Baseball and the Azaleas

 The Oakland A’s management has been visiting Las Vegas with a player’s card regularity these past several months. The A’s have been fighting for a new stadium since moving from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. They have never gotten any traction on building  a new stadium and they play in the worst facility of any major sports franchise. The Giants have blocked all their efforts building anything in Norcal outside of Oakland. The Giants claiming sovereign markets. No surprise, they claim LV on my MLB App for local blackouts. The Pumpkin squad did arrive a decade earlier, but the A’s have had more success than their Silicon Valley elitists from across the first bay bridge. Oakland is trying to hang onto the A’s with a $3 billion pipe dream development including a ballpark as the anchor tenant. They are facing stiff opposition from all fronts for the massive spend with other pressing social needs. Defending the complexity of the situation, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said “It is going to be more complicated, and you have got to be much more environmentally focused when you are developing on the precious California coastline than in the gross desert of Las Vegas. So, yes, it is more complicated, and it is totally worth it.”  There was immediate backlash from Las Vegas for the gross mischaracterization. Yard staff has been searching Google Earth to see where the precious California coastline interacts with Oakland. We have checked our social media contacts, and no one is bragging about their beach house in Oakland. Las Vegas is not certain we want the rebuilding A’s either but we have seen some gross street scenes in Oakland so please no stones, Libby.

What a glorious April day when the first round of the Masters and the MLB Opener occur on the same day. Two of the Yards most treasured pursuits baseball and The Masters all at once. The Masters happens every year on this weekend, but baseball had to orchestrate a 99-day labor strike to get the timing right. We wondered why 99 days? Baseball is driven by stats and a hundred days seemed more statistically relevant. Transcending all of it is Tiger Woods making his triumphant return to Augusta. El Tigre might have never walked again after wrapping his corporate sponsored Genesis SUV around a Palos Verdes Estate pine tree.

Woods is not only walking Augusta he is +1 after two rounds of his first competition in over five hundred days. It is magnificent to see the GOAT back on the grass. Woods has never missed the cut at the Masters as a pro. He will be playing this weekend. The Masters is Tiger’s home track. He has played in over 25 Masters in his career carding five green jackets. Tiger has more Masters moments than any golfer in history. It is a Ken Burns ten-part series. CBS certainly hopes he is in his red Nike best on Sunday afternoon.

Augusta is perfect for Woods’ return besides its lack of diversity. The Masters is the only Major that is played on the same course every year. The greens crew has moved sand traps and tricked up the Azaleas for the tournament, but it is the same 1930 Georgia real estate. Tiger knows every nook, cranny, and whoop dee do around Amen corner through Rae’s Creek. He will be formidable if still in contention Sunday afternoon. His 46-year-old body may not let him get there but it is thrilling to see him playing again with today’s best.

That baseball is almost opening on time is an extraordinary accomplishment. With completion of the 2021 World Series, the owners immediately locked the players out when their Collective Bargaining Agreement expired. Rather than risk a mid-season work stoppage, they were not going to let the season start at all without a new CBA. Mid-season strikes are still painful reminders for many fans. In 1994, the Montreal Expos were on their way to the World Series. The New York Yankees were tracking towards their first title since 1981. San Francisco Giants slugger Matt Williams’ had forty-three home runs and Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. had 40. Both had a chance to break Roger Maris' then-season record for home runs of sixty-one. This was before Barriod and McCreatine smashed 70+. San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn had a .394 batting average and a chance to become the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to bat .400 or higher. On August 12, 1994, baseball stopped and then wiped out the 1994 WS. The Expos might still be in Montreal if they had made the WS that season. Much more than games were lost that year, fans and history disappeared with them.

Public opinion on Major League baseball is divided regarding the current relevance of our national pastime. The NFL dominates the sports landscape even outside of their season. The NBA has some of the biggest individual stars on the planet in any sport. Hockey is exploding across the US and baseball is well the national pastime. The Yard has heard it before and often. There are too many games, they take too long, the hot dogs and beer are too expensive. All are valid points and baseball has tried to address some of them. Yard staff doubts there will ever be a reduction in the number of games or the price of beer and hot dogs. We do believe the pace of play can change with tweaks. We like the Ghost runner starting on second base in extra innings. It is not a fun start for the close to start with a runner on base. But on a Tuesday night with the beer shut down three innings earlier, let’s get it done. It is a school night. The NL DH will cut down on pitching changes and put another bat in the lineup. We love the history, the nuances, and the Dodgers.

Back at the Club: If you grew up in LA during the Magic Johnson Laker era, Winning Time on HBO is a fun ride. John C. Reilly as Jerry Bush is brilliant. The swashbuckler outdueled Jack Kent Cooke for ownership of the team and a legacy that far surpasses him. The personalities and the stories are brought to life by Adam Mackay with his original cadence. It is based on the book Showtime, but HBO could not live with that title.

Breaking News: Shout out to Stuart at the Payroll for breaking the Steve Lavin hire at University of San Diego. The Yard got caught up in the second season of Emily in Paris and missed the notification. Former Bruin coach Lavin was the first UCLA coach ever to lose to USD, so it is fitting that they have now hired him. USD Alum Stuart is our point person for that market. Go Toreros!