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It used to be that Mark Littell was known for two things: Giving up a walk-off home run to the Yankees' Chris Chambliss in the 1976 playoffs (a la Brad Lidge), and being traded for Al Hrabosky.
Now he's a YouTube star.
I read about it in the Kansas City Star this morning. Littell had been working with the Royals' pitchers one spring and asked how many wore a protective cup. Half the pitchers didn't. After lecturing them, he set out to invent a stronger, better-fitting cup.
And his demo, involving his invention (called the Nutty Buddy) and a pitching machine aimed at the family jewels, is on YouTube now.
Some reader at the Star made the obligatory comment that Chambliss should have hit that 1976 pitch into Littell's boys, instead of the boys sitting in the bleachers. I guess a few people are still bitter. Then again, there are a few Phillies fans mad at Mitch Williams, and Red Sox fans mad at Calvin Schiraldi, so I guess it's a good sign that someone still cares.
When I came in to work this morning someone came in and said, "Dude! You gotta come in and watch this clip on CNN!"
His fascination was twofold: A guy taking a pitch in that area, and Littell looked and acted a lot like how one of my coworkers acts. The bravado is a bit more normal for the baseball diamond than the office.
I mentioned that Littell pitched for the Cardinals for a few years but I'm not sure that anyone was all that impressed with my baseball knowledge.
This clip has over 52,000 views, and a slightly shorter version has more than 26,000.
And for the record, I can't find a clip of the Chris Chambliss 1976 home run. Maybe someday soon, Littell will be better known for something else.
The clip made me laugh, but I think I'm done watching it. Like I said, one of my coworkers jumps around and yells like that pretty much every day.
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