Reviewing The Gretzky Trade, 21 Years Later

So last night I watched Kings Ransom on TSN.

Kings Ransom is a documentary by actor/ director Peter Berg about the trade that brought Wayne Gretzky to the LA Kings in 1988 that was made for ESPN and their 30 for 30 celebration for their 30th anniversary.

In the 21 years since this trade took place there have been a million pieces written about it, and there are even more opinions surrounding it. After watching the doc last night I got to thinking about what the trade means in the context of sports history and the NHL since that day in early August 1988. By the way, I was 6 when the trade went down and here I am today writing about it. That should tell you how big this thing was.

After the 1988 season the Edmonton Oilers had won their 4th Stanley Cup in 5 years. All of those as a result of a great team out together by owner Peter Pocklington and coach/ general manager Glen Sather. At the forefront of those teams was “The Great One”. Wayne Gretzky was their MVP, the leagues MVP and was on his way to changing the NHL history books forever.

Also after the 1988 season Peter Pocklington was feeling a financial pinch and decided that moving his biggest and bluest chip was the answer to his problems. Wayne Gretzky was sold (or traded if you want to be proper about it) to the LA Kings and their owner Bruce McNall. The price for the greatest player in NHL history? $15 million, 5 draft picks and 2 players.

Now, this isn’t exactly like the sale of Babe Ruth the Yankees by the Red Sox in 1920. It’s not like Peter Pocklington pulled a Harry Frazee and used the cash to make some bad musicals or anything. And the Oilers even won 1 more Stanley Cup after Gretzky left so there was no “Curse of The Great One” like there was the “Curse of The Bambino”. But at the end of the day both moves boiled down to being the sales of the best player in their sports.

In the documentary Peter Berg asks Wayne Gretzky about winning Stanley Cups in Edmonton and how many more he thought there could have been. Gretzky thought about it for a minute and ended up giving an answer of 4. He left Edmonton with his name on the hallowed trophy 4 times and retired 11 seasons later with the same number of engravings.

The NHL has changed since that time. There were 21 teams in the league then and there are 30 now. Since 1988 franchises have been started or moved to Anaheim, Tampa Bay, San Jose, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Nashville and Sunrise, Florida. I really don’t think that any of these teams would be where they are today if it wasn’t for the move that took Gretzky to LA. In fact, I think that had Gretzky stayed in Canada whether it was with the Maple Leafs or Canadiens or even the Winnipeg Jets we would still have teams in Quebec City and Winnipeg and there may already be a second Toronto team and maybe Hamilton and Halifax would have NHL franchises as well.

Without Wayne Gretzky there wouldn’t have been the glitz and glamour campaign to bring hockey to the southern United States. Pockets of NHL fans would have been there still, but they wouldn’t be watching teams play in front of empty arenas on TV every night.

Peter Berg did a great job in getting interviews from Wayne and Janet Gretzky as well as Peter Pocklington, Glen Sather and Bruce McNall for the doc.

Sather stuck to his guns and said that he was “more than pissed off” by the trade and even told Gretzky that he would resign as general manager if he didn’t want to go so the trade would have had to have been stopped.

Pocklington says that it was a business decision and he would have kept Gretzky if a contract extension could have been reached, but he would have been underpaid.

McNall calls it the biggest thing that ever happened in his life.

There are a lot of people in Edmonton who felt the same way. Their favourite adopted son was taken from them. The City of Champions was rocked by the news, the hockey world was rocked by the news and the landscape of the NHL was changed forever.

Maybe not all for the bad, I mean there is probably no way that Alyssa Milano would have turned into such a big hockey fan if Gretzky hadn’t come to LA while she was making Who’s the Boss?.

In the end even Gretzky says that if he could change everything he’s not sure he would. There are a lot of things that could be very different if Peter Pocklington hadn’t called Bruce McNall. But you know what they say, ‘if ifs and buts were candies and nuts we’d all have a merry Christmas.” The only thing we do know is that Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player and icon in the history of hockey. And 21 years later Wayne Gretzky being traded is still one of the biggest things that has ever happened in professional sports.

Reviewing My Would Be Changes To The MLB Play-Offs

Last night there was an amazing baseball game played in Minnesota at the soon to be left behind Metrodome.

And while the game was being played I got to thinking about the changes that I would make to the baseball play-off system.

I’ll be honest. Part of changing things would be a selfish hope that the Toronto Blue Jays would have a chance to play in a play-off game for the first time since 1993 when I was 11 years old. The other part though is the fact that last night was one of the most exciting baseball games that I have seen in a long, long time.

I’m going to try to illustrate how my new system would work using this year’s regular season standings.

*excluding yesterday’s extra regular season game in the Central Division between the Twins and Tigers.

2009 American League Standings

East Division

(1)New York Yankees W103 L59
(4)Boston Red Sox W95 L67
Tampa Bay Rays W84 L78
Toronto Blue Jays W75 L87
Baltimore Orioles W64 L98

West Division

(2) Los Angeles Angels W97 L65
(5)Texas Rangers W87 L75
Seattle Mariners W85 L77
Oakland Athletics W75 L87

Central Division

(3)Minnesota Twins W86 L76
(6)Detroit Tigers W86 L76
Chicago White Sox W79 L83
Cleveland Indians W65 L97
Kansas City Royals W65 L97

2009 National League Standings

East Division

(2)Philadelphia Phillies W93 L69
(6)Florida Marlins W87 L75
Atlanta Braves W86 L76
New York Mets W70 L92
Washington Nationals W59 L103

West Division

(1)Los Angeles Dodgers W95 L67
(4)Colorado Rockies W92 L70
(5)San Francisco Giants W88 L74
San Diego Padres W75 L87
Arizona Diamondbacks W70 L92

Central Division

(3)St. Louis Cardinals W91 L71
Chicago Cubs W83 L78
Milwaukee Brewers W80 L82
Cincinnati Reds W78 L84
Houston Astros W74 L88
Pittsburgh Pirates W62 L99

Under the current system the play-offs break down like this:

Each division winner is an automatic play-off team (seeds 1, 2, 3) and the best 2nd place team is granted a Wild Card entry into the play-offs.

The Wild Card team plays the team with the top record in the league. Unless that team is in the same division as it is this year in both leagues.

Because the Yankees and Red Sox are in the same division the Red Sox will play the Los Angeles Angels who are the #2 seed in the American League. Likewise, the Colorado Rockies will not be playing the Los Angeles Dodgers but instead the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the National League play-offs.

The winners of each of the 2 series in each league will play each other to determine the league champions and then the league champions play each other in the World Series.

I’ve got no problem with that part. It’s worked for a long time. What I want to change is at the start of the play-offs.

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In both leagues I have marked a 5th and 6th seed to go along with the first 4 that currently make the play-offs.

In the case of a tie, division winners would still be determined by a one game play-off game. However, if the 2 tied teams would both be play-off teams the division winner would be determined by the head to head record during the regular season.

Once the 6 seeds in each league have been determined and set the play-offs would begin. The play-offs would start two days after the regular season ends with the 5th seeds hosting the 6th seeds in a one game play-in.

The theory here is that Major League Baseball gets to show off a double header of play-off action on national TV. It means that 2 extra teams in the league are guaranteed at least 1 play-off ticket gate per season. It also means that there are at least 2 chances a year for amazingly exciting games that will decide who gets to move on and play and who goes home.

After the 5 vs. 6 play-in game we get to move to play-in round #2. Play-in round #2 would have the 4th seed (the now Wild Card team) host the winner of the play-in game in a best 2 out of 3 play-in series. The #4 seed would play host to game #1 and game #3 if necessary. This gives the winner of the 5 vs. 6 game a chance to collect another play-off gate (or their first if it is the 6th seed) and the fans a chance to see their team in the post season.

After the new Wild Card teams have been decided in each league we get back to a system that is much similar to what Major League Baseball uses now.

*While the play-in series are being played the 3 divisional champions would be enjoying a much deserved break. Much like the NFL where divisional champions don’t play during Wild Card weekend, the MLB would grant their divisional champs the chance to rest and get healthy heading into the play-offs.

Another thing that I would change would be the rule that the Wild Card team can’t play the other team from its division in the Divisional Series. If this year’s Red Sox were to beat the 6th seeded Detroit Tigers they would indeed face the New York Yankees. Play-offs should always have the highest seed against the lowest seed as far as I am concerned, and unless baseball wants to change the way it divides teams into leagues and divisions this is how that would play out.

Just like now the winners of the Divisional Series would face each other for the right to be called League Champions and go on to play for the World Series

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I like this idea. I like it a lot. It means that 4 extra big league cities get to root for their teams. It means that teams will feel like they have a chance to make the play-offs through out the season. It means that teams are less likely to try to trade away superstar players and that other teams are more likely to try to acquire such talent to get them in.

And as I mentioned, selfishly, it means that my beloved Blue Jays just may have a chance to get to the Promised Land sooner rather than later.

–Love my idea, hate my idea, think you’ve got a better idea… let me and the rest of the world know. Post your comments, links and criticisms here.

2009 Blue Jays Season In Review

So I had a request for a review of the 2009 Toronto Blue Jays season.

It was an up and down ride… but mostly up and the start and down for the rest of the season.

Things started out well as we were getting clutch hits and big wins (against teams that are no where near the play-offs now).

We also got good pitching from Roy Halladay as well as Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond who was named Rookie of the Month for April.

By May 17th we were at the top of the world and with a 27 and 13 record and then… May 18th through 27th happened. We lost 9 games in a row and the whole thing was shot to hell.

Since then we have seen Vernon Wells under perform at the plate. We’ve seen Alexis Rios (one of my favourite baseball players) sent packing for nothing to the White Sox on waivers. We’ve seen Jesse Litsch go down with elbow problems and have Tommy John surgery. We’ve seen BJ Ryan lose his groove and be cut loose (even though we’re stuck paying him). We’ve seen a horrible close game record. We’ve seen everything go wrong my friends.

The biggest news out of Toronto this year was the Roy Halladay story. Was he going to stay, was he going to go? Would JP Ricciardi pull the trigger on the biggest trade for the club since Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter came over from the Padres. In the end Doc wasn’t sent anywhere and represented the team at the All-Star game in St. Louis along with Aaron Hill.

Aaron Hill has also been a big story for the team this year. With a week left in the season he has broken Alomar’s single season records for home runs and rbi and played well in the field as well. A Second Baseman with 30+ home runs and 100+ rbi is a success story for me, especially when you consider that Hill missed most of last season after a nasty concussion kept him out for the summer and early fall months of the 2008 season.

Following Hill in the line-up has been Adam Lind who has shown that he is ready to be an every day hitter in the big leagues. The only question is where will be play? Is he going to be a career DH, can he play Left Field well enough to stay in the line-up or can we teach him to play First Base? I hope we get it figured out because I can see this guy hitting 3rd or 4th in the Blue Jays line-up for a long time.

Through all the big hitting in the top 3 spots though we haven’t won much. At the end of the season we will be below .500 in win percentage. We have a chance to become one of the only teams ever to score more runs than we give up but lose more games than we win… terrible.

All said and done I give the team a D grade. We were expected to improve on last year’s season, continue the hitting and winning ways that Cito Gaston and his coaches brought in last season and maybe make a run at the big guys in our division. The Tampa Bay Rays dropped significantly and he did nothing to take advantage.

I can see change on the horizon my friends. Marco Scutaro should be left to walk and the 2 draft picks taken next June. Rod Barajas will be a free agent and may be let walk so that the young guys or a cheaper option can be brought in. Roy Halladay may be traded for young parts to help rebuild or he could be signed if management can show him that they are committed to winning now.

My Pitcher of the year is Roy Halladay, with honorable mention going to Ricky Romero.

My everyday Player and Comeback Player of the year is Aaron Hill with honorable mention to Adam Lind in the Player of the year category.

I guess that’s it. The team is on an upswing right now which means nothing other than a lower loss total when we look back at this season years from now. All signs point to Spring Training and a 2010 season where we can hope for more.