Campy. Bobby V. Satch. Crash. Mr. October & Joltin’ Joe.

•November 17, 2010 • Leave a Comment

1955. Roy Campanella, Hall of Fame Catcher of the Brooklyn Dodgers honored by Time Magazine. Campanella arguably had his greatest season as a Major Leaguer in 1955 as he was voted to the All-Star game, won a World Series ring and won National League MVP of the year. He finished the season with 32 home runs, batted .318 and knocked in 107 RBIs.

 

1999. New York Mets Manager Bobby Valentine is ejected from a game against the Toronto Blue Jays for arguing with the home plate Umpire Randy Marsh. 1 inning later, Valentine showed up in the dugout wearing a fake mustache made from eye black stickers and dark glasses. MLB officials did not appreciate the lack of respect that Valentine showed to the Umpires and suspended him 3 games and fined him $5000.

 

1952. A 46 year old Satchel Paige relaxing as a member of the St. Louis Browns.

 

1972. Dick Allen of the Chicago White Sox juggling Baseballs and smoking in the dugout, no big deal. This photo is taken from the June, 12th 1972 cover of Sports Illustrated. Check it out HERE. Allen had an incredible career as a player and has had a very interesting life outside of Baseball. If you ever get a chance to read his autobiography Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen do not pass it up. I believe that Allen should be in the Hall of Fame, maybe one day we will see this happen.

 

1969. Oakland Athletics slugger Reggie Jackson and coach Joe DiMaggio digging into some lasagna.

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Some more enjoyable Baseball Quotes.

•November 16, 2010 • Leave a Comment

“It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame… Let’s play two!” – Ernie Banks


“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby


“You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.” – Roy Campanella


“Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, ‘Sure, every time.‘” – Mickey Mantle


“I can’t believe they pay us to play baseball, something we did for free as kids.” – Sparky Anderson

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Niehaus. 1974 A’s. Big Hurt & Junior. Mr. Cub. Shawon.

•November 14, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Rest In Peace Dave Niehaus. The Seattle Mariners family lost a legend this week and one of the greatest Baseball voices of my lifetime. When I first heard about Niehaus’s death, this famous play from Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS against the New York Yankees came to mind.

 

1974. Oakland A’s Relief Pitcher Darold Knowles and Designated Runner Herb Washington celebrating their World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr….untainted legends.

 

It would be hard to find many individuals who loved to play the game of Baseball more than Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Shortstop Ernie Banks.  I have always loved this photo as it captured his boy-like enthusiasm for the upcoming opening season. It’s kind of representative of what most people who love the game feel when early April approaches every year. If anyone has a large scan or photo of this without the autograph or MLB logo, please let me know!

 

A great photo of another former Chicago Cub Shortstop in mid-air: Shawon Dunston making a double play over an unidentified St. Louis Cardinal. Dunston spent 11 of his 17 seasons as a member of the Cubs and made 2 All-Star games along with fellow Cub Ryne Sandberg holding down the NL infield. However, he also had 3 stints with the Giants, in addition to spending time with the Pirates, Indians, Mets, and Cardinals. Kinda odd that I didn’t fully realize that he bounced around so much after his first 10 years with the Cubs until I looked at it in print.

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My favorite Baseball movie quotes.

•November 11, 2010 • 1 Comment

“Let’s cut through the crap, Vaughn. I only got one thing to say to you: “Strike this motherfucker out.” –  Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen)  from “Major League”

 

“Man, this is baseball, you gotta stop thinking! Just have fun. If you were having fun, you would have caught that ball!” – Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) from “The Sandlot”

 

“C’mon Meat, throw me that weak-ass shit!” – Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) in “Bull Durham”

 

“Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-a-bitch when we were alive, so we told him to stick it!” – Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) from “Field of Dreams”

 

“C’mon Hobbs, knock the cover off the ball!” – Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) from “The Natural”

 

“Hey Yankees… you can take your apology and your trophy and shove ’em straight up your ass!” – Tanner Boyle (Chris Barnes) from “Bad News Bears”

 

“Did anyone ever tell you, you look like a penis with that little hat on?” – Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) to an Umpire in  “A League Of Their Own”

 

“Baseball is grown men getting paid to play a game. When you were a kid, I bet you didn’t pick up a bat and ball because you were dying to work. A player’s career is short enough. Let them enjoy it.” – Jack Elliot (Tom Selleck) in “Mr. Baseball”

 

“You get out there, and the stands are full and everybody’s cheerin’. It’s like everybody in the world come to see you. And inside of that there’s the players, they’re yakkin’ it up. The pitcher throws and you look for that pill… suddenly there’s nothing else in the ballpark but you and it. Sometimes, when you feel right, there’s a groove there, and the bat just eases into it and meets that ball. When the bat meets that ball and you feel that ball just give, you know it’s going to go a long way. Damn, if you don’t feel like you’re going to live forever.” – Buck Weaver (John Cusack) from “Eight Men Out“

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A Designated Runner. Joe. Sparky. The United Countries of Baseball. Zimmer and Yogi.

•November 6, 2010 • 1 Comment

1974. Herb Washington of the Oakland Athletics is known as the only “Designated Runner” in Baseball history. As a world class sprinter who broke various sprinting records while in College at Michigan State University he caught the attention of Oakland’s free spirited owner Charlie Finley. He was able to convince Washington to take the role of Designated Runner even though he had no Baseball prior experience. He spent the entire 1974 season and 1 month of the 1975 season with the A’s where he had zero at-bats or time playing the field in the 105 games he appeared in. With that said, Washington still accomplished to steal 31 bases, score 33 runs, and win a World Series ring in his short career. After being released by the A’s he remained in professional sports for 2 additional years as a competitive sprinter in Track & Field.

 

Joe Torre as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He played Catcher and 3rd Base with the Red Birds from 1969 to 1974.

 

1969. Sparky Anderson was a coach for the San Diego Padres during the team’s first season in the Major Leagues.

 

The United Countries of Baseball….A campaign by Nike in 2007. Kind of interesting but mostly stupid.

 

1954. Don Zimmer of the Brooklyn Dodgers throwing out Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees. It’s mind blowing to think about how long Zim has been involved in Major League Baseball. Yesterday it was announced that The Tampa Bay Rays will re-sign the 79 year old as their senior baseball advisor.

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