R.I.P. Vida Blue. Fun fact: he always pitched with two dimes in his pocket, perhaps to remind him of his humble origins. A tidbit I've remembered for decades. Always remember driving through Kansas City one hot Sunday afternoon on family vacation, headed from St. Louis to Tarkio. The interstate runs past the outfield fence of Royals Stadium, the huge grandstand opening up to the highway. The stands were packed: Vida Blue was pitching for the A's. Made for a great Time magazine cover.
VIDA BLUE [SABR Bio] was the most recent switch-hitter to win the AL MVP 1971. He struck out at least once in 33 straight games that year, between 9-Apr-il and 3-Sep-. For the season, he struck out 63 times in 102 At Bats. Blue is the only AL pitcher to strike out eight times in a row in the World Series. He broke Johnny Bench's record as the youngest ever to win an MVP in the majors. He turned 22 years old on 28-Jul- that year. Born in Mansfield, Louisiana. Blue debuted 20-Jul-1969 the day Neil Armstrong stepped out on the surface of the moon. A's owner Charlie Finley tried to persuade Vida to change his first name to "True", one of Finley's bizarre requests of his team. He was the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game for both leagues. Blue started and won the 1971 ASG with the A's, and the 1978 ASG with the Giants, where he was not the pitcher of record. For the KCR in 1983,he started 14 games but didn't win any of them. His record that year was 0-5. The average crowd for his starts was 85% larger than for all other Oakland road games, a gain of almost 13,000 fans each time he was scheduled to appear. He was one of the first baseball players to wear his given name on the back of his uniform rather than his surname. Listen to him talk about his uniforms.
https://uni-watch.com/2023/05/08/ten-uni-related-fun-facts-about-vida-blue/#comment-986627
I was glad I went to Bruce Wood's funeral on Friday. We had worked with me my senior year at Baskin Robbins. His older brother Chuck had been in most of my classes all four years of high school. Since graduation I had only crossed paths a couple of times with Chuck, at a reunion or two. He lives in Asheville now. During the funeral Chuck gave a Godly testimony, sharing some of the prayers Bruce had written in his prayer list. I mostly wanted to go to be there for Chuck, and see how he was doing. The funeral was near the Marietta Square. Good that several of his college buddies were there, that probably live in the Atlanta area. Also two of his next door neighbors from Macon. Same old Chuck. As a senior Chuck had it all planned to go to Tech. Wore GT stuff all year. Then in April before graduation he received a full scholarship to UGA, so he quickly changed his stripes.
Shivonne went to meet Charles & Annie's baby boy.
Damon Stoudamire and Georgia Tech lost six players to the transfer portal – but may have improved itself in the process.
ARTICLE: interesting details on how funds were funneled to specifically pull in swing state Democratic votes in 2020.
From the Babylon Bee: things men would rather do than go to therapy:
- Take a few whacks at the batting cages.
- Play a 7-hour game of Axis & Allies with the fellas.
- Sip a beer and watch a sunset while commenting on the foliage: "Them junipers are comin' in niiice and green, eh, Lenny?"
- Stuff it all down in a dark little ball inside: The therapy of our ancestors.
- Pick up something heavy: Grunt. Sweat. .
- Go on a quick trip to the gun range.
- Demolish a countertop.
- Buy a social media company and then launch the largest rocket of all time into space:
- Look up at a passing helicopter: It really makes everything OK.
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