Winter

Means snow.....but not enough to get a snow day.

Cardinals.....but not the Baseball version.
And "puzzle season" at our home.

The Springfield Junior Blues

Last night we went to the Springfield Junior Blues minor league hockey game!
Some of the action below.


The Junior Blues lost 4-2.


Not all was lost.....two good fights. Here is a shot of the first fight, just 1:36 into the first period. #10 left the game with a broken nose.


I went to the game with Khara, Marc and Kevin.


Zambonie!

My favorite shot. The final fight and the boys are squaring off at mid-ice.

Kansas!

We spent the weekend in Lawrence, KS with the Morgans. When we arrived it was 4 above and they had snow.

Here is a shot of Christy and Harry walking over to see Carole at work.

Here I am on Mass street downtown Lawrence.

We had to check out the William Burroughs home, it is still in great shape. Can you imagine him sitting on the front porch with a shotgun?Christy checking out the back yard and looking for something to throw at Harry and me below.
She took a good photo instead. Notice the Gnome Creek railroad in the background.
Christmas at the Morgans!

Harry in his festive hat.

Harry wrestling with his MacMurray sweatshirt.....the sweatshirt won. Carole inspecting her new crazy blue cow.
Sock monkeys riding the crazy blue cow.

Cruddy wrestling with her new scarf thing....


This one was a tie.

Introducing the "missing link sock monkey"! Very cool.

On Saturday Harry and I checked out a great fly shop in Lawrence, Yager's.

They are home to the KU fly fishing club and they have a great logo.

We also ran by Hoglund Ballpark and Bobby Allison field at KU.

Bob Allison was a Jayhawk!

Here is a shot of him in his Twins uniform.

At the University of Kansas Allison was a standout fullback, track star, and baseball player.
In 1958, Bob signed with the Washington Senators, and in 1959, his first full year with the team, he was named American League Rookie of the Year.

At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, he was known as the most feared, physical base runner in the American League.
In 13 seasons with the Washington Senators and the Minnesota Twins, Bob slugged 256 home runs, made three All-Star appearances, and was voted the greatest left fielder in the first 40 years of the Twins.

Below, a great shot of the campus at the University of Kansas.

And a closer shot of the Campanile.On Sunday we ran in to Kansas City. Here is a shot of downtown from Liberty Memorial. Union Station is in the foreground.The Western Auto building in KC.While at the Liberty Memorial we visited the WWI museum. It was great. Here is a shot of a 1917 Harley Davidson produced for the war effort.A very early American tank for WWI.Outside at the Liberty Memorial.

And finally, a shot of our old pad in Lawrence. Still looks good.

HOF Class of 2009

Congratulations to Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson!

Jim Rice:

A tremendously powerful offensive player and a solid glove. The only other players to lead their league in total bases three consecutive years are:

Ty Cobb,Honus Wagner,Rogers Hornsby Johnny Mize and Hank Aaron.

Good company to say the least. A "Deans list" of all-time offensive players.

Rice became the first AL player to accomplish the feat in 70 years when he did it in 1979.

One could make the case that Jim Rice was the best offensive player in the AL from 1975-1986.

Top Ten during that time-

Batting Average-6 times

On Base-2

Slugging-8

At Bats-7

Runs-6

Hits-8

Total Bases-9

Doubles-3

Triples-4

Home Runs-7

RBIs-9

Well Done #14

Ricky Henderson:

25 years in the Big Show, 94.8% of the vote, all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored, drew more than 100 walks in a season 7 times. The greatest leadoff hitter of all time?



We also forget he also hit for power with 4 seasons with more than 20 home runs.

Now if we can just get Bert Blyleven the respect he deserves!

3701 strikeouts (5th all time),287 wins, 60 shutouts, 242 complete games a 2.47 ERA in the post-season and two rings.

Bert got 62% this year (needs 75%).

FYI MacGwire received 21.9%

Next years first-time candidates:

(in alphabetical order): Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Andy Ashby, Ellis Burks, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Shane Reynolds, Robin Ventura, and Todd Zeile.

Wow, not much....Larkin? Appier? Alomar (as an umpire I hope not, remember the spitting incident).

Larkin could be hurt by the fact that he played part of his career in the shadow of the great #17.

Edgar Martinez should have the offensive numbers: .312 career average and 309 home runs but no golden gloves. He was a real butcher at 3B with a range factor of 1.79 and spent most of his career as a DH and that could count against him.

Budweiser in St. Louis

This weekend we ran down to St. Louis.

We met Marc, Khara and Bri at the Budweiser plant for a tour.

I recommend doing this if you are in St. Louis, the grounds are wonderful, the tour is interesting and best of all it is free, including beer at the end.

Here are some shots while on the tour starting with the entrance to the plant.

And inside the Bud Light mini-plane.One of the first delivery trucks in perfect shape.Everybody loves the Budweiser Clydesdales.The Clydesdales are housed in a wonderful stable right on the grounds. Here we are entering the stable.Inside we caught the Budweiser Dalmatian napping in the straw on a cold winter day.Christy checking out the brew tanks.Me, Marc and Khara outside on the grounds.Christy, Khara, Marc and Bri waiting to see the labeling plant.A view of the brewing facilities.My favorite detail of the plant, this super cool fox gargoyle. He is called the "Bevo Fox" and was their marketing image during prohibition.In the gift shop they sold the coolest thing ever. A koozie that goes on your hand and not on the can!The Bud hand-koozie ready for action.