Question: Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit on this day in 1984. For which team was he playing with when he accomplished this feat?
Last Question: What series debuted with reenactments of a boy being swept away in a flood and a seven-year-old helping deliver her mom’s baby?
Answer: Rescue 911
Question: On Matlock, what was Matlock’s first name?
Last Question: What Japanese baseball player retired in 1980 after playing 22 years of professional baseball and hitting 868 home runs?
Answer: Sadaharu Oh
Great job J.V. (@JVfromOhio)!!!
Question: In Growing Pains, what was the name of the baby born into the Seaver clan?
Last Question: In 1987, what team’s fans waved “Homer Hankies” at home games?
Answer: Minnesota Twins
Great job Craig (@cdennis0130)!!!
Question: What Yankees outfielder was cleared of animal cruelty charges, after Canadian officials decided he hadn’t intentionally beaned a seagull?
Last Question: What series aired episodes titled, It’s a Wonderful Job, Fetal Attraction, and I Am Curious…Maddie?
Answer: Moonlighting
Question: What Bloom County character dreamed of having an interspecies relationship with Diane Sawyer?
Last Question: What National League team posted the best overall record in baseball in 1981, but missed the playoffs thanks to the strike-spawned “split season”?
Answer: The Cincinnati Reds
The Reds finished the first half of the season in second place with a record of 35-21, just one-half game behind the eventual World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and one-and-a-half games behind the Houston Astros in the second half, in which the Reds were 31-21, good for second place, again.
Question: What National League team posted the best overall record in baseball in 1981, but missed the playoffs thanks to the strike-spawned “split season”?
Last Question: What miniseries was largely set at Drogheda, a sheep station in the Aussie Outback?
Answer: The Thorn Birds
This miniseries aired 38 years ago this week (1983)
Here is an awesome Tweet from the official Back to the Future. Thanks to my friend Jim for sending this my way! For those of you who don’t follow baseball, last night, the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series title since 1908. This was predicted in Back to the Future Part II. The only problem is that this took place in 2015 and not 2016. But this discrepancy is explained here. Congratulations to the Cubbies!
Can you name the artist and song:
You played dead, but you never bled
Instead you laid still in the grass all coiled up and hissin’
Last Song: “Let’s Go Mets” (1986)
Great job Andy (@andytorah)!!!
This is actually a pretty good, rockin’ song. And look for the Joe Piscopo cameo.
We’ve got the teamwork
To make a dream work, let’s go
“You’re in the big leagues when you’re into Big League Chew!”
Ah, the athelete’s answer to candy cigarettes – Big League Chew! Now that baseball season has kicked into full gear, it brings back memories of “dipping” (with gum instead of real chewing tobacco). Oh, who am I kidding? I very rarely got to have any Big League Chew. I was never allowed to have gum unless it was sugar free. I didn’t get to have Big League Chew. I didn’t get to have Bubble Yum. I didn’t get to have Hubba Bubba. But, you know what else I didn’t get? Cavities!! Yes, my teeth to this day, are cavity free.
But, I did feel envious of my friends that got to have Big League Chew. It was so different. Instead of unwrapping a square or rectangular shaped piece of gum, you got to open a pouch, and take out as much shredded gum as you wanted.
Big League Chew was invented by Rob Nelson and Jim Bouton. Jim Bouton was a good pitcher for the New York Yankees in the early to mid ’60s. He developed arm troubles so his career dwindled. He is best known for the book he wrote, called Ball Four. In the book, Bouton wrote about his baseball career. It was unique because it was basically a “tell-all” book, which was unheard of at the time. He wrote about his exploits along with his fellow teammates, which did not go over to well with them. Nowadays, “tell-all” books are commonplace. You might say that Bouton was ahead of the curve (pun intended)!
In the late ’70s, Bouton was pitching in the minor leagues. The following is from Jim Bouton’s web site:
Sitting in the bullpen one night, Bouton watched his much younger teammates chewing tobacco. Fellow pitcher Rob Nelson said it was too bad they didn’t make gum that looked like chewing tobacco.
After the season ended Bouton called Nelson and offered to put up the money and help sell the idea. They made a great team. Bouton designed a pouch, Nelson made gum in a frying pan and they chopped it up, stuffed it in pouches and showed it to the major gum companies, who all said the same thing. “That’s interesting, but we don’t make anything like that.” Bouton and Nelson said, “Precisely!”
Finally, Amurol Products, a novelty gum company in Illinois, introduced Big League Chew in 1980. To make a long story short, in the first twelve months Amurol sold $18 million at wholesale. Big League Chew still sells today, having replaced chewing tobacco at many high schools and colleges.
Return to the 80s 