April 6th, 2016
hermitologist

PRODcast 124′s Old School Player of the Week: TITO FUENTES

Fuentes spent 13 seasons in the bigs as a 2B, SS, 3B with the Giants, Padres, Tigers and A’s, and posted a career OPS+ of 82 (that’s not good) and a batting average of .268 (that’s also not all that good and who cares about batting average anyway what is this 1983 go iron your corduroys you dweeb). And while his sub-replacement level play would be a fine reason to pick him as the OSPOTW, it’s not the real reason we picked him. We picked him because he is both a card carrying member of the “Windbreaker Underneath The Uniform” club (aka the WUTU club), and he is the founder of the “Why The Fuck Are You Wearing A Headband?” Club (aka this acronym is too long and sounds like the surname of a Nigerian soccer player). Sometimes he wears the headband under his #DADHAT, sometimes it’s over his #DADHAT and obscures the team’s logo, sometimes it’s a complimentary solid color, and sometimes it’s Gym Class Issue White# and he scribbles “TITO” on it with a Sharpie. All of the times it is bad.

Nonetheless, we celebrate Tito and his perplexing headwear and would encourage you to do the same.

April 6th, 2016
hermitologist
PRODcast 124: Like A Nice Bowl Of Bran
Productive Outs
The PRODcast

Hello, this is the new and (hopefully) improved PRODcast – an easy-to-digest nugget of baseball and music that should pass through your system without causing bloating, headaches and/or abdominal discomfort. It’s like the All-Bran of podcasts. PLEASE HAVE SOME.

Musical Guest: WHITE DENIM. Buy it here.

Email from an Internet Superhero: @OmarUnited

Baseball Things

BASEBALL IS BACK! (Have you heard of it?)

  1. Our picks to win each division + wild card teams
  2. Things we’re excited about/not excited about seeing this season … 
  • A full season of Correa, Bryant, Buxton,
  • The Mets rotation
  • If Jered Weaver can crack 80MPH
  • More Mike Trout, gimme all of the Mike Trout
  • Hot dog Twitter, Wrestling twitter, Twitter in general
  • MLB.tv and MLB Network ads
  • This season’s installation of Unwritten Rules enforcement

Old School Player of the Week: Tito Fuentes

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

November 12th, 2015
hermitologist

PRODcast 123′s Old School Player of the Week: KEN REITZ

Ken Reitz, who was nicknamed “Zamboni” because he scooped up grounders on Busch Stadium’s artificial turf, spent 11 years in the bigs (he gets a MLB pension!) as a third baseman with the Cards (twice), Cubes, Giants and Pirates. In those 11 years, while playing a position dominated by quality offensive players, he hit .260, with an abysmal .290 OBP, and .359 slugging. (That’s a .649 OPS if you’re keeping score at home and aren’t good at maths.) Reitz won a gold glove in 1975, and was an All-Star in 1980 despite posting a -0.7 bWAR that year. WAR was not a friend of Ken’s, as he finished his career with whopping -3.2 wins above replacement.

A #FUNFACT from Wikipedia: Reitz was not known for his base running speed. This is reflected in one dubious Major League record. Reitz holds the record for most career plate appearances (5079) among non-catchers who finished their careers with fewer walks than times he grounded into a double play.

That explains that anemic OBP, I suppose.

Reitz belongs in the DADHAT Hall of Fame, despite evading everyone’s DADHAT radar up to this point. His mustache is pure 70s porn, and his hairdo is best described as a man sitting in a barber’s chair holding a picture of a mushroom and telling his barber, “Make me look like that.”

November 12th, 2015
hermitologist
PRODcast 123: Our Year-End Episode
Productive Outs
The PRODcast

This is it! The last show of 2015. Thanks for hanging out with us this season. Y'all made it fun. And weird.

(0:00-3:21) The Open

(3:21-7:30) The Musical Guest: LOMA PRIETA. Buy “Self-Portrait” here.

(8:03-25:27) Emails from the Internet’s True Heroes

(26:07-1:03:44) The Human Guest: Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star talks Gordo, Locain, Yost, and indie rock (?)

(1:04:17-1:19:49) Some baseball things that happened today. WHO CARES?

(1:20:30-1:27:25) The final Old School Player of the Week of 2015 is…

KEN REITZ

Ken Reitz, who was nicknamed “Zamboni” because he scooped up grounders on Busch Stadium’s artificial turf, spent 11 years in the bigs (he gets a MLB pension!) as a third baseman with the Cards (twice), Cubes, Giants and Pirates. In those 11 years, while playing a position dominated by quality offensive player, he hit .260, with an abysmal .290 OBP, and .359 slugging. (That’s a .649 OPS if you’re keeping score at home and aren’t good at maths.) Reitz won a gold glove in 1975, and was an All-Star in 1980 despite posting a -0.7 bWAR that year. WAR was not a friend of Ken’s, as he finished his career with whopping -3.2 wins above replacement.

A #FUNFACT from Wikipedia: Reitz was not known for his base running speed. This is reflected in one dubious Major League record. Reitz holds the record for most career plate appearances (5079) among non-catchers who finished their careers with fewer walks than times he grounded into a double play.

That explains that anemic OBP, I suppose.

Reitz belongs in the DADHAT Hall of Fame, despite evading everyone’s DADHAT radar up to this point. His mustache is pure 70s porn, and his hairdo is best described as a man sitting in a barber’s chair holding a picture of a mushroom and telling his barber, “Make me look like that.”

October 28th, 2015
hermitologist

PRODcast 122′s Old School Player of the Week: Lynn Jones

I had to go with a Royals player this week, and while Buddy Biancalana, Steve Balboni or Pete LaCock would have been a better (and more obvious) choice, I decided to go with the lesser-known Lynn Jones. Jones spent eight years in the bigs between 1979 and 1986, and won a ring with the Royals in ‘85 as a 32-year-old extremely shitty outfielder. (He had a 44 OPS+ that season.) In those eight years and almost 1000 ABs, Jones hit seven bombs, drove in 91 runs, slugged .321, and posted a -2.2 bWAR. Looking at his pics, you’d have to think that they kept him around solely because of his 80-grade DADGLASSES. (He might be crosseyed, which would explain a lot.)

After his playing career ended, Jones went on to coach in both the minors and majors, most recently in 2004 & 2005 with the Red Sox (dude’s got two rings!), and is now a coach at his alma mater, Thiel College (which may or may not be a real school).

He also looks like Chris Freeman from Manchester Orchestra, and Thorny from Super Troopers … and like he’s a part of a Witness Protection Program.

Two musicians who love baseball, but don't take it too seriously.

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  • hermitologist HERMITOLOGY
  • teenarcher TEEN ARCHER

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