Roundtable: What’s your favorite baseball video on the Internet?
Baseball is more than just a game fans watch every night of the summer. Baseball is a culture we enjoy from all aspects. It’s why we at Big League Stew give you news on stadium food, ball caps, baseball movies, baseball cards and so on.
So this week in the BLS roundtable, we’re turning to a more modern piece of baseball culture and asking: What’s your favorite baseball video on the Internet?
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No, we’re not talking about highlights. We’re talking about baseball-related stuff you watch over and over again when you’re not watching a game. Our crew has some favorites — ranging from late-night TV bits to fan antics to video-game commercials. Watch ours, then leave your faves in the comments.
Conan plays 1864 baseball
Back when I used to watch late-night talk shows every single night, Conan O’Brien was my favorite. So when he did a segment on baseball in 1864, that was the peak of comedy for me. Everything about this clip still makes me laugh.
At first, Conan is just there talking to the people who play the game. You actually learn some history about how baseball was played back then, but Conan of course points how insane it is that people would get together and still play the sport.
Then, at the 4:45 mark, everything changes. Conan didn’t just come to mock everyone, he came to play. For the next minute and a half, you get a tremendous combination of Conan putting to use the things he learned earlier, combined with actual athletic ability. It still holds up, and I love the hell out of it. (Chris Cwik)
The ’86 Series goes 8-Bit
As someone who loves both old-school video games and baseball from the 1980s, I have to give some love to the “RBI Baseball” recreation of the famous Bill Buckner play. First, because I don’t know how people do that kind of stuff. Baseball video games were hard to control back in that day.
But the real joy is seeing memorable moments recreated in 8-bit glory. This happens quite often nowadays, but this video was a pioneer in the trend. You can watch the normal video of the play anytime you want (or don’t want, Red Sox fans) thanks to the wonders of the modern internet. But wholeheartedly prefer a creative recreation. Only problem is … it makes me want to play video games. (Mike Oz)
Everybody’s favorite College World Series kid
The College World Series itself was very entertaining this year as the kids from Coastal Carolina shocked the field and made history by winning the school’s first national championship. However, only one kid truly stole the show, and that kid wasn’t even on the field. He was in the stands engaging in a hilarious staring contest with the ESPN cameras, which quickly turned him into a viral sensation.
We later learned he’s 10-year-old Sammy DiDonato from right there in Omaha. He attended the game with his mom, who appeared oblivious through most of his shenanigans. In an interview conducted days later he admitted to being aware of camera throughout the game and was waiting for an opportunity to show off a bit. Somewhat surprisingly, DiDonato was quite shy when speaking on camera. But that irony only adds to his legend. (Mark Townsend)
Roy Halladay and his pillow
Roy Halladay was the kind of pitcher who betrayed nothing on the mound. In 2010, he threw a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter while stone-faced and emotionless. Of course, when he’s not on the mound, he’s a normal, goofy guy. That he was game to appear in a commercial for the video game “MLB 2K11” was delightful, but I never expected him to spend half of that commercial talking to a pillow. Seriously.
See, the premise of the commercial is that Halladay misses his catcher, Carlos Ruiz, so much that he had a pillow of him made to fill the void until the season starts again. So he asks the pillow about which sandwich he should have, which shirt he should wear, and so on. It ends with Halladay hugging the Ruiz pillow and looking at the camera in a way that always, always, always makes me laugh. (Liz Roscher)
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
