Spot the Sig-9th Inning

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! 

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up

Each week I will try and come up with a bonus question that is related to the Auto, Baseball, Pop Culture, or is noteworthy or (more likely) completely unrelated to anything.

The bonus will be good for minimal value - typically a Walk, this will also give a chance for two winners each week.
 
A bonus of bonuses this week to give more people some extra bases

What is the signature on?

Why is the signature on it?
 
What is the signatures relationship to the show ER?


Each question must be answered by a different person and each question is worth a single.

Jack, Lamarr, Walt and Trenidad

Jack Robert Howell is currently the hitting coach for the Diamondbacks, but back in 1991 he played in 58 games for the Padres.  He played 11 seasons in the majors, 1 with San Diego, 1 with Houston and 9 with California.  He also played for 4 years in Japan, where he hit for the cycle.  I think I got this signed card off of ebay.
 
Dewey Lamarr Hoyt was then 1983 American League Cy Young Award winner and part of the reason that Ozzie Guillen is the White Sox skipper.  Before the 1985 season, Ozzie, who had signed with the Padres at 17 and played for them for four years, along with several other players was traded to Chicago for Lamarr and several other players.  Lamarr played for the Padres in 1985 and '86 and then had a bit of legal problems. I got this off of eBay.

Walter John Hriniak only played in 47 major league games and only hit .253 but became one of the most influential hitting coaches in the game.  He played in 16 games for the Braves in '68 and '69 and 31 games for the Padres.  I got this card from ABC unlimited.

Trenidad Aviel Hubbard has 10 years of major league service, with nine different teams.  He played with the Padres in 2002 for 89 games and played some games that year in Portland.  I remember watching him play here, I got the card signed through the mail.







It definitely must be spring training I mailed out nine TTM requests.  7 to current Padres, 1 to Henry Blanco with the Mets and one to the Padres new GM Jed Hoyer.  We'll see how soon they arrive back.  

Red Sox vs Yankees

One Day at Fenway, A Day in the Life of Baseball in America by Steve Kettman; 2004; 306  pages; Atria Books, New York; 0-7434-8365-0; Checked out from Multnomah County Library, Central; 2/18-2/22
One of the greatest rivalry’s in all of baseball and maybe in sports is that between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  Saturday,  August 23, 2003 the teams are playing at Fenway.  Steve Kettman and a team of writers travel with some of the important members of the teams and interview others.  John Henry, Theo Epstein, Spike Lee, Peter Farelly, Senator George Mitchell are some of the more well known characters, but there are other regular fans also.  Kettman puts the game in context to start off and then we start traveling to the game with the various fans, staff, umpires and players, who we follow as they prepare for the game.  Once the game starts there is an inning by inning breakdown of the game and the action surrounding the field.  This is an excellent book that will be of particular interest to Yankee and Sox fans, but any baseball fan would do well to read this.  The insight into the front office staff, the managers and players is worth the price, but the fans and less known workers (the guy in the scoreboard, the head of the grounds crew) really make it a must read.  Grade-A

Spot the Sig-8th Inning-Roundup

The signature was of Larry Colton, pitcher, author and founder of Wordstock h .  Larry Colton was a pitcher for the Phillies in 1968, he pitched two innings in a game at Candlestick Park, he ended up with a 4.50 ERA.  After the game he went out and managed to get in a fight and ruined his shoulder.  He played a few more years in the minors.  He was featured on a 1969 Topps Phillies Rookies Card with Don Money, even though he spent all of 1969 playing in Eugene at AAA, and in 1970 he played AAA in Tacoma for the Cubs.  After awhile he began to write for various magazines, when the Trailblazers won the NBA Championship he wrote a book about the season called "Idol Time".  He has written several books Goat Brothers, Counting Coup and should have a new book on WWII submariners coming out this year.  Larry and I have met several times and one year I got to him to speak to all 600 library employees on staff day.  Larry founded an organization called Community of Writers, which helps teachers and students in the schools with writing.  He also founded the Wordstock Book Festival, an annual book festival held at the Oregon Convention Center, which features authors from all over the world and all kinds of books.  The card is one of series that I did for authors at Wordstock in 2008.  The SpastikMoos get the double for correctly identifying the signature.  Phungo gets a walk for correctly identifying Ollie Brown as the first pick for the Padres in the expansion draft.  So here are the standings after 8 innings. 

Phungo-Phillies-Run Scored and men on first and third
Ryan-Trader Crack's-bases loaded
Ryan-Angels-Man on Third 
Lauren-Angels- Man on Second

Marks Epherma-Man on Second

Adam E.-Red Sox-Man on Second

Zach-Wichita Wingnuts-Man on First,Second & Third

Brian-Rangers-On Deck

Dan-Indians-On Deck

Ryan-Orioles-On Deck
oopowham-On Deck
spastikmoos-Nationals-Men on second and third

dkwilson-Diamondbacks-on deck

BA Benny- Man on First

Spot the Sig-8th Inning-Clue 2

 

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! There will a clue every hour after 3 PM on Monday until someone identifies the signature. 

Clue No. 1-Author
Clue No.  2-Hedy Lamarr

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up
• We have a winner on the bonus question

Spot the Sig-8th Inning-Clue

 

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! There will a clue every hour after 3 PM on Monday until someone identifies the signature. 

Clue No. 1-Author

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up

Each week I will try and come up with a bonus question that is related to the Auto, Baseball, Pop Culture, or is noteworthy or (more likely) completely unrelated to anything.

The bonus will be good for minimal value - typically a Walk, this will also give a chance for two winners each week.
   
Who was the first player drafted by the Padres in the expansion Draft?

No Moe, just 3 guys named Howard

Benjamin Richard Howard was drafted in 1997 and made his major league debut in 2002.  He pitched in '02 & '03 for the Padres and in '04 for the Marlins.  He continued to play in the minors through 2008.  I got this signed through the mail.

Frank Oliver Howard was one of the disposable Padres managers in the late 70's and early 80's.  He managed the team during the strike shortened season of 1981.  Under his leadership the Padres managed to finish 6th in both halves of the season.  I found this on eBay.

Thomas Sylvester Howard played a lot longer in the major leagues than I thought he did.  He played 11 seasons in the majors for the Padres, Indians, Reds, Dodgers, Astros and Cardinals.  I remember watching Thomas play for Las Vegas and talking with him.  I might have gotten this signed by him in person at a game.  He was a nice guy.

Spot the Sig-8th Inning

 

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! 

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up

Each week I will try and come up with a bonus question that is related to the Auto, Baseball, Pop Culture, or is noteworthy or (more likely) completely unrelated to anything.

The bonus will be good for minimal value - typically a Walk, this will also give a chance for two winners each week.
   
Who was the first player drafted by the Padres in the expansion Draft?

Billy Ray Baseball

William Michael Hogan was drafted by the Padres in the fifth round of the 2003 draft.  He played with 4 teams in two years in the Padres organization, never rising higher than A ball.  2005 & 2006 there is no record of him playing, although I believe he was playing for the University of Venus and Mars. During 2007 & 2008 he played in a couple of independent leagues.  I got the card signed through the mail.

Ray Arthur Holbert was dedicated to the game of baseball.  He has 5 years of major league service but that five years consist of only 115 games.  He played for San Diego, Kansas City, Montreal and the Braves in the majors. He played 13 seasons in the minor leagues with all those organizations and a few others.  He was drafted in 1988, made his major league debut in 1994 and played through 2000.  I think I got this signed through the mail. 

It's Trevor Time, and Glen too

Glenn Edward Hoffman made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1980, when his brother Trevor William Hoffman was 13 years old. Glenn is 9 years older than Trevor and played 9 seasons, 7 years with the Red Sox and a year each with the Dodgers and Angels.  He managed in the Dodgers organization and in 1998 was managing the AAA club when Bill Russell was fired and Glenn was named interim manager for 88 games, he was 47-41.  He was also the Dodgers third base coach from 1999-2005 and has been the Padres third base coach since 2006.  The card is a Padrographs card from 2009 that I got signed through the mail.  Trevor Hoffman is the all time leader in saves with 591 saves, 552 with San Diego, 37 with Milwaukee last year and 2 with the Marlins.  Trevor was originally a shortstop when he started in the Reds organization.  It was a disappointment when the Padres didn't resign him prior to the 2009 season.  I don't know about in Milwaukee but in San Diego when Trevor was about to enter a game, the Jumbotron was show the words Trevor Time and the bells from the beginning of AC/DC's Hells' Bells would play.  Trevor was very involved in the Padres outreach to the military as their father was a former Marine.  Hopefully Trevor will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Padre.  I got the Trevor card signed through the mail a few years ago.

Not the master of suspense

Sterling Alex Hitchcock was the 1998 National League Championship Series.  After that though it was all downhill for the Padres as the Yankees swept them in 4 games in the World Series. He won a World Series ring three years later with the Yankees.  He played 13 years in the majors, 7 with the Yankees, 6 with  the Padres and 1 each with St. Louis and Seattle.  He played two different times with both the Padres and the Yankees. I got this Mothers Cookie card signed through the mail.

Higgins & Hilton

Kevin Wayne Higgins played in the Padres organiztion from 1989 to 1994, playing in the majors in 1993.  He only played in 71 games and played every position, except pitcher and SS in those 71 games.  I got the card signed through the mail.







John David Hilton played four seasons for the Padres from 1972-1975, then played 5 more seasons in Japan until 1980.  His rookie card is often misidentified as the Mike Schmidt or Ron Cey rookie card.  It is one card that I have never owned of Dave Hilton.  I got this signed by a friend who attended a fantasy camp with Hilton.

Spot the Sig-7th Inning- Round Up

The autograph this was the Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper.  We got several of his signatures at an event that Neil Lomax sponsored here in Portland called the Quarterback Shootout to raise money for FCA and Young Life.  There were always a lot of athletes and sometimes entertainers also. This year I remember Jim McMahon, playing barefoot and drinking several cases of Coors Light, Marshall Faulk being a total loser and several other good and bad interactions.  Alice was great, he signed for everyone and talked to most people.  My son had a Sgt Peppers soundtrack and Alice remarked that it was a horrible movie, but that he got to do what a lot of people wanted to.  He got to beat up the BeeGees.  Alice is a big sports fan as evidenced by his restaurant Alice Cooperstown.  The Spastik Moos or Tim from the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, was the first to correctly identify the autograph so he goes from being on deck to a man on second.

This is the first concert I remember going to on my own.  I had gone and seen BTO and some other bands at the Cow Palace at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene while I was in High School.  This was one of a series called Day on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum produced by Bill Graham.  It was July 2, 1977 and there were forty thousand people there and I ran into a guy I had gone to high school with.  You could sit anywhere but the infield grass and dugouts. I spread my blanket on first base and shared it with people all afternoon.   The stage was set up in the centerfield seats, this is back in the day before centerfield was the home of luxury boxes.  I rode my 10 speed to the concert and halfway there the right crank broke off, thank goodness for toe clips, I pedaled the rest of the way with just one foot.  The Outlaws opened, I had never heard of them before, but really liked em.  Santana was up next with Leon Patillo as their lead singer, I saw Leon years later as a Christian artist at a church in Bellingham, WA.  Next up was the reason I wanted to go the concert Lynyrd Skynyrd, this was just 3 months before the fatal plane crash that spelled the end of Skynyrd.  It was awesome to watch the guitar army, particularly on FREEBIRD.  The headliner was Frampton, this was just a year or so after Frampton Comes Alive had been released, most people left before or during his set.  He overused the voice box gimmick.  BA Benny from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet nailed it right on the money, I paid $11.50 to go to the concert, so it reallys pains me to pay so much for concerts now.  So Benny has a man on first.

Phungo-Phillies-Run Scored and a Man on Third
Ryan-Trader Crack's-bases loaded
Ryan-Angels-Man on Third 
Lauren-Angels- Man on Second

Marks Epherma-Man on Second

Adam E.-Red Sox-Man on Second

Zach-Wichita Wingnuts-Man on First,Second & Third

Brian-Rangers-On Deck

Dan-Indians-On Deck

Ryan-Orioles-On Deck
oopowham-On Deck
spastikmoos-Nationals-Man on Second

dkwilson-Diamondbacks-on deck

BA Benny- Man on First

Cuatro Hernandez

Carlos Alberto Almeida Hernandez runs a restaurant called Caribbean Flavor which features Venzuelan cuisine in San Diego.  He played 10 years in the majors the majority of the time with the Dodgers, 7 years.  He then finished with 2 years in San Diego and a year with the Cardinals.  In 2004 he managed the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League.  I got this signed through the mail a few years ago.

Enzo Octavio Hernandez spent 8 years in the majors, 7 with the Padres and 4 games with the Dodgers. He was originally signed by the Astros' as an amateur free agent, then he went to the Orioles system, before ending up in San Diego where he played regularly from 1971-1977.  He hit .225 and had 129 stolen bases.  I got the signed card from eBay.

Jeremy Stuart Hernandez played 5 seasons in the majors making 133 appearances.  All of those were in relief for the Padres, Marlins and Indians.  I got the card signed through the mail.

Ramon Jose Hernandez is shown on an airbrushed Padres card. If I remember this came out before the season started. He played two seasons for the Padres, before joining the Orioles and Reds.  I got the card signed through the mail. 

Spot the Sig-7th Inning

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! 

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up

Each week I will try and come up with a bonus question that is related to the Auto, Baseball, Pop Culture, or is noteworthy or (more likely) completely unrelated to anything.

The bonus will be good for minimal value - typically a Walk, this will also give a chance for two winners each week.
 

How much did I pay to attend this concert?  The one who is closest without  going over will be awarded a single.  I recently found this poster for sale online for $2,500.

I Want to be the King of Leon!

Friends, Bloggers, Dodger Fans even, 

from San Diego to Boston, Vancouver to Miami, (even the UK)

send me your Bips, your Leons.  

Looking through my cards I find that I have some Bips, but not enough, there are cards of Bip on teams other than the Padres that I want.  Amazingly I have not yet been 'Bipped'.  Somewhere in all my stuff I have a page from a Padres program of Bip, which he signed while at AAA.  I worked as a volunteer for Young Life at Skyline High School during  Bips' junior year and saw him play baseball there.  He is back there now as the head coach of the baseball team. I will take any Bip Roberts cards that you have.  

As I was searching for an image to use in the post, I can across this signed card.  As I looked at the source, it is from a post at I heart Halos and it is a card that I sent to Ryan, because I knew he was a big fan of Bip. 

The Universal Billboard

Ball Cap Nation, A Journey Through the World of America’s National Hat by James Lillifores; 2009; 218 pages; Clerisy Press, Cincinnati, OH; 978-1-57860-340-4; 2/9-2/10; checked out from Multnomah County Library,Central
If clothes say who we are, the clothes that really say who we are are our t-shirts and ball caps.  With them we become billboards for sports teams, causes, beliefs, companies and multitudes of other things.  The author does a good job of tracing the evolution of the ball cap, from simply a piece of the equipment for a baseball player to being a piece of almost everyone’s wardrobe.  We find out how a cap is made, what the proper etiquette for wearing them, about some of the biggest collectors (90,000) and much more.  An entertaining and well researched look at the baseball cap.  Grade-A

Spot the Sig-6th Inning-Round Up and a another contest link

In addition to my individual autographs of Padres I also have one signed card from each year the Padres have been a major league team.  In 2006 I got Paul McAnulty to represent the team. I followed Pauls career because he was from Oxnard, CA, one of the many towns I have lived in.  He was with the Padres until after the 2008 season when he was released, he signed with the Red Sox as a free agent and played 90 games for them before being released again, he then signed with the Rockies.   Ryan from Trader Crack's successfully guessed the autograph subject and answered the bonus question.  The answer to the question, How many major leaguers are in the movie league is 4, 1 more than I knew.  They are Pete Vukovich, Steve Yeager, Bob Uecker and Willie Mueller.  I didn't know who Mueller and had to have Ryan tell me.  Here are the standings after six innings,

Phungo-Phillies-Run Scored and a Man on Third
Ryan-Trader Crack's-bases loaded
Ryan-Angels-Man on Third

Lauren-Angels- Man on Second

Marks Epherma-Man on Second

Adam E.-Red Sox-Man on Second

Zach-Wichita Wingnuts-Man on First,Second & Third

Brian-Rangers-On Deck

Dan-Indians-On Deck

Ryan-Orioles-On Deck
oopowham-On Deck
spastikmoos-On Deck

dkwilson-Diamondbacks-on deck

 

Over at JD's Wild Cardz he is having a most impressive Olympic contest.  Although how people are going to participate in all those activities that need snow is going to be interesting, since the hills and mountains around Vancouver are still snowless.  Just click here for more information.  Go Belize!!

Spot the Sig-6th Inning

 

The contestant that correctly guesses this weeks auto will be rewarded with a Double! 

These are the ground rules that I have stolen from Spot the Sig over at Phungo

• Respond in the comments to THIS post.
• Please put team you want to represent in your comment.
  
• Only the first correct response will be awarded the weeks Hit.
  
• Only ONE guess per person, please
  
• If you choose to ignore the above rule, only your FIRST answer will be taken under consideration
  
• Feel free to chat in comments, but please keep it clean
  
• That pretty much sums it up

Each week I will try and come up with a bonus question that is related to the Auto, Baseball, Pop Culture, or is noteworthy or (more likely) completely unrelated to anything.

The bonus will be good for minimal value - typically a Walk, this will also give a chance for two winners each week.
 
How many former major leaguer players are in Major League?

Herbel, Herges and Hermanson

Ronald Samuel Herbel pitched in 64 games for the Padres in 1970 before he was traded to the Defending World Champion Mets.  He had a lifetime batting average of .029, the lowest career average of any player with over 100 plate appearances.  Ron is pictured in his hatless Giants uniform, who he had played for the previous seven seasons.  He passed away in 2000 at the age of 62.  I either got this from ebay or ABC Unlimited.

Matthew Tyler Herges is the brother in law of former Dodger Todd Hollandsworth.  He was traded from the Padres to the Giants for Clay Hensley.  He pitched in 40 games for the Padres going 2-2 during the one season he was in San Diego.He has signed a minor league contract with the Royals for 2010 with a spring training invitation.   I got the card signed through the mail a few years ago.

Dustin Michael Hermanson is another former Padre player who has won a World Championship with a team other than the Padres.  He was the closer for the White Sox for most of the 2005 championship season. He was drafted by the Padres in 1994 and made his major league debut in 1995 and pitched for the Padres for two seasons.  I got this signed by Dustin through the mail when he was still with the Padres.

An All Star and a Trivia Answer

George Andrew Hendrick, Jr. played all of 1977 and part of 1978 in San Diego.  He played 18 seasons in the majors for a multitude of teams.  I remember his reputation, not sure if it was deserved, as something of a trouble maker.  He was a 4 time All-Star and part of the championship 1972 Oakland team.  He is currently the first base and outfield coach for Tampa Bay.

Clayton Allen Hensley will forever be the answer to a baseball trivia question.  He was drafted by the Giants and traded to the Padres for Matt Herges.  He traveled back and forth between Portland and San Diego during the 2007 season, after having started the season as the #5 starter for the Padres.  After some rehab starts Clay was back pitching for the Padres on August 4, 2007 when he threw the ball that Barry Bonds hit for his 755th home run, tying Hank Aaron.  The next Hensley was back throwing at PGE Park. He spent most of 2009 pitching at AAA for the Marlins.  I got this signed through the mail.

Side Project

Since Night Owl and GCRL among others have multiple blogs, I thought I can't let a couple of Doggers fans have more blogs than me so I have decided to start a third blog, although technically I guess it is 2 and a half.  I will be posting reviews of baseball books on Basically Baseball Books.  The first reviews are posted tonight , they are reviews that I had posted on readerman.net.  readerman is a site where I review everything I read and share stuff.  As soon as I figure out how to allow others to post reviews also, I will invite others to post their reviews also.  Also authors and publishers if you are looking for some one to review your baseball themed book, email me.

If any of you who have multiple authors on your blog could tell me how to do that I would appreciate it.

The Newest Padres Hall of Famer

Joining the likes of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Tony Gwynn, Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers and Dick Williams as former Padres in the National Baseball Hall of Fame is Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson.  I did not know that he was named for singer Ricky Nelson, or that Henderson was his stepfathers name.  Rickey had a couple of stints with the Padres, during his second tour with  San Diego he broke several major league records.  He broke Babe Ruths' career walks record, Ty Cobbs career mark of 2,246 runs and passed Zach Wheat for most games played in left field.  That was all in 2001 when he and fellow HOF inductee Tony Gwynn played together.  Going into the last game of 2001, which would be Tonys' last game, Rickey had 2,999 hits, he was going to sit out the game so as not to detract from Tonys' moment, but Tony insisted that Rickey play.  In his first at bat he got a hit, which marked the first time that two teammates had 3,000 hits.  After scoring the games first run he was taken out of the game.  He played a couple of more seasons in the majors and then played in some independent leagues, returning to San Diego to play for the SurfDawgs in the inaugural season of the Golden Baseball League.  The Hall of Fame inducted San Diego Padres outfielder Rickey Henderson in 2009.  I believe I got this eBay, I tried mailing things to Rickey when he was playing but never got anything back.

Raymond Alton Hayward only played three years in the major leagues.  Two for San Diego and one for the Rangers, but I saw him play for that many years for the Las Vegas Stars against the Beavers. He ended his career with a .333 winning percentage, that would be good if he was a hitter, but not so good for a pitcher. I got this from ABC Unlimited.

 Chase Jordan Headley should be playing at his natural position of third base this year since new GM Jed Hoyer traded Kouz to the A's.  Headley has played on and off in the majors for the last several years playing all of last year for the San Diego Padres.  I got this signed through the mail a couple of years ago.

 Jeremy S. Hefner was drafted by the Mets twice and once by the Padres.  The Mets drafted him in 2004 and 2005 and the Padres in 2007.  He managed to work up to AAA Portland in just two seasons.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him pitching in Petco this next year if their are any injuries.  I got this signed through the mail.

Spot the Sig-5th Inning-Round Up

Ryan of Trader Crack's Card Blog got the autograph quickly this as did as did dkwilson.  dk got it 9 minutes after Ryan so Ryan get the double, which gives him a man on second.  I got this personalized photo for some work on the movie Without Limits.  We were shooting a race at Hayward Field and the reader board has all the athletes listed by first inital and last name.  I noted that one of the runners was G. Shorter and I told one of the assistant directors that I thought that should be F. Shorter, she went and checked and came back and said I was right and thanked me, as they changed it.  I had been at the race that we were filming in 1998, back when it actually happened in 1974.  I told a few people the story and they said I should write and ask for a credit in the movie.  So I wrote the Cruise-Wagner Company and asked for a thank you in the credits. It must have been a good letter as some one in the production company called and talked to my wife for 1/2 hour and then sent me a letter and this photo for my attention to detail.  I thought the reader board might be in the background of a shot, but at the beginning of the race there is a close up of it, so I am glad that it has the right name.  If you haven't watched Without Limits you should, it is a great ode to a track and field hero. 

Zman of Autographed Cards once again got the literary character I asked about in the bonus question.  Thomas Hunter is the main character in Ted Dekkers' circle trilogy Black, Red, White.  Dekker had a new book came out in September 2009, Green.  Green is billed as the prequel to Black and the sequel to White.  I am really looking forward to reading this.  Now to recap the scoring;

Phungo-Phillies-Run Scored and a Man on Third
Ryan-Trader Crack's-Man on Second
Ryan-Angels-Man on Third

Lauren-Angels- Man on Second

Marks Epherma-Man on Second

Adam E.-Red Sox-Man on Second

Zach-Wichita Wingnuts-Man on First,Second & Third

Brian-Rangers-On Deck

Dan-Indians-On Deck

Ryan-Orioles-On Deck
oopowham-On Deck
spastikmoos-On Deck

dkwilson-Diamondbacks-on deck