Death And Texas Halolinks

from the Oxnard (Press) Courier. I still remember the final location for that place over on 8th street in crappy downtown Oxnard adjacent to the GTE building. I think it closed the same year as the baseball strike or maybe early 95, I can’t remember. For a time, it was two dueling papers: the Star Free Press (which my parents subscribed to) and the OPC.

Ahhh memories….

Oh and that Gertrude Wright had Kardashian beat by a good 99 years.

He is apparently the Texas cousin of the LA Times’ Bill Plaschke, who also subscribes to the same “one sentence equals one paragraph” style that every 3rd-grader facing an essay embraces. Combine that with the My Weekly Reader typeface and we see a minuscule idea turned into a contractually-obligated sports column.

I figure the low literacy rate in his subscriber base ultimately works in his favor.

Otherwise, he states as a fact that the TV contract for the Rangers begins paying out in the 2014 season. Everything I have read to date says it doesn’t kick in until 2015.

Of course, he still believes the deal is paying the Rangers $3B, a myth that was put to bed a year ago when it was clarified that the deal pays about $1.6B, with escalator clauses which could raise the payout. But, hey, it’s just a newspaper in Wichita Falls; who needs facts or accuracy, much less literary style?

this post is brought to you by a six pack of Leinenhbrugh and four remaining Heineken cans… jus sayin…. and LCD Soundsystem, 9:40 at night in South Korea.

That’s an aamazing post about the MiLB btw.

F-you New York

In 1951 the owners wanted to ban major league broadcasts in towns with minor league teams in order to keep game attendance figures up!

Hell, the NFL actually does this, except they black out their own broadcasts.

In the Oxnard paper, page 3, in the recap of the WS game between the NY Giants and the Boston Red Sox, we get this gem:

“Nearly a thousand people were camped out on the Polo grounds throughout the night in an endeavor to get a good seat. 300 Boston rooters secured seats together, but only after a stiff scrap with Ban Johnson [stirrups note – Ban Johnson founded the AL and was League President at the time]. Mayor Fitzgerald of Boston hearing that Johnson was to fail to “come through” with the block of seats sent hte following telegram:

Unless these 300 Red Sox rooters are given seats for the first game, I will prevent the world’s series games in Boston by revoking the charter of the Boston team." The bluff worked.

Just wanted to pass along this picture meme to you guys. You need it more than we do now.

(Here’s a slightly higher-res version.)

You may need to change the shade of red a bit, though.