Category Archives: Movies, TV and such

BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: 25th installment!

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In this, the 25th official installment of “Bizarre Baseball Culture” (“Rockets Rigby” was something of a prologue), I don’t really look at anything new, so much as look at some things that keep popping up in the series. So far, we’ve had 19 comics-related posts (although some of them have been really short, and in other cases have been two-in-one deals), one movie clip, three animated pieces and one prose novel (plus the short story prologue). So, in all of those, what are some things I’ve noticed a lot of? Well… (GO BELOW THE JUMP)

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“Million Dollar Arm” trailer

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Starring Jon Hamm, Million Dollar Arm is the loosely-based upon a true-story tale of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, two Indians who were discovered after winning a reality show in their home country meant specifically to find India’s first professional ballplayers. It looks like the movie is taking some liberties with the events, but, hey, it’s always good to see a baseball movie:

GREAT MOMENTS OF 2013: The clever baseball reference in the “Parks and Recreation” book

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As 2013 comes to a close, I’ll remember the good times we had by reposting some of the most popular things from the Continuum in the past year. Today, from September 19, a look at the clever David Aardsma 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!)

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An Update/Aside to that Parks and Recreation post

Aside

The Parks and Recreation post from earlier has been updated to indicate some developments on Twitter that resulted from it (featuring David Aardsma and Michael Schur themselves), so check it out.

The clever baseball reference in the “Parks and Recreation” book

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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!)

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Coming Up in Bizarre Baseball Culture

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Some of you may be wondering what the next installments of Bizarre Baseball Culture will be. Well, here’s a little sneak preview- not really giving out exactly what and exactly when, but some good hints:

Actual Books: There hasn’t been a Bizarre Baseball Culture on fully-written material since the short story that acted as a prologue to this feature. That will soon change, as I am currently reading two books that fit into the realm of Bizarre Baseball Culture. One of them involves time travel, the other involves the Frankenstein Monster. I’m not sure what one I will do, but one of these WILL be the next installment.

Ultimate Sports Force: At the turn of the century, there was a comic company called Ultimate Sports Force that made it’s name making giveaway comics that depicted athletes as actually being superheroes. I have obtained some of these comics, and I can confirm they are as crazy as you could think. How crazy? Well, as I told Michael “Old Time Family Baseball” Clair on Twitter, one of them involves four members of the New York Yankees fighting off meteor-monsters by order of Cal Ripken Jr. and the United States Military. Go back and read that sentence again, and not look for the pieces of your mind, as it has just been blown. Expect to see some Ultimate Sports Force comics between now and winter, although I’m not quite sure of the order yet.

Public Domain Comics: The backbone of early Bizarre Baseball Culture installments, there still are some tales left to tell from way back. There is, however, one public domain story I will not be doing, at least anytime soon: a Captain Marvel Jr. story in which he goes and helps American POWs in a game against the Japanese. The reason I am not covering it is because it is incredibly racist, and even considering that it was a product of being in wartime, I don’t feel comfortable printing any images of it here.

Television: There are other television things I’ll be covering, both live action and cartoon. They will range from shorts like the Goofy segment to longer-form things like the Pokemon and the Pinky and the Brain episodes.

So, keep an eye open….

Do you have any suggestions for “Bizarre Baseball Culture”? Let me know.

Famous for Something Else: Chris Siegfried

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So, apparently the winner of “The Bachelorette” played baseball, or something. He’s a guy named Chris Siegfried and he played in the Cubs organization and briefly the Indys. Here are his stats:

Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff W L W-L% ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WHIP
2007 21 2 Teams 2 Lgs A–A CHC 2 1 .667 3.83 24 1 11 4 42.1 37 25 18 2 25 40 6 1.465
2007 21 Boise NORW A- CHC 0 1 .000 2.35 14 0 9 4 23.0 23 12 6 2 9 17 2 1.391
2007 21 Peoria MIDW A CHC 2 0 1.000 5.59 10 1 2 0 19.1 14 13 12 0 16 23 4 1.552
2008 22 Peoria MIDW A CHC 5 7 .417 6.30 31 14 3 0 95.2 121 72 67 14 33 47 2 1.610
2009 23 2 Teams 2 Lgs A-A+ CHC 3 4 .429 3.38 32 0 12 2 61.1 55 27 23 2 31 51 9 1.402
2009 23 Peoria MIDW A CHC 0 2 .000 3.38 20 0 8 1 45.1 37 20 17 2 26 35 8 1.390
2009 23 Daytona FLOR A+ CHC 3 2 .600 3.38 12 0 4 1 16.0 18 7 6 0 5 16 1 1.438
2010 24 Daytona FLOR A+ CHC 3 7 .300 4.26 46 4 15 1 82.1 74 41 39 4 34 77 9 1.312
2011 25 Fargo-Moorhead AA Ind 1 1 .500 3.46 9 0 3 0 13.0 12 6 5 3 2 9 0 1.077
5 Seasons 14 20 .412 4.64 142 19 44 7 294.2 299 171 152 25 125 224 26 1.439
A (3 seasons) A 7 9 .438 5.39 61 15 13 1 160.1 172 105 96 16 75 105 14 1.541
A+ (2 seasons) A+ 6 9 .400 4.12 58 4 19 2 98.1 92 48 45 4 39 93 10 1.332
A- (1 season) A- 0 1 .000 2.35 14 0 9 4 23.0 23 12 6 2 9 17 2 1.391
Ind (1 season) Ind 1 1 .500 3.46 9 0 3 0 13.0 12 6 5 3 2 9 0 1.077
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/7/2013.

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Goofy shows us “How To Play Baseball”

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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.

Last time on Bizarre Baseball Culture, we took a look at Pinky and the Brain‘s baseball episode. This time, we are looking at the classic Disney short, How To Play Baseball, starring Goofy. It’s available on Disney’s website.

Screen Shot 2013-07-22 at 4.31.36 PMYes, How to Play Baseball, first released in 1942 to time with the release of Pride of the Yankees, it is one of the classics of the Disney canon, the first of a series of Goofy cartoons in which he tried to play or learn a sport, skill or occupation. While most of the information given in it is more-or-less true, the visuals are exaggerated and done for comedic effect. And, rest assured, this cartoon is hilarious, standing alongside Baseball Bugs as an example of anthropomorphic cartoon animals playing our national game.

(JUMP)

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Bizarre Baseball Culture: Pinky (and the Brain) At the Bat

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“What are we going to do this week, Dan?”

“The same thing we do most weeks, readers… try to find Bizarre Baseball Culture!”

(JUMP)

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Matt Harvey asks New Yorkers about Matt Harvey

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Matt Harvey has taken NYC by storm, but that doesn’t mean he’s as recognizable as guys who’ve been in New York for years like David Wright or Derek Jeter, as this clip from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon proves: