It seems like in recent years, more and more teams have been adopting retro uniforms. That trend has continued this year, with plenty of teams across the league unveiling new throwback-style uniforms to be worn for everyday play.
Among those new uniforms are a few powder blue combinations. The Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins all released some variation of a blue uniform over the offseason, and while we'll have to wait longer to see them in action now, we can still stare in awe at their beauty. Minnesota Twins
The Twins were the first team to release their new blue jerseys, doing so all the way back in November. These uniforms are meant to be reminiscent of the Twins' alternates from 1973-1986.
While the Twins didn't see much success during that time - the team didn't even make one postseason appearance in that timespan - there were some individual successes. Hall of Fame infielder Rod Carew won five batting titles during those years and fellow Cooperstown inductee Bert Blyleven had some of his best years on the mound in Minnesota in the 1970s. For a team that's had playoff berths in two of the last three years, but been unable to get past the first round, maybe a change of uniform is just what they need. I'm a fan of what Minnesota has going on here, mostly because it stands out from what other teams do when they wear powder blue. The Twins put their front lettering in red, contrasting with the light blue jersey, and I think it works well for them. Texas Rangers
The Rangers were the next team to announce their new blue uniforms, releasing them in early December of last year. It will be the first time since 1976-1982 that the Rangers will regularly wear powder blue uniforms.
While I like the way the Twins' uniforms contrast the light blue coloring of the jersey with the bright red script on the front, the Rangers also do a great job with these uniforms. The white lettering on the front flows really well with the red and blue trim. I also love the red, white and blue piping on the sides of the pants. Altogether, this is a really good look from Texas. Toronto Blue Jays
The last team to introduce new blue uniforms this year is the team that arguably has the most iconic of them all. If your team name is the Blue Jays, it's only fitting to have multiple shades of blue uniforms.
Toronto is adding to it's dark blue alternates this year by bringing in a complete powder blue uniform, jersey, pants and all. This is a throwback to the Blue Jays' uniforms of the 1970s and 80s, which have become some of the most popular uniforms for teams to return to. The uniforms are great enough on their own, but the Blue Jays also win for best reveal. That video is extremely well-done. A+. According to my count, and information from Uni-Watch, seven MLB teams now have powder blue uniforms as part of their regular rotation. The three teams that unveiled new blue uniforms this offseason join the Phillies, Cardinals, Royals and Rays on the powder blue train. The Royals and Rays light blue uniforms consist of a blue jersey on top of white pants. There are some great options out there for light blue jerseys, and I'm not sure I can pick a favorite one. All of them are well-done and look fantastic, except for maybe the Phillies. Now if we could only get the Braves to bring back these beauties.
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Easter may be over now but there's never a bad time to bake a ham. I found this recipe for a Cheerwine bourbon glazed ham on Cheerwine's social media, and I was immediately intrigued. This dish combines three of my favorite things - Cheerwine, bourbon and meat. If you combine all of those things, the end result has to be good, right? After I found this recipe, I told my parents I would make the main dish for Easter dinner this year, and I don't think my mom was too upset about that. This recipe was fairly easy to make, except for the fact that we didn't have any dried ginger and I had to grate some fresh ginger myself. Apparently you're supposed to use one tablespoon of fresh ginger for every 1/4 teaspoon of dried ginger. I'm not great at math, so that was a tough moment for me. The recipe calls for a lot of ginger, though, so we just used an amount that looked good to us. We used what was left in a bottle of Old Grand Dad bourbon, but that was only 2/3 of a cup, so we had to use 1/3 cup of Buffalo Trace, which was kind of sad, since you can't really find Buffalo Trace around here and our bottle is running low now. The end result of the dish was delicious, in my opinion. The Cheerwine flavor was prevalent in the ham and all the other flavors in the glaze complemented it. If you're looking for a great, easy ham recipe, you can't go wrong with this one. Cheerwine Bourbon Glazed HamIngredients
10 lb. spiral cut ham 24 oz. Cheerwine 1 cup bourbon 1/3 cup sorghum molasses 1.5 cups brown sugar 1/3 cup dijon mustard 1/2 cup dried ginger Salt to taste Directions 1. Place the ham in a parchment-paper covered pan. Pour 12 oz. of Cheerwine over the ham and cover with foil. Bake at 275 degree Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes per pound. 2. Combine all the ingredients in the glaze and simmer until thickened. 3. Pour the glaze over the ham, separating the slices as you pour. 4. Bake for 10 more minutes uncovered at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 5. Enjoy!
If you're like me and every other baseball fan in this country and in desperate need of some live sports, rejoice. The Chinese Professional Baseball League has begun play, and we've already got some highlights.
Over the weekend, a video of Kevin Cheng hitting what is presumably the first home run in 2020 anywhere in the world made the rounds on Twitter, exciting baseball fans around the world, including me.
Sunday's game featured the Uni-President Lions taking on the Chinatrust Brothers. The Lions won the game 4-1, but the Brothers did have a highlight of their own when Tzu-Hsien Chan hit a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to get a run on the board.
The CPBL, which I admittedly thought was in China, was founded in Taiwan in 1989. The league plays a 120-game season that runs through October.
It was originally scheduled to begin the 2020 season in mid-March, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was forced to push its season back until this past weekend. You can find all the games streamed live, for free, thanks to Eleven Sports in Taiwan. But if you're going to follow the CPBL, beware that Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of the United States, so a 6:35 pm game in Taiwan will start at 6:35 am ET. But with no MLB for the foreseeable future, it might be worth it. Now, I just need to figure out which team to root for. As a Braves fan, I like to take any chance I get to poke fun at the other teams in the NL East. The easiest team pick on happens to be the New York Mets, for a multitude of reasons. Whether it's Jacob DeGrom being the best pitcher in the league but consistently losing games due to a lack of run support, or their 2007 collapse, the Mets just make it too easy to laugh at them. Recently while I was doing some research to see what events happened this day in baseball history, I came across another interesting Mets tidbit. The Mets began play in 1962 as an expansion team, the first new team in New York since the Giants and Dodgers both left town in 1958. I'm not sure what the expectations were for that year's team, but they surely under-delivered. The Mets finished 40-120, reaching the most losses in a season since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games. No team has matched that number since, although a few have come close. As if the way the season ended isn't bad enough, hear how it started. On April 10, the day that was scheduled to be the first game for the Mets franchise, 17 players got stuck in their hotel elevator. Five-foot-eight catcher Hobie Landrith was reportedly stuck with his nose pressed into six-foot-four pitcher Roger Craig's chest for the whole time the players were stuck, which was anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours. The players eventually were freed from the elevator only to find out that their Opening Day game against St. Louis had been rained out. They would go on to lose 11-4 to the Cardinals the next day, April 11. Earlier this week I posted a beer review of Elkton Brewing Company's Reddish Knob. Today's review is another option from Elkton, The Nutt brown ale.
The newest brewery in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area is knocking it out of the park with their selection, and The Nutt is proof of that. While I had some high praise for the Reddish Knob, this beer is a great choice as well. It has everything you expect from a brown ale - a strong malt flavor, hints of caramel and coffee, and very smooth. Just like Reddish Knob, this beer is named after a local mountain, and I love the way they describe it on their website: "A classic brown, just like the ski slopes in March, except this one is smoother." If you find yourself in Elkton soon, you better stop in and pick up some of this beer to go. I tried to get a whole crowler to myself, but my parents still weren't letting that happen. Untappd Rating: 3.75 out of 5
Luke Combs has quickly risen to the top of the country music universe ever since the release of his debut album, "This One's For You." Each of his first seven singles have reached Number 1 and been certified either gold or platinum.
As someone who doesn't like the modern pop and bro country sounds, Luke Combs is a refreshing mainstream artist. His songs have a level of authenticity that most don't these days. His newest song deals with all the things he wanted to be when he grew up, and among them is Braves' legend and Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones.
"I used to want to hit 'em like Chipper did, but I swung it just a little too slow," Combs sings in the unreleased song, which he debuted on social media last night.
The shoutout got a reaction out of Jones, who tweeted back at Combs earlier this morning. The greats recognize the greats.
If you look up a list of the greatest World Series' of all time, you'll see a lot of the same series at the top. 2016 Cubs vs. Indians, 1986 Mets vs. Red Sox and 1975 Reds vs. Red Sox are all contenders for the best championship series in MLB history.
But one series is just as consistently ranked at No. 2 on these lists. The 1991 World Series featured the Minnesota Twins vs. the Atlanta Braves in a suspenseful, heart-pounding seven-game series. First, to set the scene for the competition. Each team had an abysmal 1990 season, with the Braves finishing 26 games behind Cincinnati and the Twins finishing 29 games behind Oakland. The preseason odds reflected on those performances, with the Braves coming in at 100-1 and the Twins at 120-1. But 1991 was a different story. With both teams led by stellar pitching staffs, they each turned things around. The Twins dominated their division, finishing eight games ahead of the second place team. Meanwhile the Braves provided entertainment in the National League, winning a close NL West division race to earn a postseason bid. Each team won their respective LCS, setting up a World Series of two teams that were at the bottom of the league just a year ago. What followed was a seven-game series that consisted of five one-run games and three games that went into extra innings. The first two games weren't too exciting. The Twins won both games at home to take a 2-0 lead into Atlanta for games 3 through 5. Game three is where the fun begins. Tied at four runs apiece after nine innings, the game went into extras for the first time in the series. After two-and-a-half scoreless innings, Mark Lemke hit a walk-off single for the Braves that scored David Justice and gave Atlanta its first win of the series. Game 4 saw another walk-off as the teams were tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. With one out in the inning, Lemke hit a triple to put a runner in scoring position and give the Braves a chance to tie the series. Two batters later, Jerry Willard hit a sacrifice fly to score Lemke and just like that, the series was even. The Braves kept riding that momentum in Game 5 as they took the series lead thanks to a 14-5 victory. Everything was going right for Atlanta and they were just one win away from their third World Series championship. The final two games of the series have to be among the most exciting games of all-time. With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 11th, Twins' centerfielder Kirby Puckett stepped up to the plate in Game 6. Puckett had already tripled to give the Twins their first run of the night and hit a sacrifice fly to give them the lead in the fifth. But the Braves had come back to tie it, forcing extra innings for the second time in the series. Puckett led off the 11th inning for Minnesota, and thinking he wouldn't be able to get a hit off Atlanta's Charlie Leibrandt, told Twins' DH Chili Davis he planned to bunt for a base hit. Davis wasn't having it, and told Puckett "You get a change-up, a good hanging change-up, hit it out, let's go home." That's exactly what Puckett did. On a 2-1 count, he hit a line drive home run to left-centerfield, tying up the series and etching his name into World Series lore. Puckett's walk-off home run set up the first Game 7 since 1987, a series that also featured the Twins. The final game was the definition of a pitchers' duel, with future Hall of Famers John Smoltz and Jack Morris battling it out for the championship. Morris won this round, pitching a 10-inning shutout for the victory. Gene Larkin hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving Minnesota its third World Series title. Morris was named series MVP for his performance, striking out eight batters and giving up no runs in the series finale. It was the first Game 7 since 1962 to end in a 1-0 score. We've been lucky to see some great World Series in recent years, including the 2011 Cardinals win, the Cubs breaking the curse in 2016 and the Astros winning in 2017 (back before we knew of all their wrongdoings). But I'm not sure any of them have surpassed the intensity and edge-of-your-seat excitement that the 1991 World Series provided. When I make drinks, I like to stick to the classics. That's why you've seen a lot of Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Mojitos and other standard drinks on the blog so far. But every now and then I like to switch things up. My mom bought some blueberry vanilla shrub syrup from a local business, Red Root & Co. The syrup alone sounded interesting to me, but the back of the bottle had a recipe that intrigued me even more, so we decided to try it out. We grilled out last night and spent some time hanging out on our back porch, which seemed like the perfect time to enjoy a cocktail of the same name. The final product was an interesting mix, with the blueberry flavors present at the beginning followed by a wave of tartness from the cranberry and lemon juices. It's not a drink that will please everyone, but it was refreshing on a warm day. Back PorchIngredients
2 parts vodka 2 parts cranberry juice 2 parts Red Root & Co. Blueberry Vanilla Shrub 1 part lemon juice Directions 1. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake 2. Strain into a glass filled with ice 3. Enjoy! I love baseball, and I have for pretty much my entire life. Anyone who meets me can figure that out easily within five minutes of talking to me.
When I started dating my girlfriend, the one thing she told all of her family members about me was that I'm a big baseball fan. I can't count how many times I've heard "So you like baseball?" from her family. I remember trying to explain my love of baseball to a classmate on a study abroad trip, telling him that it's hard to express how much I love the game and that it had been my dream to work in baseball for a long time. So when my mom was going through some old school papers and projects, it's no surprise that I wrote about my affinity for the sport. "I love to play baseball. It is my favorite thing to do. Hitting the ball and fielding are the best part. Making a great catch is fun. I play baseball on a team and at my house. Playing on a team is a lot better than playing at home. Sometimes when I get a good hit I'll get an RBI. Catching the white ball and playing in the field are fun. Most of the time I play outfield. A lot of balls get hit out there. Playing at home is also really fun. You don't have to follow all the rules and you get to play with your friends. A lot of people like to play baseball and I'm one of them. In my spare time I go outside and play baseball. I like to throw and hit. Baseball is a really fun sport. It's my favorite thing to do." I wrote this in March of 2008, so I was about to turn 11. I like to think my writing has improved since then, but one thing has remained constant: my love for baseball.
Today is National Beer Day, and you're either working from home, or you're stuck at home with nothing to do (like me). In either of those situations, there's no reason to wait until 5 o'clock to crack open a beer and celebrate this most joyous of days.
In the spirit of such a great holiday, I've put together the ultimate playlist to enjoy a frosty beverage with. Everyone knows a beer is enhanced when you've got some good music to listen to. So whether you're drinking a local craft beer or Natty Light, sit back, crack open a brew and enjoy this carefully curated playlist. |
AuthorMatthew Atkins, Journalist and Baseball fan. Archives
March 2023
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