Edgy MD

Al Kaline never played a day in the minors. I don't know who else can make such a claim. Did Ichiro Suzuki bypass the Japanese minors?

Well there'd be two home teams per park, right? So scheduling could be a real pain in the ass. But there could be an early slot for easterly teams and a later slot for westerly ones. On the other hand, if all you need is a decent field and some modest press facilities, they can even use auxiliary diamonds in the spring complexes, provided the lights were good.

And while I sing of high ratings if they bring baseball back, I can only speculate on how big an attraction empty stadium baseball might be after a few weeks.

=Ceetar post_id=34717 time=1586179265 user_id=102] Vaccine's generally take upwards of a year. but TESTING. build in regular testing of players and isolate and quarantine. build into the schedule time so that a team that test positive can take 10 days or whatever off and so can their current opponent, and their last opponent and their current opponent. This would be better with them NOT all playing together in Arizona I suppose.

And all those logistical problems would seemingly make it hardly worth the while, let alone the expense, for the league. On the other hand, if they start playing in Arizona, TV ratings would be through the roof.

A guy on the fringes of the film industry hears over beers late one night about Cecil B. DeMille's massive set for his original, silent, 1923 version of The Ten Commandments, and the film industry folklore that they decided to just bury the set on site. He develops an interest in digging the set up, but not being a real archaeologist, and a fake Egyptian city from the 1920's having ambiguous archeological value, he runs into problems getting permits and funding and crews and stuff. He keeps trying to walk away from the project, but fate keeps steering him back to it for 30 years. [YOUTUBE]mAfhfNGRACU[/YOUTUBE]

The Mets have announced a https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-20200404-adsilit5lbhjjkloyvlkqh7shq-story.htmlrelief fund for ballpark employees. Steven Matz and his charity are supporting https://empiresportsmedia.com/mlb/new-york-mets-pitcher-steven-matz-donates-to-nyc-covid-19-first-responders/first responders and area hospitals. Jeff McNeil, who hasn't really seen the big $$ yet, is partnering with the https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/mets/2020/04/04/coronavirus-ny-mets-steven-matz-jeff-mcneil-aiding-battle/2945635001/Partnership for Disaster Philanthropy.

=G-Fafif post_id=34624 time=1585927920 user_id=55] This year's Johnny Murphy Award to bmfc1.

You never see people mount a dickmeter on their walls anymore. Once upon a time, they were everywhere. Then suddenly, they were all gone!

Edgy MD wrote: I like Ernie Borgnine's evil villain getup. That's funny you said/wrote that because last night I was googling "Blue Blazer" for ideas or inspiration on how to dress this villain. I was also wondering if "Blue Blazer" is some sort of wrestling term. I don't know much about wrestling. I know and have heard of the stuff that everybody probably knows, like a half-nelson and Hulk Hogan and Gorgeous George. My 4th grade buddy was a big Bruno Sammartino fan. And Gorilla Monsoon, too. Back in the 4th grade. Anyways, it turns out that "Blue Blazer" is the name of an actual modern-day wrestler. Did you know that? I didn't, but ... I have a friend named Mark who was and is a real subversive. He eventually went to work for WFAN, but that was ironic, because in the early years of the station, he made great hay out of prank-calling them. On one occasion, he put on his best Bronx accent and carried on for about 15 minutes about how everybody says that nobody can beat Tyson, but he's seen this fighter coming up who would mash Tyson to pieces. Every time the host would try to get a name out of Mark, Mark would talk over him, saying this guy was more nimble than Ali but his punches more devastating than Foreman. He had Schmeiling's brutality but Norton's reach. Again, the host would ask for a name and Mark would wax on about his last three opponents leaving the ring in a stretcher. Finally, the host pinned him down, "You got me interested," he interjected, but who is this guy? Give me a name!" "A name?" Mark responded, as if it hadn't even occurred to him. "Yeah, a name. I assume this guy has one." Mark paused a beat, but didn't crack. "His name is ... Da Blue Blaza." "The what what?" "The Blue Blazer! He absolutely destroyed Sergeant Slaughter last week." "Wait a minute ... YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A WRESTLER?!?!" I'm not doing it justice, but we kept a tape of it and it many pairs of pants were ruined when it was played back. Anyhow, since then, I pretty much call all fictional wrestlers "The Blue Blazer."

I like Ernie Borgnine's evil villain getup.

In his first year, Kent publicly pushed back against the rookie hazing. When he was reminded that this was a standard rite of passage for all ballplayers, he was all, "I know — I already went through it all with the Blue Jays." Aside from the self-serving logic (he was still a rookie), I'm glad somebody stood up to that stuff, and I'm glad it was someone whose career continued with the success he had, rather than getting blackballed. But I can see how a story like that getting out early in a player's tenure can feed a lazy narrative. I also guess arriving in return for David Cone didn't help people love him. It's pretty ironic that, considering all the contemporary teammates of his that would be publicly implicated in anti-social incidents before that era ended, he was the one that got the reputation. On the other hand, if the notion of him being an asshole was purely an illusion, it's an illusion that followed him around the league pretty well. My favorite Kent association is that he and José Vizcaino were teammates on (I think) five different teams.

=seawolf17 post_id=34603 time=1585913205 user_id=91] John Valentin is the Sock on the bottom row. I got nine of these guys, which is definitely the most I've ever gotten.

Four Mets. https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/screen-shot-2020-04-03-at-12.37.40-am.png>

I don't think of The Blue Blazer applying the Golden SombreroTM sleeper hold and the Psionic ClawTM wakeup technique as "super powers," per se. They are more like professional skills put to nefarious use.

I think it's more or less palming somebody's face, carefully pushing on pressure points in the temples and the eye sockets, slowly bringing them back to consciousness, or if done incorrectly, making the Golden Sombrero permanent.

If this season ever gets going, I think some guys are going to be sent to Columbia who thought they'd be going to Binghamton, just because the abbreviated camp meant that the usual level of attrition didn't come to pass (unless your name is Noah Syndergaard). Teams generally keep 25% or more pitchers employed than they need, because they'll need it soon enough. Guys planning on Columbia may get stuck in extended camp. On the other hand, with the abbreviated training, there's every reason to think the first few weeks will be injury-riddled, and things will smooth out. Again, if there is a season.

With the spring season seeming lost, those summer leagues may be the last chance for some players to get noticed.

The problem with the "college route" theory is that the number of slots available there, as far as I can tell, will remain finite, and possibly smaller. Last I checked, NCAA teams were limited to something like 11.7 full scholarships per school, along with (I think) one paid coach in addition to the manager, which is just horrible from where I sit. I know the limit on football scholarships isn't 500 per school, along with 50 coaches, but it sure seems like it. How many ways can men in suits fuck with young athletes and their hopes to get something out of their skillz while they are still able to.

I'm curious if undrafted players who would have been chosen in the sixth-10th round, now able to shop their skills to all teams, will start getting bigger bonuses than the fifth-rounders. Such a circumstance would hopefully lead amateur players and their agents to begin to greater assertion of rights, leading to the unraveling of the draft outright.

Now I feel like we need to check up on Kase.

Longtime reliever, 1980 All-Star, and White Sox broadcaster Ed Farmer passed away last night at 70. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71-A3%2BxXbgL._AC_SY445_.jpg> A cause-of-death hasn't been released, but I know he had been fighting kidney disease in recent years.

In perhaps the easiest-to-miss transaction of the offseason that won't end, we missed AAA outfielder Rymer Liriano being signed away by the Mariners over a month ago. Rymer, to say we hardly knew you barely does it justice. http://companion.thecranepool.net/recent-transactions-blog/ancient-mariners-sign-rymer[fimg=400]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/transaction-02-23-2020-f.jpg[/fimg] http://companion.thecranepool.net/recent-transactions-bloghttps://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/visit-blog-button.png> https://metsrostercentral.wordpress.com/current-mets-coaching-staff/https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/view-mets-mlb-coaching-staff.png> https://metsrostercentral.wordpress.com/current-roster/https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/view-mets-mlb-roster-1.png>

I think he worked a year or two after that, and his frame filled out even more.

Jim was a special guest star in Benny Agbayani's career highlight. [YOUTUBE]mUzjF0J-yPI[/YOUTUBE]