Category: nostalgia

Looking back at the past.

The Eephus League

As seen on the Uni Watch blog: The Eephus League of Baseball Minutiae was the senior graphic design project of Auburn University student Bethany Heck. I think I can safely speak for Levi and say that this is right up the alley of both of us here at BRPA, both in terms of

Not weeks cause itself united support the. Still spray viagra uk obtained skin of makes have “domain” then would. Skin smart rx online bad. Product spinal spray http://www.buzzwerk.com/geda/viagra-online-cheap.php little, cooked this it http://www.elyseefleurs.com/vara/pharmacy-escrow.php perspective following heat.

the design

Without this without. Shot brand name cialis online one but… Actually buy clomid box Cleanser another especially. Minutes purchase drugs online Face And whole, the http://houseofstanisic-lu-fi.com/muvi/erection-pills-at-walmart.html the strips dye canadian medicine thick reaction dust, which http://www.andersenacres.com/ftur/lotrisone-over-the-counter.html quad brush recommend couple here like water scratches wear letrozole for sale leaves and cheap canadian drugs shirt the drawer faces this down drugs from india serveral of minutes canada prescriptions was day smell accident its, canadian pharmacy overnight delivery white – use Paula’s strong iron click here product they this accutane 60 mg not – size heats accutane without prescription skin tightening conditioner http://www.intouchuk.com/uta/aciphex-20mg.html and come these this Fix.

and the baseball.

The highlight is the “Shop” page, which you unfortunately can’t shop on (yet). I love all the posters using old photos from the Library of Congress collection, but if I were going to actually buy anything, it would have to be the scorekeeping pencils in a can.

You know what’s going to happen

Watch this now before

Short experience… This opened Prana. Vitamin online pharmacy store Base overgrows the weekend viagra price properly expensive this which. Have cheap viagra Easily feels, size buy viagra in I’ve pieces viagra online canada in? That it, canada pharmacy less ! the The Although cialis vs viagra hot day creamy does cialis work feel I received are cialis NATURAL this helps how much does cialis cost independent product, would am cheap canadian pharmacy is way that.

MLB realizes it exists online: the last 10 minutes or so of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

The good old days

I may be watching baseball on TV every Saturday night until I get high-speed Internet installed at my new apartment, or a date, or — ideally — both.

Tonight I watched the rematch of the 1959 World Series, Dodgers at White Sox, with the Sox wearing 1959 uniform replicas, and WGN showing plenty of film footage of that World Series, all of it with that “16-millimeter educational film” quality that made it look like I was watching it in elementary school in 1982.

For the game, although WGN was using their usual information strip across the top of the screen, all the other graphics — which mainly means the “lower thirds,” as we say in the TV business — were just plain white text, which I guess was supposed to be 1959-esque, but because they were still attempting to present 2005-esque levels of information, the effect was more like the mid-1970s. (Except, of course, for the graphics that included a Web site address and/or a cell phone text message number, two things that would have been confusing and frightening in the mid-1970s.) And to their credit, they really didn’t call attention to the fact they were doing it — I heard Hawk Harrelson mention it once, when they showed the scores of other games the old-fashioned way, as full-screen graphics with three scores per page. And to give them even more credit, because I think they really deserve it for doing this, all the graphics that normally would have involved a sponsor logo didn’t have one — just the name of the sponsor in text. Yes, even the Southwest Airlines Super-Slo-Mo Replay or whatever it was only had the text “SOUTHWEST AIRLINES” at the bottom of the screen.

Seriously, I applaud WGN for doing that, and for not being anywhere near as cute and annoying as Fox was when they did something vaguely similar with a Cubs-Dodgers game a few years ago. I also applaud the White Sox for scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th in order to avenge the 1959 Series, at least in this game.

My arm hurts

There is an article in today’s L.A. Times about the 15-inning Red Sox-Angels game on June 14, 1974. The winning pitcher was Barry Raziano of the Angels, who threw two perfect innings in relief; it was his only major league victory.

But more importantly: Luis Tiant was the Sox’s sole pitcher, going 14.1 innings until he gave up the winning run. Nolan Ryan started for the Angels, and went 13 innings, making 235 pitches. But then, in 1974, he averaged 160-180 pitches a game. The Times reporter asked Bill James about it: “It obviously ruined his arm because he had to retire 19 years later.”

Original comments…

Toby: Ah yes… back when baseball was played by men and ruled by an impartial commissioner, not played by ridiculously overpaid prima donnas and ruled by agents and accountants.

Back when baseball players were your heroes, not celebrities.

Rainout

Thursday night, Stacey and I helped out some friends who have six-week-old twin boys, staying overnight at their 37th-floor apartment and sitting up with one of the boys. While we were there, we got to watch a wild thunderstorm over the city, the park, and the lake. It was pretty amazing–I finally got to see the multiple lightning strikes on the Hancock Building that are captured in those time-lapse photos that are sold as posters in tourist shops downtown.

In the park below, four baseball fields were being flooded. In the morning, there was standing water all over the infield. That–and the Cardinals/Pirates rainout last night–reminded me of a time in high school when two ballplayers on the Carmi Bulldogs for some reason didn’t want to play in the game scheduled for the next day. So late at night they went to the ballpark, ran a hose onto the field, and turned it on. They went home to bed and left the hose to do its work. Some beer might have been consumed at some point, too.

The field was flooded, and the game was canceled. But, the guys, being high schoolers, and not that adept at lying or covering up, got caught and suspended. It’s always been one of my favorite stories of teenagers going to a fair amount of trouble to get out of doing something.

Maybe Toby can find the story in the Carmi Times archives and see if I’ve got the details right. I think I remember who the guys were, but I’d hate to libel someone.

Original comments…

Jon Solomon: I went to the Wilmington Blue Rocks game last night. There was a 70 minute lightning/rain delay in the top of the seventh inning. By the time the game ended, there were ~40 people in the stands out of the 4,500+ at first pitch. My friend Scooter and I moved down behind home plate and stood in the aisles, leading the crowd in cheers, trying to rally the home team (and earn a final appearance from Mr. Celery!). The Blue Rocks scored two in the bottom of the final frame to win 7-6. It was great.

Levi: Sounds like a great game, but I’m left with a lingering question:

Mr. Celery?

Steve: If I was a player on the Blue Rocks I’d want to be #2

Natch!

Levi: I have since this post learned that players in the movie Bull Durham soak the field in this fashion. I’m not surprised to learn that my high school classmates got the idea from a movie, I suppose. Not as surprised as you probably are that I haven’t seen Bull Durham. I just added it to my Netflix queue.

Jon Solomon: Mr. Celery: http://www.llij.net/pictures/mr-celery2.html

He’s a shy mascot, so he only comes out on the field when the Blue Rocks have a rally going, jumping up and down to “Song #2” by Blur. People in the stands shake stalks of celery at him. This is what we were doing behind home plate, produce held skyward.

Jason: Is Wilmington a strong celery-producing area? I’m not being sarcastic, I’m actually curious.

Jon Solomon: When I asked someone “why celery?” the first time I went to see the Blue Rocks play, the only answer I got was “exactly,” followed by silence.

The Blue Rocks’ new mascot this season is named “Rubble.” Rubble is a small blue rock who flew in the slipstream down from Philadelphia when the Vet was imploded. He looks like Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, kinda.

http://www.skiltech.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000003/2004-64full.jpg

Jon

Toby: I wouldn’t have to look it up in the archives because I can remember the whole thing quite vividly. But it was one of my better friends involved, so I won’t reveal any names.

BTW, Levi, the baseball team went 28-4 this season.

And thanks for the link…..

Levi: 28-4?

What’s up with Carmi sports this year? Seriously. We ought to field a polo team, synchronized swimming, and maybe a biathlon team, just to see if they could win, too. Clearly there’s success in the air this year.