11 Baseball Legends Who Were Legendary Assholes

A few bat worthy stories have made themselves present on Digg.com lately involving the true ‘ole timers of America’s favorite pastime.  On Friday, August 18th, 2008 a story hit the popular charts with the title “11 Baseball Legends Who Were Legendary Assholes”, written by Chris Morgan of Cracked.com.

The article breaks down each quote-un-quote Legendary Asshole including a summary of each player-who, how, and when they acted like an ass. Suprisingly, Ty Cobb is number 1 on the list with Barry Bonds floating with cup on too tight in second. RBI Magazine gives this article an A+ in research and the information presented in this fantastic blog post. Check out Cracked.com’s Article….

Now if only RBI Magazine could get them to write a few articles for us…heh!

Could Barry Bonds Become A Diamondback?

With Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Brynes out for the season will Arizona consider adding an asterisk? Barry Bonds has been a free agent ever since he was not welcomed back by the Giants at the beginning of this season. Sitting at home watching TV for the last few months (feels like a century) Bonds has been considered by multiple teams throughout 2008, but now with Arizona taking a poke, many feel he will be playing ball in a few weeks to come.

MLBTradeRumors.com is defining the Bonds rumor as “reaching”, but certainly not completely out of the question. General Manager Josh Byrnes says he’s looking at outside options, and seems to crave more than a platoon bat to give the offense a jolt.  When asked about Barry Bonds, Byrnes responded:

“He and maybe a couple of others are sort of sitting out there.  I think it’s a bit of assessing any players’ readiness, then knocking somebody out of the lineup, dollars, etc. I don’t want to talk about him specifically, but, believe me, we’ve considered a lot of options. There is sort of no one obvious option right now, but there are a lot of considerations.”

The signing of Barry Bonds will bring a lot of baggage to the D’Backs if they do eventually sign the slugger, but with that baggage comes a huge bat, and potentially a spark to keep the Diamondbacks #1 in the NL West.  Will the distractions of Bonds being added to the roster conflict with the teams performance heading into summers end? Time will only tell.

RBI says: This is A Bad Idea. Maybe Arizona should consider leaving the decision up to the fans? Other players like Adam Dunn would be a great addition to the organization.

If you are wondering about catcher Chris Snyder, a specialist recently told him that his injury is healing properly, and what was thought to be a full-blown fracture was discovered to only be a horrific bruise.

All of you who cringed when this story broke can breathe a sign of relief. Everyone takes a shot their once in a while and thank God this wasn’t Snyder’s last. Snyder plans to be off the DL in a week! Hopefully, he won’t take Ball 2!

Arizona Catcher Chris Snyder “Fractures” Left Testicle

This story brought me to my knees on first read. In a game Monday night Arizona Diamondback catcher Chris Snyder “fractured” his left testicle after a foul tip shot into his grundle. The play occured in the fourth inning when Milwaukee’s Cory Hart swung at a low pitch.

As of Tuesday Snyder was placed on the 15-day disabled list  and now he is expected to have surgery- despite an earlier report.

When RBI heard of the terrible mishap, we asked around to find out what exactly it means to “fracture a testicle”. Unfortunatley, the word fracture has nothing to do with a bone in this case. 

According to eMedicine.com, a testicular rupture or fractured of the testis refers to a rip or tear in the tunica albuginea resulting in extrusion of the testicular contents.  I think I would rather have one of my arms cut off. OUCH!

RBI’s advice: FOR GOD SAKES PUT A HELMET ON THE OTHER HEAD!

One thing is for sure….this Diamondback will not be circling the bases for a long time!

Baseball Hall of Fame rejects Barry Bonds record-breaking ball

The tale of a “juiced” record breaking homerun ball….

According to miscellaneous sports Reuters, the Baseball’s Hall of Fame and Museum has turned down an offer to display Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home run ball after being unable to reach a lending agreement with its owner Marc Ecko, the museum said.

Introducing the Jonathan Papelbon Donut

Ok, so maybe Dunkin Donuts will not be comprised of Papelon Donuts this summer, but this Promo may be the next best thing for all of your Red Sox, Phillies, and Rays fans. For the second time this year, Dunkin’ Donuts has called Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon  from the bullpen.

This time, customers of the Canton-based coffee and doughnut chain can square off online against Papelbon and New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain to win prizes in Dunkin’s “Bases Loaded” promotion of its summer iced drinks.

As of yesterday, all cold beverages sold at Dunkin’ have peel-away stickers on the cups that include a log-in code to play the online hit-and-win game at dunkindonuts.com/basesloaded.

Can Position Players Really Pitch?

Have you ever been to a Major League Baseball game when all of a sudden the second baseman was called over to the mound to finish out an inning? Didn’t think so! This is a common practice in Youth Baseball Leagues, High School leagues, and sometimes Minor League games, but it never happens in MLB right? WRONG! The situation rarely takes place during an entire MLB season, but it does happen!!

How often does it actually happen? Usually, it only happens in blowouts when a manager wants to save the other arms in the bullpen for another day. While it hasn’t happened yet this season (2008), six position players on four different teams toed the rubber at some point in 2007. Can you guess who they are?

Jeff Cirillo - Arizona Diamondbacks
Aaron Miles - St. Louis Cardinals
Augie Ojeda - Arizona Diamondbacks
Scott Spiezio - St. Louis Cardinals
Josh Wilson - Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Jason Wood - Florida Marlins

Here is a list of position players who last pitched sorted by team: Recondite Baseball

Apparently, Willie Randolph was considering using a position player (Ryan Church) to pitch in a drag against the Phillies in late April. The Mets have used position players in tough situations, but not since 1992. And according to Church he was not thrilled at the idea.

Imagine the pressure of a younger, well-know, highly skilled player trying to hold his reputation after being unexpectedly moved to the mound in a tight situation. If players like Jeter and A-Rod were moved to the mound, fans could care less if they “got rocked” and lost the game anyway. Those trying to hold a position on the field after only being in the league for a few years would rather not make a debut on the mound in the heat of the moment.

In baseball’s early years, baseball teams were smaller, and relief pitchers were relatively uncommon, with the starter normally remaining for the entire game unless he was either thoroughly ineffective or became injured; today, with a much greater emphasis on pitch count (100 being the “magic number” in general), over the course of a single game each team will frequently use from two to five pitchers.

If a team empties the “pen” during a game or sequentially through the course of a week’s worth of games, a few position players must be designated to pitch in these tough situations. So the next time you attend a Major League Baseball game, do not be suprised if a pitcher is replaced by another player who you least expect because POSITION PLAYERS CAN REALLY PITCH!

The Best Paid Bench Warmers

Many athletes who make the list tend to be aging former starters riding out big contracts in their declining years, after they’ve been busted down to part-time duty. Baseball outfielders Jay Payton and Jacque Jones fit this bill.

Baseball has already learned about the difficulties of getting rid of dead money. During the 1980s, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth pointed out to the owners how much they were flushing down the drain on players that didn’t play. The problem is that when the owners decide collectively to clamp down, they’re guilty of collusion (a legacy of the Ueberroth era, resulting in legal rulings that forced owners to fork over millions to the players union). Read more at Forbes.com

What City Deserves A MLB Team The Most?

If Major League Baseball decided to add a few more teams to the American and National Leagues; what cities or areas deserve them the most? Here is a list that many argue deserve a Pro team let alone an MLB team;

Las Vegas, NV - an MLB team in Vegas? Is that cool or what?
Salt Lake City , UT - their only claim to fame is  the “Real Salt Lake” MLS soccer team.
Birmingham, AL   
Juneau, Alaska - team name-”The Eskimos” - they could represent Alaska and play in Montana?..nevermind scratch Alaska…
Wichita,KS 
Portland, OR - a basketball city, why not baseball? Rivals could be the Mariners.
Oklahoma City,OK   
Tulsa,OK  - Minor League Team “Tulsa Drillers” has a great following. Closest MLB team-Texas Rangers?
Rochester, NY - Did you know? the world’s supply of “Cool Whip” is made here!
Albuquerque,NM   
Louisville,KY - birthplace of the Louisville Slugger for god sakes. Give them an MLB Team!
Tucson,AZ   - a great place for a thriving baseball team, however you do have the Diamondbacks!
Norfolk,VA   
Hartford,CT   
Providence,RI    How about a team for the New England States, fans have to get tired of the Red Sox sooner or later-an no! The team can not be named the Patriots.
Omaha,NE    
El Paso,TX 

Same-sex couple claims bias at Safeco Field

The story begins at Safeco Field in Seattle. A same sex couple was caught on the infamous kiss cam in the action of a “peck” on the cheek. Within seconds, the couple was met with a swift and angry reaction from the stadium security.

Witnesses say that it was more than just a peck, infact, many fans were complaining before the incident took place. I guess the kiss cam sealed the deal for the two.

Safeco Field officials refused to comment on the incident. However, officials did send KOMO News a copy of the field’s code of conduct which states “displays of affection are not appropriate in a public family setting.”

MLB owners expected to agree on new drug policy

After a toughened drug agreement was passed unanimously by baseball’s executive council, Bud Selig expects an easy path to ratification when owners meet Thursday.

“We have no controversy. None. Zero,” the baseball commissioner said Wednesday as the two-day session began.

Players and owners have until May 23 to ratify the drug agreement their negotiators signed off on last month. The deal increases the frequency of tests and the authority of the program’s independent administrator.

“When you think of where we were, and where we are today, it is remarkable,” Selig said.

Selig, however, didn’t want to discuss this week’s new indictment of home-run king Barry Bonds, charged Wednesday in federal court with 14 counts of making a false declaration to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice. Bonds has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Read More