The Dead Arm Period: I Can’t Think Of Good Title For This Week’s Blog

(Right now many pitchers are going through a dead arm period while this week I am going through a dead blog entry period.)


The great thing about Spring Training is that means “real” baseball is just around the corner.

The bad thing about Spring Training is that other than injuries and the occasional shooting star (Matt Kata anyone?) there isn’t any real news that’s worth dissecting coming out of Arizona or Florida.

With that in mind we bring you a truly random blog entry (since there’s nothing “real” to write about this week).

"Don't forget to swing hard in case you hit the ball" - Woodie Held (lifetime .240 hitter)

One of my favorite sites, Baseball Reference.com, has a neat tool called the Oracle of Baseball that can connect any two major league baseball players through a string a mutual teammates (think of it as the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: The MLB Version) and yes I know I’ve used it before on this blog – and I’ll probably use it again at some time in the future as filler when there is nothing to write.

Ozzie to Elvis: SS Ozzie Smith played with P Mark Clark (1991 St. Louis Cardinals) who played with C Ivan Rodriguez (on the last Rangers playoff team in 1999) who played with SS Elvis Andrus on the 2009 Ranger team.

“I never had a bad night in my life, but I’ve had a few bad mornings” – Lefty Gomez

Birthdays for the week of March 14-March 19: Former Ranger Jim “The Great Emu” Kern is 61 this week. Brian Wilson –not the brilliant but troubled Beach Boy – this one is the RHP for the Giants is 28. The pride of West, Texas Scott Posednik turns 34 and that good Irish boy Rangers 1B Chris Davis turns 24 on St. Patrick’s Day. HOF Kirby Puckett would’ve been 50 years old this week.

“Although he is a bad fielder he is also a very poor hitter” – Ring Lardner

Did you know: a poll conducted by Real Simple magazine shows that 56% of their readers think social media (like Facebook and the dreaded Twitter) are a waste of time?

Hisle to Hamilton: OF Larry Hisle played with IF/DH Paul Molitor (1978 Milwaukee Brewers) who played with P “Everyday”Eddie Guardado (1996 Minnesota Twins) who played with OF Josh Hamilton on the 2009 Texas Rangers

Did you know: that Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski were each only pinch hit for one time during their HOF careers? Here’s the best part: the same player pinch hit for both of them: Carroll Hardy.

“You get smart only when you begin getting old” – Allie Reynolds

By the way:  according to Yahoo weather the average daytime temperature in Minneapolis in April is 57 degrees and the average night time temperature is 36, with an average snowfall of 2”.  I bet those Twins players are really looking forward to leaving sunny Ft. Myers for the nine games they’ll play at home (three of them scheduled at 7:10 pm) at the new open air Target Stadium.

The First Free Agent to the Rangers most current free agent: P Andy Messersmith played with IF Bill Buckner (1975 Los Angeles Dodgers) who played with IF Mark McLemore (1987 California Angels) who played with Rich Harden on the 2004 Oakland Athletics

Finally:  a couple of weeks ago for his President’s Day blog entry on Postcards From Elysian Fields T.R. Sullivan put together a baseball team of US Presidents. He asked for any additions to the Presidential Roster and I offered Thomas Jefferson as a relief pitcher (or spot starter, or stadium designer, or musician to play the national anthem– TJ could do it all)

I close to today with a quote from the tall lefty that applies to the psyche of the current Ranger fandom:

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”



Dreaming of the future that begins on April 5th – Marla Hooch