Posse81
March-2nd-2005, 03:52 PM
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/05/boswell_030205.htm
Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Wednesday, March 2 at 1:30 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments live from the game.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Solomons, Md.: I remember entering Griffith Stadium for the first time to see my very first major league game with my father. For those of us sitting up here in the DC area wishing we were there, just describe what it feels like to be there today.
Tom Boswell: It's better than the first time I walked into Griffith Stadium in 1956, came up the ramp and saw that first slash of grass peeking out between the girders.
Temperature at game time is 57, but feels warmer under a pure sun in a cloudless sky. Wind only 5 m.p.h __just enough to flutter the nerves that aren't already dancing.
Even Frank Robinson, who used to kill the Nats, got sentimental talking about the feeling of the day. He's been part of a lot of big baseball events, but seems to understand that this is one of them, too.
"It's a great baseball day," said Omar Minaya, former Expos GM who is now the Mets GM. He's the main reason that this first New Nationals team will be respectable, not the total disaster that it should, by all rights, have been considering the disreputable behavior of baseball toward the Expos during the three previous years.
On a personal note, someone asked me if I was excited since, as I noted in my e-mail column today, that this was exactly my 50th season as a Washington baseball fan.
"Not particularly," I said. "But then I've never taken two valium before."
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Fairfax, Va.: Bos --
What are you doing taking part in a chat when you could be watching the first spring training game?
Tom Boswell: Are you kiddin'!? Tony Armas just got Carlos Beltran looking at a perfect fastball on his beltbuckle to end the first inning. He fanned Kaz Matsui in the same inning on a Camilo Pascual quality curveball. Everybody knows Armas has big-time stuff, but nobody knows if he can stay healthy.
If you don't think I can watch every pitch of a ballgame and still type continuously, how do you think all those World Series game stories get sent to the Post before the last pitch of the game. This is a piece of cake. There are only 5,000 people, not 50,000 to distract me.
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Silver Spring, Md: Reading your articles about Roy Sievers gave me chill down my spine. I was eight when I went to my first baseball game which was at Griffith Stadium to see the expansion Nat's beat the great but hated Yankees 4-1 on a Gene Green grand slam. Maris also hit a homer. How were you smart enough to keep your trading cards from '56 without losing them in a game of touchies?
Thanks
Tom Boswell: Like everybody else who ever ended up with his old cards, my mother never threw them away and I found a couple of thousand of them in 1990 in the back of a closet. I stuck a few in my back pocket today but was pretty amazed that current players response to seeing one of 'em was, "Got any more of them." Esteban Loaiza knew 'em all. "Some of these guys read about the history of the game. Not most of them, b ut some," said Frank Robinson, looking at the '56 Sievers I wrote about in the e-mail. "I played in the All-Star Game in '56 and I didn't know they were called the 'Nationals' then," said Robinson. Like many here, he's surprised to learn that the "Senators" were actually officially called the Nationals for most of their existence.
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Milford, Conn. (originally from Alexandria, Va.): Where do you think the Nats will finish in the much-improved NL East. Is a .500 season possible?
Tom Boswell: Minaya really thinks the Nationals have a decent, spunky club. But, of course, he built 'em, so he's biased.
If Livan Hernandez (240 IP) goes down with an injury, they could have a tough year. But the more likely scenario is that they will be somewhere between "surprising" and "very surprising" (.500). Thanks to Min aya and Robinson, they are a REAL team right now, not some joke club that's dragging into town from Canada.
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Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.: Tom:
Just wanted you to know how very privilged I feel to be able to read your writings on baseball. I have read your previous books, "How Life Imitates the World Series" and "Why Time Begins on Opening Day." But, I have to tell you, what you have written since the Nats officially moved to town is on a whole 'nother plane. It's like your heart has opened up. I kind of felt that myself in seeing Frank Robinson walk out to the field in Florida for the first time as Manager of the Nats. "Now I get it."
I'm looking forward to years of reading you. Take good care of yourself, please.
Tom Boswell: Thanks. I was playing golf with my son the other day and thought I'd hit a 300-yard drive. He corrected me. Only 298. So, I think you may be stuck with me for a while. It's weird to be a 50-year Nats fan and 30+-year baseball writer and still feel yolung. I think it's the influence of the game on ya! By the way, the Nats have a "team song" that is a direct steal of an old AC/DC rocker. Lotta gtood tunes on the PA. As the team was about to be introduced, the Stones singing, "Please allow me to introduce myself..."
Hope that doesn't mean the Nationals will play like the Devil.
Vidro got the first Nats hit __a clean liner to center. Castilla just beat out an infield hit. Talked to Vinnie in the clubhouse and he looks trim and fit for 37. I wondered if they'd gotten a three-legged (old) mule in Castilla, but I think that's wrong. Probably more likely he'll be a big defen ise plus at third and hit 20 homers.
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Washington, D.C.: Tom,
How long do you think it will take for the "Baseball is great"-type nostalgia to wear off for the Nationals? It seems like we're all as excited as 8 year-old little leaguers about the return of baseball to the District and I think that's a little jaded in the era of Cansecos and A-Rod insults. I guess it will take some actual games before people can stop getting caught up in the mysticism of the national pastime and concentrate on the actual team and the seasons ahead.
Tom Boswell: I think it'll probably wear off in about 10 years. By then the Nationals will have been in their new stadium for about six years and, by then, the "buzz" of a new ballpark has usually calmed down. By then, they better start winning a few games!
Okay, I'm kidding. But I think the size and length of this "buzz" is what will surprise both baseball and Washington. Unless the team is atrocious and RFK is far worse than last time I toured it, this honeymoon will last all of this season and, if the new ownership looks like a sane bunch with local roots, probably considerably longer.
So far, even I have been surprised by every measurable metric for judging Nationals enthusiasm. Let's enjoy the moment, then digest events as they arrive. Holidays from reality are rare enough without trying to shortcut them.
Twisted Sister and Balck Sabbath are the two latest guesses for the "knockoff" song that the Nats Song was based on. "It sounded like a man strangling a cat," says one scribe. I must disagree (since I'm guilty of introducing my son to Black Sabbath long ago. He currently recommends "Citizen Cope." Good lyrics. Just asked Sheinin about him. Dave: "Citizen Cope is a D.C. kid. He invented a new kind of guitar. I like his stuff." Some rap, some steel band, every influence mixed. This is what press boxes are like, always have been and why none of us can escape from them once hooked.
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Arlington, Va.: Do you feel like the cat that caught the mouse, now that the Nationals are DC's team?
I was unimpressed with the vitriol you spewed towards the Orioles, DC Council, and by extension, fans who held opinions different from the "support a team in DC" position you obviously favored.
That said, I still rate your column as one of the best baseball columns available, and read it religiously.
Tom Boswell: Heh, heh, heh. Wonder what Peter is doing today?
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Philadelphia, Pa.: Are those very attractive interlocking DC caps just for batting practice or what? That should be the main cap! Do the Nats know how cool they are?
Tom Boswell: The new players were quite impressed with the "DC" insignias. And ballplayers are obsessed by their uniforms and harsh critics. However, it was a shock to walk into the clubhouse today and see the long lines of the real Opening Day uniforms. The script "W" on the caps may clash with the block letters on the "Nationals." But everybody in baseball knows that, even if these were the best uniforms ever created, that the New owner will burned 'em and come out with a whole new set. Ever hear of Merchandizing Profits? They'd be fools not to use this $$$ opportunity. So I hope the current uniforms aren't TOO good. 'Cause they WILL disappear by next year. (I promise.)
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Richmond, Va.: Tom, thank you for keping this dream alive.
Washington ought to declare today "Tom Boswell Day."
I notice the Post has started to list the O's and Ravens again on the website. Has official Washington decided to (prudently, in my opinion) adopt the one market, two team approach?
I also hope a Boswell book is forthcoming on the rebirth on D.C. baseball; your columns of late have been poetic.
Tom Boswell: My, how self-serving of me to pick this question. Promise not to do it again. I prefer to think of this as Washington's Day. New Mets manager said he'd always been amazed that D.C. DIDN'T have a team. "To me, that should have been automatic."
I like that book idea.
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Coogan's Bluff: The Nationals home opener should absolutely be a day game and a local holiday. Drag some old Senators out for pre-game, skip school, blow off work, etc. Can't you pull any strings? Why are they playing at 7 p.m.? Thanks for years of baseball coverage!
Tom Boswell: Your general point is well taken. But RFK has always looked much more dramatic for baseball at night. (I remember.) A very Space Odessey place on summer nights when the moon gets above the stadium rim. I think a Presidential first ball at dusk will be appropriately atmospheric.
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Olney, Md.: Been waiting 34 years for this. I was once the kind of kid who had his transistor radio at my pillow listening to Dan Daniels and John Mclean, and later Witfield, Menchine and Roberts. But now, in Olney Md, I can't pick up either radio station the team is to be on, and have not heard about TV deal as of yet. And I just hope this isn't another summer of the Washington Media jamming Orioles down my throat. This is not Baltimore ... they have there own media market, and being an ex-Senator fan, I
have always hated Baltimores intrusion on this market. What is the future of the Nat's media exposure for this area and will we get a deal like the Orioles have with local station Comcast?
Tom Boswell: Peter is trying to drag his heels as much as possible. All part of his transparent "crib death" scenario for the Nationals. So far, it sure doesn't seem to be working.
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Hagerstown, Md.: A glaring need for the Orioles has been the need for a staring pitcher. Are they going to make any moves before the start of the season to acquire an ace, or are they going to go with what they have? thanks
Tom Boswell: The Orioles are really quite close to being quite interesting. Their front office, however, appears to be a decision-making nightmare. They are S-L-O-W on every deicision because Peter has to sign off on anything big, etc. The game moves fast these days.
Mets score first, 1-0, in fourth. Rookie southpaw Mike Hinkley had a clean 1-2-3 inning in the third. But he's a "painter" with his fastball. You want those young lefties to start off with some heat. Also, he just brutalized a grounder back to the molund that should have started an inning-ending 1-6-4 DP. Instead, he threw it in the dirt, run scores, two on, one out. He's a nice kid, actually introducing himself to people here, including reporters. But I prefer my southpaw phenoms to be mean, fast and, with luck, crazy. Still remember when the Orioles traded Curt Schilling just because he had purple spiked hair and paid no attention to the game when he was in the bullpen. Jez, he could throw it though a brick wall. The hairstyles change. THE ARM REMAINS.
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Friendship Heights, Washington, D.C.: Mr. Boswell:
I appreciate your articles introducing fans to the Nationals.
But one thing I haven't picked up from your pieces or any others is how much team speed they will have.
Great defense and team speed can make up for a lot of pitching and hitting deficiencies and at least ensure some good games.
What do you think?
Tom Boswell: I think that teams which are worried about their pitching and hitting talk about their speed and defense.
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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Robinson wouldn't bite on this question the other day, but which players have been the biggest surprises in camp so far?
Tom Boswell: You can't surprise anybody in camp until you play somebody. That's today. Armas, no surprise, looked excellent.
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Falls Church, Va.: Tom,
Do you think that the DC-area sports media will now shift its primary focus for baseball to the Nats instead of the O's? I'm reminded of the fact that in the years between the Colts departure from B'more and the Ravens arrival, you could have picked up the B'more Sun and not even known that the Redskins existed.
Tom Boswell: There are tons of Orioles fans in the D.C. area and I see no reason why they should stop being so. I'm heading down to their home opener of the spring on Friday in Ft. Lauderdale. I kept my Orioles min-season-ticket package, much to the mockery of friends. It's important to remember that teams with great traditions, like the Orioles, outlast __by decades and even generations__ the periodic Bad Management. Having both the Orioles and Nationals to follow __in different leagues__ is a classic case of "More beer for us."
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Washington, D.C.: I know this is an issue that the media is reticent to discuss, but it's obvious that football and basketball long ago overtook baseball in popularity among the African American community. D.C. is a majority African American city. What kind of local D.C. turnout do you expect to see this season at RFK?
P.S. Also interesting to note that there is not a single African American in the Nats' projected starting lineup.
Tom Boswell: I'm hoping the Nationals can help improve this long-standing problem. Don't count out Terrmel Sledge's chances to start. He had a better OPS as a rookie than Barry Bonds.
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Bethesda, Md.: A question about the playing confines themselves. Will the Nationals be going with their standard symmetric outfield fence, or this 20-foot mini-Monster in left that I've heard mentioned? If the latter, how far into the power alley will it extend?
Tom Boswell: They are going with the old RFK dimensions which should provide a slight "pitcher's park" with 5-to-10 feet deeper fences in the power alleys than most current parks.
Jose Guillen just hit a two-run BOMB to deepest right centerfield to tie the game 2-2 in the fourth. About 400 feet to a 16-foot-high Bull Durham style fence. It might have hit the old clock in RFK which, for many years, had a HOLE in its plastic from a monstrous line-drive homer hit by Willie McCovey in the 1968 All-Star game. I still remember seeing it smash through the clock face. Guillen's ball actually cut trhough a cross wind.
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Baltimore, Md.: First and foremost, Thom, you ROCK!
My best laid plans of ditching work to watch the 1st and much long awaited game of the Nats fell threw, but with the help of you, Barry's blog and my fiance (who did ditch work) I was able to take in the 1st inning. Having cut my baseball teeth on Senators baseball (I'm a transplanted Washingtonian), I've long awaited the return of ball to DC. This is more a comment then a question, but it has kept me totally excited about the Nats to read your columns. Quite often to I"m to the point of goose bumps and teary eyes. Nothing like baseball in RFK... too bad they can bring back the Longines clock!
Thanks for your awesome coverage of the Nats and the inspiring columns you write!
Tom Boswell: The Longines Clock! That was it! I was a college kid sitting in the first row of the leftcenter upper deck on the McCovey homer and, I think, was the only person who ever realized what had put a hole in the clock. The ball must have sat in side it for 20 years. I always wanted that ball. Never figured out how to get it.
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Springfield, Va.: I was at the last game of the Senators with two of my brothers. I was a teenager and ran on the field with the rest of the loonies. Were you there? I am going to Philly to see the Nats open this season up there, and am working to get tickets for the home opener. How about you, will we see you in Philly?
Tom Boswell: I went to the last game with my father, who was a fanatical Redskins fan from the time they first came to town. We shared the Redskins, screaming at the TV together on Sundays. We went to plenty of Nats games as a family, but that might have been the only time he and I went to a game together without my mom, who was a baseball fan. Or, rather, a fan of being IN ballparks. She always said, "Isn't it obvious that they are a different kind of church?"
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Fairfax, Va.: For us poor folk up here in D.C., can you describe the smell of the grass down there. Does it smell like a baseball game?
Tom Boswell: The sky is dead solid blue. Not one cloud. The traffic jam at game time went out as far as you could see beyond the CF field. Now, the whole place __about 8,000__ is almost full, which is rare for a spring training game.
By the way, I'm staying in a less-than-$100 hotel room on Cocoa Beach about 30 minutes from here that is one block from the beach. This is an amazing (cheap) vacation spot for a weekend (or a week). There's nothing to do except baseball, beach, golf and food. But if that about sums up life for you, you might wanna skip down here for a few days. That was part of the OLD Senators tradition. Get to spring training for a few days.
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Silver Spring, Md.: 1971, 6 years old, trying to understand... what do you mean we don't have a team anymore?
2005, 39, season ticket holder, getting ready to take my son to the first of many home... HOME! games.
Now, the fun part... who are these guys? Tom, is the locker-room scuttlebutt in line with the public comments? Are these players as happy to be in D.C. as we are to have them?
Tom Boswell: I'm very surprisedby the degree to which the players "Get it." I suspect that, if anything, they will try too hard __maybe even much too hard__ to please their Washington audience. In just two weeks, it's gone from me asking players what they think about Washington to them asking ME about Washington because, suddenly, they realize what a big deal they've fallen into. Brad Wilkerson was joking around during BP that he was ready for Opening Day right now.
That may be charming, but it is also a potential problem for this team. They had great team chemistry and intensity as defiant underdogs. How will they react to being The Second Coming.
"Joggin' Jeffery" Hammonds (an old Orioles nickname) just let a liner to leftfield play him. Went between his legs to the wall and led to a Mets run off the Nats 6-foot-11 Jon Rauch, who is the largest soft-tosser I have ever seen. Okay, not soft, but let's just say he's "sneaky slow."
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Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.: Bossman,
I saw that you said that once the Nats get a new owner they will change the uniforms and caps. Do you think they will change the name of the team as well? Should I hold off on buying a Nats cap until they get a new owner?
Tom Boswell: Out of leftfield: I always loved the name the "Elite Giants" from the Black League days. Why not name 'em the Washington Elites. Double meaning. And, to anyone who knows baseball, a tip of the hat to the African-American baseball tradition that was SO strong in Washington for decades.
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Orono, Maine: I know the DC COuncil gave up the naming rights to the new stadium. But...it seems to me that the place somehow ought to honor the legacy of Jackie Robinson.
To me, Robinson is the perfect bridge between DC history and the history of the new team. Consider: he played in the Negro Leagues, which are an important part of DC's baseball legacy. And Robinson also played his minor league ball in Montreal - for what really can be seen as the precursor of the Expos.
Obviously, the naming rights are an important source of revenue for the new owners. It would be nice, though, if there were a way for DC's great history to be honored as well.
Any thoughts?
Tom Boswell: Russ White, the only person here who covered the LAST Nats game in '71 (for the Washington DStar) as well as today's game, says he thinks the team should be The D.C. Dukes "after Duke Ellington who is probably the most world-famous person ever born in Washington. He also sold concessions as a kid at the Senators ballpark before Griffith Stadium. You could name the new park "Ellington Fields," have "Soiphisticated Ladies Night" and rename the Metro to the ballpark "The A Train."
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Springfield, Va.: Tom --
I'm a great admirer of your writing -- going back to your days covering high school sports for the Post. You even wrote a story about me with a headline of "It was an Egregious Night in Annandale," however, I digress...
What is your sense of Cal Ripken becoming a part of the Nationals front office once the ownership issue is settled? What kind of role do you think would best suit him?
Thanks.
Tom Boswell: There will infinite intrigue in who gets this team, because it's shaping up as a gold mine. Seliug and Co guided the Red Sox into the arms of John Henry and Larry Lucchino, even though they weren't the high bidder. Watch for the Big Boys to try to hand-pick an ownership group that may not be as Washington based as it should be. Far too early to know. But, in the Lucchino role, look for the name "Stan Kasten," instead of Ripken.
The ownership sheenanigans may be the best story of the season. I'm workin' it. Keep you posted.
That's it for today. I actually missed the darn pitch when Osik (the 12th string Nats catcher) tied the game 3-3 with a homer to left.
Look forward to future chats __at Friday at 11 a.m. in future, as well as the weekly e-mail columns to you folks that will show up on Wednesdays. There's some link you click to subscribe. It's so simple even I can do it.
Cheers.
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Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Wednesday, March 2 at 1:30 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments live from the game.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solomons, Md.: I remember entering Griffith Stadium for the first time to see my very first major league game with my father. For those of us sitting up here in the DC area wishing we were there, just describe what it feels like to be there today.
Tom Boswell: It's better than the first time I walked into Griffith Stadium in 1956, came up the ramp and saw that first slash of grass peeking out between the girders.
Temperature at game time is 57, but feels warmer under a pure sun in a cloudless sky. Wind only 5 m.p.h __just enough to flutter the nerves that aren't already dancing.
Even Frank Robinson, who used to kill the Nats, got sentimental talking about the feeling of the day. He's been part of a lot of big baseball events, but seems to understand that this is one of them, too.
"It's a great baseball day," said Omar Minaya, former Expos GM who is now the Mets GM. He's the main reason that this first New Nationals team will be respectable, not the total disaster that it should, by all rights, have been considering the disreputable behavior of baseball toward the Expos during the three previous years.
On a personal note, someone asked me if I was excited since, as I noted in my e-mail column today, that this was exactly my 50th season as a Washington baseball fan.
"Not particularly," I said. "But then I've never taken two valium before."
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Fairfax, Va.: Bos --
What are you doing taking part in a chat when you could be watching the first spring training game?
Tom Boswell: Are you kiddin'!? Tony Armas just got Carlos Beltran looking at a perfect fastball on his beltbuckle to end the first inning. He fanned Kaz Matsui in the same inning on a Camilo Pascual quality curveball. Everybody knows Armas has big-time stuff, but nobody knows if he can stay healthy.
If you don't think I can watch every pitch of a ballgame and still type continuously, how do you think all those World Series game stories get sent to the Post before the last pitch of the game. This is a piece of cake. There are only 5,000 people, not 50,000 to distract me.
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Silver Spring, Md: Reading your articles about Roy Sievers gave me chill down my spine. I was eight when I went to my first baseball game which was at Griffith Stadium to see the expansion Nat's beat the great but hated Yankees 4-1 on a Gene Green grand slam. Maris also hit a homer. How were you smart enough to keep your trading cards from '56 without losing them in a game of touchies?
Thanks
Tom Boswell: Like everybody else who ever ended up with his old cards, my mother never threw them away and I found a couple of thousand of them in 1990 in the back of a closet. I stuck a few in my back pocket today but was pretty amazed that current players response to seeing one of 'em was, "Got any more of them." Esteban Loaiza knew 'em all. "Some of these guys read about the history of the game. Not most of them, b ut some," said Frank Robinson, looking at the '56 Sievers I wrote about in the e-mail. "I played in the All-Star Game in '56 and I didn't know they were called the 'Nationals' then," said Robinson. Like many here, he's surprised to learn that the "Senators" were actually officially called the Nationals for most of their existence.
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Milford, Conn. (originally from Alexandria, Va.): Where do you think the Nats will finish in the much-improved NL East. Is a .500 season possible?
Tom Boswell: Minaya really thinks the Nationals have a decent, spunky club. But, of course, he built 'em, so he's biased.
If Livan Hernandez (240 IP) goes down with an injury, they could have a tough year. But the more likely scenario is that they will be somewhere between "surprising" and "very surprising" (.500). Thanks to Min aya and Robinson, they are a REAL team right now, not some joke club that's dragging into town from Canada.
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Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.: Tom:
Just wanted you to know how very privilged I feel to be able to read your writings on baseball. I have read your previous books, "How Life Imitates the World Series" and "Why Time Begins on Opening Day." But, I have to tell you, what you have written since the Nats officially moved to town is on a whole 'nother plane. It's like your heart has opened up. I kind of felt that myself in seeing Frank Robinson walk out to the field in Florida for the first time as Manager of the Nats. "Now I get it."
I'm looking forward to years of reading you. Take good care of yourself, please.
Tom Boswell: Thanks. I was playing golf with my son the other day and thought I'd hit a 300-yard drive. He corrected me. Only 298. So, I think you may be stuck with me for a while. It's weird to be a 50-year Nats fan and 30+-year baseball writer and still feel yolung. I think it's the influence of the game on ya! By the way, the Nats have a "team song" that is a direct steal of an old AC/DC rocker. Lotta gtood tunes on the PA. As the team was about to be introduced, the Stones singing, "Please allow me to introduce myself..."
Hope that doesn't mean the Nationals will play like the Devil.
Vidro got the first Nats hit __a clean liner to center. Castilla just beat out an infield hit. Talked to Vinnie in the clubhouse and he looks trim and fit for 37. I wondered if they'd gotten a three-legged (old) mule in Castilla, but I think that's wrong. Probably more likely he'll be a big defen ise plus at third and hit 20 homers.
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Washington, D.C.: Tom,
How long do you think it will take for the "Baseball is great"-type nostalgia to wear off for the Nationals? It seems like we're all as excited as 8 year-old little leaguers about the return of baseball to the District and I think that's a little jaded in the era of Cansecos and A-Rod insults. I guess it will take some actual games before people can stop getting caught up in the mysticism of the national pastime and concentrate on the actual team and the seasons ahead.
Tom Boswell: I think it'll probably wear off in about 10 years. By then the Nationals will have been in their new stadium for about six years and, by then, the "buzz" of a new ballpark has usually calmed down. By then, they better start winning a few games!
Okay, I'm kidding. But I think the size and length of this "buzz" is what will surprise both baseball and Washington. Unless the team is atrocious and RFK is far worse than last time I toured it, this honeymoon will last all of this season and, if the new ownership looks like a sane bunch with local roots, probably considerably longer.
So far, even I have been surprised by every measurable metric for judging Nationals enthusiasm. Let's enjoy the moment, then digest events as they arrive. Holidays from reality are rare enough without trying to shortcut them.
Twisted Sister and Balck Sabbath are the two latest guesses for the "knockoff" song that the Nats Song was based on. "It sounded like a man strangling a cat," says one scribe. I must disagree (since I'm guilty of introducing my son to Black Sabbath long ago. He currently recommends "Citizen Cope." Good lyrics. Just asked Sheinin about him. Dave: "Citizen Cope is a D.C. kid. He invented a new kind of guitar. I like his stuff." Some rap, some steel band, every influence mixed. This is what press boxes are like, always have been and why none of us can escape from them once hooked.
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Arlington, Va.: Do you feel like the cat that caught the mouse, now that the Nationals are DC's team?
I was unimpressed with the vitriol you spewed towards the Orioles, DC Council, and by extension, fans who held opinions different from the "support a team in DC" position you obviously favored.
That said, I still rate your column as one of the best baseball columns available, and read it religiously.
Tom Boswell: Heh, heh, heh. Wonder what Peter is doing today?
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Philadelphia, Pa.: Are those very attractive interlocking DC caps just for batting practice or what? That should be the main cap! Do the Nats know how cool they are?
Tom Boswell: The new players were quite impressed with the "DC" insignias. And ballplayers are obsessed by their uniforms and harsh critics. However, it was a shock to walk into the clubhouse today and see the long lines of the real Opening Day uniforms. The script "W" on the caps may clash with the block letters on the "Nationals." But everybody in baseball knows that, even if these were the best uniforms ever created, that the New owner will burned 'em and come out with a whole new set. Ever hear of Merchandizing Profits? They'd be fools not to use this $$$ opportunity. So I hope the current uniforms aren't TOO good. 'Cause they WILL disappear by next year. (I promise.)
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Richmond, Va.: Tom, thank you for keping this dream alive.
Washington ought to declare today "Tom Boswell Day."
I notice the Post has started to list the O's and Ravens again on the website. Has official Washington decided to (prudently, in my opinion) adopt the one market, two team approach?
I also hope a Boswell book is forthcoming on the rebirth on D.C. baseball; your columns of late have been poetic.
Tom Boswell: My, how self-serving of me to pick this question. Promise not to do it again. I prefer to think of this as Washington's Day. New Mets manager said he'd always been amazed that D.C. DIDN'T have a team. "To me, that should have been automatic."
I like that book idea.
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Coogan's Bluff: The Nationals home opener should absolutely be a day game and a local holiday. Drag some old Senators out for pre-game, skip school, blow off work, etc. Can't you pull any strings? Why are they playing at 7 p.m.? Thanks for years of baseball coverage!
Tom Boswell: Your general point is well taken. But RFK has always looked much more dramatic for baseball at night. (I remember.) A very Space Odessey place on summer nights when the moon gets above the stadium rim. I think a Presidential first ball at dusk will be appropriately atmospheric.
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Olney, Md.: Been waiting 34 years for this. I was once the kind of kid who had his transistor radio at my pillow listening to Dan Daniels and John Mclean, and later Witfield, Menchine and Roberts. But now, in Olney Md, I can't pick up either radio station the team is to be on, and have not heard about TV deal as of yet. And I just hope this isn't another summer of the Washington Media jamming Orioles down my throat. This is not Baltimore ... they have there own media market, and being an ex-Senator fan, I
have always hated Baltimores intrusion on this market. What is the future of the Nat's media exposure for this area and will we get a deal like the Orioles have with local station Comcast?
Tom Boswell: Peter is trying to drag his heels as much as possible. All part of his transparent "crib death" scenario for the Nationals. So far, it sure doesn't seem to be working.
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Hagerstown, Md.: A glaring need for the Orioles has been the need for a staring pitcher. Are they going to make any moves before the start of the season to acquire an ace, or are they going to go with what they have? thanks
Tom Boswell: The Orioles are really quite close to being quite interesting. Their front office, however, appears to be a decision-making nightmare. They are S-L-O-W on every deicision because Peter has to sign off on anything big, etc. The game moves fast these days.
Mets score first, 1-0, in fourth. Rookie southpaw Mike Hinkley had a clean 1-2-3 inning in the third. But he's a "painter" with his fastball. You want those young lefties to start off with some heat. Also, he just brutalized a grounder back to the molund that should have started an inning-ending 1-6-4 DP. Instead, he threw it in the dirt, run scores, two on, one out. He's a nice kid, actually introducing himself to people here, including reporters. But I prefer my southpaw phenoms to be mean, fast and, with luck, crazy. Still remember when the Orioles traded Curt Schilling just because he had purple spiked hair and paid no attention to the game when he was in the bullpen. Jez, he could throw it though a brick wall. The hairstyles change. THE ARM REMAINS.
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Friendship Heights, Washington, D.C.: Mr. Boswell:
I appreciate your articles introducing fans to the Nationals.
But one thing I haven't picked up from your pieces or any others is how much team speed they will have.
Great defense and team speed can make up for a lot of pitching and hitting deficiencies and at least ensure some good games.
What do you think?
Tom Boswell: I think that teams which are worried about their pitching and hitting talk about their speed and defense.
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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Robinson wouldn't bite on this question the other day, but which players have been the biggest surprises in camp so far?
Tom Boswell: You can't surprise anybody in camp until you play somebody. That's today. Armas, no surprise, looked excellent.
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Falls Church, Va.: Tom,
Do you think that the DC-area sports media will now shift its primary focus for baseball to the Nats instead of the O's? I'm reminded of the fact that in the years between the Colts departure from B'more and the Ravens arrival, you could have picked up the B'more Sun and not even known that the Redskins existed.
Tom Boswell: There are tons of Orioles fans in the D.C. area and I see no reason why they should stop being so. I'm heading down to their home opener of the spring on Friday in Ft. Lauderdale. I kept my Orioles min-season-ticket package, much to the mockery of friends. It's important to remember that teams with great traditions, like the Orioles, outlast __by decades and even generations__ the periodic Bad Management. Having both the Orioles and Nationals to follow __in different leagues__ is a classic case of "More beer for us."
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Washington, D.C.: I know this is an issue that the media is reticent to discuss, but it's obvious that football and basketball long ago overtook baseball in popularity among the African American community. D.C. is a majority African American city. What kind of local D.C. turnout do you expect to see this season at RFK?
P.S. Also interesting to note that there is not a single African American in the Nats' projected starting lineup.
Tom Boswell: I'm hoping the Nationals can help improve this long-standing problem. Don't count out Terrmel Sledge's chances to start. He had a better OPS as a rookie than Barry Bonds.
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Bethesda, Md.: A question about the playing confines themselves. Will the Nationals be going with their standard symmetric outfield fence, or this 20-foot mini-Monster in left that I've heard mentioned? If the latter, how far into the power alley will it extend?
Tom Boswell: They are going with the old RFK dimensions which should provide a slight "pitcher's park" with 5-to-10 feet deeper fences in the power alleys than most current parks.
Jose Guillen just hit a two-run BOMB to deepest right centerfield to tie the game 2-2 in the fourth. About 400 feet to a 16-foot-high Bull Durham style fence. It might have hit the old clock in RFK which, for many years, had a HOLE in its plastic from a monstrous line-drive homer hit by Willie McCovey in the 1968 All-Star game. I still remember seeing it smash through the clock face. Guillen's ball actually cut trhough a cross wind.
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Baltimore, Md.: First and foremost, Thom, you ROCK!
My best laid plans of ditching work to watch the 1st and much long awaited game of the Nats fell threw, but with the help of you, Barry's blog and my fiance (who did ditch work) I was able to take in the 1st inning. Having cut my baseball teeth on Senators baseball (I'm a transplanted Washingtonian), I've long awaited the return of ball to DC. This is more a comment then a question, but it has kept me totally excited about the Nats to read your columns. Quite often to I"m to the point of goose bumps and teary eyes. Nothing like baseball in RFK... too bad they can bring back the Longines clock!
Thanks for your awesome coverage of the Nats and the inspiring columns you write!
Tom Boswell: The Longines Clock! That was it! I was a college kid sitting in the first row of the leftcenter upper deck on the McCovey homer and, I think, was the only person who ever realized what had put a hole in the clock. The ball must have sat in side it for 20 years. I always wanted that ball. Never figured out how to get it.
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Springfield, Va.: I was at the last game of the Senators with two of my brothers. I was a teenager and ran on the field with the rest of the loonies. Were you there? I am going to Philly to see the Nats open this season up there, and am working to get tickets for the home opener. How about you, will we see you in Philly?
Tom Boswell: I went to the last game with my father, who was a fanatical Redskins fan from the time they first came to town. We shared the Redskins, screaming at the TV together on Sundays. We went to plenty of Nats games as a family, but that might have been the only time he and I went to a game together without my mom, who was a baseball fan. Or, rather, a fan of being IN ballparks. She always said, "Isn't it obvious that they are a different kind of church?"
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Fairfax, Va.: For us poor folk up here in D.C., can you describe the smell of the grass down there. Does it smell like a baseball game?
Tom Boswell: The sky is dead solid blue. Not one cloud. The traffic jam at game time went out as far as you could see beyond the CF field. Now, the whole place __about 8,000__ is almost full, which is rare for a spring training game.
By the way, I'm staying in a less-than-$100 hotel room on Cocoa Beach about 30 minutes from here that is one block from the beach. This is an amazing (cheap) vacation spot for a weekend (or a week). There's nothing to do except baseball, beach, golf and food. But if that about sums up life for you, you might wanna skip down here for a few days. That was part of the OLD Senators tradition. Get to spring training for a few days.
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Silver Spring, Md.: 1971, 6 years old, trying to understand... what do you mean we don't have a team anymore?
2005, 39, season ticket holder, getting ready to take my son to the first of many home... HOME! games.
Now, the fun part... who are these guys? Tom, is the locker-room scuttlebutt in line with the public comments? Are these players as happy to be in D.C. as we are to have them?
Tom Boswell: I'm very surprisedby the degree to which the players "Get it." I suspect that, if anything, they will try too hard __maybe even much too hard__ to please their Washington audience. In just two weeks, it's gone from me asking players what they think about Washington to them asking ME about Washington because, suddenly, they realize what a big deal they've fallen into. Brad Wilkerson was joking around during BP that he was ready for Opening Day right now.
That may be charming, but it is also a potential problem for this team. They had great team chemistry and intensity as defiant underdogs. How will they react to being The Second Coming.
"Joggin' Jeffery" Hammonds (an old Orioles nickname) just let a liner to leftfield play him. Went between his legs to the wall and led to a Mets run off the Nats 6-foot-11 Jon Rauch, who is the largest soft-tosser I have ever seen. Okay, not soft, but let's just say he's "sneaky slow."
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Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.: Bossman,
I saw that you said that once the Nats get a new owner they will change the uniforms and caps. Do you think they will change the name of the team as well? Should I hold off on buying a Nats cap until they get a new owner?
Tom Boswell: Out of leftfield: I always loved the name the "Elite Giants" from the Black League days. Why not name 'em the Washington Elites. Double meaning. And, to anyone who knows baseball, a tip of the hat to the African-American baseball tradition that was SO strong in Washington for decades.
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Orono, Maine: I know the DC COuncil gave up the naming rights to the new stadium. But...it seems to me that the place somehow ought to honor the legacy of Jackie Robinson.
To me, Robinson is the perfect bridge between DC history and the history of the new team. Consider: he played in the Negro Leagues, which are an important part of DC's baseball legacy. And Robinson also played his minor league ball in Montreal - for what really can be seen as the precursor of the Expos.
Obviously, the naming rights are an important source of revenue for the new owners. It would be nice, though, if there were a way for DC's great history to be honored as well.
Any thoughts?
Tom Boswell: Russ White, the only person here who covered the LAST Nats game in '71 (for the Washington DStar) as well as today's game, says he thinks the team should be The D.C. Dukes "after Duke Ellington who is probably the most world-famous person ever born in Washington. He also sold concessions as a kid at the Senators ballpark before Griffith Stadium. You could name the new park "Ellington Fields," have "Soiphisticated Ladies Night" and rename the Metro to the ballpark "The A Train."
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Springfield, Va.: Tom --
I'm a great admirer of your writing -- going back to your days covering high school sports for the Post. You even wrote a story about me with a headline of "It was an Egregious Night in Annandale," however, I digress...
What is your sense of Cal Ripken becoming a part of the Nationals front office once the ownership issue is settled? What kind of role do you think would best suit him?
Thanks.
Tom Boswell: There will infinite intrigue in who gets this team, because it's shaping up as a gold mine. Seliug and Co guided the Red Sox into the arms of John Henry and Larry Lucchino, even though they weren't the high bidder. Watch for the Big Boys to try to hand-pick an ownership group that may not be as Washington based as it should be. Far too early to know. But, in the Lucchino role, look for the name "Stan Kasten," instead of Ripken.
The ownership sheenanigans may be the best story of the season. I'm workin' it. Keep you posted.
That's it for today. I actually missed the darn pitch when Osik (the 12th string Nats catcher) tied the game 3-3 with a homer to left.
Look forward to future chats __at Friday at 11 a.m. in future, as well as the weekly e-mail columns to you folks that will show up on Wednesdays. There's some link you click to subscribe. It's so simple even I can do it.
Cheers.
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