Credit on the photo goes to Roger DeWitt, and Roar of the Tigers has another shot from him at the link above.
To this I say, "Oh sweet Jesus." Feel free to substitue your own shocked/dismayed catchphrase here instead. Some candidates may include "Mother of God..." or "Sweet Sassy Mollassy." Anyway, the point is this: Brandon Inge's infection of horrible body art taste has spread like the ebola virus and it is only a matter of time before horrible inked "artwork" is bleeding from every orifice on the team, so to speak. In seeing Bonderman's regrettable life choice, I can't help but agree wholeheartedly with the take over at DesigNate Robertson:
This is exactly why I liked having a prick like Gary Sheffield on the team. He wouldn’t have let this kind of crap go on. He would have ridiculed them and possibly have beaten them to death with a baseball bat for getting ugly tattoos like that. Lame.Word.
Ernie You know the rules. Ernie Harwell stuff always has a place on the blog. This time, it's him recalling memories of Spring Training. I'm not even going to pull out choice quotes for this. You'll just have to go over and read it. To entice you, I've got two words for you. Atlanta. Crackers. I hope I hope I hope that he is still with us forever come Opening Day.
Damon & Damien Rumors about Johnny Damon--many of which appear to have been spun by the embodiment of pure evil--continue to persist. I'm going to take a "nothing to see here" approach until something actually happens, because approximately 75% of the scenarios in which Damon ends up in Detroit make me want to find the tallest building and...well, at least scream really loud. So it echoes. You'll all know how I feel if it happens. Anyway, if he becomes a Tiger I'll post my thoughts because my thoughts depend a great deal on the circumstances under which he becomes a Tiger. A preview: 2 years at $7 million per year makes Homer...something...something.
A Taste of Things To Come for the Tigers, done very nicely by John Lowe. Here's a summary: This team has issues. Lynn Henning agrees, but I stopped caring once he called Casper Wells "the most pivotal player who arrives in Lakeland this week." Ooh, yeah. More Rookies! Let's ask the Pirates how that tends to work out.
The Case In the next day or two I will get into this a little more, but before I do I wanted to just talk quickly about this. Sports Cards Uncensored was the first to point out that a date has been set for the Upper Deck/MLBP lawsuit. Gellman gives his a take:
Also, im not sure why is MLBP taking the argument of "No one can tell the difference between licensed and unlicensed." No one is that fucking stupid! We all know about UD's lack of a license, even people who are just casual collectors! Know why I know that? Because it says it three times every pack and box we open! Im actually pretty glad someone at MLBP thought this was a good way to go, because it leaves the door open for a nasty comeback.Sports Collector's Daily gives us the newsy-rundown that includes this tidbit:
Upper Deck also submitted copies of stories and blog posts from collectors stating they "clearly show that card collectors understand that Upper Deck's 2010 series are not licensed or approved by MLBP."So there you go. Seems like the takeaway is that Upper Deck--and collectors like Gellman--say that this doesn't create confusion because "we" "know" that they're not licensed. I'm not so sure that passes muster, but I'll flesh it out in my post in the next few days.
Oh, the bottom line? April 19th is (U)D Day.
Misc. Topps' Million Card Giveaway is up and running. Hurry and go before they use up all of the 1987 Topps! Oh, you mean there are cards that your mother actually might have thrown out available? Cool. Oh, Jose! You're such the sweet talker! Older isn't always better, but it is here. Best Valentines Day Gift EVER.
