Black "Irish" Phillies

[foreverfree]

Be patient, I'm warming you all up to the topic.

Outside of a couple of Grapefruit League games, I've attended MLB games in ten different stadia. I list them in the order I attended my first game in each:

Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
Shea Stadium, Flushing
*Jarry Park, Montreal
Memorial Stadium, Baltimore
*Cinergy Field (when it was Riverfront Stadium), Cincinnati
*Yankee Stadium, the Bronx
Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore
*RFK Stadium, Washington
*Fenway Park, Boston

*saw only one MLB game in that stadium

Warmed up yet? The topic's coming over the hill.

I'm in no hurry to add Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park to the list, at least on my own dime. The jacked up tix prices are one reason. The exterior design of CBP (looks like it was done by committee) is another.

But Ryan Howard, or rather, his name and image, is the main reason. Maybe it's the Erin in me (on my mother's side) that's impairing my judgment, but IMO blacks have no business using very white names like "Ryan". As long as RyHow remains with the Phils, he will literally be the face of the team no matter what the achievements of Chase Utley and Pat Burrell will be.

FYI in tonight's loss to HOU:
Utley 0 for 2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 0 SO, 3 LOB, Avg. .220
Howard 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2 LOB, Avg. .243
Burrell (PH for Geoff Geary[?], then replaced Jayson Werth in LF) 0 for 1, 1 LOB, Avg. 312

Howard is not even the first black with a first name of Ryan in MLB. Ryan Thompson, an outfielder from MD's Eastern Shore, played 416 games for NYM, CLE, HOU, NYY, FLA and MIL between 1992 and 2002. Career avg. .243 (305 for 1257), 52 HR, 176 RBI.

And there's another black with a very Irish name in the Phils' system. AA Reading has an OF(?) by the name of Javon Moran. I saw his picture on readingphillies.com and he is as black as Howard. Every couple of years or so I make a pilgrimage to Reading to attend an RPhils game (not so much because I'm a Phillies fan [the nearest MiLB team, in Class A Advanced, is 60 miles from my house] but out of nostalgia for when I went to college in the area). This year I'm having second thoughts because of Moran.

Just venting...

JohnEdited by: foreverfree

 

[Don Wassall]

That's an impressive list of stadiums. I've seen games in Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and three in Pittsburgh -- Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.

 

[Baseball Fan]

Ryan Thompson was a huge bust for the Mets, I think we got him in the deal that sent Cone to the Blue Jays. I'm in no mood to go to any MLB game on my own dime, the MLB Radio package I get from them is enough.

As for the Phillies they better start winning soon or Charlie Manuel will be looking for a new job by Memorial Day.Edited by: Baseball Fan

 

[foreverfree]

That's an impressive list of stadiums.  I've seen games in Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and three in Pittsburgh -- Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.

Thanks, Don. But it's nothing like what schoolteacher Bob Wood did in 1985 when he attended games in all 26 MLB parks. He wrote a book about his odyssey: Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks (McGraw-Hill, 1988).

Baseball Fan, I neglected to mention that Thompson did come up through the Toronto system but got traded before he got to the Jays themselves.

JohnEdited by: foreverfree

 

[foreverfree]

All that said, I wish no ill will upon Howard. He hurt his knee last night in DC and may have it scoped today. I wish him a speedy recovery.

John

 

[Solomon Kane]

I don't mind black assimilation into white society when its just a question of names, because I can't understand the home-grown ones (Shaquille, Shakaleishachaquita, etc.). In fact, I think white names have a sort of unconscious civilizing influence. Who is more likely to turn out a thug? A Ryan or a TayShaun?

 

[jared]

That guy who wrote that book "Freakonomics" dedicated a chapter to childrens' names and correlating them to their future incomes and their parents' incomes. It was a moderately interesting chapter.

 

[Don Wassall]

I don't mind black assimilation into white society when its just a question of names, because I can't understand the home-grown ones (Shaquille, Shakaleishachaquita, etc.). In fact, I think white names have a sort of unconscious civilizing influence. Who is more likely to turn out a thug? A Ryan or a TayShaun?

Well, I can think of a couple of black "Rays" who didn't turn out too well -- Ray Lewis and Rae Carruth, though maybe the unconventional spelling of Carruth's first name counts for something.

 

[sport historian]

I don't live close to a major league baseball team and have only seen three major league games in person. However the parks were Sportsmans Park, St. Louis, and Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Anybody else ever seen games in those two long-gone ball parks?

Sportsmans Park was called Busch Stadium (since the mid-1950's), but it was the same park that Babe Ruth had twice hit 3 home runs in WS games.

 

[foreverfree]

I don't mind black assimilation into white society when its just a question of names, because I can't understand the home-grown ones (Shaquille, Shakaleishachaquita, etc.). In fact, I think white names have a sort of unconscious civilizing influence. Who is more likely to turn out a thug? A Ryan or a TayShaun?

That's beside the point, Sol. I still believe that "Ryan" does not belong on a black. Looks like a case of "agreeing to disagree".

John

 

[Don Wassall]

Here's Sporting News baseball writer Sean Deveney on Ryan Howard in this week's issue: "He can hit, plus he has the brain of Albert Einstein and the heart of Florence Nightingale."


What, no room brightening smile??

 

[Skipperron]

Here's Sporting News baseball writer Sean Deveney on Ryan Howard in this week's issue:  "He can hit, plus he has the brain of Albert Einstein and the heart of Florence Nightingale." 


What, no room brightening smile?? 

No that is Nyjer Morgan in Pittsburgh. The smile that lit the world.