SALE OF LOS ANGELES DODGERS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2012 – The Los Angeles Dodgers, Guggenheim Baseball Management LLC (“GBM”) and Frank McCourt today announced the completion of the sale of the Dodgers to GBM for $2 billion. As previously reported, the Dodgers’ new ownership includes Mark Walter as control person, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Stan Kasten as CEO of the organization.

The Los Angeles Dodgers stated, “The Dodgers emerge from the Chapter 11 reorganization process having achieved its objective of maximizing the value of the Dodgers through a successful Plan of Reorganization, under which all claims will be paid. The Dodgers move forward with confidence – in a strong financial position; as a premier Major League Baseball franchise; and as an integral part of and representative of the Los Angeles community.”

NY Times: “Ride to Ballgame on Vintage Train Transports Fans to Another Era”

A subway train came and went. And another, and a few more. But the crowd gathered on an uptown platform in Grand Central Station on Friday morning was not budging.

Then, a few minutes after noon, the mystery was explained, even if the fuss was not completely understood: a vintage train arrived, looking its period best, with fatigue-green sides; large, easy-to-open windows; and ads plastered to its walls saying, “Thoughtful mothers bake and fry with Crisco.”

Now, it would be pretty silly to assume Kemp will be the first member of the 50-50 club. History tells us he’s due to be derailed on that quest, particularly if he keeps up a pace that would result in 97 home runs. (Hey, how’s a guy supposed to swipe 50 bags if the majority of his action on the bases involves trotting around them?)

And no, Kemp won’t continue to hit .487 with a 1.548 OPS. He won’t have a .538 ISO (isolated power, or the percentage of his at-bats that have resulted in extra bases). He won’t win NL Player of the Week honors every single week of the season. And come to think of it, he probably won’t sustain that 97-homer pace, either.

But something was awoken inside of Kemp last year — a year in which he finally had the energy and enthusiasm to match his potential, with the results to show for it — and his hunger to drive himself and his team to greatness was only made all the more strong by that MVP snub.

August 29, 1924. “Crowd at Washington Star scoreboard for A.L. Pennant game, Nationals-New York.” The Nats beat the Yankees 5-1. A vivid demonstration of the 1920s mania for baseball (and the straw boater), at just about the time radio was making mechanical scoreboards obsolete. National Photo Co. View full size.

MLB Network looks at the memories, top moments and overall stature of Dodgers Stadium as it turns 50 years old

Sometimes as a fan, I regret not having been around for those famous historical moments of yesteryear. But as I watch this tribute, I smile at having been at Dodger Stadium for some of the moments of the recent past — the 4+1 game, Steve Finley’s walkoff, others — that will enter into the mythology for Dodger fans of future generations.

This was quite a home opener for the Dodgers, a day of many different emotions.

• Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first game at Dodger Stadium.
• The 1st Anniversary of the attack on Brian Stow, marked by a heavy police presence.
• Vin Scully missing his first home opener in several decades with a bad cold.
• Andre Ethier hitting a game-winning homer after both teams struggled through a low-scoring game, perhaps reminiscent of those pitching duels of the early 60s.

An incoming ownership group seems almost to pale in comparison.

A few days before Christmas in 1960, John Burgeson, a mid-level programmer at IBM in Akron, Ohio, called in sick and invented a form of computerized fantasy baseball. In the process, he also presaged the rudimentary concepts of sabermetrics. And in doing all that, he figured out that computers, which until then had basically been ice cream truck–size calculators, were portals to a virtual world and the future of gaming.

Via MetaFilter.

ScienceDaily — “Baseball: Beanballs and the Psychology of Revenge”

In a new study, baseball fans exhibit a high moral tolerance for a form of revenge not otherwise practiced in most of contemporary society: avenging a teammate who has been hit by a pitch by aiming a pitch at an opposing batter who was not previously involved. The research suggests that such systems of vicarious retribution, found throughout history, may not depend on an underlying assignment of moral responsibility.

This week, as tens of millions of Americans awaited the baseball season’s first pitches, Brown University psychologist Fiery Cushman was watching more warily for the first beanballs. As someone who studies moral judgment, Cushman recognizes that the intentional targeting of an innocent player to avenge a hit batsman could be a telling exception within American culture, even if the rest of the game is a national institution.

Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy’d the sun,
To have lived light in the spring,
To have loved, to have thought, to have done;
To have advanc’d true friends, and beat down baffling foes?

– Matthew Arnold, “Empedocles on Etna” (1852)

Today should be a national holiday with the day off for everybody. (So should Arbor Day, but that’s another quixotic quest of mine.) Spring can now be said to be officially underway.

I will be celebrating at a local minor-league park this evening.

Perhaps no other biochemist in the world has his own baseball card, but University of Massachusetts Amherst doctoral student Elih M. Velázquez-Delgado, who gave up a pitching career for science, does. Now the only stats he cares about are experimental data, because, he says, “I fell in love with the fact that I can see a molecule. I can actually see an enzyme and watch how it functions. That captured me.”

A native of Puerto Rico who pitched for five seasons in the minors, the Arizona and California Leagues, for the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants’ organizations, Velázquez-Delgado says his fast ball was hot enough but he lacked the “killer instinct” required to make it in the majors. He reflects, “I may have the ability but not the mindset.”

The Frank McCourt era is coming to an end at last (except for the parking lots, apparently).

LA Times: “Magic Johnson-led group is picked as Dodgers’ next owner”

A group led by Magic Johnson, the Lakers legend whose championship lineage and community involvement have made him one of the most beloved sports figures in Los Angeles history, was selected Wednesday as the next owner of the Dodgers.

The Dodgers made the announcement Wednesday night.

The decision all but caps three years of turmoil surrounding the storied team, during which the Dodgers descended into mediocrity as Frank McCourt spent more than $25 million in a futile fight to retain ownership.

The program, which begins for the April 3 exhibition game against the Angels, is funded by a $300,000 grant to support clean fuel transit. Dodgers game tickets will be honored as fare payment. Otherwise, the cost will be $1.50 each way. More than 116,000 riders used the service last year.

The Dodger Stadium Express will pick up fans at the Patsaouras Bus Plaza adjacent to the east portal of Union Station and continue to Dodger Stadium via Sunset Blvd. and Cesar Chavez Avenue. Passengers will be dropped off and picked up in Dodger Stadium’s parking lot G in center field.

And if the stadium’s bike parking is still available, one could indeed do a very nice multi-modal trip to see the Boys in Blue. :) I’ve requested confirmation and will update folks here.

UPDATE 3/23: The Dodgers confirmed that the bike racks are still there at the Top of the Park, Lot P.

Congratulations to Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Robbie Keane, and the rest of the LA Galaxy, the 2011 champions of Major League Soccer!