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Spring Break Training PART I |
Spring Break Training PART II |
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SABRES, PENS, SHOTGUNS & METS |
BILL BUCKNER WAS INNOCENT |
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TheMatts
Posts:1518
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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HOBOKEN, NJ – This weekend, the Matts make an annual pilgrimage to Cooperstown, New York for Shasky vs. Shasky baseball at the pristine and cherished Doubleday Field. It also offers the Matts a time to renew their on-going point-counterpoint:
Where is the Cradle of Baseball’s Civilization? The Mecca The Diamond?The Birthplace of America’s Pastime? The Original Field of Dreams?
Each Matt has a valid and authentic side in this debate. Take for the moment, Cooperstown. It is a bucolic, lakeside village in the Central Leatherstocking District of New York State with open fields and farms dotting a rather unspoiled landscape. Cooperstown is home to baseball’s ultimate shrine: The National Baseball Hall of Fame, perched prominently on Main Street. While there is little argument anymore about Abner Doubleday and the “invention” of the sport in the area, the town can still be considered the most important place in all of baseball. Since the inaugural class of 1939 where Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were inducted, almost every great legend of the game has walked through the halls. Not only does the Hall acknowledge players, it is also the pantheon of the African American Leagues, managers, umpires, executives and pioneers of the sport.
Hoboken, New Jersey stakes its ownership as the "Cradle" by virtue of its claim that baseball was invented there, right in the shadow of the world greatest city.
Alexander Cartwright is now commonly referred to as the founder of baseball as his 1845 publication, “Knickerbocker Rules” set the rules of the game down. While some version of the sport must have been played for years before this rulebook, it is, nonetheless, the first documented proof of it. With little suitable space in New York CIty, in that same year, Cartwright took his Knickerbocker Club, a Manhattan based squad to Elysian Fields in Hoboken to play the New York Nines in the first officially recognized baseball game. A plaque commemorating the event stands at Washington & 11th Street in that city today.
So there you have it. The jury will forever remain out as to which place holds the more important key to baseball’s history. This weekend the Matts will begin filming a special report on this gripping subject and play some old fashion hardball as well. Maybe we’ll see you there? Maybe the Philly Phanatic will post his column tomorrow? Maybe he’ll be the San Diego Chicken? You never know.
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Bayside
Posts:238
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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| Tough call. Hoboken wouldn't claim diddley without New York, where it seems the game was being created. Cooperstown is in the friggin sticks and impossible to get to. Give it to Cincinnati in a Socratic decision. Then we can all sit around and say why the hell is it there? Kinda like why the hell is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? Whatcha gonna do about Cleveland?? |
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Finns
Posts:72
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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Wow you Matts play the game too. Thats great, anyone with an opinion about the game should be an active player. I see the Matts pitching and catching (no pun intended).
And the game could not have begun in NJ, I'm pretty sure the first official game was played as stickball in Queens around 1723. |
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phillview
Posts:74
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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Boys, it's true Cooperstown is out in the middle of nowhere. And Al Gore's claim of inventing the internet is stronger than the now-debunked fantasy that Doubleday invented baseball there, or anywhere else. And the facts around Hoboken's claim are indeed strong.
But for me, and for this hypothetical argument, Cooperstown is baseball immortality, and always will be. MATTS, you state the best reason right in your post - no other location NOW can claim that level of baseball history. Forget that the choice of original town was a farce, it is where, in 1939 when it opened, the four living members of the first class of '36 - Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, and Johnson - stood together, along with other greats elected in '37 and '38 like Tris "The Grey Eagle" Speaker, Grover Cleveland "Is the bar open?" Alexander, and Cy Young (not a bad pitcher before he was an award).
Sorry Hoboken, old Blue Eyes can't help you on this one. |
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Dude
Posts:569
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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| cooperstown, hall of fame, winner, period. hoboken? please? isn't that where the brooklyn dodgers made a pitstop before heading to la? or was that jersey city, either way its close enough. case closed. |
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Yankees Suck
Posts:396
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| 06-26-2008 - SelecA - |
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Cooperstown or Hoboken might be the cradle of baseball, but the Polo Grounds were its Florence, for there baseball began its Renaissance Until the 1962 debut of the New York Mets, baseball was just the same 16 teams duking it out for bragging rights. Any of those teams that didn't win a World Series in that time is highly pathetic.
Now the National League alone has 16 teams, and this leaves a lot of opportunity for rivalries, upsets, and gives fans of some cities two teams to decide between. With all these teams vying for supremacy in 1995 baseball enacted the Wild Card, resulting in an exciting Playoff structure.
Baseball had a stroke in 1973, leaving half of its brain and body retarded. That stroke is the Designated Hitter, and it has made retards out of many, such as one Hank Steinbrenner, arguably a retard without baseball's help, who believes pitchers should be places on pedestals and not require to run, because they might hurt themselves.
Fortunately the National League is still going strong, and it has been since 1962, since its rebirth at the Polo Grounds. |
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MATTS-MATICS: NY Jets vs NY Rangers |
BRAVE Fan Talks REDSKINS
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MATT FACTS:
Chad Pennington is NOT a Brett Favre fan... Hillary Clinton and Don Nelson have never been seen in the same place... Jerry Manuel is not related to Charlie ManuelJerry Manuel is not related to Charlie Manuel... Somebody namd Michel coaches the Pittsburgh Penguins... Tiki Barber quit the Giants. The Giants then won the Super Bowl... The New England Patriots only lost ONE game out of 19!!! Aaron Heilman was actually funny in re to Eli and Plaxico Burress helping the Mets as a pitcher and outfielder, respectively. Repeat, Heilman was funny... Jessica Simpson would rather date Tom Brady - trust us... Eli Manning is better than Archie - now... Alyssa Milano is a Met fan. RRRRR... Rickey Henderson speaks in the 3rd Person... Shawn Green has big ears... Howard Johnson likes to stay at the Holiday Inn, ironically... Sandy Alomar, Sr. is the youngest of 9 kids. That's why he was quick around the dish. Jiminy Cricket was the Philly Phanatic in a previous life…Fred Wilpon is pals with Sandy Koufax... Mike Ditka is a really tough guy.. Buffalo has a Triple A baseball team. They are NOT called The Snowballs... Chan Ho Park has people thinking of naming a ballfield after him - it would be called Chan Ho Park Park... John Maine has never been, oddly enough, to Maine... Curt Gowdy, Jr. has never been to Yellow Knife, Canada... Kevin Mitchell played 6 positions for the Mets in '86 and, according to Doc Gooden's book, didn't like cats... John Olerud & Wayne Gretzky have never been seen in the same place... Kevin McReynolds now makes his living doing laugh tracks for sit-coms... Tony Gwynn is nearing 300 lbs... Carlos Beltran has Mercedes Benz dealerships named for him in Barcelona, Spain... Willie Montanez was called Guillermo by Lenny Randle... Rusty Staub beat Jeff Kent in a race – TODAY... Jay Horwitz is a dynamite Cricket players – somebody said... Jeff Wilpon was a decent minor league catcher... Ziggy Palfy lives in Slovakia and is a big Met fan... Superman Returns, yet still can’t hit Billy Wagner... David Wright will win the Triple Crown – on a horse... Omar Minaya is Tobey McGuire’s stunt-double in Spider Man 3... Hilary Clinton has Mr. Met pajamas – we think... Albert Einstein was a HUGE Met fan... The Metropolitan Opera House was named for the Mets after their 2nd season in ’63... Wally Backman, ’86 sparkplug, considered changing his name to Wally Back-Matt... Neil Allen and Mike Stanton, former Mets, have Allen & Stanton Streets on Lower East Side named for them.
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