1918, 1917...1916?


One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say." -- Will Durant<

In case you haven't been paying attention there has been a disturbing symmetry to the World Series winners of the last two seasons.

Two seasons ago the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. Tongue in cheek, one wondered about the Black Sox, who made their mark in the 1919 World Series with a betting scandal, would follow the Red Sox and right the legacy of their franchise after many, many decades.

And then last season, whoops, the White Sox, who last won the World Series in 1917, defeated the Astros to win the World Championship.

So what you've got here is the winners of 1918 and 1917 winning in 2004 and 2005 which leads one naturally to wonder who played in the World Series in 1916?

Well, if this cycle continues, the Red Sox will be World Champs again but I think not all parallels run consecutively thus, there must be a twist and that is, this season's World Champion will be the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1916, the Brooklyn Robins (later the Dodgers) played the Red Sox in the World Series. Batting third and playing rightfield in the Robins Game One lineup was none other than Casey Stengel, a lifetime .284 hitter. (Stengel was the only Robin to have a decent series at the plate, by the way.)

Another notable in the Robins order was Zack Wheat, with 2,884 lifetime hits and a career .317 batting average.

Pinch hitting for starting pitcher Rube Marquard was none other than Fred "Bonehead" Merkle. Merkle, of course, will be forever famous for his "boneheaded" play on September 23, 1908, which cost the Giants a key victory and made the Cubs' pennant-clinching victory possible when the game was replayed at the end of the season.

The Red Sox were led by Harry Hooper and a cast of nearly no-names yet won Game One when Earnie Shore outpitched Marquard and the Sox won, 6-5 despite 4 runs in the top of the 9th by the Robins. The save was earned by none other than submarine hurler Carl Mays, whose fateful pitch was to kill Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman nearly 4 years later.

The Red Sox went on to win the World Series, 4 games to 1 which you might logically conclude would mean that the Sox will again win the World Series this season against the Dodgers however, the Sports Amnesia Ratio of Supremacy (SARS) notes that even though the Red Sox would win under previous guidelines, as it will no longer be their first in 85 years, it will be the Dodgers whom fate and history will unite.

Ahhh, nothing like meaningless speculation to fuel a Sunday morning...

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World Baseball Classic

No surprises so far. China and Chinese Tapei were both easily sorted out by Korea and Japan leaving the two powerhouses of Pool A to fight it out against each other in the first quasi-meaningful game of the Tournament.

These time differences are maddening however. With Japan being basically, a day ahead of the States and yet our being 5 hours ahead of the States here, it almost takes an astrophysicist to figure out what time the bloody game will start here in the UK.

Whenever the hell it is, Japan will send submarine pitcher Shunsuke Watanabe to the hill against Sun-Woo Kim, who normally pitches for the Colorado Rockies, not exactly a badge of competence.

Forecast: Japan 7, Korea 4.

Why bother forecasting a Pool A game between Japan and Korea? I dunno, combination of caffeine and the excitement of listening to the Mets play the Nats in a Spring Training game...

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Jake Peavy, the scheduled starter for the US in their opener against Mexico, apparently has tears in his eyes but not tears of joy.

"I have a hole in my retina," Peavy said during Saturday's second day of workouts for the American team. "Actually, I have holes in both of my retinas. There's some slight tearing in there and a little scar tissue. They're treating it with the drops and should be fine."

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Bush, visiting Pakistan about something over nuclear weapons, had time out to swing the auld cricket bat three times...he connected with the first pitch, was hit in the shoulder by the second one, and sent a third ball sailing into a tree.

Pity Carl Mays wasn't bowling that day, tsktsk.