Home Run Derby

For the third Mother’s Day in a row, Major League Baseball will be partnering with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Research by allowing players to take their whacks with Pink Bats while wearing Pink Ribbons, Pink Wristbands, Necklaces, etc..

From the Komen Foundation:

… an estimated 182,460 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2008 alone.

Last year, about 200 Major Leaguers swung away with the Pink lumber provided by Louisville Slugger.  I’d expect that that number will be even higher this season. 

Home Run Derby loves this effort.  And so, for the third season in a row, Home Run Derby will go Pink. We’ll be making our annual pledge to the Komen Foundation - $10 per Home Run hit in MLB this Sunday (Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008) whether it’s hit with a Pink Bat or not.  And since Nick Swisher dyed his soul patch pink … we’ll up that pledge to $25 for every Home Run hit by Swisher on 5/11/08.

Last season, we donated $280 to the Komen Foundation for the 28 Home Runs hit on Mother’s Day 2007.  In 2006, we donated $150 - we only pledged $5 per Home Run and there were 30 hit that Mothers Day 5/14/06.

You can help the cause by donating at The Komen Foundation’s website.

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Mother’s Day is coming (May 11th, guys - don’t forget) … which means MLB will be going Pink.

Once again, MLB and the Susan G Komen Foundation will to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer research.  So you can expect to see Pink bats (Louisville Slugger), Pink wristbands, Pink lineup cards, Pink ribbons on the bases, etc., on Mothers Day.  With auctions on the bats to raise money afterwards.

But this season … Chicago White Sox players Nick Swisher and Bobby Jenks might be upping the ante in Baseball Pinkdom.

From Swisher’s blog …

… here’s a little insider tip …we’ve got something — shall we say, colorful … brewing in the DirtyCat for Mother’s Day!

The “DirtyCat” is the name of the fake salon Swisher (nickname: Dirty30) and Jenks (JenksyCat) have established in the White Sox clubhouse where they dye and groom their beards.  Both Swisher and Jenks have sported the blonde goatee this season.

I think I have an idea where Swisher is going with this … and he might just take Jenks with him …

Those would be hilarious and hideous at the same time - and they’d stand out great against the White Sox’ black unis, which they usually wear on Sundays.  And they might just top Scott Spiezio’s red soul patch in the history of Great Baseball Beards.  Primarily because of the reason they might do it.

Too bad the White Sox will be on the road this Mothers Day. US Cellular might have been packed with fans sporting fake pink goatees.

Nick Swisher isn’t a stranger to doing things for women’s cancer charities.  Last season, he grew out his hair so he could donate it to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths foundation - which makes wigs for women with cancer - in memory of his grandmother, who passed away from cancer.

And Home Run Derby will once again pledge $10 to the Komen Foundation for every Home Run hit on Mothers Day. 

Last year, Home Run Derby donated $280 for the 28 balls that left the yard on Mothers Day 2007 - May 13, 2007.

Remember when you used to get a stick of gum in a pack of baseball cards?  That oblong piece of stale bubblegum hasn’t been seen since 1991 … and I’ve always felt that something was missing from my baseball cards ever since.  Maybe we should replace it with something …

I know!!  A Bottle of Wine!!  It tastes better than gum, and it’ll just get better with age.  Not to mention the side effects you can’t get from gum.

In 2007, a trio of Red Sox players unveiled wines which would benefit some of their favorite charities.  There were wines for …

Manny Ramirez: ”Manny Being Merlot” (CHARLEE Homes for Children)
Tim Wakefield: “CaberKnuckle” Cabernet (Pitching in for Kids)
Curt Schilling: “Schilling Schardonnay” (Curt’s Pitch for ALS)

The response was so good, that there’s a lot more players on wine bottles in 2008.  Something called Longball Cellars is at it again with wines produced by Selby Winery, but now there’s 21 baseball players (past and present) on wines which go for about $12 or $13 a bottle, all available in Spring 2008.  100% of the proceeds go to a charity of the player’s choice. 

The art on some of these bottles rivals the baseball cards my dad has in his collection from the fifties. 

Let’s see whose face you could be drinking, and who they’re supporting. 

You can believe that the Red Sox are back on the bottle with new “Championship Edition” bottles …

David Ortiz: “Vintage Papi” (The David Ortiz Children’s Fund)
Jason Varitek: “Captain’s Cabernet” (Pitching in for Kids)
Kevin Youkilis: “SauivignYoouuk Blanc” (Kevin Youkilis’ Hits for Kids)

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The Chicago White Sox will officially honor and remember the victims of the tragedy at Nortern Illinois University by wearing NIU caps in their first Spring Training game on February 27th.

After the game, the White Sox players will autograph the hats and give them to NIU so that they can be auctioned off to help establish scholarships in memory of the five victims.

Genuine Class. 

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and general manager Kenny Williams have already been wearing the caps around Spring Training so far this preseason.

I think I remember Ozzie Guillen wearing a Virgina Tech cap in press conferences after the VT shooting last year.

You can contribute to the February 14 Student Scholarship Fund right here. 

With all the YouTube hunting I do, I usually find things which are …

• Goofy - The dancing Orioles fan who looked like Peter Griffin from Family Guy
• Weird - The Dance Off between a Mexican Mascot and a BatBoy (who happened to be a little person)
• Amazing - Ryan Zimmerman unintentionally fielding a ball with his jersey
• Infuriating - Two Boston Sportscasters blowing off the National Anthem for his pregame lineups before Game One of the ALCS.

But somehow, I missed this one. 

Back on June 30, 2007, the Boston Red Sox were hosting Disability Awareness Night at Fenway Park.  A Monkey (part of Monkey Helpers for the Disabled) threw out the first pitch.  No, I don’t have video of that … yet.

But the real story of the night was when Peter Rometti, a young man with Autism, was singing the National Anthem before the game. 

Partway through the Anthem, Rometti started to stutter a couple of times, then he started laughing, and then he stumbled on a verse.

Watch as the Fenway Faithful rise to the occasion and help him out …

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It’s Limbo week here at HRD. 

You know Limbo Week - the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day when the office is void of management (yay) and the other people who need to use their vacation days before they lose them.

If you’re one of the few who are working this week and need something to do … well I suppose you could watch the Chicago Cubs television announcers, Len Kasper and Bob Brenly, do a little rocking out at their Len and Bob Bash back in January 2007. 

Here’s Len and Bob at last year’s bash, performing two songs.  Len Kasper is on the mic and Bob Brenly is on guitar (sporting the backwards white baseball cap).

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Well, the fine upstanding blog Busted Coverage has gone out and put together a 2007 Best Sports Blog Tournament with what they consider to be the top 64 Sports Blogs.

It’s no surprise that FanHouse, Deadspin, Awful Announcing, and The Big Lead are your top seeds. These guys bring it every day. They deserve the honors.

Now, for some reason (namely a decent BallHype rating) Home Run Derby has been included in this tournament. HRD is the #8 seed in the West Region, versus the blog known as You Been Blinded.

We are humbled.
We are honored.
We want to win.

So in a shameless beg for your vote … we’re gonna give this a go …
“Major League” style.

Remember in the movie “Major League” when the Cleveland Indians’ manager (Lou Brown) brought out the cardboard cutout of the owner (Rachel Phelps) and said “every time we win, we pull off a section” ?

Well, for every win Home Run Derby gets in the 2007 Best Sports Blog Tournament …

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I dislike FOX Sports announcer Joe Buck.  His smarmy, saccharine voice has been ruining sports broadcasts for me for some time now.  He’s kinda like Troy McClure.

Last night, Conan O’Brien was interviewing Joe Buck.  Buck talked about how his friends will call him during a baseball broadcast and bet him that he can’t work a non-baseball word like “wasabi” into the broadcast.  Often times, Buck finds a way to do it.

So Conan threw his own challenge at Buck.  Conan O’Brien will donate $1,000 to a charity of Joe Buck’s choice if he works “Jub-Jub” into his broadcast of the World Series.   Jub-Jub, is the name which then Simpsons-writer O’Brien gave Selma’s pet iguana on “the Simpsons.”

Watch the video …  

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The Chicago Cubs have traded catcher Michael Barrett to the San Diego Padres.

The Cubs will get Padres backup catcher Rob Bowen, minor league outfielder Kyler Burke, and possibly some cash.

A lot of people are saying the Cubs didn’t get enough for Barrett.  I don’t think so.  The Cubs tried to make a lateral move here to remove a catcher who’s become a distraction in their clubhouse. 

I’m surprised at what they got in return.  They got a decent replacement for Barrett and got a early 2006 2nd Round pick (albeit a project) in return.

This season, Rob Bowen has better offensive stats (except for Home Runs) than Barrett while playing at pitcher-friendly Petco Park.  He has a career .273 AVG and .442 SLG at Petco, which rank him 12th best for hitters with at least 75 At-Bats at Petco.  Playing full-time at Wrigley Field could improve those numbers - just as they did when Barrett came to the Cubs from Montreal (.253 AVG / .388 SLG with Montreal and  .284 /.484 with the Cubs).

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