H is for Hammer, Hank, and Hairy

 Good morning  and welcome to Day 8 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

Today's limerick is also about today's home run hitter.  I don't consider Hank Aaaron a home run hitter.  I consider him the home run hitter.  On April 8,1974 he hit his 715th al time home run to break the record of Babe Ruth.  I am writing this post on Friday April 8th just a few hours before Saturdays H post drops.  That means 48 years ago I watched Hank Hammer 715 on television.  Here is what it looked like       

On April 8 '74

Hammering Hank #44

Hit home run 7 1 5

I felt so alive

To be part of such great baseball lore.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Yesterday I talked about Ken Griffey Jr. the 7th leading homerun hitter of all time.  For over 33 years Hank Aaron was the all time leading home run hitter.    He is now 2nd behind Barry Bonds.

I was born in 1964.  I was 9 years old when Aaaron broke Ruth's record.  Aaronhit his first homer in 1954 and his last in 1976.  From 1954 to1963 Hank hit 342 home runs.  This was 5th most of all players over that time period and only 40 less than Willie Mays who hit the most in that time period.

From 1964 to 1975 Aaron hit 403 homers  387 for the Braves and 16 for the Brewers.  Aaron led all of baseball by 46 homers during that period.  In 1976 Aaron hit the last 10 of his 755 dingers while finishing his HOF career in Milwaukee. Aaron batted .305 in the course of his career so he was much more than just a home run hitter.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

Playing wordle every day can be a big hairy deal.  On March 8th I began my wordle with ...

H A I R Y - I may as well have been bald as none of those letters were in the answer

Q U E S T -  This got me a e and t in the right places and s in the wrong one.

S W E P T - On my third guess I was exteremely closing getting 4 of the letters in the right position.

S W E E T - .  How sweet it was to get it in 4.

For more A to Z challenge click here.  

G is for Grief , Griffey, and Geode

 

Good morning  and welcome to Day 7 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

As I prepare to write the limerick for April 8th it is A pril 7th and today is the 13th anniversary of my brother's death.  He was 38 years old and died of a heart attack in a nursing home in what is now my home town of Elgin, Illinois.  Today's limerick is dedicated to him, Keith Bertram Roller.

The funny thing about grief

Is that time only gives some relief

Whether 1 year or thirteen

I know one thing for certain .

I know that I'll always miss Keith.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Of the 6 home run specialists we've profiled this month only 1, Cal Ripken Jr. has been in the to 50 in career long balls.  Ripken's 431 blasts put him exactly 50th on the all time list.  Today and tomorrow we get back to back players in the top 10.  

Only 6 players in MLB history have gone yard more times than Ken Griffey Jr.. Griffey hit 398 of his 630 homers between 1988 and 1999.  All of these were with the Seattle Mariners his original team.  Those home runs alone would tie him for 60th all time with Dale Murphy.  After 1999 he hit   210 with his Dad's former team the Cincinnati Reds and 3 more with my beloved White Sox before hitting 19 more for the Mariners after returning to Seattle for his final 2 seasons.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

A geode is a rock contained with crystals or other mineral matter. My best friend form my college days grew up on farmland not far from the university.  There is a dried up creek bed on the property and we have collected geodes from there on multiple occasions.  So on March 7th, I used geode as my opening word for that day's wordle.

G E O D E - I went digging with Geode and I came up with the O and the D in incorrect positions.

B L O O D - Blood was my first of 2 illogical guesses as I had already determined that the O was not in the medial position.  I was able to determine that the D was in the final position.

S O U N D - On my third guess I still only had the O and the D which I had since geode, but now I had them in their proper places.

H A R D Y - This was my second illogical guess as I neglected to use the O altogether and I put the D in what I knew to be the wrong place.  Some people do place this way I like to only guess words that have a chance of being the word.  That being said the guess did reveal all5 letters needed for the actual solution.

H O A R D - I may have actually solved it sooner if I stuck with logical guesses. I did find it interesting that I started with geode and ended with hoard because when my kids were growing up I used to hoard their geodes so they could use them at nature swap at our local zoo.  

Todays topics were a mixture of many emotional memories in my life.  My memories of my brother, my friendships over the years, my love for baseball and being able to share all those with my wife and children are some of the truest treasure of my life.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

F is for Freud, Freddie Freeman, and Fugue

Good morning  and welcome to Day 6 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

There once was a young man from Madrid

Who cared more for his ego than id

So he pulled out his android

Took a selfie, now Freud

Can explain why he's done what he did.

Facebook March 7, 2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Freddie Freeman played for the Atlanta Braves from 2010 to 2021. The Braves are the current reigning World Series champions He recently signed as a free agent with the L.A. Dodgers.  Freeman was the 2020 NL MVP and finished 2nd in voting for NL Rookie of the Year in 2011 his first full season.

Between 2011 and 2021 Freeman hit 270 homers for the Braves.  This places him 6th in  both all time homers for the Braves and most home runs between 2010 and 2021.  This is fitting for a player whose first and last names begin with the 6th letter of the alphabet.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 7th I started my wordle with the word fugue.

F U G U E - This was my first opening word all month that did not get any letters right. As this was a bad start I countered with ...

S T A R T - This yielded a T in the wrong place. I switched the T to the first place with ...

T H I N K - which gave me no more information than the T in a new wrong place. By that time I had guessed all the vowels except so I doubled down with ...

B O O T H - Having oth in the right places, my 5th guess was ...

C L O T H - Mission completed in 5 guesses.  

That does it for another day of the challenge.  for more A to Z click here.

E is for Edmonds, Eustace and Equal

Good morning  and welcome to Day 5 pf the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

Today is my first day writing a limerick within 24 hours of posting it for the challenge.  I have been listening recently to the voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis  so I'll attempt a limerick about one of the principal characters of both books.

There once was a fellow name Scrubb

An egotistical bully this bub

inside and outside a dragon

until he met Aslan

now he's not as useless as he was.  

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Jim Edmonds played Major League Baseball from 1993 to 2010 . He hit his first 121 homers with the Anaheim Angels from 1993 to 1999.  It was after he left Anaheim ,in the period between  2000 and  2010 that  he was his most prolific at the plate.  During that time he  hit 272 of his 393 career home runs.  (241 with the St. Louis Cardinals, 19 for the Chicago Cubs, 8 for the Milwaukee Brewers, 3 for the Cincinnati Reds and 1 for the San Diego Padres.) 

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 5th I started my wordle by guessing equal.

E Q U A L this got me the e but in the wrong position.  I then guessed ...

R E I G N that guess neeted me 4 correct letters with I in the right place. my next guess

B R I N E was correct in 3 guesses!

That's all for today.  for more A to Z challenge click here.  

D is for Dirty, Dawson, Drain

Good morning and welcome to Day 4 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

Part I: A to Z Limericks 

In researching all things limerick, I have discovered that many limericks are ribald, offensive, or dirty. I have decided to try my hand at a dirty one ...

If you happen to go to the zoo

You might see lots of kangaroo poo

And a whole lot of feces

From bunches of species

Yes, I know it sounds gross, but it's true.

Adapted from my FB post 1/24/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

One of the challenges in doing an a to z challenge that is a list of people is figuring out who to include and exclude based on what letter their name begins with. It is especially difficult if a players first name and last name begin with the same letter. If I want to include Freddie Freeman in my homerun list, I have no choice but to use him as F which is where I was planning on putting Frank Thomas. Another problem is when 2 players cancel everyone else out. I knew I wanted to include both Dick Allen (who I featured on April 1st) and Andre Dawson on this list, but since they both use up the same letters it squeezes out players like Adam Dunn who hit 354 homers between 2000 and 2010. Allen and Dawson are good choices though as they both revitalized their careers when moving to Chicago.

Dawson hit 274 of his 438 homers between 1976-1987 tied with Don Baylor for 10th for most homers in that era. This included all 225 of his career home runs with the Montreal Expos and 49 with the Cubs in 1987 the year he won his MVP award. Dawson hit another 100 with the Cubs playing 5 additional seasons on the Norths Side before finishing his HOF career with the Red Sox and Marlins.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 4, 2022 my opening word was drain

D R A I N- A was the only correct letter and it was in the correct place, I went from drain to blade.

B L A D E - D and E were in the word but not in the tight place. I countered with stead

S T E A D - This put the last 3 letters in the right place, so I forged ahead with ahead.

A H E A D - which was right!

For more A to Z challenge click here,

C is for Capital Punishment, Cal, and Codex

 

Good morning and welcome to Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

Part I:  A to Z Limericks

2 years ago my theme was state capitals.  Last month in preparation for this years challenge. With memories of that challenge  I wrote this limerick...

I once had a friend in Cheyenne

Who hated his cell phone plan

He got charged for roaming

Without leaving Wyoming

He's better off with a string and a can.  

Written in March 2022 in anticipation of the challenge.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

When you think of Cal Ripken you don't necessarily think of home runs.  I think of the streak.  I think of the period between May 30, 1982 and 9/19/1998 when he started 2,632 straight baseball games.  Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals currently has a 467 consecutive game streak. Merrifield would have to play more than 13 seasons to get near that record.  Merrifield is already 33 years old.  Ripken was 38 when the streak ended.  

Yet Ripken was a prolific homerun hitter.  He hit 431 homers in his hall of fame career, 242 between 1988 and 1999 all with the Baltimore Orioles. 

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 3, 2022 I started with codex.

C O D E X - This gave me an O in the right place so I followed up with aorta.

A O R T A - In addition to the O, I got a T out of position. My next guess was robin.

R O B I N - This gave me the O and the N and also the R as there was no other space for it.  That helped me get Mourn in 4.

M O U R N

For more A to Z challenge click here,

B is for Bisquick, Bryce, and Bulbs.

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

 Part I:  A to Z Limericks

 

   

An Ode to Bisquick

                                                                  Their impossible hamburger pie

                                                                  A hyperbole meal you can try

                                                                 Course, if you can do it

                                                                 Do not misconstrue it

                                                                 I'm more an implausible guy

                                                                 Adapted from my Facebook post of 1/10/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Yesterday, we looked at a homerun hitter from the first 12 years of my life.  Today we look at Bryce Harper who is currently smashing the long ball for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Like Dick Allen yesterday, Harper  has won both the MVP and the Rookie of the Year award.  Harper won his Rookie of the Year in 2012 with the Nationals and has won 2 MVP awards one with Washington in 2015 and is the reighning NL MVP winning it with the Phillies in 2021.   In the period encompassing 2011 through 2021 Harper has gone yard 267 times, 184 with the Nationals and 83 more with the Phillies. At 29 there could be plenty more  homers on the horizon for the 6 time all-star.  

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word for the 3/2/22 wordle was Bulbs

B U L B S

With only the s in the word but in the wrong place, I countered with spare,

S P A R E

This got me a 2nd letter but both still in the wrong place.  I tried daisy.

D A I S Y

That guess gained me 2 letters in the right place and the logic formed by previous guessess determined that the S would be in the middle of the word. That should have been it, but thanks to guessing the uncommon mashy on my 4th try it took me the full 6 to get to the  nasty answer.  Here are my last 3 guesses and what they revealed.

M A S H Y

T A S T Y

N A S T Y

Tomorrow  is a day off for the challenge.  It's a good day to look around other blogs  and see how they have began the challenge.  I'll be back on Monday with a state and a streak and , well you'll have to C about the rest.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

A is for Awana, Allen, and Ample.

                                                                

Good morning and welcome to another year of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my life time, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

I did not grow up attending the kind of churches that participate in the children's program Awana.  So, it was not until Amy and I started our own family that we participated as parents and volunteers.. Awana is a program that among other things promotes the memorization  of bible verses from children 2 -18.  They are in many ways similar to a youth scouting program and one of their biggest events is the Awana Grand Prix which is very similar to the Pine Box Derbiesthat  I participated in as a Cub Scout.    Awana is something that worked for out family for many years which I 0ne reason why I penned this limerick 8+ years ago.

                                                         Tell folks, tell friends, tell an iguana.

There's plenty of fun at Awana

                                                         We learn that God is King

                                                         We play games and we sing

                                                         But never Hakuna Matata

                                                         From My Facebook page 3/5/2014

Dick Allen (1942-2020) was my hero when I was a young White Sox fan. His 3 year tenure on the White Sox (1972-1974) is a big reason I became a White Sox fan. When you look at the list of the 10 best homerun hitters from 1964-1975, 7 of them are in the Hall of Fame. Only Dick Allen , Boog Powell and Frank Howard are not. Powell was a MVP winner and Frank Howard won the Rookie of the Year award. Allen had more homers than either of those men and won both awards. Allen hit 331 homers from 1964 -1975. 189 with the Phillies, 85 with the White Sox, 34 with the Cardinals and 23 with the Dodgers. Allen averaged 33 homers per every 162 games played.

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word on March 1st for Wordle was ample.

A M P L E

With the P and the E in the correct place. I tried to think of words that would fit. The first thing that came to my mind was Rupee.

R U P E E

Much to my delight and surprise it was correct, I found out a week or so later that Rupee caused a little bit of an sensation on wordle with many people breaking their win streaks on this word for Indian currency. For me it was a rare 2 time solve, but a good way to start my a to z wordle openers.

Thus begins another April A to Z to see what other prople are posting click here.

Some of my favorite Electric Company segments

Letter Man

Speedy Reader

 

 Fargo North, Decoder

   Spiderman