Making a run at the Hall of Fame

Last weekend Red Sox great Pedro Martinez was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a fan favorite in Boston while he was he was a player and thrilled super fans when he returned to Boston and took a job with the organization in 2013. He was a dominant pitcher — baffling batters with his blazing fastball all while seeming to enjoy his own private joke at the expense of his opponents. When he pitched it was always must-see TV and in top form, he was almost unhittable. His career took place entirely within the “steroid era,” making it that much more astonishing that he was able to perform so well against batters who may have been on performance enhancing drugs. He had some low moments as well — manager Grady Little failed to get him off the mound and Pedro was responsible for four runs in the 8^th inning of the 7th game of the ALCS against the Yankees in 2003. He also acted a bit like a petulant teenager when the Red Sox added another ace to the team to secure the 2004 World Series win. After that amazing season Pedro left Boston, bringing his talents to the Mets and then the Phillies for a few unremarkable years before retirement.

Like Pedro, Vice President Joe Biden came to prominence in another era. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 and before being sworn in his wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident while out Christmas shopping. His sons were badly injured and as a now single father, Biden then shouldered the tremendous burden of raising two children in Delaware while working in Washington, D.C. The Senate was a different institution then, probably best described as clubby — nearly all white, all male (with no women serving in the Senate with Biden until 1978) and with no need for a filter. Biden was a product of the Senate — and a creature of it as well — popular among his colleagues and well respected in Washington circles. He was the go-to talking head on foreign relations and was believed to have been picked as a running mate by Barack Obama for his deep international experience.

Like Pedro, Biden has had low moments — and has behaved more like he was elected in the ‘70s than in this decade. A quick Google search of “Biden inappropriate comment” yields a plethora of instances where the Vice President did or said something way outside the buttoned up norms of today. Some are hilarious, some are naughty and some make you wonder how he has managed to escape the ire of leading women’s organizations who would have excoriated anyone else for the same language.

Now one of the most interesting storylines developing in this presidential campaign is “What will Joe do?” If he joins the race, he will be navigating some difficult political waters as he will need to put together support from various factions in the Democratic Party who have not joined the Clinton bandwagon and who have not always been thrilled with the Obama administration. Being the sitting Vice President can be an electoral blessing or a curse and distancing himself from the administration he has been part of could create a whole new blooper reel for his opponents to use against him. I can hardly predict the future but a Biden run seems more like Grady leaving Pedro in too long than a winning campaign for the White House. If he retires now, he’ll still be a hall of famer.

Tis the season for super fans

The baseball season is a long one and when the Sox are in a particularly gruesome stretch, I often think of my friends who root for teams like the San Diego Padres or the Milwaukee Brewers. For them, almost every season feels like a futile undertaking and to make matters worse they have no World Series titles — ever — to look back on and celebrate.

I have to believe that supporters of presidential candidates like Lincoln Chafee and Rick Santorum are beginning to feel like fans of these historically bad teams. I suppose that Rick Santorum supporters can look back on the 2012 GOP primary when he won 11 primaries and caucuses (coming in second to Mitt Romney) as the high point, but with so many GOP candidates in the race for 2016, it seems unlikely that a candidate so far on the right will have any shot at the nomination. His supporters and staffers are the equivalent of super fans — those diehards who talk more about prospects than current standings and who paint themselves with war paint when a team is a mere 5 or 6 games back. A few years ago there was a super fan with Brewer fever who set up a website called “Pee Your Pants for the Brewers” and he and thousands of others pledged to wet themselves if the Brewers made the playoffs. Sadly (or thankfully?) the Brewers did not make the playoffs and there was much less laundry to tend to in Milwaukee.

Rhode Island’s own Lincoln Chafee has an even steeper cliff to climb in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The somewhat meteoric rise of Senator Bernie Sanders as the true voice of the left side of the Democratic party has been a bit of a surprise for many and probably took any chance the Chafee might have to become part of the conversation. After all, someone who has been elected to public office only as a Republican or an Independent might have a hard time convincing “real” Democrats that he was more suited to carry their banner than the lifelong Democrats he’s running against. Don’t take my word for it though — a Monmouth University poll came out last week with some bad news for the Chafee camp. Of the 1,001 adults surveyed, not one said they would vote for him for president. The last time I can remember hearing so many chuckles about a 0.0 was when Mr. Blutarsky’s mid-term GPA was announced in “Animal House”.

Unlike a MLB team in the middle of a bad season, presidential candidates can bow out of the race gracefully and spend their time and resources on doing something for the public good. Both Santorum and Chafee have long records of public service and could probably find a better way to use their time than trying to garner 3% of the vote. We can all hope that neither one of them catches Brewer fever.

Better results ahead

This year the All-Star break provides a short respite from the day-to-day grind of wondering whether this Red Sox team will ever peek out of the basement of the AL East. We have had short streaks of good games, followed by some so-so games and a few stinkers thrown in between painful losses. We are 6.5 games out of first place and have been bottom dwellers for the first part of the season. The good news is that only one member of the Red Sox will be playing in the All-Star game, so the rest of the team can have some much needed rest for the next few days. Most importantly, some of the team’s best games have been recent ones, so the trend line is good and we can hope for 2^nd half comeback.

Is it me or is the trend line improving for Rhode Island as well? Good things seem to be happening and some of the recent statistics I’ve seen show that our economy is FINALLY picking up. Unemployment stands at 5.9% — or 37^th in the country. It would be great to be closer to Massachusetts at 4.6%, but hey, we’re beating Connecticut  at 6%. I certainly understand that the numbers don’t tell the full story and that some people have stopped looking for work, many have moved away and that some people are making less than they were two years ago, but just eighteen months ago, we were at 9.1% and were the highest in the nation, so I am just glad we’re getting to a better place.

Another good sign is that Providence has finally grabbed the reins on the 195 land and has reached an agreement with the state on tax breaks to businesses that build on the property. I’m tired of hearing from Rhode Island’s whiny “NO” crowd about why we shouldn’t be providing tax incentives or breaks to businesses who want to locate here. The reality is that we are competing with cities and states that offer incentives and have a more educated workforce, better schools and a more business-friendly environment. We need to be competitive and I am thrilled that we have finally taken a step forward to make this piece of Providence more attractive to businesses.

Lastly, it’s great to have leadership that we can get behind. I’ll admit to being a “homer” and being very impressed with Governor Raimondo’s first six months. She and her team have been focused on getting our economy moving and creating jobs. While she can’t take all the credit for our economy heading in the right direction, having a governor who sells Rhode Island so well and understands our strengths will go a long way in making our state’s comeback a reality.