Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread

[govmentchedda]

Bob really lost it there.

[degenerasian]

Canada's Prime Minster from 1984-93... Brian Mulroney

Not the worst we've had, but a real sleazeball.

A conservative who brought in a new sales tax!

I'll translate that for our American friends - "A Canadian Conservative"

Sure but then the Canadian Liberals wanted to "AXE the TAX!

Politics was so different in the 80s.

[EnochRoot]

Chris Mortensen, 72.

[MaxWebster]

U.L. "Toothpick" Washington

staple of my childhood baseball watching. Always played with a toothpick in his mouth; Little League coaches had to yell at us to never copy UL. No-fun jerks.

[mister d]

Ah fuck. Remember him for the exact same reason.



(I wonder how many 80s players I remember I’ve never actually seen play a game. Like I assume I’ve seen him but it’s possible it was just cards and reading?)



((Fun fact I just learned: He signed his name and in writing was U. L. but that wasn’t his birth name. It was U L without any punctuation.)

[EnochRoot]

Ah fuck. Remember him for the exact same reason.



(I wonder how many 80s players I remember I’ve never actually seen play a game. Like I assume I’ve seen him but it’s possible it was just cards and reading?)



((Fun fact I just learned: He signed his name and in writing was U. L. but that wasn’t his birth name. It was U L without any punctuation.)

No idea how old you are but if you were a Yankee fan in 1980 you watched he and the Royals make the Yankees look old in a three game sweep in the ALCS.

[mister d]

Would have been barely 2 years old. I was trying to figure it out because I was pretty sure Biancalana was the full-time SS when they won the 1985 World Series but I wasn't sure if Washington was still on the team. He got traded before the year.

[brian]

I vaguely remember him. Don’t think he was on the ‘84 Royals team that the Tigers destroyed in the ALCS

[mister d]

Looks like Onix Concepcion started in that series but U.L. was still there; had two games, one PA, one strikeout (Biancalana had the same statline).

Really remembering some guys here. Its wild how really terrible some SS were on offense back in the day. Wonder what a present-day accepted failure is that in 20 years would render some modern players unplayable.

[EnochRoot]

Looks like Onix Concepcion started in that series but U.L. was still there; had two games, one PA, one strikeout (Biancalana had the same statline).

Really remembering some guys here. Its wild how really terrible some SS were on offense back in the day. Wonder what a present-day accepted failure is that in 20 years would render some modern players unplayable.

IMO guys like Jeter wouldn't have stuck at SS had half the league been using astro turf the way they were back in the mid 70s into the late 80s.

eta - nvm. There were only three teams in 1980 in the AL who had artificial turf: Toronto, KC, Seattle. The NL had six: Philly, Pittsburgh, Montreal, St Louis, Cincy, Houston.

[sancarlos]

Wonder what a present-day accepted failure is that in 20 years would render some modern players unplayable.

Maybe some players’ frequency of striking out.

[bfj]

I remember UL. He replaced teeny tiny Freddie Patek.

[A_B]

Chris Mortensen, 72.

Nah. Missed this then thought to look, but nah. I'll leave it so it's not buried under UL.

[DSafetyGuy]

Two Hall of Famers on Washington's rookie card (Molitor, Trammell) along with Mickey Klutts, which probably explains why the latter was the fourth-best shortstop on that card.

[degenerasian]

Who were the first power hitting shortstops? Ripken? Yount? All in the AL right?

[L-Jam3]

The Ripken-Young-Trammell troika was the first core of power hitting shortstops, but I think Ernie Banks was probably the first true middle-order power threat. He played the first half of his career at SS, and put up 512 career bombs. Not too shabby.

[mister d]

Yup.. Ernie Banks and then mostly guys from the last ~30 years.

[Nonlinear FC]

This thread pulled out a memory of watching Ivan de Jesus have one of the worst years ever. Because my grandparents lived in Highland Park, and then because WGN was one of two "cable" channels (TBS being the other) I watched a lot of really bad baseball.

Just looked it up. 1981. Batted .194 on the season. Which was pretty crazy because e wasn't a bad player overall. Just had a truly awful year.

[L-Jam3]

And then that offseason, the Phillies traded defensive specialist Larry Bowa and some middling prospect for Ivan DeJesus. What, what was that prospect’s name? Ryan Sablesberg? Something like that.

[The Sybian]

Ivan DeJesus.

Just seeing that name, this image popped into my head. Why the fuck do I have such a clear memory of his 1984 baseball card, and I can't remember shit my kids tell me 15 minutes later? It's not like this was a valuable rookie card, he was a mediocre player and it's not a remotely memorable card. And I didn't recall any of his other cards.

[sancarlos]

When talking about shortstops who had some pop back in the day, Rico Petrocelli deserves a mention.

[L-Jam3]

I don't know why Sybian quoted me, but sure. I can picture saying that.

[Steve of phpBB]

This thread pulled out a memory of watching Ivan de Jesus have one of the worst years ever. Because my grandparents lived in Highland Park, and then because WGN was one of two "cable" channels (TBS being the other) I watched a lot of really bad baseball.

Just looked it up. 1981. Batted .194 on the season. Which was pretty crazy because e wasn't a bad player overall. Just had a truly awful year.

He was never really good at hitting, but yeah, that year was horrid. That was the Cubs' worst season in my lifetime.

[The Sybian]

I don't know why Sybian quoted me, but sure. I can picture saying that.

Ha, just meant to have the name in quotes...

[DSafetyGuy]

The Ripken-Young-Trammell troika was the first core of power hitting shortstops, but I think Ernie Banks was probably the first true middle-order power threat. He played the first half of his career at SS, and put up 512 career bombs. Not too shabby.

Dickie Thon, before being hit in the head by a pitch. In 1983, he was 4th in total bases and 13th in the NL with a .457 slugging mark in part due to a jump to 20 HR (.798 OPS, 34 steals). Not sure if that power jump was sustainable, but would have been nice to find out.

Sorry, Giff.

[Giff]

The Ripken-Young-Trammell troika was the first core of power hitting shortstops, but I think Ernie Banks was probably the first true middle-order power threat. He played the first half of his career at SS, and put up 512 career bombs. Not too shabby.

Dickie Thon, before being hit in the head by a pitch. In 1983, he was 4th in total bases and 13th in the NL with a .457 slugging mark in part due to a jump to 20 HR (.798 OPS, 34 steals). Not sure if that power jump was sustainable, but would have been nice to find out.

Sorry, Giff.

Yeah, two of my first sports memories were this and the NC State game. Good times.

[wlu_lax6]

He was a funny guy.

Watching the most recent Curb. He looked terrible.

[MaxWebster]

wasn't that mike torrez who hit him?

Dickie Thon, before being hit in the head by a pitch. In 1983, he was 4th in total bases and 13th in the NL with a .457 slugging mark in part due to a jump to 20 HR (.798 OPS, 34 steals). Not sure if that power jump was sustainable, but would have been nice to find out.

Sorry, Giff.

[DSafetyGuy]

Yes.

It was a fastball from Mike Torrez of the Mets that nailed a frozen Dickie Thon of the Astros in the face at the Astrodome in a night game on April 8, 1984.
--
Dickie Thon looked dead as he lay on the ground after the pitch. I can’t recall how much time then passed before we got the word that he had survived, for the moment, but no one took anything for granted. And some of us remembered that Ray Chapman had even survived for hours before the swelling in his brain caused new trauma, unstoppable bleeding, and death.

[L-Jam3]

this is exactly how i first heard of him too - i even remember the book, was called "Baseball Players Do Amazing Things" like 10 different 3 page stories of, um, baseball players...doing....

Padres all-time HR leading, Nate Colbert

Things brings up one of my favorite baseball stories I read as a kid.

There are two players who have hit five homers in a double header.

Stan Musial did it in 1954. In the crowd that day, cheering for the Cardinals, was eight year old Nate Colbert.

Nate Colbert did it in 1972.

A blog of Mr. Colbert today on Defector by Ray Ratto.

[sancarlos]

When I was collecting baseball cards as a boy, one year (1970?), Topps included a small poster of a player in each pack. Of course my bedroom wall became covered with those posters. Including one of Padres’ star, Nate Colbert!

[MaxWebster]

found the book i think i got it when i was ~7

cover and the chapter on Musial/Colbert

[L-Jam3]

I had that same book! That’s how I knew the 5 home runs in a doubleheader story!

[MaxWebster]

lmk if you'd like to re-read about the Dean brothers

I had that same book! That’s how I knew the 5 home runs in a doubleheader story!

[L-Jam3]

lmk if you'd like to re-read about the Dean brothers

I had that same book! That’s how I knew the 5 home runs in a doubleheader story!

Is that the one where Dizzy threw a 3-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader then Paul pitched a no-hitter in the nightcap?

[MaxWebster]

you get an A-. Dizzy gave up just 2 hits.

"It was an easy win for Dizzy. Even the Brooklyn fans cheered him."

this...i do not believe.

lmk if you'd like to re-read about the Dean brothers

I had that same book! That’s how I knew the 5 home runs in a doubleheader story!

Is that the one where Dizzy threw a 3-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader then Paul pitched a no-hitter in the nightcap?

[Steve of phpBB]

"If I'da known Paul was going to throw a no-hitter, I'da thrown one too"?

[DaveInSeattle]

Steve Lawrence, crooner who formed pop duo with wife Eydie, dies at 88

Steve Lawrence, a creamy-voiced pop crooner who popularized the standards “Go Away Little Girl” and “I’ve Gotta Be Me” and formed a crowd-pleasing act with his wife, Eydie Gormé, for more than five decades, died March 7 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.

I remember him best from SNL's "The Sinatra Group"...played by Mike Myers.

[L-Jam3]

Four of the depictions and two of the performers in that sketch are now no longer with us. Three of the performers if you want to include Victoria Jackson's mental stability.


ETA: Adjusted the count b/c I forget Edie Gorme died.

[mister d]

Having a visceral reaction to "creamy-voiced".