2011 Phungo Cards #45 Poe

I imagine the Superbowl will capture about 50% of my attention tonight. Due to proximity, I have a lot of friends that are Ravens fans and would like to see them win, but I won't be heartbroken regardless of the outcome.

2011 Phungo #45 Poe

This is a pix of the Ravens Mascot Poe at Camden Yards in 2010.  John Harbaugh threw out the first pitch that night.


As noted above I am not real invested in tonight's game but I do hope it's a good and or memorable one.

Either way a week from now we will be talking about spring training.

Moneyball 2011 - Michael Lews and Michael Oher

2009 Topps #342 Michael Oher RC (click to enlarge)

There is likely no baseball card for Michael Lewis, in lieu of that I am featuring this Baltimore Ravens Rookie Card of Michael Oher which was featured here in 2009.  Oher is a Tackle for the Ravens and the subject of the Film adaptation of one of Lewis' other books "The Blind Side"

I find it odd timing for the film version of "Moneyball" to surface.  The book is from 2003, the Baseball Draft featured in the book occurred over 9 years ago.  I think at least part of the reason the movie finally got done was the success of "The Blind Side" in 2009.

Michael Lewis is a gifted writer, and  have read several of his books - many of which are related to business and finanacial tycoons.  He takes what otherwise may be a dry subject and adds interesting and funny insights and anectdotes.

  

While Moneyball is a non-fiction work, inevitably part of the story and the Moneyball version of Billy Beane is the creation of Michael Lewis.  One can give you straight facts, but the author still chooses which facts to keep and which to ignore and Billy Beane comes out of Moneyball pretty favorably - the same cannot be said of field Manager Art Howe.  The Paul DePodesta character goes by a different name in the film version of the story as DePodesta would not sign off on the veracity of the script. 

Michael Oher

The Blind Side was a box office success and can currently be seen on cable movie channels.  Micheal Oher has also proven to be a success at the NFL level as well starting all 32 games for the Baltimore Ravens in his first two seasons.  Oher has written (w/ Don Yaeger) his own Biography "I Beat the Odds".  

Moneyball 2011

Past Moneyball 2011 related posts:

Billy Beane

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Are you Ready for Some Football??

I had already picked up more then enough 2010 Topps football, so I found a cheap pack of 08 UD Football to bust for the Opening game between the Saints and Vikings. Hopefully the outcome will be a little different this time around.

2008 UD Football
12 Cards per Pack
$1.68 (incl PA Sales Tax)


#118 Drew Brees
#70 Brett Favre

Got both QBs from tonight's game although Annoying Brett Favre is in the wrong uni.

#253 John David Booty
#211 Caleb Campbell
#SQ4 Starquest Ben Roethlisberger
#14 Steve McNair

Booty was my only Viking. I didn't get any Eagles. Did get the McNair card which brings a pang of sadness to me. Caleb Campbell is still with the Lions and made their practice squad. Ben R is of course suspended.

Go Vikings!

2010 06 11 & 12 Phungo Road Trip Mets @ Orioles

2010 06 12 Brian Matusz v Jose Reyes (click to enlarge)

The Phils are in Boston this weekend, so team Phungo took part in a boys weekend. I headed down to Baltimore to meet some of my friends from college and watch the Orioles pound on those stinkin Mets.

Unfortunately things didn't go as planned.

The Mets junkball tandem of R A Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi held the Orioles to 2 runs in 2 game Friday and Saturday Night. Despite the games not going my way It was a great to get out to some games with some old friends and enjoy a couple of nights at the yard.

Shots:



Nick Markakis (4-7 w/ 3 doubles between the 2 games - had the O's only RBI)


Francisco Rodriquez (2 saves, 2 ip, 1 Hi, 3ks - struck out the side on Friday Night)



Poe

The Orioles had Ravens night on Saturday - Which featured the Ravens Mascot Poe. There were also several other Baltimore Ravens attractions at the park. Head Coach (and former Philadelphia Eagles Assistant) John Harbaugh threw out the first pitch. The Baltimore Ravens band was present and played "Take Me out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch.

Note - Celebrating the cities football team at a baseball game is something I doubt could happen in Philadelphia.



Ravens Cheerleaders!!

And there was one other Attraction from the Football team.

As you can see the Fans in Baltimore are very much looking forward to turning the page and moving on to Football season for more than one reason.

The Ballgames
Friday Mets 5 @ Orioles 1
Saturday Mets 3 @ Orioles 1

Basically the O's looked like the Phillies team I have been watching the last couple of weeks. They simply cannot score. Friday night they left 10 runners on base, plating only one and that was on an RA Dickey Wild Pitch.

The four starters we saw this weekend all pitched well - The Mets were able to win both games by getting a couple of homers and clutch hits.

Quick Hits - Mets Rookie Prospect Ike Davis didn't do anything noteworthy at the plate but he did have his first career stolen base. I am not sure if he is still considered a rookie, but Chris Carter had his first career Home Run on Friday night. Jose Reyes and Jeff Francoeur both recorded Homers on Saturday. Miguel Tejada played a fine 3rd base for the O's on Saturday night making several nice place behind Orioles Starter Brian Matusz. The Orioles young phenom Matt Wieters did not start Saturday - he was 1-4 on Friday night.

RA Dickey is now 4-0 in 5 starts with the Mets.

Phugo Profile - Michael Oher, Michael Lewis and Billy Beane

2009 Topps #342 Michael Oher RC (click to enlarge)

Today the NFL Playoffs will commence. One of the teams I will be rooting for this weekend is the Baltimore Ravens. This years edition of the Ravens will feature at rookie Right Tackle named Michael Oher. As many of you know Oher is feature in the film "the Blind Side". I am sure that Oher will get plenty of coverage from the major networks if the Ravens go deep in the playoffs.

The Blind Side was based off a portion of the book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" by Michael Lewis who many of us Baseball Junkies know as the author of "Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game"

Looking back I am not sure a lot of people got the right message out of Moneyball. As it turns out the A's were largely successful because of their stacked starting rotation of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. This is mentioned in the book, but how the three landed in Oakland is somewhat marginalized in the book. On the other hand Lewis spends an entire chapter on Jeremy Brown who only ever played 5 games for the A's in 2006.

Here is a look at the A's 2002 Draft featured in Moneyball. The top two picks are Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton, both of whom have had pretty good careers albeit not with the A's. In fact the two faced each other in the 2009 World Series and each has a World Series ring (just not with the Athletics). After them the 02 Draft is pretty mediocre. Jonathan Papelbon would have been a good pick had the A's been able to sign him.

In the 02 Draft the Phils picked up Cole Hamels right behind Swisher. Hamels is unmentioned in Moneyball.

A lot of folks took away On Base Percentage as the way to win Baseball games, but that isn't what Moneyball was trying to point out. Lewis and Billy Beane were trying to find out what winning traits and stats that other teams were over and underpaying for. At the time Beane thought Major League Baseball was undervaluing players that got on base. But that has come more into vogue now and perhaps teams are overpaying for OBP - perhaps teams can now win by picking up cheap players that steal bases. It will always be in flux and I am sure a lot of GMs are looking at those numbers as they build there teams during this off-season.

Michael Lewis
Contrary to my analysis of Moneyball above I did enjoy the book as with all the Lewis books I have read including "the New New Thing", "Liars Poker", and "Trail Fever"

For The Collector
The Chrome version of the Michael Oher Card above has sold as high as $4.25 on ebay. His bowman RC has gone for as low as $1.24.

His Autos are going in the $30 to $50 range. An 09 Rookie Threads Letterman (Letter H #d to 30) went on Christmas day for $25.50. That was the cheapest available card auto. Similar letterman autos went as High as $55.00.

One last comment - while researching this I discovered a minor error on the Blind Side (book) wiki page and corrected discrepency. It is the first time I have ever edited a Wikipedia page and it was kind of a thrill.