Top Ten Most Scandalous "Commons"

The last time our baseball card guru Bo Rosny did one of these, he unintentionally offended an uptight blogger (his words...not mine).  This time, well...you've been warned.

When looking at the cards in your collection, there are many star cards that you just look at and think of off-the-field problems.  Guys like Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Pete Rose, Darryl Strawberry or Ugueth Urbina.

There are also plenty of lesser players who have gained significant infamy from off-the-field troubles, like Rick Camp, Jim Leyritz, Lary Sorensen or Brien Taylor.

But here are ten minor players you probably have cards of, that you probably didn’t know had major legal problems after their careers.

10. Lee Tunnell
I wrote about this guy before, but it’s still funny – “Former MLB pitcher and Christian baseball ‘Ambassadors’ founder busted for prostitution.”

9. Jay Baller
Jay Baller is the perfect guy for this list – he is perhaps best known for his baseball card with the gold chains and chest hair. He had to have been into drugs, right? You bet. Said the arresting officer in 2007, “That’s pretty stupid to pull over in a residential neighborhood and snort cocaine in broad daylight while playing with a gun.”

8. Matt Keough
Keough stands in for the epidemic of drunk driving that dozens of current and former major leaguers get arrested for. I chose Keough because, unlike the others, he’s now better known as the husband of a “Real Housewife of Orange County” than as a former big leaguer.

7. Ron Musselman
Baseball players aren’t usually known for being great fathers. Case in point, former Blue Jay Ron Musselman, who was such a deadbeat dad that he lost his legal rights as a parent. This became news when his son, Lucas Glover, became a PGA star.

6. Troy Neel
Musselman has nothing on Troy Neel, who the Texas attorney general once called “the worst dead beat dad in the history of Texas.” Instead of paying what ended up being nearly $800,000 in child support, Neel fled to Vanuatu where he owned a resort island.

5. Alex Cole
Ballplayers often end up being arrested on drug charges. Rarely are they arrested at the ballpark, like Alex Cole when playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2001. He later served eighteen months for heroin trafficking.

4. B.J. Wallace
Brien Taylor isn’t the only “Future Star” whose on-the-field fall was followed by an off-the-field one. B.J. Wallace and his wife were arrested last year for running a meth lab in the house in which they lived with their three children.

3. Kevin Wickander
Why do so many players (including, recently, three Tampa Bay Rays minor leaguers), get into meth? “I ain’t gonna bullshit you man, it’s an awesome drug,” says Kevin Wickander, who spent several years in jail for meth possession and burglary.

2. Brandon Puffer
Half of the classic Bong/Puffer card, Brandon Puffer’s baseball career ended in prison after being convicted of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault.

1. Byron McLaughlin
A former major leaguer who is a genuine fugitive from justice, eluding American authorities for over two decades. He skipped bail after being arrested for money laundering, and was later involved in selling cocaine and check kiting. He is believed to be living in France.

 

Who'd we miss...who is your favorite?  Let us know in the comments below!  And as always you can follow Bo over at his site Baseball Cards Come to Life.

The Trailer for "42" Has Dropped

Is it possible to already be looking forward to next April?

If you're a Boston Red Sox or Chicago Cubs fan...probably.  Your teams are out of it and that's pretty much all you have going for you.  But, April 2013 also marks the time the Jackie Robinson bopic "42" hits theaters.

Last December, news broke that Hollywood hotshot Harrison Ford was tabbed to play legendary executive Branch Rickey.  And as for who is playing Robinson in "42"...that honor goes to the relatively unknown Chadwick Boseman.

Behind the camera is director Brian Helgeland, who, as a screenwriter, penned both “L.A. Confidential" and "Mystic River”. In 1998, Helgeland became the first person to win both an Academy Award ("L.A. Confidential") and a Razzie ("The Postman").

 

This isn't the first time Robinson's story has been brought to the silver screen. In 1950, "The Jackie Robinson Story" was released with Robinson himself playing, um...himself.

Five Baseball Players Who Should Have Their Own Reality Show

After dozens of athletes from the NBA, NFL, auto racing, the Olympics and the like making the rounds on primetime reality programming, it's about time Major League Baseball (and someone NOT named Jose Canseco) got some play in the reality show genre.

As you know by now, when the latest installment of "Survivor" premieres on CBS Wednesday night, former National League MVP Jeff Kent will be in the fold.

His involvement has been covered enough (HERE and HERE for example), so, now that the door has been opened to the baseball world...why not specualte as to who else might make a great addition to a reality show.  And who better to do it than friend of The Hall (and one of TV's greatest reality show villains), Jonny Fairplay?

 

 

Fairplay on John Kruk:  "He's not as big as he was, but he's not that small either."

 

Fairplay on Roger Clemens:  "I'm still not buying it and I know LIARS!"

 

 

Fairplay on Goose Gossage:  "What are they going to do with that mustache?"

 

 

Fairplay on Doc Gooden:  "Nevermind. Been there, done that."

 

 

Fairplay on Dale Murphy:  "The most famous Mormon baseball player and my personal favorite player ever. Do all Mormons get multiple wives? If so, sign me up!"

 

Who do you think should have a show?  Let us know in the comments below!  And feel free to follow all the antics and exploits of two-time "Survivor" contestant Jonny Fairplay on Twitter at @jonnyfairplay.

Live From New York...it's Chipper Jones!

In 37 seasons on the air, "Saturday Night Live" has had 35 sports figures host the show.  And of those 35, only five (Bob Uecker, Billy Martin, George Steinbrenner, Deion Sanders and Derek Jeter) have had any sort of baseball pedigree.

Our friends over at the MLB Fan Cave want to change that and they think they have the right host in mind.

So before you think the idea of making a campaign-style video (shown below) to get Chipper Jones to host the show is unfounded...all the Cave Dwellers are doing is responding to a post that popped up on the SNL Backstage Blog.

Incidentally, Jeter is the only everyday player that has hosted the show (Sanders was more of a full-time cornerback when he had the duties) and that was back in December 2001!

So why Chipper? Why not?!? 

Basketball star Charles Barkley has taken the reigns of the show three times and, well, let's just say that Jones probably couldn't do worse. 

But let's not kid ourselves, if Jones gets the hosting gig, it'll only be the second biggest honor the Big Apple can bestow upon the future Hall of Famer.

Yunel Escobar Wants You to Hate Him Too!

After the Atlanta Braves traded Yunel Escobar to the Toronto Blue Jays, speculation was that the deal was made because no one on the team liked him...not because of what he brought to the field.

Well, more than two years later, the shortstop apparently wants everyone to despise him.

As Craig Calcaterra over at HardballTalk writes:

Caught by Jays fan @james_in_to and featured over at the Drunk Jays Fan blog, pictures taken of Yunel Escobar on Saturday clearly show that he’s wearing eye black stickers on which he — or someone else — wrote the words “TU ERE MARICON,” which translates to “you are a fa**ot.” As @james_in_to explains, in some cases it can mean “you are a p***y,” but the former is more widely accepted as the meaning.

Homophobic slurs, in any language...not cool.

Sitcom Star in Altercation at Dodgers Game

Typically, it's rappers and musicians that get in fights to drum up interest for their upcoming projects, but, on Saturday, it was "Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet getting into the act.

Well, not really.  Probably.

According to The Thirty Mile Zone, Stonestreet got into a verbal altercation (video HERE) with a rival fan while the two took in a Los Angeles Dodgers-St. Louis Cardinals fan.

The video doesn't really show what was said, but, I can't help but wonder if the Emmy-winning actor might not have been simply discussing the cultural divide between his native Kansas City and his I-70 neighbor from Missouri.

Subsequently, both fans were asked to leave, or, as Stonestreet tweeted, they were simply escorted to the top of the stairs by security.

No word as to whether or not Stonestreet was back in his seat (or any seat for that matter) to see the Dodgers thrilling comeback in the ninth inning.

Pete Rose Talks WWE

As if the idea of Pete Rose being inducted into their Hall of Fame (his induction video is below) wasn't surreal enough...baseball's hit king was recently asked by WWE about superstar Kane's recent anger management issues.

"I don’t think Kane needs to be less angry," Rose told WWE.com.  "I think Kane needs to funnel his anger correctly and focus it only on his WWE opponents and not tag team partners, announcers and especially celebrity guests."

So, yeah, if you're keeping track...Pete Rose, banished from baseball (and, subsequently, its Hall of Fame), was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2004 and, for whatever reason, was questioned about one of its superstar's (Kane, real name Glenn Jacobs) pretend "anger management" issues.

Kinda like asking Bob Hoskins how it was sharing the screen with Baby Herman in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" isn't it?

That said, interviewer Joey Styles did throw out a pretty cool question.

STYLES:  Do you think your infamous 1970 All-Star Game shoulder block that dropped Ray Fosse would be effective against Kane?

ROSE:  To make a shoulder block effective, I need to pick up speed. I wouldn’t be able to pick up enough speed to knock Kane down inside a WWE ring. I’d have to run at Kane full speed from the stage at the top of the ramp. Even then, I think Kane is too much of a monster to topple. I’ll stick with the bat.

I don't know about you...but I'd pay to watch that.

Mets Fan Faces Big Fine

Remember the good old days when you could run on the field and tackle Chris Chambliss after a home run or throw on your tightest t-shirt and kiss random ballplayers?

Welp, those days are gone, my friend, and if you make your way to the playing field now...it'll cost you.

Just ask Rafael Diaz.

Following Johan Santana's no-hitter back in June, the 32-year-old New York Mets fan got in on the celebration and now...dude's not allowed back on the team's home turf.

“The defendant’s antics have resulted in a criminal record, the paying of thousands of dollars in fines and civil penalties, and, perhaps the worse punishment for any true Mets fan, precludes him from ever again visiting Citi Field,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the Long Island native was ordered to hand over $4000 in civil penalties to the Mets and $1000 to the city.