Random Baseball Musings

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Basically he was notorious for running up a bunch of money playing backgammon or poker and then pissing it all away betting sports and playing casino games. Then he'd do it all over again.

 

That's a pretty common theme with professional gamblers. Even if they do find a small slice where they have an edge, they can't stop there.

[jersey cubs fan]

you can make money playing backgammon? I should have paid attention to my babysitter.

[Banedon]

you can make money playing backgammon? I should have paid attention to my babysitter.

 

If you're good enough at any game, there's probably a way to make money at it.

[Guest]

Sorry, it was actually gin rummy he was amazing at (along with poker).

 

Some of those guys do start off with backgammon, though. I think Phil Laak did.

[jersey cubs fan]

you can make money playing backgammon? I should have paid attention to my babysitter.

 

If you're good enough at any game, there's probably a way to make money at it.

http://letsgetdangerous.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/vlcsnap-2012-01-18-02h21m00s54.png

[Productive Outs]

Billy Hamilton is 23rd among position players in fWAR with a wRC+ below 100.

[Guest]

Stu Ungar seems like a really bad example; wasn't he always in debt due to personal vices?

like gambling?

His nose caved in from so much coke.

[Splendid Splinter]

Sorry, it was actually gin rummy he was amazing at (along with poker).

 

Some of those guys do start off with backgammon, though. I think Phil Laak did.

 

 

Yep it's Gin Rummy. He was so good at Gin Rummy that he was basically banned from everywhere because nobody would play him. He played against Harry Stein (regarded as the best gin player in Ungar's generation) and beat him 86 games to nothing. Stein drops out of the gin circle and quit professionally. Ungar was also eventually banned everywhere from playing blackjack as well. Then pretty much everyone knows about his skills in hold'em. Dude was INSANELY successful as that type of gambler. He won like 10 major hold'em tourneys out of 30 that he played in. That's '99-'08 Tiger type of dominance.

 

Besides the coke, he was well known for whenever he hit big that night, he would pay for everything that night for whoever was with him or if a friend needed some money (like $100 for example), he would give them several grand. David was right though, he piss whatever was left at sports betting (mainly on horses).

 

 

So how about Mike Trout the past couple weeks?

[SouthSideRyan]

How in the hell do you go 86-0 at gin rummy?

[rocket]

How in the hell do you go 86-0 at gin rummy?

 

yeah. i play gin rummy on my phone, and if both players are playing semi-smartly it seems to be whoever gets dealt the best hand will win. but i guess that's why i'm not a professional.

[Cubswin11]

Does anyone know why Law's "Behind The Dish" podcast got canceled for this year? I thought he was getting a good amount of downloads/listens to it last year, iirc, and he did a few over the winter that he implied he'd be back to doing one once a week when ST came around.

[Guest]

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/20/5804444/best-platoons-joe-maddon-athletics

 

This is amazing

[Clem Fandango]

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/20/5804444/best-platoons-joe-maddon-athletics

 

This is amazing

Fantastic

[Splendid Splinter]

How in the hell do you go 86-0 at gin rummy?

 

yeah. i play gin rummy on my phone, and if both players are playing semi-smartly it seems to be whoever gets dealt the best hand will win. but i guess that's why i'm not a professional.

 

 

Yeah I know. I'm not sure how he did it, but Ungar was incredible at gin rummy.

 

After beating Stein and several other top gin professionals, Ungar was a marked man. Nobody wanted to play him in gin. In the hopes of generating more action for himself, Ungar began offering potential opponents handicaps to even the playing field. He was known to let his opponent (professional or not) look at the last card in the deck, offer rebates to defeated opponents and always play each hand in the dealer position, all of which put him at a strong disadvantage.

[DiamondMind]

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/20/5804444/best-platoons-joe-maddon-athletics

 

[expletive] amazing

[Sammys Boombox]

Braves color announcer: "70% of strikes are OFF the outside corner."

 

Ok

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Braves color announcer: "70% of strikes are OFF the outside corner."

 

Ok

 

Well for about 8 years in the 1990s that was true for the Braves.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

that made me think what the actual percentage of strikes are actually balls, or vice versa.

[Sammy Sofa]

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/6/20/5804444/best-platoons-joe-maddon-athletics

 

This is amazing

 

I think I was just molested by this picture:

 

 

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/assets/4608991/dunnerko.png

 

[Cubswin11]

Some Padres pitcher was the first to wear the padded hat last night

 

http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/files/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-22-at-10.33.38-AM.png

http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/files/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-22-at-10.32.01-AM.png

http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/files/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-22-at-10.32.17-AM.png

[imb]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/11/14/1321296191570/Super-Mario-no-longer-the-007.jpg

[mul21]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/11/14/1321296191570/Super-Mario-no-longer-the-007.jpg

 

I showed my girlfriend the pitcher's hat and she said "Looks like Mario".

[cl smooth]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/11/14/1321296191570/Super-Mario-no-longer-the-007.jpg

 

beat me to it.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

if I'm wearing that hat it better be so protective that it stops the baseball dead and makes a dent in it.

[Sammy Sofa]

There's no [expletive] way that's real.