The Trolley Dodger

Tuesday night, the Giants lost their 63rd game of the season to the Washington Nationals. Their Elimination Number[1] stands at 37.

On April 8, 1974, the Atlanta Braves beat the LA Dodgers.

[1] “…the combined number of wins (by the first place team) and losses (by the trailing team) that will eliminate the trailing team from winning the division.”

“Former Dodger Gagne is happy to be in Boston”

Eric Gagne was at Angel Stadium Monday, admitting that as the trade deadline neared, he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like to call the stadium 30 miles north home again.

He had read the rumors and knew the Dodgers needed pitching.

“It would’ve been great,” Gagne said. “I had a great time over there, 12 great years. It was a lot of fun, but now it’s behind us.”

Grumble, grumble.

Thanks to Frontline World Outreach for getting in touch with me about a new PBS FRONTLINE video, “Ghana: Baseball Dreams”. From their press release:

Reporter Zach Stauffer brings us the story of baseball dreams in the West African nation of Ghana. The video is up now on the FRONTLINE/World website.

“Coverage of Africa is often limited to famine, war and the latest smiling Hollywood celebrity to make a visit,” said Stauffer. “But as I discovered, not everything that happens on the continent is about unrest - some people in Ghana and other African countries like a good ball game too.”

“I love being a barber, but it’s not what I want to do,” says Sharrif Mohammed, the captain of Ghana’s national baseball team. “I love playing baseball more than cutting hairs.”

You can’t blame him, really, and after watching Sharrif in action on the diamond, it’s impossible not to share his baseball dreams.

Then again, he’s trying to become a baseball star in West Africa, in a small, poor but politically stable West African country where soccer is the sport of choice. As reporter Zachary Stauffer discovers in this week’s Rough Cut, Ghana’s baseball team plays on a former garbage dump. After they cleaned it up, soccer players began to claim the turf.

Still, adversity has not deterred Sharrif, and all he wants, he says, is a decent field, some proper equipment and a chance to compete. “The players are not demanding for money to play baseball,” he insists. “No! Just put some trophy down — let’s fight over it. That’s all.”

Check out the video, as well as background on Ghana, here, on FRONTLINE/World’s website.

The video is a little over 12 minutes long and is well worth watching.