Over at @HOVG: The Best links of 2015!

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Head on over to Hall of Very Good to see the best baseball links of 2015, and make sure to come back here to the Baseball Continuum in the last two days of the year for reposts of some of the best things posted here in 2015!

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Ultraman 80 vs. An Evil Baseball-Glove Monster

Posted on December 28, 2015 by danglickman

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.

(Note: The following is different from what I previewed last time, because, well, I couldn’t just ignore such great material as this.)

Baseball is a hard game. A game of failure. A game where even the slightest mistake can have horrible consequences for your team.

It is also a game of much superstition. What a player eats or what rituals they perform may affect their performance. And they may even believe their equipment- their bats and gloves- may be what decides victory and defeat. It is not that uncommon to see somebody slam a glove or a bat if they fail or have just been ejected from a game.

But, perhaps you should consider that maybe those seemingly inanimate-objects have feelings too, and that all of that negative energy (mixed with pollution) will cause them to become GIANT EVIL BASEBALL GLOVE MONSTERS, as happened in the 47th episode (“The Evil Glove. Be Careful What You Throw Out!”) of the Japanese ~~documentary~~ science fiction show, Ultraman 80!

Yes, buckle up, everyone, because I may have finally found something weirder than Mr. Go!

(Go below the jump for more)

Continue reading →

And now, a random picture of people playing baseball dressed as astronauts

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Sometimes, you come across random things online. I’m not sure where, exactly, I found this picture- I think it was on a blog about Godzilla (as happens sometimes), especially given the fact that the pitcher in this picture appears to be Japanese.

Anyway, consider this picture a nice dose of whimsy into your dreary Boxing Day.

The Continuum returns on Saturday!

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The Baseball Continuum returns this Saturday from it’s holiday break. Enjoy, everyone!

Over at @HOVG: Merry Rickeymas!

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It’s the annual celebration of Rickeymas over at the Hall of Very Good! So check it out!

World Baseball Classic News for 12-17-2015: Catching Up

Posted on December 17, 2015 by danglickman

It’s time to catch up on some World Baseball Classic news!

Lincoln Holdzkom passes away

First off, though, there is tragic news out of California, where New Zealander-American pitcher Lincoln Holdzkom has passed away after a car accident. Holdzkom, the brother of John Holdzkom of the Pirates organization, was expected to be the team captain for New Zealand in the WBC Qualifiers. Our thoughts are with him and his family and friends.

Mexico’s roster starts to take shape

Jon Morosi has an article on the Mexican National Team that has begun to take shape. Edgar Gonzalez will be the manager for Team Mexico in the WBC Qualifiers and presumably the main tournament as well if they qualify. His younger brother, Adrian Gonzalez, will be on the roster. The team could be pretty deep in pitching, Morosi writes:

Mexico’s preliminary roster will be especially deep in pitching, with Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada, Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez, Miguel Gonzalez and Dodgers prospect Julio Urias among the notable arms certain to be included on it. Pitchers Jorge De La Rosa, Joakim Soria and Olivez Perez also are eligible to play for Mexico, as is Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, who is Mexican-American.

However, there are some problems that could trip up Mexico. For one thing, while MLB teams are very strongly encouraged to allow players to participate in the qualifiers, they are not required (unlike the main rounds of the WBC, where they are only allowed to officially block player participation if they are coming off an injury or there are too many players being picked from their roster). In addition, there is an ongoing feud between the Mexican League and Mexico’s national baseball federation that will make the participation of Mexican Leaguers iffy.

Edwin Rodriguez will begin recruiting for Team Puerto Rico

In a Spanish-language article on Elnuevodia.com, there is the news that Edwin Rodriguez will soon begin to recruit for Team Puerto Rico. While the article mentions how he will try to make an effort to get players of Puerto Rican descent (like Jake Arrieta) to take part, I personally think it’s more likely they’ll have to rely upon native-born Puerto Ricans like Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Angel Pagan, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, and the like. All of them are mentioned in the article. Puerto Rico came in a surprising second in the 2013 WBC.

Other Notes:

The Australian team- made up of many players that will likely make up the Australian team in WBC competition- beat the World Team in the Australian Baseball League All-Star Game.
Trot Nixon is expected to be a coach on the Czech Republic team for their qualifier. I can’t think of any connection between Nixon and the Czechs, so presumably it’s just a case of getting somebody with baseball experience to help out.
Eduardo Perez has turned down an offer to manage Spain in the qualifiers, citing time concerns and the fact he’d like to manage Venezuela (although others are likely ahead of him on the list).
The Dominican Republic is bidding to host a round of the WBC.

So, until next time, this has been a WBC update!

Over at @HOVG, I pitch a Star Wars movie made up entirely of baseball names

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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.

Rochester Red Wings Programs of the Past: 1989

Posted on December 15, 2015 by danglickman

In 1988, the Rochester Red Wings won the Governor’s Cup championship under the helm of Johnny Oates and a team that included young guns like Steve Finley (would lead the league in batting, Pete Harnisch and Craig Worthington (who would be that year’s IL MVP) as well as veterans like Dale Berra and Jerry Narron, all while dealing with plenty of movement between AAA and the Orioles, who were infamously in the middle of their worst season ever. And while they lost a AAA championship with the American Association champion Indianapolis Indians, it remained the Red Wings’ first IL title since 1974.

So, it makes sense that that would be on the front of the following year’s program. Oh, it’s sort of bland, but it gets the message across: The Red Wings were defending champions!

Now, this program I have is a bit beaten up, and is missing a few pages, but most of it is intact, so go below the jump to read about what was in the 1989 Red Wings program, and click on any picture to make it bigger:

Continue reading →

This weekend…

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This weekend, we’ll take a look at another Program Of the Past for the Rochester Red Wings. So keep an eye out.

The Best Tweets of Day 2 of the 2015 Winter Meetings

Posted on December 9, 2015 by danglickman

Yesterday was a busy day. We had a Mystery Team, Dusty Baker inserted his foot into his mouth, Ben Zobrist chose the Cubs over the Mets, and the Braves basically robbed the Diamondbacks blind, getting 25-year-old Ender Inciarte and their two best prospects for Shelby Miller, who isn’t that bad of a pitcher but who is hardly the type of guy to go Herschel Walker over.

So, here are the best tweets from the second day of the 2015 Winter Meetings:

We began with the cry of MYSTERY TEAM!

WE. HAVE. A. #MYSTERYTEAM !!!!! https://t.co/XMdprGgIkk

— MLB Daily Dish (@mlbdailydish) December 8, 2015

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