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Daily Article and Discussion, Monday, July 27, 2026

There are superstitious people with strange habits. And then there are baseball players. If there's a superstitious action, there's probably a baseball player that buys into it and acts accordingly. Anything from choices of underwear, food, timing, and anything in between is the subject for some strange belief. For some, they won't step on a crack for fear of breaking their mother's back. But then, for example, a young Steven "Turk" Wendell once upon a time was pitching for Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, MA, when he stepped on the foul line while going out to the field and then gave up some runs in that inning. The fault for giving up those runs obviously does not lie in throwing bad pitches. No, the real fault for those runs is that Wendell stepped on the foul line. So, the solution to that is to never again step on the line, which led to Turk leaping over the foul line every time he entered or exited the field. Ok, well that's kind of cute. Maybe it's a little rough on your knees after a while, making a few dozen needless jumps, potentially on a playing surface that is concrete with a light layer of astroturf on top. But Turk had a few other eccentricities. As we learned from Thanos, all things should be perfectly balanced. The pitcher and catcher are a prime example. If the catcher is crouching, then the pitcher must be standing. Or at least, Turk must be standing. But the pitcher and catcher cannot both be standing, so if Turk's catcher was standing, then he would be crouching.

Previously, we saw Mark Fidrych's habit of playing with the dirt on the pitcher's mound, and would you also be surprised to know that Turk would draw in the dirt on the mound? When heading out to the mound, he would draw 3 crosses in the dirt on the back of the mound. Three crosses, not for Jesus and the thieves, but rather 3 crosses for 3 prayers. A prayer to play to the best of his ability. A prayer to be injury-free. And a prayer to win.

The reader might be familiar with the use of chewing tobacco among baseball players. It's a bit of a nasty habit, that was the cause of Tony Gwynn developing salivary gland cancer and passing away in 2014. Unsurprisingly, the MLB has banned new players from consuming chewing tobacco. But back when America was America and men were men, baseball players would have a wad of chewing tobacco in their mouth. For giggles, sometimes they would spit the tobacco juice at each other. Now, some people might not particularly like the taste of tobacco; hence, not indulge in consuming chewing tobacco. But if you want to participate in the tomfoolery of spitting at each other, you need something else to work with. Turk wasn't into drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or using tobacco, so he had to come up with a substitute. Turk really liked licorice, particularly black licorice, so between innings, he would shove a handful of black licorice in his mouth. Oh, but it wasn't just a random number of black licorice strands. It was four. Not three. Not five. Four. Exactly four. Only four. But the licorice habit created a new problem. The licorice left a bad taste in his mouth. To deal with that, he brushed his teeth between innings and then struck out the side. Just like how giving up the runs was the result of stepping on the foul line, striking out the side was the result of brushing his teeth. So, a new habit was born. Pop in 4 fresh strands of black licorice when starting a new inning. Jump over the foul line when heading out to the mound. After concluding the inning, jump back over the foul line when heading into the dugout. Once back in the dugout, grab the toothbrush and toothpaste, brush the teeth between innings. If heading back out for the next inning, get another 4 new strands of black licorice and repeat. That's one way to keep Twizzlers stock price up.

Would you be surprised to know that this wasn't Turk's only strange relationship to teeth? Not his own. Not his teammates' teeth. Not his opponents' teeth. Coming from western Massachusetts, Turk was a massive hunting enthusiast. A simple man, really, he didn't ask for much out of life. Just "a wife, children, to play baseball and to hunt deer.". He would take the teeth of animals that he had personally hunted and make them into a necklace that he would wear when he pitched. If that wasn't enough to weird batters out, after facing one batter, he would grab the rosin bag, and instead of just tossing it back as most normal pitchers do, he would spike it into the ground. He also really hated it when an umpire would throw a ball at him. The umpire must have some bad juju, so any time that the umpire threw a ball at him, he couldn't catch it. Instead, he would let the ball just fly past him or stop it with his chest and then pick it up off the ground.

This isn't even the end of it. Wendell was drafted by the Braves in the 5th round of the 1988 draft out of Quinnipiac. His first 4 years would be spent working his way up the Braves minor league system, before he was traded to the Cubs. He would finally make his MLB debut with the Cubs in the 1993 season before becoming a regular with the Cubs in 1995. As you might guess, Turk would have a thing for special numbers. He had an affinity for the number 13, which was his desired number. He even made his first Cactus League start on Friday the 13th. When the made it with the Cubs, he got to wear his beloved 13. But then during the 1997 season, the Cubs traded him to the Mets. This posed a slight problem, because Edgardo Alfonzo already had number 13 for the Mets, so Turk needed a new number. Why not borrow from the fictional nutty pitcher played by an equally zany actor. In Major League, Charlie Sheen played Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn who wore number 99, and that was good enough for Turk with the Mets. In 1998, 1999, and 2000, Turk was a key member of the lockdown Mets bullpens, and when his contract expired after the 2000 season, he signed his next contract as a 3 year pact, which would pay him $9,999,999.99. He would finish off his career in Philadelphia and Colorado where he would use 13 when available and 99 when 13 was unavailable.

Oh, yeah. Wendell seems like a nice enough guy, but he had one habit that rendered him a suboptimal teammate. He wouldn't wear socks. Socks are a waste of money. So, while his teammates might not have appreciated the scent from his feet, he would always make sure to wave at his centre fielder when going out to the mound, and he wouldn't start pitching until the centre fielder waved back at him.

These days, Turk spends his time getting his fill of big game hunting out on his Wykota Ranch in Larkspur, Colorado.


There are superstitious people with strange habits. And then there are baseball players. If there's a superstitious action, there's probably a baseball player that buys into it and acts accordingly. Anything from choices of underwear, food, timing, and anything in between is the subject for some strange belief. For some, they won't step on a crack for fear of breaking their mother's back. But then, for example, a young Steven "Turk" Wendell once upon a time was pitching for Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, MA, when he stepped on the foul line while going out to the field and then gave up some runs in that inning. The fault for giving up those runs obviously does not lie in throwing bad pitches. No, the real fault for those runs is that Wendell stepped on the foul line. So, the solution to that is to never again step on the line, which led to Turk leaping over the foul line every time he entered or exited the field. Ok, well that's kind of cute. Maybe it's a little rough on your knees after a while, making a few dozen needless jumps, potentially on a playing surface that is concrete with a light layer of astroturf on top. But Turk had a few other eccentricities. As we learned from Thanos, all things should be perfectly balanced. The pitcher and catcher are a prime example. If the catcher is crouching, then the pitcher must be standing. Or at least, Turk must be standing. But the pitcher and catcher cannot both be standing, so if Turk's catcher was standing, then he would be crouching.

Previously, we saw Mark Fidrych's habit of playing with the dirt on the pitcher's mound, and would you also be surprised to know that Turk would draw in the dirt on the mound? When heading out to the mound, he would draw 3 crosses in the dirt on the back of the mound. Three crosses, not for Jesus and the thieves, but rather 3 crosses for 3 prayers. A prayer to play to the best of his ability. A prayer to be injury-free. And a prayer to win.

The reader might be familiar with the use of chewing tobacco among baseball players. It's a bit of a nasty habit, that was the cause of Tony Gwynn developing salivary gland cancer and passing away in 2014. Unsurprisingly, the MLB has banned new players from consuming chewing tobacco. But back when America was America and men were men, baseball players would have a wad of chewing tobacco in their mouth. For giggles, sometimes they would spit the tobacco juice at each other. Now, some people might not particularly like the taste of tobacco; hence, not indulge in consuming chewing tobacco. But if you want to participate in the tomfoolery of spitting at each other, you need something else to work with. Turk wasn't into drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or using tobacco, so he had to come up with a substitute. Turk really liked licorice, particularly black licorice, so between innings, he would shove a handful of black licorice in his mouth. Oh, but it wasn't just a random number of black licorice strands. It was four. Not three. Not five. Four. Exactly four. Only four. But the licorice habit created a new problem. The licorice left a bad taste in his mouth. To deal with that, he brushed his teeth between innings and then struck out the side. Just like how giving up the runs was the result of stepping on the foul line, striking out the side was the result of brushing his teeth. So, a new habit was born. Pop in 4 fresh strands of black licorice when starting a new inning. Jump over the foul line when heading out to the mound. After concluding the inning, jump back over the foul line when heading into the dugout. Once back in the dugout, grab the toothbrush and toothpaste, brush the teeth between innings. If heading back out for the next inning, get another 4 new strands of black licorice and repeat. That's one way to keep Twizzlers stock price up.

Would you be surprised to know that this wasn't Turk's only strange relationship to teeth? Not his own. Not his teammates' teeth. Not his opponents' teeth. Coming from western Massachusetts, Turk was a massive hunting enthusiast. A simple man, really, he didn't ask for much out of life. Just "a wife, children, to play baseball and to hunt deer.". He would take the teeth of animals that he had personally hunted and make them into a necklace that he would wear when he pitched. If that wasn't enough to weird batters out, after facing one batter, he would grab the rosin bag, and instead of just tossing it back as most normal pitchers do, he would spike it into the ground. He also really hated it when an umpire would throw a ball at him. The umpire must have some bad juju, so any time that the umpire threw a ball at him, he couldn't catch it. Instead, he would let the ball just fly past him or stop it with his chest and then pick it up off the ground.

This isn't even the end of it. Wendell was drafted by the Braves in the 5th round of the 1988 draft out of Quinnipiac. His first 4 years would be spent working his way up the Braves minor league system, before he was traded to the Cubs. He would finally make his MLB debut with the Cubs in the 1993 season before becoming a regular with the Cubs in 1995. As you might guess, Turk would have a thing for special numbers. He had an affinity for the number 13, which was his desired number. He even made his first Cactus League start on Friday the 13th. When the made it with the Cubs, he got to wear his beloved 13. But then during the 1997 season, the Cubs traded him to the Mets. This posed a slight problem, because Edgardo Alfonzo already had number 13 for the Mets, so Turk needed a new number. Why not borrow from the fictional nutty pitcher played by an equally zany actor. In Major League, Charlie Sheen played Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn who wore number 99, and that was good enough for Turk with the Mets. In 1998, 1999, and 2000, Turk was a key member of the lockdown Mets bullpens, and when his contract expired after the 2000 season, he signed his next contract as a 3 year pact, which would pay him $9,999,999.99. He would finish off his career in Philadelphia and Colorado where he would use 13 when available and 99 when 13 was unavailable.

Oh, yeah. Wendell seems like a nice enough guy, but he had one habit that rendered him a suboptimal teammate. He wouldn't wear socks. Socks are a waste of money. So, while his teammates might not have appreciated the scent from his feet, he would always make sure to wave at his centre fielder when going out to the mound, and he wouldn't start pitching until the centre fielder waved back at him.

These days, Turk spends his time getting his fill of big game hunting out on his Wykota Ranch in Larkspur, Colorado.

In recent times, our good friend Ballen has fallen on hard times. If you can contribute, we have set up a GiveSendGo to help her.

Schnefferpepper has his own dice store. You can find his hand-crafted works of tumbling art at Mirage Fantasy

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If you would like to post an article or a series of articles, please DM me or one of the other mods on the discord server. This blog relies heavily on what our regulars have to say and your input is the real reason people hang out here.

Britain has a new Prime Minister, which means new people and new ideas. For example, a spiteful mutant.

Last trivia question: In what stadium has the Dodgers franchise played the most World Series games?
Answer: The Dodgers franchise has played 32 World Series games in both Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium (I).

A trivia question (answer to come next time): In the 1908 chase for the NL pennant, the event that wiped out the game winning hit in the September 23 game between the Chicago Cubs and NY Giants is known colloquially by what name?

How's the Canadian arm of the Mockingbird Media doing? Not great. When faced with the threat of Trump, pivot to health care.

And now, the latest round of the game of pulling a random commenters 1st and last comments on Daily Wire, and have people try to guess who made that comment. The commenter will be revealed next time. The prior comments came from budgreen. Some rules:

  • The person need not be an active Dilly Wire commenter. So, classical commenters such as V Saxena, BruiserInHouston, KnowThyEnemy, and many others are all possible.
  • The comment will be the commenter's 1st and last comments that are not a reply
  • The commenter made at least 250 posts on Daily Wire, posting at least as late as April 2020. You may remember that Daily Wire nuked Disqus in September 2020. Sorry, Sis. You don't make the cut.
  • For people who had multiple different accounts, any of them could be chosen. Examples are Joe Smith the American Moses with "Aftergo" and "Aftergoj", Crayons with her plethora of accounts, or our beloved founder Barry with Bionic Barry, Iconic Barry, etc.

Without further adieu, today's comments

January 17, 2018: The world we live in... (sigh). When a popular conservative comes to campus, respectfully gives a lecture laying out the intellectual reasons for affirming conservatism and rejecting leftist ideology, the campus administrators throw a fit, and worry that some students might experience even a "thought" of discomfort. Counseling is offered, as well as a "safe space" filled with soothing music, kittens and coloring books. A leftist comes to campus, lays out no actual, you know, arguments for their view but instead lashes out at anyone that disagrees with them as a racist, bigoted, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobe that hates poor people. No. One. Does. Anything. At. All. Except the leftist students who commemorate the speaker by inciting violence across the town.
September 21, 2020: The birth control thing is so laughable. Prescription birth control is $5 bucks and you can buy condoms for a quarter...also, if you are THAT poor, there are other ways of experiencing sexual pleasure than intercourse...sheesh they treat adults like they are helpless children.

Our very own Sire Williamson started a podcast. You can find his latest episodes on Rumble, but he has parlayed his regalness into a guest appearance on The Quartering.



TransBLMVeganShariaAntifa has decided to do a technology article series. Here is the most recent.

There's also a rumour that Kalt is going to start a podcast on Dutch people giants, and that the first episodes have been recorded. But there's more creativity than from just Sire and Trans. Jooboi cut his very own single, and it's very good: https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1226528816084602880?referrer=alsahhim

And then, Jooboi dropped his cover of Mad World which is also very good: https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1233395619073196000?referrer=alsahhim

Happy time!

  • Happy 359th birthday to Johann Bernoulli.
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  • Happy 95th birthday to Jerry Van Dyke.
  • Happy 80th birthday to Larry Biittner.
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  • Happy 65th birthday to Ed Orgeron.
  • Happy 59th birthday to Craig Wolanin.
  • Happy 57th birthday to Triple H.
  • Not-so-happy 51st birthday to Shea Hillenbrand.
  • Happy 51st birthday to Alex Rodriguez.
  • Happy 46th birthday to Dolph Ziggler.
  • Happy 42nd birthday to Max Scherzer.
  • Happy 42nd birthday to Antoine Bethea.
  • Happy 40th birthday to DeMarre Carroll.
  • Happy 39th birthday to Jordan Hill.
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  • Happy 34th birthday to Torey Lanez.
  • Happy 33rd birthday to Jordan Spieth.
  • Happy 31st birthday to Drew Rasmussen.
  • Happy birthday to any odor judges celebrating.
  • Happy possible birthday to Justsomeotherguy.

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