Home Run Derby

We’re used to seeing MLB players get caught doing nasty things …

• Manny Ramirez picked his nose
• Mark Buehrle took a bat to a space heater
• Greg Maddux played with his balls
• Which leads to that whole crotch grabbing thing

Not to mention that whole Greg Maddux farting thing a little while back … you know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player get caught farting.  

Until now.

Watch as the reigning American League Cy Young award winner, C.C. Sabathia, lets one rip in the Indians dugout … and then brags about it.

(more…)

If you’re a young lady at the ballgame and the camera zooms in on you … it’s usually a good thing. 

Because it generally means you’re a hottie. 

Baseball TV crews are awesome at finding smokeshows in the crowd.  Cubs TV producer Arne Harris had a job for life at WGN so long as he popped a few shots of babes at Wrigley into the monitor once in a while for Harry Caray.

But I don’t think these two ladies are going to be all that happy.  Because they got caught on television in the All-You-Can-Eat section at an Oakland A’s game.

(more…)

For years, I’ve listened to some friends of mine (who happen to be die-hard White Sox fans) tell me that “Wrigley Field should be torn down with bulldozers.”

A couple months ago, they got their wish - for a little while, anyway.  I think they were out on Sheffield Avenue with bags of popcorn (okay not really).

Ballplayers have complained about Wrigley for years … especially the outfielders who said that the field played like turf, had holes in it, or was just plain hazardous.

“There are like a lot of little holes, you know what I mean?  Sometimes when they hit a ground ball, you have to be careful.”
- Chicago Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano

“It’s rock hard, it’s as fast as turf, but it looks like there’s been a dozen cows out there grazing this week.”
- Pittsburgh Pirates LF Nate McClouth

“That outfield is dangerous … I’m surprised more people don’t get injured out there.  It’s worse than playing in a parking lot.”
- Cincinnati Reds LF Adam Dunn

Gives new meaning to that “Left Field Sucks” chant, now doesn’t it?  Who knew the RF bleacher bums were so prescient?  Is that why the Cubs’ LF Alfonso Soriano always does that little hop thing when he’s about to catch a ball?  So he doesn’t fall in a hole?

Here, you can watch Wrigley Field undergo its transformation … first into a 40,000 capacity sandlot and then into a World Class baseball field.

(more…)

It’s been over 21 years since Game Six of the 1986 World Series … you know, when the Red Sox were only one strike away from winning their first World Series in 68 years … and Bill Buckner let that lazy Mookie Wilson grounder roll through his legs to give the Mets new life and eventually the Championship.

Since then, the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships.  Bill Buckner and Mookie Wilson even co-sign photographs of the play and baseballs.  Red Sox Nation has forgiven Buckner and has expunged October 1986 from their franchise history. 

So it’s been long enough.  Home Run Derby presents … Buckner’s Revenge.

For those of you weren’t around to remember any video games before Madden and Sega Genesis … that’s the graphics from RBI Baseball (the greatest baseball video game ever) combined with the music and sound effects from Custer’s Revenge (which was a naughty game for the Atari 2600). 

Batters getting hit by pitches is a big part of baseball.  Just like crashes in auto racing. 

Some nine year olds never recover from that first wallop in little league.  Heck, it takes some major leaguers a while to recover … ask Justin Morneau (2005) and Sammy Sosa (2003) about it.  Ray Chapman died from a beanball in 1920.

There’s lots of debate over intentionally hitting a guy … but it happens and it used to happen more often.  And ESPN will show it without hesitation.  And when someone gets really injured … well, heck - it’s news then.

Let’s take a look at some video of major leaguers getting plunked. 

Craig Biggio

Let’s start with the Human Backstop … no one in modern baseball history has received more painful trips to first base than the future Hall of Famer.

Biggio was plunked in his (eventual) Hall of Fame career.  He had 287 if you include two plunking in the playoffs.  Amazingly, not once in Biggio’s career, did he ever charge the mound.

Here’s a particularly nasty one.

(more…)

What do pitchers Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal have in common?

• Both are/were starting pitchers.
• Both are from the Dominican Republic
• Both are considered among the best Latino pitchers of all time
• Both led the MLB in ERA: Marichal 2.10 - 1969; Martinez - 1999, 2000, 2002-3
• Both led their league in wins: Marichal 24 - 1968; Martinez 23 - 1999
• Both have 2,000 strikeouts: Marichal 2,303; Martinez 3,030
• Both have 200 wins: Marichal 243; Martinez 209
• Both are likely Hall of Famers (Marichal’s already in the HoF)
• Both fight roosters in their native Dominican Republic

Wait - what was that last one?  That’s right.  Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal are cockfighters.

Cock Fighting … in my opinion is a barbaric sport just as much as dogfighting is a barbaric sport.  Right Mr. Vick?  Right Little Jerry?

The practice is often legal (if not celebrated) in many countries like the Dominican Republic - but that doesn’t make it right. 

For years, people have bred roosters to be aggressive - beyond their natural tendency to fight to establish a dominant pecking order.  In these fights, the birds often fight to the death merely for sport and gambling opportunities.  Occasionally, sharpened metal spurs are attached to the birds’ talons.  Louisiana will be the last state to ban cockfighting (in August 2008) in the United States.

If you’re squeamish or simply not interested in seeing Marichal and Martinez shake hands in a Dominican cockfighting ring before their roosters fight to the death … I suggest you don’t play the attached video.

That’s right … we’ve got video.  (more…)

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 …

(more…)

Sitting in the dugout during a baseball game can be so boring sometimes.

There’s nothing to do except wait your turn.

Maybe you can eat some sunflower seeds.

Or, I don’t know … maybe chew on your fingernails or maybe pick your nose.

Or both.

Let’s watch as Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez demonstrates some personal grooming and hygiene in the Boston dugout.

Pesky TV Cameras

Ninety-Nine Years. It’s been 99 Years and two days since the Cubs won their last World Series in 1908.

If you are a Cub fan … you might want to consider not hitting play on this video.

For you Cardinals and White Sox fans … go for it.

Sung to Nena’s 99 Red Balloons …

(more…)