Random Video: English baseball player gets hat and sunglasses knocked off by a bad throw… but nothing else

We go the North of England, where the Sheffield Bladerunners of the British Baseball Federation are playing catch between innings:

Didn’t see it? Let’s look at the slo-mo version:

That’s Josh Taylor of the Bladerunners getting his cap and his sunglasses knocked off by a throw…. and nothing else. You’d think you’d at least break your nose or something, but the pitcher (Nestor Martinez) was able to somehow accidentally “William Tell” him and take off everything on his head without actually hitting or hurting Taylor.

What were the odds of that?

MVPs of the Labor Day Weekend (September 4-7)

September 4: Chris Davis

September 5: Bartolo Colon

September 6: Jose Bautista

September 7: Anthony DeSclafani

Standings, as always, after the jump:

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Now a member of the IBWAA

 

Yes, as you saw with the above tweet, I am now a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. As the name suggests, it is a internet version of the Baseball Writers Association of America, with it’s own awards, HoF, and the like. Except it’s way less formal and will even let people like me in.

So what does this mean for the Baseball Continuum? Well, partly it means you’ll be seeing my thoughts on awards and Hall of Fame tied in with the IBWAA, as opposed to just being to nobody in particular. For another, you may see some of my stuff be retweeted by the IBWAA Twitter feed, which is nice.

But other than that… not much will change! So… thank you for coming to the Baseball Continuum and I hope you keep coming here.

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Over at @HOVG… lots of links!

Aside

Over at Hall of Very Good, the latest Wisdom and Links is up, although it’s just Links this time. A lot of them. Check it out.

Coming Soon: A Retrospective on Rochester Red Wings Yearbooks/Programs

Coming soon will be a new feature on this blog, in which I look back at the programs and yearbooks of the Rochester Red Wings, collected over the years by myself, my father, and in some cases myself through other means (like eBay or Red Wings yard sales).

Among the fun things that we shall see:

  • Famous ballplayers when they were younger!
  • Unintentionally comedic advertisements, prospect previews, and hairstyles! Hey, hindsight is always 20/20.
  • The fall of the Orioles-Red Wings marriage!
  • The rise of the Twins-Red Wings marriage!
  • Special appearances by two current MLB announcers and one of the most powerful people in Buffalo sports, amongst others!
  • And also a look at the 2000 AAA All-Star Game program!

So look out in the coming days as we begin back in a mysterious time known as…. THE EIGHTIES!

 

 

 

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Popeye and “The Twisker Pitcher”

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.

Today we have a cartoon from 1937 starring Popeye the Sailor Man. It’s called The Twisker Pitcher, and it’s dark as hell. Seriously, this cartoon has…

A) Rampant steroid use (the spinach)

B) Violence, both on the field and in the stands

C) A near total disregard for rules and the space-time continuum

D) A total disregard for player safety.

Oof. So, go below the jump for a summary of this, the 47th Popeye Cartoon:

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The Best Unlicensed/Unofficial Baseball T-Shirts on the Internet

If you look hard enough online (as in… google “T-Shirts”), you can find sites that sell unlicensed and unofficial t-shirts. These T-shirts feature designs created by fans and basically only are allowed to exist because they are fairly small-scale operations- the equivalent of those random guys outside of a stadium- and no company is willing to sue them to oblivion because of the bad PR that would result from going after people who in essence are their biggest fans would be… bad. In addition, a lot (but certainly nowhere near all) of the t-shirts don’t technically break any laws and don’t actually use anything trademarked or copyrighted.

So, what type of stuff are we talking about? (go below the jump to see the rest of this)

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MVP of Yesterday (September 3, 2015): Carlos Gonzalez

Carlos Gonzalez went 4-5 with two home runs and four RBIs in the Rockies’ 11-3 victory over the struggling Giants. It’s his third MVP of Yesterday of the year.
Standings, as always, after the jump:

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Coming this weekend….

Aside

This weekend…

  • An interesting look at T-Shirts. Yes… T-Shirts.
  • FINALLY the latest and greatest BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE
  • …and maybe something else. Not sure.

MVP of Yesterday (September 2, 2015): Clayton Kershaw

Throwing a 15-strikeout masterpiece, Kershaw is an easy choice for MVP of Yesterday.

Standings, as always, after the jump:

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