We're declaring Feb. 2011 Defender 2007 month...

OK, it's Jan. 31 so we're starting a day early....

Ashley's fav....

UCONN baseball with some ink of late....

Baseball, UConn - Courant.com

great to see and they play a couple of games at Dodd this season...

The Day - Artists line up for Hygienic XXXII | News from southeastern Connecticut

Brought my offering down to the Hygienic this morning...

a collage of pretty much every ticket stub I still had from the Navigators 1995-2005. Forgot to take a pic of it, I'll update it later this week.

Hygienic is a winter classic in downtown New London as described below in Friday's post.

The artist (me) can be glimpsed at the 45 second mark wearing the famous Opening Day parka (wimp) and weathered (classic) Defs cap.


The Day - Artists line up for Hygienic XXXII | News from southeastern Connecticut

Brought my offering down to the Hygenic this morning...

a collage of pretty much every ticket stub I still had from the Navigators 1995-2005. Forgot to take a pic of it.
Hygenic is sort of a winter classic in downtown New London as described below in Friday's post.

The Day - Hygienic: Uniting New London for XXXII years | News from southeastern Connecticut

The Day - Hygienic: Uniting New London for XXXII years | News from southeastern Connecticut

There are favs and then there's Jake....

EME...fan fav???? well....

not exactly...kind of like driving by a car wreck...you can't help but look.

Always liked Olmo.....

AR...day two of fan fav week continues....

It's fan fav week and we're kicking it off with JP!!

Book him....

A.J.

Matt Palmer....

never liked those uniforms....

D-Mac...

Julian...

Julio....

Doug Clark....

Justin...

Mac is back in the EL!...Richmond....

"RICHMOND, VA - In conjunction with their parent club, the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, the Richmond Flying Squirrels are pleased to announce their field staff for the 2011 season. Veteran skipper Dave Machemer (Mack-uh-mer) will assume the role of Manager in Richmond in 2011. Pitching Coach Ross Grimsley will return for his second season with the Squirrels, and Ken Joyce will serve as the team's Hitting Coach.

Machemer, who guided the Augusta GreenJackets (A - South Atlantic League) each of the past two seasons, takes over for Andy Skeels, who led the club during their inaugural season in Richmond. 2011 will mark Machemer's 38th season in professional baseball, the last six of which have been spent with the Giants organization. In 2010, Machemer led the GreenJackets to the best record (79-59) in the South Atlantic League's Southern division and second best mark overall. In 2009, his Augusta squad boasted the best overall record (76-63) in the SAL. 2011 will mark a return to the Eastern League for Machemer, having previously managed the Flying Squirrels' predecessor, the Connecticut Defenders, for three seasons (2005-07)"


the above is a Richmond Flying Sqirrels press release..

Snow bound in SE CT today...

Ex Nav/Giant/Blue/Jay Fred Lewis...

is now a member of the Cincinnati Reds.

RIP Ryne....

Associated Press story:

"Ryne Duren was an All-Star for the Yankees in 1958.

His death was announced by his stepson Mark Jackson, The Associated Press said.

Pitching for the Yankees from 1958 to 1961, the right-handed Duren would sometimes deliver at least one warm-up pitch high against the screen, presumably to intimidate the batter soon to face him.

Duren led the American League in saves with 20 in 1958 and was named an All-Star three times. He pitched for the Yankees in the 1958 World Series against the Milwaukee Braves, striking out 14 batters in nine and a third innings, and in the 1960 Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He struck out 630 batters in just over 589 innings during his 10-season career. But he also walked 392 batters as he bounced among seven teams, his career and his marriage ruined by alcoholism.

Duren’s penchant for wild warm-up pitches came about by accident.

He relieved the Yankees’ Bob Turley one day, and, as he once told The Los Angeles Times: “I was feeling pretty good so I decided to really let the first warm-up pitch go. When I planted my foot, my knee hit me in the chin and the ball just took off.”

But for all the stories about Duren’s fastballs delivered from a 6-foot-2, 190-pound frame, there was a dark side to his life.

“Sportswriters wrote that I wore glasses that resembled the bottoms of Coke bottles,” Duren recalled in his 1978 memoir “The Comeback,” written with Robert Drury.

“Everyone agreed that it was a dangerous combination: a guy wearing glasses that thick and throwing a pitch that fast. But what everyone didn’t know was that there was another dimension that made me even more dangerous than they thought I was. I had a drinking problem.”

Duren was involved in an incident after the Yankees’ 1958 pennant-clinching when the team left Kansas City by train. He got into a scuffle with Ralph Houk, then a Yankee coach, whose ring cut Duren over his eye.

Duren remembered how in August 1965, pitching for the original Washington Senators, he was hit hard by the Yankees in relief while pitching with a hangover, had some drinks afterward, then left his car on the way home, climbed a bridge and started shouting. The police brought Manager Gil Hodges to the scene to talk him down. A week later, the Senators released Duren, and he was finished in baseball.

Rinold George Duren Jr. was born in Cazenovia, Wis., on Feb. 22, 1929. He made his major league debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 1954 and also pitched for the Kansas City Athletics before being traded to the Yankees. He had a career record of 27-44 with 57 saves.

After leaving baseball, he was hospitalized for addiction treatment, and he later worked as an addiction counselor in Stoughton, Wis.

“Ryne could throw the heck out of the ball,” Yogi Berra told Major League Baseball’s Web site. “He threw fear in some hitters. I remember he had several pair of glasses, but it didn’t seem like he saw good in any of them.”"

I must have had a creative bent back in 2004...

as I photoshopped some "effects" onto 7 or so 2004 Navigators pictures. I'll post them this week starting with Tyler. Remmeber to click on the image to enlarge it. Another nice looking crowd. Also the Giants throw back uniform and high stirups Tyler is sporting look pretty good.

Justin....

Fan fav...Jake Wald

Doug Clark....

the journey into 2004 continues...

RIP Gerry....

Let's dig into 2004 a bit....

with shortstop Jamie Atlas to start things off. The Navs beginning in 2004 stopped wearing the cream colored home uniforms except for the home opener and worn the black mesh style as their everyday jersey.

The navs infield on 4-27-03...

#12 ss Jamie Athas, #7 2B Joe Jester, #18 1B A. Freire, 2B Carlos Menoza, and 1B Mike Cervenak.
Navs beat the B-Mets 8-7.

If it's the New Year...

pitchers and catchers can't be far off!