The Trolley Dodger

There is a certain myth perpetrated about how “classy” the Yankee organization is. Derek Jeter is the poster child for this.

Of course, the organization tends to behave in the “Chandelier Galaxy” sense of the word, as evidenced in “New Stadium classy not flashy”:

[Hal] Steinbrenner said he doesn’t see the ballpark as too extravagant given the economic situation. He said the organization did its best to retain the tradition from the old stadium and integrate it with new amenities to enhance the fan experience.

“I don’t see it as ostentatious or flashy, I see it as classy,” Steinbrenner said.

Last week, there was a brief brouhaha after MLS commissioner Don Garber commented on empty seats at Yankee Stadium due to the economy and their outrageous prices. Randy Levine, Yankees President, went off on him:

“Don Garber discussing Yankee attendance must be a joke,” Levine said yesterday. “We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously.

“Hey Don, worry about Beckham, not the Yankees. Even he wants out of your league,” he said.

Humorous as the statement was, it doesn’t match up with the notion of the Yankees as big leaguers.

To go with the Classy Myth, there’s also the Yankee Mystique, which has to do with how much the club has won over the years. Their record speaks for itself.

The team has won 26 World Series, appearing in 39 of them, which “currently amounts to an average appearance every 2.7 seasons and a championship every 4.0 seasons.”

When you’re that good, when you “have an all-time regular season winning percentage of .567 (a 9472-7235 record), the best of any team in baseball,” you don’t need to act like an insecure asshole. There’s few things more pathetic than an insecure 800-pound gorilla.

To put it in terms New Yorkers will understand, it’s like the difference between a Mafia Don acting like a Mafia Don and not like a goombah pushing a guy in a bar parking lot. If somebody is beneath you, you don’t acknowledge them. They’re beneath you. If they’re insulting, you don’t care. It doesn’t matter.

In any case, Levine’s insecure jokes look even smaller today as the news comes out, “Yankees Slash the Price of Top Tickets”:

Twelve days after opening their new stadium, the Yankees on Tuesday bowed to the sour economy and the specter of empty seats by slashing in half some of their top-end, $2,500-a-game prices.

Going further, the team also announced it will provide significant numbers of complimentary seats to existing season-ticket holders in premium sections, including some of the critical, and very visible, real estate behind home plate.

Whoopsie. Guess all those empty seats looked pretty bad on TV.

Over all, the new policy represents a dramatic retreat from the team’s initial luxury-sales strategy for the new stadium, which was underlined in advertisements that crowed “Own the Greatness” and “Select the Greatest Seats in the World.”

It’s as if the Evil Empire actually still wants to have the class and mystique of the Old Republic. That way lies madness.

Be Darth Vader, or be Mace Windu. Either way, you’re a bad ass. But if you try to be both, you look like a whiny prick.

You know, like Anakin Skywalker.

From the ESPN.com article, “League set to pay Dukes’ fine” — here is Jim Mraz, president of the Little League organization that Elijah Dukes was fined for visiting, talking about the situation:

Said Mraz: “You’re a little stunned. Like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute.’ Here’s the game of baseball — it’s got steroids hanging over it, all these issues. … Needless to say the Nats kind of need help with what they’re doing. I could see if he was out trying to do something small or private, but he just came into my community and gave us a shot in the arm.“

(Emphasis mine.)

It’s tough sometimes to describe to those who aren’t sports fans why grown men playing a game generates such passions. Aren’t there more important things in life?

As a baseball fan, though, the game becomes so ingrained with those important things that it becomes inseparable from them. Bluetopia, the new Dodgers DVD, puts a spotlight on that relationship by following a range of fans throughout the 2008 season.

The team was good enough to invite a few Dodger bloggers to the premiere in Hollywood last night, so I got the chance to rub elbows with a big crowd of folks either directly or indirectly related to the team. As Jon Weisman terms it, “While you’ll find all these people at different parts of Dodger Stadium at any given game, you’ll rarely find them assimilated as one cohesive group.”

Jon has a segment in the film as well, in which his embarrassment at getting lost on the way to stadium (you try answering questions on camera while driving — you’ll wind up in the LA River) is more than made up for by an unforgettable meeting with Vin Scully.

Players, executives, broadcasters, stadium employees, journalists, bloggers, and fans mingled before and after the film. It’s quite a surreal experience to be glancing around the crowded room and finding it full of people you recognize yet have never met. (See below for more photos.)

Bluetopia touts itself as a celebration of the 2008 season, and there was a lot to be covered in a highlights-packed year. Everything from the LA Coliseum game to the last pitch of the NLCS is at least touched on, but as director Timothy Marx said before the film started, this isn’t really about the Dodgers. The real stars of the film are the fans.

In one respect, the fan stories are what you might expect from a sports team documentary — a dying mother, a redeemed gang member, a father mourning his own father with the grand children, a boy seeing his first game. If the filmmakers hadn’t been careful, that sort of movie could easily have descended into the maudlin.

Thankfully, they did their job right, and the results are respectful portraits of the fans and their stories. That many of those featured were also in the theater for the premiere lent it a sort of family-movie feel, in a good way, as cheers went up in different part of the theater. Speaking of cheers and Vin Scully, the biggest were reserved for any time he showed up on screen. I might need to get the DVD just to hear what he said. ;)

The season and playoff highlights were cool as well, though the best parts were the behind-the-scenes stuff — players ambushing Joe Torre to douse him with champagne, Russell Martin welcoming Manny Ramirez with “Now we’ll be on SportsCenter. Boyyeee!” You can see the immediate effect Manny had on the locker room, literally as he walked into the room the first time.

Those looking for a hard-hitting investigative report a la 60 Minutes will be disappointed, but every thing isn’t puppy dogs and rainbows. The 6-year-old’s first game is a loss, as is the redeemed gang member’s game. Twenty years since the 1988 win is mentioned multiple times, then the hopes and dreams of a World Series win are dashed again. Andruw Jones is shown, and a murmur of discontent ran through the audience at his first appearance.

You begin to feel almost sorry for the players having to carry the weight of all of these people: those who are dying and looking for relief, those fighting against the odds to stay on the straight and narrow, those little kids who live and die with every pitch. An entire city, millions of people, all with their own struggles and wishes, hoping against hope you will hit, throw, or catch a ball well. I know they make a lot of money to do those things, but if a guy has any empathy for his fellow humans, it must be hard to maintain your boundaries.

Yet in the end, the question of “Why Baseball is important?” is answered. Sure, it’s just a game. But it’s important because of the importance people invest in it. In other words, and as Yogi Berra might have said, it’s important because it’s important.

Thanks to Josh Rawitch and the rest of the Dodgers PR staff for the invitation. Also a tip of the cap to Son of Steve Garvey Alex Cora and the blogger from iSportsWeb whose name I missed (was it Ken Steinhorn?) — we formed a knot at the end of the blue carpet and managed to get some cool photograph opportunities. I got what might be my favorite autograph, Dodger organist Nancy Bea Hefley. :)

Sorry I missed Phil Gurnee of True Blue LA. His review is up, “BlueTopia – Were the best parts left on the cutting room floor?”

Matt Kemp

Vanessa Fayd, Matt Kemp, and Landon Heying of True Blue Tattoo

Clayton Kershaw

Andre Ethier

Having been on the receiving end of a separated shoulder myself, I can definitely sympathize with Doug Mientkiewicz’s injury last night. It’s painful as hell.

You might wonder at him staying in the game for a while. When I had mine, I actually walked my bike for about a half-mile before succumbing to pain. Adrenaline and the body’s protective mechanisms kept me going for a little while, but as they faded — ouch. This seems to match up with Doug arguing to stay once they popped the shoulder back in. He definitely has my respect.

It does sound like his was of a more serious type than mine (see Wikipedia article), so how long he’s out will depend on the severity. Lots of difficult and painful physical therapy are in his immediate future, I’m afraid. Considering how important the shoulder is to pretty much every baseball activity, this is really tough.

I felt even sorrier for him after reading this:

“They popped it back in and it felt fine, actually, but I tested it by pushing down on my helmet and it popped back out again. I feel like I let [manager] Joe [Torre] down and I let my guys down.

“I’m just crushed. It’s like every time I play for Joe, something stupid happens. Every time I get a dream job, something happens.”

He said while playing for Torre in New York, he suffered a broken wrist, a concussion and a sprained neck. “The diagnosis doesn’t sound real pleasant. I’m devastated right now. Joe and everybody stuck their neck out for me and this is what I give back.”

Best of luck, Doug.

The last two Dodger games (against the Giants, so it’s that much sweeter), the starters have:

• 24 strikeouts (Bills 11, Kershaw 13)
• 1 walk (Bills 0, Kershaw 1)
• 14 innings pitched (7 apiece)
• 2 earned runs (1 apiece)
• 6 hits given up (Bills 5, Kershaw 1)

Ahem.