Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Is something everyone should see
Neon lights and the pretty pretty girls
All dressed so scantily

One of the many things I love about baseball is that they play it almost every day. So off days have always been particularly strange for me, particularly if I'd otherwise have nothing else going on. I hope you did something more interesting than going out for Vindaloo then shopping at Best Buy!

  1. Of course there was no rest for Spencer Fordin, as shown by his new article on Kevin Cash predictably titled "Kevin beginning to Cash in: Second-year catcher contributing at plate, in field". Using puns in the title is the second biggest crutch an article writer has other than quoting mediocre 80's songs that have nothing to do with anything. I'm sure Mr. Fordin has his own headline writer/personal assistant. I'm guessing she's 5'10", blonde, 25 years old, and likes to wear short skirts.

  2. Now here's a great headline on a Spencer Fordin article: "Blue Jays face nemesis in opener". The Jays seem to have loads of trouble against Jon Garland. It must suck to be able to dominate a team you rarely play. If I were him, I'd ask for a trade into the AL East, say, to the Devil Rays. On second thought, that's a really stupid idea. Anyhow, the 2-1 Jon Garland for the 17-10 Pale Hose face the 2-2 Ted Lilly for the 10-18 Blue Jays. It's a 7:05 start at the Dome, so I hope that a bunch of you 416ers go out and see it and make some noise.

  3. Larry Millson makes a great point in "Inconsistent start dogs Toronto again":

    The more the Toronto Blue Jays change the more they stay the same. They were 10-18 after 28 games last season, but went on to have a respectable season with 86 wins.

    So are we all still predicting a 70 win season? Shi Davidi has a related article with "Jays emerging from slumber".

  4. There was an Expos game yesterday. By some miracle, they won 3-1 over the Rockies. More details in "Behind Hernandez, Montreal wins first series".

  5. Geoff Baker's article "Canadians say they're still a major oddity" isn't about our health care system or our love of Trailer Park Boys. Instead it's about how there are only a dozen or so Canadian players in major league baseball. The article brings up a good point, though. Minor baseball in Canada is in a steep decline. The number of players playing baseball in my old association is less than a third of what it was when I was playing. Have you gone to a department store to find baseball equipment lately? Wherever I go it's a pretty sad selection. It's a shame, because first and foremost, baseball is a great game to play.


Time for me to get off the soapbox.

Pointless Topic of the Day

When the Jays go 80-20 in their last 100 games, leading to an incredibly unlikely World Series win, Hollywood will have to make a movie about it. What actors should play the main characters, both ballplayers and front office types?
LA, Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip | 34 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Paul D - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 09:45 AM EDT (#66856) #
Sorry to ignore your casting question, but why is it that minor baseball isn't popular anymore?
Is it losing ground to soccer? I imagine soccer would be more popular with new Canadians, but I can't see any reason for baseball to have declined.
Does it cost too much to play minor league ball?
Are there more organized basketball leagues?
_Jordan - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:14 AM EDT (#66857) #
Huey!!!
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:15 AM EDT (#66858) #
so I hope that a bunch of you 416ers go out and see it and make some noise.

Vernon asked us to in the post-game interview after the 10-3 win. Now that the season is over for the Leafs he was hoping we'd come out and cheer on the Jays.

So who's coming besides me this weekend? I don't know that I'll make all three -- I'm probably either skipping tonight or Saturday -- but I'm ready to meet up and yell with whoever else is there.
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#66859) #
Oh, and we noticed the total lack of baseball equipment, even in larger sports stores. We were looking for an inexpensive bat for fooling around with in the park, and found next to nothing in most stores, and quite frequently nothing at all.
_alsiem - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#66860) #
I'm going with 7 friends tonight. My friends specialize in heckling the other team more than cheering but it will be loud.
_Matt S - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:22 AM EDT (#66861) #
Not that Josh Towers would be a part of the World Series winning team, but I've always thought he looked a lot like Sean Penn.
_Jordan - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:27 AM EDT (#66862) #
Heart of Rock 'n' Roll, by the way.
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:28 AM EDT (#66863) #
I've got nothing against good, creative heckling. And if and when we see Mr. Koch, I will be leading the Biiiiiiillllll-yyyyyyyyyyyy jeer.
_The Original Ry - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#66864) #
Billy Bob Thornton as Chris Woodward
Dennis Quaid as Greg Myers
Verne Troyer as Carlos Tosca
_sweat - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#66865) #
I think part of the reason for the steep decline has to do with an increase in sports like golf(so many people want their kids to be the next Tiger, it's pathetic) and probably soccer. It may also have something to do with the fact that Jays and Expos have not been doing well for 10 years or so. Less baseball Buzz at the MLB level proably makes more kids want to do more popular things.
robertdudek - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#66866) #
Baseball relies on adult organisation.

You need bats, helmets and a large number of players. Everyone needs their own gloves. You can't really play in the street (like hockey).

When I was a kid we used to play all the big five team sports at one time or another during our breaks. Soccer was by far the most popular, since all you needed was a soccer ball and four stones to make the goals. The same thing with football.

To remark that there are ONLY a dozen Canadians in the majors is mindboggling. When I was growing up there was Reggie Cleveland and Terry Puhl and for a brief period Dave McKay. Then Cleveland disappeared and pseudo-Canadian Kirk McCaskill appeared. Compared to then, there has been a veritable explosion of major leaguers from Canada.

Not only are there a lot of Canadians, but several high profile players like Larry Walker, Eric Gagne, Corey Koskie and now Rich Harden and (soon) Justin Morneau.

I don't know whether that can continue, but let's enjoy it while it lasts.
_alsiem - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 11:52 AM EDT (#66867) #
I think that its amazing how many Australians are in MLB. I don't think people play baseball at all in Australia. In the 5 months I lived there, I didn't see one diamond and there certainly isn't a pro league. Yet there are a handful of pros.
_DGriebeling - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:00 PM EDT (#66868) #
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=545&e=9&u=/ap/bbo_spider_man_off_base
Sorry a little off-topic, but turns out someone listened to me... (and to the other thousands of people)

COMN for Baseball agreeing to take off the Spiderman Logos
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:04 PM EDT (#66869) #
That was fast, eh?

We should have had an inkling, because Spider-Man weekend was in the promo calendar that they released months ago, but from official announcement to scrapping the plan in less than two days? Wow.
_Chuck Van Den C - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:17 PM EDT (#66870) #
A skeptic might suggest that there never was a Spider-Man plan other than to generate free publicity by talking about a plan.
_Jordan - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:18 PM EDT (#66871) #
COMN for Baseball agreeing to take off the Spiderman Logos

Ladies and gentlmen, your trial balloon has left the building.
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:19 PM EDT (#66872) #
Heh. And maybe so that when they put logos on the hats or uniforms they can say "Look, we bowed to your pressure to not put advertising on the bases. What more do you want from us?"
Mike Green - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:31 PM EDT (#66873) #
Forrest Whitaker for Carlos Delgado? He's got the smile and the build anyway.
_Moffatt - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 12:34 PM EDT (#66874) #
Ladies and gentlmen, your trial balloon has left the building.

That was my thought precisely. They must have backed off after seeing all the anti-Spiderman on Bases petitions in Tim Horton's. :)
_Matt - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 01:31 PM EDT (#66875) #
Cuba Gooding Jr. as the o-dog???

a little bit of a stretch I know... but he's got a friggin' oscar!!!
Mike D - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 01:51 PM EDT (#66876) #
Chris Tucker's a better O-Dog, in personality if not appearance.
_Andrew Edwards - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:02 PM EDT (#66877) #
So who's coming besides me this weekend?

Bad weekend for me.

My GF is leaving town for 5 weeks on Sunday morning, so Friday and Saturday night are pretty much nailed shut. Sunday afternoon is the season opener for my OTHER favourite baseball team, The Toronto Maple Leafs.

I'm up for Monday or Tuesday, though.
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:03 PM EDT (#66878) #
Orlando Hudson is quickly becoming my favourite Jay. I cannot totally explain it, but there you are.
_Rob - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:09 PM EDT (#66879) #
"I'm a traditionalist," [Selig] said

In other news, the all-star game decided home-field advantage in the World Series, the Yankees and Devil Rays played spring training games after their season opener, and an AL team plays an NL team 12-15 times a year.
_Rob - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#66880) #
Oh great. I just went to Gleeman's site after I posted that and it looks like I ripped his idea off without knowing. :)
_Andrew Edwards - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:17 PM EDT (#66881) #
Depending on how you feel about actors of one race playing characters of another, I think Jackie Chan would be an awesome O-Dog.
_Cristian - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:34 PM EDT (#66882) #
I love how MLB is taking the credit for scrapping the idea and claiming that they listen to their fans. More likely, the movie studio got wind of baseball fans' feelings and they got cold feet about the promotion.
_Rob - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#66883) #
Did anyone else see Woody and O-Dog make their NHL playoff picks? Hilarious, despite the fact that even Sportsnet baseball has to have hockey in it somewhere.
Named For Hank - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 02:41 PM EDT (#66884) #
Yeah, I loved how surprised they were to find out that Nashville had a hockey team.
_David Armitage - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 03:02 PM EDT (#66885) #
It's sad that we live in an era where even Spiderman can't get to first base.
Coach - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 04:24 PM EDT (#66886) #
Sunday afternoon is the season opener for my OTHER favourite baseball team, The Toronto Maple Leafs.

Andrew, I may have to work, but if not, I'll look for you at the Pits. It will be great to see Bob Feller and Jack's other guests of honour. Maybe we can watch the first few innings of the Leafs game then have a pint at Clinton's to see how the Jays are doing.

The only Jays game I might get to this weekend is tomorrow afternoon's; even that will be a last-minute decision.

ONLY a dozen Canadians in the majors

I'm with Robert; that's a lot.

I also agree that the expense of organizing and equipping youth teams is amateur baseball's biggest problem. The sport needs additional volunteers, too, but I wish the Jays and their well-heeled corporate sponsors would do even more to help kids get started in the game.
_Kim Basinger - Friday, May 07 2004 @ 04:47 PM EDT (#66887) #
a little bit of a stretch I know... but [Cuba Gooding's] got a friggin' oscar!!!

So do I. Can I play Roy Halladay's wife?
_Andrew Edwards - Saturday, May 08 2004 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#66888) #
I'll look for you at the Pits. It will be great to see Bob Feller and Jack's other guests of honour. Maybe we can watch the first few innings of the Leafs game then have a pint at Clinton's to see how the Jays are doing.

Sounds like a great baseball afternoon...
_Mick - Monday, May 10 2004 @ 05:34 PM EDT (#66889) #
I think, given his recent hit radio segment(s), we should push for Kent "Coach" Williams to play the dashing J.P. Ricciardi.

Speaking of J.P. and apropos of nothing, one of the senior vice presidents at American Airlines is named Ralph Richardi, and I keep getting in trouble for spelling his name "Ricciardi" in our internal publications.

Thank goodness our other VPs, Bill Beene, Theo Eppstein and Paul DiPodesti don't mind as much ... (just kidding about that last part. But Richardi/Ricciardi is gonna get me fired).
LA, Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip | 34 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.