Baseball Season 2011

[Syt]

So I guess this is where the Bucs croak. They've dropped five in a row now - it's ok to be sweeped by the Phillies on the road, but losing twice to the Cubs in Pittsburgh . . . ouch.

[Sophie Scholl]

So I guess this is where the Bucs croak. They've dropped five in a row now - it's ok to be sweeped by the Phillies on the road, but losing twice to the Cubs in Pittsburgh . . . ouch.

The Bucs and Tribe could only keep their Cinderella stories going so long.  Thank Hod Football is back.  Looks like I'll be needing it for my sports watching/caring outlet soon.

[CountDeMoney]

Orioles: Former pitcher Flanagan found dead
County police say investigation continuing, body not identified

By Justin Fenton and Dan Connolly, The Baltimore Sun

11:08 PM EDT, August 24, 2011

Former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan, a Cy Young Award winner who became a face of the franchise as a television announcer and top executive, was found dead on his Baltimore County property Wednesday afternoon, the team confirmed. He was 59.

A Baltimore County police spokeswoman said police received a 911 call at 4:26 p.m. reporting a suspicious death in the 15000 block of York Road in Sparks. When officers arrived, they found a man's body on a trail leading to a barn, said spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

In a statement from owner Peter Angelos, the Orioles said the body was that of Flanagan, a father of three.

"In over a quarter century with the organization, Flanny became an integral part of the Orioles family, for his accomplishments both on and off the field," Angelos said in a statement. "His loss will be felt deeply and profoundly by all of us with the ballclub and by Orioles fans everywhere who admired him."

Armacost said late Wednesday police had not confirmed the identity of the body and said the investigation was continuing. She also would not disclose the cause or manner of death. But word spread quickly in baseball circles.

"It's just shock right now," said former Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey. "I know everybody that played with him loved him to death. He was the backbone of that pitching staff. He never quit — this guy never quit. He was there for the duration. We had so many great games and so many great times. I just can't believe it."

At Flanagan's home Wednesday night, a light was on inside the home and a police car blocked the driveway, letting two vehicles enter the property. Some of his neighbors in the rural neighborhood said they had not seen police activity and had not heard anything out of the ordinary.

Property records show Flanagan and his wife, Alex, purchased the 10.5-acre property in 1997 for $525,000. No one answered the phone at his home, and relatives could not be reached for comment.

Flanagan, who was in his second year as a color analyst for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, spent more than 30 years with the Orioles as a player, coach, front office executive and broadcaster.

Selected by the Orioles in the seventh round of the 1973 amateur draft, Flanagan went on to pitch 18 major league seasons, including parts of 15 with the Orioles. He was a key member of the 1983 world champions, going 12-4 with a 3.30 ERA in the regular season and winning Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Chicago White Sox.

The left-hander won 141 games in his Orioles career, including an American League-leading 23 in 1979, when the Orioles lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

Flanagan won the American League Cy Young Award that year as the league's top pitcher and finished sixth in Most Valuable Player voting. His lone All-Star season was in 1978, when he won 19 games in 40 starts, tied for the most in the league.

The Orioles traded Flanagan to the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 31, 1987, for pitchers Oswaldo Peraza and Jose Mesa. Flanagan pitched the remainder of that season and parts of three more for Toronto before returning to the Orioles in 1991 as a 39-year-old free agent, spending the last two seasons of his playing career pitching in relief.

"He just kept going out there,'' said friend and former teammate Terry Crowley. "No matter how good or how bad the situation, Mike always tried to make the best pitch every time the ball came out of his hand."

After being named to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1994, Flanagan served as the team's pitching coach twice, in 1995 under manager Phil Regan and in 1998 under Ray Miller.

He spent 1996-1997 and 1999-2002 broadcasting Orioles games before becoming the club's executive vice president after the 2005 season, a role he held until his contract expired at the end of 2008.

[Valmy]

Wow.

What a horrible way to be reminded of Flanagan.  I still remember seeing him pitch.  Damn.

[jimmy olsen]

 RIP

[CountDeMoney]

Former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan, a Cy Young Award  winner who became a television announcer and top executive with the club, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday afternoon, according to police.

Flanagan had been upset about financial issues, police said Thursday.

Flanagan's wife, Alex, who was out of town, had sent a neighbor to their house in the 15000 block of York Road in Sparks on Wednesday afternoon when she didn't hear from her husband. According to police, Alex had last spoken to an upset Flanagan around 1 a.m. and was concerned when he failed to call her the following day. The neighbor, unable to find Flanagan, called 911.

Baltimore County police found Flanagan's body on trail about 250 feet behind his home around 4:30 p.m.

Police confirmed Thursday that Flanagan, 59, appeared to have shot himself in the face, making identification difficult and causing official confirmation of his death to be delayed. Flanagan did not leave a note, police said.

[Valmy]

Syt-ism on the rise in Euroland:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6948276/mlb-baseball-europe-take-off

[Syt]

Vienna baseball is depressing. The best Vienna Wanderers player is also their manager: a Japanese guy who leads the team in both ERA and AVG (<2 and >.300 respectively).

[Valmy]

Vienna baseball is depressing. The best Vienna Wanderers player is also their manager: a Japanese guy who leads the team in both ERA and AVG (<2 and >.300 respectively).

Does he also hit homers?  A pitcher, hitter, manager?  It is like the Babe Ruth of the Danube...who also manages and is Japanese.

[Syt]

Actually, no. Woefully few homers in Austrian baseball - and it's purely amateur. I just checked, the guy has a .302 AVG this year (he's not best, though - team average is .293) and ERA of 1.29.

A friend of mine played softball for a couple years, but she gave it up, because as outfielder she found the games boring beyond belief because few balls. if any, made it out of the infield.

Besides me I don't know any MLB fans here. I get rather queer looks when I profess I follow it. More people follow football, but usually only headlines, and the occasional game on tv (with German commentary ) and the Super Bowl.

[Valmy]

A friend of mine played softball for a couple years, but she gave it up, because as outfielder she found the games boring beyond belief because few balls. if any, made it out of the infield.

Did she play right field?  Usually in slow pitch tons of balls are hit to center and left.

[Syt]

A friend of mine played softball for a couple years, but she gave it up, because as outfielder she found the games boring beyond belief because few balls. if any, made it out of the infield.

Did she play right field?  Usually in slow pitch tons of balls are hit to center and left.

CF.

When we were ten or twelve years old we wanted to get a team running in Germany, but lacked interested people/funds. There was a somewhate decent team nearby that had a couple American soldiers playing for them.

We played occasionally with some of the American kids, but the Ricans usually preferred soccer.

[Valmy]

CF.

Weird.

[dps]

Actually, no. Woefully few homers in Austrian baseball - and it's purely amateur. I just checked, the guy has a .302 AVG this year (he's not best, though - team average is .293) and ERA of 1.29.

Makes me wonder if they're using non-standard baseballs or something. 

Anyway, according to the article you linked, almost 3/4 of baseball players in Europe are either Dutch, German, or Italian.  Doesn't really surprise me, at least as far as the Netherlands and Italy are concerned.

[Syt]

I guess the MLB also has a bit of a marketing problem vs. NFL over here. The NFL season with its few games per season, and one final game is rather digestible from afar.

Meanwhile, MLB has 162 games per team and season and 15 matchups most days of the week for ca. half a year - and the finals stretch over (potentially) seven games. I enjoy the sport, but I limit myself to the Pirates, the big headlines and the play offs, because otherwise it can become a fulltime job.

Still, you see a lot more people with MLB apparel (caps, mostly - and there Yankees dominate by far) than NFL apparel over here. Teamspotting is a bit of a sport for me on my way to/from work.