Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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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
8) making the same point over and over again
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
In November 1989, the Daily News promoted me from 29-hour-a-week part-timer to full-time status. My first assignment after the promotion was to do a feature on a senior swingman for the Kennedy High School basketball team in Granada Hills. Not only was the guy a 20-plus-points-per-game scorer, but he had also hit a game-winning home run as a junior in the City 4-A baseball championship.
The guy wasn't talkative, but he was polite. I massaged a decent story out of it, concocting some sort of Superman theme: mild-mannered on the outside, but heroic when it counted.
I'm gonna cut to the chase because this is a busy day at work - the guy was, and is, Garret Anderson. And I'm amazed at his calm evolution into a true baseball star. I've covered plenty of guys who have since made it big - heck, I once took a final exam with Mike Mussina in an Omaha hotel conference room during the '88 College World Series - but the idea that my first story as a full-timer, that soft-spoken guy I interviewed in the Kennedy gym, is the reigning Home Run Derby champ and All-Star Game MVP, 14 years later? It really makes me happy. Guess it would have been cooler if I had been in Chicago this week to cover it all, but what can you do?
Way to go, Garret.
Correction: Bob Timmermann of the History Department at the Los Angeles Pubilc Library writes:
Jon,Thanks, Bob. I'm sorry for the mistake, but am going to believe/hope that I had it right back in '89.Love your site, but I thought I should tell you that Garret Anderson did not hit a game-winning homer in the City High School baseball championship game at Dodger Stadium. He hit one in the semis against Sylmar, however, and that may be where you were confusing it.
I'm enough of a geek to have the complete list of people who have homered at Dodger Stadium as high schoolers (City Section also): http://home.earthlink.net/~btimmer/homers.html.
And I went to Kennedy, although I am several years older than Garret. I think Garret has cemented the title of "Most Famous Athlete Ever to Play at Kennedy" at least on the male side. Sherri Howard won a gold medal on a 4x400 relay team in the 1988 Olympics, I believe.
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