Interview: Zack Hample of "Watching Baseball Smarter"

If you're a serious baseball fan these days, then you know who Zack Hample is: he's the guy who's caught over 3000 major league baseballs and is the author of the new book "Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks." It's a great book that teaches you everything you didn't know about America's favorite pastime and it'll make you fall in love with the game all over again.

Zack has been featured on CNN, NPR's nationally syndicated "Fresh Air" and the CBS Evening News. In this exclusive interview with Mr NYC, Zack gives us his unique perspective on how to be a smart New York baseball fan:

Where do you prefer to catch baseballs: Yankee Stadium or Shea?

Both New York ballparks are really tough these days with roughly 50,000 fans attending every game, but I have to go with Shea. It opens for batting practice half an hour earlier, the rules aren't as strict, the prices aren't as high, the fans aren't as aggressive, and there's a great section for catching foul balls during the game.

How is catching baseballs in New York different than in other cities?

Both Shea and Yankee Stadiums are old and cramped. The concourses are narrow, as are the rows, aisles, ramps, and staircases, so it's hard to move from one spot to another in a short amount of time. Other cities have newer ballparks where mobility isn't nearly as much of an issue. Also, since the Mets and Yankees both draw extremely large crowds, there's much more competition than in most other places.

How are New York baseball fans the same or different than baseball fans in other cities?

New York fans are more passionate and, unfortunately, more hostile. There's a certain level of in-your-face entitlement and excitement among New York City fans that you just don't get from people anywhere else. That's not to say that other sold-out venues don't get crazy when the home team does something great, but there's nothing like a New York City baseball frenzy.

How many balls have you caught to date?

3,143, including batting practice. I've snagged 104 of those balls during games, including Barry Bonds' 724th career home run. All my baseballs are from major league stadiums. No Spring Training balls or Minor League balls in my collection. It's all about The Show.

Give us just one small piece of advice for watching baseball smarter (that we can easily remember):

There's so much stuff that I almost don't know where to begin. So...just to pick something random, one cool thing to look for is the relationship between the catcher and home plate umpire. For example, if the catcher gets hit by a foul tip, the ump might brush some non-existent dirt off the plate to give him a moment to recover. And if the ump gets nailed, the catcher will give him a breather by going out to talk to the pitcher even if he has nothing to say.

Thanks Zack!

Find "Watching Baseball Smarter" on Amazon.com

And don't forget to visit Zack's website at

Zack Hample.com

Mr Big Returns

Magnolia cupcake eaters and Manolo-wearers rejoice! Chris Noth has agreed to appear as Mr Big in the upcoming "Sex and the City" movie.

New Yorkers everywhere breath a sigh of relief. American culture has been saved.

The Epitaph of Our Times

I recently saw George Will on TV say of the Bush Administration that "We didn't see it coming" would be its epitaph. I think, more accurately, it's the epitaph of our times. In the last five years I've heard politicians and public officials (basically) say ...

We didn't know the subways would flood in a huge downpour ... didn't see it coming.

We didn't know the levees in New Orleans would break ... didn't see it coming.

We had no idea that people would high jack planes and fly them into buildings ... didn't see it coming.

We had no idea that if we invaded an Arab country that there would be an insurgency ... didn't see it coming.

We had no idea that our veterans were being housed in terrible conditions at Walter Reade ... didn't see it coming.

We didn't realize that if we deregulated and had lax oversight of corporations that debacles like Enron and Wordcom would happen ... didn't see it coming.

"Didn't know, couldn't have guessed, didn't see it coming."

It's their job to see things like these coming! That's what we elect and pay them to do!

And just wait ... you'll hear something like that again soon from a public official. And I do see that coming.

The Subway floods ... and our public officials are surprised

"It's an outrage!"

That was probably Ed Koch's most famous catch line after "How'm I doin?" And after Wednesday's subway flooding disaster, it's never been more apt.

You've probably know about (and lived through) the torrential rainstorms that flooded the subways and roads and basically shut NYC down two days ago. Immediately folks like Bloomberg and the head of the MTA were on TV saying, "We didn't know ... We could never have predicted this ... We didn't see it coming."

That's funny, because I saw it coming. And I think most New Yorkers who aren't the Mayor and who don't work for the MTA could have guessed that heavy rainstorms would paralyze the subways and a disaster like this was waiting to happen. I cannot begin even to count the number of times that heavy rain has caused the subways to flood, causing delays or disruptions of service. This keeps happening again ... and again ... and again ... and again the MTA and the city do NOTHING to fix the problems! It appears not even to occur to the MTA to say "Hey, you know, when we get a lot of rain, the subways flood and everyone goes nuts. Let's do something to fix the infrastructure to prevent the flooding."

Now, and only now, after this latest disaster, is the MTA and the city willing to actually ... study the problem ... and make ... recommendations. Oh joy! Thankfully our free press is digging up stories and examples from the past where this flooding had gone on and they are showing the woeful lack of action by our public officials on this problem. I know most subway commuters aren't big campaign contributors but they work for the people who are, so don't you guys think that fixing the subways would be a good idea ... so they can keep going to work to make the money that the contributors then give politicians?

It's simply embarrassing that the transit system of the world's greatest city in the 21st century is so vulnerable. To water no less. This must end. Write you city council person, the Public Advocate, our State Assembly and Senate Members to demand that they push the city and MTA to act. You can find the links to the city and state governments on the right.

PS. And it's not only the subway. Walk the streets after a heavy rain and you'll see big puddle after big puddle. They almost always pop up in the same spots on the streets. Why can't these spots be fixed?

PPS. I wanted to blog about this earlier but Modem problems made this impossible. Unlike a public official, however, I take full responsibility.

HopStop.com

This is not a paid advertisement but there is an online service that New Yorkers can use if they ever need subway/bus directions combined with street directions. Called HopStop, it's sort of like a MapQuest for the urban traveler. You just plug where you're coming from and where you're going and voila ... your public transportation and walking options appear.

This service is also linked to the public transit systems of other big cities like Boston and Washington and Chicago.

Here at Mr NYC, we are dedicated to making life in NYC just a lil'bit easier. I hope in this case we've succeeded.

HopStop

Mayor Mike, the Subway/SUV Riding Mayor

Bombshell story in last week's New York Times: Mayor Mike rides an SUV to the subway each morning. Then he catches the express to City Hall. To this I say, Mr Mayor, why bother? We understand that you're busy so you don't have to pretend to ride the subway every morning. We New Yorkers really don't care if you get chauffeured around. We expect our Mayors to be efficient with their time. You were re-elected in landslide so, Mr Mayor, you can take it a little easier and just ride the SUV all the way to Lower Manhattan.

Cha-Cha-Changes

You may have noticed that I have augmented this blog to include more photos and features like polls and a weather ticker. I hope you like them! If not, please explain why.

A blog is a work in progress so Mr NYC will keep evolving and morphing to in order to deliver more features.

The scenic New York photos, btw, are courtesy of my brother, an excellent photographer and fine human being.

Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal

Oh good. Rupert Murdoch owns more stuff. And not just any stuff, but a second newspaper in NYC (after The New York Post). And not just any newspaper, but probably the most prestigious, The Wall Street Journal. The father of modern tabloid journalism, who puts naked women in his daily newspapers and gives us memorable headlines like "Wacko Jacko Backo", now owns the epitome of financial news and investigative reporting. The media will never be the same.

The Australian print baron promises that the Journal will remain the same - progressive reporting, regressive editorials. Old Rupe will not infuse this great publication founded by the Bancroft family with sex and sleazy politics - he leaves that to papers founded by Alexander Hamilton. But why shouldn't he change it? After all, he now owns the Journal and everyone knows tabloids are in his blood. So here are some suggestions for re-making The Wall Street Journal, the Rupert way:

1. Instead of Page Three girls, why not "Page Three Wall Street Girls"? Women like Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett and other "Money Honeys" could pose topless every day for the enjoyment of their business counterparts. This would help their careers since it would give them all kinds of ... exposure.

2. I'm sure Rupert would make sure the reporting would be fair and balanced - between the Right and the Far Right.

3. Think of the headlines! When the Dow goes up: "Holy Dow!" When it goes down: "Dow-n." The possibilities are endless. Perhaps the best was already used by the Post: when Ken Lay of Enron was convicted, the next day's headline was "Bad Lay."

4. Always make sure to call Republican presidents the "Commander in Chief" and other Republican politicians "God's Gift to Humanity." And make sure to remind people that the Clintons or other politicians like them are in the "Democrat" party.

5. Finally, make sure there are no stories about media concentration or the widening gap between rich and poor because, you know, who wants to read about that?

If You Can't Make It Here ... Move to LaBarge, Wyoming

The Moondance Diner on Grand Street and 6th Avenue closed a few weeks ago. It's always sad when little pieces of New York like this fade away. (Mr NYC will do a future post on great diners in NYC, past and present.) However, this little piece is getting a new life: some people from a tiny town called La Barge are going to literally dig it out of the ground, put it on a truck and haul the mother to Wyoming.

If you know your diner-speak, then you know that this particular diner is famous, not only for the yellow half crescent spinning on top, but also because 1) it was featured on "Sex and the City" and one of the Spiderman movies; 2) it's where "Rent" creator Jonathan Larson worked for nine years before his musical hit it big (and he sadly died). I've never gone to the Moondance and I'am sad that I won't ever get to (unless I find myself in Wyoming sometime). However, I'm thankful to these people from the country's least populated state that they, unlike so many of the developers and landlords and politicians in this town, are willing to keep a part of this city alive ... 2000 thousand miles away.

One question: will the people of this presumably conservative town want to frequent a formerly gay-friendly chow hall from Soho? One can only ponder.

Downtown Diner is Moving to Wyoming, Lock, Stock and Original Stools

Karyn Rocks!

Many thanks to Karyn from SaveKaryn.com (the girl from a few years back who solicited online donations to pay off her debt) for linking to Mr NYC on her own blog, Pretty in the City. It's a great, fun, and informative blog and you should check it out. You can find a link under the other New York City blogs.