MFY @ NYM 5/28/13

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Kuroda was struck by a line drive last week and subsequently called for aggressive lending to prop up a troubled Japan economy.

He faces Matt Harvey.

[metirish]

Harvey will be relishing this tonight apparently, relishing it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Twitter just said Ike is batting 8th.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think that when Ike comes to the plate, the opposing pitcher should step aside and let Terry Collins pitch to him.

In Pony League softball we called it "coach pitch".

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Twitter just said Ike is batting 8th.

The end is nigh? , even the YES booth were trotting out the "he's a great guy yyybbb" lines during Ike's at bats last night," his teammates love him Al", if he were a dick he'd be down long ago perhaps.

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Twitter just said Ike is batting 8th.

I wonder if he'll throw a shit-fit like ARod did when he was sentenced to hit 8th?

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Twitter just said Ike is batting 8th.

oh, I thought they were trying the players that couldn't hit leadoff.

[Lefty Specialist]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Kuroda was struck by a line drive last week and subsequently called for aggressive lending to prop up a troubled Japan economy. He faces Matt Harvey.

Ah, the wonders of Hirokinomics. Let's hope he refrains from imposing austerity on the Mets bats, which are badly in need of a stimulus.

[Zvon]

[Zvon]

Continuing with the Monty Python theme. We didn't really crush em last night, we nipped em.

So tonight we destroy them!

[Lefty Specialist]

Zvon wrote:

It's always fascinated me that 100 years later, people in their offices watching GameCast are seeing essentially the same thing as those people were, just on computer screens. And without hats.

[G-Fafif]

Ike batting eighth. Should be batting ninth. Or out west.

Ruben Tejada, ss
Daniel Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Lucas Duda, lf
Marlon Byrd, rf
Rick Ankiel, cf
John Buck, c
Ike Davis, 1b
Matt Harvey, rhp

[Zvon]

Lefty Specialist wrote: It's always fascinated me that 100 years later, people in their offices watching GameCast are seeing essentially the same thing as those people were, just on computer screens. And without hats.

What amazed me, in the original pic, was that it showed that fans have been nickled and dimed through-out history.
I've seen set-ups like this before in old photos, but always thought they were just outdoor boards that were there to view for free.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Playograph From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Playograph was a machine used to transmit the details of a baseball game in the era before television. It is approximated by the "gamecast" feature on some sports web sites: it had a reproduction of a baseball diamond, with an inning-by-inning scoreboard, each team's lineup, and it simulated each pitch: a ball, a strike, a hit, an out, and so on. A telegraph operator transmitted the details of the baseball game to the two people operating the Playograph. An "X" on the diamond represented a runner; an "O" was displayed if the runner got out. A ball was moved animatronically to show fastballs or curveballs, where it was hit, and so on. A similar contraption, called the "Gridgraph," was used for football games.

Here's an article about the Play-o-Graph, indicating that it met its demise in 1939.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And this, from ConnecticutHistory.org:

ConnecticutHistory.org wrote: Re-creating Our National Pastime In an era before the Internet, television, or even live radio broadcasts, fans of professional baseball watched re-creations of games around the country thanks to an innovative company in Stamford, Connecticut. The Stamford Playograph Company brought live baseball to millions of Americans through the production of their �playograph� product. Playographs resembled large billboards, often standing about 9-feet high. Making up either side of the playograph was the vertical listing of the player lineups for each team. In the middle of the playograph was a reproduction of a baseball diamond, along with places for playograph operators to indicate balls, strikes, outs, and runs in real-time. The ingenious invention was operated by two men hidden from public view. The operators received transmissions from telegraph operators who watched the games live and communicated details about every pitch. Upon receiving each update, playograph operators depicted the transmissions on the playograph through the use of a baseball replica that they manually moved around the baseball diamond. The ball sat still on the pitcher�s mound until operators received information about the game�s next pitch. The operator then moved the ball toward home plate in a fashion that replicated the pitch thrown. Playograph viewers witnessed the ball move directly and deliberately toward home plate for fastballs. For curveballs, it moved with a sudden swing left or right at the end. If a batter made contact, the playograph operator moved the ball to a spot on the diamond reproduction that corresponded to where it had been hit in the game. A small �fly ball� indicator let viewers differentiate between balls hit on the ground and those hit into the air, while an �X� on a base represented a runner and an �O� indicated a runner who was out. Playographs appeared in theatres, opera houses, and on the sides of buildings and were wildly popular for a brief period of time. Used primarily for important games, like those of the World Series, the first match-ups re-created through use of the playograph were the 1911 World Series games between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics. While playographs helped spread the popularity of baseball and bring together an entire community of sports enthusiasts, public outdoor displays in downtown areas proved a menace to local business owners who found access to their establishments limited or completely barricaded by the throngs of fans gathering around the playograph. Fortunately for them, the success of the playograph was short-lived and its use largely disappeared when radio stations began broadcasting baseball games in the 1920s.

[Zvon]

In 1884, three telegraph operators came up with a plan. They painted a ball field onto a large poster, which they placed in a theater in Nashville. One went to Chattanooga and telegraphed the plays back to the theater, where the second read them while the third moved cards with the players� names around the poster. The theater soon sold out, so they moved to the much larger opera house

Then electricity entered the picture. In 1891, Samuel Mott, a former Edison employee, received a patent for his system (right), involving light bulbs and motors. In 1894, when their local team beat New York, the crowd at Ford�s Opera House in Baltimore was driven into a frenzy by the Compton Electric Base Ball Game Impersonator. And that year yet another new technology was introduced: android robotics.

Born in the late 1880's. Amazin'.
"Game Impersonator"-ha! "android robotics" in 1891?
Great article, thnx4sharing

[Edgy MD]

Man, look at those legendary names: Merkle, Speaker, Snograss, and the doomed Chick Stahl. That looks to be game two of the 1912 World Series, played to an 11-inning tie. DAMN YOU, BUD SELIG!

(Actually one of the most exciting World Series ever.)

[dinosaur jesus]

Zvon wrote: What amazed me, in the original pic, was that it showed that fans have been nickled and dimed through-out history. I've seen set-ups like this before in old photos, but always thought they were just outdoor boards that were there to view for free.

But they were free, weren't they? I mean, there's the display right downtown for everyone to see. And the full details in the Evening Telegram was stuff you couldn't put on a board anyway--the game write-up, the sportswriters ragging on McGraw for playing Beals Becker instead of Josh Devore, etc.

And yeah, that is game 2 of the 1912 Series. Mathewson is about to retire Hugh Bedient, the Red Sox pitcher, for the last out of the game. It's interesting that the pitcher is batting. The Red Sox had position players available to pinch hit, but Bedient was their third pitcher of the game, so maybe they didn't want to use up another pitcher. On the other hand, the game was going to be called after this half-inning anyway, so what the hell.

[Edgy MD]

So, why was it no problem for me to have a charitable attitude toward saluting Chipper Jones? Craig Biggio, thanks for the memories. You were a most worthy opponent. But a brief salute to the career of Mariano Rivera feels like passing an emotional kidney stone.

[seawolf17]

Eff Mariano AND Chipper Jones.

Loved Biggio, though.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Those running the Play-O-Graph could run a scam ala the con depicted in The Sting by delaying the posting of the information that came in on the wire.

[ashie62]

Rain forecast 90% at 7pm.

How do the rescheduled this?

Big marketing night may go poof

Edited May 28, 2013 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

Edgy MD wrote: So, why was it no problem for me to have a charitable attitude toward saluting Chipper Jones? Craig Biggio, thanks for the memories. You were a most worthy opponent. But a brief salute to the career of Mariano Rivera feels like passing an emotional kidney stone.

Biggio: Local boy who stopped by now and then. Ya got 3,000 hits? No kiddin'! Good for you, pal!

Chipper: We sort of invented him. It became a thing after a decade. I'd dare say he felt like Cousin Larry. Plus he endless paid homage to Shea in a way ownership never did.

Rivera: His entire purpose in our lives was to ensure we lost games we were losing. Technically all opponents try to do that but his very specific job description was about ruining our night. And he was forced into our direct line of sight by MLB's gimmickry (2000 WS aside). It's a classy thing to do to honor a retiring great on his way out, but this doesn't quite feel like that.

But I'll take it over however much they're going to kiss The Captain's rings when his time comes.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: But I'll take it over however much they're going to kiss The Captain's rings when his time comes.

oh god please have the steroid tests come out before that.

[Edgy MD]

Or that it come in the midst of 59-win Yankee season while the Mets are storming over the horizon.

[Zvon]

dinosaur jesus wrote: Zvon wrote: What amazed me, in the original pic, was that it showed that fans have been nickled and dimed through-out history. I've seen set-ups like this before in old photos, but always thought they were just outdoor boards that were there to view for free. But they were free, weren't they? I mean, there's the display right downtown for everyone to see. And the full details in the Evening Telegram was stuff you couldn't put on a board anyway--the game write-up, the sportswriters ragging on McGraw for playing Beals Becker instead of Josh Devore, etc.

That's what I thought, and always thought. But reading that article and seeing the admission prices in the photo makes me think they somehow made it so only payees could be in front of that board. That does appear to be outdoors.

[Zvon]

I stopped in the web site BaseballFever.com earlier today looking for that Play-0-Graph image and when I go there its like walking into a baseball library. Like I've always been when in walk into a real library, I can't resist looking around (taking some books off the shelf) and absorbing the info (reading bits and pieces of this and that). I always end up spending more time there than I intend.
So, I run into this:

Scheffing was a manager once? I never knew. Now that I think of it I know nothing of this guy aside from his time with the Mets.

[Frayed Knot]

"I once knew a lethal bantamweight named Hiroki Kuroda"



"You're looking at him"

[Benjamin Grimm]

Zvon wrote: Scheffing was a manager once? I never knew. Now that I think of it I know nothing of this guy aside from his time with the Mets.

I think it was mentioned in the 1971 Mets yearbook, which happens to be the yearbook I devoured more than any other.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Tarp on the field. ESPN saying that the Mets hope to get the game underway by 8, or a little before.