No, this isn’t something I drew in 5th grade art class …
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on May 18, 2009 
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… though I certainly wish it was. It’s just one of the most famous baseball paintings of all time. Since the museum discussion is going so well – thanks for contributing, everyone – I thought I’d give us something baseball-related to ponder.
The great Norman Rockwell tried to capture the Chicago Cubs on May 23, 1948, during an ugly afternoon in Boston when they played a doubleheader against the Braves. Pretty excellent, no? We can only assume that Angel Berroa, who was no doubt a veteran presence on that ’48 team, is sitting just out of the frame.
In other news, I just went for a run and it’s ridiculously cloudy here at my palatial estate – which looks sort of like this – in Connecticut. Forecast for tonight in the Bronx is only a 20 % chance of rain but cooler temps in the 50′s. Also, since I forgot to mention it before, feel free to email me this week – or anytime, really – at sborden@lohud.com. Back with more from the Stadium later on.
Amazing that Berroa has managed to stay around so long.
Angel joke: Fail
Went for a rune: Funny
Thanks for sharing the painting Sam.
I have to ask though, where’s the drawing of Hideki Matsui’s wife?
Fran,
Berroa has truly found the fountain of youth…and a stash of naughty Cashman pix.
Francesa about to go on a little rant here regarding the ESPN broadcast last night lol
I always liked this painting by Morris Kantor:
http://americanart.si.edu/imag......18_1a.jpg
You blame him, Joe Morgan basically deemed David Wright the NL MVP
Haha I’m picturing Francesa with steam coming out of his ears right now.
I think francessa just threw a lifter!
Did he mention the pieing?
SoS – check my last post in the last thread
m,
I knew that there had to be some reason. I think that Jose Veras may have some of those pictures too
Angel joke: HUGE fail
Veteran presence on a 1948 team when only 1 year earlier, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier?
The stupid…it hurts…
Stick to reporting sports.
What was up with John Miller last night? Jeeeesus:
http://thesportshernia.typepad.....-june.html
Ohhh, the glory history of the chicago cubs or should i SAY the gory history. They havent won it all in so long, i DONT even hear anybody talk about it anymore. I guess theres no point, everybody knows already. Its not a curse, its like a god-given gift to fail kind of like the yanks and their history but the exact opposite.
Anyway, I just have to say the yankees have made a brutal week of finals for me, a whole lot better with a few walk offs to start off arods season right. Whoever says arod doesnt bring anything to this team, doesnt watch the yanks actually play. Before arod came back, it was like how are we going to find a way to lose today. Barely a week later and a few amazing victories and all of a sudden this team seems unstoppable. Like they could get hit with a train and just keep on coming at you.
I dont know … maybe its not all arods doing and in fact, im sure it is not but its hard to ignore that this turn around came at the precise time that arod did and looking at their record with and without arod it wasnt much of a surprise either. But the decisive and memorable fashion in which they have been posting up Ws every night has been quite spectacular. How many games in a row can we win with a walk off hit? I just hope the momentum just keeps on rolling.
Come on Sam, we had a good thing going last thread – now we’re all off in different directions. I enjoy your work, but Pete will always be the blog-father.
m May 18th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Watching recaps on espnews. They showed AJ’s shirt-pie. The sleeve whacks Kim Jones on the forehead. They show it in slow mo, too.
**************************’
Kim is going to start wearing a helmet when she does the on field interview after a walk off. AJ what happened to the towel? A shirt? And probably a dirty one at that. Gross!!
Hey Sam, love to get your opinion on a few things…
Wang comes back, but he still has not worked it out, does Phil Hughes keep starting in the majors? Could you see Aceves or Tomko getting that chance ahead of Phil?
Nady comes back and goes back into a platoon with Swisher in RF. Do we still see a Gardener and Melky platoon in CF as well?
With Austin Jackson looming, Matt Holliday on the horizon and Melky’s stock rising a little, could you see Melky being traded?
Which relief pitcher goes down when Bruney comes back?
dave,
Lots of contributing factors. Alex lenghthens the lineup with his presence and stronger bat.
But the main thing is the pitching has improved. Big time. The bullpen is still ulcer-inducing, but they held yesterday.
There was a discussion yesterday about the bullpen being overtaxed. That’s more to do with lack of offense (2 of the last 3 games went to extra innings) than lack of SP length.
Another thing is that the two C’s have really stepped up for the two J’s behind the plate.
So, yeah, good to have Alex back, but good pitching, pretty good defense (Tex & Pena!) have definitely helped, too.
Oh and one more thing – why wouldn’t the yankees want to sign Damon again? He plays a good LF and his numbers at the pate are still great
I’m sure AJ didn’t use a dirt shirt, lol….I assumed it was a towel. I taped the end of the game yesterday and have a great shot of AJ pieing Damon as my screensaver…if it was a shirt, maybe it’s because this came together quickly. AJ wasn’t planning on pieing anyone, but Mo egged him on and he had to get dressed quickly….
Francesca spent most of his Yankee talk on Mike’d up last night about the Twins – he didn’t mention the pie thing, but he’ll probably hate it.
He’s right… Even as a Mets hater, yesterday’s ESPN broadcast was a disgrace.
Phillips as usual with his clueless comments. Morgan is always unprepared.
As to museums…the Philadelphia Art museum is fantastic, but the Met is the best – I love that place. I love the Museum of Natural History as well. The JFK Museum and Library in Boston is fantastic as well…The Rodin Museum in Paris is great (obviously the Louvre also – I actually love spending time splashing in the fountains outside the pyramids, lol)….
I kind of can’t believe that ‘cardboard box’ has it’s own wikipedia page.
Re-signing Damon to a 1 yr deal is pretty much a no brainer.
Last thing this team needs to do is give out a long term deal to Bay or Holliday. Just an endless cycle of madness, you need to stop it at some point.
“He’s right… Even as a Mets hater, yesterday’s ESPN broadcast was a disgrace.”
I didn’t see the game, anyone care to elaborate?
“We’re not talking about Hughes right now, you clown”
LOL
Mike owns the Mets caller
The Baseball HOF is indescribably, incredibly fantastic – I just adore that place. I could have spent a week in there -for someone who loves baseball, it’s Nirvana.
m,
Yea, I am pretty sure that alex hasn’t actually done much in this winning streak but I think his return really helped the rest of the lineup and probably sparked the whole team especially when he hit a homerun on the first pitch. That is kind of eye opening for anybody including the players. Like if alex can do that after not playing for months and major surgery, then, I should too.
No doubt CC becoming CC has helped us win. As Im sure will be the case all year, this team is absolutely dependent on its starting five to be able to be a world series winning team. The offense wont carry us to the finish line and the pen certainly wont but the pitching has that ability. I mean, we are missing our two time 19 game winner in the rotation and we still have one of the best starting five in all of baseball without wang. With him, i DONT even think there is much competition if they all pitch to their career numbers or even slightly below. There is no other team in the mLB that could have pettitte as their number five by the end of the year. That says a lot.
As for the pen, they havent done much except get lucky outside of a select few. I think veras and edwar are wasting 2 roster spots away right now and i think cashman is being a moron right now for not making a move to help bolster the pen. It is beyond obvious that veras and edwar are useless.
They cannot be trusted and girardi has proved that by pitching them for a grand total of less than 3 innings during the current winning streak. Its just mind boggling why a roster move has not been made. I can see if melancon might still need some time in triple A (although i DONT think he does) but robertson is certainly beyond the minors at this point. They are both over 24 now – that is when players are in the majors if they have solid talent. These two do. Time to take the training wheels off because we need some bullpen help pronto.
Why the heck was that caller bringing up Phil? Weird
AJ started it, so now every walk off win, they have to pie the player who did it. Can’t mess with karma.
“Re-signing Damon to a 1 yr deal is pretty much a no brainer.”
Is it a no-brainer for Damon? He’s 35, and has a legitimate (albeit slight) shot at 3,000 hits. I would think he’ll be looking for a 3 year deal, but would maybe take a 2 year.
Thanks for the pic, Sam. I love Norman Rockwell. So nostalgic.
Tree in the forest question. If Toronto completes the sweep of the White Sox, does it mean anything if they’re 6 games under .500?
Love this painting. Any Rockwell fans should take a little trek up to Stockbridge, Mass and check out the Rockwell Museum. It’s excellent! http://www.nrm.org/
Ansky,
Thanks. It makes alot of sense. I bought him those rubber tube things that i see Mo loosining up with at times. It comes with handles and he runs while i hang on. I thought that the resistance would build leg strength. We also run the stairs at the house. Being that you were in track. Do you have any speed drill training recomendations that we could do to increase his speed?
Hey Sam,
Great painting! Interesting story, but at one time I worked one of the major sports auction houses writing descriptions for the items being auctioned.
This Norman Rockwell painting was one of the many items that came through the auction house. While I did not get the opportunity to write that description, I remember seeing it up close and personal.
Very cool item. It was on the cover of the catalog and the total cost to the buyer was $355,000.
It was one of the better items to come through the auction house.
The best item by far was the auctioning off of the actual bus Rosa Parks rode in back in 1955.
The research which went into the verification of the actual bus lasted 6 months!
That bus went for over $440,000 to the Ford Motor Co. and now resides in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit.
http://www.thehenryford.org/ex.....actual.asp
Toronto is going to beat up on all of these out of division teams all year. We better be prepared to do the same.
So far we have won every non-AL East series we have played. Hopefully it continues.
Francesa going to talk Yankees after the update. Probably will say ‘it’s the Twins don’t get too excited’ blah blah blah.
Mark melancon:
13 and 2/3 innings 8 hits 3 walks 20 strikeouts 0.8 whip and 0.66 era
Edwar ramirez
16 and 2/3 innings 17 hits 14 walks 16 strikeouts 1.86 whip 4.86 era
I think im going to just keep putting these stats up as the accumulate until melancon is promoted or edwar is demoted. I cant be the only one that thinks this is crazy.
Re-signing Damon to a 1 yr deal is pretty much a no brainer.
——————–
Lets wait and see what hes like in september. Its only been a month and a half into the season. Hes 35 defense isnt that great. Aweful arm. He would basically be yet another dh. I can see Posada having that spot locked up for his final 2 years. I do agree that spending a ton on Holliday or Bay is a bad move.
Alex has won 2 games with 2 swings. He’s done something. He also had a pretty big hit yesterday.
And we know Tex was going to come out of it and certainly his bat has helped them but hasn’t Alex’s presence behind him meant something?
dave, i’m terrible at pulling up stats.
what are lefty batters hitting against edwar?
“The best item by far was the auctioning off of the actual bus Rosa Parks rode in back in 1955. ”
Wow, that’s impressive!
““We’re not talking about Hughes right now, you clown”
LOL
Mike owns the Mets caller”
LMAO I cracked like hell there. YOU CLOWN !
Zach,
http://www.baseball-reference......;t=p#plato
Check out the platoon splits – this is for 2009 only. Notice he’s faced 17 more lefties than righties (obviously includes switch hitters). I don’t see him going anywhere until Marte is back and effective.
SoS – Only speed drill training I could suggest with any personal experience is “don’t drink too much beer and stay away from junk food”.
I was strictly a middle distance runner back when I was a track guy. 800m – 1500m – 3000m. We had our speed drills but overall our training was completely different than sprinters. What I would be able to tell you would be useless to a kid with his physical makeup and aspirations. I also weighed about 145 in HS. I wish I could give you some drills for him, but a few chats with a good sprinting coach would be far more helpful.
I can tell you with a great degree of certainty, though, that proper stretching, warming up and cooling down are all immensely important parts of avoiding injuries.
I would like to say that we are no longer at the bottom in team e.r.a. Third to last and climbing!!
Bronx Jeers,
I’m not discounting Alex at all. Just saying that the pitching has finally settled down. That’s big, huge, and will take us to the promised land.
I’ve already said that I think this team was “scuffling” while they waited for Alex to come back. That really irritates me because they had a good vibe going in the spring. But when the lights came on? Ugh. But now that Alex is back in the fold and CC is pitching like an ace, the pressure may be less.
“don’t drink too much beer and stay away from junk food”.
That explains his lack of speed. I will have to force him to cut both of those things now in my 10 cammandments(cant think of 20. Would forget them myself). Need to go rent a couple Rocky movies i guess.
As a life-long New Englander, Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists.
As someone who believes that every person has someone out there who loves her or him, I tend to feel bad when someone is continually goofed on. So I find trashing Angel Berroa in incredibly poor taste. Do I think he reads this blog? No. But do I think people should find a better way to use their creativity? Yes.
Remember I was awarded the annual human sponge award by the OPPC so it is impossible for me to distance myself from feeling that gratuitous nastiness is really a lousy trait.
Check out the platoon splits – this is for 2009 only. Notice he’s faced 17 more lefties than righties (obviously includes switch hitters). I don’t see him going anywhere until Marte is back and effective.
============================
Thanks Vin,
Yeah, you’re right. He’s not going anywhere until Marte comes back.
“*As a life-long New Englander, Norman Rockwell* is one of my favorite artists.”
I forget the technical name, but it certainly appears that I have used a misplaced modifier or something.
“As a life-long New Englander, I must say, Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists.”
does that sound better?
That works.
Actually I could fake it and say that I was using “life-long Englander” to modify Norman Rockwell. But of course that is not what I meant.
I could go for drama and say “Because I am a life-long New Englander I absolutely ADORE Norman Rockwell!
Uncle, I don’t know if you know this but you were nominated by one of the posters to be a member of our OPPC. If you want more info, email me at yankeetrisha@cox.net. If you know what I’m talking about, feel free to use “OPPC Member” as your tagline – if you are so inclined.
Sam, did Pete tell you we all think Angel Berroa jokes are hi-larious? Because he lied to you. He lied.