Reed Stephens

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Robert Parish says Larry Bird is "seriously underrated" "In my opinion they should talk about Larry Bird like they do Magic, Jordan, Kareem, Russell, Chamberlain, Moses. Larry is in that conversation the best of the best. He's at that table." 🐐 🍀NEW Cedric Maxwell Podcast w/ @RobertParish00: youtu.be/Ln5TK9qaboE

Good morning. Have you ever seen a smarter basketball player?🤔

Bird. Bird. Bird. The funniest clip you see on X today 😂

Most Points in Any 5-Game Span in NBA History: 351 - Wilt 319 - Wilt 314 - Wilt 304 - Wilt 303 - Wilt 300 - Wilt 293 - Wilt 291 - Wilt 288 - Wilt 287 - Wilt 287 - Wilt 280 - Wilt 278 - Wilt 278 - Wilt 275 - Wilt 275 - Wilt 275 - Wilt 274 - Wilt 273 - Wilt 272 - Wilt 272 - Wilt 271 - Wilt 270 - Wilt 270 - Wilt 269 - Wilt 268 - KOBE 268 - Wilt 267 - Wilt 267 - Wilt 266 - Wilt 266 - Wilt 266 - Wilt 266 - Wilt 265 - Wilt 265 - Wilt 265 - Wilt 264 - Wilt 264 - Wilt 264 - Wilt 264 - Wilt

Are you sure????? In 1914, Walter Johnson had his pitch velocity measured against speeding motorcycle at more than 99.7 miles per hour. In 1917, a Connecticut munitions laboratory recorded Walter Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which is equal to 91 miles per hour, a velocity that may have been unmatched in his day, with the possible exception of Smoky Joe Wood. HOF Umpire Billy Evans confessed in his autobiography:"Umpiring from the Inside", that Walter Johnson’s fastball came to the plate so quickly that he would close his eyes before making a call. "He was the only pitcher I ever closed my eyes on, in automatic self-defence, in spite of wearing a mask and having a catcher stand in front of him". Sportswriter Grantland Rice gave Walter Johnson his nickname "The Big Train" because of his size and because the express train was the fastest vehicle known at the time. In 1946, using a special “Lumiline Chronograph Machine” which the US Army used to measure the velocity of artillery shells, Bob Feller’s fastball came in at 98.6 mph. "Those four seasons I served in WWII cost me at least 100 victories and 1,000 strikeouts. If it hadn’t been for the war, I would have made sure I had more victories than anybody but Cy Young and Walter Johnson, and I would have broken Johnson’s strikeout record. My fastball once was clocked at 107.9 miles an hour. Of course, I couldn’t throw it that fast for a whole game — but I assure you I could throw it 100 miles an hour for a whole game.” Bob Feller.

RON PAUL: “There’s been a coup. We don’t have any resemblance to a government that believes in a republic. We don’t have honest money. We don’t have integrity. We don’t even have people in Washington who even pretend… to tell the truth.” “[I believe the coup began on] November 22, 1963.” IAN CROSSLAND: “What happened on that day?” RON PAUL: “That was the day Kennedy was murdered by our government. You know, by the CIA.”

"No man in the history of baseball had as much power as Mickey Mantle. No man. You're not talking about ordinary power. Dave Kingman has power. Willie Mays had power. Then, when you're talking about Mickey Mantle, it's an altogether different level. Separates the men from the boys." Billy Martin. Despite a wind blowing in at Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle crushes a Jim Bunning pitch down the right field line over the roof onto Trumbull Avenue, some 500 feet away. The ball landed at Brooks Lumber and a Brooks employee, saw exactly where the ball landed. Robert Schiewe calculated the distance through Schiewe's use of the Pythagorean Theorem. The result was a prodigious 643 feet HR. This was not an exhibition game. Literally nobody showed up. 1958.

Here’s a Magic Johnson highlight you might never see, because it was ruled an offensive foul. This is every Giannis drive you’ve seen in transition for 10 years, but 40 years ago it was illegal. Players were discouraged from plays like this. It wasn’t because they couldn’t.

"I remember hearing how Mickey Mantle had lost a step and was a little past his prime. But when he got me in the 9th inning, going the other way with a shot to left center, and hitting that game winner earlier in the series, I couldn't help but think how good this guy truly was...and he was." Bob Gibson on Mickey Mantle's 18th and final World Series home run. Game 7, 1964 World Series.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson Hooping together on the Dream Team So Special

HBD LARRY BIRD ☘️ LEBRON: “Man he was so COLD!!!!! Zero flaws in his game. Larry Legend.” KOBE: “As the years go on, people really forgot how great Larry Bird was. He was ridiculous." x.com/redapples/stat…

"I can name several coaches who said Larry Bird would never make it in the NBA because he was too slow-footed. But there are certain players with the instincts... that are so far above anyone else because of the way they think the game of basketball. You can't practice that. That's just something that is god-given." Peter Maravich about Larry Bird.. Via: @YvanMontgury

"Mickey Mantle used to needle me that it wasn't so tough calling a game, especially with a guy as good as Whitey Ford pitching. So one time at Fenway Park in Boston when Whitey was starting, I told Mickey, "Go ahead, you call it." Mickey told me whenever he'd stand up straight in center, that meant a fastball. Hands on his knees meant a curve. He knew that if I didn't agree, I'd change it. And Whitey had the final say anyway. But I relayed his signals to Whitey, and it was working pretty good because we had a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning. When I got to the dugout, Mickey walked over to me and said, "OK, I got you this far, take it the rest of the way." He'd had enough. I was always amazed at how Mickey took everything so hard. Early in his career, Mickey struck out six times in a doubleheader and started doing a number on the water cooler. When I asked if he was nervous at the plate, Mickey mumbled no. I said, "Then why are you wearing your jock strap outside your uniform?". Mickey actually glanced down to see if it was true, and I was happy I got him, because Mickey was always the one playing all the practical jokes." Yogi Berra

"I was born and raised in New York, born in the Bronx, grew up in Washington Heights. Our school was about 20 city blocks from the Polo Grounds. School in those days let out at 2:30 and the games at the Polo Grounds started at 3:15—of course they had to be played during the day at that time. I was a member of two city clubs, the 'Catholic Youth Organization' and the 'Police Athletic League', and because I was a member, I got to the games three times every week for nothing. You could go and sit in the grandstand and that’s where I fell in love with the game and followed my idol, who was a player named Mel Ott. Now on weekends to sit in the bleachers, it cost 55 cents. Used to be you could bring a soda pop bottle back to the store for what they called a “deposit” and you’d get five cents back. So, if I saved up enough bottles during the week, I could go for “free” to the game on Saturday and sit in the bleachers. So that’s really where I grew up--literally and figuratively." Vin Scully Scully also admitted that as, "a little red-headed kid", he did his best to imitate the great Mel Ott's swing, including his large right leg kick but, "something happened when I swung the bat, that did not do what Mel Ott did."

"I had dinner with Mickey Mantle one night. It was in January in New York, and it was really cold. We were walking back to the Regency Hotel, where we both were staying, and I had noticed that Mickey had asked for a doggie bag for his dinner in the restaurant--which was sort of strange. Anyway, he asks me to take a walk with him. Now this wasn't the kind of night where you wanted to take a stroll, but I went along, over to Madison Avenue, where he knew this homeless guy who was in a cardboard box. Mantle knocks on the cardboard and suddenly this guy pops up his head. He looks frightened--and frightening--not knowing who's there, and suddenly when he sees us, the guy's face softens. He says, 'Oh, hi, Mick.' And Mantle hands him his dinner. It was clear to me he had done this many times before. Did it mean that Mickey Mantle was the greatest humanitarian in the world? No, just that that was part of him, just as an hour later he could have been drunk in a bar and told some very nice autograph seeker to go f*** himself." Bob Costas "He inspired awe without envy -- except perhaps for what he got away with." "The Last Boy" Jane Leavy

Watching Pete Maravich play H-O-R-S-E with George Gervin is probably better than whatever you’re doing now. I’m just fucking with you, I know it’s better.

Pistol Pete Maravich's Masterpiece (2/25/77): 68 PTS 6 AST 6 REB 3 STL 2 BLK 66% TS (15.1 rTS%)

😢

Val Kilmer just made the jump into hyperspace. Gone too soon.