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Posted

If you know, if you dont, this man had the greatest rant the history of sports. He was unquestionably one of a kind. Too bad the Cubs stunk so bad that he only lasted a season. May he rest in peace.

 

 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

I go to most of the Rockies' weekday day games, and every time I think about Lee Elia.

"85% of the fuckin' world is working.  The other 15 come out here!"

 

Edited by Beau Vine
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Posted

Maybe not, but did find this that I was thinking about by the great Joe Pos:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1812350/2020/05/14/60-moments-no-45-lee-elias-most-of-the-worlds-out-there-making-a-living-rant/
 

(of course Moreland tried to fight 3 of the fans)

 

Quote

1. Lee Elia’s “Most of the world’s out there making a living” rant (April 29, 1983)

There are so many possibilities for No. 1. There’s Lou Piniella’s “I won over 1,800 games as a manager, and I’m not a damn dummy” rant pointed toward announcer Steve Stone.

There’s Earl Weaver’s gag, a NSFW “Manager’s Corner” radio show that you can find on YouTube. Special attention must be paid to Weaver’s classic thoughts on adding more team speed. “Team speed, for Christ’s sake? You get (bleep) (bleep) little fleas on the (bleep) bases getting picked off, trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you. You get some big (bleep) that can hit the (bleep) ball out of the ballpark and you can’t make any (bleep) mistakes.”

There are plenty of others.

But really, Lee Elia’s rant stands alone. It was in 1983 when the Cubs were at the very height of their awfulness. They had not had a winning record in more than a decade. They had not won a pennant since World War II ended. They had not won a World Series since 1908. They represented the very essence of losing, and the only real joy some people in Chicago could get out of them was to go to Wrigley Field, drink until the pain was gone, and then boo the living hell out of the team.

 

There were 9,391 fans at Wrigley Field that day when the Cubs lost to the Dodgers 4-3. The Cubs had led 3-1 in the sixth but gave up a home run to Ken Landreaux and the Dodgers scored the winning run in the eighth on a Lee Smith wild pitch. The loss saddled the Cubs with a 5-14 record, and the fans came down so hard on the team that at one point, outfielder Keith Moreland tried to climb into the stands to go after three of them.

And after ripping the players for 15 minutes, Elia entered the postgame news conference riled up and ready to go — right at Cubs fans.

“All these so-called Cubs fans,” he began. “I’ll tell you one (bleeping) thing. I hope we get (bleeping) hotter than (bleep) just to stuff it up them 3,000 (bleeping) people that show up every (bleeping) day. Because if they’re the real Chicago (bleeping) fans, they can kiss my (bleeping) ass right downtown … and PRINT IT!

“‘They’re really, really behind you around here’ … my (bleeping) ass. What the (bleep) am I supposed to do, go out there and let them get (bleeping) destroyed every day and be quiet about it for the (bleeping) nickel, dime people that show up? The (bleeping) (bleepers) don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the (bleeping) game! They ought to go out and get a (bleeping) job and find out what it’s like to try and go out and earn a (bleeping) living.

“Eighty-five percent of the (bleeping) world is working. The other 15 come out here.”*

*Pause to take in the splendor of that line. I have a friend, Steve Hirschtick, who has built a miniature Wrigley Field at his home in Thailand. Long story. But the important part is that he had a plaque made of that Elia quote and put it on one of the dugouts. OK, back to the rant.

“It’s a (bleeping) playground for the (bleepers). Rip them (bleeping) (bleepers), rip them country (bleepers) like the (bleeping) players. We got guys busting their (bleeping) asses and them people … they talk about the great (bleeping) support that the players get around here. I haven’t seen it.”

It went on and on and on. And all of it was perfect.

Perhaps the most amazing part of the rant was that Elia kept his job … at least for a while. Then-Cubs GM Dallas Green admitted that when he heard the tape, he thought about firing Elia (“The fans have a right to expect more from us,” he said) but decided to keep him. For a while, fans came to games with special Elia signs such as “5 cents, 10 cents, bleep, bleep!” and “Bring me the head of Lee Elia.” Fans began to love it when pitchers struggled and had to be taken out of games so that they could boo Elia personally.

But Elia stayed, and the Cubs started playing a bit better — even getting to within two games of .500 at one point. Then they lost six in a row and the fans came out hard. On Aug. 19, the Cubs lost to the Braves 5-3 with Atlanta rookie Gerald Perry playing the key role, hitting a homer and driving in three runs.

“We’ve never heard of this guy Gerald Perry,” Elia said after the game. And that did it. Green had put a Perry scouting report on his desk for Elia and his coaches to use. Two days later, the morning before a game against the Reds, Green fired Elia.

“My biggest problem,” Elia would say, speaking for all the managers in all the worlds who lost their minds for a moment, “is that I might have wanted to win too badly.”

 

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Posted (edited)

lol, denzel clarke just k’d on a pitch clock violation to end the inning, and max scherzer got visibly pissed that he didn’t get to personally strike him out. angrily shook his head and tossed the ball away lol. i’m really gonna miss watching play. so glad i got to see him in person when detroit came to Texas like a decade ago.

 

Edited by Derka
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Posted (edited)
Quote

Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski has been named to the National League All-Star team. He has thrown in five games and has 25.2 innings pitched for his career. That is the fewest games ever played by someone named to the All-Star Game. 

Maybe he can face Zach McKinstry in the 9th of a 1-run game! 

Edited by shadow_operative2.0
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Posted
2 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

He got 2 more tonight?!

well helo questioned raleigh’s worth like five days ago, so i’d say he’s still got one or two more in him before the break. if we can get helo to keep bad mouthing him we may see 70 hr again.

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Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, Derka said:

 

What’s the record through 96 games (Mariners # of games at the all star break)?

Bonds in his 73 record season had 40 through #94. Got 2 in game #95 to get to 42 and then not another until game #103.

McGwire in his 70 HR season also had 40 through #94 and also got 2 in #95 to get to 42.

Edited by UTexasFight
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