{"id":108,"date":"2010-04-02T23:01:50","date_gmt":"2010-04-03T06:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/?p=108"},"modified":"2010-04-02T23:04:13","modified_gmt":"2010-04-03T06:04:13","slug":"money-ball-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/archives\/108","title":{"rendered":"Money Ball (Love)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Something marvelously strange is going on with my San Francisco Giants. For the first time since the decline and fall of Barry Bonds, the dead wood has been greatly minimized, money is being spent to retain talent, and it appears management may actually try to win the whole enchilada. The odds are greatly against such a grandiose finale to a season yet to be played, but this is the first time since 2003, the year after we last went to the World Series, that there have been any odds at all. These last six seasons have been less about rebuilding and more of a sports version of Waiting For Godot, as in waiting for the second coming of Willie Mays as we plumb the depths of the existential conundrum: is baseball metaphoric of an intrinsically meaningless or meaningful life?<\/p>\n

But enough about Samuel Beckett, our fat cat owners are actually paying Tim Lincecum twenty-three million dollars to start sixty-five games or so over the next two years. That\u2019s approximately three hundred and fifty thousand dollars per game or about three grand per pitch. Tim is twenty-five years old. Can you imagine what you would have done with twenty-three million dollars when you were twenty-five? Or with three million? Or even with three hundred thousand? I hope I would have been smart enough to buy a farm, but something tells me I would have blown it making a movie. If someone offered me twenty-three million today (or three million or three hundred thousand) I know just what I\u2019d do with it, as soon as I find my reading glasses and that list I made.<\/p>\n

Why this sudden loosening of the Giants\u2019 corporate purse strings? My theory, somewhat convoluted, is as follows. Despite our losing ways, our wonderful new ballpark by the glittering bay has been such a fabulous cash cow and tourist attraction that our owners felt no pressing need to field a particularly upscale team. This is a variant on the old \u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d If making money is their primary goal (and it obviously is) the owners were winning even when the team lost. But last year, for the first time since the new park opened, the cow began producing noticeably less cash. For several years now good pitching alone has kept us from abysmal failure in the weakest division in baseball, but last year (never mind Lincecum\u2019s second Cy Young Award) the crowds began to dwindle. The team couldn\u2019t hit or run and management wouldn\u2019t spend a fat dime to buy us a couple bats; and then the economy tanked and the specter of a half-empty ballpark loomed for the coming season.<\/p>\n

Combine this specter with a resurgence of the other teams in our division, and the money boys decided it was time to spend some cash to field a winner, because winners fill seats and pitching alone won\u2019t hack it anymore. And since it is a sure bet our owners gained greatly from the recent economic hijinks that have hurt so many Giants fans below them on the slopes of the pyramid, our owners have plenty of cash to spend.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my theory: a confluence of economic factors necessitating infrastructure upgrade combined with the unfathomable workings of a mysterious universe. Now I\u2019m not saying I think we\u2019re going to win it all this season. Indeed, my linear logical brain doubts very much we\u2019ll even win the division. But we have a chance, and a chance is an exciting thing for a fan weary of starring in Waiting For Willie.<\/p>\n

And the other thing I want to say about the upcoming season is this. I know a woman of ninety-six who told me that had the Giants won it all in 2002 she would have allowed herself to die. She was ready to go. Her bags were packed, so to speak. We were three outs away from winning the World Series for the first time since 1954. And then we lost. And in that painful moment this woman knew she would have to stay alive. This is a gal who listens to every game, including every game of spring training. She refers to the players and the announcers and the coaches by their first names. They are, as far as she\u2019s concerned, her family. She is blind, so she can only listen to the games. When the Giants win, she is cheerful. When they lose, she is cranky for an hour or so, then she stows her disappointment and gets ready for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

She was not a fan of baseball until she married in her late twenties. She and her husband attended many games at Candlestick and watched or listened to every game together for forty years. Her husband died thirty years ago, but she says he is with her still for every game. When I last saw her, she said she thought this might be our year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys are entering their prime,\u201d she said, nodding confidently. \u201cYou can hear the maturity in Matt\u2019s voice, Tim so confident now. I\u2019m glad Juan came back. He comes through more times than not. And Pablo is starting to show some patience at the plate. John sounds more upbeat about the team than I\u2019ve heard him sound in a long time. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to settle for almost again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we win it all?\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled and whispered, \u201cMy work will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah beautiful irrational hope. Let\u2019s play ball!<\/p>\n

Todd\u2019s web site is UnderTheTableBooks.com. His audio books are available from Audible.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something marvelously strange is going on with my San Francisco Giants. For the first time since the decline and fall of Barry Bonds, the dead wood has been greatly minimized, money is being spent to retain talent, and it appears management may actually try to win the whole enchilada. The odds are greatly against such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[160,85,84,285,36,281,282,283,284],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}