I've settled in to watch my own personal baseball marathon today. I've watched the Tigers and Royals battle to a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning. I look at the Detroit lineup and it's just absolutely frightening. Ordonez, Sheffield, Pudge, Cabrera, Guillen AND then you add A's killer Placido Polanco in that mix? Holy mackerel, is there any wonder I picked them for my World Series champs 2008?
I'm also flipping back and forth between that game and the Cubs/Brewers game on ESPN2 and Fukudome wound up with a long double on the very first pitch he saw from Ben Sheets. Cubs fans have completely and totally embraced the idea of Fukudome as many of them have Japanese headbands on in the outfield.
I love opening day. Especially when their is a ton of rain and cold for the East Coat games. As a matter of fact, the Cubs and Brewers just went to a second rain delay. It just reminds me why I love the West Coast so very much. There's no wonder why it costs so damn much to live here.
I also just saw Chris Young take former Athletic Aaron "Big Show" Harang into the upper deck in Cincinnati right now. And former Athletic Eric Byrnes just followed up with a monster home run of his own.
Any way, I did want to mention one thing. Rob Neyer recently released a book called "Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends". It basically deals with all kinds of myths and legends surrounding baseball. The biggest and most famous one is the Babe Ruth "called shot" in the 1932 World Series against the Cubs. But Neyer actually has collected a ton more myths and legends that I'd never even heard of. One of my favorites from the book is when Tommy Lasorda was pitching and supposedly asked God for help when he was in the minors pitching for the Montreal Royals (and subsequently supposedly got a triple play). I guess I mostly enjoyed it because I think Lasorda is totally full of hot air and I like someone showing people that the emperor has no clothes. Yes, Lasorda got a triple play induced, but it wasn't late in game like Lasorda claimed and the bases weren't loaded. And who knows if he really paused to "talk to God"?
Any way, it also debunks a myth that Rube Waddell hit a foul ball against Boston that supposedly caused a bean factory to basically explode and rain beans down on the Boston crowd in the bleachers. It turns out that the person who wrote that piece was actually a humorist, but somehow the story got told throughout the years as though it really happened. I figure people just really love a great yarn that they'll carry on something even if it's completely fiction. As for the Babe Ruth called shot, well, you'll just have to pick up the book. But it isn't really conclusive what really happened. This is one of those instances where it's basically you can believe what you want to believe.
And lastly, one thing that I wanted to remind AN is that we've purposely created FanShots so that you can write something short and sweet, or put up a poll or a photo or video or something that doesn't take a lot of work. FanPosts are reserved for people who want to write something lengthy and in depth. So try and keep that in mind when posting something. Thanks.
Only about 29 hours or so until the A's make their 2008 debut at the Coliseum. I can't wait.
