R.I.P. Macho Man Randall Poffo

Leaping Lanny Poffo and TMZ are reporting that Macho Man Randy Savage has passed away at 58-years-old after a heart attack/car accident. Fair warning, I was a huge wrestling mark growing up during the late 80s and early 90s. Randy Savage joined the WWF in 1985 and would go on to wrestle the Intercontinental Championship away from Tito Santana in early 1986.

Savage lost to Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMainia III in 1987. The match was an instant classic and helped launch the Macho Man to the main event status. He joined forces with Hulk Hogan to form the Mega Powers, married Miss Elizabeth, feuded with Ric Flair, joined the n.W.o. and made us all snap into a Slim Jim. He was also, by all means, batshit crazy...



Okay, I know this isn't a wrestling blog or a trip down memory lane obit page (yet!) so let's make with the baseball already. Before he was Macho Man Randy Savage, Randy Poffo played 4 years of minor league ball in the Cardinals and Reds systems never making it past Single A. He played from 1971-1974 mainly roaming the outfield and struggling at the plate. Over 289 games, Poffo hit 16 home runs with a .254 BA and a .391 SLG%. World Championships were in his future, just in the squared circle rather than on the diamond.

Macho Man was an icon and certainly the biggest name to pass away on the long list of early deceased wrestlers. Savage retired from TNA and wrestling for good in 2004 to apparently become a heel version of Santa Claus.

R.I.P. Macho Man.

Our Intern Goes To A Nashville Sounds Game

Through the magic power of Twitter, we somehow acquired the services of our very own intern. We even pay him in potato chips. Filosofer will occasionally stop by with a post and you can follow him at @Filosomesa. The debut features a trip to a Triple A game. And I agree with the experience, well, except for the country music.

Since this is my first official post, I figured I'd give everybody a better idea of who I am. Then I realized that I'm not all that interesting a person and you guys would much rather hear about baseball than me. So I'll give you a recap of the first minor league game I attended instead.

It was a Nashville Sounds game. Now I know a lot of people don't like minor league stuff because it's usually more gimmicky, but a giant guitar shaped scoreboard is pretty damn cool. Their playing of country music was pretty awesome too. Now, I'm mostly into rock of various varieties, but there's a fair amount of country in my library as well. If you don't like country music, well... What the hell would you be doing in Nashville anyway?

Anyway, if you haven't been to a minor league baseball game yet, you need to go. I paid $12 for my ticket. Do you want to know where I sat? Front row, right behind the screen. And that's because that's where I chose. For $12, I could have chosen pretty much ANY seat in the stadium.

If I'm going to complain about anything at the game, it would be the bugs. I have a slight (read: huge) fear of bugs, and they were EVERYWHERE. On the other hand, this was Nashville, so if I have a slight (huge) fear of bugs, what the hell am I doing in Nashville anyway?

Now, I'm a subscriber to Triple A being a fairly dull league player-wise. It seems to me that those are either the prospects who were close but not good enough, or were good enough but are washed up now. So if you want big or soon-to-be big name players, Triple A isn't for you. I, on the other hand, could care less. Let's face it, one of my major hobbies is simulating baseball games through a variety of media. If there's baseball, I'm excited.

To speed this up, the Sounds won. Would I have cared if they lost? Maybe. Like I said, I'll watch anything, so I try not to cheer for one team too much.

Anyway, in the future I'll make some real posts. Until then, well, do whatever it is you do.

Fowler Ninth Minor Leaguer to Hit for Cycle

We're not just about the major leagues here at Offbase. From time to time, we'll work our way around the minor leagues and see if we can find another story about a hobo wandering on a warning track.

Rockies minor leaguer Dexter Fowler, who had a .363 on-base percentage and finished eighth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2009, slumped early in the 2010 season for Colorado and was sent to AAA. Fowler's demotion was clearly Colorado Springs' gain.



Fowler-a .373 hitter in 20 minor league games for Colorado Springs-had one of his best days at the plate Sunday. In a 13-4 win over the Las Vegas 51s, Fowler hit the ninth cycle of the minor league season. Even more impressive was that Fowler accomplished the feat in just five innings, and he got the hard hits out of the way first:

First inning - solo home run
Second - two-run triple
Fourth - double
Fifth - single