Hollywood, Calif. – The laughs and gaffes have been tallied and Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, co-authors of the outrageously funny new book,The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown (Lyons Press), announce the line-up for the first annual “Blooperstown All-Star Team” honoring the flip side of Major League Baseball. Fans were invited to vote for their favorite bloopers and bungled plays.
Since the game’s inception, the national pastime has provided fans with a never-ending supply of embarrassingly nutty moments. And, as historians of the offbeat side of sports, Nash and Zullo have captured over a hundred years of baseball screw-ups while paying homage to the Major Leagues’ zaniest characters, craziest plays, and head-scratchingest moments in their new The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown book. The now classicHall of Shame series, which has sold over 750,000 copies, reminds fans that it’s okay to make mistakes – even famous players do! For Nash and Zullo, their motto has always been, “Fame and shame are part of the game.”
With the MLB All-Stars ready to duke it out in Kansas City, the Blooperstown All-Stars below can be sure Nash and Zullo will immortalize their “winning” moment for generations of baseball fans to come.
The Official 2012 Blooperstown All-Star Team:
* Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Jonathan Broxton became the first pitcher in 46 years to hit two batters in a row to end a game. Good “hitting,” Jonathan!
* Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. found a crazy way to blow a spring training game—by getting down on all fours to try to blow a ball into foul territory!
* Umpire Mike DiMuro failed to see what everyone else saw-- that New York Yankees left fielder Dewayne Wise had leaped into the crowd and pretended to catch a foul ball. DiMuro never checked Wise’s glove and called the batter out— even though everyone in the ballpark and a national TV audience saw that a fan had caught the ball.
* Arizona Diamondbacks rookie hurler Trevor Bauer forgot which side he was playing for in his debut. After his first major league pitch (a 93-mile-per-hour strike), he wanted to hang on to the ball as a souvenir, so, for safekeeping, he tossed it into the dugout. But he was so excited that he accidentally threw it into the opposing team’s dugout!
* Umpire Tim Welke made the season’s most egregious blunder when he called Los Angeles Dodgers runner Jerry Hairston Jr. out on a grounder even though Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was three feet off the base trying to catch the errant throw!
* Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper threw an All-Star temper tantrum that left a shameful mark. After going 0 for 5, the 19-year-old rookie slammed his bat into the dugout wall in frustration only to have it bounce back and smash into his head, causing a gash that required 10 stitches above his left eye.
* After returning from elbow surgery, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright was pranked when teammate Lance Berkman drove Wainwright’s truck onto the field for a fake fan giveaway. The “fan” turned out to be teammate David Freese’s uncle!
* The San Diego Padres ran themselves into a triple play on a bunt. With runners Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso on second and first respectively,Jesus Guzman laid down a bunt in front of the plate. The runners wrongly assumed it was foul and were late leaving the bag. After the Dodgers turned a 2-5-6-3 triple play, the Padres learned otherwise.
* Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Bourn became the poster child for the old saying, “When you gotta go, you gotta go” after he caused a delay in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks because he had to take a potty break.
* MLB.com had difficulty knowing left from right. It inexplicably sold a bobblehead version of Philadelphia Phillies ace right-hander Roy Halladay… pitching left-handed!
BRUCE NASH, president of Nash Entertainment, is the creator and executive producer of more than 80 television series and specials, including “Before They Were Stars,” “Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed,” “Meet My Folks,” “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?” and “Most Shocking.” His “Modern Marvels” series is one of cable’s longest running programs, with more than 500 one-hour episodes. On the sports front, Nash created and produced the critically acclaimed series “Amazing Sports Stories,” which was nominated for four Sports Emmys. His company is headquartered in Hollywood, California.
ALLAN ZULLO has written more than 100 nonfiction books on such subjects as sports, the supernatural, history, animals, war, survival, heroism and grandparenting. His latest books are Heroes of 9/11 and Titanic: Young Survivors. Among his many sports books are When Bad Things Happen to Good Golfers, Golf is a Funny Game and March to Madness. He writes two best-selling series for Scholastic, Haunted Kids and Ten True Tales. He lives near Asheville, North Carolina.
The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown—Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo
March 6, 2012—Lyons Press—296 pages—ISBN13: 978-0762778454
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