muskat says it’s Dave Campbell.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
That’s it. I recognized the voice, but couldn’t place it with a name.
josh wrote:
Florida has no state income tax where asCalifornia has a 10.3% rate
WaLi22 wrote:
He could veto the trade to LA and tax was the big issue as Texas has no personal income tax, Miami was not on his no-trade list.
@ BubbaBiscuit:
But he’s got 10-5 rights either way, so he can veto any trade.
Hell of a throw from Soriano.
josh wrote:
He did not have 10-5 rights, he gave that away to get his 14 team no trade clause when he signed his contract.
@ josh:
Here it is: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22847033&c_id=mlb
josh wrote:
Yep, very nice indeed. I wonder what could have been if his knees decided to play nice his whole career.
So… the Pirates are in first place.
@ BubbaBiscuit:
I didn’t even know you could do that.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
How the hell did that happen? Did the corpse of A.J. Burnett rise from the dead?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
He’s always been one of my favorites.
@ mb21:
He had kind of a Sam Elliot thing. Sounded like him and very laconic.
@ josh:
It’s all part of that Mayan prophecy.
So I finally got to see this play:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22841885&c_id=mlb
Not a bad idea.
@ Rice Cube:
Unless, of course, a sign was missed and it was just pure dumb luck.
@ Rice Cube:
The way Rizzo threw his hand up after the play made it look manufactured. If he didn’t know Castro was running he wouldn’t have been looking at home right away. Just a guess.
That Rizzo HR got out of the park in a hurry.
@ Berselius:
It was a bullet. Baker’s was more of a soaring eagle, like a good American should hit on Independence Day.
Berselius wrote:
Then again according to Keith Law, Dominguez’s ceiling is as a defensive replacement and Rasmussen’s is as a reliever, so maybe not so good.
I don’t get the state income tax thing. Doesn’t his contract end this year? Would he really be required to establish residence in Florida for the next three months? Surely he could keep his home base in Texas,
@ Suburban kid:
There’s no state income tax in Texas either
@ Rice Cube:
The WPA and RE24 were slightly negative (nearly neutral) on that. However, It may have been worth the risk if there was a decent chance of Rizzo being safe (his chances of being safe don’t have to be very good to make it worth it, on average).
I use parentheses a lot (probably too much).
@ Suburban kid:
As B said, Texas doesn’t have income tax either. He would have to pay income tax though based on the employer paying him, regardless of residence, unless resident state has a higher tax rate (Disclaimer: Knows little about taxes, just personal experience).
When I worked in Minnesota for a summer my residence was in Florida. I still had to pay MN state tax. I just moved from IL to NC. My wife still works in IL but we both live in NC. So she pays the 3% (or is it 5% now?) for IL and the remaining 2% (I think NC is 7%) to NC.
I think that’s how it works, but as I said it confuses the shit out of me. Especially since I grew up in Florida that doesn’t have state tax.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I mean a run score, so how could that be a negative play? But I guess play was followed up with a “hustle double” by Soriano so it was unnecessary.
@ Berselius:
Right, I thought there was a high state income tax in California and a lower one in Florida.
If there is no state income tax in Florida, my question still stands: why wouldn’t he go to California for three months and simply “commute” from Texas, thus continuing to benefit from his home state’s regime?
I bet there’s an accountant around here who understands things like establishing a domicile for tax purposes, and the rules associated with it.
Suburban kid wrote:
There would be a lot of people “living” in Texas, Florida, Alaska, Tennessee, etc. if it worked like this.
@ WaLi:
Because you go from 2 on, 1 out to none on, 2 outs. Basically, you score a run in exchange for reducing the chances of a big inning. Imagine, for instance, how awesome Sori’s double would have been if it hadn’t been for the caught stealing. Castro and maybe Rizzo would have scored, Sori would be in scoring position, and there would still only be 1 out.
@ Suburban kid:
You pay income taxes to the state that you’re employed in, you pay property taxes to the state you’re living in. So even if Lee was living in TX he’d still be paying tax to CA.
I’ve had to deal with this pretty much every year for the past 4-5 years (dying laughing). If you are both working in a state AND a resident of that state through whatever domicile-establishment legalese has to be satisfied, that usually means you can claim more tax credits etc.
I was talking about this with a friend of mine in RI last fall – from what I remember income taxes in RI are way lower than in MA but the property taxes are much higher. So you’re doubly screwed if you live in RI but work in MA (dying laughing)
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Yeah I see that, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, right? I rather have the sure thing since the Cubs were ahead (or was it tied?) at that time. I guess though with Soriano and LaHair following up then it might have made more sense not to do that play.
@ WaLi:
It depends on the situation (inning, score, etc.) Early in the game, I’d rather try to maximize the chance for the big inning. However, as I said earlier, this is very close to a break-even play, so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a bad move.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/07/san-deigo-accidentally-set-all-its-fireworks-same-time/54194/
The income tax is irrelevant here since Houston is covering all but the pro-rated league minimum. Lee just didn’t want to play in LA.
@ mb21:
I don’t think that matters. Lee would be the employee of the team that traded for him, Houston would just be sending the cash to that team to pay him with.
@ Berselius:
That’s what I would think to. The money traded goes to the team, not the player.
Minor league shit up
http://www.obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/the-children-are-the-future-cubs-minor-league-update-sponsored-by-napa-auto-parts.html
@ Berselius:
That was bad ass. Spent probably $25,000 in 15 seconds (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
No, that’s not allowed. Think about it from the Marlins perspective. Would you want to put yourself in a position in which Houston is not able to pay Lee’s salary and you are then required to? MLB requires money in a lump sum to be sent to the team and in this case I’m guessing Lee worked it out so that he got the lump sum right now.
mb21 wrote:
That isn’t true according to this. This article is 5 years old though so the new CBA may have changed things.
http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1034&Itemid=41
Which makes some sense. And that reads to me like the team the player is playing for is paying the salary and the original team is paying a salary relief package. Isn’t that why the Cubs couldn’t get any money back for Marlon Byrd?
But even if it was a lump sum sent, then the Marlins would still be paying the salary of Carlos, just with the money that was sent instead of their own money.