Monday, February 05, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Cy Buker BRO b. 1919, played 1945
John Gaddy BRO b. 1914, played 1938, d. 1966-05-03
Don Hoak BRO b. 1928, played 1954-1955, All-Star: 1957, d. 1969-10-09. The Dodgers' starting third baseman in 1954, he shared time with Jackie Robinson at the hot corner in 1955 before being traded to the Cubs in December of that year. After a season of struggle, he joined the Reds, and hit well for two years, making the All Star team in 1957, and later becoming the Pirates' starting third baseman for four years. After Robinson retired following the 1956 season, the Dodgers relied on a revolving door at third until Jim Gilliam claimed the position as his own, starting in 1959.
Joe Hutcheson BRO b. 1905, played 1933, d. 1993-02-23
Barry Raziano CAL b. 1947, played 1974
Lee Thomas LAA b. 1936, played 1961-1964, All-Star: 1962. A Top 100 Angel, the right fielder/first baseman missed being an original Angel by only a few months; he was nicknamed "Mad Dog" because of his temper. He tied the major league record for hits in a doubleheader, with eight.
Broadcast Networks Put The Squeeze On Cable
Local broadcasters are now demanding payment for their feeds ($) according to the Wall Street Journal. This was offlimits previous to a 1992 law passed by Congress that gave the broadcasters the right to negotiate for payment from the cable companies. But this law generally resulted in swaps; for instance, cable networks agreed to carry ESPN for free in exchange for picking up all of ABC's local affiliates.Now the TV networks are getting bolder, hurt by big declines in their audiences, and demanding money from the cable companies.
"We're going to get paid," [CBS Chief Executive Leslie] Moonves recently told analysts at a Citigroup Inc. investor conference. "It will materially affect our numbers." He noted that last year Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to pay CBS about $10 million for carriage on the phone company's new TV system, and said CBS is currently in payment negotiations with three small cable operators. Mr. Moonves will take on cable behemoths such as Comcast as contracts expire in the next few years, he said. By 2009, Mr. Moonves said, cable fees could total "hopefully hundreds of millions" of dollars just for his company -- a far more optimistic assessment than the Kagan [Research] forecast [of station owners collectively collecting $400 million from cable operators].The article noted that in a dispute between Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. and cable operator Mediacom Communications Corp., Sinclair fired off a letter that would have terminated access on November 30, 2006, just as Mediacom was preparing to sell $300 million in bonds. "How will it feel to not have the Super Bowl in February?" asked Sinclair CEO David Smith.
It's hard to see how this plays out for baseball, but it does make you wonder whether some games might get blacked out regionally because of tiffs over payment.
How Frank Sinatra Missed Bobby Thomson's Big Homer
It was like this:Warner: Frank Sinatra was at the game with Jackie Gleason and saloonkeeper Toots Shor, but he never saw the homer. What happened?Prager: Gleason threw up on Sinatra's shoes just as Thomson swung. Sinatra looked down and missed the home run.
: 2/06/2007 08:56:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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