Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : Round-Tripper of the Tongue

Round-Tripper of the Tongue

2005-03-31 14:44

by Jon Weisman

The following quotes appeared in print Wednesday:

"I need to stop trying to hit home runs all the time. I need to get on base because there are good hitters behind me."

- Hee Seop Choi, Sports Illustrated

"Today I tried to hit a homer," he said. "I'm ready for opening day."

- Hee Seop Choi, Los Angeles Times

Comments

2005-03-31 15:06:13

1. Jim Hitchcock

Just goes to show that daily doses of radiation are not are a good thing for a growing boy. Depo should have had a stat to take this into account.

2005-03-31 15:12:41

2. Linkmeister

Roentgen Shares?

2005-03-31 15:40:17

3. Screwgie

"Bah!"

"Chulk smash puny ball. Chulk hit homer. Chulk ready."

- Hee Seop Choi, Marvel Comics

2005-03-31 15:47:53

4. bigcpa

Well that SI piece did say he polished up his english watching Friends reruns.

2005-03-31 15:49:56

5. Jim Hitchcock

Read Bob's report on sushi at Jack Murphy...any word on kimche at the Ravine?

2005-03-31 15:50:39

6. Bob Timmermann

Does that mean Hee Seop and Rachel will finally get together at the end of this season?

2005-03-31 15:57:59

7. Bob Timmermann

If they're serving kimchi at Dodger Stadium, I will sit far away from anyone eating it. That stuff is rather pungent.

2005-03-31 16:03:09

8. Jim Hitchcock

They could have a Kimchi Night...no, no, that could turn into another fracas like Free Baseball night...

2005-03-31 16:04:08

9. Jonathan

from Rotoworld.com:

Phillies sent outfielder Shane Victorino outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Now this is a rarity. The Dodgers opted not to take back the Rule 5 pick, even though it only would have cost them $25,000 to do so. They didn't see a place for the speedy outfielder in their organization. Victorino could have opted for free agency since this is his second outright assignment, but he agreed to report to Triple-A. Mar. 31 - 5:59 pm et

DePodesta knows what he wants and what he doesn't want.

2005-03-31 16:08:51

10. Suffering Bruin

A buddy of mine said "kimchi" is Korean for "this stuff will curl your hair."

Paging Bob T: is the capitalization correct in the above sentence? I thought language gets capped but not nationality. Or do I have that backwards?

2005-03-31 16:10:55

11. Bob Timmermann

In English, you capitalize "Korean" all the time. It's a proper adjective.

Interestingly, in Spanish, it would be lower case, coreano, at all times.

2005-03-31 16:27:25

12. Icaros

It's sad about his nuclear upbringing, because if Choi were to eventually break any home run records, you can bet there will be media controversy, Congressional hearings, and thousands of families moving closer to nuclear power plants in hopes of spawning the next Hee Seop Choi.

The game we love is forever tainted.

2005-03-31 16:39:22

13. Bob Timmermann

Have there been any major leaguers who have grown up in San Clemente or Oceanside since San Onofre went online?

How about guys from Harrisburg, PA (3 Mile Island)?

2005-03-31 16:43:29

14. Suffering Bruin

How far is Donora, PA from Harrisburg? If it's close, it might explain Musial and the Griffeys.

2005-03-31 16:44:23

15. Jim Hitchcock

I'm fairly certain Steve Garvey's forearms grew up near Oceanside.

2005-03-31 16:47:10

16. Marty

Donora is close to Pittsburgh, not very close to Harrisburg. Besides being the home of Musial, it also had the great killer smog in 1948.

2005-03-31 16:48:01

17. Bob Timmermann

I'm pretty sure there wasn't any nuclear power when Stan Musial was a kid.

Donora, PA is in SW Pennsylvania and Harrisburg is pretty much smack in the middle.

2005-03-31 16:48:25

18. Icaros

Weren't there a couple players from the Chernobyl, Ukraine area trying to defect in the late 80s, early 90s?

2005-03-31 16:53:34

19. bigcpa

A Korean Giants fan I knew in college swore that "Dachas" (pronounced loosely like Dodgers) in Korean meant "lose" or "lost." Can anyone confirm that?

2005-03-31 17:11:28

20. fanerman91

On a more serious note, based on those contradictory comments, it seems like we shouldn't really overreact to any of his comments. Chances are his approach is too complicated to be reduced to any 3-second sound bite.

2005-03-31 17:13:12

21. gvette

Unfortunately for Choi, short term memory loss may be one of the side effects of prolonged radiation exposure. If he was a politician, we would applaud his willingness to see all sides of an issue.

Don't know about prior nuclear powered players, but in the 50's a guy playing for a minor league team in the alien landing zone of Roswell, NM hit a record 72 HRs. Coincidence, or something more sinister....?

2005-03-31 17:26:18

22. Jon Weisman

Yes, #20, that's my conclusion as well - for both Choi and Tim Wallach.

2005-03-31 17:34:30

23. Suffering Bruin

Bob T. wrote: I'm pretty sure there wasn't any nuclear power when Stan Musial was a kid.

SB responds with: oops.

As long as #20 and #22 are making this a serious conversation about Choi and Wallach, I think we can put to rout forever the notion that a hitting coach can't have a big impact on his wards. IIRC, Jon said as much when discussing the future of Jack Clark back in July of '03.

2005-03-31 18:19:47

24. Jim Hitchcock

Went back and read the Clark posts..thanks, SB.

Also saw Bob T correcting Jon on a Garrett Anderson HR at City High. Was that your first appearance, Bob?

2005-03-31 18:39:09

25. Bob Timmermann

Garret's my homey. He's representing the JFKers from the GH!

2005-03-31 19:05:54

26. Jim Hitchcock

Yeah, I saw that. Cool story about the interview, too.

2005-03-31 19:25:38

27. Bob Timmermann

Hmm, I was just looking through some old photos my grandfather had taken when he was working on the Manhattan Project. Turns out there was a separate project that started in the Donora, PA area in 1945. That was the same year, that Musial missed out on playing. Officially, he was in the Army, but he was actually heading up the top secret Donora Project.

I have a picture of him with Enrico Fermi. It's really cool.

I've also got a photo of Joe DiMaggio hanging out with the Rosenbergs and Klaus Fuchs.

2005-03-31 20:01:52

28. gvette

Wow, when you find the Ted Williams/J. Robert Oppenheimer connection the truth will finally be known. Makes BALCO pale in comparison.

2005-03-31 21:04:00

29. Jonathan

One player will have to come off the 40 man roster if Wunsch and Carlyle (or Venafro and Rupe, but I doubt it) make the team. Who do you think it will be? Frank Brooks, Franquelis Osoria, Orlando Rodriguez, or Derek Thompson? I couldn't imagine any of the other 25-but-not-40 man roster guys getting bumped. I don't know any of their option situations but I'd imagine Brooks is the least flexible in that department. Any extra info on the other three?

2005-03-31 21:54:09

30. Tom Meagher

Derek Thompson has already cleared waivers and been removed from the 40-man roster.

2005-03-31 21:54:38

31. Herb Stencil

You know, I heard Bobby Bonds and Oppenheimer were thick as theives... from "I am become Death, the destroyer of Worlds" to "You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did." The Decline of Western Civilization, pt. MXIX

2005-03-31 22:54:11

32. Linkmeister

Herb, goes to show the value of a physics degree: Oppenheimer knew the classics.

2005-04-01 07:52:26

33. Todd

Yeah, take it easy on the HRs Hee Seop. 15 HRs last year (?) is practically putting every game out of reach for the Dodgers. With his huge run-producing abilities, seems the Dodgers are bound to win 150 games this year (cough cough). Nah seriously I hope he just makes contact. Re: Hee Seop, I think a lot of the posters on this board yesterday had the right prescription for him and suggested that although maybe trying to hit a couple of jacks is alright, hopefully it's just a couple. Like a couple of you said, if he hits line drives, the HRs will come. Or not.

2005-04-01 08:25:16

34. chumsferd

I wonder when the SI comment was made. Remember for a while he was batting 2nd. I know the LA times comment was made when he was batting 7th or 8th immediately after hitting his second homer of the spring.