Who Are We? Welcoming Thread. Share your mini-profile.

[Clockwork]

Name: Rich

Age: 18

Home: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, born and raised.

Schooling: University of Pennsylvania, no major yet.

Employment: Unemployed.

Hobbies: Poker, Music, Sports.

Favorite Movies: Any mob movie, anything by Stanley Kubrick,

Favorite Actors: Ed Norton, Robert DeNiro

Favorite Director: Stanley Kubrick

Favorite Bands: Radiohead, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, The Mars Volta, Pink Floyd, The Cure, the Doors, and a lot more.

Favorite Athletes: Don't really have any favorites, but when I younger I was big on Ken Griffey.

[Southlake CubsFan]

Name : Trevor
Age: 15, almost 16
School: Southlake Carroll Dragons (highschool)
Interests: watching dragon football games (its basically the thing to do in southlake, im sure some of you know), im a dragon band nerd, also play soccer

ahh what else......
basically you can tell what team i like by my sig

i hope to go to Illinois for college, i lived there for 13 years, hence why i like all illinois teams, i live in texas currently...ahh thats all i can think of
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hating on illinois? come on man, the best combo out there... Illinois,Bears,Cubs...great combo there! i must say i do respect purdue though, heck of a program...kyle orton, he may come in handy this here for the bears
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[TyrusRaymondCobb]

Simon Foster
Born:
November 23, 1971, Melbourne (or close enough!), Australia
Have lived in Australia, the UK, and the USA

Education:
Finished school 1989

Graduated BA (Double-major in History, minor in Politics, incl Middle Eastern & Soviet) 1992

Qualified as a law clerk/paralegal 2004 (GPA was around 3.25). Virtually no jobs though for an over-30 law clerk just starting out …

Team:
SF Giants (wish they would become the NY Giants again – then maybe Mrs. McGraw’s curse could be lifted)

How I came to follow Baseball:
I came by my BB passion all by myself. No baseball teams exist around here, (I think the nearest is about 20 miles away, and I may be too far on the wrong side of 30 to start playing.

Baseball is not exactly the highest-profile sport in this country. If you want to watch any games, you have to subscribe to Foxtel (not exactly cheap!).

However, there is good news. My softball team starts its season next month. The last game I played I made a double play (caught one runner out at RF and threw out the runner coming home), but that was a while back. Also I have got together a slow-pitch softball team for this year’s Australian Corporate Games (19-20 November). We start training soon (haven’t decided on what date, though).

Played most sports on a school or club level, e.g., tennis, football (soccer), softball (House captain at school), squash, athletics (always ran the 200m in a higher-age level than I was at school athletics day), cross-country, etc. I also part-qualified for my UEFA “C” football coaching Badge. Also coached girls’ football when I lived in the UK (1999-2000).

Work:
Various jobs, fairly exclusively in Accounts. I have been at my present company (Village Roadshow) since mid-March. At the moment, I ensure that we receive the money that Television stations owe us for showing films that we distribute.

I have also been a tennis umpire since 1994 and have umpired most of the ‘big’ names, e.g., Agassi, Sampras, Williams (both), Hewitt, Henman, etc.

Also spent 2 years (1990-92) in the Army Reserve and 5 years in the Air Force Cadets (1984-89)

Favourite Ballplayers:
Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Yogi Berra, Lou Gehrig, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Eddie Lopat, Christy Matthewson, Mickey Cochrane. Probably more will come to mind, but that’s it for the moment …

Favourite Movies:
Shadow of the Vampire, Star Wars series (except I, and to a certain extent, II), Hammer Horror series, They Died With Their Boots On, All Quiet on the Western Front, Battle of Britain, Alfie (the original version), Zulu, The Italian Job, The Fighting Sullivans

Favourite Baseball Movies:
The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, A League of Their Own, Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns, The Rookie, Eight Men Out

Favourite Rock Bands:
Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Who, Madness, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, Hank Williams, Eddie Cochran, Muddy Waters, Stevie Wonder, Motown

Favourite Rock CDs:
Too many to list. Pretty much refer to above list as a guide

Call This Music???:
Hard Rock (depends, though – you can rock AND still sound good – just listen to some of George Harrison’s guitar solos), Heavy/Death Metal, Rap, House/Techno/Modern “R&B”

Music That Doesn't Make Me Want To Do Evil to Others:
Classical (mostly the well-known stuff – NOT the modern stuff), Country AND Western, Blues, 50s-80s, Big Bands (includes Sinatra Martin and Glenn Miller), Andy Williams, Carla Bruni

Favourite Books::
The Oxford History of the Classical World
Anything by Arthur Hailey, e.g., Airport, Hotel, in High Places
The Dilbert series
Gone With the Wind
Cheshire Fifoot and Furmston’s Law of Contract
I really don’t get that much time to read, unfortunately

Favourite Baseball Books:
My Life in Baseball - the True Record, Ty Cobb
Baseball’s Golden Age. The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon
The Mick
Iron Horse
Ten Rings
Men at Work
Joe di Maggio. The Hero’s Life
The Head Game
The National League Story
Summer of 49

Family’s Military Service:
My father was drafted to go to VietNam (discharged the day before Tet in 68). Altogether, approx 8 of my family have seen armed conflict (WWI, WW2, VietNam). A couple of others have served, but not gone overseas.
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lol. I've called lines for him (4th Round Aus Open 2005). Done most of the big names who play at the moment (come to think of it, I've called lines for all the present top 10 ATP & WTA, except for Nadal (men) & Clijsters (women)).

Branch Rickey's great nephew is a linesman/central umpire. Saw him on TV at the US Open Men's Semi-Final & (I think) Final.

[Francoeurstein]

Edited look on page 8

[DeadBall2005]

Zach Jendro
Born:
1977 in Fargo, ND, now live in the Cincinnati area

Team:
The Twins. Ups and downs, gutters and strikes...


How I came to follow Baseball:
The 1991 World Series. I taught myself to keep score and I haven't looked back. As far as I am concerned, that Series will live down as the best. Kirby Puckett, Game 6. Jack Morris, Game 7. Sends shivvers up my spine.


Favourite Ballplayers:
Man there are too many to count. Number one is Honus Wagner, possibly the finest five tool player to play the game. Ed Delahanty, Dan Brouthers, Three Finger Brown, Mathewson. Walter Johnson for his grace and excellence. Guy Hecker, Hugh Jennings, John McGraw.


Favourite Baseball Movies:
Eight Men Out, Ken Burns' Baseball, I love vintage archive footage, Field of Dreams

Favourite Rock Bands:
The Band, The Beatles, Mike Nesmith, Roy Wood, The Beach Boys, ELO, Willie Nelson, The Move, Gram Parsons


Favourite Rock CDs:
The Band's "Rock of Ages". Possibly the finest live album ever recorded.

Call This Music???:
Rap and Death/Speed Metal. Yuck.

Right now I am reading a book about Ed Delahanty. If anyone wants to discuss old baseball, I am game!
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Bill,

Thank you for your kind words. Of course I love the old Twins, how could a sane person not? I thought about this post and I forgot one of my all time favorites. Nap Lajoie, how could I forget The Frenchman? Of course Eddie Collins and all those you mentioned, and many Negro Leaguers, especially Biz Mackey. As for The Last Waltz, it is a masterpiece. If anyone wants to hear a fine piece of music check out "I Shall be Released", the grand finale with Bob Dylan from that film. Long live Levon Helm!!!

-Z
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Zach,

I've listened to "I Shall Be Released", from The Last Waltz many a time, and love it every time. In 1972, I was a 21 yr. old professional rock dancer, and loved to dance to it while the band played it live. I also want to give a shout out of props to "Up On Cripple Creek", from The Last Waltz. It is much better than the single version. More dynamic, cooler.

And I also definitely need to sing the praises of Down South In New Orleans, from The Last Waltz. Such a classic beautiful piece of music.

Ever check out their single, Rockin' Chair? Such a cool, beautiful song. Almost rusticly rocking in the rocking chair, gazing out at the beautiful, blue sea. That's the image I get listening to this tune. Of course The Weight needs be mentioned. Fantastic taste for remembering a great band which never got the acclaim they deserved. Don't you love the way they start off with Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece"? That's Garth Hudson making that accordian sound like an Italian street fare.

Camilo Pascual used to be one of my favorite pitchers. Best curve in the MLs.

Thank you so much, Zach, for being a Biz Mackey admirer! He's one of my boys.

Bill
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-Zach

[give_it_a_ride]

My contribution to this amazing thread.

Name: Samuel Hwang
Born: 12/02/90 in Albuquerque, NM to my parents Yong and Jung Hwang
Family: Yong, Father; Jung, Mother; David, Brother
Birthmark(s): Blue turqoise circle on my left shoulder, brown smudge-ish spot on my right ankle.
Places I've Lived: Albuquerque, NM, moved to Palo Alto, CA on Valentine's Day 1998. People at my new school soon started calling me Sammy Sosa due to the big story of the year being the great HR chase of Sosa and McGwire.
School: Gunn High

How I became interested in baseball: My dad became a big Cubs fan when he moved to Illinois from South Korea in 1985 (good year for Chicago sports, the Bears dominated the league and won the Super Bowl, Michael Jordan went to the Bulls). Passed on his universal love for sports to me, I loved basketball and football until I moved to California and fell in love with the Giants. I do not go to watch that many baseball games (maybe once every two seasons), but 1/2 of the games I've been to there has been a game winning HR by Barry Bonds. One in 98 or 99 against the Phillies, and the other in the fantastic game against the Diamondbacks (2003) where he threw out Shea Hillenbrand in the top of the ninth, then hit the game-winning HR in the bottom.

Favorite Baseball Players: David Wright, Noah Lowry, Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Mickey Cochrane

Favorite Bands: Unlike a lot of my MTV-generation friends, I prefer old bands a lot more then new stuff, though not all of the 90's-00's music is horrible. Queen (favorite), The Beatles, Ray Charles, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Strokes, Vince Guaraldi, Earth/Wind/Fire, The Eagles, Jack Johnson, George Gershwin, Aerosmith, Phoenix, and the Foo Fighters dominate my playlists.

Favorite Non-Sports Figures: Martin Luther King Jr., Gregory Peck, Freddie Mercury, Will Ferrell, Mr. Peterson (8th grade math teacher), Mr. Hernandez (current Communications teacher), my Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and my brother.

Favorite Sport Besides Baseball: European/South American soccer. A complete joy to watch. My favorite team is Liverpool FC, who recently won one of the most thrilling Champions League finals ever. Favorite players include Steven Gerrard, Dennis Bergkamp, Zinedine Zidane, Peter Schmeichel, and John Terry. Often sneak into the art class at school with my friends at lunch to catch some footy, since games are usually around noon Pacific Time

Favorite Movies: Ocean's Eleven, Anchorman (I probably quote this movie a bit too often), Rocky I, II, III, and IV

[sschirmer]

Alright, I guess I'll jump in here.
Shane Schirmer
35 years old
Live just outside Cincinnati with my beautiful wife, seven month old daughter, and two rambunctious labs
Born in Wisconsin, raised in Georgia (have lived in 7 states total)
Northern Kentucky University
I sell Satellite and RF equipment to Cable TV companies, broadcast television networks, and Colleges and Universities.
Favorite Band: REM
Favorite Teams: Cubs and Indians
Boyhood hero: Ron Guidry (I'm a lefty)

[Tavish]

Name: Jason Nelson
Born: 4/21/1977
Family: Lovely wife Katy and 4 children (GBGG 12-11-6-3)
School: AAS in IT working my way (very slowly) through to my Bachelor's with emphasis on Computer Programming[/B]
Home(s): Kansas City, MO to St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis, MN back to Kansas City to finally Topeka, KS.

How I became interested in baseball: July 24, 1983 George Brett, Goose Gossage, and the Pine Tar homerun. I was still pretty young but to see the raw passion of Brett and just the incredible buzz that followed the game around Kansas City caught me. The next season I started the road towards fanaticism.

Favorite Baseball Players: Tris Speaker, Willie Stargell, George Brett, Hal McRae, Vlad Guerrero, and knuckleball pitchers in general.

Favorite Sport Besides Baseball: It used to be football, but I just don't have the enthusiasm for the sport I once had. I guess I would consider golf my second sport I would rather play or watch.

Favorite Movies: Any old Marx Brothers movie (Animal Crackers and The Coconuts get the nod), a solid war movie (Full Metal Jacket or Apoc Now), or movies with a story to tell that doesn't take itself too seriously (A Clockwork Orange or Clerks).

How I found Baseball-Fever: I lurked about for a long time, but an invite from HonusWagnerRules gave me the motivation to register. I've been waiting for a rebuttal from him on a Hornsby vs Collins debate and I will track him across the Internet until he conceeds.

[Freakshow]

I just spotted this thread. (I don't spend much time over here since they started the hall of fame forum.) Thanks for starting this, Bill. I'll adapt my bio from over at Baseball Think Factory.

I’m 45 and a lifelong Detroit-area resident, growing up on the east side. I work for the Archdiocese of Detroit as a parish auditor. Previous to this, I was a Mr. Mom for about a decade. I’ve been married 17 years and have two boys ages 16 and 13. (My younger son is the sports guy, a natural athlete, unlike his dad.)
I’ve been compiling and puzzling over the hall of fame voting for over 30 years, constantly concocting improvement schemes and lists of who should be in or out. A lot of this is reflected in my articles at BFT in the Visitors Dugout.
I started following sports when I was 8, when Detroit was Tigertown, not Hockeytown. Although baseball has always been nearest to my heart, I’ve enjoyed following all the Detroit-area champs; Tigers 68, 84; Spartans 79, 00; Pistons 89, 90, 04; Wolverines 89, 97; Red Wings 97, 98, 02; Lions? I concluded 25 years ago they were hopeless as long as WC Ford was the owner.
I collected baseball cards for the numbers on the back. (I was pretty miffed in 1971, IIRC, when Topps printed only two stat lines rather than whole careers.) When I finally discovered Who’s Who in Baseball, I was ecstatic. When I got my first MacMillan Encyclopedia for my 17th birthday, I was in heaven. A couple years later I discovered APBA baseball and played in a league for about eight years.
As a college senior in 1982, I discovered the Baseball Abstract. The next year I joined SABR. For a couple years I had a regular featurette, called “Dan Greenia’s Freakshow”, in Bill James’ bimonthly sabermetric journal, The Baseball Analyst. In 1984 I applied for the position of Bill James' assistant, when he was looking to hire his first; I made the first cut, but he eventually hired Jim Baker. I also authored two articles that appeared in Baseball Digest in the late 80’s.
I’ve never had an article published by SABR, mainly due to the attitude of their former publications director. A couple times I pitched hall-of-fame-fix oriented articles to him, but he said they don’t print articles about that because there are too many submitted on the topic. I was reminded of Yogi Berra’s quote about a popular restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” I suspect he was actually seeking to avoid controversy, in order to maintain SABR’s chummy relationship with the HOF.
Other part-time jobs I’ve had: phonebook deliveryman, guitar teacher, bookkeeper, symphony usher, reporter, retail cashier, accounting tutor, bank teller and music minister. Although I am a practicing Roman Catholic, my spirituality is greatly influenced by the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, aka The Fourth Way.
SABR has never been a social outlet for me. I’ve never been to a SABR convention and will not be making the trip next year.

[dgarza]

Favorite ballplayers: Cobb, Barnes, Mack, Pete Alexander, Ron LeFlore…

Favorite movies: Star Wars, Back To The Future, Don’t Look Back, Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, Seven Samurai


Favorite "Greatest Hits" Collections: Temptations, Lost Blues and Other Songs, “Yesterday” and Today, Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy….um, really, if I’m listen to a “greatest hits” it’s because it’s a singles band or the albums (and usually the performer also) are/is really really weak.

Music I Don't Care For: Any thing that calls itself one thing but is really something else, such as pop that calls itself any other name, county, punk, junk

Favorite Actors: Marx Brother, Owen Wilson, Gong Li, but let’s face it, actors are just pawns

Favorite Authors:
Homer
Raymond Carver
Ed Sanders
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Aristophanes
Shel Silverstein

[Cubsfan97]

Name: Shawn
Location: Round Lake Beach, IL
Birthdate: 11/10/1990

I am a Cubs fan. I like several other teams, but mostly when they dont interfere with the Cubs winning. I love reading. I read about 2 or 3 books a week (99% of which are of the baseball variety). I collect baseball autographs, mostly through the mail, I have over 200 as of 2/16/2010. My favorite players currently would be Aramis Ramirez, Tim Lincecum and Ichiro. All time, my favorites would be Billy Martin (number 1 on list), Joe Jackson and various others, but none who stand out above them. I am a learning fan of the dead ball era. I can hold my own in conversations about the era, but I am quickly learning more and more about it. Probably 50 percent of the books I have read are about that era. I also know quite a bit of pre war Cubs. I have a fascination with non existing teams, such as the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, etc. Although, I do not care much for the 2nd Senators or Expos, probably due to the recentness.

I am engaged to my lovely fiance Gretal, have been for a couple years now. I work at a pizza place called Jimanos, is a small chain in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. I love Chicago. I go to the city every few weeks to enjoy it and go to the library, which is far superior to any other library around here. I go to about 15 games a year. I enjoy listening to many kinds of music, mostly rock from the 60s through 80s. I like listening to WGN Radio as well. John Williams is THE best talk show host on the radio. I love Dr. Pepper, drink a 2 liter each day and love each one more than the last. I am not big in politics, but I am a republican, and if I ever were to vote, it would most likely be republican, but I will vote democrat if the dem is better than the rep. I enjoy the outdoors, I do lots of bike riding, try to put in 10 miles a day during the summer. I have never gone on a long distance ride, but plan to eventually. I watch lots of MLB Network, but not too much else outside of that. I watch several sitcoms, like the Simpsons, My Boys, My Name is Earl, but Im not addicted to tv. I used to watch WWE, but its too dramatical now a days. I wannas see wrestling, not half wrestling, half soap opera. I enjoy a good board game occasionally. I have been pretty hooked on Wii lately. I am an expert bowler on it! I plan to get good at real bowling this coming summer by going twice a week and strengthening my arm.

I am a Christian. I love my Lord Jesus. I listen to the Bible for the most part (I still like ACDC!). I pray each night. Church every sunday now that I dont work saturday nights. Although, I believe my religion is the right one, I encourage everyone to have a religion, even if it is not mine, for its better to believe in something than nothing. I do not look at any race or religion as being less than I am. We are all equal. A belief or color does not change who a person is.

That is all for now, I am most certainly up for questions if people have them.

Shawn

[driver62]

Let me jump in here with both feet.
I'm 64 years old and was born in Hamilton, OH. The family moved to the big city of Eaton, OH when I was very young. By big city, I mean around 3000 people in the soutwest Ohio farming country.
I graduated from Eaton High in 1959 and worked in a factory for several months. Joined the USAF in late 1959 and stayed until 1971. Spent 3 years in Germany and two more at a radar station in northern Japan.
I met my wife while stationed in Texas in 1966. We married in 1967. Although now divorced, we were together for 28 years. We had three children and ended up a military family. My wife was an Army nurse. My oldest daughter spent 6 years active in the Army and four years in the reserves. My youngest daughter is in the Navy and only has 7 years until retirement.
My father was born in 1895 and was sort of a wanderer until he met my mom. At one time, he owned a pool hall and was a professional gambler. After marriage, he settled down. He died of a heart attack in 1960.
Mom was a housewife and she passed in 1992.
After I left the USAF, we settled in Dayton, Oh and I worked in a professional photo lab for many years. The last job I had was a truck driver. I did that for over 9 years and then retired.
As for baseball. I remember always loving baseball. We played pick-up games all the time. No little league back then. I had scrapbooks of players pictures and many baseball cards. Wish I still had the cards but they got lost along the way.
I played high school ball and some semi-pro in Texas in the early 70's. I then played softball until I was 57 and my knees gave out.
My favorite team is the Reds and I like the Cubs and Red Sox also.
I just like sports and watch a lot of games on tv. I can really get into pro football. I did get to Cincinnati once this year for a game and saw several minor league games in Dayton.
There you go. You have my life story. Not very exciting but I enjoy it.

[Dodger]

Patrick Hogue
Born: February 12, 1966 West Covina, CA
Have lived in a 40 mile radius my whole life.

Dad: Born Buffalo, NY
Mom (and her mom) born in L.A.

Education: Cal State Fullerton (4 time NCAA Baseball champions) B.S. Finance
Chapman University M.B.A.

Work: Business Systems Analyst for large Mutual Fund company.

Favorite ballplayers: Ed Delahanty, Hugh Jennings, Nap Lajoie, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett (not so much anymore), Greg Maddux, Vlad Guerrero

Favorite movies: Braveheart, LOTR (all 3 movies), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Usual Suspects, Goodfellas

Favorite Rock Bands: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2, REM, The Jam, The Clash, Midnight Oil, The Pogues, The Cure

Favorite Rock CD's: Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Wish you Were Here, The Wall, Zeppelin II, IV, Houses of the Holy, London Calling

Classical Music: Purcell, Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt

Greatest Athletes of 20th Century: We could have a whole thread on this but I would go with Jim Thorpe

Favorite Basketball Players: Magic Johnson.

Favorite Football Players: Terry Bradshaw,Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Lynn Swann, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, Mike Webster, Rod Woodson, etc...

Favorite Movie Directors: Martin S., Stanley Kubrick, Peter Jackson.

Favorite Actors: DeNiro, Pacino, Eastwood, McQueen,
Comedy: Stooges, Belushi, Farley

Favorite Books:
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
Several by Graham Hancock

Favorite Sports Books:

The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Stanley Ritter
Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, by Bill James
Where They Aint by Burt Solomon

Favorite Rock Geniuses: John Lennon, Syd Barrett, The Edge

Some hobbies: Playing with my young kids, Running, Hiking/Climbing, Wake Boarding, Poker, Genealogy...oh and Baseball.

Sports: My best sports were soccer and also run cross country and track in HS. Still play hoops with my buddies on Saturday mornings.

That's all for now.
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If you're going to call me Pattie, I'll be expecting a cold Guinness from you next March 17th.

I never put up great times, I had knee problems that have seemed to go away as I've aged. I know, it doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I never quite broke 5 in the mile (5:10) which has always been a dissapointment to me. I once ran a 2:18 880, and right around 12:00 in the 2 mile. In cross country I once posted a 16:50 which is faster than my 2 mile pace.

My greater endurance accomplishments have been Mt. Whitney (3 times), as well as other 14,000 ft. peaks, White Mountain and Mt. Langley.

Getting ready to head out to watch some football before watching the Angel game in Anaheim this afternoon. So I'll catch you this evening.
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Bill to Patrick:
I was also a runner. I always felt I had 9:40 2-miles potential in me.
When I ran a 4:34 mile, and came back 30 minutes later and won again in 10:16 for 2-miles, I always believed I'd have clocked 9:40 if fresh.
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Honus Wagner Rules was also a runner.
"I ran a 2:03 800 m, 4:26 1600m, and a 9:43 3200m. Aslo ran a 35:02 10K. My track times were form 1986 and the 10 K from 1985...
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Patrick to Bill, he's very modest.
You guys smoked me! Either of you would have been the top miler at my HS.
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[Sultan_1895-1948]

Name: Randy
Age: 28
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175
Born: Sept. 19th, 1977 in Sunnyside, Washington

Family

Dad and mom still married. Have a brother who is 2 years older than myself.

tattoo

Babe Ruth tattoo on right shoulder-blade

Places I've Lived

In Portland, Oregon my whole life. I've traveled to Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, and Mexico. (Soon to be vegas in October, and soon to be Hawthorne, NY asap)

Education

High School and then some college on baseball scholarship

How I became interested in baseball

I've played since tee ball, and still play in a semi-pro league with my brother and some buddies.
I pitched and played shortstop every year up until high school, until the coach moved me to centerfield because of the similar arm motion. I pitched and played center all through high school, and just played center in college. Still play center, although the legs aren't what they used to be.

Fav.Ballplayers

Ruth, Gehrig, Pujols, DiMaggio, Cobb, Andruw Jones, Rickey Henderson

Fav.Music

Tool, Marley, Zeppelin, Floyd, Dylan, Eminem, Bone Thugs, Petty, Jack Johnson

Fav.Movies

Godfather 1 & 2 (3 blows), Scarface, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, Carlito's Way, Ronin, Heat, A Bronx Tale, Resevoir Dogs, True Romance, Full Metal Jacket, Tombstone, Seven, Happy Gilmore, Dumb and Dumber, Butterfly Effect

Fav. Baseball Movies

Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Babe Ruth "The Life Behind the Legend", Eight Men Out, Major League

Fav.Baseball Books

Babe (Robert Creamer), The Science of Hitting, The Life That Ruth Built, Real Grass Real Heroes

Fav. Football players

DeAngelo Hall, LaDanian Tomlinson

Fav. Basketball players

Dominique Wilkins, Tracy McGrady

Fav. Hockey players

Shanahan, Jagr, B. Hull, Yzerman

Interests

baseball, poker, drinkin', women, mountain biking, xbox
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Bill to Randy:
Seems you bear unlimited love for Martin Scorsese and his favorite guys, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci. You have something for NY gangsters/wiseguys? Martin Scorsese is one of the greats.
My favorite Scorsese flicks.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan - A Martin Scorsese Picture (2005) (TV)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Casino (1995)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Cape Fear (1991)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Last Waltz (1978)
New York, New York (1977)
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Randy to Bill:
I guess you could say I have a thing for those kind of movies; I'm just into Pacino and DeNiro movies really. Just so happens their best ones tend to be a bit violent, lol.

If I HAD to pick 8 movies from each:

DeNiro - Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Heat, Jackie Brown, Taxi Driver, Ronin, Deer Hunter, Casino

Pacino - Godfather 1 and 2, Scarface, Serpico, Carlito's Way, Heat, Sea of Love, The Insider

Scorsese is a freikin' genius, most don't realize he did "The Color of Money." Also, "Bringing out the Dead", which displayed his trademark use of directed lighting, similar to Casino.
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Bill to Randy:
Favorite Robert DeNiro movies.

Great Expectations (1998) .... Arthur Lustig
Jackie Brown (1997) .... Louis Gara
Wag the Dog (1997) .... Conrad Brean
Casino (1995) .... Sam 'Ace' Rothstein
A Bronx Tale (1993) .... Lorenzo Anello
This Boy's Life (1993) .... Dwight Hansen
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Wayne 'Mad Dog' Dobie
Cape Fear (1991) .... Max Cady
Awakenings (1990) .... Leonard Lowe
Goodfellas (1990) .... Jimmy Conway
Midnight Run (1988) .... Jack Walsh
Angel Heart (1987) .... Louis Cyphre
Falling in Love (1984) .... Frank Raftis
The King of Comedy (1983) .... Rupert Pupkin
The Deer Hunter (1978) .... Michael Vronsky
New York, New York (1977) .... Jimmy Doyle

My favorite Bobby roles are King of Comedy, Angel Heart, Cape Fear, This Boy's Life.
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Favorite Al Pacino flicks:

The Merchant of Venice (2004) .... Shylock
Insomnia (2002) .... Detective Will Dormer
The Insider (1999) .... Lowell Bergman
The Devil's Advocate (1997) .... John Milton
Heat (1995) .... Lt. Vincent Hanna
Scent of a Woman (1992) .... Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
Frankie and Johnny (1991) .... Johnny
Sea of Love (1989) .... Det. Frank Keller
Cruising (1980) .... Steve Burns
...And Justice for All (1979) .... Arthur Kirkland
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) .... Sonny Wortzik

Scent of A Woman was my all time Pacino masterpiece, but loved Sea of Love too.

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Randy's Official Opinions:
http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.p...1&postcount=12
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This is the best I can do, sorta hard to see.

Plan on getting it re-touched, its fading a bit.

[digglahhh]

Alright it took me long enough

Name: Derek Ambrosino
Age: 25
Location: Queens NYC, Jackson Heights to be exact
Occupation: work for (gulp) MLB.

First let me say that I am very impressed with the clarity, maturity and knowledge many of the younger users represent themselves. I was shocked to learn how many of these articulate and thoughtful posters were several years my junior.

Anyway, let me run through some things quickly. I've been interested in baseball my entire life and I've been argumentative since the womb. So naturally, I responded to my father's Yankee fanatisicsm by becoming a rabid Met fan. He passed away a few months before the Subway Series in 2000. When I was 6 I got a videotape called the "1986 Mets, A Year To Remember" and memorized it verbatim within a month.

Currently, I live with my girlfirend who is as addicted to the Mets as I am. We go to as many games as we can, especially b/c we have passes that let us in for free (MLB employees). Oh and guys, she has a Mets logo tatooed on a part of her body that would be unrecognizably pixelated if shown on television...lucky me!

Throughout my academic career I excelled, but by the time high school came around I was more interested in "extracuricular activites" I didn't play on the team senior year b/c I woke up to hungover to remember to bring my glove to tryouts. I would goof around but then ace the big test and I felt that was okay. By senior year I had practically dropped out of high school, but I figured I'd ace the SATs and be fine. Well half the plan worked, I scored in the upper 1400's but combined with my average in the low 70's, the composite was a smart guy who didn't care. This attitude continued through the beginning of college. I dropped out and even had some incidents with the law.

At some point I just decided I wanted to be a different person. I re-applied and plowed through school. I completed my undergraduate studies and then went to grad school. I finished my MA in one calendar year with a 4.0. Unfortunately, I am a political radical who detests corporate America so the paper won't translate into big money. That's fine with me though.

I plan to complete a PHD and want to teach sociology through the lens of sports.

I am a student of urban culture, I love the good old hip-hop and wish the trains were still graffiti covered. Disney destroyed 42nd Street. I miss the NYC of the eighties, soccer moms from the suburbs are supposed to be scared here!

Some random stuff:

Other team affiliations: NY Knicks, NY Giants

Favorite reading material: The Onion

People I admire (all over the place here) GEORGE CARLIN, Karl Marx, Michael Parenti, Arundhati Roy, Carl Jung, DaVinci, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Rakim, Billy Joel, Bill Mahr, Michael Eric Dyson, Malcolm X, PJ O'Rourke (one for the other guys), Jackie Robinson, Robert Anton Wilson, Bruce Lee, those who started the Stonewall Riots, Barbara Ehrenrich, George Orwell, Leo Mazzone, Jerry Rice... so many more.

Favorite athletes (present): Pedro, David Wright, Manny, Phat Albert, Allen Iverson, Andrei Kirilenko, Lebron James, LT2, Tiki Barber, Randy Moss

Favorite athletes (retired): Doctor K, Patrick Ewing, Bob Gibson, Larry Bird, Pistol Pete, Larry Nance, David Thompson, Lawrence Taylor, Mark Messier, Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretsky

Oh, and for what its worth I can drink your weight in beer.
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Bill to Derek:
Surprised your most admired folks omitted Gandi, Nelson Mandella, John Maynard Keynes and John Kenneth Galbraith.
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[oscargamblesfro]

Hi everyone. I'm a new member who only joined a few days ago. I don't have the time to present a huge summary of my life, but will tell you a little bit about myself...

I'm 34, a Libra, and grew up a huge Red Sox fan in Boston. I am of Irish, Italian, Scottish, and Seminole descent. I moved to Indianapolis with my girlfriend a while ago, and am slowly getting used to a huge cultural gulf. I have no kids. I enjoy reading about sabermetrics and Bill James' writings, but i admit sometimes being baffled by some statistics, perhaps because I am a very right brained person. I am a distant relation to both Don Sutton and Hugh " Losing pitcher" MFEMFEM: so you can tell I'm a fairly complicated person just from that! I am also related to John Boyle O'Reilly, a 19th century Irish patriot, poet, publisher, orator, and social activist who was quite famous in his time. I hold a master's degree in English. My thesis was on defending Tolkien from the hostile assertions of Edmund Wilson. My favorite authors include Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Aristophanes, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Bob Kaufman, Frederick Douglass, H.P. Lovecraft( though I think he's a total jerk),Hawthorne, Poe, and many others.

Favorite players growing up - Bernie Carbo, Oscar Gamble, George Scott, Bill Lee: basically anyone a little offbeat. I enjoy talking about 19th century baseball, and relatively obscure/forgotten guys like the early 20's Browns. I tend to stay away from discussing the obvious choices like Ruth, Cobb, Mays, etc. i have a huge sympathy for underdogs in both baseball and life in general. Politically, i am quite left of center...I most admire MLK, Lincoln, John Lennon, Dylan, Mother Teresa, and Jesus.

Musically, I enjoy some classical and jazz music, but my biggest interest/ passion is rock music from , say, 1966-1971. I feel that that was the greatest period in rock history. In addition to the bands that everyone's heard of, I am a huge fan of the following groups/ artists:The Move, Moby Grape, Love, Spooky Tooth, Blue Cheer, The Pretty Things, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley,The Idle Race, The N.Y. Rock Ensemble,The James Gang, and almost everyone from that era.

First game attended was the penultimate game of the 1978 season. I think Tiant beat the Blue Jays to force the one game playoff, but my memory could be faulty there. I also saw the 4th game of the '86 Series in person, Gaetti's 2 triple play game in either 1990 or 1991, and about 75 Red Sox games in all. My biggest baseball regret is leaving early on the day that Yaz got his 3,000th hit.
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Bill to Oscar,

Welcome aboard, good friend. Sounds as if you'd be very politically comfortable with ElHalo (post 14) and Derek (post 97). Good, healthy, left-of-center, socialist values.

Surprised your most admired folks omitted Gandi, Nelson Mandella, John Maynard Keynes and John Kenneth Galbraith.
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first paragraph regarding parents: not particularly growing up. had as many problems with parents/ authority etc as many kids do, but i always respected them. as i get older they become more heroic each day.

pet peeves- got all day? well, the following things get on my nerves-

jackson browne (and yuppie music like that) awful bowl cut, whining voice, overly sensitive lyrics. plus he got a free ride from the music critics since day one.
hard core republicans. especially the blueblood types that live in fantasyland. this war which i don't agree with. automatic flag wavers, and the people who voted for and idealize bush without even thinking about it..especially people who are soooooooooo ******* stupid they think that this blueblood aristocrat is just " one of them."

limp bizkit and that type of music. most modern rock-exceptions: radiohead, afghan whigs, white stripes at times. fred durst is the anti-christ. how anyone can't see how huge the gap is between awesome real musicians ( hendrix, beatles, cream, miles davis, roland kirk, just for starters are in comparison to most of these durst types are is utterly astounding.

the reverend ian paisley.
john davidson from that's incredible, etc.
dennis quaid and kurt russell- hacks.
any reality show you can think of. especially the ones where the kids say to the camera "kirsten wounded my inner child" or some b.s. like that.
chicago, jethro tull, the moody blues, and santana for peaking early, being great for a while- and then producing relatively little of any worth since about 1971.
the guy who replaced barbarino in the sweathogs.
predictable people with predictable views. racists, demagogues, preachy people, people who give you unsolicited advice ,squares, and sheep. people who fail to see the dignity and sanctity of the poor, who scorn the homeless, who pretend they don't see wrongs in society, etc and then have the gall and HYPOCRISY to say how much they love Jesus.

karim garcia who is a thug and was a marginal baseball player to boot, and jeff nelson who is a fascist brownshirt anyway.
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i am pretty shy- one of those people that takes a while to open up. not real shy though. that was more of a rant than it perhaps should've been.

more useless facts about me:

favorite colors- blue, red, and purple

favorite foods- italian, chinese, oranges, chicken dishes of any kind. i like to drink lemonade, coffee, or strawberry shakes.

playing baseball growing up- AWFUL at first. through hard work i became a good fielder, but always a bad hitter- didn't strike out too much but chased pitches out of the strike zone. righthanded, no power, i'm quite short , 5'5, and only weighed 118 pounds by the time i got out of school. very surprising - i come from a family of noted athletes- 2 relatives, albeit distant ones, played in the majors, and a closer relative got a tryout with the red sox in the mid 60's. hit the ball nevertheless, due to superb vision, but bad plate judgment and lots of groundouts and foul outs. if sabermetricians had seen me they would've berated my little league OBP and OPS!

FAVORITE MOVIES/ shows- lots of 'em...godfather 1 and 2, lord of the rings series, M, goodfellas, silent films such as- nosferatu, phantom of the opera ( the lon chaney one), battleship potemkin, and the 1927 film about napoleon, la dolce vita, metropolis, joe, david lean's films, citizen kane, boys in the hood, shaft, the unforgiven and other eastwood flicks, the usual suspects, chaplin films, planet of the apes films (for heavy handedness and unintentional hilarity), salem's lot, blazing saddles, cool hand luke, i'm gonna get you sucka!, young frankenstein, the producers, monty python's holy grail and ALL of their stuff, blacula, i claudius miniseries, some hitchcock films, mean streets, shawshank redemption, 12 angry men, the man who would be king, family guy, simpsons, sports/film/music/history documentaries, sleuth, jaws, salesman ( a documentary, not death of a salesman) the rocky and bullwinkle shows etc. etc.... i thought the ken burns baseball series was flawed but ok, he did a better job with jazz and the civil war.
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Mordeci added this:
Looks like you and I could trade DVD collections and barely notice any difference. About the only things that you mentioned that I don't own are I, Claudius and Battleship Potemkin, both of which I've come very, very close to buying in the past. I may buy Potemkin and Alexander Nevsky next week and have my own private Sergei Einstein film festival.
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KHenry14 added this:
Go and get "I, Claudius" today. A truly wonderful spectacle, with a delicious turn by a young Patrick Stewart as Serjanus...a must have!

[Ytown Tribe fan]

(Originally began posting on the old baseball-almanac forum way back when.)

My dad was born in western PA and started following the Tribe when Bob Feller was a rookie, listening to the great Jack Graney call the games on the radio.

My first game was in the early '60s, when Dick Howser was a youg shortstop and Rocky Colavito was already a Tiger. So I became a fan of a cursed franchise, like so many other fans here. Luckily, my dad took me to Pirates games as well, including the first game at Three Rivers Stadium. Highlights: the return of Rocky Colavito, the '71 Pirates, my favorite player: Manny Sanguillen.

Moved to the SF Bay Area in high school, just after Mays, Marichal and McCovey departed; boy those were some lean years for Giants fans. Highlight: Johnnie Lemaster's first plate appearance, an inside-the-park home run. Johnnie should've kept on running right then, right out of the ballpark. Favorite players: The Count and Johnny D'Acquisto.

After an enlistment in the Air Force, moved to the Kansas City area, and enjoyed a decade of fine baseball, starting in the early '80s, and got married as well. Highlights: '85 Royals, watching my favorite player ever, George Brett and, oh yeah, getting married. Not necessarily in that order.

Moved back to Ytown 10 years ago, right when the Tribe was something to see again, thanks to Mr Dick Jacobs. Still married after all there years, and with two sons who like to see the Scrappers, although the teenager is a Pirates fan. Rebellion -- gotta love it.

Highlights: watching Albert Belle do in '95 what David Ortiz is doing now. Watching a young team grow up before my eyes this year and make a great run for it before my very eyes. Watching my boys grow up (righty shortstop and lefty in the 'pen). Seeing Frank Zappa in '73, '75 and '77. Trying to get Link Wray inducte ito the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Trying to get Minnie Minoso into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Annie to Ytown Tribe Fan:
I just want to say Welcome Back to Ytown Tribe Fan, who was here when I joined up in '01, and whom I haven't seen around these parts for a couple of years. It's good to see an old familiar name come back and rejoin the crowd.
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Catcher24 to Ytown Tribe Fan:
Ytown Tribe Fan: Where in Western PA were you from originally? I was born and raised in Jamestown, NY, so I'm somewhat familiar with Western PA. My dad took me to Cleveland and Pittsburgh both, too. Hence, I am also a long-suffering Tribe fan ('97 still hurts ). I see you attended the first game at Three Rivers. Did you get to any at Forbes before it was gone? PM me if you don't want to answer on the thread.

Thanks for the post!

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Bill, I may have to revisit at a later date and go into more detail. I admit at this time I just don't have the patience to sit here and list as much of myself as some others have. But I promised I would make my mark in a week or so, that was a week ago so, here it is.

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York. Date of birth 1945.
Raised on a farm the first 11 years of my life, a real farm where the homes were long distances apart. I fell for this great game of baseball while living on that farm. The first time I saw a baseball, when a visiting uncle hit me some fly balls, I was about 7 years old. All I know is it was love at first sight. knew nothing about the game but just hitting that ball, swinging the bat, chasing down balls, what a great game. Unfortunately neighbors, kids were not living close in the country, who do I play with. I loved the game so much, when my dad was not around, at work I would just hit the ball, run and pick it up, hit it again, for hours. What a great game I thought.

Moved to the city in the early 1950s, Buffalo N.Y. Graduated from high school attended Syacuse University for two years.

Drafted at the age of 22. Had it made in the service for the first 14 months. Was sent to Guided Missile school, Huntsville Ala. Just like being a civilian while there, no KP, no guard duty, go home at the end of the day. I was married and lived off post. after 14 months I was sent to Fort Lewis and then I realized I was in the army, KP and field trips.

I do have one son living in Seattle.

Baseball, midget league and American Legion and Muny League in Buffalo.

TV, kind of a TV drop out, close to it. Love the History Channel, Learning Channel, Discovery and a few weekly series.

Favorite team, might have inherited this from my dad, The Yankees.
Favorite player, probably already known to most here, Babe Ruth.
Certainly admire a good number of other greats, Hornsby, Cobb, Mathewson, Williams, Dimaggio, Aaron.. too many to mention.

One of my biggest thrills related to the game.I read in the news that a 3 day seminar dealing with Babe Ruth was to take place at Hofstra University this was in 1995. Just for the heck of it I sent some little known facts about Ruth the university. To my surprise a week later I was sent an invitation to attend that seminar. I had to go, what fun. At that seminar was Bob Feller, Ralph Kiner, Harmon Killebrew, Robin Roberts, William Jenkinson one of the best baseball historian. At the end I got to meet James Shuart president of Hofstra and was informed that my paper work was placed in the Hofstra Archives


At this time I am retired, work a part time job. Do it for a few bucks and also to keep busy, I still get up about 6:00 AM every day.

Surprised at the ages of some on this board, so young. Many of them had me fooled with their knowledge of the game, I thought they were older, thse kids know their stuff.

At this time I spend loads of time at a spot I love the most. A spot you turned me on to, thanks Bill, those news archives at ProQuest, what a wealth of history, can't get enough of it.

Thats all for now, back to the geame, that great game.
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Randy to Joe:Thats so friekin' cool man, nice goin'
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On the farm, that was way back, we did know our neighbors quite well. Even though you might find homes on average to be around a quarter or half mile apart, farm folks were laid back, always willing to help their neighbors. I did visit the road I lived on many years later and it no longer looks like farm country, homes on top of homes, little space between the houses.

Syracuse U. great memories, you know, when your younger, less cares fun times, the college life. I don't read that much only because I lack the patience. One book I did read completely "The Naked Ape" deals with the human race, why we do some of the things we do. Two guys I find very interesting, Winston Churchill and Ben Franklin, Ben was a very intelligent man, to say the least.

My name is Joe and actually my original screen name was BABYRUTH0, which I still have but do not use often.

Just to touch on my first game, MLB game that I saw was in the ealy 1950s. My dad took me to Cleveland to see the Indians and the Red Sox. In those days there were many excursions to Cleveland from Buffalo, at times 8 or 10 bus loads, usually to see the Yanks. On that day seeing the Red Sox, it was probably second to seeing God. Walked up the runway my first big league game and there he was shagging flys, Ted Williams, never forget that. There were very few games on TV back then and that was black and white. This was in living color and it was Ted Williams, seems like just yesterday.
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Lew to Joe:
Shoelessjoe3: All right, another Fever member from my own Western New York. I was born and raised in Jamestown. Man after my own heart as far as TV - if it isn't baseball, the History Channel, Discovery Channel, I usually don't bother. Nice post - thanks!
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Joe to Lew:
OK then when I did live in the country, late 1940s early 50s I was not very far from you.You are probably familiar with Eden N.Y. Right next to North Collins. Jamestown, isn't that the birth place of Lucille Ball. Did you ever get to North Collins and do you remember Speedys, I believe it's still going.
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Lew to Joe:
Yes, Jamestown is the home of Lucille Ball. Well, we take the credit anyway. She was actually born in a small village (Celoron) that adjoins Jamestown. My mom knew her somewhat, but knew her brother Fred much better (Lucy was older, Fred closer to mom's age). I am familiar with North Collins; that's where they have (or did have) the pumpkin weigh in every fall. Don't remember a Speedy's; do remember a very good restaurant at the intersection of Rts. 62 & 39, but can't remember the name. I think that was the same place they had the pumpkin weigh in, if I remember right. Took a few people from this county to the facility at Collins when it was still a state facility.

Also familiar with Eden. That's where they have the corn festival, where the kazoos are made, and where the funeral home with the most appropriate name ever (Wentland) are!

Thanks for the reply!
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Joe posted an addenum:
Well I did post a brief bio here some months ago but I thought I might share a little story about my first trip to a MLB game. I was very young maybe 9 or 10 years old in the early to mid 1950s. At that time all games were in black and white and maybe one game a week shown. There were excursions from Buffalo N.Y. to Cleveland the closest MLB team to Buffalo. By train, hundreds of fans from Buffalo, excursions were mostly always when the Yanks were in Cleveland.

On this trip it was the Red Sox we went to see. I was amazed, never saw a baseball stadium in color, only black and white TV. What a sight, the grass was the most intense green color and batting practice was taking place watching that bright white ball against the background of the stands.

Than it happened. There he was, my dad said "thats Ted Williams" he was shagging balls in the outfield. Maybe seeing God might have topped this but in this case it was the next best sight, number 9 standing feet away from us. All I remember was Ted hitting a long high home run into the upper deck and amazed at how smooth his swing was. Appeared to put no effort into his swing but the ball than disappeared into a sea of spectators.

We did go to a few more games to see the Yanks in Cleveland, would have loved to have seen Dimaggio in the flesh but he was retired. I do recall watching Yankee Eddie Lopat known as the "junk man" pitching a low hit game against the Indians. I couldn't believe it, Eddie appeared to be just playing catch with the catcher the Indian batters couldn't touch him. He seemed to throw so slow I was sure even as a 12 year old I could hit him.

Closing, I was a country kid from Eden N.Y with a population of maybe 1000 people and here I was in a ball park watching the Indians and Yanks with 60,000 plus people what a sight. Some of the greatest memories I have as a young boy are connected to this great game.
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I wish I had more to offer but am not even sure of the year, early to mid 1950s. At that time I was 6 to 9 years old. I only remember it was in Cleveland on a Sunday probably a double header. Don't recall the score or even who won the game or games. Could have been as early as 1951, not likely 1952 or 1953 , Ted played less than 50 games total over those two seasons.

Thank you for the offer to help, wish I could supply more info.

One other little tale, a game my dad took me to in Detroit to see the Yanks. I believe 1954 or 1955. Tiger Earl Torgeson steals home in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yanks.

We had great seats right behind the Yankee dugout and what a sight we saw. Yankee manager Casey Stengel running out of the dugout yelling at the Yankee pitcher as Torgeson broke for home. It seemed like every one in the park was aware of Torgeson going for it... except the Yankee pitcher who did not pitch from the stretch but went from a full wind up. I think it was Bob Turley.

[pretorius]

Wow William I think you must be the first person in the history of the US to have Jimmy Carter and Barry Goldwater on the same Most Admired Americans list.

I have thousands of lists I have kept as well. I enjoy seeing other people's interests and life stories.


Well to introduce myself.

Age: 22

Ethnic background: Mutt like most white Americans. mainly German but I have some Italian and Scotch-Irish blood as well.

Born: Springfield, IL

Occupation: Student and Army Reservist

I was raised in a small and rural central Illinois town by my mother who is a nurse. I really didn't have much to do with my father. He worked for the State of Illinois, coached little league and was a huge Reagan republican. I only saw him on holidays and such. He passed away a few months ago. Just to clarify though I am not one of those Maury Povich kids who cries "Where were you Dad!!" Nothing like that. I enjoyed not growing up with a father. I loved my childhood and I think I would have felt uncomfortable with another parent. I never had any ill will towards my father.....ever. I was sad when he died even though I hardly knew him.

As a youth I played Soccer, Baseball and in 7th grade I started to play football.

I was an excellent soccer player a poor baseball player and an average football player.

In high school I played baseball freshman year. I batted 233 with 3 Home Runs (second most on team) while platooning at third base......I was an awful fielder though....AWFUL. I struck out alot. As a batter I was cast in the Rob Deer mold. I was a switch hitter with home run power from both sides of the plate though. However, the kid I platooned with at third was also a freshman and he was better. He batted like 370 and was a solid fielder. I was more interested in football though so this is the only year I went out. Our record was like 11-14 . We are not a baseball town.

In track (Sophmore, Junior year) I threw the discus. Won some smaller meets but was only average. Longest throw 132 ft.

Football was where I played the most. I was an average player on a team that was supposed to win the state title....we got robbed in the playoff quarterfinals (after outscoring our first two opponents 80-13). I know people always say they were cheated but we seriously were. They were allowed to get two plays off in 6 seconds, their line false started on the final play and their HB pushed in their QB in the last second......AND even with the help he never broke the plain. Thankfully they lost in the title game. I started DT and was the first o-lineman off the bench. No. Im not a large guy. I was 5ft9 and weighed 175. My greatest asset was speed and I was a pretty strong kid (benched like 285). I had the most sacks on our team (11). My sack totals were dependant on the fact that I played next to the best NT in the state who ate up double and triple teams. So all I had to beat was a guard who I was always faster and usually stronger then.

After High School I joined the Army Reserve and attended a small university in Springfield. In the army my best two mile time was like 14:30 and I could and can do 70 pushups in two minutes and 75 or so sit-ups in two minutes. This gives you like a 240 on your PT test at my age. The max is 300 and the smallest amount you can do to pass is 180. Nothing too hard.

I was activated to go into Iraq in 2003. I was sent to Ft. Riley, Kansas but as we were waiting to deploy Baghdad fell and the (lack of forsight) military planners sent us home thinking the war was all over. My unit has been on Homeland Defense orders for the past year and we are scheduled to be activated again in the next few months with the intention of heading overseas. So I may only be here for a few months.

I am not trying to open up any political debate but contrary to what you might assume given my seemingly anti-french sign off, rural upbringings, Military background and the fact that I mentioned that my father is a Reagan republican...but I do not agree with the Iraq war. I am also a moderate democrat (or as you people may call us nearly extinct) who does not find our presdient (my boss) to be all that competant or great. Again not trying to offend some W supporters or open a political debate. I type at like 7 political forums so this is the last place I want to discuss or argue politics. Despite being aligned with a party I am pretty open minded and I try to never allow partisanship to blind me. Like In our state I intended to vote for former Govenor Jim Edgar (a republican in the centrist mold) instead of the corrupt, job kick-back democrat governor (who admits scoring a 19 on his ACT) in Rod Blagoevich. Edgar decided to pass though. I notice that alot of baseball fans tend to be pretty big republicans and it would ruin the purity of this site to make it political. I have alot of republican friends and family.

My interests include World Politics and World History mainly. I won some social sciences state awards in High School. I have a pretty good bank of knowledge. I could name the presidents frontwards and backwards since the age of 6. I know the capital to every country in the world. I know alot of world leaders and political parties. I know every governor in this country. I could probably name 90% of US senators and 60-70 % of the house. I could name 75% of all the Supreme Court Judges we have ever had. I can tell you anything about the Second Punic War, Greenland and Iceland. I have alot of general knowledge about sports in general and music and movies. I am a potpourri guy. I am not a specialist though in those fields. I know alot of baseball for a common guy but I am sub-par on this site from what I can see. I know alot about movies but I probably dont know as much as say Moviegeek who posts here. I can name two Kursowa movies...Ran and Seven Samurai but he can probably name them all. If information was baseball I would be a solid utility infielder. Alot of info about alot of subjects but I am an expert in very few. I am servicable.

My sports interest and baseball interest sprang on its own. As I said I was raised by a single mom. I have no clue why I liked sports that much. I was watching Sportscenter at 6 like religiously. I just liked numbers I think and the aspects of stats. Not just playing stats but heighth and weight and all of that. I collected thousands of sports cards and I was alone. My passion was created entirely within me. My dad was a sports nut so maybe it was just genetic and not environment.

Favorite Baseball Players.

Tony Gwynn, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Wade Boggs, Cal Ripkin Jr, Mark Grace, Tom Pagnozzi, Shawn Dunston, Jody Davis, Ozzie Smith, Tommy Herr, Willie Mcgee, Jack Clark, Pedro Guerrero, Eric Davis, Ron Gant, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine. Names reflective of living in an area with alot of love for the Cards and Cubs. Old Time players I had an obsession with... Jimmie Foxx, Harry Heilmann, Hal Trosky, Dom Dimaggio, Dolph Camilli, Gabby Hartnett, Norm Cash, Dick Allen, Bobby Bonds, George Foster, Ralph Kiner, Hank Greenberg, Ted Kluszewski, Joe Adcock..... Just something about their stats or name or something that always made them click with me.

Favorite All-Time athletes.
Barry Sanders
Marcel Dionne
Mike Singletery
Pat Lefontaine
Steve Largent (despite being a republican )
Greg lloyd
Bam Morris
Sam Mills
Roy Jones Jr
Archie Moore
Evander Holyfield
Mike Tyson
Michael Jordan
Steve Kerr
Gary Payton
Isiah Thomas
Bernard King

To name a few.

Favorite fiction Books in no order because I cannot find my list:mad:
Cat's Cradle.....Vonnegut
Franny and Zooey....Salinger
Atlas Shrugged....Ayn Rand.....I have some Libertarian streaks
Friday Night Lights....Cannot remember author
Slaughterhouse 5....Vonnegut
The Sirens of Titan....Vonnegut
Brother Termite...cannot remember author
Metamorphosis.....Kafka's
The Mysterious Stranger...Mark Twain short story
The Day of the Locust...Nathaniel West
1984 ....Orwell
Fahrenheit 451.... Bradbury
Utopia....More
Less then Zero....Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho...Bret Easton Ellis
The Rules of Attraction....Bret Easton Ellis
Primary Colors...Anonymous
Fight Club....Chuck Palahniuk (murdered that spelling I think)
Haunted......Chuck Palahniuk
Valis.....Phillip K Dick
A Scanner Darkly....Phillip K Dick
Ubik......Phillip K Dick
Man in a High Castle.... PKD again

I tend to like Sci-fi and social commentary and satire in my fiction.

I read mainly biographies and non-fiction books. To many to list. I own 500 plus books and alot of my favorites that are non-fiction do not follow a linear plotline. So you end up reading it in a fragmented way. I have favorite non-fiction books that I havent even read completely. Its hard to rate factual books. Its like saying I like my heighth more then my weight.

Favorite 26 Bands and or singers.

1) Tool
2) The Doors
3) The police
4) Peter Gabriel
5) Simon and Garfunkel
6) The Cure
7) Talking Heads
8) Nirvana
9) Fleetwood mack
10) Blue Oyster Cult
11) Pearl Jam
12) NIN
13) Bjork
14) Opeth
15) Tricky
16) Jimi Hendrix
17) Depeche Mode
18) A Perect Circle
19) David Bowie
20) Portishead
21) Staind
22) Radiohead
23) Massive Attack
24) System of a Down
25) Primus
26) Pink Floyd

Top 5 Soundtracks
1) Solaris (newer US version not the old Soviet flick)
2) Gattaca
3) Williams Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
4) Exacaliber
5) Glory

Top 51 favorite movies. I have a list to 500. I love lists.

AND the all-Time Cliche number 1...

1) Shawshank Redemption....Should I lie to myself to be unique??
2) The Elephant Man...Not usually a Lynch fan...This is his most conventional
3) Apocalypse now
4) Network.......Note the rend of me liking Robert Duvall
5) Hoosiers.....Im not a critic....you will not see a Citizen Kane, Battleship Potemkin or Casablanca on my lists.
6) Glory
7) Field of Dreams
8) Fight Club
9) American History X
10) Altered States
11) To Kill a Mockingbird
12) Buffalo 66
13) 12 Monkeys
14) Time Machine (1960's version)
15) Badlands
16) Boys From Brazil
17) The Hustler
18) The Ice Storm
19) Cool Hand Luke
20) Gattaca
21) Planes. Trains and Automobiles
22) Bringing Out the Dead
23) Leaving Las Vegas
24) Groundhog's Day
25) Donnie Darko
26) Barry Lyndon
27) Henry Portrait of a Seriel Killer
28) Igby Goes Down
29) The Deer Hunter
30) Sex, Lies and Videotape
31) Election
32) Office Space
33) Ben Hur (60's version not the 20's version)
34) Spartacus
35) Dead Poets Society
36) Lolita (90's version not the Kubrick 60's version)
37) The Virgin Suicides
38) The Fog of War (documentary but o'well)
39) Dolirs Claiborne
40) the Big Lebowski
41) Donnie Brasco
42) Braveheart
43) Crumb (another Documentary)
44) Memento
45) Amelie
46) Big Fish
47) Omega Man
48) Silence of the Lambs
49) Rushmore
50) Rear Window
51) Personna

Top 10 actors
1) Gregory Peck
2) Robert Duvall
3) Edward Norton
4) Al Pacino
5) Meryl Streep
6) Michael Sheen
7) Anthony Hopkins
8) Bill Murray
9) Morgan Freeman
10) Faye Dunaway

Top 10 most attractive women
1) Famke Janssen
2) Audrey Tautou
3) Bridget Moynihan
4) Lucy Liu
5) Demi Moore
6) Franka Potenta
7) China Chow
8) Halle Berry
9) Kim Delaney
10) Monica Bellucci/Carrie-Ann Moss.

As you may tell I am high on dark haired women.


Like I said I have thousands of lists on everything from cereal to fast food, video games, soda, animals, Porn Stars anything. I am compulsive about it.

To cap it off I will name my favortie sport teams in each sport

Baseball.
1) Giants
2) Cubs
3) Tigers
4) Cardinals
5) Pirates

Rarely do you see somebody from where I am from say they like both the Cubs AND Cardinals

NFL
1) Steelers
2) Lions
3) Bears
4) Bengals
5) Bills

NHL
1)Redwings
2) Blackhawks
3) Blues
4) Sabres
5) Flames

NBA
1) Bulls...we are getting better ....lost Curry though
2) Seattle Supersonics
3) Boston Celtics
4) Sacramento Kings
5) Dallas Mavericks

Small tidbits about me. I am allegedly related to both Daniel Boone and William Jennings Bryan. Bryan is best known for being the loser in the 1896, 1900 and 1904 US presidential elections and for advocating overturning the Gold Standard in our currency to silver and for the Scopes Monkey Trial (creationism versus evolution) of 1925. I find it funny because I could not be at greater political odds with a politician.

I have never been baptized but have attended Lutheran and Methodist churches. I have also been an agnostic and a Deist. I dont know what I am anymore. I said I was Coptic Christian on some military papers just for the heck of it. My father was Catholic.

My eyes are slightly different colored. Heterochromia Iridium is what I have I think. The pigmentation content of my eyes shift.

My hands are extremely limber and flexible. I can bend and contort them in alot of ways without much pain.

I have difficulty noticing hue differences in certain shades of colors like green and blue and orange and red and purple and black. My color spectrum is not very wide.

I kicked a 42 yard field goal once.

I have a cat named Cincinnatus

I love Roman names

I only have three baseball autographs.....Derrick May, Kevin Roberson and Bernard Gilkey......quite a valuable collection if I say so myself.
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His Official Opinions:
http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.p...9&postcount=20
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West Coast Orange and Black complimented Pretorious:

why i dig pretorius:
"I do not agree with the Iraq war
Barry Bonds
Jack Clark
his book and film preferences
Giants
a 42 yard field goal"

why i am worried for pretorious:
"I was activated to go into Iraq in 2003... the military planners sent us home thinking the war was all over... we are scheduled to be activated again in the next few months with the intention of heading overseas."
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[TonyK]

Here goes:

Born in 1950 in South Boston, MA and lived north of the city for 25 years. Graduated from Somerville HS, have a BA and MEd from UMass. My mom died when I was very young, and my dad walked with a limp due to a childhood accident. My dad raised me by himself and had a hard life. His friend was an AP photographer so we got great seats to watch Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, Ted W. and the Red Sox, and the Boston Bruins. I'll never forget Orr as an 18-yr old rookie dominating grown men on the ice, or the incredible teamwork of the Celtics, or Ted hitting two home runs in a game.

I never touched a baseball until 11 when I tried out for little league. I played RF for two years and we won the City Championship. Pitched a one-hitter in my only start. One of my biggest mistakes in life was quitting HS baseball because my friends quit. I'm a lefty and had a curve and sinker I could control. My nickname here is in honor of TonyC. I played some HS basketball and ran the 600 yard dash in indoor track. I was the type that was ok at most shorter distances, but never great at one.

I played fast pitch softball in the Marines and played it for a few years afterward. My work career includes the US Post Office, teaching in Elementary & Jr. Highs, Sales and Customer Service. I currently work with customers from Australia and Asia.

My favorite musicians are Van Morrison, the Eagles, George Winston, the Greatful Dead, Pink Floyd, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt and Springsteen.

I like the Neft & Cohen Almanac that breaks down every season into teams and the entire roster of each and their stats. I have too many baseball books to list, but this website turned me on to Walter Johnson's biography recently. I co-authored a baseball biography and am working on a local baseball history right now. Having a job and raising a 19-yr old and a 14-yr old keep interfering with my writing time.

My daughter played HS volleyball and ran track. Watching her win the 100 meter dash in Jr. High at an Invitational was a moment I'll always treasure. She was never big on playing on teams, and sports were not her favorite thing. My son plays HS soccer and will soon tryout for basketball and baseball. He played 6 positions last year on the school baseball team so defense is his strength, and hitting is what he needs to work on. I coached my kids in baseball and softball for nine years and their teams never had a losing record. My son's team in his final season won the LL championship in the 9th inning after coming from behind twice in extra innings. He had a no-hitter until 2 outs in the 6th inning.

I was at the 1975 WS Game 6 in Fenway. I stood in line at night for several hours to get tickets and had to decide whether to get Games 1 & 7, or Games 2 & 6. I figured it might not go all 7 games so I took Games 2 & 6. The experience after Fisk's HR was similar to having a child...you have so much energy and adrenalin.

Thanks for the work you put into making this an interesting site.

I co-authored a book called The Legend of Wild Bill Setley several years ago. It was about the colorful career of a eccentric minor league baseball pitcher who defied authority back in the 1890's. Later on in his life he became a minor league umpire and police detective. The story kept growing once we discovered he had a 30-year career in baseball and was a famous storyteller.

I am working on another book plus a research project on the Cuban Giants. I seemed to be drawn to the 1890's era in America and love that period of time.

My grandson will begin his baseball "career" next summer when he starts tee ball. He throws and writes with both hands so maybe we will have another lefty in the family? My son played high school varsity baseball, and then declined a chance to play college soccer at a flagship state school when a better offer came along from a private college. So he turned to rugby, and now I attend his club games trying to learn the rules little by little. I breathe a sigh of relief every time he gets up from the bottom of a pile of players without being injured. We have our own family rivalry as he is a Yankees fan and I'm a Red Sox fan.

[dgarza]

i thought the ken burns baseball series was flawed but ok, he did a better job with jazz and the civil war.

Jazz was very incomplete. Baseball was fine. Civil War was the best.
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Wamby to Dave Garza:
I thought Civil War was excellent. I thought Baseball stunk. It should have been titled Race and Baseball. Some of Ken Burn's other stuff has been good, but I think he is a little heavy-handed where race is concerned.
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Four Tool chimes in with this:
Civil War was great, despite some weaknesses. I gave up on Baseball long before the end. Jazz left something to be desired--but just about anything on that subject would.
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Lew Snyder adds this.
Agree 100%. I enjoyed the Civil War series immensely, and was really looking forward to Baseball. What was done to the black players wasn't right - I think everyone on this site agrees - but Burns played on that theme far too much, to the detriment of the entire series, IMHO. My wife bought me the book several years ago, and I haven't even looked at it yet.
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Captain Cold Nose:

ask him what it was like to be a bloomer girl

As a baseball man and history fan, I will once again attempt to find Eddie Plank's grave in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania while I visit there this weekend. I was able to obtain the coordinates from another site, but the large, still-in-use cemetery isn't very well marked in spots. There are Planks in several locations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Catcher24:
Which site did you get the coordinates from? Geocaching.com or Waymarking.com by any chance? Have you seen The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee? Probably wouldn't help you, since you already know the cemetery, but sounds like an interesting and useful book. Good luck with your search! Perhaps the local library would have the location, or know a fan who does.
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Captain Cold Nose:
Findagrave.com is the site I use. I've never used the two you mentioned. I'll check them out. Thanks.
Asking around is a good suggestion. The cemetery is part of the national park, it is connected to the veteran's cemetery that Lincoln dedicated. (The reason for the Gettysburg Address.) In his post-baseball career, Plank was a battlefield guide working for the park, so they may have that information. Thanks again.
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Captain Cold Nose:
Interesting piece of info, Captain! I'm also going to check out the site you use. The ones I mentioned are more for geocaching (a hobby of mine; baseball is a necessity!). My wife has been wanting to go to Gettysburg for quite some time. If you find it this trip, PM me please. I would be very interested in seeing it myself when I get down there.

Trust me, go to Gettysburg. No Civil War site comes close, although I will admit I've never visited any Deep South sites. I leave friday morning, so hopefully I'll have some results when I return.
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Jalbright:
Gettysburg is a wonderful place--but because of the encroachments of businesses and tourist traps, in some ways I prefer some of the southern sites which don't have those problems to the same degree. The only two of note I have yet to see are Mobile Bay and Pittsburgh Landing in Western Tennessee. Do a little reading before you go to any of the battlefields--almost every major battlefield has a magazine length piece on it (I think by the Civil War Times, but in any event some such outfit) that shouldn't be too taxing yet will enrich the experience many fold. You can then combine what you've read with the refresher from the show at the visitor center and combine all that with the markers at key points. When I was a kid, I dragged my family to the battlefields, but because I did enough reading about the Civil War, I could make them see at least a part of what I was seeing on those visits. After a while, they started to ask if there were any battlefields we should see.
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Captain Cold Nose:
The one thing I like about Gettysburg is, despite the touristy stuff outside the park, the actual park is doing a really nice job of maintaining the intergrity of the battlefield, right down to the trees, removing any speices not in Pennsylvania in 1863. You look at cities like Nashville and Richmond, and a lot of what happened in those areas has been paved over.
It's good advice to check out what you're visiting before you visit it. For one, in sites that are really spread out, like Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania, chances are you'll miss something if you don't have a plan. Or you'll know what to expect if your only experience is with the grander sites and you come across a place, like Antietam, that, while grand in stature, may not seem like so much for the ill-informed.

When I was a kid I went to a lot of those sites without really reading up on them beyond what was listed in my parents' AAA book. I am glad to visit the sites as an informed adult and thankful we still have them.
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Captain Cold Nose:
The first time I visited was shortly before they tore the tower down. And you have that right about the feeling you get. Being on the battlefield at dawn and watching the sun go down over South Mountain are both musts and major parts of the experience.
The town seems to be pretty split in its allegiance to either the Pirates or Phillies. Actually, I've seen quite a few Oriole caps around town, too.
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Catcher24:
Jim - Strange you mention the Civil War Times. In my teens-early twenties, I became quite interested in the Civil War, and actually subscribed to that magazine for a few years. The first game I ever bought with my own money (paper route) was Battle Cry, a Civil War game by American Heritage, and I think out out by Milton Bradley Co. Sorry to say I have never been to any of the major battlefields of that conflict. I did have a great-grandfather who was a lieutenant in the 112th New York, from western New York.
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Jalbright:
I remember that game. Not on a par with today's more complex sims, but interesting. I think some of those magazines can be found at the bookstores of the battlefield Visitor's Centers (my wife expects me to come home with books if we visit a battlefield), but I mentioned them more because they are reasonable histories but not too long--which is ideal for most folks. If you're into history, there's nothing like seeing the ground on which battles were fought. It really helps put it all into perspective. My personal greatest yen is to one day visit the beaches of Normandy (D-Day).

I have a great-great (and maybe one more great) grandfather who served in one of the Pennsylvania outfits, Isaac Albright IIRC.
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Splendid Splinter:
Gettyburg is the best place ever to go to if you want to learn or see something from the Civil War... I mean... I got to go to the same battlefield that my great-great-great grandpa died on. He fought on the north side (he was on the famous "Pickett's Last Charge" and his brother died there too. His brother fought the south so they fought each other (seriously... that is not right at all). When I was there, my feelings were out of this world because of the history and my family. I can't explain it in words...
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Captain Cold Nose:
Those who have stepped foot on the battlefield, whether they had ancestors fighting there or not, understand. Mr. Albright, I know people who were born well after the Normandy Invasion who were brought to tears walking around Omaha Beach. It has to be one of the most intense places in the world in terms of bringing up emotions.
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Jalbright:
Those with a sense of history should. I believe what you say about Omaha Beach--the pictures alone convey that feeling to me. My own experiences tell me that the pictures rarely convey the full magnitude of the experience, no matter how skilled and knowledgeable the photographer. That's precisely why I want to go there. It may be a wrenching experience, but I do not want to miss seeing one of the most momentous sites in 20th century history. Hiroshima and Auschwitz are other places I want to see, though they too should be highly emotional experiences. Washington D.C.'s Holocaust Museum was quite an experience--but while it has artifacts, it didn't happen there . There's a difference between a museum thousands of miles away or pictures and the actual ground. It's hard to put into words, but I've always felt and understood the history of places like that better once I've been there.

[abacab]

Name: Andy
Born: 6 December 1978

Grew up in: Pittsburgh PA.
College & Degree: Penn State, BS Mathematics

Currently working for a government agency as a statistician. I know, how weird is it that a statistician would be interested in baseball?

Love of my life #1: Music. I love music from the Beatles to Coldplay and everything in between. I can play guitar but not very well, and write songs that aren't very good.

Love of my life #2: Cats. I know it's wussy. I bet you like something wussy, too.

Love of my life #3: Pretty girls in tight clothes. For obvious reasons.

Favorite baseball moment: 2001 World Series, Game 7 - I never thought I'd see the Yankees lose.
Least favorite baseball moment: 1992 NLCS Game 7 - All I wanted was for my hometown team to make the World Series. I didn't care whether they won it. Instead the 1990-92 Pirates were completely forgotten.
Favorite historical players: Gehrig and Clemente

Introduced to baseball at age 9, I started to devour books about baseball history. I forgot about it for a while, until I bought "Politics of Glory" which rekindled my interest in both baseball history and statistics. About two years ago I stumbled across the "Hall of Merit" on Baseball Think Factory, which in turn led me to baseball-fever, which led to baseball history and discussion becoming my main hobby.

[History Of Baseball Fan]

pitching every regular season game, and playoff game for 5 years straight hurt my shoulder

took a few years break from pitching, then went to center field every game. best position to play !!

[Bill Burgess]

Friends,

I have been asked a question about how I conduct this thread. And I do admit to deleting posts on this thread. So I would like to talk to you about how I am maintaining this thread.

I started this thread to give us all a venue to express ourselves about ourselves, who we are, what we're about. And Fever, Sean, our webmaster has been unbelievably tolerant of us chatting about non-baseball topics.

When I was made a moderator, this thread had reached 10 pages, with only 2 pages of bios. The rest was bloated with chit-chat, long past relevance.

So I simply went back and sorted through the posts. I tacked some posts of some members to their original bios. Others, I consolidated into topics.

Others, I deleted. The entire point was to keep this thread relevant to Fever members. It's been my experience, that whenever a thread reaches a certain size, it sinks of its own weight. Few have the time/patience to read through the accumulated sundry chit-chat. Or would want to.

My purpose throughout this whole time is to keep this thread a viable, credible, functioning instrument. One where we can learn from each other.

So, if a post of yours suddenly disappears, do not despair. Many did not "disappear", but got reassigned to their original bios. We have 4 topics which contain the input of several members.

Post #59 is labeled "Pet Peeves". Several members contributed to this.
Post #73 & #74 is labeled "Rock Music". Many members contributed to this one.
Post #98 is labeled "TV Character Actors". Several members contributed to this topic.
Post #101 is labeled "Ken Burn's Civil War" documentary.

So, a huge number of posts are not really "gone", merely moved.

I have went back & gone through all the bios, and wanted to notify all the members, whose bios got added to. I attached later posts to these following original biographies.

2. 64Cares-----------27.KHenry14-------54.Wolverineman----84.Deadball2005
2. Julusnc-----------28. Chanceron---- 56.barzilla--------92. Dodger
5. HonusWagnerRules--29. rockin500-----57. Chancellor-----93. Sultan_1895-1948
8. leecemark---------33. JohnnyGhost---61. abolishthedh---94. dgglahhh
9. Imapotato---------35. JW------------63. VTSoxFan-------95. oscargamblesfro
11. PumpsieGreen-----36.Splendid Splinter--67.BristolBoy--96. Ytown Tribe fan
14. ElHalo-----------37. Wamby---------70. janduscframe---97.ShoelessJoe3
15. four tool--------38. West Coast OB-72.WindyCityfan----99. Pretorius
16. Captain Cold Nose-39. Say Hey------75. jalbright-----
18. mordeci----------44. catcher24-----79. Nutmegh----
19. Wagner33---------46. schlabotnik---81.Southlah CubsFan
21. Sirmudgeon-------48. SABR Matt-----82. TyrusRaymondCobb
22. tonjes-----------49. Ize19
26. RuthMayBond

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So, I will/do delete/consolidate extraneous posts to these threads. And I also spend a certain amount of time with the spell checker.

At the end of the day, I do all I do to assist Fever to be the best it can be. And if these few functioning instruments can remain viable, credible, trim, lean vehicles for our entertainment pleasure, I am happy to serve our community.

I appreciate your continued support.

I encourage all to use this thread as a community bulletin board. We will continue to leave up all new messages for a few weeks, as long as others are responding to them. And after that, the good stuff will either be consolidated in single posts, or attached to someone's original bio, or dumped into the unfathomable maws of eternity (deleted).

Bill Burgess
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Catcher24 is so gracious:
Bill - You're doing a fine job, and I for one appreciate it. Keeping the "flotsam and jetsom" of the threads to a minimum is an excellent idea. Thanks for all of your time and effort in helping to keep the Fever a viable and interesting site!
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bkmckenna:
I'm new to bbf and I'm not so sure what goes on behind the scenes and quite frankly no so sure what this thread is but i second everything that was said - this is a great site - i wish i had been here a long time ago - you guys must be doing something right - i appreciate it - thanks
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Captain Cold Nose:
Bill, thank you very much for the above post. Hopefully it will alleviate any misunderstandings. Much appreciated.
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[55 chmps]

Name : Joseph Michael Pantorno
DOB: December 10, 1991
Education: I'm right now attending Farmingdale High School. I'm a freshman.
Baseball passion: I got it from my dad. He influenced me to play, my interest somehow reached to the Brooklyn Dodgers, it's wierd, a 13 year old kid who can name you the lineup for the 1954 Dodgers. anywho....
Favorite Ball players: Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Stan Musial, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb (Even though he murdered his dad), Tom Seaver, Tommy Agee, Willie McCovey, Lou Gherig, Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza, and Ralph Kiner.
Movies:Miracle, Eight Men Out, Field of Dreams, The Great Raid, Happy Gilmoure, Napoleon Dynamite.
Bands:The Beatles, Outkast, All American Rejects, Queen, surprisingly Simon and Garfunkel are okay, Blue Oyster Cult.
Favorite Basketball Player:Walt Clyde Frazier, Lew Alcindor, Bob McCadoo, Oscar Robertson, Patrick Ewing, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett.
Favorite Football Player:Lance Allworth, Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Lawrence Taylor, Fran Tarkenton, Otto Graham, Y.A. Title, Dick Butkus, Chuck Bednerek, Johnny Unitas.
Favorite Actors: Adam Sandler, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Owen and Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferell, Cedric the Entertainer,Matthew Perry, and Arnold Schwartenager.
Actress:Meryl Streep, Hally Berry, Jennifer Aniston.
Books:Bums, The Boys of Summer, 1947: When All Hell Broke Loose, Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter.

I am very glad that you got through that, and well that's everything ya know, it's wierd all these baseball, football, and basketball players I weren't even born to see, that's what makes them look so much more heroic.