Faux Fans, Faux Baseball

7/19/2020

Cardboard spectators stared vapidly from behind home plate, their expressions never changing as the Mets and Yankees committed something akin to baseball.

This was the ambiance at New Shea Saturday night as Major League Baseball introduced Covid-Ball, a makeshift version of the great American pastime, or what used to be.

Cruel boss that I am, I assigned myself to stick it out as a preview, or warning, of what this truncated season will be, if it lasts its threatened 60 games. (Some wary big names have already dropped out for this season; others are trying to come back from a Covid attack. To be continued.)

This was only an exhibition, spring training in mid-July, and there was to be another one at Yankee Stadium Sunday evening before the “season” opens late in the week.

I will tell you up front that my biggest thrill of the night was seeing the aerial view of Queens, my home borough – the globe in the park, a glimpse of the wonderful Queens Museum, the No. 7 elevated train gliding through the neighborhood, as sweet as a gondola through Venice.

Oh, my! I am so homesick for Queens!

I thought of the joys within a mile or two of this sweet spot – my friends and the heroes at Mama’s deli on 104th St., other friends at the New York Times plant, just to the east, the food and the crowds in downtown Flushing, the Indian food in Jackson Heights, and so on. I miss all these at least as much as baseball.

There was a strange hybrid form of baseball taking place in New Shea. Yankee manager Aaron Boone was moving his jaws inside his soft gray mask, either chewing something or talking a lot.

The first home-plate ump (they mysteriously rotated during the game) had some kind of plexiglass shield inside his mask, to ward off virulent Trumpian microbes.

I was mostly watching the Mets’ broadcast, with good old Ron and good old Keith two yards apart in one booth and good old Gary in a separate booth, but their familiarity and friendship came through. Welcome to this strange new world.

Later I switched to the Yankee broadcast and realized Michael Kay and the others were not in Queens but were commenting off the same video we were seeing. Not sure how that will work out during the season.

Early in the game I learned that the Toronto Blue Jays will not be able to play in that lovely city this “season,” for fear of being contaminated by the virus the viciously bumbling Trump “government” and block-headed Sunbelt Republican governors have allowed to rage.

I don’t blame the more enlightened Canadian government – but a few days before the season opener? The Jays will apparently play in Buffalo, creating all kinds of logistical horrors for anybody in Ontario with Blue Jay business.

The highlight of Saturday’s exhibition was Clint Frazier, the strong-minded Yankee outfielder who plans to wear a kerchief-type mask during games, including at bat. Does a mask impede a batter’s reaction to a fastball, up and in? Maybe. But Frazier unloaded a 450-foot homer into the empty upper deck – (Sound of summer: Michael Kay: “SEE-ya!”) -- and some teammates in the dugout flashed masks in tribute to Frazier.

I obsessed about those cardboard fans behind home plate. The absence of real people takes away one of the peripheral joys of watching a game – demonstrative or even annoying fans, the occasional celebrity, and, yes, I admit, women in summer garb. Will these faux fans become part of lore? Will they be rotated, replaced by new faces during the “season?” Just asking.

Finally, there was the recorded crowd noise, an apparently steady hum. No pro-Met chants, no anti-Yankee jibes, just background, like the roar of the sea,

I caught the last inning on the Mets’ radio broadcast, where good old Howie was speculating that the home-team genies in the control room were raising the sound a bit when the Mets were rallying.

I stuck it out because I had assigned myself to “cover” the event.
But I wondered about the reaction of my pal, Jerry Rosenthal, one-time all-conference shortstop at Hofstra, two-year Milwaukee Brave farmhand, and now lifetime baseball purist and authority.

How did Jerry like the ersatz game? He texted:

“Watched one inning of the game. I am now watching ‘The Maltese Falcon” for about the 25th time. That should tell you something!”

Yes, it does.
Play “ball.”

Newsday informs me that fans can pay $86 for their likeness to be displayed in otherwise empty ball park this "season."

Lee Lowenfish link

7/19/2020 11:00:27 am

A lovely reverie about missing Queens, George. Didn't know about a Mama's Deli on your 104th Street but imagine my thrill when I discovered a Horn and Hardart's Automat once stood at 104th Street/Broadway in Manhattan (long before I moved nearby in 1976). BTW Yankee manager is Aaron Boone not Bob Boone, but more important like Jerry I was watching "Maltese Falcon" last night too and then "High Sierra" (not to be confused with Ruben Sierra).

George Vecsey

7/19/2020 11:28:32 am

Lee, at least I didn't call him "Ray." That could happen. It's fixed now.
You don't know Mama's, you Manhattanite, you!
I think they are serving only takeout now...to my regret I haven't been in touch, need to do that this week., They are a Mets institution, ;partly because of Omar Minaya, the Prince of Corona, who conducted his new-job interviews with this Queens boy in 2006. Names of casual visitors to Mama's: Gooden, Swoboda, Charles, McEwing, Wright. Plus gov't and law people from Queens. We should do our luncheon there, when this madness ends. YIBF, GV

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/sports/baseball/touching-all-the-bases-on-minayas-trip-home.html?searchResultPosition=1

Marty Appel

7/19/2020 12:01:02 pm

As a former Maspeth guy, I too enjoyed the Queens shots....and I miss Sunny's Chinese on Queens Blvd, where I was introduced to the cuisine.

You didn't notice or mention the FORD logo on the pitcher's mound, (how could you miss it?), perhaps only visible on television through imbed technology, but that was eye catching to me. Especially since the Yankees had a FORD playing first base.

I have rooted for Clint Frazier since he arrived, and hope that long homer helps him win a job. The fan noise WAS adjusted upward during 'dramatic' moments (both pro Yankee and pro Mets) and I thought the presence of the steady hum was okay. A total silence would have been dreadful.

So many Yankees on the Mets - Melky, Nunez, Bettances, Cano....I think Melky (who has been on nine teams now if he makes the Mets), and Cano being reunited to share the latest PED updates can only help the Mets.

It was a step closer to real baseball (I watched the intrasquad games earlier in the week)....so all good. And the Mets wore their pinstripes - the original uniform - which I always appreciate. God knows what unsightly black top they will wear tonight.

Finally, a shout out to my friend Mary Estacion of Queens, now of Ellicott City, Maryland, who may be the biggest Mets fan I know, who goes to 75 or more games a year, and who is now a cardboard cutout at CitiField. Nice.

Note to Jerry: Maltese Falcon is a very good movie, but it's no Broadway Danny Rose.

Curt Block

7/19/2020 05:00:26 pm

George,
Explain one basic decision to me.
As I understand it the Canadian authorities expelled their baseball
team because they feared USA baseball teams crossing the border could carry the dreaded virus to their country. Ok, fair enough.
But following that logic shouldn’t domestic franchises worry about
teams crossing state borders with their entourages to play be as potentially dangerous. Would the Marlins visiting Citi Field be more of a risk to the Mets than games scheduled across the border in Toronto. Same thing for Arizona, from an area with huge Corona virus reported numbers, be restricted from heading to Colorado
What am I missing?
Curt

George Vecsey

7/19/2020 05:11:43 pm

Curt: Regards to my Hofstra classmate and point guard who produced several buzzer-beater victories against good teams back in the day, I was keeping score.
You are exactly right: states' rights are still an issue. Gov. Cuomo and the governors of NJ and CT have urged residents to obey basics: Masks save lives. How hard is that? Right now Cuomo has quarantines going for people coming (by air, at least) from states with spiked cases. For example, Todd Zeile, who works on Met TV shows, in studio or on the live broadcast, said Saturday evening that he had gotten married almost two weeks ago, in California, and was now doing his 14 days in his NY apartment before able to go into a studio. Good for all concerned. Good for Cuomo, and good for Zeile for not trying to game the system and for respecting other people. Lot of knucklehead governors have a political response to scientific evidence. Can MLB ;police its own locker rooms and living conditions for 60 games plus post=season? I doubt it. But Zeile didn't whine about it. Bottom line is, you never know where somebody else has been....So be safe, yourself. GV

Altenir Silva

7/20/2020 08:01:14 am

Dear George: It will be an estrange season for baseball. I saw the two home runs by Aaron Judge, while the TV was showing the stadium empty. This experience was like seeing an apocalyptic movie. Very weird.
Be well/Altenir

George Vecsey

7/20/2020 10:50:44 am

Altenir:
Walker Percy: Love in the Ruins.
Cormac McCarthy: The Road.
MLB: The 2020 season.
Maybe there will be some excitement when the games are official.
GV

Alan Rubin link

7/20/2020 06:29:34 pm

I just don’t get it. What is so difficult about understanding safety?

Very young children understand it, even through they learn by testing. They do usually not touch a hot light bulb or stove more than once.

Sensible behavior is learned very early.

I once ran away from home at age two, but did not get very far because I could not cross the street by myself.

So, what is it with these idiots who proudly shun facial masks and belittle and harass those who do? Why do they harass businesses who require masks to enter?

I can emphasize with loyal Met’s fans as they follow a tradition of hope based upon prior successes.

Putting yourself and your loved ones in danger despite science to the contrary is the height of stupidity and arrogance. It takes courage to forgo a professional sports season to keep your family safe.

How do politicians, who have enough savvy and advisors to win elections, roll back safety rules put in place by city mayors and town leaders just to please and gain favor with a corrupt and ignorant president? They need not be a science genius to look at the numbers to realize that something is wrong.

I have enough faith in the decency of the average American, regardless of party, race, ethnicity, age or gender, to vote their conscience this fall.

Another thing that I often thought about doing as a youngster was to put my foot under the wheel of a slow-moving car. I never did because I know that it would hurt.

I suspect that many voters will avoid voting against candidates who they are not ideologically in sync with, but are putting forth sound programs. Trump’s unmovable base is not enough to re-elect him and enough independents do not want to continue the change they supported in 2016.

I will not go into the shift that appears to be occurring among many conservatives, but they are poised to become the sensible force of the past.

They want to avoid the pain of a car rolling over their foot.

George

7/20/2020 11:06:43 pm

Alan; also, do not put beans up your nose.
I bet the dopes who breathe on each other at bars and parties also did that.
They also listen to that fool in DC.
It’s just the sniffles.
Nice piece.
GV

Comments are closed.

QUOTES
Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

Faux Fans, Faux Baseball

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