Comments on: Dirk Hayhurst had a pretty short stay in Italy

By: randomdigits

randomdigits — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:45:12 +0000

I was on the fence about buying his new book, as I did enjoy his first one. If he decided to back out of a contract to play in Italy because a better offer presented itself then that will be enough to for me to withdraw my support.

You sign a contract, you fulfill a contract.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:40:41 +0000

When the second and third place had the EXACT same decorations, we knew something was up.

You also followed a guide book to tell you where to go. Isn’t it possible they recommended some of the more commercial places to go?

I went with my wife and her family to Rome for 2 days and Florence for 4, and I’d give anything to go back for months at a time. Maybe this time I’ll actually sack up and use the Italian I spent 5 years in school learning =\

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:15:51 +0000

As a sidebar, let me just say that I spent my honeymoon in Italy, and every day my wife and I went to a different gelato place recommended by a guidebook or a hotel staffer. And they all were inferior to the gelato in Los Angeles. First, Italians make their gelato in a manner that is not all that appealing to American palates–too sweet and dense, I would say. And second, there is clearly a corporation in Italy that specializes in making mass-produced gelato that is designed to appear handcrafted. When we went to the first place and saw the pineapple gelato decorated with pineapples, and the cookies and cream gelato decorated with oreos, and so forth, we were excited. When the second and third place had the EXACT same decorations, we knew something was up.

By: samu0034

samu0034 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:53:14 +0000

What? Italians attempting contract shenanigans? Why, I never…

By: samu0034

samu0034 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:51:52 +0000

I kind of figured that was the reason, considering his claim to fame is writing about the experience of trying to make it, and playing in Italy would be great fodder for a book. I was really just going off of Craig’s statement in the article.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:45:34 +0000

This is a heck of a tease:

Dirk Hayhurst ‏ @TheGarfoose

In short: contract violations, feral cats, the polizia, lost euros, a better job, gelato, and a man who screwed a cow… I was sad to leave

By: bsbiz

bsbiz — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:27:48 +0000

He said one of his reasons for going to Italy was because he wasn’t receiving much major league interest and because he didn’t want to hang around in the minors. Instead, he wanted to go out and do something fun and exciting, hence: Italian baseball. I kind of doubt this has to do with playing baseball.

By: samu0034

samu0034 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:21:31 +0000

That’s kind of a bummer, I bet a book involving playing professional baseball in Italy could have been fantastically interesting. I kind of hope he chose to come back for a media gig, because in that case I can understand wanting to strike while the iron is hot. But if it’s for a chance to catch on with a major league team over here… on one hand it’s such a long shot that he maybe ought to just let it go, but on the other hand it’s pretty much every guy’s dream, so I can imagine it’s next to impossible to let it die.

Side note, there was a pretty interesting segment on the Freakonomics Podcast at some point detailing minor leaguers hanging on longer than they “should”.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:18:12 +0000

I know how much weight I gained during my short stays in Italy. What I wonder is, how many pounds did he put on?