Wanted: Bulk!

[tysok]

We have some news articles that are sorely needing some bulk in them. We'll be posting up some suggestion threads for these shortly.

These are a little different, we're not NEEDING full stories. You can post them if you want, if they're really different than the messages already in there or they're really good we may use them, but mainly we're looking for quotes or the story section that's got some good description or celebrates the feat a little better than what may be there now. So if you right up a story header and a quote with a stat line we may just end up using the quote, or using the quote and the header in two different objects.

For instance stories should really be like:
It doesn't get much better than this for a 25-year old rookie center fielder. Not only is Steve Link playing professional baseball for the Boston Links, he's already putting together some pretty solid numbers--good enough to win the National League Batter of the Month award for May.
In 5 games he recorded a standout .333 average with 15 homeruns, 102 RBI, and 5 runs scored.

It's got a good story line at the top. The stat line is pretty much basic no frills in everything. Quotes would go in between the main story (what's there in that example) and the stat line.

We have a lot of stories that look more like this:
Steve Link of the Boston Links has been chosen the top Rookie in the National League.
In May he racked up 60 hits, 15 homeruns, 102 RBI, and 5 runs scored. He hit .333 with an OBP of .455.

Short and to the point. I'd like to bulk some of those up. My creativity goes only so far so we're going to post up and get some ideas about bulking those little things up some so they make good news.
You can post quotes, a news story (the header up there) or the whole thing. Try to keep to just one, maybe two stats in the header... the rest get stuck in the stat line.
We're also not dealing with conditions right now, these are general messages. The only conditions we're playing with are pretty much age, and quality at this point. You can specifiy what condition you think it may need, or not. Just help us bulk up some of these scrawny things so we can eat them for christmas dinner.

[tysok]

We'll be marking the end of these categories with a (B) in the subject line here so you'll know which ones are just looking for bulk.

[Curtis]

When asked for the secret to his success, Steve replied, "God gave me a strong right arm and a weak left brain."

…Steve credited his mother, saying, "Mom worked two jobs so that my brothers and I could spend our afternoons on the playground, rather than behind the counter at Arby's. Without Mom, I'd be making minimum wage pushing a broom somewhere cold, instead of being paid to play a game I love on a warm, sunny ballfield." (or, "…under a cozy, air-conditioned dome.")

When SION asked Steve for the reason for his recent turnaround he responded, with tongue firmly in cheek, "I owe it all to my AA sponsor, and to the nice man who mugged me so I couldn't afford to buy cigarettes."

[jdew]

Originally Posted by tysok

... but mainly we're looking for quotes ....

Don't know if you can use them, but they are certainly entertaining....


I think we can win if my brains hold out.
One percent of ballplayers are leaders of men. The other 99 percent are followers of women.
The boy's got talent and desire but he ain't got no neck.
The team that gets off to a good start wins pennants.
(John McGraw)

I'm just glad to be here.
I want to help the team any way I can.
Baseball is a funny game.
I'd rather be lucky than good.
We're gonna take the season one game at a time.
If we stay healthy we should be right there.
It takes a team.
We'll get 'em tomorrow.
This team seems ready to gel.
The catcher and I were on the same wavelength.
I just went right at 'em.
We've got to have fun.
I didn't have my good stuff, but I battled 'em.
Give the guy some credit; he hit a good pitch.
We were due to catch a break or two.
I was getting my off-speed stuff over so they couldn't sit on the fastball.
I had some great plays made behind me today.
I just wanted to go as hard as I could as long as I could.
I'm seeing the ball real good.
I hit that ball good.
(Don Carmen)

I'm happy for him.... that is, if you think becoming a big league manager is a good thing to have happen to you.
(Walter Alston)

I come to win.
If you don't win, you're gonna be fired. If you do win, you've only put off the day you're gonna be fired.
I made a game effort to argue but two things were against me: the umpires and the rules.
Some guys are admired by coming to play, as the saying goes. I prefer those who come to kill.
You argue with the umpire because there is nothing else you can do about it.
You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it might rain.
(Leo Durocher)

I'm not buddy-buddy with the players. If they need a buddy, let them buy a dog.
(Whitey Herzog)

Guys ask me don't I get burned out? How can you get burned out doing something you love? I ask you, have you ever got tired of kissing a pretty girl?
I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer.
I walk into the clubhouse and its like walking into the Mayo Clinic. We have 4 doctors, 3 therapists and 5 trainers. Back when I broke in we had one trainer who carried a bottle of rubbing alcohol and by the 7th inning he had drunk it all.
My theory of hitting is just to watch the ball as it comes in and hit it.
There are 3 types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happens.
(Tommy LaSorda)

The players make the manager; its never the other way.
(Sparky Anderson)

You were born with two strikes against you so don't take the third one on your own.
(Connie Mack)

All I ask is that you bust your heiny on that field.
Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.
Managing is getting paid for homeruns someone else hits.
Mister, that boy couldn't hit the ground if he fell out of an airplane.
This club plays better baseball now. Some of them look fairly alert.
We are a much improved ballclub; now we lose in extra innings.
(Casey Stengel)

The problem with being Comeback Player of the Year is it means you have to go somewhere before you can come back.
(Bert Blyleven)

Heck, if anybody told me I was setting a record I'd of got me some more strikeouts.
I ain't what I used to be but who the heck is?
It puzzles me how they know what corners are good for filling stations. Just how did they know gas and oil was under there?
(Dizzy Dean)

I had some friends here from North Carolina who'd never seen a homer, so I gave them a couple.
(Catfish Hunter)

My feeling is that when you're managing a baseball team, you have to pick the right people to play and then pray a lot.
(Robin Roberts)

He has muscles in his hair.
The secret of my success is clean living and a fast outfield.
(Lefty Gomez)

He's the only guy who can throw a baseball through a car wash and not get the ball wet.
I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.
I'm just like everybody else. I have two arms, two legs and 4,000 hits.
Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.
There is an old saying that money can't buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game.
With the money I'm making, I should be playing two positions.
When you play this game twenty years, go to bat ten-thousand times, and get three-thousand hits, do you know what that means? You've gone zero for seven-thousand.
(Pete Rose)

Ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.
Gee, its lonesome in the outfield. It's hard to keep awake with nothing to do.
(Babe Ruth)

Luck is the great stabilizer in baseball.
(Tris Speaker)

I was reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care.
Please God, let me hit one. I'll tell everybody you did it.
You know, this game's not very much fun when you're only hitting .247
(Reggie Jackson)

Trying to hit him was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.
It's supposed to be fun, the man says 'Play Ball' not 'Work Ball' you know.
(Willy Stargell)

I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it.
(Rogers Hornsby)

Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.
(Andy Van Slyke)

Look for the seams and then hit in between them.
(Harmon Killebrew)

Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.
It's funny what a few no-hitters do for a body.
Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don't move.
My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.
(Satchel Paige)



And lastly...

I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote, and I didn't know what a quote was. I thought it was some kind of soft drink.
(Joe DiMaggio)

[Eugene Church]

jdew, thanks for the ideas.

Hope we can work a bunch of them in the game somehow.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.

[jdew]

You might try stringing a few together, changing a bit here and there and pretty soon you've got a bona fide baseball quote.

Something like....

For a new manager:
"I'm just glad to be here. We're gonna have to take the season one game at a time you know, but I want to tell you I come to win. If I don't win, I'm gonna be fired. If I do win, I've only put off the day I'm gonna be fired. I think this team seems ready to gel. And I gotta say that I think we can win if my brains and our bullpen hold out. "

Three Homeruns in a game:
"I was seeing the ball real good. Had some friends up here from back home who'd never seen a big league homer so I game them a few. Its days like today that make me say I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball."

On 3000 hits:
"Baseball is a funny game. My first manager told me that a man is born with two strikes against him so don't take the third one on your own. Yup, just see the ball as it comes in and hit it. And that's what I've been doing. But I gotta tell you I'm just like anyone else... I've got two arms, two legs and 3000 hits."

League record for strikeouts (pitcher) in a game:
"I just went right at 'em.... just wanted to go as hard as I could as long as I could. Heck, if anybody told me I was setting a record I'd of got me some more strikeouts. Its like my very first pitching coach back home told me... he said 'Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don't move.' "