Say Cheesy!

Smiles are one of the few affect displays that are universal. In fact, we even share them with other primates, like chimps and monkeys (some primatologists claim that smiles are over 30 million years old). Supposedly, smiles come from a primate fear display that shows that the bearer is harmless. 

At the same time, I’m not totally sure what these guys are trying to convey here  …

That’s a good try there, Eric.  We’re not quite there yet, though, are we?

Eric Rasmussen’s been here before, where he looked even weirder (much, much weirder in fact). I touched on his stats there, and also mentioned his changing his name from Harold to Eric in the offseason one year ([insert player-to-be-named-later joke here]). I failed to mention, though, that Eric’s still in baseball, has been active coaching minor league pitchers since his playing days were over, and is currently the Minor League Pitching Coordinator for the Twins. 

That’s more like it. Eric, why can’t you just be more like Jim here?

Jim Wohlford was up for 15 years in the bigs, but was only a regular for a couple of those. He was your typical fourth outfielder, known more for his defense than anything else. 

Nonetheless, he did make the 100 Greatest Royals blog, coming in at #86. And that means he beat guys like Mike Hedlund and Rusty Meacham but, unfortunately, came behind others like Carlos Febles and Fran Healy.

File under “shit-eating grin”

Though I am sure Ken Griffey Sr. has more than enough to be grinning about. Think about it – 19 years, .296 career average, three All-Star appearances … And then there’s that kid of his – Jimbo, or Juno, or whatever his name is. 
      

Or is this his sister Jackie?

Jack Kucek sure did pitch like a girl. I’m talking a 5.12 ERA, a 1.668 WHIP, and a 7-16 record. And that’s about all there is to say about Mr. Kucek …

Oh, he did have four names – John Andrew Charles Kucek. And baseball-reference.com tells me that his nickname was indeed “Jackie.”

Byron was so proud of his new teeth.

Wikipedia cuts right to the chase with Byron Browne. It mentions that he made an out in Sandy Koufax’s perfect game for his first major league at bat and also that he had the “dubious distinction” of leading the league in strikeouts in 1966. It then goes on to say that Byron:

seldom delivered, particularly in the clutch. To some cynics, his chief contribution was the refreshing breeze on hot and humid South Philadelphia evenings which emanated from his regular swings and misses.

Hey, who wrote this thing? Was Byron’s ex involved at all?

Like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Nate Colbert’s been in this blog before, where we put him down for being just plain ugly. I shared his (not unimpressive) stats there, but I didn’t share the following great story.

Turns out Nate once hit five homers and drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader. In so doing, he tied Stan Musial for the homer record and broke Stan’s record on the RBIs. What’s really interesting about that one, though, is that Nate was actually present – as a kid, in the stands – when Musial set his records. Pretty crazy, huh?