Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bizarre Baseball Culture: 2007’s Marvel Comics/AAA Baseball Crossover

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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.

I warned you. I told you it was coming. You could have gone away, but, no, you had to go and actually come here and read this installment of Bizarre Baseball Culture. This is a very special Bizarre Baseball Culture, as, for the first time, it’s something that I actually have in my very small personal collection of comic books. You see, in 2007, each Triple-A baseball team had a day celebrating superheroes, and as a giveaway, there was this comic:

2007GiveawayComic copyAnd, as you can probably guess, I was at that game and got the giveaway. And so, it sat in a drawer for almost seven years, ignored. Until today. Yes, true believers, tremble and prepare yourself for the 2007 edition of Triple-A Baseball Heroes, featuring the superheroes of Marvel Comics.

Now, a few notes before we get going here:

  • All of the images in this post were scanned by yours truly, and any problems with the quality of the images are my fault.
  • All characters and logos in the comic are property of their respective owners (such as Marvel Comics or Minor League Baseball). The excerpts from this comic used in this post are being used under fair use doctrine and are meant merely to support and enhance the opinions and facts stated in said post.
  • Click on any of the images to make them bigger.
  • To the best of my knowledge, the only way to get this comic nowadays is to find it on eBay or have gone to the games that had them released.

Now, go below the jump for the rest of the post:

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MVP of Yesterday (June 18, 2013): Matt Harvey

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Matt Harvey didn’t give up a hit until the 7ht inning and struck out 13 in the Mets’ win in the first game of a doubleheader yesterday, enough for me to name him the MVP of Yesterday.

As usual, the standings are after the jump:

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Will All-Star Voting break?

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In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box, leading to the Reds taking seven of the eight starting positions for that year’s National League All-Star Team. Only Stan Musial was able to survive the Cincinnati wave.

Commissioner Ford Frick would have none of it. He demoted Gus Bell to a reserve and replaced him and Wally Post with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron (Post wouldn’t have played in the All-Star Game anyway, as he was injured). And, to make sure this kind of thing never happened again, he took away the right to vote from the fans of Major League Baseball. They wouldn’t get it back until 1970.

Now, of course, it is a cliche to complain about the All-Star voting. But I’m going to rather talk about one particular battle ground: David Wright vs. Pablo Sandoval. Going by numbers, Wright is the better candidate. But, that’s not why the Mets are trying everything within their power to get him as a starter. Nope, it’s because, well, he’d be the starter in his home ballpark, and they still are angry about the fact a late get-out-the-vote campaign by San Francisco took Wright out of a starting spot last season.

So, they are doing drastic measures: they tried to get cougars to vote for him, there were reports on Twitter of employees literally stuffing the ballots with Wright’s name, and it’s gotten so bad that Wright has even asked them to tone it down a bit. The Giants, no doubt, are trying to do similar things to ensure that the Kung Fu Panda maintains his lead.

But I wonder: as these get-out-the-vote campaigns continue to escalate, are we risking that one day we may have another 1957 moment where the fans so screw up the voting that fan suffrage will be imperiled?

What do you think?

Random Tweet: You don’t see that every day…

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(If the picture doesn’t load, hit the link in the tweet)

Who Wright and Cano should pick for the HR Derby…

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David Wright and Robinson Cano will be the captains for the HR derby, each picking three from their league to participate in this year’s Derby. In theory, they can choose whoever they want, although I wouldn’t be surprised if MLB makes some heavy suggestions and would block if Robinson Cano picked a pitcher to participate, or something.

But, anyway, who should Cano and Wright pick?

I have some ideas after the jump:

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MVP of Yesterday (June 6, 2013): Yasiel Puig, again

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He is not human. Yasiel Puig has hit the league by storm with such force that some are likely not yet aware he has arrived, and yet last night he had two hits, one of them a Grand Slam.

Puig-Mania. Catch it.

MVP Standings after the jump:

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The Not-An-Expert Q-and-A preview of the MLB Draft (2013 edition)

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Tomorrow, the MLB draft begins. As I mentioned before, College Baseball is sort of the odd man out in college sports. And, as I referred to in that post, a lot of high schoolers get drafted in the MLB draft. So, with that in mind, in most years you need a scorecard to know who the people being drafted are. So, with that in mind, I’ve done some research to get you up to speed on the draft, and who will probably get drafted, check it out underneath the jump:

(Portions of this are copied or modified from last year’s Q&A)

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Strasburg to DL

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Stephen Strasburg is headed to the DL, and I must wonder: could this be the continued work of the Curse of Steve McCatty’s Playgirl shoot?

MVP of Yesterday (June 5, 2013): Yasiel Puig

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With apologies to John Mayberry Jr. and Stephen Drew, the MVP of Yesterday goes to newly called up rookie sensation Yasiel Puig, who went 3-4 with two homers and five RBIs in just his second game with the Dodgers.

MVP Standings, as always, below the jump:

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The early voting for the NL All-Stars also aren’t terrible!

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Yesterday, I looked at the early voting for the American League All-Stars. Today the NL’s early voting results came out, so, here are my early impressions on them:

Okay, catcher. It’s Posey, then Molina, then everyone else. Seems about right, as the two of them are by far the best catchers in the NL.

First Base has Joey Votto with a big lead, and he deserves it. Paul Goldschmidt, however, is having a much better year than Brandon Belt, who inexplicably is in 2nd place.

Brandon Phillips isn’t a bad leader at second, but there are others, including Marco Scutaro and Cardinals Super-Utility Matt Carpenter, who are doing better than him. I have no idea how Dan Uggla is in the top five with his .175 batting average and league-leading 71 strikeouts.

Troy Tulowitzki is the correct answer at Shortstop.

Third Base is where I have a bit of a nitpick, as Pablo Sandoval holds a small lead over David Wright. Given that this All-Star Game is taking place in Flushing, I feel like it’d be better if Wright was the starting 3B and Kung Fu Panda was the DH (since the DH is now used at all All-Star Games). That’s just my opinion, though.

The outfield, much like the outfield with the AL, is really hard to pick. It’s hard to argue with Justin Upton (although he has cooled off significantly lately), Bryce Harper and Ryan Braun, but Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Gomez and plenty of others are also having great seasons. So many good choices but only three starting spots!

That said… again, not that bad of a early ballot results, although I feel like the Braves and Giants may be trying to stuff the ballots. Although, admittedly, every team does that- it’s just that the Giants and Braves are doing the best at it this year so far.