Randy Poffo
Posted by Andy on May 20, 2011
Former Cardinals minor-league Randy Poffo has died, according to TMZ.
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 18 | Cardinals | GULF | Rk | STL | 35 | 63 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .286 | .492 | 31 | ||||||||||||
| 1972 | 19 | Cardinals | GULF | Rk | STL | 52 | 168 | 46 | 3 | 4 | 3 | .274 | .393 | 66 | ||||||||||||
| 1973 | 20 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | A-Rk | STL | 71 | 177 | 50 | 14 | 4 | 2 | .282 | .441 | 78 | ||||||||||||
| 1973 | 20 | Red Birds | GULF | Rk | STL | 25 | 61 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 0 | .344 | .508 | 31 | ||||||||||||
| 1973 | 20 | Orangeburg | WCRS | A | 46 | 116 | 29 | 8 | 2 | 2 | .250 | .405 | 47 | |||||||||||||
| 1974 | 21 | Tampa | FLOR | A | CIN | 131 | 521 | 461 | 36 | 107 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 66 | 46 | 85 | .232 | .304 | .358 | .662 | 165 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 4 Seasons | 289 | 929 | 869 | 36 | 221 | 39 | 16 | 16 | 66 | 46 | 85 | .254 | .293 | .391 | .685 | 340 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | |||||
| Rk (3 seasons) | Rk | 112 | 292 | 292 | 85 | 12 | 8 | 5 | .291 | .291 | .438 | .729 | 128 | |||||||||||||
| A (2 seasons) | A | 177 | 637 | 577 | 36 | 136 | 27 | 8 | 11 | 66 | 46 | 85 | .236 | .294 | .367 | .662 | 212 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | ||||
He was better known by his professional name, Macho Man Randy Savage.
May 20th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
[...] [...]
May 20th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Nooooooooooooooo!
May 20th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Read where he started as a catcher, but injured his right shoulder so badly that he taught himself to throw left-handed and became a first baseman-it fits the intensity that his wrestling character had...
May 20th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
http://youtu.be/YK7J0jYKpiY
May 20th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Sad stuff. However in the world wrestling, deaths like this are not uncommon. Being a huge wrestling fan, I'm surprised that I never looked up his minor league stats. Nothing special, but not surprising to see he had some power potential.
May 20th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
I loved the time that the Macho Man, in talking about his former career in base ball,said "I traded my field of dreams for a ring of screams".
May 20th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Has anyone ever done a study of the average age of wrestling deaths? It seems to me that these guys die YOUNG. Phyiscal abuse? Drug abuse?
May 20th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
My favorite all-time wrestler. I was hoping when I read "Randy Poffo" that he wasn't dead. This is horrible. First Miss Elizabeth several years ago and now the Macho Man, too.
In my first car 150 years ago, I had the Macho Man action figure hanging from my rear view mirror. VERY sad news. OHHH YEAHHHH!!!
RIP.
May 20th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Noodle, steroids and other drugs might have something to do with it, but I'm sure it's also the "cowboy lifestyle", i.e. the same reason why astronauts tend to die young as well. These guys are risk-takers, which is a large part of their success. Getting in the wrestling ring, as well as getting into the cockpit of a spacecraft, takes a lot of balls. Doing other risky things like riding a motorcycle is child's play by comparison for these guys. But they do tend to put themselves in harm's way more than the average person.
May 20th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
[...] not many people know that Savage played professional baseball in the early 1970s with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox [...]
May 20th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Savage died in a car accident after suffering a heart attack. Steroids had nothing to do with it. That discussion doesn't apply here.
May 20th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Sean, I have no idea what is or is not relevant in Savage's specific case. However, heart attacks can be drug-related, and it appears he was driving a Jeep based on the photo here, which is a vehicle that has a higher-than-average number of accidents. It's the sort of vehicle favored more by risk-takers. Again, I'm not saying that either of these issues were necessarily factors in his death--for all I know he was the safest, most-conservative driver on the planet and never took any drugs of any kind. It just seems possible that they are related.
May 20th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Sean,
Sorry, but steroids, even after stopping them, increase the chances of heart attacks greatly. This is due to one of the strongest muscles in the body, part of the aorta, a large valve next to the heart becomes enlarged.
It is a scientific fact that steroid use enlarges the aorta and over stresses the heart.
If you look at the amount of premature wrestling deaths, and I'm talking guys in there 30's early 40's, that have died due to heart attacks which the corner can specifically attribute to enlarged aortas, it is staggering.
There have been several news stories on the life expectancy of pro wrestlers - one done quite well on 60 minutes, and they are quite sad.
While proWrestling is faked, the stunts are highly athletic and dangerous, leading to the use of opiate pain medication and addiction.
Much of the drug dispensing is reportedly done without prescriptions and without medical supervision, supplied by the heads of the wrestling federations. Vince McMhaon is personally being investigated for that exact crime. And the shame is he just uses the addictive opiates to just push otherwise unable athletes onto the stage. And since wrestling has taken the stance as a form of entertainment and not a sport, they are not sanctioned in anyway. No one checks these guys ability or health.
Just google search "pro-wrestlers early death" and the list is absolutely staggering.
I'm talking hundreds of young men. It is very obviously a problem.
Randy weighed 190 lbs as a minor leaguer, 245 as a wrestler.
May 20th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
There's a very good chance his prior drug use played a part in this. He's 58 and had a heart attack. While no, he's not under 45 like Chris Benoit (not a heart attack, but there's no denying he wasn't heathy at the time of his death), Eddie Guerrero, Umaga, etc., but that's still fairly young for a heart attack. These guys have one of the most grueling jobs in the world. Just the travel alone is enough to cause problems, let alone wrestling 3-4 times a week. Sure it's scripted, but those bumps and falls aren't exactly easy on the body.
Here's to hoping Vince McMahon can put his past differences with Savage behind and put him in the HOF this year.
May 20th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
I didn't want to steer the discussion towards steroids, but since others have done so....
I've read several references online to both Randy Poffo and his younger brother, Lanny (also a pro wrestler), being admitted steroids users. Here's a direct admission from Randy's own mouth on the Arsenio Hall show; go to 5:27 on the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMDZihE-KrA
(He says he only "experimented" with them, and did that when they were legal.)
Nobody can say at this point whether or not steroids played a direct role in his death. However, when an admitted steroid user, who was also a longtime participant in a culture absolutely drenched in steroid use, has a heart attack while driving a car, at age 58, it's certainly reasonable to wonder about a connection.
P.S. Interesting interview with Lanny Poffo here, in which he admits using steroids:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/07/21/4357564.html
May 20th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
This sucks.
May 20th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
every body say an oooooooh yeaaaaah! one time for the macho man!!!
May 20th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
rip[ macho man ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh yeah may u and liz live happily ever after
May 20th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
gutted, my life and youth are slipping away...
May 20th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
People never really understand that most baseball players do something else...www.baseballcomeback.blogspot.com/
May 20th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
@16
Seconded!! Give me quality baseball blogs, not this kind of crap in Bref. I've come to expect more of this site.
With respect to his family, he never rose above A ball.
This is not a baseball topic but a cheap attempt to garner posts from a non-baseball community.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
@21
Somewhat sorry, Andy, but some one has to call it like it is!
May 20th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
Not sure what the complaints are here. He was a very famous person who happened to have a short baseball career. I actually came to the BR site to look up his minor league stats and happened to see this blog entry.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Neil, respectfully, I published it simply as an interesting tidbit related to current events. Note that I did not put huge BREAKING NEWS in the title like I do when it's mainstream baseball news. Sorry if it offended you.
May 20th, 2011 at 9:15 pm
@24
Andy, I apologize for a bad attitude before I posted in #21.
I think my root issue is the Phillies-St Louis-Boston-New York "centricness" of the blogs in here.
I understand the ESPN executives' take that everything Red Sox and Yankees sells advertising and that is how they choose their Sunday night games.
With respect, there is a whole world of baseball (and stories) outside the US East Coast.
I guess the bottom line for me is that when I subscribed to Bref I thought it was a purist site dedicated to uncovering baseball "truth" in the pioneering spirit of Bill James. My bad if I misunderstood the mission statement.
If you read between the lines in my recent posts, in a number of blogs, you will see that I was trying to say that to you.
Andy, I would just like Bref, in its blogs, to address the topical stories in...... say the Arizona, Seattle or Toronto (obviously mine) markets.
Who the heck cares about Jorge Posada outside NY?
May 20th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Neil, I actually feel the same way. My issue is that I've got a full time job and I don't have time to canvas all the games and news nearly as thoroughly as I'd like. I end up hearing the east coast news a lot more because I live there.
I will think about focus on some other teams going forward.
I appreciate the level-headed criticism.
May 20th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
@26
Thank you, Andy, for your openness and humility in a public forum. My respect for you and for BRef just took a quantum leap.
I only want to make BRef a more-visited, better site. There is no denying the intelligence and objectivity here!
May 21st, 2011 at 12:24 am
Neil, what in the world does Randy Savage have to do with the east coast?
He was a very famous wrestler who happened to play minor league baseball previously. A neat factoid for those who did not know about it, and I think it's a very appropriate blog post for this site considering he just died and is all over the news.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:28 am
I'm thinking Neil had a bad day, but I'm sure he's right that if we added up all the posts that are centric to NYY, BOS, and PHL, they probably are as many as all the other teams combined. (He threw STL in there too, perhaps because I wrote that Poffo was a Cardinals' minor-leauger.)
I had a bad day too, which is why I am still awake at 12:30 AM.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:38 am
@28
Rich, nothing, it was just my baggage.
Sincerely, I will try to wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:40 am
Neil, thanks for owning up to that, but like I said earlier I do think the east-coast bias part of your criticism has a lot of merit, and I'm going to work on it.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:43 am
Yeah, and he seemed to take my comment of "this sucks" as a criticism of this website.
What sucks is that one of the greatest, and most unique entertainers we've ever seen just died.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:46 am
Voomo, yeah Neil was apparently agreeing with you. Although I admit when I first saw your comment, I also thought you were referring to my post!
There's no doubt that Savage was an incredible athlete and entertainer. I personally have never been interested in wrestling, but it's clear that the guy was an amazing athlete, steroids or no.
May 21st, 2011 at 1:06 am
Everyone knows this is the most anti-Mets site on the internet.
May 21st, 2011 at 1:13 am
God JT, you remember everything. That reference has got to be more than a year old at this point.
May 21st, 2011 at 8:22 am
How did I miss this? Besides baseball, precious metal trading, jazz, and cat breeding, professional wrestling is one of my great interests! Macho Man was one of the top 5 wrestlers in history, and honestly I was not aware he was a minor league baseball player. Thanks Andy for the heads up. And Neil, please lighten up!
May 21st, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Two things have confused me:
(1) Andy, what's the JT comment you replied to @35?
(2) Re: Neil L's assertion of "Phillies-St. Louis-Boston-New York-centricness" on the B-R blogs. St. Louis? That's a twist; usually, the Cards fans are among the embittered masses accusing everyone in the media of "East Coast bias."
I read every topic in these blogs, and while I live in the NYC area, I try to follow and talk about all teams, players and events that strike me as interesting. I also try to be sensitive to the underdog. If there is any sort of "bias" being reflected in the discussions here -- beyond the fact that the better teams naturally get more attention -- I'm unaware of it.
I don't mean to pick on Neil L., a consistently thoughtful commentator who has already basically rescinded his complaint. I guess my point is aimed at Andy: There's nothing wrong with stepping back and taking an objective look at the distribution of topics on the site. But just because a lot of people scream "East Coast bias!" when their team doesn't lead SportsCenter, please don't presume that their claims must be justified, either in general or on this site.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Curly Gruff = JT. It predates your involvement on the blog I think.
May 21st, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Andy, sorry, I do try to put some thought into my comments. Baby was crying and little mama needed me - and I just had to express the sentiment.
Here's a clip of the proposal to Elizabeth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-4SP-ig8bM
Amazing moment of television. Can't find footage of immediately Before this moment, when Roddy Piper is goading him to get out of the broadcast chair and go down to the ring. Truly one of the greatest of all time. And, as a kid absolutely obsessed with baseball, learning that he was ballplayer just made him all the more awesome. I'm glad that I learned about his passing on a baseball website.
_____
...Oh, and for all you pent-up Mets fans, I pray that the rapture does in fact happen in a few hours, just to put all of you out of your misery.
- of course, you always will have 1986.
(i stayed home from school the day after they won. Wasn't going to endure a full day of gloating from an uninformed fan base, most of whom weren't "fans" before 1984)
May 21st, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Here's one pent-up Mets fan reveling in our status as the avatar of average:
-- 22-22 record
-- 180 runs scored, 180 runs allowed
-- 4.09 R/G scored and allowed; NL avg. is 4.13 and 4.12
"The 2011 Mets: We're in the mix!"
P.S. Funny thing about those uninformed Mets fans who weren't really "fans" before 1984: They had an odd habit of wandering into the ballpark. For the 20 years prior to 1984, the Mets averaged 1.60 million attendance; the Yanks averaged 1.58 million.
May 21st, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Ah Autin, now dont be one of those sabers who selectively choose stats to make an argument. 20 years isnt a generation. Let's look at five.
Mets
1980 1,192,073
1981 704,244 (strike)
1982 1,323,036
1983 1,112,774
_____________
1984 1,842,695
1985 2,761,601
1986 2,767,601
Yanx
1980 2,627,417
1981 1,614,353 (strike)
1982 2,041,219
1983 2,257,976
_____
1984 1,821,815
1985 2,214,587
1986 2,268,030
In 1983 the Yanx more than DOUBLED the Metros in attendance.
Who cares about how many people showed up to see two crappy teams in 1966?
My point is that Mets 'fans' came out of the proverbial woodwork 1984-1986.
And the numbers show that.
May 21st, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Not a wrestling fan at all, so this guy's name, either his real one or his professional one, doesn't mean anything at all to me. I figured that his passing was being mentioned in this blog because he established some legendary minor league mark (perhaps a dubious one, given that he didn't make the majors) or had a single moment of notoriety (like the guy who threw the potato as an extra baseball or the one who crashed through loose boards in the outfield fence).
May 21st, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Voomo -- Ah, the irony of being accused of cherry-picking by a man with red-stained hands!
First off, I let you set the dividing line with your crack about Mets fans before '84. We both know that the Mets crushed the Yankees in attendance from 1984-93 (2.51 million avg. to 2.16 million), so I charitably chose a period before that. But since my chosen period showed your team getting beaten at the gate yet again, you now want to cherry-pick your own 5-year period? That just doesn't sound like a confident Yankee fan.
As for "coming out of the woodwork," what description could better fit the Yankee fans in 1976?
1973 -- 1.26 million
1974 -- 1.27 million (despite a strong contending team)
1975 -- 1.28 million
1976 -- 2.01 million
All chest-beating aside, the problem is that you want to treat the Mets 1977-81 period as their standard for fan interest, when in fact it is clearly an anomaly -- a period of fan frustration triggered when a penny-pinching owner traded the face of the franchise.
The truth is that both teams have had strong, loyal fan bases for the last 30 years, and I give the Yankee fans their due. But if you want to talk smack, don't expect to also get to set the terms of engagement.
May 21st, 2011 at 10:17 pm
John, I wasn't using statistics to make my original point; I was simply stating my experience. As a sixth-ninth grader from 1983-86, Met fans multiplied in Howard Beach, Queens and at Hunter High School.
This isnt a sabermetric argument.
It is a fact.
One burned into my consciousness.
Pre-1984, Mets fans were few and far between, and the ones that existed usually had some good reason for being Mets fans, like, their father was a fan in 1969 or 1973. So they actually knew something about the history of the game.
Post-Gooden, those ugly hats were everywhere, worn by ignorant dweebs who didn't even Know who Nolan Ryan was, much less be able to debate his Hall of Fame merit.
I have no doubt that you are of the former category, a scarred, devoted, long suffering Mets' fan who would give blood to Joel Youngblood, would foster camaraderie with George Foster, and who would fish all the leaves out of Ed's Kranepool.
And please know that my awareness of baseball was born when Brett hit that homer off of Gossage in 1980. And that my entire childhood is marked by the longest championship drought in the history of the team whose history defined my concept of being a New Yorker, thus my concept of self.
And on August 12th, 1994 my heart was broken along with with yours and everyone else's, with my team sitting at 70-43.
And on that night in 1996 when the drought ended I was not even aware of the event, sitting out 1995, 1996, and 1997 in furious protest. Did not look at a single boxscore, not a single column of statistics, for three years.
So I know the suffering, too
Of course, I also know the feeling of 1998-2000, so, some of us get sweet reward in this lifetime. Grateful for that.
I think the Mets need to get someone to take that Bonilla contract.
Even if they Pay for someone to take it.
That contract is their curse.
That and their ugly-ass hats and the airplanes flying overhead and the mostly ignorant fans. So, good luck with all that.
May 21st, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Just to be clear about my own fandom:
I started following baseball in 1969. Living in Ann Arbor, MI, I naturally became a Tigers fan, and that has stayed with me through many moves.
When I lived near Chicago in the late '70s, I also rooted for both the White Sox and the Cubs. No one could accuse me of being a bandwagon fan then.
I moved to NYC in late summer of 1984. The first baseball game I attended here happened to be at Shea Stadium, on Sept. 7. Dwight Gooden threw a 1-hitter, the Mets scored 10 runs, and I was hooked. It was a fun team.
But I also rooted for the Yankees throughout the '80s and most of the '90s. As a non-native New Yorker, I didn't feel obligated to love one team and hate the other. When the Yanks lost game 5 to Seattle in '95, I took it hard. When they came back and beat the Braves in the '96 Series, I was thrilled. That was a very likeable team, built from the farm and from sharp trades.
I didn't drop the Yankees until they became the dominant team. It's just not in me to root for a heavy favorite, and besides, as the years went on, I grew disenchanted with the way the team was built up year after year, and found the vibe of "must win always!!!' to distasteful. In any case, I could not have rooted long for a Roger Clemens team; I found the man insufferable long before his steroid use was known.
So that's where I am now: Mets fan first, Tigers fan second. The Yankees are a good team, but I find no charm in them. I root for them to miss the playoffs, but not out of Mets-based bitterness; I just think it's enough, already -- same as I did when Atlanta was winning their division every year.
I think most Yankees fans are knowledgeable, loyal, long-time fans. There is also a big chunk of bandwagon, fair-weather fans. I get no buzz from the shallow, knee-jerk animosity that Mets and Yankees fans direct at each other; I roll my eyes when Mets fans start chanting, "Yankees suck!" I don't really care who has better attendance. I don't go out of my way to run down the Yankees. But I won't let a Yankee fan kick sand in my face.
May 21st, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Funny that we were both drafting fan histories at the same time....
BTW, I don't really get the thing about the hats -- but whatever your complaint is, I'll grant you that point, if you'll just do one of the following:
(1) agree that John Sterling is the most annoying radio broadcaster in the history of the medium; or
(2) concede that the "N" and "Y" in the Yankees logo are not actually "interlocking," but merely overlapping.
Deal? 🙂
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:04 am
1) Rizzuto/White and Rizzuto/Seaver have been the only Yankee broadcast team that Haven't been annoying.
2) and yeah, just playing the part of the superior yankee fan with the hat thing. navy blue vs kindergarten blue was a place that the argument often went back in the day.
- glad you got to enjoy '96. It is odd, now, to not have a visceral relationship to that reference point in history.
May 22nd, 2011 at 1:04 am
Curly Gruff = JT.
Spoil sport.
=======================
from 1983-86, Met fans multiplied
This was my experience as well.
========================
And on that night in 1996 when the drought ended I was not even aware of the event..........It is odd, now, to not have a visceral relationship to that reference point in history.
That title is easily my favorite Yankee moment. Sorry you were boycotting MLB. I can't stand spoiled Yankee fans (or most Yankee fans, period), but I've probably become spoiled myself. I'll never appreciate a WS win as much again unless it's preceded by a similar period of difficulties.
======================
JA, you can knock Sterling and Kay as much as you want. BLEAHHHHH.
May 22nd, 2011 at 2:00 am
JT/CG -- It's hard to maintain a secret identity for long.
For instance, I'm starting to suspect a connection between "Timmy P." and "Timmy Patrick" -- each has a strange obsession with Matt Garza's beard.... 🙂
BTW, if my name ever disappears from these threads, keep an eye out for someone named Matt Garza's Beard, Dick McAuliffe's Batting Stance, or Eduardo Carocio....
May 22nd, 2011 at 2:18 am
Speaking of Rizzuto/White....
If you grew up hearing Rizzuto, you can't imagine what a culture shock I experienced moving to NYC as a young adult and hearing him for the first time. First of all, having never really been to NYC before, I probably hadn't heard any little old Italian guys with Brooklyn accents -- much less one who managed to call a baseball game without actually seeing half the plays.
It took a while, but he grew on me.... Somehow, his helplessness became endearing; at least twice a game, he had to call on "White!" to bail him out of something or other.
BTW, there's a funny little book called O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto. They're not poems consciously written by the Scooter (thank god!); they're just transcripts of game calls, laid out as verse. One of my favorites is titled, "White's Secret":
You know what I did?
I forgot
I don't like your lineup card, White.
I like mine better.
But unfortunately
I left mine at home.
I did not bring today's lineup card.
So I borrowed one from Bill White.
He's the professional type.
You know, Martin?
He's got all...
I can't figure half the stuff on this card.
Why you need it.
But he does his homework.
He does it well.
But anyway,
Oh yeah.
He's got the highlights.
He's on the ball.
But where Kunkel's name is ninth,
I put the strikeout by Brower.
Oh, he jammed him.
Foul back.
What happened?
May 22nd, 2011 at 6:43 am
LOL hilarious JA!!
Grew up watching him (Phil R.), amongst others....I can so hear him saying those things.....very good stuff.
I do appreciate irony, and so, have gotten a good laugh, out of watching this "East Coast Bias" thread, (d?)evolve into a Yankees/Mets thread.
In one sense, as a MN fan, and no longer resident, of the East Coast, I have full understanding, of the frustration at "East Coast" bias. I'm even reminded of this, in my postings on here- between being 6 hours behind NYC, and working afternoons/evenings, I'm often posting on a day's post, far behind everyone else, only a couple hours before the next day's posts go up. (Not that I have any great revelations to share....*smiles)
On the other hand, however, it only makes sense, that there is East Coast bias. Facts are, the East Coast is an enormous population center. Thus, more people care, about NY, Red Sox, etc, than, say, the Twins. It's just numbers. And, so, media, reflects this, plays to this fact.
The best way for "out of the way" franchises, to nullify this fact, is to WIN. Find five people, who know what the "Twins" are, who don't know who Kirby Puckett is......
Nice, reading the various histories, of fandom. Having grown up in Jersey, the '93 Phillies, to me, will always and forever be the best team that waddled the face of this earth. I bailed on baseball, though, for a long time after '94, as well. McGwire and Sosa (knowing what I know now....ugh) brought me back a little in '98, but it was only after I wound up in MN that I started to follow it seriously again. And now here we are:)
Know that this has been a looong post, but Andy, or whomever, if you haven't done it before, I think that a terrific topic, for this site, (if it hasn't been done already), would be something like,"Your life/history/memories as a baseball fan, what baseball means to you", or something to that effect.
Even if it is through Randy Savage, we are all connected to this game somehow:)
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Yes! I have that Rizzuto poetry book.
A friend's mom bought it for me after he died a few years back. Great read, and only excepted from parts of two (bad) seasons.
A comprehensive Rizzuto poetry anthology would put him in the league of Wadsworth, Cummings, and Dickenson.
He was the best kind of Homer.
Scooter noticed that whenever he read birthday announcements the Yanx seemed to rally; so he would wait until the later innings when they were up at bat to say Happy Birthday to Rosie in Paramus.
Of course, this was usually during Road games, because when they played in the Bronx he would be on the GW Bridge in the 8th inning to beat the traffic.
And he mentioned cannolis at least once a game.
And at least once a week Winfield would take a mighty cut and get a piece of the ball, and Scooter would go "And there it goes! That ball is outta- wait, no, pop up to the shortshop. White, I thought that one was outta here."
May 22nd, 2011 at 8:33 pm
JA/JT (aka Curly Gruff)/Voomo
Not to inflame passions in here, but nothing like a good tiff between New York fans.
@49
JA, you could never masquerede as Timmy P.!
How many personas does Johnny Twisto have in BRef? 🙂 He could be any one.
"I do appreciate irony, and so, have gotten a good laugh, out of watching this "East Coast Bias" thread, (d?)evolve into a Yankees/Mets thread."
Nash, I have recanted my original position, but your point is well taken. However, the Mets/Yankees dialogue sprang up genuinely spontaneously, not deliberately.
To be fair, John Autin, in my view, goes out of his way to find interesting statistical tidbits about all teams, not just NY ones.
JA, was right when he reminded Andy not to knee-jerk about postings when he said "But just because a lot of people scream "East Coast bias!" when their team doesn't lead SportsCenter,....".
And Andy has committed to looking for interesting stories around baseball.
I'm glad BRef will never become the ESPN of baseball sites, pandering to the biggest markets in deference to its advertisers.
Speaking of ESPN, are we not watching two of the three biggest 2010 payrolls on Sunday Night Baseball? It is hard to see a bias when you are part of the "inner circle".
I'm waiting for ESPN or Fox to put Arizona vs Pittsburg or Kansas City vs. Toronto on their game of the week. (Not!!)
May 23rd, 2011 at 5:20 am
Another nail in the coffin of my youth! RIP Macho Man
http://www.baseballcomeback.blogspot.com/
May 26th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
I believe that his brother, leaping Lanny, was the better ball player. RIP Macho Man; He was the anti Hogan, and he actually had more charisma than Hogan, plus he was the ultimate professional. His best move, in my opinion, was the double axe handle off of the top rope, to cream his opponent on the floor; the move was used before, but never with so much style and force. He did some of the best mic work ever, played a chicken at times without losing his character, and was a gentleman out of the ring. He should be in the WWE hall of fame, except for a feud with the owner. He should go in the hall this year, no questions. I would have loved to see some of the Macho Man's homers, but alas, I doubt if there is any footage. Randy was, is, and always be the man; there must be some great wrestling going on in heaven..........