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The David Ross Era Has Begun

After weeks (if not more) of speculation, the Cubs officially named David Ross as their new manager yesterday, replacing Joe Maddon.  Ross, who retired from the Cubs following the 2016 World Series, has no previous managing or coaching experience.  Ross inherits an underachieving team that has sputtered down the stretch the prior two seasons, losing the Wild Card game in 2018 and failing to make the playoffs this past year.

Managing his former teammates will be a non-issue, according to Ross and the Cubs front office, but there is risk involved in players who considered Ross a friend now having to toe the line as he becomes their boss.  In some ways, it is a safe choice, but there is a risk that it will backfire and the team will be forced to part ways with a recent legend.

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20 (and 45)


In a surprise development, Angelina and I spent our birthday together last year, spending the day in St. Louis thanks to Danny’s band competition.  This picture of us was taken just minutes before the end of our birthday as the competition wrapped up at he Dome at America’s Center and we were getting ready to go out and “celebrate” with a late night dinner at a dive diner, which went about as well as you can imagine.

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Ballpark Tour: Cardinals

With the offseason underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years.  This week, we look at the St. Louis Cardinals, a team you would think I would have visited more often due to it’s proximity to Chicago.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with Busch Stadium, the former home of the Cardinals.

Stadium Name: Busch Stadium

Years in Service: 1966 – 2005

Visits: 1

Busch Memorial Stadium, more commonly known as Busch Stadium, was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1966 until 2005.  The stadium also played host to both the St. Louis Football Cardinals from 1966 until their move to Arizona in 1987 and then the newly-relocated Rams in 1995.  Following the 1995 season, the stadium was retro-fitted for baseball use only, replacing the astroturf field with grass and installing a new scoreboard.  The stadium was demolished during November of 2005, in part to make room for its replacement.

I made my one and only trip to Busch Stadium on June 21, 2001 for an exciting Cubs victory over the host Cardinals.  It was a packed house that day, and we had standing room only tickets, so I didn’t get to see much of the stadium.  I do remember a conversation with a local, who, in a deep southern accent, kept talking about his fascination with Todd Dunwoody, who got the start in right field that day in place of Sammy Sosa.

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Ballpark Tour: Marlins

As we prepare to enter the long offseason, and having trekked to a few new stadiums this season, it is time to take another tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years.  We start with an odd occurrence: the Miami Marlins.  While I have never been to Miami, I have managed to see one of their home games, thanks to Hurricane Ivan.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with the Marlins at, of all places, US Cellular Field in Chicago.

Stadium Name: US Cellular Field

Years in Service: 2004

Visits: 1 (as the home team)

In September of 2004, Hurricane Ivan bore down on Florida, just weeks after Hurricane Frances made landfall.  The Marlins, having already cancelled a full series against the Cubs, decided to move 2 games of their series against the Montreal Expos to Chicago.  So, on September 14, 2014, I went to US Cellular Field, home of the White Sox, to see the Marlins battle the Expos.

With general admission ticket prices set at $15, $5 of which went to a fund for victims of the hurricane, I headed down to the second of the two games the teams played in town.  The Marlins, playing the part of the home team, brought their own public address announcer, their own mascot, and their own graphics to be used on the center field scoreboard.  Southpaw, the mascot of the White Sox, palled around with Billy Marlin.

The games marked the first time that a National League game was played in an American League stadium since 1946, when the Braves had to play the Phillies at Fenway Park due to painted seats that hadn’t yet dried.  It was also the first time that the defending World Series champions played a home game in Chicago since 1918.

For the Expos, it was just another strange trip in a season full of them.  This was their last season in existence, when they played a portion of their home schedule in Puerto Rico.  The travel for this series should have been nothing, since the team was already in town to play the Cubs the weekend before.  However, a previously booked convention kicked them out of their hotel downtown, forcing them to move out to Arlington Heights, which is not an exactly convenient locale when playing on the South Side.

The Marlins managed to win both games of the series before they were able to head back to Florida and continue the season as planned.  The Expos played out the last 20 or so games of their existence before moving to Washington and becoming the Nationals.

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2019 Final Pitching Leaders

baseballs3Yesterday, we looked at the leaders in the 37 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball.  With the Division Series in full swing today, it’s time to wrap up our look back at the 2019 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Reynaldo Lopez 3
Evan Marshall 2
Ivan Nova 2
Brad Brach  2
Jon Lester 2

Losses

Name Total
Ivan Nova 5
Lucas Giolito 4
Jose Quintana 2
Kelvin Herrera 2
Alex Colome 2
Kyle Hendricks 2

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Evan Marshall 0.00
Kolby Allard 0.00
Madison Bumgarner 0.00
Chris Bassitt 0.00
Brandon Kintzler 0.00
Kyle Ryan 0.00

Strikeouts

Name Total
Lucas Giolito 35
Reynaldo Lopez 33
Ivan Nova 33
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