Comments on: Orel Hershiser

By: shealives

shealives — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:53 +0000

staringatthelight: I found several HOF pitchers who fit the criteria of higher batting ave. than ERA, Drysdale in’65, Gibson in ’68 and ’69, and Seaver in ’71. I’m sure there are others.

By: sthek

sthek — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:06:21 +0000

The first sentence of the third paragraph is amazing.
I also recall some comments Hershiser made similar to the one sb refers to above that struck me as pretty repulsive.
Tiny Tim, the “Tiptoe thru the Tulips” guy, and also Lenny Bruce , I believe, were compulsive showerers (?) but I don’t remember them getting commercials. I wonder what Orel what think knowing he had something in common with those two; he’d probably have to shower about it.

By: gedmaniac

gedmaniac — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:44:07 +0000

I’m glad “Orel Sax” is still bringing the laughs.

Also, I panned for gold in gold-less New England, too. More than once. There was definitely some stuff that LOOKED like gold.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:15:36 +0000

ericnus: Thanks for chiming in; it’s astounding to me to think that Hershiser is too far in the past for actual legal grown-ups to claim as one of their own.

gedmaniac:
“4, 5 showers a day”

Oh my god I remember that commercial vividly, and had the same dual reaction of thinking A) this guy is nuts and B) or am I nuts (i.e., exhibiting the obliviously improper hygeine of the mentally ill)?

staringatthelight:
The back of the card shown here has a picture of Hershiser at bat, looking like he just belted one, so maybe that furthered the idea that he knew what he was doing at bat. Also, wasn’t he a pretty good two-way player as an amateur? I have a memory, very possibly confusing him with someone else, that he at one time considered breaking in as a position player.

By: redsoxeveryday

redsoxeveryday — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:45:31 +0000

“My favorite childhood memory of Hershiser (besides how everyone would wonder what his name would be if he married teammate Steve Sax) was a shampoo commercial he did. In it, he casually mentioned how he took “4, 5 showers a day.” My 8th grade pals and I calculated that out to 1,460-1,825 showers a year in non-leap years. That’s ridiculous, people. So, what, one in the morning, one after an early-day workout, one upon arriving at the park, one after the game, and one before bed? Every single day? Maybe the shampoo brand was O.C.D.? Does anyone else remember this ad?

(Or am I taking approximately 3 less showers per day than I should be?)”

Orel Sax. Maybe it’s because it’s nearly 3am, but I laughed out loud at that. Thank you for making my night.

By: staringatthelight

staringatthelight — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:41:29 +0000

I was born in ’82 so Hershiser and the ’88 team play a large role in my initiation into fanhood by my father, a lifelong Dodger’s fan. Josh I have to salute you for not looking up the statistics at first regarding his teams, for some reason I always remember Orel as a great hitter and of course when I looked it up I realized my perception was probably due to an abnormally high batting average (yes that is what I looked at back then) of .356 in 1993.

Which reminds me of my favorite statistic anomaly, pitchers with a higher batting average then their ERA. In recent memory only Fernando has sustained that over an entire season (Although Brad Penny was very close 2 years ago).

By: gedmaniac

gedmaniac — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:32:04 +0000

My favorite childhood memory of Hershiser (besides how everyone would wonder what his name would be if he married teammate Steve Sax) was a shampoo commercial he did. In it, he casually mentioned how he took “4, 5 showers a day.” My 8th grade pals and I calculated that out to 1,460-1,825 showers a year in non-leap years. That’s ridiculous, people. So, what, one in the morning, one after an early-day workout, one upon arriving at the park, one after the game, and one before bed? Every single day? Maybe the shampoo brand was O.C.D.? Does anyone else remember this ad?

(Or am I taking approximately 3 less showers per day than I should be?)

By: ericnus

ericnus — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:36:42 +0000

As a Dodger fan who was only 2 in magical 1988 Orel Hershiser sits in a strange part of my imagination. He was the last of the Dodger aces to pitch before I understood what an ace was. Hershiser was like the Koufax or Drysdale I could reach out and touch; he was a star I could make sense of, and for that reason less a little less special. Maybe it’s because I remember him as the washed up veteran (I see an Indian not a Met).

Either way, I’ve always had a tentative appreciation for him. If Orel Hershiser was a food he’d be bologna, a strange meat to me, but obviously very popular with the kids at school. He sits there unconsidered, a piece of deli meat sandwiched between two favorites.

Before Orel was cultural powerhouse Fernando Valenzuela and what young Dodger fan doesn’t love an overweight long-haired Mexican with a name as fun to say as Fernando Valenzuela?

After Orel came the overlooked Ramon Martinez, whose rise as a starter corresponded to mine as a fan.

There is no point to this rambling, so I will end it here. Hershiser, to that generation only recently able to get wasted, is like bologna.

By: Eric Enders

Eric Enders — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:08:28 +0000

Waddell’s weird arm injury came just before the 1905 World Series, and depending on who you believe, he either slept on it wrong, or injured it in a fight with teammate Andy Coakley (who had ruined Waddell’s favorite straw hat in a prank).

Either way, Waddell’s excuses seemed so implausible at the time that many suspected him of having been paid by gamblers to sit out the series.

By: sb1902

sb1902 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:17:15 +0000

Gotta love a place that has a Rube Waddell reference. It’s too bad baseball history is so long that even a star like Waddell is almost utterly forgotten. If a star like Rube Waddell is forgotten, what hope do the rest of us have?

I seem to remember a story about Rube Waddell falling asleep with his arm out a train window and being unable to pitch, or pitching under duress, Eric, perhaps you can recall it? (I’d also like to see the guy who does the CSI examination on the cards to figure out where Waddell’s 1909 tobacco card was done.)