Monday, December 23, 2013

One of Baseball's Best Known Rants

This past week Southern Illinois mens basketball coach Barry Hinson went on a rant following their loss to Murray State.  During his little tirade to the media, Hinson said he had a bunch of "mama's boys" on the team and his wife could make more baskets than his team.
This rant brings back memories of Allen Iverson's "practice", Jim Mora's "playoffs" and Herm Edwards' "We play to win the game" among others.  Baseball, of course, is not immune to post game rants to the media.  One of the most famous ones is authored by former Dodger manager Tom Lasorda in 1978.
Lasorda was asked of Cubs' Dave Kingman's performance against him that day.  Kingman only hit three home runs with eight RBIs.  You can hear the tirade here:

**warning: Not safe at work and parental discretion advised due to language



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Saturday, December 14, 2013

A "Royal" Inspiration For A Hit Song

One of the top singles currently is "Royals" by New Zealand teenager Lorde.  Here is the song if you are not familiar with it:

During an interview , Lorde explains that part of the inspiration behind the song is a photo from an old National Geographic of a baseball player in a Kansas City Royals uniform signing baseballs for a group fans.  She later explained that she took the word, "royal", and used as a theme of aristocracy for the song.
Here is the photo that inspired the hit song:

The photo, of course, is of Hall of Famer George Brett.  I guess we could add one more hit to his career total.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Card of Week: 1981 Topps Kirk Gibson

I am going to show off some of my Spartan pride and mention that MSU is Rose Bowl bound and Big Ten Champions.

1981 Topps
One of the stars of a past MSU Big Ten title team is Kirk Gibson.  Gibson was an All American wide receiver of the 1978 team.   MSU did not play in the Rose Bowl because they had to sit it out due to being on probation from the NCAA.
Gibson ended up being drafted in seventh round in the NFL draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.  He fell in the draft mostly because of his baseball career.  He played one year of baseball where he hit .390 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 48 games.  He was drafted in the first round by Detroit Tigers and had a fine MLB career winning two World Series titles.
His son, Cam, is a current member of MSU's baseball team. 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

All Time Red Sox/Yankees Players

With free agent outfielder and former Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury signing with the Yankees on Tuesday, it got me thinking of other players who played for both franchises.  It is not a rarity.  There has been more than 300 players who played for both sides of this heated rivalry.
Here is a position by position look at these players.  I included Babe Ruth as an outfielder because he spent most of career as an outfielder and there are fewer outfielders than pitchers.  Also, the middle infield is very weak compared to the rest. I picked one in each to fill out the roster and they were chosen only because they were starters on pennant winners.
Outfield:
Babe Ruth (Bos 1914-1919, NY(1920-34)
Rickey Henderson (NY 1985-89, Bos 2002)
Johnny Damon (Bos 2002-05, NY(2006-09)
Jackie Jensen (NY 1950-52 Bos 54-61): World Series Champ w/ NY and AL MVP w/ BOS
Duffy Lewis (Bos 1910-17 NY 1919-20):  Babe Ruth wasnt the only star sold from Bos to NY that began the curse.

3rd Base:
Wade Boggs (Bos 1982-92 NY 1993-97)
Mike Lowell (NY 1998 Bos 2006-10)
Kevin Youkilis (Bos 2004-12 NY 2013)
Shortstop:
Spike Owen (Bos 1986-88 NY 1993)
Second Base:
Mark Bellhorn (Bos 2004-05 NY 2005)
First Base:
George Scott (Bos 1967-71, 77-79  NY 1979)
Doug Mientkiewicz (Bos 2004 NY 2007): famously caught the last out that ended the curse and later played for NY
Catcher:
Elston Howard (NY 1955-1967 Bos 1967-68)
DH:
Don Baylor (NY 1983-85 NY 1986-87)
Jose Canseco (Bos 1995-96 NY 2000)

Starting Pitchers:
Hall of Famers:
Red Ruffing (Bos 1924-30 NY 30-46)
Jack Chesbro (NY 1903-09 Bos 1909): NY was known as the Higlanders during his days
Waite Hoyt (Bos 1919-20 NY 1921-30)
Herb Pennock (Bos 1915-22 NY 1923-33)
other starters of note:
Roger Clemens (Bos 1984-1996 NY 1999-2003, 2007)
Luis Tiant  (Bos 1971-78 NY 1979-1980)
Wes Ferrell (Bos 1934-37 NY 1938-39)
Bob Turley (NY 1955-62 Bos 1963)
David Cone (NY 1995-2000 Bos 2001)
Derek Lowe (Bos 1997-2004 NY 2012)
David Wells (NY 1997-98, 2002-03 Bos 2005-06)

Closers:
Sparky Lyle (Bos 1967-71 NY 1972-78)
Lee Smith (Bos 1988-90 NY 1993)
Tom Gordon (Bos 1996-99 NY 2004-05)

Manager:
Ralph Houk (NY 1961-63,  66-73 Bos 1981-84)
Don Zimmer (Bos 1976-80) NY bench coach 1996-2003)