Rumors for Fun
Mail Time with PRO Rumors
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As the off season quickly gets underway, we here at PRO Rumors are gearing up and getting ready to bring you the latest and greatest breaking news from around the League. You can always stay up-to-date with our web page, www.prorumors.com, or with one of our award winning apps for either the iPhone or Android phone.
One of the new features we are proud to debut is our “Mail Time with PRO Rumors.” Twice a month (or maybe more), we will answer emails from our readers about any baseball related topic. We will also take questions in both English and Spanish. If you have a question about Winter Ball in Venezuela make sure you drop us a line, as PRO Rumors’ writer Juan has been scouting most of the games.
Send us your questions to Mailbag@prorumors.com
Scott Radinsky: From throwing fastballs to singing Punk songs
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When I was younger, about nine or ten years and 50-60 pounds ago, I used to play the drums in a Punk-Rock band. I remember one time, while we were “popular”, we were contacted by a talent agent with a band that was coming from California to play two shows down in Venezuela. The agent asked us if we would play with this band.
Of course we said yes, who wouldn’t. The name of the band was “Pulley”, I didn’t know them at the time, but to play with a foreign band is one of the greatest accomplishment we could have hoped for, although actually the show was canceled before.
After doing some research I found out the lead singer of the band was former MLB pitcher Scott Radinsky. He formed the band while he was a reliever for the Los Angeles Dodgers after his departure from another band called “Ten Foot Pole.” Their first album came out in 1996 and was called “Esteem Driven Engine.” In December, 2010 they announced plans to enter the studio in January 2011 to record a new album, which will be their fifth total.
Radinsky played in the Majors for 11 seasons with the White Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals and Indians, ending his career in 2001. The left handed pitcher was 42-25 with a 3.44 ERA in 481.2 innings throughout 557 games.
Here’s the link to Pulley’s website in case you want to hear a former MLB pitcher singing Punk-rock songs.
Image by brendan-c under the Creative Commons Licnese.
All Star Game history and facts
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In the middle of the All Star break festivities, we at PRO Rumors wanted to provide you with a little history about the games, and a list of cool facts that you can brag about to your friends today.
The first All Star game was played in 1933 at Comiskey Park (former home of the White Sox), Chicago. The American League won the game 4-2 and Babe Ruth became the first player to ever hit a home run in an All Star game after hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the third off Bill Hallahan.
His teammate Lefty Gomez was the first pitcher to ever win an All Star game. Frankie Frisch was the first National League player to hit a home run in an All Star game.
At the beginning of the All Star games, the manager of each League selected the entire team. In 1947, fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players for the first time, although the experiment lasted only ten seasons.
In 1957, Reds fans stuffed the ballots and elected a Red to every position except first base. MLB Commissioner, Ford Frick, stepped in and removed two Reds from the lineup and as a response fan voting was discontinued.
For the next 12 years, players, coaches, and managers were given the authority to elect starting position players. Then in 1969 fan balloting for the starting eight was restored in an attempt to modernize marketing of baseball.
Facts:
– Of the eighteen players who started the 1934 game only Wally Berger is not in the Hall of Fame.
– The same year, Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in succession at the Polo Grounds.
– Brooks Robinson (1966) and Carl Yastrzemski (1970) are the only players to be named All Star MVP while playing for the losing team.
– Fred Lynn 1983 hit the first Grand Slam in an All Star game.
– In 1991, Cal Ripken Jr became the first and only player to win the Home Run Derby, All Star MVP and American League MVP the same year.
– In 2000 Derek Jeter became the first player to win the All Star game and the World Series MVP in the same year.
– Ichiro Suzuki hit in 2007 the first inside-the-park home run in an All Star game.
– “They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays,” Ted Williams once said, and he was right. Mays is the all-time leader in runs (20), hits (23), triples (3, tied with Brooks Robinson), steals (6) and total bases (40, tied with Stan Musial) in All Star games. He played in 24 All Star games.
This year’s facts:
– Carlos Beltran became the first National League Designated Hitter while playing in a National League park.
– With Prince Fielder’s homer in the bottom of the fourth, the Arizona Diamondbacks became the only team without a home run in an All Star game.
– Jair Jurrjens is now the player with more “j’s” in his name to play in an All Star game.
Now sit back and enjoy your day off. Information from Wikipedia and an article written by Roger Schlueter of MLB.com was used in this article.
Image by ▌ÇP▐ under the Creative Commons License.
Meet the man who caught and returned Jeter’s 3,000th hit ball
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Derek Jeter hit his 3,000th hit today in fashion as he made it count by hitting a home run. By doing so, he joined Wade Boggs as the only other player to have a home run be his 3,000th hit. With Jeter’s 3,000th hit being a home run, it meant that one lucky fan could potentially grab a piece of Yankee history and hold it ransom for alot of money.
Fortunately,23-year-old cellphone salesman and good-guy, Christian Lopez attended today’s game with his dad and girlfriend and caught Jeter’s 3000th hit. “I was taking a picture, and next thing you know I look in the air,” Lopez said. “My dad dove and missed it, because he has awful hands. I saw it roll in front of me, so I jumped on it. It was just instinct. I thought ‘Wow! This is it! This is my chance!” Lopez and the piece of history, were quickly taken away by security to the negotiating table. But to the surprise of many, Lopez wanted nothing in return for the ball.
The most amazing thing was that Lopez wanted nothing in return for the piece of history. “He deserved this,” said Lopez on an interview with ESPNNewYork.com. ”He worked so hard for this. He’s been in the league for so long. I’m not really the kind to take something away from him. He earned it.”
Although Lopez insisted he wanted nothing in return for the ball, the Yankees provided him with four seats in a Yankee Stadium suite for the rest of the season which includes the playoffs and World Series.
Christian Lopez may not have received millions for the ball, but his name will forever be connected with one of the greatest moments in Yankees’ history.
Image taken by Eric Beato and used under the Creative Commons License agreement.
Mike Piazza and Luis Gonzalez to manage in XM Futures Game
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According to a Press Release by MLB.com, former All Stars Mike Piazza and Luis Gonzalez are going to be managing in the XM Futures Game. Piazza will manage the United States team while Gonzalez will manage the World team. The XM Futures game will air on July 10th on ESPN 2 ESPN 2 HD and on MLB.tv.
Piazza, who was the 1993 Rookie of the Year, enjoyed a strong 16 season career playing for the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres, and Athletics. He was a career .308/.377/.545 hitter with 427 career home runs. Piazza also caught two no-hitters, Ramon Martinez’s in 1995 and Hideo Nomo’s in 1996.
Gonzalez, a 5 time All Star, played for 19 season compiling a total of 2,591 career hits. He hit .283/.367/.479 with 354 career home runs for 6 different teams, the Astros, Cubs, Tigers, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Marlins. He also had the the World Series winning walk off single in game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Yankees giving the Diamond backs their first World Series Championship.
Image by slgckgc Under the Creative Commons License
Alex Rodriguez and Cameron Diaz break up
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Yankees third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, and actress Cameron Diaz have decided to part ways according to Christina Boyle of the New York Daily News.
The couple broke up just one month after the actress spoke publicly about their relationship for the first time says Boyle. “They’ve broken up,” a source said. “[Cameron is] hurt and betrayed, because she tried so hard to please him. … She went overboard.”
Diaz and Rodriguez started dating last year and they were often spotted publicly together. There were even rumors that the actress wanted to make a movie with the Yankees slugger, although those rumors were eventually dismissed.
Rodriguez has been linked now to Diaz, Kate Hudson and Maddona, so we could only guess who will be Rodriguez’s next sweetheart.
Want to know if A-Rod’s offensive performance improves or declines while he was dating Diaz? Check out how his home runs per plate appearance changed depending on who he was dating clicking here.
Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.
Baseball players and their nicknames
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A lot of baseball players have nicknames, many of them given by teammates, others by managers, sports broadcasters, etc. It doesn’t matter how you get it, but you’ll probably be known for better or worse by your nickname rather than your real name.
Earlier this month, I saw an article from Booth Newspapers’ Steve Kornacki that talked about how some Tigers’ relivers have given each other nicknames. Brayan Villarreal for example is called Zorro, Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro.
Ryan Perry, who was placed on the Disabled List earlier this year with an eye infection is called “Cyclops”. Al Alburquerque is called “Avatar”, because apparently he looks like a character from the James Cameron motion picture “Avatar”.
Jose Valverde was already known as “Papa Grande” and Daniel Schlereth said he could be called “the Alaskan Assassin”. The team is looking nicknames for Brad Thomas and Joaquin Benoit.
Other famous players with nicknames include George Herman Ruth “The Bambino”, Lou Gehrig “The Iron Horse”, Joe DiMaggio “Yankee Clipper”, Hank Aaron “Hammer”, Reggie Jackson “Mr. October”, Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man”, to name a few.
Recently we’ve learned nicknames like “El Hombre” for Albert Pujols, “A-Rod” for Alex Rodriguez and “The Freak” for Tim Lincecum.
Freddy Garcia is called “The Chief”, Adam Dunn “Big Donkey”, Jarrod Saltalamacchia “Salty”, Larry Walker “Booger”. Recently, we learned according to our reliable sources, Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo is called “Trumbo Tron”.
In Spanish it’s no different, we have nicknames for a lot of players. I’ll list some names with their nicknames and explain what it means.
Johan Santana is called “El Gocho” in Venezuela, because he comes from a state in Venezuela where everybody is referred as to “Gochos”. Mariano Rivera is called “Apaga y Vamonos”, in English “Turn it off and let’s go”, referring to the fact that when he comes into play the game is almost over.
Carlos Zambrano is called “El Toro”, “The Bull” in English. Adrian Gonzalez is called “El Titan”, in English “The Titan”. Bobby Abreu is called “El come dulce”, in English “Candy eater”, why? I really don’t know.
If you have more nicknames please share it with us via comment or tweet.
Image via Herkie under the Creative Commons license.
Who said playing video games couldn’t make you a millionaire?
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Since video games were invented, we’ve heard a lot of people tell us that playing video games was a waste of time. I’m not gonna start a war here explaining why I think video games could be educative at some point, but I’m obligated to point out that for one guy, playing video games became extremely lucrative.
Brian Kingrey, a Louisiana native won $1 million, for being the first player to throw a perfect game in MLB 2K11 according to Chris Morris of the Blog PluggedIn (yes the video game we gave away earlier this year).
According to Morris, Kingrey is not a big fan of baseball video games, or even baseball in general, but he took the time to master the game, to the point where he was the first person to throw a perfect game.
“I’m not really into sports games, but I am into competitive games, so when I heard about this competition, I couldn’t leave it alone,” says Kingrey. “Two weeks before the competition started, my wife forced me to go get the game. She was like ‘I don’t know why you’re not doing this.’”
As a baseball video game enthusiast, I must say I have never thrown a perfect game, so I imagine how hard could it be.
To get there, Kengry studied batting averages and played a lot of games to learn its nuances and get a good approach to be able to throw the perfect game.
His first strategy, picking the guy on the cover to throw the game, this guy is no other than Roy Halladay. The right hander who actually threw a perfect game less than a year ago. After choosing his pitcher, Kengry had to choose his victims, in this case the Houston Astros.
“Roy Halladay has the most control on his pitch in the game,” says Kingrey. “And he has this really mean slider that’s amazing against right-handers. The Astros only have two lefties in their lineup. I’d throw it low and to the right and then they would swing and miss.”
The 2K contest began on April 1st, and it only took Kengry three attempts and less than two hours to actually throw the perfect game. As part of the festivities Kengry will have the chance to meet the guy who he controlled and helped him get $1 million, Halladay.
Image by 2K Sports under the Creative Commons License.
Cervelli hits 1st career grand slam not knowing the bases were loaded
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Yankees backup catcher Francisco Cervelli played today against the Rangers so Russell Martin could get a day off. Cervelli started the season on the Disabled List and today was just his third game of the season.
Prior to today’s game, the Venezuela native had only one home run in 370 AB’s throughout four Major League seasons. His only home run came on June 2009.
Today, Cervelli crushed a 3-2 pitch off Cody Eppley for his first career Grand Slam. You would think that Cervelli ran the bases savoring the moment, but the truth was, he didn’t know it was a grand slam until he got to home plate according to ESPN’s Wallace Matthews.
“When I was running, no, I did not know the bases were loaded,” he said. “Now I’m going after Alex (Rodriguez), Lou Gehrig and Manny (Ramirez).” The last grand slam Cervelli hit was when he was playing Single-A back in 2007, so he’s probably no threat for Rodriguez, Gehrig or Ramirez.
Cervelli dedicated the homer to his mother, who he hoped was watching back home in Venezuela (I hope she has MLB TV because no other channel was airing the game). The catcher though did not hit the homer using the pink bat most of the players used in honor of Mother’s Day. “The pink bat was a little uncomfortable,” he said. “I used it twice (a groundout and a double play), but then I went back to my old bat.”
Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons license.
Josh Thole teaches sign language to his deaf dog
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Every catcher has to learn to give signs to his pitchers and infielders throughout the game, but in Josh Thole’s case the sign giving doesn’t end behind the plate.
The Mets catcher taught his deaf dog, Picca, to understand sign language according to Nicholas Hirshon of the New York Daily News. Thole adds that his dog caught on pretty fast.
“She knows sit, stay, that kind of stuff,” Thole said. “She’s an inside dog. She’s very good. She really minds her own business.”
Thole bought the dog for his wife Kathryn, but they didn’t notice anything unusual with the dog at first. A couple of months later they noticed Picca started to act weird, “She wasn’t responding to any of the calls we gave her,” Thole said. “She would just ignore us.”
The couple took the dog to their veterinarian to find out what was wrong with him. The Dr. repeatedly blew on a whistle that emits a high-pitched sound only dogs can hear, but Picca didn’t react.
Some pet owners who discover their dogs are deaf fear the difficulties in raising the animals and return them. Thole said that was never an option.
“There was no giving her back,” he said.
Animal experts applauded Thole’s decision to pore over sign language books and teach Picca. Of course the fact that Thole’s profession makes him spend a lot of time giving signs to human beings had to help make things smoother.
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