Rookies

The other day I posted about my Rookie Broadcasting position with the Lake Norman Copperheads. All the things rookies have to put up with to get better. At least, all the things I have to learn being a rookie in the business, anyway.

It seems that some rookies don't have to got through the pain and suffering, the learning curve so to speak, as I've had to endure. I'm talking about the Atlanta Braves Justin Heyward and the Detroit Tigers Brennan Boesch. If you follow baseball at all, you probably remember Heyward's first at bat for the Braves. He hit a booming home run & ESPN turned the camera on fans celebrating with his father in the stands. What a way to break into the major leagues!

Since that initial at bat, Heyward's numbers have been worthy of a National League Rookie of the Year front runner. Of course, there is one Stephen Strasburg who so far has overshadowed Heyward while only taking the mound for the Washington Nationals four times, but that's another story altogether. For an everyday position player, I don't think the Braves or Manager Bobby Cox, who is in his final season of a hall of fame managerial career, could have asked for anything better.

Heyward, only 20 years old, was an expected future superstar before the season began. On the flip side of that, Brennan Boesch, 24, has basically come out of nowhere. There were no big expectations for Boesch within the Tiger's organization. Sure, the kid had some pop in the bat, but wasn't hitting for a high average during his minor league career. After all, the Tigers had several rising young stars who played parts of the last two years with the big club and seemed ready to play every day. Heyward was expected to come up to the big club, while Boesch seemed destined to be trade bait for maybe some insurance for a final push at an American League Central pennant later in the year.

Somehow, Boesch got a chance, due to Carlos Guillen's injury and the left-fielder-of-the-future, Ryan Rayburn, in the midst of a season opening slump. Brennan made the best of his opportunity. Maybe there was a little luck involved, that he just happened to be hot at the plate for the first few games. Manager Jim Leyland was quoted as saying something along the lines of he was going to play him as long as he was contributing. Leyland hasn't taken him out of a full-time left field spot since, except for the occasional day off for a rest.

These two rookies met in Atlanta this week. Bunches of pictures taken of the two. Interviews with both. And everybody on both teams being asked by the media what they think of their chances to become the American and National League Rookies of the Year after the season is over.

Well, my guess is that it's still way, way too early to cast any final votes. It's not even the All-Star break yet. There's a long way to go in a long season. But one thing is for sure; if the season ended tomorrow, they'd get most of the votes (sans Stratusburg). Here are a look at their numbers so far in their rookie campaigns:


____________AB R H HR RBI AVG OB% SLG%
Justin Hayward 251 41 64 11 45 .255 .371 .462
Brennan Boesch 185 24 64 11 39 .346 .399 .632

"Nick, I've Got Bad News . . ."

That's what my summer internship boss told me the other day. He said "I'm going to share this with you, but I don't want you to make too much out of it. I think you're doing a good job."

I know most folks haven't followed my exercises in writing over the years, but may have been reading them for a while. I started off contributing game recap articles to the Rocky Mount Evening Telegram when I was at Edwards Middle School, sending them results with short highlight notes on our Thunderbird baseball games. I went on to ihigh.com, covering football games at Rocky Mount High. I started this blog soon after I started my freshman year at UNCP before joining the student newspaper staff. I worked my way into an Assistant Sports Editor position before my freshman year was up. Before I left school for the summer, I had been named Sports Editor and the school's Mass Communication Department awarded me the title and honor of "Rookie of the Year" for my contributions to the department.

I had also landed a spot on the campus radio station doing a weekly sports show on Monday evenings that centered on UNCP athletics. I hope to continue with that show next year as a junior.

I'd like to think that landing my summer job - my first internship for my two majors - was at least partially based on my experience, if not for how well I am progressing in my field. I had never called a game on the radio before, so I was a little nervous when I showed up for my first game behind the mike. New boss, new surroundings, new players, new town, new job. Okay, I was a lot nervous.

I got through the first game, and it was an experience. I felt like I was just talking to myself the entire game. I suppose I actually was, because there was nobody else doing any talking. Nobody answering me, nobody commenting on the call or the play. Just me.

I bear no thought that it was as professionally polished as it could be. Like I said, it was my first time out. I got through it. Dad and I talked not only that game, but the ones since. Maybe I could do this, maybe I could add that. It helps to have somebody give you some advise and have some input. I have since figured out how to retrieve the broadcasts and listen to them myself. I've got a long way to go, for sure, but this is supposed to be a learning experience for me.

Learning experiences come with ups and downs. The good, bad and ugly, I suppose. So getting back to where I started with all this; with all my "experience" on the keyboard and behind the mike, the awards and the "I read you all the time, you're doing a great job" comments, I was floored when my summer boss showed me an e-mail he got. I was the target. Man, was I the target.

The e-mail pointed out, in no uncertain terms, what this guy thought of one of my broadcasts. It was my fourth baseball game call of my oh-so-short-so-far career. At first I was asking myself; is this guy for real? Is this guy some jerk? But it really didn't take long for me to realize that what he was saying was basically true. I'm a rookie and I have a long way to go. I've got a lot to learn. The e-mail pushed me to find out how I could find and listen to the replays I call. I'm doing homework now between games, taking notes on what I think works and what I think doesn't work. I've taken into consideration what the e-mailing guy had to say, sifted through what I can control and what I can't.

So, to the guy who sent the e-mail letting me know you weren't happy with the call that night, thank you. It wasn't exactly constructive criticism, but I used it that way, and I think it will help me become better.

The next time someone says ". . .I've got bad news. . ." maybe we can turn it into good news.

The Price Of Athletics - NCHSAA Pod System

It's been a while now since Tony Doughtie posted his distaste for the new NCHSAA Pod Playoffs System for high school football. I have to agree, based on Tony's explanation of how many conference games would go on during the first couple of weeks.

Why doesn't the NCHSAA just send the conference champions to the playoffs? It really makes no sense to me that if Rocky Mount beats Hunt for first place in the conference, they have to play again two weeks later in the first or second round of the playoffs. Tony hit it on the head - yuck. This system reduces the conference championship to just a #1 seed of a conference tournament between the first two or three teams.

I suppose these games will probably make money for each school. Playoff games (at least at Rocky Mount High) will make you some money. But if the point of the playoff system is to find the best team in the state, then just let each of the conference champions play one another. If that reduces the number of games, then add that week back you took away earlier in the year & push back the conference games by a week. What point is there to winning conference if you have to beat the same team again in the first round?

Attempting to put together a playoff system that saves money is OK, I suppose. Travel expenses are high. Did the NCHSAA do any studies on how many times a #16, #15 or #14 seed traveled and beat the #1, #2 or #3 seeds? I would think if they would have done their homework, they would have eliminated the first round games, as many of those teams had no chance to begin with. Instead of spending that money on traveling to a school who will beat you anyway, they could keep the money and stay home.

I would think that if the NCHSAA would have done their homework, they would not have eliminated one game on the regular season schedule, but eliminated that game from the playoff schedule. I wonder if they considered eliminating a hand full of teams, for example 12 teams in, instead of 16, and giving the top seeded teams a bye for the first week?

The Price of Athletics is going up. It just doesn't seem that the decisions being made to keep the price down are in the best interest of everyone involved.

Legend Calls It A Career

Junior in his early years inside the Kingdome in Seattle with the Mariners.
(photo - espn.com)

His dad played in the majors and won a couple of world series in the 70's with Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine".
He started playing Major League Baseball at 19 years old. And his dad was on his team.

Matter of fact, he started playing with the Seattle Mariners the year before I was born. All my years following Major League Baseball, he has been playing. No more.

Ken Griffey Jr., or simply "Junior", retired from baseball on Wednesday. He had spent 20 years with the Mariners - his dad's last team - and the Reds - his dad's championship team - and a partial year with Chicago's White Sox. He amassed mind-boggling offensive numbers over those years. Many argue he could have been the greatest home run hitter of all time; possibly the best offensive player of all time, if not for a series of injuries that required him missing many games while still in his prime.

Junior burst on the scene in 1989 as a raw talent and became the city of Seattle's iconic sports figure. He bolted for his father's team when the Cincinnati Reds offered him big bucks as a free agent in 2000. When his swing was fading, and his career winding down, the Mariners and the city of Seattle forgave him, and welcomed him back "home" to play out his final games. Griffey announced yesterday that the time had come for him to step away from the game as a player.

This guy was absolutely absurd in his ability to hit a baseball. A natural talent who stayed away from all the steroid allegations of his peers during his career, Junior is one of the few who can be called a first ballot hall of famer. He never played in the big time markets of New York or Los Angeles. Never won a World Series. But his abilities on the baseball field were never ignored. Here's a look at his career numbers.

630 Home Runs
1,836 RBI
.284 Batting Average
.370 On Base Percentage
2,781 Hits
524 Doubles
1,312 walks
9,801 At Bats
1,662 runs
2,671 games played
5,271 total bases
42,851 total pitches faced

Thanks, Ken Griffey Jr. For all you did for the game of baseball and for it's fans.