May The 4th Be With You!

 

Like many kids that grew up in the 80's I was a Star Wars fan. I still like the franchise, but I'm not nearly as big of a fan as I used to be. Disney has oversaturated us with more movies and television shows than any casual fan could keep up with. Still, my love of the original trilogy remains, and I can't help but be amused by how today has exploded into the culture as it has (I remember when it was just a cheesy little pun, well before Star Wars had it's own "day").

 

Years ago, I wrote a post connecting legendary actor James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, with all of the baseball movies he's appeared in (5 in total!). To be honest, I was going to just re-post that for today, but then through the magic of A.I., I made a discovery that made me want to write a whole new post sharing the connection of actors who have appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy as well as a baseball movie!

 

According to my research, there have been 3 Star Wars alumni who have graced us within the confines of a baseball move. (My "discovery" however, deserves an honorable mention of it's own!) 

 

James Earl Jones

Makes sense to start with the iconic Mr. Jones, who has appeared in two of the most famous and well-loved baseball movies out there. As the elusive writer Terrence Mann, Jones delivered the famous "People will come" speech in "Field Of Dreams". Four years later, he played the blind Mr. Mertle in the "The Sandlot". He is credited in 3 other baseball themed movies. Ironically, it's been reported he wasn't much of a fan of baseball.

 

Harrison Ford

In 2013, the Jackie Robinson biopic "42" came out, and Harrison Ford played a rebel of a completely different kind. Instead of fighting the Evil Empire, Ford's Branch Rickey fought an entirely real evil as one of the central forces behind Jackie's integration to the major leagues. 

 

 

Billy Dee Williams

Billy Dee Williams played the lead character in the cult-classic 1976 movie "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings". The movie is about a rag-tag group of barnstorming ex-negro League players, and feature once again James Earl Jones (as well as the always hilarious Richard Pryor!)

 

 

Honorable Mention: Mark Hamill

 

While researching this post, I came across a hidden gem featuring Luke Skywalker himself! Although not a baseball movie, Hamill once played a baseball player in a made-for-TV movie anthology.

 

 

As a Western New York native, what really caught my eye was that it sure looks like Hamill is wearing a Buffalo Bisons jersey - very cool!

Now what makes this particular movie totally insane is that we're deep into genre of horror here folks! The movie is called "Body Bags", and appeared on Showtime back in 1993 as sort of a "Tales From The Crypt" wannabe. The movie featured 3 unrelated tales of terror introduced by a character called the Coroner, played by the legendary "Halloween" writer John Carpenter!  

 

 

Mark Hamill appears in the story "Eye". He plays an aging professional baseball player who suffers a horrible accident before he gets called up to the Big Leagues. In a desperate attempt to get his life and career back, he accepts an experimental eye transplant. Being a horror tale, you can probably guess what kind of person the original owner of the eye was, as well as what effect it has on our baseball player...

 

 

I may have to track this down somewhere and watch it... 

 

Happy Star Wars Day everyone! May the force be with you! 

Comical Erorrs: Milt Bolling

The 1977 Laughlin Erorrs set (yes the misspelling is intentional) is a 40 card set that is dedicated to errors that appear on baseball cards! It's a great little set with those great Laughlin cartoons, and I thought it would be fun to do a semi-regular series dedicated to the set and errors found within!  

 

 

The last time I did one of these posts, we were once again dealing with a card that supposedly had the wrong back. In that case, the front was actually wrong but I mentioned how I had a hard time finding another instance of a card where the back was consistently printed incorrectly. I guess I just needed to look at the next card in this set, because Milt's card initially had his little brother Frank's information on the back.

 

 

However in later productions, this card was corrected:

 

It's easy to see where someone at Bowman could get confused. Milt and Frank were roughly 14 months apart in age, and both played the middle infield for an American League team. They even looked alike:

 

 

Frank was the more accomplished player, making 4 All-Star teams and winning a Gold Glove. Milt's career on the field was cut short by injuries, but spent over 40 years in the Red Sox organization as a scout and executive assistant.

 

As far as error cards go, that sibling connection is the most noticeable thing about the card. It's also not the last time we get an error card featuring a mistaken identity with someone's brother:

 

 

The story of Gary's brother Lynn appearing on his 1985 Topps card is well known by those of us that grew up in the mid-80's. It remains one of the most recognized error cards of all time.

 

Other Comical Erorrs:

Bob Ueker' 1963 Topps card

Bill Dickey's 1933 Goudey card 

Ewell Blackwell's 1952 Berk Ross card 

 

Repack Haiku #454 (Sidd Finch)

Oh what could have been!

Threw ball at unheard of speeds

Chose different path

 

1986 Topps #793 Sidd Finch (RC)

Finch was a former Mets prospect who wowed coaches with his incredible fastball. The reclusive pitcher eventually decided that baseball wasn't what he wanted to do and left the game before ever throwing a Major League pitch.

 

Source: The Curious Case Of Sidd Finch 

 

 

 

It's been awhile since I did something for April Fool's Day, so I thought a haiku to one of baseball's great imaginary players was in order. This was my first attempt at using ChatGPT to create a mock-up baseball card. Not bad huh?

Repack Haiku #450 (Henry Rodriguez)

His home runs led fans

To throw candy bars on field

"Oh Henry" indeed!

  

1993 Stadium Club #226 Henry Rodriguez

The Expos' single season home run leader before Vladimir Guerrero came around, Rodriguez was a fan favorite. Here' a clip I found of some MLB greats enjoying Rodriguez's  appearance at the 1996 All-Star Game:

The All Cooking Team

Any of my readers listen to baseball podcasts?

 

One of my favorite sports writers, the legendary Tim Kurkijan does a podcast with his son Jeff called  "Is This a Great Game or What?" Kurkijan always has great stories about the game, and is a wealth of knowledge.

 

One of the fun things they occasionally do on their podcast is come up with a lineup based on players that fit a certain theme. I thought it would be a fun post to take one of those lineups and add some cardboard and commentary to it.

 

Tim and Jeff's "All Cooking Team" is filled with some humorous homophones of both well and lesser known players. The rule is they can't use the same surname more than once unless it is spelled differently. Here's who they came up with:

 

Catcher -  Eric Fryer

2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects
#36 Eric Fryer (RC)

 

 Fryer played 7 seasons in the MLB. He is one of those rare players that switched teams during a series where both teams were playing each other. All he had to do was walk across the field to the opposite dugout and meet his new team!

 

1st Baseman -  Seth Brown

2024 Topps #79 Seth Brown

 

Brown is one of a surprising number of current players to make this list. He signed a minor league contract with the Yankees last month.

 

2nd Baseman -  Eduoard Julien

2023 Topps Heritage #589 Edouard Julien (RC)

 

Julien is with the Rockies now. He'll be suiting up for Team Canada in this year's World Baseball Classic.

 

Shortstop -  Jeff Frye

1997 Donruss #241 Jeff Frye

 

Frye was a utility infielder who spent most of his career with the Rangers and Red Sox. He later became a sports agent.

 

3rd Baseman -  Cliff Cook

1962 Topps #41 Cliff Cook (RS)

 

Cook played 5 years for the Reds and Mets. He was once traded for Don Zimmer.

 

Outfielder - Buzz Boyle

1972 TCMA The 1930's
#94 Ralph Boyle

 

Boyle played for the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers. he later became the manager of the Muskegon Lassies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1946.

  

Outfielder - Dusty Baker

1981 Topps #495 Dusty Baker

 

Well, if the All-Cooking team needed a manager, you couldn't ask for a better one than a 3-time Manager of the Year. He was pretty good in the outfield too!

 

Outfielder - Bake McBride

1982 Topps #745 Bake McBride

 

The only member of the team not chosen for his surname, McBride was a fast but often injured outfielder who won a World Series with Philadelphia in 1980. 

 

Designated Hitter - David Fry

2024 Topps Heritage
#654 David Fry (RC)

 

Fry fits the Kurkijans' rules since his last name is spelled differently than shortstop Jeff Frye. Fry was an All-Star in 2024, but last season was an injury filled one that ended prematurely after being hit in the face by a Tarik Skubal pitch.

 

Pitcher - Max Fried

2021 Topps #9 Max Fried

 

The All-Cooking Team has an ace with 3x All-Star Max Fried. Fried led the league in wins last year.

 

 

Pitcher - Austin Kitchen

2025 Topps Update
#US320 Austin Kitchen (RC)

 

Kitchen made his debut with the Marlins in 2024, pitching in 4 games. He's currently trying to make his way back to the big leagues with Seattle.

 

Pitcher - Steve Grilli

1977 Topps #506 Steve Grilli

 

Grilli's claim to fame is being the losing pitcher in the longest professional baseball game in history. He is also the only member of the All-Cooking team to open up his own bar after his MLB career concluded.

 

Pitcher - Tom Butters

1965 Topps #246 Tom Butters

 

Butters' Major League career may have not been noteworthy, but afterwards he became the athletic director of Duke University and is the man responsible for hiring the winningest basketball coach in Division I history, Mike Krzyzewski.

 

Pitcher - JP Sears

2025 Topps Heritage #647 JP Sears

 

Sears was traded from the Athletics to the Padres in the same deal that netted the Padres All-Star closer Mason Miller.  

 

Of course, after hearing this list, I had to think of some others who could have made the list.  Here's who I thought of:

 

Corbin Burnes

2022 Stadium Club #129 Corbin Burnes
    

 

Although burns are not something you want while cooking, having a former Cy Young winner would be a big boost to the All-Cooking team!

 

Woodie Fryman

1977 Topps #28 Woodie Fryman

 

 The team could also use a two time All-Star and Expos' Hall of Famer!

 

Pepper Martin

1992 Conlon Collection TSN
#637 Pepper Martin

 

 A member of the famous "Gashouse Gang", our team could use a little seasoning!

 

Jonah Tong

2025 Topps Now #628 Jonah Tong

 

I tried to think of a good kitchen utensil-style name, and settled on this young Mets pitcher with a bright future!

 

It's your turn now! Can you think of any other cooking-related players? 

 

Blog Bat Around: Fun Facts Chain

I follow a few baseball-centric groups on Facebook. One day, one of them posted an image with a series of facts that was nothing short of amazing. Check this out:

 

2016 Stadium Club
#214 Madison Bumgarner

Madison Bumgarner has more grand slams than...

 

2016 Topps Archives #9 Prince Fielder

 

Prince Fielder, who has more inside-the-park home runs than...

 

1991 Score #10 Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson, who has fewer steals of home than...

 

1994 Megacards Ruthian Shots
#1 Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, who has as many shutouts as...

 

2000 Stadium Club #164 Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez! 

 

Here's the image from the post, so I can give proper credit to the media account that came up with this:

 

 

It's fascinating, isn't it? You don't think of pitchers out-slugging hitters, or big burly guys doing things on the bases more than the greatest lead-off hitter of all time. The stats are just wild, and it gave me an idea for a blog bat around. You're assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to post a string of fun facts connecting players. Make it as long as you want, but I think a minimum of 2 facts connecting 3 players is expected. 

 

As I was deciding to try my own, I decided to basically continue with the original poster's chain and come up with a fun fact about Pedro. Did you know that over the course of his career he hit 2 triples? I thought that was noteworthy and with a little finagling I can tell you that...

 

2002 Fleer Tradition - Diamond Tributes
#4DT Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez hit more triples in the 1990's than...

 

1990 Upper Deck #171 Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire, who has fewer intentional base on balls than...

 

1991 Score #860 John Olerud (FRAN)

John Olerud, who won as many batting titles as... 

2024 Stadium Club #171 Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, who has more saves than... 

 

2016 Topps #600 Madison Bumgarner

 

Madison Bumgarner! 

 

Look, I even circled back to Bumgarner!  Now it's your turn - have fun with it!

Comical Erorrs: Bill Dickey

The 1977 Laughlin Erorrs set (yes the misspelling is intentional) is a 40 card set that is dedicated to errors that appear on baseball cards! It's a great little set with those great Laughlin cartoons, and I thought it would be fun to do a semi-regular series dedicated to the set and errors found within! 

 

 

Today's card features Bill Dickey, the Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees. His error comes from the 1933 Goudey set:

 

Despite playing his entire career at catcher (over 1,700 games total), he's represented on this card as a pitcher, throwing off the mound. 

 

I tried to find another instance of a similar error where a player was shown in a different part of the baseball field than where they normally played. I have it in my mind that I once saw a card where a corner infielder (Will Clark kept popping in my mind) was clearly in the outfield. I couldn't find it however. The closest thing I could find was an insert set from the 2016 Topps set devoted to position players who ended up pitching for their team. 

 

 

This usually occurs when a team is getting clobbered in a game and they want to keep their bullpen fresh, but in Ichiro's case it was a legend fulfilling his dream by tossing the final inning of the Marlins' 2015 season.

 

Can anyone else think of an error card where a player is obviously out of position?

 

 

 

 

Other Comical Erorrs:

Bob Ueker' 1963 Topps card