Comments on: Roberto Hernandez

By: pericos

pericos — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:41:53 +0000

He pitched in Vancouver in the early 90s and like his teammate Lance Johnson was someone I always kept track of as his career meandered through the majors. He was the first C’s pitcher I really had a handle on and boy did he ever throw hard! Plus, for and 11 year old his name sure was fun to say!

By: shealives

shealives — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:02:34 +0000

Most people don’t realize that Hernandez started his college baseball career at Uconn. I once played against him, Roberto was the starting CATCHER! He never pitched a game at Uconn. Talk about bad talent evaluation.

By: mbtn01

mbtn01 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:01:08 +0000

Good relief pitcher, and you’re totally right, very overlooked. Reliable, durable, threw strikes, kept it in the ballpark.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:17:04 +0000

Thanks for that found card story, johnq11. I’m with your buddy–I can’t imagine passing up a card on the ground, no matter how beaten up and or dubiously-worthed (see Chris Gust post in the Loose in the Shoebox category).

I like found objects in general. I’ve even sent a couple things into “Found” magazine over the years, including a message on the back of a matchbook that said “Larry smells like poo.” This morning on the way to the train I found a small cartoon tract called “My Best Friend” about a bully who terrorizes kids until one day he runs after them and explains as they cower behind a bush that he is not going to beat them to a pulp anymore and that he has admitted all his sins to “his best friend” and now he’s saved, and in the end the bully and the bullied pray together with big cartoony dilated pupils to Jesus, hallelujah.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:53:23 +0000

Josh,

Your card-finding story reminded me of a time back in 1979 when I was 12 years old and I was taking a 8 year old family friend to a local park. The kid spotted a ‘79 Seaver card on the ground with dirt and scratches on it and flipped-out trying to retrieve the from the top of a sewer grate.

I remember telling the kid, “leave it, why the heck do what that messed up card anyway, plus he’s in a Reds uniform.”

I can’t remember if he actually took the card home or not but I remember always being kind of shocked by his reaction to such a messed up looking card.

I guess it kind of shows the mystery of human existence, one man’s pot of gold is another man’s piece of garbage.