Wrigley and Wireless Technology

[Jon]

AP[/url]"]Starting Tuesday, when Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker needs to communicate with his bullpen during games he'll call on a wireless handset designed by Motorola Inc. rather than reach for the corded phone on the dugout's back wall.

 

Juan Lopez, the Cubs' bullpen coach, will be sure not to miss the call – he'll have one of the i580 phones strapped to his belt and it will vibrate and produce a loud ring.

The Cubs and Motorola, who announced the arrangement Monday for both the home and visiting dugouts and bullpens, said it will be the first wireless bullpen phone system used by a major league team.

 

Cubs officials approached Major League Baseball with the idea last November after watching a playoff game in which a team had problems communicating with its bullpen, according to John McDonough, the Cubs' senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting.

......................

Motorola said the phones have been tested to satisfy the security concerns of Major League Baseball, and of Baker himself. Tom Crawford, director of global sports marketing for the Schaumburg, Ill.-based mobile phone manufacturer, said the system cannot be disrupted by competition from 40,000 fans using their own phones and handheld devices.

 

The existing phones will remain in place for the rest of the season, but the new system means managers and coaches won't have to be tethered to the wall for calls.

Sounds interesting. Wouldn't have expected the Cubs to be the first.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

[Derwood]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

[Jon]

Come on. This will give managers a whole new opportunity to break something in the dugout.

 

How long until the first handset gets chucked at an ump?

[Drew Doughty]

Come on. This will give managers a whole new opportunity to break something in the dugout.

 

How long until the first handset gets chucked at an ump?

 

first game

[GhostRunner]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

My thoughts exactly. Unless the coaches are infirm, this isn't needed at all. It also smacks of more corporate influence and likely was done for a nice chunk of hometown Motorola's marketing budget. "Motorola - the official wireless phone of the Cubs", etc.

 

And since when is wireless more secure & more dependable than hard-wired? Phooey.

[cubfan1955]

AP[/url]"]Starting Tuesday, when Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker needs to communicate with his bullpen during games he'll call on a wireless handset designed by Motorola Inc. rather than reach for the corded phone on the dugout's back wall.

 

Juan Lopez, the Cubs' bullpen coach, will be sure not to miss the call – he'll have one of the i580 phones strapped to his belt and it will vibrate and produce a loud ring.

The Cubs and Motorola, who announced the arrangement Monday for both the home and visiting dugouts and bullpens, said it will be the first wireless bullpen phone system used by a major league team.

 

Cubs officials approached Major League Baseball with the idea last November after watching a playoff game in which a team had problems communicating with its bullpen, according to John McDonough, the Cubs' senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting.

......................

Motorola said the phones have been tested to satisfy the security concerns of Major League Baseball, and of Baker himself. Tom Crawford, director of global sports marketing for the Schaumburg, Ill.-based mobile phone manufacturer, said the system cannot be disrupted by competition from 40,000 fans using their own phones and handheld devices.

 

The existing phones will remain in place for the rest of the season, but the new system means managers and coaches won't have to be tethered to the wall for calls.

Yeah, like that's going to be a problem for the Cubs in the post season. :twisted:

 

Maybe the Cubs could equip their base runners with them also and Dusty could call them up and tell them when to hold up on a routine flyball. The possibilities are endless.

[A New Era]

"TSCHH"

 

Hello this is Dusty Baker, I need Novoa to warm up NOW!

 

"TSCHH"

 

Hello, can you hear me now!??

 

"TSCHH"

 

DAMMIT, I'm not getting a SIGNAL!!!!

[sherwood921]

They should equip the ump too. That way Dusty won't have to walk all the way out to double switch. He'll never have to get up again.

[Outshined_One]

AP[/url]"]Cubs officials approached Major League Baseball with the idea last November after watching a playoff game in which a team had problems communicating with its bullpen, according to John McDonough, the Cubs' senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting.

 

I know exactly the game they're talking about. It was Game 2 of the NLDS between Houston and Atlanta. Check this article for more in-depth info. The gist of it was this:

 

The seventh inning began innocently enough, with Astros starter Roy Oswalt, at that point carrying a six-hit shutout, trying to hang on to his 2-0 lead. A pinch-hit double by Braves pinch hitter Dewayne Wise and an RBI single to center by Furcal cut the margin in half. It was clearly time for Oswalt to be yanked from the game.

 

And that's when things began to get a little nutty.

 

With closer Brad Lidge warming up in the Astros' bullpen -- two innings sooner than usual -- Astros Manager Phil Garner suddenly came out of his dugout and informed home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi that there was a problem with the Astros' bullpen phone. After several moments of confusion, a messenger finally was dispatched to the bullpen. And eventually Lidge entered the game to face Giles with the tying run on third base.

 

"We kept picking up the phone, picking up the phone," Garner said, "and it was busy. . . . I said [to Cuzzi], 'Look, I can't get the phone to work.' We didn't have any problems [in Game 1]. We didn't have any problems earlier in the game. It was just at that moment."

 

The Braves insisted the phone worked just fine, and reasoned the Astros were simply trying to buy more time for Lidge to warm up.

 

"They could have had some type of communication problem," Braves Manager Bobby Cox said. "But the phone was working, absolutely, 100 percent. . . . Well, it doesn't make any difference now. We won the ballgame."

 

Cox nearly got tossed when he was arguing with the umps. The Braves played the remainder of the game under protest.

 

Fun game, imo.

[Banedon]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

Because wireless is so much more flawless than land line service....

[MustangMike]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

 

 

=D>

You know I know you were joking...but this makes sense.

[Scott G. F.]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

 

 

=D>

You know I know you were joking...but this makes sense.

 

I can see it. I did laugh at my computer.

[Caryatid]

So the Cubs will allow technology and new ways of thinking to influence the phone calls they make to the bullpen, but they refuse to allow technology/new ways of thinking to influence how they think about the abilities of offensive players...

 

nice.

[YearofDaCubs]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

That's pretty funny but it is a good idea. :)

[Derwood]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

That's pretty funny but it is a good idea. :)

 

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/restaurant-pager-case.jpg

[Fro]

This seems pretty pointless at Wrigley where you could probably yell at them from the dugout if the phone wasn't working.

[10man]

Gee. Now Dusty can actually be talking to the bullpen while he's on the mound doing a conference. "is he ready yet? is he ready yet?"

[Buford T Justice]

Wouldn't want to waste those 4 steps to the phone on the wall from your seat on the bench.

 

why not save some money by firing the bullpen coach and giving all the relievers those square "pagers" they have at Applebees? Your pager starts flashing/buzzing, warm up!

 

Thats the best idea I've heard in a long time..Awesome!!

[hardcorecubfan]

why the phone if the BP is right next to the dug out, can't Dusty just yell out.

 

for those who did not see today's all inspiring dusty interview, the BP and Dusty will now be connected by an excluxive celll phone.

 

what other technology should we employ to try to win?

[Garwilly]

why the phone if the BP is right next to the dug out, can't Dusty just yell out.

 

for those who did not see today's all inspiring dusty interview, the BP and Dusty will now be connected by an excluxive celll phone.

 

what other technology should we employ to try to win?

 

Flubber.

[hardcorecubfan]

why the phone if the BP is right next to the dug out, can't Dusty just yell out.

 

for those who did not see today's all inspiring dusty interview, the BP and Dusty will now be connected by an excluxive celll phone.

 

what other technology should we employ to try to win?

 

Flubber.

 

LMAO

[J.R.]

This seems pretty pointless at Wrigley where you could probably yell at them from the dugout if the phone wasn't working.

[Roast]

Look at the thread directly above this one.

[sweetpeteman]

Look at the thread directly above this one.

 

You do realize that the moment you posted that, the thread above became below...