History in the plunking

In 1990 or thereabouts, I won a tremendously ugly waterproof watch from 94.9 WRBT by answering the question of who was the modern-day hit-by-pitch leader. Ugly watch aside, it’s always been one of my favorite records in baseball. Last night, Craig Biggio broke one of my favorite records in baseball, being hit by a pitch for the 268th time to break Don Baylor’s modern record. Biggio still trails two 19th-century players for the all-time lead, Hughie Jennings (287) and Tommy Tucker (272). Among active players, Jason Kendall is next with 183.

Biggio’s top HBP season was 1997, which was his best season all-around. Baylor tops him in that category, having been plunked 35 times in 1986. The Hall of Fame has asked for Biggio’s armor, which seems like an underhanded compliment to me: “Send us your armor so we can put it in a case next to a photo of Baylor’s bare arm.”

Watch the watch

Probably because it didn’t affect him personally, Levi didn’t mention that I broke the band off my watch on a vending machine at the aforementioned Michigan welcome center while I was getting my 15-cent change from a bag of Fritos I bought. See, I dropped the change on the floor, and then somehow managed to catch my watch on the edge of the bottom of the machine. If we get to Toronto quickly enough, I may try to find a jeweler or watch repairman who can fix it while I wait. Levi will probably have to drive, because I’m tired from taking our lives into my hands all day today.

Our mileage to this point is 1,171 miles. I haven’t been calculating miles per gallon as I should, and unfortunately, we’re about to enter Canada where they calculate kilometers per 100 liters, or something like that.

Original comments…

sandor: You are so going to get pulled over by a mountie as you forget to convert the speed limit signs from KM/hr to mph. “100 mph speed limit?” you’ll say to yourself. “I love it here!” When Sarah and I went to Canadia last month, not only did we get a car that had the speedometer in KM, but it also had a switch that woud let us move it back and forth between KM and miles. Ours was a Malibu, also by Chevy, so maybe your Impala has the same feature. I recommend using it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself wondering why all the Canadian drivers go so slow… one moment before you get your asses thrown in jail. I think they have a special cell there reserved for Americans.

In other Canadia news, be sure to ask the locals why they call it a twonie.

weathergirl: weather update:

tuesday: toronto: scattered clouds, 77/53
wednesday: montreal: scattered clouds, 75/57
thursday: boston: clear, 78/62
friday: philadelphia: scattered clouds, 86/68
saturday: pittsburgh: chance of thunderstorms, 83/65

thatbob: Jim, I can’t believe you didn’t pack any extra watch bands! Why weren’t you thinking?