Quote of the Day- Carlton Fisk

Since the baseball pennant races are in full swing (no pun intended) here in America, we thought we'd quip some famous baseball all-stars of yesterday.

Carlton Fisk, 65,a catcher,  played his entire long career for just two teams, a rarity today, the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox.

He is perhaps best known for hitting a 12th inning grand slam home-run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series which the Red Sox ultimately lost to the Cincinnati Reds, a team which also boasted an all-star catcher in Johnny Bench.

Here is Fisk's quote:

"It's not what you achieve, it's what you overcome. That's what defines your career."

http://www.carltonfisk.com

http://www.redsox.mlb.com

Virtual Postcard from Missouri- Chuck Berry Statue

Greetings from Missouri, yes we really are in the Show Me State though we are pretty far from St.Louis, where one can see this statue of the rock and roll legend Chuck Berry, who is thankfully still among the living.

Good morning to those of you in Dubai, where it is now 9:00 a.m. We're not sure if Fly Emirates has direct flights to St. Louis, but we imagine you can jump on a British Airways flight at Heathrow Airport from London to St. Louis, which was home to the now-defunct American airline TWA (1925-2001).

Missouri's largest city is also known for its baseball team the St. Louis Cardinals, the second winnigest team in Major League Baseball history.

http://www.visitmo.com/

http://explorestlouis.com/

http://www.emirates.com/

http://www.britishairways.com

10 People Who Will Decide Next President (5 of 10)

Name: Adam Youngman

Age: 26

Race: White

Residency: Glendale, Arizona

Will Likely Vote for: McCain....ooops, sorry we mean Mitt Romney

Baxter the Bobcat is the actual mascot of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, which one game below .500. Though Arizona was considered a possible swing state when we devised this blog series, it now appears that Romney will win the state unless his problems with foot and mouth disease further catch up with him.

Arizona's governor Jan Brewer is a highly controversial right-wing figure who has clashed with President Barack Obama over immigration. The state of Arizona borders Mexico.

Of course, if the person in the mascot's outfit is really named Adam Youngman that is puerly coincidental, and this is a fictional person indicative of a given demographic. We also don't know what the mascot's actual political leanings are?!

http://www.azdem.org

http://www.azgop.org

 

Status Update- I am Vowing to Give Up French Fries

Ironically, I have decided to give up french fries starting on August 1st, even though I have nothing against France, a day before Bastille Day. Some believe that french fries actually originated in Belgium, which is celebrating its Independence Day on July 15th (Friday). And, there was the 'freedom fries' during the outset of the war in Iraq, which was started in part by Cong. Walter Jones (R-NC) who ironically would later question the George W. Bush administration's results with the Mesopatamian Mess.


According to "The Urban Dictionary," the French responded by calling American cheese, idiot cheese. Hopefully, this is all behind us now!

But, irregardless, for the sake of my own health, I am hoping that the fries I had today at a Burger King in Danville, Va., are the last ones I eat for quite a while!

I am reminded of how Morgan Spurlock, the documentary filmmaker who is my age and is from Beckely, West Virginia, about 80 miles from Roanoke, Va., where I grew up, when he went on his fast food odyseey for the film "Supersize Me." Spurlock's latest film "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" has just been released on dvd.

SIDEBAR: Dave Zirin, the sportswriter, for the liberal publication "The Nation" has written a column posted today which states that he will refuse to watch tonight's All-Star Baseball Game from Arizona because of the state's draconian SB-1070 bill, which takes radical, draconian measures to try to curb illegal immigration. As Zirin pointed out, many of today's top major league baseball players are from Latin America.

I am actually not big on boycotts for the simple reason that if you are a political conservative boycotting Citgo because it has petrol from Venezuela or if you are a liberal boycotting BP because of the notorious oil spill in Louisiana last year, you may well end up sitting on the side of the road.

But, I sympathize with Zirin's sentiments. As it is, due to time constraints, I have not watched a major or minor league baseball game all year. How are those Toledo Mudhens doing?

Quote of the Day- Mike Schmidt

Today, I thought I would go with two baseball legends who were stars when I was avidly watching baseball as a little boy (I actually rarely watch baseball now!).

Back in 1980, when I was ten years old, Mike Schmidt helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series championship by defeating the Kansas City Royals, a team that was once a perenial power.

Schmidt, now 61, is from Dayton, Ohio, and he graduated from Fairview High School. He played for the Phillies his entire career from 1972 until 1989. The third-baseman was a 12-time All-Star, and he was named National League MVP in 1980, 1981 and 1986.

Here is his quote:

"I could ask the Phillies to keep me on to add to my statistics, but my love for the game won't let me do that."

SIDEBAR: I was able to name all 43 of the American presidents (Barack Obama is actually classified as the 44th president because Grover Cleveland served two separate terms) in 4:47 on mentalfloss.com

It was actually my seventh or eighth try at achieving this. The last president who came to mind was Chester Arthur, the 21 president who was also a Republican. In case you are wondering, the new movie "Arthur" nor the original 1981 Dudley Moore film it's based upon have anything to do with President Arthur!

Special Quote of the Day- Joe DiMaggio

Today, we quip the late slugger Joltin' Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999), who was also known as the Yankee Clipper. The New York Yankees great was a three-time MVP and a 13-time All-Star. DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak in 1941 which has yet to be broken.

Off the field, DiMaggio made headlines during his brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Playwright Arthur Miller ("Death of a Salesman") whom we've quote a lot here was her other husband.

DiMaggio was also the spokesperson for Mr. Coffee during the 1970s, and he is mentioned in the classic Simon and Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson."

Here is the quote:

"There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time or the last time, I owe him my best."

Special Quote of the Week- Jim Palmer

Today, I am featuring respective quotes from two baseball players associated with the 1970 World Series. Since I was only a few months old at the time, I didn't see any of the games, but the Baltimore Orioles stunned the Cincinnati Reds, known as the Big Red Machine, four games to one.

Brooks Robinson of the Orioles was named MVP of that series, but our quote comes from O's pitcher Jim Palmer who won a game during the series. who is now 65 years old. Thus, thankfully, we will no longer have to see him in underwear commercials!

Here is our quote from Palmer:

"Most pitchers are too smart to manage."

We want to give a shout out to our friend Corrine Ready, well I don't actually know her, but she does apparently read our blog (!), so below is a link to her site about the ten best films dealing with suburban life. Perhaps, one of these films takes place in Bethesda, Maryland.....I wonder if residents there still root for the O's or do they root for the Washington Nationals?!:

http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library/10-best-movies-about-suburban-life.html/

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

In the next few days, we are hoping to blog about another very long road trip and write a top ten list about folks with very, very long lastnames!

Special Quote of the Week- Babe Ruth

This month, we are going to feature quips from some famous baseball players. We srart with Babe Ruth (1895-1948) who was born in Baltimore, but made his fame playing for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Ruth hit 714 homeruns in his career, which was later eclipsed by Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.

Ironically, Ruth and Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) the subject of the entry on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" both died young at age 53.

Here is the quote from The Bambino:

"Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back."

Special Quote of the Week- Joe Morgan (Our 800th Entry)

Today we feature a quote from legendary second base player Joe Morgan who played for several major league baseball teams, including the Reds, Phillies, Astros and Giants.

I remember watching him on tv with the Houston Astros in the summer of 1981, when I was 11 years old with a team that challenged the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that was a significant baseball power at the time that had players like all-star first baseman Steve Garvey.

His daugther Ashley Morgan, a sophomore at Stanford University, is a stand-out collegiate gymnast with the second-ranked Cardinal. During her first meet at the University of Georgia, Ashley Morgan scored a 9.83.

The Cardinal won their meet over Michigan and Nebraska in a dual-meet in Ann Arbor over the weekend. On Friday, Stanford has a road meet with Arizona.

Here is the quote from Morgan who has also been prolific as a baseball announcer:

"I take my vote as a salute to the little guy, the one who doesn't hit 500 homeruns.."

Paid Political Commentary (Regarding Detroit Tigers Pitcher)

For the very first time ever on this blog, someone has asked me to post an entry about a matter which concerns them!

This does not really pertain to be a political issue, but my friend Renaldo Hernandez (pse) of Richmond, Va. (not really where he is from) wanted me to complement Detroit Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga (pictured here).

The Tigers pitcher apparently came very close to throwing a perfect game last night, but a bothced call by the umpire in which a player for the opposing Cleveland Indians was called 'safe at first' blew the perfect game opportunity for Galarraga.

'Hernandez' said that Galarrage exemplified classiness as he merely said that while he thought the Indians play was out that umpires make mistakes.

Apparently, the umpire looked at a video replay of the incident and he realized that he did in fact make a mistake. He called Galarraga to apologize and the Tigers pitcher was gracious in his response.

Hernandez also feels that this is a postive story which shows that athletes can display good sportsmanship, and that not all of them are spoiled rich guys on ego trips.

Hmmm....I wonder if he was refering to Tiger Woods?!

On Twitter, the RedSoxFanClub also praised the pitcher's grace even though the Boston Red Sox are rivals with the Tigers.

Now for a weather reporter in the greater Richmond-Petersburg area we turn to our meteorologist Matt Denardo.*

*-This is an actual weather reporter for a TV station in Richmond. Apparently, there is a Youtube video of him cursing on camera!

Unpaid Editorial Commentary

"I wish I had never touched steroids," Mark McGwire said. "It was foolish and it was a mistake."