The True Golden Age of Baseball, 1988-1992

I just read this great piece by Bill Simmons in ESPN The Magazine. Simmons challenges prior assumptions about baseball's "Golden Age" arguing that the five-year period, 1988-1992, was the most pure in baseball history.

Simmons' reasoning is before 1959 there were no or too few minority players in the major leagues to constitute any era known as the Golden Age. Baseball between 1960 and 1987 had too much tinkering: lowering the mound, addition of the designated hitter, a "juiced" ball in '87. The years following 1993 will inevitably be known to later generations as the "Steroid Era" - statistically pure, the game was not. I think this is coming to an end but we still don't know about the full effects of HGH on the game.

This leaves 1988-1992. An era that is close to my heart and probably why I like Simmons' article so much. This was the era when I really fell in love with the game. I had watched baseball before, emulated batting stances, collected cards, but really didn't fully understand the game until this time frame. Being a bit of a baseball history nut, I had always thought of the 1950s and 60s as a golden age in the game's past. You know... scenes of Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. Simmons' Golden Age, however, places the scrappy 1990 Reds in the center of the age and credits Sid Bream's slide to win the 1992 NLCS as "the last great, completely untainted I-can't-come-up-with-a-single-way-to-denigrate-this baseball moment." BREAM!!!

Simmons goes into much more detail so be sure to read the full article.

Pittsburgh trip filled with bits of history

A view of PNC Park from the Renaissance Hotel. Normally I can't afford this kind of indulgence but I got an awesome deal on Hotwire.com. I thought we'd look and feel a little out of place staying at the hotel but there were A LOT of baseball fans there, although the majority of them were Tigers fans.

You can't beat the view of the best ballpark in the majors and the Roberto Clemente bridge. The picture above was taken on Friday, June 12 just before walking over to the ballpark. You can see folks already on the Clemente Bridge. We could also see the Pirates taking BP from our hotel room window which was very cool. Notice the "Let's Go Penguins" sign on the bridge. This was the night of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Following the Pirates game we watched the third period of the final game from the hotel bar. A nice mixture of Pens and Red Wings fans were there.

A picture of me getting Andy Van Slyke's autograph before the game.

The Parrot playing around with Curtis Granderson. I know being an old-school baseball guy I should be appalled by mascots, but I love watching the Parrot. He/She is one heck of an entertainer.

We took a tour of PNC Park on Saturday morning, an excellent experience. Although I've been to the park numerous times, I had never taking the tour. Our tour guide, Jim, was great! He was a retired teacher and very passionate about what he was doing. I was very impressed with how the Pirates have incorporated their history into the facilities. Quotes by Roberto Clemente (above) and a list of past Pirates batting champions in the cages serve to give the players a since of history and pride.

Afterwards we walked across the street to The Pittsburgh Fan and bought Stanley Cup Champions T-shirts.

We went to lunch at Primanti Brothers on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers' Nate Robertson and Adam Everett came in to eat. After eating they signed autographs for some kids and took pictures with a couple of families of Tigers fans in the restaurant. Very cool!

Another tribute to the proud winning history of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before Saturday night's game the team invited members of the 1960, 1971, and 1979 championship teams to throw out the first pitches. Current Pirates players were catching - a symbolic connection between past and present.
Sunset from the upper deck on Saturday. Just one reason why this is the best ballpark out there.
Sunday afternoon was turn-back-the-clock day at PNC Park. The team was commemorating the 1909 World Series between Honus Wagner's Pirates and Ty Cobb's Tigers. Teams wore replica uniforms from 1909 and the electronic scoreboards were turned off for the game. The jumbotron (below) was made to look like an old hand operated scoreboard. It was a great atmosphere with the PA announcer giving only very basic player introductions and scoring changes. Also notice there was no 'h' at the end of the city's name in 1909.

Fans could meet the players in various places around the ballpark before the game. Here is a young fan getting his picture taken with Andrew McCutchen and Jesse Chavez. It was great to see the players and the throwback uniforms up close. I had my picture taken with my favorite Pirate, Jack Wilson. I guess this just comes with the territory of being a Pirates fan but I kept thinking that Jack would probably be traded before the season is over. I thought the same thing about Freddy Sanchez when the team announced earlier in the series that Sanchez #12 jersey T-shirts were going to be on sale at the gift shops all weekend.

Players warming up before Sunday's game. If the teams were going for complete historical accuracy, the players wouldn't have been wearing numbers on uniforms in 1909 - Raise the Jolly Roger picked up on this too. They also wouldn't have been carrying High School Musical backpacks out to the bullpen (see the player walking next to #29 Nate Robertson).

Also if we were going for complete historical accuracy, guys like Dontrelle Willis and Andrew McCutchen would not have been allowed on the field. On this note, I'll be at the Civil Rights game in Cincinnati this coming weekend.

One more piece of history, Sidney Crosby carrying the Stanley Cup. Here is a video of the Penguins' introductions concluding with Bill Guerin's ceremonial first pitch [hat tip to Mondesi's House]. FYI, the initial first pitch was thrown by the great-granddaughter of Honus Wagner.