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Great fun! Tix were $6, but as I walked up to the stadium a guy said to me "hey, you got tickets?" "Not yet," says I. "Here's some coupons," and he hands me a couple coupons to get in for $1, courtesy of a local grocery store.

Even with brats and beers, the evening set me back less than $20. Plus we had 4 innings of pitchers' duel, and then two big multi-run homers by the home team. Gotta love the minor leagues!

Back in '94 (I hate being old :( ), I went to a game in Appleton, Wisc to see the Appleton Foxes. That was a fun night. Less than a week earlier, I'd seen the Cubbies play in Wrigley for the first time. Pretty fun week. :)

Sox won last night. So did the Yankees, but oh well. You can't have everything. Where would you put it? (Sorry about your M's, DJ.)

Ooh! Appleton, Wisconsin is closer than Madison, Wisconsin !
Ooh! Detroit, Michigan is closer to Nyork, Nyork than Seattle, Washington.

Back around '52 (:D ), my dad took me to a minor league game between our local team and a touring team called the Indianapolis Clowns. The Clowns had an infielder named Hank Aaron playing for them. I heard a rumor somewhere that he eventually made it to the Bigs.

Back then, every town seemed to have a minor league team of some kind, affiliated or not. And every town supported the heck out of <b>their</b> team too.

Alas, a quieter, gentler age........

Curtis Granderson (6'1, 185#, 26 y.o.] is nice young man from Chicago (Blue Island, IL and UIC) who plays centerfield for Detroit since joing the Tigers in 2004.

"Granderson joined the 20-homer, 20-triple, 20-double club with Brett, Mays in 1957 for the New York Giants, Jeff Heath of the Cleveland Indians in 1941, Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1928, and Frank Schulte of the Chicago Cubs in 1911. Granderson is one stolen base away from his 20th, which would put him in company with just Mays and Schulte." - usatoday.com *

*Actually: 36-2B; 21-3B; 20 hr

I heard Granderson interviewed on the radio a couple weeks ago. He struck me as a remarkably intelligent, thoughtful, and well-spoken individual - certainly far above your average jock. Not a lot of pro athletes I'd like to meet, but Granderson is one.

The AAA Portland Beavers announced they were dropping their plans to change the team's nickname. They originally considered changing it because Oregon Duck fans would throw things at the Beaver mascot yelling that he represented Oregon State (also the Beavers) and also just because it was the same nickname as OSU.

The public survey they conducted was about 90% against changing, so they're going to stick with Beavers. Since the team has had that nickname ever since the Pacific Coast League was formed in 1903, it's the right thing to do. It especially sounds much better than one of the suggested changes - the Wet Sox. :eek:

http://portlandbeavers.com.ismmedia....omerArmsUp.jpg

Yeah, but DJ bought me chowdah! :)

Besides, looks like your crew is ahead again tonight, Mick. Sox are up early, too.

'Cuz they couldn't see their big league favorite team on TV every night.

Really?!? I thought these guys were pretty loud and rough. . .

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/3...3af3c430_m.jpg

Also 'cuz they couldn't see their favorite big league team on TV <b>any</b> night. There was one game on TV a week--on Saturday afternoons--starring Dizzy Dean singing the Wabash Cannonball when he got bored.

Um, never mind. Dice-K had one of his patented one-inning brain cramp blow-ups. I hate those.

Dizzy (whose brother was named "Daffy") used to get letters from English teachers criticizing his usage of the language. They said he was a bad influence on the youth of America. He would say things like "he slud into 3rd base". When he was broadcasting games on the radio during WWII, announcers were not allowed to indicate what the weather was like (security measure). One game, Dean said something like, "I ain't allowed to tell you what the weather's like, but that ain't sweat on the pitcher's forehead." :D

http://www.nndb.com/people/034/00008...zzy-dean-1.jpg

DJ is in town ? Or you're in Dj's town? Neat. I like chowda with a little too much white peppa.

Go Angels !

Your mojo didn't work last night, Mick. It was CC's show (complete game win - again - and win #17 ties him for league lead!).

Magic number: 16. That's still high, of course. ;)