Andy Van Slyke was traded with Mike LeValliere to Pittsburg for Tony Pena. Mike LeValliere turned out to be a pretty good catcher for a few years.
Tony Pena was one of my favorites as a kid. I used him today. I was never a catcher but when I goofed around in the back yard, I would try to do his low split style.
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We all tried. Few of us succeeded
We also tried to emulate various players’ batting stance. Joe Morgan and his chicken wing thing was always popular.
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Julio Franco was a fun one.
And in other sports: Purvis Short’s jumpshot
I was a decent hitter until I got to HS, but all I ever worked on with my dad was pitching. Control, control, control. He was my coach my first 3 years in LL, and I started pitching in games at 9.
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Pete Rose and Carl Yastrzemski were popular too. Yaz had this exaggerated curl to where you could read his number. I’m sure many younger kids did the Bagwell squat or Rickey Henderson lean. Rod Carew was another great batting stance.
I was a pretty good hitter, but I was always a really good glove man. You couldn’t throw one by me. My dad wanted me to pitch, like he did, and we spent a lot of time on it. I could mostly put it where I wanted, but couldn’t break glass.
Jose Cruz for me.
Natural since I was an Astros fan and a lefty.
That’s right. A lefty you anti-leftite bastard.
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I’m not anti-lefties. I even have lefty friends. I once even dated a lefty.
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28% of my friends are lefties.
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I write and eat with my left hand but throw right handed.
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No club invite for you!
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7/9 today. And interestingly, every pick was 100%, suggesting I was one of the first to play today.
Pro tip reminder: The Twins are the successor franchise to the old Washington Senators.
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I’m to the point where when the Nationals show up I don’t even think about them, automatically going to Expos’ players instead.
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I let the Twins/Mariners square sit blank for 2 hours before I gave up and put in Nelson Cruz at 48% which fucked-up what would have otherwise been an excellent rarity score. Still got a 94,
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I also eat and writeLH and throw RH - messed my dad up when he got my first glove.
Even crazier, I play ping pong better left handed but tennis and now pickle ball better right handed.
I attribute it to my fine motor in my LH and my gross motor in my RH. Though if you ever saw my hand writing, you would think my fine motor skills are pretty gross.
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I also play ping pong left handed, in tennis I’m righty but employ a two-handed back-hand. I call it left wristed and right armed.
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My weird situation came about perhaps because I broke my left collar bone when I was five and throwing a ball with my left arm always felt awkward on my left shoulder. It felt more natural using my right arm, so I adapted. I also play guitar right handed, though not very well.
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8/9, I got a little ahead of myself and failed to realize Acuña has not actually won the MVP for 2023 yet.
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Since yall started this…
Started hitting both sides as a little kid, whiffleball then Tball stuff, didn’t matter
Natural RH arm, has been that way ever since
Messed up my right arm twice: 7th grade I jammed my thumb into a brick wall playing indoor handball in the “old gym” (basketball court with about 2 feet of space before the bricks on one side, and 5 feet before the wooden bleachers on the other side). I played that soccer season with a cast up to my elbow (it was heavily wrapped, and before every game the ref checked it and said “If I see you use this you’ll be out for a long time”… and came back for basketball then baseball.
This is how I learned to write LH
Day before summer football 2-a-days, 10th grade, was a passenger in a car wreck, broke RH collarbone, shoulderblade and 2 breaks in the ulna, if I hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt I would have either lost my arm or been killed (truck got clipped in the back, we went upside a concrete sound barrier, my window was open and my arm was out smoking a cig)
I spent the entire football season (every practice, every game) on the sideline with my arm in cast/sling and got really, really good at LH spirals up to about 15/20 yards. And FGs.
And again, writing LH
Still am pretty damn solid throwing darts LH
Can’t bowl for shit that way though.
That’s just my .02
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