Let’s kick things off with this week’s Pop Quiz question, from Dan Cavanagh of Tucson, Ariz.:
This gentleman announced the first-ever televised World Series, the 1947 clash between the Yankees and Dodgers, and his nephew has starred in such movies as “Heathers” and “Interview With The Vampire.” Name him.
If you’re reading this, odds are decent that you’re familiar with an early chapter of Derek Jeter’s history: He sat in the dugout during the Yankees’ 1995 American League Division Series against Seattle even though he wasn’t on the team’s active roster. The Yankees wanted him to get a taste of the postseason.
So what’s going on with Raul Ibanez and the Royals right now is … pretty much the opposite.
Ibanez, 42, is very likely to retire this winter after putting up a meager .167/.264/.285 slash line in 280 plate appearances in 2014. And he’s a 50-50 shot to retire with the first World Series championship ring of his 18-year major league career.
The former Yankee (and Mariner and Phillie and Angel) has been in uniform for the Royals, but not active, for the last two rounds and likely will have the same status for the World Series. He was active for Kansas City in the wild-card victory over Oakland because teams carry fewer pitchers in the one-game round.
“I’m totally fine. I’ve been blessed,” Ibanez told me on the Kauffman Stadium field, moments after the Royals swept the Orioles in the American League Championship Series. “Just being here, being a part of something greater than yourself, is always what it’s really about, anyway. It’s always about winning. And to get an opportunity to be connected to this team and to Kansas City for the rest of your life, the city will be connected to this team forever. So just to be part of that is phenomenal.”
I’d be skeptical of such selflessness if I didn’t know Ibanez. Or if I hadn’t spoken with him just last month about how meaningful he finds it to be part of this Royals team. Ibanez celebrated on the field with his family, all of whom moved to be with him during this all-but-certain final lap.
He is, as he recently joked, “a cheerleader,” and there’s a reason the Royals have let him stick around. They credit him for being an integral part of this team’s leadership and for calling a players-only meeting in August that helped the club find its way.
“It’s a bunch of winners and gamers,” Ibanez said of his teammates, “and when they had to rise up, they rose. Just pulled together as a team. Everybody played a part. Just phenomenal.”
If the Royals suffer an injury or three on the position-player side during the World Series, they might be inclined to activate Ibanez. He played in the World Series for the 2009 Phillies, who lost to the Yankees. The more likely scenario calls for the veteran to contribute only with words. For sure, there are worse ways to wrap up such a prolific career.
The Pop Quiz answer is Bill Slater, whose nephew is naturally Christian Slater.
If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball with popular culture, please send it to me at [email protected].