Why I Oughta...

For the last ten-plus years, I've been using a couple of stadium cups that I've picked up over the years to fill our bird feeders.  One of them is this one you see below from the Detroit Tigers - featuring Tiger Stadium.  Here's one side showing a sepia tone photo of the old ball park.   Unfortnately, if you look at the bottom of the cup, you'll see why I'm posting these photos.  This one finally cracked and is no longer useful for seed. Here's the back that chronicles the history - starting with the name change to Briggs Stadium in 1961, and renovations in 1979, 1980 and 1993. A key note, is the year on the bottom of the cup.  Although it is blurry, it reads 1999.  See below: What's interesting is that 1999 was the last year for Tiger Stadium.   My sister and Equation Boy/Man were living up in Detroit (or...Birmingham) at the time and we were able to get to a game in the final season.  I have no recollection of who the Tigers played, but I h...

When we used to go to Michigan, we tried to incorporate Michigan-based foodstuffs into our rotation like this local Michigan beet sugar , local potato chips and these Koegel's hot dogs from (wait for it....Flint, Michigan).  Since we transitioned to Wisconsin, we've done some of the same - and I've chronicled both on-going and one-off Wisconsin foodstuffs like this local root beer , various cheeses ,  New Glarus beer and...of course... the King of Clubs cold pack club cheese .  There's a new entrant from the Usinger's Sausage company:  Mr. Baseball's Famous Franks Beef Frankfurters.  That's Bob Uecker for those non-sports folks (or...really....non Sports-movies people as my introduction to Bob Uecker was as Harry Doyle in the Major League Movie s and that Miller Lite Beer commercial - "must be in the front row! ").  He does the radio call for the Milwaukee Brewers , so it is a natural to see him involved in hot dogs, right?  Hot dogs and b...

On a recent Saturday, we packed the kids in the minivan and took them down to see a White Sox game.  When we arrived - which was early - we were surprised by the crowds waiting to get into the park and the noticeable buzz around the gates.    There were huge lines waiting to get in even before Comiskey Park opens.  Strange, right?  I mean....it *is* the White Sox, right?  They're terrible.  In last place.  ( In Hahn, we trust , btw)  The place should be empty.  I guess it was a Saturday night, so there are the fireworks, but in today's world, that seems like a stretch to think that people would be willing to go to a Sox game just for fireworks like we used to when I was a kid?  (Maybe the whole Disney fireworks thing has jaded me for fireworks now?) But then we saw the t-shirts.  And the costumes.  There was a lady with Princess Leia buns.  A dude with a wookie hoodie.  And the buzz?  It was because it ...

At the very same Estate Sale that I picked up that hobnail milk glass pitcher and the big set of vintage ornaments, I picked up this book from 1982 about the Chicago White Sox.  It is written right at the point when Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn took over the club and installed the big new "Diamond Vision" scoreboard out in centerfield with the old Veeck-era exploding pinwheels on top.   I thumbed through the book and it talks about the new arrivals like Carlton Fisk, Greg Luzinski, Tom Paciorek, Rudy Law, Ron Kittle, and Greg Walker who were all - incredibly - in their first or second year on the South Side.   Reinsdorf took over the team from Bill Veeck in 1981 and if you read the opening of this book (which...in the fine print states that the White Sox themselves cooperated with in terms of photographs and such), it reads like a love letter to the new ownership's commitment to making the Sox a winner.  And...just in looking at that list of players that th...

So...here's something that I'm a bit ashamed to admit:  earlier this year when Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Tribune ran this piece you see above featuring Griffey and Tim Raines (who I don't think made the cut). What I was startled by was the last line:  Chicago AL, 2008.  Meaning....he played on the South Side.   I had to go back into the Googles and flail about to try to jog my memory .  Then it clicked:  this was a prototypical Kenny Williams deal.  Griffey got hurt and didn't play a ton of games for the White Sox, but for me?  Once a White Sox.  Always a White Sox.   Just look at that sweet swing .

Just like they do when the Blackhawks make their playoff run, the folks from Clark Street Sports have set up a booth in the concourse of the Ogilvie Transportation Center full of Cubs gear.  I walk by it twice a day now and makes me wish it was all black/white/silver gear. With a few Cubs fans in my life (unfortunately), I've even (gasp!) made a stop AND a purchase.  I know.  Gross, right?

I went to the dump that is known as Wrigley Field last night with some good friends.  I think this was the second time I've been in the bleachers, but I can't totally recall.  Have to admit...it was pretty fun. Couldn't pay much attention to the game (which kinda explains why the Bleachers are such a party normally, right?), but I did 'hoss down an absolutely delicious Hot Doug's polish sausage called the 'Carmen Fanzone'.  I wasn't ever able to get to Hot Doug's before they closed, so this was a really nice treat! The Tribune describes the sausages thusly : Named for former Cubs players, the lineup consists of the Carmen Fanzone (spicy Vienna Beef polish sausage with brown mustard and caramelized onions), the Rick Reuschel (pork sausage with chipotle mustard and pepper jack cheese) and the Dave Kingman (bacon cheeseburger sausage with cola-barbecue sauce and sharp cheddar). The improvements they've made to the park are quite dramatic and ...

I don't normally follow college baseball and the College World Series, but this year, things might be different:   my Illini have won 21 straight games are now ranked #6 in the country .  They beat #23 Ohio State yesterday in a comeback.  Pretty awesome to see the sports like baseball (and golf!) doing so well down in Champaign.  (One slight nitpick...why are the Illini wearing these 'old' uniforms?  This isn't the new font, right?  Maybe because these are 'cut off' jerseys, they're alternates and holdovers from last year's uniform set?) Happy for these guys and for the team.  Here's hoping the student body is getting behind this crew and showing up at the home games. I-L-L...

That's my nephew in the Marlins uniform (and my dad in the Blogger hoodie!) right before he took the field for the first game of his little league season in Elmhurst.  They live down the block from us and while he plays hoops, football and soccer, he told me over the weekend that baseball was - by far - his favorite sport.  He's pretty good at it, too! He was the opening day starter on the mound and (from what I heard) while he didn't get a decision (left after giving up 2 runs mostly on walks), he did get two K's.  Pree-tay, pree-tay, pree-tay great.

The three of us caught the Twins/Cardinals game in Ft. Myers this week.  It was the first time I'd been to a Spring Training game (ever) and it was a lot of fun.  It feels A LOT like Minor League baseball, but it certainly isn't priced like Minor League baseball.  We left before the end, but the Cards were up 3-1 when we took off.  Even though it was a 'home' game for the Twins, there were plenty of Cardinal fans in attendance.  Not one peep about Pujols.  Not one.