We have a winner
*We have a winner in the Dave's World John Trautwein contest. Mr. James Clark of One Herald Sq., Boston, MA, relayed the story of interviewing Trautwein in the summer of 1988 while a cub reporter. And I'll follow through on my promise of a worthless prize -- Clarkie (as he's known) will soon be getting a Tacoma Rainiers pocket schedule in the mail.
(Oh, and Trautwein was a Rule 5 draftee who was plucked away from the Expos prior to the 1988 season. Trautwein appeared in nine games, and had an 0-1 record with an ERA of 9.00. I've been trying to find out who were his eight career strikeout victims, but even the Internet has its limits).
*So I had something happen Thursday that I've experienced occasionally back home, but never out in the Great Northwest.
I was walking down Alki Beach in West Seattle wearing an Expos hat, when someone comes up to me and blurts out in an excited voice, en francais: "Expos! Le blah blah blah blah blah!!!!"
Me: "Umm ... zut alors! ... Je n'aime pas Youppi!!! ... umm ..."
They briefly get disappointed, then switch to English and talk about how sad they are the Expos are gone. And I agree. Baseball once thrived in that city and it never should have fallen apart the way it did. I was going to write a long-winded rant about the demise of the Expos, and I still might one of these days, but Bob Ryan wrote a wonderfully eloquent piece back in October that I can't top and I'll link it here.
*Read somewhere recently about the idea of adding Mike Timlin to the All-Star roster, which reminded me of the Yankees' heyday, when Joe Torre would give Rickey Ledee and Mike Stanton and John Flaherty and the like spots on the roster.
Then I remembered perhaps the most flagrant coach abuse of an All-Star roster ever -- Mike Milbury in the 1991 NHL All-Star game. Remember that? He added Chris Nilan to the All-Star team. Chris Nilan! If any goon ever deserved a spot on an All-Star team, it was Jay Miller (I know he was no longer a Bruin at the time. That's not the point). It was bad enough Nilan was wearing a Bruins uniform to begin with, nevermind represent them in the All-Star Game. I don't have a roster in front of me, but I think Jeff Lazaro and Matt DelGuidice got spots, too.
*Overheard on the Mariners Radio Network (which stretches into Alaska and Montana) while running an errand this evening: "ANOTHER MULTI-HIT NIGHT FOR MIKE MORSE!!!!! THIS KID IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!" They're pretty easily excited out here.
*Thanks to SportsDesigner.com, which had my site linked out on the front of their site yesterday.
Feedback
<< Home