Chronology
Cosmic Baseball is 26 Years Old

Red Sox Nation
A Nation Votes

By some accounts, Red Sox Nation has been around since 1986. If that's true, why did it take so long for the nation to empower a president?

Red Sox Nation is not a republic, it is, in its current incarnation, a marketing tool managed by the Red Sox public relations apparatus.

Red Sox Nation is not a country. It is a metaphor for the collective of Boston Red Sox fans. The origins of the Red Sox Nation are found about 150 miles southwest of Fenway Park in the city of Milford, Connecticut. During the 1986, World Series a war broke out in this community. On October 20, 1986, this suburban feud caught the attention of a writer for the Boston Globe newspaper. A reference to "Red Sox Nation" appeared in a newspaper article written by Nathan Cobb.

I indeed referred to Red Sox Nation on Oct. 20, 1986. The story was about the southwestern Connecticut border war between Sox fans and New York Mets fans during the locally infamous '86 World Series. It was set largely in Milford, Conn., which may explain why I'd forgotten. Exit 40 off I-95 seems such an unlikely place for the birth of a nation. (N. Cobb, 2005)

This led to the idea of nominating and electing a president, a process completed yesterday with Remy's election.

Some 1,200 people and 1 dog ran for the presidency. The Red Sox organization shrunk the list down just before the election. This group of ten consisted of three well-known and respected writers/journalists, three former Red Sox players, and four, relatively unknown fans. A debate, moderated by Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" fame took place in an auditorium at Boston University. The voting took place over several days and concluded on October 3, the same day the Red Sox were scheduled to play in the first game of the American League Division Series. (Remy, apparently already scheduled, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway before the game against the California Angels.) "Hail to the Chief" played as he walked to the mound to throw the ball.

By definition, unknowns probably did not stand a chance, despite campaign videos and blogs supported by the Red Sox at its website. However, Remy did remark at one point that, if he were elected, he would appoint the number two vote getter "vice president" of Red Sox Nation. Rob Crawford, as the table below indicates, was the runner-up. According to the official press report detailing Remy's election it, "remained unclear whether Remy would follow through with his campaign promise to tab the electoral runner-up, in this case Crawford, as his vice president. During the Red Sox Nation presidential debate, Remy pledged that his VP would receive the secondary perks of the office, which include season tickets and a trip to Spring Training."

Red Sox Nation Election Results
1. Jerry Remy	39,120
2. Rob Crawford	13,669
3. Jared Carrabis	9,445
4. Cheryl Boyd	5,305
5. Cindy Brown	3,460

Only Remy of the "well knowns" appears to have received any votes. Crawford works in the field of education as a fundraiser, Carrabis's claim-to-fame was his perseverance in wearing a Red Sox t-shirt for more than 1,400 days (apparently it wasn't the same t-shirt.) Boyd is the grand niece of Elizabeth Dooley, enshrined as one of the greatest Red Sox fans. Brown is head of Boston Duck Tours.

Missing from this list are the well-knowns such as journalist/commentator Mike Barnicle, sports writer Peter Gammons, and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. (Goodwin apparently withdrew at the last moment and pledged her support to Crawford.) Also missing are the Red Sox player candidates, Sam Horn and Rich Garces. Also absent from the list of vote getters is the dog "Big Pupi" who probably did not have much of a chance anyway.

Remy's fulltime gig is color announcer for the Red Sox games broadcasted on the New England Sports Network. Some complain that position gave him an unfair bully pulpit. Whatever. Like all politicians, Remy has his critics. Blogsters at the New York Times write,

(October 3rd, 2007 3:18 pm) RemDawg's stock is falling. He has embarrassed himself by trying to be president of red sox nation when with a little humility he could be King of the nation by acclimation. The final straw was the humiliating so called “presidential debate” moderated by Tim Russert on NESN. Instead of bestowing his good tidings to any of the more deserving candidates, he wandered off with an incoherent rant on Dodger blue. Go sign some more Bucholz no-no scorecards and shill some more sheds, windows and wieners. Come to think of it Johnny Pesky already has your throne.

(October 3rd, 2007 5:50 pm) It's true that Remy is a good color man and has great chemistry with Orsillo. But I know I'm not alone among Red Sox fans in wondering whether the “RemDawg” phenomenon has gone too far. Sometimes it seems that Remy's more interested in making money through his website than providing insightful game commentary. And it doesn't help that Orsillo goes along with it all. They were a better pair when Orsillo was just starting out. As for Remy's campaign to be president of Red Sox Nation: Being on the air every night gives him an obvious advantage. He should have recognized the stupidity of the election and stayed out of it.

While the election is over, the Red Sox organization's director of PR remarks,

"The story does not end here. We want to continue the dialogue with our fans, whether it is with the top five, the top 25 or the 1,200 who ran for office. We want to give a voice to all Red Sox fans across the country and around the world. Such sustained communication helps us remain accessible and accountable to our fans...The regular fans really hustled with massive e-mails. They were on MyFace, MySpace, whatever the space and faces are. They got the word out."

"The fans who have participated," said Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino, "have been a bounty of enthusiasm, energy and provocative thoughts. We look forward to compiling a master list of their suggestions and determining which have merit and feasibility."

Red Sox Nation is not a republic; it is a merchandising product. And RemDawg is the mascot. Hail to the thief, chief.

The Planets
Mercury Will Go On the 21-Day Retrograde List

Mercury is a frequent visitor to the retrograde list. There is a variety of opinions as to the meaning, if any, of a retrograde planet (last month Venus was retrograde). Planets do not really move backward; but because of a number of physical and optical realities they look retrograde from our perspective here on terra firma. Detailed oriented astrologists will also point out that it matters in which sign(s) Mercury inhabits during its retrograde moments. (In the retrograde period starting October 12, Mercury will be in Scorpio, backing into Libra.) Typical of a Mercury retrograde period are the little annoying miscues and technology blips that creep and seep into our lives. Erroneous information refined from bad data is another hallmark of the contemporary Mercury retrograde moment.

One purpose of this game between Mercury-in-the-Signs and the Mercury Project Missions was to see if it might shed some light on what is in store for us during the Mercury retrograde period (~October 12-November 1, 2007). A long shot at best.

(Astrological) Mercury-in-the-Signs defeated the (Engineered) Mercury Project Missions. The implication of this will depend on where Mercury is positioned in your natal horoscope chart (it will also help if you are stoned on Emerald Tablets.) In a land north of Oz, for example, they celebrated the Mercury-in-the-Signs victory as a win for the supernatural over the natural, for astrology over astronomy, for gut feelings over scientific methodologies.

Mercury the planet has just arrived in Scorpio. Astrological tradition suggests that Mercury in this place intensifies the (inadvertent) disclosure of secrets. Inadvertent like a Freudian slip. With the messenger planet in the scorpion's domain there is a lack of detachment, metaphors will run deeper than usual.

Ten of the conventional astrological signs of the zodiac played in the game (Aquarius and Pisces sat on the bench.) Not all of the 26 missions associated with the Mercury Project (6 were "manned") made it to this game's roster.

Cosmic Game of October 2, 2007

Mercury in Zodiac Signs @ Mercury Project Missions

Other Notes...

Origin of the Name "Mercury Project"

Abe Silverstein

A Manned Satellite Plan

Science is about teamwork. It is hard to be an island in the science ocean, and Silverstein was both an accomplished engineer and a good manager of people in an engineering environment.

The Mercury Project Seven

Silverstein is credited with naming the Mercury Project. (According to the New York Times obituary on Silverstein, he gave NASA's Apollo project its name too.) At the time he named the Mercury Project in 1958, he was Director of NASA's Space Flight Program.

In the 1950s as planet Earth was blown into the "space age", members of the space community had recommended that the manned satellite plan be called "Project Astronaut." The name emphasized the "human" aspect of the venture. But others did not want that type of focus, "it might lead to overemphasis on the personality of the man. Silverstein advocated a systemic name with allegorical overtones and neutral underpinnings: The Olympian messenger Mercury, denatured by chemistry, advertising, an automobile, and Christianity, was the most familiar of the Gods in the Greek pantheon to Americans. Mercury…was too rich in symbolic associations to be denied."

Mercury was the Roman name for the Greek god Hermes. In both Greece and Rome, there is an association of Hermes/Mercury with speed. Mercury the planet moves faster than any other planet in our solar system. It is not a coincidence that Silverstein, an American man who spent his life studying the characteristics of speed, would be attracted to the concept of Mercury. What "neutral underpinnings" means is not exactly clear.

Mercury in Space

In the 21st century, the interest in Mercury has been reawakened primarily as manifested in the MESSENGER Project. (The word MESSENGER in this context is actually an acronym: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging...poetic.) The MESSENGER (spacecraft) will fly within 150 miles of Mercury on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was launched on August 3, 2004 from Florida in the United States.

Incidentally, when MESSENGER gets that close, Mercury will be in the middle of Libra and twelve days from going retrograde.

Not since Mariner 10 in the early 1970s, has there been any up-close study of the planet and MESSENGER is getting very close to the messenger planet. Why the renewed scientific interest in Mercury? Mercury is never going to be an alternative haven for humans the way Mars is thought to be. At the MESSENGER internet home page, when you click on the "Why Mercury" link, the title of the page that appears reads, "Mercury: The Key to Terrestrial Planet Evolution." Messenger will orbit Mercury until 2015 or 2016. Then it will be deliberately crash-landed on Mercury's surface. Originally, a controlled landing on Mercury was planned but financial realities required project cutbacks. As astronomer Moore observes in his book on Mercury, "To President George W. Bush, MESSENGER was much less important than the attack on Iraq." (Moore on Mercury, page 4). Astronomers have politics too as the recent impeachment of Pluto demonstrates.

Mercury at the Cosmic Baseball Association

Related Game Reports

• Muses @ Planets (November 6, 1998)
• Signs @ Planets (June 17, 2006)
• Planets @ Signs (July 27, 2007)
• Total Lunar Eclipse Series (August 28, 2007)