Afternoon Delight: The Unmemeable Vince Naimoli

Most of us will never make it into the scrapbook stuff of a Tedd with two d’s in his name, nor dine with a woman named Smokey. Vince Naimoli did both in one fell swoop.

In an age where things are built to come and go, Vince Naimoli has come and gone — like so much jowly ephemera. Despite relinquishing ownership of the Rays less than a decade ago, and despite being one of the most inept, curmudgeonly owners of the modern era, I’m betting that many of even the most informed baseball fans (of whom the FanGraphs readership is comprised) had forgotten him until Jonah Keri’s book The Extra 2% dedicated a hundred pages (or so) to him. Or maybe not.

But would you recognize him? Could you identify him above, where he’s pictured with his Eating Club? (The horrible syntax of the primary caption might be of no help.)

My proclivities strange, I spent a few hours sorting through images of Vince Naimoli recently, trying to discern something more about what lead to his demise. (Ok, not really. I was just bored.) In addition to the grainy gem above, I found a pic wherein Mr. Naimoli is so mid-syllable, so Photoshop-ably posed, so . . . orange that I thought, perhaps, that I could delight you all with a new meme.

I am probably wrong. This is probably a massive failure. But if NotGraphs readers have come to expect anything of me in my brief tenure here, they have come to expect one of two things: massive failure or hilarious Photoshoppery.

Without further adon’t, I present THE UNMEMEABLE VINCE NAIMOLI:

 

“Can somebody tell me what the ‘e’ stands for, and where I put the stamp?”

 

“I don’t give a good goddamn about this fish. All I care about’s winning the Super Bowl.”

 

“A ball club’s a lot like a pizza in that I have eaten both.”

 

“This is my ultimate goal. I’m getting there.”

 

Naimoli charged a graduated admission for his reading of Spot: two weeks’ allowance per child.

 

Vince Naimoli presents something for Carson Cistulli.