Video: Dan Epstein Talks Ross Grimsley, Mustaches and Afros

"Rows. Fros. Anything Goes." is more than just ad copy for the hair and scalp conditioner Sulfur-8...it is also one of the chapters in good friend of The Hall Dan Epstein's book Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s.

The video clip that follows...Epstein extolls the wondrousness that is Ross Grimsley.

And when you're done...why not listen to Epstein talking mustaches and afros. You can thank me later.

Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011)

You knew that once Harmon Killebrew announced that he was ending his cancer treatments and entering hospice care...the Hall of Famer's days were numbered.

Tuesday morning we got word that the slugger's fight against esophageal cancer had, officially, come to an end in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"No individual has ever meant more to the Minnesota Twins organization and millions of fans across Twins Territory than Harmon Killebrew," Dave St. Peter, President of the Minnesota Twins said.  "Harmon will long be remembered as one of the most prolific home run hitters in the history of the game and the leader of a group of players who helped lay the foundation for the long-term success of the Twins franchise and Major League Baseball in the Upper Midwest."

The 74-year-old Killebrew was named the American League MVP in 1969 and when he retired...he had the fifth most home runs in Major League history. Currently, his 573 career home runs ranks him 11th on the all-time list.

But more importnatly, maybe now one of baseball's biggest debates can be put to rest as well. Is the MLB logo a silhouette of Killebrew?

"Killer" sure thinks so.

"You know, I was in the commissioner's office when the mock-up for that logo was being done," Killebrew once said. "But for some reason, they won't admit it's me. It's an interesting thing, and I don't know why."

Now that he's gone...I know I'll never look the logo the same.

Harmon Killebrew was 74 years old.

An A for Effort? I'm Torn...Really

If this past week has taught you anything...I like a good mustache.

But, c'mon, guys...you're doing it wrong.

As if the Bryce Harper Ultimate Warrior eyeblack look wasn't bad enough (did you watch the Little League World Series last year?), high school pitcher Bobby Boyd from St. John's in Washington D.C. has gone with the...

Wait for it.

Eyeblack mustache.

Here's what Dan Steinberg from The Washington Post had to say:

Might St. John’s pitcher Bobby Boyd have a similar effect on the world with his eye black mustache? Too soon to say. But he helped the Cadets win their first WCAC baseball title in six years, and he looked pretty damn...something...while doing it.

Just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, I called St. John’s Coach Mark Gibbs to ask whether Boyd wore an eye black mustache during the decisive game.

“Uh, yeah,” Gibbs told me. “Yeah, he did. He did.”

And it turns out this wasn’t the mustache’s first rodeo. Boyd busted out the black on senior day against Bishop Ireton, and re-applied it a few times during the season’s stretch run, just to lighten the mood in the dugout.

Honestly, I don't know if I should be proud or disturbed.

I mean, kudos to the kid for donning the eyeblack lip sweater (I guess)...but if you're going to do it, I'm suggesting you go full Hungarian and rock out with a majestic Al Hrabosky fu manchu.

And yes, I did just bang out a quick post about the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game.  Thanks Twitter for letting me know such a thing exists!

Talkin' Baseball with Dan Epstein

Typically, this is where I try and think of something clever that is going on in the world, type it out as quick as I can and hope that I can tie it in with whoever I'm talking with.

Unfortunately, I have nothing witty to say about my friend Dan Epstein…author of the FANTASTIC book Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s. The book is a must read for any baseball fan and he has been VERY supportive of this site.

What's not to love?  Here goes!

HOVG: There are a lot of guys out there writing baseball books and, honestly, they look like guys who should be writing baseball books. At first glance, you don’t fit in the same mold as a Jonah Keri, Rob Neyer or Matt Silverman. That said…you’re probably the perfect guy to take people on a Dock Ellis-style trip through the decade of the ‘70s. What was the inspiration behind Big Hair and Plastic Grass? What was the process behind writing the book?

EPSTEIN: Well, you’re right in the sense that I don’t come from a sportswriting background. I’ve been writing about music and pop culture for nearly thirty years, going back to when I was penning record reviews for my high school newspaper. But to me, the 70s were the most rock n’ roll decade in baseball history, and I felt that no one had written a book that really looked at the period through that particular lens. The process mostly involved getting my hands on every baseball book and sports periodical from the era, and finding ways to connect the dots between all the info I gleaned from those sources and the pop cultural and political happenings of the era.

HOVG: I know you’ve spent a majority of your life living either in New York or Los Angeles, but I’ve gotta wonder…who do you root for? Is there a team that you claim as your own or do you follow particular players?

EPSTEIN: I also spent a lot of my life in Chicago, and Ann Arbor Michigan…and much of my 1970s summers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I could watch the unbelievably shitty Atlanta Braves teams every night on TBS. The teams I still feel the biggest emotional attachment to are the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, but my overall attachment to either isn’t what it used to be. I could take the usual line about being disillusioned by the economics of the game, etc, but truthfully I’m still pissed about the Tigers and Cubs curling up in pathetic fetal positions in the 2006 World Series and 2008 NLDS, respectively.

HOVG: Is there a clubhouse that you would have liked to have been a fly on the wall?

EPSTEIN: Man, so many of ‘em! The “Mustache Gang” A’s, the “Bronx Zoo” Yankees, the “We Are Family” Pirates are all obvious choices because there were so many interesting characters on those teams…but you know the late 70s Phillies and Royals teams must have been pretty interesting to eavesdrop upon, as well. But if I had to pick one “fly on the wall” moment, it would be for the Steve Garvey-Don Sutton clubhouse brawl in ’78…both because I would like to have heard what precipitated the fight, and because I would have really enjoyed watching Sutton kick the shit out of Garvey. There was also a very brief period in ’77 where Dick Allen and Dock Ellis were on the A’s at the same time; I would have definitely loved to eavesdrop on a couple of their conversations.

HOVG: Your book is full of stories that conjure up iconic imagery of the 1970a. I’d like to throw some at you and get your thoughts on some of the decade’s best/worst memories. Since it is immortalized on the cover of your book…Oscar Gamble’s afro.

EPSTEIN: A thing of supremely funky beauty, which confused a lot of older white folks in the sport. Oscar was simply lookin’ as superfly as he could manage, but some of the more conservative writers and management types tagged him as a troublemaker, because they didn’t understand the distinction between black pride and black militancy.

HOVG: Charlie Finley’s “Mustache Gang”.

EPSTEIN: The one true dynasty of the 70s, the “Mustache Gang”, proved that you could play winning baseball with long hair and facial growth…a novel concept to many people at the time. But they were also a testament to both Charlie Finley’s savvy (he pretty much hand-built the team himself) and his hubris (he also single-handedly destroyed them). If Finley hadn’t pissed off Catfish Hunter and given him reason to file for free agency, the A’s might have won four straight world championships, and possibly even five.

HOVG: The San Diego Chicken.

EPSTEIN: The classic mascot of the era, and a relic of a time when a man could simply show up to a ballgame in a chicken outfit and convince the home team to let him cavort on the field. Those days are long gone, my friend.

HOVG: Those God awful 1976 Chicago White Sox shorts uniforms.

EPSTEIN: You know, I love Bill Veeck; if I could pick five baseball men, living or dead, to have a steak dinner with, he would unquestionably be on the guest list. But those White Sox shorts uniforms were truly ridiculous and embarrassing; they win the “worst unis of the decade” award, even if the team only wore them three times during 1976.

HOVG: And since I mentioned the Sox…Disco Demolition Night.

EPSTEIN: Like Bill Veeck said, it was his greatest promotion and his worst, all rolled into one. There has been a lot of ink spilled by cultural commentators who claimed that Disco Demolition Night was a celebration of racism and homophobia, but I think it was really mostly just a celebration of being young, drunk, stupid and into Led Zeppelin. As a thirteen year-old boy, I was totally thrilled by the mayhem, even though I owned quite a few disco records at the time.

HOVG: I’d love to get your thoughts on a bunch of the decades most influential players, but we can save that for (shameless tease) a future “Friday 5”. But, until then, what player (or players) had the best hair? This could be Pete Rose’s bowl cut or Luis Tiant’s Fu Manchu. Simply put…whose “look” sums up the decade?

EPSTEIN: Well, there’s a reason that Oscar Gamble is on the cover of Big Hair and Plastic Grass…you see a picture of Oscar in his afro-tastic prime, and you know exactly what era we’re dealing with. But my vote for best mustache would have to go to Al Hrabosky, Sparky Lyle, or Rollie Fingers; but then again, Mike Marshall sported a pretty interesting chops and Fu Manchu combo. So much great hair to choose from, really.

Dan Epstein is an award-winning journalist, pop-culture historian and, obviously, an avid baseball fan. His work can be found everywhere from the USA Today to Guitar World. He currently lives in Southern California. You can check out his website HERE and pick up his book HERE.

If you’d like a copy of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s sent to your doorstep for FREE…fill up the comments with your favorite player of the ‘70s.  And no, no extra points for saying Ross Grimsley.

It’s that easy!

Dear Cooperstown...

If I’ve learned anything over the past couple of weeks is that I am drunk on Ross Grimsley.

Sure, I’ve made “Scuz” the visage of The Hall of Very Good.  I've even proudly displayed his mug coast-to-coast on a t-shirt (available here!), but I would never consider the guy a Hall of Famer.

Does he have an upper lip sweater worthy of mention by The American Mustache Institute? Absolutely.

Does he have the surly disposition (he once went to court over a ball he threw at group of rowdy fans) to get him into the Bad Ass Hall of Fame? Sure…why not.

Both no-brainers.  But let’s get back to that Grimsley intoxication.

Last week I got an idea…why not reach out to Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson? Surely, Idelson would, with the proper coaxing, hop aboard the Grimsley train and maybe, if only for a day, make the lefty an honorary Hall member.

I was wrong.

Thank you for your note.

We'd love to help you, but we don't have a program to induct guys for a day...we only induct permanently. The museum is the where guys like Ross and others who never made it as Hall of Famers are represented.

Take Care, jidelson

C'mon, Jeff...you can't even give the former All-Star a free season pass to the museum? 

No?!?

It was worth a shot, right?

In looking back at Grimsley’s May 16, 1971 debut against the Montreal Expos, his Cincinnati Reds had a dugout that featured three future Hall of Famers (Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez) and eventual hit king Pete Rose. Also on the field was another future Cooperstown resident, umpire Doug Harvey.

But, man…wouldn’t it have been nice to re-write the history books and put an “Honorary Hall of Fame” asterisk next to Grimsley’s name?

I think so.

Batting Stance Guy: "I'm Ross Grimsley"

You know why I love Gar Ryness (aka "Batting Stance Guy")?

Months ago I told him about The Hall's plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of of Ross Grimsley's Major League debut and amid everything he has going on (and it is a full slate, gang)...he sends me this video.

Enjoy! And remember, you can still get a copy of Batting Stance Guy: A Love Letter to Baseball over at Amazon.com or wherever it is you buy your books.

Ross is Boss: Celebrating 40 Years of "Scuz"

It’d be real easy today, the 40th anniversary of his Major League debut, that I start what you’re about to read with something cliché like “in front of close to 17,000 Reds fans…young lefty Ross Grimsley made his pitching debut as Cincinnati took on the Montreal Expos”.

But, honestly, it would be much harder to NOT begin that way. So here goes nothing.

40 years ago today, in front of close to 17,000 Reds fans…young lefty Ross Grimsley made his pitching debut as Cincinnati took on the Montreal Expos.

The son of former Major Leaguer Ross Sr., the former first round draft pick got the start and faced all of 11 batters, giving up six hits and four runs. Suffice it to say…he also took home the loss.


Unbeknownst to that Riverfront Stadium crowd, they had just witnessed the start of a colorful, albeit brief, 11-year career.

In 1972, Grimsley would help the Reds win the National League Pennant and a year later…the National League Western Division. In 1974, he was dealt to Baltimore and helped lead the Orioles to the American League Eastern Division crown.

In 1978, Grimsley (now affectionately known as “Scuz” for reasons you’ll learn later this week), posted a 20-11 record that included 19 complete games, three shutouts, 263 innings pitched, and a 3.05 ERA. He was named to the National League All-Star Team, finished seventh in Cy Young Award voting and with those 20 wins…posted the only 20-win season in Expos history.

All told, “Scuz” played for four teams…the Cincinnati Reds (1971-1973), Baltimore Orioles (1974-1977, 1982), Montreal Expos (1978-1980) and Cleveland Indians (1980). He finished his playing career with a 124-99 record, 79 complete games, 15 shutouts, 2,039⅓ innings pitched and a 3.81 ERA.

He is currently the pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants Double-A affiliate Richmond Flying Squirrels.

So why all the fuss about a journeyman pitcher with big hair, a bigger mustache and a penchant (allegedly) for witchcraft?

Why not?!?

If you’ve been here before or checked out The Hall of Very Good on either Facebook or Twitter, you surely recognize the site’s logo as none other than Grimsley. Dude is my logo, my Jerry West and, suffice it to say, I’ve got a soft spot for the guy.

And hopefully you do as well.

To help celebrate the anniversary of Grimsley’s debut, you can expect a week’s worth of All-Star material here at The Hall. I've got pieces from a few of baseball’s premier Grimsley enthusiasts, fresh new "Ross Art", top notch interviews and some video goodies.

And to top it off…I'm also giving away a copy (details to come) of Dan Epstein's awesome book Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s.

So sit back, relax, pick out your 'fro…this week is dedicated to Ross Grimsley and you’re all invited to the party!

Pete Rose: "I Want to be a Manager"

Having officially given up on his attempt to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame...Pete Rose now has his sights set on something else.

"I want to be a manager, that's the only role," Rose told the crowd at Ohio Justice and Policy Center gala. "But I'm running out of time. I want to teach young players."

Interesting.  Wait...what?

Yeah...you read that part about Rose addressing the Ohio Justice and Policy Center gala correctly.

"I don't go to many banquets where I sit with the judge that sent me to prison," the hit king and keynote speaker said, drawing laughter from the 300 people in attendance. "I'm not bitter at anybody. I made the mistake."

The former Cincinnati Reds player and manager was banned for life in 1989 for betting on baseball games...including Reds games. He holds baseball's record with 4256 hits.