Bud Selig picked up an "Urban Heroes Award" in New York last night (the award was for MLB's support of inner-city youth initiatives).
In honour of Bud being named an Urban Hero (of course, like many another Urban Hero, Bud is currently facing a RICO lawsuit), I'm typing these notes out to the strains of Quincy Jones' "Theme from Ironside" and trying to keep a mental image of Bud striding down the mean streets, keeping together a society tearing itself apart with violence and drugs, using nothing but his wits, his power, his pride.
Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man? Bud! Can you dig it?
Some interesting draft choices were made today, and in true Notes style I'm bringing you the quirky rather than the actually newsworthy. One thing that is newsworthy though, is #1 overall pick Delmon Young, shown here with his brother, Tigers slugger Dmitri Young. Hopefully Delmon will give Dmitri some scratch from his signing bonus, so Dmitri doesn't have to shop at the thrift store for his shirts anymore... Phillip Michael Thomas's cruisewear has seen better days.
Tampa Bay, in addition to Delmon Young, picked up a juco pitcher named William Buckner at the start of the ninth round. That's the Tampa Bay style, no doubt, and he'll fit right in with the Rays, but two things in his scouting report on mlb.com caught my eye. The first was that he was described as "very mature," and the second was that he "has a similar body to Turk Wendell." So as the inevitable Gleemanism would have it, ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is an old, fat player named Bill Buckner.
A couple of other hilarious draft-day scouts' descriptions : Expos fourth-rounder Billy Webb has a "body similar to Rance Mulliniks" and Braves second-rounder Paul Bacot has a "body similar to Brad Rigby." Now there's something to get excited about. Expos first-rounder Chad Cordero is "similar to a taller Rudy Seanez" which is, as everyone knows, the sort of player GMs dream about. I wonder if by "similar to" they mean that he's as tall as a taller Rudy Seanez, or if he actually shares other features with the hypothetical pitcher (is he constantly injured too?)
Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about? Bud. Right on.
Sammy Sosa's story now, apparently the one he finally settled on, is that the corked bat was one he uses in batting practice, to put on a show for the fans. He picked it up by mistake, and he's never used one in a game before. By later this morning, we'll see the MLBPA's Gene Orza on our screens spinning like a gyroscope... expect the line "how can MLB punish a player who just wants to entertain the fans?" to get a thorough airing.
Ruben Rivera has been released by the Giants. Felipe Alou was last seen wandering the bowels of Pac Bell Park, scheming about how to grab another banjo-hitting pinch-runner for his roster.
Todd Hundley is going to need until August to get better; he needs surgery to correct a disc problem in his back that gives him lower-body pain when he throws. That's the human body for you; your back is injured, so your legs hurt when you use your arm. At this point, the Dodgers have to be tempted to send Hundley to the wrecker's yard and strip him for spare parts when Paul LoDuca wears out from overuse.
In closing, I'll just note that they say this cat Bud is a bad mother...
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030604010846999
