Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag: Stadiums, Rebuilding, and Left-Handed Hockey

Episode Date: January 17, 2021

D.C. takes a solo dive into the fan mailbag. (Sort of) Someone asked a hockey question of Jason Hernandez, so he appears to answer this question. D.C. then answers questions on a hypothetical rebuilding project, and also describes what he thinks makes a good baseball stadium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Mailbag time, gang, D.C. Lundberg with you to answer your questions today on Locked-on Mariner's. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast. Very easy to do. All you got to do is say, hey, smart device, play Locked on Mariner's podcast.

Mariner's podcast for me. Would you please? You can also ask your smart device to play any program here on the Lockdown Network, and I highly encourage you to do so. As I said, it is mailbag time. I'm going to answer some of your mailbag questions today. And here with me to read those questions is my personal secretary, Clive Braithwaite the 4th. Clive, how are you doing today? I'm quite well. However, this better not be another four-part episode. I don't think there's a chance of that happening. Since you're by yourself, I don't think so either. Let's get started. The first email was addressed to Jason Hernandez, and it's from Louis Olenic who currently

resides in Juana Wata, Mexico. J.D.Pree recorded his answer, and in addition, he will also address the question on his own show, locked on Anaheim Ducks. He does have a mailbag feature, but not during the off-season. Anyways, Lewis asks, why do a seeming majority of NHL players shoot left-handed despite many, assume idly being right-handed people otherwise? Is there a difference in mechanics between a hockey shot as compared to a baseball or golf swing, for example, that lends itself more to inverse dexterity?

Is there a competitive advantage in the game of hockey, like there is in baseball, that might cause an otherwise right-handed person to learn to shoot left? Ooh, there's a lot of answers to this question. This could take up the whole segment. That's fine with me, Jason, go for it. As far as the left-hand... And this is an extremely good question. Part of this has to do with the goaltending.

Most of the goaltenders tend to be right-handed. So if you're shooting a left-handed shot, at times you're shooting away from the players. The players tend to defend on that right side. That's been a tendency for a number of years. And also, players want to shoot on that blocker side for the most part because that's their natural hand. When you think about baseball, your mitt is typically on your left hand and you throw with your right. same deal in hockey. The stick side is, or the glove side is going to be on one side,

and the stick side is going to be on the other side. So that's partially why you see a lot of left-handed shots, is they want to go for that blocker side, which tends to be the slower side for most goalies. In fact, if you look at some, what do you think about the scouting reports of multiple goalies, their glove side is their fast side. It always has been.

Blocker side is going to yield, more goals or more deflections. So that's partially to do with it. Also, it has to do with the skating stride where for right-handed skaters, they tend to push off a certain direction. And that just happens to be out of necessity where they will shoot left-handed.

So that's partially why. I mean, there's a lot of layers to this question. I mean, I myself, I've always been a natural right-handed shooter. But at the same time, I've shot a ton of shots left-hand. and that's also having to do with the evolution of the hockey shots back in like the 30s, 40s, you only shot one direction. And that was it.

Nowadays, you have more backhanded shots. You have, it wasn't just a slap shot, now you have slap shots, snapshots, wristers, backhanded shots. You have a plethora of shots, if you're a very good hockey player, at your disposal. and one of the things that you do learn early on is to shoot with the opposite hand and this is out of necessity in case the defender is on that side.

So to properly answer that question part of it has to do with coaching. They want players to be more versatile and have the ability to shoot on both sides just in case because the more versatile you are, the better you'd get placed on a team. You could play left wing, right wing, whatever. If you're more versatile,

you're more likely to get on a top line. You know, you have some teams that say, oh, we're looking for a right-handed shot. We're looking for a left-handed shot. Well, if you can do both, you could move your stock up on the draft boards, but that just happened to be what the shot is, and there tends to be more left-handed

shots just because of the placement of where defenses go. And also, I mean, positionally, the right-wingers are going to tend to get more shots, but again, this is just depending

on the team, depending on the system. If you look at the ducks, their left wingers tend to, yeah, it depends on the team and the system, but this is kind of a natural thing. So it's not really more of a comfort thing, like I'll bring up baseball since that was mentioned in the email.

I'm naturally right-handed, and I throw right-handed, but I'm more comfortable batting left-handed, because I prefer having my dominant hand on the bottom of the bat, but from what you're describing it's not really a comfort thing why there are more left-handed shooters in hockey among right-handed people. That, at least that's what I'm getting.

Right, and it's the opposite for hockey because, you know, I have my hockey stick on the, yeah, see, that's how much I'm in when I have my hockey stick close by. And grabbing it right now, my dominant hand, my right hand is on the bottom when I shoot because I'm a natural right-handed shot, but I can shoot both. I'm more comfortable with my left-handed shot. but in Canada especially Canadian hockey players are very much encouraged to be ambidextrous very early

they want to get those ambidextrous skills early because of stick handling and that's kind of a big practice for them something that I'm I'll admit I'm okay at I wasn't taught to be ambidextrous but I was taught to stick handle and taught to I guess dangle a little bit that's kind of a hockey term there

but, you know, when I shot that way, my dominant hand was on the bottom, and that's why I'm more comfortable. Kind of like how you said, your dominant hands on the bottom, you like getting left-handed. Yes. Same thing for me.

All right. Another theory about this that I've heard in the recent past is, you know, Canadian youths, they emulate players they watch growing up, right? Yes. And back in the day, you had Wayne Gretzky,

and nowadays you have Sidney Crosby, Ah. Hmm. What do you think Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby have in common? They're both hockey players. While that is true, and I'll give you that, what else do you think they might have in common? Their last names both end with the syllable E.

I think you know where I'm getting with this. They're both from New England. No, they're both Canadian. They're both Canadian. I know, Jason. I'm just being goofy. And they're both left. handed. A lot of players emulated

Wayne Gretzky because he's the great one. And the way they saw Wayne Gretzky play, they wanted to emulate that exact same shot. So a lot of players that would otherwise shoot right-handed and said, oh, if this works for Wayne Gretzky, this will work for me. So I'm going to emulate him. And that's why you saw a lot of Canadian players go left-handed. So that's not exactly proven, but this is kind of a semi-popular theory among some hockey. circles is that they emulated

Wayne Gretzky's shot. And was Wayne Gretzky naturally right-handed or was he naturally left-handed? He was naturally a lefty. Okay, okay. So, you know, that was his natural shot. And Sidney Crosby, I believe he was also a natural lefty,

but Cindy Crosby did model his shot after when Grettee. It was, Sydney can shoot both ways. But then you started seeing more and more players that are natural righties and they would shoot left because they wanted to emulate for one generation. You know, they wanted to emulate Wayne Gretzky.

After Sidney Crosby scored that shootout goal in the Winter Classic, and a year later, after he stole gold from the United States and the 2010 Olympics, but whatever. Anyway, what, we're not bitter in the U.S.? They just won the World Junior, so, eh. Anyway, so after Sidney Crosby had that golden goal in 2010, he became a national hero for Canada. And now you have all these younger players coming in. They wanted to emulate Cindy Crosby's shot, who's a left-handed shot, who's a lefty.

See where I'm going with this? I don't know if I exactly subscribe to that theory, but I could see where they're coming from. So, Lewis, I hope that properly answered your question as best I could. Because, you know, there are a ton of theories about why you see more left-handed angel players. I mean, it's way more than half that are lefties.

But it's a good question, and it's a very fair one. I think when I reprise this on my show, I'll have a little more research on this. Okay, good, cool, and I'll ask a round. And with that, it's time for the trivia corner. D.C. is off getting a snack, so he's letting me host today's trivia item, which is a whole pass.

Today's subject was a corner infielder who played 15 seasons in the 19th. He accumulated a slash line of 287, 349, 462. He hit 282 home runs, 318 doubles, 68 triples, and drove in 1,141 runs. Those may seem like unspectacular numbers, but this was an era where offensive numbers were down across the board. He has two seasons of 100 or more RBI, eight seasons of 20 or more home runs, and three seasons of 10 or more triples. He has an MVP award, and placed in MVP voting seven other times. He was a five-time Gold Glove Award winner, and made 11 All-Star teams. But keep in mind that from 1959 to 1962, Major League Baseball held two All-Star games per season, and this gentleman made all eight of those particular teams. Did these sound like Hall of Fame credentials to you? D.C. will tell you who this is after I tell you about

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Hashtag bet online. Back U.S. Thank you very much. The subject of today's Hall Pass was Ken Boyer, the great Cardinals third baseman. 1964 National League MVP drove in 119 runs that year to lead the league, and again, placing the MVP voting seven other times. If you got a question or a comment, send it on over to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. I'll address it on the air in the future mailbag episode.

Also, if you have a question for either of our frequent guests, Jason Hernandez, or John Miller, go ahead and ask those as well. I will obviously address those on the show as well, or they will address it on the air. Lockdown Mariners at Gmail.com is a place to send those questions and comments. Keep them family appropriate. However, questions and comments on any subject are encouraged. Locked on Mariners will continue after this word from Rock Auto. Clive, do you want to do the Rock Auto ad?

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Thank you very much, Jay, and before we get back to the emails, I got to tell you that 2020, mercifully, is over. It is time for a fresh start and a few more wins. If you're betting this year and want a few more wins, you've got to listen to the new Locked On Bets podcast with Your Boy Q and Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports. They're picking college basketball football and NBA picks all winter long. Subscribe to the new Locked on Vets podcast brought to you,

by betonline.ag. Wherever the hell you'll get your podcasts. And now back to Lockdown Meritors, D.C. Lundberg here, along with Clive Braithwaite the 4th, answering your email questions, or I'm answering the questions. Clive is reading them. Clive is just about to read

another one. Clive hit it. Aidan Soans from East Hampton, Connecticut has reached 10 mailbags in a row with a question. He's actually got two questions this time, and his email reads thusly. In your opinion, what makes a good stadium. Also, if you were the GM of a team with no good prospects or players, what would your

process be to make the team World Series champions? Clive, I am really glad that you send me the questions in advance, because I had to think about these. I'll address the second question before I talk about the first one, because I think it's easier. If I needed to rebuild the team from scratch, I would first need to ensure that my scouting department is top-notch, both domestic and international, and I think the amateur draft would be very important. If this hypothetical team is as bad as I'm imagining, then I'm assuming that I'll have at least a top three pick, if not the top pick, for several years in a row. With those top picks, I would obviously go for talent, but I'd also put a premium on players

that I know I could sign. If I needed to rebuild from the ground up, I cannot waste a top pick on somebody who's not going to sign. I hate to bring up the Astros as an example. But several years ago, when they were in this situation, they rebuilt mostly from the draft. They got Carlos Correa as the number one pick the same year that the Mariners drafted Mike Zanino. They got Lance McCullors in the supplemental first round of that same draft. They got Alex Bregman as the second overall pick in 2015 and also Kyle Tucker in that same draft.

Back in 2011, they drafted George Springer 11 overall, and they've had some hits in the later rounds as well. mostly role players like Tony Kemp and Miles Straw, but they've had some flops as well. Mark Apple was the number one overall pick in 2013, and he wound up retiring after just a couple of seasons of minor league ball. In 2014, they drafted a guy named Brady Aiken number one overall, and he didn't sign. He's in the Cleveland chain now, but he hasn't pitched above a single A ball. The draft is a crapshoot, but it has to start there. and I'd also want a great player development program and excellent minor league coaches. This is going to be a long process.

It took the Astros five years between starting their reclamation project and, quote, unquote, winning the World Series. As for what makes a good stadium being able to see the game is important. Safeco Field, or what used to be called Safeco Field, is a great example of this. I haven't been there since the name change. but view-wise there is not a bad seat in the house, save for the few seats which are obstructed by the foul poles, but you're going to get that in every stadium. I cannot say that same thing about the kingdom, however.

There were quite a few seats that did not have the best view, and in some cases you really couldn't see a damn thing. I would also want comfortable seats, though, since you're going to be there for a while, or at the very least a souvenir stand which sells seat cushions. I'd want good ballpark food, and when I say good ballpark food, I'm talking about traditional ballpark food, not the outlandish over-the-top garbage that's been the trend in Major League Baseball for a few years.

I'm not paying $38 for a sandwich. I'm sorry. Give me a good burger. Give me a good hot dog. And I'm not going to pay $15 for that burger or hot dog either. That is one thing minor league stadiums have over Major League stadiums. The concession prices are much more affordable. And honestly, the food at least at a vista stadium is very,

better than the food at Safeco Field. I think a good fan experience comes down to a good view of the field and good food, but you need a good friendly staff as well. Nothing can kill a good experience in anything like rude employees. But the most important factor to me is affordability. It costs a fortune to go to a Major League Baseball game these days. It's ludicrous. A minor league game is much more affordable.

and those of you listening who live in minor league cities, I'm pretty sure I can attest to this. And I'll use a Vista Stadium as an example once again. The box seats behind home plate cost about as much as the bleachers in Safeco Field. And the food is way less expensive. We talked about that. And parking at a Vista Stadium is free. Yeah, free.

The parking garage at Safeco Field was 40 or 50 bucks last time I was there. I don't know how much it is now. All right, I think that is that for that question. Clive, what's next? Actually, that's all we have time for. Are you serious? The first half of the show took so long that all we had time for in B-block was that one email with two questions. Do you want to save the other emails or do a part two?

Well, how many more emails do we have? Three. And from what I can remember, Clive, I'm not going to get an entire episode out of those particular questions, am I? No, I don't think so. Okay, I'll save them then. Works for me. All right. Thanks to read the emails, Clive. My pleasure.

Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen in podcast, Lynn, thank you for listening to today's show. Next time, it'll be back to baseball history, but not a classic world series. I have something else planned, and we're going to go back to 1977 and the Mariners' first ever game. Joining me to do that will be Andy Travis, Roscoe the Raccoon, and a Waffle Liar. Please remember to download rate and subscribe to this program. Look for us on any podcasting app that you can happen to think of. Have a great day, gang.

This is Joey Martin for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.