Today in The Journal News
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- July
- 17
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The Yankees haven’t been good, they haven’t been bad. Now they need to figure out a way to make the playoffs. The Journal News also lists five keys to success.
Johnny Damon will test his shoulder tomorrow. This notebook also has updates on George Steinbrenner, Hideki Matsui and Phil Hughes.
The All-Star Game was certainly a memorable one. Brian Heyman reports on what did happen and what might have happened had it kept going.
It was a long night for the clubhouse chef, too. But Gary Fosina enjoyed it.
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If you have read The New York Times (and of course you have), you likely have read the baseball stories of Murray Chass.
Mr. Chass left the paper this year and recently started his own blog
Here is his introduction:
This is a site for baseball columns, not for baseball blogs. The proprietor of the site is not a fan of blogs. He made that abundantly clear on a radio show with Charlie Steiner when Steiner asked him what he thought of blogs and he replied, “I hate blogs.†He later heartily applauded Buzz Bissinger when the best-selling author denounced bloggers on a Bob Costas HBO show.
Bloggers, however, are welcome to visit this site; so are stats freaks, fantasy leaguers and Red Sox fans. How else will they know what is being said about them by a columnist they love to hate?
Otherwise, this site will most likely appeal primarily to older fans whose interest in good old baseball is largely ignored in this day of young bloggers who know it all, and new-fangled statistics (VORP, for one excuse-me example), which are drowning the game in numbers and making people forget that human beings, not numbers, play the games.
Other than that, welcome aboard! It’s unclear what the world is coming to when Murray Chass starts a blog. But start hoarding canned goods in the basement just in case.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 3:52 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Nice attitude from Murray. Fine way to begin. Good luck with that.
By the way, there should be a contest to find his e-mail address on his blog (not blog).
I was able to… but that’s just me.
I’m not so sure Chass is completely off the mark. In his “About this Site” he also wrote:
“I have spent my professional life in the print world, where obscenities don’t see the light of day,†Chass said. “They will remain in the dark here as well. It will be a good test for bloggers and Red Sox fans to see if they can control themselves.â€
http://www.murraychass.com/about.php
Chass is a pompous ass.
He lauds Bisssinger, but fails to note that Buzz was embarrassed by his unhinged rants re bloggers on the Costas show and backtracked the next day so fast he left skid marks.
It looks to me he wants to have it both ways. He wants to get his ideas out there but doesn’t want to get his hands dirty in the filth that he thinks is the blogosphere.
The internet is a big place and there is room enough for all voices to be heard. I think Murray has been doing this long enough to know that you can make your own point(s) without attacking everyone else. And his point of view is a valuable one, although certainly less predominant than it was in his heyday.
Murray, when the RedSox hired Bill James and won their 1st World Series in 86 years, the battle of stat geeks vs old school baseball men was over.
“Murray, when the RedSox hired Bill James and won their 1st World Series in 86 years, the battle of stat geeks vs old school baseball men was over.”
Nobody believes that, not even Bill James.
Stats and traditional scouting work hand in hand. Just ask Terry Ryan, ex-GM of The Twins. He was a scout first.
Nice little story on the clubhouse chef. I wonder how Albert Belle and Barry Bonds treated clubhouse personnel??
Oh…and Foster Brooks Ponson, too.
Arod post-All Star game party story is now the feature on Yahoo!
What a shame. 10 years of this crap Yankee fans have to suffer through?
This guy is just a magnet for controversy. Buckle up Yankee fans – a single Arod, a struggling Arod – both promise to keep the papers and rags busy.
Just keep playing the damn game well – that’s all I ask.
Whitey Fraud -
Found it! Pretty sneak, I’d say. Sure he invites e-mail. Right.
Not so much a blog as an on-line column. Which is fine. But what is not fine is the presumptuous and insulting attitude toward “younger fans” who, I would presume from Chass’ statement, don’t appreciate “good old baseball,” and who “know it all,” and “forget that human beings” play the game. Perhaps tongue in cheek? I doubt it.
Sigh.
David Cone’s Labrum -
Did you read the article? The headline said post-game party, but they were talking about the Monday night pre-game party.
I always love to see some describe themselves as someone “people love to hate”. I appreciate that sentiment on so many levels, but first and foremost, it allows me to stop reading whatever pompous, self-important tripe right at that moment. More time for me to enjoy a good Yankees blog!
Murray Chass, meet Wallace Matthews.
Gotta love this comment about Chass winning the Spink award:
“A month before winning the Spink award he was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Pittsburgh”
For a guy that is also in the HoF in Cooperstown, that’s a funny item in his bio.
iv always enjoyed reading murray’s pieces and im glad there will be a place to continue reading him. he is a bit of a pompous ass, but he’s also a good writer with his own sense of the game. i dont always agree with him, but then i dont always agree with peter either.
i usually enjoy reading the posts here, but too often they are crude, ill-informed insulting or obscene. i’d enjoy a blog where this were less pervasive.
thanks for the info as always pete.
Did anyone read Murray discussion of linking the All-Star game to home field advantage in the World Series? If so, maybe you can help me understand the part where he says:
“One way would be to reward the team with the better won-lost record. But that idea wouldn’t work logistically. Baseball can’t wait until days or even a week before the World Series is scheduled to start to determine where Series game will be played. Airlines and hotels don’t work that way.”
Even though we know the AL has home field advantage this year, we still have to wait to see who will actually represent the AL, right? Am I missing something, because I see no logic in his statement.
Doreen-
Yesterday’s Page Six had a big write up on ARod’s post game party. The telling point they made – none of his teammates attended.
Evan -
That’s certainly pretty interesting. I guess Derek throws a better party.
My point was that the party was pre-ASG, the night before, not the night of, that’s all.
Enter Sandman -
I thought the same thing. Unless they pick a neutral site, they will really never know which two cities for sure until after the league playoffs. I guess it narrows the list for which cities you have to pre-book and then cancel.
Doreen: Nice work!
The thing that’s annoying about Uncle Murray’s non-blog is his apparent refusal to take advantage of the net. A computer is more than a typewriter and his site (or blog or whatever) can be more than just an online column.
But I think he’s bright enough to figure it out. Whether he wants to or not — and acts on it — is another matter.
Oops – not finished.
But not really. You still play the World Series in 2 cities anyway, no matter who has home field advantage – it’s not a one-game deal like the Superbowl.
evan, id be suprised if there were 3 of arod’s teammates in new york at the time of arod’s party. this is there one chance to take a 4 day holiday and even the all-stars got a 2 day getaway, and im sure they all got away as quickly as possible.
Murray can’t have his own blog. His vocabulary is too big. Plus, he writes actual full paragraphs. He does however offer glib, overly opinionated, half-thought-out (and at times ill-informed) analysis, so on that count he could do well on the internet.
Evan, isn’t a pity that media slugs don’t know the difference between pre-game parties (Monday) and post game (none). Who would be there to party after the game that wouldn’t end until midnight (scheduled time) and then have to get up to leave for there homes the next morning? Most players have games on Thursday with Wednesday being a travel day. Jesus, trolls and non-readers need to think for a change.
***their*** not THERE
White Fraud -
Even though I do ready Chass and have, and have always respected his work, I don’t think he truly wants the give-and-take a blog would require.
Look at what Pete puts up with on a daily basis with regard to having his posts being challenged. And I think most of the discourse here (except during game threads) is pretty civil. I think Chass really doesn’t want to deal with those instant challenges.
But I do think, since he’s no longer writing for the newspaper, that it’s a good venue for him for what he wants to do. I guess I’ve just come to think of blogs (web-log)as being more interactive, though I suppose that’s not the original definition. A “log” is, by definition, a written account, a detailed record. There is not really anything that says a blog has to allow comments.
** Well, I have READ Murray Chass, not “ready” him.
They were each holding their own partys. Did any teamates show up to Jeters?
Jennifer, I’m assuming so, but, in a way, you can’t blame players not wanting to be in the public circus that would swamp the Jayzee/Rodriguez party at 40/40. Players don’t want the media gossip queens tracking them like bounty hunters.
Technically, it’s not a blog. I can’t remember ever reading him before but apparently he hates the internet. I help build the internet day after day after day, I love it, live it, breathe it. If he has a problem with its denizens he shouldn’t have stuck his toe in the water.
And what 12-year-old designed that atrocity? Yuck.
Jennifer,
I did read that Derek went to the party hosted by Joba and Alyssa Milano on Sunday night. Joba is the only Yankee not on the All-Star team that I’ve seen around NY (he went to the All-Star game too).
As for Derek’s party, there were pictures in the Daily News the other day and the only Yankee I saw was Reggie Jackson.
Pete’s on a roll!
First, the Brady Bunch. Now it’s hoarding canned goods in anticipation of the apocalypse. What’s next?
Although Murray Chass does have it right in one respect. The curse of the internet and blogging is that some amateurs are misled into thinking they know as much as any professional.
sounds good to me.
my guess is that the universe will not revolve around Brett Gardner, Matt Holliday, and Damaso Marte on Chass’s site.
Great take From FireJoeMorgan.com on Murray Chass
“May I remind people that in his fateful piece for the New York Times, Murray Chass wrote “To me, VORP epitomized the new-age nonsense” and “For the longest time, I had no idea what VORP meant and didn’t care enough to go to any great lengths to find out.” and “Finally, not long ago, I came across VORP spelled out. It stands for value over replacement player. How thrilling. How absurd. Value over replacement player. Don’t ask what it means. I don’t know.”
So it is possible — no, probable — no, certain — that Murray Chass still does not know what VORP means, and yet hates it with every fiber of his wizened being.”
I hope the blowhard gets no traffic.
I’m sorry, I hate closed-minded fools.
The world is larger than your opinion and hatred of others.
Wanting to predict the future using statistics is not mutually exclusive from enjoying a ballgame/’realizing actual human beings are playing’, etc.
Yes, the firejoemorgan.com crew has it right on Uncle Murray; a little harsh, but essentially correct.
(And I already hoard cans of food in anticpation of the next hurricane, plus a propane stove, UHT soy milk, batteries and a crank-powered radio, since I’m livin’ la vida Boca. West Boca, actually.)
Someone Else…maybe it’s not the statistics that bums like Bill James have invented to bilk fantasy players out of their money, but, the way those numbers are skewed, used and abused by people who think they’re more intelligent than they really are.
“Technically, it’s not a blog.”
Then what is it? The definition from wikipedia is below. He’s going to have a website with regular entries of commentary. Sounds like a blog to me. But perhaps you know more than I do since you help build the internet. Question, were you there when Al Gore “invented” it?
the beauty of the blog is that it allows the common person to talk like a gm, even though we all clearly are going to be entirely wrong most of the time. Still Chass is pretty much declaring he won’t stand for the opinion of others. sure he is clearly more knowledgeable, but it is a pretty arrogant belief. He needs to feel special and exclusive
Unless Michael Jordan is the new Yankee left fielder and Minka Kelly was recently signed because she is a righty with light tower power, none of Jeter’s teammates were reported to be at his party either. Joba was one of the hosts at the Vitaminwater party that night, Marquee and 40/40 don’t seem like Mo’s scene and everyone else skipped town. Reggie was pictured at both parties.
Give Murray Chass a break, he’s a bitter, out-of-touch, old man, just like McSame.
“sure he is clearly more knowledgeable, but it is a pretty arrogant belief.”
I don’t see how he is clearly more knowledgeable. Perhaps when it comes to the history of baseball he’s more knowledgable, but I’d bet most people on this blog have more knowledge of the current game and where its going.
Pat-
the Page Six article raved about the ahem, ahem, oh how should I put it, ahem, the quality and quantity of single women at ARod’s bash. You’d think atleast one of the baby bombers would be interested in attending, in only for a few minutes. Jeter’s party sounded kinda bland.
And where the hell was A-Rod? I’m going with:
“Created ‘Fusilli A-Rod’ and then sat on it”
http://thesportshernia.typepad.....to-wh.html
i don’t remember if i like murray or not. someone remind me
no problem with his blog. but his anti-internet, old school mentality is probably very similar to a large part of his print audience. i feel like he’s drasticly cut down his audience because of this.
but i guess there’s tons of blogs nowadays that criticly link to other blog entries as their main schtick, so i guess he gets a bunch of those readers…
i have to wonder if Murray has even been to his website yet. it really does look like a high school project.
Thought people here might find this article interesting. Its just post all star, pre real game talk but its interesting.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....ore17.html
also Pete, do you plan on linking to murray’s blog over on the right?
as a nearly 60 year old myself, i’m immediately in mind of a neil young lyric – old man (former print sportswriter) lying by the side of the road (information superhighway)
Tommorrow’s entry on murraychass.com:
“Fond memeories of my pet dinosaur”
Don’t you mean start hoarding canned goods in your mom’s basement? OF course bloggers can’t own their own place.
We just finished the easy part of our schedule. The next few monthes become very difficult with lots of west coast games against Californiia and Oakland and of course back east with Boston. We also play 16 out of our last 26 games in September on the road so either things change dramtically or we are quickly moving towards the “hot stove” league. I wonder if Cashman is going to pull the trigger on any big trades or try to get by “on the Cheap” with players like Sexton, Ponson and others. So far I have been under whelmed by the folks from AAA who are “untouchable”. Gardner had a golden opportunity handed to him and he blew it. Duncan is back in the minors.Forget about Kennedy and Hughes(AKA baby Pavano”), Ohlendorf and Traber have failed. Igawa (sigh) and Rasner is slip sliding away. What will have change in the teams dynamics in the 67 games to righten the ship? They all say they need to be more consistent but what is going to change with this team to make that happen? Thats like saying we have to play better. Will Canoe play better? How about Melky? Will Posada start to throw out runners? Will this team ever a “tough” lefthander. Can the beat a pithcer that they havent seen before? Will the hit more than .220 with RISP Maybe Cashman is heading for the door looking for next years job vs giving us the best chance to win now. I still think that some bold moves can change the teams dynaamics and results. Wishing and hoping hasnt help us be better that a .500 team. I know we have had lots of injuries but so havnet other teams in front of us in the standings. We need spome real positive actions now since time is rapidly running out
Murray Chass is clearly a stubborn fool.
Such condescension from a baseball writer. A baseball writer! He’s not exactly writing for the New York Review of Books. Get over yourself, Murray. You write daily about a children’s game.
No offense, Pete.
Check out this take on Murray Chass:
http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2.....looky.html
Re: A-Rod’s party, who cares? It’s a party. What’s the difference who shows up or who doesn’t? It’s been mentioned that most Yanks weren’t in town.
It’s a “story” that has nothing to do with anything. Cone’s Labrum, don’t complain about A-Rod, he didn’t have anything to do with the coverage, blame the papers for not finding something better to write about.
I say sign Bonds for the league minimum, and trade for Bedard or Burnette.
As FJM points out, Chass applauds good old Buzz Bissinger for his profanity-laden tirade on Costas Now, and then provides a holier-than-thou admonition against the use of profanity on his site. Great work.
Chass’s anti-stats rant is as silly as ever. Apparently there are sabrematricians everywhere plotting to ruin baseball, and they’re succeeding. Except that none of them works as a baseball broadcaster or writer for a major newspaper. How are they “drowning the game in stats” again? By forcing you to read Baseball Prospectus? By working for GMs and helping them sign players that are good at baseball but aren’t short like Eckstein or don’t practice bunting a lot like Pierre?
Fox doesn’t even show OBP in its stats line, for crying out loud.
The weirdest thing to me is that codgery guys like Chass absolutely love stats, just different kinds of stats, like batting average. They are so in love with these stats that they get upset when sabremetrics guys say “Here is a stat that more accurately measures a player’s performance.” Then they say “That’s just a nonsensical STAT!” and go back to quoting their own stats.
Do you think that we can sign Zambrano and trade him to the Rays for Kazmir?