FanHouse WadeBoggs

Baseball players have always been a very superstitious bunch. Whether it's simple things like Wade Boggs eating fried chicken before every game, Turk Wendell jumping over the baselines, or a refusal to change a jock strap during a win streak: baseball players look for anything that might bring them good luck.

This however, this isn't something I ever thought I'd read.

Apparently a pair of taxidermied kangaroo testicles is regarded as a good-luck charm by Aussies, like a rabbit's foot (or like me rubbing my bust of Elvis that I bought one late night many years ago at a cheap gift shop on the Canada side of Niagara Falls).

So Braves reliever Phil Stockman, a good bloke if I've ever met one, gave starting pitchers Tim Hudson and Mike Hampton each a pair of kangaroo testicles on a key chain. And told them to rub them before each start.

Hudson's "charm" was hanging in his locker last I checked.

What exactly am I supposed to say after reading that? There's no mention in the article of where Mike Hampton is keeping his lucky kangaroo balls, but if I had to put money on it, I'd say they're on the disabled list. (Zing!)

Also, instead of hanging your kangaroo balls in your locker, wouldn't it make more sense to keep them in a pouch? Get it? A pouch. Kangaroo balls. I'll be here all season, folks.

(Thanks, I think, to Walkoff Walk) Sorry, No Photos

As we've mentioned previously here, the Devil Rays are the Devil Rays no longer. They have absconded the evil-doing front end of their name and are now quite simply, the Rays. But if you thought they were just going to make the switch with little to no fanfare, think again.

It's going to be a par-tay.

The team is going big time for Thursday's official uniform/logo/colors unveiling (4-8 p.m. at Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg) by bringing in nearly 20 players (including Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Delmon Young, but not Carlos Pena, who will be on a cruise) plus former stars Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff for the "fashion show" and appearances. ... Kevin Costner and his Modern West band will play starting at 6:30.

Whoa, wait a second? Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff .... and Kevin Costner? Are we sure we aren't reading off the guest list at Les Deux on a Friday night? Because it sure sounds like it. Either way, I need to get down there. Late Thursday afternoons are my time to shine. Because really, if you go out on weekend nights, you are just totally following the crowd.

HT: With Leather.

The summer of records keeps plowing right along. This certainly isn't as jaw-dropping as Barry Bonds' new home run mark or Roger Clemens' 350 games won, ( or is it?) but just a bit ago, Ichiro Suzuki homered off Clemens -- oddly enough -- giving him 200 hits on the season.

That ties Suzuki with Wade Boggs for the American League record of consecutive 200-hit seasons with seven. The current major league mark is eight seasons, held by Willie Keeler (1894-01). So yes, Ichiro sits on the verge of owning a record over 100 years old.

Some scoffed at the notion of Ichiro singing a contract that's going to net him $90 million over five years, (although, a good chunk of it will be deferred) but when you look at what the guy has achieved in his first seven MLB seasons, it doesn't seem all that crazy.

Sure, at 34 next season he's not getting any younger. But he's still plugging right along and has put himself into elite company here, so why not?

Previously at FanHouse:
The Mariners Will Be Paying Ichiro For A While
Will Ichiro's New Contract Ruin Baseball?

Obviously during the course of a baseball season, you have to try new things. It's even more important to change things up when your original plan isn't working. As a result you end up with some wild and crazy ideas, like the one the St. Cloud Times columnist Mick Hatten has for Ron Gardenhire.

Why not bat Joe Mauer at the top of the order?

This next move is going to sound radical: Have Joe Mauer lead off.

Why? Perhaps all these sabermaticians are warping my mind, but why not have the guy with the best on-base percentage on the team bat lead off?

On the Twins roster, Mauer's .396 on-base percentage is the best on the team - by 40 points.

...

If Mauer is regressing into a nonpower hitter, this team needs a lead-off hitter. Remember Hall of Famer Wade Boggs? For those of you not old enough to remember him, Boggs was a slow-footed third baseman and contact hitter extraordinaire.

Boggs had one season in which he had a slugging percentage of better than .490 (.443 for his career). But Boggs' career on-base percentage was .415. Like Mauer, he took a LOT of pitches. If Mauer wants to watch strike one and strike two go right down the middle of the plate, it's a lot easier to take if he's leading off.

If Mauer (.463 career slugging percentage) is turning into the next Boggs, he should lead off like Boggs did for the majority of his career.

There was a time when Todd Helton's power numbers could make Rockie fans forget who their original first baseman was. There was a time when Todd Helton was a 40-home run hitter, nearly reviving the Blake Street Bombers. There was a time when 30 home runs was the least Todd Helton would produce.

Now, not so much. As Purple Row pointed out earlier in the year, Todd Helton has completely remade himself into a contact hitter with amazing bat control. Witness a 30 walk/11 strikeout ratio on the year. That impressive ratio is better than any other hitter in baseball, better than even Barry Bonds. As a result, Helton has the second highest batting average in baseball at .383, and the 5th best OPS in the game at 1.059 -- not bad for a guy who only has four home runs.

Helton's and all other Rockie offensive numbers were met with skepticism due to the Coors Field effect. Now, it's hard to make such an argument; Coors Field is averaging 1.29 home runs per game, which is sixth lowest in the major leagues. In fact, Helton only has one home run in 17 home games this year. Todd credits a new focus on maintaining a balanced diet and exercise routine as a big reason for his new success. Whatever the reason is for Helton's makeover as a hitter, you should take notice. We haven't seen this type of bat control and hitting superiority since Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs.

From the Who'd a Thunk It? file comes this odd bit of news: Wade Boggs is set to officially induct late WWE wrestler Curt Hennig - aka Mr. Perfect - into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The two were fishing buddies, apparently, after joint commercial appearances sparked a friendship:

Prior to Mr. Perfect's debut in WWE in the late 1980s, various vignettes aired previewing Hennig. He was shown in several different sporting endeavors and performing well, perfectly (pun definitely intended). For example, he was shown throwing a football down the field and catching it, too. He was able to shoot a basketball successfully into the hoop while facing the opposite direction. And he hit several home runs alongside Wade Boggs.

According to Boggs, via WWE.com, the two struck up a friendship that lasted over the years. "I met Curt in 1983 in Rochester, N.Y., and we became good friends, hunting and fishing buddies. In fact, he once saved my life while were were hunting in 2001; I got entangled into a barbed wire fence and was cut pretty badly. It took all the strength Curt had to free me and carry me about a mile back to the truck. He saved my life and has a special place in my heart; we spent as much time as we could together, and it's a shame he was taken from us so early."

Strange, but it's a relief to know that wrestlers and baseball players have some sort of connection outside of what pharmacy they receive their illegal supplements from. Encouraging stuff, this.

(Via Baseball Primer Newsblog.)