moving
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Visiting Cy Young – part two
Posted: November 20, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Cy Young, Gilmore, McKinzie Young, MLB, Peoli, Philadelphia, Roba Miller Young 5 Comments
The town of Gilmore had given me little to go on with regard to discovering
the man behind the name of the most coveted MLB pitching award. I shouldn’t be
surprised, the town was once a bustle of activity, now however it is populated
with no more than 100 people, the main square is no more than a place where a
chance meeting with another vehicle can sometimes occur.
Further research proved to be lacking in new information,
although I found out he was one of 5 children, although I got little or no
information relating to his siblings. Conflicting reports indicated the family farm
could have been almost anywhere in a 10 mile radius or beyond.
As reports indicated Cy Young’s final resting place was not
too far, in a town named Peoli, with a few screen touches, my iPhone was happy to
guide me in the right direction.
As I headed towards Peoli, a little ways outside Gilmore the
local church was on the left side of the road, with the cemetery in plain view,
front and center was a large granite headstone with the name ‘YOUNG’ engraved in
large letters.
Knowing I was still some 4 or 5 miles from Peoli, I chose to
stop anyway to find out if there was any connection between this ‘Young’ and the
‘Denton Young’ I was researching.
To
my surprise the large stone had 2 smaller stones either side, the one was
engraved with ‘McKinzie 1843-1928’ the other was engraved with ‘Nancy
His Wife 1847-1915′ , my prior research had given me enough information to
know I had stumbled upon the grave site for Cy Young’s parents. It was late in
the afternoon and the sun was starting to set faster than I wanted it too. I
knew I had to move on and continue heading towards Peoli before daylight had
completely vanished.
I knew at some point I would have to abandon my trek for another
day, I already knew where a Cy Young memorial was placed. The town that liked to
call themselves the home to Cy Young was Newcomerstown, although it is probably
the closest larger town the only official claim they can make is it is listed as
the location where he eventually passed away.
With
the light fading I eventually came upon the Peoli Cemetery, first impressions
gave you an eerie feeling. It sat on the side of the road, with an olden style
iron entrance, I guess it was only fitting. I was later to discover that
although the cemetery is still used as the final resting place to locals, the
small building, formally a United Methodist Church, had not been in use for
almost 20 years.
I parked along side the former church building, at the front was
a hand painted sign from 2003 indicating that this was the final resting place
of baseball legend Cy Young, I took a deep breath in anticipation of what I was
about to experience.
I took a slow walk around the cemetery, looking at every name,
every engraving in the hope of discovering the great Cy Young’s grave. In my
search I found my self standing up flowers or straightening some grave side
ornaments that had been left to subside. It was then I bent down to pick up a US Flag that had fallen over, as I firmly pushed it
into the ground I looked at the engraving on the stone it was….
….that of Cy Young and his wife Roba. As I stood there reading
the inscription on this, the stone placed to show the final resting place of
probably the best baseball pitcher that ever lived, I wondered what would he
think if he new pitchers today are honored with an award bearing his name, that
today recipients of the award are voted on by people that probably only know him
by the name of the award they are bestowing on others.
This has been an experience for me, I have learned more of
Denton True ‘Cy’ Young than I thought I would, facts that I didn’t know, but now
realize why the award carries his name. In part three, the final part of
visiting Cy Young, I found an official plaque and baseball field to honor him.
In closing, did you know this man pitched a double header,
pitched back to back complete games, on the same day, to close out the 1890
season, won both games of the double header, against Philadelphia.
Visiting Cy Young – part one
Posted: November 18, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Cy Young, Denton True Young, Gilmore, Ken Burns, MLB, Ohio, Road Trip, Roy Halladay 4 Comments
This
time of year the day light hours are shorter, yet it seems to make the day
longer, traveling at the start and end of the day in the dark gives a deceptive
lack of time to do some things.
The end of the baseball season has put us into the awards for
baseball, it always seems you get those players winning because of name or
because they have more highlight reels than others, we know the process of
awards is very much a personal choice matter, even when using stats to convince
yourself, that your guy should have won, can be very ambiguous, as with most
numbers they can be made to reflect what you want, because stats don’t show the
big picture, there is no getting away from the fact that there is no fair way to
decide on award recipients.
The National League Cy Young award, for me and it seems the vote
givers was a no brainer, no matter how hard fans of other teams may have tried
to portray the hard work their guy had done, there was no getting away from the
fact, Roy Halladay was the clear winner, so congratulations to the Doc on his
being voted as the 2010 NL Cy Young winner.
If you read my last
post, then you’d know I am apparently being confused as a ‘Pro Blog’, and
since not everyone can grasp the dark sarcastic British humor, I at times
attempt to instill into my writings, I have chosen to take a more self research
view to this post and attempt to be a little more serious, well that was the
concept when I started this post.
The Cy Young award is given out each year to an American League
and National League pitcher and many of you know it as an award which utlilizes
the name of one of baseballs greatest pitchers, as with all claims of the
greatest it is debated as to who actually is, but that’s not what this is about.
Since the baseball antics of Cy Young seem to be well documented, I decided to
look into the man before and after baseball and I must say I was a little
surprised at what I discovered.
First things first, hit google, as with most things it’s
over to Wikipedia
‘the free encyclopedia’ to discover more information. Now if your one of
those who believe everything you read, then I hope you have a happy life, but if
your one of those with some intelligence, then you know, ‘you get what you
pay for’ and when it’s ‘free’ there is always a reason. So with this in mind
I checked some of the information, seems the links to Mr. Youngs biography are,
well, missing links. The CMG
Worldwide doesn’t even list Mr. Young, or Cy Young as a client, so I headed
elsewhere.
Since the web extends beyond the boundaries of the Wakipedia, I
was able to locate an actual place of birth for Mr. Cy Young, and with the aid of google
maps, there was, Gilmore, Ohio. Further assistance from my trusted
iPhone and a wonderful free app named ‘MapQuest’ I now had turn by turn directions
and decided on a ‘Road Trip’.
I am not sure if you’ve ever taken a road trip to somewhere that
you have no idea of what you’ll find, but I always try to picture what I think I
should find, in this case, an icon of America’s national pastime, let me see,
maybe a plaque where he lived, or at the very least where he was born, how about
the town road sign telling all visitors it’s the town where Cy Young was born.
Nope, nada, nought, nothing….
….Now you may think this is fiction, but I can tell you I went
there, I took this picture and I can also tell you just over the brow of the
hill you see in front of you is a 4 way intersection with 3 stop signs and what
you see is the most densely populated part of Gilmore, Ohio. This is a village,
not a town, it is mostly farm land and a good portion of it is Amish owned and
operated. This didn’t deter me from my quest, I was still not able to find out
where his farm land was, or his house, but I do understand it is now owned by
the Amish, it’s location however is still a mystery in the process of being
solved.
So anyone that has read a little about Cy Young, knows his name
was Denton True Young and that the nickname ‘Cy’ comes from the abbreviated name
the ‘Cyclone’ which was given him when he first visited a semi-pro club in
Canton, Ohio, due to the speed he was throwing the ball, some say it was the
destruction of the fence he threw the balls at during his tryout for the club,
some say it was the young catcher catching his throws that claimed “He
throws the speed of a cyclone”, who knows, except that Ken Burns was wrong.
With my trusty iPhone singing out my directions, I decided maybe
I could get more information at the site of his grave…..
to be continued, my next post – part two, where I visit the supposed burial
site of Mr. Denton True ‘Cy’ Young…
Hot Stove is here ….
Posted: November 8, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Boras, Hot Stove, Jamie Moyer, MLB, winter blues 3 Comments
Free
agency is officially here, players are now out there looking for a new location,
or rather, their agents are doing all the work while the players actually do
nothing. It seems like it maybe a tough concept for some fans to grasp, the off
season and free agency can after all be very complex.
There is free agent players, quite a few and there are not so
many ball clubs, some clubs will seek out some players, while other players
agents will be having to actually earn their money to find them a new position.
We get those fans complaining that they should keep certain
players, while releasing others. These are the fans that believe the club can
choose which players get to go into free agency, it seems they don’t grasp the
concept of current contracts and no contracts, so just cause you don’t like a
player you cant automatically put them into free agency and keep the ones you
like, this isn’t ‘fantasy baseball’.
Let the games begin, let the fans get their highs and lows from
the rumor mill of who’s going where and let the Buster Onley’s of this media
frenzy be exposed, so us bloggers can have a new target of ridicule. In the
meantime it’s Boras and his juggling act, how much he wants to make this off
season.
For us simple people, it’s hitting Monster, mailing resumes,
pounding the streets and hoping some hiring manager actually reads a resume
instead of looking at the pictures. It’s okay for people to say Jamie Moyer is
past his prime and should retire, but in the real world working past the age of
48 is normal, so just because someone is in their 50’s or beyond applies for a
job don’t automatically disregard them, age doesn’t automatically mean your
washed up. Although I guess you can’t be picky like the ball players, being a
gofer for peanuts is better than nothing, insulting it may be, but better than
nothing.
Enjoy your winter blues and the anticipation of baseball’s Hot
Stove….
Who’s Following Who ….
Posted: October 26, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: bloggers, blogs, Fans, Fox, Giants, MLB, MLBlogs, New York, Philadelphia, phillies, Rangers, ratings, San Francisco, Texas, Yankees 6 Comments
It’s
becoming fairly clear as I peruse the blogs of known Yankees and Phillies
bloggers that a clear message is being portrayed. A projection of disdain emanates
from almost all those blogs towards the team that beat the team they supported
in the LCS. There is a continuing lack of restraint in portraying feeling of
contempt towards the respective teams. So it appears most of the Phillies fans
will be rushing to throw their screams and rally towel waving behind the Texas
Rangers, while those Yankee fans will be openly chanting and willing the San
Francisco Giants to be successful.
With there still being another day before the World Series
starts I have to ask, how is Fox attempting to maintain an interest level in
this pending World Series match up, personally I don’t know cause I haven’t
watched Fox or TBS since the Phillies game last Saturday. In addition to blogs
offering some colorful, possibly defaming descriptions of either of the teams or
their players that will participate in the World Series, it seems the other
topic most covered is the lack of ratability this match up is going to give Fox,
it seems that it may be broadcast mostly for the eastern prime time slots, where
the majority of the fans are slowly developing a ‘we don’t care’
attitude, due to the involvement of teams from the west.
Due to a request by ‘kaiserthegreat’
I have updated the disappearing logo image, yes he’s a Giants fan and there
is a chance he just wanted me to show the image with the Phillies faded out, but
quite honestly I don’t give a f***, because lets face it, every now and then you
have to let the insignificant teams win things, plus knowing what it’s like to
get all the way to the World Series and then lose, the Giants fans need to amass
all the glory they can before the Rangers embarrass the hell out of them.
As a disgruntled Phillies fan, I am entitled to be a part of
Phillies fan base that has leapt to the support of the Rangers and therefore the
demise of the Giants, besides I want to see if winning the World Series knocks
Hamilton off his wagon.
Day of the Reckoning ….
Posted: October 16, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: ALCS, Giants, Halloween, MLB, NLCS, phillies, postseason, Rangers, reckoning, TBS, Yankees 3 CommentsThe day has finally arrived and at the end of it one set of fans
will be exuberant that the team they support is a game up and the other set of
fans will be a little despondent at the team they are cheering for is a game
behind.
The NLCS has the capacity to go 7 games, since it is the best of
7. The first game is as important as the rest, some say more, something to do
with the psychological advantage.
Friday it seems the New York Yankees gained the advantage over
the Rangers as the Texas bullpen had a total meltdown, they collapsed visibly in
front of thousands of fans in Arlington and millions around the world watching
via the (TBS) Total Bullcrap Specialists television broadcast. They resume the
ALCS in Texas this Saturday afternoon at 4 PM ET.
The media has had a field day hyping up the Halladay v. Lincecum
battle of the Cy Young’s. The constant back and forth of which was better the
no-hitter or the 2 hit shut out, all that really doesn’t matter now, it’s all
about the game at hand, it’s all about performing when the game is on.
As a brief preview here’s some of the Giants players we may
expect to see during this series….
….and it’s not even Halloween yet.
As for the Phillies….
….still not halloween. I just hope the media haven’t hyped
this match-up to a point where it produces more than baseball.
Go Phillies….
WTF Award for September goes to….
Posted: October 5, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Award, Bauer, Braves, David Beckham, Fans, Giants, HGH, In Touch, Irma Nici, MLB, phillies, Rangers, Rays, Reds, RSBS, Twins, Umpires, WTF, Yankees 8 CommentsThere has been plenty of drama during the final month of regular season play, the drama even continues into the few rest days
before the 2010 post season gets underway. Today I have decided to issue the final WTF Award of the season for the month of September, there will be too many other things to bitch, complain, praise even be in awe of, during the post season to worry about which moment is the most deserving to get the WTF Award, it would probably be an umpire for a lack of judgment or an over analyzed split second decision.
September like other months gave us a lot of great action, lots of highs and lows, depending on which team you were supporting. One thing I have learned this year is that it is difficult to sit back and reflect on the month and remember every action, re-action or inaction that may deserve a mention or ultimately the award. Initially it was my intention to check out stupid things that players, coaches, umpires or even non-baseball people did that would make almost everyone except that person say WTF.
This award was supposed to entail a ‘light hearted poke’ at dumb things people do, it turned out that it wasn’t just stupid, inconsiderate things that made us go WTF, there are many non-stupid things that can cause that reaction, so I found myself having to include great accomplishments too, of which there seemed way too many to mention them all, in fact as much as we find things to complain about with the teams we follow and the umpires who try to keep order between them, the things these people and entities do for the good is considerably more.
So for one last time this ailing memory will try to capture some things from September that made me go WTF…
There were any number of clubs that could have made you say WTF, from the NL we had the Braves starting the month as a 3 game leader of the NL East and ultimately hanging on to a wild card spot by their finger tips, or San Diego who started as a 4 game leader in the West and ended losing out on any post season play. The cardinals had already become the new NL ‘Chokers’ by the time September started.
The American had less to choose from with all post season teams having established relatively good positioning, it was more the fact that the Yankees went 13-17 and still made it, albeit via the wild card and home field was clinched by a team playing .500 baseball.
Other news that jumped out at me was a former hooker, Irma Nici, made a choice to name David Beckham as someone she had had as a client. First off when does a hooker know she’s a former hooker, how long between being paid for favors does it take to become a former hooker. I googled it, but no luck, I am thinking a Filibuster question for RSBS, so are you up for the challenge Jeff or Allen, “how long after a paid favor does a hooker have to wait before she can claim the status of a former hooker”.
Long story short, innocent or guilty I don’t know, but I understand the Beckham’s have filed suite against her, the magazine (In Touch) and the parent company of the magazine Bauer in Germany for various slanderous acts. The funny part her attorneys have counter sued because she claims harassment because someone sat outside her hotel and waited for her to exit so they could serve her with the writ. Okay she’s probably not all there and will claim something related to on job illness.
The next contender that jumped into the lime light, it may have taken a few months for it to work it’s way around to my email address, but it was definitely someone somewhere in the MLB that made this news worthy. Now believe it or not this did come via an email, and it was a legit email marketing this product, I may have made some improvements to make it more fitting for this use. The point is without the highlight by MLB of this type of product I do not believe this would be finding it’s way into email boxes as if it was a 5 Hour energy boost. I am not sure if she has a high neck sweater to hide her ‘Adams Apple’ because of the side effects or if the ‘batting average’ and ‘strike outs’ has a double meaning. Oh and if you clicked to get a free trial, your ‘IP Address’ has been forwarded to the FBI for investigation (that’s just incase any players are reading this).
Seriously I considered many things and kept coming back to the same group of people that I believe should get this award, so for those that actually stuck around to see who has won, the WTF Award for September 2010 goes too…..
….the fans, not just the Phillies fans, but to fans everywhere and fans of all teams. Through thick and thin, through good and bad, the true fan sticks with the club. The true fan spends money, sometimes money they can’t really afford, for brand name merchandise, player merchandise, travel to and from games, entry into ball parks, concessions etc, while inside ball parks, lets face it without fans the multi-million dollar payouts wouldn’t happen. Without baseball fans no one would be reading this blog, assuming they are of course and it’s not some sick joke being played on me, making me believe people are reading this……
What who’s insecure, nope, not me….
Enjoy the post season everyone
1 Day to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
The Final 8 BUCKed by FOX ….
Posted: October 4, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Braves, Fox, Fox Sports, Giants, Joe Buck, MLB, phillies, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Twins, Yankees 6 CommentsIt’s over, as much as we all would have liked to see single game deciders, it was not to happen, the Giants beat the Padres, there was no 9th inning rally to send it into extras, or even make the Giants sweat in the chilly bay air, they just got it done.
The Yankees fell to the Red Sox in the same fashion they have in 7 out of their last 10 games, which made the Rays game mute, all the same the Rays beat the Royals as if they wanted to be the division champions.
The Braves finally won a game against the Phillies, 1 out of the last 6 isn’t that bad I guess, although Cox had to get Wagner in from the pen, who eventually got the final out after giving up a couple of hits and a run, it was still just enough to give the Braves an 8-7 win.
The teams all know there places….
…. who’s wild, who’s not, where to be and what day.
We know who’s playing who, and at least initially we know when for the first 4 days anyway, then who the hell knows. MLB seems to have sold all post season rights to Fox, since it appears they are the ones calling start times. Sunday is listed as ‘When NFL Sunday Ends’ so everyone has to be in the dug outs ready to go when Fox tells them to go, or maybe it’s when Joe Buck can switch locations.
I am sure this is the first of many bash Fox moments between now and the crowning of the 2010 World Series Champions.
2 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
MLB – Weird and Wonderful
Posted: September 19, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: AL Central, AL East, AL West, Citizens Bank Park, history, Marlins, Mets, MLB, NL Central, NL East, NL West, Philadelphia, phillies, Ryan Howard, weird, wonderful 8 CommentsMajor League Baseball at times contains some weird and wonderful
things, not because of umpiring screw-ups or because players tend to get a holier
than thou attitude and do something really really dumb, but just because of the
pure mathematics of baseball.
Last night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, was another
night where a sell out crowd got to see history in the making….
….Ryan Howard hit his 30th home run of the season and became
the first Philadelphia Phillies player to successfully achieve 5 consecutive
seasons with 30 HR’s and 100 RBI’s.
Things that make you say ‘Really’ in a sarcastic
manner –
The AL East has had more changes to the division lead than any
other division this year
The AL Central has all teams at or below .500 eliminated.
The AL West has only 1 team above .500
The NL West has 3 teams above .500 contending for the division
title
The NL Central has 3 of the 5 worst teams in the National League
The NL East has mathematics….
….the Mets season is officially over, yet right behind them in
the standing the Marlins cling to, well nothing really, but it gives the
Marlins this weekend before the last remaining dozen or so fans stop going to
the stadium and with the sCrUBs in town chances are no ones going to the stadium
anyway.
Phillies take game 2
Posted: August 11, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: DL, Dodgers, Gibbons, Gload, I, Ibanez, London, MLB, New York, Oswalt, phillies, PINK, Police, Useless stats 101, you tube 7 CommentsGame 2 goes to the Phillies, much different from yesterdays game
just 2 runs scored by the Phillies who shut the Dodgers out and gave Oswalt his
first win in a Phillies uniform.
A catch is a catch is a catch, only in baseball ? or only in
this game ? it didn’t affect the outcome except maybe the number of runs could
have been more, who knows, but a was it a catch ?
…if it had had more crucial repercussions maybe it would have
been a big deal, you know like a fair or foul ball over 3rd base.
Raul Ibanez continues with his hot bat…..
….18 straight games, another hot hitter, Gload ended up
with a strained groin while running into second base after he hit a double. Soon to hit the DL I am sure, the Phillies have already used as many players this
year as they did for the whole of 2009, and we haven’t got to the expanded
roster yet.
Other items, found this which was more for the guys, if your
going to get a car with this speed and appeal, don’t paint it ‘PINK’ cause
that’s a crime, unless Barbie is gonna live in the passenger seat.
Useless stats 101 – Thanks to the Phillies stat guys that
feed the commentators for this one, Ibanez made baseball history for having the
longest hit streak for anyone ever in Major League Baseball that has their
family name start with the letter ‘I’.
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 