More Baseball Rap: “Texas Back at It”
A fine young performer named INK, along with his friends Illicit, Zica, and Pain, have put together a “bumping track,” as the kids say, called “Texas Back at It.” Enjoy:
Archive for Audio and/or Visual
18th Century Ejaculations & Giancarlo Stanton Homers
May 31, 2012
Here’s video of five different and recent home runs by Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, paired — as they’re clearly intended to be — with verbal ejaculations found in the works of late-18th century playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
1. Zounds!
Rapper-Hop Music about Baseball
Over at CBSSports.com’s Eye on Baseball blog, which, I have it on good authority, is a great place for baseball fans to gather and click repeatedly on all that they survey, you’ll find this …
Look, empowered urban youth, what with their ghettoblasters and James Worthy New Balance basketball sneakers and break-dancing battles and disregard for old-line immigrant merchants and their simple quest for peace and quiet, frighten me as much as the next guy who hates it when things like the water bill and his yard and society change. But, truth be told, I’m impressed by the punks who made this song. If nothing else, it kept them off the street for a while instead of spray-painting graffiti on the side of the pharmacy where I buy my overpriced sugar pills.
In the end, though, we’re united by the fact that our onslaught is indeed Don Slaught.
(Update: It comes to the attention of the dumb-assed writer that the lovely and talented Ms. Burton has already made use of this fetching hymn. Please know that we here at NotGraphs Concern are always working to eliminate supply-chain redundancies.)
The Tony Campana Song
This one comes to us from one of our many Midwest correspondents, Ethan Spalding. His latest from the field, via CBS Chicago’s 670 The Score, captures the greatness — did you see that frigging slide? — that is the diminutive Tony Campana.
[audio:http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/campana.mp3|titles=The Tony Campana Song]Enjoy singing that for the rest of the day, and probably the rest of the weekend.
Little Tony. (Tony!)
Tony Campana. (Tony Campana!)
The fastest Cub north of Havana. (Cute!) …
Image credit: Bob Levey at Getty Images. Keep up the great work.
Audio: R.A. Dickey on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
May 24, 2012
Jesse Thorn’s podcast Sounds of Young America has been invoked in these electronic pages before for an entirely capable interview Thorn did with Bill James — and Thorn himself was a guest on FanGraphs Audio in that podcast’s early-ish days.
On the most recent edition of his newest audio venture, Bullseye, Thorn interviews Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey — presumably about the knuckleball and Dickey’s recent memoir, Wherever I Wind Up. I say “presumably,” however, because I haven’t listened to it yet. Because I’m on my way to the gym. So sue me.
Click here to go to the relevant episode. The segment with Dickey begins at about the 7:30 mark.
Baseball Teams Dancing: An Introductory Compilation
Compare the following figures, O mathematically mindful reader.
VIDEO TIME ON YOUTUBE VIEWS
“The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”* 5 years 917,818
“Harvard Baseball 2012 Call Me Maybe Cover” 2.5 weeks 9,577,314
* The greatest moment in the history of baseball.
The message, I trust, is clear. If we baseball enthusiasts are to reach a wider audience — and not only reach them, but touch them, intimately and repeatedly — let us take our cue from the great minds at Harvard and give the public more of what it truly craves. And make no mistake: what it craves is white men in tapered pants, moving awkwardly to popular music, preferably in some sort of quasi-synchronized fashion. I give you the following not in any effort to be comprehensive; even the most cursory search will reveal this to be merely the tippiest tip of the iceberg. No, I mean only to get you started.
Rangers GM Jon Daniels Asks the Tough Questions
May 22, 2012
On Monday night, with regular television play-by-play broadcaster Dave Barnett having fallen ill, radio broadcaster Steve Busby joined usual colorman Tom Grieve in the Fox Sports Southwest booth. That left universally beloved Texas Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel by himself on KESN radio.
Nadel called the first and second innings on his own and then was joined by Rangers GM Jon Daniels for the third through fifth innings.
Daniels, demonstrating the sort of wide-ranging curiosity that has allowed him to construct a perennial World Series contender, took the opportunity to ask Nadel the toughest of tough questions — namely, how the latter planned to evacuate his bladder if and when the situation called for it.
Five Screenshots from the Rays’ Sabermetric B’cast
May 21, 2012
On Sunday afternoon, Sun Sports featured a special “sabermetric broadcast” — featuring actual Tampa Bay outfielder and nerd’s nerd Sam Fuld — for the Rays’ interleague game against Atlanta.
Below are five screenshots from same. (Please click, with a view to embiggening.)
1. Here are David Price’s stats, including FIP and BABIP:
Audio: Bob Uecker Will Crush a Bee
May 20, 2012
In the following clip (from the WTMJ broadcast of Saturday’s Brewers-Twins game), America learns that Bob Uecker loves three things — and only three things — as follow:
1. A Beautiful Spring Day
2. Betterment of Home and Garden
3. Swift Justice
Regard: