A Lucky Bounce Off the Roof

Brewers' fans are proud of the retractable roof at Miller Park. They often wonder why newer parks are built without the feature.

This season, the roof has allowed to team to suffer fewer rainouts than many other teams. That means they don't have to contend with as many late-season doubleheaders.

And now the Brewers have another reason to like stadiums with roofs. Pennants are often won by the team that gets a lucky bounce or two. 

After being swept at home by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Brewers looked like they might be headed for a rough September, after all. Then, last night in Houston they looked lost at the plate until a bit of luck jumpstarted the offense.

With the Crew trailing 2-0 in the seventh inning, Corey Hart came to the plate with two out and a runner on first. A high pop foul looked like an easy play for the third baseman. Easy, that is, until the ball struck a support beam on the retractable roof. Instead of the third out, the ground rules mandated it was just a foul ball. Hart singled and the Brewers were on their way to an 8-2 victory.

Add to that the Cardinals' 11-8 loss at home to the Reds and the lead was back to 8.5 games with the magic number reduced to 16.

It's safe to say The Brewers are thankful that the Astros decided to include a roof on their stadium.

The Run Continues

At the beginning of the month, I wrote how there's nothing more exciting in sports than your favorite baseball team going on a hot streak. Little did I know that the Brewers were only at the start of an epic run: They'd won 27 of 32 games coming into Tuesday's game with the  hated St. Louis Cardinals.

Those are same Cardinals that Milwaukee always seem to be chasing. Now it's the Redbirds and their cantankerous manager, Tony La Russa, who are desperate for some wins. In fact, they need a lot of wins to even make a dent in Milwaukee's 10.5 game lead.

As exciting as that early run was, the chance to bury a bitter and put away the division before the second week of September takes the joy up several notches. Going into the season, I thought the Brewers had a chance to win the division, but I never imagined they'd be so far ahead, building the biggest lead in the team's history.

The off-season moves to shore up the pitching staff—bringing in Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke—have paid off. And then Doug Melvin, the club's general manager, took a bold chance in trading for New York Mets' closer Frankie Rodriguez. Not only was he able to rework a problematic contract, Rodriguez accepted his less-glamorous role as 8th-inning man.

That move shored up the bullpen and the team has ridden good pitching, timely hitting and some lucky bounces to the upper echelon of the National League.

It's been nearly three decades since Milwaukee has had a team playing at this level. The excitement just keeps growing.

T. Plush Havin' a Good Time

The Milwaukee Brewers are having a great year and, surprisingly, a part-time player has become the symbol of a team having a good time. The two big stars – Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun – get their share of attention, but it's Nyjer Morgan who is entertaining the fans and his fellow players.

Not since Gorman Thomas and Pete Vuckovich brought a blue-collar zaniness to the contenders of the late '70s and early '80s have the Brewers had a player who had the knack to just have fun. And fans get a doubleheader with Morgan, because along to provide the fun is Tony Plush, his alter ego.

For the uninitiated, the alternate personality was born in his youth when he and his buddies came up with nicknames for each other. Now Morgan, a speedy player who is getting his first taste of playing for a good team, is in the limelight with T. Plush.

And the fans are eating up Morgan's comic and baseball act. New T. Plush T-shirts sell out the day they arrive at the Brewers team store, and his videos go viral on YouTube.

Morgan credits the T. Plush persona with his reckless play on the field, whether running into walls or slamming into catchers. Sometimes opponents don't like the latter, but he has given the Crew a couple wins this season that way, so local fans won't complain. Stormin' Gorman, as Thomas was known, played the same way, once saying the fans paid to see him hit a home run, run into a wall or strikeout and they probably would get to see at least two of those on any night.

And then there's the crazy, off-the-wall interviews he gives after games. Wild answers to typical questions make them must-see TV. Maybe the Brewers have caught lightning in a bottle, but Morgan has the Brewers' fan's vote as most entertaining player in the league.

The Best Time in Sports

Casey McGehee needs to get hot for the Brewers.

There's nothing in sports more exciting than your baseball team getting hot at the right time. The anticipation for each game is thrilling. And unlike other sports, the games are virtually every day.

That's the case with the Milwaukee Brewers right now. They were a team full of questions heading into the All-Star break. They were in first place, or near it, most of the first half of the season. But the team had a split personality: They had the best record in baseball at home and one of the worst on the road.

Now, they have the look of a division winner. They won five of 11 on a road trip and now seven in a row at home since. In times past, a run like this would send me scurrying for the latest newspaper to read all the quotes about how great my team was doing. Now, I can watch every game and read about the streak  all over the Internet.

But the dynamic hasn't changed. The anticipation builds each day until game time. And then, as the winning continues, it just gets better.

Of course, the Brewers won't win every game for the rest of the season (and I hope I didn't break some superstition about writing about a winning streak) but as David Letterman might say, "This is more fun than humans should be allowed to have."

I just hope the fun keeps rolling right into October (make that November).

Oh, Those Slings & Arrows

Cold weather is a fact of life
in many World Series games.

It's not always easy being a displaced Brewers fan living far from Milwaukee. Today is a great day to root for the Crew: Prince Fielder is the hero of the All-Star Game; and the team made a statement by trading for high-priced closer Francisco Rodriguez to add depth to a sometimes shaky bullpen.

Still, that didn't stop an announcer on WFAN from bashing my hometown. It's a common occurrence around here (Yankees' announcer Suzyn Waldman once whined for 10 minutes about having to accompany the team to Milwaukee. She complained about there being nothing to do. She's such an awful, biased commentator I was thinking she might use her off hours to practice.)

So there I was again in the car hearing an announcer talk about how horrible it will be for him to have to be in Milwaukee in November for the World Series. November! The very idea! The temperature, he said would be 29 degrees (The average high in the city is 46 degrees, the low 31. And in the early part of the month I am sure it's higher.) I guess he hasn't heard about the retractable roof over Miller Park. He needn't worry about frostbite.

I was talking to a friend about it and he mentioned that going to the Series is all about hanging outside and partying. I must have missed that memo. The World Series usually has a cold weather team involved (like the New York Yankees who win more than their share).

Aside from that, the Milwaukee bashers should think about leaving their hotel rooms and exploring the city. There's a world-class art museum, a fine museum and other things to see. And if drinking is the goal, um, Milwaukee has a reputation in that area, too.

If that isn't enough to do, they could always console themselves that they lucky to see the Series for free. That's not a bad job.

The Fourth at the Ballpark

Over the years, I've managed to take in several Fourth of July ballgames. For the most part, memories of the on-field play have faded. But some moments stand out.

In the early '70, ballpark promotions were more quaint than today. I remember one Independence Day when the Flying Wallendas of circus and high-wire fame were the star attraction at Milwaukee County Stadium (probably more than the Brewers were to many at the game that day). It was impressive to see them walk across a wire strung across the field.

The Wallendas performed their death-defying stunts with out a hitch. I can't remember a thing about the game. At least there's something about the day I remember.

The most iconic moment in baseball's July Fourth history is Lou Gehrig's farewell speech in 1939. It was a day that cemented the "Iron Horse's" reputation as a classy, indomitable player. By luck I was at the re-enactment of the event. I am pretty sure it must have been 1999, the 60th anniversary of the speech. The ceremony was emotional for fans and players.

On the other end of the spectrum, was my sojourn to Yankee Stadium last year. My wife, Lynn, and I were guests in the Legends Suites. It was unlike any other ballgame I've attended. I've been to stadium clubs and restaurants for dinner, but none compared to this day.

Entering the suites area was like being greeted at a resort. A line of employees welcomed us, showed us our seats (a couple of rows from the field near third base) and then explained how the buffet worked. Trust me, the buffet worked fine. The food was superior and there was even plenty for Lynn, a vegetarian, to eat.

Memories of Yanks-Brewers

I'm not a big fan of interleague play, but the series that starts tonight with the Brewers visiting the Yankees does bring back fond memories of a time in the late 1970s and early '80s when the two had a heated rivalry.

MLB.com recounted some of the highlights -- brawls and nasty words mostly -- that marked the teams' meetings back then. I remember some of that, but mostly I remember some amazing moments between two of the top teams in the American League.

The Brewers were still playing in Milwaukee County Stadium and starting in the summer of '78 the place was rocking every night. And when the Yankees with Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry and the rest of the Bronx Zoo came to town, the old ballpark was even more electric.

One series stands out above the rest. It was early July 1978 and for the first time since the club moved from Seattle there was a reason for the fans to be excited. Robin Yount and Paul Molitor were rising stars; Gorman Thomas and Pete Vuckovich were the kind of nasty, blue-collar types Milwaukee loves; and Larry Hisle, Sal Bando and the rest propelled the team into the pennant race.

Just before the big series, the Yanks had come to town for a doubleheader. George Steinbrenner was livid about the makeup date. He bellowed that the Yanks had played too many days in a row. The Crew sent the Yanks home to rest with two losses.

Ten days later the Bronx Bombers were back for three in a weekend series. Game one featured Guidry, 13-0, at the time on the mound. He was knocked around before being sent to the showers after six, down 5-0. The hitting hero was Hisle, who hit two out of the park; one in the first and the other in the sixth. From the upper deck, his first home run looked like it was shot from a cannon.

Saturday night games at County Stadium were an event back then. This games was extra special. My parents, my brother, his wife and her family got tickets well before the season started. It being Milwaukee, we tailgated along with thousands of others. No chance of missing the first pitch.

Game two was tense, exciting and, for the Yanks, ended the same. Hisle again was the hero, sending a towering two-run blast off Gossage to give the Brewers the lead and the win. The crowd was wild after that. Beating the Yankees and Gossage (back then closer pitched more than one inning) was like being in heaven (except there was beer).

There was no way I was missing the finale on Sunday afternoon. I went alone, scalped a ticket in the upper deck and watched the Brewers go for the sweep. They did not disappoint. They scored four in the first en route to an 8-4 victory.

That was the moment when everyone knew the Brewers were for real. They had swept the Yankees and beaten them five times in less than two weeks. From there it was a magical five seasons, culminating with a World Series berth in '82.

Everybody: Clichè, Clichè, Clichè, Clichè, Clichè

Jose Reyes and other players make me
 scratch my head when it comes to free agency.

The next time Jose Reyes comes to bat at Citi Field, Mets fans should change their "Jose, Jose, Jose" chant to "Clichè, Clichè, Clichè."

Reyes today uttered my least favorite baseball bromide. A free agent after this year and the subject of much speculation about whether he will stay with the Mets, the shortstop said he won't discuss a new contract until after the season.

He wants no distractions. And the cliche? Well, Reyes said on WFAN radio, "I want to be a Met" for my whole career. Really? Then I say get a deal done. Tell your agent to get the best deal from the Mets. And when he's done you'll sign. It's pretty simple.

Reyes is just the latest player to tell fans he'd really like to stay, without signing a contract. Prince Fielder has made similar comments about the Milwaukee Brewers. And C.C. Sabathia said how much he liked Milwaukee. In the end C.C. went to the New York Yankees who offered the biggest contract.

I find it tiresome to hear players utter nonsense like this. Can't these guys either say nothing or tell the truth. You know, something like, "I'm a free agent and I want the most money I can get. Sorry (insert home team here) fans, but you know you'd do it if you had the chance."

I have been told by almost everyone that the last part is surely what everyone would do. Even me. Well, I really don't think so. I actually find some things more important than money. And if I had the chance to decide between, oh, $100 million and $125 million, the least important factor to me would be money. Either way I'd be set for life.

I don't expect the players to agree. All I'd like is a little honesty. It's such a lonely word.

Fathers, Sons & Baseball

I always kept score when I was a kid.
My Dad taught me how.

Some my fondest memories growing up were summer days spent with my Dad in the upper deck of County Stadium watching the Milwaukee Brewers, somehow always expecting a win no matter how bad the team was that year. And there were plenty of bad years back then.

My Dad was a schoolteacher so he was around more in the summer. Fortunately, the Brew Crew moved to town in 1970, when I was 11. It was the perfect age to form a bond. It didn't matter that for the first several years that the team was never close to being a contender.

We generally sat high above home plate in the upper grandstand. I don't recall the exact price, but I know it was less than $3 (I found a ticket in the lower grandstand on eBay with a face value of $3). Whatever the cost the memories are priceless.

Warm afternoons and evenings with my Dad learning how to watch a game and try to out think the managers. Unlike some of my friends who liked to roam around the stadium, I never wanted to miss a pitch.

And then there were the odd things that happened in the stands. Fans too drunk to know where they were or what they doing, with beer cups (yes, vendors used to pour beer into wax cups from glass bottles) stacked at their feet. Dad would tell me stories of the old Brewers, a Triple-A team owned for a time by Bill Veeck.

Rain Delays Without Rain

I sat down to watch some baseball tonight and was encountered by a modern phenomenon: games delayed by rain with no precipitation falling. The games in question were in Atlanta, where the New York Mets were to play the Braves, and Chicago, where the Milwaukee Brewers were to take on the Cubs.

To be fair, the skies in Atlanta looked foreboding and there were severe storms in the area (and the storms did roll over the stadium). But in Chicago a gray sky wasn't particularly threatening. In fact, Brewers' TV color commentator Bill Schroeder said it hadn't rained in an hour.

A shot of the Chicago radar showed light green patches coming through Chicago. Schroeder observed, "Radar is the worst thing that's happened to baseball." He added that when he played for the Brewers the heads groundskeeper, Harry Gill, didn't use radar. Gill would "call Madison and see if it's raining. Then he'd call Waukesha and ask if it's raining. No? Good, let's go."

Extra Baseball Everywhere

Robin Ventura celebrated his game-winning HR,
preventing him from completing his trip around the bases.

If it seems like there are a lot extra-inning games this year, it's because there are. Baseball is on a pace to have 261 such games this season, which far surpass the pervious high.

Thank god MLB has not seen fit to change the rules like hockey has to make sure tied games don't take all night (sometimes they last to another day if curfews are reached). Even a sloppily played game can seem like a classic if it stretches on into bonus panels as my sports editor friend Jerry call them.

I've written about a couple of my favorite extra-inning games already: A Gaylord Perry gem (he lost) against the Milwaukee Brewers, and a wild game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves.

The most tense such game I ever witnessed in person was the "Robin Ventura Grand Slam Single" game. The setting was Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS. The Atlanta Braves were leading the series, 3-1. The Mets' season looked like it was coming to an end in the 15th inning when the visitors took a 3-2 lead.

But the Mets came back to ties on a bases loaded walk in the bottom half of the frame. Through a steady rain Ventura launched a 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence. The Mets and the fans began the celebration. After touching first, Ventura failed to round the bases. A walk-off grand slam became a single in the scorebook.

Turns out two other grand slams have met similar scoring fates. One was by Dalton Jones of the Detroit Tigers on July 9, 1970; the other when Tim McCarver passed a runner on July 4, 1976.

Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves lost his May 16, 1959, home run in a game in which his hit beat the greatest mound performance ever. His lost round-tripper happened during Harvey Haddix's 12-inning perfect game in May 1959. The game was scoreless until the 13th. Haddix still on the mound lost his perfect game when Felix Mantilla was safe on an error. A sacrifice and an intentional walk to Hank Aaron set the stage.

Remember, Haddix still hadn't allowed a hit. Adcock hit one out, but Aaron head to the clubhouse after touching second. An odd ending to an amazing night.

Cards' La Russa Hard to Like

UPDATE: The Brewers swept the Cardinals this weekend and I was right: it is oh so sweet to beat Tony La Russa's team.

Tony La Russa will be managing in his 5,000th game tonight when the St. Louis Cardinals visit Milwaukee in a key early series with the Brewers. Only Connie Mack, who sat on he bench in his suit for 7,755 games, managed more.

That La Russa has made out the lineup card so many times over more than three decades is a testament to his ability. He took the Chicago White Sox to a division title, the Oakland A's to three pennants and a World Series title, and the Redbirds to two pennants and a title.

None of the teams he has managed have been accused of overspending. La Russa has chosen his coaches well, especially Dave Duncan, who seems to have a magic potion that turns suspect pitchers into stars.

And yet La Russa is difficult to like. Part of it, I am sure, is that he has never managed my teams. But it's more than simple partisanship.

What Inning Is it Anyway?

Nyjer Morgan finally realizes he hit the game-winner.

Baseball seasons are long and every so often a player's mind wanders and a boneheaded play results. Benny Agbayani flipping the ball into the stands with only two outs comes to mind. The errant toss let two San Francisco Giant's runners score in the August 2000 game. The Mets managed to win anyway.

Rarely do such brain locks result in anything positive for the player of his team. The most famous mistake by a player, Fred Merkle, has forever been known as Merkle's Boner, in which the New York Giants' player forgot to touch second base at the end of a key 1908 game. (The ruling led to the Chicago Cubs last World Series winning team.) Although Merkle was following common practice, he was still called out on the play.

Nyjer Morgan of the Milwaukee Brewers just have might have pulled off such a feat last night. The center fielder came to bat in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second and the score tied. Morgan lashed a double down the right field line. Morgan's teammates streamed out to second base to congratulate him.

Morgan was confused. Turns out he thought it was the eighth inning and admitted he might have been more relaxed because of his mistake. Maybe the folks who run the Miller Park scoreboard will just misnumber the innings in similar situations in the future; call it a new kind of home field advantage.

Can't Escape Prince Rumors

Rumors of Prince Fielder's next destination
 are hard to avoid.

The last month or so has been a great time be a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. After a listless start, the Crew has gone 19-6, the best record in baseball since May 9. The off-season moves to shore up the pitching are paying dividends and the hitting stars Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are off to great starts.

But all is not tranquil. The rumors are already starting about where Fielder, a free agent after the season, will wind up in 2012. It's the archrival Chicago Cubs (that would be galling!) one day, the Baltimore Orioles the next. Or maybe the New York Mets. I hope somehow the big man remains a fixture at Miller Park, but it seems highly unlikely.

It's a sad fact of baseball that free agency often casts a shadow over a current season. The first time I remember it happening was during the 1991 World Series. Jack Morris pitched the Minnesota Twins to a World Series Victory. In the postgame show after Game 7, speculation was rampant about who Morris would sign with for 1992 (it was the Toronto Blue Jays.). So much for basking in a victory.

I'm not against free agency. Sure, it would be nice if team payrolls were more equal. But I doubt that will change. And even if Fielder leaves, the Brewers won't be an also-ran. They've done a good job locking up young players like Braun, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Yovani Gallardo. Their starting rotation is locked up through at least next season.

So the future looks bright. But it sure would be nice to enjoy the present without having to consider the future without Prince.

Six Baseball Games, 48 Hours

Ben Oglivie hit three homers in a game,
helping to make my baseball weekend a success.

A Harvard student has used a computer to plan the fastest possible way to visit all 30 major league ballparks. His itinerary takes him 34 days and three hours to complete the entire Junior and Senior Circuits.

I think every fan has given thought to visiting all the stadiums. Some have done it to great fanfare over one, extended trip. Others have checked them off their mental list as the years passed by. I have been to 17, although some were replacements in cities that got new ballparks, like Milwaukee and Minnesota.

I'm sorry I never made it Tiger Stadium. I did see games between the Yankees and Mets in Shea and Yankee Stadiums on the same day. I imagine at least several hundred fans did that, though. And I once saw the Brewers play an afternoon game in Milwaukee and the White Sox in Comiskey Park at night.

I did manage a feat, almost by dumb luck, which I don't think anyone will ever top. I saw six major league games in a 48-hour span. Thank god games were routinely played in under 2 1/2 hours. I don't think I'd make it today.

Joyce & Galarraga Team Up

Jim Joyce made the wrong call a year ago,
but now he has a book out
with pitcher Armando Galarraga.

Maybe now I have seen it all. Umpire Jim Joyce and pitcher Armando Galarraga have teamed up to write a book about Joyce's blown call that cost the hurler a perfect game. I know Galarraga famously accepted Joyce's apology, but I never imagined a day when a player would be co-author with an ump who messed up.

I'm not against anyone peddling his story for a buck (I'm a laid-off journalist who wishes he had a great story to sell), but "Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History" opens the kinds of issues that baseball seems to have trouble dealing with.

In this case, ESPN reports that Joyce will not work any games in which Galarraga pitches. That's fine. For now, it won't matter; Galarraga has been sent to the minors by the Arizona Diamondbacks (his gem last year was tossed for the Detroit Tigers). But is it so easy to ensure that bias doesn't enter Joyce's calls?

Suppose Galarraga makes a triumphal return to Phoenix and helps keep the D-Backs in the division race. If Joyce works any of the team's games, is it unreasonable to think he might be unconsciously pulling for his writing partner to get to the playoffs? After all, they have a relationship that goes beyond the field, and the more attention Galarraga gets the more books might be sold.

By all accounts Jim Joyce is a very good umpire. The players voted him the best, and that was after he blew the call last year. I don't think he'd intentionally make calls based on his business deal. But I do believe baseball has opened a can of worms by allowing an umpire, who is supposed to be impartial, to go into business with a current player.

This is not the first time baseball has fallen short when it comes to the appearance of impropriety. When Randy Wolf, lefty starter for the Milwaukee Brewers, pitches, his brother, Jim, an umpire, is not allowed to call ball and strikes.

But somehow baseball has decided it's OK for him to work the bases in those games. That means he could have to make a call on a close call involving his sibling. Baseball really doesn't see a problem with that?

If it were up to me, Jim Wolf would work only American League games. That way there'd be no suggestion of bias. Baseball likes to take grand stands against perceived bias. Pete Rose was banned for betting on his team. That's all well and good. But it needs to be consistent in making sure any hint of bias is quashed.

In these cases involving umpires it has fallen well short of the goal.

Choosing the Best Ballparks

Miller Park is among my favorites, but maybe I am biased.

The New York Times has a new post rating the ballparks. Nate Silver, who famously used sophisticated formulas to predict the 2008 elections at his fivethirtyeight.com, used ratings from Yelp.com to determine how fans feel about major league stadiums.

It's not scientific, and Silver has no information regarding why PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, rates as the best stadium.

Silver speculates that teams that spent money for a retractable dome might regret it because those parks didn't rate well. But I bet if you asked fans at those ballparks on a cold or rainy day their ratings would skyrocket.

Silver's sole basis for his ratings is an analysis of yelp.com stadium ratings. Other than being good for bar (and blogger!) talk, I'm not sure Yelp's ratings are meaningful.

Bernie Brewer: Is Anything Sacred in Baseball?

Bernie Brewer must be surprised that greed
marred a team promotion.

Say it ain't so, Bernie.

I usually try to have fun when I write my posts. But today I am forced to deal with a serious issue. What was meant as a simple promotion by the Milwaukee Brewers has exposed the naked greed that lies beneath fans of our great, pure national pastime.

Bernie Brewer, the team mascot famous for sliding from his chalet after Brew Crew home runs and victories, has served the team well for decades. His first grab at greatness was in 1970 when he installed himself in a house trailer on top of the County Stadium scoreboard, vowing not to come down till a crowd of at least 40,000 showed up for a game. That was a big number back then.

Show up they did six weeks later. For bat day on Aug. 16. And most everyone, including me, stayed aft the Brewers won to watch Bernie (who wasn't officially recognized as "Bernie Brewer until later), rappelled from his perch. And in the process of deciding to slide down tore the skin off his hands. Is it no wonder Bernie is a fan favorite? He's a hero and has the scars to prove it.

Fast forward to today. Bernie, now an icon alongside brats with Secret Stadium sauce, was a natural for a promotion. The Brewers told fans to look for lawn ornaments fashioned after the likeness of our mustachioed cheerleader. Fourteen hundred would be placed in various locations like public parks. Some would entitle the finder to tickets or other gifts. There was a limit of one per household.

But then greed took hold. Such a concept, of course, is rarely introduced to our grand game. Players play because they love the sport and are interested only representing their teams in cities in the best manner possible on and off the field.

Shockingly, spies watched as the ornaments were put in place. Soon enough, there was a photo on Twitter of a trunk stuffed with 10 of the little Bernies (it's since been removed). Then they were seen for sale on eBay, for as much as $200.

I guess nothing is scared. My entire belief system has been shattered. Maybe Prince Fielder and all those prospective free agents don't mean it when they say they'd love to re-sign. And owners might be fibbing when they say they won't abandon fans for anew stadium in a new town.

Baseball will never be the same.

Baseball's 'Greatest Game' And Some Left Off the List

The Mets and Braves played an iconic game in 1985.

Major League Baseball has unveiled its choice for greatest game of the last 50 years: Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds. The game produced the indelible image of catcher Carlton Fisk frantically trying to wave his game-winning home run fair as it sailed over Fenway's Green Monster.

I remember watching this game on TV as it stretched on toward four hours, an almost unheard of length at the time, even for a 12-inning game. I was pulling for the Sox (I always thought the Big Red Machine was more hype than substance) and was trying to will Fisk's ball fair from my bedroom in a Milwaukee suburb.

I have no quibble with this choice or most of the others on MLB's list of the top 20 games. I wonder, though, if there weren't games from before 1975 that deserved inclusion. It's also interesting that all but one of the games on the list are from the postseason (the 50-year cutoff left Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run to give the Pittsburgh Pirates the title over the New York Yankees in 1960 out in the cold).

There are two regular season games that stick out in my mind. One was the Fourth of July 1985 contest between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. Thanks to TBS, which at the time beamed nearly every one of the team's games to a national audience I was able to watch it till the wee hours.

This game had everything: It lasted 19 innings, Keith Hernandez hit for the cycle, pitcher Rick Camp hit the only home run of his career to tie the game in the 18th inning, and that same pitcher was at the plate as the tying run when the game ended.

Baseball's Soggy Spring

Rick Dempsey entertains fans during a rain delay.

Baseball has endured a spring of rainouts. There were four more today and the number of games postponed has already eclipsed the total for 2010. For fans that miss out on games it's disappointing. For teams, it's at least inconvenient for the players and also could mean lost revenue for the front office.

Rainouts became more of a problem for baseball when teams started to sell a large percentage of the tickets available for each game. If fans wanted to use their rain checks at another game, there weren't enough seats available. More teams started playing split-admission doubleheaders. That puts pressure on pitching staffs. In the days when playing two on Sunday was common, starters went deeper into games and bullpens were not chewed up as quickly.