Friday, Mar 31, 2017

Briefly.

It’s baseball season and while I was going to dedicate this week to nothing but baseball, let me take care of some housekeeping items first.

Brexit, stage left.

Quote of the week (century?): “I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me.” – Shaquille O’Neil. You see, Shaq is what they call a “flat-earther,” believing that the earth is flat. Kyrie Irving is also a member. Really.

LaVar Ball – shut up. (And that’s all I have to say ‘bout that)

I mentioned last week that I haven’t seen the “John 3:16” sign in a while?? Earlier this week I saw a car (from NH, of course) with the license plate –  ‘JHN316’.

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame! – In the Frozen Four

I don’t get the dollar-shave-club(s) out there (there are a few of them now). I shave 4-7 days per week and I can use the same blade for a month, easy. Where’s the savings?

Now, back to baseball…

Trivia #1: Since William Howard Taft threw out the first ceremonial first pitch in 1910, who is the only president to not throw at least one ceremonial first ball? – Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Harry Truman.

Trivia #2: What pitcher has started the most Opening Day games? – Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver, Cy Young, Gaylord Perry

Opening Day should be a national holiday (MLB – there is only one ‘Opening Day’) we all know that. Here’s my proposal for the holiday. Each state with a major league team, the day of that team’s home opener is a state holiday – Easy. For states with multiple teams, the same law applies only the state rotates by team, by year. For example in Illinois you get the Chicago Cubs home opener one year, Chicago White Sox the next, etc. Now, for states without their own team, listen up. Each state either adopts a nearby team and gets the day off on said team’s home opener or, they simply rotate random teams year in and year out. Preferably, for the residents of that state, they pick a team that opens on a Friday! How about the Blue Jays you ask? Heck, all of Canada shuts down on Toronto’s Opening Day! I think it can all work.

In 14 Opening Day games, Walter Johnson was 9-5 with nine shutouts. Hitting a record eight career home runs on Opening Day are Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn.

Ted Williams had at least one hit in all of his fourteen Opening Day games. Overall he hit .449 with three home runs and fourteen RBI in those games. 

The Sox have 15/10 games (home/away) in April. Let’s get out of the gate!

I’m excited every season for the Red Sox and this year is no different. They should certainly score runs, again. And as always, if they can stay healthy, the sky’s the limit. I’m going with 94-68, 1^st place in the East. Bring it on!

DYK on March 30, 1993, Peanuts character Charlie Brown hit a game-winning homerun, his first round-tripper in 43 years. Almost ten percent of the nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips created by Charles Shultz focused on baseball.

I read an article on redsox.com that was headlined “5 Sox players in running for top awards.” Huh? Hey, the season hasn’t started. Everyone is in the running for top awards!

The Red Sox Class A affiliate Greenville Drive will give away free whoppers if Tim Tebow strikes out three times when the teams play in June. Can you imagine him getting to bat with two strikeouts in his pocket? I’d love to be there for that.

This week’s sign of the apocalypse: Fortune magazine has named Theo Epstein as the world’s greatest leader. Said Theo of his honor; “I can’t even get my dog to stop peeing in the house!”

Have you seen Andrew Benintendi dance?! Neither have I.

The Red Sox are hiring, looking for a “Mascot Back-Up Performer”. A part-time role to serve as an alternate to the Mascot Program Manager for the mascot, Wally. Amongst the qualifications; Minimum of two to four years of experience as a sports mascot, either at college, minor-professional or professional level; Must be physically able to perform under extreme weather conditions; Must be no taller than 5’8”.

Trivia answer #1: Jimmy Carter. DYK, Harry Truman was the only president to throw out left-handed and right-handed first pitches on Opening Day (1950).

Trivia answer #2: Tom Seaver – 11 with the Mets, three with the Reds, two with the White Sox.

Quote of the week #2: “It’s supposed to be fun, the man says ‘Play Ball’ not ‘Work Ball’ you know.” – Willie Stargell

“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks (and a sausage sub and two beers)
I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame,
And it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out,
At the old… ball… game!”