Paul Hirsch

Defending Champions Giants, A’s Face Challenges From the Southland

March 6, 2013 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Spring is nigh. Pitches and catchers reported last month, the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues are in full swing, and we will find out in about ten days if Japan can continue its stranglehold on the World Baseball Classic.

Another fun rite of spring is making predictions for the coming baseball season. This is an unusual year for Bay Area baseball fans with the Giants defending their second World Series Championship in three years and the A’s defending their even more surprising American League West Division title. Both teams return mostly intact with just one or two key changes. The biggest challenges, though, are external, as both Los Angeles teams are behaving as though they have become money-printing governments and are showing the ability to purchase any player who meets their needs.

Since this is an East Bay publication, let’s cover the A’s first. Their biggest losses this offseason were outfielder/team leader Johnny Gomes, shortstops Stephen Drew and Cliff Pennington, and pitcher Brandon McCarthy. But if there was one thing the A’s showed last season it was that no individual player is indispensable. Under the leadership of Manager of the Year Bob Melvin, the A’s overcame injuries and suspensions to win 72 of their last 100 games to steal the division crown.

Oakland thinks it addressed its shortstop hole by signing Japanese veteran Hiroyuki Nakajima, and that leadership and pitching can be addressed in house. The bigger problem may be that the Angels reloaded again by signing free agent outfielder and perennial MVP candidate Josh Hamilton to go with Albert Pujols and Mike Trout to make the Angels lineup a modern day murderers row.

The Giants are in a similar situation. San Francisco’s biggest loss from its 2012 World Championship squad is probably Melky Cabrera, and Cabrera’s suspension made him ineligible for the last six weeks of the regular season when the Giants pulled away from the division. It could also be argued that Marco Scutaro over-achieved after arriving from Colorado in July and that it will be difficult for Buster Posey to repeat his MVP season.

And while Tim Lincecum should recover from a disappointing 2012 performance, the real problem for the Giants also comes from Southern California, where the Los Angeles Dodgers have reloaded in a manner not seen since George Steinbrenner’s hey day with the New York Yankees.

Since July of 2012, the Dodgers have added former All Stars Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Zack Greinke to go with incumbent front line players like Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier. And while it’s always possible that a collection of stars will not become a cohesive winning team, many experts are looking at the Dodgers as the team to beat in the NL West.

The 2013 season seems to be shaping up as a battle between the home-grown and shrewdly built teams of Northern California against the glitz, glamour and checkbooks of our neighbors to the south. Bay Area fans will have very good reason this year to scream, “Beat L.A.” at AT&T Park and the Coliseum, because if the A’s and Giants can’t beat the Angels and Dodgers it is unlikely that anyone else will be able to do so and we may all be stuck watching a Los Angeles baseball party come October.

These Are The Good Old Days

February 5, 2013 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Sports fans have a tendency to look back at the period when they were eight years old and believe that their games were never better and their heroes were never more heroic.

Well, don’t look now Bay Area sports fans. It could be that we are, right now, living through what may eventually be looked upon as the Golden Age of Bay Area Sports.

The Giants are going to Spring Training this month as defending World Series Champions…for the second time in three years. The A’s defied all prognosticators by overcoming a five game deficit with ten games to play to overtake the Texas Rangers and win the American League West. Fourteen walk-off wins had fans rattling the Coliseum’s decrepit bones.

As this was written about a month ago, the Warriors were off to their best start since their championship season of 1974-1975 and have become nearly unbeatable on the road. It could be that they will make the playoffs and the hated Los Angeles Lakers will not. The 49ers have won consecutive NFC West titles and as you read this could be celebrating the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl Championship won one week ago.

Stanford football won the Pac 12 championship and beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Women’s basketball there continues as a perennial championship contender, and the men’s team is expected to challenge for conference honors if it can improve its shooting. The Cardinal baseball team seems to reach the post season every year.

And while Cal football must rebuild, it did just open a wonderfully renovated Memorial Stadium with new facilities certain to enhance recruiting. Both men’s and women’s basketball are strong, and the Bears baseball squad is just two seasons removed from an appearance in the College World Series.

Even St. Mary’s College and San Jose State are in on the fun. The Gaels won the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships last year in men’s basketball and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 three years ago. The Spartans football team, meanwhile, just tied the school record for wins in a season and beat Bowling Green in the 2012 Military Bowl.

By now you know if the NHL was able to figure out its labor issues in time to have a 2013 season. If the puck is finally dropped, the Sharks will be looking to makes their ninth straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. San Jose had the NHL’s best regular season record in 2009 and played in the Western Conference Finals in 2010 and 2011. The team’s captain, Joe Thornton, is likely a future Hall of Fame inductee.

Only the Raiders are down, and with a younger more forward thinking regime could make up ground quickly in a division won in 2012 season by a team with a geriatric quarterback.

So remember, whether you are eight, 88, or somewhere in between, you are living through a period of excellence across all sports not often experienced by fans in any region. Enjoy it, Bay Area, because you never know when a few poor decisions and a little bad luck will bring us thudding back to earth.

Baseball’s Steroid Era Coming to a Head with this Month’s Hall of Fame Vote

January 14, 2013 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

The Baseball Hall of Fame is announcing the results of this year’s election on Jan. 9, just about when this issue of Alive will hit the street. The results for two recent players will be of particular interest.

Barry Bonds was perhaps the greatest hitter since Babe Ruth and won seven MVP Awards. Roger Clemens was perhaps the greatest pitcher since World War II and won seven Cy Young Awards. Both are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Neither is likely to get in. How is that possible? In a word, steroids.

Bonds and Clemens are widely believed to have used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their big league careers. Both played far longer than normal and put up incredible numbers. Many of us in the Bay Area were thrilled by the performances of Bonds during his 15 seasons with the Giants. During that time he set the single season and career record for homeruns.

Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro each had what would be considered Hall of Fame careers and have been up for election for several years. Both are associated strongly with PEDs, and neither has come close to receiving enough votes for enshrinement.

For many, it is an easy choice. If it is known or strongly believed that these players cheated and broke laws by using PEDs during their careers then they don’t deserve Hall of Fame status. Some think they’re fortunate not to be in prison. Others point out that the Baseball Hall of Fame is filled with dubious characters, so why single out steroid users? Yes, PEDs set a bad example for young fans, but so does racism, alcoholism, wife beating, and drug addiction. There are members of the Hall of Fame who are known to have done all those things.

Another point of view is that the steroid era is just another phase in baseball history, and that since many players from the 1990s and early 2000s were likely using PEDs, all we’re doing is recognizing the best of the best in what was likely a reasonably level playing field.

Before Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers, major leaguers achieved what they did in a time when a large segment of the American population was actively excluded from the game. Would players like Ruth and Joe DiMaggio achieved what they did if they had to face the best possible competition instead of just the best possible white competition?

International scouting has enriched the major leagues to the point where only about 65 percent of players were born in the United States. Would Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays have achieved what they did if their competition came from around the world instead of essentially from around the country?

The real shame is that players with absolutely no direct connection to PEDs, Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza are two examples, have to bear the increased scrutiny of Hall of Fame voters because they played in the steroid era and displayed unusual power.

Ten years ago one could reasonably assert that the very best players in the history of our national game were enshrined in Cooperstown. That is no longer true. Now, Hall of Fame status has to be explained and qualified, which takes something away from the honor for those who have achieved it and also for fans making a pilgrimage to honor the greats of the game.

So … are Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Palmeiro Hall of Famers? What would you do if you had a vote?

Dr. Quarterback Sculpts Success in Two Fields

December 6, 2012 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Every morning plastic surgeon Brett Stompro begins his day at his Danville office with thoughts of tummy tucks, eyebrow lifts, and the ever-popular rhinoplasties. By mid-afternoons in the fall he’s concentrating on three-step drops, cover-two zones and pulling guards as an assistant varsity football coach at California High School in San Ramon.

“It’s easy to switch gears,” Dr. Stompro says. “It’s two different worlds. Ninety-eight percent of my patients are women and are treated with loads of TLC. In the afternoons…well let’s just say that young men need to know you mean business.”

Dr. Stompro opened his doors in Blackhawk Medical Center in 1994 and started to work for the Cal High football program in 2006. In at least one instance, the two different worlds crossed. “The mother of one of my players had been in my care. After practice one day she said to her son, ‘I see Dr. Stompro is one of your coaches, isn’t he nice?’ The player said, ‘No, he’s not nice…and he cusses, too.’”

Before entering medicine, Stompro’s career as a star quarterback for San Leandro High School earned him a high school hall of fame designation and numerous awards. He also earned two varsity letters as the centerfielder for the San Leandro baseball team. “Coaching satisfies my competitive thirst,” he says. “It’s as close as you can get to playing. Every achievement I’ve had has been the result of hard work and not accepting failure. “I got into plastic surgery and coaching for similar reasons. I love helping people be everything they can be and seeing them achieve their dreams.”

Dr. Stompro’s duties at Cal include coaching the quarterbacks, the linebackers and special teams. “Our quarterbacks have done well,” Stompro says. “We may not have some of the gifted passers that Monte Vista and San Ramon have, but we’re efficient. Our quarterback ratings are among the highest in the East Bay, and our touchdown to interception ratio is consistently one of the best in the region. That measure is the number one predictor of success as an offense. Coach (Eric) Billeci’s play calling has also been great.”

Dr. Stompro clearly takes pride in all his work. He got into plastic surgery because it merged his interest in medicine with a talent he has for sculpting. “It was like combining my vocation and my avocation,” he said. The results in plastic surgery are often striking, as are those he achieves with young men. “I love taking a player who may not have played much as a freshman, and work with him within and outside practice to hone his skills and make him successful.”

Future Cal High star quarterback Drew Reil was relegated to playing in the “fifth quarter” of frosh games in 2007 after the scoreboard was turned off. With Dr. Stompro’s help, by the time Reil was a senior in 2010 he led Cal to a 12-2 record, breaking records along the way.

The schedule Dr. Stompro keeps every week this fall is daunting. He greets patients at about 7 a.m. and mixes surgical procedures with office work depending on the day. He leaves for Cal at 2:30 p.m. and is on the field for practice from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. On Thursdays the team has a dinner that runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on Fridays games and post-game analysis can run past midnight. Finally they return to host the weekly Sunday night coaches’ game planning dinner.

“I’m a lucky guy,” says Dr. Stompro. “In my medical school yearbook I said I wanted to be a plastic surgeon, coach football and live on a golf course. I got two out of three.” And as the saying goes, two out of three ain’t bad.

39-Year Old Lefty Reinventing Himself For One Last Shot at the Majors

November 2, 2012 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

C.J. Nitkowski threw his last major league pitch on June 7, 2005, when he walked Scott Hatteberg of the A’s while pitching for the Washington Nationals. His ERA after seven games in relief for Washington was 8.10.

Within a week he was pitching for the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. He spent 2006 in the Pittsburgh organization without ever getting a shot in the big leagues. He spent 2007 and 2008 pitching in Japan, 2009 and 2010 in Korea. Towards the end of his time in Korea Nitkowski suffered his first arm injury and was out of baseball in 2011.

For most players approaching their 39th season six years removed from the big leagues with a lifetime record of 18-32 and a 5.37 ERA, plus a sore arm, professional baseball would have been in the rear view mirror. Especially those with a wife and three children. Nitkowski, instead, put himself through stem cell injections and arduous rehab with the hope of one more shot at the show.

“I still felt the passion to prepare, the family was onboard and supportive, and almost every former player I spoke with encouraged me,” Nitkowski said from his home in suburban Atlanta. “My ex-teammates who had been retired for awhile told me you can do this other (post baseball) stuff forever. Nothing else compares to baseball. I wanted to be at peace when I finally quit playing.”

So on July 21, 2011, Nitkowski had the stem cell procedure done. The procedure itself, he says, “was a breeze.” Then came rehab. Nitkowski began exercises on July 23. He began throwing in earnest on Aug. 18. But was different now was Nitkowski was reinventing himself as a sidearm thrower trying to get back into professional baseball as a situational lefthander facing mostly opposing lefty hitters in relief.

Such pitchers are increasingly valuable as major league baseball becomes more specialized. Javier Lopez has been successful with the Giants in a similar role, and the A’s use Pat Neshek as a right-handed sidearm specialist facing righty hitters almost exclusively.

Nitkowski was so dedicated to this last chance that he flew to the Dominican Republic on his own dime for a winter ball tryout. “My agent had a (potential) number one draft pick throwing a bullpen session at 7 a.m. in front of several scouts. He suggested I come down and throw at 6:15 before the college kid began warming up and the scouts could watch me.” So the 1995 number one draft choice of the Cincinnati Reds “humbled myself” and drove from Georgia to Florida, at his own expense, to throw at dawn in front of scouts who had come to see someone else.

Scouts from the New York Mets liked what they saw and told Nitkowski as much. His tryout made the news, hopes were lifted, but nothing was said for months. Professional baseball is in part a game of attrition, especially with pitchers. As injuries mounted for some and others proved ineffective, the Mets remembered Nitkowski and in July offered him an opportunity to pitch for their AA club in Binghamton, NY.

J.P. Riccardi, a Mets executive, told Nitkowski, “we’ll give you a couple of weeks and see how it goes.” At Binghamton it went extremely well. Nitkowski gave up just one hit in six outings, no runs, and, he said, only one lefty even put a ball in play. Clearly, it was time for Nitkowski to face more mature hitters, and on Aug. 6 he found himself in AAA with the Buffalo Bisons, one step from the majors.

His first few outings went just as they had in Binghamton. Articles appeared in USA Today and the New York Times heralding his imminent promotion to the Mets (who were having a historically bad second half due in part to an underperforming corps of relief pitchers and could use the help) before a few bad outings turned it all around.

“I had three bad games in a row,” Nitkowski said. “I was new to sidearm pitching and couldn’t correct myself during a game when I began to struggle. I gave up seven runs in one game and 11 in two. Every pitch I threw was flat. The ball didn’t feel right coming out of my hand.” Finally, Nitkowski said, he watched some video and met with the Mets minor league pitching instructor and together they discovered a flaw in his mechanics, which he was able to correct, and developed a new game plan for right-handed hitters.

“I finished my last three games really well,” Nitkowski said. “In 18 minor league games other than those three (poor games) I gave up just one earned run.” Unfortunately, those three games made it impossible for the Mets to promote Nitkowski to the majors and finish this Cinderella story in a fashion that would have been suitable for a TV movie.

Still, there is a chance for another chapter. Buffalo manager Wally Backman is, according to Nitkowski, recommending the Mets invite the lefty sidearmer to spring training next season. Others in the organization are also said to be supportive. “I’m at a stage where I don’t think they would lie to me about that,” Nitkowski said. “The Mets are my first choice and I want to pay them back for the opportunity they game me by succeeding for them in the big leagues,” he added.

If the Mets do let him go, Nitkowski said he would like to square accounts with the big league team with which he spent the most time. “I didn’t handle myself well at the end with Detroit (in 2001) and I’d like to have the opportunity to go back and do it over with them.”

While his family remains supportive, Nitkowski admits that his wife, Megan, was not prepared for the down side of rollercoaster ride. “I’ve had a ton of failure in baseball, some of it in a really short period. My wife said that was one part she had kind of put out of her mind and didn’t miss.”

By March Nitkowski could be in spring training as a 40-year-old lefty specialist trying to hook on for one more moment on the big stage. It will be a fascinating story to follow.

Not Your Father’s Varsity Jacket

October 9, 2012 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

One of the proudest days of a young athlete’s life is the day he or she first pulls on their high school varsity jacket. This wool and leather garment is often a symbol of years of effort in the athlete’s chosen sport and bestows a certain status on campus.

The effort and the status have not changed much over the last 20 years, but according to Valerie Amador, owner of Power Stitch in Alamo, the jackets have undergone a metamorphous since she first began sewing and stitching for local athletes in 1995.

“Jackets are much more creative and more reflective of the individual now,” said Amador, who primarily works with athletes from Monte Vista, San Ramon, Dougherty Valley, Las Lomas, and De La Salle high schools.

“When I began the whole process was far easier. I would just stitch on the athlete’s name and sport, sew on the letter and they would have it within a few days. Now, the varsity jacket has become the story of their high school athletic experience and takes weeks to construct. We add things like playoff appearances, all league recognition, and even academic accomplishments.

“It’s almost like a woman’s charm bracelet. Athletes, both boys and girls, customize their jackets. When I started it was very uniform. Now they customize the trim, the colors, the collars, almost everything. For example, until very recently the traditional Monte Vista jacket was a black wool body and black leather sleeves, that is still a popular choice, but seven of the last 10 Monte Vista jackets I’ve produced have red wool bodies with black or gray leather sleeves.”

For those of us who attended high school in the seventies or eighties the differences are striking. Schools used to have strict style guidelines, names were rarely added to the jacket, and the only patches were for league, regional or state championships. Cheerleaders did not get the same jackets as football players, and the idea of a varsity letterman’s jacket for band or academics would have been blasphemous.

Now, according to Amador, there are no guidelines. “De La Salle was the last to have strict standards and those went away several years ago. I’ve put bible verses on the back of jackets with praying hands, I’ve celebrated the virtues of football linemen with stitched phrases, and I’ve reworked school mascots to the specification of the athlete. Individualizing the jackets is a trend across all campuses, with the only real guidelines good taste and appropriate messaging.”

The trend towards customization even extends to parents. “About six years ago I was working with a mom and her son on a San Ramon jacket,” Amador remembered. “It turns out the dad had also been a varsity athlete at San Ramon but his family could not afford the jacket. The wife brought me his letter and patches and we were able to make up a custom jacket for the dad similar to his son’s that became a 40^th birthday gift and a family treasure.”

Surprisingly, according to Amador, the one thing that has not changed much is the price. She says a jacket can be completed for $300-$400 out the door, depending on the level of customization. “That’s pretty consistent with the price when I started,” Amador said. “I have more flexibility now with upgrades and discounts, and I pass that on to the athletes and their families.”

Amador will also make special arrangements to meet with groups from any school in the region and will offer discounts on upgrades to everyone in the group. “I’ll even go to a player’s home for a school like Foothill or Livermore, where I don’t work much, and take care of several players on the team and offer a healthy price break.”

Fall is her busy season, especially after the local football banquets with large rosters and several first-time letter winners. “I work 80 hours a week in November because a lot of fall sports families make the jackets Christmas gifts.” If Amador gets too backed up she’ll loan the family a sample and place a card in the box to be redeemed after the holidays.

Once an athlete earns his or her varsity letter it’s much more than just getting it sewn on a standard jacket and transitioning to the new BMOC status. Like seemingly many things today, it is an involved process and a bold statement about the individual and his or her accomplishments.

Significant Change in MLB Playoffs – Giants Bid Farewell to SRVHS Grad

September 3, 2012 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

As this is written in early August, the Giants and A’s have a good chance to be in the MLB playoffs in the same season for the first time since 2003. A major change in the playoff setup enhances their chances of getting there, but may dampen their chances of staying long.

From 1903-1993 only first place teams advanced to the baseball post season tournament. Until 1968 the team with the best record in the National League would simply face the team with the best record in the American League in the World Series. In 1969 each league separated into two divisions and those division champions would face in the League Championship Series with the winners going on to the World Series.

After a work stoppage canceled post season play in 1994, the top second place team in each league was invited to meet one of the first place teams in a three-division setup in a best-of-five Division Series beginning in 1995. Five of those wild card teams went on to win the World Series, proving that there was very little difference in being a division champion vs. a wild card qualifier.

That has changed. This season baseball has added a second wild card team and the two wild card teams will square off in a one game playoff to qualify for the Division Series. This gives teams finishing first a significant advantage, and according to University of Chicago economist, Columbia University professor and Society for American Baseball Research President Vince Gennaro, goes along way towards rewarding regular season excellence.

“The new playoff format rationalizes the postseason for MLB—it provides appropriate playoff advantages and disadvantages based on regular season performance,” said Gennaro in his Diamond Dollar$ blog. “Under the old format (1995-2011), it’s fair to say a postseason berth was a 1-in-8 lottery ticket to a world championship. In the new two wild card system, the teams with the best regular season will have a decided advantage.

“Since the two wild cards in each league will meet for a one-and-done play-in game, this cuts the probability in half that a wild card team will reach the final eight teams.” Teams assured of winning at least a wild card berth will no longer coast into the playoffs and will instead strive to win their division, perhaps leading to more compelling regular-season stretch drives.

As you pull for the Giants or the A’s this month, remember that now a division championship is far superior to a wild card berth, and that just making the playoffs could be a one-game-and-out affair for any second-place qualifier.

Schierholtz Complaints Lead to Trade

On July 18, San Ramon Valley High School product Nate Schierholtz made it known that he felt that his future with the Giants was limited, leading to a July 31 trade to the Philadelphia Phillies that netted the Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.

Schierholtz had been in the Giants organization since 2003, in the big leagues on and off since 2007, and was a member of the team that won the 2010 World Series. He also felt the only organization he had known as a professional had been jerking him around for most of his time in the majors.

“I think sometimes the standard of my play is different from other players,” said Schierholtz to the San Francisco Chronicle. “…I came in with the expectation to play a maybe a little bit more than we’ve seen. A weeklong slump kept me back on the bench for two months.”

Despite being the only player through July 31 to twice hit two or more homeruns in a game for an offensively-challenged team, Schierholtz was on the bench far more than he played. In 2009 Giants General Manager Brian Sabean told a group of season ticket holders, including this reporter, that the Giants did not see Schierholtz as an everyday player due to what they judged as insufficient power and an inability to get on base often enough. According to the July 18 Chronicle piece, manager Bruce Bochy said something similar to Schierholtz in a private meeting this spring.

So it was probably time for Schierholtz to move on. The Phillies ballpark is more favorable to hitters, and at 28 Schierholtz is in his prime baseball earning years. His contract is up at the end of this season, and it will be interesting to see if the Phillies offer him a new deal or if they non-tender him and Schierholtz becomes a free agent.

Between having two contenders for the new-style MLB postseason and a local favorite in a new home after a high-profile trade, Alive East Bay baseball fans will have a lot to watch between now and the end of October.

Is it Time to Break Up the Sharks?

August 5, 2012 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks are at an interesting crossroads. Over the past decade they have been among the league leaders in playoff wins and regular season points, yet they have failed to make the Stanley Cup Finals. Their core group of players has continued to perform well, but as a group is reaching an age where decline is likely to occur. Their coach has the best regular season record in the NHL since his hiring in 2008, but has consistently underachieved in the playoffs. Their general manager has consistently built high-scoring, exciting teams, but now runs the only NHL franchise in California that has not won the Stanley Cup.

Next month teams and players report to training camp for another nine month campaign. The question the Sharks organization faces is whether or not the current group of players can possibly gel into a championship team, or is it time to cut their losses, begin trading core players, and risk some down years in an effort to rebuild another champion.

Such moves are not free. Sharks fans fill HP Pavilion for every home game. This will end once the team begins struggling to win in the regular season. Revenue will decrease, television ratings will decline, and whatever tenuous hold the NHL has on the mindshare of Bay Area sports fans will slip away if the Sharks become a team that begins losing more than half its games and fails to make the playoffs.

Let’s examine some key elements of the current roster. Top defenseman Dan Boyle is 35 and hasn’t made an All Star team in two years. It is unlikely he will improve and likely, considering his age, that whatever marketability he has left will disappear in the next year or so. Captain Joe Thornton is 32, is probably the Sharks’ best player, but suffers from a reputation of never playing quite as well in the playoffs as he does in the regular season. Losing Thornton would hurt in the short run, but the prospects and players he can probably attract might be worth pursuing.

Veteran forward Patrick Marleau is also 32 and has played his entire career with the Sharks. He holds almost every important team scoring record and is probably the fastest skater on the team. Yet, Marleau has become a symbol of team underachievement for many fans. His performance is very erratic with virtual disappearance often following strong play. His long-term, big money contract might be difficult to move, but it says here that the Sharks will probably never hoist the Cup with Marleau holding a prominent position in the lineup.

The real danger for the Sharks would be to keep the aging core together for one last run. The most likely outcome of that strategy would be for too many of them to perform at a level far below their pay and reputation leading to an internal implosion as the team’s record collapses. Each of the last three regular seasons has been worse than the one preceding it, and as key players enter their mid thirties that trend is not likely to change.

Unless the Sharks change their personnel quickly they are likely in for a lengthy free fall followed by a painful rebuilding. The one undefeated performer in team sports is Father Time, and that is who the Sharks are battling now.

Will Football Concussions Give Parents a Headache?

July 7, 2012 by Paul Hirsch 2 Comments

By any measure, football is the most popular sport in the United States. It generates the highest television ratings, the most revenue, inspires breathtaking levels of legal and illegal gambling, and has by itself created quasi national holidays every Super Bowl Sunday and BCS Championship Game.

Unfortunately, none of that is making football-related news right now. Thanks to the recent suicide of Junior Seau, the career-ending concussions of several players including ESPN’s Merrill Hoge, and the dementia related deaths of well known players like John Mackey, football concussions are front and center in the media. Two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner even went so far as to say that he would resist the idea of his sons playing football because of the danger inherent in the game.

Of course very few people are ever faced with a go-no-go decision when it comes to NFL Football. In a typical season the league runs through about 2,000 players which is just a tiny fraction of those who start out in youth leagues. The real decision for most occurs around ninth grade when a young boy, with his parents, decides whether or not to play high school football.

As with most youth sports, high school football is in part a race to puberty. By age 15 a few boys have become young men physically. Players can often weigh well over 200 pounds and run the 40-yard dash in under five seconds. That is a combustible combination that can lead to injuries, including concussions. Still, there are few things as exciting for an adolescent male as running through the goal posts on a Friday night with thousands of people cheering as he and his teammates pursue a testosterone addled common goal.

What is a parent to do? Summer training camps are underway at local high schools and players began preparing before school let out last spring.

For Dave Sarver of Danville, the decision regarding whether or not to play football was thought of more in the context of an impediment to his son’s opportunities in baseball. Sam Sarver was a junior on Monte Vista’s varsity baseball team this past season. Dave Sarver held Oakland Raiders season tickets with his father before the team moved to Los Angeles and remembered the violence of those games.

“I wasn’t going to let Sam play in high school and affect his chance to play baseball. I was concerned about injury, but more about having a knee blown out, not a concussion,” explained Dave Sarver. “My decision not to allow Sam to play football was formulated decades before increased awareness of concussions. When I saw the “Jack Tatum” approach (dirty knockout vs. clean hard hit) start to permeate the game in the 70’s, I decided then I wasn’t going to risk it.”

Other parents are raising multi-sport stars and football is just part of the picture. Mason Melin is a junior at Monte Vista who has played football, soccer and baseball for the school; starting at tight end for the varsity football team and in the outfield for the varsity baseball team. His father, Barry, sees injury risks in all the sports but believes that participation has value despite the injury risk. The Melins have seen more severe head injuries in soccer than in football, but take the risks in all the sports seriously.

“For me it is weighing the positives and life lessons of sports, versus the potential for head trauma. I do not think the concern is overblown,” Barry Melin said. “I am glad that the coaches and doctors are looking at it. It is making them make small decision early like taking kids out for one or two games for a small concussion that I think is helping to raise awareness and prevent injuries. And I also think the heightened concern is helping parents make the call earlier to stop their child from participating in their sport when he/she has suffered head trauma.

“The days of sucking it up are gone.”

News relating to football concussions is not going away. More former pro and even college players will discuss how their post-playing lives have been affected by football injuries. Autopsies of those players often show significant brain damage. The ultimate showdown might not involve individual parents making decisions for their sons. More likely, youth and high school football might become uninsurable within a generation or two and fewer and fewer schools and youth organizations will be able to accept the risks inherent in the game.

Two Books, Two Games – On the Field and Off

June 10, 2012 by Paul Hirsch 1 Comment

Perhaps it’s the length of the season, or the fact that every player leaves a statistical record, or that the every-day nature of the sport leads to a wealth of stories. Whatever it is, baseball lends itself to full length books more than any other game.

Two new books in particular lend expose opposite ends of the baseball prose spectrum. One, Defining Greatness by Michael Hoban, a retired mathematics professor, is an analytic review of the requirements for entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame with conclusions regarding who should be in that isn’t and who was erroneously enshrined. The second, A Bitter Cup of Coffee by Douglas Gladstone, is the story of about 900 players whose major league careers were too short to qualify for baseball pensions despite others in similar circumstances who have received pension-like grants. Gladstone writes of the struggles of these players since their careers ended and the advocates trying to right what the author purports to be an injustice.

For those who enjoy thinking about baseball’s greats and near greats and comparing the virtues of differing degrees of excellence, Hoban’s book is for you. The author’s primary hypothesis is that the Baseball Hall of Fame is overpopulated, some of those on the outside should be in, and that there should be strict objective standards for player admission.

“Over one-third of the players who are in the Hall of Fame should not be there,” Hoban says. “Those who should be in there are the ones who have earned the right to be there.” In his book, Hoban has come up with a formula that assigns a numerical value to a player’s career. The system, called Career Assessment Wins Shares (CAWS) ranks all the players of the twentieth century according to their career numbers. And it establishes career benchmarks for each position to determine if players have Hall of Fame numbers.

Of course there is no debating players like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Tom Seaver. The controversy comes when evaluating the cases of players like Don Mattingly, Bill Mazeroski and Kirby Puckett. A baseball fan reading a book like Hoban’s will naturally reflect back on favorite players and moments from the past. He or she will also evaluate Hoban’s method and the case he makes for it. Finally, the big fan will consider whether membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame should be strictly objective, or if subjective standards like sportsmanship or character should come into play.

Gladstone’s book is entirely different. He postulates that since Major League Baseball generates more than $7 billion per year that it should take care of all its former players. As it stands, there is a window of players whose careers ended between 1947 and 1980 who had to accrue a minimum of four years of service to qualify for post-career benefits. Major Leaguers active since 1980 need only one day of service to qualify for lifetime medical benefits and 43 days of service to receive a monthly stipend.

Players from the era captured in Gladstone’s book played for a minimum salary of $6,000 per year as opposed to the $500,000 annual minimum today. Average salaries for most of this period were under $20,000 per season, as compared to about $3 million today. Therefore, says Gladstone, these players need the pensions and stipends, and many have endured financial hardship since their playing days ended.

The situation Gladstone described is complicated by a grant Major League Baseball made to Negro League Players of the 1940s and 1950s. He says that the 1947-1980 Major League players not receiving pensions are therefore victims of discrimination. Much of the book covers the pursuit of that case and castigates MLB and the Players Association as skinflints for not making allowances for the pre-1980 players.

The stories of hardship and near-misses in A Bitter Cup of Coffee are compelling and open a window for readers to tales not normally captured in popular sports media.

Both books are available in hard copy and e-reader formats from amazon.com.