I know posts have been irregular lately, but I wanted to mark the opening of the football season with something you just don’t come across every day…a picture that would qualify as “nerd football.”
Apparently this is Bob Griese, a pro-football Hall-of-Famer, and two time Super Bowl winning quarterback.
On this Memorial Day, we here at Nerd Central want to pay tribute to all those who have died in service of our nation. In their honor, we are using today’s post to commemorate the eight major league players who were killed in active duty during World War I, World War II and the Korean War:
Mr. Sambito was off to an amazing career as a relief pitcher before being derailed by an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. In his first five full seasons, he posted ERA+’s of 154, 108, 199, 151, and 180, and was a National League all-star. He was injured in 1982, and did not return to the major leagues until 1984, but struggled upon his return. He did, however, help the 1986 Red Sox reach the World Series, contributing 12 saves over 44.2 innings.
While not a typical nerd card, I like to imagine that this picture was taken with some sort of supernatural camera out of a David Lynch movie or a “Twilight Zone” episode. So when we look at the picture, we see both the way things are, and the way things once were, with these parallel existences mirroring each other through the lens. Young Joe Sambito, can you see the injury lying in wait for your future self? Are you helpless to prevent it?
And the guy in the back is even like the cowboy from Mulholland Drive.
I am posting this card not as evidence of the nerd-era in MLB, but as evidence of the “we don’t give a crap” attitude of the Fleer company in the early 1980′s.
Not only is Mr. Bonham featured in a profile view, with his face obscured by shadow, but he is forced to share his card with an anonymous shirtless fan, who is given an equal amount of baseball card real estate. Only the early ’80s Fleer company…
As a recently unemployed nerd, I discovered a fantastic time waster of a site called Sporcle, which consists of hundreds of quizzes on dozens of topics.
My favorite quiz was baseball related (of course). Can you name the five pitchers with the most starts for each MLB team from 2000 to 2009? I got 86 out of 150, with minimal cheating. I dare my fellow nerds to beat that score. You try naming the 5 guys who made the most starts for Tampa or Washington since 2000.
EDIT: Might help if I actually included the link. http://www.sporcle.com/games/stanvick/starting_pitchers_00s
(4.88 out of 5) (4.75 out of 5) (4.75 out of 5) (4.73 out of 5) (4.73 out of 5)
Yes, Vorpy, there is a Santa Claus.
