Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
I went to the grocery store Saturday night to buy some ice cream. Since I don’t like to walk in the door and immediately head for the freezers (maybe I feel the need to burn a few more calories before ingesting another thousand, or maybe I’m just trying not to give random observers the behavior they would expect from a fat man), I decided to wander around. Books…magazines…clearance…baseball cards…let’s stop here for a minute....
Just in case you’re wondering, we have granted ourselves permission to write about Jay Bruce in perpetuity, even though he left the Bus Leagues behind long ago. So, shortly after we talked about Jay doing nice things for kids with diseases, he goes and gives his teammates the ol’ double-digit salute on camera. I, personally, am outra…. Aw, screw it, I can’t fake it. Bad words and obscene finger gestures are part of the...
Our annual baseball man-crushes are part of what makes this site what it is — slightly creepy. But seriously, folks. Last year, we latched onto Jamie Owens’ hitting streak. It was a great story that few people ever heard about. The year before that, we gave Jay Bruce, then a Reds farmhand, the nickname “The Deal”, and it turns out he heard about it, and liked it. Turns out our mancrush was legit. He’s...
Diamond Hoggers passed along the following video tonight, in which unofficial Bus Leagues patron saint Jay Bruce is notified both of our existence and the nickname we bestowed upon him early last season. Pretty cool, this is. Jay Bruce wants to be “The Deal”
Since Extra P and I started Bus Leagues last year, I have found myself constantly fascinated by the idea of prospects and the way they perform when they reach the major league level. As I’m sure our readers have noticed by now, Baseball America’s Preseason Top 100 serves as my go-to list in this area – that’s where most of the “Now Batting/Pitching For” posts come from. On its web site, BA has a...
Many of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects continue to see steady playing time in the major leagues; unofficially, I count 40 who have gotten themselves into a game this season. Some, like Geovany Soto, have performed admirably for long stretches at a time; others, like Homer Bailey, got a shot but proved that they weren’t quite ready for The Show. In keeping with the tradition started in early May, I’ve run through the game...
In baseball circles, the name “Kevin Maas” is legend, representative of a highly touted player who bursts onto the scene and fizzles out just quickly. Joe Charbonneau pulled a Maas; so did Bob Hamelin, I’m inclined to say without looking at his numbers. But this, people…this is just naked aggression toward the man who remains our hero despite having been in the major leagues and theoretically off our radar for a month. Jay, what do...
It’s official: Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker are dead to me. Hardcore fans of Bus Leagues will recall that up until a few weeks ago, I planned to make a pilgrimmage to the Holy Land of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to see the Louisville Bats take on the Pawtucket Red Sox. Louisville was, at the time, home to a pair of guys I wanted to see up close and person: outfielder Jay Bruce, the official man-crush of...
Nooooooo, Jay, nooooooo! Stop! Not against THAT team! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Bruce, Dunn homers lead Reds over Red Sox 3-1 (Yahoo! Sports)
We’ve tried hard to ignore the facts here at Bus Leagues, but it can’t be overlooked anymore: Jay Bruce, our first blog-crush, is gone for good, never to return. And while we couldn’t be happier to observe his early success in The Show from afar, his career growth has left an obvious void in our lives. Who will we discuss in hushed tones over Gmail Chat? Whose name will grow exponentially in the tag cloud...
