Ok baseball fans, here's an interesting question.
With all the serious talk that's been going on, I thought a light hearted topic might be fun. Anticipate silliness, and some eye rolls, but participate if you dare.
You are friends with Dr. Emmett Brown (yes, I realize he is a fictional character. Bear with me). After the rousing success of the DeLorean time machine, "Doc" has decided to give time travel another go, only this time, no Libyans will be involved. There will be no cool cars, no 88 miles per hour, or one-point-twenty-one jiggawatts. Just pure, unadulterated time travel. http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5499/mmpn.png Seriously, though. Would you let this man send you back in time? The new time machine has one limitation. Because of power limitations ("Doc" spent most of his family's fortune, after all), you can only go back in time for ten minutes before you need to come home. As baseball fans, and baseball card collectors, what would you choose to do with your ten minutes? Clearly, ten minutes is not enough time to take in a game. You might be able to locate an old store with baseball cards for sale, though.... http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/9853/u974.png Woolworths circa 1952? Yes, please! Maybe instead you'd use your ten minutes to change something that happened in the past: "Roberto, don't get in that plane." or... "Hey Fred, make sure to touch second before running off the field." or... "Mr. Branca, maybe you should avoid throwing Bobby any curve balls today." or... "Hey, Thurman, your wife called. You'll have to practice landings another day." or... "Mick, did you know there's a sprinkler head in left center field? How would you use your ten minutes? |
I would travel all the way back to 2012, to see how those "Black Swamp" cards were replicated.:DDave.
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My first thought is that I would go back to 1918 and shoot Chick Gandil before he ever thought of throwing the 1919 World Series.
But on second thought, baseball needed a wake up call to bring in Commissioner Landis to clean up the sport, so maybe that's not such a good idea. :confused: |
I could think of a lot of games, but probably the one that annoyed me the most was the Armando Galarraga 28 out perfect game. I'd definitely hand Jim Joyce a pair of glasses and explain to him how to tell whose foot touches a bag first. It needs to be repeated often that since that game, Galarraga has a 5-16 career record and he spent this entire past season in AAA. He had a 21-18 career record at the time. I still get mad watching that replay.
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I'd go back about 25 years and buy some shares of Cisco, Microsoft and Apple. I would have enough money to buy any cardboard at today's prices.
Baseball related, I would go back about 11 months and explain the infield fly rule to a couple of umps before a one game playoff. |
I would go back to the day yahoo came out as an IPO, and STOP my self from selling it 10 min after I bought it. I made $1000 in 10 min....UGH what a fool. I still keep the bought receipt in my card collection cabinet to remind my self of the idiocy.
Anyway - if we aren't talking about making money....... My other option would be to go back to that Babe Ruth called shot game and see what really happened. |
Great topic...
I've just finished reading a bunch of great time travel stories (Stephen King's excellent "11/22/63" and Audrey Niffenegger's "The Time Traveller's Wife" and Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life" and Octavia Butler's "Kindred"... highly recommended all!) ...
First of all: Need WAY more than 10 minutes!!!!! How about an hour? Or a Day? (so we could take in an actual game??!!!! But your thread, your rules... On the serious front (Baseball-wise only): Yeah... Stop Clemente and others from getting on that plane... or distract Carl Mays or Ray Chapman... On the lighter side: Visiting that card store you pictured with a wad of cash... or (even better) a T206 factory with a wad of cash and a "I Love Honus!" sign. |
Pretty easy, I'd go back to 1970 and play catch with my dad
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I would hand Billy Sianis a can of Glade on his way into the stadium.
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2003 NLCS, 8th inning. "Hey guys, the next pitch is getting hit this way. Stand back and let Alou make the catch. That goes double for you, Bartman."
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ooh... two more things:
1. Appear at the Polo Grounds in 1951 in the exact seat (with glove) to catch Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard Round The World. I'd hold the ball up, smile at Pafko and take in the joy... and come home with an amazing souvenir to top it all off! 2. Kill the Rally Monkey in 2002. |
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If I were going to shoot anybody, I imagine I'd be looking to shoot Arnold Rothstein. But that would end up making Boardwalk Empire a lot less interesting. So, there is that. :D Quote:
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As far as Yahoo's IPO. Ouch. The IPO price was $24.50, and it's at $28.17 now. But it's also split like 5 times. Quote:
Chapman's beaning did cross my mind. That was a tragedy :( Two others crossed my mind. Tony Conigliaro and Herb Score. Quote:
Great answers so far, everybody! Keep up the creativity! |
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That's easy!!! October 5, 1921 at the Polo Grounds for the 1921 World Series to see my Great Great Uncle Elmer Miller get the first ever Yankee hit in a World Series.
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I'll pay Doc to let you go back twice. Then you can smack Steve Bartman before that foul ball comes close to him. It might be a bit of overkill with the curse taken care of, but one can never be too sure. :D I would like to see you and Cubbie fanatics everywhere have a chance to gather around State Street and Michigan Avenue to celebrate a Series win! Good peeps in Chicago, and they've stayed loyal through a lot of bad years. Gotta respect that! |
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I would really love to see the Cubs get back to the Series. I want the Brewers to get there, too, but the diehard Cubbie fans deserve it more. Quote:
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Not a big BB fan, so an old cardboard travel it would be.
I'd love to be on the print shop floor during the T206s. Take it all in, uncut sheets, the plates, presses. Specifically to see the proofs being made, or brown OM/Lenox ink switch or the ghost back sheets being printed. Simple pleasures. |
This one wouldn't suck: Show up at Topps in 1960 when Sy was ready to load up those valueless 52 high # cases and dump em. I could take a few cases off his hands and save him a few bucks.:)Dave.
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Not sure what would top my list, but one card related possibility would be to travel back to the summer of 1888, downtown Detroit, Woodward Ave, right outside the several prevalent cigar and cigarette stores. I'd take my 1887 Coin collection and buy up all the 1888 Old Judge cigarettes they had in hopes of landing a few Detroits. The non-Detroits would be pretty cool as well (maybe some Maroons, Brewers, Omahogs, Prohibitionists, etc). Maybe I'd even get lucky and find the Anson in Uniform or Deacon White portrait "chase card" :) |
On a personal level, I would go back into the early '30's to see my grandfather play against the barnstormers of the time, be they Ruth and bunch or the Negro league players. I would tell my grandma NOT to toss out my Dad and uncle's baseball cards and brainwash my Dad to stick with IBM and forget about racing his Willys after the war!! Think I could do all this in ten...
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I would like to go through Charles Conlon's dumpster after he through away a big chunk of his plates.
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I would go back to see Ty Cobb play. Or Ruth, Gehrig or.... you get the idea.:)
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I'd go to Shoeless Joe's liquor store and try to have him explain to me-in 10 minutes-what really happened in the 1919 Series:D
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I'm assuming that Doc's machine can direct beam you there. After all, what good is a ten minute trip if you spent the whole time traveling to where you want to go?
I'd love to see him play. Maybe I'd have to go back again. |
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The way I deal with that is, I know that he knows what is in my heart. I am sure your dad knows what is in your heart. |
Very easy
Jeffrey Maier never makes it to Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS.
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Telling Eckersley that Gibson would be sitting on a back door slider in game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
A hard fastball inside and Gibby strikes out looking. |
I would go back to 1908 and tell Honus that smoking is good for you.
This would change the meaning of "The Holy Grail" |
Deja vu all over again!!!
Bill,
I seem to recall a thread where we talked about jumping in the Delorean and going back in time for a baseball card shopping spree. I talked about the obvious issues of time travel, i.e. not having the currency of the time period nor the proper clothing, which would make us stand out like a sore thumb to the people back in that time period. We would probably look like alien spacemen to them! Let's assume that as we are transported back in time our cloths and money magically change to that of our target destination, which for me would be New York city during the Spring of 1909. Ten minutes is not a lot of time but I'd spend my time buying up all the cigarette packs I could. Oh and why Spring? Something to do with a certain player's card whose production was cut short that year. :rolleyes: |
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Maybe the doc could be convinced to build the time machine in a van instead of the Delorean? Second choice mught be when the 52 high number cases were being loaded on the barge. Heck, with the proceeds from either I could make a second trip, or third. Steve B |
Too many Mannys!
I would like to go back to a time and watch a game, when the players wore Baseball uniforms.
That is... KNEE LENGTH PANTS! At present, if I was Bud Selig I would order the umpires to call the low strikes. Then when the batter turns around crying his eyes out have the umpire simply say "Gimmie a break son wear a baseball uniform that will show where your knees are". |
I would go back to the Yankee's spring training in 1920 and give Babe Ruth 15 cases of special "hot dog sauce", which of course contains anabolic steroids.
Fast forward to 1935. Babe Ruth wraps up his major league career with 1280 home runs and his single season record of 96 still remains unbroken. Bonds, Rodriguez, McGwire, Sosa? Never heard of them. |
Don ---That's a good one ruth on roids 1280 might be a little short lol
I would go back to 1986 and grab the 2 pallets of 1986/87 fleer basketball that were sitting at the price club for $6.00 per box |
I'd go back to December 1972 and somehow make sure Roberto got on a better plane to fly the relief supplies Nicaragua.
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A couple weeks before the 1919 World Series starts, I'd send the same letter to the Chicago Tribune, whatever Cincinatti paper, every White Sox and Reds player and both team owners, leaking all the information about the impending fix.
That should put the brakes on everything. To hell with unintended consequences . . . |
I would to back and tell Mantle not to run after the ball, let DiMaggio only go for it, that there is a drain out there in that outfield!!!
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10/14/2003
I'm going to use "Quantum Leap" rules and only allow myself to travel within my lifetime. Therefore, I will choose it to "leap" to October 14, 2003 at Wrigley Field at the top of the eighth inning. I would inform the gentleman in Aisle 4, Row 8, Seat 113 that there was an emergency that needed his attention and that he would have to vacate his seat. The rest is history...
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I remember it, too. :D The first thread was more geared towards going back in time, and seeing something you'd enjoy (hence enough time to watch a game, or a series). This is more geared towards going back in time to change something. Ten minutes isn't enough time to catch even one good at bat, but it would be enough time to prevent somebody like Roberto Clemente from getting on a plane that would kill him. It would also be enough time to make sure that Fred Merkle's name was not forever associated with a base running blunder. The two discussions are similar, but the intent behind the time travel is different. However, I suppose if you had a Delorean, you could accomplish both. But all it would take is catching one game watching Ty Cobb race around the bases for me to forget every other thing I needed to accomplish. :p |
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We'd all be anachronisms. We wouldn't belong. Best case you could do is get a job working in a store for packs of tobacco that have baseball cards in them in lieu of pay, and even then, you'd need weeks to accumulate anything real. It'd be like arguing how you could stop the Titanic from sinking. You first have to explain overcoming the crew even listening to you in the first place. You could also trigger a collecting boom, so that would make old material way more available and less valuable--'hey, that guy is hoarding these baseball cards, maybe we should too.'. |
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http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1324337613 Really, more than anything, this discussions is meant to offer a change of pace. It's more to glean what things members wish they could change from the past than to consider how successful they would be in doing so. |
C'mon Cubs fans, Moises Alou has admitted he couldn't have caught the ball anyway.
I'm still pissed that Bud Selig didn't go back and change Gallarraga's game to a perfect game after the fact. It wouldn't have set any kind of crazy precedent, he could have said "the only precedent I'm setting is to correct an egregious error on the final out of a perfect game. If it ever comes up again, I'll do the same thing again." NOBODY would have been mad about that and NOBODY would have tried to get stuff changed because a "precedent" had been set. GRRR. For me, I'd probably go back to the summer of 1997 and somehow get a different limo driver for the Red Wings. |
I'd show up at the shop printing the T206s, dazzle them with my knowledge of modern print techniques, say I was there for a press check, sign off on one sheet (before trimming) and tell them I need to keep a flat, uncut sheet of each example they have for later quality comparison.
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