This afternoon, for the first time since 1981, the Philadelphia Phillies presented their players and staff with some Bling.
Specifically, World Series Championship Bling.
And there it is. That puppy is loaded with diamonds. Holy crap.
A World Series Ring is what every player dreams of (or should be dreaming of) – even moreso than hot girlfriends, tricked out car stereos, and gobs of money.
… so let’s take a look back at the last eight World Series Championship Rings.
2007 – Boston Red Sox
For their seventh World Championship, the Red Sox immortalized their hosiery, with a pair of ruby Sox.
Once again, I have to hand it to the jeweler who designed the red Sox’ bling, because the red on blue is just cool.
Jostens did the honors again, with 42 diamonds for a total weight of 2.33 carats and four special-cut rubies with a weight of 2.14 carats. That bad boy appraised for about $20,000 when it was handed out in April 2008.
Who’s this female athlete throwing out the first pitch and then hanging out with Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain before yesterday’s Marlins-Diamondbacks game in Arizona?
Arizona Diamondbacks TV Broadcaster Mark Grace had an illustrious 16 year career – 13 years with the Chicago Cubs (1988-2000) followed by 3 seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2001-2003).
Grace compiled some great stats with the Cubs, where he led the Majors in hits and doubles during the 1990’s …
… but his nights in the Arizona Desert probably outshine his days in Cubbie Blue …
2001 - Won a World Series with the D-Backs, sparking the series-winning rally in Game Seven
“My dad always taught me to never bite the hand that feeds you,” he said. “And right now I’m being fed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. You always want the team you work for to move on, but if they are going to lose, you certainly want it to be the team you have the history with.
Not very gung-ho for the D-Backs there.
And when the D-Backs travelled to Wrigley Field this past weekend, Grace came back to his old stomping grounds … on Friday, he made it clear that he still has some real warm feelings for the Cubs and their fans …
You’re going to see a lot of ninth-inning Home Runs as the Homer of the Day. And today’s HRoD is no exception and the third straight to start the season.
But it’s our first Walk-Off.
Cincinnati – Edwin Encarnacion made up for some earlier blunders. In the fifth innning, Encarnacion gave the D-Backs the lead when he wildly threw home and missed on a forceout play.
And then, with the Reds trailing the Diamondbacks by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Encarnacion stepped to the plate with two men on and nobody out. He was booed when he failed to lay down a bunt to move the runners over.
But with a 2-2 count, Edwin made everybody happy.
Think the Diamondbacks will miss Jose Valverde? Brandon Lyon did okay on Monday … but not Wednesday night, as he got nobody out.
Dusty Baker got his first win as manager in Cincinnati and another closer blew it. Maybe this should be the “Blown Save of the Night” series.
The 2008 Presidential Primary elections are less than a month away. And everybody needs a guide to the candidates.
Before I get started, I want to say that Home Run Derby will not endorse a candidate for President of the United States. We are a shoddy little baseball website and will not pretend to be a political one.
With that in mind, we’re not above giving you the facts about some of the candidates … when it comes to their baseball allegiances.
We profiled the Democrats yesterday, so here come the Republicans.
Rudy Giuliani – New York Yankees
The former Mayor of New York City is a diehard Yankee fan through and through and was often labelled the Bronx Bombers’ “First Fan.”
Josh Beckett is the latest face of a World Series Champion to grace the bright orange box that supplies my breakfast almost every morning. Which means that they actually put a World Series MVP on the cover of a Wheaties Box.
Too bad it’s about four years late.
You see, Josh Beckett isn’t the World Series MVP for the 2007 Champion Boston Red Sox.
He was the World Series MVP for the 2003 Champion Florida Marlins.
The past four seasons (2004-2007), General Mills has put a member of the World Series Champion on the cover of the Wheaties box.
And the past four seasons, it hasn’t been the World Series MVP.
This afternoon, for the first time since 1981, the Philadelphia Phillies presented their players and staff with some Bling.
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