CoY Battle Royale: Round 1, Pete LaCock Region

April 29, 2009 | Comments (0) | by Jake the Terrible Cubs Fan

Welcome to the first round of the Cubs of Yore Battle Royale. We've finished first round matches in the Jose Cardenal Region. Today we move on to the Pete LaCock Region and another set of 4 first round battles.

A controversial #1 seed, Kyle Farnsworth faces Terry Adams. There's no love lost for Farnsworth with a lot of Cubs fans. But is Terry Adams the man to beat him?

Turk Wendell will have his work cut out for him against Kevin Tapani, and Doug Dascenzo will be scrapping against Todd Walker.

Here's how it'll work. I will outline each matchup, giving the readers a little background about each player. Once you've finished reading, you are then encouraged to vote for your favorite player to win the battle.

There is a link in the right sidebar under "Cubs of Yore Battle Royale". Click on that link to load a survey allowing you to vote on all four battles. Feel free to leave comments at the end of the survey as well.

The battles will close sometime on Friday morning. Results will be revealed later that day.

Now let's get the battles started.

PETE LaCOCK REGION, ROUND 1

#1 Kyle Farnsworth vs. #8 Terry Adams

KYLE FARNSWORTH FAST FACTS*

  • Hails from Georgia.
  • Played with Cubs for 6 years.
  • Drafted by Chicago in the 47th round.
  • Has successfully body slammed Paul Wilson and Jeremy Affeldt on the field.
  • Was primarily a starting pitcher his rookie season and recorded his one and only complete game shutout.
  • Major street in Aurora, Illinois named for him.
TERRY ADAMS FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from Alabama.
  • Played with Cubs for 5 years.
  • Saved 37 games for the Cubs, not in one season but for his career with them.
  • Not as popular as this Terry Adams.


#4 Kevin Tapani vs. #5 Turk Wendell

KEVIN TAPANI FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from Michigan.
  • Played with Cubs for 5 years, posting a 51-50 record during that time.
  • Went 19-9 in 1998 as the Cubs ace in the rotation. Yes, I said "ace."
  • Once traded from the Twins to the Dodgers for Ron Coomer among others. Later the two would be teammates on the Cubs.
  • Member of the Central Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame.
  • Knows all the words to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" by heart.
TURK WENDELL FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from Massachusetts.
  • Played with Cubs for 5 years.
  • Insisted that the umpire roll the ball to the mound rather than simply throw it to him. If an umpire would ignorantly throw the ball to him, Wendell was known to let it go past him, or even to let it bounce off his chest, after which he would retrieve it from the ground.
  • Wore a necklace made from the claws and teeth of various animals he had hunted and killed. He was the Ted Nugent of baseball.
  • Was incredibly vocal about Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa using steroids.
  • Beaned Vlad Guerrero in a game once and afterward said, "If he doesn't like it, he can freakin' go back to the Dominican and find another line of work."


#3 Doug Dascenzo vs. #6 Todd Walker

DOUG DASCENZO FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from Western Pennsylvania.
  • Played with Cubs for 5 years.
  • At 5' 8", pioneered the "small scrappy fan favorite" niche on the Cubs that everyone seems to love. Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot and Sam Fuld owe him a debt of gratitude.
  • Has a career ERA of 0.00 in 5 innings pitched with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. Certainly much better than the 5 innings Neal Cotts has thrown so far this season.
  • Once played in 241 consecutive games without committing an error, a NL record at the time.
TODD WALKER FAST FACTS*
  • Born in Bakersfield, California.
  • Played with the Cubs for 3 years.
  • A victim of "Dustyball", Todd was forced to platoon at 2B with Neifi Perez.
  • Played college ball at LSU.
  • Holds clubhouse record for chugging a half gallon of whole milk in under 4 minutes.
  • Traded to the Padres in 2006 for some young pitching prospect named Jose Ceda. I wonder if that kid will be any good for us? Oh wait, we have Kevin Gregg now.


#2 Dwight Smith vs. #7 Jim Bullinger

DWIGHT SMITH FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from "Awww shit, you know."
  • Played with the Cubs for 5 years.
  • Batted .324 in 1989 and finished second to teammate Jerome Walton in NL Rookie of the year voting.
  • Sang the National Anthem before Cubs games during his playing days.
  • The Billy Dee Williams of baseball.
JIM BULLINGER FAST FACTS*
  • Hails from the Big Easy.
  • Played with the Cubs for 5 years.
  • Originally played shortstop but was converted to a pitcher while in the Cubs farm system.
  • Once beaned Andre Dawson and Quilvio Veras in the same inning.
  • After finally retiring from baseball, Jim donated his ears to Carlos Marmol.
Alright, now it's time to hit the polls. You can vote by going to this link, or by clicking on the "Go to Battle" link in the sidebar.

*Some of the Fast Facts may not be true.

0 comments: