Daily Dirt: Gimme a Whopper, some sausage, a Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Lars Nootbaar

Daily Dirt for Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022

Seriously, is there as better name right now in MLB than Lars Nootbaar? Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 394 of The Daily Dirt.

1. On this beautiful September day, I feel like playing a little Overrated/Underrated.

Overrated: Big Mac. Too much sauce and lettuce, not enough meat.
Underrated: Burger King Whopper. There is 25 percent more meat (you can look it up) in a Whopper, and it seems like much more than that.

Overrated: Bacon. Actually a rather boring meat. In the Meat-O-Meter, the bacon arrow would probably go no higher than 6. It’s more of a topping than a main course.
Underrated: Sausage. Can be consumed in all shapes and sizes, not to mention with or without specific spices and other flavorings. Add a bun to hold the sausage of choice. That Meat-O-Meter arrow is touching a 9.

Overrated: Lars Anderson, who played for the Boston Red Sox 2010-12. Yawn …
Underrated: Lars Nootbaar, currently playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. If not the best name in MLB history, it’s close.

Overrated: Diet Coke. It’s awful, almost evil. The Coke-O-Meter is resting at 1.
Underrated: Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. Talk about a whole new ballgame! What’s the Coke-O-Meter say? A solid 7, bay-bee.

2. Hats off to Cardinals rookie outfielder Alec Burleson. His walk-up song is the theme music from “Yellowstone.” Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin noted that, as well as Burleson’s resemblance to “Yellowstone” co-star Cole Hauser, who plays bad-ass Rip Wheeler.

3. The MLB Statcast Era was introduced in 2015, designed to be an accurate and informative way of measuring home runs, which for the most part has been enjoyed by fans and connoisseurs of the national pastime.

In the almost 8 years since, two home runs have traveled more than 500 feet. Here are the leaders:

• 1. Nomar Mazara, Texas, 2019: 505 feet.
• 2. Giancarlo Stanton, Miami, 2016, 504 feet.
• 3. Christian Yelich, Milwaukee, 2022: 499 feet.

Steve Thought O’ The Day
In all the years I played organized baseball growing up, I hit one home run (over a fence). It was a chilly April evening (a Monday, if I remember correctly) at the Ashland County Fairgrounds field in Ashland, Ohio. I was an 11-year-old Little Leaguer. The fence, I believe, was 200 feet from home plate. I estimate my ball traveled 201 feet.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Stats on the launch angle and exit velocity of Steve’s only home run have been lost over time.