Billy. Ichiro. The “Black Babe Ruth.” Khalil. Captain Video.

•February 19, 2011 • 2 Comments

August 6th, 1979. A heart wrenching photo of a distraught Billy Martin at the funeral of his team captain Thurman Munson. I love Billy Martin and how he approached the game as both a player and Manager. It’s possible that I would include him on my dream team in some capacity if I had to pick (maybe an idea for a future post?). I recently watched the movie “Billy Martin: The Man, The Myth, The Manager,” and it was GREAT. It was filmed shortly before he died in 1989 and has some of the greatest interview footage of Billy that I have ever seen.

The movie also features interviews from players who were very close to Billy over the years such as Micky Mantle, Whitey Ford, and even Rickey Henderson. Rickey’s end segment is very sad as he breaks down in tears when reflecting about Billy and their relationship. It was a very genuine and touching way to wrap up the movie if you ask me. Definitely check it out if you get a chance. It’s on Netflix so you really don’t have an excuse.

 

I cant say too much about this photo besides state the fact that Ichiro Suzuki is one of the greatest players of all time. I have always thought that Ichiro plays the game like he was in the Negro Leagues. The way his speed & finesse on the base paths frustrate pitchers & defenders like crazy, his batting stance & the way he is almost out of the box before he even finishes his swing, the way he sprays the ball over the field with precision, and while his game does not depend on power by any means he does possess it and will surprise you with it. Also, don’t even get me started on his Defensive skills as his glove and arm need no introduction.

This all translates into 2 words: Athleticism and Excitement and both of those things are what made the Negro Leagues so great. Basically, I think it would have been impossible to truly succeed in the Negro Leagues unless you were an absolute 4 or 5 tool player and Ichiro falls under that category without a doubt.

 

1939. Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays trots home after hitting a Homerun at Griffith Stadium in Washington DC. It’s kinda crazy to think this photo is 72 years old.

 

Khalil Greene, oh where are did you go? During his years in San Diego he made some of the most spectacular defensive plays I have ever seen and seemed poised to hold down Shortstop for years to come. Unfortunately that was not in the cards for Khalil. Him eventually leaving Baseball due to Social Anxiety Disorder is truly a bummer. I would love to see him finally overcome this and come back to the game before it’s too late (assuming he want’s to come back). I heard today on San Diego XX1090 San Diego Sports Radio that they may try and get an interview with him soon. This could be VERY interesting if it materializes.

 

A great photo of Tony Gwynn during his college days at SDSU. It’s kinda odd seeing him with an aluminium bat don’t you think? I’ll leave you with a little fun fact: Gwynn was drafted out of SDSU in 1981 by both the San Diego Padres for Baseball & the San Diego Clippers in the NBA…on the same day.

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My Recent Baseball finds on eBay (Vol.2)

•February 17, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Back in December I did a post on Baseball related items I had recently purchased on eBay. HERE is the post if you want to check it out. Well it’s time to showcase my materialistic side again and show off stuff I probably shouldn’t have bought but did anyways. If you ask me, I think I came up on some nice items lately. Hopefully these posts are somewhat interesting to those of you that read 90 feet of perfection. If not, don’t worry as I do not plan on doing these posts that often.

 

Buck O’Neil Autographed Baseball: Ok, so generally I refuse to spend a lot on Baseball memorabilia on eBay as part of the fun of it is finding the coolest items for the cheapest prices possible. First I want to inform you all that ever since I was probably 12 or so, I have thought autographs generally were kind of lame for various reasons. Well, I saw this Buck O’Neil ball and I HAD to have it. I am obviously a huge Buck O’Neil fan and this just had my name all over it. I was kind of skeptical of the autograph as Buck passed back in 2006 and the ball had some weird tan smudges on it. Well, this is what was seller said in the item’s info:

This is an autographed Official National League baseball, Leonard Coleman, President, signed by Buck O’Neil. The Hall of Fame first baseman signed on the sweet spot. The autograph has been authenticated by PSA/DNA Authentication. Cert. # L32613. It’s also been authenticated by Jim Spence Authentication. JSA #E01221. There is some toning on the ball, which is common with this  type of ball.

Besides the fact that the guy said Buck was in the Hall of Fame, everything is legit and checked out. I got this gem for $34.99 and I do not regret it at all. I’ll never pay for an autographed item again in my life as nothing can top how cool this is.

 

Tony Gwynn SDSU Bobblehead: What do we have here? Oh no big deal, it’s just a Tony Gwynn Bobblehead in which he is wearing his San Diego State University uniform. What’s kinda weird is that the bobblehead looks NOTHING like Tony but the fact that he’s wearing the awesome Aztec Black & Red is too good. In addition, I too am a product of the California State University system (SFSU for myself) and can kinda celebrate this in my own weird way. Well, these were given away back on July 18th, 2002 during a Tony Gwynn appreciation day to celebrate his return to the Aztecs as Manager of the team. Oh yeah, I got this baby for $3.00!

 

Tony Gwynn Jersey Shirt: Another Gwynn item and I really scored with this. The shirt was brand new with its tags, and my size (Medium) for only $4.99. I have no complaints there whatsoever as I had wanted a Gwynn jersey shirt for a long time and was prepared to spend quite a bit more on it than $4.99. Sometimes you reek the benefits of stores going out of business and they sell their stuff way cheap like this. I don’t wear this much but its cool to know I have it.

 

Homestead Grays Hat: I got this INCREDIBLE hat for only $5.99 and I wear it more than any other hat I own these days. The guy selling it had a ton of Grays, Monarchs, Cuban Giants, and Ethopian Clowns hats for sale. Unfortunately the only teams that really grabbed my interest were the Grays & Monarchs hats and the Monarchs were outta my size already. In any case this hat rules beyond belief. For some reason some people think it’s a Georgetown hat when I wear it, kinda annoying but whatever.

 

Mickey Mantle Sports Illustrated: There are so many people selling old issues of SI on eBay that its kinda unreal and for the most part they are all really cheap. Well, I saw this and wanted it. For only .99 cents, I had to buy it. This issue of SI came out the week that Mickey died back in 1995 and has some really interesting articles & photos of Mickey in it. I am thinking of putting it in a frame as the cover is so cool.

 

Honus Wagner Print: This photo of the Flying Dutchmen is one of, if not my favorite classic Baseball photo of all time. I had been looking for a decently sized graphic online to blow up so I can print and frame it but couldn’t find one. Well, I decided to look on the ole’ eBay and I found an 8×10 black & white glossy print right away for $5.00. It is now framed and on my wall. It kinda makes my room look like like a teenage boys again in a way but it don’t bother me that much for now.

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Buck. The Babe & friends in Spring Training. The Tilden Flash. Satchel & Jackie. The Say-Hey Kid.

•February 15, 2011 • 4 Comments

In 1962 Buck O’Neil was named a coach for the Chicago Cubs and therefore became the first Black coach in Major League history. He stayed with the Cubs as a coach through the 1965 season before leaving to become a scout for the club. While it’s awesome that Buck became the first Black coach in the Majors, it’s also bittersweet because the team did not allow him to be on the actual field as a First/Third Base Coach and he was eventually skipped over as a potential Manager for the club.

 

March 6th, 1930. Babe Ruth plays some Spring Training pepper with teammates (from L to R) Jimmie Reese, Allen “Dusty” Cooke, and Bubbles Hart. What I realized is odd about this photo is that Jimmie Reese is wearing Babe Ruth’s #3 uniform. He actually wore #25 that season with the Yankees. I know it is Spring Training and numbers are not always solidified for Rookies & newcomers but you would think the Babe’s #3 would be off limits to anyone. In addition, Dusty Cooke actually wore #6 that season also not the #31 he’s wearing here, so who knows what was up in St. Petersburg that Spring . As far as “Bubbles Hart” goes, I have no idea who the guy was but his name is interesting.

 

Richie Ashburn, the Hall of Fame slugger for the Philadelphia Phillies looking so very awesome in this photo. Choked up on the bat, nice high stirrups, the classic uniform, cut off under-shirt, and no helmet. It don’t get much better than this.

 

A great photo of Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson while they were both teammates in 1945 on the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. At the time this photo was taken who would have guessed that in a near future both Jackie and Satchel would both be Major League All-Stars and even win World Series rings during their time in the big leagues. You can’t look at this photo and not fall in love with it.

 

Everyone on the face of Earth who remotely knows anything about Baseball has seen video & photo from Willie Mays’s famous catch from game 1 of the 1954 World Series more times than they can count. Well I recently found this photo taken from Centerfield that captures the infamous catch from an angle I have never seen before. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

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Spring Training Begins Today.

•February 14, 2011 • 1 Comment

Pitchers & Catchers officially report today and Spring Training games begin February 25th. FINALLY.

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Memories of 90’s sluggers. Eck. Joltin’ Joe. Yogi & Satch. Nap & Honus.

•February 14, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Members of the 1990 All-Star team: Cecil Fielder, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Junior. I don’t really know what to say about this photo so I guess I’ll throw the first thought of each player that comes to my head:

Cecil Fielder: The first Major League Baseball player autograph I ever got was from Fielder at a Baseball card convention in Redding, California. This was fresh off of Fielder’s 51 home run season in 1990. I remember he had a Hawaiian shirt on and seemed really nice. I still have that autographed card to this day.

Jose Canseco: When I was in junior high, my doctor knew I was a huge Baseball fan. Well, it turns out my doctor’s office was in the same building as a company that was working with Jose on designing a potential neon green/yellow Baseball bat (so very 90’s). Well, I got to see the prototype of it and it was fucking ugly as sin. The bat ended up being rejected by Major League Baseball anyways.

Mark McGwire: In 1998, when McGwire “broke” the Maris Home Run record I remember sitting in my living room and watching that ball zip over Left Field fence. I yelled to my Dad who was in the bathroom shaving at the moment and told him that he did it. He didn’t seem too excited, nor was I really for some odd reason. It was almost anti-climatic. I think we both kinda knew something fishy was going on subconsciously. We were Griffey fans anyways so I am guessing we were probably bummed that Junior wasn’t able to stay up with Sosa and McGwire in the Home Run chase that infamous season.

Ken Griffey Jr:  In 1993 from July 20 through July 28, 1993 Ken Griffey Junior tied the Major League record for consecutive games with a Home Run (8 games). I was in San Diego the majority of that summer and I spent a lot of my time at my Grandma’s house which meant we watched a lot of Baseball as she’s also a big fan. On the evening of July 28th when Junior tied Don Mattingly for the record I remember watching it it on ESPN in my Grandma’s living room. I still remember the swing and where the ball went out perfectly like it was yesterday. We both hooted and hollered in excitement and I am pretty sure we even gave each other a high five in celebration. My Grandma rules and Ken Griffey Junior rules almost as much.

 

Two things that I will forever be an unapologetic fan of in regards to Baseball is David Eckstein and throwback jerseys. Both of them together is pretty much the coolest thing in the world to me. These Cardinal uniforms are definitely one of my favorite uniforms from the past. While I am on the subject of Eckstein, why is he still a Free Agent? If he is done playing I am gonna be bummed as I feel like he still has a few good years left. I would assume there is a bench/utility role with some team that has his name all over it. The next few weeks will be interesting for Eck.

 

No big deal, it’s just a photo of Joe Dimaggio’s first Major League at-bat on May 3rd, 1936 in a game against the St. Louis Browns. He went 3 for 6 that day with a triple, 2 singles, a strikeout and 1 RBI. Not too shabby for a Major League debut I suppose.

 

July 31, 1971. Yogi Berra and Satchel Paige talk shop at an old timers game at Shea Stadium. You know now days when they mic up players during a game or during workouts on a field? Well, imagine if they mic’d up these characters. Hopefully it wasn’t just a photo op and they actually had an in depth conversation about Baseball or hell, about anything would have been great I’m sure. I would pay GOOD money to hear Yogi and old Satch converse.

 

A great photo of Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Naps and Honus Wagner of the Pittsbugh Pirates from 1904. Something that I did not know until recently is that Lajoie was the reason that the Naps were renamed the Indians after the 1914 season. After spending 13 years in Cleveland he was sold to the Philadelphia Athletics as his time in Cleveland had soured due to an on going feud with Manager Joe Birmingham in addition to deteriorating skills at the plate. The team wanted to separate themselves from Lajoie so they had local newspaper writers come up with up with the “Indians.” Kinda cool piece of trivia huh?

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