Minor League Dugout
This blog focuses on the fun side of minor league baseball
It will look at great promotions, crazy plays and life off the field for minor leaguers

Want to make an Australian-born minor league baseball player laugh?
Ask him about Outback Steakhouse

Turns out we Americans have been duped
The Aussies will tell you there is nothing like Outback in the Land Down Under

What makes it even stranger for the Aussies is that there always seems to be an Outback near a ballpark or hotel
Unwitting fans often comment to the Aussie players that if they get homesick, they can head across the street to the Outback
They mostly smile

The players seem to like the food, even if Outback doesn't remind them of home
Here's what a few of them said about the restaurant

"There's nothing like it mate. You come over to Outback and none of the food they serve there is Australian. We don't have any cheese fries with bacon on it. I don't know where that came from" --- Minnesota farmhand and Perth native Luke Hughes

"I like it. It's a bit of a corny gimmick. I like them even more now that they have Coopers beer. That's the beer from my home state in South Australian" --- Florida's Paul Mildren, who also referred to Fosters as a “sell out beer”

"I love Outback. I think it's the greatest marketing idea ever made. But it has nothing to do with Australia, except for the maps on the walls, what they call certain burgers and 'Blokes' and 'Sheilas' on the bathroom doors. We have no steak. We have no blooming onions. We have no cheese fries. We have nothing like that" --- Pittsburgh's Brett Roneberg, as quoted in "The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Seen - More than 100 crazy stories from Minor League Baseball"

(the back cover)

A car crashing through an outfield wall, an alligator waiting in a player’s bed and a bus exploding on the way to a game are three of the true stories told by minor league players in "The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Seen - More Than 100 Crazy Stories From Minor League Baseball"

Chuck King spent the summers of 2003 and 2004 visiting minor league ballparks across the country asking minor leaguers a simple question - "What is the funniest thing you’ve seen since becoming a professional baseball player?"

Each player is profiled in a way that conveys some portion of minor league life (the difficulties of adapting to a new town, living in hotels, the joy of a new ballpark, the search for the best Applebee’s), then the player tells their story

And what stories they are

"The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Seen" is a collection of wild stories told by the players who pulled the pranks, witnessed the antics, or found themselves in the unfortunate position of being the butt of the joke

It’s like reading a collection of the best moments from the movie Bull Durham, only these stories actually happened

“I love it” said Matt Moore, a fan who has visited minor league parks up and down the east coast
“I can’t believe that the stories are this funny. Think it’s great”

"The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Seen" is quickly becoming a hot seller in minor league ballpark gift shops

#01 - Posing as mascots, inventing strange bullpen games and finding interesting uses for wildlife are all part of life in minor league baseball
These stories, as well as bizarre game situations and clubhouse pranks, come together in this outrageously funny collection of true tales from the minors

#02 - Alligators in player’s beds, players donning mascot uniforms during games, bizarre ways to end up on the 'DL' and female fans who will do anything to meet ballplayers are just some of the topics covered in these outrageous real life tales of minor league baseball

#03 - This book has become one of the funniest books I have ever read!
If you have ever wondered what pranks ballplayers pull on each other in a baseball clubhouse and on the field, then this is the book for you
The stories are short, very funny, and really show you a world that most of us will never experience
Very, very funny!

Printed - 280 pages - 6" x 9" - perfect binding - black and white interior ink
Publisher - Chuck King
Copyright - 2006
Language - English
Country - United States
Price - USD$14.95 plus shipping