My Oh My!

Congrats to Mariner broadcasting legend Dave Niehaus, who today is being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He sounds the same today as he did 31 years ago when, as an eight-year-old, I first heard him call M's games on KVI.

Sadly, his threads aren't as sharp as they used to be.

Bubblegum Card of the Week: Kurt Bevacqua

Bevacqua was a journeyman utility player from 1971 to 1985. Though his Wikipedia entry mentions his appearance on King of the Hill, it fails to mention his title of 1975 Joe Garagiola/Bazooka Bubble Gum Blowing Champ™. The back of this card, 1976 Topps #564, explains that 22 of the 24 MLB franchises sent a team champ to the finals, the party-pooping squads being the Pirates and the Tigers. According to the official Bazooka calipers seen here, Bevacqua's bubble beat out those of future Hall-of-Famers Johnny Bench, Gary Carter and George Brett, among others.

I don't know if this contest has happened since, but it should.

Bubblegum Card of the Week: Don Mossi

Daniel Clowes drew this little aside in the story "I Love You Tenderly" in Eightball comic number 4, from October 1990. I was intrigued by the illustration, and especially the caption ("card which horrified me as a kid"!?), so I tracked down the original at the card shop where I blew most of my high school lunch money...

And here it is, 1964 Topps #335. Turns out Don Mossi had a solid career, even if he did give young Danny C. nightmares.

Me, I was terrified by Pete Rose.

Win One for the Fucker!

This one's new to me -- Ichiro's now-annual pregame All-Star pep talk with his American League teammates. His filthy speech has apparently worked in all eight of the games he's played in, including tonight's, excluding that bullshit 2002 "tie"...

This here pic's from yesterday's BP.

Here's a cool ASG nugget from one of my favorite writers, Paul Lukas:

"Seattle's Ruppert Jones achieved a bizarre dual [ASG uni] distinction: When he pinch-hit in the third inning [of the '77 game], he became the first Mariner ever to appear in an All-Star Game. But he was wearing a Blue Jays helmet, so he also became the first player ever to wear Blue Jays gear in an All-Star Game (Toronto's lone representative on the AL roster, Ron Fairly, didn't appear until four innings later)."

For proof, here's a screen-snag:

As an aside, I'm glad that patronizing b-hole Fairly is no longer a Mariner announcer -- good riddance.

Anyway, here's my old Mariner All-Stars blog entry, once again updated in the comments section with this year's info.

Bubblegum Card of the Week: Mudhoney

It's 1988 all over again.

Back in January I wrote about the 20th anniversary of Mudhoney; in May they released both a solid new album, and a kickass deluxe reissue of 1988's Superfuzz Bigmuff. Now this weekend they're playing at the big Sub Pop 20th anniversary festival. I'd sorta like to go, but it's a bit pricey for me, and the big outdoor suburban venue doesn't seem quite right. If anything, I'd be more interested in the Green River reunion.

Anyway, here's another card from the 1993 NW Bands and Labels series. Apparently guitarist Steve Turner was the only Mudhoney to show up at Dick's for the photo shoot; at least he brought a promo photo depicting the other band members.

Bubblegum Card of the Week: Hysterical History

I used to have a dozen or so of these cards as a kid, which were issued around the time of the '76 Bicentennial. Even then they seemed kinda lame...

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

We Hardly Knew Ye: Seattle SuperSonics

What will happen to Squatch?