Archive for Minor League Baseball
Anthony Gose, 23, a prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, stole home on Monday night, a nearly unheard of occurrence in this modern era of baseball.
Gose, a center fielder for the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays, stole home plate during Monday night’s game against the Norfolk Tides, a farm team of the Baltimore Orioles, after he caught pitcher Jake Arrieta snoozing during the 1st inning.
A video featuring footage from a May 3 Fresno Grizzlies game purports to feature footage of a young woman reaching the end of her rope with her boyfriend while appearing on the stadium’s Kiss Cam.
Sadly, the video is in all likelihood staged, a clever exercise in total deception and hackneyed fakery.
Judge for yourself.
Some more ceremonial first pitch hijinks, you say? Sure, why not? Prior to the New York Mets-Chicago White Sox game at Citi Field on Tuesday, Gary Green, the owner of the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, was on-hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Green apparently is a lifelong Mets fan — he was even at Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the Red Sox (the legendary Bill Buckner game) — so hopefully that nugget of information answers any “Why in the hell is the owner of a minor league team in the Kansas City Royals organization throwing out a pitch at a friggin’ Mets game?” inquiries.
The pitch? Juuuuust a bit high.
Above is a photo of Bryce Harper’s family: dad Ron, mom Sherri, sister Brittany and big brother Bryan). This nice photo was taken in 2009 in Las Vegas. Since then, both brothers have moved on to playing baseball in the Washington Nationals organization: the 20-year-old Bryce as a young phenom with the big league ball club (who has started off this young season in superstar fashion) and 23-year-old Bryan with Washington’s Single-A affiliate, the Hagerstown Suns. It is worth noting that Bryan had a tangential hand in the evolution of brother Bryce’s now-famous retort, “That’s a clown question, bro.”
As the Harper boys have grown up, another evolution of sorts has been occurring on Bryan’s face just above his lip, in the way of an absolutely majestic handlebar mustache. It has to be seen and marveled at in order for it to be truly appreciated.
The Reading Fightin Phils, once known as the Reading Phillies, a name befitting a team that serves as the Double-A affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies, recently issued a press release announcing that an “exciting, unique partnership between the Reading Fightin Phils and the Berks County and Pennsylvania agriculture community” has been consummated.
And that, of course, means the team’s ballpark, FirstEnergy Stadium, will house two ostriches this season.
Wait. What?
Much like in the way Spirit Airlines sought to capitalize on the Manti Te’o fake dead girlfriend saga, the Florence Freedom, based in Florence, Ky. and a member of the Independent Frontier League, has realized that the controversy surrounding the Notre Dame linebacker can be used to manufacture some priceless publicity.
On Thursday, May 23, the Freedom will open the gates at UC Health Stadium for Manti Te’o Girlfriend Bobblehead Night. Winner winner zinger dinner.
The Inland Empire 66ers, the Class A – Advanced affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, located in San Bernadino, Calif., were not going to stand idly by and witness the sad demise of Hostess Twinkies occur without the organization paying the delicious and beloved treat its proper and deserved respects.
While there remains hope that Twinkies may somehow be spared and saved from extinction as a tragic consequence of Hostess recently filing bankruptcy, the Inland Empire 66ers prefer to have all their bases covered (zing!) just in case this is indeed the swan song for the whipped cream-stuffed, yellow sponge cake morsels of snacky deliciousness.
Are you someone who has always dreamed of staring down into a baseball stadium from thousands of feet above the ground and then throwing caution to the wind (literally) by parachuting into said stadium? But due to financial and logistical constraints, the chances that you will ever realize your dream are slim to none?
Or better put, if you’re anything like me (I’ll be honest, I get nervous looking out of windows in taller buildings), that the possibility that you would willingly leap out of an airplane and plummet towards the earth by choice — even with the near-certain likelihood that the parachute strapped to your back would function appropriately — are so remote that it does not even bear discussion, even if you were afforded the opportunity?
If you fall into the category of people — which I most certainly belong — that would never jump out of an airplane, this video is for you, as it shows — quite intensely — exactly how parachuting into Dodger Stadium would look, courtesy of a point-of-view camera filming a Navy SEAL performing that very stunt.
During a game between the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, something occurred that may never be seen again: a ginormous relief pitcher that tips the scales at a whopping 350 pounds, managed to steal a base. And third base at that.
Jose Diaz, a reliever for the Indianapolis Indians who fittingly goes by the nickname “Jumbo,” managed a clean steal of third base during the 8th inning. What makes this feat impressive and a surprising oddity are the following two conditions:
- it’s rare enough of an occurrence for a relief pitcher to get an at-bat; and secondly;
- the guy is 350-freaking-pounds, people
Video follows.
Hey, it’s a tie game, and this is crazy, but here’s a single, so call me Mayberry: atmlb.com/P66af0
— MLB (@MLB) August 24, 2012
Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! That’s just wrong. So, so wrong. Major League Baseball: do the right thing and immediately terminate the employment of the individual behind this egregious affront to clever tweeting.
If there were a way in the internet world where an overused, played out meme could be executed, the “Call Me Maybe” craze should have received a lethal injection weeks ago, maybe months.
Forget lethal injection. That’s too humane — now I’m anthropomorphizing memes, for crying out loud — for “Call Me Maybe,” I’d suggest the punishment of being drawn and quartered.
Make it stop, people.
[H/T Hardball Talk]
