Dennis Lamp... Mime?

Going through my old baseball cards at my parents home, I stumbled across this one of former White Sox pitcher Dennis Lamp. (He had stops with the Cubs, the A's and Pirates as well as pitching for 2 Division Winners with the Red Sox and having an 11-0 record with the 1985 Division Champion Blue Jays... but here he is a White Sox pitcher.)

It's a 1982 Donruss card and frankly I don't remember ever buying Donruss cards, but here it was in a shoebox.

Dennis Lamp was a good enough player. He pitched for 16 seasons and finished his career with a 3.93 ERA. He saved 15 games for the 1983 Division Champion White Sox.



And he had a kick ass mustache.

There is something odd, however on the back of his card.

Not his stats. Did you check his carrer highlights on the bottom of the card?

Look at the last line...

One of his hobbies is pantomime.



Wait WHAT?



Former White Sox and Red Sox reliever Dennis Lamp was into pantomime?



And what exactly does that mean?



The art of pantomime can refer to a specific form of theater common in Europe. Usually performed in Christmas shows, it involves wildly exaggerated characters, dance and songs.



And lots of the people are dressed in those creepy Harlequin clown costumes that give us all nightmares.

And of course the other possibility is he was a mime.



You know, those guys in the white makeup, dressed like a French stereotype and pretends to be in a wind tunnel or walking invisible dogs.



Either way it is strange.



Either way Dennis Lamp is either dressed in a Harlequin clown suit dancing about... or pretending he is trapped in a box.



Folks, that creeps me out.



If ANYONE has seen Dennis Lamp perform pantomime, please write info@sullybaseball.com



I must get to the bottom of this.

Ron Kittle - Another random card found in my old closet

Rummaging through my old closet, I found this gem from the 1989 Topps Traded Series. Ron Kittle, the 1983 Rookie of the Year, had three tours with the White Sox. One with the horrible SOX across the chest uniforms and the last one with the traditional pinstripe Sox uniform.

This card has him with the totally forgettable cursive C hat after his brief turns with the Yankees and Indians.

I have yet to meet a White Sox fan my age who doesn't LOVE Ron Kittle. The main reason I included Kittle in my Home Grown vs. Acquired White Sox entry was his special place in the hearts of Sox fans. It could be that he helped homer the Sox to the unexpected 1983 West title as a rookie. It could be that he was a humble midwesterner playing for a midwestern team. The fact that he wore glasses made him seem less like an athlete and more like a regular guy who could hit one out. It could be that he was one of those old fashioned right handed sluggers who was swinging from his heels, struck out a lot but could launch it when he got a hold of one.

Whatever the reason, mention his name to a White Sox fan my age and watch for the inevitable big smile.

We should also think about players like Ron Kittle as this Hall of Fame vote will be announced. No, I am not saying the Kitty Man belongs in Cooperstown. But let's take a name that is on the ballot. Just a random name... Oh let's say MARK McGWIRE.

Like Kittle, McGwire exploded onto the scene as Rookie of the Year and helped slug his team to the post season (McGwire did it in his second year.). And McGwire also hit a ton of homers and struck out a lot. By the time Kittle was 28 years old, injuries began to catch up with him. Same with McGwire.

The injuries eventually were too much to overcome and Kittle played his last big league games on August 13th when he played both ends of a double header. He homered off of Mike Henneman that day.

When McGwire was in HIS early 30s, he recovered from his injuries and suddenly became the greatest power hitter of all time and in the Hall of Fame discussion.

Kittle never made a million dollars a season.
McGwire made $11 million his final season alone and earned over $70 million in his career.

Can you imagine if Ron Kittle had injected Lord knows what into his body? If his body were able to recover from his injuries... if his line drives went a little further... if his 20 home run seasons became 30 home run seasons... if he piled up homers into his 30s...

Maybe people would have brought HIS name up in a Hall of Fame discussion. Maybe he could have been cashing $10 million checks.

But then again, nobody looks at HIS stats with suspicion. Memories of HIS home runs are positive.

Nobody questions the validity of his 7 homers that reached the roof top of old Comiskey Park.

Ron now does motivational speaking and now does something super cool.

He makes benches.

I am not kidding, these are cool.

The seats? Made of bases.

The backs? Made with bats connected by baseballs.


And you can design the benches to have which ever team and which ever players you would want to honor.

You can have the benches shipped to you... or if you live close enough, Ron Kittle will deliver it

How unbelievably awesome is that? Having Kittle show up with the new bench!

And no doubt he would be HAPPY to talk about the past.


So I salute you Ron Kittle.
You showed us all terrific home run power and you did it right.

No wonder Kittle will always be loved in the South Side of Chicago.