Continuing Home Run Derby’s quest to find the most unique and creative personalized baseball Jerseys/shirts we can find … we’ll stay in Dodger Stadium for a second week with a slightly more disturbing Jersey of the Week.
Apparently … The Devil is a Dodgers fan.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised. I totally had the Prince of Darkness pegged as a Yankee fan. Maybe he’s a Joe Torre fan and followed him to LA. Or maybe ol’ Satan got a little disenfranchised when the Tampa Bay Rays changed their name from “Devil Rays” and started winning baseball games.
I’m kinda even more surprised that MLB would allow “SATAN” as a name on a Customized Authentic (or Replica - I can’t tell) Jersey.
Mind you, you can’t get “666” as a number through the MLB.com shop. I guess you gotta know someone to be able to pull that off. Or put it on. Take your pick.
SATAN 66 Jersey Rating:
Cleverness: 6
Originality: 6
Understandability: 6
The Jersey loses points because it’s missing the third 6.
This really shouldn’t shock anyone, seeing as how fundamentalist preachers have been telling us that Los Angeles is a pit of sin for years. And Dodgers uber-fan Alyssa Milano once played a Vampire in a movie, didn’t she?
So I guess a few weeks back (on May 19th) - The Simpsons were at Dodger Stadium to see the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the Cincinnati Reds.
Homer Simpson (or at least a seven-foot tall facsimilie of him) got to throw out the first pitch. I guess Universal Studios was hyping up the new Simpsons Ride at their Theme parks.
At least you get a cool picture of a baseball-capped Homer Simpson on a popsicle stick.
Then again - shouldn’t Homer be wearing a Dodgers cap?
So far there have been only four games wherein the Dodgers have hit a Home Run in the fifth inning (4/15, 5/5, 5/6, and 6/24) at Chavez Ravine - and only one of those games occurred after the press release on May 15th (6/24). I’m not sure if the promtion was live before the press release of May 15th, 2008.
Even if the promotion was in effect during April and early May - all three of those games were night games during the school year - where there are likely to be less kids than during the summer or on a weekend. And none of the games have been sellouts.
So Universal Studios is making out like a bandit on this promotion if you ask me.
You can watch Homer throw better than most celebrities right here … video after the jump.
So this past weekend, Major League Baseball went to China.
In MLB’s continuing quest to conquer the world, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres played a pair of Spring Training games in Beijing, China. They got to grade some players, eat some Chinese food, spread some baseball goodwill, and showcase China for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games.
But the Chinese Cheerleaders stole the show.
As you probably know, we here at Home Run Derby are big fans of Baseball Cheerleaders, and we find it to be our duty to “report” to you whenever we find baseball cheerleaders. We’ve been doing it for nearly a year.
OK, when I said 30 teams in 30 days, I intententionally left out the qualifier “consecutive” in the description, because I anticipated days like yesterday, where the Greek felt about as good as Jose Canseco’s chances at the Hall of Fame.
Needless to say, it is time to march on to Day 5, and the real Los Angeles team, the Dodgers. Be sure to check out Sky as well.
The Dodgers “cranked out” a total of 129 Home Runs last year, but their power prospects look to be on the upside with the addition of Andruw Jones. The biggest acquisition news for the Dodgers though was their new manager, Joe Torre. But before we get too far into our analysis of the upcoming Dodgers season.
Let’s first take a time out to pay homage to the person who regularly adorns this site in Dodger Blue. No it’s not Ramon spelled backwards, or Jeff Foxworthy … I don’t mean Jeff Kent or the newly acquired Andruw Jones. It is, of course, Dodger Fan and TV Witch, Alyssa Milano.
Sometimes I do wonder if we here at Home Run Derby are more dedicated to the women connected to baseball more than the Home Run (not that it’s a bad thing). In fact Richie, I think we need to go back to our old tag line, “Because Chicks dig the long ball!” It is certainly more appropriate.
Anyway, I digress, back to baseball. The Dodgers are hard to figure out. They have good talent, but tend to see more than their fair share of injuries. I certainly believe they will hit more Home Runs this year. I do believe they have as good a chance to win the NL West as the Rockies and Diamondbacks do, especially if Rafael Furcal is back at 100%. So Let’s get crackin’.
In 2008, the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals are going to do something that no baseball team has done since 1991.
They’re going to break out the Powder Blue Uniforms. Mind you - they’ll be only occasionally be used as home alternate uniforms, but that’s a feat in and of itself. I don’t think anyone’s ever worn the powder blue in their home stadium before.
The Royals will be wearing blue shirts (with white pants) while the Blue Jays will go completely retro and bust out the baby blue from head to toe. The Jays will also bring back their old logo, a pullover jersey, and their old two-color cap. I have one of those hats. I love it.
There’s no word yet as to how often the Royals and Jays will do this in 2008, but the vibe is that they’ll do it enough that they petitioned MLB to add the uniforms to their regular cache of kits.
The St. Louis Cardinals have worn powder blue throwbacks in road games twice (2005 vs Tampa Bay and 2007 vs Milwaukee).
Considering that we’ve hardly seen powder blue for the last sixteen seasons (and the fact that no one under the age of 21 likely has any memory of powder blue baseball) let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the teams that dared … to wear blue.
Prepare yourselves for a trip when the blue wasn’t just in the azure sky over the field. And watch out for lots of polyester pullovers and stirrups.
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.
Back in June, Richie authored a post on the Greatest Walk-off Home Runs in World Series History. On that list was Kirk Gibson’s Game 1 shot off of Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 Fall Classic (Richie even called it the greatest ever). You will get no debate from me, it has to be one of the most dramatic, most memorable Home Runs in World Series History. His injured legs add to the lore of the dinger (it was his only at bat in the entire series).
The feat is further romanticized (if baseball can be romantic) by the call of Vin Scully. I can close my eyes and still hear his golden tones set-up the moment.
“All year long, they looked to him to light the fire, and all year long, he answered the demands, until he was physically unable to start tonight——with two bad legs: The bad left hamstring, and the swollen right knee. And, with two out, you talk about a roll of the dice… this is it.”
After working an 0-2 count to 3-2, Scully put the pitch on a tee, and smacked it home with the famous call:
“The game right now is at the plate. High fly ball into right field, she i-i-i-is… gone!! In a year that has been so improbable… the impossible has happened!”
That is how I remember the moment, because I was watching on TV. Jack Buck’s radio call (”I don’t believe what I just saw”) is probably more referenced, but let’s face it, people know that call from the highlights of the game more so than the hearing it live. It was Vin Scully, and that unmistakable legendary voice that helped propel the legendary status of the Kirk Gibson dinger in 1988.
Now why do I bring this up? Yesterday, I was reading one of my favorite baseball writers, Rob Neyer on ESPN.com. He has compiled at top ten list of baseball miracles (no subscription needed). This list has merit, and contains some of the usual great moments in sports (The 2004 Red Sox comeback from 0-3 deficit against the Yankees is #1). What is interesting, is 8 of the 10 “miracles” are team based (i.e. 2004 Red Sox, 1986 Mets) and 2 are individual accomplishments, Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak and the aforementioned Kirk Gibson Home Run. There lies the rub. How can that Home Run be considered a miracle?
It’s Jersey of the Week time!!
At least you get a cool picture of a baseball-capped Homer Simpson on a popsicle stick. 
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