[ARETE] Fw: Sport and Society - The World Series Begins

[richard crepeau]

Sport and Society for Arete
October 28, 2024

For the past several weeks I have been on the road and among other places I saw the baseball stadium where Shohei Ohtani played his first game as a professional. Ohtani is, of course, a major figure in Japan as he is here in the United States. I am sure that when he was injured in Game Two of the World Series on Saturday there was as much concern in Japan as there was in Los Angeles.
This World Series is a matchup of the teams from each league with the biggest payrolls. Each has spared no expense to try to buy a World Championship, and now one of them will be successful. This is the first time, in sometime, that the largest payrolls from each league have faced each other in the World Series. This is part of the attraction of this World Series.
Also, this Series will have some of the best talent from each league, or at least the best money can buy.  The Yankees bring Soto, Judge, Stanton, and Cole, while the Dodgers counter with Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, and Yamamoto. There are All-Stars and MVPs galore.
In the first two games the Dodgers displayed their power hitters and relief pitching, while the Yankees offered good starting pitching, but not enough from their relievers and power hitters, except Stanton. The Dodgers also got a bonus from the late season acquisition of Tommy Edman from the Cardinals who has been hitting at a torrid pace.
The first game was one of the more dramatic in World Series history with the walk-off grand=slam home run by Freddy Freeman. (I still regard Freeman as an Atlanta Brave) He is now clearly a Los Angeles Dodger legend. The drama in the late innings of that game was riveting and will be hard to duplicate in any of the remaining games.
But for all the drama and heroics, the major story of the first game of this World Series centered on Fernando Valenzuela who died last Tuesday at the age of 63. The Dodgers honored him in pre-game ceremonies. Dodger fans honored him with flowers and other memorials laid near the entrance to Dodger Stadium throughout the week.
Since 2003 Valenzuela has been a member of the Dodger’s Spanish language broadcast team. He stepped away from the radio booth at the end of the regular season to deal with health problems, reportedly cancer.
Fernando was discovered by Dodger scout, Mike Brito, who was in Mexico scouting an infielder, when it was a seventeen-year-old pitcher that attracted his attention. The Dodgers signed Fernando to a contract and after spending a year in the minor leagues he joined the major league Dodgers.
His first start as a Dodger came in an emergency on opening day of the 1981 season when Jerry Reuss could not start because of a calf injury. So, the 20-year-old rookie was called on that day. He pitched a five-hit shutout against the Houston Astros and went on to win his next seven starts, five of them shutouts. Fernando Mania followed.
This was much more than a young pitcher off to a great start as a major leaguer. This was much more because of where it happened, where Fernando was from, and the unhappy relationship between the Dodgers and the Mexican population of Los Angeles.
>From the start the Dodgers had alienated the local Mexican and Mexican-American community in this heavily Latino city. Fernando’s sensational arrival changed all of that. The minority population of Los Angeles, baseball fans and others, now had a reason to follow and support the Dodgers.
Beyond Los Angeles and beyond the Latino community across the country, baseball fans and non-fans were enchanted by this young man of enormous talent who had a quirky pitching style. Fernando featured a screwball, an orphan of pitches, that had not been seen much since Carl Hubbell in the 1930s. In his windup Fernando looked to the sky rather than at home plate and his catcher, a move that had not been seen before.
I was never much of a Dodger fan post Jackie Robinson, but Fernando changed that. I followed Fernando’s every start. I too was caught up in Fernando Mania. One of the memorable moments of his baseball career came late. On June 29th of 1990 Fernando threw a no-hitter against the Cardinals. What was most remarkable about it was the fact that Dave Stewart pitched a no-hitter for the A’s against the Blue Jays in Toronto a few hours earlier, and when Valenzuela heard his teammates talking about Stewart, Fernando predicted that they too would see a no-hitter that night.
Fernando Valenzuela was a treat to watch and added to the level of joy that comes with baseball. I was always happy to hear him in an interview, and those who heard his broadcasts of Dodger games were blessed by his presence. As was baseball.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

Copyright 2024 by Richard C. Crepeau



________________________________
From: richard crepeau <crepeau1 at msn.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2024 11:11 AM
To: pwedge at ku.edu <pwedge at ku.edu>
Subject: Fw: Sport and Society - The World Series Begins




Sport and Society for Arete
October 28, 2024

For the past several weeks I have been on the road and among other places I saw the baseball stadium where Shohei Ohtani played his first game as a professional. Ohtani is, of course, a major figure in Japan as he is here in the United States. I am sure that when he was injured in Game Two of the World Series on Saturday there was as much concern in Japan as there was in Los Angeles.
This World Series is a matchup of the teams from each league with the biggest payrolls. Each has spared no expense to try to buy a World Championship, and now one of them will be successful. This is the first time, in sometime, that the largest payrolls from each league have faced each other in the World Series. This is part of the attraction of this World Series.
Also, this Series will have some of the best talent from each league, or at least the best money can buy.  The Yankees bring Soto, Judge, Stanton, and Cole, while the Dodgers counter with Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, and Yamamoto. There are All-Stars and MVPs galore.
In the first two games the Dodgers displayed their power hitters and relief pitching, while the Yankees offered good starting pitching, but not enough from their relievers and power hitters, except Stanton. The Dodgers also got a bonus from the late season acquisition of Tommy Edman from the Cardinals who has been hitting at a torrid pace.
The first game was one of the more dramatic in World Series history with the walk-off grand=slam home run by Freddy Freeman. (I still regard Freeman as an Atlanta Brave) He is now clearly a Los Angeles Dodger legend. The drama in the late innings of that game was riveting and will be hard to duplicate in any of the remaining games.
But for all the drama and heroics, the major story of the first game of this World Series centered on Fernando Valenzuela who died last Tuesday at the age of 63. The Dodgers honored him in pre-game ceremonies. Dodger fans honored him with flowers and other memorials laid near the entrance to Dodger Stadium throughout the week.
Since 2003 Valenzuela has been a member of the Dodger’s Spanish language broadcast team. He stepped away from the radio booth at the end of the regular season to deal with health problems, reportedly cancer.
Fernando was discovered by Dodger scout, Mike Brito, who was in Mexico scouting an infielder, when it was a seventeen-year-old pitcher that attracted his attention. The Dodgers signed Fernando to a contract and after spending a year in the minor leagues he joined the major league Dodgers.
His first start as a Dodger came in an emergency on opening day of the 1981 season when Jerry Reuss could not start because of a calf injury. So, the 20-year-old rookie was called on that day. He pitched a five-hit shutout against the Houston Astros and went on to win his next seven starts, five of them shutouts. Fernando Mania followed.
This was much more than a young pitcher off to a great start as a major leaguer. This was much more because of where it happened, where Fernando was from, and the unhappy relationship between the Dodgers and the Mexican population of Los Angeles.
>From the start the Dodgers had alienated the local Mexican and Mexican-American community in this heavily Latino city. Fernando’s sensational arrival changed all of that. The minority population of Los Angeles, baseball fans and others, now had a reason to follow and support the Dodgers.
Beyond Los Angeles and beyond the Latino community across the country, baseball fans and non-fans were enchanted by this young man of enormous talent who had a quirky pitching style. Fernando featured a screwball, an orphan of pitches, that had not been seen much since Carl Hubbell in the 1930s. In his windup Fernando looked to the sky rather than at home plate and his catcher, a move that had not been seen before.
I was never much of a Dodger fan post Jackie Robinson, but Fernando changed that. I followed Fernando’s every start. I too was caught up in Fernando Mania. One of the memorable moments of his baseball career came late. On June 29th of 1990 Fernando threw a no-hitter against the Cardinals. What was most remarkable about it was the fact that Dave Stewart pitched a no-hitter for the A’s against the Blue Jays in Toronto a few hours earlier, and when Valenzuela heard his teammates talking about Stewart, Fernando predicted that they too would see a no-hitter that night.
Fernando Valenzuela was a treat to watch and added to the level of joy that comes with baseball. I was always happy to hear him in an interview, and those who heard his broadcasts of Dodger games were blessed by his presence. As was baseball.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.

Copyright 2024 by Richard C. Crepeau


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