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About Jon
Thank You For Not ...

1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
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9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with

Vero Beach Memories
2007-02-18 10:10
by Jon Weisman

I saved this remembrance, sent to me late last year from Dodger Thoughts reader and University of Central Missouri history professor Eric G. Tenbus, for the opening of Spring Training. Hope you enjoy it.

I remember the first time I walked into Holman Stadium as a 9-year old recently relocated to Vero Beach from the northeast. The first things I noticed were the huge trees that used to hang over a circle of seats on both the third-base and first-base sides of the stadium, seats that provided shade and standing room for those sold-out games against the Yankees. I recall being confused that the Dodgers were playing the Tokyo Giants, who were on an exhibition swing through Florida. And Willie Crawford was at the plate. My love affair with the Dodgers had begun.

Three years later, now in the Tommy era, I had won an essay contest sponsored by the local Vero Beach newspaper, the Press Journal, and was wearing Steve Yeager's old jersey and standing in the Dodgers' dugout as designated Spring Training batboy. For a 12-year old, the dream had come true. I was allowed to leave school early for those games in March 1978 so I could play catch with Steve Garvey, practice pitching to Yeager, and laugh at Dusty Baker's jokes. I also had to work, running out to the plate to retreive Reggie Smith's bat, and wipe off the plate with a rag because Billy Martin had complained to the umpires that the plate was too dirty for his pitchers. I remember that March Yankees game, only five months removed from Reggie's three-HR game that crushed the Dodgers' World Series hopes in 1977, with Martin bitching about the overflow of people sitting on the outfield "wall," which as you know was a hill, replete with royal palm trees (this was before the fence was put into place) and how this would affect ground-rule doubles. I also remember Tommy swearing loudly about Martin's grandstanding. I took seriously my responsibility to bring Davey Lopes bubble gum for each game after he confided to me that his numbers would be much higher if I was his supplier. I was damn sure not going to let his OBP suffer due to my sixth-grade negligence. And I recall signing autographs for younger fans who saw me in a uniform and standing in the dugout and assumed I was someone important. Those were wonderful days when Garvey and Cey and Sutton and Monday stood out in the field surrounded by eager fans, nervous parents who couldn't see their sons through the crowds, and grown men who just wanted an autograph because they loved the game. But the world moved on.

In 1980, I remember the morning my Dad told me that Vero Beach was getting a minor league team. Wow, you mean we can watch professional baseball all summer long? We had season tickets about 15 rows behind the third-base dugout that summer and for a few years after. I didn't see Sid Fernandez's perfect game but saw him pitch often. We all loved Stan Wasiak, King of the Minors! Then I hit high school and my trips to Dodger-town were not as frequent. Sports, academics, girls got in the way. I did wear my Dodgers cap to my prep school the day after the Dodgers won the World Series in 1981 and received the usual ribbing from those cool guys who had no allegiances to anything except cracking jokes in the back row and other people's homework. I even picked up the nickname "Dodge" out of my devotion to the Boys in Blue, a name my high school friends still use 25 years later.

As I traveled to Pittsburgh for four wonderful years of college, I always referred to my hometown, which people had never heard of, as the Spring Training home of the Dodgers. That put Vero Beach on their mental map and gave me instant credibility with any baseball fan. When I was home from college in the summer of 1986, I learned to play golf on the idiosyncratic nine-hole course that wrapped around the back end of Holman Stadium, a course built by Walter O'Malley for Jackie Robinson so he could play golf while in Florida, the town's other courses being closed to him in the early '50s.

When college ended and I found myself back in Vero Beach working as a writer for a marketing firm, the hand of fate led me back to Dodgertown. Two weeks after Peter O'Malley returned with his grateful employees from Italy, where they celebrated the 1988 World Championship, I landed one of the coveted Dodgers Spring Training internships offered each year, usually through Ohio University. I was the first non-OU student hired, but, of course, I had all the right bona fides. I mean, how could they not hire me, I had the nickname!

For 2 1/2 years, I worked in the publicity office during spring training and then followed that as a business manager with stints in Kissimmee during the summers and one stint in Mesa at the Instructional League. What a trip it was. I still tell my son about the day the men from Costacos Brothers came in to shoot their Big Game Hunter poster of Gibby and needed a couple of extras to stand in a cage that read "Don't Feed the Pitch-ers." There I was standing in a hot cage as the sun went down in the Florida scrub behind a man who had just won the MVP and who the following two years would never consent to signing a poster for me. That's OK; my college buddies could buy the poster in New York and Chicago. There was the day I gave Willie Randolph a ride out to the stadium before a game and he mentioned how the pregame music was always so lame, so I raced off to my VW and grabbed my Atlantic Rhythm and Blues tape, which I played over the PA system and got Willie and others to dance in the infield. I'll never forget the affable L.A. sportswriters like Terry and Gordy calling in their stories over in the clubhouse after the games, giving us interns lurid nicknames, and telling stories of the previous night at Bobby's on the Beach, which usually involved someone misplacing their car. Mostly I recall the warm sunsets sitting with my boss Tom and co-workers and perhaps PR guy Jay Lucas having a few "Orange Whips" in the press box after the game was long over, watching the orange glow descend over that famous hill in centerfield.

During that first summer, I befriended a young, hotshot catcher who once quit the Vero Beach team to clear his mind, and we later often drank pitchers at the Pine in Tempe, talking music, women, sports, whatever. I also recall a young skinny player from the Dominican with a good sense of humor and who was always very polite to me but could throw the ball as fast as anyone in the organization. Both players are now on their way to Cooperstown. It was a great ride and I still laugh when I tell the story how in the Gulf Coast League cham-pionship game in August 1989, my pitching coach, who also happened to be the MVP for the 1955 World Series, told me to get the champagne ready — and then we blew the lead and the game, and I slipped in the mud carry-ing the stupid cooler back to the bus. He teased me about that for over a year until that night in Phoenix the folwoing year, when I drove him to the airport so he could fly to the city of Brotherly Love to meet with the Phillies about their pitching-coach vacancy. What a wonderful, funny man Pods was! He even taught me how to bet at the track like they did on off days when he was still pitching. Finally, there was that lunch with him and Koufax in Kissimmee shooting the breeze like it was 1962 - my own private Field of Dreams, hearing sto-ries about the glory days.

But those days are gone now. I'm no longer in baseball. And the Dodgers are no longer to be in Vero Beach. I really can't blame the Dodgers for leaving. The California fans have never had this opportunity that I grew up with, and the Brooklyn fan base in Florida is dying off now, although you can still get the best Italian sub south of NYC at Giordano's off U.S. 1 in Vero. It's ironic that when VB was small, the Dodgers thrived. But in the last 10 years, as VB has mushroomed into a must-live locale for the nouveau riche, the importance of Spring Training has waned. VB is now too full of Miami ex-pats more concerned with their McMansions and their weekend Harleys than with a game that they did not and their kids no longer play.

I wish the Dodgers well, and I will always be a fan. It's been hard-wired into me. Yes, the blood is blue. And my 10-year old, who's never seen a spring training game and only a few VB Dodgers games, is becoming a fan. So, the legacy continues. And Steve Yeager's jersey still hangs in my closet.

It's not the loss of the Dodgers to VB that has me saddened tonight, but the loss of an important part of my youth that will now only exist in memories and not grass and dirt and palm trees in the outfield that I can see in the summertime when I'm visiting family. Reading this news tonight I've really become aware of my age, what has passed, and the incredible, onward march of time.

Comments (96)
Show/Hide Comments 1-50
2007-02-18 10:21:36
1.   Linkmeister
That's a wonderful (in the full sense of the word) story. I particularly like Lopes and the gum; who knew he had a sense of humor?

Thanks, Prof and Jon.

2007-02-18 10:38:49
2.   Bob Timmermann
That was a great piece of writing.
2007-02-18 11:34:45
3.   the IQ of Pedro Guerrero
Bravo!
2007-02-18 13:20:16
4.   Doug N
Well done.
2007-02-18 13:24:17
5.   Fallout
Oh please. In today's Times, "Gagne closed out Dodgers", we learn that the Dodgers offered Gagne $4 million in guaranteed money and another $6 million in incentives. The Rangers offered Gagne $6 million guaranteed and another $4 million in incentives.

Gagne's explained his decision to leave the Dodgers. He said, "It just didn't work out for both sides. We didn't come to an understanding. We just parted ways. It's nothing personal. It's just a business decision."

Speaking about the Rangers he said, "They showed a lot of interest in me and a lot of confidence in me," he said. "It's not really about the money."

So,I guess all we can deduce from that statement is that Gagne did not want to compete for the closer's job. He wanted it handed to him. After all, what is $19 million and 15 innings in the last 2 yrs suppose to mean between friends.

Does he have such doubts about his comeback that he insisted to be the closer? Doesn't he believe that if he did well he would be put in that situation? What did he want from the Dodgers if it wasn't money?...the glory of being the closer if he deserved it or not?

2007-02-18 13:36:32
6.   Gen3Blue
Great piece.
I assume the hotshot catcher was Yeager.
Is the HoF a bit of a stretch?
2007-02-18 13:43:39
7.   Indiana Jon
Great story. I spent only one spring, 1983, in Vero Beach as a kid, but it was and still is my favorite vacation ever. I remember Guerrero being an ass, Sax being super hyper, and Fernando being the funniest guy I ever met that didn't speak a word of English. My favorite guy had to be Enos Cabell though. He hit me three foul balls in one batting practice which I still have today.
2007-02-18 13:53:08
8.   LAT
Great story. Really nice. I hope you and your son get back to VB for one more spring training trip before they move.

5. As for Gagne, I don't care about the $19 million and 15 innings over 2 yrs because we basically got the guy for free the three years before that--It all comes out in the wash. But I think you are right about wanting the job handed to him. The Rangers have no competition for closer and are screwed if Gagne doesn't work out. We have 3-4 options to close even without Gagne. That being said, if I was a player I would always give serious consideration to changing leagues. Wouldn't you Jeff Weaver?

2007-02-18 14:21:01
9.   Indiana Jon
8 Not sure if I would say the Rangers are screwed if Gagne doesn't work out. Otsuka is pretty good.
2007-02-18 14:59:49
10.   twerp
Excellent story.

6 Dodger catcher "now on the way to Cooperstown" possibly Piazza? Does that timeframe work? I doubt Yeager's HOF-bound.

Also, about reference to Koufax. Seems like I've seen him called a Vero Beach resident. Anyone know where he lives if not VB?

9 Otsuka 2.11 ERA, 32 saves last year for Texas. Plan is for him to be setup man. Don't know what he thinks about his apparent demotion.

2007-02-18 15:26:46
11.   Andrew Shimmin
It has to be Piazza. He's the one who quit the team at one point. D4P can probably identify the skinny Dominican.
2007-02-18 15:48:07
12.   Gen3Blue
10,11 Yeah, I think that timeframe may fit and Piazza makes sense. I forgot he quit the team.
Ahh that skinny Dominican who was too small to be a dependable righty. What a way to judge a ball player.
2007-02-18 16:39:03
13.   Gen3Blue
I think it may be constructive to encourage a player who is obviously on our team for a while rather than to disparage him, no matter how wittily. So two points in regard to Pierre.

1) We don't seem to have much in the way of outfielders in the system, after Kemp, Ethier and possibly Loney and Young( who I would rather see in the infield--at least in one case.)

2) while it is difficult for someone at the point Pierre is in his career to become more selective it is possible. To learn to hit a baseball( to the tune of .300), is next to impossible, and basically a god given gift.

2007-02-18 16:46:37
14.   D4P
I think it may be constructive to encourage a player who is obviously on our team for a while rather than to disparage him

I would be more inclined to agree with that statement if I thought a player's performance was dependent upon what we say.

2007-02-18 17:05:39
15.   Steve
Nor did it take any skill at all to hit .300 in early 2000s Coors Field.
2007-02-18 17:12:33
16.   Gen3Blue
Its hard to figure, but I am very interested in how many people in the D's organization look at DT (possible) and how many players (improbable). Is the second case impossible?
2007-02-18 17:13:42
17.   das411
Mike Piazza will turn 40 next year.

Discuss.

2007-02-18 17:22:03
18.   Gen3Blue
re 13 He hit exactly the same in Florida>
2007-02-18 17:29:54
19.   D4P
Regardless, disparaging Pierre is good for DT's hit count
2007-02-18 17:31:30
20.   popup
Very well written story. #10, Sandy last I heard was living in Pennsylvania. He does not like the spotlight (man is that an understatement) and he does guard his privacy.

A few weeks ago I listened to a tape of the 1971 All Star game broadcast by Jim Simpson and Sandy. Sandy was actually pretty good. Most of the ex-players talk way too much in my opinion; Sandy certainly did not suffer from that problem. The thought occured to me that Sandy would be great if he was paired with Dan Shulman on the ESPN Sunday night radio broadcast. The current color broadcaster, Dave Campbell, talks way too much. Sandy would add in a few observations that would not detract from Shulman's excellent play by play.

Stan from Tacoma

2007-02-18 17:37:01
21.   Steve
Which means he hit better in Florida than Colorado, which is no surprise, since one would expect a wide range of outcomes from year to year, since Pierre's output is entirely a result of luck.
2007-02-18 17:38:11
22.   Andrew Shimmin
If the things that Pierre does well were worth more than they are, he'd be a more valuable player.
2007-02-18 17:41:01
23.   underdog
Those of you in the Ken Huckaby Marching and Chowder Society now have reason to be worried about his status as the team's AAA catcher-mentor. He's got competition!
http://tinyurl.com/3abunr
2007-02-18 17:43:18
24.   Steve
If he were as talented as he was over-rated, he could play all nine positions against the Gashouse Gorillas.
2007-02-18 17:48:29
25.   underdog
Funny you mention that Steve - I just remembered I'd bookmarked this amusing blog entry from awhile back about that cartoon, talking about it as if it were a real game.
http://tinyurl.com/26rgot

- Bugs Bunny's pitching line: 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3K, 0 BB, 0 HR.

- One Gorillas hitter uses the largest bat ever known to be used in a baseball game -- actually a tree -- estimated to be 20 feet long, three feet in diameter and just shy of 5,000 pounds.

2007-02-18 18:03:13
26.   Steve
And, by the way, with Tomko's embarrassing media-whine today, we now have a legitimate three-way Axis of Evil.
2007-02-18 18:08:02
27.   Sam DC
The NBA All-Star game. Not just boring. Supercalifragilisticexpialidociously boring.
2007-02-18 18:10:24
28.   D4P
The NBA is nearing its pre-Magic/Bird nadir
2007-02-18 18:11:34
29.   Greg Brock
The greatest collection of basketball talent in the world, and nobody can hit a fifteen foot jump shot.

Fantastic.

2007-02-18 18:12:45
30.   Bob Timmermann
There's always USC-ASU basketball!
2007-02-18 18:14:34
31.   D4P
There's always USC-ASU basketball!

Thank God that statement is technically false

2007-02-18 18:15:56
32.   Bob Timmermann
For the next 40 minutes or so, there is USC-ASU basketball.

That game was 5-5 after 7 minutes of play.

2007-02-18 18:17:03
33.   Sam DC
I'm still waiting for a spelling correction.
2007-02-18 18:19:48
34.   D4P
It's "telling" that the NBA All-Star game is on TNT instead of one of the major networks
2007-02-18 18:24:22
35.   D4P
Encouraging news on Pierre:

Wills said one session in the bunting pit convinced him Pierre already knows what he's doing.

"He's doing so many things right," he said. "He has the bat at the right angle, the hand placement where it should be. And you've got to be almost perfect when you have his game, because they know you're bunting and you have to do it anyway. He had 16 bunt hits last year and if he had 20 he'd have hit .300 instead of .296. His goal this year is 20-25 and he should be able to do that."

2007-02-18 18:28:46
36.   Steve
he'd have hit .300 instead of .296.

And then he'd get a toaster?

2007-02-18 18:38:13
37.   das411
I think Wills is saying he gets the toaster for 25 bunt hits Steve.

What, like you won't be counting them too?

2007-02-18 18:39:18
38.   Gen3Blue
hmm --Pierre is good for the hit count!
2007-02-18 18:44:55
39.   Sam DC
How come Greg hasn't been making any jokes about the mummified tv guy?

Is there anything left to count on in this world?

2007-02-18 18:49:11
40.   Greg Brock
39 Sorry, I'm facing a real crisis right now...If Britney Spears shaves her head and gets a tattoo in Tarzana, does that put her over the top against the murderous diaper-wearing astronaut for top spot in my heart?

I've been struggling with it all day.

2007-02-18 18:51:47
41.   D4P
I prefer to think of her as "Britney Federline." It's funnier that way.
2007-02-18 18:56:30
42.   D4P
40
BTW: Where does Timmy's mother rank on this list...?
2007-02-18 18:59:14
43.   Greg Brock
42 Timmy's mother now lives in a religious compound on the outskirts of Des Moines. She changed her name to "Shoes" and wears a chartreuse burka.

She's totally out of the picture.

2007-02-18 18:59:58
44.   Sam DC
Can we get a ruling on the goings on Tempe?
2007-02-18 19:00:59
45.   Gen3Blue
I wish I'da bald Britney Spears. Sorry.
2007-02-18 19:01:05
46.   Bob Timmermann
I OK court rushing in that instance.
2007-02-18 19:03:22
47.   Greg Brock
Nice work, Sun Devils.
2007-02-18 19:03:34
48.   Bob Timmermann
Pac-10 standings
1) UCLA
2) Washington State
3) Stanford
4) USC
5) Oregon
6) Arizona
7) Washington
8) Cal
9) Oregon State
10) Arizona State

Coming up:

Bay Area in L.A.
Oregons at Washingtons
UA at ASU (Sunday)

2007-02-18 19:09:21
49.   Greg Brock
My word, Wayne Newton looks like The Joker.
2007-02-18 19:13:35
50.   Bob Timmermann
The season USC went 0-14 in the Pac-10 was 1975-76. And they started the season going 11-1 in nonconference play.

Then the wheels came off.

One of the losses, to Oregon State, was forfeited to USC later.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100
2007-02-18 19:23:02
51.   Steve
What, like you won't be counting them too?

Only 810 games to go.

2007-02-18 19:26:17
52.   Sam DC
Well, Eddie Jordan is really getting outcoached here.

What a chess match.

2007-02-18 19:55:57
53.   Disabled List
I love the NBA All-Star game. Nothing but dunks, alley-oops, and passes up and down the court. I seriously think the NBA should pass a rule change outlawing defense. It would definitely improve the game.
2007-02-18 19:57:25
54.   D4P
I seriously think the NBA should pass a rule change outlawing defense

I thought they already had...

2007-02-18 20:04:25
55.   StolenMonkey86
35 - he'd have hit .300 instead of .296.

Pierre actually hit .292 last year, so does that mean his "would've" AVG goes to .296 or does it still go up to .300?

2007-02-18 20:06:45
56.   D4P
55
Wills failed to mention that, had Pierre hit 27 more HRs last year, he'd have hit 30 instead of 3
2007-02-18 20:25:48
57.   natepurcell
from henson in regards to elbert...

Elbert, a first-round pick in 2004, is considered the team's best pitching prospect in the higher minor leagues. He is expected to begin the season at triple-A Las Vegas.

i dont think thats a good idea.

2007-02-18 20:30:54
58.   Steve
But who's going to start for Vegas if Billingsley is up here pitching three innings a week while the Tomdrickson brothers hurtle us toward mediocrity as 500 analysts cry out all at the same time "But look at who the other teams have as fifth starters!"
2007-02-18 20:37:33
59.   natepurcell
58

I dont think we have to deal with tomko and hendrickson starting in the rotation. its either going to be bills or kuo. or at least, it should be.

2007-02-18 20:38:09
60.   D4P
But who's going to start for Vegas

Hint: his initials are either HCG or HCK

2007-02-18 20:40:17
61.   underdog
54 Yeah, really. I've seen better defense at a trial with Lionel Hutz as the accused's lawyer.

59 But I do think we have to... deal Tomko or Hendrickson. :)

2007-02-18 20:44:44
62.   natepurcell
61

i actually wouldnt mind them in the pen. They just need to shut up and understand they suck at pitching and using them in middle relief lessens the chances they can hurt the dodgers.

2007-02-18 20:44:59
63.   Steve
59 -- If that's true (it's self-evident that it should be true), then it does not help when Grittle encourages the sort of media theatrics that we've seen in the last week from Tomdrickson. Somebody needs to shut those two down, tell them to take their act on the road rather than turning spring training into a whine-fest to embarrassingly naive "journalists," and make clear that the fifth spot is for a real pitcher, and not a couple of never-weres. Why, it's almost enough to make, one, well, question their psychological makeup in a negative way, not that anybody would ever do that to anyone who was, say, arbitration eligible or higher on the tenure track.
2007-02-18 20:59:33
64.   CanuckDodger
I wonder if the winner of this competition for the fifth rotation slot is going to be determined by spring training game stats. If Kuo and/or Billingsley do much better than Tomko and Hendrickson, T & H might not grumple too much. But if one of them does put up the best numbers, and that guy gets sent to the bullpen anyway, I think there will be fireworks.
2007-02-18 21:04:40
65.   Steve
Seems like they could use something less random than spring training stats, like a game of Bingo or a Tim Brown column.
2007-02-18 21:46:58
66.   saltcreek
I dont know whats worse having to watch the Pro Bowl or having to sit through the NBA all star game.
2007-02-18 21:56:29
67.   Gen3Blue
It could be a good year to see how teams with an excess of pitching do vs. teams with excess offense.
2007-02-18 22:31:53
68.   Greg Brock
Andy Millman finally did a good thing. What a nice final episode of Extras.
2007-02-18 22:45:17
69.   saltcreek
68-I think extras is my favorite show on tv right now. Its brilliant.
2007-02-18 23:00:47
70.   Bob Timmermann
I hope you didn't develop an emotional attachment to it. I believe the series is over.
2007-02-19 06:39:38
71.   DodgerBlueBruce
"grown men who just wanted an autograph because they loved the game. But the world moved on."
You must have seen me. I am often the oldest (47) in a group of youngsters hanging out for hours on end. I'm sad but understand the reason for the move West so I will be thankful for the memories I've had at Vero. Glendale cannot possibly match the atmosphere.
Thanks for sharing a fine piece of writing!
2007-02-19 09:35:50
72.   Andrew Shimmin
When will the librarian on librarian violence end?

http://tinyurl.com/ywkncg

2007-02-19 09:37:50
73.   Bob Timmermann
So far no librarian has driven 900+ miles to Downtown L.A. wearing diapers in order to get the offending word removed.
2007-02-19 10:49:03
74.   xaphor
Stanford alum donates $75 million
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17189344/

Maybe now they'll be able to buy some players to do ya proud. The picture and caption are worth the link alone for the unintentionally comedy.

2007-02-19 11:11:34
75.   Greg Brock
The Padres signed Oscar Robles to a minor league deal.

I have nothing to add to that.

2007-02-19 14:06:32
76.   Bob Timmermann
74
I donate money to UCLA which has fewer zeroes, but it still has a comma in it and they seem to blow me off when I offer to volunteer.

Seems very weird.

2007-02-19 14:10:21
77.   berkowit28
Ah - at last a comment from the ubuiquitous Bob. I'd never seen such a long pause between comments when not the middle of the night. It was just under 3 hours between comments! (I was all set to post this when Bob beat me to it.) Where is everyone?

Usually when this appears to happen it means there's a "new post up top" that has not been so noted by Jon in the old thread. But not this time - unless he's actually found some way to make a new post "down bottom"...

It looks like a new Jon post is needed to jump-start the discussion. Or some totally irrelevant non-baseball sports games. I think it really means that people only like posing when they're supposed to be working, and today is a holiday. I've noticed the same thing before on mailing lists I'm on.

2007-02-19 14:11:51
78.   berkowit28
77 Freudian slip: I think it really means that people only like posing when they're supposed to be working, and today is a holiday.

Meant to be "posting", not "posing". Sometimes not too much difference. ;-)

2007-02-19 14:19:08
79.   Daniel Zappala
I think Bob skates by with a donation of 0,01 to UCLA each year. This would explain everything.
2007-02-19 14:22:40
80.   Greg Brock
I just figured everybody was taking a few hours to contemplate the Padres/Oscar Robles signing.
2007-02-19 14:23:44
81.   Bob Timmermann
77
The busiest times on nearly every Toaster blog is M-Th from 11 am - 2 pm PT.

You do the math.

2007-02-19 14:27:54
82.   Greg Brock
If everybody had manufacturing jobs instead of information/office jobs, we wouldn't have this problem. Do we blame NAFTA, terrible firewalls, or the fantastic nature of The Toaster?
2007-02-19 14:30:29
83.   Daniel Zappala
I blame ADHD.
2007-02-19 14:40:21
84.   Bob Timmermann
And all the baseball players have cornered the market on Ritalin.
2007-02-19 14:44:52
85.   3upn3down
You can set your watch by it. Just as sure as Puxatony Phil is going to make an appearance (or lack there of) every Feb, the LA Times is going to run an article about whoever the projected speedster at (or near) the top of the order is working with Maury Wills on the fine art of bunting and base stealing.

Brett Butler, Eric Young, Delino (cringe), Chad Fonville, Cesar Izturis, Rafael Furcal, Kenny Lofton, and now Juan Pierre.

I have to be honest, I haven't even read the article yet. It is sitting open on another browser, but I know what it says. All I have to do is read the title (Juan Pierre gets tips from the master) and I know. I know!

Henson must be a majority share holder in the Maury Wills Baseball Camp. Either that or he was here in 1968

http://tinyurl.com/23ag9x

Isn't he #82 in the front row?

2007-02-19 14:48:36
86.   Bob Timmermann
If Maury Wills had only been into Ritalin instead of alcohol and cocaine.

I prefer Focusyn.

2007-02-19 14:59:53
87.   Greg Brock
I hear Focusyn leads to tank theft.
2007-02-19 15:11:41
88.   Bob Timmermann
Right now, my public access cable channel in South Pasadena (19) is showing a picture of a hole in the ground that looks like it was dug by some utility workers. There is an exposed pipe sticking out.

In the background there is some sort of box with a red light that flickers inside of it.

Soft pop music plays in the background.

I find this to be compelling viewing.

2007-02-19 15:17:59
89.   trainwreck
Must be a new Michael Snow film.
2007-02-19 15:28:40
90.   natepurcell
saito talking about his slider..

"The American ball, when I throw it right, it has more of a break than the Japanese ball does when I throw it right," he said. "I think the seams of the American ball are thicker and harder and I like the ball better. The ball feels harder and the American hitters react different to it."

maybe thats one reason why he has been successful over here.

2007-02-19 15:29:42
91.   StolenMonkey86
82 - that's a problem?
2007-02-19 15:30:45
92.   Gen3Blue
Don't worry--Lou Brock invented the modern stolen base.

BA was to release the D's top ten prospects on Feb. 20 (Today). They must have missed the fact that its Presidents day and no one would be in the office. I would be chomping at the bit if I didn't already have my Prospect Handbook!

2007-02-19 15:33:35
93.   trainwreck
Today is the 19th.
2007-02-19 15:41:41
94.   Gen3Blue
never mind
2007-02-19 15:44:14
95.   trainwreck
You at least got me excited!
2007-02-19 15:49:46
96.   Jon Weisman
People are really getting paranoid about mssing a new post up top, aren't they? What can I do?

Oh yeah.

New post up top :)

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