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
Jackie Robinson was the mystery guest on today's What's My Line? rerun. Here are the questions (paraphrased by me unless in quotes) he was asked by the blindfolded panel. The panel had a time limit of three minutes, so they had to be efficient.
Joanna Barnes: Are you a series regular on television?
Bert Convy: Are you appearing in town now? (Amended to:) Are you in show business?
Arlene Francis: Are you a member of the sports world?
Soupy Sales: Are you a player? (Amended to:) Were you a player?
JB: Is your sport "associated with a warm season of the year?"
BC: I'm assuming your sport is baseball. Are you a coach?
AF: Are you a manager?
SS: Are you a broadcaster?
JB: Are you tall and good-looking and would you like to go on a date? (Polite laughter.) (Amended to:) Are you in another enterprise for which you are equally famous?
BC: Is it fair to say your sport is baseball?
AF: You're not a player, coach or manager now. Are you a famous umpire?
SS: Were you a famous player?
Time for one more question.
BC: Are you Stan Musial?
Talk about circling and circling before coming in for a landing.
Time was up, and Robinson was introduced to the panel. Convy was extremely disappointed he didn't guess correctly. Host Wally Bruner pointed out that Convy was a former professional baseball player (as seen on Dodger Thoughts), but Convy begged Bruner not to "put me in a league with Jackie Robinson." Nevertheless, Bruner insisted Convy was the biggest sports nut in show business.
Sales then related a tale that he said he got "a big kick out of telling people" - when he was in the Navy in 1944, he went to the Coliseum and saw UCLA beat USC with a backfield of Robinson, Bob Waterfield and Kenny Washington. In a classic Bob Timmermann moment, Robinson turned to Bruner and quietly asked, "Should I contradict him?" Robinson told Sales he played with Washington in 1939 and 1940. Poor Soupy.
(In fact, 1944 was the year that Robinson received his honorable discharge from the Army, after he was acquitted in a court-martial for insubordination arising from an incident in which he refused to sit in the rear of a public bus.)
Bruner wrapped things up by saying what a big "debt of gratitude" everyone owed Robinson for what he did. Robinson listened to Bruner speak for about 20 seconds, and I wondered what was going through his head. Did he accept this praise at face value, completely in the moment, or were the very opposite feelings he encountered less than 25 years earlier still fresh in his head?
Robinson's final words were to say that "in all sincerity" the challenges Branch Rickey faced were greater than his own. I really find it hard to believe that he truly believed this, but it made everyone feel good. He was a classy game show guest.
Today's show was probably the longest I've gotten to hear Jackie Robinson speak in my life.
* * *
I know someone who went to the 1939 game and she said it was the most exciting game she had ever seen. Over 100,000 in the Coliseum for it. Rose Bowl was on the line. USC ended up getting the bid with an 8-0-2 record to UCLA's 6-0-4.
Tom Haller was my first guess, and I thought I saw SF by his name on retrosheet for both appearances. Oh well.
Haller played in the 1968 game for the Dodgers. He went 0 for 2 as a replacement for Jerry Grote. Johnny Bench finished up in the 9th.
The NL won that game 1-0 with the only run coming on a DP.
Last night on the way home on the XM feed, Charlie Steiner said that todays game wasn't being televised. Quite obviously he meant not on FOX Prime Network.
He says a lot of things that aren't true because he does not know how to read notes and speak at the same time.
Now only the first black background screen will come up; page just never seems to finish loading. A time or two the per cent loaded bar starts, then hangs before finishing. Have tried Gameday on other games, same story. ???
Ethier sits this one out! and for Cruz yet...
Southpaw flinger for the Giants today, so Cruz starts.
Jackie as a figure in history was a rock in the water, creating concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. He was medicine. He was immunized by God from catching the diseases that he fought. The Lord's arms of protection enabled him to go through dangers seen and unseen, and he had the capacity to wear glory with grace.
Jackie's body was a temple of God. An instrument of peace. We would watch him disappear into nothingness and stand back as spectators, and watch the suffering from afar.
The mercy of God intercepted this process Tuesday and permitted him to steal away home, where referees are out of place, and only the supreme judge of the universe speaks."
From Jesse Jackson's eulogy for Jackie Robinson in 1972
It was a joke.
yeah, and I'm not looking forward to seeing Martinez, Izzy, Hall, and Lowe hit either....
Durham was hitting like .190 last time the Dodgers played against him.
Apparently, he's gotten better.
At that time, Durham was hitting .183/.234/.254... He bottomed out on May 13th.
Well its nice of you to share, but I assume that email was sent in private and should have been kept private.
I didnt say I agreed with all his viewpoints. If you come here enough, you would see that oldbear and I do clash on viewpoints. I just don't feel that a private email should be posted on a public form without both parties' consent.
lol we aren't his parents, we have no control over him.
Today! Second game of the double header.
I'm expecting at least 4 walks from him :)
Stuff like that...I'm sorry I had to sign up to respond to that nonsense.
31 - Wuzza? Dude... relax.
Awesome! How many K's are you expecting?
Anyone else ordering UFC tonight?
It would be a good thing, what are you talking about!??!!? :)
LOL. You don't know when to conceed victory do you?
Are you trying to say "capice"? Because it hurts my ears when you do it.
If you are a site moderator somewhere else, it is really hard to imagine that you are accomplishing only the fouling up of this site.
And I see I missed the Dodgers score 3 runs typing this.
So actions have been taken.
Ole' Marvin, starvin' for attention again.
"Yeah I want da cheesy poofs"
The first 40,000 fans through the turnstiles all receive a Paul Bako or Duke Sims bobblehead.
It is cool they got the same band from the movie and a couple of the stars in it (of course, I am sure they weren't doing much).
The Royals chances of catching Detroit are ruined.
Shoot me.
I guess he's trying to prove to his teammates that he's gritty too.
Edmonds occasionally will put that crap.
It would help if he slid head first into 1B on those sac bunt attempts.
Do not push your luck Grady.
My tennis-related claim to fame is that I lived one summer with a guy who grew up playing junior tennis against Pete Sampras, and whose family was best friends with Lindsay Davenport's family.
Other than that, I'm nobody.
I almost ran over Pete Sampras at LAX, but he was jaywalking.
Small world.
Thats why I quit my Varsity team.
Hey, they've got a double!
What is gained from having Lowe pitch 1 more inning at most? He's at 90 pitches.
We have outhit them at this point.
Maybe not being down by 6 runs instead of 3?
Is OP going to be worse?
Perez has another chance to show us something.
Except probably hot chicks in the crowd.
Rats.
maybe he can teach Izturis how to find the holes on his dribblers.
I'm not sure what Felipe is thinking here.
160 I thought that too.
Let's draw a walk here....
Cruz didn't lose it...Lowe's the one who gave up all the runs....but that was still an absolutely atrocious at bat.
It's because managers now a days are so obsessed with the stupid lefty/righty matchups. If a guy is absolutely awful against one, then okay bench him...but Eithier has been on fire and there's no reason to bench him today.
But then again, there's also no reason Izturis manages to crack the lineup card every day either....
I think if he gets to 3-1, he walks.
if I was a manager my head would've exploded. Why in God's name was Cruz up there swinging. I mean, we're talking about a veteran player here who's supposed to know what he's doing...instead he screwed the entire thing up when all he had to do was stand there and not swing.
Great, another HR. I really hate the Giants.
The pitching staff had that one run, early in the season but for almost two months, have constantly put pressure on the offense to score, the fact that they do, covers up how poorly they do.
202- it's 7/10
yeah, if we're not going to get someone good then we might as well just give a minor league guy a shot at the pen.
Nall and Alexander probably need to prove they can do well in Vegas first. Nall has had numerous chances and have failed. Alexander hasn't had a vegas run yet.
How nice would it be if Mattingly could stay at SS? I doubt it happens but hes 6'3 205lbs with a live, athletic body and scouts love his pure batting approach.
Also, there is the issue of the 40 man roster, to bring someone on the team who is not on the roster like Nall or Alexander would mean that someone would have to go.
Maybe you would release Perez, Osoria, Hamulack, Houlton, Jumbo Diaz, Cruz, Alomar.
The Dodgers are running out of guys to put on the 60-day DL, I figure Eric will go there when they bring up Ledee but that's the last guy left.
hes doing okay, just needs to bring the walks down. hes only had 3 or so outings though.
It still astounds me that the Dodgers signed him up for some $3.5 million this past offseason. He was a classic non-tender candidate -- $1 million.
I dont think hes going to move that fast. Best case scenario would probably be start next year at Vero, half season promotion to Jax and 2008 we will hear whispers of a possible LA callup.
He is only 19 right now.
Nice AB by Hall, 3 hits and 3 RBI.
Nate,
Bryan Morris is doomed. The Devil Rays had him, then set him free...and the Dodgers got him. Need I say more?
(humor intended)
I did not realize he was that young. I thought he had been at his JC for for years.
-Steve Lyons-
Maybe today is the day, they comeback against Benenitz.
Coming into the game, I believe they trailed only Baltimore, by a single single.
Wasn't it Kim Ng and Roy Smith?
The Dodgers slugging percentage was 14 points higher than the Orioles starting the day.
Morris was a victim of new ownership change and commish's office bonus recommendations. It was documented that he was going to sign last summer for 1.4 million but the Drays had to hold it off because of the ownership change and it just went downhill from there. Then, as a Draft and Follow, he wanted 1+ mil to sign but the MLB reccomendation was like about 750k or something and the Drays did not want to go over that (same reason why Mets didn't sign Beato).
Of course, you probably already knew all of that :) (but to everyone else, there you go).
I am praying that the Dodgers don't resign Charley Steiner when his contract is up. I would trade my soul to have Dan Shulman announce games for the Dodgers.
Steve and I are in the business of collecting souls.
It wasn't his thing.
He reminds me of Tom Tolbert, but I actually like Tolbert so I dont know.
He probably reminds you of Tolbert because they both often joke how much they sucked in the pros and were good in college.
255 I thought I read somewhere that the other pitcher they were looking at was Beau Jones, LHP now in the Sally league for the Braves, he was picked right after Hochevar.
Dan Shulman leaves on the East Coast and I would be very surprised if he moved.
Bringing back Cruz was defensible. But it was huge overpay. Organizational disarray and poor negotiating essentially flushed some $2.5 million. People say that doesn't matter, because the Dodgers have gobs of money -- but bad contracts whittle away at the margins and shrink the baseline resource advantage the Dodgers have over the San Diegos and Colorados.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Shulman
They were, but I wanted Morris :)
Does Morris throw enough strikes? Some are skeptical about his delivery.
See, I am learning the lingo.
I think his professional sample size is too small to take anything serious from it (like, command and etc).
I asked Logan White about Morris' delivery in that draft chat and he wasn't concerned with it at all. The big thing is that he throws a little bit across his body, but that was how he was taught to throw by his dad (baseball coach). John Manual of BA loves Morris and he doesn't seem to think his delivery is concern.
Well thats the thing, he had a price tage to buy him out of his CC commit and that was apparently 1.3 or so million.
So what is your plan to get Canada to be part of Southern California? Almost all of Shulman's basketball work is in the Big East. And he doesn't have to travel too much for baseball now since he doesn't work all week.
Me, a minute ago.
I lent you Steve Finley's soul last week. I have Cody Ransom's.
My question about Morris' ability to throw strikes had nothing to do with his brief professional career. Thanks for the scouting report.
Hope White's right. Not to go back over one of our previous discussions, but my belief is White is better at evaulating hitters than pitchers (not that he's shabby at the latter).
Maybe the city of Los Angeles would be willing to accept the Looney just so Shulman doesn't have to convert his money into American dollars.
http://tinyurl.com/ml7dq
Then what does it have to do with?
Update: one's bad enough. Three? Three?
I suggest making him start as punishment.
Delivery.
For the most part, Broxton has had very few hiccups but he has been hit a little bit more in the last 3 weeks.
Have you seen his delivery on tape yet?
You can sell it on eBay!
[in an itty-bitty living space]
http://tinyurl.com/pmwbv
Durham
to get to Felis?
Ahh, National League baseball!
Padres 25-2
Giants 28-4
Rockies 21-4
Dodgers 32-8
Could mean nothing but that is why I do root for at least 6 runs everyday.
Actually, I don't think that's quite 'nuf. I would add that 14 of the Dodgers 16 hits were of the "single" variety.
Also ironic that the game involved a lot of "scoring."
Tiffany's done nothing to distinguish himself.
Johnson is in single A.
Wall's done nothing.
Miller is now a middle reliever.
Kershawn and Morris were just drafted. How can they even be evaluated? They've barely pitched yet.
So far, Broxton, Billz, Orenduff, and Elbert look like good picks.
The others are either too early to tell (Johnson, Kershaw, Morris, Wall)
or busts: Hammes, Miller.
Except Steve already has it.
I think it is interesting haha.
To me "well-regarded" means that a player can help my team in two or less years.
Very rarily would I consider a Single A or rookie league pitcher well-regarded, unless they just have unbelievable peripheral numbers (like Liriano had).
Are you going to be able to trade Blake Johnson/Josh Wall at his current level, for a difference making big leaguer? Probably not. Are these players going to be promoted to the majors any time soon? No. So to me it doesnt matter if BA and the scouts like a certain player so far away from the MLB, just them liking that player isnt going to help my team win games at the MLB level.
Then I guess we should only elite draft college players because high school players, no matter how highly regarded they are, rarely make it to the majors in 2 years. We should ignore the international market since a lot of those guys are projects. Maybe we should go the Brian Sabean route and sign guys like Michael Tucker to prevent from being stuck with a prospect who will sit in the minors for 3 years before making the majors.
Classifying Miller as a bust is wrong in my opinion. He was one of the top 10 pitching prospects in all of baseball before he got hurt. While he is still recovering and building arm strength, I think a lot of people still think he can be a major leaguer and potentially even a starter after his strength is built up.
Sweet. All updates are appreciated.
5 IP 1 Hit(HR) 1 Run 3 Walks 9 Strikeouts.
He also got a hit to drive in a run, left after 5 with an 8-1 lead.
To expert a better track record from our scouting director is utopian! Remember, the majority of the players he's drafted have been prep players. I'm no draft expert, but do the math. He started in 2002. A kid from the class of 2002 is 21 or 22 now.
It would be better, of course, if the draft was limited to the Dodgers only. But given that we have to stand in line like the rest of the schlubs, I think Logan White is practically beyond questioning at this point.
So give me a break!
Andy LaRoche sat out tonite's game with "shoulder tenderness." He was on the pregame radio show and apparently did not think it was serious. AAA is heading for an All-Star break too.
However, he's never covered a Rams game. When the Rams went to the Super Bowl for the first time in St. Louis, he was assigned to cover the AFC playoffs.
I think it's about...forgiveness...
"Do I come to your work and take pictures of you?"
I suppose this is my fault for seeing Don Henley 20 years out of his prime.
But by the time the concert came, Katrina and the Waves were replaced by Mister Mister. So we heard those two songs they were once famous for, including the one with incomprehensible lyrics followed by "the road that I must travel." And then some other songs. And then Don. Don was always all right in my book, though I haven't played anything of his in years and years.
For me it was new and my dad took me to see it. He was an Eagles fan.
By the way, did you get to interview Ellen Pompeo for that article??
You mean the article from about a year or so ago? Yes.
If you have not watched Strangers With Candy go do it...now!
I just think she would really cool to meet.
"Pretty much nothing I listen to is new."
So if you're taking your wife on a date it's white zinfandel and The Carpenters? :)
Amy Sedaris is crazy, by the way.
I think the last two concerts my wife and I went to were Springsteen and Lyle Lovett. And not the most recent tours. Oh, and Kids in the Hall. And Disney Hall. We're into halls, I guess. We don't get out much.
Yeah, I heard she never stops acting or putting on some sort of a character. Her brother David said he has never met the real Amy.
393 - Quit judging Am - oh, never mind.
It was too easy for you to pass it up haha.
Personally, I'd like to see more Ethier/Ether burns the...
You end up with the Minutemen trying to build a fence to keep the Canadians out.
and I LOLed at Olbears definition of "highly regarded"
Looks like he is a Dodger. Heading to intrux in the fall, just waiting on a work visa cause hes Canadian.
Soon the Ethier/Orr combo will take over chavez ravine.
Haha that is sweet that he emailed you.
Russell Martin had a rare game off, and Hall delivered three hits and three runs batted in, causing TV cameras and reporters to converge on him. He used the opportunity to make it clear he isn't happy with being a backup, although he did admit Martin "is the real deal."
"The situation I'm in is not what I planned on," he said. "It's not good. I didn't have a choice to be traded here. I don't have a future in L.A."
Hall's contract is up after the season and he'd hoped to be traded to a team that would play him every day and sign him to an extension.
"Maybe something will be done," he said of another trade. "Until then, I'll try to help the team win."
Great another miscalculation by Ned. Tuby needs to realize that he is a backup. I don't know if any team in the majors would want him as a starter besides the Devil Rays, but now they have Navarro. I actually like him as a backup, so hopefully he'll reconsider. I doubt there is much of a market for backup catchers.
Why would anyone give Toby Hall an extension? Some players are really dellusional.
Yea I saw that, pretty impressive with the strikouts. the 3 walks in 5IP is still a tad high though. Hes only 20 so he has time to hammer that stuff out. So far so good.
Furcal seems revived, drawing walks, scoring runs and performing the general duties of a leadoff hitter that escaped him early in the season when he was slowed by injuries, including lower-back trouble, a sore shoulder, a shin bruise and a jammed finger.
The first-year Dodger wasn't sidelined for any extended time because of the injuries and played through the pain. During that time, he was patient at the plate. It was when he was finally healthy, Little said, that Furcal started to press and try to make up for his restricted play.
Furcal has regained his patience, though, and is finally flashing the skills that brought him his $39-million contract. It started after being put back in the leadoff spot July 4. Furcal, who said he's being more patient at the plate, has raised his on-base percentage from .332 to .344 since the change in the lineup.
He had a great game today, 2-3 3 walks. His patience at the plate has been pretty surprising. This is the best walk rate he's had since his rookie year. I wish he was collecting a few more extra base hits. Furcal's batting average is on the rise. I think he'll finish out the year with an OBP in the .370 range.
I expect him to have a much better season in year 2 of his contract.
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