What a sight this is. Bartolo Colon, after a 5 year retirement limbo period, finally officially ended his MLB career last month as a member of the New York Mets, a team that held him for just three seasons, all past what would normally be considered a pitcher's prime. One of the most unexpected developments of the last decade of baseball was the return, and deification, of Bartolo Colon. The Mets fans still love Colon, and that home run he hit against the Padres is still one of the greatest things to me. I half considered taking a train to Queens just to be in attendance for this one, but decided against it.
Bartolo Colon throwing out the first pitch for the Mets is one of a few interesting sights I collected in the final two months of the 2023, to benefit the still-ongoing Stars Are Out series.
Richard Sherman once told a close member of my family that he'd never come back to a Seahawks game again. Not long after leaving Seattle, he was still disillusioned about how things left off, and while several people tried explaining to him that he'd clearly get a hero's welcome in that stadium, despite the end of his Hawks tenure, he was still not having it. Things clearly must have changed, as Sherman decided to return to T-Mobile Stadium this year, decked in one of those swanky City Connect jerseys, to throw out a first pitch. I'm glad he's come around, he's a very crucial part of 2010s Seattle sports.
I know next to nothing about the WNBA. I know two names- Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. And I only know Taurasi because Lebron James recognized her talent enough to include her as one of the Monstars in the vastly inferior sequel to Space Jam. Taurasi's one of the all-time greats of the sport, is just winding down her career, and is clearly a legend in Phoenix, where she threw out a first pitch last month.
Similarly, Megan Rapinoe just rounded the last curve of her USWNT career, after a host of medals and big moments in the World Cup. The US team's first place dreams ended early this year, which means Rapinoe didn't exactly end on the high that her former teammates Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach did, but she still finished things off with dignity. I really like the old school Mariners jacket she's wearing here for her T-Mobile Park first pitch.
I think this one can be explained as simply as 'Garth Brooks was in town'. I don't think he's residing anywhere near the Kansas City area, I'm pretty sure he's still back in Oklahoma City though, let me be clear, I don't know much at all about country music. I can name one Garth Brooks song. Friends in Low Places. That's it. His music didn't exactly reach northeastern mainstream radio when I was growing up. He's still a legend, and he's done so much for legitimizing country music. I'm sure he got a warm welcome from Royals fans when he threw this one out.
In the same vein, Mike Love's connection with the Cleveland metropolitan area is similarly tenuous. As a member of the Beach Boys, Love is clearly from California, as that's basically a requirement for entry into the band. I think the band, or moreover Love's 'No Wilsons Allowed' reformation of the band that's fought to tarnish the group's reputation for 35-odd years now, was passing through Ohio and Love thought 'why not'. Also, Mike's nephew used to play basketball in Cleveland, so maybe that's what it is. Either way, Mike Love got a nice response, because at the end of the day he is still a rock legend, despite also being a genuinely terrible human being.
Kyle Mooney is one of those fringe comedy guys that either works for you or doesn't. I always liked him on Saturday Night Live, and thought he had more of an odder edge to him than usual comedy partner Beck Bennett. He was usually misused on the show, and he's now trying his best to find similarly rewarding post-SNL work. But it's kinda awesome that he got a first pitch out of it all; a lot of his early sketches mention SoCal, and the San Diego area, prominently, complete with I believe a 90s-era Padres cap. So this is a true fan pick, and I'm glad he was able to make it happen.
And these two kinda caught me off guard. Like...Hit Girl? Mets fan? Sure. Chloe Grace Moretz has spent the last decade or so being in practically everything; now she's in mediocre action films. She definitely has a nice career for herself, even though she may never be in something as memorable as something like Kick-Ass. But hey, she's a Mets fan, and she got a warm CitiField welcome.
And then you have Ayo Edebiri, who, between a prominent role in Hulu's The Bear, playing April O'Neil in the latest animated iteration of TMNT, and being in Bottoms, one of the funniest studio comedies in a while, has been having an excellent year. I'd call her similar to a Sydney Sweeney 'she's one of ours? get her in here before the star fades' pick for the Sox, though Edebiri thankfully did not curse the team like Sweeney did last year. I hope Edebiri's career keeps going, she's a fun, versatile young actress with a lot of great uses this year.
That's all for the regular season, though I'm sure there'll be some cool ones during the postseason.
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