Last Rights and Bright Nights

Baseball fans mourn the passing of Hall of Famer Edwin Donald Snider, known as “Duke” who died this weekend at the age of 84.

As old as I now am I am still not that old that I got to see Duke play baseball even though he did play until 1964 (I was two.)

Snider hit 407 career homeruns, mostly as a Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger. Ironically, although he spent his glory years as a Dodger, he ended his career with the hated Giants, in San Francisco by that time.

When I was a kid I was a huge Strat-O-Matic Baseball game player (still am from time to time.) One of my favorite teams to use was the 1953 season, a season in which Duke hit .336 and hit 42 homeruns. That Dodger team won 105 games and also featured Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson.

Snider was immortalized in the song “Talkin’ Baseball,” which also featured two other Hall of Fame centerfielders who played in New York in the same era, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.

Snider was also known as “The Silver Fox” and “The Duke of Flatbush.” He played in 6 World Series and was an 8-time All Star.

I mentioned St. Louis Cardinal Jim Edmonds as one of the veteran players who was a non-roster invitee to camp this year. Surgery made a comeback highly unlikely for a centerfielder who made some of the most incredible catches we will ever see in baseball. And indeed, the recovery was too difficult and Edmonds retired this weekend.

Edmonds retires with 393 career homeruns and a lifetime .284 average, 14 homeruns and 11 points in average behind Snider.

Just as a note, Snider’s highest year in salary was roughly $50,000 (figures are difficult to confirm prior to 1985) while Edmonds best year was $12,000,000. Edmonds played in two WS and was a 4-time All-Star.

Great to see spring training games start. I thought it odd that the Phillies, in game #3, basically used their regular starting lineup against the Yankees in a loss yesterday. The only exception was that second baseman Chase Utley was out of the lineup. Utley had an MRI which revealed tendinitis in his right knee. Usually, there are at least a couple of scrubs in the mix, particularly so early in the season.

So after three spring-training games here are the top batting leaders…

49 guys are tied with a 1.000 average. These include players with such household surnames as Bard, Cozart, Chisenhall, Denorfia, Jaramillo, Pacheco, d’Arnaud and Sucre.
 
No where to be found in the top 50 are these apparently washed-up players with names like Pujols, Suzuki, Mauer and Jeter.

Of course I jest, but if one from the previous group of roster hopefuls does win a batting title this year, you heard about them here first.

I am back from Las Vegas and my first stage hypnosis show at the Bellagio in Sin City.
No sins were committed during the show (or prior to or after on my part) but I was approached by two young, and very hot, prostitutes at the Hilton (where I stayed) while strolling around after the show.
While I told them I thought it was funny that they were trying to get my attention (money) I still found it oddly flattering. It is one of the horrors of being a year shy of 50 years old since receiving the types of compliments they offered rarely come my way and they are so welcome to hear.

Technically, however, they did not count then either because they were given under false pretence!

About 30 minutes later I saw security escorting them out of the building. I did have half a mind to shout out, “WAIT, THEY ARE WITH ME!” partly because it would have been funny but partly because they were hot…really hot.

Ok, so how did the show go? It went great. I wish I could say that it was one of those shows which make people say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but it was simply a good show. My hosts and their guests had a great time and loved the show (real compliments this time) but it was one of those shows where no one wanted to volunteer at the beginning. Now, keep in mind that the show needs volunteers; I don’t hypnotize myself and do strange things. So it took a little longer for everything to happen, which just made it a “good” show for me.

The best looking girl in the room was one of the stars of the show and, as is usually the case, helps keep the attention and interest at a higher level and somehow, magically, it seems like it’s a better show to those that watch.

But now that I have had a taste of that, I want some more. Now I have to get my material in the right hands and land a regular show there. That is, as I have mentioned, my real final goal and destination. I would like a billboard please!

I did see a couple of other hypnosis shows promoted there; one at the Riviera and one at Planet Hollywood. But there are plenty of other places! Its time to push my agency out there to help make something greater happen or find another one that will.

The whole city is very enticing and exciting. I had been there once before for a couple of days and loved it. There was no difference for me this time. I drove down the strip a few times just people watching and building watching and I could see the excitement in people’s faces. It’s catchy, for sure.

But it is the desert out there and hot as hell in the summer. I’m not really a hot-weather fan so if I actually had a choice in the matter I would prefer a winter gig. But who am I kidding? I’d suck it up if I could get that billboard!

Go West Young Marsh

When the MLB rosters expand to 40 players from September until the end of the regular season, many players will get what is known as a “cup of coffee” in the big show. Some might be players who have toiled in the minor leagues for a long time and many are younger players all getting their first look at big league action.

For all of those players it represents the achievement of a goal – to make it to the Majors. Most will only have a limited amount of time at that level and some will go to have successful careers, but anyone who does make it can always say that they played Major League Baseball.

Entertainers also have their “major leagues.” Atlantic City, Branson, Nashville are a few of note. Of course, perhaps the majors of the majors for entertainers, at least in my opinion, is Las Vegas.

Tomorrow I get my cup of coffee when I perform my stage hypnosis show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

When I made my career change to the entertainment field (not all that long ago) I set a few major goals for myself.

At the top of list included performing in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. I notched AC last year and tomorrow chalk off Vegas. I was excited about AC, but only 1/10^th as excited as am about Vegas. To me, when I step on stage Friday night it will be just like I am stepping up to bat in Yankee Stadium for the first time.

My next goal is to stay there, or in Atlantic City, and have a regular stint and stay in the starting lineup, so to speak.

But regardless of whether I return to Vegas or Atlantic City again, I can say that I was fortunate enough and worked hard enough to see my dream become a reality.

I have been a little busy the past two days with shows. Tuesday night was at George Washington University in DC. The girl that hired me there was one of those people who believed that she could never be hypnotized because she was a “control freak.”

It is always even funnier to see those people become one of the stars of the show.

Yesterday it was up to Red Bank, NJ to do a podcast for Smodcast, a Kevin Smith creation. At least I think it was a Kevin Smith creation (Silent Bob, from Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, etc.)
Brian Quinn, Walt Flanigan (an incredible artist who has drawn for Smith in a few Batman comic book creations) and Bryan Johnson are the three main players in a creation called “Tell ‘em Steve-Dave.”
I’m not sure what the genesis of that name was, but they also had a side-kick who I hypnotized and they teased for about an hour named Ming Chen. It perhaps wasn’t the best of situations and the main three couldn’t become hypnotized yesterday, but there were some pretty funny moments anyway since they were all funny guys.

http://www.smodcasts.com/ is where that will air on Friday, I think. They mentioned a live show that they are going to do at some point and that they would like me to be there for that when it happens.

Time to get some things done to prepare for my trip.

Care for a drink?

Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera was arrested in Florida on suspicion of driving under the influence. Cabrera, 28, has already undergone some sort of treatment for this in the past.

While it doesn’t appear likely that this will jeopardize his career right now, the question that needs to be asked is, “why would anyone jeopardize a career like this anyway?”

It goes to show us just how powerful alcoholism really is for people who have it. For some people, me included over 17 years ago now, drinking somehow is more important than anything else.
 

Speaking from experience I can say emphatically that drinking to me was NEVER more important than ANYTHING else in my life. Yet, my particular actions spoke louder than my words. It is that powerful of an influence for some people that we trick our own selves.

I didn’t have 5 years left on a baseball contract that was going to pay me $106 million dollars over that amount of time though. I have tried to tell myself this morning that the amount of money and that type of career and one stint in a rehab already would have kept me away from drinking any more. But if I were to be honest with myself, I would have to think that being a superstar like Miguel Cabrera might also make me think that I was stronger than a stupid drink.

Thankfully, no one was injured nor was there any accident of any sort in the Cabrera incident. Fans of his can only hope that it won’t take anything more serious than this to get his life and his career back on the proper tracks.

Ok so its 2-20-11. Way early in the season. But I’m picking the Red Sox to go all the way this year. Perhaps they play the Phillies in the WS but this is Boston’s season to lose.
People can babble about the Phillies pitching starting staff all they want but the Sox staff is younger, still quite experienced, and their bullpen is better this year.

Start with a healthy Josh Beckett and add Jon Lester, a lighter John Lackey, Daisuke Matsusaka, and Clay Buchholz and you have a 5 man rotation that is deeper than the Phils. If Jonathan Papelbon returns to closer form, its lights out. But they picked up Bobby Jenks from the Chisox who can close, and Daniel Bard throws about 150 MPH. Tim Wakefield is also still around who can relieve and start for the team.

But the offense is beefed up with Carl Crawford, one of the top ten best players in the league, and Adrian Gonzalez, a free-agent pickup from the Padres who will now have a short porch in right and protection in the lineup. Gonzalez could be a 50-homerun guy in this lineup and playing at Fenway Park.
A healthy Jacoby Ellsbury, former MVP Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis and this team is sickly good.

Major League Baseball has just offered an opportunity called “Dream Job.” Wow, the job entails watching every baseball game in a particular area and blogging and vlogging about the games. What a great job that would be for sure. But are you kidding me? At first glance, I wouldn’t be able to do it because I am contractually obligated throughout the season to perform my hypnosis shows!
The difference is that I LOVE my hypnosis shows too and I wouldn’t jeopardize doing those for anything, because they are fun.
But I am thinking about applying anyway just to see if I can get a call back from them.

2-18-11 The Fights Begin

The fights are now underway for MLB players to stay on, or make their way onto, the 25-man roster that will head to Opening Day 2011.

All teams have a 40-man roster which, if you pay attention to baseball in September of each year, is what the big leagues teams play with from 9-1 until the end of the year.

Naturally being on the 25-man roster is preferable to the 40 but being on the 40 provides some sort of guarantee for you.

At this time of the year, however, the real fights are being waged by those who are not on the 40-man roster. These are fights for some player’s baseball lives. The majority of the competition for roster spots comes from young players recently signed and most likely on their way to minor league camps of the main clubs provided, and I hope this goes without saying, that they play well enough or have made enough progress to head anywhere.

Those players in camp are called “non-roster invitees.” This group also includes veteran players of MLB. Many of them are “journeymen” players; those who are average or below average players who can fill in a specific role because they are versatile. Then there are those who perhaps have even made an impact at some point in time and are trying to either hold on to baseball life or make a valiant return to it.

Here are some of those players whose names stood out to me.

Yankees – Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Freddie Garcia.
Prior had one of baseball’s best arms with the Cubs but it was also one of the most fragile. His best shot is to work his way into a bull pen, much like former teammate of his, Kerry Wood, has done.
Colon and Garcia have had mixed success in the majors. What surprises me is that they are trying to make their way onto the Yankees when it seems obvious that they would have a better shot on a lesser team

Royals – Pedro Feliz
Feliz was a key player for the Phillies in their 2008 season. He was traded to the Astros and then to the Cardinals in 2010 and just bombed. At 36, and nearing the end of his career one might think, he hopes to stay around in Kansas City

Mets – Jason Isringhausen, Boof Bonser

The Mets originally had Jason Isringhausen in their farm system and he was touted as one of their aces of the future. Injuries forced him to the bullpen where he did have a couple of outstanding seasons with the Cardinals before another injury put him on the shelf. He now will try to resurrect his career at 38 for a team in need of some bullpen help.
Boof Bonser just has a cool name.

Reds – Dontrelle Willis
An enigma for sure. As a 20-year old he became an ace of a Florida Marlins staff and looked like a hall of famer. So much for that. The thing about these types of players who show that type of potential is that there is always hope that somehow, someway, it can return and a team can get a re-born star for a real bargain.

Cardinals – Ian Snell, Jim Edmonds
Jim Edmonds is 40 years old and during his time in the majors has made some of the all-time best catches in the outfield that we have ever seen. He also has 393 career homeruns. But Achilles tendon surgery makes his return to the Cardinal outfield a long shot with Matt Holliday, John Jay, Cody Rasmus, and Lance Berkman out there.

I mention Ian Snell since he is from Caesar Rodney HS here in Delaware, where I live. He spent time with the Pirates and the Diamondbacks with below average results. He has a live arm though, that much is for sure, but this is probably a last chance for him at the major league level.

Diamondbacks – Mike Hampton.
Hampton was a former 20-game winner who had great success with the Astros and Mets before basically robbing Colorado of 20 million dollars for two years. He regained form with the Braves for a couple of years before injuries made him an expensive team accessory for 4 years. The D-Backs signed him to a minor-league deal last year.

With these players it’s all about never giving up in life though. Sure, we’re talking about hanging on to playing a game, but it has been their livelihoods for their adult lives. I’m not sure if watching some of these guys try to make teams is inspirational or sad though. My jury is still out there.

Teams have to market their product just like any other business. Marketers are generally creative people and sometimes when they have success they can return huge revenues for companies and organizations.

But I wonder just how creative they have to be and whether it really helps some teams or not. I think that a great general manager and scouting system will do what it takes to get people to buy tickets. They’ll get the right players, make the right deals and hire the best staffs to put a winning team on the field. Team wins, people buy tickets, done.

But if a team isn’t successful at doing that maybe they need to resort to other marketing tricks of the trade. I noticed a couple of these slogans this morning.

Oakland Athletics are now marketing their team with the slogan “Green collar baseball.”
Huh?

The Florida Marlins are using – “Catch our moves.”
And I can see that coming to haunt them anytime they make a key error. “How about catch a ball, now and then ya scrub!”

Washington – Natstown.
Pitiful. They are in real danger of being labeled “Werthless” if the 18 million dollars per year they are paying Jayson Werth to save the team doesn’t work

Pirates – Pride, Passion
Maybe in the 1970’s. But there hasn’t been much to be passionate about for the Pittsburgh fans since then.

But all of the marketing people for all of the other teams just have to sit back and say, “well, we tried but we can’t beat that one,” when they see…

Giants – 2010 World Series Champions

2-17-11 - What an insult!

Rumor has it that the deal offered to Albert Pujols was for roughly 21-22 million per year. I didn't catch how many years.

I wrote last time that Pujols should be the first 30-million dollar player, if anyone does deserve to be a 30-million dollar player anyway.

Turns out that Alex Rodriguez will make 32 million this year but his Yankee contract was for 10 years 275 million in total.

So now lets compare Pujols to Rodriguez for a moment.

A-Rod, even with his steroid admission, is still a first-ballot hall-of-famer in my eyes. He has clearly been one of the top 10 players in baseball since his arrival. He has 613 career homers, over 1800 rbis, and has 300 stolen bases on top of it. He is also 308 hits short of 3000. HOF numbers and I give him my vote if I had one (Barry Bonds too for that matter.)

So if the steroid enhanced A-Rod is worth 32 million this year, how much value could Pujols command? Now its definitely 35 million a year. Probably more for a shorter term as mentioned.

But the real issue here is just how high can the ceiling reach? If Albert got paid 30 million this year that's about $10 per ticket based on a 3-million fan season. That's just for him alone. Sure the Cardinals earn other revenue, but just to simplify it that's a lot of cake. The Cardinals, or any other team, have to pass on these costs, obviously, but how much are we all willing to pay in the long run?

Now that the contract talks are off there is talk that the Cardinals should trade him to get value for him, particularly if they are bound to lose him to free agency at the end of the year. He will probably be the most sought after free agent in history and don't be surprised to see Boston or the Yankees offer him 50 million per year.
But could the Cardinals trade him? I listened to the Cards GM John Mozeliak yesterday and he naturally said that there was no thought of trading him. But he would have to say that anyway.

Who would trade for him? How could anyone really trade for him? Because not only would they have to basically break their minor league system to get him, they would still have to come up with a hefty contract offer on top of it. The debate then continues on about how much is he worth.


Some trivia for you. The Cardinals have been in existence since 1882. They orginally were called the Brown Stockings, then the Browns, and for one year in 1899 the Perfectos. Lay that one on a friend later.

Anyone who might read this from my Facebook page might have a question about me. The answer is...I do alot of things. Variety is the spice of life. Currently I am indeed primarily an entertainer - a comedy hypnotist to be precise. I also teach hypnosis and do some hypnotherapy as well.
I also run a small company called Delaware Sports. It started as a local television show and since 1995 I have done a local sports radio program, a website still around, and a local sports newspaper. We also created a sports festival called the Diamond State Games which still runs a couple of events in June. Delaware Sports itselt is now a sports video production company.

I also do some marketing for businesses on the side.

I only mention this because for some reason I was asked the question a couple of times yesterday. This was just to help a couple of people make sense of some things.

Yes! It's here

I still believe that MLB's Opening Day should be a national holiday. Since it is unofficially the national pasttime, it only makes sense. If anyone were to start a petition to submit to the appropriate congresspeople, I would sign it and promote its existence immediately.

It is still 6 weeks away but the anticipation of that day now starts to build as pitchers and catchers are reporting this week to Arizona and Florida spring training homes for all of the teams.

Early talk is of the Phillies and their pitching rotation. A Phillie hater can only hope for its quick demise and a return to the booing and hissing that is much more fun to watch in Philadelphia sports stadiums and arenas.

I have heard more than a few mention that they believe Cole Hamels is the pitcher on that rotation to outshine them all. Personally it still looks like he is physically incapable of putting up the kind of numbers to fulfill those prophecies. But we'll see what type of talents the Phillies trainers have and if they can help his stamina for a long haul. He certainly will have a huge task ahead of him trying to match Halladay's stamina.

Now the Albert Pujols contract watch is on in full. A Wednesday deadline (which I do believe is tomorrow) has been set by Pujols to negotiate a deal. Albert, off the top of my head, is entering the last year of his current contract and is now about 30 years old.

Pujols, in my opinion, is still baseball's number one player. As such, again in my opinion, he deserves to be the highest paid player in baseball. It is Pujols, perhaps more than any current player, who is feared the most at bat. His numbers, which I won't list here, do speak volumes.

Albert is also a first-class firstbaseman and a saint off the field. While he is not blessed with the amazing speed that would make him a "5-tool" star, the 3 tools (hit for average, hit for power, field) which he does possess, and especially the hitting tools, are what makes him the franchise player he is.

Now, how much is Pujols worth? How much do you think Pujols should get per year? Take EVERYTHING you wish into consideration. Take the fact that he is playing a game. Take the fact that teachers and firemen and policemen only make a fraction of what any current below-average baseball player makes. Consider all of that. How much should he make?

He is apparently seeking a ten-year deal. Now whether that is him, or his agent, or the players union (which his manager Tony Larussa is suggesting it is) that's a long time. It's not without precedent of course, but that would put him at 40 years old.

Ok, lets put it this way- if Jayson Werth is "worth" 18 million dollars a year, Albert Pujols is worth 50 million a year. Is he worth 50 million a year for 10 years? That's a chunk of change boys and girls.

Realistically though I would be shocked if Pujols doesn't become the first 30-million dollar per year man. Then I think he gets a 7-year deal with options for one, two or three more to help satisfy some of those terms for the years portion of the request.

If I am Albert's agent, I pull out a Jayson Werth baseball card and start my negotiation at 50 million per year. My goal would be 50 million per for 5 years, or 40 for 8 years or 30 for the ten years. If they anger me during the talks, I up it to 60 million. I mean really, 18 million for Jayson Werth? What the heck were the Nationals thinking?

Closer

This coming week we will see pitchers and catchers report to Florida and Arizona to begin spring training. Its time of year all of us baseball fans wait to have happen.

We can then start to follow our teams and try to figure out how our pitching rotation looks and start to project our lineups and guess which rookie might break camp with a shot of making the opening day roster.

The Phillies have to be one of the more excited teams to start the season with their much ballyhooed starting rotation. Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels do make as formidable a foursome as there is. Only Hamels is under 30 years old in this quartet. Will age play any factor at all?

I hate the Phillies myself and only wish them doom. But I can no longer say that they suck anymore, which is painful to me. Even though they still are have accumulated more losses than any sports team in the history of the world, they are the team to beat this year.

My pain resides in NYC and inside City Field with Los Mets. A horrible offseason was made horrible by the simple fact that the owners, Fred and Jeff Wilpon, invested millions of dollars with Bernie Madoff and lost millions of dollars.

Their new general manager, Sandy Alderson, found out after he took the job that part of the team was going to be up for sale. This was great news for Met fans who are unhappy with the current ownership but gives Alderson some room for pause now.

Most Met fans ears perked up when Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban expressed interest in buying a part of the Mets. And this was good news for me to hear also. Love him or hate him, he brings energy with him and this franchise needs that and an infusion of cash to right its ship before its talent core is too old.

So the last time I wrote I wrote about Clint Dantinne, a friend of mine, and his planned incredible journey around the country selling his business idea. I mentioned that I know Clint will be successful at what he does even before he announced these plans.

The reason for this I have found to be quite simple. People literally have to have vision when they attempt to reach a goal. They must be able to see it in their minds eye well before it ever happens.

Something amazing happens when someone can paint that picture of their own success in their minds....their bodies tend to follow.

It's beyond my pay grade to explain why. But I can tell you that I have had that same experience in my life.

There are a few projects that I started that I was able to see happen successfully in mind well before they happened. I'm not talking about some sort of clairvoyance here, just a picture that I could see.

Here are a few examples. I launched a local sports newspaper some years ago. When I was working on the project I saw in my mind my paper sitting next to our local major paper on the newsstands. Six months later, it was indeed sitting right there.
Sadly, I didn’t see myself running to the bank with lots of money from some sort of financial success though!

When I started the Diamond State Games here in Delaware, I remember standing on the field at Franklin Field in Philadelphia at the Penn Relays prior to the DSG launch. As I watching the crowd in the stands I saw in mind a full gymnasium there to watch what I had created.
A few years later I indeed saw a filled-to-capacity gym watching our Jiu-Jitsu competition.

When I started my stage hypnosis career I saw myself doing shows in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. I did my first one in AC a year and a half ago and will do my first Las Vegas show in a couple of weeks.

Keep in mind that having a goal of doing these things is much different from seeing them in ones mind. Every entertainer would have a goal of something similar to that. I saw it in my mind. The actions that I took seemed to then follow a certain path to get there. Again, I don’t fully understand that process at all.

I can actually help people with some of that. Hypnosis is sometimes miraculous in how it unlocks the power of the human mind. Having been introduced to it as a kid I had a jump start but it’s never too late to apply the techniques that I can offer.

That’s all for now.