Mark Langston: timeline

Born: August 20, 1960

1978: Drafted by Chicago Cubs (did not sign)

1981: Drafted by Seattle Mariners

1989: Traded to the Montreal Expos

1989: Signed by California Angels

1990: Pitched in combined no-hitter

1998: Signed by San Diego Padres

1998: Surrendered grand slam to Tino Martinez in Game 1 of the World Series

1999: Signed by Cleveland Indians

1999: Retired

2005: Dropped off Hall of Fame Ballot (0.6% of vote)

2013: TV Color man for Angels


Accomplishments:
4x All Star

9x Gold Glove

91 pickoffs (record at retirement-4th all time)

Pitcher of the Month: 3x

Pitcher of the Week: 3x

179-158

3.97 ERA

457 games-428 starts

81 CG

18 SHO

2962.2 IP

2,464 Strikeouts

1.354 WHIP

15+ Wins: 7x

Sub 3.50 ERA: 5x

2.74 ERA (1989)

14 CG (1987)

200+ IP: 10x

250+ IP: 4x

200+ Strikeouts: 5x

Led league in strikeouts: 3x

Postseason: 0-0, 13.50 ERA, 2 IP, 1 Strikeout, 2.000 WHIP (2 series).

Darryl Strawberry: timeline

Born: March 12, 1962

1980: Drafted by New York Mets

1980-3: Minor Leagues

Debut: May 6, 1983

1983: NL Rookie of the Year

1985: Three home run game

1986: Home run derby winner

1986: Mets win World Series

1987: 30-30 club

1987: .284, 39 HR, 104 RBI, 32 doubles, .398 OBP, .583 Slugging, .981 OPS, 36 SB, 310 TB

1988: Mets lose NLCS

1990: Signed with Los Angeles Dodgers

1994: Signed by San Francisco Giants

1995: Cocaine suspension

1995: Signed by New York Yankees

1996: Three Home Run Game

1996: Yankees win World Series

1998: Diagnosed with cancer

1998-9: Yankees win World Series

1999: Retired

2005: Dropped off Hall of Fame Ballot (1.2% of vote)

2010: Elected to Mets Hall of Fame


Accomplishments:
4x World Champion

8x All Star

1983 ROY

2x Silver Slugger

Player of the Month: September 1987

Player of the Week: 6x

.259

335 HR

1,000 RBI

898 Runs

1,401 Hits

221 SB

256 Doubles

.357 OBP

.505 Slugging

.862 OPS

2,738 TB

100+ Runs: 2x

32 doubles (1987)

20+ HR: 10x

30+ HR: 3x

100+ RBI: 3x

20+ SB: 5x

36 SB (1987)

.500 Slugging: 6x

.900 OPS: 3x

310 TB (1987)

Led league in HR (39): 1988

Led league in Slugging (.545): 1988

Led league in OPS (.911): 1988

Postseason: .254, 9 HR, 22 RBI, .845 OPS (10 Series)

Sci Fi History: The Incredible Hulk (1977)

A live action Hulk came to TV in the late 70s. Bill Bixby played Dr. David Banner who suffered an accidental overdose of gamma radiation. The OD led to his transformations into the Hulk when he became angry or injured. Banner fled to avoid notice, but always managed to get beat up every week under assumed names. Banner was chased by reporter Jack McGee. The show ended in 1982, but returned for three TV movies in the late 80s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqZuhrDM5vE

1908 World Series Game 5

Cubs: 2 Tigers: 0

W: Overall (2-0)

L: Donovan (0-2)
The Cubs scored single runs in the first and fifth. Hall of Famers Frank Chance and Johnny Evers each singled in runs. Orval Overall became the first pitcher to strike out four batters in an inning. In 2013, Anibal Sanchez became the second hurler to do so in a postseason game. Overall remains the only one to accomplish the feat in the World Series. Overall threw a 3-hitter and struck out 10. Tiger starter Wild Bill Donovan also tossed a complete game in a losing effort. The final game drew only 6,210 fans. Chicagoans stayed away from the ballpark to protest the club's ticket scalping scheme.

There was no World Series MVP in 1908. The award had not been created yet. However, Frank Chance might have won it had the award existed. He batted .421 with 2 RBI and .921 OPS. Three-Finger Brown was another candidate with a 2-0 record and 0.00 ERA in 11 innings. The final candidate, Orval Overall, went 2-0 with a 0.98 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 18.1 innings.

Other players with good World Series for the Cubs included Johnny Evers (.350, 2 RBI, .381 OBP), Solly Hofman (.316 and 4 RBI), and Wildfire Schulte (.389, 2 RBI, .950 OPS). Ty Cobb was the only Tiger hitter that performed well. The Georgia Peach batted .368 with 4 RBI, and .821 OPS. George Mullin pitched a complete game victory, struck out 8, and allowed no earned runs in his only start.

The Tigers returned to the World Series in 1909, but did not win a Fall Classic until 1935. Chicago has yet to win another World Series despite seven NL Pennants from 1910-1945. They have not won a pennant since 1945.

1908 World Series Game 4

Cubs: 3 Tigers: 0 (Cubs lead 3-1)


W: Brown (2-0)

L: Summers (0-2)
Three-Finger Brown dominated the Tigers with a 4-hitter. The Cub ace struck out 4 and did not walk a batter. Harry Steinfeldt and Solly Hofman each knocked in runs with third inning singles. They tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on a Ty Cobb error. Tiger starter Ed Summers allowed 2 runs on 9 hits in the eight innings. George Winter finished for Detroit.

1908 World Series Game 3

Detroit: 8 Chicago: 3 (Cubs lead 2-1)

W: Mullin (1-0)

L: Pfiester (0-1)
The Tigers finally won a World Series game. They had been 0-6-1 in their previous seven outings. They could have won the first two games of the 1908 World Series. Ty Cobb willed the Tigers to the victory in Game 3. He had four hits and two steals in the win. The Georgia Peach singled in the first run of the game in the opening frame. Chicago rallied for three in the fourth for a 3-1 lead. Detroit exploded for five in the sixth with Sam Crawford and Cobb each driving in a run. They tacked on two in the eighth for the final margin. George Mullin pitched a complete game for the Tigers. Jack Pfeister allowed eight runs, seven earned, in eight innings for the loss. Ed Reulbach finished up in the ninth.

1908 World Series Game 2

Chicago Cubs: 6 Detroit Tigers: 1 (Cubs lead 2-0)


W: Overall (1-0)
L: Donovan (0-1)

Home Run: Joe Tinker (1)
By this point, the Cubs had to have been in the Tigers heads. Chicago had beaten the Tigers every possible way in 1907 and 1908. The Cubs hoped to keep the mojo going with Orval Overall on the hill. Detroit countered with 18-game winner Wild Bill Donovan. The game was scoreless into the last half of the 8th when the Cubs unloaded. Joe Tinker slammed a one out 2-run home run. Chicago tacked on four more runs off Donovan to take a 6-0 lead into the 9th. Detroit managed a slop run to make the final 6-1. Tiger Germany Schaefer was the only player with multiple hits. He went 2-for-3. Both starters hurled complete games. Overall tossed a four-hitter, walked two, and struckout five.

1908 World Series Game 1

Chicago Cubs: 10 Detroit Tigers: 6 (Cubs lead 1-0)

W: Three-Finger Brown (1-0)

L: Summers (0-1)
The 1908 World Series featured the first rematch in the Fall Classic. The World Champion Cubs won the pennant after winning a one-game playoff with the Giants. The game was actually a make up for an earlier contest that ended in a tie. The Giants had appeared to win that game, but Fred Merkle failed to touch second base and was forced by Johnny Evers. With fans streaming onto the field, no one knows for sure if Evers actually had the game ball. Either way, the Cubs won the pennant and faced the Tigers for the second year in a row. The series featured three Hall of Fame umpires with Tommy Connolly, Bill Klem, and Hank O'Day. The Tigers boasted Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Hughie Jennings. The Cubs fielded four Hall of Famers in Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Joe Tinker, and Three-Finger Brown.

Detroit should have won Game 1. They led 6-5 in the 9th in the opener in Detroit. The Cubs chased Ed Killian while Ed Reulbach pitched into the seventh for Chicago. The Cubs dropped five in the top of the 9th for a 10-6 victory. Jimmy Sheckard went 3-for-6 for the victors. Wildfire Schulte, Harry Steinfeldt, and Joe Tinker all tallied two hits. Tigers Ty Cobb, Matty McIntyre, and Claude Rossman all had two hits as well.

Sci-Fi History: Star Wars (1977)

George Lucas was inspired by Flash Gordon and the Japanese film The Hidden Fortress when he wrote Star Wars. The film became a pop culture sensation, perhaps the biggest one ever. Star Wars proved a watershed moment in film. It inspired everything that followed either in the use of special effects or in attempts to recreate its themes. Along with Jaws, Star Wars created the summer blockbuster. The film has spawned several sequels and prequels and its rights now belong to Disney...which means Star Wars will never die.

16th Century timeline

1504: Michelangelo unveils David

1507: Mona Lisa

1509: Henry VIII becomes King of England (r. 1509-1547)

1512: Copernicus writes Commentaries

1513: Machiavelli's The Prince

1517: Luther's 95 Thesis: Protestant Reformation begins

1519-22: Magellan circumnavigates the world

1519-21: Cortes conquers Mexico

1520-66: Suleiman the Magnificent rules Ottoman Empire

1526: Mughal Empire founded

1527: Rome sacked

1527: Renaissance ends

1529: Austrians defeat Ottomans at Vienna

1532: Pizzaro conquers Incas

1534: Henry VIII issues Act of Supremacy

1539: De Soto explores America

1543: Scientific Revolution begins

1547: Ivan the Terrible becomes Czar of Russia

1553-58: Reign of Bloody Mary in England

1558: Elizabeth becomes Queen of England (r. 1558-1603)

1572: St. Batholomeo's Day Massacre

1582: Gregorian Calendar

1585: Roanoke established

1587: Mary Queen of Scots executed

1588: Spanish Armada

1590: Japan unified

1598-1613: Russian anarchy

1600: Edo Period begins in Japan

History Shorts: Canterbury Tales (1380)

Geoffrey Chaucer recounts over 20 stories in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer uses irony to describe English society in the late 14th century. The work helped popularize English and provides historians insight into Chaucer's day. As a result, English ascended while French and Latin went by the wayside. The 20 tales describe the life of knights, cook's, physicians, nuns, and many others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3zUoNG_P_0

Stupid Quotes of the Year: 2014

Stupid Quote of the year #1: 'First of all, let me tell my friends from Africa, I do not whip people!'


-Steny Hoyer


#2: "What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!"

-Protestors led by White House advisor Al Sharpton


and the rest...

"In a sense, climate change can now be considered the world's largest weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even, the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction."


-John Kerry


"We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner."

-Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin


"Maybe I should offer a good thanks to the distinguished members of the majority, the Republicans, my chairman and others, for giving us an opportunity to have a deliberative constitutional discussion that reinforces the sanctity of this nation and how well it is that we have lasted some 400 years, operating under a Constitution that clearly defines what is constitutional and what is not."


-Sheila Jackson Lee

You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games."



Clipper Owner Donald Sterling to his girlfriend

"We need to consider whether we can talk about trying to reduce population growth and whether that’s compatible with the very reasonable concerns people have about women’s right to control their life decisions and their reproduction."


-Professor Peter Singer on controlling women to stop climate change.


"What has he done, big Magic Johnson, what has he done?" -


-Donald Sterling

"We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt."


-Hillary Clinton

"What I’ve tried to employ the female members of my family — some of who you all met and talked to and what have you — is that ... let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions, because if I come — or somebody else come, whether it’s law enforcement officials, your brother or the fellas that you know — if we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you."


-Steven A Smith

"One problem that I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight."

-Harry Reid at the Asian Chamber of Commerce

"We don't have a strategy."


-Barack Obama on ISIS

"Michael Brown's blood is crying from the ground, crying for vengeance, crying for justice."


-Rev Charles Ewing

"My son as attorney general, the year in Iraq, came back and that’s one of the things that he finds is, was most in need, when he was over there in Iraq for a year, people would come to him and talk about what was happening at home, in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being, I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas."


-Joe Biden

"To be very, very honest with you, the South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans," Landrieu said. "It’s been a difficult time for [President Obama] to present himself in a very positive light as a leader. It’s not always been a good place for women to present ourselves. It’s more of a conservative place, so we’ve had to work a little bit harder on that."


-Senator Mary Landrieu

"Burn this bitch down."


-Michael Brown's stepfather


 

Sports quotes of the year: 2014

Quote of the Year: "I played my last game at shortstop."


-Derek Jeter

And the rest...

"I'm the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. Don't you ever talk about me. Don't you open your mouth about the best, or I'll shut it for you real quick."


-Richard Sherman

"The word ‘embarrassing’ is an insulting word, to tell you the truth."


-Peyton Manning after being asked if he was embarrassed by the Broncos performance in the Superbowl

"Anytime you play your profession and you end up hung — not by the neck, but by the rafters — it’s a great honor."

-Ted Lindsay

"It's as though they've raped college basketball in my opinion."




-Bob Knight on one and dones
"Con man. He has a way of tricking people, and he tricked a lot of people."


-Adrian Dantley on Isiah Thomas

"This is the coward's way out, in my opinion."


-Owner of California Chrome on his competition not running in the Kentucky Derby

Political Quotes of the Year: 2014

Quote of the Year:
"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical to get for the thing to pass. Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not."


-Jonathan Gruber Obamacare Architect

and the rest...

"If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are hopeless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing them with their prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it."


-Mike Huckabee
"He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. There is no excuse for that, and that is predatory behavior. Someone who takes advantage of a young girl in their office? I mean, really. And then they have the gall to stand up and say, 'Republicans are having a war on women?'"


-Rand Paul

"I didn't have a dad in the house, and I was angry about it, even though I didn't necessarily realize it at the time. .... I got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do."




-Barack Obama



"I can do whatever I want."


-Barack Obama

"Putin's playing chess, we're playing marbles."

-Congressman Mike Rogers

"That may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn't make for good argument on Sunday morning shows, but it avoids errors. You hit singles; you hit doubles. Every once in a while, we may be able to hit a home run."


-Barack Obama

"Some presidents take their foreign policy from the idealism of Woodrow Wilson, some from the realism of Henry Kissinger. This is foreign policy from Monty Python."

– George Will on Obama's foreign policy

"I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened."


-Monica Lewinsky
"Mr. President, you love to trade people. Why don’t we set up a trade? But this time, instead of five Taliban, how about five Democrats? I’m thinking John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi; couldn’t we send them to Mexico? "It was a joke. Except for Nancy Pelosi, I was serious about her."

-Rand Paul

"I hate that man Obama more than any man I've ever met, more than any man who ever lived."


-Bill Clinton
"Don't ever second guess me again on Hamas."


-Benjamin Netanyahu to John Kerry and Barack Obama
"They just lied to people."


-Barney Frank on The Obama Administration and health care.
"Israel was using its missiles to protect its children. Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles."


-Benjamin Netanyahu
"One cannot win the war with blankets."


-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
"Most of our Democrat voters aren't aware there's even an election on November 4."


-Barack Obama
"I think we're looking at a 30-year war."


-Leon Panetta on ISIS
"There is a feeling that the president has given up on the big issues facing this country."


-Leon Panetta
"Make no mistake, these policies [of mine] are on the ballot, every single one of them."


-Barack Obama
"This administration has been more dangerous to the press than any in American history."


-Susan Page on the Obama Administration
"Thanks to all of you we are heading to Washington. And we are going to make ‘em squeal."


-Joni Ernst
"Have you met Joe Biden?"


-Trey Gowdy on impeachment
"Iran is not your ally. Iran is not your friend. Iran is your enemy. It's not your partner."


-Benjamin Netanyahu
"The White House elevating Sharpton is insulting to black people."


-Juan Williams
"Obama can tolerate a lot -- cluelessness, incompetence, laziness -- but not criticism."


-Charles Krauthammer

Quotes of the Year: 2014

Sports and politics are not included in the mix...separate posts for those.

Quote of the Year: "We are Groot."

-Groot


Stupid Quote of the Year:

"What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!"


-Protesters led by Al Sharpton

　

and the rest...

"All right, good night."


-Last words from the missing Malaysian airliner

 "Our Western partners headed by the United States prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exceptionalism and their sense of being the chosen ones. That they can decide the destinies of the world, that it is only them who can be right."


-Vladimir Putin

"So, if we’re all going to be outraged, let’s be outraged that we weren’t more outraged when (Sterling’s) racism was first evident. Let’s be outraged that private conversations between people in an intimate relationship are recorded and publicly played. Let’s be outraged that whoever did the betraying will probably get a book deal, a sitcom, trade recipes with Hoda and Kathie Lee, and soon appear on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ "

-Kareen Abdul-Jabbar

  "Nirvana defined a moment, a movement for outsiders, from the fags and the fat girls to the shy nerds and the goth kids in Tennessee and Kentucky, for the rockers to the awkward to the too-smart kids and the bullied. We were a community."

-Michael Stipe

  "Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, 'The world is a harsh place.' My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear f**k all about "the world as a harsh place." She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, 'I'm depressed, I live in Seattle.' F**k you, then kill yourself."

-Gene Simmons

"We do stories on food stamps, but only to the extent that we prove the cast that they’re needed, without also examining well-established fraud and abuse. We look at unemployment but only to the extent that we present sympathetic characters showing that benefits should be extended rather than examining, also, the escalating cost and instances of fraud. We cover minimum wage but only to the extent that we help make the case for raising it, without giving much due to the other side, which argued it will have the opposite effect than intended."

-Sharyl Attkinson

"He's really batshit crazy."

-James Spader on Ultron

"God, I’m going to sound like a grumpy old man. Modern music, to me, is very formulaic."

-David Gilmour

"Unapologetically, this is for the generation that wants to put its headphones on, lie in a beanbag, or whatever, and get off on a piece of music for an extended period of time. You could say it’s not for the iTunes, downloading-individual-tracks generation."


-David Gilmour on the new Pink Floyd album

‘Your country will turn on you. The liberal media will turn on you. The people will grow tired of this. They will turn on you – and when they do, you are going to be abandoned.’"


-Khalid Sheik Mohammad to his captors

"We had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond is white. Bond was never black. Ian

Fleming never created a black Brit to play James Bond. The character was always

white. He was always Scottish. He always drank vodka shaken not stirred and all

that."


-Rush Limbaugh

"If I'm dead do I still have to pay taxes?


-Axl Rose on rumors of his death