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BackInTheUSSR posted:http://www.sptimes.com/News/webspecials/abaseballstory/ Good read, and this image is just priceless: 
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Aug 11, 2010 18:49
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leokitty posted:This is a really wonderful profile piece about a kid from South Africa who plays baseball you should all read. More broadly, it's about the culture shock of being the first player from his city, country and CONTINENT to go to the big leagues, how he adjusted through the hardest moments and how he never lost his spirit or doubted himself, even at his most home-sick moments. Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is another amazing piece, I think it's one reason why baseball draws so much attention from quality writers. For more good baseball stuff (non-journalism), check out Pafko at the Wall by Don Delillo.
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Aug 11, 2010 18:56
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Gift is like the black Reggie Willits. This is really funny to me because I assumed Reggie Willits was black for the longest time before I actually saw him.
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Aug 11, 2010 18:59
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A drat FOG posted:This is really funny to me because I assumed Reggie Willits was black for the longest time before I actually saw him. Me too, I thought for literally more than two years that Willits was black.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:00
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The broken bones posted:Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is another amazing piece, I think it's one reason why baseball draws so much attention from quality writers. There are so many good lines in that piece but my absolute favorite is quote:In 1946, Williams returned from three years as a Marine pilot to the second of his baseball avatars, that of Achilles, the hero of incomparable prowess and beauty who nevertheless was to be found sulking in his tent while the Trojans (mostly Yankees) fought through to the ships. I love the humor of (mostly Yankees) juxtaposed with the classical analogy. It makes me smile every time.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:04
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I'm only just now finding out that Reggie Willits isn't black
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Aug 11, 2010 19:06
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it's the FedEx arrow of baseball
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Aug 11, 2010 19:07
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http://sportsargumentwiki.com/index.php?title=Category:White_athletes_whose_names_don%27t_sound_white Update with more similar guys (Willits is already on there and I think was the first one on there)
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Aug 11, 2010 19:10
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BackInTheUSSR posted:http://www.sptimes.com/News/webspecials/abaseballstory/  "He pulled on his black leather gloves like a man about to commit murder"
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Aug 11, 2010 19:10
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:There are so many good lines in that piece but my absolute favorite is My favorite part: quote:The affair between Boston and Ted Williams has been no mere summer romance; it has been a marriage, composed of spats, mutual disappointments, and, toward the end, a mellowing hoard of shared memories. Even if you don't like Updike's style, it's hard to ignore how spot-on that quote is.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:10
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Criminal Minded posted:I'm only just now finding out that Reggie Willits isn't black You'll forget and be surprised when someone brings it up again later.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:10
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For the longest time I thought Jimmy Wynn was white, too.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:12
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Criminal Minded posted:For the longest time I thought Jimmy Wynn was white, too. Jimmy Wynn's black? edit: well I'll be. He sure is!
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Aug 11, 2010 19:13
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I thought Dick Allen was white for a long time too
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Aug 11, 2010 19:15
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The broken bones posted:I thought Dick Allen was white for a long time too I take it that was before you found out about how he was treated by the Phillies org and fans?
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Aug 11, 2010 19:16
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Joe Thurston was that way for me. I read about him in spring training 2009 and was like "Hrm...a top prospect in the BOSTON organization, plays a LOT OF POSITIONS with SPEED and HUSTLE but never really cracked the bigs? SPRINTS TO FIRST BASE ON A WALK?
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Aug 11, 2010 19:19
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The broken bones posted:I thought Dick Allen was white for a long time too Alright, now that's hilarious to me.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:19
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FairGame posted:Joe Thurston was that way for me. I read about him in spring training 2009 and was like "Hrm...a top prospect in the BOSTON organization, plays a LOT OF POSITIONS with SPEED and HUSTLE but never really cracked the bigs? And jogs back to the dugout after making another out on the basepaths.
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Aug 11, 2010 19:20
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DNS posted:why does Gareth Thomas keep calling him 'butt'? is that a welsh thing? It's super distracting  Reading is funquote:[Jemma] was so kind, so nurturing and organized, a caretaker, just like his mom, who'd allow Alfie to go on being the eternal child, the man who couldn't send an e-mail or coax cash from the hole in the bank wall, the one addressing everyone as butt — short for butty, the old Welsh miners' word for workmates — because he couldn't remember anyone's name... Why yes, the Welsh language is completely insane and a massive troll on the rest of the world, thank you for noticing.
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Aug 11, 2010 20:02
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A lot of people expect Bill Simmons to be black, and entertaining. Neither are true.
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Aug 11, 2010 20:09
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Gift is like the black Reggie Willits. I hope he makes the show more than anyone not named Disco Hayes. I just checked in on him and he is playing for State College this year! He seems to be doing pretty well given his level of experience: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=ngoepe001gif I missed him when State College was in town to play Brooklyn 
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Aug 11, 2010 21:16
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drat that dude has got a nice isoD.
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Aug 11, 2010 21:34
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Here is a column where the author isn't even trying and just mailed in a tired "lol; the Cubs" trope. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/bill-mcclellan/article_17d8f0cc-cbd7-5898-b559-220358def63d.html I should have mentioned Morgan Ensberg (former MLB 3b, most notably for the Houston Astros in the early to mid 2000s) has a blog that's actually really good and insightful. http://morganensberg.wordpress.com/
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Aug 12, 2010 00:25
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bananasinpajamas posted:A lot of people expect Bill Simmons to be black, and entertaining. Neither are true. I doubt that, since his picture is located right above that week's article. I agree about it not being entertaining though, his last two articles on the "boring" Red Sox and changing fantasy football were terrible. Self-reverential (even for Simmons) and cliche crap. I don't a fan of a real bullshit franchise like the Royals or Indians will shed any tears for a team that's 15 games over .500 because they're "boring."
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Aug 12, 2010 00:34
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From "Hub Fans"quote:For a stretch, he was hitting a home run every second game that he played. He passed Lou Gehrig's lifetime total, then the number 500, then Mel Ott's total, and finished with 521, thirteen behind Jimmy Foxx, who alone stands between Williams and Babe Ruth's unapproachable 714 heh
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Aug 12, 2010 00:35
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Tater Love 
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bananasinpajamas posted:A lot of people expect Bill Simmons to be black, and entertaining. Neither are true. I bet Bill Simmons is really, really entertaining if you are a Boston sports fan.
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Aug 12, 2010 11:40
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Bigass Moth posted:I bet Bill Simmons is really, really entertaining if you are a Boston sports fan. bzzt wrong. Unless you mean entertaining in a Dan Shaughnessey way, in which case, yes. Every once in a while he will write something that reminds you that one time he was pretty good and that he's a smart dude who just mails it in because he's a lazy jagoff. Roughly twice a year.
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Aug 12, 2010 13:34
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Simmons has his moments. I liked that column he did about opening his eyes to sabermetrics through its usefulness in fantasy baseball.
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Aug 12, 2010 16:41
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i like Bill Simmons because i think his existence is a massive troll to Rick Reilly (i hate Rick Reilly)
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Aug 12, 2010 17:40
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Captain Charisma posted:Simmons has his moments. I liked that column he did about opening his eyes to sabermetrics through its usefulness in fantasy baseball. That's one of the things I was referring to where you can see the talent underneath the layers of laziness and stupidity.
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Aug 12, 2010 17:42
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:That's one of the things I was referring to where you can see the talent underneath the layers of laziness and stupidity. I will always remember when Bill said he had given up on the Bruins, but then 2 years later when they were good he was writing about them consistently. Also the Celtics. Currently, the Red Sox.
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Aug 12, 2010 18:02
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Bigass Moth posted:I will always remember when Bill said he had given up on the Bruins, but then 2 years later when they were good he was writing about them consistently. Also the Celtics. Currently, the Red Sox. JD Drew sucks because he's just so boring 
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Aug 12, 2010 18:04
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:bzzt wrong. Unless you mean entertaining in a Dan Shaughnessey way, in which case, yes. This post reminds me of an obscure scene from Entourage
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Aug 12, 2010 18:09
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Reminder that Rick Reilly used to be an insightful journalist before he got fat off his ESPN paycheck.
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Aug 13, 2010 08:20
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Bigass Moth posted:I will always remember when Bill said he had given up on the Bruins, but then 2 years later when they were good he was writing about them consistently. Also the Celtics. Currently, the Red Sox. It's more like he gave up writing about the Bruins for about 7 or 8 years. He still doesn't care about hockey though. I like Bill Simmons. He gets good guests on his podcast. It's easy enough to ignore the stuff I don't like of his.
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Aug 13, 2010 08:35
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LARGE THE HEAD posted:Reminder that Rick Reilly used to be an insightful journalist before he got fat off his ESPN paycheck. That Citadel article is really outstanding.
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Aug 13, 2010 14:43
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Captain Charisma posted:Simmons has his moments. I liked that column he did about opening his eyes to sabermetrics through its usefulness in fantasy baseball. The BS Report is always good, especially when Chuck Klosterman is a guest
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Aug 13, 2010 15:20
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LARGE THE HEAD posted:Reminder that Rick Reilly used to be an insightful journalist before he got fat off his ESPN paycheck. Reilly was relying on his shtick and hamminess way before he moved to ESPN.
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Aug 13, 2010 17:12
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yeah, the last few years he had with SI were pretty much uniformly terrible
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Aug 13, 2010 17:23
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He never wrote anything besides "look what I got to do because I'm a famous writer", "isn't Barry Bonds/Michael Vick/Villain of the Week a real jerk?", and "let's all feel (happy about/sorry for) this (small-town athlete/disabled person/little kid) who (did something cute/is getting screwed by people in charge)". Hell, if he was really feeling it, he could do all three at once.
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Aug 13, 2010 17:31
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