JA Happ Hit In The Head
A very scary scene unfolded on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field when Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ was hit in the head by a line drive off of the bat of Desmond Jennings of the Tampa Bay Rays. Happ appeared to be bleeding and had to be taken off the field in a stretcher.
Matt Kemp Gives Away Hat, Jersey, Shoes To Fan
One lucky Los Angeles Dodgers fan had a night he will never forget.
Matt Kemp makes his way over to the fan after the game to say hello.
Cincinnati Reds In-Flight Menu Fit For A King
Being A Major League Baseball Player Seems Like The Life
Dallas Latos, wife of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos, tweeted out the in-flight menu for the team’s charter, which she doesn’t get to ride on often.
The menu is divided into four sections: Pre-Departure Snacks, Dinner Selections, Snacks, Beverages. It doesn’t say as much, but presumably the format implies that the second set of snacks is for after the plane has departed.
Pre-departure snacks include personal pizzas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, California rolls, and shrimp cocktail.
For dinner, Latos, Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto and all the Reds can select from fried shrimp with macaroni and cheese and grilled haricots verts, chicken stir fry with jasmine rice and vegetables, baked lasagna, a bleu cheese and spinach entree salad with a grilled beef fillet on top, or cheeseburgers.
After dinner, there’s ice-cream bars, ice-cream sandwiches, caramel corn, fresh fruit and cheese, candy bars, and more.
The menu detailed above was for the Reds’ flight from Chicago to Cincinnati. That trip takes about an hour.
Mike Trout Hats To Be Given Away June 18th
Here Fishy Fishy
Come June 18 the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim hope you attend that nights game against the Seattle Mariners to see baseball and be part of the Mike Trout promotional night.
That night the Angels will be giving away fish hats, more specifically a trout hat, if you will. It features, prominently and beautifully, a trout mouth agape in wonder and a trucker mesh in the back that kids these days wear.
Otis Nixon Busted With Crack Cocaine
Cocaine Is Hell Of A Drug
Former Major League Baseball outfielder Otis Nixon was arrested over the weekend in Atlanta when officers busted him with crack cocaine during a traffic stop.
Nixon has been charged with possession of cocaine and possession of a drug-related object.
More on the story from the AJC:
Nixon, 54, had a crack pipe in his pocket and a crack rock in his vehicle when he was stopped on I-575 early Saturday, according to a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reported obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A 911 caller reported a red Dodge Ram pickup truck driving erratically on I-575 north shortly after midnight and a deputy was dispatched and pulled the truck over, the report states. A state trooper assisted with the traffic stop. Inside Nixon’s truck, investigators found a small rock substance believed to be crack cocaine, the report states. Nixon also had a crack pipe in his pants’ pockets, deputies said.Police also discovered an additional crack pipe inside one of the truck compartments, as well as a plastic bag containing what they believed to be cocaine residue on the driver’s side of the floor board.
A series of field sobriety tests concluded that Nixon did not appear under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the report.
Once handcuffed and placed in the backseat of the police car, Nixon allegedly surrendered yet another small bag of suspected crack cocaine to an officer.
The 54-year-old remains behind bars in the Cherokee County jail Monday and is being held on $11,800 bond.
Nixon spent his 17-year MLB career with nine different franchises, but his best stint with any team arguably came as a member of the Atlanta Braves.
Drafted by the New York Yankees with the third overall pick in the 1979 amateur draft, Nixon was regarded as one of the fastest players in baseball during the 1990s. He stole a total of 620 bases in his career .
Dog Dressed In Hot Dog Costume Eats Hot Dog
Amazing
During “Bark in the Park” day at Turner Field in Atlanta Sunday, a very cool dog dressed as a hot dog while eating a hot dog was shown on the big screen.
Colorado Rockies Fan Rocks Team Inspired Mohawk
Rocky Mountain High
One Colorado Rockies fan took the love of his team to a whole new level. The young man’s mohawk features the Rockies’ colors, team logo, and an image of Troy Tulowitzki. The height of the mohawk is pretty phenomenal.
Pittsburgh Pirates have own SNL intro
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been introducing their lineup with a late-night television flair. A video intro that’s in the style of Saturday Night Live and Late Night With David Letterman has been playing before games at PNC Park
Clay Buchholz accused of doctoring baseball
Sticky Situation
Clay Buchholz has been the best starting pitcher in baseball this season, and some think he is cheating to gain an unfair advantage.
After the Boston Red Sox pitcher improved to 6-0 on the season following Boston’s 10-1 win in Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, accusations came from Blue Jays broadcaster Dirk Hayhurst that Buchholz was doctoring the baseball with a substance he kept on his forearm.
“Forget the hair, I just saw video of Buchholz loading the ball with some Eddie Harris worthy slick’em painted up his left forearm. Wow.”
“This was substantial. You could see it slathered on there,” Hayhurst wrote in another tweet.
Then on his radio show on Fan 590 in Toronto Hayhurst said that Buchholz “absolutely” is cheating.
Buchholz responded to the accusation by saying the substance on his forearm was rosin.
“There’s a rosin bag behind the mound and it’s there for everybody to use every inning after our warm-up,” Buchholz said. “Put rosin on my arm throughout the game. Sweat, water, whatever. … Sometimes I put a little thing of water on my hip just to get moisture on your hands ‘cause sometimes the balls that they throw to you feel like cue balls off a pool table. Got to find a way to get grip. But yeah, I mean, definitely no foreign objects or substances on my arm.”
Adding to the intrigue was Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa, who took the mound in the seventh inning Thursday with his left arm glistening, and the way he went to his forearm prompted Jack Morris to wonder on the Sportsnet broadcast whether there might be a foreign substance there, too.
Nationals trainers revive but can’t save cameraman in Atlanta
You Tried
The Washington Nationals say an Atlanta-area television worker has died after collapsing before their game against the Atlanta Braves.
Nationals spokesman John Dever says 61-year-old Reuben Porras of Newnan, Ga., collapsed Wednesday while setting up for MLB Network, which is set to broadcast the finale of the four-game series in Atlanta on Thursday.
Washington’s head athletic trainer, Lee Kuntz, and his assistant, John Hsu, helped to stabilize Porras before he was taken away in an ambulance. But Dever says the team learned the man later died at a hospital from an apparent heart attack.
Tommy Lasorda Doesn’t Know What To Think About Psy
South Korean pop star Psy performed before the bottom of the fourth inning at Dodgers Stadium on Tuesday night. Luckily, he was doing so right next to Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda, who didn’t know what to think. Watch his confused and priceless reactions in the bottom left hand corner.
Josh Hamilton eats candy bars Athletics fans throw at him
Eat It
Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton took the high road when dealing with a group of hecklers at Oakland Coliseum Monday night.
The Athletics held “Josh Hamilton Appreciation Night” Monday in reference to the fly ball Hamilton dropped in the final regular season game of 2012 to help the A’s win the American League West Division. Of course, Hamilton was a member of the Texas Rangers then, but the A’s still wanted to show their gratitude for the costly error with the Angels in town this week.
Furthermore, fans also chose to show their appreciation by chucking Butterfingers at Hamilton during batting practice as he shagged balls in right field which the former MVP decided to be a good sport and devour the tasty treats which rained down upon him.
Adam Wainwright says he will fight somebody over bad barbecue
Lockhart, Texas Barbecue Capital Of The World
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has mad respect for good barbecue.
Basically, the 2010 NL Cy Young Award runner-up loves everything about it, but don’t let him catch you messing up what could have been perfectly good barbeque.
“I can eat good barbeque every single day of my whole life, without question, no doubt. I can tell you that right now. I love it. I’m obsessed with it. Also, bad barbeque makes me want to fight somebody … When I have a really bad rib or a really bad pulled pork, it just makes me angry. It’s such a great piece of meat to ruin.”
Tell us how you really feel, Mr. Wainwright.
Reporter Nearly Gets Beaned
Angels In The Outfield
Sun Sports’ Tampa Bay Rays reporter Kelly Nash was visiting Fenway Park for the first time when she decided to take a selfie to capture the occasion unknowingly to her she captured a photo of a batting practice homer that almost landed on her head, which makes for perhaps the greatest self-portrait of all time.
Thankfully, the baseball missed her by inches.
St. Paul Saints To Hold Umpireless Game
One For The Ages
The St Paul Saints of the American Association indy league are at it again. The Saints have been known for goofy promotions for years, and on May 11th against the Gary SouthShore RailCats, they’re going to crank things up to another level and play without umpires.
Balls and strikes will be called from behind the mound by a judge, complete with a robe and a gavel that he’ll bang on home plate to start the game. As for calls on the basepaths, there will be 12 Little League players in box seats up the first and third base lines that will act as a jury. Majority will rule, and the judge will break any ties from his position on the field.
There’s also going to be a judge located in the ballpark’s main seating area to mediate disputes between any fans.
Instead of “Play Ball” hollered by an umpire, the judge will pound a gavel on home plate to signify the beginning of the game. The players on the field will not be the only ones who will have a judge and jury preside over the proceedings. Fans will have an opportunity to take their disputes to a “judge” that will be set up on the walkway in the main seating bowl of the ballpark.
Boston Red Sox Invite Jason Collins To Throw First Pitch
Road Less Traveled
Yesterday, the Dan Patrick Show revealed that in this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated, the cover story would be a story written by NBA player Jason Collins, coming out as the first active, gay male athlete in the major professional sports leagues. Reception for Collins’ article has largely been positive, and people from all across sports have reached out to Collins.
One organization to reach out to Collins was the Boston Red Sox. Collins played 32 games with the Boston Celtics this year, including seven starts, before being dealt to the Washington Wizards in February. The Red Sox tweeted to Collins that he had an open invitation to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park due to his courage and leadership in coming out.
Snoozing first-base coach gets baseball in the groin
Why first base coaches should always wear a cup or better yet why they should pay attention.
Josh Hamilton dropped ball auctions off for $1,280
He Dropped It
It’s a play plenty of Texas Rangers fans would probably pay good money to forget. And evidently, a play that at least one Oakland A’s fan paid plenty of money to remember.
The ball that former Ranger Josh Hamilton infamously dropped during the final game of the 2012 regular season was auctioned off by the A’s for $1,280. The proceeds were donated to charity.
The play was a small fraction of a nightmarish finish to the 2012 season for the Rangers. After blowing a four-game lead with six games to play, the Rangers faced the A’s in a winner-take-all finale in Oakland on October 3. The Rangers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but the A’s scratched across four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie it at 5-5.
Then, Hamilton dropped an easy fly ball off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes that would have been the third out of the inning. Instead, two more runs scored on Hamilton’s error, giving the A’s a 7-5 lead. Oakland would go on to win the game 12-5
Plaque honoring Barry Bonds stolen from AT&T Park
Have You Seen Me
A plaque commemorating the record-setting 756th home run hit by Barry Bonds has disappeared from AT&T Park.
The 6-foot-high artifact was previously bolted and glued to the bricks located beyond the right center field wall. Now, team and stadium officials are launching an investigation to find out where it went. This includes reviewing surveillance video from the past week.
More from the San Francisco Chronicle: “Bonds was one of the franchise’s greatest players. The team and its marketing were built around him for more than a decade. On the other hand, Bonds is a felon appealing his federal obstruction-of-justice conviction related to the BALCO drug case.Despite speculation to the contrary, the Giants say they had no reason or desire to remove the sign. In fact, the Giants are planning to replace it, perhaps with a painted sign that cannot be swiped. “We’re in the process of having a new and improved version made,” said Staci Slaughter, the Giants’ senior vice president of communications.Another memorial plaque honoring Bonds for hitting 500 home runs still remains intact.
Reds pitchers have cost local pizza chain $100,000
Who Doesn't Love Free Pizza
It’s a deliciously awesome time to be a Cincinnati Reds fan.
Of the team’s 15 home games this season, seven of them have resulted in Reds pitchers striking out at least 11 batters. And when Reds pitchers reach at least 11 Ks, LaRosa’s Pizzeria gives away free pizza. The local restaurant gives ticket-holders eight-inch pizzas with any four toppings worth $6.79.
LaRosa’s so far has dished out more than $100,000 worth of pizza free of charge thanks to a Reds pitching staff that has 177 strikeouts.
Pete Buscani, LaRosa’s executive vice president for marketing, told The Associated Press that this same promotion resulted in 13 pizza games last season. They figured, based on their calculations, they were good for 11 to 13 giveaways this year.
Joe Maddon hires disc jockey to play jams in clubhouse
Hey DJ Keep Playing That Song
There is nothing better than a little pre-game music to jazz up the mood.
Just ask the Tampa Bay Rays, who hired a disc jockey, DJ Fresh to be precise, to crank up the jams prior to their game against the Oakland Athletics over the weekend.
“Whatever allows these guys to relax and permits them to play to the best of their abilities…I’m for it,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon.
Apparently, the use of motivational melodies worked as the Rays swept the Rays in the three game series at Tropicana Field.
Amputee veteran gets his own baseball card
Awesome
A veteran who lost his leg in Iraq and recently participated in a tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers is getting his own trading card, thanks to the folks at Upper Deck .Earlier this year, Daniel “Doc” Jacobs took part in a Dodgers tryout on an invitation from former manager Tommy Lasorda.
The tryout came almost exactly seven years after an IED exploded beneath Jacobs while he was serving in Iraq. He lost his left leg, two of his right toes and the tips of two fingers.
Jacobs will be honored in a set the company will release in July. The card was unveiled this weekend.
MLB taking students to see film 42
Thank You Jackie
Major League Baseball and its 30 teams plan to take thousands of teenagers to see the Jackie Robinson film “42.”
MLB announced teams will chose students from the eighth grade to the 12th grade in the United States and Canada for private screenings in their cities. Commissioner Bud Selig will host the first showing Tuesday in Milwaukee along with Sharon Robinson, daughter of the player who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
Selig says the movie depicts the proudest moment in baseball history. He says the film can help “educate our next generation about Jackie Robinson’s vital impact on our nation.”
