For the latest edition of the Sunday Funnies, here’s the late, great Chris Farley playing Rudolph Guiliani’s obnoxious son on opening day in Yankee Stadium. Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Nealon are mere props in this SNL skit. It’s vintage Farley.
Sunday bookshelf: Fantography features vintage baseball photos shot by fans
About once or twice a year, I’ll reach into my collection and pull out the “When It Was a Game” video. It is the classic HBO documentary (narrated by my old friend Peter Kessler) featuring home movies of baseball’s beautiful past. You can see so much detail in these vintage old films, shot in color no less. It brings a distant era of the game back to life.
Now there’s a book version of the documentary: Baseball Fantography: A Celebration in Snapshots and Stories from the Fans. Written by Andy Strasberg, the book features vintage photos of players and other baseball images shot by regular baseball fans.
There are pictures of an intense Roberto Clemente; Babe Ruth leaving a baseball with his daughter; a young Howard Cosell during batting practice at Yankee Stadium; and even Hall of Famer Eddie Matthews toweling off in a shower. That one was submitted by Mrs. Matthews.
Strasberg, a former executive with the San Diego Padres, grew up in New York idolizing Roger Maris. He contributes a photo (above) of with him of his hero in 1966. He has his arm around Maris as if they were best friends.
Indeed, later in life Strasberg did become friends with Maris. He remains so close to the late slugger’s family that he is the Godfather to one of his grandchildren.
If you love baseball history, I highly recommend this book. Here’s a Q/A I did with Strasberg.
What makes these fan pictures so special compared to those taken by professional photographers?
Professional photographers are paid to “focus” on what happens on the field during the game, and I felt that they were missing a big part of the baseball experience for fans.
These are personal and poignant photos from, by and for the fans. It is the photographic memory of what was/is important to the fan as seen through the lens of their camera.
How did you get the pictures?
I first got the word out through family and friends and then through the media (electronic and print) around the country. I explained that I was not looking for photos NOT taken by professionals and none of game action.
I received pictures from decades ago and the variety of captured moments amazed me!
Were you really best friends with Roger Maris and what did that picture mean to you?
I was Roger Maris’ number one fan growing up in the 1960s. Once I started working in baseball (1975) for the Padres marketing department, our player/fan relationship matured into a friendship which fortunately for me continues to this day with his family.
The photos I have of Maris and me are incredibly important. In each one you can tell how excited I am to be with him. 
But perhaps the most insightful photo is the one of me when I was 12 and I went into a photo booth (4 photos for 25₵) with a magazine that had a picture of Maris swinging a bat to see what I’d look like if I was ever lucky enough to have my photo taken with him.
Besides the Maris picture, what are your other favorite pictures in the book?
In no order some of my favorite photos are: the Roberto Clemente photo, Dizzy Dean having a catch on Doubleday Field, The Duke Snider Lanes sign, the Albert Schoensleben grave site, Lombardi fishing, Babe Ruth leaving Yankee Stadium, Eddie Mathews stepping out of a shower, Max West with his foot on the car bumper and the fan holding the batting average sign of Gwynn and Clark to name just a few.
Did you get enough pictures to do another book?
Yes, and I get more photos every day. There are treasured keepsake photos out there that I can’t wait to see. They may be from the 1930’s, 70’s or a photo taken this August.
I am hoping that the fans respond to the Baseball Fantography book in a positive way so that I can publish additional books with never been seen unpublished and significant photos for the next 20 years!
Anything else?
No one has been able to shine the light on the fans consistently and provide them a forum to express what about baseball is important. Baseball Fantography does that in both text and photos
For the last few years I have had over 20 Baseball Fantography exhibits around the country – Cooperstown, Pasadena, San Diego, Tucson, and currently at the Yogi Berra Museum in New Jersey.
I would like to find an appropriate venue in the Midwest to host a Baseball Fantography display.
The dedicated web site of Baseball Fantography is http://www.fantography.com/
Rodman pays price for decadent lifestyle: ESPN OTL interview
Do you feel sorry for Dennis Rodman? Mark Schwarz interviewed him for Outside the Lines Sunday at 9 a.m.
Rodman breaks down in this clip talking about his 24-year old daughter, who he’s seen only five times in his life.
Here’s the preview from ESPN
In March, headlines described former NBA star Dennis Rodman as “broke” and “extremely sick.” At 51, and now a dozen years removed from his last NBA rebound, he often boasts he hasn’t had a steady job since being waived by the Dallas Mavericks in 2000. For Rodman, who has had issues with alcohol, life has never come as easily as professional basketball. Sunday, the flamboyant Hall of Famer speaks candidly about life after basketball, and about allegations that he’s an alcoholic. Mark Schwarz reports.
Sunday’s guests will include Kurt Rambis, who coached Rodman on the Lakers in 1999, and Tim Keown who co-wrote “Bad As I Wanna Be,” the 1997 best-selling autobiography.
“I been hearing that for years — I’ve been hearing that I’m a cokehead, I’m a drug head. Everyone knows that I like to have a good time. If you see me drinking, ok great. I drink! If you see me having sex every day, oh, I’m an addict. I’ve looked death in the eyes. And I say one day I could probably drink to a point where it’s like I won’t wake up.” — Dennis Rodman
“I started to go out to dinner for free. I started to get cars and stuff like that for free. I started to get a lot of things around the country. All of a sudden I land the big one, Madonna, so it’s like, ‘Hello!!’ I started to get stuff like that.” — Dennis Rodman
After 45 years, still teaching Hockey 101 in Los Angeles
The Kings have been playing in Los Angeles since 1967. Yet on the eve of their series with New Jersey, the Los Angeles Daily News felt compelled to run a story with this headline:
Hockey 101: Tips for watching the L.A. Kings in the Stanley Cup Final
The piece was written by the Daily News’ fine long-time sports media columnist Tom Hoffarth. Yep, still explaining hockey after 45 years.
I tapped into Hoffarth’s expertise to see how the Kings are covered in Los Angeles. Again, it’s not exactly like Detroit for the Red Wings or Boston for the Bruins.
“Their games are sold out, and they have a real passionate following,” Hoffarth said. “Youth hockey is bigger than you’d think in Los Angeles. You see kids in Kings jerseys. But it’s not like the Lakers or the Dodgers.”
Indeed, while the Los Angeles Times has Hall of Fame hockey writer Helene Elliott, the paper didn’t staff all of their road games. That’s better than the other papers. The Daily News has used a free lancer to cover the team at home. The Orange County Register relies mostly on wires for the Kings. The paper, though, does staff its more local home team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Jim Carlisle, who writes about sports media for the Ventura County Star, spoofed hockey in a column. He writes:
Mark this down somewhere. It’s a momentous occasion. It’s a column about hockey.
I know! Amazing, isn’t it?
Next thing you know I’ll be saying something good about soccer. Well, let’s not get too crazy now.
Of course, hockey and soccer are pretty much the same game; just in one of them, they don’t know enough to come in out of the cold.
As for television, much was made of the embarrassing gaffe by a local TV report that used a Sacramento Kings logo for Kings story (pictured above). Easy to see how that would be confusing.
Again, all you need to know about hockey in LA.
“Very few of the TV reporters know much about hockey,” Hoffarth said. “It’s pretty humorous to see how they screw up the names. Jim Hill has been around here forever, and he still butchers the names.”
The best thing that happened to the Kings is that the Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers both lost in the playoffs. Even then, hockey didn’t surge to the top headline right away.
“Instead of stories about the Kings going to the Final, the papers all led with obits on the Lakers,” Hoffarth said.
Ah, such is the reality for hockey in LA. If you live in LA and want to learn more about the game, check Hoffarth’s story. It includes this passage about the puck:
Tip No. 1: Don’t necessarily try to focus on the puck.
Said Bob Miller, the Kings’ play-by-play voice:
“I usually tell people who watch the game for the first time just to focus on the area in front of the net. That’s where the puck will end up sometime.”
Added Jim Fox, the Kings’ TV analyst: “The camera’s focus on the puck isn’t as important as its ability to provide close enough action to see as many skaters as possible at the same time. It’s just like watching a basketball game on ice. If you can tell who’s carrying the puck, you don’t need to focus on the puck and follow it pass to pass.”
Again, they aren’t writing this story in Boston.
Saturday flashback: LeBron James’ first game in NBA
Last week, we offered ESPN’s broadcast of LeBron James in high school. Today, we’ll look at its broadcast of his first pro game.
I was going to save this for later in the playoffs, but given the way the Indy series is going, I wanted to post this while he’s still playing.
The open, with Brad Nessler, Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle, is featured here. Then amazingly, the game is joined in progress as the Knicks game went long. Can you imagine that happening today?
As a result, ESPN had to show highlights of James’ 10-point first quarter against Sacramento.
Jenkins’ great speech at World Golf Hall of Fame
This is worth 10 minutes of your time if you ever read Semi-Tough, Dead Solid Perfect, or anything else written by Dan Jenkins.
Geoffshackelford.com posted Jenkins’ speech during his induction ceremonies into the World Golf Hall of Fame earlier this month. At age 82, Jenkins shows he still has his fastball.
Kuselias named host of NBC Sports Network talk show
This just in from NBC Sports Network:
Erik Kuselias has been named the primary host of NBC Sports Network’s NBC SportsTalk. Kuselias has transitioned from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive to serve as the nightly host of NBC SportsTalk.
One of the NBC Sports Group’s most versatile hosts, Kuselias has covered the NFL, PGA, NASCAR, college football and fantasy football during his decade long career as a sports television and radio host.
“It’s great to have a versatile talent like Erik already within the NBC Sports Group family that can help make us better as we continue to grow the NBC Sports Network,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network.
Most recently, Kuselias served as co-host of Morning Drive on The Golf Channel. Before arriving at NBC, Kuselias was the host of NASCAR Now on ESPN2 and The Erik Kuselias Show on ESPN Radio. He also previously hosted NFL on ESPN Radio during the NFL season, and served as a host for College Football Live. In addition, Kuselias hosted the Emmy-Award winning show Fantasy Football Now.
About NBC SportsTalk: NBC Sports Network’s flagship news and information show offers breaking news, highlights, features and in-depth analysis from award-winning journalists. NBC SportsTalk debuted on September 8, 2011 and airs from 6 –7 p.m. ET, depending on live sports programming. NBC SportsTalk features talent from across all NBC Sports Group platforms, including Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Football Night in America and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com.
ESPN’s policies on Presidential election coverage: No political commentary
Perhaps inspired by Charles Barkley’s rant about Mitt Romney on TNT a few weeks ago, ESPN has posted its policies on coverage of the presidential election.
Written by Patrick Stiegman, vice-president and editor-in-chief of ESPN.com, the network wants to make sure its on-air personalities remain neutral.
Too bad Rush Limbaugh no longer works for the network. I would have loved to see ESPN enforce these guidelines for him.
Stiegman writes:
We should refrain from political editorializing and gratuitous references to the candidates, their campaigns or their political positions. This means no personal attacks or “drive-by” remarks in columns or on-air segments. Approved commentaries on sports-specificissues, or seeking responses from both candidates on relevant news issues, are appropriate. However, sarcasm, one-liners, perceived endorsements, attempts at humor or political criticism should be avoided.
And there’s more:
Should a candidate appear at or attend a live event on our air (e.g. MLB game, college football game, etc.), announcers should avoid any political commentary, prolonged references to or live interviews with candidates. A brief mention accompanying video of the candidate is appropriate. If approved by senior news managers, interviews may be conducted or taped for reference or airing either later in the same program or at a later date.
Coming soon, updated ESPN’s policies on coverage of Tim Tebow.
Ozzie Guillen shuts down Twitter account
Say it ain’t so.
Ozzie Guillen has decided to shut up. At least on Twitter.
Yesterday, the Florida manager fired off this tweet to his 231,000 followers:
OzzieGuillen
my last tweet. me ultimo tweet good luck buena suerte.
What triggered this final tweet? Thursday he said:
“Yeah, I hate Twitter,” Guillen said in the Marlins’ dugout before the game. “Everybody following me can (expletive) his pants. You can quote me on that one. … Don’t follow me anymore. Twitter is a stupid thing. I never make money out of that. When you speak Spanish, you speak Spanish. When you speak English, you don’t know how to spell ‘English.’ Get a real job, get a life. I don’t make money out of that. I’m done.”
Prior to signing off, Guillen did a series of tweets on the death of former White Sox reliever Kevin Hickey, who served as the team’s batting practice pitcher during Guillen’s tenure as manager in Chicago.
The White Sox wish Guillen realized Twitter was “stupid” a while back. He angered General Manager Kenny Williams by starting an account. Then after promising to keep it unrelated to baseball, he did a series of tweets complaining about the umpires while a game was in progress in Toronto in 2011. Guillen let his emotions get the best of him after being kicked out of the game.
The tweets landed him a two-game suspension and $20,000 fine.
Live, it’s Saturday night prime time baseball on Fox
Once upon a time, Saturday night wasn’t a wasteland for television. In fact, it was the best night of the week.
Check out CBS’ lineup for Saturday night in 1973 and say hello to Archie Bunker:
8 p.m. All in the Family
8:30: M*A*S*H
9: Mary Tyler Moore Show
9:30: Bob Newhart Show
10: Carol Burnett Show
Yeah, only five of the best television shows ever, all airing consecutively on Saturday night. Did we ever go out?
However, somewhere along the way, the networks gave up on Saturday nights. It’s there for the taking if anyone wants it.
ABC saw an opening and has done well with its Saturday night prime time football games. Now Fox is looking to up the ante.
Saturday, Fox will begin eight straight weeks of prime time baseball on Saturday night. The slate has the requisite name: Baseball Night in America.
What’s next? Backgammon Night in America?
The baseball games come on the heels of Fox already airing four NASCAR and two UFC events on Saturday night this year.
All told, Fox plans to have 32 primetime Saturdays with sports this year. The package includes 12 regular-season college football games, the Big Ten Championship game, and Game 4 of the World Series.
Package is the key word here, according to Fox Sports Media co-president and COO Eric Shanks. Here’s my Q/A with him.
Why the move to Saturday night?
We were looking to put the puzzle together. We saw the picture and said, ‘Wow, we actually have 32 weeks of prime time sports here.’ There’s a story there. Things always look better when they’re put in a package. Now all of the sudden we have a Saturday strategy. We have a message to sell to our customers.
‘Check Fox out on Saturday night.’ It makes us look smarter than we actually are.
What does this mean for baseball?
The prime time (viewing levels) are much higher. You’re not only going to see your game, but we’ll also be checking into other games. It’ll be an exciting night for fans.
What happened to television on Saturday night?
Saturday night didn’t used to be perceived the way it is now. It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. Is Saturday night being perceived this way because nobody is putting the effort into it? We’re going to try to put something together and find out what people think.
What’s the real reason behind the move?
I’ve got three young kids. What am I doing on Saturday night? I’m not going out. I’m home.