The Waffle Maker, the Best Cubs Logos, Learning Pitches, and Other Bullets
Bet you didn’t think you were gonna read about my underwear today. I need to get some more, so I’m perusing Saxx on Amazon. True story: I got my first pair because Jake Arrieta was one of the faces of their brand when he was with the Cubs and they sent me a sample. Turned out, it was the best underwear I’ve ever had, so apparently their plan worked on me. Now I want more. That’s right. Brett in his underwear. You’re picturing it now. You’re welcome.
- Ian Happ offers the comprehensive explanation of the Waffle Maker:
Waffles? In the @Cubs' dugout?
.@ihapp_1 joined #MLBNHotStove to explain: https://t.co/VF3c0NydhA pic.twitter.com/Bd30Al2uss
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 15, 2019
- It’s time for Bartolo to join the Cubs:
Bartolo Colon wants to keep pitching https://t.co/ngG1KS9zMt
— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) January 15, 2019
- Scrape together what money you can, Cubs, and make it happen. Maybe Bartolo can be the team’s third or fourth best option in the bullpen …
- Be safe out there, baseball fans:
The Harper Storm is coming to Chicago this weekend. pic.twitter.com/47gg14btgm
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) January 16, 2019
- You can do it, my friends:
- The question is, which logo do you like best:
don’t know what I like most, the little 1908 bear, the UBS or during the war when the Cubs said “NO, bears are ANGERY” pic.twitter.com/IU52i6XhvQ
— kristen desilva (@kristendesilva) January 16, 2019
- I think the current iteration is definitely the best of *that* style, but the 1908 and 1927 have always been my favorites. I must like that dopey-looking bear. Also, 1918 is so horrible that it’s almost good. 1948 is just horribly horrible.
- Steve Stone, now 71, shares many thoughts at FanGraphs on pitching. Whatever you think of his departure from the Cubs’ booth, the guy knows pitching, and it’s a very interesting read. This anecdote had me chuckling and thinking about what that would look like today: “Gaylord [Perry] wasn’t forthcoming about anything that made him the pitcher he was …. Perry threw a spitter. He wasn’t going to share that. Not unless I brought $3,000 to the park. That’s how much he said he’d charge to teach me the spitter. I was taking home $8,500. I didn’t want to give him 40% of my yearly take-home pay to try to learn a pitch that very few people can master.” Imagine Jon Lester telling Mike Montgomery, “Yeah, I can teach you how to throw my cutter, but it’s gonna cost you a million bucks.” (Of course, funny thing is, if there were a guarantee that a guy could pick up and duplicate Lester’s prime cutter, it would be worth a heckuva lot more than a million bucks to that pitcher. But, of course, learning how to throw a pitch and actually being able to successfully execute it hundreds of times are two very different things.)
- The cross-section of sports, violence, second chances, and social progress now hits the other sport we cover:
So What Did Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace Actually Say About Adding Kareem Hunt? https://t.co/GXqpoKfOAB pic.twitter.com/QfkcIGvIrN
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) January 15, 2019