Long before becoming an All Star second baseman and a two time World Series participant with the Texas Rangers, Ian Kinsler was a journeyman college player tallying stops at Central Arizona College, and Arizona State before finally finding a home with the Missouri Tigers. In the story link below, Mizzou baseball coach Tim Jamieson recalls the recruitment of Kinsler, his impact on the Tigers program, and how excited he is to see Kinsler’s success in the major leagues.
Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Jeff Locke will enter 2012 looking for his first big league win. He went 0-3 in four starts with the Pirates last season. Despite not yet getting a win, Locke reached the dream sought after by many when he made his major league debut. In the story link below, Locke provides an in depth look at his baseball journey from suiting up for the worst team in the Mount Washington Valley Little League, being highly scouted in high school, 2006 draft day when he was selected by the Atlanta Braves, his journey through the minor leagues and finally his debut last season with the Pirates. It’s an interesting timeline look at Locke’s path to the majors.
Back in July, at the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the Houston Astros traded Michael Bourn to the Atlanta Braves for a package of prospects that consisted of Brett Olberholtzer, Paul Clemens, Jordan Schafer and Juan Abreu. The story link below provides a behind the scenes look at the makings of the trade from the text and email exchange between Houston Astros general manager Ed Wade and Atlanta Braves general manager Frank Wren, to the meetings among the respective scouting departments, to the notifications to the players involved. It’s a really cool look at the simple yet complicated inner workings of a trade deadline deal.
Before he became the St Louis Cardinals closer, Jason Motte was a light hitting catcher with a major arm. In his minor league career, Motte batted just .191 before taking his 90+ MPH heat to the mound. In the story link below, Motte’s old Valley Central High School teammates and coaches talk about his days behind the plate and the arm that helped carry him and the Cardinals to the World Series.
This Pete Rose fan swung by The Art Of Music in Las Vegas and had the Cincinnati Reds Hall Of Famer sign a baseball for him. The young man asked Pete to sign the ball “Pay It Forward” as the fan is part of the random acts of kindness movement. Pete happily obliges but makes a small error in spelling the word “Forward” as you will see at the end of the clip. For the record the word “Forward” is listed as “basic” on this 6th grade spelling list. The autograph signing made a great memory for this fan, produced a nice conversation piece for his home or office, and provided the YouTube watching public with a humorous clip. Enjoy. Oh and for the record Pete, don’t feel bad, there’s a good chance I would have misspelled it too 🙂
After a storied high school career at Lafayette High School outside of St. Louis, David Freese decided to call it quits. He enrolled at the University of Missouri but did not play baseball despite the pleas of the the Mizzou coaching staff. Following his freshman year at Mizzou, Freese returned to his home town and decided to give baseball another shot. He decided to play junior college ball at Meramec Community College and later at the University of South Alabama before being ninth round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2006 before being traded to the Cardinals in the Jim Edmonds deal. In the story link below, Freese talks about losing and then regaining his love for baseball, playing for his home town Cardinals, and enjoying the team’s playoff push. It’s a good read.
The king of batting stance imitators, the Batting Stance Guy, has literally made a living off of imitating the batting stances of major league hitters. Always the inovator, he recently branched off into imitating announcers and making a humerous short film with his hats. In his latest video, Batting Stance Guy goes back to his roots and gives a nine step guide that will teach you the viewer the skills needed to imitatethe batting stance of your favorite player. It’s humerous and informative all at the same time. The Ryan Braun that begins at the 3:20 mark is my favorite. As always outstanding stuff from the Batting Stance Guy. Follow him on twitter @BattingStanceG
If you would have told me before the season started that Milwaukee Brewers reliever Kameron Loe would be part of a rap song I probably would not have believed it. But thanks to the Brewers NLDS Championship and playoff run and the talents of Milwaukee based rapper P.U.N., @PUN4L on twitter, Loe and just about everyone else on the Brewers 25 man roster get a line in the beat titled “Lets Go Brewers”. Give it a listen.
This is another one of former Saturday Night Live writer T. Sean Shannon’s video series called Baseball Card Theater. Today he looks at some of the horribly hysterical pictures used on some 1973 Topps baseball cards.
As most are aware, major league baseballs get rubbed down with mud before they are used in each game. For nearly 75 years, the Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud gathered off the Delaware River in New Jersey has been used to rub the shine off of each brand new baseball. In the video below Newsworks.org takes a trip the Delaware River to see how the mud gets collected and documents its use once it makes it to major league baseball umpire rooms.