Baseball Toaster: The Griddle : My Man in Havana

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Chicago Cubs	97	64	.602	C1
2	Philadelphia	92	70	.568	E1
3	Los Angeles Dodgers	84	78	.519	W1
4	Milwaukee	90	72	.556	C2
5	New York Mets	89	73	.549	E2
6	Houston	86	75	.534	C3
7	St. Louis	86	76	.531	C4
8	Florida	84	77	.522	E3
9	Arizona	82	80	.506	W2
10T	Colorado	74	88	.457	W3
10T	Cincinnati	74	88	.457	C5
12T	Atlanta	72	90	.444	E4
12T	San Francisco	72	90	.444	W4
14	Pittsburgh	67	95	.414	C6
15	San Diego	63	99	.389	W5
16	Washington	59	102	.366	E5

American League

Rank	Team	W	L	PCT	Division
1	Los Angeles Angels	100	62	.617	W1
2	Tampa Bay	97	65	.599	E1
3	Chicago White Sox	89	74	.546	C1
4	Boston	95	67	.586	E2
5	New York Yankees	89	73	.549	E3
6	Minnesota	88	75	.540	C2
7	Toronto	86	76	.531	E4
8	Cleveland	81	81	.500	C3
9	Texas	79	83	.488	W2
10	Oakland	75	86	.466	W3
11	Kansas City	75	87	.463	C4
12	Detroit	74	88	.457	C5
13	Baltimore	68	93	.422	E5
14	Seattle	61	101	.377	W4

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Personal favorites that I wrote

The Metro Area Battles

New York

W L GB

Yankees 89 73

Mets 89 73

Baltimore/DC

W L GB

X - Orioles 68 93

Nationals 59 102 9

Chicago

W L GB

X - Cubs 97 64

White Sox 89 74 9

LA/Orange County

W L GB

X - Angels 100 62

Dodgers 84 78 16

SF/Oakland

W L GB

X - Athletics 76 85

Giants 72 90 4.5

X - Clinched

So long and thanks for playing this year

1. Washington (8/31)
2. Seattle (9/1)
3. Pittsburgh (9/6) *
3. San Diego (9/6) *
5. Baltimore (9/8)
6. Oakland (9/8)
7. Atlanta (9/9)
8. Kansas City (9/9)
9. Cincinnati (9/10)
10. Texas (9/13)
11. Detroit (9/15)
12. San Francisco (9/17)
13. Colorado (9/18)
14. Cleveland (9/19)
15. Toronto (9/21)
16. New York Yankees (9/23)
17. St. Louis (9/23)
18. Florida (9/23)
19. Arizona (9/25)
20. Houston (9/26)
21. New York Mets (9/28)
22. Minnesota (9/30)
23. Chicago Cubs (10/4)
24. Milwaukee (10/5)
25. Chicago White Sox (10/6)
26. Los Angeles Angels (10/6)
27. Los Angeles Dodgers (10/15)
28. Boston (10/19)
29. Tampa Bay (10/29)

* - Teams eliminated at same time

The last batter to reach on catcher's interference was ...

Seth McClung of Milwaukee by Koyie Hill of the Cubs on September 26, 2008.

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My Man in Havana

2008-09-05 11:56

by Bob Timmermann

My brother Tom has headed to Cuba to cover the upcoming US-Cuba World Cup qualifier this weekend.

Here's his first report.

And a followup.

Excerpts:

The Hotel Nacional is a historic monument, and it celebrates its history with pictures of famous people who have stayed there (Michael Keaton?) and a photo display in the lobby of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, including a shot of Guevara playing golf. (Well, he was a doctor.) Needless to say, he wore his military fatigues on the links.

The cable in my hotel room includes several channels in Chinese – though I’ve yet to see anyone who looks Chinese in the hotel – and what seems to be the Venezuelan version of C-SPAN. But there is also the Disney Channel (in Spanish), ESPN, CNN International, and the Discovery Channel. It’s worth noting that your ordinary Cuban can’t see those channels. They’re only available in tourist hotels. Though a recent relaxing of rules now allows Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, presumably if they wanted to watch something on ESPN.

Comments

2008-09-05 12:25:11

1. Eric Stephen

I thought your brother said he never met Johnny Ola?

2008-09-05 12:55:41

2. old dodger fan

Venezuelan C-SPAN? That sounds like a riot.

2008-09-05 13:48:35

3. Eric Enders

Last time I went to Cuba I stayed at the Nacional also. Great old hotel. And it definitely evoked memories of Godfather 2.

The Cuban television available to most Cubans consists largely of bootlegged American TV shows. I remember watching an episode of Friends that presumably had been captured from a Miami broadcast and been dubbed into Spanish.

The stadium that Tom speaks of, regardless of its official name, is known locally as La Tropical, after Tropical beer which sponsored it for many years. It was the main stadium in Cuban baseball before the current Estadio Latinoamericano was built in the 1940s.

Pretty much the entire Cuban Winter League season was played at La Tropical each year. It's the park where Josh Gibson hit what was supposedly the longest home run of all time. The Dodgers also held spring training there in 1941 and '42.

I remember the plaque Tom's speaking of, featuring the names of Carl Hubbell, Bill Terry, and about 30 other guys who made a trip to Havana in the thirties. When we found the plaque it seemed forgotten and in disrepair, so the group I was traveling with arranged to have it restored and cleaned up a bit.

2008-09-05 13:59:20

4. Eric Enders

Here's a picture taken at the stadium during the aforementioned major league tour:
http://tinyurl.com/6s5agt