Touch 'Em All: The 'Hickory Dickory Docks' Are Back, Dave Roberts' Weird Ejection & The Rangers Meet Biden
"Touch 'Em All" Must Begin With Joe Biden - But I Promise It Has To Do With Baseball, Too
The Texas Rangers won their first World Series in franchise history last season after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. As part of the victor’s spoils of winning that title, the entire Rangers staff and team got the honor of visiting the White House yesterday.
I say "honor" loosely for two reasons. The first is that the weather in our nation’s capital was dreary at best yesterday, and if they were there this morning, they were present for the tornado warnings that spread throughout the city. Not great to say the least.
But the second - and more important reason - is that they had to spend a decent chunk of "quality" time with Joe Biden.
Now look, I’m not the type of guy that thinks you should skip out on an invite to go to the White House just because you disagree with the politics of the guy in office. If I were good enough to be on that Rangers squad (wouldn’t that be sick?) I'd go on that trip, despite the fact that I hate quite literally everything Biden has done as president over the past four years. Meeting the president is an honor, and you should go if given that chance.
To their credit, everyone on the Rangers was present. Also, they had the most epic walk-into-the-building song ever: a classical rendition of "Higher" by Creed, which was their de facto fight song during the playoffs last year.
That’s pretty epic…and just about the only fun part of the whole day.
Remember, Biden’s brain function is rapidly deteriorating, probably by the minute at this point. That was evident yesterday; at one point in the meeting, Biden quite literally forgot what he was supposed to do and asked someone for guidance. This wasn’t an instance of forgetfulness followed up by a bit of well-timed self-deprecating humor. You can tell from his body language that Biden was as helpless as the Chicago White Sox.
That’s just embarrassing, not just for Biden, but for the Rangers as well. Texas is currently fighting for its playoff life, and they just lost two out of three to their in-state rivals - the Houston Astros - at home. Then they take their off day on the week before heading to play the suddenly formidable New York Yankees, and this is what they get? A husk of a man who is supposed to be leading the free world forgetting what to do when he meets the defending World Champions?
That’s a road trip you immediately want to forget. Maybe a Creed karaoke night would help lighten the mood?
Dave Roberts Got Ejected In One Of The Most Unorthodox Situations You'll Ever See
Managers sometimes get ejected at the weirdest of times. Just last month, San Francisco Giants skipper Bob Melvin didn’t even make it to the start of a game against the Colorado Rockies before getting tossed.
Other times, managers get eject for unusual reason. Earlier this year, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone get ejected because the umpire thought he was arguing a call, when in fact it was a fan behind him who continued to heckle the umpire.
It is just as wild as you might think, and quite honestly hilarious. It’s worth the watch.
And on very rare occasions, sometimes managers get tossed at weird times and for weird reasons.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers were hosting the Philadelphia Phillies, and were leading 4-3 in the top of the sixth inning. Brandon Marsh proceeded to hit a ground ball to third base, which Kiké Hernandez fielded and threw back to shortstop Miguel Rojas for the out.
At least, that’s what everyone thought.
According to umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, Rojas had interfered with Alex Bohm as he was sliding. I personally disagree with the call, but I also have the benefit of replay, whereas Wendelstedt didn’t.
Wendelstedt (right) threw out Roberts (left) for one of the weirdest reasons ever. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
The call upset Rojas, to the point where he had a moderately animated argument with the ump. Eventually, the shortstop moved on, but Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts came out of the dugout to defend his player, which is natural for managers to do.
But then what should have been a standard interaction got pretty weird.
As soon as Rodgers emerged from the dugout, Wendelstedt backed off and held up two hands, acting like Roberts was a rabid raccoon. That’s particularly unusual, because umpires should know that managers often emerge from the dugout just to defend their players.
But Wendelstedt broke protocol and even went so far as to tell Roberts to stop following him. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen that before. (Then again, I haven’t been around for nearly 120 years of MLB history, so I’m no authoritative source on umpire ejections either).
To add the cherry on the top of this awkward sundae, Roberts proceeded to follow Wendelstedt, and then the ump threw him out of the game.
Jomboy did a full breakdown of the situation, and it’s worth the five minutes (I mean, its the weekend. You’ve got time to kill, right?).
In addition to the circumstances of the situation being unusual, the timing of everything was equally as strange. I haven’t seen many managers get ejected in the middle of the game when their team is winning. Usually, managers blow a gasket late in the game when their team is getting destroyed.
The bad times didn’t stop there for Los Angeles, though. In addition to losing their manager in one of the weirdest scenarios ever, the Phillies would take an 8-4 lead in that inning and win the game 9-4.
Baseball never fails to show you something new every day, right?
Meet The "Hickory Dickory Docks" - The Team With The Coolest (Temporary) Nickname In The Minor Leagues
While baseball is in one sense a game, it is very much an entertainment product in another. To make your team stand out from the rest, you not only need good baseball players, but you need creative marketing strategies.
The Hickory Crawdads, the High-A affiliate of the Rangers (weren’t we just talking about them?), came up with one of the best marketing promotions I’ve ever seen.
The minor league team from NC came up with a different uniform idea for this weekend’s games. Mind you, they play in a town called "Hickory" - do you have any guess on what direction they went in?
(Here’s a hint: think back to your childhood - a scary proposition, I know - and all those nursery rhymes you used to hear).
For this weekend and this weekend, only, this minor-league team will be known as the "Hickory Dickory Docks" - and that is the most big-brained name change ever.
Here's what they looked like in 2023 (both photos were taken by Michelle Thompson, Hickory Crawdads):
The team’s Assistant General Manager of Marketing - Ashley Salinas - said that the team got the idea in early 2022, debuted it in 2023, and it became a viral success almost immediately. In fact, the name was a national finalist for best theme night/specialty jersey at Minor League Baseball’s Fall Meetings and was up for best theme night on MLB Network last fall.
Salinas said via email that the fans welcomed the identity change and quickly bought out all the hats they had available.
"There was an old amusement center that had the same name that I think brings back some nostalgia for some locals, although the identity is not affiliated with the old arcade, she said. "We shipped hats all over the country and definitely heard a lot of positive buzz about the Hickory Dickory Docks when we released the identity last January, quickly selling through a lot of our hats on pre-sale."
Salinas also said that the team put a lot of thought into bringing these uniforms to life.
"We wanted to make our logo and uniforms unique and embrace the identity. The first and probably most recognized line of the nursery rhyme is ‘the mouse ran up the clock’ so, of course, we incorporated a mouse running up a traditional grandfather clock. A little easter egg in there is that the clock hands are pointing to 8:28, which is the Hickory area code. For the jerseys, we wanted to make those fun as well and had the idea to put clock gears on the sleeves to make something different and creative that you don’t typically find on a baseball uniform."
As a baseball uniform enthusiast, I deeply respect the hustle behind this design. Also, they managed to make brown and yellow into a fantastic color combination - which is not an easy thing to do.
The Dickory Docks will wear these uniforms on Friday night and for a Saturday doubleheader, all against the Aberdeen IronBirds. While I won’t be able to get to The Tar Heel State to get a jersey from the stadium, I will absolutely do all I can to find one online.
These are too good of a jersey to pass up.
Defense Was Dazzling This Week
Last month, I said that Houston Astros outfielder Joey Luperfido made the catch of the year, and that it would take something absolutely remarkable for me to even remotely consider giving anybody else the award.
But Boston Red Sox outfielder Cedanne Raffaela might have just stolen the award from Luperfido.
Now look, I’m not saying this because I’m a die-hard Red Sox fan. The catch he made earlier this week against the Kansas City Royals was nothing short of insane.
See for yourself.
Did he make this unnecessarily hard by having his body turned in the wrong direction because of a bad read? Yes.
But did he make up for it with a dazzling level of focus and athletic creativity? Absolutely.
Who do you think had the better catch, Luperfido or Raffaela? Or does someone else deserve the award? You know how to reach me: john.simmons@outkick.com.
But sick plays don’t just happen in the outfield - or by teams that have a legitimate shot at playing October baseball.
The Colorado Rockies haven’t had a lot go right for them this season. Heck, they had a horrifically long streak of games where they trailed at some point in the game at the start of the season. But a couple of days ago, the Rockies finally had a break go their way.
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor laced a line drive back at the pitcher. But somehow, Peter Lambert got a piece of the stinger just long enough for shortstop Ezequiel Tovar to track it down and fire back to first for the double play.
Now a 1-6-3 twin killing isn’t widely uncommon. But I bet you’ve never seen one completed like that before!