Over at Hall of Very Good, my latest went up yesterday. It’s about how you could probably pitch a pretty good Star Wars movie using only baseball names for characters and locations.
Check it out.
Category Archives: Movies, TV and such
Where You Can Buy “Bizarre Baseball Culture”
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Alas, this is not proof that I have written a book about “Bizarre Baseball Culture”, as great as that would have been. Instead, it’s a rundown of places where things I have covered from Bizarre Baseball Culture can be purchased. Also, note that in many cases, particularly with the comics, it probably is cheaper to just look for the individual issue on eBay or elsewhere. In cases where the piece of Bizarre Baseball Culture is in the Public Domain or is available legally for free, I have not included it:
“The Double Trouble Header” can be found on Amazon on the DVD “Pokemon All-Stars: Chikorita”.
Mr. Go is available, with English subtitles, from YESASIA or from Amazon.
“Pinky At The Bat” is available on Pinky and the Brain Vol. 3, available at Amazon.
Action Comics #50 can be found in Superman Chronicles Volume 9, available from Things From Another World and Amazon.
Brittle Innings is available from Amazon.
The Franklin Richards baseball story can be found in the Franklin Richards: Son Of A Genius Ultimate Collection at Things From Another World and Amazon.
Captain America’s “Death Loads The Bases” story is collected in Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America Volume 2, available from Things From Another World and Amazon.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #33, about Spider-Man and the Mets, can found in
Peter Parker, Spider-Man Vol. II: One Small Break, available from Amazon.
It’s Tokyo, Charlie Brown! can be found at Things From Another World and Amazon.
“The Twisker Pitcher” can be found in Popeye The Sailor: 1933-1938: The Complete First Volume, available from Amazon.
Fallout 4
I will be updating this post in the future and will also be including it in all future Bizarre Baseball Culture run-downs.
Bizarre Baseball Culture: Popeye and “The Twisker Pitcher”
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
Today we have a cartoon from 1937 starring Popeye the Sailor Man. It’s called The Twisker Pitcher, and it’s dark as hell. Seriously, this cartoon has…
A) Rampant steroid use (the spinach)
B) Violence, both on the field and in the stands
C) A near total disregard for rules and the space-time continuum
D) A total disregard for player safety.
Oof. So, go below the jump for a summary of this, the 47th Popeye Cartoon:
“Fantastic Four” Bizarre Baseball Cultures that are probably way better than the new movie
The new Fantastic Four movie recently came out. It was a total and utter disaster, with a Rotten Tomatoes score that can only be seen with a microscope and a box office performance so pitiful it couldn’t even win it’s week. It’s hardly surprising, really, as A) it was not made by Marvel itself, but rather FOX, which only has the rights to make these movies due to a deal it made way back in the early 1990s when Marvel was in the direst of financial straits, and B) it was trying to turn what is arguably the most optimistic and adventuresome of comic books into a dark and moody techno-thriller. I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?!?
With luck, this failure will lead to the Fantastic Four and their stable of villains (most notably DOCTOR DOOM) back to the Marvel line, so we can see a real and proper movie featuring the FF, with Doctor Doom done right, and maybe with a Hulk-Thing fight thrown in, too, because after how badly this and the previous movies have hurt the reputation of “Marvel’s First Family”, they’re going to have to go all out to win back the crowd.
But, anyway, enough rambling. Here are the Bizarre Baseball Cultures that featured the Fantastic Four. All of them, no doubt, are better than the current film:
This Marvel/AAA Baseball crossover is great in that it shows off how the Fantastic Four are basically an ordinary family who happen to go exploring alternate dimensions and fight space-gods in their spare time. I mean, look, they all are at a ballgame together!
From what I understand, the latest movie has none of this stuff. And it flopped big time. Coincidence? I think not.
It also has a Hulk-Thing fight and this, the greatest image in the history of art:
This installment of the Marvel/AAA Baseball didn’t have as much Fantastic Four fun, really only featuring Reed Richards and the Mole-Man (who served as the villain). However, unlike the new movie, it showed the Fantastic Four as part of a large and vibrant universe and as close allies and friends with characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man. Which, if you ask me, instantly makes it better than whatever piece of crap 20th Century Fox just put out.
We also see the Mole Man cry tears of joy, which still makes me laugh for some reason:
Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius Super Summer Spectacular
A good, innocent, all-ages comedy comic about Franklin Richards, the eldest son of Reed and Sue Richards, as he tries to cheat in little league by using a Flubber-like explosive substance on his bat to hit some home runs.
It also has this image:
Ah, such light-hearted whimsy. If only the new Fantastic Four movie had some of that, maybe it wouldn’t have been called something that “not only scrapes the bottom of the barrel; it knocks out the floor and sucks audiences into a black hole of soul-crushing, coma-inducing dullness.”
That’s something that somebody actually wrote. Go look on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cameos
The FF has also made brief appearances in my run-down of Marvel Universe appearances by Yankee Stadium, and in the Bullseye miniseries. I won’t go in depth on those, as we are forgetting about the unofficial fifth member of the Fantastic Four, their arch-nemesis, the greatest villain in Marvel comics….
DOCTOR DOOM….. who once tried to kidnap Jeff Conine
Okay, this is what Doctor Doom apparently looks like in the new movie:
What. The. Hell. That isn’t Doctor Doom. That’s, like, I dunno, what would happen if evil C3PO had a baby with a Gothic Crash-Test Dummy. Jeez, is it THAT EFFING HARD, FOX?!?! THIS IS WHAT DOOM LOOKS LIKE, IN BATTLE WITH TWO OF HIS GREATEST FOES:
BILLY THE MARLIN and SPIDER-MAN!
I mean, jeez, that’s one of the most iconic things in comic books. It was the partial inspiration for Darth freaking Vader. But, NOOOOOOOO, you have to go make Doom like like a human vacuum cleaner that just got put in the oven for too long.
…Seriously, FOX, give back the rights to Marvel. They’re Disney. They have the money. They have the X-Men television rights you want. For the good of all that is holy. PLEASE!
(ahem)
Anyway, Doctor Doom made one of the most notable appearances in Bizarre Baseball Culture when he went and tried to kidnap Jeff Conine to force him to play for the Latverian national baseball team, only to be foiled by Billy the Marlin and Spider-Man. Truly, words cannot describe the greatness of this story. If Marvel ever gets the rights to Doctor Doom back, the very first thing they should do is make a deal with a Marlins and put into production a adaptation of this, albeit with Giancarlo Stanton taking the Jeff Conine spot.
I mean, look at this brilliance:
I mean, behold this:
Seriously, this is probably better than that new movie, and the Fantastic Four aren’t even in it!
…So, anyway, that concludes a look back at Fantastic Four appearances in Bizarre Baseball Culture. Keep an eye open in the next few days for the next installment, featuring Popeye the Sailor Man, a known user of performance-enhancing substances (i.e. spinach).
There was a baseball reference on Arrow tonight….
You may have trouble seeing it in my crummy phone camera picture there, but it says up there that the evil laser-eye-shooting killer from tonight’s episode of Arrow was last seen at Gantner and Yount.
Obviously, somebody in the Arrow writing room is a fan of the Brewers teams of the 1980s.
(Also, a requisite link to the Green Arrow installment of Bizarre Baseball Culture.)
Famous For Something Else: Will Ferrell
For April Fool’s Day, here are the statistics for Will Ferrell from his “Every Position In One Day” charity stunt:
| Year | Tm | Age | POS | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | OppQual | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | OAK | 48 | SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | SEA | 48 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | LAA | 48 | CF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | CHC | 48 | 3Bc/PH/1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | ARI | 48 | LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | CIN | 48 | 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | CHW | 48 | DH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | SFG | 48 | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | LAD | 48 | P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | SDP | 48 | RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Year | Tm | Age | GS | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | OppQual | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | LAD | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
In other April Fool’s Day news, check out how Baseball Reference has added a feature to add a ‘stache, afro or beard to any player picture.
Really, is there anything that that site doesn’t do?
Stephen Amell, the star of “Arrow”, wants to throw out a first pitch. It wouldn’t be the first time…
How do I end up throwing out the first pitch and/or singing the Canadian anthem @ @BlueJays / @Mariners this July? Will wear the Arrow suit.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) March 30, 2015
Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Green Arrow had first pitch duty…
Famous For Something Else: Bill Murray, American Treasure
Due to other stories I’m working on, there will be no BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE this weekend. Apologies. Instead, here’s a Famous For Something Else that I’ve been meaning to put up.
Bill Murray, member of the early days of SNL, star of Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Stripes, Lost In Translation and all-around cool guy, was, ever so briefly, a professional baseball player. He played for the independent Northwest League Grays Harbor Loggers in 1978 in-between SNL gigs, partly for a “what I did over summer vacation” segment for the show. The crazy tale is recounted here in a Oral History put together by Rob Neyer. And here are the stats of the player who Baseball Reference has recorded as “William Murray“:
| Year | Age | AgeDif | Tm | Lg | Lev | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | TB | HBP | SH | SF | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 28 | 6.7 | Grays Harbor | NORW | A- | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 Season | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Bill Murray. Ballplayer. Nobody would ever believe it, and yet it happened.
Murray remains involved with baseball to this day, owning stakes in a few independent clubs.
Continuum Classic: The clever baseball reference in the “Parks and Recreation” book
In honor of last night’s excellent finale to Parks and Recreation, a classic post from September 19, 2013, on the clever baseball reference in the Parks and Recreation book:
In 2009, Parks and Recreation first aired. A spiritual spin-off (but not an actual spin-off) of The Office, it follows the life of the Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and the rest of the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department in the fictional, Springfield-like city of Pawnee, Indiana.
In 2011, Knope released a book on Pawnee in the show, entitled Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. NBC released the book in the real world.
In 2013, as part of a Netflix/Hulu binge to get caught up on Parks and Recreation before the next season starts, I also read Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. I got it from the library (thankfully, my local library is not run by Ron Swanson’s second ex-wife Tammi). In doing so, I was able to catch a clever baseball reference in it during a section on Pawnee’s school board- which is filled with people who have lots of A’s at the start of their names in order to be at the top of the ballot, helping them win simply through the laziness of the voters of Pawnee. I’ve put the page up below the jump*, can you spot it?
*(Please don’t sue me, NBC!) Continue reading
The music that gets stuck in my head every Spring Training
For reasons I’ve never been quite able to understand, the theme from Dennis Quaid film The Rookie gets stuck in my head every spring training. So, in order to inflict the same effect on you, here it is:
Happy Pitchers and Catchers, everyone!
The Baseball Continuum 
