Episode 313 - Clowning Around

0:00Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Two Strike Noise, your mom's favorite baseball history podcast. Your dad hasn't come around on us yet, but your mom, big fan. My name is Jeff. Joining me is always the second half of this show today from the Ben Davis studio in the Pacific Northwest. It is my co-host, Mark A. Johnston. Hello, Jeff. Hello, all you Ben Davis

0:35fans. Fan. It's just singular. All the fan. Relatives as well. Appreciate you listening. And I did check to make sure this was my mom's favorite baseball history podcast. It is. So I wasn't positive. Now, it's really weird that you are in the Ben Davis studio this week because Ben Davis is in the news this week as well. Is he? Yes. Let's let's find out what it is. Let's head into our BP segment here to start things out, get us warmed up. Ben Davis had himself

1:09an accident last week ish. I'm not sure exactly when this happened, but somehow Ben Davis cut himself to the bone while cutting through trees that had fallen during a recent snowfall with a chainsaw. Yikes. This sounds like the old timey baseball origin stories that we come across a lot of the time. Only it's he's going to come back as a pitcher, a really weird pitch. This is it made me cringe when I read about it. This is a quote from Davis. He said, quote, it was only about three inches

1:42long, but it did go to the bone. Now, as end quote there, I always got to put end quote. I don't want anybody to think he's still talking about this. But Mark, what's the first thing you do if you cut yourself with a chainsaw to the bone? Well, either scream or cry. And then I'm thinking about getting to a hospital. That's where you and Ben Davis are different, Mark. I see. This is another quote from him. Ben Davis says, quote, I've got stary strips holding it together and a big bandage on top

2:12with some neosporin. Oh, that'll take care of it. It needs stitches, but I'm okay. I'm fine. I got a bandage on it. I do have to keep it straight because every time I bend it, it opens up even more. Oh, jeez. Are you just, end quote, are you just going to keep it straight for like a month? Is that the, it's on his knee. It's his kneecap. So walking is going to make, there's being tough and there's being dumb. Ben, go to the doctor. Come on, man. That hurts to the bone. And I just

2:47rub some dirt on it. I guess that's baseball. Rub dirt on it. As a rule, just me personally, any chainsaw injury, I think should go to the emergency room. That's just me. Yeah. And frankly, I think my wife who works in an ER would agree with me on that. I think she probably would as well. If you're using a chainsaw, why aren't you wearing those chaps that prevent this kind of thing? That's an interesting idea. Safety equipment. Yeah. It hasn't really struck yet. He's a catcher. So what he used to wearing the tools of ignorance, but that doesn't carry over into his everyday life.

3:24He should be all about safety equipment. That's a great point. He could have at least been wearing just like his, his catcher's gear would have even been better. Sure. Absolutely. Wow. Catchers, man. They're the lefty relievers of the position players. I guess so. All right. Speaking of thing, and you know what, I think that is also an endorsement opportunity for those protective chaps to talk with Ben Davis. But speaking of opportunities for endorsements, for, for being

3:56able to say, Hey, use this. I can tell you it works. We've talked about Matt Waldron before on this show. I think he's the only knuckleball pitcher in the big leagues currently, at least. I know he's Joey Gallo throwing a knuckleball. I think he's still trying to make it as a pitcher. I think that would be probably his, I would, I, I don't know. Joey Gallo was a gold glove outfielder. Maybe he's got a good arm. I don't know. But regardless, Matt Waldron, I don't know if he's going to be ready for opening

4:26day. He was hospitalized for multiple days after going hemorrhoid surgery. Oh, ouch. Yeah. In steps, however, dude wipes may or may not have offered to sponsor this podcast at one time. And this is not a sponsor. Trust me. We're not. No, just reading something I read about here. A rep from dude wipes said, quote, they would be happy to send Waldron some of their fragrance-free flushable hemorrhoid wipes medicated with witch hazel for soothing relief. That does sound like we're sponsored,

4:58but we're not. He goes on to say hemorrhoids are no laughing matter. We want to help. George Brett is wishing that he had some dude wipes back when he was playing. I figured that he probably gave him a call in the hospital. Why are they not using George Brett as it is right now to promote this? He's got a good sense of humor about it. He jokes about it. He does. Yeah. I think that would be a, that would be a win for dude wipes. Then maybe we'll reconsider. If George, let me say

5:29this. If George Brett goes on to endorse dude wipes, we will do a dude wipe deal. How about that? Anything to get along with George Brett. That's right. Yeah. George is our boy. Absolutely. All right. Mark, I'm sure you, like me, play the Immaculate Grid quite often on Baseball Reference. Real fun game. There are some categories though, if you're trying for a real low score that I've come up with a couple of players that we talk about quite often that I never knew pitched. So this is one of those when you get the pitched one game, excuse me, when you get the pitched

6:05one game column, be on the lookout for these. Cause I guarantee these will be very low scores. First of all, Josh Gibson pitched one time. Okay. And just one time for Josh Gibson didn't go particularly well. It was when he was with the Crawfords in 1935, he only was on the mound for an inning and two thirds. Gave up four hits, four runs, both earned, walked one for an ERA of 21.6. Now, not great.

6:38That's not his forte, obviously, but again, it's there. You can use it if you need. He is pitched. But now this one I did not know about, and I don't know how I didn't because he pitched in almost 50 games. Started 30 of them. Cool Papa Bell. No kidding. Yeah. He pitched four different times for the St. Louis Stars. 1922, 23, and 24, and then again in 29. And he had a lot better

7:11success. He started, like I said, 30 of those 49 games at an overall mark of 20 and 15 with the ERA of 4.53, threw over 300 innings, gave up 337 hits, struck out 146, only walked only. He walked 94, which isn't too bad. He just didn't strike out a lot of guys, but he had ERA plus of 98. So he was an average pitcher. Wow. While being a clearly above average outfielder and base runner.

7:44Sure. I didn't, I had no idea though that he had ever pitched at all. No, that's news to me. Yeah. Guy hit 325, 394 lifetime on base. That's pretty good, yeah. A ton of stolen bases and a winning record on the mound. I love Cool Papa Bell more. The more I learn about him, the more I like about him. Absolutely. You can't beat a name like Cool Papa. He was a cool guy. That's. He has to have been. You don't just get that moniker for nothing. No. Now, what do you think? Do you think he just had a cool walk? Do you think he just had a

8:17kind of chill attitude? What? I just think he was like the Fonz, like. Because I think from what I have seen, and I haven't seen, I don't know if I've seen more than one interview with Cool Papa Bell on film. But Satchel Paige, I've seen several interviews with. And like, that guy seems to me like Cool would be a good name. Satchel, he's already got a nickname, but maybe like Cool Satch. Yeah. Because he was just cool. You don't know what year I was born in? Maybe I don't know what

8:49year I was born in. One other guy I wanted to talk about. This is a contemporary guy with my boys, the Mets. Picture Ryan Lambert. So he was struggling. He was looking to gain velocity, in his words. Wanted to gain some strength and velocity. And he came across an internet video citing the benefits of eating raw eggs. Now, I cannot confirm or not if this is, if he was actually just watching Rocky or not. But he said in his words here that he wasn't

9:20chicken. So he was going to try it. Now that's Mark level dad joke material right there. It's cheesy. Yeah. I get you. Yeah. So Lambert did what any one of us would do. And he decided to eat 30 raw eggs per day for a month. Wow. Yikes. He's one of those guys that is not a vegan, but he probably is in spirit because he will tell you all about his eating habits, whether you ask him or not. And he will judge yours. Gotcha. Apparently though, this worked because Lambert is so far this spring,

9:54the hardest throwing pitcher in Mets camp, hitting around a hundred on the radar gun. So last season, he actually had a strikeout rate of 14.6, showing that those eggs were doing their thing beyond not causing him salmonella somehow. Yes. Lambert still in just around 10 or so on a daily basis, he says. He needs that big league per diem though, I think, because eggs are not as cheap as they were when he started this a couple of years ago. He says he used to be able to pick up around a dozen eggs for about five bucks. Now,

10:29I mean, you're probably looking at about 50 to $70 for that. Guys, when they get those big league checks, they buy houses for everybody they know, or expensive cars, jewelry, stuff like that. Lambert, he's going to buy a chicken coop is my guess. Ooh, that's a good idea. He's saving himself lots of money that way. Smart money. That's how you, that's how you get that money and you keep that money is by buying a chicken coop and chickens, of course, not you just, the coop itself isn't going to do anything, but. Yeah, I tried that once and nothing happened.

11:00No eggs. No eggs, nothing. No. Weird how that, or if you get a male chicken, I think they're just called roosters then. Little Jerry. I saw here in the Bay Area, they just busted a huge cockfighting ring. Oh, really? Yeah. They did not name any of the participants though, so I don't know if anybody was named Little Jerry, and I despise cockfighting, so I would never do it just to be ironic and make and name one of my fighters Little Jerry.

11:31No, of course not. No. It's funny on TV, but that's it. Yeah. We don't want to see it. No, definitely not. Mark, this is a question I saw on Reddit. I talked about it a little bit on stream this week. Do you think there's another sport that has more language that just infiltrates everyday, people's everyday vocabulary as much as baseball does? No, that's a, I get what you're saying. You say, oh, that came out of left field. He struck out. Oh, that's a home run of an idea.

12:07Yes. These kind of things. On the Reddit thread, people were saying horse racing and boxing, might be. Some other things from baseball, though. You've got step up to the play. Yeah. They said ballpark estimate. I'm not sure. I don't really buy that one, but swinging for the fences. Sure. Right off the bat. I'm not, I don't know if that one can actually be attributed right to baseball, but I would assume it's baseball because it says bat and I'm obsessed a little bit. Touch base.

12:38Okay. I think it's a reach, but yeah. Strike out and three strikes and you're out. Those are clearly baseball terms. Batting a thousand, which is a misnomer, right? You can't bat a thousand. You can bat one. That's it. That's as high as you can bat. Yeah. Curve ball, obviously a baseball term. Cover your bases. Again, I don't think that's, I don't think so. On deck. I don't know that that is. I think, I feel like baseball might've stolen that just

13:11from regular English language. People standing on decks. Yeah. People, just a bunch of people on decks. Double play. Yeah. Minor league. Bush league. Yeah. Yeah. Play ball. That's definitely a thing. Southpaw. Now that is definitely a baseball term because they came up with that because baseball diamonds are supposed to be oriented so that if you are a left-handed thrower, your arm is pointing south. That's because that's the way that fields are supposed to be oriented, orientated, or at least used to be. Now we can build stands

13:46and domes. You don't need to worry about the sun being in people's eyes, but I don't know any. Oh, I mean, we missed some can of corn. Although does anybody say can of corn outside of baseball? Only if they're like buying one. I'm trying to purchase this can of corn. I cannot argue with your logic there or your cooking. Do you need anything? Can you get me a can of corn out of the pantry there? There you go. What about, what was, what sport was the first to use triple crown? I would say, I would say horse racing. Yeah. Yeah.

14:19That's where I would lean. And right out of the gate, there's a horse racing out of the gate. Yeah. By a, by a long shot. Long shot. Yeah. I think I, and there are a lot of examples of boxing too, but I think those are by far the three sports that have the most just language. And I'm guessing a lot of people don't even know what half of these are out of left field. Somebody might assume it's baseball just hearing left field, but they have no idea why it's the, and I think that I'm not even sure that rumor we've talked about it, that myth that it was,

14:54it originated at Wrigley field because there was, there used to be some, a mental health, we'll put it that way, facility out of left field where they would hear screaming sometimes. I don't know that I buy that one, but it's just interesting to try and think about them. I'm sure I'll come up with more now that we've finished talking about it, but. Of course, once the microphones are off, I'll come up with a dozen. Yeah. We're done with it. All right. That'll do it for our BP segment. We'll let the grounds crew come out and get things ready to go here. And we are going to lean into today's topic,

15:29which is all about Mark. Yes. This is a story of my life. I'm just kidding. No, actually I want to talk about one of the most fascinating teams in baseball history. The Indianapolis Clowns. Have you heard of them? I have. We've talked about them. They're Negro League team and we've talked about them because they're being resurrected this year. They are. And that's what got me started. One of the listeners was talking to me about Banana Ball and was mentioning, Hey, what about the Indianapolis Clowns? You should do a show on the original

16:00Indianapolis Clowns. And I thought, that's not a bad idea. So I did a little research and it's pretty fun to find out a little bit more about these guys. This is what I came up with. This is the story of the Indianapolis Clowns or two strike noise. The setup is baseball meets vaudeville. Before they were in Indianapolis, they had already been the Ethiopian Clowns, which was a barnstorming club. That sounds like a long road trip from home. Yeah. It was one of the most traveled teams there was from Ethiopia. They were a traveling club.

16:33They mixed, just like a lot of the barnstorming teams, really good baseball with a dose of chaos. In 1943, they landed in Indiana and they were members of the Negro American League. And so they were playing real baseball and chasing a pennant and all that fun stuff. And they were very good. They were a very good team. They were also probably overused, but they were baseball's version of the Harlem Globetrotters, except for the games counted in their case, which would be funny as if the Harlem Globetrotters games counted, because I think they'd win the division.

17:06Oh, you don't think they count those? I think they'd win the division every year. That's just my opinion. Right. After I started reading about this, I started looking at what exactly did they do that was Globetrotter like? They had something like the magic circle. Okay. So picture this. The catcher flips the ball behind his back. It goes down a line of infielders standing shoulder to shoulder between home and second, under the leg, behind the back, no look toss. Final player fires a strike to second base. The crowd goes crazy. The pitcher does a windmill windup that

17:36takes longer than a radio commercial break, pauses mid-delivery, scratches his head, and then throws a fastball that freezes the hitter. First base, man on stilts. And I'm not talking metaphorically tall guy. I'm talking literally. They would have their first baseman play on stilts on occasion. That's a hell of a way to get a good stretch. Isn't it? That's exactly what I was thinking. The bananas have a guy on stilts. He comes in and pitches. There you go. See? And this started with the clowns, apparently. Comedy was comedy built on competence is what I read. I liked

18:11how that sounded. That was the genius of it. And here's the part that often gets lost. The clowns won. They won the 1950 pennant. They played serious baseball. Comedy didn't replace their competitive values. Framed it. And then came 1952. Enter an 18-year-old from Mobile. He did not dance. He did not joke. He did not argue theatrically with umpires. He just hit. His name was Henry Aaron. And he did not look like he belonged on the clowns. As you can imagine,

18:41quiet, intense. He had that cross-handed grip when he first started. Right hand stacked over left. Swing short and violent. The ball came off his bat with a different sound. That deep of the sound. A heavy crack you hear. Maybe once a game if it's a good game. Teammates teased him. They encouraged him to loosen up. Come on, man. Join the act. Aaron's answer. Line drive to left. Double off the wall. Jog back to shortstop. That's where he was playing at the time. Shortstop. He wasn't there for applause or escape. He was there to get noticed. And by 1952, Major League teams were circling the Negro Leagues, looking for talent because

19:17Jackie had integrated. The organizations knew there was gold to be found in the Negro Leagues. Scout from Milwaukee watched Hank Aaron. And the glove was raw. The footwork was okay. The bat, let's just put it this way. You can't fake bat speed. You can't fake power. So the Braves bought his contract for $10,000, which ended up, of course, being a ridiculous bargain in the long run. He only stayed with the Clowns for a few months. One of the first things the Braves did was fix the cross-handed grip. Coaches convinced him to switch to a

19:52conventional batting stance, and it didn't slow him down. It unlocked even more power. Within two years, he was in the majors. By 1954, he was starting in right field. So that's just a little story about Henry Aaron that gets thrown into the Clowns' history. Give you an idea what a typical Clowns barnstorming trip might look like. This is what I gleaned from reading about it. Pile onto the bus. The team would load onto a very cramped and worn bus packed with players, equipment bags, comedy props, stilts, oversized gloves, gag uniforms, sometimes a portable

20:27loudspeaker for crowd interaction. The Negro League travel could be pretty brutal. Segregation, of course, was out there, unfortunately. It meant players frequently couldn't stay in certain hotels or eat at certain restaurants in many towns. So they often relied on Black-owned boarding houses or friendly local families. The team provided them sandwiches and cold meals when they could, and it meant thousands of miles over a few weeks. It was a lot of travel in not the most positive conditions. They'd get into a small-town ballpark. Barnstorming meant playing anywhere,

21:01okay? So we've talked about this. Small minor league parks, fairgrounds, industrial league fields, local municipal stadiums. Promoters would advertise Indianapolis Clowns, baseball's funniest team, one night only. They would play against local semi-pro teams, minor league clubs, all-star teams made up of regional players, sometimes two games a day. Before the game, they understood something very crucial. They weren't just selling baseball. They were selling an event. Before the game, you might see players joking with fans during warm-ups, exaggerated throwing

21:36routines, music or announcements, hyping the comedy acts. The crowd knew something unusual was coming. Reminds me a little bit of Max Packin, who we've discussed on a number of occasions, how he would get things going with music or his typical comedy. The comedy baseball, once the game started, the Clowns would mix legitimate baseball with rehearsed routines. Some typical bits were like the comedy infield. Players line up between home and second base and pass the ball down the line, like I said. The long windup, the stilt first baseman. Mock arguments. Two fielders pretend to argue

22:09over a ground ball before making a last-second play. The key detail is that they were still trying to win, and if the game got tight, the comedy could dissipate or disappear entirely. Real baseball would break out, and opposing teams didn't always appreciate being the punchline to the jokes. Some games became very serious, hard-fought contests, especially when facing strong semi-pro teams or minor leaguers trying to prove themselves. The Clowns were talented enough to back it up. In fact, in 1950, they won the pennant in the Negro American League.

22:41So they were out there playing, and they were a darn good team, regardless of whether they were funny or not. After the game, players would sign autographs. Kids would run around on the field, put the equipment back in the bus, and they would drive overnight to the next town, sometimes hundreds of miles. Sometimes they would get there just minutes before the next game. Crazy stuff like that. Give you an example of something that the Clowns might pull. There's somewhere in the American South in the late 1940s, some of this stuff is just like a lot of old-timey baseball.

23:12We don't know how much of it is true and how much of it is maybe a little bit exaggerated, so to speak. In the 1940s, kind of the accounts differ from what I found. The Clowns were playing an exhibition game against a local semi-pro team during one of the long barnstorming tours. The crowd had been promised entertainment, and of course, the Clowns always delivered. Before the game, a handler from a nearby farm brought a mule onto the field, not as a mascot, as part of the act. Between innings, the Clowns staged a bit. One of the players led the mule around the infield,

23:47while another player pretended to argue with the umpire about substituting the animal into the lineup. The crowd was cracking up. The umpire was unsure how to even seriously take this team, tried to keep things moving. Finally, the mule was let off the field. The game resumed, so just pre-game comedy, but the Clowns weren't finished, you see. A few innings later, a Clowns runner reached first base. Then came a routine ground ball. The runner took off towards second, and suddenly the fielders began chasing him in a rundown between first and second. Classic

24:17pickle situation. Except the Clowns had secretly released the mule back near the foul line. As the rundown stretched longer and longer, the mule wandered slowly onto the field. So now you've got two fielders chasing a runner, the runner juking back and forth, the crowd screaming with laughter, a mule drifting through the middle of the play like it owns the ballpark. A runner dodged past the animal. The fielders hesitated. The runner broke for second and was safe. Now the umpire had a problem. Technically, from what I've heard as far as baseball,

24:47livestock interfering with a rundown was not covered in the rule book. It's not the first time we've heard of it here, though. No, it's not, but it should be covered in the rule book. Now, this is a real mule, right? Not mule stoots. No, this is a mule running around on the field, just part of the show. The umpire tried to restore order by saying something like, get that mule off the diamond before it tries to steal third. Were the umpires still like the bananas travel with their umpires who are part of the act? Are these, do they, the umpires also part of the clown act or are these local umpires?

25:24Not from what I, I mean, there may have been barnstorming teams that brought their own umpires that were part of the act, but from what I was, from what I read, the clowns just used local umpires and local people that would call the game. If I was writing that, I would have at one point had them argue, this is mule stoots. Then, then they could argue with the umpire about that. I am available for writing gigs. If you, if anybody needs best man speeches, you've got a speaking engagement coming up. I am open. So just let me know.

25:55Okay. So they had this other play called the bowling pin infield play. And this routine usually happened during barnstorming games. And they were trying to wake, if they were trying to wake the crowd up in the middle innings, the setup looked completely normal. Clowns pitcher would deliver the ball. The batter would hit, if he hit a routine grounder towards the shortstop, nothing unusual yet. But the moment the shortstop bent down to feel the ball, he fell over, not a stumble, a dramatic theatrical collapse. Like I do, if I stub my toe, then the second baseman ran over to help and he fell to, then the third baseman and the first baseman, one after another, they dropped to

26:30the dirt like bowling pins getting knocked down. The crowd would laugh because obviously something ridiculous would be happening. Meanwhile, the batter from the local semi-pro team or whoever they were playing, he thinks this play is just a gift. They're goofing around. I'm going to get to, I'm going to get to make, get a base hit. Four infielders are on the ground. He jogs down the line towards first. And that's when the trick happens. While everyone's eyes were on the collapsing infielders, one of them had secretly scooped the ball and slipped it behind his back. As the batter

27:00approached first base, the fallen players suddenly popped back up into the sequence like dominoes standing themselves back up. The shortstop flips the ball, no look to second. Second baseman whips it behind his back to third. Third baseman fires across the diamond. The first baseman who had been lying in the dirt seconds earlier snags the throw just before the runner arrives and he's out. And the crowd reacts with shock because it suddenly became clear that the entire ridiculous routine had been perfectly choreographed. Who's running at this point? Because there's a lot of stuff going

27:33on here. Somebody going down. Is this Daniel Vogelback? I think Daniel Vogelback could beat this out. It may have been. I don't know. Maybe the guy was laughing so hard he couldn't get to first. I don't know, man. I love these stories, but I'm going to I'm taking this one with a big pinch of salt. Understood. Maybe try to get a double. That's what I was thinking. Do they try and get him going to second? Maybe he takes a big turn at first. Not sure what's going on. And then but then I don't know. I want to see it, please. Yeah, I it's a good story. I think they could have

28:07gotten me. I'm saying you could even beat it out. Mitch, our producer Mitch probably couldn't have, but you you probably could. I don't know. He might be faster than me these days. I don't know. Not with he's not here this week, folks, because he tweaked his back again. I don't know what he does. Combing. Combing is there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. He was the weave had fallen and he was like retiring or something. Yeah. Just to wrap it up, the Indianapolis clowns, they represented one of the most unique chapters in baseball history. Playing in the Negro League, they blended real competitive baseball with comedy and showmanship using humor, trick

28:42plays and crowd interaction to draw fans during an era when black teams face segregation and financial challenges. At the same time, they were a legitimate professional club that developed major league talent, including a young Henry Aaron, who briefly played for them as we discussed and became obviously one of the greatest players in baseball history. In short, the Indianapolis clowns showed that baseball could be entertainment, innovation and high level competition all at once while keeping the Negro league baseball alive during a very difficult transitional

29:15era. And now we know, as you mentioned, that the Indianapolis clowns are back in name. They, I believe they just had their very first, very first game as an expansion team in banana ball and Jackie Bradley Jr. plays for them as a matter of fact. Yeah, that's right. We mentioned that. I was excited. I'm hoping some major leaguers that probably still have something in the tank, but might not be starters might go this route. I'm all for it. Yeah, absolutely. It's pretty fun. I'm looking

29:46forward to a little more banana ball this year as they have expanded and all kinds of crazy stuff going on. But that's the story of the Indianapolis clowns. Hey, I want to bring up a couple of other things about the clowns. We've talked about the clowns before, but they also had women playing for their team. They did, yes. Including Tony Stone, who might be the most famous player, female player to play against men. And she was actually signed to replace Henry Aaron once he had that short stint

30:19in Indianapolis. Yes. They also had a couple of other, a couple of other women play Mammy. I don't know how you say her name. Peanut Johnson and Connie Morgan. They also went the other way and they became the first Negro League team to sign a white guy. That's awesome. Too funny. Which sounds like a comedy bit more than anything. And speaking of comedy, the 1976 film, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings. Remember that one with Richard Pryor and James

30:53Earl Jones? That is loosely based on the Indianapolis clowns. I've seen that once. I haven't seen it for a long time, but I think they were, they basically did goofy stuff while trying to, I'm sure they had to save, we need to earn this much money to save Auntie Joe's house or something. I don't remember the plot, but I'm sure that it was something along those lines because it was from the eighties and that's what happens in all those films. But yeah, Connie Morgan actually is interesting. She played

31:24five seasons for the North Philadelphia Honey Drippers, which was an all-female team. She joined the clowns, came in with a career average of 368 and played a couple of seasons for them. So it was pretty interesting. The Honey Drippers? The Honey Drippers. Yes. North Philadelphia Honey Drippers. Born and raised, first of all, North Philadelphia. The Honey Drippers. What does that even mean? Are they so sweet or is this a honey trap situation? Like I can imagine the merch today would be great. Honey Drippers. I'm not sure. I don't know what direction I want to go with

31:59that. So I'm just going to drop it. Oh, wow. I didn't go anywhere. I just was on the up and up, but okay. I see. All right. We'll keep this safe for work. We'll move on. All right. Thank you, Mark, for the Indianapolis Clowns. Yeah. Look out for, I'm not sure. If you tell me that banana ball season has started, then I've got to believe you. I'm usually right on that stuff. Yeah. They're coming to Tacoma. Not the actual bananas, but some other teams from their league. I'm interested to see how well the other teams draw when the bananas are not one of the teams. The tickets are hard

32:34to come by when it's the bananas. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I'm just wondering if it's the tailgaters versus the party animals. The party animals are pretty big because they've been the only other team for so long. But what if it's the tailgaters versus the clowns? Is that going to be the kind of draw without the bananas? I don't know. I guess we will see. It's a chance for other people to make their names because everyone, you know, the names of the bananas and a lot of the tailgaters, but the, or the party animals, but a lot of these other teams gives these guys a chance to make these,

33:07make their names. They, they actually have a stop at a victory field in Indianapolis on May 15th and 16th. So the Indianapolis Clowns will be playing in Indianapolis for a couple of games. Do we know, are they going to, are the uniforms going to be similar to clown uniforms or banana ball that everything's over the top? You got guys out there not wearing uniforms at all. I'm wondering how they'll handle that because I'm guessing they want to be respectful, but if you've got some, you're not going to have anybody out there in clown makeup, but whatever the Indianapolis Clowns uniforms look

33:39like, I'm wondering if they're going to keep it subtle or if they're going to go the other way and just go hog wild. Be clowny? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, you can't do the clown makeup because you'll freak out half the stadium. Okay. Clowns scary. I know I actually have a couple of friends who are absolutely petrified of clowns and it's amusing because I send them memes with clowns on and stuff like that. And that makes me happy. I don't think it makes them happy, but I enjoy it. Clowns making people happy. That's what it is. Exactly. It's this, it's the same idea. All right. That's enough clown

34:12talk next week. We'll be getting into mimes and you can hear more about this on our baseball clown podcast. Clowning around. That's clowning. I N apostrophe. Clowning around and hit for the cycle. That's the full name. Yeah. It was a good day. All right, Mark, let's wrap this up and let's head into the final segment of this show. We're doing it on our own because like we said, executive producer Mitch is not here today. Now he doesn't really do a whole lot anyway, if we're being

34:45honest, but we'll do this on our own this week. And let's head into the final segment of the show. It is the segment that we like to refer to as Wax Pack Heroes. Wax Pack Hero!

35:01Gonna pull a Wax Pack Hero! Guns stars in his eyes! Wax Pack Hero! Wanna podcast tonight!

35:14How, everybody? And welcome to today's edition of Wax Pack Heroes. You know, Wax Pack Heroes backwards is so a cat sow. Hey! The rules were simple. Jeff and Mark are here from Two Strike Noyes. Long time friends of mine, Jeff and Mark. They're gonna play an old fashioned game of war. But instead of using playing cards, they're gonna be using Budweiser's. Hey, what?

35:47Okay, no. They're gonna be using baseball cards. That makes much more sense. They'll be using war of the year of the cards. And whoever has the highest war that round wins. Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win! Just like that. But there are extra factors, Arnie's telling me, that can add or subtract from their war totals. 1980s baseball aesthetics. There you go. Extra points. Hall of Famer. Bud Lover. Extra points.

36:27And if they have a pop culture reference, like they were in a Budweiser commercial, extra points. But whoa, Nelly! If they appeared in Seinfeld, The Simpsons, or Sabrina the Tejewich, they get a whole extra point. Or if Nolan Ryan or Ricky Henderson show up, the round is over and we drink Budweiser's. Hey!

36:57Hey! But they can also lose points if they show up in the Mitchell Report or are on the do not talk about list. You know who I think should be on that list, Arnie? Mark Gretzelonik. That guy's name is too difficult. They can also get more points if they led the league in any good categories that season. If they want any warrants. And if they have a Costaco's Brother poster. Oh boy, I could go for some tacos.

37:37I love tacos. But if they top the leaderboard in something bad, like Ayers or spilling Budweiser's, they're gonna get a minus point. So, no. Hey, let's wrap this up and go get some tacos and some Budweiser. Now, let me hear you. A one, a two, a three. Wax Pack Heroes.

38:08All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Harry Carey. We're gonna get underway here. Mark, right now the score is eight to seven. I am up by the thinnest of margins, but we're not even halfway through this season yet. So, we're, this is like a middle of June Tuesday game here. I think I had a good week last week. You, I think you shut me out three to nothing. Yeah, it was pretty quick. We are still got these 2003. Make sure that's right. 2003 tops cards that we're working through. Mark,

38:42I'm gonna let you decide if you're gonna go first or second as usual. Oh, I'm gonna go first. First. All right. Your first card is a first year card. I'm not sure if this guy actually played this year or not, but good news for you. He's got stirrups. With the New York Mets, it is pitcher Matthew Peterson. Okay. Yeah, I don't know Matthew Peterson. Me neither, but he's a Mets, so you have to like him. He's not a Mets anymore. Okay. That's fair enough. I see a Matt Peterson that was around this time and unfortunately for you, he did not ever make it to the big leagues.

39:17He did play for the Indianapolis Indians in 2007, AAA team. Okay. Indianapolis. He played also for New Orleans in 2010, which was AAA, but that's as high as he got. But I did tell you he does have real stirrups on. I'll take that. So I might get a manager card. We don't know. So that'll be a tenth of a point. Now, shockingly enough, I can't find anything about his personal life. Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna it's gonna just be a tenth of a point for you for Matt. I'm sorry,

39:53Matthew Peterson. Don't call me Matt. Let's see. He made history in 2001 when he started the first professional game in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left in 1957. Hmm. All right. There you go. Matthew Peterson. He okay. I've got a first year card as well. And he doesn't have stirrups on that I can see. So I'm starting at zero. I'm wondering if I get always wearing number 99 in this too. It's a spring training. He's like on a backfield, but he's wearing 99 in a Marlins jersey. It's actually cool.

40:26His name I'm digging. Mike McNutt. Mike McNutt. Okay. If he didn't make it as a pitcher, he's probably got a career in adult films. Keep his real name. How do you spell that McNutt? It's just like you would think so. M-C-N-U-T-T. McNutt. Oh, two T's. Gotcha. Bad news for me. He likewise never made it to the big leagues. He made it as high as AAA as well in Albuquerque in 2004. They were

40:57the isotopes back then still. But Mike McNutt. Albuquerque's been the AAA team for the Marlins and the Rockies. They're big expansion fans. Yeah, apparently. I'm checking out, checking out his numbers. I played, what, six years? Seven seasons? Yeah, and nothing is going to help me out there. He struggled to throw 80 miles per hour while he was in college. His first pro season, he gave up more than five runs per nine. He got control of his fastball, eventually got it over

41:3090 miles per hour and became an all-star in the Midwest League and tied the Florida State League in wins as well at some point. That's all the information I have on Mike McNutt. Cool. And so Matthew Peterson pulls me out a W. Yeah. Right on. Man. Way to go, Matthew. All right. All right. You're up one to nothing. Here you go. Your next card. And this is a great shot. He is stretched up. He's a very tall individual in this picture just because his hands are so far above his head. It is Hideo Nomosan. Nice.

42:06No-mo. The Tornado. I think they called him the Tornado, but I like the Tornado a little bit better. If you say so, man. In 12 years. Wow. He's a good grid guy. In 12 years in Major League Baseball, the Dodgers for seven. And then he did the Kenny Lofton thing. He went to every other team for one year. Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Tampa, the Mets, and the Royals for one year apiece. In 2003, he was with the Dodgers for a second time. He went 16 and 13 with a 309 ERA, 218 innings

42:43pitched, 178 hits allowed. Really nice. 177 strikeouts for a 131 ERA plus and a war of 3.5. Nothing on this card other than it being an awesome looking card is going to help you out. I just remember he threw a no-hitter in Coors Field. Is he the only one to have done that? I don't know. That's a good question. I think it was the first. Let's see. He was a great pitcher. In pop culture, Nomos found, had a signature sneaker,

43:16the Air Max Nomos, produced by Nike in 1996. And he appeared in a Saturn for, or in a commercial for the Sega Saturn in 1997. A song about Nomos, There's No One Like Nomos, was written by Marvin Hamlisch. I think of Marvin Hamlisch. I guess I think of Marvin Hamlisch as being like in the 50s or something, but okay. Also referenced in a song by Pusha T, Action Bronson, I think we've mentioned

43:47this has a track named after him. And professional wrestler Mitsude Hirasawa adopted the ring Hideo Sato in homage to Nomos. Hmm. So that'll get you some pop culture points. Marvin Hamlisch, by the way, and EGOT, won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award. Just thought I'd point that out. Wow. And he's writing songs. And a Pulitzer Prize. A Pulitzer? Pulitzer. A Pugat? A Pugat.

44:18Pugat, yes. There we go. Okay, enough about Marvin Hamlisch. I just wanted to point that out. You can hear more about Marvin Hamlisch. All right, so that, dang, that's a solid 4.0 for you. Beautiful. All right, well, I mean, I've got a chance. Okay. I have got second baseman here for the New York Yankees, Alfonso Soriano. Uh-oh. Fonzie. These are great cards. These are really good shots. Like the no-mo shot, he's stretched up at the top of his motion. And this Fonzie card, he just slid headfirst into third base, and he's kneeling on the

44:51bag, asking for time with a dirty uniform. It's a good-looking picture. Let's see. 16 years in the big leagues. Seven with the Cubs. Seven with the Yankees. Two with the Rangers. One with the Nationals. In 2003, this is going to help. I guess I don't need it. But he was an all-star this year. Also led the league in at-bats. Overall, he hit .290, .338 on base, .525 slugging for a OPS of .863, a .126 OPS+. He had 38 homers, 91 ribs, stole 35 bases, and ended up with a war of 5.4.

45:30So I'm not sure I'm going to need the all-star and the league leading. I think even if he got nicked for anything, I think I'm going to be okay here. Was traded by the Yankees to the Rangers for A-Rod, and then was traded by Texas to the Nats for Armando Galarraga, he of the... So close. So close. Was it a perfect game or a no-hitter? I don't remember. Yeah, I think for some reason I was thinking perfect game. And then let's see here. I don't think he was ever a great defensive player.

46:02He got moved to the outfield at the end of his career. Actually, I'm looking right here. It says, Soriano led all major league second basemen in errors every year from 01 to 05. I know every now and then something. But now since retirement, it says, I've lost the love and passion to play the game. He should talk to Anthony Rendon about that. Quit. If you don't like it, quit. Give somebody else a chance. His wife's original last name was Eusebio. Just mention that because Tony Eusebio is a guy I remember a lot.

46:34But good news is Soriano trumps NOMO. That's not good news. What are you talking about? That's good news for me. Okay. All right. We're tied up at one apiece. Next, you have got a Futures Stars card here, Mark. So you're going to get to choose between these two up-and-comers for the Toronto Blue Jays. We've got Orlando Hudson or Josh, don't call me Ken Phelps. Wow. I have no idea where to go on this one. I've heard of Orlando Hudson. He had a, I think he had a pretty decent career.

47:05I think he played for the D-backs is where I remember him for. Yeah. But I just don't remember. I don't know if any of them are going to play in 2003. Yeah. I kind of remember him being a bit of a journeyman, like for a few different teams. We'll go with Hudson. We'll go with Hudson. All right. Nicknamed O-Dog. I knew that was coming. 11 years in the big leagues. Four with Toronto, three with Arizona, two with the Dads, and then the Dodgers, the Twins, and the White Sox for one apiece. Good news for you. He did play in 2003. His first full year in the big leagues with Toronto had a pretty good year.

47:39Hit 268, 328 on base, 395 slug for an 87 OPS plus. Nine home runs, 57 ribs for a 3.2 war. Nothing on this card is going to help you. I can't tell. Is that a mustache? I mustache him a question if that is a mustache or not. I don't think it is. Oh, Jay. This is pathetic. I'm holding a physical baseball card in my hand, and he's got something written on his tape on his wrist, and I spread my fingers on the card trying to zoom in on it.

48:13To zoom in on the card. It didn't work? No, it didn't somehow. Inconceivable. You said that wrong. Inconceivable. I think it means what you think it means. Let's see. Traded with the Jays with Miguel Batista to the D-backs for Troy Glaus. Let's see. Anything else we need to talk about the O-Dog for? No. Doesn't look like it. But that's a good, you know, a 3.2 for a future stars card is pretty good. Oh, boy. I'm going to get some minus points right off the bat here.

48:46But I'm also going to get a Hall of Fame points here. We'll make it brief. Roberto Alomar. So, definitely on the dental list. So, that'll wipe out his Hall of Fame. Actually, it's one whole point for the Hall of Fame, and then 50, or 50.5 for the dental. Oh, no. I've got here dental is minus one. So, that's wiped out. Yeah. Let's see here. Beyond that, yada, 17 years in the big leagues. Five with Toronto. Three for Cleveland, San Diego, and Baltimore.

49:18Two for the Mets and the White Sox, and one for Arizona. In 2003, he split time between the Mets and the White Sox. He was 35, washed up at this point. A minus 0.1 war. There's just, you win this round. That's all I'm going to say. You can have him. You can have him. All right. Let's move on. You're up two to one. Oh, wow. Your next card is a Hall of Famer. Oh, boy. And you'll get points for him. Larry Walker. Oh, very nice. Booger. Overall, 17 years in the big leagues.

49:5110 with Colorado, 6 with Montreal, and then 2 with the Cardinals. In 2003 with Colorado, he hit .284, .422 on base, .476 slug for a .121 OPS+. He had 16 home runs. Only 16 home runs. 79 RBI, 7 stolen bases, and a 4.4 war. Plus, you get the Hall of Fame bonus, so that's a 5.4. He's got a mustache.

50:22He's got, like, a Fu Manchu going on. Nice. Let's see. We've covered Larry Walker quite a bit. MVP in 1997. Similar batters. Listen to this crew. Duke Snyder, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, Vladimir Guerrero, and Ellis Burks. One of these names is not like the other. Oh, similar by ages.

50:53At age 25, he was a young Mel Hall. Thankfully, he went in the opposite direction. Mel Hall. Interestingly, he's an avid bowler and bowled a .300 on April 10, 2014. Yeah, he and Mookie should have a televised bowl-a-thon. Heads up. Yeah. It wasn't Kirby Puckett, wasn't he a good? He was either a good table tennis player or pool player. I don't remember. I don't remember which. I mean, Ricky was an avid card and dominoes player.

51:25He was a card-counting fool. He would take everybody's money. I, surprisingly enough, don't see anything pop culture related to Larry Walker. The guy was a goofball. He should have. Somebody should have jumped on that train. But good news for you, though. He's got a 5.5 for you. And you only need one win here. All right. I've got a future stars card here with the Astros. Or no, one with the Astros, one with the Braves.

51:56For the Astros, it's Brandon Puffer. He looks, he's got to be a pitcher. Just looking at him. He has to be. He essentially looks like John Smoltz. And then for Atlanta, I've got Young Bong. We know who I'm going with. I don't even care. I know the name. I know Young. Oh, boy. The next card in the pack was Mad Dog. I didn't get that. I got Young Bong. We're definitely going with Young Bong. Absolutely. We got to go with Young Bong. Let's see. Played three years in the big leagues.

52:26Two with Atlanta, one with Cincinnati in 2003. He went six and two, but he had a 5.05 ERA. All of that came in relief. He did have one save. 57 innings pitched, 56 hits allowed. Struck out 47, but he walked 31 for an 85 ERA plus and a minus 0.3 war. Wow. Also played the KBO for the LG Twins. Appeared in the 2009 World Classic.

52:58Won a gold medal in 2008 with Korea, the Beijing Olympics. It looks like he was a contestant on a show. I have to assume this is a Korean show called Back to Ground. Hmm. So, I get pop culture points. Yes, you do. Doesn't matter. And you have tied us up now. We're at eight apiece. Young Bong couldn't come through for me. Of all the nerve. Okay, shoot. Look at this. Another barn burner, y'all, for the Wax Pack Hero Championships.

53:29It's now a race to 12 wins. That'll do it for this version of Wax Pack's Heroes. Also, let's wrap up the show. Thank you very much for tuning in with us. What are we? Show number 806 now? Is that what that was? I always round up to the nearest 806. Yes. So, yes. Right on. All right. That'll also do it for the show. If you want more of us, you can find us on the social medias. All the links are in the show notes, so you can just do a Google search for Two Strike Noise.

54:00T-W-O Strike Noise. I always like to point out that I am streaming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when I'm not having a colonoscopy. I do that on Twitch and YouTube, 9 o'clock West Coast time. I have such a blast doing that. We've got listeners that come in there, and I tell you, I got this Ben Davis stuff at the beginning of the show from that stream. Basically, they're producing the show for us. Yes, and we appreciate it. Yes. I get less work for me to do. I appreciate that. But come on in and join us, or check out the VODs.

54:31We have a good time. Make baseball jokes. We watched today, we watched the whole who's on first bit, and then we watched the George Carlin bit about the differences between baseball and football. Nice. So that was a lot of fun as well. That's good stuff. Yeah. Fridays, we do a little bit different. We do a few Friday where we try to get the highest square in every square on the grid. We got four of them today. Ricky was one of them, so that was good. But one of the categories, Mark, was, and I wanted to bring this up to you, it was Mariners and played one game in the outfield.

55:07So our goal was to get the number one square there, and we were kicking it back and forth. Is it Griffey? Is it Ichiro? Who is it? Who would you have chosen? What is the category? The Mariners and played one game in the outfield. At least one game in the outfield. Oh. I would think Griffey. Yeah. That's what you went with. And we're like, okay, it's either that or it's Ichiro. Yeah. And then I actually made a statement. I said, if we were just playing normal, I would say Buhner because of the Seinfeld reference.

55:38Right. Jay Buhner was the number one. Jay Buhner was higher than Ichiro or Ken Griffey Jr. How? How? Yeah. Unbelievable. Is Seinfeld that powerful? That's what I said. It's the Seinfeld bump. Yeah. It's got to be. Or the Ken Phelps bump.

55:58Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps. Anyway, hey, come on and join us sometime or watch the replays. I think it's, if you're listening to our podcast, I'm sure you'll enjoy that. But also, we've got an email address that Mark is proud of. Go ahead and write to us. We're lonely. You can reach us at TwoStrikeNoise, spell it out, TWOStrikeNoise at gmail.com. All right. Thank you all very much. We will do this again soon. Hopefully, we will see you on the next episode of Two Strike Noise.

56:30Thank you. God bless you. Have a great day.

56:44We'll see you on the next episode of Two Strike Noise.