The Trolley Dodger

Home plate umpire hiding his face in shame. Photo: Jon SooHoo, Dodgers.

I caught only a smidgen of the double header today on TV — James Loney’s justified anger at a called strike 3 and subsequent ejection, and then a bit of Charlie Haeger pitching the next half-inning.

Malaise is apparent. The Dodgers are 8-12, tied for the worst record in baseball (apart from the 4-16 Orioles). Great pitching days seem unable to coincide with great hitting days, and vice versa. If they ever put them both together, watch out.

At this point last season, the Dodgers were 14-7, winding up 15-8 at the end of April, in the midst of their record 20-0 home start and blissfully unaware of the Manny news coming May 7th. Presently, we are losing players to injuries rather than suspensions, but the season is still young. ;)

8-12 is not a death sentence by any means, nor would 8-15 be if they lose out for April. It’s one of those things: rationally, I know everything will even out eventually, and this ugly month will be a distant memory; emotionally, the thumb gets twitchy on the remote.

“Hardie Henderson: Champion Base Ball Pitcher” — pitched from 1883-1887 for the Philadelphia Quakers, Baltimore Orioles, Brooklyn Grays (19th-century precursor to the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers), and Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

In a horrible bit of irony, Henderson was killed in February 1903 when he was run over by a train trolley.[1]

Read more at:

• baseball-reference.com
• Wikipedia

[1] See this history of native Philadelphian ballplayers at Google Books.

I always love it when two of my passions collide, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

But instead of peanut butter and chocolate, it’s baseball and bicycles. “Biker chic: O’s players using two wheels”. Several Baltimore Orioles are commuting to the ballpark on bikes.

On a balmy summer day, Orioles left fielder Luke Scott burst through the Camden Yards clubhouse door from the garage. Shirtless, with his backpack securely strapped around him, Scott wheeled his black bicycle in front of him, parking his method of transportation out in front of his locker.

Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie — a fanatical bike rider since he started playing professional baseball — sports a sticker on his locker that reads “one less car.”

And of course they wouldn’t be professional athletes without a little competition:

It has gotten to a point in the Orioles’ clubhouse where it’s so common that players are now vulnerable to be teased as much for their brand of bike as they are for anything else.

“My first bike I had was [a Schwinn and] I bought it at Target for like $170,” Scott said. “And I come riding in here and Jeremy starts hounding me and the rest of the guys, they’re like, ‘Man, you’re in The Show, you’ve got to have a Show bike.’”

There are a few more bike commuters scattered through the MLB, though it’s tough for folks in some areas with where the parks are. Still, they’re setting a good example for their fans.