Archive for Audio and/or Visual

If there’s one thing Carson Cistulli has his finger on — that is, besides the keys of the uber-sleek netbook on which he’s (read: I’m) currently typing these words — it’s the pulse of the people. And if there’s one thing the people want it’s definitely HELLA PICTURES OF BOOKS. Badly composed, poorly lit pictures of used baseball books, specifically.

In an attempt to capitalize on the public’s insatiable appetite for book-y photos, allow me to offer the following: some pictures I took at The Community Bookstore, located on Court Street in the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The Community Bookstore, in the event that you don’t know, looks like this when you walk into it:

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As a sort of sequel to today’s earlier post (featuring, again, a very important image of Matt Murton), reader John submits the above — what he calls “Magical Cedeno.”

A semi-industrious google search reveals no clues as to the authorship of said image (so, anyone who knows, please don’t hesitate to make note of it in the comment section).

The same google search does reveal, however, the following two images, which are sure to push us slightly further towards something like world peace.

First, courtesy of Razzball, is a screengrab of Cedeno with the Pirates. Men aged 18-Infinity will undoubtedly take some pleasure in the upper-lip part of the middle infielder’s body.

Second, from the official website of Venezuelan baseball club Tigres de Aragua, there’s this photo of Cedeno in a shirt that I, personally, will describe as “festive.”

It’s been a good week for Adrian Beltre, what with the reigning AL champs sending all that guaranteed cheddar his way.

There’s also a lot to like about Beltre. He’s an acrobat at the hot corner, that “home run swing from one knee” thing (pictured above, gloriously) is objectively awesome, and one must admire the flinty resolve of a man who rose again from the unspeakable horrors of a torn testicle (shudder).

Also adding to Beltre’s appeal is what appears to be a bizarre and preternatural loathing of having his head touched. Dig it. Dug it? So Beltre’s part Brooks Robinson, part Howard Hughes.

Conventional wisdom says Beltre chose not to exercise his player option with the Red Sox because of the allure of the market and the promise of millions. Video evidence, however, suggests it was because Victor Martinez wouldn’t leave his precious dome the hell alone.

While enjoying an adult beverage last night in the City of Broad Shoulders, reader John brought to my attention the above image, which, as the title of this post notes unlyingly, features saber-hotty Matt Murton on a frigging unicorn.

The image, so far as I can tell, first appeared at Bleed Cubbie Blue, courtesy of user santoswoodenlegs. My guess is, it will continue to appear — in the pleasant dreams of every NotGraphs reader.

The wife and I have accidentally — as part of an East Coast tour — we’ve accidentally found our way to the borough of Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Today, as part of same tour, we walked to the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan — a store which, in the event that you’re unaware, features “18 Miles of Books.”

Below are some of the notable baseball titles I found. (Note: The following images are, I’m led to believe, merely thumbnails. I’m led to believe, additionally, that you can click any thumbnail to view a larger image. Furthermore, for each title, I’ve provided a link to the relevant Google Books page.)

The Suitors of Spring by Pat Jordan*:

*This is mentioned in Kevin Kerrane’s Dollar Sign on the Muscle.

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Some days, after you wake up, you get dressed, eat breakfast, and then go take your place as a productive member of society. Other days — instead of all that stuff — you spend the first two or so hours of your life wandering without direction through YouTube’s maze of videos.

This post is a product of the latter.

What you have here, bespectacled readership, is an interview that Mike and Mike (of the eponymous radio program) did with Rickey Henderson, in which they ask Henderson to either confirm or deny legends about the Hall of Famer.

So far as videos go, it’s probably not what you’d call a Perfect 10. Mike and Mike, whatever their other virtues, are what a person smarter than me might call “garrulous.” Henderson, though, is hard not to enjoy — as per usual.

Notable moments:

0:42 Rickey Henderson pronounces the names James Brown and Luther Vandross, an angel gets its wings.

1:06 Henderson confirms that he was once given a million-dollar bonus check that, instead of cashing, he just framed and hung up on his wall.

2:28 Henderson gives a borderline logical — and nearly touching — explanation for the check incident.

The best part about writing for a blog that’s only been alive for, like, two months is how there’s an entire past’s worth of things to which one can link and upon which one can idly comment.

In this case, it’s a video of Boston-born comedian Mike Birbiglia talking about his less-than-ideal experience at baseball’s MVP Award ceremony thing.

It includes, among other things, Dennis Eckersley cursing a blind man — which, that’s probably not very shocking coming from the same man who once said of Brad Penny when the latter was having trouble with his fastball, “He’s a little gay with his cheese.”

Because I don’t understand Spanish so good, I can’t tell you exactly what’s happening in this video, but my guess is that it’s something along the lines of “Everyone is punching everyone else.”

What I can say is that the principal figures here are baserunner (and former Diamondback) Jeff Salazar, second baseman Oswaldo Morejon, and pitcher Alejandro Martinez, who (i.e. Martinez) not only throws the errant pickoff attempt but also launches himself at Salazar.

NotGraphs can confirm that, in terms of discinplinary action, both Salazar and Morjeon were ejected from the game and Martinez has been fined $25,000 by the NFL for unnecessary roughness.

H/T: Vin Scully Is My Homeboy

If I’d been around these parts two years ago when Dock Ellis passed, then I would’ve posted this back then. Since I wasn’t, I’m posting it now. And what follows, friends, is baseball greatness captured by cinematic greatness …

Most resonant line: “What happened to yesterday?”

Damn, Dock, what did happen to yesterday? Actually, guys and things like Dock Ellis happened to yesterday, which is partly why everyone loves and is haunted by the yesterday of his or her choosing.

Oh, and the hair-curlers thing you no doubt observed and momentarily cherished is not some sort of directorial flourish …

Bowie Kuhn, who didn’t seem to like anything, predictably didn’t like Ellis’s curlers look, which, it would seem, was just a rolling pin, bathrobe and terry-cloth slippers away from something greater … Anyhow, Kuhn decreed from on well-groomed high that Ellis cut it out and affect a more baseball-y appearance. And then Dock: “They didn’t put out any orders about Joe Pepitone when he wore a hairpiece down to his shoulders.”

Readers over the age of 28 or so will almost definitely remember this very famous Billy Ripken card for at least two reasons: (1) because it was worth a whole bunch of money, and (2) because it had a swear on it and swears, according to all manner of research, are awesome.

In an interview with Bo of weblog Baseball Cards Come to Life!, longtime Fleer photograher Steve Babineau explains how the Ripken card happened.

Boom, blockquote:

I shot the Billy Ripken card – it was definitely not intentional. I was at Fenway, and everyone is out there doing BP. Billy is the only one wearing a game uniform with the number in the front. Everyone else is wearing their orange BP top. For everyone else I would need to make sure there was an identifying marker like a glove, or I would take their picture as they walked away to get their uniform number. I didn’t have to magnify Ripken’s card because the number was clearly visible. In the past Fleer used to send us full color sheets, which we would use to check for reverse negatives and other problems with the picture.

That year, to save money, they just sent us blueprints that were in three shades of blue. Your eyes don’t focus on something like that. After the card came out, my boss called me and told me to look at the knob of the bat. “Please tell me it says ‘slick face,’” he said to me. I had to look at it with the magnifying glass and tell him that that was not what it said.

The next year the first team I went to see at Spring Training was the Orioles, playing the Expos in West Palm Beach. I went up to Billy and he says “Thanks for making a nickel card into a thirty dollar card!” He told me he started using that bat as a BP bat on a road trip in Detroit or Cleveland before coming to Fenway. He said it was his brother that wrote that on his bat. I heard that he actually started signing that card for kids but had to stop.

As you can see from the other image here — one featuring the principal figures in baseball’s memorable Pine Tar Incident — not all of Babineau’s photos included swear words.

H/T: UniWatch