Pitch - Episode 1 recap

duplicating this post here for all my baseball-loving readers

So...who wants to talk about last night's presidential debate? Yeah, me neither. There was nothing else on TV and so I decided to re-watch one of my favorite new shows, Pitch.

Pitch is the story of Ginny Baker, the first female to compete in any of the four major North American pro sports leagues.*

Ginny is played by Kylie Bunbury, who also starred in another one of my favorite shows, Under The Dome. This show is of particular interest to me, not just because I like baseball and not just because Kylie is gorgeous. About 18 years ago I wrote a story about a girl who becomes the first female major league baseball player. It was much too long and terrible, but one professional critique called it "a story whose time has arguably come" or something. And that time is here.
Let's see what the pros can do with "my" idea...

*Manon Rheaume played goal in two pre-season games for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning



If you're interested in the show and you're DVR'ing or planning to bingewatch at a later date I feel obligated to shout SPOILER ALERT at this time. Otherwise, read on...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we first meet our heroine she's waking up in a hotel room full of fruit baskets. So many fruit baskets. One of them is from Ellen DeGeneres, another is from Hillary Clinton. Nothing from Oprah though. Hmm...

Flanked by security (and her agent) Ginny makes her way from the hotel room down through the bowels of the stadium while clips of Fox Sports commentators set the stage for her major league debut. Ginny blocks out the noise with headphones, reminiscent of a Beats By Dre commercial.

We learn through such commentary (by MLB network) that Ginny has been pitching in the San Diego Padres minor league system for the past five years and has been called up to start today's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Also, her agent's assistant thinks she's 'like Elvis'.

Ali Later plays Ginny's agent Amelia Slater. Very bossy, kinda of a snot. I will not like her.

Ken Rosenthal, Mr. Bowtie himself, says that Ginny's fastball tops out in the "high 80's" which is about the minimum acceptable speed for a major leaguer. Unless you've got good breaking stuff...

Ginny and her handlers arrive at the players' entrance, and a huge crowd of adoring fans are waving and cheering. This...is a big deal. Ginny starts to look overwhelmed, until she spots an adorable little girl holding a sign that reads: "I'm Next"

You ready, G?

Flashback. Overbearing dad trying to teach his boy how to play ball. He's scared off and runs inside the house. Meanwhile, the man's daughter (who can't be more than three years old) picks up a ball...and throws it waaaay over the fence. This man has himself a ballplayer.

Back in the present, Ginny meets the Padres general manager and team owner, and passes through more adoring fans. Her debut is the hottest ticket in town. The owner (who looks like one of the attorneys I work for) tells Ginny the team is excited to meet her. "No they're not." she quips. "Seventy five percent of them think I'm the next San Diego Chicken. The other twenty five just want to see me shower." Um, selling yourself short there, miss.

Padres manager Al Luongo (played by Dan Lauria) addresses his men. Gives them the old "It's 2016, be professional, treat her like a professional" speech. But one quick look around and you can tell this is an old-school group. Not exactly friendly confines.

Except...she does have one ally in the room - an old minor league teammate named Blip Sanders (played by Mo McRae). Where did the writers came up with a name like "Blip", you ask? My guess is, it's a nod to former Padres fan favorite Leon "Bip" Roberts.

Ever wonder where a woman would dress in a locker room clubhouse designed for men? Yup...they put Ginny in the supply closet. Oh sorry, the "clubhouse attendant's room." As her agent gripes to management about the substandard quarters, the owner indicates Ginny's jersey:

Amelia is annoyed that the Padres brass has subjected her to a pre-game press conference (highly unusual for a starting pitcher, though the show doesn't mention that.) Oscar Aguella, the Padres GM (played by Mark Consuelos) thinks it's no big deal - but that only earns him further lecturing from Amelia. While she describes Ginny as "Hillary Clinton with sex appeal" (ooh, tough visual) and "a Kardashian with a skill set." Oscar just smiles and pictures her naked. Amelia I mean.

Also, her assistant Elliot advises Oscar that he has "no chance". Something tells me that's not going to stop him.

Ginny takes the field at Petco Park and meets the Padres' veteran catcher Mike Lawson (played by Mark-Paul Gosselar.) She tells him that he's her favorite player- "I have your rookie card" -but he cuts her off for making him feel old. How's this for old: Saved By the Bell ended in 1992, which is a year before our 23 year-old heroine would have been born.

Lawson informs Ginny that she's the second prettiest teammate he's ever had. Who's number one? Leonardo DiCaprio.

Oh hell no, don't be slappin dat ass. Ginny gets tough with her hero about the old baseball tradition of ass-slapping--she's not having it.

Lawson gives an equally convincing rebuttal - and he's the captain. No special treatment, right? I could see how feminists might hate this exchange but I loved it - Mike lets her know she's one of the guys without giving an inch. Ginny gets it, lightens the mood with a Leo question, and slaps his ass right back.

After pre-game warmup, Ginny overhears the guys' locker room talk and recognizes Lawson's voice. He initially defends Ginny's place on the team...but only to needle the injured pitcher she's replacing. "She's a gimmick." Mike tells his teammates. But is he being loyal - or being candid? Ginny assumes it's the latter.

The big moment is nigh. First pitch is moments away, and television announcers Joe Buck and John Smoltz give us authentic (if a little sarcastic) play-by-play. Mike enters the bullpen to catch Ginny's warmup pitches. She puts a little extra oomph on her last one, just to let him know what's up.

When she takes the field in front of 43,000 fans the gravity of the moment hits her. She looks out into the crowd and sees her father - which ignites another flashback. This is where he teaches his young girl the screwball, her ticket to the majors.

Now she's here, on a major league mound, ready to make history. Will she rise to the occasion, or succumb to the incredible pressure of being the first female major leaguer?

Guess you'll have to tune in and find out...or wait till next week's recap. I'm running out of room here. if you liked this post and you want me to continue with these episode recaps, let me know in comments!

~

Buying Back My Childhood: Starting Lineup

Not much sports card news from me lately. I've got another COMC order on the way but it only has 22 cards (including the Nomar Mazara Chrome) and it wont be shipped for another ten days. However, I do want to share my thoughts on another childhood collecting favorite, Starting Lineup figures. 

How many of you collected these as a kid (or an adult)? I absolutely loved them. I was eight when the first baseball and football sets were released in 1988, just old enough to be obsessed with sports and still young enough to enjoy playing with action figures. The stores near me - many of which are long gone like Child World, Ames, Bradlees, and so on - always had dozens of Starting Lineup figures in stock. Original price was about $4.99 as I recall.

My allowance was probably $5 a week back then, and I had so many interests at the time (Nintendo games, Garbage Pail Kids, baseball cards, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... probably some other stuff, too) that I almost always had to settle for one SLU per toy store trip. This was always a difficult choice, and I had some epic fights with Mom over having to put one back - especially when I found a "rare" figure of an out-of-market player.

I soon noticed that 90% of the figures were from local teams - Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, Giants, Jets, and Patriots. (There may have been basketball figures on the shelves but I'm not certain I saw any - except possibly a few Celtics.) At first I was happy to own any player from any team: Dwight Gooden, Rickey Henderson, Roger Clemens, and Wade Boggs were among the early additions to my collection. But once I studied the checklist on the back I realized that there were so many more players available that I had never seen. 

 

This fascinated me as a young fan of sports in general but not yet one specific team. The least popular teams and players were even more intriguing - and it became my goal to hunt down as many as I could find. Unbeknownst to my young self this was difficult by design; Starting Lineups were distributed in regional cases and the only way to acquire an out-of-market player was either through the Starting Lineup catalog (which I forgot had existed until this Uni Watch article) or an "all-star assortment." I have to assume that this was how I was able to purchase SLUs of players like Dan Marino, Warren Moon, Mike Singletary, Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett, Fernando Valenzuela, and sooo many more. 

But how the heck did I end up with Sid Bream, or Kent Hrbek, or Darrin Nelson? Was it the mail-order catalog? And if so, why did I choose those players? More likely I just lucked out with a few random finds. That was always my goal - to find the most random player possible. Even as I got older and found new ways to collect SLUs - hobby shops, card shows, and a mail-order list from the Kenner Kid (which I still have somewhere) - I always had more fun collecting the tough out-of-town pieces. 

As you probably know, Kenner/Hasbro ceased production of Starting Lineup figures around 2000-01, which ceded the sports action figure market to McFarlane SportsPicks. I collected a ton of those as well - and by then I was an adult with much more disposable income. The McFarlane figures were much larger and more detailed (and more expensive), and even though it was fun to chase "variant" pieces it wasn't the same feeling as I had being 8 years old and finding a Miami Dolphin in a sea of New York Giants. 

When my daughters began accumulating toys of their own, I had to purge some of my memorabilia to make room for their toys. The hardest thing to part with were my action figures - but they took up the most room.  Half of my McFarlane collection was shipped out through eBay sales - and it was a nightmare dealing with UPS and their crappy rates. One day the shipping would cost $14, the next day it would be $22 for the exact same size and weight. I didn't know if the distance made a difference or the cashier at UPS, but I got sick of letting my sports figures go for practically nothing. 

The good news (at least for me) was that my Starting Lineup figures were worth practically nothing. Most of them were common baseball and hockey pieces, none worth more than $25 or so. But to be honest, I've never really found a sports figure price guide that I trust so it's all sentimental value to me. I know the first and second year figures ('88 and '89) are most valuable, and after that the value drops like a rock. 

Much to my amusement, the handful of SLUs that sell for hundreds of dollars today are the most obscure players from the most obscure teams - Marc Wilson, Bill Fralic, Scott Fletcher, any Utah Jazz player, and so on. Even if I had been able to find these rare gems back in the day I'm certain that I would have opened them and played with them so frequently that they'd be practically worthless now. For example, I lost my Marino figure in my sister's backyard (it was later found with much of his head and arm missing - possibly due to her dog using it as a chew toy.) 

Some of the SLUs in my collection were submerged in the bathtub; the lettering on my Bernie Kosar figure practically dissolved. And, for some reason, I covered Tony Gwynn's foot with white-out and stuck him on my roof (what did Tony do to deserve that?) It wasn't until 1993 that I was able to resist opening my SLU figures - I thought that if I kept my Ken Griffey, Jr. figure sealed in its original packaging that it would be worth $100 by now. It's not even his first piece so I doubt it's worth more than $20 - but I still can't bring myself to open it. 

not my pic, couldn't scan mine and I don't have a digital camera

As I watch my girls grow up (way too fast, I might add), I'm growing more and nostalgic for my own childhood. I've often said that I want to take a year off from collecting sports cards and do other things instead - buy more music, read more books, and collect pieces of my youth such as Garbage Pail Kids, Nintendo games, and Starting Lineup figures (I'll skip the TMNT toys and maybe collect Simpsons figures instead.) I do have a couple loose SLU's and the girls pick them up and pose them even though they have no interest in sports (yet?) It makes me wonder if I should open more of my pieces - to share my childhood with them and to save space in my upstairs room. 

Recently I shopped for early issue SLUs on eBay and found a 1989 Mike Singletary for a low price. The package was pretty beat up and if my best offer had been accepted I would have seriously considered opening it. But the seller wouldn't budge and neither would I. A much nicer Singletary was available for about $25, and I also considered a 1988 John Elway and a 1989 Jerry Rice at about the same price. Instead I fit two football figures in my budget, Ickey Woods and Bubby Brister:

I thought about calling this "The Ballad of Ickey Bubby"

The Brister was in my collection about fifteen years ago, along with a few other football pieces I purchased from a local dealer. I never had the Ickey Woods, and I'm not sure I have ever owned any Bengals. I like the idea of buying one piece I used to have and one that I didn't. Maybe next week I'll purchase a pair of baseball SLU's - Paul Molitor (had it) and Vince Coleman (didn't have it.)

Do you collect Starting Lineup (or McFarlane SportsPicks) figures? If you have any in your collection, are they sealed or loose? 





~

Ovie-rated

The Hockey News released its ranking of the Top 50 players in the NHL as part of their 2016-17 Yearbook. Here are the top ten:

1. Sidney Crosby - Penguins C

2. Patrick Kane - Blackhawks RW

3. Carey Price - Canadiens G

4. Jamie Benn - Stars LW

5. Jonathan Toews - Blackhawks C

6. Drew Doughty - Kings D

7. Anze Kopitar - Kings C

8. Erik Karlsson - Senators D

9. Connor McDavid - Oilers C

10. Joe Pavelski - Sharks C


Notice anyone missing? Like...I dunno...the second biggest superstar in the sport?

Alex Ovechkin was ranked 11th

If you're not a hockey fan then allow me to compare it thusly: would you have a top ten list of MLB superstars without Bryce Harper? A top ten list of NBA players without Stephen Curry? Of course not. So why did The Hockey News rank Ovi so low?

Maybe it's because he doesn't play defense? Please. Show me Patrick Kane's Selke trophy (or for that matter, Sidney Crosby's.)

Maybe it's because Ovechkin has yet to win a Stanley Cup. Remind me again how many rings Carey Price has?

Connor McDavid is going to be a superstar someday. Perhaps even next year. But he's played one half of one season in the NHL. Who wrote this list, Don Cherry?

I'd have Connor much higher, eh. Good Canadian boy!

Last time I checked, the object of the game is to put the puck in the net. No one has done that more frequently over the last year, or the last five years, or the last ten years than Alexander the Great. He's entering his age 31 season and has already built a Hall Of Fame career. (sound familiar?)

Here's my top ten list, in case you were wondering:

1. Sidney Crosby - Penguins C

2. Patrick Kane - Blackhawks RW

I'm not convinced that Crosby is still the best player in the NHL - but no one has pulled ahead of him yet. Kane could pass him with another 100-point season this year.

3. Carey Price - Canadiens G  Jamie Benn - Stars LW

Benn or Ovechkin, take your pick. I don't believe that any goalie in the league is as dominant at preventing goals as Ovechkin is at scoring them. Look at it this way - if you were drafting a fantasy team and you could pick any goalie, who would you take: Price, Henrik Lundqvist, Braden Holtby or Jonathan Quick? Yeah... that's why there are no netminders in my top ten. (I'd probably punt on those guys and take Cory Schneider.)

4. Jamie Benn - Stars LW  Alex Ovechkin - Capitals LW

The absolute lowest he could possiby be ranked. Maybe 5th if you really want to argue.

Obviously everyone's list will be different. But if you don't have Crosby, Kane, and Ovechkin in your top five then you're just...wrong.

I may be a little biased here

5. Jonathan Toews - Blackhawks C  Erik Karlsson - Senators D

Toews, Kopitar, and Patrice Bergeron are all terrific two-way centermen (that's why they keep swapping the Selke.) But there is no one in the NHL like Erik Karlsson. Did you know he was tied for 4th in scoring last year? Not 4th among defensemen...4th in the league. When was the last time a defenseman did that? Karlsson has won two Norris Trophies already and nearly won a third last year. Oh, and he's entering his age-26 season. 

6. Drew Doughty - Kings D

Here's the guy that beat Karlsson for the Norris. I guess 6th place is fine. 

7. Anze Kopitar - Kings C  Steven Stamkos - Lightning C 

I'm a bit hesitant to put Kopi here since, again, you're splitting hairs between Bergy and Toews. Stamkos has been a goal-scoring machine when healthy, and I believe he'll score 50 goals again soon.

8. Erik Karlsson - Senators D  John Tavares - Islanders C

This is where it gets tricky for me. Kopitar or Toews would be fine here - and I wouldn't argue with Pavelski. But Tavares has to be on the list somewhere.

9. Connor McDavid - Oilers C  Joe Pavelski - Sharks C

Can't put Connor McDavid in the top 20, let alone top 10. Not when there's still no room for Toews, Kopitar, Bergeron, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Seguin, Johnny Gaudreau, and many others. Pavelski and Jamie Benn have been underrated for too long - and to prove I'm not buying in to East Coast bias, I'm squeezing in one more Western Conference forward...

10. Joe Pavelski - Sharks C  Vladimir Tarasenko - Blues RW

So I like goal scorers. Sue me. Tarasenko was one of only four 40-goal scorers last year, and 7 of the NHL's top 8  are on my list (sorry, Brad Marchand.) He's entering his age 25 season and I don't think he's hit his peak yet. 


Who's my number 11, you ask? Good question! Probably Toews. Or Kopitar. Maybe Malkin if he's healthy. All I know is... it's not Alex Ovechkin. 

~

Debtor Hall Of Shame

As I may have mentioned on my blog(s) I work part-time as a debt collector at a small law firm. I started out as a file clerk which made me a lot less money - and a lot less stressed out. Most of my day was spent collecting all the papers in the "file pile" and placing them in pockets. There are over 3,000 pocket file folders in our office and I became familiar with many of the names. If a person's name randomly pops into my head and I can't recall where I know them from, chances are they're a debtor. 

Now if you're a sports fanatic like me, you probably know the names of at least a thousand current and former athletes. So if you hear a common name like "Joe Smith" you might immediately think of this Joe Smith or that Joe Smith. But chances are the Joe Smith in question is just...an ordinary Joe. As such, I never stopped to think that any of our debtors might be former athletes until I saw printed proof - a Wikipedia page of a former NBA lottery pick.  

I have to admit I was a lot more intrigued about this case than any of the 3,000 others. It made sense that this particular player would owe money to one of our clients, since he briefly played in New Jersey and was/is a journeyman player who couldn't cut it in the NBA (last I heard he was playing in China - waaaay out of our jurisdiction.)

But a few months later I came across another file folder that caught my curiosity. This was one of our oldest files (it was in the basement) and I hadn't seen any paperwork on it so I had to actually open the file and snoop around to see if it was the former NBA player I was thinking of. Sure enough, it was this guy. Unlike Mr. Williams, Mr. Long never played for the New Jersey Nets - but he was a color commentator for a different NBA team, so maybe he racked up some debts while working for the visitors. 

I guess they wanted to be like Mike. 

The third athlete on this list is not a former basketball player, and does not have a common surname. When I saw his file in our cabinet I was all but certain that it belonged to a former All-Star catcher for the Dodgers and Mets (no, it's not Mike Piazza.) Not only was this guy a deadbeat debtor, he was also listed on the Mitchell Report for alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. Just an all-around swell guy.

As with Mr. Long's file, I pulled out all the paperwork I could before someone caught me snooping (no one did), and while I don't recall who he owed or how much, I did learn that he was also an announcer - but for horse racing. Ya think he could have racked up some gambling debts at the track?

I should tell you that I haven't seen an update on any of these debtor files since I started working in collections. It's possible that their debts have been paid, settled, or otherwise closed (I think that's the case for Mr. LoDuca.)

Still, it has inspired a little subset in my collection - my own little "Debtor Hall of Shame"

My boss once asked me - quite randomly - how I would rate my knowledge of the Eagles. I legit could not tell if he meant the rock group or the football team, but he mentioned something about a lineman or linebacker who had a debt with our client. I looked up the name but found nothing. Perhaps he paid it off before we were able to open a file on him.

I'll keep an eye out for any other former athletes who owe us money. If I catch one, I'll add it to the debt collection. (Get it? Debt collection. Haha...I'll show myself out.)





Update: It appears we have a fourth former pro athlete who has owed us money for quite some time (at least five years). I noticed this file sticking out of the 'pulled files' box, which means that one of the attorneys worked on it recently. I'm a bit surprised that there are still old files I have not seen before, but that was the case with this one - until now.

Mr. Becht, welcome to the the Debtor Hall of Shame! 


Another update: I've stumbled across an even older debt; apparently our firm has been  chasing this former running back for at least fifteen years.

Run, Leroy, run. There's got to be a statute of limitations on these things, am I right? My bosses haven't asked me to investigate his case, I just had to do some data entry. But it's still active as far as I know.


I've been at this firm for five years and I've found five former athletes who owe(d) us money. Let's see if there's a sixth somewhere...

Edit: there is. This dude's file came across my desk in the fall, giving us a six-pack of sports stars:

 

That's a nice number to end with, considering I was at the firm for almost six years. 



~

Am I Really Doing This? (1956 Topps edition)

My latest (and most expensive) order from 4 Sharp Corners arrived yesterday*. 

[*Eventually I'll organize these as "mailday posts" but I'm just getting started here so I've gotta clear all the brainsludge first.]

I had accumulated over $300 in PP cash from selling all my PSA-graded 1979 Topps Hall of Famers - including the Willie Stargell PSA 9 that I picked up for less than a buc. When I have that much cash to spend on cards, I like to buy a big piece.


What is a "big piece", you ask?


Think of it as a pie (or pie chart, if you prefer.) The amount of money you're spending is the pie. (In this case it's $400). Now, you can slice up that pie into an equal number of pieces (forty $10 pieces, or twenty $20 pieces, for example) 

Orr... you can do what I like to do - cut your pie into one big piece and a few small pieces. With this latest 4SC order I knew I wanted to take advantage of their discounted prices on common low-end singles for my 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee Hockey project but I wanted something meaty - either from 4SC or another source.

4SC's prices on high-end cards are rarely competitive, but I found two nice cards that were in my budget. The first was a 1994 SP Alex Rodriguez RC. 

I do not like A-Rod. But it was an SGC 96 (always thought they were SCG - that would make more sense, yes?) and I'm gonna try PSA's crossover service and hope for a MINT 9. The second card was my aforementioned big piece. 

My first priority when buying a "big piece" is always Baseball Hall Of Famers. I don't have a lot of money (I'm only a part-time debt collector) so my game plan is to buy the oldest card possible, in the best condition possible, of the best player possible.

That pretty much rules out first-tier legends like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Ted Williams (though I do own one Willie and one Ted.) Andso I focus on the second-tier of baseball greats - HOFers like Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Gibson... and Warren Spahn.

I paid just a tad over SMR value for this card, but I felt good about my purchase. This is one of about a dozen vintage cards in my $200 and over collection, and it has the added bonus of being a 1956 Topps card.

You see, when I was a young lad, my mom often bought me sports cards as Christmas gifts. I remember receiving countless packs in my stocking, and hobby boxes like 1993 SP Football, 1993 Flair Baseball, and 2003 Finest Football under my tree. I also got a few factory sets of early 90's baseball and hockey that hold a lot of sentimental value (and very little resale value.) 

But once in a while Mom would pick out a vintage baseball card from the local card shop, place it an a big acrylic holder, and slap some wrapping paper on it. Just so happened that she picked a pair of 1956 Topps cards - Sandy Koufax and Phil Rizzuto. 

A few years later when PSA piqued my interest, I decided to include both cards in my very first grading order. Still have 'em. And because they were Christmas gifts from the woman who brought me into this world, I don't plan on ever selling 'em.

Second-year Sandy

Phil's final card; "Scooter" was released in '56

Then a very bold (and probably very foolish) thought entered my mind - I should start adding more 1956 Topps cards to my collection! And so every time I placed an order at PSA or 4SC or even a major card shop like Dave And Adam's, I'd do my best to add a '56 to the cart.

First came Jerry Coleman. Then Al Rosen. Then Ken Boyer and Wally Post. When I purchased a Nellie Fox PSA 6 I had my third Hall Of Famer. Am I really doing this?

I spotted a Wally Moon PSA 5 on COMC and scooped it up for about $5. I figured EX 5's would be the minimum I'd accept, since that was how my Sandy Koufax graded out. (Besides... an EX 5 of Mickey Mantle sells for anywhere from $500-$1000. That's almost a month's salary! Yeah. Not happening.)


COMC had some decent ungraded* 56's to pick through, and an eBay seller I follow named Battlefield Vintage always has a ton of 1950's stuff in stock. I bought a handful from each source and sent them into PSA when I renewed my membership earlier this year. When the cards were graded and shipped to me I learned some things:

• I really enjoy having cards graded by PSA

• Battlefield's eBay listing are about two grades lower than advertised (for example, cards listed as NEAR MINT-MINT often came back as EX-MT 6, not NEAR MINT 8)

• COMC's ungraded cards yielded a lot more bang for the buck than Battlefield.

[*I prefer the term "ungraded"; "raw" sounds icky to me]


I now have 27 PSA-graded 1956 Topps cards, with a few more in transit to PSA. By the end of September I'll have one-tenth of the 340-card set in EX 5 or better. It's getting harder to convince myself that I'm not collecting the 1956 Topps baseball set. 

I just hope I'm alive long enough to finish it.




~