NotGraphs Film Series: Steve Balboni Profile, 1980
January 21, 2013
Even with almost a whole week having passed since filling the Balboni-shaped holes inside us all on his Feast Day, there might still remain for the reader what is known in the medical field as an Appetite for Balboni — a condition similar to an Appetite for Destruction, except less about causing property damage and more about mustache care and eating ham directly off the bone.
With a view to mollifying the effects of said condition, the author has found and then embedded the above video — a profile of then-minor-leaguer Steve Balboni from 1980, hosted by a poorly disguised Ernest Borgnine.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Did you just like the Borgnine joke or do you not realize it’s doubly cool that it’s Ron Luciano doing the interview? Think I read The Umpire Strikes back at least 3 times when I was a kid.
I actually wasn’t familiar with Luciano before this video, but have acquainted myself (via Wikipedia, at least) in the meantime. He also appears to have committed suicide, which is dark.
Forgot about the suicide actually, so sad. But fun books, and while I was too young for his umpiring days seemed like he would have been a fun ump, even if a little bit of #umpshow there.