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Showing posts with the label home run derby

Hitting home runs is supposed to be hard

One of the most quoted lines in the movie "Moneyball" is when the Ron Washington character says to the Scott Hatteberg character, about playing first base, that "it's incredibly hard." That line resonates because: 1. Washington is using blunt terms to cut through the BS that Billy Beane is attempting to lay on a reluctant Hatteberg in order to get him to sign and play first. 2. Baseball is hard. We want it to be hard. We watch it because it's hard. We know it's hard because we played it and at some point, long before getting even close to a pro career, we gave it up because it was too hard. Also we know it's hard because people in major league baseball say it's hard all the time. Sometimes a player will say about some superstar, "He makes it look easy." Implied in that phrase is that for the rest of them, a whole bunch of them, the game is freaking hard . This brings me to the Home Run Derby. I didn't watch it. I haven...

It's HR derby time, so let's celebrate with some Cody Bellinger cards

I may rip on the home run derby as being a brainless gimmick, but I'm not a total wet blanket. The Derby can be fun for what it is. It actually is enjoyable to watch in small bites. But, honestly, unless a hitter is really tearing it up, it gets monotonous. I don't really care who wins home run derby tonight, but I think I have a sign that Cody Bellinger might be the guy to do it. Today, the first Topps Now card that I have ever ordered showed up. And it's of Cody Bellinger. On the very day of the home run derby. How's that for a sign? I've held off on buying a Topps Now card for a year and a half. But that Bellinger is a crafty salesman. The only way he was able crack my Topps Now boycott was by being a rookie with virtually no cards and then hitting an amazing 24 home runs since April 25th. OK, Topps Now, you got me. I'm buying his card. I'm happy to say I didn't pay $9.99 for this. It was $5.99, which is my upper threshold for a price on a ...

All-Star Week: HR Derby is a thing so this is a thing

I admit, I have outgrown Home Run Derby. I probably had outgrown it before the first All-Star Game version of it blasted off in 1985. That's how old I am. The All-Star Game brings out the kid in me. The HR Derby cannot. It's possible that if they were doing HR Derby in 1977, I'd look at it more fondly than I do, but they didn't and I can't help the way I feel. This activity is a one-trick pony, pretty annoying and probably not for anyone who isn't a major leaguer or over the age of 12. OK, let's just get it out of the way: it's terrible. I don't like the gimmick, I don't like ESPN, I don't like Berman, I don't like the stupid "special uniforms" they make the players wear, I don't like the jocularity plastered all over the thing. It's one of those activities that's fun to do, but excruciating to view. Sadly, it's probably never going away and one of the reasons I know this is because Topps makes cards o...