A Fathers Day promotion that went askew…….
It was ESPN Sportscenter back in 2001. The network did a video tribute to fathers and sons who both played in major league baseball, showing clips of the Bonds’, Boone’s, etc and the background music was that of “How sweet it is” by Marvin Gaye. Well, ESPN then took some heat over including Gaye’s music, as evidently the producers were not aware of the fact that Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father in 1984. Ooops!!
Now, onto some news and diamond notes……
** As we gave Larry 1st place props this week, keep in mind that the pitching rebounded as the O’s had 6 Saves and 5 Wins out of their league leading 13 games started including one Shutout by CC.
** Sticking with the O’s, Jorge Cantu (AKA “Eddie’s Boy”) hit .468 with 6 HR and a league leading 57 hitting points in the period.
** Vulcans tryng to make some noise as Don’t Get Greedy Joe Crede hit .381 with 4 HR and 40 points.
** And his White Sox teammate Nick Swisher hits .416 for 43 points on the Big Train
** Kids Christian Guzman with a weird scoring week, as he had only 20 points in 38 At Bats but yet he hit .368. Love those singles!!
** Wasn’t it a great shot by the FSN Pittsburgh cameras on Tuesday night as they caught the scene of Elijah Dukes dropping his hand and not giving his manager the High Five in the celebration line after the Nats win. Gee, even major league ballplayers can pout like a 6 year old I guess….
** The Lockhorns are the first NPL team to 50 Pitching WINS.
** Harv still re-tooling the staff and the 4th and 5th round Wednesday pick-ups of Aaron Cook and Manny Parra may turn out to be big.
** Living the high life is being in Vegas and watching your Marlin 2nd baseman hit a walk-off Grand Slam. Uggla can be a beautiful thing.
** The 69’ers got hit 9 times this week and now lead the NPL with 52 HBP’s. That’s more than double the amount of the 10th place team (Kids) in that category.
** Chase Utley (Niners) is tied for the MLB lead in HBP with 10, but careful Piff. Last year he was out for a month after taking one on the wrist.
** The H-Bombs had to enjoy the week of the #1 overall A-Rod. Hit .440 and slugged at .760.
** Do the Rock Cats have a monopoly on shortstops? They currently have 6 on their roster. The 2 active and then 4 on the DL. A cursed position for the Raven in 2008.
** The Owls have a top pitching team and the bullpen leads with a total of 38 Saves. Joe Borowski now replaces JJ Putz. JJ got hurt. Go figure!!
** Harv gave his baserunners the green light these past 7 days. 13 of 17 in the stolen base department.
** The Owls and O’s are the only two teams with more DL moves made than DROP moves at this point.
** I think my Kooperstown Kids must have caught the Bird Flu. You see, I had Jair Jurrjens get hurt by tripping on the dugout steps, spraining an ankle and thus missing a start. This kind of crazy stuff must now be contagious from the Owls!! So let’s see…. It’s the Owls (Birds) – regular injuries and goofy injuries happen – Bird Flu….. Get it?
** When Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez were fighting in the Boston dugout last week, keep in mind they are also Pittsburgh O’s teammates.
** Here’s another weird stat…. The Bombers Jhonny Peralta has 11 HR on the year, but only 22 RBI.
** The Justin Masterson Win this week may have vindicated Eddie with his co-owner Big T for going out on a limb and making that pick.
** Old man Trevor Hoffman had himself a week…. The Vulcan closer had a perfect ERA to go along with 1 Win and 3 Saves.
** Did anyone see Coco Crisp being interviewed after the game in which he started the brawl with James Shields and Tampa Bay? He just looked and sounded like some street thug / gang member type.
** With the return of Chone Figgins and the addition of Macier Izturis, it looks like the Train is going for Angels in the Infield.
** Bombs return Vernon Wells and add Brad Hawpe. Nice…..
** Bulldogs return Matt Holliday and the red-hot Ryan Doumit. Very nice…
** Now it’s Victor Martinez injured…… And the beat goes on….
** Rock Cats must be glad they were able to reacquire Jose Guillen.
** The Hot then Cold Mark Reynolds is back to being hot. Vulcs will take it.
** Since being acquired on May 1st, “Jackie” Sherrill has 11 Saves for the B.T.
** Did you happen to see in USA Today that Robin Yount’s nephew will be playing for Stanford in the College World Series? Yes, Austin Yount’s primary position is pitcher and he’s a 12th round draft choice this summer of the LA Dodgers.
** In a strange set of the pitching rotation this week, the Lockhorns will have only 8 starts and they are all bunched between Saturday and Tuesday.
** Big O with 4 Starters going on Sunday, 3 of the 4 on the road.
** Vulcans with a league high 12 Starts scheduled this week including 2 each from Santana and Sheets.
** Train on the way to the OBX. According to Larry’s theory Bob, you can possibly expect to have a no-hitter thrown this week for you!!
** While surfing through Comcast’s “On Demand” areas this week I stumbled upon something called “Pirates 365.” Under Your Town and then Sports. Seems that Pirates 365 has a choice of a months worth of 2 minute Pirogi Races you can watch and various Pirate player Q & A’s…. I can’t wait for video footage of the Hot Dog launch.
** Pujols out but Harv’s not worried……. He still has Fukudome. Saying that “Fukudome is my homey.”
** Piff had an interesting Wednesday. Contacted me to let me know that he was attending a Girl Scout pool party with his daughter Mackenzie. Piff said he was the only Dad and it was a bunch of Moms…… Okay, let me see……. Piff and a group of 30 year old something women….. Well, Piff did say he was “making his moves.” I just wonder if he meant baseball or something else????? I know what you’re doing….. Now admit it….. You just pulled a Dr. Evil…… Pressing a finger against your mouth and saying “Hmmmm.”
MORE SPORTS MEMORABILIA:
This one related to me by Larry Ott……. It was the AFC Championship Game of the 1978 season. Oilers at Steelers, 3 Rivers Stadium, which was then actually January of 1979. Steelers win and in those days, fans would storm the field and tear down the goal posts. Big O even has a picture in the next day newspaper of the goal post coming down. Larry and a buddy just happened to come up on that part of the field after it went down and one of the uprights had cracked off into about a 10 foot section. Larry says to his friend…..”What do you think our chances are of getting out of the stadium with this thing?” So what the hell, they gave it a shot and with all the confusion going on they walked right out of 3RS with the upright. Ended up cutting it in half and O got the top half with the plastic yellow flag attached. So what do you do with it? Well, over the years O has taken it to various places where Steelers from that particular team were to get their autographs on it. Some of those players have now passed on….. But no doubt about it, this is one unique piece of memorabilia and a great story to go along with it….
Answer to picture:
Okay, the picture above is that of Rod Scurry Jr, who pitched for the University of Nevada. Notice he’s a righty, whereas his dad the late Rod Sr was a lefty with a nasty curve ball. And the kid really does look like the dad.
YOU TUBE:
Of course what else, but a Fathers Day edition...... Just over 1 minute long, this is perhaps one of TV's most interesting father - son relationships, and I believe a favorite of many who read this blog. Here's an interesting note..... Catch the background music being played at the end. Recognize the group? Remember the final episode?
