Barry White surely
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:23 (two months ago) link
BarryBoYeah jeetsOhtaniMark
In no order
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:23 (two months ago) link
Talk about subjectivity--for 30 years I've heard that as Barry Bonds, but right, it's gotta be Barry White.
Bo Jackson will be high.
"Fame" has a bit of a peak fame vs. career fame component. First sentence in yesterday's Fidrych entry: "The Bird’s fame was so intense and so short-lived that it’s difficult to fully recapture it."
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:27 (two months ago) link
Non exhaustive list of baseball player mentions in songshttps://genius.com/Rap-genius-athlete-references-in-rap-music-lyrics
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:29 (two months ago) link
First one I thought of was Sadahura Oh...Ryan Howard was on an episode of The Office, but pretty sure he's not making the list. (He was being schmoozed by a fledgling sports agency out of Philly.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:32 (two months ago) link
i got mad hits like i was Rod Carew
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:36 (two months ago) link
first to my mind: got mad hits like i was rod carew!
xpost dammit!
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:39 (two months ago) link
OH jr griffey over barry maybe for top 5
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:41 (two months ago) link
Ken Griffey should be top 5. He had the Nikes and he had his own game. He had an iconic look and ofc he was very good. And he’s still involved in the game regularly.Also, this video made me laugh. He had that personality as a player too, like when Buck Showalter said he was “disrespecting” the game by wearing his hat backwards and he was like BUCK HASN’T GOT A 24 YEAR OLD GOOD ENOUGH TO CARRY MY JOCKSTRAP.https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvIXk_2JAct/
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:44 (two months ago) link
How ya sound be? You're better off a quitterI'm on the mound G, and it's a no-hitterAnd my DJ the catcher, he's my manAnyway he's the one who devised the planHe throws the signs I hook up the beats with cloutI throw the rhymes to the mic and I strike em outSo it really doesn't matter on how you intrigueYou can't fuck with those in the major leagues
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:45 (two months ago) link
Unless I'm forgetting something obvious, don't think anybody in the last 50 years resonated in a pop song like DiMaggio did in "Mrs. Robinson."
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:47 (two months ago) link
don't forget about Fernandomania, Big Papi, Doc Gooden
― omar little, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:55 (two months ago) link
are curt schilling and john rocker gonna make the list?
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:58 (two months ago) link
what about deion sanders?
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 16:59 (two months ago) link
Rickey will be on the list pretty high, I'm sure.
also Kirk Gibson of course. Sammy Sosa, too.
― omar little, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:04 (two months ago) link
Pretty sure the one non-player he'll have on the list (see criterion #3 above) is Steinbrenner.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:06 (two months ago) link
Steinbrenner was also the subject of jokes in the Simpsons and Seinfeld
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:08 (two months ago) link
national fame vs regional fame is kind of a key distinction here, probably. to me, ozzie smith is an incredibly famous baseball player. everyone around here knows ozzie smith. albert pujols. mark mcgwire in the late 90s was very famous (on a national level there, for a while, too).
i just polled a non-sports fan who grew up in kansas city. they answered "albert pujols. mike moustakis. oh, and a-rod". they recognized barry bonds name, and when i asked what they knew about him, they said "he cheated. and he took his socks off"
― z_tbd, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:10 (two months ago) link
I think McGwire, Pujols, and Ozzie will all be on the list. Agree with your basic point. In Toronto, Moseby, Stieb, and Kelly Gruber are still famous.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:13 (two months ago) link
I think Ozzie will make it on the strength of "Go crazy, folks!," The Simpsons, his cartwheel, and his nickname (above and beyond his playing credentials).
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:15 (two months ago) link
i wonder if george brett would make the list? pine tar + "the george brett story" on youtube
― z_tbd, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:26 (two months ago) link
If you didn't follow baseball in the '70s, this will befuddle you (and if you did, you might hate it), but--just posted--#49: Steve Garvey. (Haven't read the entry yet.)
Brett, I'd say 100%--pine tar, chase for .400, epic post-seasons, hemorrhoids, The Simpsons, on and on.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:32 (two months ago) link
Didn't realize he was running for the Senate in 2024. You know for which side...
https://stevegarvey.com/
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:41 (two months ago) link
I assumed he was a Republican without knowing anything about him cos most are, website confirmed that, but he could be a fairly standard democrat with those views, and the website is deceptive!
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:50 (two months ago) link
I think he's very much a Romney type of Republican, not so much a Trump guy, but in 2024, who knows. One thing I remember is him citing (during his playing days) Gerald Ford as his political hero for stepping in and (paraphrasing from memory) calming the country after Watergate. Later on that day, he went out and fathered three children.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 17:59 (two months ago) link
lol
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 18:58 (two months ago) link
aahhh - I don't think Brett was on the Simpsons tho?
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 18:59 (two months ago) link
I thought he was in the Griffey/Ozzie episode, I guess not. He was in Modern Family, though.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 21:36 (two months ago) link
george brett comes with a hank scorpio energy so i understand the simpsons confustion
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 23:13 (two months ago) link
Also Kent Brockman when he won the jackpot that timehttps://64.media.tumblr.com/7fa2befb9037814a399c93853a736807/tumblr_oihjvzLbtC1uruw4so1_500.png
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 23:15 (two months ago) link
#48, Tommy Lasorda. I take it he doesn't consider managers "non-players"--he must have meant a separate category for people not on the field. Because surely Steinbrenner's on there, and there's no way Lasorda's the most famous manager of the past 50 years.
― clemenza, Thursday, 15 February 2024 20:11 (two months ago) link
I mean, he's close. I'd say Billy Martin was more famous in the late '70s and into the '80s, maybe Torre, maybe Earl Weaver.
― clemenza, Thursday, 15 February 2024 20:21 (two months ago) link
Slim fast my dudes
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 15 February 2024 20:49 (two months ago) link
Sega Genesis gamesTommy Lasorda: 1Billy Martin: 0
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 15 February 2024 21:39 (two months ago) link
This was pretty famous in its day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOVHc4hcCX4
Close call--I don't know which of the two is more famous. Maybe Lasorda just by virtue of outliving Martin by three decades.
― clemenza, Friday, 16 February 2024 00:01 (two months ago) link
(Also, the true trademark-owner of "You're fired.")
― clemenza, Friday, 16 February 2024 00:02 (two months ago) link
Can't find a clip on YouTube, but in Spike Lee's Girl 6, Lee himself plays a card collector who's planning to retire one day on all the Ken Griffey Jr. '89 Upper Deck rookie cards he's hoarded.
― clemenza, Monday, 19 February 2024 22:01 (two months ago) link
#47: Don Mattingly.
These are all going to be behind a paywall, but I'll post a brief excerpt each day:
In the moment, Mattingly was often called the best player in baseball--Carlton Fisk, among many others, was quoted saying that. I don’t think, looking back, that he actually was the best player in baseball, or even the best player in the league. I think, even in his prime, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. were definitely more valuable, and perhaps also Alan Trammell and Eddie Murray and George Brett and Lou Whitaker. Mattingly didn’t walk much, so, even though he hit for such high averages, he never had a .400 on-base percentage. And after his age-26 season, his power numbers tumbled.
But such stats might cause people to miss the larger point of Don Mattingly: He was both this larger-than-life ballplayer and the guy who lives next door. He was this extension of Yankees royalty--a direct descendant of Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle--and also a reminder of what the Yankees used to represent. People love to talk about the meaning of the pinstripes. Well, the pinstripes did look right on him.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 20 February 2024 19:31 (two months ago) link
#46: Jim Palmer. (With the headline "A Good Head of Hair"--before I scrolled down, my first thought was "Seriously? Oscar Gamble?!")
Over the last 100 years, here are the lowest WHIPs—walks and hits per inning pitched—in high-leverage situations:
1. Jim Palmer, 0.9932. Sandy Koufax, 1.0073. Tom Seaver, 1.0294. Juan Marichal, 1.0325. Mariano Rivera, 1.070
Now, here is the career WHIP for each of those pitchers:
1. Jim Palmer, 1.180 (118th all-time)2. Sandy Koufax, 1.106 (30th)3. Tom Seaver, 1.121 (40th)4. Juan Marichal, 1.101 (24th)5. Mariano Rivera, 1.000 (4th)
You explain that. You explain how Jim Palmer had the lowest WHIP ever in high-leverage situations--when the game was basically on the line--and a less-than-legendary WHIP the rest of the time. It’s not like Palmer was especially skilled at preventing baserunners. He did lead the league in WHIP once, late in his career, but he also walked 100-plus batters three times (and 99 batters once) and four times was among the top 10 in most hits allowed.
What allowed him to turn it up when the heat was at its highest?
Just skimmimg, there's no mention of Baltimore's legendary defense. I realize that's part of the answer, but I also think Palmer really was the rare player who, over a very large sample size, was "clutch." Like the famous stat where he never gave up a grand slam in 213 bases-loaded situations; obviously, that had nothing to do with his defense.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 18:50 (two months ago) link
the flexibility and breathability of jockey men's briefs, of course
― z_tbd, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 19:22 (two months ago) link
I'm surprised he didn't use one of those ads for the accompanying photo--pretty close!
https://i.postimg.cc/v8gtRPNB/palmer.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 19:29 (two months ago) link
(Having read it now, there is brief mention of the Orioles' defense--including Palmer getting angry at DeCinces for not getting in front of the ball, a feud, and then Palmer later apologizing that he'd been spoiled by Brooks Robinson.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 19:32 (two months ago) link
Palmer is also famous for hardly ever giving up grand slams but also walking home more runs than other good pitchers. The guy knew what he was doing
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 21 February 2024 20:55 (two months ago) link
Interesting. That would more go along with what I meant--not that he had some magical ability to get out of jams, more that he was a smart guy who could weigh the possible outcomes and would concede a run to avoid a big inning (and his defense definitely would have helped there, giving him the confidence that walking a run in was okay).
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 21:12 (two months ago) link
In the future, everyone will count down famous baseball players for 15 minutes...seems to have stalled for some reason.
― clemenza, Monday, 26 February 2024 21:21 (two months ago) link
Bizarre--literally two minutes after posting that, the new one showed up.
#45: Kirk Gibson
Gibson’s fame was certainly mixed. He never played in an All-Star Game. He played 140 games in a season only three times. He hit 255 home runs and stole 284 bases—when he retired he was one of only nine players to have 250 homers and 250 steals—and yet there was always this sense that his career was a disappointment, that it had fallen short of what might have been. But I tend to believe careers are often what they’re supposed to be, and I’m not sure that a mercurial player like Kirk Gibson—who played with such wild abandon—can stay healthy or be metronome consistent. He was a bright-lights performer. He was a ferocious competitor. He was a football player. Had he stayed in football, who knows, his bust might be in Canton right now. But baseball wouldn’t have been the same.
I don't know if it was the only time he was on the cover of SI, but the issue accompanying the piece is early:
https://i.postimg.cc/zDK1P1mT/kirk.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 26 February 2024 21:31 (two months ago) link
how do you do that, win an MVP, and *never* make the all star team?!
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 26 February 2024 21:41 (two months ago) link
I don't know if he's the only guy ever to accomplish that, but definitely strange. I thought he would have been part of the '84 game, but he did get off to a so-so start: .273/.349/.483, 12 HR, 46 RBI. (The Tigers were 57-27 at the break.)
― clemenza, Monday, 26 February 2024 21:47 (two months ago) link
(Chet Lemon made it; .307/.377/.540, 12 HR, 51 RBI. Close, but clearly better.)
― clemenza, Monday, 26 February 2024 21:50 (two months ago) link
Gibby w/o a moustache is so weird
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 27 February 2024 04:40 (two months ago) link