Category: From My Seat

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From My Seat Sports

Redbirds to the Rescue?

Photo courtesy Memphis Redbirds.

Dark days have fallen upon the St. Louis Cardinals. A team favored to win the National League’s Central Division in March is languishing in last place, staring at the franchise’s first losing season since 2007, and only its second this century. The Cardinals’ pitching — both starting and relief — has been dreadful. Stars have come up short of past standards, and prospects (not long ago in uniform with the Memphis Redbirds at AutoZone Park) aren’t making the impact expected or forecast. The toughest part about three months of bad baseball is that three months of the 2023 season remain. Can the Cardinals rediscover their flying wings? And will the Redbirds play a part?

There are four players who have spent most of the season with Memphis who could help ease the Cards’ pain, either short-term or long.

• Luken Baker (1B/DH) — Begging for the nickname “Kong,” Baker (6’4”, 285 lbs.) has dominated the International League, slamming 22 home runs in 64 games and posting a jaw-dropping slugging percentage of .664. In a late-May game at AutoZone Park, Baker clubbed a baseball over the leftfield wall despite shattering his bat. In an age where batting average isn’t supposed to matter, Baker was hitting .319 for the Redbirds when promoted by St. Louis on July 3rd. As large as he is, Baker is soft with the glove at first base, a better-than-adequate fielder. But with Paul Goldschmidt (the 2022 NL MVP) entrenched at that position for St. Louis, Baker may become a premium trade chip. Power is the coin of the major-league realm these days, and Baker’s purse is bursting.

• Ivan Herrera (C) — Catchers who can hit have been a rare breed since the first player donned “the tools of ignorance.” Herrera’s slash line for Memphis (.308/.432/.557) makes those of both Willson Contreras (.240/.334/.419) and Andrew Knizner (.227/.254/.418) look silly. And those are the Cardinal players from whom Herrera aims to shave some playing time. The 23-year-old native of Panama was promoted to St. Louis last week when Knizner went on the 10-day injured list. Similar to Baker, Herrera could be auditioning for 29 other franchises as the August 1st trade deadline approaches. Or he could convince the Cardinals’ front office that their catcher of the future is much less expensive than the 31-year-old Contreras.

• Michael McGreevy (P) — The Cardinals will contend for a 12th World Series crown when their starting pitching again excels. A franchise icon (Adam Wainwright) has struggled mightily in his final season. A once-and-future ace (Jack Flaherty) leads the National League in walks. A top prospect (Matthew Liberatore) posted a 6.75 ERA before returning to Memphis last week. Could McGreevy be among the rescue team? The 18th pick in the 2021 draft, McGreevy was solid at Double-A Springfield last year (6-4) and leads Memphis this season in innings pitched while posting a 5-1 record. Noted for his control, McGreevy has posted an ERA of 3.73 for the Redbirds, a figure that would be the envy of most Cardinal pitchers these days.

• Dakota Hudson (P) — Hudson was the 2018 Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year with Memphis, then led St. Louis the next season with 16 wins. But injuries and control problems had him back at Triple-A this season, where he went 5-4 with a 6.00 ERA before getting the call from St. Louis last week after Wainwright went to the injured list. Hudson will be pitching with a chip on his shoulder, which may be precisely what the 2023 Cardinals need right now. Can he survive five innings per start while keeping St. Louis in games? It’s not a high bar to leap these days.

More perspective on the Cardinals’ current mess? The franchise has had only two losing seasons (1999 and 2007) since its Triple-A affiliate moved from Louisville to Memphis in 1998. The Cardinals are staring at their first 90-loss season since 1990 and only the club’s fourth since 1917. Dark days indeed for a proud organization. Perhaps Memphis can provide some light.

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From My Seat Sports

Arm of Gold

Masyn Winn (photo courtesy Memphis Redbirds)

It was one of those rare plays you see on a baseball field that makes no impact in the box score . . . but remains unforgettable. On a Tuesday night in mid-April, the Memphis Redbirds were hosting the Indianapolis Indians at AutoZone Park. Playing second base for Memphis, Masyn Winn took a cutoff throw in short right field. An Indian base-runner was cruising home from third base, not so much as looking where the baseball might be. Winn turned and fired a heat-seeking spheroid to the catcher, who tagged the Indians’ runner . . . just after he touched home plate. The throw covered at least 140 feet, maybe 150. (For perspective, the distance from third base to first is 127 feet.) There was no “hump” in the throw. It arrived in the catcher’s mitt shoulder height, precisely where Winn released it. And it arrived there fast.

“A lot of guys aren’t running anymore,” notes Winn with a grin sly beyond his years. “Coaches don’t send them. [My arm] is what I’m known for. But sometimes it still catches guys by surprise. Most [infielders] would just eat that ball, but I thought I had a chance.” 

Merely 21 years old and primarily a shortstop, Winn is the 48th-ranked prospect in his sport according to Baseball America. He’s building toward a future in the middle infield despite having a right arm that would be the envy of many players who occupy the pitcher’s mound. (Four years ago, as a junior at Kingwood High School in Texas, Winn posted a 13-0 record as a pitcher with a 0.67 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 76 innings.) He made headlines in the 2022 All-Star Futures Game by hitting 100 mph on the radar gun with a throw from shortstop to first base. That cannon of an arm, though, is a weapon that must be carefully utilized.

Winn first recognized his extraordinary arm strength at age 12 when he made a traveling national team. “Sophomore year in high school, I was throwing mid-90s,” he says. “I knew it was serious then. But I was a pitcher at the time, so didn’t really consider what I could do from short.” In Winn’s first full season as a pro (Class A in 2021), he made 24 errors in 98 games, most of them of the throwing variety. Accuracy, it seems, can improve with a reduction in velocity. Winn credits a longtime Cardinals instructor — newly elected to the franchise’s Hall of Fame — with helping him dial back the power of his right arm when it can benefit the team.

“Defensively, Jose Oquendo may be the best in the world,” says Winn. “He told me that I don’t have to show off my arm with every throw. I can go 80 or 85 percent and still make the play, then dial it up when I need to. Shortening up my motion and throwing like a shortstop [as opposed to a pitcher’s motion].”

At the plate, Winn is focused on making better contact, becoming a catalyst at the top of the Redbirds’ batting order. “I started off the year striking out a lot, so I’m trying to hit more balls on the barrel [of the bat],” he says. “It’s an approach thing. We’ve got sluggers like Jordan Walker, Luken Baker, and Moises Gomez. I’ll let them hit the bombs. I need to be more direct to the ball, get my singles, steal, get a double. Know my game.”

Winn is climbing toward a crowded middle infield with the St. Louis Cardinals. Paul DeJong has reclaimed the shortstop position after a rehab stint with Memphis. Tommy Edman (a Gold Glove winner at second base), Brendan Donovan (utility Gold Glove in 2022), and Nolan Gorman are also in the mix. “I’m gonna play a long time,” notes Winn. “I don’t need to rush anything. I’m enjoying every step. I can’t wait to be [in the big leagues], but I’m having a lot of fun. I get to play baseball.”

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From My Seat Sports

Redbirds Welcome Jordan Walker

(Credit: Springfield Cardinals / PJ Maigi)

The St. Louis Cardinals have demoted prize prospect Jordan Walker to Memphis and there’s a sniff of panic in the air. The Cardinals are off to the franchise’s worst start in half a century, having lost 16 of their first 25 games. (The 1973 Cards opened with a 5-20 record and somehow finished the season break-even, at 81-81.) St. Louis pitchers are getting clubbed (ERA of 4.45, ninth in the National League). St. Louis hitters are not clubbing (32 home runs, ninth in the National League). So their solution is to demote a young man who set a franchise record by opening his career with a 12-game hitting streak? Cardinals Twitterverse, do your thing. Yikes.

The fourth-ranked prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, Walker turns 21 on May 22nd, exactly 20 days after his debut at AutoZone Park. How young is 21 in the career of a baseball player? Consider the Cardinals’ two current superstars. Paul Goldschmidt — last season’s National League MVP — had a season of Rookie League ball behind him on his 21st birthday. Nolan Arenado — owner of 10 Gold Gloves at third base — turned 21 in Double-A. And yet there are citizens of Cardinal Nation screaming that Walker is being punished, vanquished to the land of Triple-A for not having what it takes to carry the St. Louis Cardinals right now.

This is silly. Walker made headlines by starting his big-league career with that hitting streak, a record first achieved by a player his age in 1912 (Eddie Murphy of the Philadelphia Athletics). And this may have been the worst possible development for the Georgia native. Walker earned the Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Year award in 2022, but his first game with the Redbirds last week was also his first above the Double-A level. Players who skip the highest tier of the minor leagues and make an immediate impact in the big leagues are few and far between. The last such player in the Cardinals’ system was one Albert Pujols, and that was 703 big-league home runs ago.

With St. Louis, Walker found himself in a five-man battle for three outfield positions. And this is a crucial component of his recent demotion. Walker was drafted (in 2020) as a third-baseman, and spent the majority of his first two professional seasons at the hot corner. With Arenado entrenched at the position for the Cardinals, Walker is tasked with learning to play right field. The innings he puts in defensively with Memphis will be as important to Walker’s long-term success as his plate appearances.

There’s one more factor to consider in Walker’s change of scenery: classroom culture. The Cardinals are in their second season under 36-year-old manager Oliver Marmol, but their first in 20 years without franchise icon Yadier Molina, who retired after the 2022 season. And something’s amiss in the St. Louis clubhouse. Stars aren’t starring. Role players aren’t filling their roles. Meanwhile in Memphis, the Redbirds are playing their fourth season under 41-year-old Ben Johnson, a relentlessly positive skipper who has overseen the two longest winning streaks in franchise history (one of 15 games in 2021, then a 12-gamer just last month). 

For a young man of college age, atmosphere is everything. At least for the time being, Jordan Walker is likely better off in the Memphis “classroom” than he would be in a confused, turbulent Cardinals setting. The irony, of course, is that the long-term beneficiary of Walker’s baseball growth will be the St. Louis Cardinals. Triple-A exists for a reason: the final test for a player with a lengthy big-league career in sight. It should be fun watching Jordan Walker hit the books in Memphis.

Walker homered in his second game with the Redbirds, a Friday-night loss at Durham.

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From My Seat Sports

Silver Season

Redbirds shortstop Masyn Winn (Credit: Ben Munson/St. Louis Cardinals)

The Memphis Redbirds have begun their 25th season — 23rd at AutoZone Park — with a flashback of sorts. Way back in 2001, a 21-year-old slugger by the name of Albert Pujols was to be the team’s headliner, having delivered the home run that won the 2000 Pacific Coast League championship for Memphis. Pujols stole the show, though, at the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring camp, made the big-league roster, and 703 home runs later, is bound for the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in 2028.

Jordan Walker would like to be “the next Pujols,” at least by measure of his predecessor’s Rookie of the Year season 22 years ago. The 20-year-old Walker excelled at Double-A Springfield last year (.306/.388/.510), and climbed to fourth in the Baseball America rankings of all minor-league prospects. With a strong performance in Jupiter, Florida, Walker earned a roster spot with the Cardinals and made his big-league debut last week following the annual Opening Day Clydesdale parade at Busch Stadium. Fans of the Cardinals’ Triple-A franchise may not see Walker until St. Louis returns for an exhibition game at AutoZone Park.

Into the headliner’s spotlight for Memphis steps another top-50 prospect, shortstop Masyn Winn. Blessed with an arm that would be the envy of many big-league pitchers — he’s hit the high 90s on throws to first base — Winn brings extraordinary athleticism to a premium infield position, calling to mind Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, the Cardinals’ acrobatic legend of the 1980s and ’90s. Only 21 years old, Winn led the Cardinals’ minor-league system with 36 doubles last season (split between Class A and Double A). He hit .333 and slugged .556 in 18 spring-training games with the Cardinals, but last Friday’s opener at Charlotte was Winn’s first game at the Triple-A level. With the St. Louis middle-infield currently occupied by Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan (both former Redbirds), Winn will have to perform to earn his call to The Show.

• Three familiar faces are back with the Redbirds after extended time in the big-leagues. Dakota Hudson earned Pitcher of the Year honors from the Pacific Coast League in 2018, then won 16 games for the Cardinals as a rookie the next season. But he’s struggled with control, a problem compounded by the fact Hudson can’t overpower hitters with velocity. This is likely a make-or-break season for the 28-year-old righty, at least in the Cardinals’ system.

Juan Yepez slammed 22 homers in 92 games for the 2021 Redbirds, then spent most of 2022 with the Cardinals, shadowing the great Pujols as he learned the ropes in a supporting role (12 homers in 76 games) for St. Louis. But Yepez essentially lost his spot in the outfield/DH rotation to Walker this spring, so like Winn, he’ll need to hit — hard and often — to regain a roster spot with the Cardinals.

Oscar Mercado may have the most compelling story as the Redbirds open their season. Mercado played an electric outfield for the 2018 Redbirds and stole 31 bases in 100 games for Memphis. But a crowded Cardinals outfield led to a trade to Cleveland, where Mercado finished 8th in voting for the 2019 American League Rookie of the Year. He’s battled injuries for the last three years, though, and signed a free agent contract with St. Louis last November. Still only 28 years old, Mercado finds himself in somewhat of a Groundhog Day season, aiming to prove himself a major-league talent five years after doing precisely that here in Memphis.

• There’s a new playoff format for Triple-A this season. The International League (and Pacific Coast League) will award a first-half champion on June 25th, then a second-half champion at season’s end in September. The two teams will play a best-of-three series for the league title, then face the opposing circuit’s champ in Las Vegas on September 30th for the Triple-A National Championship.

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From My Seat Sports

Hardaway: Hall of Famer?

Credit: U of M Athletics

The Basketball Hall of Fame will announce its 2023 class this weekend in Houston, part of the festivities at what is certainly the least likely Final Four in the sport’s history. Among the finalists for induction, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade are first-ballot locks. And if Tony Parker and Pau Gasol don’t get in this year, they will be Hall of Famers soon.

I’ve got a question for you. On their best days as basketball players — or best months, or best season — were Parker and Gasol better than Anfernee Hardaway? Any living person who saw the three players in their primes would answer this question with a resounding … no. Yet Parker and Gasol will stroll into the Hall of Fame, while Hardaway has yet to even be named a finalist. It’s a glaring omission for basketball’s shrine to greatness, for Penny Hardaway should be a Hall of Famer.

Here we are, more than 15 years since the pride of Treadwell High School played his last NBA game (December 3, 2007) and Hardaway cannot be found among the greatest to play the sport he commanded for an all-too-brief professional career. And that’s the catch for Hardaway: However great he may have been, we’re tortured by the question of what he could have been, perhaps what he should have been with stronger knees. (Note: Hardaway played in more NBA games than Pete Maravich, and the Pistol was inducted without pause.)

There’s actually an advantage Hardaway holds as a former basketball great. His sport’s Hall of Fame has a significantly lower standard for induction than baseball’s Hall, and even lower than pro football’s. Unless your name is Sandy Koufax, a career abbreviated by injury eliminates you from consideration for Cooperstown. You have to have played ten seasons just to reach baseball’s ballot, and most inductees enjoyed careers of at least 15 years. As for football, Kurt Warner and Terrell Davis have been inducted, joining Gale Sayers among gridiron greats who starred brightly enough during brief careers to earn enshrinement.

Then there’s the hoop Hall. Here’s a look at four recent inductees to factor into the equation of Penny Hardaway’s qualifications:

• Maurice Cheeks (inducted in 2018) — Four-time All-Star. Never named to an All-NBA team. Played a supporting role (to Julius Erving and Moses Malone) on one of the greatest teams in NBA history, the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers. Played 15 years in the NBA.

 • Sarunas Marciulionis (2014) — The face of Lithuanian basketball (particularly at the 1992 Olympics). Played seven seasons in the NBA. Never an All-Star.

• Jamaal Wilkes (2012) —Three-time All-Star. 1974-75 NBA Rookie of the Year. Played supporting role (to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for three L.A. Laker championship teams. Never named to an All-NBA team.

• Satch Sanders (2011) — Played supporting role (to Bill Russell and John Havlicek) for eight Boston Celtic championship teams. Never an All-Star and never named to an All-NBA team. Never averaged more than 12.6 points in a season.

Sorry, but these four players don’t so much as approximate the star power of Penny Hardaway in his professional prime. Let’s consider 50 games a “full” season for an NBA player. Penny played nine such seasons, so it’s not as though he went down after five or six no-look passes and a reverse dunk. He was named All-NBA three times, and twice first-team (after the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons). Consider his company on the 1996 All-NBA team: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, and David Robinson (all members of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team). Hardaway was a four-time All-Star and averaged more than 20 points per game three times.

Let’s forget the stats and accolades, though. Basketball doesn’t have a significant counting number — 3,000 hits or 10,000 rushing yards — that introduces a player into discussions about Hall of Fame status. In nearly every case, it’s an eye test. Did the player do things on a basketball court we don’t see many (if any) others do? This is where Penny Hardaway’s creative, artistic case becomes lock-down secure. Beyond Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, who can fill — to this day — a two-minute highlight reel like Hardaway? (Hardaway is on my Rushmore of basketball passers, along with Maravich, Magic, and Jason Kidd. He saw the court differently from others.)

Hardaway was the national high school player of the year (according to Parade magazine) in 1990. He was named first-team All-America as a junior at Memphis State in 1993. And he remains an unforgettable performer at basketball’s highest level, an Olympic gold medalist and a member of the only team to beat Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the playoffs between 1991 and 1998 (the 1995 Orlando Magic). Get this: Every member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team is a member of the Hall of Fame . . . except Penny Hardaway. 

In 2018, SLAM magazine published an issue ranking the 100 greatest players of all time, and Hardaway checks in at 92. None of the Hall of Famers mentioned above made the cut. I’m convinced the Naismith selection committee will someday get this right. But make no mistake: the Basketball Hall of Fame is incomplete without Penny Hardaway.

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From My Seat Sports

MSEC: Game Changer

(Credit: Frank Murtaugh)

“If I could put exercise in a pill and sell it, I’d be the richest doctor in the world.”

— Dr. Jeff Warren, Memphis City Council

To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, the Mid-South recreation community took a giant leap Saturday when the Memphis Sports & Events Center (MSEC) opened its doors in the heart of Liberty Park. Where Memphians once rode the Zippin Pippin during a visit to Libertyland, they’ll now dribble basketballs, spike volleyballs, and compete in futsal tournaments. Drive by the facility and you can virtually hear the squeak of sneakers.

“Sports tourism and Memphis youth, that’s what this is about,” said Mayor Jim Strickland at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by dozens of supporters and officials, but also, significantly, dozens of young volleyball and basketball players. “My kids played youth sports, and rarely could we play in Memphis. We didn’t have a facility. Hundreds of thousands of people will come to Memphis every year because of this facility, spending money, creating jobs. It will be a national destination. All Memphis kids will be welcome here. Nothing builds quality young people like team sports.”

At 227,000 square feet, the MSEC has a footprint the size of four football fields. Each of two wings features eight basketball courts that can convert into as many as 32 volleyball courts. The north wing includes stadium seating to accommodate 3,500 spectators, along with four VIP suites, and boxes for media and recruiters. It’s the kind of space — enormous but buzzing with activity — that makes you wish you were 13 years old … or the parent of a 13-year-old.

Remarkably, the MSEC was completed in 18 months, the heavy lifting under the guidance of Turner Construction. It cost $60 million and was paid for under a Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) classification, with $10 million contributed directly by the state of Tennessee. Designed by local architecture firm brg3s, the complex is shaped also for cheer and competitive dance tournaments, with a scarcity of vertical beams to allow the necessary air space for such events. (If you’ve seen cheer tournaments, you know such space is a premium.)

The MSEC immediately becomes the centerpiece of Liberty Park. (You’ll show your age if you call this area “the Fairgrounds.”) Along with Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (now home to both the Memphis Tigers and USFL’s Memphis Showboats), the Kroc Center, and the Children’s Museum of Memphis, the facility breathes new life into an area that has seen activity decline since the closures of Libertyland and the Mid-South Coliseum. And there’s more to come, Strickland highlighting an 18-acre private development that will include a hotel.

“We were missing opportunities in the emerging and growing youth-sports market,” said Kevin Kane, president of Memphis Tourism. “For indoor sports, we used various facilities throughout the community. But we’re [transitioning] to huge youth sports, thanks to this facility. It’s a game changer. Everybody will benefit. Memphis is the big winner today, the tax base, and from an economic development standpoint.”

The MSEC is not only for kids. Adult leagues for basketball and futsal will begin play in January. (Futsal is a form of indoor soccer played on a “field” the size of a basketball court.) There are multipurpose rooms that can host birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, and other such fun. And two dining areas. You could spend all day at the MSEC and leave wanting a little more.

Fittingly, local sports-media legend Jarvis Greer greeted the crowd for Saturday’s grand opening. To no one’s surprise, he seemed like the most excited man in the place. And Jarvis gets it. Youth sports matter, as much for what comes after youth as during our playing days. If exercise is good for the body, mind, and soul, Memphis just got considerably healthier. And without a pill.

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From My Seat Sports

My World Cup

(Credit: Frank Murtaugh)

This year marks the 40th anniversary of my World Cup championship. Watching the daily coverage from Qatar brings happy memories of the summer of 1982, when Italy beat West Germany for what many consider the greatest trophy in all of sports. And yes, that Italian team — the Azzurri — was my team. I’ve carried their iconic blue in my heart for four decades now.

Some backstory: My family spent the 1976-77 academic year in Torino, at the foot of the Alps in northwest Italy. My father was researching an era of Italian economics history as he pursued his Ph.D. I spent second grade in a private school where English was spoken as much as Italian, and I embraced the exotic of it all. I was just old enough for some memories to remain in full color today, including, ironically, those of a soccer team known worldwide for the black and white stripes on its uniform.

Juventus is the New York Yankees of Italian soccer. They’ve won more Serie A championships (36) than any other club and belong with Manchester United and Real Madrid in the pantheon of international soccer titans. And Juventus was my home team during our year in Torino. Before I discovered the likes of Roger Staubach and Ted Simmons, Roberto Bettega and Romeo Benetti were my first sports heroes. I collected soccer cards (they were actually stickers), counting each Juventus player I landed as a jewel, particularly that of Dino Zoff, to this day one of the greatest goaltenders to ever don gloves on the pitch. That ’77 team won the prestigious UEFA Cup (beating Manchester United and Manchester City on the way), and Dad and I were part of a happy riot on the streets of Torino.

Fast-forward five years, and I’m 13 years old, tuning in for what coverage I could find of the World Cup in Spain. And there on my grandmother’s TV screen in east Tennessee, I see … Dino Zoff. Tending goal for Italy! There’s Claudio Gentile. There’s Gaetano Scirea. There’s Marco Tardelli. My Juventus friends, names and faces I hadn’t seen in five years — my cognitive lifetime and from another continent — were beating Argentina, and Brazil, and Poland, and finally the Germans to win the country’s first World Cup in 44 years. It was electrifying, particularly for a boy just entering the world of organized team sports. Three years later, I played in a Vermont state championship for my high school team. We lost, but for one afternoon, I felt like an American Bettega.

I’ve watched the World Cup every four years since 1982, some years more engaged than others. When the U.S. qualified in 1990 (for the first time in 40 years), it felt like a gap had been closed between “world soccer” and the kind I’d grown familiar playing here in the land of baseball, basketball, and tackle football. Italy reached the 1994 World Cup final (played here in the States, a month after I married a former all-state soccer player from Vermont), only to lose to Brazil on penalty kicks. The Azzurri finally won another World Cup in 2006 (this time beating France on PKs). Five members of that team played for Juventus, but we define heroes differently as grown men. There was no Dino Zoff in goal.

You won’t find the Azzurri in Qatar. Italy didn’t qualify for each of the last two World Cups, akin to America not qualifying for the World Baseball Classic. (There are 13 European squads in the 32-team field.) This somehow magnifies the joy I retain from 1982, knowing time, place, and moment seldom converge for the kind of precision I celebrated 40 years ago. A team of precision will win the World Cup on December 18th, just in time for you to include a Brazil jersey (or Spain, or France … ) in the stocking of that favorite fan in your life. Me, I’ll likely have my Juventus scarf nearby for the championship match. No Italy in this year’s field? No problem. I won the World Cup 40 years ago and the thrill lives on.

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From My Seat Sports

Bowls and ‘Boats

Seth Henigan: Bowl-bound. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)

This being a week for giving thanks, we should count our blessings for the bounty of big-time sports raising the Memphis smile index to record levels. In the ever-fluctuating world of athletes and coaches — injuries (we’ll get to those) and firings around the next corner — it’s rare to find so much optimism, even confidence, throughout a single city. Count the win totals as they climb and consider: the Memphis Showboats are back.

The University of Memphis football program secured a ninth consecutive bowl berth last Saturday with a win over North Alabama. Now 6-5 with a single regular-season game left to play (this Saturday at SMU), coach Ryan Silverfield’s squad endured an ugly four-game losing streak, the kind of skid that typically kills a season. Yet it appears Memphis will play a 13th game after all.

On the hardwood, coach Penny Hardaway has somehow built a Tiger roster that could exceed its preseason hype. A trio of veteran transfers led by Kendric Davis lends a “grown-up” feel to a Memphis team already stocked with a pair of “seasoned” leaders in Alex Lomax and DeAndre Williams. Davis outscored the entire VCU team in the first half of Sunday’s win at FedExForum. He’s a legitimate All-America candidate.

And, of course, we have the Grizzlies. After Sunday’s loss at Brooklyn, the Griz are 10-7, good for sixth in the Western Conference. This despite playing 17 games (all of them) without once suiting up every member of their big-three: Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. As Jackson plays his way toward full strength, and with Bane’s presumed return in a couple of weeks, it’s hard to find a team in the entire NBA, let alone the Western Conference, capable of slowing the Grizzlies’ rise. Until, that is, we watch Morant helped off the court with another lower-body (this time, his left ankle) injury.

The NBA season is a slog, friends. Even if Morant misses a month, he’ll have more than three to play before the postseason begins. The defending champion Golden State Warriors are under .500 (8-9). The longtime face of the league (LeBron James) takes the floor for a 5-10 L.A. Lakers outfit. Optimism? If the Grizzlies can reach the playoffs at full strength, another second-round exit in 2023 would be a disappointment.

And then we have the Showboats! Those of us who remember the brief (1984-85) stint of the original ’Boats know USFL action at the Liberty Bowl was about as much fun as a fan could have with his clothes on. I attended a sold-out battle with the Birmingham Stallions in June 1984 during a visit to see my grandmother. It remains one of the most exciting sporting events of my life. The new operation is going with new colors and a new logo, but I’ll be the first in line if the Showboats sell retro gear on game days. Will Memphis have an appetite for spring football? During a Grizzlies playoff run and the start of baseball season? It’s hard to tell. But there’s something to be said for a positive vibe in sports. And the Memphis Showboats’ vibe has long outlived their presence in this town. Again with the optimism.

In addition to the Tigers and Mustangs on the gridiron, the holiday weekend will feature three Tiger basketball games (Penny’s squad will play at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando), and a pair of Grizzly contests (New Orleans at home Friday, then at New York Sunday). Thanksgiving sports is more, in fact, than the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. Relish every moment, and pass the gravy.

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From My Seat Sports

From Albert’s Seat

The "Pujols Chair" and friends in April 2004. (photo by Sharon Murtaugh).

Paint the seat red. Or white. It doesn’t matter. Take a cue from the Pittsburgh Pirates, who painted the upper-deck seats in Three Rivers Stadium where Willie Stargell hit a few of his mammoth shots. If Larry Sutton had hit the 13th-inning home run that won the 2000 PCL championship and capped AutoZone Park’s inaugural season, it would be worth a footnote in the media guide. But the fact that this title-winning, minor-league Mazeroski was delivered by Albert Pujols — this generation’s Frank Robinson — demands acknowledgment.

I wrote those words in this space in May 2003, as a 23-year-old Albert Pujols was already rearranging record books for the St. Louis Cardinals. Whether or not the Memphis Redbirds brass read them, by the following April I was able to pose for a picture with my young daughters and what’s come to be known as “The Pujols Chair” at AutoZone Park. This Saturday, the Redbirds will be giving out miniatures of the chair to the first 1,500 fans through the gates. It’s a fitting, and quite distinctive tribute to the great Pujols as he winds down his gargantuan career in pursuit of — deep breath here — 700 career home runs.

The Albert Pujols Story will never be rewritten. Let’s start with the most significant number of his 22 major-league seasons: 6,164 (and counting).  On August 20th, Pujols moved past the greatest Cardinal of them all, Stan “The Man” Musial, for second place in career total bases. It’s a more significant number than home runs, one that measures a hitter’s power, consistency, and durability. (A player gets four total bases for a home run, three for a triple, etc.) Pujols will retire looking up only at Hank Aaron on the total-bases chart. Consider, also, that there have been only four players to accumulate 6,000 total bases: Pujols, Aaron, Musial, and Willie Mays. It’s quite a Rushmore.

The best part of the Albert Pujols Story here in 2022 is that he is helping his Cardinals toward a memorable season. The 42-year-old designated hitter (a position new to the National League this year), recently had a pair of two-homer games and delivered a pinch-hit grand slam against the Colorado Rockies on August 18th at Busch Stadium. He is making a farewell tour, of sorts, one with the club for whom he starred his first 11 seasons, but it’s a tour of impact, moments, and profound memories for baseball fans, many of them too young to remember his Rookie of the Year season (2001), to say nothing of a home run that won a minor-league franchise its first championship.

About that home run. I was sitting a few rows behind the Redbirds dugout on September 15, 2000, for Game 4 of the PCL championship series between Memphis and the Salt Lake Buzz. The Redbirds led the best-of-five series, 2-1, and were on the verge of securing the championship when they lost a lead late in the game, sending the contest to extra innings. In the bottom of the 13th, Pujols — wearing number 6, as Musial did with the Cardinals — slammed a line drive down the rightfield line, a ball that will always slice toward the foul pole off the bat of a righthanded hitter. When the baseball dropped into that lucky chair having flown just left of the pole, delirium ensued in the packed ballpark. To connect what we’ve seen from Pujols here, 22 years later, with that moment — across what amounts to a pair of baseball generations — is beyond a basis for comparison. It is the Albert Pujols Story, and it’s a thick volume.

My firstborn daughter is now a college graduate and lives in Honolulu. Her little sister is a junior at Saint Louis University. When we’re together and there’s a game in town — in Memphis or St. Louis — we go to the ballpark. (There are LOTS of red seats at Busch Stadium.) When we visit AutoZone Park these days, we tend to reflect, as families do while squeezing precious hours together. And the Pujols Chair is always there. I actually see it as smiling at us.  So thank you, Albert Pujols, from the best seat in the house.

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From My Seat Sports

Redbirds Report: The Skipper’s View

Paul DeJong and Redbirds manager Ben Johnson (Ryan Beatty/Redbirds)

A life-changing silver lining can be discovered even in a pandemic. Ben Johnson’s mother was in her fifth year of a battle with cancer when the coronavirus outbreak took hold of the United States in the early months of 2020. When professional baseball shut down in March of that year, the Memphis Redbirds’ second-year manager found himself at home, here in Memphis, with his ailing mom. Johnson was able to spend countless hours, days, and weeks with her that he would not have had were the Redbirds traveling from one Pacific Coast League city to another between homestands at AutoZone Park. Today, almost two full baseball seasons removed from that shutdown, Johnson is grateful for minor-league baseball’s “missing season.”

“It was an absolute blessing for me,” says Johnson. “The Cardinals were one of the few organizations that continued to pay the staff. I know [the pandemic] was awful for a lot of people, but it worked out for me and my family. I’m lucky.”

In his fourth year — third season — in the skipper’s office for the Redbirds, Johnson recognizes some internal growth as he adapts to the role he plays in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. “You can learn something every day out here,” he says, “especially dealing with different personalities. Each player is different, and you have to treat them as individuals. You can’t ‘old-school’ these new kids. They want to know that you care about them. It’s building relationships.”

The 2022 Redbirds find themselves hovering around .500 (63-59) with a month to play in the season. Outfielder Alec Burleson is contending for the International League batting title. (The Redbirds left the PCL after the 2019 season and are playing their first as members of the IL West Division.) The Cardinals’ top pitching prospect, Matthew Liberatore, has had ups and downs on the AutoZone Park mound. But Johnson’s primary task is fine-tuning his players to impact the parent Cardinals, and by that measure, the 2022 Redbirds were successful before Memorial Day, having sent three players — Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman, and Juan Yepez — north to St. Louis. Each of the trio has contributed to the Cardinals’ rise to first place in the National League Central Division.

“We continue to play hard,” says Johnson. “We’ve got some young players, and we’re making mistakes. But we teach off that. Baseball comes and goes in waves. We’re hitting the ball hard, just right at players. It seems like one mistake has beaten us lately.”

When asked about players who have impressed him upon arrival, Johnson mentions a pair of young pitchers: Freddy Pacheco and Ryan Loutos. But his chest swells with pride when he reflects on the likes of Donovan and Gorman, who used their time in Memphis precisely as it’s scripted: a platform to the major leagues. “They had work to do,” says Johnson, “and they busted their tails. They’re competing for the big-league club, and immediately. It’s what [Gorman] did in the offseason. He came back more agile, more athletic. Quicker bat, and that equated into more power. When we were in Durham, he hit the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit.”

Johnson relished the two months veteran shortstop Paul DeJong spent with the Redbirds. Demoted when he struggled to hit in the early weeks of the season, DeJong leaned into a program for rediscovering his stroke. Instead of pouting — DeJong had been the Cardinals’ primary shortstop since 2017 — he produced at the plate, driving in 54 runs in 51 games before being recalled by St. Louis.

“He wasn’t that hot when he first got here,” says Johnson. “But he was a pro in every way. Never did he go through the motions. When you have a veteran who’s in it, it makes me a better manager. He wants to be better. Let me facilitate that in every way. I want to be more prepared. I know he’s hungry. He inspired everyone.”

A 1999 graduate of Germantown High School, the Redbirds are Johnson’s home team in a way no previous Memphis manager could claim. And he hopes to return in 2023, particularly with the likes of Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn (highly ranked Cardinal prospects) soon to arrive. But for now, there are games to play in 2022, and Ben Johnson focuses on a culture of growth and positivity, traits he surely inherited from his late mother. “You’ve got to keep the negative energy at bay, because this is a game where failure is a part of it. Negative energy is contagious, and it can pull a club down. You’ve got to be mentally tough, despite [a bad] outcome.”