Gio Gonzalez House Of Leagues Stickball Boy Collection Clothing Apparel Line

Pic via House Of Leagues

Gio Gonzalez started his own apparel collection in the summer of 2012 called House of Leagues.  Via a January article from Hat Life:

"Gio Gonzalez, an MLB pitcher for the Washington Nationals, launched a new apparel collection called The House of Leagues. He is also interested in starting a hat line and accessory collections."

The web site doesn't have any clothes up yet but Ross Detwiler tweeted a picture of one of the House of Leagues shirts that Gio Gonzalez gave him.  It was from his Stickball Boy Collection.  (via House of Leagues press release)

"The ‘Stickball” collection features graphics with a twisted element in the baseball culture. A stick-figure insignia along with imagery significant to traditional baseball concessions including hot dogs and beers appear on each design."

Cool Shirt Bro!  Baseball + Culture + Fashion!  There is also a "Stickball Girl" character too.  A baseball with a pink bow.  You can see her on the girl below

Pics Via House Of Leagues

Other Nats 4 n00bz can be found here like Jayson Werth's Cage Fighting company and Bob Carpenter's Scorebook...

Nats 4 N00bz: Jayson Werth & MMA Capital City Cage Wars

Back in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth became involved in a small business venture.  Running Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights.

Werth From Capital City Cage Wars Blog

His company was called Capital City Cage Wars and as Werth described a few years ago to Yahoo Sports, he became involved in the company for fun:

"It's actually really cool, because I don't have to go anywhere to see MMA, UFC-style fights. I can watch them, basically, in my backyard."

According to Capital City Cage Wars, Werth is no longer part of ownership.

Werth said he had a few fighters from his venture that made it up to the UFC ranks, and in this video (H/T @RecordsAndRadio) former NFL defensive lineman Matt Mitrione credits his friend Jayson Werth for introducing him to the sport.



If you can't remember Mitrione from his NFL days it is because he played in just 9 games in his career, all for the New York Giants, notching 2 career tackles.
Werth convinced Mitrione to step into the MMA cage to help Jayson get his fighting company started.  While Mitrione never actually made that show, the idea sparked him to be on Ultimate Fighter show.  His last match was at the end of December 2012.  He lost.

Photo From Capital City Cage Wars Facebook Page

Michael Morse And His A-Ha Walk Up Song 'Take On Me'

So if you're a new fan, you probably don't know most of the stuff we do at the park. So here is what we like to call "Nats 4 N00bz." Today's Nats 4 N00bz written by Sandra Luciel (@NatsGirl19 on Twitter).

Picture this - you're at your first game at Nationals Park. It's the bottom of the eighth...Michael Morse is doing his special warm up stuff and the song "Take On Me" by A-Ha begins to play. Suddenly and with no warning, everyone starts singing the song. You, of course, are confused - why is everyone singing this song? Why does the guy behind you sound like he swallowed a frog?

In a day or TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Have a listen to 30,000 people singing the song from a late season 2012 Nats game:

Singing along to "Take On Me" when it plays for Michael has become one of the newest traditions at the ballpark. It seems like as the season goes along more and more people sing along to it.I'm not sure exactly how long it's been a 'thing' here, but it's certainly a fun 'thing'. The PA announcer stops the song for the at bat, but the crowd continues to sing.

Here is video from Game 4 of the Playoffs, with the song sung by 40,000+:


George Mason basketball does this the best with their crowd singing Bon Jovi Living On A Prayer after the music stops.

Fast Forward to 7:45 to Morse Singing it himself

This is arguably one of the most entertaining parts of the game, because when the drunk guy behind you or the tone-deaf woman in front of you sings off key it makes you feel like Katy Perry. Nationals announcer FP Santangelo always says that when it is over that 40,000 people are

"Patting themselves on the back and cheering for being off key"

And here are Bryce Harper & Jayson Werth singing it off-key:


And if you don't know the words to the part that is played as Michael walks up, here they are:

Take on me, (Take On Me)
Take me on, (Take On Me)
I'll be gone
In a day or two

Sometimes they play half of a verse before that, but they stop the song short when Michael steps into the box. But without fail, every time, the crowd sings the whole chorus. It's beautiful, really.

Also, don't do the wave. Ever.

Other Nats 4 Noobz:

• The Bob Carpenter Scorebook
• Take Your Pants Off, Nats Win

Take Your Pants Off, Nats Win!

This is one of the sayings that is thrown all over the place on Twitter after a big Nationals win:

"Take Your Pants Off"

Take your #pantsoff The #nats Win!
— Kevin Bradley (@DCyetti) July 22, 2012

Via @DarkMeatHook

Now that is a very interesting thing to do concerning a baseball game outcome.  However, it just sounds like the right thing to do after watching a Bryce Harper game winning single.   Take your pants off!  Tyler Clippard save... Take your pants off!   Nats win...Take your pants off!

So where did this phrase come from?

The person who brought the saying to the Nationals world is @DCYetti.  You should most def follow him if you are down with the district.

Yetti used to watch every Nats game and throw out different congratulatory phrases.  The pants comment, taken from one of his favorite Radio shows, garnered a lot of Twitter fan reaction and others began to pick up the phrase.  The rest is history.

The radio show was hosted by local radio legends Big O and Dukes who use different variations of the phrase with a basic premise of 'pants' and 'off'.  They use the phrase to show excitement.

You probably know Chad Dukes from the radio show he shares with LaVar Arrington on 106.7 the fan. (and his awesome wrestling show/blog) Well if you didn't know, before he was a sports guy he was actually on a different type of radio show...anyways...

Welp. I just took my pants off. #Redskins
— chad dukes (@chaddukes) December 18, 2011

Even the Rally Napkin has his own version of this phrase that has been posted after several Nats wins:

Take your Napkins Off.#Nats Win #Nats Win #Nats win!
— Nats Rally Napkin (@RallyNapkin) July 22, 2012

So remember, any time the Nationals win it's PANTS OFF!

================================================
Clearly this saying goes back way beyond the Nationals, and if you want to give me a better explanation that would be fantastic.  I've heard Dukes say it on the radio and I'm still not sure the actual origin.  Let's do some crowdsourcing and improve this post!

Nats 4 n00bz: Bob Carpenter's Scorebook

With the Nationals record increasing and the legends of Harper & Strasburg growing, many people are hopping on the Nats bandwagon.  So we are going to find out some things that a typical fan may not know and post them here for your enjoyment to fill your brain with useless knowledge.

We all know Bob Carpenter from watching Nats games on MASN.  He has been working the games since 2006 with a variety of color guys.  But Bob has been in baseball for almost 30 years and has called thousands of games in his time.  Over that long span Bob has come up with a few patented tips and tricks.

One of the things that some baseball fans don't know is that many if not all announcers sit up in the box and keep score the old fashion way.  On paper.  (I know, I assumed they were watching MLB Gameday)  So what are they keeping score with?  The stadium program?  A sheet of computer paper?

Perhaps they are using Bob Carpenter's Baseball Score Book.  "The most comprehensive scorebook in baseball"  *Now With Whiter Pages*

So what is the big deal with this book?

It appears there are lots of extra spaces to keep track of lots of pointless things that help announcers get through 3 hours of commentary each night.  Somehow it all fits into a regular letter size sheet of paper.  It even has slots for umpires.

Note: Watch Interview with Rally Kid where the dad claims this is false

Carpenter sells these books on his web site, one version that is more for professionals and one version that is for fans.  The books range from $25 for fan to $40 for professional.

Some notable announcers that have use the book include Peter Gammons, Orel Hershiser, and Joe Morgan.  But Bob lists hundreds of other announcers that also use the book.

One notable name not there is F.P. Santangelo who could possibly be keeping score on colored construction paper.  He often says that in his score book he is scoring errors as hits, singles as doubles, and other bizarre things.

Update:  After a Nats Yankees game went > 10 innings, FP showed everyone how he taped 2 scorecards together.  Carp then sarcastically told him that there were books available with 15 innings (aka his book).  FP then complained that it wasn't free.  Awesome.

So next season before you start keeping score in some random scorebook you bought at Modell's, consider getting the book with the "durable cover"...Bob Carpenter's Baseball Scorebook...

Oh and if you keep score and are under 90 years old, let me know in comments...

Other Nats 4 Noobz:

• Michael Morse A-Ha Walk Up Song
• Take Your Pants off, Nats Win