Laker Blogger Dave Visits the Baseball Reliquary

 

These are anxious times for Lakers fans. In a matter of days we'll know where the team stands in the NBA draft lottery. And about a month later the actual draft will take place, and a new player or two will be brought into the franchise.

Despite the fact that the team has been absent for two years from that NBA cash cow known as the playoffs, the sans-Lakers postseason has been mildly entertaining. Even so, it's always better when my favorite team is out there holding court on the hardwood during the playoffs. 

But you know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

But since the Lakers weren't invited to the final dance of the season, and because the lotto and draft are pending, I've decided to do something radically different with this post. I'm going to talk about baseball! Specifically something that celebrates baseball and the culture of the sport. 

The Sultan of Swat - Babe Ruth

So my biggest problem was to figure out how to segue a baseball story into a Los Angeles Lakers blog (I'm sure you're thinking the same right?.....................or not).

 
Aside from being a huge Lakers fan, I'm also a longtime Dodgers fan.

Checking Out a Dodgers Game with My Brothers in 2008

My first love in sports was baseball. I couldn't play it to save my arse, but I loved to watch it. My father and I regularly attended around 10-12 games a year at Dodgers Stadium from the mid-1970's through the early 80's.  

Additionally we spent many an enjoyable evening by the tube listening to Vin Scully, Ross Porter and Jerry Doggett weave their stories during the Dodgers broadcasts.

Ross Porter, Vin Scully, and Jerry Doggett

However, my foray into playing the sport was not as fruitful. During the one season I played baseball I managed to scrap my way to a batting average of .000. I quite literally stunk. Oh I managed to get on base. I was hit by a pitch twice, I managed a few walks, and somehow I even managed two or three stolen bases. Those are stats unworthy of gracing a modern-day baseball card. Mostly I just helped the umpire exercise his vocal chords: 

A Typical At Bat During Lone My Baseball Season

Despite all this, I still loved watching baseball. I loved collecting cards in those early years, and I was a stat freak who could tell you how many home runs, hits, and RBI's my favorite player Steve Garvey had in any given season. I used to gobble up statistics so much, it's a wonder I was so bad at math.   

Baseball was my gateway drug to other sports. It would eventually lead me to basketball, my sport of choice, and life-long passion. But I never gave up my love for baseball. Among other things, I’ve always been fascinated with the stories that swirl around the sport. Being the national pastime, it's created a unique lore, and a colorful, if not sometimes, controversial history that has stamped its imprint into American culture. 

Countless books, movies, and various forms of art, including a host of Norman Rockwell paintings are just some of the cultural manifestations of baseball in the USA. Those examples by the way aren’t even the tip of the iceberg of baseball-influenced art and literature. Ah yes, time for my next segue.

My interest in baseball was recently rekindled by my introduction to an institution known as the Baseball Reliquary. What is the Reliquary? Why reinvent the wheel? Here is the description from their website: 

The Baseball Reliquary is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the national pastime’s unparalleled creative possibilities. 

The Reliquary is run by a walking-talking-baseball-encyclopedia of a man by the name of Terry Cannon. Terry serves as the executive director, chief storyteller, and lead Wikibaseballiac (I love blogging; you can make up words as you go!) of the Reliquary. If Terry and Vin Scully were out having dinner on a Friday night, the two of them would still be swapping stories at the restaurant Sunday morning. 

Terry Cannon - Executive Director of the Baseball Reliquary

The Reliquary itself is a full-fledged organization with members, who among other things, annually elect influential figures from baseball's past into a hall of fame known as the Shrine of the Eternals. Every July the Reliquary hosts a ceremony for the inductees for the Shrine at the Central Library in Pasadena, California.

2014 Shrine of the Eternals Inductees

Some of the things you’ll find on the Reliquary’s Internet site include: information on current and former projects and exhibits, an overview of the organization, information about past inductees into the Shrine of the Eternals, and how to become a member.

The "brick and mortar" portion of the Reliquary exists in the Institute of Baseball Studies which is housed at Whittier College in Whittier, California. The Institute has an impressive booty of books, periodicals and artwork on baseball. Among its many uses, the Institute is utilized as a research facility for scholars, students, and baseball aficionados alike.

  

I was in attendance for the Institute's inauguration back in January, and I recently paid a 2nd visit to the establishment.

I was joined on my 2nd visit with my buddies Eric, and fellow blogger Stealing Home.

Terry filled our baseball-thirsty minds with various stories of some of the sport's more colorful characters, and he shared some of the Institute's artifacts and artworks that are housed in the facility. 

Terry Discusses the Rennie Stennett "6th Hit Ball" from Stennett's Record Breaking Night on September 20th, 1975

He even shared some basketball lore and artwork during our trip. He knew of my love for the sport, and his knowledge of hoops was just as impressive as it was for baseball.

I wouldn't want to cheat you by retelling the stories here. You'll have to pay a visit and ask the man yourself. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Needless to say, my fellow sports lovers and I were highly impressed. 

For a more detailed review of the Reliquary and the Institute of Baseball Studies, check out these posts from Stealing Home:

http://alltradebait.blogspot.com/2015/04/have-you-heard-of-other-baseball-hall.html

http://alltradebait.blogspot.com/2015/04/wallet-card-visits-institute-for.html

http://alltradebait.blogspot.com/2015/04/visiting-institiute-for-baseball.html

In the near future, Terry and his Reliquary cohorts hope to inherit a larger space in their current building, but there's still plenty to discover if you stop by. If you would like to visit the Institute, the facility is open to the public every Friday from 12 to 5PM on the third floor of the Mendenhall Building at Whittier College (or by appointment). 

The Mendenhall Building at Whittier College

I hope you enjoyed this temporary diversion from the world of Lakers basketball. Tune in later next week as I attempt to devote a full column to the Lakers lotto position (or lack thereof!).

 

Till then, stay healthy. 

To Tank or Not To Tank....That was the Question.

The Lakers 2014-2015 season has come to an end, and not a moment too soon. Being the tireless, devoted fan that I am, I did everything I could think of to inspire the Lakers to victory. Tried as I may, nothing I attempted seemed bring them much luck. Nonetheless, I gave it my best shot. Here is one way I tried to save the season and revive the team:

For every Lakers game that I attended, I wore a different jersey. I was attempting to demonstrate my team spirit to the masses. Below are a few examples:

I brought out the old school Kobe "8" jersey for my first game of the season. I even posed with his likeness before the game. It may have inspired him to score 39 points, but it wasn’t enough to inspire the rest of the team to play defense as the Lakers lost to the Suns 112-106.

Next I brought out the Big-Shot Rob home white jersey to inspire the team to knock down their three pointers. A lot of good that did.  I might as well have been out there hoisting three’s. It was brick city. But despite their performance from beyond the arc, this would be the one game that I attended (out of nine) that they actually won! The Lakers beat the lowly Kings 98-95.

Inspired by my previous visit to the Staples Center, I continued with my ingenious jersey plan.  By bringing out the Captain’s jersey, I was hoping the Lakers would go retro and shoot some sky hooks.  In the end, the Lakers got hooked by one of Cap’s old archrivals, the Portland Trailblazers 106-94.

A few days later, I kept it 80’s old school by wearing the jersey of the player I was nicknamed after in high school, Kurt Rambis, aka Superman. But on this night there would be no Super heroics from the team. The Lakers lost to the Miami Heat 78-75.

Taking it way back, I brought out a Mr. Clutch Jerry West 1960's-era jersey out of the closet.  Meh. West failed to sway the young Lakers as their season continued to go south.  The Lakers dropped yet another one, this time to the Thunder 108-101.

                                           

At a season-ticket holder event, I dropped in to take a photograph with “Never-saw-a-shot-he-didn’t-like” Swaggy P, and “Never-saw-a-party-he-could-pass-up” Jordan Hill. I was wearing my Horry jersey again hoping that would inspire Swaggy's recently lost jumper.                                     

I was also photographed with two Lakers from the Showtime era in “Big Game” James Worthy, and “Coop-a-Loop” Michael Cooper. Have the young-ins watched any tape of these two legends?

In a last desperate effort to save their dignity and pride, I brought out my Shaq jersey to inspire the troops to dominate and crush that night’s opponent the New Orleans Pelicans. Alas, the Lakers submitted and wilted to the birds from the Big Easy and lost by 21 points.

                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking back, I’ve had to time to evaluate, scrutinize, and analyze the Lakers efforts this season. There were rampant rumors, media-fueled speculations, and no shortage of conspiracy theories about their lopsided record. Were the Lakers really tanking in order to secure a high draft position?  

             

I couldn’t believe. I wouldn’t believe it. Not our Lakers. As fans, we’ve endured some painful seasons in the past, but they were merely bumps in the road while the organization rebuilt the team.

Surely the Lakers wouldn’t purposely tank the season just to acquire a potentially good player in the NBA draft?

I had to pause and think about my own past. In my earliest years of playing hoops, I was never taught how to purposely lose. What kind of message would that send? Why teach a young kid how to fail?  If I had been taught to let the other team win, or to give up while being behind in a game, I would have never achieved my average of 2.5 points per game in my senior year of high school (sarcasm here)! 

I’ve played, coached and even refereed my beloved sport of hoops. I’ve never known anyone who taught a player how to lose, or to purposely throw in the towel. It’s just not something you teach a player. The only part of losing I was ever taught was how to lose gracefully…which happened quite often as a senior because we lost more games than I care to remember.

So why would the Lakers tank? Why should the Lakers tank? This is LA, and we don’t tank. I won't apologize for being smug about this. We play to win all the time, every time. Their record of 21-61 (a franchise worst) was just a fluke, right Kobe?

You can’t script a season like this: Nash, Kobe, Swaggy P, and Julius Randle, were all expected to be major contributors, yet each of them succumbed to an injury in one form or another. It was unreal!

Then, late in the season, there was this gem from Coach Scott. His frustrations had reached their boiling point:

That sounds like an old-school vet trying desperately to find some players with a heartbeat.  I don't believe a coach who was tanking would utter something like this. The Showtime-era teams of the 80's that he played on would never have agreed to lose games purposely. Although Magic did recently say that is what this team must do, I don't believe he would have done it back in the day.

I refuse to accept the theory that they tanked the season. They just didn’t have the players, healthy or otherwise, to compete night after night. This group did the best they could (or so I made myself believe). Most of them won’t return as Lakers next season. Likely some of them may never suit up in a NBA uniform again. But I wish them all the luck in the world. Thanks for trying.

It’s time to move on. It’s time to forget this injury-plagued, loss-filled fracas. It’s in the past now. We made it! You, me, and a whole lot of other die-hard fans got through it. We survived the lows, and now were ready for a new beginning.

It been tough, but there is optimism for what’s on the horizon.

We’ll have a nice pick in the upcoming NBA draft. We’ve got some youth potential in Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle. 

Plus there will be plenty of big-named free agents to pursue. And we’ll have the cap space to pursue them thanks to the retirement of social security-bound Steve Nash.

Let’s not forget, Kobe will be back for his swan song. Though hopefully not in a suit.

                                                             
The Lakers franchise is too popular to stay down for long. Witness the number of Lakers jerseys in the crowds while they are on the road. Even after two forgettable seasons, and with most of the Lakers stars on the injured reserve list, fans across the country still donned the purple and gold when the Lake Show came to their town.

The Lakers are still the big draw they've always been. And with a little luck, and some new faces, next season we'll be back in the mix.

Some last thoughts on what I'd like to see next season: I want a return to the salad days of yore....when purple and gold confetti fell from the rafters after every winning home game; when free tacos vouchers were handed out like candy on the way out of the arena; when the never-tiring tune of "I Love LA" by Randy Newman was played after another W. 

And last but not least, I'd like to see the familiar site of the Lakers lifting the championship trophy towards the heavens in the month of June.

Until then, this blogger will continue to work on his own game with the faint hope that his favorite team will pick him up off the waiver wire.

I will continue to blog during the off-season. Good things are coming! Hang in there! Be patient! Have faith! Or, do whatever it is you do when the Lakers aren’t playing. 

Until my next post, this Lakers fan will keep the candle burning for us all. 

Thanks for reading!

The Curse of the Panini: One of the Many Reasons the Lakers Have Faltered This Season

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash - Frequent visitors to the X-Ray lab

After entering the Staples Center on Tuesday January 15^th to watch the purple and gold take on the Lebron-less Miami Heat, I was handed a sheet of Lakers player stickers by a Staples Center employee. This is one of the many giveaways that the Lakers have imparted on their fans during home games this season.

The giveaways themselves have been a precursor of doom for the 2014-1015 campaign. Searching the data banks of my clouded memory, I could not recall a season in recent years where the Lakers had given away so many promotional items. In fact, they’ve created a page on their website to advertise these rare goodies to their win-starved fan base. Obviously this has been a nice surprise, but it's not a common practice for the organization, at least not on this scale.

When the Lakers were winning and had a reserved spot in the upper levels of the playoffs, these giveaways were typically reserved for playoff games. Upon entering the arena, you’d have your ticket scanned, and then you followed the throng of crowds to your seat to gawk at everything in Lakersland.

Now that the Lakers are headed for possibly their worst record in franchise history, often you can expect to be greeted with a free something or other before you begin the ascent to your seat (in my case the seats are up near the Hubble Telescope).

But I digress….back to the sticker sheet. The sheet was made by PaniniAmerica, a maker of sports cards and related products. I was grateful for the item, as I am with all of the giveaways, but I didn’t pay much attention to it until recently. There are six Lakers players featured on the sheet: Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash, Nick Young and Julius Randle.

PaniniAmerica Sticker sheet issued to fans on January 15th, 2015

It’s a safe bet to say that Panini created this product before the season began. The players they chose were a combination of the current stat-sheet fillers, an aging veteran, a couple of new guys, and the potentially promising rookie. They are all draped in their traditional home gold jerseys. It’s a nice set.

Depending on how you look at it, or which way your superstitious nature lies, the PaniniAmerica company feature three players that, more than likely, will not suit up for another game this season: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Julius Randle.

Have you heard of the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse?

February 2012 edition of Sport Illustrated

 Or the Madden NFL curse? 

Popular Madden NFL Video Game

 

Could we have a new jinx in the making called the "Panini Sticker Curse?" Look at the TMZish facts:

*Nash tweaks his ever-failing back in preseason game 1, and he’s out for the season.

*Randle leaps awkwardly in his very first professional game, breaks a leg bone, and is out for the season.

*After a brilliant move on a scrub, Kobe goes up for a dunk, and comes down with a torn rotator cuff, and is potentially, and most likely, out for the season.

Coincidence? Who knows? Like my father used to paraphrase: "only the shadows knows!"

At the hopes of marketing the term Panini Sticker Curse, I'm using this post to promote it so I can cash-in big on the name. You know like Pat Riley did with the whole Three-peat thing? Donations can be made to the “Destroy All Panini Lakers Stickers Fund.” Just inbox me so I can show you how to deposit the funds into my account. :-)

All kidding aside, whether the curse is just a coincidence or just a figment of my warped sense of humor, it is somewhat creepy. I was going to hang the sticker sheet up at work next to some Lakers placards, but I’ve decided to leave well enough alone. 

And although I am entirely grateful to the Lakers organization for placating me with free stuff whilst they rebuild the team, I’d rather have playoff runs and banners as opposed to the free handouts.

On a quick side note, congratulations to Pau Gasol for being nominated to the 2014-2015 Eastern Conference All Star Squad! I sure wish it could have been with the Western Conference squad instead. 

Till the muse tackles me again in the hallway….later gators!

The Idea of A Kobe-less Lakers: The Good, the Bad and the Fugly

"[Monday] showed that he’s [Kobe] one of the top-five point guards in the league," said Lakers guard Nick Young. We needed him.” (sic)

"We're all so used to him being there in the last couple minutes of the game." 

Stop the presses! Nick Young is starting to realize what many already know: the Lakers still need Kobe Bean Bryant.  He’s still relevant to Lakers fans worldwide and to the NBA in general. But would this particular team benefit if Kobe was no longer sporting the purple and gold? 

Is Kobe the savior that can prevent this team from bottoming out in the standings, or is he a burden for the team to carry over the next two seasons? Let’s break it down and see if we can’t figure this out shall we?

The Good:

“We need him.”

A few weeks ago, Swaggy was asking Kobe for the rock. 

Nick hit one game winner, and some in Lakerdom were ready to hoist his jersey up in to the rafters with all the other greats like Magic, Mr. Clutch, and Wilt the Stilt to name a few. If Swaggy is ever to attain this honor, and I don’t think he will, he’ll have to hit a lot more game winners. He’d have to put up Kobe-like numbers (25+ game winners, an MVP trophy, numerous All-Star appearances and a few rings for starters) before they considered placing number 0 into the heavens.

So after a few games of not being able to perform in the clutch (with the team, not with Iggy), Nick realized the inevitable: Kobe is still the man: slightly withered, somewhat aged, and not quite as bouncy as he used to be…but still the man. Kobe is the guy you want shooting the ball as the clock winds down. Nick is a good 2^nd choice, but until Kobe is dragging one broken leg behind him, I’m passing him the ball for the winning shot (well…not really me…the Lakers never returned my call to join the squad; a minor oversight on their part I’m sure).

The Bad:

If Kobe is double or tripled-teamed, he’s still taking shots. The last five or six games notwithstanding, Kobe was not trusting anybody with the rock but himself. With his voice and stoic stares, he has shown his disgust with his teammate’s shortcomings. We’ve all seen “Angry Kobe”. But recently, I think Bryon Scott may have broken through the Kobe-Shield. He’s convinced Bryant to trust in his teammates, and now #24 is feeding them the ball. So we now have “Passing Kobe”. But is it a temporary fling? If his teammates don’t live up to his superstar expectations, will Kobe start firing 35 shots a game again? That, without a doubt, would be bad.

The Fugly:

The Lakers aren’t the worst team in the league, but if they don’t all get on the same page, they could bottom out. As previously mentioned, I like what Kobe has been doing the past few weeks. He involving everyone with his passing, and encouraging them to shoot. We all realize that this particular squad is not adding any hardware to the trophy case. But if they are close at the end of games, and they steal a few victories, that should satiate most of us (for this season anyway). If the tide turns, and Kobe becomes “Angry Non-passing Kobe”, we could be in for some real ugly games. I’ll take a losing, but hard fought, season over a split locker room any day.

So can we please dispense with the “Lakers would be better off without Kobe” chatter? He’s still our best chance of being competitive night in, and night out…period. The man has proven he can play with others (6000+ career assists, nearly 5 assists per game average over 19 years, oh, and five rings if that’s not proof enough), so let’s not get crazy with the predictions of how this squad would do sans Mr. Bryant. He may be older, but who else on this team is going fill those shoes?

And what exactly do people pay to see anyway? Jordan Hill throwing up a jump hook? Nick Young’s hair, or his girlfriend texting during the game? Robert Sacre’s latest tattoo? Steve Nash showing up to sit with his teammates on the bench? I think not. Everyone still wants to see the magic of Kobe Bean Bryant. Just look at the road games. The Lakers fans in the crowd are all wearing Kobe jerseys!

Kobe is still the face of this franchise. At least until his jersey is hoisted up there in the rafters with the other greats.

Till next time…