I was watching an A’s /Twins game from 1988 on YooToob and it was a blast from the past and a chopped-up line in the bathroom of nostalgia. Bob Welch was on the hill for the good guys and it was sort of sad to see him facing Kirby Puckett as both shuffled off this mortal coil way too soon. I was enjoying the game and settling in, but I was distracted by all the shirtless guys carrying their wax cups full of Budweiser, happily fluttering around in the crowd like social butterflies with blindingly glistened oil-soaked bodies and Tom Cruise approved knockoff Ray-Bans.
When did it become socially acceptable for guys to walk around shirtless at the ballpark in the ’80s? I’ve seen this sort of exhibitionism in many 80’s movies, (maybe it was because gay culture was influencing the mainstream on the down-low, hence the straight guy mustache trend of the era which was obviously a disco-hangover and made baseball players look like leather daddies as they shoved pounds of Hollywood Happy powder up their nostrils) but was it art imitating life or vice versa? Although the apotheosis of shirtless guy movies, Magic Mike, came out in 2012, it still didn’t inspire a vomit-inducing public movement. Guys in the 2000’s just decided it was more appropriate to leave their shirts intact. I’m not saying an individual should wear a suit and tie à la the 1920’s Babe Ruth era, but please leave the “beach bod” (which isn’t always the case) at the beach. It’s goddamn distracting as most of the time the person committing the atrocity looks less like Conan-era–Arnold and more like he was squeezed out of a tube. Is this is a California thing or an 80’s thing? Inquiring minds want to know.
***
It’s (the day before) opening day and you would like to watch your favorite team, but you can’t due to blackouts. Bummer. Here’s the biggest misconception about MLB blackouts–teams are not blacking out games to make you go to the stadium, they are doing it to ensure they don’t piss off the regional sports networks, which are established cash cows to the tune of 2.1 billion. Like most of you, I couldn’t care less about what billionaire has the biggest dick and just want to watch my local team. Here is a gift for the dedicated readers of this site: (all 10 of you) simply click on Alfred E. Newman’s face to the upper right (or at the bottom if you are reading this on a phone) and free baseball! Burn it all down! Fuck Rob Manfred! Sabotage the system! …Although you’ll probably want to *ahem* return tomorrow since there are no games today.
Coco Crisp's Afro 
Thanks for the link. I don’t give a shit about billionaires either.
Thanks for exposing the real reason for the MLB blackouts
I will take off my shirt in the privacy of my home tomorrow, and watch the games.
That sounds great, but if you happen to make a trip to Busch Stadium this year you’ve got to let it all hang out!
I’ve been an MLB subscriber for years. Some time ago, I remember calling someone and complaining that I couldn’t see my home team’s games even though I was in hotel in (can’t remember where) and not able to watch the local feed. (I used to travel a lot.) So, they changed my ZIP or something and I was able to watch any game all the time.
What I don’t understand now is why I can’t go watch a game from, say, 2004 or so since I have been paying my $100 (give or take) since the beginning through the site. You used to be able to build a link to the games and find them, but once they changed the video player, old streams wouldn’t load. Anyway – I paid for access to those games, I should retain access to those games into perpetuity, no?
Cheers – and Happy Opening Day! (Love the Rube photo. As a Rube biographer – for a book no longer in print, but might be available on a Kindle – you get massive props.)
Paul
Thanks for the kind words, Paul. I was interested in purchasing your book, “Just a Big Kid: The Life and Times of Rube Waddell, but it was 45 dollars on Amazon! Is there any way I could buy a cheaper version? Please PM me with any additional information. Also, here is a link to Paul’s blog for anyone interested: https://mightycaseybaseball.com/
Oh you beautiful, beautiful Alfred E. Newman glam photo! Thanks for that. Also, you’ve totally derailed my work schedule this afternoon, but in the best way possible.
Loved that ’88 A’s team by the way. I grew up in the 80’s and never understood the shirtless thing either. Hell, I played basketball through college and I abhorred the whole “shirts vs. skins” games whenever I had to be a skin. At 6’3′ and a buck 55 as a senior in high school, I was the opposite of the guys being squeezed out of a tube of toothpaste, but my lack of physique was not going to impress the ladies either.
Haha! Great story, and I’m glad I could help f*** up your work schedule. At least for a day.
Hey!!
There’s stuff to celebrate…
Hurry up with a “late April” entry here, so we can document having had something to cling to!
Maybe end it with a link to Kool & the Gang… blasting from 40 years ago?
11 game win streak on the line tonight…
“…there’s a party goin’ on right here:
a celebration,
to last throughout the year…?”