Bronx, N.Y., July 28, 2002 — Although the aftermath of the American Revolution is often painted a bit unrealistically by our historians, and many bumps and bruises experienced as we went from a band of revolutionaries to a Democratic Republic and a representative democracy are glossed over in favor of positive profiles of our Founding Fathers and the work they did, it is certainly a period in history where the evolution of humans as political animals progressed in a much more positive fashion than it might have. The proof in this statement can be seen in its counterpart on “the Continent.”
So although we were deep into the War for Independence five years after our “Declaration,” five years after the French Revolution (and 208 years ago today) Maximilien Robespierre, and 22 followers that supported him as “head” of the Conmmittee for Public Safety, were facing the voice of the people in a way that election losers in this country never have: They were losing their “heads” at the guillotine.
I was musing on this today after having read of Robespierre in the paper, when I heard John Flaherty intoduced as the starting catcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Part of my Yankee fan experience for years has included a trip to Florida to watch the “baby” Yankees playing innings with the established stars. Yankee spring training headquarters were in Ft. Lauderdale on Florida’s east coast back when I first started this pleasant excursion, and there were no Florida teams in the bigs yet. The Miami and Ft. Lauderdale papers, then, substituted very well for the hometown papers, as the Yanks were covered as if they were the home team. Then the Marlins and Rockies were added, and for a brief time (until the sell-off after the 1997 Series actually), I adopted the Marlins as my “second” team. I clearly remember their first spring as Jeff Conine slowly established himself as a major league player, and Chuck Carr and (briefly soon to be a Yankee) Scott Pose put on a spirited battle over who would serve as the very first Opening Day starting center fielder for the new franchise (a battle that Chuck would eventually win).
In 1996 the Yankees would move their facilities to the Gulf Coast in Tampa, and coincidentally(?), start winning championships. Initially disappointed in this move, we have come to love the west coast of the state now. Even before the Tampa area had their own team, we discovered the joy of seeing games in an area where eight other teams played within an “easy” drive (and five more if you were willing to buck the traffic and head due east into the state’s interior, more easily accessed by air). There are some nice new ballparks and some great old ones, none more fortunately located than Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, where you can sit down the first baseline and watch sailboats drifting in the harbor beyond the left field fence.
So we were excited and delighted when Tampa joined the league in 1998. And it was a short two years later that today’s Flaherty-inspired delightful memory took place, as we watched the Yanks play the Rays at Al Lang. We had just seen the Yanks play the Braves in Legends Field, thrilling, as usual, to all of the quirky little fun things that dominate spring training baseball (where the grounds crew first raked the field to the tune of “YMCA,” by the way). As lefty-hitting Yankee outfield prospect Luke Wilcox came to the plate to pinch hit in the eighth, the loudspeaker played a perfect Star Wars sound bite:
“Use the force, Luke!”
The raucous crowd ate it up, and we were in the mood for some fun two days later on March 13, 2002, in St. Petersburg, when Devil Rays catcher John Flaherty came to bat in the second inning. Although the sparse crowds that dot Tropicana make a much more impressive dent in diminutive Al Lang, they were mildly displeased to see themselves outnumbered by the Yankee fans in the area. (Gerald Williams led off and played center for the Rays that day, btw.)
John was an early Devil Ray success during the 1999 season, hitting .278 with 71 rbi’s, and the Tampa Bay marketing team must have felt they had a player around which they could build some buzz. Just before Andy Pettite (deja vu all over again!) threw his first pitch, the loudspeaker sounded,
“Flash!—da-da!”
from the very camp and funny 1980 movie Flash Gordon, cracking up the entire crowd.
Despite forgoing free agency and signing a three-year, $9 million contract before the 2000 season, John would not have as good a year, though he did hit .261, enough to keep him No. 1 over backup Mike DeFelice. And although injuries and inconsistency have beset him the last few years, the perhaps most unfortunate aspect of his 2000 contract is that he appears to have become lumped with so much money the Rays threw away that year. The aformentioned Gerald Williams is just a small part of the overeater’s pie that Tampa management buried their corporate face (and finances) into for 2000. There was Vinny Castilla, Steve Trachsel, Roberto Hernandez, Wilson Alvarez, Doc Gooden, Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn, Kevin Stocker, and Jose Canseco.
And then as each and every one of those stars (except for the sadly underperforming Vaughn and the injured as usual Alvarez) departed or was banished, by virtue of nothing but that contract (which really isn’t very overpriced by today’s standards), John became sadly lumped with the out-of-towners that not only represented failure on the field, but at the box office and in the coffers as well. And then the biggest shock of all to John’s career came along, with the breakout numbers put up by rookie (and much less expensive) Toby Hall in 2001. The Tampa and St. Petersburg papers this spring all but ignored John, except to wish him luck on his next club (the trade was reportedly imminent in March). And as Hall sadly stumbled so badly this year that the bobblehead doll promotion in his name had to be delayed as he spent a stint in the minors, it never seemed to occur to Devil Rays management that John could partner with Toby in a mentor/furture star tandem that worked so well in the Bronx with Joe Girardi and Jorge Posada a few years back.
Forty years ago today, the first of nine Mariner spacecraft fell into the Atlantic Ocean, but by the time Mariner Nine made its flight we knew a lot more about Mercury, Venus and Mars. On July 28, 1964, Ranger 7 blasted off and sent back the best pictures of the moon’s surface yet. Nine years later, after the lunar landings had become almost routine, Skylab’s second three-man crew took off; and on July 28, 1986 the transcript from the tragically doomed Challenger spacecraft was released. But learning what they can from its failures and embracing its successes, NASA continues to attempt to enlarge humankind’s foothold in “Outer Space.”
Without a transfusion of some very crafty management capable of turning a misguided company around, should there miraculously still be a Tampa Bay major league baseball franchise 40 years from today, we can expect to see them continuing to sign a team one year that they can’t wait to trade away the next. The guillotine approach to franchise development is not working in Tampa Bay. I hope in future they’ll let the lesson of John “Flash” Flaherty guide them to a more succesful game plan.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!