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Tale of two cities: Kansas City vs. Oakland

3/27/2020

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​If there is a silver lining to safer-at-home sanctions, it is that I get to read more — even more than usual, if you can believe that. I’ve spent the past week trying to finish several books that have been in various rooms, and now I can write a few reviews.

Let’s start with a book from last fall by Matthew C. Ehrlich, a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ehrlich takes a look at the rivalry between the cities of Kansas City and Oakland, particularly in sports, in his latest book, Kansas City vs. Oakland: The Bitter Sports Rivalry that Defined an Era (University of Illinois Press; paperback; $19.95; 240 pages).

The rivalry between Kansas City and Oakland was one of pro football’s best during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Both teams had wide-open offenses bolstered by hard-hitting defenses.

The Chiefs were the first American Football League representative in the Super Bowl, and Oakland followed suit the following season. Both teams lost to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers, but the Chiefs would return to stun the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. The Raiders were 1-2 in AFL title games and 1-5 in AFC Championship Games through the 1970s, winning Super Bowl XI.

In baseball, the two cities shared a special dislike. Kansas City felt like a jilted lover after the Athletics, who had been mediocre for a dozen years, fled west to Oakland after the 1967 season and then won three straight World Series titles from 1972 to 1974. Then the expansion Royals, who debuted in 1969, challenged the A’s for supremacy in the American League West during the mid-1970s, with Kansas City eventually gaining the upper hand.
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Both cities carried a chip on their shoulders, and an inferiority complex to boot. Like their teams, Kansas City and Oakland wanted to be taken seriously, and civic leaders believed sports was the first step toward legitimacy. So did the sports editors of the newspapers in both cities, who pushed hard to gain franchises. In particular, Joe McGuff of The Kansas City Star was instrumental in securing the expansion Royals after the Athletics headed west.

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​As Ehrlich notes, both cities had a lot to overcome.

“For Oakland, the problem always had been that it was not San Francisco,” Ehrlich writes. Kansas City, meanwhile, desperately wanted to shed the image of being a cow town with “corn-fed girls and good ole boys.”
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Kansas City vs. Oakland is a scholarly work, with excellent research and detailed notes. There are five chapters and a conclusion — the actual text is 180 pages long, but the notes cover an additional 41 pages — but Ehrlich packs a lot of information into his work. Being a scholar, Ehrlich uses his introduction like a syllabus, to tell the reader what to expect.

The book might be scholarly, but the prose is not stuffy. Ehrlich does not talk down to his audience and shows his sports knowledge. He enjoys football and baseball and has ties to Kansas City, where he grew up. His father was an urban historian, who in 1979 published an architectural history of Kansas City.

Ehrlich knows media, working in radio while he was in college. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1983 from the University of Missouri and earned his master’s at the University of Kansas in 1987.

For his 1991 doctorate at Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ehrlich wrote “Competition in Local TV News: Ritual, Enactment, and Ideology.” His published mainstream works since then were also media-based, including Journalism in the Movies in 2005 and with Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest published in 2011. In 2015, Ehrlich teamed with University of Southern California journalism professor Joe Saltzman to produce Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture. This is a living document, as there is an online database connected with this work that references more than 90,000 items about journalists, news media and public relations professionals.

Ehrlich notes that Kansas City vs. Oakland “broadly addresses” the rivalry between the two cities from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. So while sports are a starting point, it is not the total focus of Ehrlich’s work. The time frame of this book also was a time of sweeping social and political change.

Racism was a national issue during the 1960s and ’70s, and both Kansas City and Oakland struggled. Kansas City experienced “white flight” to the suburbs as the racial makeup of the inner city changed. In the words of one Kansas City sportswriter, Ehrlich writes, going to old Municipal Stadium was viewed as a place where fans could end up “with missing teeth and missing pocketbooks.”

In Oakland, a citizens group tried to organize a three-day boycott of the city’s schools in 1966, Ehrlich writes. The protest, aimed to expose the inequitable conditions between the inner city and affluent neighborhoods, would deteriorate into violence.

Both cities would construct gleaming new stadiums that were situated in the suburbs, making it difficult for minorities to attend. Some disgruntled citizens believed the money could have been better spent on schools and other services, rather than propping up sports franchises.

Ehrlich also focuses on urban regeneration, including Oakland’s ambitious City Center project, touted as “a major urban retailing, office, hotel and public open-space complex” that would create jobs and bring people into the downtown area. Those ambitions were unrealistic, Ehrlich writes.

However, the sports rivalry is what carries Kansas City vs. Oakland, and Ehrlich has some colorful personalities to draw from. Charlie O. Finley had connections to both cities because of the Athletics, once holding Kansas City’s heart “in the palm of his hand” after becoming owner because of his promotional skills — he got the Beatles to add a date to their 1964 tour so they could play in Kansas City, for example.

But Finley’s battles with city leaders over stadium issues quickly soured that relationship. Meanwhile, the Raiders had swagger and oozed toughness from the Oakland Coliseum, from owner Al Davis down to the water boy. Journalist Hunter S. Thompson once said Davis made Darth Vader “look like a wimp” — and he was right. Both teams could have fit the description of Athletics outfielder Joe Rudi, who said his squad looked like “a biker gang on a three-day bender.”

While Lamar Hunt, who owned the Chiefs, was a quiet man who helped found the AFL, his coach, Hank Stram, was ebullient and cocky. Stram was miked up during Super Bowl IV, and his glee after calling a 65 Toss Power Trap running play that allowed Mike Garrett to score a touchdown remains an NFL Films Classic. Hunt had moved the franchise from Dallas to Kansas City after the 1962 season, reasoning (correctly) he would not be able to compete against the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

Other larger than life personalities Ehrlich mentions include George Brett, Reggie Jackson, Willie Lanier, Daryle Lamonica, Ewing Kauffman and John Madden.

Ehrlich, who has been influenced by the writings of Jim Bouton (Ball Four), David Maraniss (When Pride Still Mattered) and McGuff (Winning It All), gives readers a detailed, absorbing look at the teams and players pleased fans in Kansas City and Oakland during a tumultuous decade.

The Chiefs returned to the pinnacle of pro football by winning Super Bowl LIV in February, and the Royals won the World Series in 2015 after a 30-year hiatus. The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas for the 2020 season, but the Athletics remain in Oakland and have made the postseason nine times since 2000. While Oakland has not won a Fall Classic since 1989 — fittingly, defeating the San Francisco Giants — the memories of those glory days of the 1970s remain.

Ehrlich does a nice job of meshing the stories of both cities and their franchises together.

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Former pitcher Dan Haren auctioning off bobblehead collection for charity

3/26/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about former pitcher Dan Haren, who is auctioning off his bobblehead collection to help raise funds for charities during the coronavirus pandemic:

​www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-great-Jimmy-Wynn-dies-at-78-15160284.php?utm_campaign=chron_breakingnews_20200326&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

Gonna get rid of all 300 pic.twitter.com/gWtE5jK46o

— dan haren (@ithrow88) March 26, 2020
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Out of The Park baseball a welcome relief from this era of quarantines

3/26/2020

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If you can’t watch baseball on television or online during this new quarantine era, at least you can simulate it.
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Thank goodness I received a copy of the latest version of Out of the Park baseball last week. Here is a game that can satisfy fans of current players and baseball historians who want to stack their managing talents against the immortals.
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I’ve always enjoyed baseball simulation games. When summer temperatures rose too high when I was a kid growing up in South Florida during the 1970s, my brother and friends would go inside the house and play APBA Baseball, a game that included dice, cards, and situation boards.

It was one of the best games around — and I am sure I will hear from my Strat-O-Matic friends who argue their game was better — but I loved the APBA concept.
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Now, nearly five decades later, computers — and not tabletops or living room floors — are where baseball lovers can scratch their itch for game simulation.
You can buy the game here. It normally sells for $39.99 but was discounted for what would have been the opening week of the baseball season, coming in at $35.99.

The game was conceived by German programmer Markus Heinsohn, whose first edition of OOTP was released in 1999. He has tweaked it through the years and beginning with the release of OOTP 16 in January 2015, the game has had licenses with Major League Baseball, the players association and Minor League Baseball.

This year’s version is called OOTP 21.

Heinsohn said he began playing baseball in 1991 when he was 14.
“My friends and I founded our own club and played organized baseball, and that's how my obsession with the sport began,” Heinsohn told Vice.com in 2016. “I read everything about it that I could find, studied its rules and its history, and watched as many games on TV as possible.”

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The game is easy to learn and allows participants to play the role of general manager, buying, selling and trading players, firing managers or hiring batting, pitching and bench coaches.

During the game, a player can set the game to pitch by pitch, batter by batter, or even click a button to completely simulate a game, finishing it in seconds. Batters have several options — swing away, hit and run, run and hit, take a pitch, while pitchers can hold runners, throw pitchouts, pitch around a hitter or walk them intentionally.

Lineups have little flame or ice icons next to batters who are playing well or poorly.

Drop-down menus allow the manager to make substitutions, get a pitcher warmed up in the bullpen, check transactions around the league and even take a peek at the league standings.

As a general manager/team owner, you can build your own ballpark, tailoring it to modern or classic looks.
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I played the batter-by-batter version for about 20 games before switching to simulation — the game can take about 20 minutes to play, and with baseball’s long schedule, I wanted to write something about this game before April rolled around.
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Participants can replay the 2019 season or even go back as far as 1871. This year’s game also includes the projected starting lineups for the 2020 season.

Being a baseball history nut and a fan of the old New York Yankees dynasty, I decided to be the manager for the 1927 squad. In real life, the Yankees went 110-44 and won the American League pennant by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics. Then, they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four straight games to win the World Series.

I wondered if I could match the managing genius of Miller Huggins, or prepare a lineup that would allow Babe Ruth to hit 60 home runs while Lou Gehrig added 47.
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OK, so I wasn’t a genius. But I did pilot the Yankees to a 101-53 record and a World Series victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. The Pirates would finish 73-81 in the National League, 23½ game behind St. Louis
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Unlike the real-life ’27 Yankees, who were in first place every day of the season, the squad I managed did not sniff first place until Aug. 17. In fact, the team got off to a terrible start, losing a spring training game to the St. Louis Browns before opening the regular season with a 1-4 mark.

After 40 games, the OOTP Yankees were 21-19, eight games behind the Athletics. At the midpoint of the season, New York was 45-32, and even as late as July 27, the Yankees were 60-40 but trailed Philadelphia by 10½ games.
Then, the Yankees caught fire, going 41-13 the rest of the way and clinching the pennant on Sept. 25.

As in real life, the team lived up to its nickname of Murderers’ Row, with Ruth, Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri driving in at least 123 runs (Gehrig led the team with 149). It became clear that while Ruth was going to lead the league in home runs, he would finish nowhere near the 60 he swatted in 1927. The OOTP Ruth would smack 39, while Gehrig and Lazzeri had 24 apiece.

Interestingly, Gehrig’s .373 average in the simulated game matched his actual average in 1927, while Ruth’s .353 was only slightly lower than his .356 in real life. Interesting note: in the game, Ruth did not top the .300 mark in hitting until July 5 — a span of 75 games.

On the mound, Waite Hoyt was the ace in real life (22-7) and in simulation (24-8). Herb Pennock was 19-8 in real life and 17-8 in simulation, while Wilcy Moore, who was 19-7 with 13 saves during the 1927 season, was 10-3 with seven saves in OOTP.

If there had been a Cy Young Award in 1927, the OOTP winner would have been Philadelphia’s Lefty Grove, who went 25-5 with a 2.65 ERA. In 1927, Grove went 20-13 with a .319 ERA.

The World Series, like the regular season, was not a cakewalk for the 1927 Yankees in OOTP. But after splitting the first four games with the Cardinals, New York won the next two by scores of 14-7 and 10-2 to earn the Series title.

I plan to simulate other memorable seasons, managing the 1961 Yankees, 1969 Mets and even the 2019 Tampa Bay Rays. On the masochistic side, I might even try to see if I could win more games than the abysmal 1962 Mets — or the even more abysmal 1899 Cleveland Spiders. I mean, anyone can win a pennant with the 1927 Yankees. It might take a little more strategy and moxie to improve a loser, even by one place in the standings.
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Regardless, Out of the Park baseball is a much-needed diversion during these trying times. The numbers in OOTP are the kind of statistics I want to follow.
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First 1914 Baltimore News Card Of Dave Danforth Uncovered, Headed For Auction

3/18/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about a recently uncovered 1914 Baltimore News card of Dave Danforth, one of baseball's more interesting players in the first 35 years of the 20th century:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/first-1914-baltimore-news-card-of-dave-danforth-uncovered-headed-for-auction/
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Suspects arrested in NH card shop theft

3/15/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about a bungled attempt by four men to rob a card shop in New Hampshire:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/new-hampshire-police-solve-card-shop-theft-from-last-month/
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2019-2020 Panini Obsidian preview

3/9/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily, previewing the 2019-2020 Panini Obsidian basketball set:

​www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/paninis-obsidian-basketball-features-autographs-die-cuts/
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North Carolina man finds rare T210 Old Mill Joe Jackson card

3/5/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about Ben Foster, a North Carolina man who found a long-lost T210 Old Mill card of Joe Jackson from 1910 among his father's effects.

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/north-carolina-man-finds-rare-t210-old-mill-card-of-shoeless-joe-jackson/
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Preview: 2019-2020 Panini Noir Basketball

3/4/2020

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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily previewing the 2020 Panini Noir basketball set:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/2019-2020-panini-noir-basketball-preview/
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Panini settles with Pennsylvania man over trademark infringement claims

3/4/2020

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Here's  story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about a legal settlement between Panini America and a Pennsylvania man accused of violating trademark laws:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/panini-settles-with-pennsylvania-man-over-rated-rookie-trademark-infringement-case/
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    I love to blog about sports books and give my opinion. Baseball books are my favorites, but I read and review all kinds of books.

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