What a crazy week, baseball is back and soon it's almost gone. It's still happening but if a couple more teams have the same results as the Marlins we could be done. I do question the MLB testing procedure, I don't take these positive tests at face value. The problem though is if the MLB testing isn't good than any number they put out isn't good. 11 positives on one team is a bad look, whether the legitimate or not, and I'm pretty sure MLB isn't trying sabotage themselves. Anyway, this is going to be a strange grouping tonight, let's get some more numbers.
61 61*: I've talked about this movie a lot. It's probably my favorite baseball movie. I talk about Little Big League, Major League, and A League of Their Own a lot, but 61* is my favorite. It tells the story of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chasing 60 Home Runs of Babe Ruth, and the scrutiny and attention the two players got. Roger Maris was the unassuming superstar, he wasn't a true Yankee, as he didn't come up the system like the previous great Yankee outfielders. He was chasing the legend, the revered Babe Ruth. Throw on the fact that Major League Baseball added games to the schedule, many Ruth defenders refused to acknowledge Maris record as the true record, hence the asterisk affixed to the 61. It was an excellent movie, it only played on HBO so I suggest trying to fine it and watch it.
62 #62 from the Waterboy: This really an excuse to talk about the Waterboy. The scene in particular is when the SCLSU Mud Dogs are playing Western Missiissippi and an offensive lineman from Western tells Bobby he's going to play with his mama later that night. Bobby doesn't like that so he throws the ball at 62 and lets him score a touchdown before drop kicking him, and telling him he loves his mama very much. The Waterboy is such a fun movie, and when it comes to Adam Sandler movies it's from his wheelhouse time. #62 was an actual college football player at Florida, James Bates. He is involved in college football still.
63 Spencer Lee: Spencer Lee has 63 wins wrestling for Iowa. His career record is 63-5 in 3 years of wrestling. Spencer is my favorite wrestler to watch, he is so good at what he does, it's an absolute clinic when he's on the mat. He even topples the bigger oppenents with ease. He was on his way to his 3rd national title this year when Covid-19 cancelled the NCAAs. It sucks because it takes away his shot becoming a 4-time National Champion, which is rare air. I'm guessing he'll get his shot at #3 next year, and hopefully go to the Olympics and get the gold.
64 Randall McDaniel: It takes a lot to get noticed as an offensive lineman. When Randall McDaniel played I noticed him. He played guard for the Vikings in the 90's. He's in the NFL Hall of Fame. Guard play is usually only seen when they make mistakes but McDaniel made so many plays you knew who he was. Plus his name rhymes so it's perfect.
65 Willie Mays 1965 Season: In 1965 Willie Mays put up his best season as a pro. He was 34 and had career highs in Home Runs 52, slugging 645, OPS+ 185 and WAR 11.2. He won his 2nd MVP award that season. I never watched Willie play, but from what I've heard he's the greatest player ever. He played Gold Glove defense, he hit homers, he swiped bases, and he played in more difficult era than Babe Ruth. The fact Mays had this good of a season at age 34 is unbelievable to me. Plus he was doing it having to travel across the county to play most of his games. Just crazy to see.
66 Mario Lemieux: I'm not as big of a hockey fan as I used to be, but Super Mario is my 2nd favorite player, we'll be seeing my favorite in a couple numbers. Mario was so good, that instead of paying him the owners of the Penguins just gave him the team. He was the 2nd best player in the NHL for most of career. He missed 3 years battling cancer and came back just as good.
67 Richard Petty: In 1967 Richard Petty won 27 races out of the 48 he ran, including 10 in a row. I don't talk about Petty a lot since I never really watched him race. But to dominate a sport, any sport that much for 10 straight races is just incredible. There is so much that can go wrong in a car, especially in the 60's when the cars weren't very dependable. Petty though pushed through all that and won races, lots of races, a record that will never be touched. These days if a guy wins 8 races he's dominate, but winning over half your races is unheard of.
68 Jaromir Jagr: Here is my favorite hockey player ever. I loved watching Jagr in my younger days when he had his long hair coming out of the back of his helmet. He played such a different game when I watched, it was so cool. He's won 2 Stanley Cups and has amassed almost 2000 points in his career. He was just so good and he's still good as he just retired 2 years ago.
69 Billy Bob: I give it a 10 a motherfucking 10. William Robert was the heart and soul of the West Canaan Coyotes, when he was right they were unstoppable, and when he was having concussion problems the team struggled. He made all the key plays, he opened up the hole for Tweeder to block the punt, he caught the ball on the hook and ladder and scored the winning Touchdown. Then he cried because Billy Bob cries. Varsity Blues is such a good movie, I love it so much. Puke and rally baby.
70 The Summer of '98: Mark McGwire broke the previous record from earlier in this post by hitting 70 home runs in 1998, much like Maris he was pushed along the way by someone close to him. However instead of a teammate it was a player from a rival team. Sammy Sosa helped push McGwire to the finish line by hitting 66 home runs of his own. I watched McGwire chase those 70 home runs with wide eyes and I'll never forget watching him hit 62 or 70. Those were iconic moments and steroids or not they were very memorable.
Per usual this was more fun than I though it would be, I only had a couple things in mind for this set and the rest of the pieces fell into place. Not sure I'll kick another one out this week, but stay tuned and keep enjoying these as much a I like writing them.
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