BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: Bartolo, C.C., and the rest of the 2002 Indians rotation in INDIANS STRIKEFORCE VS. THE SCATMAN

Posted on November 6, 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.

Ultimate Sports Force. It’s the beloved and now-defunct comic book company that gave us such classics as the Cal Ripken-led Shortstop Squad, the power-filled Cosmic Slam, the Sasquatch-filled Mariners Mojo, and the Yankee retelling (with gratuitous Cal Ripken appearance) of Cosmic Slam entitled Championship Challenge. Today, we look at a Ultimate Sports giveaway comic featuring the 2002 Indians, as we read Indians Strikeforce Versus the Scatman:

Yes, this is a comic in which C.C. Sabathia, Bartolo Colon, Danys Baez, and Ryan Drese have to protect Cleveland from somebody called the Scatman. It also has Bob Feller, now-retired clubhouse manager Cy Buynak, and MONKEYS MADE OUT OF MUSIC. Go below the jump to see some of the glories it brings:

Continue reading →

Famous for Something Else: Danny Kanell

Posted on November 3, 2015 by danglickman

A College Football analyst and radio co-host on ESPN who had started at QB for Florida State and who played in the NFL and Arena Football League (usually as a back-up), Danny Kanell was drafted in the 24th round of the 1995 Draft by the Yankees. While he would go on to choose football, he later would have a brief stint in independent ball in 2001 for Newark of the Atlantic League:

Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
2001	27	-1.5	Newark	ATLL	Ind	25	79	76	11	18	2	2	1	6	2	1	3	24	.237	.266	.355	.621	27	2	0	0	0	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2015.

Kanell remains somewhat involved with baseball at ESPN, occasionally commenting on games during his appearances and sometimes even serving as a color commentator for college baseball games on the networks of ESPN.

The Offseason at The Baseball Continuum: Bizarre Baseball Culture, Breaking OOTP, WBC, Features, Blogathon?

Posted on November 3, 2015 by danglickman

With the postseason over (ironically, the World Series MVP, Salvador Perez, didn’t actually win the Mr. October of any games in the World Series, he was just consistently good), it’s now time to go over what will be going on here at the Baseball Continuum during the offseason. For the most part, it will be stuff I’ve been meaning to do, but which I have been unable to do so due to lack of time, other commitments, or simply because I forgot. In general, there might not be as many posts during the offseason, but the posts that will happen will on average be of a higher quality and longer length.

By the end of the week, you can expect a new Bizarre Baseball Culture, which will be a weird “Ultimate Sports Force” comic involving the early-aughts Cleveland Indians.
The new Breaking OOTP, long in development, will be Mario characters vs. Backyard Baseball characters. It should be out by the end of next week, unless I get so sucked into Fallout 4 that I just jump straight into doing a Bizarre Baseball Culture on it’s apparently surprisingly-high level of baseball elements.
Lookbacks at old Rochester Red Wings programs.
I’ll have my first World Baseball Classic roster projection for Team USA (and, later, Team Dominican). Of course, it’s a long while before the 2017 tournament so it likely will end up being vastly different, but that’s part of the fun, I guess. Expect these within the coming weeks, certainly before the end of November. You can also expect WBC News Updates when applicable.
There will be both Famous For Something Else installments (with one today!) and a new feature, Somebody Related To Somebody Famous For Something Else. Those features are basically what you’d think they are.
There will, of course, continue to be “Wisdom and Links” at Hall of Very Good.
You can expect some SABR-related stuff as well, such as “first references” in Sporting News and such.
During the Winter Meetings, if time allows, I’ll do the “Winter Meetings Tweets Of The Day” again.
And, of course, you never know what else might pop-up. I’m considering, for example, possibly doing a “Blogathon”, in the tradition of Michael Clair’s old “Old Time Family Baseball” blogathons that he did for charity. I’ll let you all know a bit about that later, maybe.

So stay tuned!

Over at @HOVG: the Best of Grantland

Aside

Over at Hall of Very Good, this week’s installment is a collection of the best articles from the dearly departed Grantland. Sleep well, sweet prince.

MR. OCTOBERS of 2015 WORLD SERIES GAME 5 and the MR. OCTOBERS of the 2015 POSTSEASON!

Posted on November 2, 2015 by danglickman

The Mr. Octobers of last night were Matt Harvey (even though they lost) and Eric Hosmer.

But who were the MR. OCTOBERS of the whole postseason? Look at the standings below and you’ll see they are Eric Hosmer and a tie between Wade Davis and Noah Syndergaard. I’d give the edge to Wade Davis, though, as a tiebreaker, since his team won it all.

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

PP Eric Hosmer 20

P Noah Syndergaard 18*

P Wade Davis 18

P Johnny Cueto 16

P Matt Harvey 15*

PP David Wright 13*

PP Daniel Murphy 11*

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Michael Conforto 10*

P Jeurys Familia 9*

P Jacob deGrom 8*

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8*

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5*

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5*

P Steven Matz 5*

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

Headlines From Around The Continuum (November 2, 2015)

Posted on November 2, 2015 by danglickman

A sampling of baseball-related headlines from the Newseum, elsewhere, and occasionally some websites, with the occasional note from me on what they are talking about:

Headline: Royals win first World Series title since 1985, outlasting Harvey and Mets in Game 5

(Note: So that I don’t have a thousand papers from around the country that just say something along the lines of “Royals win World Series”, I focused on the hometown papers and papers that went a different route in their headlines.)

Kansas City Star: ROYALTY

Daily News (front): THE DARKEST KNIGHT (“Mets Amazin’ season comes crashing down in 9th, Royals take crown in 12”)

Daily News (back): CRUEL HAND LUC (on Lucas Duda’s bad throw)

NY Post (front): AMAZIN’ DISGRACE

NY Post (back): NIGHTY KNIGHT!

Newsday (front): YA GOTTA BEREAVE

Newsday (back): A ROYAL SHAME

El Diario- La Prensa (Brooklyn): Los pecados de Collins (“The sins of Collins”)

News-Leader (Springfield, MO): TOOK THE CROWN

St. Joseph (MO) News-Press: WORLD RENOWNED ROYALTY

Joplin (MO) Globe: WORLD CHAMPIONS

Hutchinson (KS) News: THEY DIDN’T QUIT

Lawrence (KS) Journal-World: NEVER-SAY-DIE ROYALS WIN WORLD SERIES

Salina (KS) Journal: CHAMPIONS!

Wichita Eagle: ROYALS RALLY FOR WORLD SERIES TITLE

The Record (Bergen County, NJ): Mets’ magic runs out

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ): It’s all over

The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa): Royals are champs

Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage): Royals crowned champions after another late meltdown by Mets

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock): Kings of 2015

Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA): BASEBALL CROWNS ITS ROYALTY

Ventura County Star (CA): ROYAL THRONE

Denver Post: ROYALS REIGN

Idaho Press-Tribune (Nampa): CROWNED ROYALS

Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review: Royals flush

Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press: ROYALS GET THEIR CROWN

The Sun (Lowell, Mass.): ROYALS!

St. Paul Pioneer Press: K.C. MASTERPIECE

Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star: CROWN ‘EM

Omaha World-Herald: K.C. BRINGS BACK THE CROWN

Morning Call (Allentown, PA): BASEBALL ROYALTY (This headline was also used at the Edmonton Journal in Canada)

Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA): MIGHTY K.C.

Daily Herald (Provo, Utah): ROYAL CORONATION

USA Today: ROYALS RALLY, WIN WORLD SERIES

Winnipeg Free Press: ROYALS ARE WORLD SERIES KINGS

El Heraldo (Baranquilla, Colombia): Reales de Kansas City, campeones de la Serie Mundial (“Kansas City Royals, World Series Champions”)

Novedades de Quintana Roo (Mexico): Reales se corona 30 años después (“Royal crown 30 years later”)

Milenio (Guadalajara, Mexico): REALES, CAMPEÓN (“ROYALS, CHAMPION”)

Reforma (Mexico City): Se coronan Reales (“They are crowned Royals”)

Vanguardia (Saltillo, Mexico): VUELVAN A LA GLORIA LUEGO DE 30 ANOS (“TO GLORY AGAIN AFTER 30 YEARS”)

El Nuevo Diario (Managua, Nicaragua): !REALES CAMPEONES, EN CASA DE LOS METS! (“Royals champions, in the home of the Mets!”)

El Universal (Caracas, Venezuela): Kansas City campeón (“Kansas City champion”)

Virgin Islands Daily News (Charlotte Amalie): WORLD CHAMPIONS- Baseball royalty

MR. OCTOBERS of WORLD SERIES GAME 4, 2015

Posted on November 1, 2015 by danglickman

The MR. OCTOBERS of last night were Michael Conforto (even though the Mets lost) and Wade Davis.
STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

P Noah Syndergaard 18

P Wade Davis 18

P Johnny Cueto 16

PP David Wright 13

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Eric Hosmer 10

PP Michael Conforto 10

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

P Matt Harvey 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5

P Steven Matz 5

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

MR. OCTOBERS of WORLD SERIES GAME 3

Posted on October 31, 2015 by danglickman

David Wright and Noah Syndergaard (who pitched better than his stats indicate), AKA Captain America and Thor, are the MR. OCTOBERs of last night.

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

P Noah Syndergaard 18

P Johnny Cueto 16

PP David Wright 13

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Eric Hosmer 10

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

P Wade Davis 8

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

P Matt Harvey 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5

P Steven Matz 5

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

MR. OCTOBERS of 2015 WORLD SERIES GAME 2

Posted on October 29, 2015 by danglickman

Johnny Cueto had the first complete-game for an AL starter since 1991 with a two-hitter, and Eric Hosmer had two RBIs, so they are the MR. OCTOBERS of Game 2.

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

P Johnny Cueto 16

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Eric Hosmer 10

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Noah Syndergaard 8

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8