All posts by Matthew Callan

Baseball

MLB Playoffs YouTubery: Rays

To celebrate the advent of this year’s MLB playoffs, which I am looking forward to with rapt anticipation (no, really), I’d like to do a few posts featuring YouTube finds representing each team that’s made their way to October. Next, the Rays.

As you might expect, there’s not a huge amount of material out there on the Rays. They’ve only been around since 1998, and their fan base remains relatively small (much to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria’s dismay). I was only able to find a single Rays-related video that truly fits under the admittedly subjective category that I call YouTubery. But boy, is this one a doozy. This item definitely falls under the How Do I Feel About This? category.

It’s called “Defenders of the Game,” a super-hero-y cartoon featuring various members of the Rays, including manager Joe Maddon and coach Don Zimmer, all of whom to their own voice work. It was meant to be in-between inning entertainment, but has of course found its way on the Intertubes. Their arch-nemesis: the evil Umperor!

On the one hand, of course this is cheesy, and Joe Maddon et al. are not the best voice actors in the world. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure that if I was a Rays fan and 8 years old, this would be the coolest effin thing ever. If there was a cartoon featuring Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden as crime solving robots when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have watched anything else ever again. And if you think about the usual between-inning distractions, this is far superior to Kiss Cam and See Which Plane/Subway Car/Moving Van Gets to the Stadium First.

If you’re wondering if there’s an episode guide for this series (which ran at Tropicana Field during the 2007 and 2008 seasons), wonder no more.

Baseball

MLB Playoffs YouTubery: Rangers

To celebrate the advent this year’s MLB playoffs, which I am looking forward to with rapt anticipation (no, really), I’d like to do a few posts featuring YouTube finds representing each team that’s made their way to October. Next, the Rangers.

I was surprised to find a dearth of Rangers material on The YouTubes. Sure, they don’t have the biggest fanbase in the world, but they’ve existed for 40 years and have had some highlights over their history. None particularly spring to mind, but I’m sure they have some.

However, I did enjoy this ad in which a father browbeats his son into LARPing. Minimal baseball content, granted, but a baseball ad nonetheless.

The Rangers played at Shea Stadium in 2008 as part of interleague play. One game was rained out, inspiring several players (who I don’t think see too much precipitation back in Arlington) to play Slip n’ Slide on the infield tarp. This video was set to Rihanna’s “Umbrella” for some reason, which doesn’t quite fit the whimsical mood.

In the twilight of his career, Nolan Ryan pitched for the Rangers, and also lent his name to this electronic pitching game. I don’t remember this existing as a kid, but I totally would have wanted one. Hell, I want one now.

Nolan also endorse a Super Nintendo game, which I never played (I was more of a Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball guy, personally). Watching this video, I do not regret that oversight in my gaming life. Go to this video’s page and read the comments if you want to see people bitch about gameplay in a 20+ year-old video game.

Baseball

MLB Playoffs YouTubery: Braves

To celebrate the advent of this year’s MLB playoffs, which I am looking forward to with rapt anticipation (no, really), I’d like to do a few posts featuring YouTube finds representing each team that’s made their way to October. Next, the Braves.

Atlanta did not enjoy too much success before Bobby Cox came along, but they did manage to win the NL West in 1982 (even more impressive when you consider they’re located nowhere near the west!). Here’s some footage from when the Braves clinched the division on the last day of the season (thanks to a Dodgers loss). The clip starts out pretty low key, as the announcer fills us in on the particulars.

Then it cuts to the locker room, where the jubilant Braves make merry. Ted Turner is soaked in what I hope is champagne, while a blonde sticks to his side. One guy chugs Jack Daniels straight from the bottle, and I’m almost positive he’s not a player, just some dude who weaseled his way into the clubhouse.

Apart from this revelry, the 1980s were not kind to the Braves. But at least they were broadcast coast-to-coast on TBS, thus earning themselves the moniker of America’s Team (more for ubiquity than for performance). If you subjected yourself to Braves baseball at this time, you would’ve been treated to the opening credits seen here–which for some odd reason features as many non-Braves as Braves. Stick around to the end to see Skip Caray bitch about the horrible, horrible team he has to cover each night.

Earlier this year, at a game in Philadelphia, some idiot fan ran on the field in a red version of the Green Man outfit. Slow footed security personnel were unable to stop his romp through the outfield, so left fielder Matt Diaz took the law into his own hands. Be glad you just got tripped, buddy. At Citizen’s Bank Park, miscreants get tased.

Technically, this does not involve a major leaguer, but it happened in the Braves’ organization, so I will allow it. Mississippi Braves manager Phil Wellman disagrees with an umpires call and expresses his opinion with the China Syndrome of managerial meltdowns. On the Shit Fit Scale, this is at Winnebago Man levels.

He had to have been planning this in his head for weeks. Not even the most skilled comic improviser could have performed these shenanigans off the top of the dome.