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By The Numbers – 68

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #68.  5 players have donned #71 while playing in Chicago, 6 for the White Sox and 1 for the Cubs.

Jorge Soler was originally signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 2012.  Part of the so-called Core Four, the prospects meant to finally lead the Cubs to post-season glory, Soler made his major league debut on August 27, 2014, going 2 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBIs against the Reds.  He became the primary right fielder in 2015, starting 95 games and putting up a .723 OPS as the Cubs made a surprising run to the NLCS before falling to the Mets.  With Jason Heyward on board in 2016, Soler saw most of his playing time in left field, filling in for the injured Kyle Schwarber.  While he struggled during the regular season, he made the most of his World Series opportunity, hitting .400 against the Indians in his 2 appearances.  After achieving that initial goal of a World Series title, Soler was sent to the Royals for closer Wade Davis.

The pickings are slim on the south side of town for players wearing #68.  Dylan Covey wore it the most, going 6-29 over his 3 seasons with the White Sox after being acquired as a Rule 5 draft choice out of the A’s organization.  He was thankfully let go following the 2019 season.

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Book 6 (of 52) – The Actor’s Life

The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide – Jenna Fischer

Actress Jenna Fischer, who charmed America for 10 seasons as Pam Beesly on The Office, checks in with her how to/memoir about surviving as a beginning actor, telling her story along the way.  She starts with moving to LA, finding an agent and/or manager, learning to audition, how to behave once you get cast, and to keep on going even when you have convinced yourself that it isn’t going to happen.

Fischer arrived in Los Angeles in 1998 as a fresh faced theater school grad, expecting to quickly make inroads in Hollywood and become a working actor.  It took 3 years before she booked her first speaking role, a three-line guest spot on Spin City in 2001.  That led to work in independent films and other guest parts before she hit it big in 2005, being cast in the American version of The Office.  In The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide, she details her struggle, while giving helpful advice to those coming up behind her.  If you are a fan or are looking to make the leap into the entertainment business, then this is highly recommended.

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Fitbit Year 6

A year ago, I set a goal of 2,730,000 steps, an average of 7500 steps per day. Thanks to the corona virus becoming a concern in March and the complete abdication of responsibility for managing the pandemic by the Trump administration that led to much of the country still being shut down today, I fell quite a bit short of my challenge, finishing more than a million steps behind with only 1,711,727, the second straight year I’ve failed to surpass my yearly goal for the only times since 2014 under the old GlobalFit program. My average step total per week was 32,917.83, which comes out to about 4702.5 per day. The median weekly total was 31,765.  My best week was Week 27, where a concerted effort to get out during the summer propelled me close over to 56,000 steps for the week.  My worst week was Week 49, the dreaded down week between Christmas and New Year’s.

For the upcoming year, I’m going to keep things as is, in the hopes that I can finally reverse this downward trend. I am leaving my goal for steps per day at 7500, which would again bring me to a yearly total of 2,730,000 steps. Hopefully the third attempt, now that I’ve got this WFH thing down pat, is the one that sticks.

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Fitbit VII – Week 1

We kick off the 7th year of Fitbit use with yet another down week, as the combination of winter and the corona virus keeps me locked inside the house.  The week got off to a bad start on Sunday, with 2700 steps.  Monday managed to be my high point of the week, with only 3900 steps.  Tuesday was almost at the same level, coming in 15 steps shy of 3900.  Wednesday saw a sharp decline, falling down to 2900 steps.  Thursday bounced back up a bit, rising all the way up to 3400 steps.  Friday continued the upward climb, scoring 3500 steps.  Saturday was another step in the right direction, thanks to a pre-snowstorm trip to the local Jewel, accounting for 3800 steps.

Total steps: 24,366

Daily average: 3480.9

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An Empty Class

All eyes turned towards the small hamlet of Cooperstown, New York last Tuesday, as the votes were tallied and, for the first time since 2013, the 2021 Hall of Fame class was found to have no members.  Curt Schilling led all vote getters with 71.1% of the vote, 3.9% shy of the 75% required for induction.

Three others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Barry Bonds, who saw a slight increase up to 61.8%.  Roger Clemens was right behind him at 61.6% and, with only one more go around each, it seems unlikely that either will make it via the BBWAA.  Scott Rolen saw a big jump, rising to 52.9% and looks like he’s on track to eventually make it.

Omar Vizquel, who was on the upswing and looked to be on a good trajectory, dropped back down under 50% after allegations of spousal abuse popped up last year.

Mark Buehrle scored the highest amongst the newcomers, with 11%.  Torii Hunter and Tim Hudson are the other two newcomers who live to fight another day, surpassing the 5% cutoff.  Of the local contingent, former White Sox outfielder Andruw Jones jumped up to 33.9% while Manny Ramirez finished with the same 28.2% as last year.  Cub outcast Sammy Sosa garnered 17.0%, while his former teammates Aramis Ramirez and LaTroy Hawkins pulled in 1% and 0.5% respectively.  Former White Sox outfielder Nick Swisher got no votes, which seems about right.

Schilling, in an effort to prove that he is the garbage human being that he shows to the world on social media, released a letter after the vote was announced asking to no longer be considered for the Hall.  “I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player,” he wrote, denigrating the BBWAA and the entire election process.  Personally, I hope they leave him on the ballot and that nobody votes for him.

While there is no class of 2021, there will still be an election ceremony this summer, as the class of 2020, Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, and Marvin Miller, get their day in the sun, corona virus willing, on Sunday, July 25.

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Book 5 (of 52) – The Guest List

The Guest List – Lucy Foley

In The Guest List, a group of people gather on an island off the coast of Ireland for the wedding of a successful blog owner and an upcoming television star.  However, secrets and ghosts from the past threaten to overtake them all.

I first became aware of Lucy Foley’s latest when it won as 2020’s Best Mystery & Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards.  When it went on sale for the Kindle a few weeks later, I picked it up and dug right in.  If I have any complaints, it would be about the coincidences of many of the main characters having unknown ties to each other, which leads to the “mystery” of who the killer is.  And I say “mystery” because there is probably about 10 pages between finding out who the victim is and who the killer is.  Overall, I enjoyed the effort and I’ll probably keep a look our for more work from Foley in the future.

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I Heart New York

For February, we turn our gaze to the east and the state of New York.  The majority of the pictures come from the 2018 trip to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway, with one photo from my 2003 trip to Shea Stadium for Opening Day.  Starting in the top left and moving clockwise, we have Danny outside of the 9/11 memorial, Michael, Angelina, and Danny at the top of the Empire State Building, the three of them again on Bow Bridge in Central Park, posing outside of the theater on Broadway, the three by the lagoon in Central Park, and, finally, resting at the Museum of the City of New York.

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By The Numbers – 70

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #70.  3 players have donned #70 while playing in Chicago, all of whom suited up for the White Sox.

Aaron Bummer was selected by the White Sox in the 19th round of the 2014 draft.  He made his major league debut on July 27, 2017, pitching an inning of relief against the crosstown Cubs.  He wore #70 for his entire first year, before switching to his more familiar #39 in 2018.

 

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Fitbit 6: Week 52

Well, this horrid year comes to an end, with yet another disappointing week.  Things got off to what is now a decent enough start, with 4300 steps.  Monday was slightly better, jumping up to nearly 4800 steps.  Tuesday fell off a bit, going down to 4000 steps.  Wednesday I traveled to the office for the first time in 9 months in order to pack up all of my personal belongings, which led to 4600 steps.  Thursday was the high point of the week, coming in over 4900 steps.  Things fell off completely on Friday, where I finished 2 steps above 2900.  Saturday was a little better, with 3000 steps.

Total steps: 28,771

Daily average: 4110.1

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Midseason Review – Fridays

old-tv-set1Our final look back at the new fall season gives us Friday’s amazing slate of shows.

7:00

The Blacklist – The show returns for an eighth season, which will need to pick up where the seventh was forced to leave off.

I’m about ready to move on, whenever they are.

In the spring, we can look forward to:

Blue Bloods – The 11th season keeps on keeping on, without addressing any of the problems with police that came to the forefront over the past year.