Usually I can shrug my shoulders at this type of stuff, but I really felt like this one was a reach.
Part of the reason fans chanted "Uber" was because of how forced the narrative was all week. I had never heard of this pitcher prior to the ALDS (and I'm sure I wasn't alone), and really the fact that he was an Uber driver trumped his story of how effective he had been for the Twins late in the season. You bet if he shut the Yankees down, it would have been "Uber driver slams door on the Yankees" versus "Twins hero Randy Dobnak shuts down Yankees." Some of it is just Yankee hating which I tend to not care about, but really, it was ribbing that happens in all Playoff atmospheres. And I've heard much, much worse. You probably have to.
What wasn't lost on me was hearing that Dobnak was once pitching for the Utica Unicorns before finding his was into the Twins organization. The Unicorns hold a special place in my heart, as that's the current organization where Ty Hensley pitches! It gives me hope. If Dobnak can be discovered there, perhaps a former first rounder can find another shot with an affiliated club as well.
My two newest Hensley cards come from the Leaf brand, "Rize", which I'm not even sure it's a real brand, honestly. There only seems to be one seller on eBay who consistently has these cards, and they are all marked at ridiculous prices. Anyhow, two decently prized printing plates hit the market, and I scooped them up, because that's what I do when new Hensley cards I can afford pop up.
Its getting harder and harder to find new Hensley cards, which made my trigger finger extra itchy. Overall, I'm glad to have them, but these certainly aren't amongst my cherished 1/1s.
**sigh**
ReplyDeleteClearly the point of the chant was that he had come out of a non-baseball activity, not a slur on Uber drivers specifically. When it comes to the Yankees people will twist anything to make it look bad.
Wally Joyner had a knife thrown at him at Yankee Stadium and shrugged it off. Dobnak should be glad the days of fans throwing batteries at the players is long gone.
Not exactly in the stratosphere of "Who's Your Daddy?" huh? :D
ReplyDeleteYankees stadium fans have always been a certain way, playoff or not. It's not new, nor should anyone be bothered by it. Razzing, that's all it was.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected a recent event in the playoffs to your most recent player PC pickup. I have a few Rize cards of former Pirates prospects (Glasnow, Polanco, Marte). The cards aren't bad at all and remind me of the Just Minors products.
ReplyDeleteThe Uber chant was very mild, if there was anything to be upset about it would be that the Twins deserved much more taunting than they got. The Yankees see the Twins as little more than a speed bump on the way to the ALCS, that's what hurts the most to this Twins fan.
ReplyDeleteI was pissed when I heard the chant...because the Yankee fans couldn’t think of anything better than “Uber.” I’m kidding, of course. I’m with you. We’re living in a world where people are just looking for a reason to be offended (and I don’t mean that in any type of political manner).
ReplyDeleteAs for the Rize plates - I’m glad you found some new Hensley cards. I’ve seen a few for Joey Gallo, but haven’t pulled the trigger. I also thought they might just be fakes because I’ve never heard of the brand either. Apparently it’s a real company.
Congratulations on adding two more plates to your collection!
ReplyDelete