Anonymous said…
If and when they’re born, my children will be given copies of this to read.

12:18 PM

Jon said…
I just wanted to point out that it wasn’t until two years ago that I realized that there was an “e” and a “b” on the Expo’s cap. Yet, I spotted the “m” and the “b” on the early 80′s Brewers cap right away.

5:16 PM

Ian said…
Oh, man. Josh Wilker, the ghost of Frederick Exley wants to buy you a drink — great entry.

8:55 PM

Anonymous said…
“You speak to me from your cringing, beady-eyed, mouth-breathing, lank-haired .250-hitting tremulous flinch of a batting stance.”

A beautifully-composed sentence.

6:05 PM

Anonymous said…
I haven’t seen the e and b until now. Supposedly it was eMb which stands for “Expos de Montréal Baseball.”

When I was a kid, I didn’t even see the M for a while; I always thought that it looked like JL; like a kid, I thought that JL had some Canadian significance that I didn’t understand.

6:16 PM

Michael said…
Fucking brilliant, man.

I had a Burroughs Slugger, too.

Mike

10:56 PM

walewander said…
Tommy Hutton became a beloved baseball announcer here in Canada – he also had a career .320 with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 62 AB vs none other than Tom Seaver.

And this deserves an entry of its own – he married Dick Ruthven’s twin sister.

1:12 AM

Josh Wilker said…
Thanks for that info on Hutton versus Seaver, Walewander. Judging from what I’ve read, pitchers usually have a crystal clear memory for that kind of stuff, so it’s funny to think that somewhere in Tom Seaver’s large head (literally large, that is–I once rode on an elevator with him) is the knowledge that he was owned by Tom Hutton.

Hutton, as a member of the 1977 Phillies, one of the teams chosen for inclusion in Strat-o-matic’s long-running and popular online game, literally has a place among the “All-Time Greats.” To see the player pool for this monumental time-waster, use this link: http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/atg3/about/research.html. You can find Hutton’s card by typing his name in the “search by name” window. He’s a useful player in the All Time Greats game–a “1″ at first base and a “4R” with a .394 OBP and can be had relatively cheaply ($2.70 mil). If you understand little of the last clause in the previous sentence, consider it a sign of good mental health.

Was he an announcer for Les Expos? If so, I wonder what he’s doing now. I also wonder if he’s the one who brought me the news over the car radio that I had blown my chance to finally see some baseball history (http://cardboardgods.blogspot.com/2006/12/dave-winfield.html).

Hutton’s marriage to Dick Ruthven’s twin sister puts him in the company of a couple other guys I can think of off the top of my head who found their spouses via a baseball associate: Rick Miller married Carlton Fisk’s sister, Rick Manning married Dennis Eckersley’s ex-wife, Denise (see also Peterson, Fritz), and I think Bobby Valentine married Ralph Branca’s daughter.

9:37 AM

Jon said…
Denny McLain is Lou Bodreau’s son-in-law.

Tom Brunansky and Dave Engel married sisters.

Mike Easler and Cliff Johnson were or are brothers-in-law.

Ditto Dave Rozema and Kirk Gibson.

There are others, but I want to save them for a rain delay.

4:49 PM

Anonymous said…
Ozzie Guillen is related to Freddy Garcia by marriage.

2:01 AM