Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Its not often that we review books here on the Deuce, mostly because we barely have enough time to run this site without having to read novels, but this one in particular caught our eye, especially in light of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame induction weekend coming this weekend.

Any book that can humanize the revered and legendary talents in the baseball hall of fame is a welcome one, especially in light of the recent allegations for our generation’s stars (you should read just to see Zev Chafets’ opinions of steroids!). If you ever wanted to know the flaws of some of baseball’s biggest stars in the hall of fame, this book is for you. However in finding out these flaws, you also get a healthy dose of commentary from the author about who should and shouldn’t be in the hall. In addition, you also get a few other personal opinions that are great for fostering discussion in a bar, but not necessarily the facts you would want in a book about the “inside story of hall of fame”. At times you wish the author would work with less opinions and more anecdotes and facts, but if he did so he might lose the entertaining and light tone that he’s set throughout the book.

This book is sure to provoke many a discussion amongst baseball fans about the hall of fame and its members. Shoot, it could even cause a fight or two for its opinions on several other tangents related to baseball (there are some “interesting” discussions on race in the book that have to be read to be believed), but it is an very good, quick, read and one you should pick up if you want to instigate a few arguments and/or brawls this Hall of Fame weekend.

Minor league baseball teams will do anything to get people to games, even appealing to demographics that most sports teams ignore, such as pregnant women. The Brooklyn Cyclones had a salute to pregnancy on Sunday where they offered a centerfield Lamaze class before the game, pregnancy food favorites such as pickles, ice cream, anchovy pizzas etc., a run/walk around the bases, a ceremonial first pitch by women in their 3rd trimester and if any woman gives birth at the stadium before the end of the game, the entire family gets tickets for life.

All pretty nice stuff for them to give out. There was one more giveaway though, and its a doozy. If any mother agrees to name her child “Brooklyn” or “Cy” will get season tickets for life.

Sadly, the kid doesnt get anything for being named after a minor league baseball team except relentless teasing for the rest of his/her life for being the child of an asshat.

From Brooklyn Cyclones

What’s more in the tradition of 4th of July than a mixing of Japanese and American culture? I mean, isn’t that what the Nathan’s Hot Dog Challenge is all about? No? Oh well, whatever. In keeping in this idea that we created, we’ve decided to pull together some of the craziest moments in Japanese baseball that we could find on the interwebs…we were just that bored.

Enjoy:

1) In Japan, you can pitch backwards:

2)In Japan, this is the only way to charge the mound:

3)In Japan, pitchers will stand up to anyone…not really:

4)In Japan, even the shirts catch balls:

5)In Japan, people can fly:

6)In Japan, you run away from fights…not to them:

7)In Japan, people can hit balls on a rope…LITERALLY:

8)In Japan, you find out what happens when you pitch a ball with a bazooka:

Pittsburgh Pirates’ shortstop Jack Wilson might’ve gotten in a bit of trouble yesterday with his team, as he issued an apology to the management for saying that he was “beyond tired of such moves” in reference to the team’s several, recent trades, including Tuesday’s deal with the Washington Nationals which traded outfielder Nyjer Morgan and a pitcher for Lastings Milledge and a pitcher. Here’s what he said after the trades went down:

“It’s tough for the guys who’ve been here and have seen these trades happen and absolutely do nothing,” Wilson said several hours after the deals were made. “I’ve seen these trades two or three times a year and we still haven’t had a winning season.”

That is pretty correct assertion on Jack’s part isnt it? Pretty much every year, be it Jason Bay or Nate Mclouth or whomever, they trade away their good players for younger talent or lesser talent or both. Those trades only serve to keep salary down, talent level down and expectations low. Pirates are the definition of CHEAP. However, Jack had his mind changedchanged his mind the next day:

“Some of my comments were pretty harsh,” he said. “I definitely don’t want to be the guy who is butting heads with the organization or trying to cause any type of negativity, so I apologize.”

“When you are here in the moment and you’re talking to guys and everyone is bummed out, you maybe lose your head a little bit and vent. A lot of the things I said, I thought about … and they were pretty inaccurate,” he said.

What? Really? What exactly was inaccurate about what he said? Jesus, what a stand up guy, considering that he didn’t have to apologize at all and then just flat out saying he was wrong when the guy was completely right.

It makes me sad that he had to apologize, it is about time a player on the Pirates, that is universally respected, calls out the front office for who they really are. A bunch of cheap bastards that are only interested in maintaining a certain amount of profit at the cost of winning games.

From Yahoo Sports

I sure didn’t know that, but after 35 years of being the only one who plays the role of the San Diego Chicken, 55 year old Ted Giannoulas is thinking of hanging up the suit.

Pretty impressive doing that for 35 years and you have to admire him for sticking around that long, but, i would stick around that long too if you knew what I know. What I know is that in making around 50 appearances outside of San Diego this summer, Giannoulas will probably rake in “six figures” for his trouble.

Yes, that is at least $100,000. At least $100,000 for being a dancing chicken??? Where the hell did I go wrong in my career choices?? Where the hell did you, the reader, go wrong? Granted it is hot as hell in those suits during the summer, but I would gladly exchange doing that for some soul-sucking desk job.

I think I need to get a fucked up chimpanzee outfit and some PCP and get my real life Chimpanzee Rage going on here.

For all about the Chicken read on here at Amarillo.com