Tripod Sports: Numbers and Time

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</tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="170">  <tr><td></td></tr> <tr><td align="CENTER"> <center> <a href="#"></a> </center> </td></tr> <tr><td align="CENTER"> <center> <a href="#"></a> </center> </td></tr> </table> <center></center> </td> <td valign="TOP" width="100%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr valign="TOP"> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"> <center> <table width="100%"> <tr> <td align="right"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <b> <font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" size="+2" color="#000099"> Numbers and Time</font></b><br><font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" size="+1" color="#000099">A former fan finds new magic in the hunt<br>for one of baseball's oldest records</font><br><br> <font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif"><b>by <a href="mailto:joe@smug.com,sports@tripod.com">Joe Procopio</a></b></font></td> <td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" color="#000099"> Ah, baseball. The grandest of the grand games. Even after fan-alienating strikes, spiraling television ratings, insipid rule changes, and Roberto Alomar, the national pastime appears to be once again on the verge of a comeback.</font> <font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" size="-1"> Baseball is like that ugly, ill-tempered cousin of yours that always seems to have a lady on each arm. You can never really figure out just what it is that keeps 'em coming back. <br><br> <b>A: Joaquin Andujar, Darrell Porter, Keith Hernandez, Tommy Herr, Ken Oberkfell, Ozzie Smith, Lonnie Smith, Willie McGee, George Hendrick</b> <br><br> <b>Q: Name the core members of the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals baseball club.</b> <br><br> <table border="0" width="100" align="right" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td width="100" bgcolor="#CECE63"><font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" color="#000000">I can pinpoint the exact moment that I lost interest in baseball.</font></td> </tr> </table> This is not a random question. I believe I can pinpoint the exact moment that I lost interest in baseball. It was immediately following the 1982 season in which the Cardinals, a rag-tag team of misfits, discarded veterans, and inexperienced rookies, never lost more than three games in a row, taking the championship with a dramatic performance in game seven of the World Series. That particular series was the last time I remember baseball as an art form, the last time I remember tuning in or going to the ballpark and coming away thinking, "Now <i>that</i> was a good game." <br><br> Of course, I turned 13 the next year and discovered that 13-year-old girls were a much more fascinating pursuit than watching some dip-spitting millionaire hit a ball with a stick. <br><br> <b>A: 81 days</b> <br><br> <b>Q: How long is the down time between the last possible game in the NBA playoffs and the kickoff of the first regular-season NFL contest?</b> <br><br> I'm a big sports junkie  always have been. But I like action and pace to my games. So those 81 days are normally a vast wasteland of ultra-slim sports sections and tepid Sunday night SportsCenters. Let's face it: 162 games  and two playoff rounds  are played in a Major League Baseball season just to get us to the six or seven games that matter. <br><br> I didn't used to be this cynical about the game. I can also, for instance, name most of the lineup for the 1976 and 1977 and New York Yankees. I know that there was indeed a Thurman (Munson) long before Uma. Something happened along the way that sapped my love for baseball. And it isn't just me. Chances are, if you didn't know the exact number of days between basketball winter and football fall, you wondered. Come on now, you wondered. I know this because I can pinpoint the day baseball dried up nationwide too. <br><br> <b>A: October 15, 1994.</b> <br><br> <b>Q: On what date should the 1994 World Series have started?</b> <br><br> <table border="0" width="100" align="right" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td width="100" bgcolor="#CECE63"><font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif" color="#000000">91 years of continuity came to an abrupt end.</font></td> </tr> </table> 1994 was the year of the "Big One," the player's strike that eliminated what would have been the 91st World Series. It wasn't baseball's first big modern-day strike. That was 1981. But in 1981 they split the season and threw in some extra playoffs, and everyone swallowed hard and accepted it. (Though the arrangement sucked for my beloved Cardinals, who, while achieving the best cumulative record in their division that year, wound up finishing second in both halves and therefore stayed home for the playoffs.) In 1994, neither side could breach the impasse by October and the Series couldn't be saved. As a result, 91 years of continuity and longevity came to an abrupt end. <br><br> <b>A: 61, 755, 56, 511, 5714, .406.</b> <br><br> <b>Q: What are the MLB records for single-season home runs (Roger Maris), career home runs (Hank Aaron), hitting streak (Joe DiMaggio), career pitching victories (Cy Young), career strikeouts (Nolan Ryan), and the last time someone broke a 400 batting average in a season (Ted Williams, 1941)?</b> <br><br> So why was 1994 the beginning of the end? Because baseball is a game of time and numbers. It's a game in which Babe Ruth is still remembered as a god, even though Hammerin' Hank knocked 41 more over the wall. It's a game in which Shoeless Joe Jackson is still vilified for allegedly and essentially tampering with the process. Thus, when you create a hiccup in the record-books and almanacs as horrific as 1994, tradition burns and smolders. You might as well be the CFL. Who cares? <br><br> Not that the League isn't trying to recapture some interest. But their ham-handed attempts to spice up the game have done more damage than good. Interleague play? More awkward than a first date at the Rollerama. Baseball probably lost a good number of purists for that scheme alone. At the end of the day, if fans are going to come back, they are going to do so because the players are playing the game well. <br><br> And in this, there is hope. <br><br> <b>A: Mark McGwire</b> <br><br> <b>Q: Who appears destined to crack Maris' single-season home run mark this year?</b> <br><br> Okay. They finally got to me, I admit it. Even before basketball season ended, I was glancing at the daily box scores to see if McGwire went yard. And how many times. Here's a challenge that embodies baseball at its best. If McGwire hits 62 home runs this year (and with 36 of them at press time, he's certainly on pace to), he will have changed forever one of the most cherished and sacred numbers in baseball, one that has stood frozen in time for 37 years. <br><br> And what do you know. He's a St. Louis Cardinal. <br><br> I may not watch a lot of games this season. Hell, I may not watch any. But at the very least, I'll have a reason to open the newspaper during that dreaded 81-day stretch. As the adage goes, as long as there is baseball, there is baseball. And as long as there are records to be challenged, heroes to be recognized and tradition to be made, the game will go on and on. </font> <hr> <font face="geneva, arial, helvetica, veranda, san serif"> <b><a href="mailto:joe@smug.com,sports@tripod.com">Joe Procopio</a></b> writes a monthly column for Smug, authors novels, and sings in a pop band, all of which is enumerated on his Web site. He's got mad hits like Rod Carew. <br><br> © 1998 Tripod, Inc. All Rights Reserved.</font> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>