Category Archives: Non-Baseball

If you have 230+ dollars and are willing to break trademark law, then you, too, can be Mr. Met

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While looking for some Bizarre Baseball Culture on eBay, I came across something else….

Above, you see a “BASEBALL BALLPLAYER ADULT SIZE CARTOON MASCOT COSTUME” available from “sinooceantrade” on eBay. And, for $229.99 plus potential shipping, it can be YOURS via eBay. Seems totally legit.

How legit?

Well, for one thing, the “outter fabric” (sic) is “Short hair velvet”, but the “lining Materials” is “POLYESTER TAFFETA”. I don’t know anything about mascot uniforms or the Mr. Met costume, but I’m sure that it has POLYESTER TAFFETA in it. Also, guess what? It’ll be shipped to you in the finest packaging: “Put into thick box”.

And, that’s not all, look what it has to say about the “characteristic” of the costume:

3.One-piece of the head material :: We use the advanced machine to manufacture POLYFOAM head, it is only one piece, it is stronger and enough hard to avoid to break when it meet strike accidentally ,User head can be protected very well,   but paperboard or foam head was produced by different  paperboard or foam pieces,  they was usually agglutinated by the bad gluewater ,this kind of head is not very firm, and very easily to turn into fragment, At the same time, the gluewater do harm to the User, It makes the User headache or feel unhappy.

4.Breather and vision : User can breath very well when he wears it, there are the hole of eyes and mouth and the neck area, They have enough ventilation for User, User have a good vision from the head eyes or mouth.

5.Eye net: there are plastic net on the costume eye, They can prevent the dust or the others into the User eyes.

6.Waterproof: POLYFOAM material can be Water resistance

7.Costume fabric:  We choose the high quality fabric for our costume. we fill polypropylene cotton Material in the middle of outer and inner fabric, It make the costume soft and verisimilitude.

So… what are you waiting for? You too can get your own soft and verisimilitude-y Mr. Met costume!

I heard from Chris Hill, one of the people behind the AAA baseball comics…

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You may remember the two Marvel giveaway comics, and you may remember how Chris Eliopoulos, who wrote the first comic, had a brief Twitter conversation with me.

Well, a few days ago I heard from another person involved with the comics: Christopher Hill, who helped make the deals that got those comics made in the first place and also did some of the writing. With his permission, I’m putting up what he sent me, with only one edit (removing a link to the comic overview, which I already posted higher up):

A friend just sent me a link to your blog articles on the books we did with Marvel. Thanks for taking the time. Great article.
We had fun writing those. Tough to pack so much in to a few pages, but we had a good time doing it. The boy on Hulk’s shoulder is based on my son. My favorite thing I have written! Glad you liked them.
We are working on a few new things in MiLB and MLB so I may circle back to borrow some of your ideas for future books! – Chris
PS – For those new things you can find me quietly on twitter @mPrintComics
Thanks, Chris!

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.

“The Domer”

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Do you wish you could have a bag made out of the old Metrodome roof? Well, you can now!

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Anti-Grav Bats and Gladiatorial Battles in Superman Adventures #13

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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, we looked at a Superman-and-Baseball story from the Golden Age. Today, we are looking at something more modern: Superman Adventures #13, an issue from November 1997 and part of a series based on Superman: The Animated Series, which was on the WB Network (remember them?) at the time. Now, much like the Batman cartoon of the time that I talked about in the opening paragraphs of the Cal Ripken comic, it was an awesome show. It was a masterpiece, not just a great kid show, but a great show period, the best adaptation of the Man of Steel and not one to underestimate it’s audience. It’s the only kids show I remember growing up that actually killed off a relatively important character and never brought him back from the dead.

While Superman Adventures #13 isn’t quite up to that standard, it’s still a very good and fun story about Superman having to fighting aliens at a baseball stadium, and, really, what more can you ask for? It’s well worth the 99 cents I paid for it on the Comixology app on my iPod.

(GO BELOW THE JUMP)

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Happy Birthday, Pablo Sanchez

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Today, August 18, is an important day, as it is the birthday of the greatest baseball player of all time: Pablo Sanchez. Yes, Pablo Sanchez. The Secret Weapon. You remember him, from back in the day, that Mexican-American wonder-kid who couldn’t speak a lick of English (or so he claimed), but could speak the language of baseball like nobody else. He could throw a no-hitter (although pitching wasn’t his main strength), hit the ball 723 feet, and was also a great multi-sport athlete who also played soccer, hockey, football and basketball.

To this day, it is said, if you find a sandlot, close your eyes, and think of him, you can still hear his song drift through the wind, reminding us all of the legend.

Feliz cumpleaños, Pablo. Wherever you are…

 

(Oh, and I guess I should take the time to wish a happy birthday to my sister as well.)

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Action Comics #50 has Superman being a Superjerk

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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.

Superman. Contrary to popular belief, he was not the first superhero, but he was the first to truly make an impact. First appearing in Action Comics #1, this year is his 75th anniversary, and his latest film, Man of Steel, was a runaway success that already has spawned a sequel due out in 2015 where Superman will meet/fight/probably-become-buddies-after-that with Batman. By the way, Man of Steel establishes that Clark Kent is a Royals fan.

But, for our purposes, we are focusing on the past with Action Comics #50, waaaay back in July, 1942. It’s the first of two Superman stories for Bizarre Baseball Culture. There will be another, more modern, story in a few days. I read it in The Superman Chronicles Volume Nine, which I got from my local library. All scans and screenshots are for educational or demonstration purposes only and are being used under the fair use doctrine. Also, I’d like to note that Michael Clair has also covered this story, and his scans are of way better quality than mine. Maybe he has a better scanner than me. Or maybe he somehow has a more flexible thing to put in the scanner than a large Trade Paperback collection. But I digress…

Anyway, go below the jump:

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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.

Twitter Feeds We Need

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There is a Twitter Feed that lets you know when Yasiel Puig comes up, and when Vin Scully says something cool or profound. What other Twitter feeds do we need? I have some thoughts…

  • A feed that lets you know whenever the benches clear.
  • A feed that lets you know when Mariano Rivera is entering a game.
  • A feed that tells you when a position player is pitching.
  • A feed that tells you when a expected starting pitcher is switched for somebody else
  • A feed that tells you when there is a rain delay and when the rain delay ends
  • A feed that tells you the results of mascot races
  • A feed that updates you on when guys have no-hitters or perfect games going after a certain amount of time.
  • A feed that tells you when a pitcher has had 10+ Ks.
  • A feed that updates you on long hitting streaks.
  • A feed that consists entirely of Ichiro Suzuki quotes.
  • A feed that tells you when a non-MLB baseball game is on TV or Streaming.
  • A feed that consists entirely of cool Minor or Indy League Promotions occurring on a given day.

 

Get to work, Internet!

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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