Home Run Derby

This might be the ultimate Father’s Day gift for the Mets fan who has everything. 

Or maybe somone who just REALLY hated Shea Stadium.

Available right now on eBay … is the wrecking ball that brought down Shea Stadium.

All for the low starting bid of $35,000.  At three tons, that’s only $5.83 a pound!  What a Bargain!!  Mind you – they only take Paypal.  So that huge bag of pennies you’ve been saving since you were 3 years old … not gonna cut it.

Now HRD is a big fan of stadium demolitions (lots of videos right here) … but these hard economic times might be the wrong time to peddle an expensive (yet one of a kind) piece of sports memorabilia like this.  So I wonder who the target market might be.

Chipper Jones’ son Shea probably doesn’t want it. 

The Philly Phanatic springs to mind.  That guy’s loaded. 

Maybe Conan O’Brien … he’s made lots of fun of Mr. Met over the years.  And he’s got a brand new budget for the Tonight Show.

But personally, I bet  Ron Santo buys it.  Yeah, Santo probably has the coin and the desire to own the thing that finally eliminated his annual trip to his persoanl Hell on Earth … Shea Stadium.

H/T:  Sporting News

When an MLB franchise selects a player with the #1 overall pick in the Amateur Draft, the team is expecting to have that player make a significant contribution to the team for years to come.

In unrelated news, earlier this season, the Padres released Matt Bush, the #1 Pick in the 2004 MLB Draft … before he ever played a game in the Major Leagues.  I hope no one actually bought a Matt Bush Padres Jersey.

Bush was a High School Shortstop from the San Diego Area who the Pads selected over the likes of Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew.   Bush’s career batting average in the minors is a robust .219 (in nothing higher than Class A ball) … so let’s just go and call him a bust.  The Padres have.

This got me to thinking … who else has flopped after being picked first in the MLB Draft? 

Brien Taylor, P – 1991 (New York Yankees)

Under advisement by Scott Boras, Taylor held out until the Yankees caved and gave him an unprecedented $1.55 Million signing bonus.  

Mind you, after his first two seasons in the minors … he looked like he might be worth it.  In Class A in 1992, he had 187 K’s in 161 innings and in 1993 went 13-7 with 150 K’s in AA Albany.

But in December 1993, he separated his shoulder and tore his labrum in a fight in a trailer park – does anything good ever happen in a trailer park?  Dr. Frank Jobe described the injury as one of the worst shoulder injuries he’d ever seen. 

Taylor never posted an ERA under 6 the rest of his minor league career and never sniffed the Majors.

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Well, I have to say … this took much longer than I expected.  Nineteen games longer than I expected.

Here’s video of a man who is the first streaker at the New York Mets’ new stadium.

Security didn’t look quite prepared to tackle the nearly naked man from Queens.

Warning – there’s a bad word in here.

This could be trouble. 

First Citi Field streaker and the Mets beat the Braves.  Now we’re going to have 10 drunken Jersey boys a night at Citi Field trying to help the Mets win a game by running their arse across the field.

Thankfully, the guy wore a thong.

Unlike that guy who streaked up in Toronto last year wearing only a big foam finger on his eleventh finger.

Photo Credit – Getty Images

Yesterday, Johan Santana did his usual thing for the New York Mets.  He left the game with a lead.

And unlike last season, the Mets’ bullpen didn’t blow it.  Last year they blew at least six saves for Santana, who could have been 22-7 with those six saves.  There’s a reason the Mets went out and got Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz.

So you can imagine that Santana was in a good mood after the game.  So much so that he went through the dugout and gave every Mets teammate a handshake. 

A secret handshake that was personalized for each different player.  Fist pumps, chest bumps, hugs, forearm smashes, you name it.

Watch …

Sheesh.  I have trouble remembering what day of the week it is. 

That’s just cool.  I liked the one with Carlos Delgado.

H/T The Legend

In 2008, 38 men stole 66 bases against the New York Mets.  None of them went to jail.  None was even prosecuted or charged with a crime.  And the Mets would like to keep it that way. 

But if a memorabilia vendor who had 2nd base stolen from him has his way, that could change.

This Spring Training, someone might be in trouble because of a base they stole.  It was stolen from a memorabilia vendor at the Mets’ Springtraing home at tradition Field in Port St. Lucie FL.

The base in question is from the 2007 All-Star Game and is autographed by Jose Reyes of the New York Mets, according to a recently released police report. The base is estimated to be worth about $2,000.

Here what the base looks like. 

Unbelievably…..  a few days after the base was stolen, it turned up in the vendor’s driveway (early Saturday morning). 

And it would seem the Mets want the story to be over right then and there …

A Mets general manager told police he didn’t want a report and would “take care of this,” the report states.

The vendor doesn’t feel the same way …

The memorabilia vendor wants to pursue charges in the matter, and a police lieutenant asked that the incident be investigated further.

Know what happens when you try to sweep things under the rug?  The Mets might be about to find out.

Stay tuned.

Think you’re good at picking Home Run hitters? 

Play homerderby.com’s 2009 Home Run Derby Contest and find out … and compete for $2,000 in prizes while you’re at it.  Only $10 for a full season’s worth of fun. 

See the Official Rules for details.

Did Queer Eye for the Straight Guy do a makeover for Roger Clemens lately?

Seven-time Cy Young winner and Mitchell Report namee Roger Clemens showed up at a Houston Rockets game last night.  Wearing a hat I wouldn’t put on a dog. 

Seriously – a pastel green and blue argyle baseball cap?  Who the heck makes that anyway? 
And what man would even consider wearing it? 

I mean, besides Roger Clemens, obviously.   I wonder if there’s an Erasure song (or five) on Clemens’ iPod.

Mind you, some Baseball teams think you’ll wear Argyle caps. 

This one from the New York Yankees is actually pretty sharp. 

Keeping the Bombers’ color scheme works really well on that cap. 
The same cannot be said for the following monstrosities …
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So Roberto Alomar’s ex is suing the former ballplayer in a $15 million lawsuit, alleging that the 2010 Hall of Fame candidate has “full blown AIDS” and knowingly had unprotected sex with her.

Predictably, Alomar has denied the allegations, calling them “full of lies” and that he is in “very good health.” 

He has not said anything about whether he has HiV.

If the allegations are not true, I wonder if Alomar’s current girlfriend (Maripily Rivera) is the reason behind his Ex’s accusations.

From the Toronto Star:

Recent photos of Alomar show him to be presumably healthy. Shortly after his alleged breakup with Dall last October, reports in the Puerto Rican media linked him romantically with a high-profile model there, Maripily Rivera, described by some as that island’s equivalent of Paris Hilton. The pair, according to sources in Puerto Rico, went to Miami earlier this week.

Jilted ex?  New hot girlfriend?  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Rivera seems to think so …

Maripily Rivera claimed that when Dall broke up with 12-time All-Star Alomar in October, she told him: “I will destroy you.”

Picture from Vocero. 

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The Seattle Mariners have some artwork to correct …

Here’s a photo of a wall at Safeco Field, taken a couple days ago (2/5/09). 
What’s wrong with this picture?

Yep.  That’s Aaron Heilman, who the Mariners acquired in a trade with the New York Mets back in December, 2008. 

But Heilman was traded to the Chicago Cubs two weeks ago.

Great Googly Moogly.  That is the biggest error card I have ever seen.

About a year ago, Home Run Derby showed you a bunch of replica baseball stadia made of Lego.

There was PNC Park, Camden Yards, Cititzens Bank Park, Yankee Stadium, and even a motorized Miller Park made of Lego.

Well, now someone made some Lego minifigs to play in them. There’s a wee bit of an East Coast Bias here …

Let’s head to Boston, where we find Kevin Youkilis …

Where’s his new wife?

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