Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Major diplomatic embarrassment avoided

So Bill Clinton forgot to bring his glove to opening day in 1994, who could come to the rescue? Why, that great American diplomat Derek Lilliquist, of course!

"A major diplomatic embarrassment was avoided when Derek (a southpaw as is Mr. Clinton) loaned him his."

I had no idea not wearing a glove when throwing out the first pitch was a major diplomatic embarrassment. In fact, I did a google image search on "president throws first pitch" and in almost every picture the President is not wearing a glove. Presidents who weren't afraid of diplomatic embarrassment include Obama, Bush, Wilson, Ford, and Kennedy. Clinton seemed to be the only one who thought throwing without a glove was a danger to world peace. Here's a picture of him with Lilliquist's glove at that 1994 opener, in which Lilliquist, perhaps shaken by his brush with the Presidency, was shaky in a relief appearance.

1 comment:

  1. I am trying to avoid LOOGY jokes in comparison to the elections last night (since control of Congress can be as random as relief pitcher outings) but wanted to address something.

    "It came down to Plunk facing Mackey Sasser or Lilly facing Mitchell," said Hargrove. "We didn't like the Plunk-Sasser matchup and if the truth be known, Lilly gets right-handers out better than lefties."

    A. I would love to have seen a Plunk - Sasser matchup!

    B. Lilliquist's career splits (OPS+)
    vs. Righties - 103
    vs. Lefties - 89

    C. Lilliquit's 1993 splits (OPS+)
    vs. Righties - 97
    vs. Lefties - 67

    Hargrove must have been making stuff up...

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