Fifty two months. For fifty two glorious months we were on top of the American sports world. On May 11 of 2004, it was reported that Pittsfield MA was the true home of baseball (go shit in your hat, Cooperstown), by virtue of a document uncovered in the Berkshire Athenaeum library referencing baseball in 1791, a full 48 years before Abner Doubleday, that despicable fraud, supposedly invented the sport. I, of course, took great pride in the fact that America's pastime came from hometown, my "scruffy little burgh", as Henry Fool would put it. I even bought a hat that proudly displayed "1791". And I've been using my newfound pedigree in lieu of actual knowledge for the last 52 months. Well, no more. ESPN is reporting today that there is a new reference to baseball, one that predates the Pittsfield document by an additional 36 years. It would now seem that America's pastime actually came from England, not Pittsfield, and was being played in some form as early as 1755. So, alongside Cooperstown, I guess I can now go shit in my hat.
Not a great baseball year for VTK.
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I guess now is as good a time as any to name my All-England Team. Without futher ado...
C Brandon “Stone” Inge
1B Prince Fielder
2B Jeff “Earl Of” Kent
3B Ray Knight
SS Jack "The Ripper" Wilson
OF Gary Sheffield
OF Marcus Thames
OF Duke Snider
DH Dave Kingman
P John Tudor
P Mike Hampton
Honorable mention to the 1985 Kansas City Royals.
Wow. Nicely done. I just created a new VTK point scoring system in response to this comment and you've been awarded 30,000 points. (that's a lot)
Though, I must take issue with your omission of "Big" Ben Sheets. I would also suggest Joe Torre as a manager.
Additional honorable mentions might include Kevin Bass and Alvaro "Red Telephone Booth" Espinosa. Everyone forgets about that nickname.
30,000. Not bad.
Another guy that's being considered by my veteran's committee is Robin "Hood" Yount.
Damn! How could I forget the "The Booth"???
Did that nickname have something to do with Alvaro's range?
It was because he was always dialed in to the game.
Funny you should mention Kevin Bass. He happens to be on my All Freshwater and Deep Sea Fishing Team along with...
C Tim Laker
1B Tim Salmon
2B "Manta" Ray Durham
SS Aaron “Nautical” Miles
3B Brooks Robinson
OF Mickey Rivers
OF Alex Rios
OF Kevin Bass
P Steve Trout
P Rod Beck
P Catfish Hunter
P Vida Blue “Gill”
Manager Sparky “Captain Hook” Anderson
Sounds like a chummy team.
That's a lot of hat shitting. You had so much fun antagonizing the fine people of Cooperstown with their spurious claim to being "the home" of baseball! Fun while it lasted, eh?
You're right about that. It was fun while it lasted. I got a lot of mileage out of the Pittsfield 1791 reference.
Happy B-day, DC.
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