Can of Corn Challenge: Best Baseball Movie (June)

There have been a lot of baseball movies made over the years and picking a best baseball movie is subjective, at best, as everyone has their favorite.  Did you like Sandlot or Pride of the Yankees?  Bang the Drum Slowly comes up a lot in discussion.

In my mind, I consider Bull Durham to be the best baseball movie. I really can't put my finger on it, but I think it comes as close as possible to revealing the inner workings of how professional baseball players actually tick.  Pride of the Yankees was too sanitized and Sandlot does a good job at showing baseball from a kids point of view, but for my money, I could watch Bull Durham over and over again, probably because it's more than just about baseball.  And because I played catcher in Little League and the star, Kevin Costner, plays the catcher in the movie didn't hurt its chances as the best baseball movie ever. 

It's one of the few movies where I have multiple scenes etched in my brain, perhaps because I saw it twice in the theaters. Any time I see it playing, which is infrequently unless I'm traveling and staying in a motel that has cable, I'll watch it.  I really just enjoy the movie.  Yes, it's definitely not a kid's movie and if you have an aversion to course language, I would advise not watching it, but I really don't think you can go wrong with seeing this movie, if you are a baseball fan.

"Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball,  high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap.  I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.  I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter.  I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep soft, wet kisses that last three days."

"You're gonna have to learn your clichés.  You're going to have to study them, you're gonna have to know them.  They're your friends.  Write this down: 'We gotta play it one day at a time.'"

"This son of a bitch is throwing a two-hit shutout. He's shaking me off.  You believe that shit?  Charlie, here comes the deuce.  And when you speak of me, speak well."

"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry.  I mean anything travels that far ought have a damn stewardess it, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I was in the show.  I was in the show for 21 days once - the 21 greatest days of my life.  You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags.  It was great.  You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains."

And, I'll leave you with this:

The photo is from the recreation yard at Alcatraz Island which I took a couple of weeks ago.

Can of Corn Challenge: Swing and a miss (May)

Well, this month's challenge snuck up on me.  I blame the end of the year for my lack of activity on all fronts.  Let's face it.  It just gets plain busy at the end of the school year and time is at a premium. So this post is a basic Swing and a Miss.  

Here's a shot I took in 2013 when my daughter took me to a baseball game at Anaheim Stadium to see my beloved Angels take on the Seattle Mariners.  If I remember correctly, the Angels won, so I went home a happy camper.

Can of Corn Challenge: An early baseball memory (April)

P.J. has convinced me, or probably like tricked me into another writing challenge.  He's done a good job, noting several times in the past that I seem to write more frequently when I have these challenges in front of me, so here goes.  This is a monthly challenge, to write about baseball.  Today's topic is an early baseball memory.

I grew up in Orange County, a suburb of Los Angeles.  Disneyland was only 6 years old when we moved to California.  The Lakers hadn't hit their stride yet and baseball was all about the Dodgers.  I listened to Vin Scully on the radio for Dodger baseball, but whenever we went to a game, it was always to Anaheim, to see the Angels play.  The stadium was close to home and we'd always see either Cleveland Indians or the Chicago White Sox.  

Anyway, we'd go to the game, pay a buck fifty to sit up in the upper deck by the left field foul pole and watch an Angel game.  Always the Chicago White Sox or the Cleveland Indians.  I hadn't really thought why, but I was fairly young, so as far as I knew, the only teams in the American League were the Angels, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox.  I didn't know any different.

My first game that I can remember seeing, I saw catcher Tom Egan hit a two run homer for the Angels, then saw Andy Messersmith hit a solo shot.  Both homers cleared the left field fence and two lucky baseball fans went home with souvenirs that day.  I was shocked really.  In the past, listening to the games on the radio, I always assumed that the ball had to be thrown back on to the field so the players could keep playing.  Who knew?

From then on, I always brought a glove to the game.  We were always in the upper deck, so they never came up there, but I could still be an optimist.

Cheese (Day 16) - 20 Days of Chill

Up until this past year, I'd only ever known P.J. was through the Internet.  I used to write a blog entitled Electronic Breadcrumbs, which was all about geocaching.  I believe this is how we first met, and when I got tired of writing that blog, I created this one and he eventually followed me over here.

Last summer, he went to a lot of baseball games, 75 of them in all.  I really love baseball and I think in my best year, I probably went to no more than about 20 games, so 75 is an incredible amount.  Anyway, his last three games were out here in Southern California late in September.  He flew in Saturday morning and attended the Dodger game that night, then he and his friend drove down to San Diego on Sunday morning and I met him down there and we met for the first time.  We then to the train from Qualcom Stadium to downtown San Diego and took in a Padres game at Petco Field, the first time I'd been to Petco.  Monday night he went to Anaheim to see the Angels play and then flew home.

This story, however, is about where he ate.  Since he's not from around here, he'd never been to In-n-Out.  If you live in Southern California, or have lived in Southern California, you know what In-n-Out is.  Best burger place ever.  Consistently good.  When my son went to England to study abroad, we stopped at the In-n-Out to get his last meal before leaving the country.  That's where this photo was taken.

So P.J. and his friend went to In-n-Out Saturday night and ordered standard fare.  I think he Tweeted about it and got a response back from one of his followers something on the order of, "Did you order off the secret menu?"  THERE'S A SECRET MENU???

So needless to say, we went to In-n-Out Sunday night after the game.  On the drive up there, we'd talked about the secret menu and other things related.  They ended up in one queue and I ended up in the other.  I did my standard order, "Cheeseburger, extra toasted bun, whole grill, fries and a medium drink."  The server didn't bat an eye, although extra toasted buns and whole grill are not on the main menu.  I know I've never seen whole grill on the secret menu.  P.J. wanted something a little bit more "out there" so he ended up ordering fries "Animal Style."  That's fries, with special sauce, grilled onions and cheese melted over the top.  Delicious, but not really good for my waistline anymore, so I usually don't order it.

There server was very entertained by their order.  You could tell they weren't regulars, because they stumbled over their order, but it was fun to watch. Regulars rarely stumble and if you click on the secret menu link I've posted, there are plenty of things that still aren't listed there, including the two I usually order.  

Now, I think I want to go to In-n-Out and order a order of fries Animal Style and have them hold the special sauce just to see what they'd do.  Cheese and grilled onions on fries sound good all by themselves.

For more stories about Cheese, click here.

I found a ball … (Day 4) - 20 Days of Chill

Since this blog is entitled A photo a day, I went looking through my flickr feed for a ball.  I was looking for a shot of a baseball I'd taken a photo of last year.  I didn't find that one, but I found a ball anyway.  Actually, I found lots of balls.

This is a temporary artwork that was set up in MacArthur Park in 2015 entitles the Spheres of MacArthur Park.  The artist who set up this artwork is Ed Massey. 

The artwork, 4 to 6 feet tall painted spheres, was part of Portraits of Hope, an organization devoted to creating public art installations that serve as creative therapy for children with disabilities and those in hospitals coping with cancer, burn trauma, and head injuries.  Most of the spheres were painted by people with disabilities. 

So today, I found several balls.  See other stories about this theme here.

Home run

Although I was born in Indiana, I grew up in Orange County and so am an Angels fan at heart.  Yes, 2002 was a wondrous year and I hope I don't have to wait that long again for a second World Series championship.  

I've been to so many games at this stadium, I cannot count them.  I think I went to 20 games the summer of 1979, the year the Angels won their first Western Division title and then were wiped out by the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs.  I saw Nolan Ryan flirt with a no-hitter that summer, coming within two outs of one, losing it in the top of the ninth inning.

I've never seen a no-hitter, either live at the stadium or in person.  I have seen batters hit for the cycle, including one that summer by Dan Ford.  When I started writing this, I was under the impression that hitting for the cycle (single, double, triple and home run all in the same game) was rarer than a no-hitter, but after a quick Internet search, I've found that both are equally rare, but the no-hitter is still a little bit more rare 288 times vs. 306 times.

August 10, 1979, Dan Ford hit for the cycle.  We were sitting in the upper deck.  I'm pretty sure I kept score, as I kept score for most games back then, being a 21 year old geek at the time.  Where that scorecard is, I don't have any idea, but I really wish I'd kept it.  I remember telling my buddies at the time that if he tripled in his last at bat, he'd hit for the cycle.  And then he did. 

The cool thing about it is he hit for his cycle with probably the toughest hit to get as well.  Singles and doubles are fairly easy.  Home runs come from time to time, but it is a rare individual who can leg out a triple.  You need to hit it to a gap and you need good speed.  It's also one of the reasons, I'd much rather see a triple over a home run.  Home runs are fun, but they are rather anti-climactic and over all, they tend to end rallies.  Triples keep rallies going and they are usually bang/bang at third base.  And there you go.  Give me a triple any day over a home run.

Best stadium food you ever had

I almost forgot about today's post, yet I'm actually posting earlier in the day than I normally do.  I went on a hike this morning, got home and looked at my email and remembered that it was Monday, the first day of the third week of P.J.'s 20 days of Chill Writing challenge.

I will be the first to admit, that I'm not a connoisseur of stadium type food.  Mainly because I'm pretty cheap when it comes to buying food from stadiums or amusement parks.  If I can work around it, I probably will.  Stadiums are easier since you're usually only there for a limited amount of time, so you can eat beforehand, or eat afterwards at places outside of the stadium/arena that are much more affordable than the Jacked up prices you'll find inside.

Amusement parks, on the other hand is an entirely different story since you're there all day and unless you want to go outside the park and get your food elsewhere, you're going to have to bite the bullet and pay the price.  For a family of four, the price of meals at an amusement park is almost like buying another entrance ticket to the park.

But as I sit here thinking about publishing this, it comes to mind that I did buy a cheeseburger at AT&T Stadium last summer when I was there for my future son-in-law's last game as a single man.  It wasn't so much the burger as it was the garlic fries that came with it.  My daughter and my future son-in-law both said that I needed to get some garlic fries.  Usually, when someone raves about something, the food doesn't live up to expectations.  These did.  I don't care how many people I offended with my garlic breath.  These fries were that good.

Baseball

Now it's already fall and I really haven't written much about what happened this summer, so you're going to get a retrospect view of different things that happened to me this summer.

This summer was really a whirlwind type of vacation for me for the first time in a long time.  It seemed like I had things happening all the time and just when I was done with one thing, another thing got planned.  Not all the things were pleasant (most medical procedures aren't), but it's safe to say that I passed those with flying colors and am now moving on to rectify the things that were in the grey area, health wise.

Summer, for me, actually started Memorial Day weekend.  I went up to visit my daughter and her fiancé.  My middle son was up in the Bay Area that weekend as well, so we ended up taking in a Giants game at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  We rode the train in, barely making it to the station on time, but the ride worked out well as we had seats.  As we made our way closer to the ballpark, the train kept getting filled with more and more black and orange.  I felt like alien, this Angel fan that I am.

As you can see from the first shot, I didn't do a very good job of raising my daughter to be a local team supporter and so she's become a Giants fan.  Nothing much I can do about that as she's a big girl and can make her own decisions.  I blame it on TV.  Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Now hear me out on this one.  I'm not a fan of watching baseball on TV.  Whenever my daughter has taken me to games at Angel stadium, we always go early.  My daughter says, "It's like a religion to him.  He has to see batting practice or the experience isn't complete."  And that's right.  I like watching batting practice.  I like watching the players warm and and play soft toss.  I like to watch them stretch and loosen up.  It's all part of the game.

TV doesn't offer that.  For the most part, not all, but for the most part, TV presents a duel between the pitcher and the batter.  With TV, you don't get the pleasure of watching the players adjust with different pitches.  You don't get to see the center fielder shade a batter to left center and make subtle adjustments throughout the at bat.  TV doesn't cover baseball well in my opinion.  And so, because of that, I never watched baseball on TV and my daughter has glommed on to the Giants as her team.  Yeah, part of that is her fiancé's fault since he's a die hard Giants fan, but if I'd watched more baseball, she probably would be a better local sports enthusiast.

Now if you're going to talk football with her, she definitely has her passions, or at least she knows which teams to really hate.  Her fiancé has learned that if the Cowboys are playing well, it's just better to turn the TV off, because she really hates the Cowboys, just like her dad.  I couldn't be more proud.

The baseball game that weekend was a lot of fun.  I went to three games this summer, far more than I've gone in the past couple of years combined.  I didn't realize how much I missed the game.  I suspect that in the upcoming years, I shall be returning to different stadiums to enjoy games more than once every couple of years like it's been in the past.

Photo Blogging Challenge (May 2014): Fun

Well, once again, it's time for the monthly photo blogging challenge set up by P.J.  This month's challenge appeared to be fairly easy, with the theme being "Fun," but for a variety of reasons, I didn't get my camera out as much this month and so it was a little more difficult.  I did, however, come up with five shots that I think convey the theme of fun, although they might not be fun for everyone.

So, without further ado, here's my list of "fun" shots.

1.  Farmer's market
We have a farmer's market that is in downtown Claremont every Sunday morning until around 1 in the afternoon.  Lots of fruits, vegetables are offered for sale. The crowds make for some nice people shots and some very colorful fruits and vegetable shots.  I've been coming down about once a month to get some new photos.  It's a fun excursion just to people watch.

2.  Games of chance

Our church has an annual fiesta every Mother's Day weekend.  It's the big money maker for the church and there is a lot of activity going on on all three days of the fiesta.  There are lots of games of chance that, obviously, is rigged in favor of the game establishment in order to make money for the establishment as well as the church.

I watched these carny workers use all kinds of lines to get people to try their luck at these games.  I think the older people understand that the payment you give to them is for the fun of the competition, much like gambling in Lost Wages, Nevada.  It's fun and if you win, that's a bonus, but if you expect to go in there and win, you will be sadly separated from your money.

Younger people don't seem to understand that and are constantly at these games with the hope of winning something.  I know, when I was younger, I had the same kinds of feelings.  I had this one game figured out.  Shuffleboard bowling.  Knock over 6 pins with three metal pucks.  Easy, just get the puck in between two pins three times in a row and you're a winner.  Guess what?  I never won.  But it was still fun.

3.  Jack
This is our dog Jack.  Jack will be ten at the beginning of December.  He's been featured on this blog many times in the past.  I think Jack is very photogenic under the right conditions and light. I really wanted to post this in B&W, because I think his gray hair looks really good with some nice contrast going on, but it just didn't work very well for this shot.

Jack came into our life in February 2005, just before my daughter turned 15.  I went down to a dog groomer's place because my wife said there was a dog there that we might like.  We'd lost our two dogs the succeeding year in a span of just over 3 months.  They had been 13 and 17, so we knew they didn't have much, but to have both of them go in a matter of months was tough.  I didn't want another dog and my wife knew this so she sent me down to reject the dog.  Yeah, right.  Jack stood on the counter, put his paws on my chest and he already knew I was done.  My wife was surprised, but thrilled and immediately fell in love with this small ball of fur the minute he walked over and settled into her lap on the floor of the kitchen.

Jack has been a fun addition to our household and it won't be quite the same when he crosses over the Rainbow Bridge.  Let's hope that doesn't happen for a long time.

4. Boomerang
The end of the year trip for our 8th graders involves a trip to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.  Knott's started out as a small "ghost town" complete with shops and Cordelia Knott's chicken dinner restaurant.  


Eventually, if they were going to compete and be relevant in Southern California, they had to expand to include something a little bit wilder than the Calico Mine Train.  They added a log flume ride.  The first corkscrew roller coaster was built here.  They still don't get nearly as many people as nearby Disneyland does, but they pull in their share of money.

These roller coasters are the really fun part of the park.  They have several that are really good.  Ghostrider is one of the best wooden roller coasters I've ever been on.  Xcelerator shoots you out of the station until you hit a top speed of 82 mph in 2.3 seconds.  205 feet straight up, then up and over and 205 feet straight down.  Then there's Silver Bullet.  Six inversions, while dangling underneath the track.  Boomerang takes you up an incline, then lets you go where you run through two Cobra rolls, then a large loop.  You then get to do them again, backwards.

As I've aged I've noticed, that my body doesn't like what these rides do to it.  It's not nearly as fun as it used to be.  I used to love wooden roller coasters, but about four years ago, Ghostrider banged me around so much that I felt like I'd been in a prize fight after riding it.  This month, I rode Silver Bullet.  I've always enjoyed that ride because it was so smooth.  This time, however, I felt like I'd been squeezed too tightly and I just had to sit down afterwards.  Took about an hour and a half before I felt normal again.  I think I shall leave this type of fun to the younger set from now on and just enjoy the photo opportunities the rides give me.


5.  Take me out to the ballgame.
This past weekend, I went and visited my daughter up in the San José area in Northern California.  Saturday, we decided to watch the San Francisco Giants play ball against the Minnesota Twins. 

Baseball is one of the few games that I think is much better to attend live than to watch on television.  I don't think TV does justice to the American Pastime and I'd much rather go to a game, no matter the weather, than sit at home and watch the same game.  It's so much better live.

AT&T Park is the 7th major league stadium I've been at to see a major league game.  The obvious two are Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium since I grew up in Southern California following both teams, although truth be told, I'm an Angel fan before I'm a Dodger fan.  I've also attended games at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, plus Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.  The Giants play at AT&T now and Jack Murphy Stadium is only used for football games as it's home to the Chargers.  The other two stadiums I've been to don't even exist anymore:  Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia and the Kingdome in Seattle.

Anyway, this game was a close 2-1 affair, with the home team winning.  My middle son was also up visiting, so he also came to the game.  3/5ths of the family was there to enjoy some baseball fun.

That's another month of photo blogging.  I hope you enjoyed this month's installment.  As always, please feel free to comment as I won't bite.  Please stop by P.J.'s to see how other bloggers interpreted Fun.

Now that I'm out of school again, hopefully, I'll pick this back up and not post just monthly updates.  My calendar is pretty booked with all kinds of stuff, but I still should have time to do some blogging over the next couple of months.

Until then.  Happy Trails.

Happy birthday son

He came into world at 1 AM, straight up.  Were it not for daylight savings, he would have been born at midnight, one of those kids where you're really not sure what day he was actually born on, but because of daylight savings, we celebrate his birthday today, August 12th.

Of my three children, he was the only one who was smart enough, I guess, to keep his hands down at his side when he was born.  Consequently, he was born quickly - very quickly.  I know I've told this story many times before, but I can still remember the nurse springing up from her chair, running to the door of the delivery room and screaming at the top of her lungs, "SOMEBODY BETTER FIND DR. LEE, OR HE'S GOING TO MISS THIS ONE!!!"  Dr. Lee came in and caught our Andy about a minute later.

The second thing that really struck me about my first born son was how alert he was.  He just wanted to look around the room from the getgo.  It was almost like he was thinking, "Whoa, this is a whole heck of a lot different than what I've been looking at for the last 9 months."

I've always been interested in when people were born and who famous was born on such and such a day.  On this date in history, one of the first five men to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Christy Mathewson was born.  Other famous people sharing this date include, football player Plaxico Burress, tennis pro Pete Sampras, Jane Wyatt from the sitcom "Father Knows Best," the famous movie director Cecil B. DeMille, and Erwin Schrodinger the Austrian physicist who used a cat in a box to explain quantum mechanics.  

Still, the most important person born today is my son, Andy.  I've watched him grow up, spread his wings to explore the world beyond us.  He is everything I could want in a son and I wish him all the best on his day.  Happy birthday son.

Take me out to the ball game

I've been an Angel fan all of my life.  Since I grew up in Orange County, we would usually attend one baseball game a year at the "Big A" in Anaheim.  We'd sit up in the top deck and root for the Angels, usually over the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Indians.  Being from northern Indiana, those were my dad's two favorite teams, so that's who we'd end up seeing all the time.

For Father's Day, my daughter bought me tickets to see the Angels play on Monday night against the Seattle Mariners.  We had tickets in the upper deck, but that didn't bother me in the least.  We were watching baseball the way it was meant to be seen - live.  In my opinion, TV doesn't enhance baseball at all.  For most of the telecast, all you see is the interaction between the catcher and pitcher.  

I go to the game to watch the interactions between the other players, to watch how they change their positions during the count.  There's a subtlety to the game that most people don't understand, because all they know is what TV shows them.  I got to point out things to my boys like why the Mariners played the infield in at one point and what the difference was between a K and a backwards K for a strikeout.  It was great to be at the park with my boys and texting my daughter updates during the game.

The Angels grabbed the early lead and Jason Vargas, pitcher for the Angels was pitching well.  In the third he gave up his first hit, a bloop over third base that just caught the line.  Then Vargas made his only mistake, got a pitch up a little bit that was drilled to left field for a two run homer, cutting the Angel lead in half at that time.

In the sixth, the Angels batted around and blew the game open, eventually winning 11-3.  While most people would disagree, I would argue that Josh Hamilton, who struck out twice in the inning, had the best at bat in the inning.  Huh you say?  His first at bat in the inning there were two men on and one out.  He took two strikes, then worked the count full and fouled off several pitches.  He extended the inning by getting the opposing pitcher to throw a lot of balls.  The more balls thrown by the pitcher, the better it is for the batter.  

Eventually, Hamilton struck out, but the number of pitches (8 or 9 by our count) that the reliever threw to Hamilton took its toll.  Albert Pujols drove the very next pitch to the base of the wall in right and the flood gates were opened as the next 8 batters reached base safely and the Angels had scored 7 runs by the time Hamilton was up again.

Most people would look at the strikeout as a failed at bat. Knowledgeable baseball fans know otherwise.  And yes, Hamilton is admittedly having a very poor season, but what I saw Monday night was encouraging.  He hit the ball hard, got two hits including a two run shot to centerfield and only looked bad on his second strikeout in the 6th inning.  That's good news for Angel fans.