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Post by Hart's Middle Finger on Jun 17, 2022 22:37:43 GMT -5
For the love of the game
Several of us grew up playing and falling in love with the game of baseball, and for those fans the game goes beyond just rooting for the hometown or adopted team.
If you are unfamiliar with this documentary, it is the story of one of the last great independent baseball teams, the Portland Mavericks.
It is the story of how Bing Russell (the father of Kurt Russell), himself a bit of a Hollywood reject took his love and knowledge of the game and against all odds created a start up class A independent team. A team of rejects and MLB never-was guys whose flame may not have burned long, but surely burned brightly. It's a tale somewhere between an adult Bad News Bears and Major League.
If you were that guy who played at a high level but was overlooked or just wasn't quite good enough to get noticed by MLB, or if you just have a true love of the game; you will love this film.
Streaming on Netflix for sure... not sure about other sources, but it's worth seeking out.
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Post by Fumbduckery on Jun 17, 2022 23:21:51 GMT -5
Sounds great, I'll have to check it out sometime.
It also brings up another idea.....I've thought about having a tread here where everybody shares in great detail as much as they can about their own personal baseball playing careers.
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Post by Hart's Middle Finger on Jun 17, 2022 23:47:29 GMT -5
Sounds great, I'll have to check it out sometime. It also brings up another idea.....I've thought about having a tread here where everybody shares in great detail as much as they can about their own personal baseball playing careers.
I specifically thought about you when I watched it, as you've talked many times about playing at a really competitive level. would definitely seek this one out before it slips your mind, and ends up in the dust bin of things marked to check out sometime. It was awesome. It is a real life Major League, just at A level. It reminded me so much of why baseball is the greatest game. It also reminded me of why I am such a baseball purest and don't think we need BS rules changes to try and make the game appealing to people who will never really "love the game" no matter what rule changes you put in place.
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Post by Fumbduckery on Jun 18, 2022 0:24:28 GMT -5
Sounds great, I'll have to check it out sometime. It also brings up another idea.....I've thought about having a tread here where everybody shares in great detail as much as they can about their own personal baseball playing careers.
I specifically thought about you when I watched it, as you've talked many times about playing at a really competitive level. would definitely seek this one out before it slips your mind, and ends up in the dust bin of things marked to check out sometime. It was awesome. It is a real life Major League, just at A level. It reminded me so much of why baseball is the greatest game. It also reminded me of why I am such a baseball purest and don't think we need BS rules changes to try and make the game appealing to people who will never really "love the game" no matter what rule changes you put in place. I'll definitely check it out at some point.
I only played small college baseball in the end. There's no doubt when I was 10-14 years of age I had the makings of a big league pitcher, I have plenty of newspaper clippings--I was a pretty big deal as they say! I threw harder than anybody else and I had started throwing a curveball when I was 11 and 12. So of course I was striking out eleventy billion hitters everywhere we played. But my freshman year of high school I pitched every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the freshman team and then I'd throw anywhere from 3-7 innings during varsity double headers we had every Saturday. This was in the 1972 to 1977 period, when nobody was paying attention to pitchers arms, especially kids. I had a never ending supply of stamina, even in hot weather, so the idea was just let me pitch as much as I was willing to. By the time I was starting my junior year my arm was so messed up it was a lost cause. That freshman year towards the end and my entire sophomore season pitching varsity my arm just kept getting worse and worse. And no one ever knew it until it was too late, I hid it and never said a word to any coach or my parents. I was stealing cooling balm like crazy so the coaches wouldn't catch on, and eventually that stuff stopped working. I had nights where my arm hurt so bad I couldn't sleep and I couldn't raise it up, and by the end of the next day I would find a way to get it loose enough to pitch again--it still hurt and my control completely went away. My shoulder got fubared as well. Starting with my junior year in high school I was just a CFer and never threw another pitch. My arm still bothered me but I could just soft toss between innings to stay a little loose and make a throw into the infield once in awhile if balls got hit to me. I still find it frustrating that no one figured it all out until it was too late.....I also take some of the blame because I didn't want anyone to think I couldn't take it. And back then that was pretty much the attitude, just toughen up and take it. So it is what it is.
My dad was a good baseball player but he had a brother that actually played in the minor leagues, I think A ball was the farthest he went. But he was so proud of that, and I had a ton of respect for that. It made his whole life that he got that close. And that's why I always root for underdogs and the guy who has to fight all the odds on a daily basis. Salt of the Earth man!
My only other "claim" to baseball fame is that I have a very unusual last name, and a guy with the same last name (not related but from North Carolina) made it to the big leagues and did well enough to be pretty well known by any fan that paid much attention to the big leagues. For years people would ask me if it was my son, and depending on who asked me, I'd either pull their leg a little and then confess, or just tell that them yeah that's my boy, especially if he was playing well at the time!
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Post by keystone61 on Aug 4, 2022 21:18:00 GMT -5
Dustin Ackley!
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Post by Fumbduckery on Aug 4, 2022 21:58:50 GMT -5
Oh noes. My "guy" was way better than that, he actually put up better than average numbers and was a big fan favorite in the city he played in. He had some injuries that bit into his ability to play for a coupe of seasons, nothing career ending but enough to make him not want to deal with it all, he was tired of the travel and being away from his family and just called it quits. When players do that I feel like later in their life they have to regret it. He was putting up real good numbers right until he gave it up. That has to eat at you when you're 50 or 60 or whatever. Because it's such a long shot you made it, and then you did well at the big league level......and just walked away.
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Post by keystone61 on Aug 5, 2022 8:34:57 GMT -5
Yeah, Kevin Millwood was very good. You didn't mention that he started with the Braves!
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Post by Hart's Middle Finger on Aug 5, 2022 10:33:06 GMT -5
Did anyone ever watch the documentary?
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Post by keystone61 on Aug 5, 2022 12:25:41 GMT -5
Did anyone ever watch the documentary? No, but it gets rave reviews. I'll definitely watch it.
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Post by Fumbduckery on Aug 5, 2022 12:43:03 GMT -5
I haven’t but will when I get a chance for sure.
So far the only battered bastards of baseball I’ve watched is our bullcrappen.
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