Entrance Music: Eric Byrnes Likes Older Ladies and One Night Stands

Every time Eric Byrnes comes to bat at Chase Field in Phoenix, his home field, the public address system plays the same song: Your Love by The Outfield.



If you've somehow forgotten the lyrics to this classic, let's examine the opening stanza:

Josie's on a vacation far away,
Come around and talk it over
So many things that I wanna say
You know I like my girls a little bit older
I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight

Now, putting aside just how awesome this song is, and it is awesome, don't get me wrong, the opening hook (lyrics above) of Your Love is what Eric Byrnes chooses to hear every single time he comes to bat. I find that wonderful and horrifying.

Let's be clear: at home games, players choose their entrance music. What they pick says a lot about them and sounds like a great recurring feature for this blog.

For Byrnes, this is the one song out of all songs that most speaks to him, most excites him, most puts him in the right frame of mind to punish the baseball. Out of all other music across all time and place, this is what Eric Byrnes chose to prepare himself for battle and, let's not forget, to represent himself to the fans in the stands.

You know I like my girls a little bit older
I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight

How awesome is that. Eric Byrnes is my new favorite player.

"You know I like my girls a little bit older."

Now, if you'll excuse me, the Diamondbacks game starts in about twenty minutes I have to haul over to YouTube to see if I can’t get some video goodness.

What Do Al Kaline and Justin Upton Have In Common?

We’re back again, with a totally contrived creative and enlightening statistical comparison between Justin Upton and the greats of baseball past.

This has quickly become a regular feature, partly because Justin Upton is just that kind of prodigious talent and partly because my friends at Fox Sports Arizona can’t seem to stop coming up with this stuff. I call Daron Sutton and Mark Grace my friends because they come right into my Mom’s basement to tell me about every Arizona Diamondbacks game with insightful commentary and infectious enthusiasm.

At any rate, the complete list of all players to hit 5 HR in their team’s first 11 games of a season before the age of 21:

Al Kaline, 1955

Miguel Cabrera, 2004

Justin Upton, 2008

Good on ya, J-Up! Throw some lumber around, young man.

Bonus coverage: Let's not forget the awesomeness of Miguel Cabrera, who was recently traded to Kaline's Tigers:



"Okay, we've been traded to Detroit. Now, D-Train, I'm your friend, I'm only going to say this once. I've got a lot of friends in Detroit - Ordonez, Guillen. When we get there, it's really important that you...how do I put this? That you stop the sucking."

What Do Jimmy Sheckard and Justin Upton Have In Common?

Before going 0-4 today, Justin Upton had homered in 3 straight games, making him just the 4th 20-year-old ever to accomplish the feat.



The complete list:

Jimmy Sheckard, 1898, Brooklyn

Mel Ott, 1929, New York Giants

Willie Mays, 1951, New York Giants

Justin Upton, 2008, Arizona

Mel Ott did it twice. Upton will be 20 until late August.