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I'm sure you are relaying the information as it was told to you but is it possible your friend might have "embellished" some of the stories he told you? It does appear that he had minimal big league playing time in a year where Mantle did not play the outfield. Perhaps he tossed the ball back and forth with Mantle in pregame warmups or Spring Training games in the outfield. I'm sure he has plenty of clubhouse stories though. I have a friend that had one chance encounter with David Cone at a charity event & the way she tells the story, they are the best of drinking buddies now. They are not, I think she had one beer with him. She tends to tell a lot of tall tales.

If it's the hospital I'm thinking of, that begins with the letter N, then it has always had a bad reputation as long as I can remember. Bedside manners & patient comfort are definitely a low priority. People told me they rather get treated in a back alley by a witch doctor (no offense to witches) than go to that hospital. It has been acquired by one of the bigger, well known NYC hospital chains a few years ago so perhaps things have improved since then?

I was thinking the same thing. Between late nights of over eating, over drinking and for some, alleged womanizing, any substances probably hurt their performance. Making their statistics even more impressive in today's day & age.

The pictures remind me of the setting of the British TV show BroadChurch, with the dramatic cliffs making for a spectacular backdrop. I think the name of the actual town where it was filmed is Dorset. Is that anywhere near?

But it's good to know one of my guesses was correct. 🙂

I agree. I like to use the term "clean record" as opposed to the "tainted records". Unfortunately, MLB looked the other way during the steroid era as it was cashing in on ratings (and $$$$) during the epic HR run chases. The fact that Bonds, McGwire, etc are not in the Hall of Fame and nobody seems to be upset about it, speaks volumes as to what the baseball public & press think.

Well, it is the official overall HR record. Judge is chasing the Yankee & America League HR record. He is always diplomatic, being a team-first kind of guy will always diverts attention away from himself and towards the team and would never utter anything slightly controversial. He also grew up being a SF Giants fan and Barry Bonds was one of his childhood heroes. On the flip side, Bonds has said he wouldn't mind if Judge surpassed his 73 HR record and would like to see him do it wearing a SF Giants uniform.

My DW & her sisters would always go to Chowderfest and had pretty good beach weather & her sisters would sometimes stay until Columbus Day. Beach Haven is about a 3 1/2 hour drive south from our house but it's amazing the temperature difference. Autumn up here but still summer down there!

Only if you want to bring joy and happiness to those on this thread and the Cruise Critic Community in general.😉 No Pressure. 😇 But since it's your first cruise in almost 3 years & a short one, if you'd like to kick back and enjoy, then a few post-cruise thoughts here will be more than welcomed as well. 🙂

Temps were 45 when I got up this morning. Hard to believe just 3 days ago, I was sweating on the beach at Jones Beach State Park. I was hoping for one more beach day next week but it's not looking likely.

I've heard the same thing from several others as well. And while all my cars for the last 15 years have had heated seats, in the winter time I'm usually so heavily bundled up I can barely feel the heat. But this time of the year when the days are warm enough to wear shorts but the evenings cool down quickly, is when I appreciate them the most.

Even though it's a shorty cruise, will you'll be doing a "live" review?

I've only done a beach club once in Cozumel, Mr. Sancho's. At the time, you could do AI or pay-as-you-go. Seemed pretty decent. Got your own table with umbrella, plus loungers to drag to the beach. 3 small pools, one with a swim up bar. All the usual beach toys, kayaks, etc. For an extra feel, you could rent motorized toys or horseback riding. We lucked out as there were not that many ships in port that day so it never got crowded.

Funny how 66 degrees feels so warm in March that you want to open all the windows and so cold in Sept. that you want to turn on the heat.🙂

There are several multi-level parking garages within walking distance but the problem is that they all exit onto the same narrow local city streets. We've spent 45 minutes in the car just trying to get out of the garage, followed by another 30 minutes of sitting in traffic for the 1 mile it takes just to get to the highway. Train is less than half the cost, much faster and we get to spend the time with fellow Yankee fans, either celebrating a victory or drowning our sorrows.

There is one in Huntsville Alabama. I like them too. If we are visiting for a week I usually try one. The BIL and I have gotten on a sushi kick the last couple times we visited. Thanks to my friend "The Goog's" (Google), it seems Quizno's is in trouble. Only 400 locations remain, down from 4,700 at it's height in 2007. Closest one to me is in CT about 90 minutes away. Second closest one is in Delaware about 3 1/2 hours away.

Mowed my lawn for the first time in almost 6 weeks yesterday. After this morning slow & steady drenching rain, I'll probably need to do it again this weekend. Good thing the gas didn't go stale.

No Wawa around me either but I do enjoy stopping at them. Sandwiches are good, maybe slightly above average as far a convenience store sandwiches go. But I really enjoy ordering them from the kiosk. Between types of bread, size of bread, to toast or not to toast the bread, toppings, etc, there was an endless amount of ways to customize a sandwich. I think I enjoyed the ordering process more than the actual sandwhich. Speaking of sandwiches, is Quizno's still in business? I haven't seen one in ages. Used to like them as well.

Tobi Tobee Towbe Towbee ToeBee, etc.. I can only imagine some of the more creative spellings. 🙂

I'm still perplexed by the idea that a Grande is NOT the largest cup size. And a tongue-twister order like a half-decaf skinny light cappuccino just makes my brain hurt. 😃

I did. Judge had a couple of thrilling hits but nothing that left the park. Still, the crowd atmosphere was electric. My brother has a partial season plan (20 games) & he almost always invites me. Free ticket for me but I buy most of the food & beverages so he's making out on this deal. With Metro-North having a train station at the new stadium, it makes getting in and out a breeze...and cheaper than the $45 they charge to park. Our next and last game in this Sunday. Finger-crossed I get to see a piece of history in person.

Keep the updates coming. I live vicariously thru other peoples home renovations.

I think the secret is to get the Kripy Kreme donuts fresh. My introduction to KK was visiting Mohegan Sun casino in CT. They have a bakery onsite attached to the retail store so you can watch the donuts being made. I'd buy a dozen or so as soon as they hit the store shelf & would eat half of them on the 2 hour drive home. Creme filled are the best as they really put a lot of creme into the donut unlike Dunkin which has but a hint of creme on the top & the entire inside of the donut is just plain donut. However, when buying them at a stand-a-lone store or supermarket, they are not as good. Perhaps they have really inconsistent quality control I never had KK coffee. I used to like Dunkin coffee but now it taste like lightly coffee-flavored water to me. Same with Tim Hortons, both US and Canada locations. Starbucks is okay but I usually avoid ordering from there as it's just too intimidating. Surprisingly, McDonald's has pretty good coffee most of the time.

I have not but friends have told me the games are really fun & family friendly. There is always some kind of entertainment between innings to keep the kids entertained.

Heading out to Yankee Stadium tonight. Aaron Judge hit his 60th Home Run last night to tie Babe Ruth's for 2nd place for the single season Home Run record. Hopefully tonight, he'll hit number 61 & 62 to tie, then break, the real "clean" home run record.🙂