Three Baseball Greats (and their cards)
Little Billy Ripken was the most unappreciated (and least talented?) member of the Ripken Baseball Dynasty. He played on the Orioles alongside his brother Cal and under the cruel tutelage of his dad, also Cal. They might have overshadowed him on the field, but his courage has been immortalized on his rookie card. Did either Cal ever pose with a shit-eating grin and “FUCK FACE” written on his baseball bat?
Jim Walewander was another shining star, swallowed up by the blackness of space before he could make baseball history. What he achieved for normal dudes that listen to college radio, however, will never be forgotten. At a time when Dead Milkmen fans hid in underground bunkers for fear of persecution, Walewander wasn’t ashamed to show who he really was. In an interview with ChinMusic, he said, “One of the things that made me sort of famous or heightened the notoriety at the time was just my naivete. The press would ask me what I did last night, and I would just tell them, ‘I went to see this band.’ Nowadays, the players just give these pat answers. I was just totally honest because I was stupid. I was trying to be myself. I wasn’t trying to be something macho.”
Walewander may have been stupid, and the association with underground music may have hurt his career, but he was a true pioneer. Could there have been Dennis Rodman without Jim Walewander? Possibly not.
Dock Ellis was always considered a colorful character, and not just by racists. Frequently at odds with Pirates management and his fellow teammates, Ellis always did what he had to do to win. Sometimes what he had to do was intentionally hit three batters in a row, loading the bases and scaring the hell out of the other team. Sometimes what he had to do was acid. Several hours after embarking on a journey to the center of his mind, Ellis showed up in San Diego to pitch the only no-hitter of his career. Fleer issued this limited edition baseball card to commemorate the event:
Posted by Mat on 30 Oct 2007 at 04:10 pm
