Monthly Archives: February 2005

I’ve got baseball fever..

I asked the Baseball Oracle to connect Hornsby with McGwire, this is what it spit back:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Pat Malone for the 1929 Chicago Cubs
�� Pat Malone played with Phil Cavarretta for the 1934 Chicago Cubs
�� Phil Cavarretta played with Minnie Minoso for the 1955 Chicago White Sox
�� Minnie Minoso played with Rich Gossage for the 1976 Chicago White Sox
�� Rich Gossage played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

This depressed me, so I asked for it to try again, and they offered:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Freddie Lindstrom for the 1927 New York Giants
�� Freddie Lindstrom played with Phil Cavarretta for the 1935 Chicago Cubs
�� Phil Cavarretta played with Minnie Minoso for the 1954 Chicago White Sox
�� Minnie Minoso played with Rich Gossage for the 1976 Chicago White Sox
�� Rich Gossage played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

I wanted to cry. I hit reload.

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Sam West for the 1933 St. Louis Browns
�� Sam West played with Early Wynn for the 1939 Washington Senators
�� Early Wynn played with Minnie Minoso for the 1949 Cleveland Indians
�� Minnie Minoso played with Harold Baines for the 1980 Chicago White Sox
�� Harold Baines played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

This was slightly better. But I wasn’t satisfied with the Browns, so I pressed reload one more time:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Chick Hafey for the 1926 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Chick Hafey played with Eddie Joost for the 1937 Cincinnati Reds
�� Eddie Joost played with Jim Pagliaroni for the 1955 Boston Red Sox
�� Jim Pagliaroni played with Reggie Jackson for the 1968 Oakland Athletics
�� Reggie Jackson played with Mark McGwire for the 1987 Oakland Athletics

I knew the odds were low I’d be able to get both of them in St. Louis, but a few clicks of the Reload button, and I did come up with:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Estel Crabtree for the 1933 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Estel Crabtree played with Murry Dickson for the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Murry Dickson played with Ken Johnson for the 1958 Kansas City Athletics
�� Ken Johnson played with Dusty Baker for the 1968 Atlanta Braves
�� Dusty Baker played with Mark McGwire for the 1986 Oakland Athletics

This was the most satisfying chain I’ve discovered so far:

� Dizzy Dean played with Bill McGee for the 1935 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Bill McGee played with Stan Musial for the 1941 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Stan Musial played with Bob Gibson for the 1959 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Bob Gibson played with Bob Forsch for the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals

And interesting, because all the above were pitchers. (OK, Stan only pictched to one batter in one game, but that counts.)

Finally, this was the biggest surprise….I didn’t think it was going to be this short of a connection:

�� Whitey Herzog played with Ray Jablonski for the 1960 Kansas City Athletics
�� Ray Jablonski played with Red Schoendienst for the 1953 St. Louis Cardinals

I’ve got baseball fever..

I asked the Baseball Oracle to connect Hornsby with McGwire, this is what it spit back:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Pat Malone for the 1929 Chicago Cubs
�� Pat Malone played with Phil Cavarretta for the 1934 Chicago Cubs
�� Phil Cavarretta played with Minnie Minoso for the 1955 Chicago White Sox
�� Minnie Minoso played with Rich Gossage for the 1976 Chicago White Sox
�� Rich Gossage played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

This depressed me, so I asked for it to try again, and they offered:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Freddie Lindstrom for the 1927 New York Giants
�� Freddie Lindstrom played with Phil Cavarretta for the 1935 Chicago Cubs
�� Phil Cavarretta played with Minnie Minoso for the 1954 Chicago White Sox
�� Minnie Minoso played with Rich Gossage for the 1976 Chicago White Sox
�� Rich Gossage played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

I wanted to cry. I hit reload.

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Sam West for the 1933 St. Louis Browns
�� Sam West played with Early Wynn for the 1939 Washington Senators
�� Early Wynn played with Minnie Minoso for the 1949 Cleveland Indians
�� Minnie Minoso played with Harold Baines for the 1980 Chicago White Sox
�� Harold Baines played with Mark McGwire for the 1992 Oakland Athletics

This was slightly better. But I wasn’t satisfied with the Browns, so I pressed reload one more time:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Chick Hafey for the 1926 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Chick Hafey played with Eddie Joost for the 1937 Cincinnati Reds
�� Eddie Joost played with Jim Pagliaroni for the 1955 Boston Red Sox
�� Jim Pagliaroni played with Reggie Jackson for the 1968 Oakland Athletics
�� Reggie Jackson played with Mark McGwire for the 1987 Oakland Athletics

I knew the odds were low I’d be able to get both of them in St. Louis, but a few clicks of the Reload button, and I did come up with:

�� Rogers Hornsby played with Estel Crabtree for the 1933 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Estel Crabtree played with Murry Dickson for the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Murry Dickson played with Ken Johnson for the 1958 Kansas City Athletics
�� Ken Johnson played with Dusty Baker for the 1968 Atlanta Braves
�� Dusty Baker played with Mark McGwire for the 1986 Oakland Athletics

This was the most satisfying chain I’ve discovered so far:

� Dizzy Dean played with Bill McGee for the 1935 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Bill McGee played with Stan Musial for the 1941 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Stan Musial played with Bob Gibson for the 1959 St. Louis Cardinals
�� Bob Gibson played with Bob Forsch for the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals

And interesting, because all the above were pitchers. (OK, Stan only pictched to one batter in one game, but that counts.)

Finally, this was the biggest surprise….I didn’t think it was going to be this short of a connection:

�� Whitey Herzog played with Ray Jablonski for the 1960 Kansas City Athletics
�� Ray Jablonski played with Red Schoendienst for the 1953 St. Louis Cardinals

My musical horizons are expanded

A couple days ago I mentioned I picked up a Warren Zevon CD at the local library because a fellow blogger had mentioned his name in the past.

It’s been playing in my car for the past few days. The CD is rather enjoyable.

My musical background isn’t extensive, so I’m not very good at detecting who someone “sounds like”, but I’ve decided Zevon sounds like a mix between the Grateful Dead and CCR. At least he does to me. And it’s a good mix.

I have so far won 7 free Itunes songs from the Pepsi/Itunes promotion, and at least one of these legitimate Itunes downloads will probably be to expand my Zevon collection.

I could use a recommendation or two. Don’t bother recommending any songs from his album, The Wind. That’s the album I got from the library, and I’m not going to waste my pepsi caps downloading a song I already have. 🙂

Degrees of Babe

Babe Ruth played with Hank Johnson
for the 1925 New York Yankees

Hank Johnson played with Johnny Vander Meer
for the 1939 Cincinnati Reds

Johnny Vander Meer played with Minnie Minoso
for the 1951 Cleveland Indians

Minnie Minoso played with Terry Forster
for the 1976 Chicago White Sox

Terry Forster played with Chuck Finley
for the 1986 California Angels

Chuck Finley played with Albert Pujols
for the 2002 St. Louis Cardinals

Find your favorite ballplayer’s Babe Ruth Number

***

Cups of Coffee (A complete list of all baseball players who only played in 1 major league game)

For those seeking employment…

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Location and hours flexible, pay good.

The job may seem onerous to some, however: watching “The Dukes of Hazzard” reruns five nights a week.

Viacom’s Country Music Television channel is running help wanted ads for this position — Vice President, CMT Dukes of Hazzard Institute. That’s right. That’s what the ads say, noting the pay is $100,000 for the duration of a one-year contract.

The vice president will have to watch Dukes of Hazzard every weeknight on Country Music Television, know all the words to The Dukes of Hazzard theme song and write the Dukes of Hazzard on-line blog for CMT.com, Country Music Television’s Web site.

The person selected will also have to be available for media interviews to “share his or her expertise and passion” for the TV program and make appearances at events such as Dukefest 2005 in Bristol, Tenn., in June, according to the ad.

more info

For those seeking employment…

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Location and hours flexible, pay good.

The job may seem onerous to some, however: watching “The Dukes of Hazzard” reruns five nights a week.

Viacom’s Country Music Television channel is running help wanted ads for this position — Vice President, CMT Dukes of Hazzard Institute. That’s right. That’s what the ads say, noting the pay is $100,000 for the duration of a one-year contract.

The vice president will have to watch Dukes of Hazzard every weeknight on Country Music Television, know all the words to The Dukes of Hazzard theme song and write the Dukes of Hazzard on-line blog for CMT.com, Country Music Television’s Web site.

The person selected will also have to be available for media interviews to “share his or her expertise and passion” for the TV program and make appearances at events such as Dukefest 2005 in Bristol, Tenn., in June, according to the ad.

more info

Junior Varsity

Here’s the first sentence of an opinion piece at the Conservative Voice (Which boasts Jerry Falwell as a columnist).

When the media goes after someone with the varsity theyíve targeted Jeff Gannon it makes us all take a second look.

The media attacking Gannon is ‘varsity’, sir. You’re still JV.

“Veracity” is the closest word that fits, though I suspect the opinion writer wasn’t praising their “adherence to truth.” I suspect he meant to write “Ferocity”.

(I don’t attack typos. This wasn’t a typo. This was ignorance.)

Ilan Ramon’s notes recovered

NEW ORLEANS — A small heap of paper that survived the fiery disintegration of space shuttle Columbia, a 38-mile fall to Earth and two months of exposure to rain and sun in a Texas field has been painstakingly restored by forensic scientists, yielding the flight diary and notes of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

source

“All together, 18 pages handwritten in Hebrew were recovered.”

Coincidence?

Ilan Ramon’s notes recovered

NEW ORLEANS — A small heap of paper that survived the fiery disintegration of space shuttle Columbia, a 38-mile fall to Earth and two months of exposure to rain and sun in a Texas field has been painstakingly restored by forensic scientists, yielding the flight diary and notes of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

source

“All together, 18 pages handwritten in Hebrew were recovered.”

Coincidence?

Morning activities

Two weeks later, and I’m back at my local library/bookcrossing zone

If you want to see the books I have released, or are about to release, you can go to my bookshelf. I’m not releasing any this morning at the library, as I am holding on to them for the local bookcrossers meetup. Those that don’t get passed on directly to someone there, will get released into the wild. Of course, before I release them, if you see something on the list you have a strong desire to read, let me know…we might be able to work something out. Especially if you agree not to store the book away in some damp corner of your home after you’re done, but release it back into the wild again.

I’m checking out a few cds this morning to listen to. One is by Warren Zevon. I’ve heard a fellow blogger mention Warren a few times on her blog/s. So while I’m not familiar with him, I decided I’d take his cd for a test-drive. I’m also bringing home a 4-cd folk retrospective. I’m really only interested in the 4th cd, which ends with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. The other 3 cds are more country than folk, at least in my opinion.

In a few I will head to the local mall for a meetup based on a popular children’s series of novels, though it looked like all those attending the meetup weren’t children, which is good. I wouldn’t want to look like…well, you know. 36 year old man shows up to discuss books with a bunch of elementary and high school students? That wouldn’t look kosher.