the show i can remember was back in the day on ch4 or 5 where they used to show a game on weds nights presented by i think tommy boyd? and a canadian called todd macklin. (there must of been a show prior to this i guess because i think my rooting for atlanta predated the show. i was definitely following them for a few post season disappointments, blowing a 2-0 lead to the yankees etc before they finally got the ring by beating cleveland).
tbh not sure i'd call myself a proper fan cos i find regular season games a really hard slog to sit through. but post season baseball incredible, but even then i could only really enjoy games if i recorded them and could skip adverts, pitching changes etc havent been to america for 25 years or so but last time i did i saw a couple of spring season games and a minor league game. they were okay but didn't find the in person experience anywhere near as compelling as the in person experience of watching football which is the only other sport i've seen live regularly. also when on holiday in the US i really enjoyed listening to games on the radio.
my peak fandom years were definitely the maddux/smoltz era. tho i also loved the theo epstein red sox years. my interest tailed off a bit post bonds(loved watching him play) and a bit more post ichiro.
― oscar bravo, Saturday, 4 February 2023 16:56 (one year ago) link
Posting this image here in order to say hi to roxymuzak if she drops in.Also importantly, what is going on herehttps://64.media.tumblr.com/3be844cc831cfbc3fa7dccf736de4ac5/tumblr_n4dd45hsGW1rjr6zho1_500.gif
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:23 (one year ago) link
tbh not sure i'd call myself a proper fan cos i find regular season games a really hard slog to sit through. but post season baseball incredible, but even then i could only really enjoy games if i recorded them and could skip adverts
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:25 (one year ago) link
i think that is just timmy tim’s hot breath lighting up a chilly april afternoon tbf
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:40 (one year ago) link
Why isn’t Buster’s though
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:41 (one year ago) link
Reading about ex-Giant Robby Thompson and his glove, specifically this on his Wikipedia page:
Thompson was known for the well-used baseball glove with which he played for almost his entire career.[36] He was offended when the San Francisco Chronicle printed a story titled, "Thompson's Ugly, Pathetic Glove is a Gem."
In a 1990 Sports Illustrated article on mitts titled (as many in the genre are) "Glove Story," former player and manager Phil Garner went so far as to say, "Players become sexually attached to their glove," an assertion for which we offer no proof, or even comment.
Now, mind you, not all players are so fanatical about their gloves. The old Twins shortstop, Zoilo Versalles, used to throw his away after each error (eventually alienating his glove company so much he had to go to sporting-goods stores to replenish his supply).
Another superb defender, Omar Vizquel, had such uncharacteristic fielding problems early this season that his teammates took it upon themselves to "sacrifice" the offending glove, which Omar had borrowed from teammate Zach Sorensen. In a scene inspired by the movie "Major League," they constructed an altar containing the glove, a bottle of wine, a hanging roast chicken, a Buddha-like figure, 14 candles, incense, two rosaries and a baseball with "the curse is killed" written on it.
In the 19th century, however, the use of a glove was considered the province of weaklings."Padding hands like that to prevent injuries or not feel pain was an unmanly act,"
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Friday, 10 February 2023 18:30 (one year ago) link
I have spoken with a number of English cricket fans who are still on that gloves-are-unmanly train. Not sure they realise how hard baseballs are thrown in the modern game. It's a trip checking out really old gloves though. A friend of my dad's has one from ca 1945 or so and it really is like an oversized leather glove that you might use for garden chores. No webbing.
The lore about how to break in a glove is extensive.. another rabbit hole for you some time. These days Rawlings et al will "pre break in" the gloves to an extent and there's a whole science/art to it. Check out this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i_x0neoseU
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 10 February 2023 18:37 (one year ago) link
My English cricket fan went HUH?????? when I read this out to him, we’re going to need some more info on this pls
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Friday, 10 February 2023 18:45 (one year ago) link
On what? I'm telling you, English people I know have scoffed at gloves in baseball, like it's a sissy affectation
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 10 February 2023 18:55 (one year ago) link
Really?! My better half disputes that!
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Friday, 10 February 2023 19:01 (one year ago) link
The term dick in the spread oh no
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Friday, 10 February 2023 19:43 (one year ago) link
used to have a real fascination with the incredibly battered and pine tar besmeared batting helmets that some hitters would wear year after year. i seem to recall biggio was one but then again I could be mistaken cos he was just generally raggedy and always put me in mind of pigpen from peanuts.
― oscar bravo, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:43 (one year ago) link
also was semi obsessed with andy pettite's eyes, or more specifically how they looked when he wore his cap pulled down low and was just about to throw. oh and his killer pick off move.
― oscar bravo, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link
xpdefinitely sure that the difference between how fielders threw the ball in cricket compared with baseball in the 1980s was much starker than what it is now. seems clear that cricket has really taken on board the lessons from baseball in the last 20 years.
― oscar bravo, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:49 (one year ago) link
I think of John Kruk when I think of filthy batting helmets
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 10 February 2023 21:19 (one year ago) link
PROCTOR IN SHAMBLES, BURNS GLOVE
― mookieproof, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link
He said “everything I had” was a part of the bonfire, presumably meaning his glove, cap, spikes and who knows what else. The smell wafted up to the press box, and it reeked as bad as Proctor’s outing.
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Friday, 10 February 2023 21:38 (one year ago) link
i looked it up, he pitched the next day, gave up 5 runs, walked three, took the loss.
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 11 February 2023 00:32 (one year ago) link
ah wait hang on, wrong month! he pitched two days later, pitched one inning, struck out two. it worked!
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 11 February 2023 00:35 (one year ago) link
scott proctor wasn't that good, but joe torre absolutely wrecked him -- 83 appearances/102 innings in 2006 + 52 appearances/54 innings in the yankees' first 105 games of 2007 before trading him for . . . wilson betemit!
and he walked his share of guys, so those innings were not low-effort
he pitched a couple more years after that, during which he had a 6.59 era
― mookieproof, Saturday, 11 February 2023 01:01 (one year ago) link
Besides the big controversial rule changes, the clubs & MLB seem to be producing more content like this now. with bat flipping and celebrating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IG3ATI_g24Videos like these and the micd up videos are a nice way of showing the players’ personalities and giving them someone to pull for. I mean I know it sounds obvious but this is ironically a great traditional part of the game that’s previously been only spoken about and not shown much as far as I can tell?https://i.postimg.cc/vZGVfydf/96-A2101-D-5-D94-4-CEB-857-B-CFC146838045.jpgObviously I have to tip my cap to the iconic scene from The Franchise ofc:
Amazing clip of Bruce Bochy telling Brandon Belt he made the team in 2012 🥲"If you need a beer, grab a beer." pic.twitter.com/HuqL4tTlkN— KNBR (@KNBR) January 11, 2023
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Wednesday, 15 February 2023 14:08 (one year ago) link
Decided to have an AL league team too - the Mariners. I watched them the whole playoffs last year and with Téoscar they’ve got so many players I like now. Obvs would support the failing Giants in a hypothetical Giants-Mariners final, but lol, when is that ever going to happen.
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Sunday, 19 February 2023 18:06 (one year ago) link
M’s have been my runner up AL team for a long time. There’s never not been someone I really enjoyed watching on that team.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 19 February 2023 19:14 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiN9K7lMOd4The phantom grand slam! I can’t get over the umpiring of this. Fucking spectacular.
― better than whoever you are (gyac), Monday, 20 February 2023 20:50 (one year ago) link
dying at the little bitty fake swing after he went back to the box
very odd they made him go back though?? the only rule i'm aware of is that you have to touch the bases in order, that's all
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 16:29 (one year ago) link
Who knows? It must be a near once in a lifetime occurrence for an umpire. Might as well make it worth it.Morse also hit that legendary hr to tie the score in 2014 NLCS game 5. It was followed pretty fast by the Ishikawa one, which was legendary too.
Morse had lost his home run swing three months earlier. But Bonds gave him a tip before Game 5, telling him to be sure to get his front foot down. Morse did, and the results were seismic.
― better than whoever you are (gyac), Tuesday, 21 February 2023 17:20 (one year ago) link
This clip honestly lives in my mind rent free.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6bhpUoormsBochy getting the reliever tossed out on a technicality in a tight game because Mattingly stepped on the mound a second time - absolutely ruthless.
Giants Manager Bruce Bochy came out to protest to the plate umpire Adrian Johnson that Mattingly’s about-face constituted a second trip to the mound. The umpires huddled and agreed, and Broxton had to leave the game.“It’s an easy mistake to make,” said Bochy, who snared the Dodgers and Grady Little, manager at the time, in the same trap in 2006 when he managed San Diego.
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Friday, 24 March 2023 13:25 (one year ago) link
Amazing. And the Giants end up winning 7-5
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 24 March 2023 14:56 (one year ago) link
Sergio Romo said for every kid who asked for his autograph in spring training, he asked for theirs. The result is this amazing cap full of kids’ autographs. He’s one of a kind. pic.twitter.com/pRXyPoEt8W— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 28, 2023
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 28 March 2023 06:14 (one year ago) link
That’s what’s up! I love him. I remember reading this from 2011:
Sergio Romo’s locker is in the corner right next to Wilson’s. If you didn’t already love Romo before, you should see the space above his locker (where his name and number are) where he put up several letters from fans (one from a kid that’s written in black and orange marker), along with a black and white poster someone drew of his heavily bearded face. I think it’s a pretty good bet that if you send Romo fan mail, he won’t just read it. He might display it, too.
That fastball down the middle wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment choice. The decision to throw it tracked back to Game 1 of the series. Romo, sitting on the top step of the Giants dugout, caught eyes with Cabrera as he chased a Marco Scutaro foul ball.“I’m ready for your slider,” Cabrera said after he blew a kiss to Romo and walked away.Giants reliever George Kontos whipped his head around. “Did he just tell you he’s ready for your slider?” he asked.Romo couldn’t even process the smack talk.“Woah, Miguel Cabrera knows who I am,” Romo said to Kontos.
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Tuesday, 28 March 2023 07:39 (one year ago) link
https://i.postimg.cc/k4n6xbmC/42-B7-B55-E-3-AB2-43-A0-A236-7-B6-A70-DCFBA0.jpg🥹
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Tuesday, 28 March 2023 14:52 (one year ago) link
Jesus Christ
Sergio Romo is the best among us. If you've never read @BrownieAthletic's story on Romo and a girl named Ariel Gariano, take 10 minutes and do it now. You won't regret it.https://t.co/ag3sovw1rv https://t.co/8LoYSaNOwN— Perryn Keys (@PerrynKeys) March 28, 2023
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Tuesday, 28 March 2023 15:12 (one year ago) link
fucking hell
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 28 March 2023 19:11 (one year ago) link
Mookieproof sent me this article with Wade Boggs, Ted Williams and Don Mattingly all discussing hitting. It was great.
"Have you ever smelled the smoke from the wood of your bat burning?" asked Williams in a voice not unlike that of John Wayne."Whaaat?" said Boggs."The smell of the smoke from the wood burning?""What are you talking about, Ted? I don't understand.""Five or six times, hitting against a guy with good stuff, I swung hard and—oomph—just fouled it back. Really hit it hard. And I smelled the wood of the bat burning. It must have been that the seams hit the bat just right, and the friction caused it to burn, but it happened five or six times."
WILLIAMS: Have you ever smelled the smoke from the wood burning?MATTINGLY: I've had it happen. Yeah. Twice, for sure. All of a sudden, I smelled a real big burn, and at the same time I was thinking, "I just missed that one." Two or three times. I've never told that to anyone, because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I think one of the bat burns came off Nunez, too.BOGGS: That's the damndest thing I've ever heard. I thought I'd heard everything about hitting, but that's unbelievable. Amazing.
WILLIAMS: I think the hardest thrower I ever faced was Virgil Trucks. He threw as hard as Feller. DiMaggio said he was the hardest thrower he ever faced. I hit more home runs off him than any pitcher because he challenged me.
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Friday, 7 April 2023 14:10 (one year ago) link
I had never heard any of these stories. Incredible work gyac.
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 8 April 2023 10:20 (one year ago) link
The red seat at Fenway I didn’t know about until reading that article, and then funnily enough it came up in an old tweet of Adam Wainwright’s where he tours stadiums the Cards go to.
The seats are all green in right field except one that is red. This was the famous landing spot of Ted Williams' 502 foot HR in 1946 (longest in Fenway's history). It was so far that Gene Mack, cartoonist for the Boston Daily, wrote it would be talked about for a long time. Yep pic.twitter.com/XgpMJc4vWA— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) June 19, 2022
Jeremy Affeldt on the time Bruce Bochy accidentally roasted Xavier Nady right in front of him 😂 pic.twitter.com/7udroUlGgm— KNBR (@KNBR) August 16, 2022
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Saturday, 8 April 2023 10:35 (one year ago) link
The Athletic had a longread this week about this rant, absolutely perfect, no notes, made Kevin Keegan look (even more) amateur.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiVVbYK9HXw
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Friday, 28 April 2023 13:09 (one year ago) link
Watching Barves-Mets with my husband who got into baseball a few months after I did. Commentary on Spencer Strider: “blah blah he’s only six feet tall”Himself: only six feet tall?!Me, with all the authority of someone who has been into this game getting on for a year now: that is considered “short” for a starting pitcher, it’s not the same as real world height!
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Monday, 1 May 2023 17:29 (one year ago) link
I also had this in my Twitter bookmarks, incredible “sorry” from Bochy― limb tins & cum (gyac), Saturday, April 8, 2023 3:35 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
― limb tins & cum (gyac), Saturday, April 8, 2023 3:35 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
this is hilarious. i went to high school with X, he was 2 years older. he was on my older brothers little league team, he was like 8 and my bro was 12 and x dominated. he was crazy good at hoops too. i tried to go to every sporting event he was playing in. one high school game he hit for the cycle plus a grand slam, i unfortunately missed that one.
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 23:40 (one year ago) link
gyac you might appreciate this
🍻 pic.twitter.com/ScHrfXWhvU— Will Clark (@WillClark22) May 2, 2023
I will watch it tomorrow, however did you know this about NadyXavier Nady is the only non-pitcher to go directly to MLB since John Olerud in 1989.
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 23:42 (one year ago) link
i knew it at the time but didnt know that's held up. However, he didnt end up going straight to the pros, went to Cal and dominated there.
Injuries really derailed his career, sadly.
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 23:47 (one year ago) link
Yeah it’s a hard grind isn’t it. At least he was on that great World Series team. I love all the SF WS teams but the 2012 postseason was so dramatic and felt like a genuine team effort - in terms of all the individual moments - that they are perhaps the most talented as a cohort? Ofc the 2010 band of misfits will always be my favourites.I looked up what he’s doing now btw and according to his Instagram, entering golf tournaments with Jacoby Ellsbury ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at least he’s not hunting I guess
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 23:57 (one year ago) link
yeah he was a pretty normal bro all things considered.
― Spottie, Wednesday, 3 May 2023 00:04 (one year ago) link
He played for a shitload of teams.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 3 May 2023 00:06 (one year ago) link
yeah, was basically like always injured.
― Spottie, Wednesday, 3 May 2023 00:11 (one year ago) link
during his 75 games with the mets in 2006, xavier nady was such a 'fuckin badass' that some fans posted a song about him on their myspace
the song is no longer online, but here i -- among very few people in the world, presumably -- can offer you, in all its 96kpbs mp3 glory, The Ballad of Xavier Nady by Kuff & the Buttheads. it's pretty awesome; i wonder if he knows about it
(he was v. good with the pirates!)
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 3 May 2023 01:44 (one year ago) link
Omggggggg
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Wednesday, 3 May 2023 06:56 (one year ago) link
lmaaaaaao mookie thats amazing. the internet is a wonderful place.
― Spottie, Wednesday, 3 May 2023 07:29 (one year ago) link
That song is amazing! I can’t believe you held onto it all these years.Clearing out some space on my phone and found this, real school disco hours.https://i.postimg.cc/pV7Gs8zF/45892-A64-1-BCA-464-E-A316-D55-FA7-CC2450.jpg
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Friday, 5 May 2023 20:58 (one year ago) link