Born in 1960: Mike Marshall

for some of you (probably those over 40) I am speaking of the "other" Mike Marshall; not the 1974 Cy Young award winning relief pitcher for the Dodgers. This "other" Mike Marshall, born in 1960, was also a Dodger but throughout the eighties.

This Marshall spent the majority of his playing days in LA (1981-1989), was a one time all-star (1984) as well as earning a world series ring with the 1988 club.

Being born in 1960 is one thing he and I have in common. He was born in Libertyville Illinois and went to the local high school in Buffalo Grove, a town I moved to in 1987. No I never met him nor have anything else in common with him (kind of).

A career .270 hitter with 148 HR's, Marshall "greatest" accomplishment might have been in 1981 as a minor leaguer. He actually won the triple crown for the Albuquerque Dukes, the triple A team in the PCL; hitting .373, blasting 34 HR's and 137 RBI's. From there his promising career turned into a respectable utility role and 11 year MLB career.

A couple of footnotes to his career were:

a) he gained much unwanted "fame" for dating then rock-star Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's (most currently of Dancing with the Stars)

b) when Harry Caray said that Marshall needed to get "back to LA to get some cocaine for his foot" . . . quickly corrected by booth partner Steve Stone saying "Harry, that's Novocaine"

c) and, in his very first at bat in September of 1981, he hit a rocket towards (over) the right field wall at Dodger Stadium. Being hit so hard, it bounced off the stairwell and right back onto the playing field where Jack Clark (of the S F Giants) scooped it up, threw it towards the infield and Marshall had a double. Not sure if it was days or years later but Clark did admit to Marshall that his first hit should have been called a homerun !

d) he also is included in my "duplicate initial" archive: M M

So there you have it . . . born in the same year as I, lived in the same town, dated a rock star (my wife was in high school and college theatre !) and hit a "homerun" in his first major league at bat. Not so bad for being the "other" Mike Marshall.

Hey Hey Cubs Playing Cards

Several years ago I found this deck of playing cards in a $ 1.00 bin and could not resist. These cards depict Cub History since 1876 in pictures and include four cards of "great cub moments byJack Brickhouse".

Each card has the Hey Hey Cubs logo on the back and each depict a photo of history or greatness.

I have put two of my favorites up here: top left is Jack Brickhouse with Harry Carey and top right is the team photo of the 1969 Cubs and the tagline of "The Team That Almost Made it".

These cards make for a great conversation piece, history lesson and classic black and white photos of Mordecai Brown, Hack Wilson, Andy Pafko and even Babe Ruth. I will scan more in future posts.

I like to ponder the rationale for putting Jack and Harry on the "joker" . . .