The Things Baseball Players Will Sell Us

I’m in the market for a new car, so I guess I’ve been paying a little more attention to car commercials lately.  I’ve noticed that baseball apparently is still used to sell cars.  I’m sure most of us can hum the tune to the old Chevy jingle, “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.”  Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander certainly can.

In fact, apparently Chevrolet has been the “Official Vehicle of Major League Baseball” since 2005.  So I guess it makes sense, then, that Cal Ripken would still be doing Chevy commercials, too. 

Some players, however, have ventured beyond Chevy.  Kevin Youkilis appears to be an equal opportunity car salesman with his ad for the Herb Chambers company, which seems to sell pretty much everything.  I’m sure there are a lot more ball players doing local commercials… Like, Stephen Strasburg trying to sell us a Toyota.

Unfortunately, not even Cal has inspired me to buy a car.  Apparently, ball players don’t sell the cute, practical cars women want.  I guess I’ll have to rely on other role models for car buying inspiration.  I wonder what kind of car Effa Manley or the Fort Wayne Daisies would have tried to sell us…

~ baseballrebecca

Vote Early, Vote Often

I just finished submitting my 25 votes for the MLB All-Star Game.  Gotta love the democratic process!  I still have more chances to vote:  I can probably figure out how to vote on my cell phone, perhaps I can use a different computer or another of my many email addresses, and, of course, I can go to the ballpark.  (Looks like you can even vote at some Lowe’s stores and Chevy dealerships.  In Puerto Rico, you can also vote at select Wal-Marts, Amigo stores, and Banco BHD branches.)

Of course, I varied my 25 votes – I did not only vote for the Orioles and the Nationals.  (OK, I only voted for the Orioles, but I mixed it up a little for the National League.)  I even wrote-in a player.  I mean, you have to vote for the guys you last saw in Double-A.

The All-Star game voting process is criticized pretty much every year.  But its all in good fun, and we don’t do a bad job at selecting the team.  Last year 32.5 million ballots were cast.  (Yet only one Oriole made the team?)

Happy voting!

~ baseballrebecca

The Yankees are … Human

It seems like there’s always something to complain about when it comes to the New York Yankees. But when Mariano Rivera got hurt during batting practice yesterday, we got to see a completely different side of the Yankees.  They’re more than just the World Series winning, Orioles-beating, multi-millionaires that we love to hate.  They are, in fact, human:

(Click on the photo above to watch the video.  If the link does not work with your browser, watch the video at mlb.com.)

Did you catch A-Rod’s reaction?  What about the footage of Girardi running out to check on his star closer?  Real concern.  Real people.  In fact, check out the New York Post article on the team’s reaction to Rivera’s injury.

This morning, Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun, told Orioles fans in his blog not to celebrate Rivera’s injury.  Are you kidding me?  Was that really necessary?  Has the fan rivalry gone that far that we’d actually be happy about this?  I seriously don’t think any of us wish pain on our rivals.  I have enough faith in baseball fans and in society to think that it wouldn’t come to that.

Sure, next time we lose to the Yankees, we won’t be happy about it.  But that doesn’t mean we want to see them hurt.  And at least now we realize that the Yankees – and their fans – are people too, with real feelings and the ability to care about one another.

Get well soon, Mr. Rivera.  We look forward to your return!

~ baseballrebecca

Baseball Toast!

Yes, the things baseball fans will buy!  Here’s a “toast” to the Orioles (who, by the way, beat the Yankees last night 7-1)!

Do You Dream in Baseball?

“I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning.  I think about it all day and I dream about it at night.  The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.” ~ Carl Yastrzemski

We all have hopes of our teams making it to the World Series one day.  But for those of us who live and die for baseball, that’s not our only dream.  I’ve already met my hero, but I have a lot more baseball dreams to accomplish.  Here are a few of them:

1. See every stadium in the country (both MLB and MiLB)
2. Baseball road trips through Mexico, Cuba, and Italy (and Japan … and Taiwan … and …)
3. Live across the street from Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, FL
4. Buy a new car and get the new Orioles license plates
5. Write another baseball book and become a famous baseball author and complete dreams 1 through 4.  (It will happen one day!)

 What are your baseball hopes and dreams? 

 ~ baseballrebecca

The Things Baseball Fans Will Spend Money On

Does this belong in the “too obsessive” category? (To be fair, the cheap $30 toaster I bought a few months ago has stopped toasting altogether.  And this one does match my white kitchen appliances.)  At least I didn’t go overboard and order the $114 pendant made out of Memorial Stadium wood!  (I’ll start saving for that today!)
~ baseballrebecca

Confessions of a Yankee Hater, Part IV

I tried to be nice to the Yankees the other day. Really – I did! The MLB All-Star ballot just came out, and I was going to vote for a Yankee or two, just to see what it felt like.  (After all, you can vote up to 25 times online!)  So, for first base in the American League, I clicked on Mark Teixeira.  Since he’s from Maryland, it wasn’t too painful a choice.

The next voting category was second base.  Robinson Cano.  Ok.  He’s got a cool name.  Click.

Next up:  short stop.  My clicking hand froze.  Derek Jeter.  I didn’t think I could do it.  Jeter?  Nope.  Can’t.  Not gonna happen.

All I could think of was the Jeffrey Maier Incident of 1996. (O’s fans have good memories. We have to.) It was Jeter that hit that ball in the AL championship series. It would have been caught. Instead, a kid (Maier) interfered. (See the video here.)  No fan interference was called, and the Yankees went on to win the World Series.  The Orioles have only seen the post season once since then (1997).  It still stings.

Grudge not over.

After that, I went back and voted for all Orioles.  Its tradition.  Besides, the Yankees don’t need my vote.  Maybe I’ll try being nicer next year!

~ baseballrebecca