"He sent me Christmas cards up until I went to college."

July 1, 2016 7:33 AM

Johnny Bench, the Chicken and an oral history of The Baseball Bunch

Video:

The Baseball Bunch: Fielding (featuring Ozzie Smith ,Gary Carter, and Graig Nettles)

The Baseball Bunch: Pitching (featuring Dan Quisenberry, Tom Seaver, and Tug McGraw)

The Baseball Bunch reenactment of the Pine Tar Incident between the Royals and Yankees (original incident with George Brett)

posted by The Gooch (4 comments total)

Oh man, that brings back memories of being a terrible little league player who loved the show. Also, absolutely spot hysterical about Lasorda.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:38 AM on July 1, 2016

Being reminded that The Baseball Bunch existed is fixing an error I've been carrying around since my late teens. I used to think "This Week in Baseball has really changed since I was younger" because I was mashing the two of them together.

I feel like the Pine Tar incident reenactment, or anything like it being joked about by something so closely affiliated with the league, is a huge reminder of how different the major sports leagues were when I was growing up.

But most shocking to me was this:

Ted Giannoulas is still performing as the San Diego Chicken.

posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:40 AM on July 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

I loved this show sooooo much. It was an incredibly significant part of a 2-3 year period of my childhood. I liked Johnny Bench so much and was so disappointed at what a terrible 3rd baseman he became after he got old.
posted by bluejayway at 10:21 AM on July 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

Thanks very much for this. I was a kid, in Cincinnati, during the 60s, playing Knothole*. And I was primarily a catcher. Didn't have to look far to find a hero to worship. The Big Red Machine never died...it just faded away.

*Knothole is Cincinnati's version of Little League.
posted by CincyBlues at 6:03 PM on July 1, 2016