I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We had a great time as usual. Good food, good people and the Patriots on television. We'll get right into this weeks list, because hockey is on in about an hour. Sorry, priorities...you understand, I'm sure. This weeks list was inspired by the book I'm currently reading, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons. We've established before, that I'm not really a basketball fan, but Simmons is a riot and it's really informative. Anyways, he mentioned something about a famous baseball card...so, thus we have our list for the week. Here we go...
Funny Baseball Cards:
Billy Ripken
This very well could be the most infamous card ever. This card came out in 1989 and is still talked about today. Billy Ripken played for 12 seasons on a handful of teams. It's tough being a second-generation player, but even tougher when you have a brother that is in the Hall of Fame and broke one of the most famous records of all-time. I enjoy his commentary on the MLB Network.
Tim Flannery
No, I really don't understand the concept by this photographer. It's baseball, not Beach Blanket Bingo. Maybe it was done, because Flannery wasn't a great baseball player. Probably, more to it being San Diego and being one of the surf capitals of the United States. It's still a pretty odd baseball card.
Oscar Gamble
It's the card that inspired this week's list. How Oscar kept his cap on defies logic and physics. It's a world class afro, that is right up there with Chevy Chase's in Fletch. Oscar had a pretty good career. 17 seasons as a pro baseball player is impressive. He was a liability in the field, but had a good bat. He became one of the early designated hitters in the league.
Al Hrabosky
One of the great characters in baseball. Hrabosky was known as "The Mad Hungarian" for his antics on the mound. The Fu-Manchu mustache helped with intimidation as a closer. He had a phenomenal season in 1975. Finishing third in CY Young voting.
Turk Wendell
Turk was one of the most eccentric baseball players in history. Yes, he's brushing his teeth in the picture. He would chew four pieces of black licorice on the mound and then between innings, brush his teeth. Dental hygiene is very important. He threw the rosin bag down at the mound as hard as he could. Wore a necklace with teeth from animals he killed while hunting. He was, you know, "colorful" or "freaking nuts," you choose.
Bob Walk
First, Bob has a very unfortunate last name for being a pitcher, Walk. He has a haircut that would look more appropriate on a hockey player. I guess he just want to let everyone know that when he was on the mound, he was business first and party last. Walk actually had a pretty good career considering he pitched for most of his career with the Pirates. He did play with Barry Bonds, B.T.S. (Before the Steroids).
Jay Johnstone
Johnstone was more known as a prankster than a baseball player. He did play for 20 seasons, which surprised me. I just didn't think he played that long. He also was on 2 World Series Championship teams. Again, a shocker, with the Yankees and Dodgers. He was famous for setting teammates cleats on fire, locking Tommy Lasorda in his office and walking through the field boxes to the concession stand to get himself a hot dog, in full uniform.
Ted Kluszewski
Not so much funny, well the uniform is funny, because there aren't any sleeves. Look at "Big Klu's" arms, my god. It's not that big a deal these days, many of the players in MLB have big arms, but this card is from 1957! He cut off the sleeves of his uniform so he didn't have to change his swing. He's what you would call "country strong."
Tony Gwynn
Straight outta Compton crazy MF'er named Ice Cube (Wait, what? That's not...)
From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes ( Are you sure?)
I'm convinced that Tony Gwynn looks like Ice Cube, at least in that picture. Gwynn was young, slim and could still run. He did steal 56 bases one year. All jokes aside, Tony Gwynn is a well deserved Hall of Famer. He was one of the best hitters when I was growing up. It was always him in the NL and Wade Boggs in the AL. The first time I saw that picture, I thought, "When did Ice Cube play pro baseball?"
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