The Trolley Dodger

As mentioned in my “Back in the day…” post from the beginnings of this website, I lived and died with the Dallas Cowboys when I was a kid. There’s nothing like Your Team when you’re young, and there never will be again if you lose touch.

One of my iconic memories of Texas Stadium of that era, along with the cheerleaders and Tom Landry’s fedora, was a crazy guy on the sidelines or in the stands, exhorting Cowboy fans. I remember it being rare for the television camera not to find him several times a game, celebrating a good play or making a face at a bad call from the refs (where bad meant any that went against the Cowboys). He never failed to put a smile on my face and made my already heavily invested involvement that much more meaningful.

His name was Wilford Jones, but everybody knew him as Crazy Ray. Even after moving away, both literally and figuratively, I never forgot him.

While I’m sure the guy who plays the new “Official Mascot” Rowdy is a fine, upstanding citizen in real life, he will never compare to an energetic mad man whom I loved just about as much as the guys on the field. Crazy Ray was the physical embodiment of all the emotional waves I was feeling as a fanatic kid. (And don’t tell a kid his emotions aren’t real or important. They’re just as real and momentous, maybe moreso, as any he’ll deal with in later life. :)

Mr Jones passed away yesterday after a long battle with various illnesses. His family had set up a website last year — “savecrazyray.com” — where fans could make donations to he and his wife, Mattie, in order to offset their mounting medical and other bills. I would expect that help will still be of great use, even now.

Good bye, Crazy Ray, and thank you for cheering for all of us. I know you’ll be watching the games through the hole in the roof, just like everybody else up there, and cheering on generations of Cowboys (and their fans) for years to come.

Back when I was writing for blogging.la, I posted about the movie The Emerald Diamond, a documentary on the Irish national baseball team which was on a US tour at the time.

You can find out more about the movie at the official website. John Fitzgerald, the producer and director, sent an email out yesterday with some updates, including his being on FoxNews this morning doing promoting. He’s also posted parts on YouTube. Here’s the trailer:

And there are a few longer segments of the movie linked from his userpage here.

He’s begun a new website to solicit funding supporting the sport in Ireland, so if you’re interested, head on over there:

As many of you know, I recently started a charity to raise money for the Irish National Team and youth baseball programs in Ireland. You can learn more at www.SupportIrishBaseball.com; - there are also some outtakes from the movie on that website.

O’Malley connection

I’m guessing my mind was already on the Guinness, because I forgot to mention the Dodger/O’Malley connection. As discussed on the Baseball Ireland website:

Much of the interest generated in Baseball over the past few years can be attributed to the dream of a generous sponsor and the development of a purpose-built Baseball facility in Clondalkin, West Dublin.

Irish-American Peter O’Malley, owner and President of the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball organisation, first met with the Irish Baseball & Softball Association in 1994. Having already developed baseball fields in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and China, O’Malley pledged $140,000 to the building of an Irish Baseball facility.

Building on the site began in June of 1997 and both fields were officially opened for play on July 4th, 1998. The facility incorporates a regulation sized adult field (Dodger Baseball Field) and an international standard Little League field (O’Malley Little League Field).

Luck of the Irish

While it’s not the baseball team, the Irish cricket team skittled Pakistan today in World Cup action.

The boisterous Irish fans could barely contain their joy on St Patrick’s Day.

On an appropriately green wicket with bounce and seam movement, Ireland won the toss and took their first wicket with the last ball of the first over.[...]

If they can win here they have a huge chance of making the Super Eights, an unimaginable prospect three days ago.

I have a post up at Celsius1414 this morning — “Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!” — about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with my first beer since before my bike accident and watching the first Dodger telecast of the year. Doesn’t get much better than that.

The Dodgers are wearing their traditional green uniforms and caps to commemorate the day, and have added green bases as well. There’s a long history of celebrating March 17th at Dodgertown, which you can read about on Walter O’Malley’s official website, in the feature “St. Patrick’s Day Parties A Legend At Dodgertown”

We’ll see how the Vicodin does with the Guinness later on. This may be a particularly hallucinatory afternoon. :)

Love to see this in the Baseball America daily prospect report from this morning:

LAD SPR Abreu, Etanislao 2B …….. 2 1 1 1 .407 - walk-off HR (3); having a great spring (.393/.407/.815)

Excellent… </MrBurns>

The new uniforms for the Great Lakes Loons have been unveiled on their website. You can pick up merchandise in their online store. I might have to grab a pennant for my cubicle.

I love the Loon’s expression. :)

If you’re in Saginaw, Michigan, stop by the Loon Loft at the Fashion Square Mall. And it looks like the new Dow Diamond construction is coming along nicely.

Defense might be crucial for aging Maddux’s success

Awwwww, we miss you too, Mad Dog.

“The Dodgers played very good defense,” Maddux said yesterday, unrelated to the Padres’ four errors in an 8-6 loss to the Cubs at Peoria Stadium.

Maddux assembled a 4.69 ERA in 22 games with the Cubs before a summer trade placed him with the Dodgers, whereupon Maddux went 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA. Maddux, who induces a lot of ground balls, cited the support he got from Dodgers infielders, notably shortstop Rafael Furcal.

“Those guys caught a lot of balls,” he said.

“Shoot, in one game we had four shortstops in the infield. Think about it. Four shortstops in the infield. That’s kind of nice.”

Maybe if your agent Lucifer wasn’t spinning lies about what’s best for you, that defense could still be taking care of you. Alas, it was not to be.

Besides, there’s errors aplenty in the Dodger infield so far this spring. ;)

Speaking of things Satanic, in that same game, Daryle Ward took a Trevor “Hells Bells” Hoffman pitch over the right field wall. Apparently good old Trevor isn’t done giving those up just yet. ;D

Eeehhhhkk. You ever get that weird shiver down your spine out of nowhere? Like a disturbance in the Force?

Shudder.

The Topps Co., maker of baseball cards and Bazooka bubble gum, said Tuesday it accepted a $385.4 million takeover offer from a buyout group that includes former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, but the deal drew immediate opposition from one of its own board members.

Yeah, that was probably it.

story at ESPN

With all the movement of Dodger minor league teams and spring training facilities, you might wonder if the Jacksonville Suns might wind up become the Palm Desert Suns in the next couple of years. According to this article in the Jacksonville Times-Union, however, there’s nothing to worry about for now.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said the franchise is “very happy” with its team in Jacksonville and fully expects the Suns to remain a Dodgers affiliate long past the organization’s expected transition to Glendale, Ariz., takes place after 2008.

“It’s a great facility, a great place to play,” Colletti said. “I don’t see that changing at all. We’re expecting to be there for awhile.”

The Dodgers’ ties to Jacksonville go as far back as 1907, when they held spring training on the First Coast until 1909. After returning from 1919 to 1920, then once more in 1922, pro baseball in Jacksonville went through several affiliations until rejoining the Dodgers in 2001.

Tom Bridge texted me earlier this evening from the stands of the A’s/Brewers pre-season game, then blogged the game later. I am green with envy. It’s a wonderful tradition he and his family have enjoyed for years that I hope to at least emulate in part when the Dodgers move to Arizona.

Have some peanuts and a beer for me, Tom!