Introversion

Introversion
Lucie Byron (Luchie)
Absolutely brilliant comic that I relate very strongly to.  Check out the rest of this work, as well as all of Luchie's other comics, on Tumblr.

Before Hells Bells Ever Rang

Trevor Hoffman
1993 Topps - Card #572

Twenty years ago today, one of the most dominant relief pitchers in the history of the game was traded by the Florida Marlins to the San Diego Padres.  At the time, it was seen as little more than a part of the Padres salary dump.  Throughout the summer of '93, the Padres traded Roger Mason to the Phillies, Fred McGriff to the Braves and Gary Sheffield in this deal to the Marlins.

These deals were highly criticized at the time because it was obvious that it was a purely cost-cutting move.  The Padres traded away their best and highest paid players and the general consensus was that they didn't get much in return.  The only prospect that looked like they might develop into a star player was Melvin Nieves who came from the Braves, and he really didn't pan out.

Trevor Hoffman wasn't really considered much of a prospect.  He was originally drafted as a shortstop by the Cincinnati Reds in 1989.  He was converted into a pitcher in their minor league system, but the club left him unprotected during the 1992 Expansion Draft, and he was taken by the Marlins with the 8th pick.  Dad and I were living in Boynton Beach at the time, and we went to quite a few Marlins games in their inaugural season, so we got to see him pitch twice before the trade.  On May 19th, 1993, we saw him come into the game in the 8th inning against the Phillies, and a few weeks later on June 11th, he pitched the final two innings of the Marlins 11-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The future closer would go on to spend the next 15+ years with the Padres before moving on to spend the last two years of his career with the Milwaukee Brewers.  He retired after the 2010 season with a remarkable 601 career saves (second only to Mariano Rivera for most of all-time).  He was a seven time All-Star, and an almost certain induction to the Hall of Fame.

Public Square in the 50's

Public Square and Market Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA (1953)

What's New, Mr. Governor

What's New, Mr. Governor
WVIA (May, 1973)
When my dad was a kid, he was one of the students who was invited to speak with Governor Milton Shapp on WVIA tv.  He's the one wearing glasses on the far right.  He's as big as the governor, and he looks a lot older than the kids around him, but he's really not.  He had just turned 14 years old a few weeks before this photo was taken.

I found the photo last year when I was cleaning out my grandparent's attic.  It was in a manila envelope with this signed letter from Governor Shapp, which is how I was able to tell where and when it was from.  It also gave me a starting point to see if I could find anything on newspapers.com.  From there, I was able to find another photo of my dad on the show and a tv listing that shows when it aired.

It looks like Dad's appearance aired 40 years ago today, on June 1st, 1973.  This was a Friday evening in the summertime, which is a pretty rough timeslot.  He also had some stiff competition from Bert Parks and Young Dr. Kildare.

I keep meaning to ask him if he remembers anything about this show.  Hopefully I remember to ask next time I see him.