Pewter shows off a few pieces from his Ortiz collection

To step into Jon Pewter’s home in Topeka, Kansas is to gain an understanding of the far-reaching pull of Red Sox nation.

Like many heartlanders, Pewter discovered the Nation during Boston’s World Series run in the fall of 2004 and immediately became enamored with the team’s two biggest stars – sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

To commemorate his newfound fandom, Pewter began turning his basement into a Sox shrine, amassing a collection of Ortiz/Ramirez memorabilia that would make Ben Affleck drool.

There’s the eight autographed bats (six Ramirez and two Ortiz). And the twenty-eight autographed baseballs (an even fourteen-fourteen split between Ramirez and Ortiz). And the six framed autographed jerseys (one home, road, and alternative jersey for both Ramirez and Ortiz, Pewter explains). And the Ramirez autographed batting gloves. And the Ortiz autographed spikes. And the dozens of gem mint, professionally graded Ortiz and Ramirez rookie baseball cards. And the list goes on.

All of this, collected by a man who lives nearly 1,500 miles away from Boston, and has never seen Ortiz or Ramirez play in person.

“It all started with this ‘Papi’ (David Ortiz) jersey,” Pewter said with a chuckle, “I got it for $799.99 from mlb.com right after the Sox won the series in 04’.”

Overall, Pewter estimates he has invested nearly $18,000 in Ramirez and Ortiz memorabilia. It’s value today?

“Take off a few of those zeros, and you’d be in the ballpark,” Pewter said, this time without the chuckle. The value of Pewter’s memorabilia collection is yet another casualty of baseball’s steroid era, which recently expanded to include both Ramirez and Ortiz.

“After I heard about their involvement, I went through the same emotions that every fan has: denial, anger, betrayal,” Pewter said, “but at the end of the day I just felt like I should do something to send a message on behalf of fans everywhere.”

Pewter’s message is coming – in the form of litigation. With the help of attorney Robert Holder, Pewter is organizing a class action lawsuit against Ortiz, Ramirez, and other major leaguers implicated in the steroid scandal.

“Many of the pieces I have, I bought as investments,” Pewter explained, “and I bought them based on the performance of the athletes. Those performances turned out to be artificial.”

As part of the lawsuit, Pewter is hoping he and other fans will receive compensation for the loss of value in their memorabilia collections.

Holder believes that the lawsuit has potential. “Our stance is that these athletes are no different than the CEO who inflates his company’s earnings to make its stock price go up. By using performance enhancing drugs, these ballplayers were able to generate inflated statistics that encouraged fans to buy their memorabilia. The athletes profited. The teams profited. The fans were left holding the bag. We’re going to try to rectify that.”

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In the meantime I thought I would share a few photos from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The Hall holds a special place in the hearts of baseball fans, and rightfully so. The museum is packed full of artifacts from every era of baseball, many of which make you drop your jaw and say “how did they get that?”

I took a lot more photos than what I have posted below. If there is a specific item you would like to see, let me know.

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3. Why Manny Cheated

On Thursday, the Dodger leftfielder became the first superstar to test positive for a banned performance enhancing substance under Major League Baseball’s new drug-testing policy. As a result Ramirez, one of the best right handed hitters of his generation, will spend the next 50 games of the season watching from the bench.

Although the announcement of Ramirez’s positive test may come as no surprise to the legions of fans that have become conditioned to view every statistical feat through steroid colored glasses, the question remains: why would Manny cheat? Going into the 2009 season, he was a surefire hall-of-famer with a resume that included twelve all-star appearances, two World Series rings, 500+ home runs, and nine silver slugger awards.

Well, perhaps Manny had been cheating all along. In a sport that rewards performance with lucrative contracts that feature crooked numbers followed by a trail of zeros, Ramirez definitely had a financial incentive to juice. The same holds true for Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and any other professional baseball player over the past 10 years. In fact, the beginning of the steroid era can be traced back to the late 1990′s when the salaries earned by the highest paid players in the league began to dramatically outpace the average Major League salary.

Compiled using data from USA Today

When viewed in this light, the steroids epidemic in baseball begins to make sense. From 1999 to 2009, the highest paid player in Baseball was associated with steroids in some way. Five of the top ten highest paid players in the game in 2007 turned out to be associated with steroids as well. When all that stands between a ballplayer and a ten-fold increase in salary is a needle, should we be surprised if some of the players choose the money over the morals?

If, in fact, Major League players are using steroids because of financial incentives, the league’s current attempts to end the steroid era will not work. As Manny’s test results have proven, the drug testing policy works as a detection tool – which is good.  At least now fans will know where to draw the asterisks in their Bill James Handbook.

But, Manny’s suspension may have also proven something else:  the MLB drug policy is not working as a deterrent.

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This new and (supposedly) improved bunch of Reds looked out of sorts in the field, at the plate, and on the bases – just like their 2008 brethren.

Aaron Harang (0-1) labored through 114 pitches, lasting just five innings, in his fourth consecutive Opening Day start. The Mets stranded six runners through four innings before Daniel Murphy got the scoring underway in the top of the 5^th with his second career home run – a 400 foot blast over the right field wall. Murphy would add an RBI groundout to first the following inning. Those two runs were all the Mets would need.

Johan Santana (1-0) held the Reds in check through 5 2/3, giving up just three hits while striking out seven. Cincinnati mounted a minor threat off of Santana in the bottom of the 6^th when Darnell McDonald and Joey Votto led off the inning with back-to-back singles. A throwing error by Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran put the pair in scoring position with no out, but the Reds were unable to deliver anything beyond a run-scoring Brandon Phillips sacrifice fly. Met relievers Sean Green, JJ Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez combined to pitch 3 1/3 innings of hitless baseball to close the door on the new-look Reds.

Defensively, the Reds’ outfield was as ugly as the rainy weather, which delayed the game’s start by 13 minutes. Darnell McDonald fumbled around centerfield and the corner outfielders, Jerry Hairston and Jay Bruce, conspired with infielders Brandon Phillips and Alex Gonzalez in the 6th to allow a pair of shallow bloopers to fall to the earth unobstructed.

The Reds are off Tuesday, which will hopefully provide time for the weather – and the Reds’ bats – to heat up.

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But, thanks to a youth movement led by sophomore sluggers Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, Reds fans are cautiously optimistic that 2009 will be the year the team parts ways with the Basement Bucos and moves up the NL Central ladder.

How many times will the victory fireworks be seen at GABP in 2009?

In case you slept through Spring Training, here’s what you need to know to get ready for the upcoming Reds season, in tiny bite-sized morsels.

Gone (But only forgotten if the Reds win at least 80 games)

Depending on who you ask in Cincinnati, in the first half of 2008, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey, Jr. accounted for either 100% of the Reds offensive production or 100% of the Reds problems. Now that they have both been dispatched to separate coasts (Griffey to Seattle and Dunn to Washington), the Reds could be hard pressed to replace Dunn’s perennial 40+ HRs/100+ RBIs and Griffey’s offense, defense, clubhouse presence, scoreboard highlight montage.

Program…you won’t know the players without a program!

Willy Taveras migrates from Colorado to Cincinnati to play centerfield and bat leadoff for the Reds. Taveras has two calling cards: blazing speed and an embarrassing OBP (.296 in 2008). The Reds hope he can lose the latter and use the former en route to crossing the plate about 125 times this year.

Ramon Hernandez, acquired from the Orioles during the Winter Meetings, gives the Reds a reliable backstop who can handle the bat (.263 career average).

Veteran left-handed reliever Arthur Rhodes joins the bullpen to fill the void of “aging pitcher hated by all Reds fans” that was created when Mike Stanton was released.

The I-71 All-Stars

Homer Bailey will start the 2009 season in Louisville after losing the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation to Micah Owings. Bailey, reliever Bill Bray and utility man Adam Rosales, should each get a chance to return to Cincinnati at some point during the first half of the season.

Fresh from the farm

At some point Marty Brennaman will make the following call. “Ground ball to third base, Encarnacion is up with it…and he throws it over Yonder!” The Yonder in this case being first baseman Yonder Alonso, the Reds’ 2008 #1 draft pick out of the University of Miami. Just how quickly Yonder makes it to Great American depends on his bat. If the Reds find themselves mired in another hopeless losing season by August, and Alonso continues to rake, fans could be seeing the Reds’ top prospect sooner than later.

Other Reds who may make their Major League debut in 2009 include Carlos Fisher (RP) and former first-round pick Drew Stubbs (CF).

It could be a long season if…

You can take your pick from a number of reasons. If Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, or Johnny Cueto struggle through a sophomore slump. If Willy Taveras fails to get on base consistently. If the left-field platoon of Chris Dickerson and Jerry Hairston can’t produce runs. If Edinson Volquez is unable to replicate his 2008 performance. If Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang look more like 4th and 5th starters instead of top-of-the-rotation guys. If Micah Owings and Homer Bailey are unable to hold down the 5^th spot in the rotation. If Edwin Encarnacion has more errors than home runs. And, finally, if Alex Gonzalez no longer has the skills to play shortstop after missing nearly two years.

Even if the team stinks…

Fans will still have a few reasons to go to the ballpark. For starters, the scoreboard should look good. The Reds upgraded the scoreboard in left field with a high definition video board during the offseason. Hopefully Dusty Baker won’t be channeling legendary Bull Durham manager Bill Riggins by the third week of the season (“what do we need a scoreboard for, we haven’t scored any runs all season!”).

There’s also the ever-popular bobble heads. This year’s lineup includes Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and Brandon Phillips – any of which should command at least a 20-spot on E-Bay.

Bottom Line

The odds of the Reds having another losing season in 2009 seem better than the odds of contending for a playoff spot. There are just too many uncertainties with the team at this time. While they may not be this year’s Tampa Bay Rays, I do not believe they will be this year’s Washington Nationals either.

A third place finish in the NL Central, and something along the lines of an 84-78 record could be all the Reds have to show for the 2009 season. 2010 on the other hand…

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