Change of decades

[slidekellyslide]

Omar Vizquel

[Jim VB]

Omar is correct.

[slidekellyslide]

Is Marquis Grissom playing this season?

He was born on the same exact day I was...but I'm not sure if he was born before or after me...I was born at 8:12 AM...this info is extremely important to me if Jamie Moyer retires before Grissom.

[Anthony S.]

Sheffield is one of the "if he gets a job" dudes.

edited add: This list makes me uneasy, in that if Brian Sabean ever got a hold of it, he'd try to sign all six.

[kkkkandp]

Kenny Rogers?

[Tom S.]

Is Tom Gordon is one of the "4"?

[Jim VB]

Gordon is correct as the 4th (I think he still has a job this year.)

And Sheffield and Smoltz are the other two possibles (I see someone taking a chance on Smoltz, but I wouldn't bet on Sheffield.)



OK. On to the bonus question? A connection to Net54, in one step?


Edited to add: I may stand corrected on Gordon. Arizona released him at the end of last season. I haven't been able to find him catching on anywhere as of yet. I guess he moves to the "maybe" list.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by Anthony S.

Sheffield is one of the "if he gets a job" dudes.

edited add: This list makes me uneasy, in that if Brian Sabean ever got a hold of it, he'd try to sign all six.

Hell, he'd sign all 6 AND track down Randy Johnson, for a clean sweep of 7 if he could.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Is Marquis Grissom playing this season?

He was born on the same exact day I was...but I'm not sure if he was born before or after me...I was born at 8:12 AM...this info is extremely important to me if Jamie Moyer retires before Grissom.

Bad news Dan, Marquis hasn't played since 2005.

[Anthony S.]

Hard to believe that Sheff wore more bling than Rob...

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by Anthony S.

Hard to believe that Sheff wore more bling than Rob...

I think he had a contract with more bling in it.


Dan,

Maybe you should collect players born on your birthday?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/fr...month=4&day=17

[Rob D.]

My favorite Sheffield-as-a-teammate-story:

There was a long-standing tradition in El Paso (for all I know they might still be doing it) that when a Diablos player hit a home run, after he crossed the plate, he'd walk along where the stands meet the field with his helmet and fans could come down and place dollar bills in it. Depending on how popular of a player you were, the importance of the homer and how many outs there were when you hit it, you could easily collect $100-$300, which was significant on a Double-A salary. (A guy named Alan Cartwright, who played in El Paso a few years before me, once hit a home run to win a game in the bottom of the ninth on the night when there were Fourth of July fireworks after the game. Because the fans weren't going anywhere, he was able to collect money for nearly an hour and came back to the clubhouse with nearly $1,000.)

Anyway, as cool as this sounds (and it was very cool), the first time you do it you feel like an idiot. It's just so surreal. You almost feel like you're begging. But the fans expect players to do it, because it gives them a chance to show their appreciation in an "up close and personal" way.

Well, the first time Sheffield homered at home, he didn't re-emerge from the dugout to collect his money. I think his exact words were, "F**k it, I ain't going out there." Worse, he sent a batboy out with a helmet. The fans started booing, and both papers in town made a huge deal of it the next day, one running the headline "Sheffield snubs fans."

The next night, upon going to the parking lot after the game, Sheffield found that someone had vandalized his car, which happened to be the latest model Trans Am -- red and gold with just about every option -- that his uncle Dwight Gooden had bought for him. Major crap hit the fan and culminated the next day with Sheffield calling Milwaukee's farm director and demanding they move him to another team.

Sadly, that request wasn't honored.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

Bad news Dan, Marquis hasn't played since 2005.

That's how much attention I pay to modern baseball.

[cbcbcb]

If John Smoltz unretires and finds a team, which I think he will in July, that could be one.

[slidekellyslide]

Is Curt Schilling officially retired?