Happy Birthday, Babe Ruth!
Happy 115th Birthday to the Sultan of Swat, the Bambino, the great #3 …George Herman “Babe” Ruth!
Some selected reading:
“The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball.”
Quotes from the Baseball Almanac
“Don’t ever forget two things I am going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.”
162 game average: .342/.474/.690, 46/143
The Moneyballin’ Press, circa 1932
“Many rumors concerning the likely salary Babe Ruth will draw with the New York Yankees in 1933 are floating around Gotham, but neither the Bambino nor Col Jacob Ruppert, the club owner, has intimated what the figure might be.”
During World War II, when Japanese soldiers charged American troops, they would sometimes scream, “To hell with Babe Ruth.” Not “to hell with FDR” or “to hell with Douglas MacArthur,” but “to hell with Babe Ruth.”
Babe the Revolutionary (the Babe Ruth Times)
“The batter who hits a ball into the stands cannot possibly be caught napping off any base.” (the Babe Ruth Times)
“He was a circus, a play and a movie, all rolled into one,” said teammate Lefty Gomez. “Kids adored him, Men idolized him. Women loved him. There was something about him that made him great.” Babe Ruth was more than a great baseball player, he was an American hero who became a legend and an icon. Long after his last home run, his name has come to signify greatness and strength.
Happy Birthday, Major League Baseball; William Hulbert, In Memorium
You won’t find his name on MLB.com in a blustery article, and you won’t find today’s date mentioned in any major baseball article today. Bud Selig won’t designate a day to honor his memory. He was overlooked for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame until an act of the veteran’s committee in 1995 recognized him, ignored by Cooperstown for 113 years even though he was born two miles away in Burlington Flats, NY. “Major League Baseball” would not exist in its current form without his contribution. On February 2nd, 1876, in New York City, William Hulbert, of what would become the Chicago Cubs, called together the principle owners of the seminal baseball clubs in order to form what would become the National League.
Hulbert established the central authority of the league to enforce schedules, hire umpires, ensure compliance both by the owners and by the players (who, until then, habitually “jumped” contracts), and promote the integrity of the sport in the practice of the clubs and in the eyes of the buying public. One of his early steps was to banish clubs from the two most popular baseball towns – Philadelphia and New York City – for not submitting their schedules in a timely matter. There was to be no drinking, no gambling, and no games on Sunday. Players would be bound to team for their entire careers, a novel concept surprisingly accepted broadly by fan, owner, and player alike, as it lent a continuity to the game never before realized. Four men on the Louisville squad were banned for life after it was revealed they tried to throw the 1877 championship series.
“The man who saved baseball” “ruled with an iron fist“, was a “pitiless coal baron” and a “pirater of players“, and is buried beneath a baseball. No, really.
By far the best chain of events to be found lays out the progression of reserve clauses and contracts and unions and minors, and is a great read to put the current chaos of baseball in its proper perspective.
Please enjoy, and remember, the way things are are because someone made them that way.
Joe Mauer to Remain a Twin, Top Journalists Hit the POOF Button
Congrats, Herald readers, you just got owned. Interesting how “Herald wire services” is the author of the Mauer announcement. I guess hacks like Tomase couldn’t be bothered to fess up to the fraud of even the hope of a possible Mauer/Red Socks future, and the bigwig rah-rah-mouths like Ken Rosenthal banished any Twitter/etc hits related to Joe Mauer down the memory hole as of this morning. Try Googling any of the top “journalists” names with “Joe Mauer”, see if you get any worthwhile results! Isn’t the digital age great? Top journalists, top player, biggest sport in the country, and all the little bits and bytes evaporate with a keystroke – (((POOF))).
As if they would actually commit themselves to an idea in the first place, but that “gritty” stuff is best left to the bloggers - who actually have to engage their readers.
Thanks to Ghost on the heads up, and the Brass Ones for not seeing any sense in Mauer becoming a Red Sack, not six months ago, not now, not ever.
And finally, a shout-out to Boston:
UPDATE:
Johnny Damon is Divine
Dear Bri,
The tears are streaming down my face as I write this. Life is sooooo hard. I couldn’t believe my ears when Scottie told me what you told him, and that was what you said that I said Scottie said to me. I mean, REALLY NOT COOL.
I don’t understand why are you are being so childish with my/your feelings. I deserve much more than what you did to Hidecki what-his-name. And Randy Winn is soooo old. I mean, come on.
Why don’t you listen to reason? Everyone who’s anyone thinks that we should be together again.
At least whell always have my “dash” to third base.
Yours…4ever!
Johnny
My Brain Just Exploded
An outfield position is open in 2011, and hell, if Curtis Granderson can all of a sudden play left field in the Bronx, then …
Why can’t Carl Crawford play center?
