Jumpsteady Templeton Gamin' on ya!

Here's a lil' nuthin' special... you can see it all, the glove, the arm, the jumps, the hits, the speed, the grace, the style, the coolnes and athleticism... it's all in this little three minute wrap-up video that I manage to drag together...



...on that nightmare Windows Movie Maker crappy ass software that kept crashing every three clicks...

Like I said, nuthin' special, just Jumpsteady going through his motions like it's just another day at the office, making it look easy...

And a little gamin' on ya added with some color fx to posterize poetry in motion.

The Masterp1ece!

Well, here's the pride and joy of my Garry Templeton memorabilias collection, just a few items really;
I have three game used bats, including one that says Jumpsteady Templeton instead of the usual Garry Templeton.
A pair of his 1984 Padres, signed, game worn cleats, of course the championship season. And I can say that he wore size 10 1/2, which is my size, 'cause I tried them on and they fit like a glove, however it seems that Garry had a problem with his right foot 'cause there was some added padding under the arch of that foot which made them uncomfortable for me when I had them on. (Btw, I only wore 'em for a few seconds since I wouldn't have chanced removing Garry's mystical fleet footed aura away from 'em...)

Also have a signed Rawlings baseball saying 3 time All-Star.

And of course a bunch of baseball cards, magazines where he appears on the cover or inside, his 1978 Sports Illustrated poster and about a dozen recorded DVD games of his with the Cardinals and Padres.

Not quite enough to open the Garry Templeton museum yet but hey, if you know anybody who's got more, have him contact me and maybe we'll get ourselves a booth somewhere down the street from the HOF Museum or something...

But back to the jewel of the crown, my pride and joy, this 1980 powder-blue-away St. Louis Cardinals jersey, game worned and signed!

It's my all time favorite jersey and here's why.

I've always liked the Cardinals jersey, logo and colors. And when you have all these sewn-on a powder-blue jersey it makes for a very flashy piece of garment!

But what was even cooler was the 1979-80 jersey because they had numbers on the sleeves instead of on the front of the jersey.

And in the case of Garry because of the length of his last name and the simplicity of his single stroke number it turned into a perfectly symmetrical piece of art!

Watch the pics and notice how the nine letters of his name harmoniously arch around the straight standing, single digit, that is the daddy of all numbers... 1.

Then when you see that same digit on each shoulder it just makes for a perfectly balanced jersey.

I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder but well, those who have eyes will see...

Garry Templeton fired up!

To follow-up on my last post, here's a little recap of how Tempy had turned things around in game 3 of that 1984 NLCS.
We even get a rare video interview as Garry is about to leadoff the bottom of the 3rd for the Friars. No sooner has he finished explaining how he wanted to get things started for the previous game that he goes at it again this time with a single, stolen base and sheer hustle on the basepaths, to once again give his team the lead.


After having struggled for most of that season with injuries, we can clearly see that a playoff run turned out to be the fountain of youth for our favorite shortstop.

1984 San Diego Hero!

I haven't been too active on the blog for a while, blame it on the summer weather, I was too busy being lazy...

But bear with me, here's a little somethin' from Tempy's heydays with the Friars. Yea, it's true that I haven't posted much on Garry's Padres seasons but hey, I had to start at the beginning, St. Louis, where he started his pro career and had some of his best seasons.
Sure we all know now that it wasn't always happy times in Missouri but whatever happened there had to happen and it made our favorite shortstop mature into the leader he was going to become in San Diego.

And that's where I'm taking you now with this video, I strongly believe that Tempy was the cornerstone of the 1984 NLCS. After losing the first two games in Chicago land the Friars where in desperate need of some leadership and who provided? Of course, our very own Mr. Templeton!

Here's my little video resume of how and what happened in that key third game.
First you'll see the players intro where everything was going a little too smooth until Tempy decided to take charge by getting the crowd going by waving his hat and cheerleading some.
Then you'll see how he took away a run to end a potential big 1st inning for the Cubbies by robbing Leon Durham of a sure RBI hit with a tremendous catch, picking a line-drive off thin air, on his feet, muchas gracias, no need to dive à la Ozzie when you got JumpSteadyCoolCat reflexes...
And finally you'll see how, with a "load of potatoes on his back", he hit the clutch double that finally burst Chicago's bubble and put the Padres on top for the 1st and decisive time in the series.
All he did during the series was hit .333 with a .412 OBP and play outstanding defense to lead the franchise to it's first World Series ever.

Jumpsteady funky flava'

And here's the funky remix...

Mr Triple does hit again

Enjoy one more from...
Flashy Garry T...
it all looks so easy...

This, his 9th threebagger of the 1980 season, was also going to be his last. Sidelined by injury for the second time in the season he'd miss another three weeks of play, a total of 44 games which cost him a 4th consecutive Triples Title.

We can appreciate Garry's cool flair for style, with the 'fro poppin' out of the flapless helmet, worn over the cap. The goatee and cross-face sideburns, bright red wristbands worn high around the chocolate brown forearms. Notice the relaxed, standing-up straight batting stance.

More than a ball player, a cool cat...

21 year old departin' All-Star

Here's the kid who had superstar stamped all over him on his first All-Star at bat in 1977.

Yep, that's pretty much how everybody felt about young Jumpsteady when he first came up. Just watch him blaze his way to second base on what was supposed to be a single, no need to steal the bag when you can to that!

How'd you like to be 21, a switch-hitter, hitting well over .300, able to do what he just did?... Indeed!