You Know You Were A Baseball Fan in the 80's If?

John Renneke of Balls & Cranks puts together a fun list asking an age old question. You know you were a Baseball fan in the 80's if? This reminds me how great 80's Baseball use to be. Below are some of my favorites.

1. You watched "This Week in Baseball" every Saturday afternoon and still get fired up every time you hear the theme song. (I miss Mel Allen)

2. You wanted to be a member of "the Baseball Bunch" so you could show Johnny Bench and Tommy Lasorda how great you were at catching pop-ups. (Didn't Tommy play a Mr. Wizard in that show too?)

4. You can remember Wrigley Field before it had lights. (The Glory Years!)

7. You can remember when hitting 30 home runs qualified as a monster season. (Now we're not happy unless we have a couple of guys on the team who can do it.)

10. You can remember when the Kansas City Royals were actually competitive in the American League. (Man, that was a long time ago.)

17. You remember when having a player's Topps card was the only one that really mattered. (And that gum... remember that gum?)

18. You remember when Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds were built like normal human beings.

19. You remember having to wait until the next day's newspaper arrived to check out the day's box scores.

Story Link: Bugs & Cranks:
Photo Link: CoffeeSwirls:

Wow! Talk About Unexpected!

This was the last thing I thought I'd read today.

The Dodgers announced today that they have dismissed Hitting Coach Eddie Murray and have named Bill Mueller as Interim Hitting Coach, according to Dodger Manager Grady Little.

“Change is never easy but sometimes it is necessary and we feel that this is the best thing right now to help the team win,” said Little. “Our offense hasn’t lived up to our expectations and no one person is responsible for the results we’ve had this season. I have the utmost respect for Eddie Murray as a person and as a professional and I wish him nothing but the best.”

Maybe the recent improvements made by Betemit, Pierre and the whole team this past series against the Mets was in spite of Murray instead of because of him.

Story Link: Inside the Dodgers:

Update: Trolley Dodger may have found the reason for Murray's departure in a story written by Tim Brown.

The problem, he said, was Murray could be difficult to approach, particularly for a young player. And Murray, he said, didn’t do enough of approaching of his own.

“He’s trying, I think,” the veteran said. “He’s better this year than he was last year.”

Yup, that's probably it.

Mastro Auctions: Hands Up!

Mastro has put up a great collection of hands that once ruled the Baseball world in their most recent auction. If you've been a long time reader of this blog you'll remember the remarkable photo of Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown's hand Mastro sold last year. Well, Mastro has decided to step it up. They now have 19 auctions featuring Baseball grips and palms.

Above, Chief Bender shows of his pitch.

Christy Mathewson's right hand helped win a World Series for the Giants in 1905. (above)

Above is the hand of Eddie Plank gripping a Basball.

Slugger Frank "Home Run" Baker put fear into minds of Major League pitchers with his hands. (above)

The great Satchel Paige shows off his screwball above.

Mastro Auction Link:

eBay: Rare 1908-1909 Brooklyn Superbas Rose Company Postcard

This is one of my favorite vintage Baseball postcards. It is a 1908-1909 Rose Company Postcard of Baseball players. There are 196 total cards in the set, and I would be surprised if a complete set existed in any collection. Brooklyn Superbas/ Dodger pitcher Harry McIntire is featured in this auction. Unfortunately, I don't have one in my collection, and by the looks of it, I might not be adding one for a long time. It sold for $306.99 in poor condition. I can't imagine what a card in mint condition would sell for.

eBay Auction Link:

$1 Million Offer for Bonds Homerun Ball is Now Rescinded

Did you hear about the $1,000,000.00 offer from Heritage Galleries to purchase the record breaking ball? Well, it has been rescinded.

"There's a real concern that mania over the breaking of Hank Aaron's lifetime home run record coupled with a reward for the ball could lead to fans' injuries," said company President Greg Rohan... "After personally traveling to San Francisco and meeting with a senior Security Department official at AT&T Park about the potential for a melee in the stands, and discussing potential liability with our attorneys, we have reluctantly, but we feel prudently, withdrawn the $1 million bounty for the baseball. We didn't hear of any way to prevent possible public safety problems, and we don't want a fan or a child injured or killed," Rohan explained.

Hat Tip: SCD:
Photo Pic: Up For Grabs:

The Kuo Flip

Sports Unfiltered shows us the Hong-Chih Kuo flip.



YouTube Link: Stalinone:
Hat Tip: Sports Unfiltered: