Yep
Bukauskas sighting in Milwaukee. Pitching to Correa.
Kuechel giving it another shot.
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Wow, donât know why, but I thought about him the other day wondering where he was at. Was driving and said I was going to look it up whenever I got to where I was going, but never did. Thanks for posting this.
04/05/24 Seattle Mariners signed free agent LHP Dallas Keuchel to a minor league contract.
ETA: Oops.
Jerry Grote died yesterday. Jerry Grote, a MacArthur HS (San Antonio) grad lived DIRECTLY across the street from me from 1967-1977ish. Other than my dad, he was the greatest male role model I ever had, and, as a baseball loving kid, he was the greatest neighbor ever. The first time I met Jerry was right after the 1967 baseball season. There were about 8 of us kids playing street football in front of my house. He came running out of his house, asked if he could join us, and proceeded to play QB for both teams. Totally cool. As the oldest kid in the bunch by a couple of years, I knew who he was because I had his baseball card. As I was able to deduce later, he was 25 years old at the time. We were playing with a 3/4 size synthetic Voit football that I had won in a raffle the prior year at a YMCA banquet. I loved that perfectly weighted little ball, and could fire it all over the place with wonderful accuracy. The next day rolls around, and Jerry joins our game again. But this time, he brought out a full-on NFL football to donate to our cause. Again, he played QB for both teams which was a good thing, because that football was so heavy, compared to the little Voit, that he was the only one who could throw it. Standing at my mailbox on the curb, I could barely get it to the middle of his yard across the street. He, on the other hand, could fire that ball 3 plus mailboxes down the street without much effort. Such was the strength of his arm. We would all stand in the street, fighting to catch those passes, being careful to catch them with our hands out in front of the body, not cradled in the chest, as that ball could make a dent in a kid. They were certainly delivered with a fair amount of zest. Well, the next year, 1969, of course the Mets won the World Series. When Jerry returned late October, he brought baseball gloves for my brother and myself, and 8 balls signed by the team. Unfortunately, there are only two of those balls left which remain in my possession. We tore the crap out of the rest of them playing street baseball. Dumbass kids. During the ensuing years, I remember going bird hunting with him and having one epic snowball fight as he âprotectedâ his yard by firing fierce snowballs at a couple of us on our side of the street. Jerry was a GREAT guy, and I will raise a glass to his memory as soon as I am able to.
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Awesome.
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Nice story. I went to MacArthur from 71 to 73. Grote for Tom Parsons (I think that was his name) is probably a top 5 worst trade in Astros history.
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This just in: Clevelandâs nickname for Uncle Mike is âDr. Smoothâ. Am I the last to know?
News to me too.
But it fits.
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Wonderful story. Thanks for telling us.
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I wonder if the Grote deal was the work of Spec Richardson. The worst GM in Houston baseball history.
He traded away what could have been a very good baseball team in the early days of the franchise.
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2 things in response: I had âa Jerry Groteâ in my Corpus Christi neighborhood. Bart Shirley was a U.T.
baseball and football letterman and was drafted by the Dodgers as an infielder. When he was home visiting his folks in the baseball off-season he would come out and throw the ball around with me and my neighbor buddy. He always remembered my name although he saw me very sporadically because of his career pursuit. I remember being a kid and my folks driving me from Corpus to Houston to take in a Sunday Astro game against the Dodgers and Bart was the starting 3Bman that day giving a break to the regular. That was a thrill for me. Secondly, my grandfather gave me in my youth ( I was probably about 8) a Ted Williams autographed baseball he had procured. My grandfather was quite a sportsman and had fished somewhere with Williams. I kept it in a special case my folks bought so that it would hold up over time. One day my buddy and me wanted to play some catch and neither of us had a baseball because mine had found its way down the sewer system because of an errant throw (not by me, for the record). Against all better judgement I went into the house and pulled out that autographed Ted Williams ball. We didnât lose it but it was never the same. I am still ashamed of that. And then there was the autographed, personalized, Mickey Mantle photo my grandfather got for me. It was not cared for properly, sat in my drawer unframed and got ruined over time.
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I remember Bart Shirley from his brief time with the Dodgers.
Tony Kemp has been bouncing around the league for years now and was just DFAâd by Baltimore to make room for uber-prospect Jackson Holliday (son of Matt). Kemp posted this today:
True class act.
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Tony Kemp is undoubtedly one of the best people in the sport
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There was a vintage Correa moment in the LAD @ Twins game today, a 9-6-3 putout at home that maintained the final score of 3-2. Top of the 7th, two outs, if yer curious.
A million percent. Kempinâ ainât easy, but he always does it.
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Kempâin ainât easy.
I love it.