What to watch

The documentary, Cobb Field - A Day at the Ballpark, will have its national broadcast premiere on the Major League Baseball Network (MLB) on Sunday night, January 17th at 10:00PM Eastern time.

I wrote about the documentary here: A Handful of Banana Split Coupons at the Dairy Queen

A handful of banana split coupons at the Dairy Queen

Get Cobb Field: A Day at the Ballpark!

A bright blue day under a massive Montana sky sits on creaking bleachers, beer in hand, buying raffle tickets from the pin hat lady. There’s one in every ballpark, you know. This version, Barbara, sticks her pins in a red floppy hat and tries to give everyone in the ballpark luck with her raffle ritual. A man plays the national anthem on a saw and a guy tries to win ten thousand dollars by throwing a baseball from the mound through a hole in a board at homeplate. You can get your ticket for five bucks and sit anywhere you’d like, maybe even next to the guy who played ball on the original team so many decades ago. It’s life as a fan in a minor league ballpark.

Billings, Montana. Population 89,847. The Billings Mustangs are “the professional sports team” and have been the Reds rookie league team since 1974. (There’s a minor league hockey team, too.) Until last year, they played in Cobb Field, a ballpark that stood from 1948 until its death in 2007. Prior to Reds affiliation, the Mustangs were a Royals affiliate – George Brett played rookie ball here. Jim Kaat, too, for an affiliate of the Washington Senators. Current Reds Joey Votto and Jay Bruce played here as well.

Cobb Field: A Day at the Ballpark is a must see film for any baseball fan. Told from the perspective of the field itself, the film goes through one day in the life of an old ballpark, from grooming the field for the day’s play to scrubbing out grass stains in the uniforms and sweeping away ballpark trash in the wee hours of the morning. It’s a sort of nine inning Ulysses, a tale told through brilliant photography and interviews with a future star, a Hall of Famer, those who merely sipped from the cup of The Show, and those who spend every waking moment dreaming about it.

From the film:

Starring: the home of the Billings Mustangs

Screenplay By: Craig Lindvahl, Susanna Rich

Produced By: Craig Lindvahl

Awards: 3 Mid-America Emmys (best trailer, music, cinematography), selected for 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival

Plot Outline: Cobb Field; a day at the ballpark explores the world of minor league baseball through the eyes of Cobb Field, a sixty year-old ballpark in Billings, Montana, and home of the Billings Mustangs from 1948-2007.

Shot during the last weeks of Cobb Field’s existence, the film imagines what Cobb Field might share about history, about baseball, and about life. From retired players like Jim Kaat and Gary Redus, current players like Todd Frazier and Daniel Zeffiro, from coaches and staff members, and from umpires and fans comes a heartwarming story of baseball in the rookie leagues.

Ballparks are like people with all of our personalities and mortalities and triumphs and tragedies. When they are born, they are beautiful, miracles of construction, created by the labor of man and testament to the wonders and mysteries of life. They laugh with us, they cry with us, they share in our joys and our despairs. They shudder as the cold winter leaves them empty and they thrive with the rebirth of spring and the glory of the summer sun. With the passage of years, they accumulate memories they share with us each and every visit we pay them. They age. Their parts, once shiny and beautiful, begin to wither and fade, the splendor of youth lost with the wrinkles of time. Their skins become marred by their years, their organs weaken, they cough and wheeze and groan as their steel bones ache with a change in the weather. They begin to shake and creak and crumble and then they are gone. We go to their funerals and some of us have tears in our eyes as we watch them implode to the ground. Rest in peace, old friends.

Cobb Field: A Day at the Ballpark is an old man expressing the joys of life when he knows it is his time to go. He admires the youth that play on his green; in sixty years he has never tired of the dreams that dance on his field. There, on that dusty diamond in big town Montana, dreams were given legs that ran and bodies that played and mouths that smiled. The smile of one who holds a dream is truly beautiful – there is such an innocence to it all, a purity that makes you feel like maybe Eden was a minor league baseball field. No flashbulbs blind players from seeing a love of the game, no leather couches and plasma televisions in the locker rooms, no Congressional testimonies, no taking up two lockers in clubhouse, it’s just baseball in its virgin form.

There are a lot of things to like about this film. The photography is beautiful. The interviews are fun. The shots of the Mustang burgers make you hungry. My favorite part is the footage of future Reds star Todd Frazier making his professional debut. It’s a gem. Us Reds fans will watch this film years from now and adore seeing Todd help hitting coach Aaron Holbert try to pull buckets apart or that sweet, sweet swing of his that was beautiful even in the beginning, even when all but the fanatical diehards among us did not know his name. And I think he was cheating on his windsprints!

All of the photos here are screenshots of the actual film. I loved it and recommend that everyone visit the website and order a copy. Buy it here. Do it now!

Facebook page here - become a fan!
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Be kind, please rewind

Hairston
Bruce
Griffey
Phillips
Dunn
Encarncion
Votto
Catcher
Pitcher

That's a pretty good lineup we've been running out there. Can't understand why it's not working. Needs some jumbling, I guess.

If we could just start the season over again with these guys...but hey, we got a nice little future in store. Don't worry. Be happy.
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The sky is not falling, and I'm going to rip into (some of) the Cincy media because I am sick of it.

Since there is little good to talk about at the Reds level at the moment, I thought I'd post some photos from Tuesday's Dragon's game. Here, third baseman Brandon Waring reacts as a pitch is thrown.

What a great park. I can't say it enough. It's really enjoyable to sit near the field - a small park is so intimate. You actually feel like you're a participant in the game in some small way.

The Dragons have several exciting players that won't be on the Dragons come summer's birth - they'll be in Sarasota. Pitcher Luis Montano, who threw 6.2 innings of no hit ball before giving up a triple, is one of those guys. Waring's another.




But the brightest prospect is Todd Frazier, who hit his sixth homer of the season. He's a college player, so he's on the fast track to the big leagues. Don't be surprised if he's promoted in the next few weeks.

Maybe I rave about him because I'm trying to ignore what is happening to the Reds at this point.

But what is happening to the Reds?

Perhaps the environment of negativity in which they play has finally gotten to them. Anyone who has ever played competitive ball - or any competitive sport, for that matter - knows what constant criticism and negativity can do for a team. And this team certainly is mentally down. Perhaps the Cincinnati media, some of baseball's absolute worst, have allowed doubt to creep in.

I made the mistake of listening to the jackass show after today's loss. I tell you what - it's hard to be a Reds fan when you have a bunch of talentless blowhards spewing their vile ignorance across the public radio waves. Those goons know absolutely zero about baseball. I wish Dunn would lash out at them publicly, tell them their vitriolic anger stems from the fact that they were a bunch of unathletic dorks in high school who feel the need to get revenge on the world because they weren't good enough 30 years ago to play sports for a living. And then there's Tracy Jones, former MLB player. Never very good, he has to tell shout at people that they don't understand the game to make up for his lack of MLB talent. And the thing is, people in Cincinnati actually listen to these people and then they repeat what they hear - enough people do to keep them on the air.

Yes, we're all completely stunned, disappointed, and even angry at this start, but a 9-14 record on April 24 is not the end of a season. Three of the starters have been good or decent all of the time. Bronson is someone to be concerned about. That fifth spot? Who knows right now? But the pen has been good. It's not the end of the world. It's not even the end of the season.

I can't believe how short memories are in some of the most loudspoken critics. The offense won't continue like this. Something is going to click, and then you'll have your hatefilled radio show hosts saying "I told you all along this team was going to start hitting."

I am sick to death of Adam Dunn getting blamed for the team's woes over the years. I am sick to death of the Cincinnati media - but what do you expect from a station like WLW whose mantra is to spew as much hate over its airwaves as is humanly possible even at a time when most Americans are sick of it? I'm glad Trent Rosecrans works for them, otherwise I think that station would fall off the eastern edge of the world, which I guess wouldn't be a bad thing.

I like Mark Sheldon. Contrary to what people think, he is not told what to write by Reds.com. He writes well and is a good journalist who seems to get no credit because he doesn't write for a The Newspaper. I also like John Eradi of the Enquirer. It's the Volk at WLW who are the biggest problem, and unfortunately, Daugherty also writes really stupid, unresearched columns for the Enquirer.

You want a solution to this problem we're having? Bring up Jay Bruce. Bring up a kid who wants to play Major League Baseball more than anything in the world, a kid who has a head on his shoulders and a pure heart untainted by the negativity of the Cincy media and its fair weather fans. Stop complaining. If the Reds were 14-9, people would be raving about how Castellini wants to win, how this team will contend all year, and how great Edwin Encarnacion is hitting.

You know what else? Wayne Krivsky was unfairly fired. As frustrating as Wayno was, he was not a bad GM. Not great, either, but not bad. He may have cost us our October in 2006 with The Trade, but he helped give us one of the best farm systems in baseball. And you know what? He cared deeply about this team, and it just isn't right that he was fired in April. If the Reds had a .391 winning percentage in June? Maybe. But not after a mere 23 games.

I'm ranting, aren't I? Well, at least I put up some pictures so you can ignore the ranting if you want to. But I'm pissed off. The losing is depressing, but it doesn't bother me half as much as all the bitching. You have to have faith, people. You have to be encouraging, cheer them on instead of booing everything that goes on. Baseball players are human beings, and human beings who aren't sociopaths are affected by an environment of negativity. Have some faith. Believe in the power of positive thinking.
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The future looks bright...

I went to the Dragons game last night to see the Baby Reds take on the Baby Padres. What an exciting game! Not only did Todd Frazier hit a homer to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but both he and Brandon Waring hit homers earlier, Waring's with Frazier on base. I guess these guys are like the Dunn and Kearns of 2008. Seems like they'll move up through the system at the same time.

What a great park. I hadn't been to a Dragon's game since the Dunnandkearns show, so it kind of felt like going to a new park. Unfortunately, a camera malfunction made me lose 50 photos, so I don't have much to show. Guess I'll have to go back soon to snap some more. I bet these kids that play for Dayton get spoiled. I imagine going to Sarasota, Chattanooga, and Louisville after playing in Dayton is a bit of a letdown.

Here is Waring's homer with Frazier about to score.

I was pretty pumped to get both of their autographs after the game. My ball was nearly full with the ink of the other players and since they were two of the last ones out, they had to squeeze it in. Would have had room but there is a ban on signing on the sweet spot, which still has an empty spot in the middle. Thanks a lot, you stupid middle aged losers who ruined it for the rest of us by getting stuff signed and then selling it. I also got Brad Chalk's autograph on the ball, the Padre's second round pick from 2007. I have no clue how I knew who he was, but most of his team had already come out and suddenly I asked if he was Chalk, and I was right.

The Reds are loaded with shortstops with Frazier, Chris Valaika, and Adam Rosales. Guess it's how it should be, considering our history of shortstops. One of these is bound to become the next Barry Larkin. Frazier doesn't seem all that apt in the field, but he can rake. Perhaps he'll be moved to another position in the future. They say that shortstops are the most athletic of players.

Good times!