Vigil of Easter

vig-il, noun. /'vij-əl/

1. a period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray.

2. (in the Christian Church) the eve of a festival or holy day as an occasion of religious observance.

Graphic by EugeneZ used through CC-BY-SA-3.0 license.

Easter is the holiest day of the Christian calendar, the day when Jesus Christ, the son of God according to that faith, was resurrected from the dead. The holiday is observed by Christians on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs between March 22 and April 25, inclusive.

Blasphemously, Melvin and I profess to having seen him on the vigil of Easter—two years ago today—at a Daytona Cubs game.

Law & Order: PED

Update, July 6, 2018:

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated Jenrry Meija, making the pitcher's permanent ban from baseball somewhat less than permanent. Prior to his reinstatement, Meija retracted his assertion that Major League Baseball had conspired against him, calling his earlier statements "false accusations."

via twitter

According to the New York Times, "If he meets conditions set by M.L.B., including strict testing, Mejia will be eligible to resume all baseball activities when spring training starts in February, at the Mets’ discretion." That last bit translates as, the Mets can also choose to release him.


'I wuz framed,' says Jenrry Meija.

audio

As a Mets fan, I should take little pleasure in Jenrry Mejia's permanent ban from baseball for failing a third test for performance-enhancing drugs (PED). He is the first player to earn the distinction since Major League Baseball (MLB) started getting serious about doping. In 2010, he was ranked the 56th highest prospect by Baseball America. The Mets and their fans had high hopes.

In an interview Thursday, Mejia said, “I felt there was a conspiracy against me. I feel that [MLB was] trying to find something to bring me down in my career.”

Where Did You Come from, Where Did You Go?

Here we go, are you ready for another?

Yes, that's right, it's 1991 2016, and after a winter of overplanning and jumping the gun, Byways is locking down this year's itineraries. We'll see America's least-wanted geographical appendage! Make an unholy number of visits to George Bush Intercontinental! And explore the seams between Pennsyltucky and the Southern Tier. What could be better? And while I'm asking unanswerable questions, how did this anthem of the toothless become a regular baseball-stadium feature?

I'm not making you click on this. And if you want to see it rendered in Czechlish, I can't help you.

Next Generation

Does this mean that the most memorable part of the place was the bathrooms?

As I've mentioned, I have nephews, and said nephews are crazy for baseball. And now they're both at (or, indeed, well past) the age where I can take them on baseball trips. So last year, they each got a mini-Byways for their respective birthdays. We all live in the Midwest, so the younger one and I headed to Cleveland and Akron in May, while his older brother and I hit up Detroit and Fort Wayne on Labor Day weekend. Here's how they went.

The Zen of the Non-Destination

Melvin's recent recaps of our travel though Colorado, Montana and Washington (part one and part two) mentioned that I proceeded on to visit family in Oregon. Looking through my photographs, it seems like my folks and I didn't do much of note, at least in comparison with the itineraries Melvin and I map out.

More pushpins than, say, Helena but I am making a point.

There were some feature destinations but upon reflection, I realized that the non-destinations were more satisfying personally.

Mermaid Strike

Of all sad words heard from some bum, the saddest are these, "What might have swum." Photo by Rob

After a day in Hanford and Spokane that was both eventful and fraught, Rob, Watson, and I followed up with what I think was a classic Byways day. First things first, off to Frank's Diner for ice grapefruit juice, then scrambled eggs and link sausage! Actually, I think there was more corned beef hash and pie than was good for any of us, but heavens it was all tasty. Frank's is an top-notch exemplar of the train-car-diner genre—right up there with the Silver Palm and quite possibly better than Mickey's. Yeah, I said it.

Burning Men

What Is It?

So, let's see, where were we? Oh yes, Helena! Lovely Helena, where Rob concluded the initial post on our epic Colorado-Montana-Idaho-Washington-and-back-into-Montana trip from last August. It's only taken us five months to get around to the rest of it. Onward! (This post, despite the byline, is written by Melvin. We'll see if we can get that repaired...)

One of 427

Mike Piazza, a New York Met from May 1998 through the 2005 season, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday. Piazza played behind the plate in 96 percent of his 1,700 major league games (85 percent as a starter) and was elected to the Hall as the finest offensive catcher of all time. (In contrast, he led the league 10 times for stolen bases allowed.)

The Mets sent a congratulatory email to fans. Piazza would like to be
inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Met but the choice is not the player's.

Piazza finished his career with a .308 batting average, .545 slugging percentage, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs. Piazza's 369 home runs and as a catcher is the record. He averaged a home run every 16.2 at bats, placing him 34th for all time, regardless of position. I saw many Piazza home runs at Shea Stadium but one is particularly memorable.

Boxing Day Rambling

I had a clever-ish idea (if I am allowed to have an opinion). As a holiday greeting from Baseball Byways, I would aggregate here the holiday emails from all the major league teams whose newsletters I subscribe to; for example the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Ignore the triangle inside of the circle. If you are
really curious, the slideshow is available online here.

Funny thing, though, I only received emails from the Angels, Phillies and Yankees. What happened to the Dodgers, Mets, Nationals, Padres, Pirates and Red Sox? I checked my subscriptions on MLB.com; there was no apparent explanation for the discrepancy. Nothing in the spam folder either. What? No holiday spirit?

You Never Forget Your First

From MLB Trade Rumors, Melvin notes that former Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis has announced his retirement. Francis was the first prospect that we focused on before seeing him in action.

We saw Francis in 2004, along with old pal Red, pitching for the Tulsa Drillers. Shortly after the game we attended, he was called-up to Colorado Springs before finishing the year with the Rockies, going 3-2 (5.15 ERA) in seven starts.