All Things Bubba

...the town so nice, they named it twice.

I did a day trip to NYC today. This was planned long before I decided to go to Florida for spring training or knew that Louisville would be playing in Scranton this week. I'm usually pretty much a homebody, so I feel like a traveling fool right now. And I'm kind of looking forward to some peaceful time at home.

But I had a lot of fun today. My friend from Pittsburgh met me at Grand Central, and we went to see Monty Python’s Spamalot. (She has a crush on Clay Aiken, who is currently playing Sir Robin.) The play was terrific. So funny we practically wet ourselves laughing.

There was a big poster of Clay Aiken outside the theater, and a lot of people were taking pictures of it, and getting their pictures taken in front of it. Almost all of the picture-seekers were women in their 50s and 60s (like my friend). Clay has his fans, but they aren't the teenagers American Idol originally envisioned...


Before the play, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Very beautiful. All the trees were in bloom, and a lot of flowers were, too.


After the play, we went to the New York Public Library. My friend wanted to see it because she'd just seen The Day After Tomorrow, which was filmed there.


In the library gift shop, they had New York Yankees Monopoly. I had never seen it before (though I knew it existed). It's a bit outdated. Torre and Mattingly are on it, as are Randy Johnson and Miguel Cairo.

And Bubba Crosby. His "property" had a price of $140, I think. Not too bad, really; Jeter was $250. The photo they used of him was this one, or a very similar one.

After the library, we took a bus to Greenwich Village and walked around until we hit Houston St. (The end of the Village. My friend betrayed her out-of-towner status by pronouncing it like the city in Texas.) She had fond memories of the Village in the '60s. She went to the city as a high school student, and as teens did at the time, sneaked out of the hotel when the nuns weren't looking, and went to the Village. It was all bohemian then, with cafes and beat poets and all. It's nothing like that now; she was quite disappointed.

We did come across this touching display of tiles on a chain link fence in the Village. In the days after 9/11, flyers were posted all over the city by people seeking their loved ones. As the days and weeks passed, walls of "missing" flyers morphed into shrines, where people left messages of love, remembrance, and condolence, along with flowers, candles, etc. I would guess that this tile display is a more permanent version of those shrines. The tiles come from all over the country, even all over the world. It's quite an amazing display.


Oh, and my friend had some interesting news. She had just heard via her local media that Craig Wilson signed a minor league deal with the Pirates.

Wilson, of course, was released by the Reds after failing his spring training physical. He says his shoulder is fine.

The Reds felt Wilson wasn’t healthy enough to play but the Pirates say they have no worries about the condition of the shoulder, which was operated on by team orthopedist Patrick DeMeo.

“It was all the opinion of one person, the Cincinnati Reds’ team doctor (Tim Kremchek),” Wilson said. “I’m fine. I wouldn’t be playing if I was hurt. I wouldn’t sign a contract if I didn’t think I could help a team. I’m just looking forward to getting an opportunity to prove it.”

Interesting. I didn’t realize he’d had his surgery done by the Pirates’ orthopedist. I wonder if team doctors are more likely to give a clean bill of health to the players they operated on? Since they are basically approving their own work that way.

Wilson had his shoulder surgery a month before Bubba had his. Maybe this means Bubba has a chance to play this year, too.

Meanwhile, on the Louisville front... I was a little worried that Andy Phillips DH'ed and then was out of the lineup in the final two Scranton games. Then I thought maybe Thursday was a "getaway day" lineup. The Bats had already won 3 out of 4, and Hairston also had the day off. Maybe Rick Sweet was just taking the opportunity to rest his veteran players. After all, they probably aren't going to learn too much more in the minors. And they need to be kept fresh in case the big club needs them.

But Andy was out of the lineup again today. (Though he did play Friday.) That seems a bit odd. He played every day until Thursday. Hope he's all right.