The View from Right Field

Seeing Where the Cubs Played 131 Years Ago

A break from the break.  You might argue it was the ultimate barnstorming trip.  In the offseason of 1888-89, Al Spalding, President and part-owner of the Chicago Cubs (then called the Chicago White Stockings), took the White Stockings and a team of National League All-Stars on an around-the-world tour, to promote baseball and his sporting goods company.  While the two teams stopped literally all over the world¹, the most famous stop was in Egypt, where the two teams played a baseball game in front of the Pyramids and by the Sphinx.

The stop in Cairo resulted in the most iconic photo of the entire trip:

Seeing Where the Cubs Played 131 Years Ago - Update

Following up on my post earlier today (which I somehow dated June 15 by mistake - see above), here is a picture of me at the Sphinx - in my “official” Chicago White Stockings tee shirt.

Break

Off for a couple of weeks.  See you when I get back.

Congratulations, Chiefs Fans. But 50 Still Isn’t 108.

With the Kansas City Chiefs having won their first Super Bowl in 50 years, some people in Chicago are saying, “Big deal.  Fifty isn’t even half of 108.”  Which is true.  But what is interesting is that some of the people making those comments aren’t even fifty themselves.  Which should, in theory, mean that there was no difference for those people between the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl after 50 years and the Cubs winning the World Series after 108.  Or, for that matter, for fans in their mid- 30s, there should be no difference between the Cubs in 2016 and the Pirates, who haven’t won a World Series since 1979, or the Orioles, who haven’t won since 1983.  Except there is.

Because even though there were probably only a couple of Cubs fans in 2016 who were alive in 1908, being a Cubs fan meant that it felt like it had been 108 years.  That is what the media always talked about and what we always read about every time the Cubs made the postseason and it didn’t work out (or when they didn’t even make the postseason).  It was always there.

Uncertainty: The Reason the Economy Isn’t As Good As It Could Be

Donald Trump, like the real estate developer and TV host he was, calls everything the best and the greatest – and other adjectives I can’t come up with right now.  He says this about the economy.  The problem is that it isn’t true, but it could have been.  The 2017 tax reform act was a boost to the economy,¹ as were the cutbacks in regulation by the Trump administration and the end of the constant uncertainty as to what new regulation or interpretation or guidance the Obama administration might come up with next.  Because of these actions by people in the Trump administration, the economy started growing faster than under the Obama administration.

But, in spite of President Trump’s boasts and tweets, the economy hasn’t grown as much as it could have – because President Trump brought in his own brand of uncertainty.  In 2018, President Trump tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”  The American economy doesn’t agree.  While we needed to do something about China’s unfair trade practices, President Trump’s approach of unilateral tariffs, plus China’s retaliation, resulted in higher costs and more uncertainty.  While China might have been hurt, we have been hurt, too.  Uncertainty is a drag on an economy, no matter what else you do.

Solving Climate Change Needs Solutions We Haven’t Invented Yet

Earlier this month, I wrote about getting to carbon-free and suggested that natural gas from fracking and nuclear power were part of the way to get there while putting relatively less carbon into the atmosphere on the way.  Today, I am going to make another suggestion with respect to climate change.  Most of the proposals for addressing climate change and getting to carbon-free are not easy.  In fact, they are downright hard, and they will cause a lot of pain for a lot of people.  It’s not just cutting out the occasional airplane flight or getting rid of plastic straws.  We are talking real impacts on living standards – especially on people who are still hoping to increase theirs. 

If Emanuel Macron had trouble raising gasoline taxes as part of his environmental plan in France, how are people in China and India, etc., going to feel if their chance at a higher living standard is cut off by a green agenda?  I realize that climate change advocates, perhaps especially those in the West, will say that the alternative is global catastrophe, but that is easier to say when you already have a higher standard of living than when you are giving up a chance to ever get one.

With Impeachment All Over the News, Why Am I Blogging About Baseball?

You may have noticed that, while the impeachment trial is blanketing the news in Washington (and probably TV/cable news¹), I have had two posts directly on baseball and another that mentions baseball tangentially in the past week.  The reason, I suppose, in addition to the fact I always post on the Cubs Convention, is that the impeachment trial is so predictable – and dispiriting.  I understand the impeachment question is critical and important to many people, on both sides of the issue.  It’s just I’m not one of them. 

As I have said before, I don’t like Donald Trump.²  I do not think he is a good president, especially on foreign policy (and many domestic policies).  But it’s hard to take the Democrats seriously, either.  I understand they think President Trump is a terrible president.  But too many of them have wanted to kick him out since he took office.  If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.  You wonder if the charges they have come up with in the articles of impeachment are so bad that they would want to get rid of a Democratic president for doing them or if it is just the best they have been able to come up with to get rid of President Trump.

Roots Tours

Ever since Alex Haley’s famous book and miniseries “Roots,” people have said they were going on their own “Roots tour.”¹  Not just African-Americans going to Africa, but people going to Italy or England or countries in Scandinavia.  They want to see where their ancestors came from.  Sometimes they try to find long-lost relatives who stayed behind in the “old country.”  They look for customs or approaches to life from those countries.  For a while, it was “hygge” from Denmark.  Now, some people are talking about “lagom” from Sweden.

We have never gone on a trip like that.²  In fact, when people say they are going on a Roots tour, I respond that we have gone on a Roots tour – to Cooperstown.  To the Hall of Fame.  While that is a bit of a joke, it is also sort of true.³ 

The Hall of Fame – And My Favorite Cub

With the announcement yesterday of Derek Jeter’s election to the Hall of Fame on his first try, my thoughts went to other players elected to the Hall on the first ballot.  While recently elections to the Hall on the first ballot have not been unusual (there were twelve in the 2010s and ten each in the ‘00s, ‘90s, and ‘80s), back in the day a first ballot election was pretty unusual.  In fact, after the first election in 1936,¹ nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot until 1962.  If you wonder about who might have missed out on a first ballot election during that time period, let me mention one name: Joe DiMaggio.

But, as I said, in 1962, two players were elected on the first ballot: Bob Feller, with 93.8% of the votes, and Jackie Robinson, with 77.5%.²  Only two more players were elected on the first ballot in the 1960s, though: Ted Williams and Stan Musial.  And in the first seven years of the 1970s, only three were elected on the first ballot: Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, and Mickey Mantle.

35th Annual Cubs Convention – January 17-19, 2020

Here is my annual report on the Cubs Convention.  As in the past, I will talk about things that didn’t make the mainstream media.  First, though, and indicative of the tone of the Convention, here is my tweet from last Friday morning, before the Convention started:

“In 1998 the Cubs signed Rod Beck the first day of the Cubs Convention! At the 2011 Convention the Cubs brought back Kerry Wood! This year they traded Tony Kemp for Alfonso Rivas? @Cubs #CubsCon #WheresOurWheelbarrowsFullOfMoney”¹

One of the most interesting sessions was an interview they had with Miguel Montero.  Miggy, if you remember, hit that two-out, 0-2-count, bottom-of-the eighth-grand slam to win game one of the 2016 NLCS, as well as driving in the eighth run in Game 7 of the World Series.  But when Miggy was asked what his biggest memory of the 2016 postseason, he said another one was catching the bottom of the ninth in Game 7.  It was the first inning he had caught in the entire World Series.  The score was tied.  One run, and the game, and World Series, was over.  And his pitcher was crying (because of the bottom of the eighth).²  

Getting to Carbon-Free

Carbon-free.  That is the goal.  Companies, countries are setting a goal of becoming carbon-free.  Some are aiming at 2030.  Others 2040.  And others still 2050.  But regardless of the date, the goal is the same.  To become carbon-free.  To not only reduce the amount of carbon being put into the atmosphere each year, but to get to zero.

But how we get to carbon-free is important, too.   And that is where it gets tricky.  The point is that carbon in the atmosphere doesn’t go away (or at least not very fast).  While getting to carbon-free is important to minimize the effects of climate change, how much carbon we put into the atmosphere while we are getting to carbon-free is important, too. 

The Killing of Qassem Soleimani and the Dog That Didn’t Bark

“The Adventure of Sliver Blaze,” one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories, involves the theft of a famous race horse, Silver Blaze, and the killing of its trainer, just before an important racer.  In a conversation with a Scotland Yard detective, Sherlock Holmes explains a key clue:

“Gregory: Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
Holmes: To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.
Gregory: The dog did nothing in the night-time.
Holmes: That was the curious incident.”

Youth Climate Activists Call for a Halt to Fossil Fuel Investment – Right Now

Greta Thunberg and twenty other youth climate activists have issued a letter in which they “demand” (their word) that, at the World Economic Forum meeting scheduled for later this month in Davos, Switzerland,

“all companies, banks, institutions and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels.”

And they want these things done “right now” (their emphasis).¹

While they go on to say that they understand “that the world is complicated and that what [they] are asking for may not be easy”, they don’t seem to care.  The climate crisis “is an emergency”, and it seems like nothing else matters.

Might It Have Been Possible to Oppose Donald Trump Without the Fury?

As we enter the last year of either Donald Trump’s presidency or President Trump’s first term, it seems like an appropriate time to look back on the last three years.  First, in looking at my posts about President Trump, I see I started out complaining a lot about what he did and his style of doing it.  Just look at some of the titles of my posts in his first nine months:

• “Donald Trump at Seven Weeks. This Is Not Working.”
• “Donald Trump Meets Angela Merkel. Things Keep Getting Worse.”
• “Donald Trump: Will the Embarrassment Ever End?”
• “@realDonaldTrump: Such a Small, Small Man”¹

But eventually, I got tired.  It wasn’t making a difference (obviously), and I was saying the same thing over and over again.  I got bored writing it.  I can only imagine how bored people got reading it.

A Few Thoughts on the Killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani

1. It seems to me that, with a proper plan and an appropriate long-term strategy, the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani could work out well for the United States and other people and countries opposed to the theocratic and totalitarian policies of Iran’s government, especially their external aspects.  Whether the Trump administration has the people to come up with such a plan and strategy and whether Donald Trump has the experience, patience, and long-term commitment to follow through on such a plan and strategy is a real question and concern.¹

2. As for the criticisms about killing, or assassinating, a general of a country with which we are not at war, I would say that what constitutes “war” is a lot different today than what it was in even the first half of the twentieth century.  General Soleimani organized a lot of attacks on United States soldiers and our friends and allies.  He seemed to think he was at war with us.  In today’s world, that may be enough.

Illinois and Stein’s Law

Herbert Stein, economist and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under Presidents Nixon and Ford, is probably best known by many people today as the father of Ben Stein (of “Ferris Buehler's Day Off” and “Win Ben Stein’s Money” fame).  But Herb Stein is also known for “Stein’s Law”: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

Which is actually a lead-in to Illinois’s budget and unfunded pension liability mess.  Unless you believe that Illinois’s unfunded pension debt will never be a problem, because there will always be enough money in the fund to make current pension payments,¹ you would say that the present situation cannot go on forever; i.e., Illinois cannot continue to not properly fund its pension obligations.  But looking at the people we have in Springfield, you would despair of that ever happening.

Illinois Is Starting on the Next “Great Experiment”

On January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment came into effect, launching Prohibition across the country.  It was called, by some, the “Great Experiment.”  Needless to say, it did not work out as expected and, within fourteen years, it was repealed.

On Wednesday, Illinois began its own “Great Experiment,” though this one involves legalization, not prohibition, and it involves marijuana, not alcohol.  The question is how this new “Great Experiment” is going to turn out.

Inequality, Social Mobility, and a “Fair Go”

A new post on the New Zealand idea of a “fair go” is up on my other blog, “A Different New Zealand.”  You can find it here.

The 2010s In Review: At Least There Was One Night in Cleveland

With the 2010s coming to an end, the media is full of decade-in-review articles.  (Normally, December brings year-in-review or best-of-the-year articles, but once every ten years, you get an entire decade.)  And the articles about the 2010s have been pretty grim:  Syria.  Climate Change (i.e., everybody talks about it, but nobody actually does anything about it¹).  Populism.  North Korea.  Ukraine (i.e., Putin’s invasion; not just Trump’s telephone conversation).  ISIS.  Trump.  China (i.e., worsening economy and increasing repression).  Impeachment (since January 20, 2017).  Trade Wars.  Racism/Wokeism.  And more.

But as even The Wall Street Journal has noted, there was one moment in the 2010s when everything was wonderful and nothing else mattered.²  A moment when one hundred and eight years of waiting was finally rewarded.³  A moment that will last a lifetime for anybody who was watching or listening – and caring.  Because it finally happened: THE CHICAGO CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

What Christmas Is All About

Things have been a little hectic lately (and I hope to get back to posting next week), but I don't want to miss my annual Christmas Eve post:

Charlie Brown:  "Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.  Lights, please?

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.  And they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you.  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.’

"That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

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PS: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is also to be treasured because it is one of the few places today where you can hear the story of our Savior's birth in the King James Version, which has a magnificence in its language that is timeless. 

Things have been a little hectic lately (and I hope to get back to posting next week), but I don't want to miss my annual Christmas Eve post:

Charlie Brown:  "Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.  Lights, please?