Tuesday, July 14, 2009

All-Star Memories

Continuing our baseball/filler theme on the morning before the 2009 All-Star Game, my favorite childhood All-Star memory:

Dave Parker was a bad, bad man. In 1979, he and Willie Stargell (among others) took a break from leading the 'We Are Family' Pirates to the World Series title to show the American League just how bad.

Parker drove in a run in the 2nd inning on a sacrifice fly, but he won the MVP in the '79 Midsummer's Classic on the strength of his awesome right arm. With the AL leading, 6-5, in the bottom of the 7th, Jim Rice doubled to deep right. Parker retrieved the ball and gunned Rice at third to blunt a rally.

Then, after the NL tied the game in the bottom of the 7th, California Angel Brian Downing led off the following inning with a single. Downing was sacrified to second, Reggie Jackson was intentionally walked, and Bruce Sutter struck out Bobby Grich to bring Graig Nettles to the plate (a mere 9 months after Nettles' caught Carl Yastrzemski's pop-up for the final out of the 1978 AL East playoff - not that I'm scarred, or anything). Nettles blooped a single to right, in front of the charging Parker.

The Cobra, as Parker was nicknamed (which remains to this day one of the great badass monikers in sports), fielded the ball cleanly and unleashed one of the most jawdropping throws in memory, hitting catcher Gary Carter in the chest. Carter held on to the ball as the burly Downing crashed into him, ending the inning and preserving the tie. The NL plated a run in the top of the 9th to win, 7-6.

And then Parker and Keith Hernandez went out and scored some top-quality blow.

39 comments:

rob said...

parker's beard was also top-notch

rob said...

iverson to the clippers? are they trying to permanently retard blake griffin's development?

zman said...

That photo is tough at nails.

Whitney said...

They had that All-Star Game on the MLB network a month or so ago. Those throws were unbelievable. Parker was a beast -- he was like Dave Winfield in the evil Spider-Man suit.

Dave said...

my grandfather hated dave parker because he wore a beard.

i wonder what he would think of my mustache.

new "greasetruck" song. very beachy.

Squeaky said...

Those are some badass uniforms.
Beard growing in. Just in time to shave most of it off.

Jerry said...

Mustache is plateauing a bit. Beginning to question my own swarthiness.

Dennis said...

Just saw The Hangover last night....fantastic. 4 out of 5 stars. The only thing keeping it from pure greatness were the Mike Tyson bits - but that's the studio's fault for putting him in the trailer.

Mark said...

If more baseball players still rocked beards like that whilst smoking in the dugout, well, I'd watch more baseball.

Michael said...

I just got my haircut. told the woman to not touch the beard. she looked at me like I was crazy. my beard is longer than the hair on my head right now.

zman said...

That's funny. The hair in my armpits is longer than the hair on my head and my beard.

rob said...

all the womenfolk in my office seem to enjoy the beard. they're gonna love the mustache.

Whitney said...

Gorman Thomas would have thrived on this year's fishing trip. Same with Al Hrabosky.

rob said...

rollie fingers would've been all up in this shit

zman said...

Walt Frazier could bring it too.

TR said...

Don't forget Wade Boggs, Jack Morris, Frank Viola, Ron Guidry, Steve Balboni, Wayne Tolleson, Don Mattingly and Goose Gossage. And Dale Berra, if he doesn't spend the whole day trying to snort the foul lines.

rob said...

geoff's gonna have something to say about the president's all-star game outfit. and i'm probably going to agree with him.

rob said...

lincecum up and in on jeter. i like that scrawny bastard.

rob said...

tim mccarver just dissed benny agbayani. that's some bullshit right there.

Geoff said...

If I put my self in Barry O's spot, its really almost impossible to dress appropriately for "President throwing out first pitch at the all-star game.". His attempt was poor, but I can't tell you what he should have worn.

Geoff said...

I think the right answer is jeans, a Polo shirt and the hat of the team you support...after giving it some thought.

TR said...

I think somebody needs to give Barry O some better jeans and sneakers. It looked like he was rocking Lee jeans, circa 1989. They looked amazingly ill-fitting for a guy who seems to be in decent shape. And couldn't he have sported a pair of hipster Pumas instead of whatever he wore?

But, in all seriousness, it's good to see him honor a class act like Ozzie Guillen.

Geoff said...

Yeah, I should have distinguished "jeans purchased this year that fit and don't have a nine inch zipper and tapered legs."

Mark said...

When did Pumas become "hipster Pumas"?

zman said...

They were hipster Pumas until they started selling them at Urban Outfitters. Now every woman under 30 wears them on the subway to work and changes into their work shoes when they get to the office.

Geoff said...

Add "wearing Pumas to work" to the list of Thing Women Under 30 Hane in Common with Swint.

Dave said...

just whittled the beard down to a mustache . . . i hope everyone else looks as retarded as i do.

T.J. said...

Trust me, I do.

Jerry said...

I'm thinking about doing my whittling prior to my soccer game tonight. Going for the David Seaman look. It should be either intimidating or comical enough to do some damage defensively.

Geoff said...

"You all think it is inappropriate to hire a girlfriend. I don't think it is. In fact, there is no law against it" -- ex-DC Mayor Marion Barry (D), now hiring (Washington Post).

Whitney said...

Daniel Snyder might be too much of a sinister prick to be Michael Scott, but that Marion Barry quote is lifted almost verbatim from an episode of "The Office."

Or vice versa...?

Squeaky said...

Have yet to trim down to the stache. Still no clue as to how awful I should make it look.

Squeaky said...

Stache-off!
http://flashyourstache.com/
good for some ideas.

Mark said...

Jerry with the David Seaman reference. I'd guess about 50% of the people who frequent G:TB know/remember who he is.

Unfortunately for me, I had a presentation to do this afternoon and had to trim my beard. Its a shame too. I hadn't trimmed it in over 3 weeks.

Unknown said...

They were hipster Pumas until they started selling them at Urban Outfitters. Now every woman under 30 wears them on the subway to work and changes into their work shoes when they get to the office. Judi Online

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