BATTER UP!

[Harp]

What's so great about passing up on more money to do something you enjoy more or think will expand your skills / experience or whatever?

Former St Louis Card Jason Heyward left money on the table to sign with the Cubs. And Theo got to stab the Cards in the back, and twist the knife too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think Bob Feller summed it up really well in that Mike Wallace interview cited above: Sure, it's a lot of money. But how long is the average baseball career? At least actors can keep working till they're in their eighties or nineties. Most ballplayers are washed up before the age of forty, and most of them don't know how to do anything else.

The case of Rick Wise, an excellent pitcher with the Phillies, Cardinals, and Red Sox, is instructive. He played just into the early years of the free-agent era, so he made a good piece of change toward the end of his playing days, but when he got out of baseball he didn't really know how to do anything else. He ended up getting involved in some kind of bogus real estate investment deal and woke up one day to find himself bankrupt, and ended up having to go begging for any kind of a coaching job he could get just to survive. It's not an easy life by any means.

Of course, then there's dipheads like Curt Schilling, who aren't only dumb as rocks once their career is over, but *willfully* dumb besides. Schilling had millions, and lost every cent because he had no idea how to do anything but throw a baseball.

 

[Fading Fast]

Former St Louis Card Jason Heyward left money on the table to sign with the Cubs. And Theo got to stab the Cards in the back, and twist the knife too.

If memory serves, Tom Brady took less money to stay with the Pats both to stay with Belichick and to allow the Pats to have more money under the cap (please don't ask me details about that byzantine formula) because he wanted to keep winning with the Pat. That's great, but I don't see any morality one way or the other in that - just a personal tradeoff. I bet Atlanta had wished he had gone for the money .

 

[Fading Fast]

...Of course, then there's dipheads like Curt Schilling, who aren't only dumb as rocks once their career is over, but *willfully* dumb besides. Schilling had millions, and lost every cent because he had no idea how to do anything but throw a baseball.

"Fools and their money" applies even to very big fools with lots and lots of money.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meet "Megaphone Lolly," the most famous individual fan in Boston baseball history. A passionate follower of both the Red Sox and the Braves, Lillian Hopkins first appeared on the scene in the 1920s, a young woman from Providence who deeply loved baseball. After yelling herself hoarse one afternoon at Braves Field, she appeared at the next game carrying the large megaphone that became her trademark. She was often accompanied to the games by her entourage, a group of female fans who called themselves "Lolly's Lollypops," and cheered lustily for their favorites. Lolly was also known for carrying a bag of candy to each game, and throwing Tootsie Rolls or other wrapped treats onto the field for players who especially pleased her.

Lolly was primarily a National League fan, but she was also a presence at Fenway Park, and when the Braves broke her heart by leaving town she became a full-time Red Sox rooter. When the now-Milwaukee Braves returned to Boston for an exhibition series at Fenway Park in 1953, Red Sox catcher Gus Niahros had the unfortunate experience of hitting Lolly square in the mouth with a foul ball, but she forgave him. She also forgave the Braves for leaving, and was in the stands at Yankee Stadium to see the Milwaukee club defeat the Yankees in game 7 of the 1957 World Series. She remained a fixture on the Boston baseball scene until her death. Today a statue of Megaphone Lolly stands alongside one of Brooklyn's Hilda Chester in a Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit commemorating baseball's most famous fans.

 

[Frunobulax]

If memory serves, Tom Brady took less money to stay with the Pats both to stay with Belichick and to allow the Pats to have more money under the cap (please don't ask me details about that byzantine formula) because he wanted to keep winning with the Pat. That's great, but I don't see any morality one way or the other in that - just a personal tradeoff. I bet Atlanta had wished he had gone for the money .

When Griffey Jr. left Seattle to sign with Cincinnati, the Players Association was miffed because he signed a lower than "market value" contract. He stated his reason as "I just wanted to come home."

Similarly, journeyman Red and second baseman Ron Oester was making, I think ~$600k with the Reds when his contract expired in the '80s. The Dodgers offered him more money, but he signed back on with Cincy at a lower rate. A hometown boy, he wanted to stay with the Reds (and probably didn't want to sign with LA, like any Reds fan) to end his career and said basically, if he couldn't live on the money he was making, then there was something wrong with him.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Harp]

If memory serves, Tom Brady took less money to stay with the Pats both to stay with Belichick and to allow the Pats to have more money under the cap (please don't ask me details about that byzantine formula) because he wanted to keep winning with the Pat. That's great, but I don't see any morality one way or the other in that - just a personal tradeoff... .

Deflated hopes and dreams. Couldn't stop myself.

 

[belfastboy]

Have not seen the stats for ex baseball players but for basketball and football the majority of ex players are bankrupt in 3-5 years.

 

[belfastboy]

Feller was very much a militant when it came to the Players Association. Here he is being interviewed by Mike Wallace in 1957, just after his retirement, and he has some pretty fiery things to say about how the game was governed.

Feller and Robinson disliked each other on a personal level -- Robinson never forgave or forgot the "football shoulders" remark, and the two got into a very loud argument at an Old Timers' gathering in 1969 over the question of the lack of African-American coaches, managers, and exectives then in the game. They never really made peace with each other, and as Feller got older he became baseball's definitive Cranky Old Man.

I think the game is poorer for not having enough cranky old men. Too many players of today are bland and too much like a personal corporation/brand. A little crankiness would be a breath of fresh air.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Speaking of cranky, here's the King:

We really don't need more Ty's in the game, lol.

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Mr. Cobb, if you were playing against today's pitchers, what do you think you'd hit?"

"Oh, about .290."

"Really? Just .290? You think today's pitching is that good?"

"No, you have to take into account I'm 72 years old!"

 

[Harp]

I think the game is poorer for not having enough cranky old men.... A little crankiness would be a breath of fresh air.

Cubs fifth man John Lackey is a thirty-eight year old hurler boasting a shaved ERA (since the All Star break) of 2.81 off a first half 5.20-
Lackey is personable off the diamond but on mound and inside dugout he possesses a volcanic temper reflecting continued struggle.
His velocity (fast and breaker apples) have markedly diminished to the point where wild card status is dubbed; though he remains in the rotation
with a flawed win total; largely one suspects because of his inward anger and explosive personality. In the aggregate of diminished return,
Lackey is playing out the hand, the sharks sense blood and the stories are seeping out past the clubhouse door. A little drama however helps keep things interesting.

 

[Harp]

We really don't need more Ty's in the game...

I once had the opportunity in college to read several samples of Ty Cobb's personal correspondence; all of which were handwritten,
and of the most beautiful composition: incisive, compelling prose writ by a highly talented writer whose innate soul was not without a sparkle.

 

[2jakes]

We really don't need more Ty's in the game, lol.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Lol..that's funny, 2....

I've been to Royston a few times, to visit the TC museum, and his grave; I don't think it's fair of me to judge his ethics by today's standards, because he was definitely a product of his times, but his antics would undoubtedly be a public relations nightmare for MLB today.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Some shots of old Comisky Park, and it's aftermath...

Rob

 

[2jakes]

 

[2jakes]

It was a used hand-me-down glove from Sears Roebuck
made in USA and best of all...it was all mine.

 

[2jakes]

Thousands of Mickey Mantle's First Topps Cards Were Dumped into Ocean

At a kitchen table inside a small Manhattan apartment, 28-year-old WWII vet Sy Berger and his friend Woody Gelman created the first modern baseball card set—1952 Topps.
Released in the spring of 1952, series one sold very well. So well in fact that their expectations for the release of the second series soared.
But to the misfortune of these two baseball-card pioneers, series two sales tanked.
Strange as it might seem, a literal boatload of his first-ever Topps baseball card was dumped into the Atlantic Ocean.
Per Larry Canale, author of Mickey Mantle—Memories and Memorabilia.