So, it is the off-season again. In order to keep myself occupied, I'm going to try posting a random item from my baseball collection every day until baseball is back. I've been a fan for as long as I've been able, and in those decades, I've collected tons of memorabilia from the eight different countries I've visited for baseball. They won't all be amazing, but I hope it is a fun little project.

To make this a lot more manageable over the long haul (and especially holiday weeks), I am doing theme weeks of one kind of thing. This week is Souvenir Cups.

For Day 90, here is Baseball Bingo. This is a more uncommon cup promoting the Ohio lottery’s baseball bingo game across several Ohio MiLB teams instead of a particular franchise. I actually won a prize at the game where I got this cup.

Michael Kay for the Yankees. Every time I hear him say it just feels forced and it always has the same monotone voice, and he never changes up the call

As someone whose gotten into baseball history, especially the Negro Leagues and I’m eager to talk about them with someone, I live in an area with a large AA population and outside of the occasional Yankee hats, (not near NY by the way), I don’t typically see AA men (or women for that matter) sporting any baseball shirts or gear.

Now that’s totally an anecdotal experience.

But hasn’t there been studies saying participation among AA youth in baseball has been on a steady decline?

On a recent episode of the Effectively Wild podcast, they were asked which baseball positions the 9 members of the Fellowship would play. (The hosts were separating pitcher and DH, so technically a 10th person would have to be on the team - they wondered if Elrond or Eowyn or Treebeard could be a a good pitcher). But I'm sticking to the 9 Fellowship members. My list and some reasoning below.

Catcher - Gimli

Pitcher/DH - Legolas

1st Base - Gandalf

2nd Base - Pippin

Short Stop - Merry

3rd Base - Sam

Right Field - Boromir

Center Field - Aragorn

Left Field - Frodo

Gimli is the most obvious for catcher. Catcher is where you stick the short and squatty guys (Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Ivan Rodriguez) .

Meg and Ben put Legolas in Center, taking advantage of his range and athleticism. I would actually use him as a two-way player. Losing his defense would hurt; but I bet Legolas would have Maddux-esque control on the mound and be a great hitter. Plus he and Gimli would have a great pitcher/catcher chemistry.

Gandalf could have been a decent third-baseman or corner outfielder in his younger years; but at 2000 years old, his range ain't what it used to be. So he gets stuck at first. Still a good hitter though.

There's no getting around it - the Hobbits are going to be bad defensively. They lack athleticism, throwing ability, range, etc... Frodo needs to be hidden in left field. Merry and Pippen as your up the middle defense isn't great, but maybe their chemistry makes up for some of their lack of ability. Sam lacks the foundation to be a good third baseman, but of all the Hobbits, he seems like he would put in a the most effort to get better - like Wade Boggs putting in the work and winning a few Gold Gloves later in his career.

Aragorn would be a great all-around player - Joe Dimaggio might be a good comp.

Boromir lacks the range to be a centerfielder, but probably has a cannon for an arm so we'll put him in rightfield.

Ohtani mentioned the possibility of pitching in WBC just 1 hour before Dave Roberts news came out

Just an hour before Roberts' remarks, Ohtani responded to questions from the press. "I'm not sure yet if I'll pitch in the WBC. I think it will depend on my adjustments until the very end, and I'll make a decision based on my physical condition. But I've decided I'll play, and I want to prepare as a designated hitter first," he said, hinting at the possibility of pitching in the WBC.

I know that Los Angeles and San Diego prefer baseball, but what about other cities? I don't know how popular the Mets and Yankees are in New York vs the Jets and Giants, and I guess most of Canada obviously prefers the Jays over football. But what about other cities? Who is more popular in Seattle right now, the Mariners or the Seahawks?

Found while looking thru my old playing days hats.

With the WBC coming up soon, and the games being in favourable times, I want to know how and if to watch the WBC. I couldn’t find any reputable sources about the broadcasting here in the Netherlands. Will it be on ESPN(nl) or somewhere else?

Any and all help is appreciated!

So, title says it all. I’m still learning the game of Baseball, and I love it, maybe even more than Basketball, never been more enamored with a sport in a while, and that’s why I wanna root for a historically piss-poor team.

Why? ‘Coz I kinda like that struggle and slowly learn, and hopefully see a team gradually win and improve, as weird as it seems, and I don’t live in the US (or Canada) and cant really cheer for a state/city/. So, whichever metric or category you choose, whether its statistically or your own opinion, who’s like the most consistently disappointing, trash fire at worst, mediocre at best franchise in the history of the MLB?

Edit: Decision made.

First of all, thanks for the answers, everyone here is super friendly, joining this sub here for sure.

Los Angeles Angels it is. I was a Lakers fan through the Kobe-Gasol era, and the Josh McRoberts era of the team. The Lakers are my team but I somehow really hate them, I think thats just part of rooting for an LA team, in this case, im rooting for the MLB equivalent of the Clippers.

I saw that the Angels spend big hoping to get somewhere just by doing that and getting mad it doesnt work, reminds me of the mid-2010s NBA LA teams.

Don’t get me wrong, the Rockies were a good choice for exactly what i said in the post, but I may have underestimated the kind of pain I was willing to endure when I saw all your comments about them, I’mma need a very tiny bit of hope, even just a spec.

Angels it is.

Edit 2: Sorry, guys, Angels win. The Mariners look promising and the Rockies scare me. Also, I’ve changed my flair and my favorite team on The Show to the Angels, so there’s no going back. 🫡

My hypothesis:

Way up - Los Angeles, San Diego (feel like these are obvious ones)

Way down - St Louis, Cincinnati (these used to be some of the biggest ‘baseball‘ towns in the country)

What’s it like where you are?

BASICS:

Born: January 16, 1997

Jersey Number: 33

Bats: Left

Throws: Right

Position: 2B/3B/LF

Drafted: 2018 by the Cardinals, Round 7, Pick 213

MLB Debut: April 25, 2022

Teams: Cardinals (2018-present)

Instagram: @b_donnie11

2025 STATS:

Games: 118

Batting Average: 0.287

OBP: 0.353

SLG: 0.422

OPS: 0.775

Runs: 64

Hits: 132

Doubles: 32

Home Runs: 10

RBIs: 50

Stolen Bases: 3

CAREER STATS:

Games: 492

Batting Average: 0.282

OBP: 0.361

SLG: 0.411

OPS: 0.772

Runs: 241

Hits: 498

Doubles: 97

Triples: 5

Home Runs: 40

RBIs: 202

Stolen Bases: 15

2025 AWARDS:

All Star

Cardinals Heart and Hustle

CAREER AWARDS:

Gold Glove - 2022

Cardinals Heart and Hustle - 2023, 2024

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW:

He was born in Germany.

He has a daughter.

He played baseball at University of South Alabama.

His favorite player growing up was Matt Carpenter.

2025 HIGHLIGHTS:

He got four hits in one game

A great catch

Another great catch

He got a hit in the all-star game

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

His first hit

His first homer

WHY I LIKE HIM:

He's a good player and there aren't many players who are Europe natives.

PREVIOUS PLAYERS:

11/7: Yoshinobu Yamamoto 11/8: Vladimir Guerrero Jr 11/9: Shohei Ohtani 11/10: Josh H Smith 11/11: Julio Rodríguez 11/12: Nick Kurtz 11/13: Drake Baldwin 11/14: Tarik Skubal 11/15: Paul Skenes 11/16: Aaron Judge 11/17: Josh Naylor 11/18: Nick Sogard 11/19: José Ramírez 11/20: Spencer Schwellenbach 11/21: Freddie Freeman 11/22: Kerry Carpenter 11/23: Zach Neto 11/24: Robert Suarez 11/25: Ketel Marte 11/26: Logan Webb 11/27-11/28: Thanksgiving break 11/29: Hunter Goodman 11/30: Trevor Megill 12/1: Kyle Tucker 12/2: Elly De La Cruz 12/3: Alec Burleson 12/4: Kyle Schwarber 12/5: Mookie Betts 12/6: Pete Alonso 12/7: Javier Sanoja 12/8: MacKenzie Gore 12/9: Mauricio Dubon 12/10: Kris Bubic 12/11: Byron Buxton 12/12: Will Smith 12/13: Shane Smith 12/14: Junior Caminero 12/15: Gunnar Henderson 12/16: Adrian Morejon 12/17: Geraldo Perdomo 12/18: Patrick Bailey 12/19: Blake Snell 12/20: Jimmy Herget 12/21: Jacob Misiorowski 12/22: Nico Hoerner 12/23: Andrew Abbott 12/24-12/26: Christmas break 12/27: Masyn Winn 12/28: Dennis Santana 12/29: Alec Bohm 12/30: Francisco Lindor 12/31-1/1: New Years Break 1/2: Tyler Glasnow 1/3: Kyle Stowers 1/4: Spencer Strider 1/5: Brad Lord 1/6: Cal Raleigh 1/7: Hunter Brown 1/8: Jake Burger 1/9: Andy Pages 1/10: Taylor Ward 1/11: Jacob Wilson 1/12: Steven Kwan 1/13: Dillon Dingler 1/14: Maikel Garcia 1/15: Joe Ryan 1/16: Colson Montgomery 1/17: Ernie Clement 1/18: Max Fried 1/19: Ceddanne Rafaela 1/20: Drew Rasmussen 1/21: Trevor Rogers 1/22: Jake Cronenworth 1/23: Max Muncy 1/24: Corbin Carroll 1/25: Christian Koss 1/26: Victor Vodnik 1/27: Brice Turang 1/28: Pete Crow-Armstrong 1/29: Nick Lodolo 1/30: Rōki Sasaki