Best. Magazine. Ever.

VH1 is finally paying me to watch music videos.

And all the soda I can drink!

It's fucking beautiful out there.

Ten after seven, Tuesday evening.

Netflix 37: The Fortune Cookie

Jack Lemmon movies are like a bowl of good chicken soup.

Walter Matthau movies are a like a tall glass of cold Coca-Cola.

Together, it's perfect.

Finally

Subway is awesome.

Netflix 36: One, Two, Three

James Cagney plays the head of Coca-Cola's offices in West Germany, just around the time the Berlin Wall went up. When the Coca-Cola President's daughter comes to stay with his family, she runs off and marries an East German Communist.

Hilarity ensues.

I never knew the Cold War was such a source of humor in 1961.

Mystery Box O' Cards: Gene Richards

Baseball players with sideburns are automatically better than players without them.

Take a good look at Gene Richards here. He's doing a great job at keeping that whole head there working. He's got the afro contained under his cap, while allowing the chops to run down the sides in a seemingly natural formation, but I just know that he must have spend hours in the clubhouse grooming it. All the while, he has a little mustache sneaking in there.

To the Samson's of the baseball world, the sideburns are the only hair that matters.

For instance, when this photo was taken Gene was at the top of both his playing days and his sideburns days. But, as the years went on, Gene's performance declined. As did his sideburns.

Some will say it's because of age. But it's not. It's the sideburns.

Gene is about to begin his first season as manager of the Hagerstown Sun, the Double A affiliate of the New York Mets.

For their sake, he better have sideburns that would make Ron "Superfly" O'Neal envious.

Netflix 35: Kiss Me, Stupid

I found it interesting that in this movie, not only did Dean Martin actually play himself, but he played himself as an alcoholic sex-crazy, lounge singer. It was almost a documentary.

They're still here!

Go away stupid gates.

To Live and Die in L.A.

April 28th to May 4th. Going to visit my buddy Kieran, and see what life is like out there.

Already on the schedule: the May 1st Dodgers-Rockies game.

-Steve!

Netflix 34: The Seven Year Itch

Ok, my Billy Wilder marathon kinda got interrupted by a combination of The Karate Kid and Night Court, but with The OC being all repeats tonight, I was finally in the mood to kick it off again.

The Seven Year Itch is one of those movies that they'd never make nowadays. Nothing really happens. Stuff sorta happens, but not really.

And 1950's New York is awesome. I don't know if I'd like to live there, but I wouldn't mind visiting it once in awhile.

Mystery Box O' Cards: Butch Edge

When I pulled this card from the box, I was struck by the face staring back at me. Look at him. The hair too wild to be contained by the slightly askew hat. The thick, black frames. A slight bit of stubble. Baseball players don't look like this anymore.

In 1980, the Topps Company declared Toronto Blue Jay's pitcher Butch Edge a "Blue Jay's Future Star". He occupied card number 674 of the 1980 Topps Baseball set, along with catcher Pat Kelly, and outfielder Ted Wilborn. The back of the card gave a little more info on the enigma that is Butch Edge. He was 6 foot four, and weighed 190 pounds. He was a righty, both throwing and hitting right handed. Born on July 18, 1956 in Houston, Texas, he made his home at the time in Auburn, California.

Little did Topps know that Butch's Major League career was over before this card was printed.

According to baseball-almanac.com Claude Lee "Butch" Edge wore #16 for the Jays, as he pitched in nine games from the middle of August to late September of 1979. He had a losing record, going 3-4 with a 5.23 ERA. He gave up 6 home runs, 60 hits, 30 earned runs, and 24 walks. He hit one batter and threw 4 wild pitches. He pitched 1 complete game, and struck out 19 men in his one year career.

The 1980 Complete Handbook of Baseball agreed with Topps:

Butch Edge, 23, 6-4, 190    Bats R Throws R

Was 3-3 in eight games with Jays in '79…Plucked from Brewers' farm system in expansion draft…Was Milwaukee's No. 1 pick in June, 1974, draft…Strikeout artist in the minor leagues…Has outstanding arm and fine minor-league credentials…Has shown steady improvement.

And the Jays seemed high on Butch, according to this 1979 Spring Training report:

Butch Edge has increased his throwing velocity!
Butch Edge has improved his control!

What exactly happened to Butch? According to Retrosheet.org, Butch was released during the spring training of 1980 by the Jays. He was picked up a few days later by the Braves, where he lingered in the minor leagues for a few years. Somehow, he ended up in the White Sox organization (where he signed an autograph for this enthusiastic Sox fan) who eventually traded him along with Ross Baumgarten to Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Vance Law and Ernie Camacho in the spring of 1982. By that time, Butch had moved from the mound to behind the plate. By 1988, Butch Edge was the head coach of the Santa Ana College Women's softball team. This lucky fan had the honor of Butch Edge pitching the first game that Orioles fan ever saw. He gave two home runs to Eddie Murray (who I used to always confuse with Eddie Murphy).

So in the end, Butch ended up being one of the many nameless players who populate the minors, only spending a minute in the majors.

Except to me, Butch isn't nameless anymore.

He's got one of the greatest baseball names I've ever heard.