Ask Grandstander

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

is it true the hebrew nationals never made the playoffs because they were a bunch of showoffs?

Lack of stamina. The first six or seven innings seemed to take a big bite out of their energy and by the 9th it was all consumed.

[skrable]

what a scam. i went to see the new batman movie based on this trailer and the scene wasn't even in the film. why do they do that?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

what a scam. i went to see the new batman movie based on this trailer and the scene wasn't even in the film. why do they do that?

You must live in one of those anti gay communities which censors those segments of films which portray homosexual activities.

[phenweigh]

As a historian and baseball fan, vintage base ball seems like a good fit for you. Do you find it interesting?

Vintage Base Ball Federation

Vintage Base Ball Association | Main / Home Page

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

As a historian and baseball fan, vintage base ball seems like a good fit for you. Do you find it interesting?

Vintage Base Ball Federation

Vintage Base Ball Association | Main / Home Page

Hadn't heard about that. Reviewing the site, it struck me that they are sacrificing old time authenticity for civility in one case. While employing 19th Century rules, they also make a big deal out of the requirement for gentlemanly conduct. All that I have read about baseball back then has stressed how rough house it was, umpires regularly assaulted by players and fans, baserunners tripped, spikes applied to the hands and legs of the defender who is trying to tag the baserunner in the face, extremely loud and graphic heckling of opposing players employing obscene ethnic references...gentleman's game?

[vtred]

Weekly "what if" fight match up:

Louisiana Purchase vs. Seward's Folly?

[phenweigh]

On one of the sites it noted that the boorish behavior began when players started getting paid. The gentlemanly stuff could be authentic from the very early amateur days.

Did you notice that Jim Boutin was president of the vbbf?

Latest News

[vtred]

Will Jim Bouton eventually write a book on his vintage experience called "Ball Six"?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by vtred

Weekly "what if" fight match up:

Louisiana Purchase vs. Seward's Folly?

Neither, I'm gonna go with the Gadsden Purchase. For whatever reasons, whenever I gave a test where it was the identification sort, as in a list of names or places for which the student must write a paragraph explaining who or what they were, the Gadsden Purchase always produced the funniest answers because hardly anyone seemed to be able to remember what it was. (The Wilmont Proviso from the same era runs a close second.)


It is somewhat understandable in that the Gadsden Purchase was an aftermath, a throwaway add on to the empire we lifted from Mexico five years earlier and it was done for the purpose of building a railroad through southern New Mexico and Arizona. The mountains didn't start to flatten out until south of the areas we had swiped with the war, so we needed to extend the border a bit in order to be able to get the railroad through. Santa Anna, back in power at the moment, went for the 10 million bucks offered, probably because he was well aware that the US could, and probaby would, simply take it otherwise.

The Purchase itself wasn't that big of a deal, we got a bunch of desert land. The importance was how all of this was related to the slavery/anti slavery struggle which defined the 1850's, and the fact that it was partly the inspiration for William Walker, the greatest of the southern fillibusters, to launch his ill fated invasion of Baja California, a warm up for his later conquest of Nicaragua.

The other great purpose was to provide history teachers with a question which over the years, has prevented quite a few students from getting perfect scores on tests.

Those one paragraph identification tests were my absolute favorite. The students either knew what they were talking about, had to leave it blank, or had to make up some tremendous bs and hope for the best. The bs answers were often hilarious. I once had a student who, for the answer to "What was the Wilmont Provisio", wrote only...."Something to do with Mrs. Flintstone's pre-nup."

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

On one of the sites it noted that the boorish behavior began when players started getting paid. The gentlemanly stuff could be authentic from the very early amateur days.

Did you notice that Jim Boutin was president of the vbbf?

Latest News

Bouton is a hustler, one of those high energy guys who always has something going. Did you know that he was behind "Big League Chew", the bubble gum which comes in the chewing tobbacco pouch?

I soured a bit on Bouton after reading his most recent book, the one where he tried to get his city to remodel an existing crappy facility rather than build a new ballpark for the local minor league team. Bouton is a partisan, he tends to make black/white, good/evil struggles out of what are actually ordinary conflicts in interest and his objectivity flies out the window rather quickly once the fight is engaged. Reading the book, one was supposed to sympathize with Bouton and his clear headed vision for the proper way to go about things, but I kept getting the impression that Bouton's definitions of proper all coincidentally coincided with Bouton's self interests in the matter. The major problem was that not very far into the book, the reader could see that this was a Quixotic project, doomed to failure, and I think that Bouton must have grasped this as well, but he fought on anyway, perhaps to provide him with material for a book?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by vtred

Will Jim Bouton eventually write a book on his vintage experience called "Ball Six"?

See my above response for a take on Bouton. And yes to the above.

[skrable]

among other things jim bouton is now the constant companion to 88-year-old broadway legend marge champion

i always wear my sock inside out, because the ridgeline bothers my toes. i have a new pair of socks, with ridges on both sides. how should i wear these?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

among other things jim bouton is now the constant companion to 88-year-old broadway legend marge champion

i always wear my sock inside out, because the ridgeline bothers my toes. i have a new pair of socks, with ridges on both sides. how should i wear these?

Just turn your toes inside out and you should be okay. If the socks still bother your feet, wear them on your hands instead.

[perfectstormhits]

I'm getting you this for your birthday.

Orange Vintage Couch

Will it go with your decor?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by perfectstormhits

I'm getting you this for your birthday.

Orange Vintage Couch

Will it go with your decor?

That's perfect. I've been looking for a front lawn piece to compliment the rusting truck on cinder blocks.