Major League Baseball Trivia
Click here for first chance to purchase my new trivia book MILWAUKEE BREWERS IQ: THE ULTIMATE TEST OF TRUE FANDOM
Saturday, March 13, 2010
BREWERS IQ Trivia Book set to be released April 6th!
Release date set for April 6th, the day after the Brewers home opener!
"Our fourth MLB book in the IQ series, Milwaukee Brewers IQ: The Ultimate Test of True Fandom, by author Joel Katte will be released on April 6. Joel is a former professional baseball player in the Angels minor league system. He’s also the co-author of Black Mesa’s soon-to-be-released St. Louis Cardinals IQ book and he is working on his memoir, The County Stadium Kid."
http://www.blackmesabooks.com/Black_Mesa_Publishing/Black_Mesa.html
"Our fourth MLB book in the IQ series, Milwaukee Brewers IQ: The Ultimate Test of True Fandom, by author Joel Katte will be released on April 6. Joel is a former professional baseball player in the Angels minor league system. He’s also the co-author of Black Mesa’s soon-to-be-released St. Louis Cardinals IQ book and he is working on his memoir, The County Stadium Kid."
http://www.blackmesabooks.com/Black_Mesa_Publishing/Black_Mesa.html
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sneak Peak at My New MILWAUKEE BREWERS IQ Trivia Book Due Out Before Opening Day
I just received a sneak peak at what my book's cover might look like. I like the focus on the stadium's signature roof and colors of the retro uniforms. The picture was taken on one of the "Arctic Freeze" 8 degrees days when fans were sleeping in tents, tailgating, and waiting for Opening Day tickets. Certainly, those diehards deserve "ultimate" status in true fandom.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
MILWAUKEE BREWERS 40th ANNIVERSARY TEAM
Twenty years ago fans voted and selected the following Milwaukee Brewers to the elite 20th Anniversary Team:
Pitchers: Mike Caldwell, Rollie Fingers, Pete Vuckovich
Catcher: Charlie Moore
First Base: Cecil Cooper
Second Base: Jim Gantner
Third Base: Paul Molitor
Shortstop: Robin Yount
Outfield: Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie
Designated Hitter: Hank Aaron
Okay, so after twenty more years of Brewers baseball have been etched into Major League baseball history, who should be out and who should be in? Comment below and state your case for what Brewers should be on this year's 40th Anniversary Team.
Pitchers: Mike Caldwell, Rollie Fingers, Pete Vuckovich
Catcher: Charlie Moore
First Base: Cecil Cooper
Second Base: Jim Gantner
Third Base: Paul Molitor
Shortstop: Robin Yount
Outfield: Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie
Designated Hitter: Hank Aaron
Okay, so after twenty more years of Brewers baseball have been etched into Major League baseball history, who should be out and who should be in? Comment below and state your case for what Brewers should be on this year's 40th Anniversary Team.
Friday, February 12, 2010
HOPING FOR ANOTHER 1980 U.S. OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM-LIKE MIRACLE
Sometimes special sports teams or certain player performances can heal, unite, or breed hope. The 2001 New York Yankees amidst the 9/11 aftermath and Kirk Gibson hobbling around the bases after his game-winning home run for the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers are a couple of those kind of moments.
However, once in a while a game can ignite the human spirit that inspires a nation. And that is what the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team accomplished with their "Miracle on Ice" when they defeated the Goliath Soviet Union squad in the medal-round on February 22, in Lake Placid, New York.
The U.S. team's victory over the Soviet Union and their win over Finland in the gold medal match lifted the spirits of the American people, resuscitating our country's national pride.
It's no secret that our country needs another miracle. Please join me in the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant while watching the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver and believe.
However, once in a while a game can ignite the human spirit that inspires a nation. And that is what the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team accomplished with their "Miracle on Ice" when they defeated the Goliath Soviet Union squad in the medal-round on February 22, in Lake Placid, New York.
The U.S. team's victory over the Soviet Union and their win over Finland in the gold medal match lifted the spirits of the American people, resuscitating our country's national pride.
It's no secret that our country needs another miracle. Please join me in the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant while watching the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver and believe.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dreaming of Spring Training Camp
One more football game and then sports fans can begin dreaming of sunny spring baseball in Florida and Arizona. Sometimes I catch myself wondering why I spend my winters in Wisconsin but then I remember nobody beats our summers.
The start of February assures me that pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training camp in a couple of weeks. I love this time of year. Whenever the pitchers and catchers reported to camp when I was a kid, so did I. I grabbed baseball gloves, a ball, and a shovel and shoveled the snow out of our backyard. I shoveled and shoveled until I saw a good sixty feet and six inches of grass for my Dad and me to play catch on when he returned from a day's worth of welding in our Wisconsin winter's wind chills. We ended our February spring training camp sessions with Dad throwing me some snowball batting practice sessions.
February means spring's renewal of buds, birds, blades of grass, and bugs with another Major League Baseball season of Milwaukee Brewers, bats, balls, and beer is close and that gives me hope, hope that our days will last a little longer and the Brewers might win their first ever World Series championship.
It won't bother me if the groundhog predicts a few extra weeks of winter tomorrow morning, for I know I can shovel my way into my childhood spring training camp in just a couple of weeks, giving me ample time to assure that my throwing arm will be in playing shape for some tailgating toss by the time Opening Day rolls around in April.
Thanks for reading! Comment below and finish this sentence, "You know it's time for Opening Day when ..."
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
FAVRE FILES: GIVE THE MAN A PASS
Okay, for the past four years now I have been very frustrated with the Brett Favre Files. Like many other Green Bay Packers fans, I was begging for some sort of end to what we believed to be Favre’s story book career. It never came, and now we are forced to endure another season of Favre in a non-green-and-gold jersey.
Although it is very difficult to see Favre in a Vikings jersey, the legend has finally won me over again. I realize admitting this on my blog might cause Wisconsin readers to question my sanity, but please hear me out.
Brett Favre ’09 is Rocky VI. Both Favre and Rocky have heart. They’re passionate about their sports. Football and boxing are pretty much all they know and what they do best. It appears both will play and fight as long as they remain vertical. Neither age nor injuries can stop them from competing and giving it all they’ve got.
Brett Favre is not Michael Jordan, and that’s a good thing. Jordan’s retirements seemed calculated for attention and marketing purposes. Favre just doesn’t go that deep. He doesn’t think that way. Pretty much all he thinks is grab ball and chuck ball, hoping to throw more touchdown passes than interceptions to help his team win more games than they lose for a chance at the playoffs and a shot at another Super Bowl appearance.
Brett Favre is the epitome of my all-time favorite quote: “You don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.”—George Bernard Shaw
As long as Favre continues to throw a uniform on—no matter what colors—and competitively plays the game he loves so deeply, he will remain young at heart.
Bo knows; Favre doesn’t. See, Favre doesn’t know who he is without football. Without it, he’s a starving, homeless orphan. Let the man have his football, so he can eat, drink, and be merry. You don’t have to root for him, but don’t root against him. Just watch him and respect his passion for the game.
He’s not the only sports legend who has hung on long enough to receive their AARP card. Rickey Henderson played independent minor league ball clinging to his dream of another Major League contract in his late forties. At the age of 49, Julio Franco’s exotic batting stance continued to grace Major League batters boxes. And only God knows exactly how old Satchel Paige was when he pitched his last professional baseball game. There is something magical about these men and their quests for the fountain of youth in their sports. Although we know their bodies will eventually fade, their boyhood innocence and contagious spirit is eternal.
Read the poem below and try to recall other sports legends who embody the Satchel Paige timelessness of sports? (Feel free to comment below.)
“To Satch”
by Samuel Washington Allen
Sometimes I feel like I will never stop
Just go on forever
Till one fine mornin
I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars
Swing out my long lean leg
And whip three hot strikes burnin down the heavens
And look over at God and say
How about that!
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/115602-Samuel-Washington-Allen-To-Satch
Although it is very difficult to see Favre in a Vikings jersey, the legend has finally won me over again. I realize admitting this on my blog might cause Wisconsin readers to question my sanity, but please hear me out.
Brett Favre ’09 is Rocky VI. Both Favre and Rocky have heart. They’re passionate about their sports. Football and boxing are pretty much all they know and what they do best. It appears both will play and fight as long as they remain vertical. Neither age nor injuries can stop them from competing and giving it all they’ve got.
Brett Favre is not Michael Jordan, and that’s a good thing. Jordan’s retirements seemed calculated for attention and marketing purposes. Favre just doesn’t go that deep. He doesn’t think that way. Pretty much all he thinks is grab ball and chuck ball, hoping to throw more touchdown passes than interceptions to help his team win more games than they lose for a chance at the playoffs and a shot at another Super Bowl appearance.
Brett Favre is the epitome of my all-time favorite quote: “You don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.”—George Bernard Shaw
As long as Favre continues to throw a uniform on—no matter what colors—and competitively plays the game he loves so deeply, he will remain young at heart.
Bo knows; Favre doesn’t. See, Favre doesn’t know who he is without football. Without it, he’s a starving, homeless orphan. Let the man have his football, so he can eat, drink, and be merry. You don’t have to root for him, but don’t root against him. Just watch him and respect his passion for the game.
He’s not the only sports legend who has hung on long enough to receive their AARP card. Rickey Henderson played independent minor league ball clinging to his dream of another Major League contract in his late forties. At the age of 49, Julio Franco’s exotic batting stance continued to grace Major League batters boxes. And only God knows exactly how old Satchel Paige was when he pitched his last professional baseball game. There is something magical about these men and their quests for the fountain of youth in their sports. Although we know their bodies will eventually fade, their boyhood innocence and contagious spirit is eternal.
Read the poem below and try to recall other sports legends who embody the Satchel Paige timelessness of sports? (Feel free to comment below.)
“To Satch”
by Samuel Washington Allen
Sometimes I feel like I will never stop
Just go on forever
Till one fine mornin
I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars
Swing out my long lean leg
And whip three hot strikes burnin down the heavens
And look over at God and say
How about that!
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/115602-Samuel-Washington-Allen-To-Satch
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