Welcome to the second half of 2020…
Today is Jose Canseco’s birthday. (That means it’s also the birthday of his less famous twin, Ozzie.) Canseco was a successful, but somewhat infamous major league baseball player. He was the first player in major league history to hit 40+ homeruns and steal 40+ bases in the same season. Canseco was the American League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1988.
He is also known for admitting he used steroids while playing, which taints his achievements. Canseco once begged his manager to let him pitch in a one-sided game; his manager relented and Canseco suffered an elbow injury that required surgery which sidelined him for the rest of the season. A few days before that, Canseco apparently lost track of a fly ball in the outfield; the ball bounced off his head and over the wall for a homerun by the opposition.
I saw Canseco’s first major league at-bat in person in 1985 and am 99% sure that he struck out on three pitches against the Orioles’ Ken Dixon. Canseco was named Minor League Player Of The Year by Baseball America that season, so his major league debut was highly anticipated.
I also remember sitting in the General Manager’s box before a game in 1988–I had made the “infinite leap” from being a fan to working in baseball, and for my hometown team, no less–while he was doing a radio interview by phone. During one of Canseco’s batting practice rounds, he hit a ball completely out of the stadium, which caused the GM to stop suddenly during the interview and then loudly exclaim into the phone, “That Canseco just hit a ball out of the ballpark!”
I remember having a conversation with a young female Orioles’ co-worker who didn’t like Canseco’s muscular look and apparent arrogance. I commented that I thought most MLB players would look like that in the future. So, I was right–for awhile–although I was right for the wrong reasons.
As every regular reader of Disaffected Musings knows, I had a long career working in major league baseball as a pioneer of sports analytics and a “father” of Moneyball. As everyone also knows, I no longer follow the sport at all. Personally, I see no inconsistency in that juxtaposition, but some of my friends still don’t understand. Anyway…from Wikipedia a picture of a young Jose Canseco:
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An update on 2020 Corvette orders from Corvette Blogger…without getting into the technicalities of event status codes, Chevrolet/GM have basically admitted that not all 2020 Corvettes that were ordered will be built before the changeover to 2021 production in late October/early November. All ordering for 2021 Corvettes begins on July 30. If you ordered a 2020 model that is not likely to be built, your dealer is supposed to let you know so you can order a 2021.
Chevrolet/General Motors is keeping the base price of the 2021 Corvette Stingray Coupes and Convertibles the same as 2020, but it is a virtual certainty that at least some of the option prices will be higher. From the article a picture of a 2020 Corvette:
#SecondHalfOf2020
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Disaffected Musings 
The Corvettes in recent years are examples of the very few automotive designs that are similar to what I expected all cars to look like in the 21st century when I was in high school. Most of the cars sold these days aren’t my idea of 21st century…. and where are those flying cars we talked so much about as teens?
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Many thanks, JS. As I write here often, history is replete with examples of the folly of human beings trying to predict the future.
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“and where are those flying cars we talked so much about as teens?”
Considering the way most folks drive these days, I’m glad we DON’T have flying cars.
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Amen, sir…
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