July 21st, 2006 → 10:22 am @ Seth Mnookin
This is the ninth in a series of outtakes done for Feeding the Monster, available in stores now. This interview with Tim Wakefield was conducted in the Red Sox clubhouse on May 10, 2005, and is being printed here to help get Wakefield fans through these next few weeks.
On the difference between the current ownership group and the Yawkey Trust: In my opinion, it’s been a 180-degree turn since they’ve taken over, as far as the clubhouse, the field, the fans’ perspective of it. They’ve really did a good job of bringing it all together. The ballpark is more fan friendly or being more convenient for the fans to watch the team play, and they’ve also made it more convenient for the player to work here. Considering the conditions that we used to come to work to everyday before, it’s a lot nicer since they redid the clubhouse.
On Fenway: It’s not that the clubhouse was bad before. It’s just that it’s such an old ballpark, it was hard to do things. Just like you, you go to your desk everyday, if it’s cluttered, it’s depressing to go to work everyday. They did a good job coming in here and making the changes that they made, not only from a team standpoint, but everything that surrounds the team. That helps us perform better.
On communication between ownership and players: We have roundtables and they want the player’s opinion and perspective on things. In years past, it was never like that. [When the team fired Dr. Bill Morgan], at least they gave us a chance to voice our opinion, and ultimately they make their decision and you have to respect that.
On the concept of team chemistry: I really feel that the organization has a good sense on what chemistry is. You know, even though we had great chemistry last year, they went out and got guys who could fill those holes and keep the chemistry together. You could have 24 great guys, and it’s one bad guy who could ruin the whole team. I think they’re aware of it. I’m a big believer and I think the organization is aware of that too that talent can only take you so far. There’s that little extra team concept of chemistry and character of the ballclub—we’re all a family in here. We spend more time with our teammates for nine months than we do with our family. All of these guys are like brothers to all of us. [If you have bad chemistry] it effects people’s emotions on the field. If you get one guy that’s a bad apple or has a bad attitude or is always complaining about something or stuff’s not right, it makes it depressing because you hear it all the time. And you just don’t want to hear it. You’re happy with the way things are and then you hear somebody else who’s not happy, who badmouths the organization or stuff like that. We don’t need that. We don’t need that one negative person amongst 24 positive people because it’s easier to pull somebody down than it is to pull somebody up.
On having a veteran clubhouse: I just think it makes it a lot easier for all of us to go out and, everybody on this team knows what their role is, and I think it comes from the manager first. We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that could be everyday players somewhere else. Doug Mirabelli, for example, he could be an everyday player, but he’s content with his job and understands what it is. Ramon Vazquez could play somewhere else. Jay Payton could play somewhere else, but they know their roles and they’re very important roles in the success of this team. It’s not just the David Ortizes, the Mannys, the Pedros, or the Curt Schillings that win ballgames. It’s the 25 of us that are here. Like Dave Roberts. When I said this last year when we went to the ALCS after we beat Anaheim, it’s gonna take 25 of us to win. And we did it.
On signing a contract that will keep him in Boston through the end of his career: I’m a big fan of the tradition here. I’m a big fan of the passion that the fans have for the team. I’ve been a part of it for so long that I’ve grown accustomed to it. I like it here. I’m comfortable here. I can’t see myself wearing another uniform. I’ve worn this one for so long that when it came time to get something done, it wasn’t about the money, it was to stay on a team that I want to be apart of. There’s a lot of history here.
On the atmosphere in Boston: It’s great to play in a market that’s this big and gets this much attention because every game feels like a playoff game. I’d rather it be this way then playing in San Diego or Pittsburgh where there are two or three beat writers that are around and that’s it. I actually played in Pittsburgh when were good and it was fun and we got a lot of attention and we were winning, but now it’s, you know, it’s tough for those guys to win sometimes. They come to the ballpark everyday and there’s no excitement. There’s electricity in this ballpark every night.
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Outtakes & Tim Wakefield
July 20th, 2006 → 11:23 pm @ Seth Mnookin
Publishers Weekly‘s best-seller list for last week just came out. Feeding the Monster is ninth on the non-fiction list, below two books about dogs. (But above Anderson Cooper, John Stossel, and Tim Russert. That’s what you guys get for putting your pictures on the cover.) (July 21 edit: It also entered the Wall Street Journal non-fiction best-seller list this week, at number 10.)
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster reactions
July 20th, 2006 → 4:21 pm @ Seth Mnookin
So, anyone wanna take bets on when we’ll see a story like this in the Times?
The hiring of personal assistants, according to the National Association of Hired Help, is at an all time high. And with the rise of men with increasingly hectic schedules come assistants in their mini-skirts, which, for many an employer, carry a romantic charge. (Women who don’t get it might want to consider the Speedo.) They invade living quarters, taking charge of the intimate details of their employers lives. Often, even today, these men are on the road for weeks at a time.
Who can blame him for harboring dreams of the assistant?
“It’s been totally sexualized, like the masseuse,” said John Franklin, the editor of the Robb Report.* “I can’t tell you how many times when I hear somebody give a recommendation for an assistant it inevitably ends with the five words, ‘And she’s so wicked hot.'”
Which only makes sense, he added. “It’s all very intimate. You’re making plans for how you are going to live your life with this person in enormous detail. And let’s face it, they often have great racks.”
Franklin Stilts, the assistant editor of Disposable Income Magazine**, says he has heard more and more stories of assistant-employer romance stories in the last few years.
“It’s fast, sexy, hot, but it doesn’t mean a lot — it’s like sexual chocolate, like sneaking out and getting that double scoop of ice cream in the afternoon,” Mr. Stilts said. He added that assistant-employer affairs are relatively safe: there is no need to worry about the assistant’s car being seen in a man’s driveway in the middle of the afternoon; it’s supposed to be in his driveway. And assistant-employer love, from what he’s seen, rarely threatens marriages because when the assistant gets a new job, the affair is over.
“Nobody knows,” Mr. Stilts said. “The assistant isn’t going to tell because she’s being paid, the employer isn’t going to tell, and you get a better job because he’s providing a fringe benefit. Everybody wins.”
Probably not anytime soon, right? Oops, wait: It actually ran today. (Start reading six grafs into the story.)
*Note: He is not really the editor of the Robb Report.
** Note: This is not a real magazine.
Post Categories: Gender roles & New York Times & Sex in the Hamptons
July 20th, 2006 → 10:05 am @ Seth Mnookin
Another fun reading last night, this one at Keene, New Hampshire’s Toadstool Bookstore. I shared the floor with Dave Clark (no, not that Dave Clark), an invaluable resource for all things knuckleball. But the highlight of the evening was unquestionably the fact that the son and grandson of Smoky Joe Wood came out to hear me talk. That’s a little bit like someone writing a commentary on the Bible and then having Cain (or Abel, for that matter), stop by for a chat.
Wood, for you apostates out there, was the proud owner of the right arm of god long before Pedro came on the scene. In 1912, when he was 22-years-old, Wood went 34-5 for the Sox. He started 38 games, finished 35 of them, and racked up 10 shutouts. His ERA was 1.91 in a year in which the league average was 3.44. That, my friends, is a season for the ages. The next year, Wood suffered an injury that all but ended his pitching career; he never started as many as 20 games again, and by 1918 had transitioned to the outfield. (Still, Wood’s lifetime winning percentage of .672 is the 11th-best all time.) Wood’s son and I discussed whether Ted Williams was actually the greatest hitter who ever lived (we agreed that while perhaps he wasn’t, we’d allow him the moniker) and who else had a history with Yale’s baseball team (George H.W. Bush, for one).
It’s going to be hard for tonight’s reading in Manchester, Vermont to top that. (Anyone know where Tris Speaker’s family lives?)
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Readings & Red Sox & Smoky Joe Wood
July 20th, 2006 → 9:47 am @ Seth Mnookin
“Gibby called a team meeting and then he stood up and reamed me out in front of my teammates. I’m very disappointed about what he did and I find it very unprofessional.” (Emphasis added.)
— Toronto Blue Jays infielder and DH Shea Hillenbrand, in a comment directed at Blue Jays manager John Gibbons before Wednesday night’s 5-4 loss to Texas. Hillenbrand was designated for assignment during the game and his locker had been emptied by the time the Blue Jays returned to the clubhouse.
“Trade me, you faggot.”
— former Red Sox infielder Shea Hillenbrand, in a comment directed at Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein during an on-air interview with Boston’s WAAF-FM in April 2003. Hillenbrand was traded approximately one month later to the Arizona Diamondbacks, after which he called Epstein a “little twerp.”
Three years after Hillenrbrand warned the Red Sox that trading him would be reminiscent of the infamous Bagwell-for-Andersen trade, I think it’s safe to say there’s been nary a moment of regret about this deal.
Post Categories: Dumb Jocks & Red Sox & Shea Hillenbrand & Toronto Blue Jays
July 19th, 2006 → 10:29 am @ Seth Mnookin
So after driving from Manhattan to South Hadley, I had a very pleasant reading last night. Lots of inquisitive Red Sox fans, lots of books sold, and a very warm reception from the good folks at the Odyssey Bookstore. Woke up early this morning and did a bunch of radio interviews and was all set to take a run and head out for Keene.
And then I checked my email.
And had about a dozen messages alerting me to the fact that Feeding the Monster is now being sold on Amazon as “Lord’s Day Cry” by Robert C. Harris. (Harris’s website? Midnight Ministries. Awesome.)
Don’t get me wrong — I’m all for freedom of religion. (Fine: Jews for Jesus kind of freaks me out. And so does Scientology. But you get the idea.) But I’m not that excited about my book being sold as “a Christian prophecy book detailing the Rapture and the Second Coming.” I know people are fanatical about the Red Sox and about baseball generally. But Feeding the Monster does not detail Mankind’s “readiness for Christ’s Bridegroom Return with sound doctrine,” nor does it “simplify and make plain Christ’s initial return.” Hell, I don’t even quote Scripture.
You know, I try to be sunny. I’m generally a pretty upbeat guy. But man, something like this can really get your day started on the wrong foot. As far as I know, this is a weird, and totally innocent, mistake. (I mean, there’s no-one who’s written about Christianity and the most powerful secret known to mankind who also happens to be incredibly influential within publishing and has some kind of axe to grind with me. Oh, wait: of course there is*.)
The nice man at Amazon.com support who had absolutely no idea what my incoherent babblings were about assured me the problem would be dealt with soon, so there’s a decent chance that by the time you read this, everything will have returned to normal. In the meantime, stay away from Amazon**, frequent the Barnes & Noble site — where my book is not only available but also is listed correctly — and make sure all your ducks are in a row. Because if you think about, recent events — an incorrect Amazon listing combined with the outbreak of war in the Middle East — do seem a bit portentous. Maybe Robert C. Harris is right. Maybe the end is truly near.
* Note: I am not actually this paranoid.
** Note: Thank goodness I don’t pay attention to my Amazon ranking. Or else I’d notice that my book has dropped about 10 spots since the mistake was made.
Post Categories: Amazon.com & Ben Folds Lyrics & The Rapture
July 18th, 2006 → 8:18 am @ Seth Mnookin
It’s a perfect day to begin a driving tour of New England. First stop: South Hadley, MA, where the temperature at the start time of tonight’s reading is expected to be a pleasant 97 degrees. I’ve checked in advance with the Odyssey Bookshop, and they report that their AC is top-notch. So come on down…
On a related note, I’ll be channeling Johnny Cash for the rest of the month, with readings throughout New England. (I’m also planning on going to this weekend’s Sea Dogs games, if there’s anyone else who’ll be at Hadlock Field.) I’m going to explore doing regular updates after each night’s appearance. That means I’m expecting the crazies to show up in impressive numbers. Please don’t disappoint.
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Readings
