Thoughts on the Chicago Cubs and other topics in baseball. E-mail Tom at: tomsmithcubs@ hotmail.com

 
O'BRIEN POSSIBLE NEW TV VOICE: SCOTTSDALE -- According to today's Chicago Tribune, Dave O'Brien of ESPN is the leading contender for the Cubs television broadcasting job. I am not enthused about reading this news. Cubs fans are use to personalities in the booth who make you want to watch the game and listen to the broadcast. Do not expect that to continue with O'Brien. O'Brien's broadcasting style is to be a milquetoast presence in the booth. O'Brien is the baseball broadcasting equivalent of elevator music. You know it is there, you are not sure why, but you just wish it would go away and be replaced with something mildly interesting. Maybe O'Brien's work on ESPN forces him to be a milquetoast announcer because it is national televison. Maybe O'Brien will develop a personality on Cubs games, but I doubt it. O'Brien has been around for a while and I doubt he is going to change his style much. Reading he is from Boston gives a clue as to why he is the way he is. Many Boston area native broadcasters have a stoic style which must be popular there but I find very dull. To get O'Brien, WGN and the Cubs will probably have to overspend on an announcer again. More bad business by Tribune Company. The Cubs could have kept the popular Chip Caray-Steve Stone team together for less money but decided to let them leave so Tribune Company can overspend on a dull broadcaster and an analyst with little of a Cubs past.

posted by Thomas at 6:31 AM

 
BRENLY NEW ANALYST: SCOTTSDALE -- I have nothing against Bob Brenly being hired as the Cubs television analyst. Brenly has been a good analyst on Fox and I am sure he will do a good job on Cubs games. What is annoying is apparently Tribune Company (full disclosure: I am a Tribune Company stockholder) will pay Brenly considerably more than they did to Steve Stone. Bluntly, this is no way to run a company. The Cubs had a wildly popular broadcaster in Stone, and they let a bunch of whiny losers treat him like dirt and did little to stop it. Stone rightly decided he did not need to put up with this garbage and quit. So then the Cubs needed to scramble and had to overpay for a big name analyst whose only Cubs tie is being a radio broadcaster for the team for two years in 1990 and 1991.

posted by Thomas at 5:27 PM

 
THE STANKY-BACKMAN CONNECTION: SCOTTSDALE -- As you know by now on Monday the Arizona Diamondbacks hired Wally Backman to be their new manager. On Friday the Diamondbacks fired him after negative information about his past came out. Backman's reign in Arizona actually lasted longer than Eddie Stanky did managing the Texas Rangers. On June 22, 1977 Eddie Stanky was named the new manager of the Texas Rangers. Stanky managed one game (a 10-8 win over the Minnesota Twins), and quit. Some interesting connections between that game and Wally Backman exist. Claudell Washington played left field for the Rangers in that game and played right field for the New York Mets on September 2, 1980 (New York Mets at Los Angeles) when Wally Backman made his major league debut with the Mets. Mike Cubbage played third base for Minnesota in the game and was teammates with Backman on the 1981 New York Mets. Mike Marshall pitched for Texas in the game and was on the 1981 New York Mets but not at the same time as Backman. Dave Goltz was a pitcher on the 1977 Minnesota Twins, but did not pitch in the game. In 1980 in Backman's major league debut Goltz was the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Backman singled to center in the second inning and struck out in the fifth against Goltz.

posted by Thomas at 1:23 PM