"We hear so many opposite stories, where teams and organizations wait too long to honor great players. Best advice: Don’t wait."
Or...maybe don't impose silly restrictions on your franchise when it comes to retiring numbers. The Dodgers, famously, were absurdly stubborn when it came to #34. They wouldn't issue it to another player which meant it was all but retired anyway but they wouldn't give Fernando the ceremony or honor that went with it because he wasn't a Hall of Famer. A ridiculous policy that they could've changed at any time until they finally did.
I say, if you wanna retire a player's number then retire that player's number. There are no wrong answers here, if you feel he's worthy of the honor than do it.
Shift + modified dead field. If the manager wants to shift (ie, put three infielders on one side of the bag), zero infielders can be on the other side of the bag (so one has to go sit in the dugout).
Finally finished Why We Love Football, and it really struck me how much TV/media influences our view of great moments. I'm an LSU fan, and two of our moments made the book. One, is Billy Cannon's run, which is great by any standard, but is helped by the almost ethereal video of the foggy field and a radio call in which the announcer accidentally lowered his mic and raised the crowd mic instead of vice versa, making the crowd sound as if it overwhelmed the call.
But even moreso is the Bluegrass Miracle, or as me and my friends refer to it, Lucky in Kentucky. There's been plenty of hail mary's but this one had the accidental Gatorade bath, the fans running on the field only to realize they lost (which, let's face it, is really funny), and most importantly, an insane radio call in which the LSU crew screamed "JACK HUNT! JACK HUNT!" when Jack Hunt is a defensive back and was not on the field. Devery Henderson scored the TD. It's a perfect conflagration of ridiculousness to make it a memorable moment, when it wasn't even the biggest "miracle" LSU was involved in that season. They were on the wrong end of the Miracle at Markham that same season, which sent Arkansas to the SEC title game. But it didn't have a cool TV call.
1) I think the O’s do it right by only retiring HOF numbers, and even then only if the player goes in as an Oriole. Sorry, Mussina. And Boog has a BBQ stand, which is better anyways.
2) So eight players have numbers retired by multiple teams. Aaron, F. Robinson, Maddux, Ryan. Who else? Jackie Robinson, but that’s a unique case, and I don’t think actually counts to the eight. Google tells me: Reggie Jackson. Carlton Fisk. And I would never have gotten the other two: Sparky Anderson and Casey Stengel.
Who else should join that list? R. Johnson looks next. Clemens? Vlad? Bonds? Mussina would have been a good one.
And who is the greatest player NOT to have their number retired? Or have almost no chance at having it retired? That is probably Gary Sheffield.
As an Orioles fan, I'd like to see Mussina's number retired. He re-signed with the O's right when they went into the the tank and yeah, he signed with the Yanks, but he was correct that the team wasn't trying to win anymore, No hard feelings. He gave us a chance to right the ship, and we didn't. that's on us, not him.
I don’t disagree on Mussina, but I like the rule of only HOF that wear our cap. Removes discretion. Moose has basically no connection to the O’s today, which is both sad and correct.
One bite candies can be problematical but grand at the same time. The one bite Snickers mini is the perfect bite. It always has the correct chocolate, caramel peanut ratio. It Is better than the big bar because the bite has chocolate on all six sides. It is also a totally different taste treat when frozen. If your problem with the mini-bars is that it makes you feel cheap, consider that you are free to give out more than one piece of candy per child. That way they can receive an assortment of three or four different candy bars. Variety is the spice of life.
And the answer to which team has the most retired jerseys is ......The Boston Celtics with 24. Only 23 have numbers. Why? When the Celtics told Jungle Jim Luscutoff that they wanted to retire his
#18 jersey, he asked that they not retire the number so that some future Celtic could wear it. His Jersey in the rafters is simply labeled "LOSCY". #18 was later retired in honor of Dave Cowens.
I full agree with getting rid of those tiny one-bit candies, like the Snickers mini. Not only are they ridiculously small, they don't even taste the same as a regular Snickers or even a fun size Snickers.
My crazy idea for fixing replay reviews, which will never happen:
Each team is allowed to call for a review of any play at any time. But they only get 3 FAILED challenges per SEASON. After 3 failed challenges, they lose their right to challenge anything for the rest of the year. Choose wisely.
This would greatly reduce the number of replays, while still giving teams recourse to overturn a bad call against them. Only the most obvious and important calls would be challenged.
If a bad call goes against you, and you challenge it and were correct, then you lose nothing. You fixed a problem! Thanks!
If you challenge a call and you were wrong, then you've needlessly wasted everyone's time. You only get to do that 3 times in a season. Choose better. Save your challenges for when you REALLY need them, or lose the right to challenge.
Each team only gets to throw a certain number of pitches over 90+. We'll start with 50 for now. Any 90+ mph pitch after 50 is a free pitch, where the team can take an automatic ball or the result of the play.
You are 100% right about Reese's Peanut butter cups. The best one are the originals. The cute shapes have way too much peanut butter. My daughter Katie and I were having this discussion yesterday.
Billy Martin: No one ever was prouder to be a Yankee. (Please don’t add comments about alcoholic, brawler etc. I know.)
Roger Maris: 61
Thurman Munson: Three catchers to talk about in the 70s: Bench and Fisk. Thurman absolutely better than Fisk in all aspects of the game. (Eyeball test.) Fine argument to have had with Sparky Anderson about Bench. First Yankee to be named captain after Lou Gehrig died. Thurman SHOULD BE in the HOF.
Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte: Five rings.
Don Mattingly: Captain and soul of Yankees in 1990s. Donnie Baseball. (He should replace Boone as Yankee manager.)
Ron Guidry: Two rings. 1978 isn’t a ring year without Guidry. Yogi Berra’s personal driver.
Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill: Four rings.
There are multiple Yankees players from other eras with multiple rings. No disrespect to Hank Bauer, Jerry Coleman etc. et. al. but those guys weren’t fan favorites akin to the modern era or as indispensable as the modern era guys. The Yankees don’t win the five Jeter era championships without the four guys on this list. (Although: Somebody in the front office should think about Allie Reynolds’ number.)
[Trick or Treating: If kid doesn’t say anything, there is no candy to be given. My question as they stand there, bag in hand: “Why are you here”?!?]
Jerry Coleman was a fighter pilot who saw actual combat in two wars. Even Teddy Ballgame didn’t manage that. And Hank Bauer was a Marine who earned 2 purple hearts and two bronze stars in WWII. Plus he was just the guy you’d want with you if you ran into trouble at the Copacabana. How exactly you know whether they were fan favorites sounds like a bunch of made up BS.
Kudos to all those vets and others not named. Yogi Berra, for instance, was on a small gunship firing at and receiving fire from German shore batteries on D-Day. He earned his own Purple Heart that day. Ted did fly 39 combat missions in Korea and at one time was John Glenn's wing man. Anyone who goes in harm's way for our sakes deserves our gratitude.
Completely right, Joe, on the growth of the silent candy begging. Say "Trick or Treat" and earn your candy!
Also, a disturbing number of kids I served yesterday would peer into my entry at my candy bowl, as if they were selecting the freshest lobster at the seafood market. You'll take what I give you!
"We hear so many opposite stories, where teams and organizations wait too long to honor great players. Best advice: Don’t wait."
Or...maybe don't impose silly restrictions on your franchise when it comes to retiring numbers. The Dodgers, famously, were absurdly stubborn when it came to #34. They wouldn't issue it to another player which meant it was all but retired anyway but they wouldn't give Fernando the ceremony or honor that went with it because he wasn't a Hall of Famer. A ridiculous policy that they could've changed at any time until they finally did.
I say, if you wanna retire a player's number then retire that player's number. There are no wrong answers here, if you feel he's worthy of the honor than do it.
Shift + modified dead field. If the manager wants to shift (ie, put three infielders on one side of the bag), zero infielders can be on the other side of the bag (so one has to go sit in the dugout).
Finally finished Why We Love Football, and it really struck me how much TV/media influences our view of great moments. I'm an LSU fan, and two of our moments made the book. One, is Billy Cannon's run, which is great by any standard, but is helped by the almost ethereal video of the foggy field and a radio call in which the announcer accidentally lowered his mic and raised the crowd mic instead of vice versa, making the crowd sound as if it overwhelmed the call.
But even moreso is the Bluegrass Miracle, or as me and my friends refer to it, Lucky in Kentucky. There's been plenty of hail mary's but this one had the accidental Gatorade bath, the fans running on the field only to realize they lost (which, let's face it, is really funny), and most importantly, an insane radio call in which the LSU crew screamed "JACK HUNT! JACK HUNT!" when Jack Hunt is a defensive back and was not on the field. Devery Henderson scored the TD. It's a perfect conflagration of ridiculousness to make it a memorable moment, when it wasn't even the biggest "miracle" LSU was involved in that season. They were on the wrong end of the Miracle at Markham that same season, which sent Arkansas to the SEC title game. But it didn't have a cool TV call.
I don’t think pink snowballs should count as pixifood as they were bad when I was a kid, too.
1) I think the O’s do it right by only retiring HOF numbers, and even then only if the player goes in as an Oriole. Sorry, Mussina. And Boog has a BBQ stand, which is better anyways.
2) So eight players have numbers retired by multiple teams. Aaron, F. Robinson, Maddux, Ryan. Who else? Jackie Robinson, but that’s a unique case, and I don’t think actually counts to the eight. Google tells me: Reggie Jackson. Carlton Fisk. And I would never have gotten the other two: Sparky Anderson and Casey Stengel.
Who else should join that list? R. Johnson looks next. Clemens? Vlad? Bonds? Mussina would have been a good one.
And who is the greatest player NOT to have their number retired? Or have almost no chance at having it retired? That is probably Gary Sheffield.
As an Orioles fan, I'd like to see Mussina's number retired. He re-signed with the O's right when they went into the the tank and yeah, he signed with the Yanks, but he was correct that the team wasn't trying to win anymore, No hard feelings. He gave us a chance to right the ship, and we didn't. that's on us, not him.
I don’t disagree on Mussina, but I like the rule of only HOF that wear our cap. Removes discretion. Moose has basically no connection to the O’s today, which is both sad and correct.
One bite candies can be problematical but grand at the same time. The one bite Snickers mini is the perfect bite. It always has the correct chocolate, caramel peanut ratio. It Is better than the big bar because the bite has chocolate on all six sides. It is also a totally different taste treat when frozen. If your problem with the mini-bars is that it makes you feel cheap, consider that you are free to give out more than one piece of candy per child. That way they can receive an assortment of three or four different candy bars. Variety is the spice of life.
And the answer to which team has the most retired jerseys is ......The Boston Celtics with 24. Only 23 have numbers. Why? When the Celtics told Jungle Jim Luscutoff that they wanted to retire his
#18 jersey, he asked that they not retire the number so that some future Celtic could wear it. His Jersey in the rafters is simply labeled "LOSCY". #18 was later retired in honor of Dave Cowens.
I full agree with getting rid of those tiny one-bit candies, like the Snickers mini. Not only are they ridiculously small, they don't even taste the same as a regular Snickers or even a fun size Snickers.
My top candy bar is the 100 Grand. Mmmm...
Shouldn't a mini-100 Grand be a 10 Grand candy bar?
This is why we read Joe! Ridiculous, crazy new baseball ideas, and discussions of pixie food! Absolutely incredible writing!
My crazy idea for fixing replay reviews, which will never happen:
Each team is allowed to call for a review of any play at any time. But they only get 3 FAILED challenges per SEASON. After 3 failed challenges, they lose their right to challenge anything for the rest of the year. Choose wisely.
This would greatly reduce the number of replays, while still giving teams recourse to overturn a bad call against them. Only the most obvious and important calls would be challenged.
If a bad call goes against you, and you challenge it and were correct, then you lose nothing. You fixed a problem! Thanks!
If you challenge a call and you were wrong, then you've needlessly wasted everyone's time. You only get to do that 3 times in a season. Choose better. Save your challenges for when you REALLY need them, or lose the right to challenge.
Each team only gets to throw a certain number of pitches over 90+. We'll start with 50 for now. Any 90+ mph pitch after 50 is a free pitch, where the team can take an automatic ball or the result of the play.
You are 100% right about Reese's Peanut butter cups. The best one are the originals. The cute shapes have way too much peanut butter. My daughter Katie and I were having this discussion yesterday.
A fun piece of the A's retired numbers: Rollie Fingers AND Dave Stewart have their number's retired. The catch: they both wore #34
Non HOFer Yankee retired numbers:
Billy Martin: No one ever was prouder to be a Yankee. (Please don’t add comments about alcoholic, brawler etc. I know.)
Roger Maris: 61
Thurman Munson: Three catchers to talk about in the 70s: Bench and Fisk. Thurman absolutely better than Fisk in all aspects of the game. (Eyeball test.) Fine argument to have had with Sparky Anderson about Bench. First Yankee to be named captain after Lou Gehrig died. Thurman SHOULD BE in the HOF.
Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte: Five rings.
Don Mattingly: Captain and soul of Yankees in 1990s. Donnie Baseball. (He should replace Boone as Yankee manager.)
Ron Guidry: Two rings. 1978 isn’t a ring year without Guidry. Yogi Berra’s personal driver.
Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill: Four rings.
There are multiple Yankees players from other eras with multiple rings. No disrespect to Hank Bauer, Jerry Coleman etc. et. al. but those guys weren’t fan favorites akin to the modern era or as indispensable as the modern era guys. The Yankees don’t win the five Jeter era championships without the four guys on this list. (Although: Somebody in the front office should think about Allie Reynolds’ number.)
[Trick or Treating: If kid doesn’t say anything, there is no candy to be given. My question as they stand there, bag in hand: “Why are you here”?!?]
Jerry Coleman was a fighter pilot who saw actual combat in two wars. Even Teddy Ballgame didn’t manage that. And Hank Bauer was a Marine who earned 2 purple hearts and two bronze stars in WWII. Plus he was just the guy you’d want with you if you ran into trouble at the Copacabana. How exactly you know whether they were fan favorites sounds like a bunch of made up BS.
Kudos to all those vets and others not named. Yogi Berra, for instance, was on a small gunship firing at and receiving fire from German shore batteries on D-Day. He earned his own Purple Heart that day. Ted did fly 39 combat missions in Korea and at one time was John Glenn's wing man. Anyone who goes in harm's way for our sakes deserves our gratitude.
Frank Robinson's #20 has been retired by the Reds, Orioles, and Indians (which the Guardians inherited, of course).
Completely right, Joe, on the growth of the silent candy begging. Say "Trick or Treat" and earn your candy!
Also, a disturbing number of kids I served yesterday would peer into my entry at my candy bowl, as if they were selecting the freshest lobster at the seafood market. You'll take what I give you!
OK, back to my chair on the porch...