In the 1970s, the best second baseman in the major leagues played for the Cincinnati Reds. Joe Morgan was more than just the best second baseman though; he was one of the best players in the majors and is slightly underrated by fans today. B-R’s EloRater puts him at #32 all-time, while The Baseball Guru puts him at #14, behind only Eddie Collins at 2B.

Brandon Phillips, obviously, is not that good. But he is doing a great job for the Reds currently with three Gold Gloves, two straight All-Star selections, and a Silver Slugger award. I hope DatDudeBP is able to continue putting up the numbers for the Reds for a long time.

• Moby Dick Typed on Toilet Paper [Neatorama]
• Gallery [Dirty Car Art]
• Griffey [Hagen Illustration]
• NFL receiver consoles Boehner, gets civics lesson [Fox News]
• Hulk Hogan: I Almost Played Bass for Metallica [Loudwire]
• Memories of John Franco, the newest Mets Hall of Fame member [Paul's Random Baseball Stuff]
• John Tyler’s Grandson Discusses Still Being Alive [mental_floss]

This was at 6:15 a.m.

After my wife shuttled the kids to school, she came back home to take me to the emergency room. As soon as I stood up, the blood started pumping out of my toe again and I knew there was no way she would be able to get me to the car. So we called our friends in the dispatch center (fortunately I do not live in the same city where I dispatch) and asked them to send an ambulance my way.

At this point, my toe had stopped hurting. But I knew that wouldn’t last, and I knew that it had to be treated to prevent infection. Did I mention there was blood everywhere?

End result: broken toe, sprained foot, and a bottle of Percocet.

But it did start the wheels spinning in my feeble brain…what if Topps took that concept and applied it to older issues?

We all know that the Montreal Expos were unethically magically transformed into the Washington Senators Nationals a few years ago by the grand poobah commissioner of baseball, Palpatine Bud Selig. So what if Topps went back in time and Photoshopped some of the old Expos cards into Nationals cards? How awesome would it be to have a 1984 Topps Gary Carter as a Washington backstop? Or a 1987 Topps Andres Galarraga rookie card sporting the Nats’ duds?

I know, I’m terrible. I’m probably the worst Photoshopper on the planet, and there are many out there who are better than I could ever dream of being. So prove it. Take an old Expos card and make it Washingtonian. Or put a 1980s-style Atlanta Braves uniform on Warren Spahn. Or let’s see Frank Howard wearing a Rangers jersey.

If enough people are into it, maybe I’ll throw a prize your way.

Now get to it!

“Quirky” doesn’t do this film justice. Not really a horror movie, but not entirely a comedy either, Rubber is a surreal film that you must pay attention to in order to understand that you can’t really understand it. A terrible tire named Robert awakens and begins a killing spree, offing everything from a bunny rabbit to a police officer. This murderous Michelin is evidently enamored with a dark-haired woman with a foreign accent named Shelia (played by Roxane Mesquida), but even blows up a mannequin dressed to resemble her as she mocks him through a speaker tied around the mannequin’s neck.

Why does all of this happen? As Lieutenant Chad (Stephen Spinella) so eloquently explains, “No reason.” That’s the point of the whole film: there is no point.

Despite the pointlessness of Rubber, it is a captivating eighty minutes. You really have no reason to miss it.

Watch Rubber on Netflix.

• The Complete Star Wars Uncut [Neatorama]
• My Stoogeum Visit – Don’t Be a Lame Brain!! You gotta go! [Zombies DON'T Run]
• Babe Ruth: Rare and Unpublished [Life]
• 1976 Topps Ron Paul [Cardboard Junkie]
• How Return of the Jedi Should Have Ended [How It Should Have Ended]
• Avengers Art Appreciation Variants [Super Punch]
• Liam Neeson Confirms He’s Filmed a Scene for The Dark Knight Rises [SuperHeroHype]

Jackie & Me
by Dan Gutman
HarperCollins, 1999
160 pages

I love baseball cards, and I love stories about time travel. Write a book about a kid who can travel through time using baseball cards, and you’ve got me hooked.

Joe Stoshack is a mostly regular kid living in modern-day Louisville, Kentucky, but when he touches a baseball card he can travel through time to the year the card was made. Dan Gutman has written about several of Joe’s adventures, including meetings with Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, and Babe Ruth. In this book, Gutman’s second in the “Baseball Card Adventures” series, Joe travels back to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball.

Not only that, Joe often changes his appearance in his travels. In this particular instance, he wakes up to find that he has transformed into a black kid in 1947! Gutman tinkers with a few historical facts and changes the order of some events to fit the story. For instance, he describes Dixie Walker passing around a petition on the first day of the season to be traded if Robinson is allowed to play for the Dodgers. That actually happened, but not on opening day; Walker circulated his petition in spring training.

Joe learns a valuable lesson, not only about the racism that Robinson faced, but about Robinson’s character in his response to that hatred. Of course, he applies that lesson in his own life when he returns to Louisville.

While written for children (recommended for ten years and older), these are entertaining books even for adult baseball fans. They are light reads and shouldn’t take more than a few sittings to finish–if you can even put it down.

Click here to learn about the play adaptation by Steve Dietz.

Click here to learn more about Dan Gutman.

Purchase Jackie & Me by Dan Gutman.

On this awesome post by dayf (which will get a spot on the next “Random Awesomeness” post, but go ahead and look at it now), I tried to leave a comment fifteen times. I counted.

Here is what the comment would have been:

Thanks for doing this. Saves me the trouble (although I might still try to do another one with the other photo).

Worth its own post? Not really. But it’s the principle of the thing.

Dear Blogspot users,

This is not the first time I have had trouble posting comments on your excellent posts. Sometimes it’s an OpenID “error,” sometimes the characters of the captcha don’t match (but they do), sometimes it just takes five times of clicking “Post comment.” But it’s getting really annoying, and it’s discouraging to me as a reader of your awesomeness.

WordPress is free.

WordPress is better.

I’ve used both. And I will never ever return to Blogspot.

Sincerely,

A WordPress user that reads your content.

Am I the only one that has trouble posting comments on Blogspot? Does anyone have trouble posting comments on WordPress?

I have some stuff stacking up, but no time to get to a proper post at the moment, so why don’t you watch some classic monster movies? Here are some legendary titles currently streaming on Netflix (if you don’t have an account, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here):

• Dracula starring Bela Lugosi
• The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• Son of Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff (too bad the original and Bride of are not currently available)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon
• The Invisible Man
• The Phantom of the Opera

That ought to keep you busy for a few minutes.

• 11 Album Covers With Dead Band Members Removed [mental_floss]
• Where Are They Now? The Kids of Horror Flicks [FearNet]
• 1978 Phillies – The All-Hair Outfield [Dick Allen Hall of Fame]
• Bob Feller once demanded a 25 percent pay cut [Big League Stew]
• Nurses will be in attendance [Frankensteinia]
• #2679 [Cyanide & Happiness]
• Terrifying: Ultra-Realistic Beavis & Butthead Busts [Geekologie]