Two-Week Notice!

Let this stand as your two-week notice to enter the June Contest. This month, I’m asking you to submit pictures of yourself in a section 36 in order to enter. So, if you’re going to a game this month, hop over to Section 36 and snap a picture or two. Don't lose out just by not entering!

Good Luck!

What is an Autograph?

I hear it quite often, inside the hobby and out. “What a terrible signature that is.” “What kind of autograph is that? You can’t make out all the letters!” My question back to them is always, “So?”

Isn’t a signature or autograph more that simply writing your name in cursive? Isn’t a signature simply your name written in a distinctive way? So people know it’s you? I saw an auction listing once for a “dual-signed Christy Matthewson envelope” Basically, this was an envelope that Christy had autographed twice. Why did he sign the same envelope twice? Good question. One of the autographs was in the return address. Since it was the early 1900’s, Big 6 wrote his return address in cursive. So, there was one “autograph.” The second one? Well, the envelope was addressed to Christy’s wife. “Mrs. Christy Matthewson” Once again, since cursive was used, it was called another autograph. I was astounded. Those weren’t signatures. They were just him writing his name. That’s not the same thing, is it? Let’s say Jon Lester was writing a letter to his brother telling him to throw a party. “Get the invitations out.” Jon might start out the letter. “Invite, Frank, Casey, Jon, Lester, Kyle, and Theo.” Did he just produce a Jon Lester autograph?

So, why is there so much discussion about the “quality” of an autograph? Why is a “nice signature” one where you can make out all the letters? Isn’t a big D followed by a squiggle still distinctive? Wouldn’t you still know who it was? Wouldn’t it, in reality, be more distinctive? I bet if you asked ten people to write “David Ortiz” in their best cursive, they would all look fairly similar. But, a David Ortiz signature would be distinctive. You might even say, a signature mark.

So, I don’t care if I can make out every letter of an autograph. I don’t care if I can only make out two letters. I’ll be happy if I can tell the squiggle gets higher where there should be a “k.” It’s an autograph. If I made someone rewrite it so I could make out every letter, it wouldn’t be their autograph.

Frankly, I can’t blame players if their signatures aren’t perfect anyway. If I had to sign as many things, and as many hard-to-sign things, I’d develop an easy to do signature too. Since that’s the way they sign things, it’s their signature.

Why isn’t that the most important thing?

I’m Really Sick of Miami

So, here’s the understatement of the year. The Red Sox aren’t on the best stretch at the moment. To be fair, even though they’ve been on a four-game losing streak, and are only 3-7 in their last ten, they haven’t been terrible. It’s almost been encouraging. Calm down. I said almost.

The good news? The pitching staff hasn’t been terrible. Giving up three or four runs a game is actually a pretty good goal. The Sox have been in that range a lot lately. I can’t really complain about that. Mark Melancon returned and had his best inning of the season. Daisuke made his amazing return, and didn’t get blown up. He actually pitched pretty well. (Better than Bard has, at least.) Really, if the pitching staff kept on keeping on, I would be pleased.

The problem has been that the offense hasn’t been quite good enough. They’ve been close. Most of the losses lately have earned saves for the opposing closer. So, they’re right there at the end. They just can’t quite get over the hump. That’s the kind of thing that happens when you’re missing the tops of your depth charts. (And, let’s be honest. Facing Strasberg, Gonzalez, and Johnson in that stretch didn’t help.) The thing I thought was encouraging? There’s a slight light in that department. Cody Ross is getting close to returning. No, Ross isn’t exactly Matt Kemp. But, he’s better than what the Sox have been throwing out there. Like the said, the Sox just need a little boost. The big boosts are on their way as well. Once the outfield is in better shape, Adrian Gonzalez can ditch right field and get back to first where he belongs. (On a side note, I don’t think Gonzalez get nearly enough credit for the job he’s doing out there in a tight spot. Or, for just being willing to do it in the first place.) That allows the Sox to dangle Will Middlebrooks and really see what kind of trade can improve the team.

The Sox are 6.5 games out, with about 100 games left.

Sounds doable to me.

I Scored

1999 April 24

In a preview of the 1999 ALDS, the Indians were in town in this game. That Indians team would go on to score over 1000 runs that year. In this game, they picked up four of them. Let’s check out the action.

Speaking of Indians runs, lets see who they scored them off. Looks like Bret Saberhagen had the start that day, and gave up one of the runs. Oddly, he left after only four innings. I can’t see any decent reason for him to be removed. Must have been an injury. Or, Jimy Williams simply made a “manager’s decision.” Tim Harikkala came into the game, and didn’t provide much relief. He gave up the other three runs the Indians scored. Guthrie, Cormier and Lowe combined to pitch three shutout innings. Overall, a good job to hold that line-up to four runs. How about the Red Sox line-up? They did a bit better.

Right off the bat, the Sox got some breathing room with three quick ones. Five straight batters reached base with four singles and a walk. Pretty impressive to score three runs with two outs without getting an extra-base hit. The Sox broke it open with three more runs in the seventh. That was a bit more of a conventional rally with a homer and double mixed in to score the runs.

Looking at the rest of the line-up begs one question, though. Is O’Leary-Buford-Lewis a better outfield than Nava-Byrd-Sweeney?

The hero of the game? I’m going to give it to Mike Stanley. He went 2-3 on the day, driving in two runs and scoring two. The goat of the game? Has to be Jason Varitek. The future captain went 0-5 with only one ball getting to the outfield. Pretty pathetic.

But, it didn’t matter. The Sox took the game by out-slugging the Indians. On a day that their bullpen had to pitch most of the game, the offense was able to pick up the slack. It was a big win against a very good team.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.

Three Weeks Left!

Let this stand as your three-week notice to enter the June Contest. This month, I’m asking you to submit pictures of yourself in a section 36 in order to enter. So, if you’re going to this afternoon’s game, or any other game this month, hop over to Section 36 and snap a picture or two.

Good Luck!