Long Beach...

[felipe]

Long Beach revisited

It had been a long time since I had started my Long Beach odyssey, meeting with the Surfers, and examining what made them, them.

I had become distracted by the running of my own club, the Phoenix Talon, and attending to our own good fortunes. I was busy, sorting out the wheat from the chaff, and making complex roster decisions for no good reason, endlessly tinkering…endlessly failing.

But no matter how bad it gets, every morning I wake up, and I look at the standings, and I think, Thank God, I don’t have Long Beach.

It’s not so much that I wouldn’t want to live there, (which is part), or their decidedly awful logo, (which to be fair, would weigh heavy on me), or their circus act uniforms, (dreadful, just dreadful), or their awful history, or their pitiful roster, or their dearth of prospects, or…

But, I feel it’s now the right time to pick up their story once more. And what better place to begin than Atlantic City?

I walked down the famed boardwalk to meet up with long, lean ropey muscled Darren Hall; a Surfer for all of eleven heady days this May just past.

Q) Hi, Darren, thanks for meeting me, life seems to have turned around for you since you left Long Beach…

A) Yeah, things have been great here in Atlantic City, I love playing for the Gamblers, we’re in a pennant race, every game counts, love it!

Q) And you’ve found a lot of success… 15 scoreless innings so far, already! You only got here 5 weeks ago!

A) Yeah, well, when you know your role, it’s easy to just go out and perform, you don’t have to think or worry, just go out and get results…and that’s what I’m doing.

Q) Especially after that injury last year in Montreal…did you ever worry about your future? I mean you’re 36 years old! I didn’t even offer you a contract, and I offer everyone a contract!

A)Well…to be honest...you have a lot of better options in Phoenix, than say…picking a team completely at random….Long Beach does. So perhaps I wasn’t the best fit for you at that time. But, I don’t think you’d hesitate to sign me now!

Q)Ahhh….I think we’ll wait and see how the rest of your season goes….anyways, that was a heck of an off season for you. Thrity-five years old, coming off a big injury, and yet New Orleans gives you a 1.8 million dollar contract in March. And then release you eleven days later…

A)Bizarre, isn’t it? Best part, was, I didn’t even have to go to Spring Training to collect a nice, fat pay cheque.

Q)Stranger still, Long Beach then comes calling…

A)Yeah, they started calling right after that New Orleans mess. Me, I’m thinking, Long Beach? Forget it, I’ve already made a pile this year, I’m not living in that cess pool.

Q)But they kept calling…

A)Exactly, May rolls around, and I’m watching the league on TV, and I’m starting to reconsider…I’m missing all the hanging out and hijinks of an MBBA clubhouse, and my old lady keeps bugging me to do stuff around the house…I tell her to go hire a gardener and leave me alone, but she never does…now she’s starting to say it’d be nice to have little feet pitter-pattering around the house, and I’m like…hmmm…Long Beach don’t sound so bad!

Q)May 12 comes, and you sign a big fat cheque for 1.7 million to play for Long Beach.

A)Yeah, and I get there, and it’s like total disconnect! The manager doesn’t know who I am or why I’m there, and man, that team is bad! I look around a little, and then head down to the diamond and they can’t even play catch! It was dangerous down at field level! Errant throws everywhere! I put on a batting helmet, and scrunched down in a corner of the dugout to be safe.

Q)So what happens next?

A)My bonus cheque and my first pay cheque bounce! So I go find the owner, and he’s like, yeah, we can’t afford you. And I’m like, whatever, and call my agent. Then he calls me back and says, don’t worry, you’ll get your money, and by the way, you’re no longer a Surfer…and I’m all, okay, and I grab a flight home!

Q)Where you stayed until Atlantic City called?

A)Yeah…but by now the old lady’s pregnant and I got a million splinters and a new fence up. It’s time! I jumped at the 500k just to get out of there!

I said my good-byes to Darren, and hopped on a flight to Michigan, to meet my next victim err…Surfer.

You wouldn’t expect to find an ex-major leaguer living in Ysplanti, Michigan; but that’s exactly what I found.
http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _2301.html

Thirty-two year-old former MBBA star Steve Rossi, met me at his parent’s house, a typical suburban bungalow on a typical tree-lined suburban street. Rossi had just recently been released by the Surfers, on July 11, after winning his arbitration case for 450k in the winter. Rossi still looks capable of ripping of ripping the cover off a ball, as he did 7 times this year, 115 for his career.

Q)It must have been quite a shock…getting released mid-season by the worst team in baseball…while earning slightly over the league minimum…

A)Is that a question?

Q)Well…I guess the obvious question, is…what happened? Was it your awful fielding?

A)They never really said anything to me, they just posted a pink slip in my locker…That’s one fucked franchise, pardon my language, I’m not even sure how many owners they’ve had there, since I came over…I couldn’t even tell you who’s running things now…and I only got there, because at some point there must have been a monkey loose in the front office capable of checking the waiver wire…worst day of my life…

Q)Yes, April 13, 1998.

A)Just hearing you say that, gives me the shivers…

Q)And if I say, Jose Acaron? http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _1271.html

A)Yeah, he’s the reason I got shipped out…I don’t think they’d make that move again, that kid can’t lift my bat.

Q)Maybe, but you got to admit, your fielding…

A)Look…I never said I was a third baseman, they just put me there. Do I look like a third baseman? I’m quite good at first.

Q)Yeah, so are most chairs, pylons, fridges…anyways, what if I say July 11 2000?

A)That’s hard...it’s never easy to be out of a contract…I’ve never experienced it before…but getting released was also like getting a new lease on life…finally, I don’t have to go to Long Beach, anymore…but, then there’s the uncertainty…what if my career is finished?

Q)Yeah, it has to hurt a little. Hey…Did you know that they signed Scottie Cooper to a two million, two year extension the day they released you? http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _2671.html

A)No…no, I didn’t…

Q)Then they signed a thirty-seven year-old as cover for third, Lorenzo Picou, in August. http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _1771.html
You might remember him from his Des Moines days…in 1996….Apparently he has difficulty walking up to the plate without a walker, let alone playing in the field…

A)hmm….yeah, but…uh…Jason Faucette looks ok, he’s probably just about ready for the show…http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _2099.html

Q)Are you kiddin me? Faucette? He can’t carry your bat! Man! It must really suck to be released by the worst team in all of baseball. ..(several years running)…how do you get on with your life? I’d be balled up on the floor of my shower, crying my eyes out…

A)Well…I just look at guys like Tim Scott for inspiration…he was released the very same day I was. Now, he’s pitching for a pennant contender, the Atlantic City Gamblers…http://baseballretrospective.com/MBBA/O ... _2829.html

What the?

Another player deemed not good enough for the worst team in baseball, not only playing, but thriving, for a pennant contender? The same pennant contender? What were the odds? I bid Rossi, adieu, and pondered the unthinkable.

I was gazing into the once clear waters of the MBBA depths…but, were they getting decidedly murky. What far-reaching and life-altering conspiracy had I stumbled upon?

To be continued

[7teen]

It stings a bit when you bash the LB history... Poor Moonie. This is all my fault!

[recte44]

Classic stuff again, Stu.

[aaronweiner]

You ever think about doing stand-up? You're actually funny.

[jcrmoon42]

Truly funny stuff. So glad you aimed your humor at my team. Most enjoyable part of this entire season!

Funny enough for me to almost not want to explain the moves you mocked.

Darren Hall - I have no recollection of what happened with him. I don't think he was a DFA release, and I don't know why I would have released him. I had transactions in the days around his release that I made personally. So, I don't think I missed a sim. I just don't get that one. Weird.

Steve Rossi - It must be the glove. I didn't need him at first base, and my overall team fielding was atrocious. I decided that the potential impact he was having on some of my young pitching didn't justify any extra offense he might provide. It wasn't like helping us win games was doing us any good, and he wasn't interested in re-signing with us anyway. Scott Cooper is a reasonable bat off the bench who has hit decently for us and wanted to stick around, and Lorenzo Picou wasn't signed as a replacement. Pretty obvious since he is in Rookie ball. He was signed for a Fan Interest boost.

Tim Scott - An ERA of 6.00 for the last three years hadn't endeared him to me, and he wasn't interested in re-signing anyway. His loss!

The only two things I take issue with are the knock on the farm system, now rated third in the MBBA after a strong draft and some good trades for prospects, and the knock on my logo. Most anyone else would be welcome to knock on my logo, but what the hell is that Phoenix logo anyway?

[KCCardinalFan]

With all due respect everyone knows that Carolina has the worst logo in the league....sorry Ben. It used to be Greenville, but in what can be called his best move as GM, Jeff completely revamped their image.

[7teen]

I always liked the old Surfers logo...

[LambeauLeap]

With all due respect everyone knows that Carolina has the worst logo in the league....sorry Ben. It used to be Greenville, but in what can be called his best move as GM, Jeff completely revamped their image.

SHould have gone back to be the Carolina Coastals. Still have a hat I made in HS when they were my franchise in the pre-internet days.

Worst team name from that era: Seattle Schoolers. WTF is a Schooler. Not sure what was in my head. Was I thinking Schooner?

Carolina Buttcrack??
Carolina Crack-whores??
Carolina Crack-in-the-Ground?

[jcrmoon42]

I always liked the old Surfers logo...

Couldn't stand that thing! But I'm not a drinker and didn't enjoy the image.

Actually, I made my current logo on MS Paint YEARS ago for the GBC Deuce. That's why I'm partial to it.

[7teen]

I always liked the old Surfers logo...

Couldn't stand that thing! But I'm not a drinker and didn't enjoy the image.

Actually, I made my current logo on MS Paint YEARS ago for the GBC Deuce. That's why I'm partial to it.

I'm not a drinker either. In fact I have drank a drop of alcohol in my life, I just thought the little surfer dude was cool.

[jcrmoon42]

I always liked the old Surfers logo...

Couldn't stand that thing! But I'm not a drinker and didn't enjoy the image.

Actually, I made my current logo on MS Paint YEARS ago for the GBC Deuce. That's why I'm partial to it.

I'm not a drinker either. In fact I have drank a drop of alcohol in my life, I just thought the little surfer dude was cool.

He just had "loser" written all over him! Perhaps that was appropriate!

[felipe]

I like your new logo better too...but praising the revamped farm system and improved logo...didn't really fit in...call it editorial license!

[jcrmoon42]

That's okay. Praise for anything related to Long Beach would feel just...wrong, I guess. I expect this team to be insulted regularly even when we finally get good again.