Johnny Lunchbucket

Many of his contemporaries didn't much like him because he was always scooping them. He hustled more and had longer deadlines than the am paper guys and he really used that to his advantage. He brought a lot of himself into his role as an observer, either noticing things the other writers didn't or just bothering to tell the things they wouldn't. And as time went on that advantage grew and grew since he had not just the details but the perspective on them. Nobody else tracked who inhabited which locker and what if anything the arrangement of them said; and of course he was among the spiritual fathers of uni-number reporting. He was a really good writer too.

Youngstown Vindicator for the win

Spider Gwen was pretty hot

Oh jeez

=kcmets post_id=4903 time=1553475269 user_id=53] Is the middle guy Stew Leonard?

Post runs https://nypost.com/2019/03/20/inside-the-derek-jeter-brian-cashman-feud-that-festered-for-years-before-stanton-heist/an excerpt of Klapisch's new Yankees book; illustrating what we all knew about Jeter's scumminess but no one was brave enough to say during his career. While Cashman insists that he liked Jeter as a player, it isn't entirely clear that he means it. Or maybe it's fairer to say that there were two Derek Jeters — the happy-go-lucky kid from Kalamazoo who came up at twenty-one and seduced the sport with his cool-hand poise, that gift for the big play on the grand stage, and the thirty-something Jeter who became somewhat hardened by fame. Treated like a civic institution in New York — worshiped by the faithful in their Jumpman-branded garb, teenage fan-girls rocking RE2PECT tank tops, and adored and protected by the tabloid scolds who trolled other stars on Page Six — he somehow remembered every slight and provocation. Jeter grew distant from writers who dared to notice that he couldn't get around on a good fastball. His initial coldness toward Alex Rodríguez was as stark as it was cruel: there was that graceless moment in 2006 when a routine pop fly somehow fell between them. Jeter, hands on hips, glared daggers at A-Rod, emasculating him on national TV. That Derek Jeter wasn't fun to general-manage — or to have playing behind you when you pitched. “When Andy [Pettitte] came back from Houston, there was a ground ball up the middle, and Andy's like, ‘All right, that's an out,' ” says Cashman. “Next thing you know, it goes through for a hit and he's like, ‘Crap, Jetes can't get to those anymore.' ”

He was from New Hampshire, and had the look and feel of the Yankee Redneck stereotype who supports the NASCAR track up there. In NASCAR terms McGowan would be one of those back-of-the-field strokers whose car has no sponsor on the hood and an ambition to only avoid wrecks and finish within 5 laps of the winner. I dont recall any actual games he worked in

Didn't-expect-to-get-demoted posturing. Mesoraco signed a minor league deal but won't report to Syracuse. I guess they'll try and trade him or something.

Well I guess the Fake News Media got me again. So it could be Nido?

So how does this work? Do all the active guys on my roster play all the time or do I need to choose who does what?

Diaz has had a bad spring

Listening to Game 2 vs Houston. Edwin Diaz given up 4 straight hits in relief of Vargas, 5 runs in and now 7-3 bad guys

Getting hit in the face with a pie is funny, getting hit with a batted ball in the face is deadly.

I read somewhere last night that the Mets aren't convinced dArnaud is ready and that Mesoraco is the likely backup and dArnaud will begin on the DL to further rehabilitate himslef. I like that this puts some pressure on Mesoraco to hit out the gate. I like that Davis is making the club over Frazier and somehow hope he can maintain a job when the Fraz comes back. Discouraging that the Mets have scheduled a Frazier bobblehead night

Pitches okay for Syracuse. Gets called up as the 26th guy when his turn aligns with whoever needs a breather after an early season rainout requires a double header. Pitches okay for 3 innings in Game 1 then runs into bad luck in the 4th (squeezed for a walk, an error on a would-be DP, then a 3-run homer, then a single, yanked, Mets lose both games, and he's sent back to Syracuse afterward. Returns later in the year for a couple appearances and fans are like whatever 12 innings, 5.25 ERA, 0-2

A Boy Named Seo wrote: There's gonna be way too much pressure on the Mets to not fuck this up. I think they'll get it right. BTW - did you guys see this? [YOUTUBE]bF014EUJrSI[/YOUTUBE] That's pretty great. But sounds like they are using a laugh track to sell it as they go.

The Strawberry quote I remember was after signing with the Dodgers "Now you'll see the REAL Darryl Strawberry." Yup ®

Yeah that's not appropriate to joke about. Mazzilli had already dealt with a grand mal seizure possibly related to his Dan Norman collision in 1979.

The other odd thing is, the Strawberry cover isn't really a match for the content of the accompanying story. later in this series I assume we'll see the Darryl-Doc "Dead End Kids" cover that this was sort of a poorly staged predecessor to: https://www.si.com/vault/issue/702598/65https://www.si.com/vault/issue/702598/65 I changed my vote!

It's adjacent for sure but in a different neighborhood all the same. They used to be about writing, now they're about a stupid game that fans play to artificially increase their interest in the outcomes of games

Straw looking pretty menacing, tho. The "Mr. Long Ball" nickname never really stuck.

=G-Fafif post_id=4700 time=1553167136 user_id=55] The Fantasy issue is distinct from the Baseball Preview.

=G-Fafif post_id=2666 time=1549741659 user_id=55] The Twins invite Lucas Duda to Spring Training because what's a party without Lucas Duda?

You're a dirtbag, Langill. You're lucky to even have a job.

It was a subtle change but some time in the early 1990s SI began bold-facing athlete's names in headlines, and they became, like ESPN, wanna-be participants in the spectacle of sports marketing and not reader-focused observers providing access to sports itself. So this happened, and then the business model was disrupted by the internet, and the reader changed as well (weekly is no longer a viable measurement of time, not is daily anymore, attention spans changed, etc) and there's an army of writers and shooters giving it away for free.