Did you see this?

Our weekly VFTB recap of some of the most fun and interesting things I saw this week

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote a great feature on former Marlin Zac Gallen, who has developed into one of the best pitchers in MLB, using perceived slights from the Cardinals, Marlins and others as motivation.

While all athletes try to do it at one time our another, not everyone can control the emotions necessary to positively channel slights (real or perceived) into motivation.

Pedro Martinez was the absolute best I’ve been around at doing that. He NEVER forgot Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers telling him he was too small to handle the workload of being a major league starter. He carried that comment with him every time he took the mound for 18 seasons, all the way to Cooperstown.

Another guy who was great at finding external motivation every time he pitched was Curt Schilling. He was always looking for a chip to place on his shoulder. I remember Terry Francona talking about that once and saying something like, and I’m paraphrasing, “It could be bobblehead day, and he’ll use that to motivate himself.”

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The Brooklyn Cyclones will host their annual Seinfeld Night August 19 with some great bobblehead offerings.

“Is anyone here a marine biologist?”

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Saying, “I have no evidence,” a WFAN host implied the Rays have cheated en route to the best record in MLB. “What I’m watching doesn’t make sense.”

Here’s a secret: Sports talk radio is 99 percent entertainment. It’s not about journalism. But even if you acknowledge and accept that, throwing something like this out there with no evidence is terribly irresponsible.

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The older I get, the more I love a great bunt.

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A junior college coach in New Jersey resigned after communication devices were found in his team’s batting helmets during a game.

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The NFL’s annual schedule release has turned into yet another massive event for the PR-savvy league. Many teams took to social media to roll out their 2023 schedules in a creative manner. None did it better than the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS BOOK CLUB

I know how most people reading this feel about Jeffrey Loria. I worked for the man for 10 years, and my feelings are different than those of many fans because they’re based on how he treated me personally. Did Jeffrey make some mistakes along the way? No doubt. But from the day he called me to welcome me to the Marlins family in January of 2008 to his final day with the club, he was always kind, he was always generous, and he and his leadership team always made sure we had everything we could possibly need to do our job. I speak from recent experience in saying that’s not the case with every owner and every owner’s hand-picked front office.

Listening to the audio version of From the Front Row: Reflections of a Major League Owner and a Modern Art Dealer this past week left me with one major regret: That I didn’t get to know Jeffrey and his story better.

Jeffrey Loria has led an amazing life, and baseball is just a tiny part of it.

This memoir is split into 2 halves. The first half focuses almost exclusively on his career as an art dealer, while the second half focuses on his time as owner of the Expos and Marlins.

I must say, I enjoyed the half about his immersion in the world of art and his global travels in search of masterpieces every bit as much as, if not more than, the baseball chapters. That’s not to say his baseball stories and insights weren’t worthwhile. But I was blown away by one story after another, one relationship after another in the world of art. Close personal relationships with Henry Moore, Marino Marini, Giacomo Manzú, Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Rivers, Dina Vierny, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dalí, Niki de Saint Phalle and more.

Some names I knew. Others I’d never heard before, and I was inspired to look them up to learn more about them and to see the works of art Jeffrey described.

There’s plenty of baseball talk, and Marlins fans should enjoy Jeffrey’s reflections on 2003 and Jose Fernandez in particular. He discusses various signings the team made and didn’t make, managerial hirings and firings and much more from his decade and a half as owner of the Marlins.

Early in my career in baseball, I watched several games with various scouts and asked them to walk me through how they watch the game, what they’re looking for and what they see that most who follow baseball do not. I learned so much from those experiences.

Reading View From the Front Row makes me wish I could gain a similar perspective on art from a man who has dedicated much of his life to the field.

I know many of you may not want to hear it, but I took a lot from View From the Front Row. I also wonder how much longer it will be before Marlins will look at the current state of the franchise and remember the Loria era as “the good old days.”

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Thanks for making this the busiest week yet in terms of reader traffic on VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS. It was also our biggest week for new subscriptions since week one.

Here are the most-read VFTB posts of the week from the most-read week of VFTB:

• Trying to Work his Magic Again, about Pat Williams’ quest to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando.

• Managing the Media, a behind-the-scenes look at the big league managers’ daily meetings with the press corps.

• Ghost Stories, a look at the allegedly haunted hotel that has caused many major leaguers to have some sleepless nights in Milwaukee.

• Remembering a great coach, a tribute to a coach who impacted many live, including mine.

My full VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS archive is available to paid subscribers.

If you haven’t already become a paid subscriber, sign up today for $5 for a month or for the discounted rate of $50 for a year.