DAILY DIRT: If he didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all — or vice versa

December 26, 2024 | By Steve Eighinger, Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Frano Selak — Instagram

Daily Dirt for Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024

The part of his story was kind of glossed over was that part about the five marriages … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,155 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Talk about bad luck. Meet Frano Selak.

Actually, “good luck” might be a better assessment. It’s all in your point of view, I think.

Before his death in 2016 at age 87, Selak, who was born in Croatia, may have survived more near-death experiences than any man before or after him.

Have a seat and examine the life of Mr. Selak:

In January 1962 he was riding a train through a cold, rainy canyon when the train flew off the tracks, crashing into a river. An unknown person pulled Selak to safety, while 17 other passengers drowned. Selak suffered a broken arm and hypothermia.
The next year, during his first and only plane ride, he was blown out of a malfunctioning plane door and landed in a haystack. The plane crashed, killing 19 people.
Three years after that, in 1966, a bus that he was riding in skidded off the road and into a river, drowning four passengers. Selak swam to shore with a few cuts and bruises.
In 1970, Selak’s car caught fire as he was driving, but he managed to escape before the fuel tank blew up.
Three years later, in another driving incident, the engine of his car was doused with hot oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Selak’s hair was completely singed in this incident, but he was otherwise unharmed.
In 1995, he was struck by a bus, but sustained only minor injuries.
In 1996, he eluded a head-on collision with a United Nations truck on a mountain curve by swerving into a guardrail, which gave way under the force. Selak was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected out of the car, clinging to a tree branch as he watched his vehicle fall 300 feet.

But his story does have a rather happy ending.

Two days after his 73rd birthday, Selak won the lottery (about $1.1 million). At the time of his win, he also married for the fifth time.

While he purchased two houses and a boat with his winnings, in 2010 he decided to give most of the remaining money away to relatives and friends after deciding to live a frugal lifestyle.

He died, reportedly without incident, six years later.

2. Did you know (Part 227)

That you are drinking water that dinosaurs may have once sipped on.
That the original name for the search engine “Google” was “Backrub”.
That on average, humans spend about six months of their lives waiting in some sort of line.
That a $1 bill costs about 5.4 cents to make.
That every odd number has the letter “e” in it.
That humans are the only species that drink milk from other animals.

3. I read a rather interesting piece about frustrated fan bases in MLB, penned by ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield.

He ranked what he felt are currently the 10 most upset fan groups as the 2025 campaign rapidly approaches, based primarily on what their favorite club has — or has not done — since the end of the 2024 season.

Three teams in our “region” — Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox — made the top 10. Here was Schoenfield’s “Aggrieved Fan Index,” or AFI for short:

1. Los Angeles Angels: “The Angels are now riding a streak of nine consecutive losing seasons, including a franchise-record 99 losses in 2024. They wasted the Mike Trout-Shohei Ohtani years. There is rarely any kind of coherent from (the front office)”
2. Seattle Mariners: “Mariners fans have suffered a certain type of aggrievement: the pain of falling just a little bit short with an ownership unwilling to do just a little bit more.”
3. Chicago White Sox: The Chisox lost 121 games last season, to which Schoenfield points out, “This is a new level of rock bottom, however, and remarkably, they might be just as bad in 2025.”
4. Minnesota Twins: “In 2023, the Twins finally ended their long playoff winless streak — and then subsequently cut payroll for 2024 … it looks like they’re going to sit out this offseason as well.”
5. Toronto Blue Jays: “The front office hasn’t figured out how to get the team over the hump and now, coming off a losing season and failing to land (Juan) Soto with (Vladimir) Guerrero and (Bo) Bichette perhaps departing next offseason, Toronto might be staring into the abyss.”
6. Pittsburgh Pirates: Schoenfield had a great line about frugal owner Bob Nutting and the overriding sentiment in Pittsburgh, which is, “Spend Nutting, Get Nutting.”
7. Chicago Cubs: “The Cubs are the lone big-market team in a division with three legitimate small-market clubs and one midsized franchise — and yet, they haven’t made the playoffs in a full season since 2018.”
8. Colorado Rockies: “Fun fact: Since 2011, only the Marlins have lost more games than the Rockies (1,224 losses to 1,209).”
9. St. Louis Cardinals: “The only $100 million free agent the Cardinals have signed remains Matt Holliday, way back in 2010. Going down the route they did last offseason — acquiring pitching depth with the likes of Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, but not making any major additions — is not a path to success.”
10. Miami Marlins: “The Marlins continue to annually run one of the lowest payrolls in the league. Even though fans in Miami are used to it by now, 2024 was particularly harsh.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Just my humble opinion, but I think the Chisox fans are going to be frustrated for a long, long time. That 121-loss season represented some new kind of awful.