Is Baseball Doing Better Because the Owners are Making More Money? →

As writers and fans have grown to have a stronger understanding and interest in the business side of baseball, it has become more common to measure the success, or health, of the game by things like the revenue generated by the teams. This is not unlike measuring the state of the American economy by looking only at the Dow Jones Index. It may give a good heuristic of the economy, but it misses a lot of important aspects. Why, after all, should a devoted fan care how much more money the rich people playing and running the game make? I do not enjoy a day at Yankee Stadium, the venue where I usually see most of my live baseball, any more knowing that the Steinbrenner brothers are having a good year. In fact, I enjoy the experience less knowing that so many of the people behind the scenes, doing things like selling concessions or tickets are not compensated well.

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The KSM Trial and Republican Attacks →

The recent attacks on the decision by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM), one of the masterminds of the September 11th terrorist attacks, constitute one of those political moments where partisan sniping dominates everything else. For many Americans where KSM is tried is something of a non-issue a technicality that has little bearing on their lives, so long as justice is served. However, for many Republicans, none more so than former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani it is an opportunity to get some media attention and take a cheap shot at the president.

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Winning the World Series-Determination, Grit and Luck

The desire to downplay the import of luck is natural. It is disturbing to think that two teams work so hard for so many months, only to have the championship decided by a matter of luck, but that is often what happens. It is more disturbing, however, to imply that teams lose because their players don’t try hard enough, which is exactly what is implied when winning is explained by greater determination.

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Can the Yankees Get the First Round Monkey Off their Backs

When the ALDS opens today in the Bronx, it will be the latest installment in the now familiar baseball series called “Can the Yankees make it out of the first round?” Before missing the playoffs last year, the Yankees had been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in three consecutive years, part of a seven year streak of making the playoffs but not winning the World Series.

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Take Me Out to the Vice Presidential Nomination →

I try not to be a myopic New Yorker who sees the world entirely through the lens of New York City, but when I saw Rudy Giuliani and John McCain together at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, it occurred to me that McCain could make a lot worse choices for running mate than our former mayor. Giuliani, is a compelling mixture of positives and negatives and would be a risky pick as vice-president. However, lost in all the obvious negatives is that there is a potentially very large upside to putting Giuliani on the ticket.

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Lincoln Mitchell