I chuckled a bit when the wife brought these Feline “Greenies” treats home for our cat. Whatever gets our cat through her day, I guess.
My first thought? Pete Rose.
I ran this by a younger baseball fan (by younger, I mean someone born after the Ford Administration). He gave me a blank stare. Perhaps the more “seasoned” baseball fans out there remember the significance of “greenies” in baseball.
Oh yeah, drugs aren’t funny.
Life.com presents us with a slideshow of “Baseball’s Ugliest Uniforms. Ever.”
I respectfully disagree on some of them. Many include uniforms from the 1970s. Those unis were bright, colorful and some would even say gaudy. They reflected the times when people sought to differentiate themselves and saw no shame in it.
Later, the late 90s and the 00s brought us the era of conformity and corporate standardization in term of uniforms. Even the smallest change brings the loudest call of condemnation. The other symptom of recent times is the constant change in uniforms or excuses to bring out a new line uniforms presumably to increase the bottom line for MLB.
So yes, getting back to my original point, I do like the older 70s uniforms. They may be gaudy from today’s perspective but they hearken back to a day when I grew up with the game.
Besides, if you want to talk about ugly baseball uniforms, I’m surprised Life.com didn’t have THESE on their list:
Sorry Sox fans but those WERE ugly.
A rather humorous, behind-the-scenes video of Tim Lincecum modeling a SF Giants Snuggie.
Yo Tim, you’re supposed to keep your pants on when you put a Snuggie on!
Looks like someone is floating Todd Zeile’s name out as a HOF candidate.
All kidding aside, Teddy Ballgame already posted earlier about TZ being the only player to hit for more than ten major league teams.
Apparently, he also committed more errors than anyone in the 1990s, a record I never knew about.
Watching the Cubs host the Diamondbacks at Wrigley this weekend I couldn’t help but notice the extra umpires seated behind home plate. Turns out the fake umpires are Tim Williams & Joe Ferrell, two traders on the Toronto Stock Exchange, in Chicago on business. It was their seventh big league appearance. They bought their seats, but received several complimentary beers from nearby fans. It’s hilarious, they actually call the game, even down to reaching into their pocket for a baseball & acting like they’re throwing it to the pitcher. The fans are particularly delighted by their strike three calls. Although MLB has instructed their umpires not to engaged the pair, they secretly admire their act, so do the players & the fans. Popular umpires? What will we see next!
As a University of Illinois alum, one thing I’ve had to come to grips with is our “Fighting Illini” nickname. No. I’m not talking about the whole political issue. I just think the nickname is a bit redundant. Illinois Fighting Illini” doesn’t roll off the tongue like “Iowa Hawkeyes” or “Michigan Wolverines”. Too many damn ‘L’s and ‘I’s.
My list of redundant nicknames in the world of sports.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Philadelphia Phillies
Indianapolis Indians
Jamestown Jammers
Augsburg College Auggies
Illinois Fighting Illini
Lake Superior State University Lakers
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Miners
Pacific Lutheran University Lutes
St John University Johnnies
Silver Lake College Lakers
St Leo University Lions
St Olaf University Oles
US Merchant Marine Academy Marines
University of Utah Utes
Rock Island (IL) Rocks
any team named “Saints” or “Mountaineers” (most of them have St or Mount in their name- West Virginia excepted)
The NFL’s Buffalo Bills fall into a totally separate category. They use their city name for their logo not their nickname. Also, I have to admit, the St Leo Lions was pretty clever.
I’m sure there are more. Especially, if you look into teams from the past. If you know of one, let me know.
Last night when Andruw Jones popped up and struck out in his last two at-bats, Ranger skipper had some nice words to say about him (emphasis mine):
"I saw Kirby Puckett do some great stuff. I saw Dave Engle do some great stuff. Matter fact, I saw Mickey Hatcher get nine hits in a row — nine straight in three straight days,"
LOL, Whut??
Dave Engle?
I’m familiar with Engle, a backup catcher/utility man, who lasted nine years despite not really doing a whole lot. He had a couple 400+ at bat years and actually made the All-Star team in 1984 (here’s an actual scan of Toledo Blade article proving it) but after he left Minnesota in ‘85, he bounced from team to team not even garnering 100 at-bats.
But I wasn’t aware of Engle doing anything newsworthy (other than being the brother-in-law of then fellow Twin Tom Brunansky)… something that we would remember over 20 years later. Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.
He did go on to become a hitting coach in the majors to once again prove that those cannot do, teach. Except that he didn’t do that very well either and got fired.
So if anyone knows the answer to the mystery, speak up. I’m dying to know.
At least one friend of mine thinks the latest Onion article entitled Brawl Clears Benches of Everyone But J.D. Drew hit a little too close to the truth.
"I thought about getting in there for a second, but then I thought, nah. It didn’t really directly concern me. I mean, yeah, they shoved a bunch of my teammates, but it’s not like they were gonna die or anything.”
Put this in the “Now That We’ve Solved All Other Problems" category…
The University of Denver Center for Marital and Family Studies has found that divorce rates are lower in cities that have a MLB team.
Specifically, the study looked at cities before they acquired a team and afterwards.
A new study from the centre looking at divorce rates before and after cities got Major League Baseball teams is fascinating in its implications. The study showed that cities with major league baseball teams had a 28 percent lower divorce rate than cities that wanted major league baseball teams.
University of Denver psychology professor drew some rather interesting conclusions from this study:
“Going to a baseball game and not talking about relationship issues, but rather having fun and talking as friends is one of the ways to protect and preserve love,”
So go to a baseball game and don’t talk about those nasty relationship issues. That’ll only get you in trouble.
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