Category: internet

Things seen on the World Wide Web.

A definite Blue Jays difference

From the blog Torontoist, here is a great 1980 advertisement for Toronto Blue Jays-branded food items, exclusively available at Dominion supermarkets. The products are mostly of the “if you enjoy it at the ballpark, you’ll enjoy it at home” variety, but there are a couple of outliers: granola bars? Peanut butter?

There’s also milk in a Blue Jays logo glass. I assume that’s because they were selling Blue Jays glassware in the stores; however, I’d like to think it was a near-last-minute addition during the photo shoot when someone decided that, with the kids depicted eating baseball stadium “junk food” (a hot dog, popcorn, and potato chips), there should be some indication that they might be consuming something healthy at some point in the near future.

Despite having taken a year of French in college, I don’t remember having seen the French word for “peanuts” before — not even at Olympic Stadium in 2004 — and now that I see it on these packages, “arachides” is a little too close to “arachnids” for comfort. There better not be spiders roasted in those shells!

The trots

To start the new season, the indispensable Wezen-Ball has offered up yet another in their long series of pointless, yet wonderful investigations of odd dimensions of baseball: the duration of home run trots.

I’ll won’t share all the details so you’ll click over–you really should be reading Wezen-Ball every day already–but it won’t surprise you to learn that Molinas take two of the top five slots for slowest home run trots. That’s not to say that they’re showboats–I suspect Mrs. Molina wouldn’t have any truck with that nonsense–it’s just that they move like showboats. Nineteenth-century paddlewheel showboats. Takes ’em a long time to get going, and their top speed is best registered in hours per mile.

Scott Rolen, meanwhile, that hardworking Hoosier with a Show-Me State attitude, makes the other list, his head-down churn near–but not at–the top. Who’s the fastest? Well, leaving aside Stephen Drew’s inside-the-parker from a few days back, it’s an AL player who has been described by a teammate as playing “as if he hasn’t slept for four days.” Take a gander at how close his time is to Drew’s, and remember that Drew was trying to avoid being tagged out while he was running the bases. I picture a dugout full of laughing teammates.

Things to read

On the occasion of today’s Dodgers home opener — their 53rd in Los Angeles, if I am counting correctly — the L.A. Times printed an op-ed piece about why their interlocking “LA” logo is awesome.

Speaking of awesome, @raysjoemaddon has been quiet on Twitter so far this season. Fortunately, there is @cubshaiku to pick up the baseball-related slack, summing up each Cubs game succinctly and poetically.

First there is a lead
Then there is no lead because
One run not enough

That’s the haiku summary of Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the Reds.

One would expect the Cardinals, Orioles, or Blue Jays to tweet, but…

Joe Maddon is apparently the only MLB manager on Twitter, as @RaysJoeMaddon. His tweets can be a bit obtuse and incoherent…kind of like the Rays’ offensive strategies. Ha ha!

And here’s a sentence I never, ever thought I’d use: I learned about this from Alyssa Milano.

Rays awesomeness watch, The Onion edition

Double-Booked Tropicana Field Holds First Haunted House World Series

“[D]ates for the haunted house were reserved in late July, a time when the possibility of the stadium being used for the World Series did not seem realistic to anyone in the Rays’ front office.”

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The Yankees as a metaphor for society at large

Today’s post from Uni Watch, ostensibly about the last game at Yankee Stadium, makes some piquant points about the Yankees and how their current status is related to other things that are going on in this country, and the world. (Link almost sent straight to Levi, since I have a feeling he’ll enjoy it, but I figured I might as well post it here.)

Skip Caray, R. I. P.

The Skip Caray anecdote in this David O’Brien column from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution made me laugh embarrassingly loudly at my desk this afternoon, even after Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball warned his readers how good it was–and pointed out that it was most likely Chip Caray’s finest hour as well.

Enjoy, folks. And rest in peace, Skip.

Tracking team travels

Both the Cubs and White Sox use United Airlines charters for their travel needs, and United always assigns them the same flight numbers: 9904 for the Sox, 9907 for the Cubs.

And therefore, it’s possible to track their flights: 9904 and 9907. Because it’s a charter service, you’ll see some airports that aren’t normally served by United but that are closer to the hotel or stadium: Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City to meet the Royals, for example, or St. Petersburg/Clearwater International for Rays games.