So we’ll try something new here based on a few brilliant reader suggestions. We’ll put up open-ended posts for the four playoff series and try to add little tidbits throughout the weekend.

* * *

You can’t get any better than this: The brilliant Marty Fennelly interviews Tampa skipper Joe Maddon about, among other things, his favorite Godfather character and how to propose to your girl in a liquor store parking lot. Maddon seems like pretty much the most awesome guy in the world though he does do the ultimate guy thing, which is to credit Mark Twain for a quote he may or may not have said. The “Dance Like No One Is Watching” quote he mentions has been credited to many people, including Twain (of course) and also Satchel Paige. Remember the rule: If you like a quote, credit it to Twain, Abe Lincoln, Confucius, Satchel Paige or Yogi Berra.

* * *

I’m thinking more and more that if Evan Longoria had not gotten hurt, he might very well have become the third man — after Ichiro in 2001 and Fred Lynn in 1975* — to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP in the same season. Look: I think there is no runaway candidate this year, and voters would have bent over backward to give the award to somebody from the best story in baseball. Plus, as we saw tonight, Longoria is a really good player.

*I forgot to the add this Pozterisk last night, but you already knew what it was going to say … Did I mention I’m writing a book about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds?

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 am.
Categories: Playoffs.

16 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Vardibidian

    Unless there’s a ipod involved. Then it’s Stephen Fry.

    Thanks,
    -V.

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  2. Oddibe Kerfeld

    My favorite Godfather character is Tom Hagen, played of course by the great Robery Duval. Joe, maybe there’s another poll question for you?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hagen

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  3. Jonathan

    Also Calvin Coolidge

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  4. Bill C.

    You have to add Ben Franklin to that list of people to attribute quotes to.

    My personal favorite of Ben’s: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  5. Enrique

    And if you need a female, Marilyn Monroe. Didn’t know MM imparted so much wisdom before she left the planet much too soon.

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  6. SMK

    or Oscar Wilde. When one of those Bloomsbury cats said something witty, Wilde said “I wish I’d said that,” and the first cat said “You will, Oscar, you will.” You don’t get that kind of drollery these day.

    Also, Evan Longoria, great googly-moogly.

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  7. Joe M.

    If it’s written and clever, it’s George Carlin.

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  8. KCJoe

    2 words:

    Luca Brazzi

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  9. KCJoe

    “And may your first grandchild, be a masculine grandchild”

    LB

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  10. Adam

    I want to trade cecil cooper and kolby clemens for joe maddon.

    Oct 2nd, 2008

  11. Ben

    So is “Fred Lynn in 1975*” a Phantom Posterisk, or is it an Implicit Posterisk, given that we all know that the Posterisk was going to refer to a mention of the Reds book?

    Oct 3rd, 2008

  12. Speedbird

    Just a quick correction: Longoria would be the third player in the league… Ichiro Suzuki won the MVP and the Rookie of the Year in 2001.

    Oct 3rd, 2008

  13. Brian

    KCJOE - not to be pedantic, but that’s Luca Brasi, to you. I should know - I played in a band by that name. Why name ourselves after him? Because we aspired to musically be what he was - big and scary.

    BTW- his character is much better developed in the book than in the movie, and he was truly horrifying.

    Oct 3rd, 2008

  14. Johnny

    ===(((((Maddon: Boulder, Colorado. In 1975, I played for the Boulder Collegians. When we were playing the Rockies a few years ago, she came out and we drove to Boulder. I looked for the old baseball field, Scotty Carpenter Field. I couldn’t remember where it was at night. I took her to the Dark Horse, which was our hangout - real smelly beer bar, loud music. We had burgers, fries and a couple of beers. Then we went to the Base Line Liquor Store, right near Bauldie Moschetti’s old office, I used to work there.)))))====

    Wow. I was a fourteen year old kid then, living in Boulder, and even attended a Collegians game once, at Scott Carpenter Field on Arapahoe. I probably saw Joe play and didn’t know it. When I was 16, I tried -unsuccessfully- to buy 3.2 beer at Baseline Liquors with my fake I.D… The first time I got drunk in a bar was at the Dark Horse.

    Now I live in St. Pete and root for Joe and the Rays, indeed the best story in baseball, and the funnest team I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

    But I’m not stalking the guy or anything.

    Oct 3rd, 2008

  15. Hitandrun

    Frankie Pentangele who “No manga in Miami, con Hyman Roth.” and eventually took Tom Hagen’s advice and opened a vein.

    Oct 5th, 2008

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