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Tom Strange
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Back to Schiraldi for just a second here

Im getting ready to watch Game 7 of 1986 here and before the game they are interviewing Lou Gorman the GM of that team.

He claims that at the time Schiraldi was a much better prospect than Roger Clemens, having beaten him out for college MVP a few years before and being drafted ahead of him. The Red Sox had high high hopes for Schiraldi but after the worst loss in Red Sox history (Game 6) then another poor performance in Game 7 he was never able to recapture who he was.

Gorman just said that if it werent for that one game Schiraldi would be in the Hall with Clemens someday and probably be revered as a better pitcher... which may be an exaggeration but he knew them as well as anybody...

In retrospect the in the interview that I mentioned with Schiraldi he still looked shellshocked and that was 15 years after the fact....

you told me one time that baseball can be a cruel game...

86 was a tough year on pitchers- i.e Donnie Moore

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Yeah, poor Donnie Moore committed suicide some time after giving up...what was it...a three run homer to Dave Henderson in the top of the 9th with the Angels ahead in the game 5-3 and the series 2-1?...It's a shame because all these guys knew was baseball up til that time in their lives...And when you feel like the biggest goat that ever disappointed a crowd,or even an entire city,...doing something you love,what's left?...You going to want to coach your kid's little league team,or ever read the sports pages again?....Probably not for a while...

I remember a sportswriter talking about the '86 series saying what happened to Boston should not happen to a baseball team or a city...All the reasonings in the world don't explain the undeserved anguish,or disappointment suffered by an entire team and it's fandom....But I guess that's why baseball is a lot like life...There isn't always a reason we get disappointed,or hurt...it just happens...

BTW,I remember a few years ago,Eric Show,who pitched for the Padres in the '80's,was found dead in a park or someplace of 'natural causes'...The papers said he started developing some strange political beliefs and was acting pretty wierd in his last few years....Do you know anything about him?...

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.

I don't know much about him, i was in my own cult those years and wasn't paying close attention all the time to too many things. I do know he was another World Series loser (game 4- 1984, which may be part of the puzzle) but missed that story about the political intrigue and death

It sounds like it would be worth digging into, too many times we (well I at least) get caught in the win at all costs part of the game and recognize the heroic stories but don't recognize and remember the more tragic ones.

They deserve their time too as part of the history of the game.

It is tough at times, recently I remember what I (and the rest of Red Sox fans) felt like after the game 7 ALCS extra inning loss to the Yankees in 2003. I literally couldn't talk for a week and I'm just some guy who turns on the TV every night, I don't know how Tim Wakefield dealt with it after giving up Boones HR.

Gorman brought up a good point last night that a lot of players have the tools but not everyone has the constitution for it.

I'm gonna see if I hear anything about Show, it sounds like an interesting story and honestly for every Curt Schilling story there are probably just as many of these that get lost

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You have me intrigued simon, so far the only thing I can find is this his obit from The NYTimes, so far everything else seems to be hidden somewhere

showsobit.jpg

From the L'abri site

quote:
Rancho LAbri, located near San Diego California, is a non-hospital

based treatment program for the chemically dependent and

dually diagnosed individual.


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Yeah,...road trip!....Have fun and bring your snow tires...

I'm sure the tragedies are fewer and farther between(hopefully)but the stories can be intriguing....Baseball,like other sports,I suppose,can emotionally take you to the mountaintop,but can also dump you off into the depths of despair....Usually,like life,there's always another game tomorrow,or next year,but unfortunately for some,for whatever reason,'tomorrow',or 'next year' never came...

It's sad to think that for some,after having overcome all other odds just to 'make it' professionally as a ballplayer,they haven't been able to live with their failures,or limitations,in their life after baseball...

My lasting image of Eric Show was a picture of him in the newspaper being mobbed by Cub players after hitting Andre Dawson in the face with a pitch...One player even quipped "baseball is basically a non-contact sport...unless Eric Show is on the mound"...Here's hoping he rests in peace...

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Thanks, although I wish I was still out on the grand and glorious road (@#%&* girlfriend had to come back to go to work), I'm back to 2 feet of snow in my yard.

...but pitchers and catchers report in about a week and opening day seem right around the corner. 2004 was quite a ride, I wonder what things the baseball Gods have in store for us through this year............It will be hard (for me) to top last year...

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....and now he's in palookaville.

It could make things interestng -everyone is denying, denying, denying the obvious

Is it Pedro Astacio you're wondering about?

The Red Sox just signed a guy from Japan, this is all I can find on him:

【ニューヨーク26日共同】米大リーグ入りを目指すデニãƒ

¼å‹åˆ©æŠ•æ‰‹ï¼ˆï¼“7)のレッドソックス入りが26日、確実とã

ªã£ãŸã€‚代理人のジョー・アーボン氏が「交渉相手はボストãƒ

³ï¼ˆãƒ¬ãƒƒãƒ‰ã‚½ãƒƒã‚¯ã‚¹ï¼‰ã«çµžã£ãŸã€‚来週初めまでに契約を締結ã

§ãã‚Œã°ã¨è€ƒãˆã¦ã„る」と話した。

Looks good to me, though “友利投手” sounds kind of troubling.

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quote:
(gee... do I sound like I have the "hopefullness of preseason"???


Its a common disease this hopefulness thing...I get it just about this time every year. It is usually cured by about June or July.

I thought I got rid of my bout of hope last year when it reared back up in August. I rode that hope pretty much all the way until October 27 when the skies indeed did part and RedSox Nation met the Lord in the air...

Be careful of this hope thing, you smile alot, are kind to people, give high fives to strangers, sometimes you think you can fly....

icon_wink.gif;)-->

Baseball--gotta love it..

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As far as cults go its the best one goin' exie,

no tithing, lots of beer,no rules of behaviour-- you do have to pay with your heart though...

c'mon up to Fenway Park this year and I'll show you the cathedral where I worship or (shudder) maybe we could meet at that place in the Bronx where the adversary holds court....

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Love you too ex,

Where did the logos of The World Champion Boston Red Sox go? They are World Champions, they've earned it.

Where is Simon and the Strangeone?

Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow,

We're gonna have to figure out another background besides this purple haze,its not baseballish.

Maybe we could have lines of astericks********************************

in honor of *MacGwire, *Bonds, *Sosa, *Giambi and all the juiceboys

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I worked in Professional baseball 10 years ago as the Human Resource Director for Oakland A's affiliates. My big claim to fame was that I was the ESPN II Play of the week. Yep, a distinction shared by some of the greatest athletes of all time, and me.

Heres what happened.

A storm was brewing, We already had some rain and the field was wet Our local weatherman told us rain was 8 minutes away. The call came over the radio "All available personal to the field to pull TARP"

I sprang out of the breezeway and quick joined the crew to start pulling.

We got the tarp 3/4 of the way out when suddenly we got hit with a 30 mile an hour blast of wind.

The GM yelled "Let go of the tarp"

The tarp suddenly became like a 100 foot square parachute and started to take off. Everyone had the presence of mind to let go - except for me.

Within a second I was over 30 feet up in the air.

I then found the presence of mind to let go. I flew down spread eagle into a nice good size puddle of water and landed with a beautiful splash.

ESPN caught the whole thing and I have gone into history as the flying tarp guy.

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LOL@Temple of Doom, I prefer to call it The Toilet

I'd like to do the tour and do 'em all some year with minor league parks, the little league World Series thrown in and end up at the World Series....I don't think its gonna all work out this year maybe a mini tour or two but one of these years it will.

Whats your favorite park?

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