I missed the Mets game last night, the first game I've not seen even an inning of this season. Of course, it was the first good one to watch in ages. I'm headed out to Citi Field tonight, and as cosmic retribution for failing to watch last night, I'm certain the Mets will lose 24-0.
So, in lieu of any Mets analysis, I'd like to introduce the world to Rube Waddell, a baseball playing gent from the turn of the century (the 20th century that is). Rube was from Punxsutawney, just like the groundhog, and at least according to the Wikipedias was "a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher" who had a "strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1." All well and good for Waddell. But then, this...
Waddell was unpredictable, and had a habit of leaving the dugout in the middle of games to follow passing fire trucks to fires. He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. He was easily distracted by opposing team fans who used to hold up puppies and shiny objects, which seemed to put Waddell in a trance on the mound.
Yet, even Walter Johnson said "Rube Waddell had more sheer pitching ability than any man I ever saw." Wow. Rube Waddell is amazing. Better than even Old Hoss Radburn (though perhaps not better than his twitter account).
We need more guys like this. Now that Manny Ramirez is gone, I just can't think of a baseball player who could easily be distracted by a shiny object. And that's a shame.
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