Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn | Tags: Charlie Sheen, Major League, Sports Illustrated
If you haven’t tracked down the July 4 issue of Sports Illustrated — the annual “Where are They Now?” double issue — then you’re missing out on a whole lot of Major League action.
As in a seven-page feature on the cast and crew recalling moments from the past as reported by Chris Nashawaty.
You can find the story online via the SI website, but you don’t get the full impact without seeing the images and more.
Good job, Nashawaty — that’s reporter I’d not give a big ol’ shitburger to!
Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League, Major League 4, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn | Tags: Charlie Sheen, Major League 4, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn
The notion of Wild Thing showing up in Major League 4 makes me a little uneasy — but not as uneasy as knowing Lou Brown has little chance as me making a cameo.
You can also forget landing one of these caps, either. They’re no longer made.
But I still want one.
But the notion of the movie happening lives on. Check this out.
Filed under: Cleveland Indians, Lou Brown, Major League, Major League II | Tags: Cleveland Indians, Indians, James Gammon, Lou Brown, Major League, Major League movie
By Joe L. Brown
For www.youhitlikeshit.com
CLEVELAND — Lou Brown, the gravelly voiced manager who led the Cleveland Indians to their first pennant in more than 40 years in 1988 has died after an ongoing battle with cancer. He was 70.
Brown, whose belief in calisthenics, sound un-flashy glove work and downright loathing of contract squabbles, kept him at the helm of the Toledo Mud Hens for 30 years, was hired for the job by General Manager Charlie Donovan, who had been promoted after the death of owner Donald Phelps.
Un-beknownst to Brown and Donovan, owner Rachel Phelps had intended to produce a team worthy of re-locating to Miami, but it was Brown’s daring managerial style and an eclectic mix of veterans and unknown talent like Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano and Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn that led the Indians to the AL East title for the first time since 1954.
Brown’s Tribe defeated the New York Yankees in a playoff game on a bunt by catcher Jake Taylor, which meant the team finished with a 93-70 record in his dream season. Brown told reporters that “there are two or three potential all-stars” on his roster, but it was his managing of that talent that was vital for the Tribe’s success. One example? Brown discovered that Vaughn’s wildness was a result of poor eyesight, propelling the former California Penal Leaguer into one of the game’s greatest success stories.
Brown often admitted that he wasn’t “one for inspirational addresses” and he was known for wasting sports writers’ time when they irked him. One of his great thrills in life was a simple one, grilling burgers.
Filed under: Gentry, Major League, Meet the team | Tags: baseball, Cleveland Indians, Gentry, indians major league movie, Major League, Major League baseball, Red-tag season
Sure. there’s a new season upon us. But there’s one thing I never really liked to see during spring training — red-tag season.
I always felt bad that Bobby Gentry was singled out in the documentary about my 1988 Indians team. We made several rounds of cuts, but only Gentry here was shown getting a legitimate red tag.
He was sent down to Colorado Springs, our brand-new Triple-A club that was managed by former big-leaguer Steve Swisher that season, and he did pretty well but it wasn’t enough to get back to the bigs.
He later became a long-time fielding coach for the San Diego Padres, and I hear his boy made his big-league debut last season.
— Lou Brown
Filed under: Duke Temple, Jake Taylor, Lou Brown, Major League, Pedro Cerrano, Pepper Leach, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Indians memorabilia, Duke Temple, indians major league movie, Jake Taylor, Jobu, Lou Brown, Major League, Pedro Cerrano, People Magazine, Pepper Leach, Ricky Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Sports Illustrated, Wild Thing, Willie Mays Hayes
For all of the things I saved through the years, I never did latch onto copies of People and Sports Illustrated where my guys appeared on the covers.
“Wild Thing” appeared on the Sept. 18, 1988, cover of People, while several of us appeared on a SI cover that fall, too.
Have one? E-mail me…
– Lou Brown
Filed under: "That bitch" Rachel Phelps, Baseball cards, Charlie Donovan, Clew Haywood, Eddie Harris, Harry Doyle, Jake Taylor, Lou Brown, Mike Rexman, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Pedro Cerrano, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Upper Deck, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: 1989 Upper Deck, baseball card, Baseball cards, Baseball movies, Bob Uecker, Charlie Donovan, Charlie Sheen, Cleveland Indians, Clew Haywood, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Duke Temple, Eddie Harris, Harry Doyle, indians major league movie, Jake Taylor, Jobu, Major League, Mike Rexman, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Pedro Cerrano, Pepper Leach, Rachel Phelps, Ricky Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Tom Berenger, Upper Deck, Wesley Snipes, Willie Mays Hayes
We’ve done some nosing around and have found this exclusive first look world premiere scoop of all scoops — the 14 cards pulled at the last second from the 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set. (Including a card of yours truly, Lou Brown.)
You see, Upper Deck had better things to do in 1989 than include a real Star Rookie named Ricky Vaughn in its inaugural baseball card set. (They instead opted for some bum named Ken Griffey Jr. for card No. 1.)
And they made some other last-second changes to the set — opting to not include managers, bench coaches, announcers and even some Major Leaguers in the 700-card first series.
My team was very, very disappointed. However, after 20 years these “missing” cards have been discovered and can only be found here on my blog.
— Lou Brown
See all of the cards after the jump.
Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League Movies | YouTube Clips, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: Baseball movies, Lou Brown, Major League, MLB, sports movies, Willie Mays Hayes
