Monday, May 5, 2008

The Race

McCain took in a Diamondbacks game yesterday. Seeing as though all three remaining candidates hail from someplace whose teams have at least a shot at making noise come October,* it's probably inevitable that baseball will be co-opted for political purposes this fall.

I went over the candidate's baseball bonafides last summer, so we won't rehash that again. What I would like to note is that there have been twenty-five World Series played in presidential election years, and on only four occasions have the champion and the president hailed from the same state:
  • In 1920 both the Cleveland Indians and Warren Harding took home the hardware. Unfortunately, it's illegal for presidents to literally take home the hardware, so Harding was subsequently disgraced by the Teapot Dome Scandal;


  • The Yankees and FDR were both in the early stages of New York-based dynasties in 1932 and 1936; and


  • In 1972, California-based victory was shrouded in historic levels of ugliness. And Nixon's win over McGovern was almost as ghastly as the A's uniforms.

So, be wary Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Yankees/Mets fans. Having a presidential candidate use you in October isn't conducive to your championship chances, statistically speaking.

*Despite Clinton's historic rooting bigamy, we'll give her the Yankees. Something tells me, though, that we won't have to worry about her or them being relevant come October. And yes, I realize that Obama is a White Sox fan. He's probably my guy right now, but if he and the Cubs are both still standing in October and he panders to the North Siders, it's over. Really, I had better hear Guillenesque invective from him or else I'm voting for the Natural Law Party guy.

8 comments:

tadthebad said...

Obama is your guy? Shyster, I was really starting to like you.

Pete Ridges said...

I'm not sure about the "only" in "on only four occasions". Four out of 25 seems quite a lot to me, considering there are fifty states plus Canada...
Moving only a little beyond state boundaries, you could add 2004, when America re-elected a president born in Red Sox Nation.

Craig Calcaterra said...

Sorry Tad. If it helps, I'll tell you that I'm not the cheerleader type when it comes to political candidates of any stripe, party, or persuasion and I have probably voted for more R's in my lifetime than your average D could ever admit to. Call me a skeptical, flaming moderate.

Pete: good point, but making it in the body of the post would have, like, totally killed the chance to make jokes, and we simply can't have that. ;-)

tadthebad said...

No worries, Craig. I don't happen to support Obama, but I'd never consider political preference a basis for dissolving a friendship. Or in this case, for abandoning my posts.

Unknown said...

Way to go, Tad...get me all worked up and fighting mad and then it turns out to be sarcasm.

-sigh- It's darned unfortunate that 'saying it with a twinkle in the eye' just doesn't come across on the 'net.

tadthebad said...

Osmod,

Sorry 'bout that. It's easy for me to get worked-up about government and poly-sci, too. There's plenty of time and space available for political "discussions", but I can't see making that leap in this forum. For me, this is all about fun and good baseball dialogue in a relatively low-stress environment. Political discussions, while fun in their own right, tend to wear me out as they are anything but relaxing.

Craig Calcaterra said...

Thanks, guys. I'll drop a pol's name once in a while -- and I'm not going to issue silly bans against political talk because it is part of life -- but this is really where I like to hang out to relax.

Amazingly, after more than a year, I've never had anyone go nutso on politics, even when I talk about race or whatever. I think it's a testament to a bright readership.

Unknown said...

Tad...no, no, don't get me wrong. I was all worked up because you were going after our boy Craig for political leanings, implying that it has some bearing on personal relationships. You cleared it up in your follow up. Mea culpa for getting all excited before I had all the facts (something I decry in others...-sigh-I'm getting old).

By the way, I agree that political discussions are anything but relaxing...they sure can get the brain firing on all cylinders, though (depending on the forum, and, of course, the participants)!

Now, the politics IN baseball, on the other hand...