In a continuing quest to give you an inside look at all the Bronx Pinstripes contributors; we found another brave soul to put to the test. In this volume, RJ Loubier stepped up to the plate; let’s see how he handled the hard-hitting questions in today’s Behind Bronx Pinstripes.
JM- How did you get involved with BP and what is your current role?
RJ- I stumbled upon BP on Twitter completely by accident over 2 years ago. It popped up on my “who to follow” and their graphics really caught my eye, they were really well done and professional. There was a good amount of followers and they seemed to know their stuff. They weren’t some 15 year old “breaking” bogus stories from their mom’s basement, those accounts are a dime a dozen. They tweeted out that they were looking for more writers so I emailed Scott and the rest is history.
I started off just writing the game previews, but as the site started to grow and gain popularity I branched out. As if writing 162+ game previews a year wasn’t enough, I started writing “On This Day in History” articles. Being such a historic franchise there is something to post about almost every single day of the year. It’s a grind but I love it. Reliving the glory days of my childhood and reading about the days we weren’t around for is great. I’m constantly learning new things and the readers seem to enjoy it, so it’s very rewarding. Also I’m the unofficial Quality Control Coordinator. Whenever the sites down or a tweet is messed up I’m usually the first to notice and bug Scott about it. He dubbed me Hawkeye because of it.
JM- We wouldn’t be The Avengers without our Hawkeye now, would we?? Not sure if Marvel gave Hawkeye a theme song, but what is your “Walk Up” song coming up to the plate?
RJ- That’s a tough question. I’m a big music guy so picking just one would be hard. I’d have to go with something from the hometown Beastie Boys. Maybe Sabotage or Intergalactic. But it would definitely be constantly changing.
JM- Who is your favorite Yankee of All-Time? Your favorite NON Yankee? If there was one player in the history of baseball that you would want to see play- past or present, who is it?
RJ- My favorite Yankee all time is Bernie Williams, with Paul O’Neill in close second. The fire and passion they both played with was palpable. Just watching them play would get you pumped up. You could feed off their energy. Bernie came up before the Core and was really the anchor in that dominant lineup that took shape in the late 90’s. When he was at the plate you just expected something magical to happen, and it often did.
Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows whom my favorite non-Yankee is. My man crush for Bryce Harper might be at an unhealthy level. His power at the plate is unreal and his swing is so fluid and perfect, I could watch him all day. And anyone who can wear a helmet/hat for hours and still have their hair look that gorgeous is automatically on my list. It’s not just his play or his breathtaking hair either; he always interacts with the fans. There was a story a few weeks ago that a fan threw their phone down to him on the field and he took a selfie and threw it back. And I actually just saw this on Twitter earlier today that a fan made a sign asking him to prom and he threw a ball to her that he signed and wrote, “I hope you have a blast & enjoy it. Many blessings.” Come on. How do you not just love this guy? He’s so modest and down to earth. Ok I’m crushing on Bryce again. Gotta calm down. On to the next question.
I would have loved to see Jackie Robinson play. He came in to such a hostile environment I can’t even fathom and played his heart out. He was hated by everyone, booed just because of the color of his skin and it didn’t faze him. He blocked out everything and changed the game we all love. Truly amazing.
JM- Great responses, we can stop the interview there…. Well maybe not, I have more to throw at you. You’re at the Stadium for a game, what’s your go-to drink/food order?
RJ- My first stop, often before my seats, is a beer cart. If it’s a hot day game in the middle of July I’ll grab a Shock Top. Something about it just goes perfectly with a sweltering summer day. Yuengling is my old reliable if there’s nothing else. Any beer really, except light beer because, come on. Really?
JM- What is your most memorable moment sitting in Yankee Stadium?
RJ- Unfortunately I haven’t been at the stadium for too many historic moments. Being from northern Connecticut and working in television with abnormal hours, it’s hard for me to get down to the stadium a lot. I was on hand for Mariano day, which was pretty awesome with Metallica on hand to play him in. That was cool of the Yanks to do. And this year I went to Bernie day. That was full of feels. I got a little teary eyed not gunna lie.
JM- If you were on the Yankees, what position would you be playing?
RJ- I’d have to be at first base. I would love to be included with the greats of [Wally]Pipp, [Lou] Gehrig, [Joe] Pepitone, Donnie [Mattingly], Tino [Martinez] and even Mick [Mantle] in the last 2 years of his career. I’d probably have to grow a stache in honor of Donnie too. Even though we all did that already and it wasn’t pretty!
JM- It’s a good thing we all got rid of those hideous staches. Since you’re on the Yankees now, you hit a HR- what’s Sterling’s radio call as the ball leaves the park?
RJ- The first half of my last name is pronounced lube so he could have some fun with that. “Here’s the pitch. RJ swings. Oh he got all of this one. It’s high, it’s far, it’s gone! RJ lubed that one up and it slid right into the seats!
JM- That just sounds wrong, I hope you never hit a home run! When you aren’t watching the Yankees, what are you most likely doing?
RJ- When I’m not watching the Yanks, 90 percent of the time I’m usually watching, quoting, tweeting about, talking about Seinfeld. Rich and I have whole conversations on Twitter made up of just Seinfeld quotes. It’s quite impressive. Other than that I’m doing the usual dude stuff: playing video games, listening to tunes, watching sports or movies. I’m a huge movie buff so that takes up a lot of my time…and money.
JM- I can attest, the Seinfeld quote conversations are very amusing. You’re also a fan of The Walking Dead, if you were caught in a zombie apocalypse, which Yankees players would you want to team up with to survive? Which role does each guy play in your survival?
RJ- If the undead rise I am going straight to Paul O’Neill’s house. Did you see what he did to that water cooler!? Now imagine that being a zombie skull. They’d stand no chance! And he’s still as ripped as he was in his playing days so I could just sit back and let him kick all the ass. I’ll just be his batboy making sure his bats are kept in good brain smashing condition.
JM- Not sure there’s a better option out there! What is your Top 3 baseball movie list?
RJ- 1) The Sandlot 2) Field of Dreams 3) 42. I use “you’re killing me smalls” at least once a day. Nothing angers me more than when I say it and someone says “smalls? Who is smalls.” Come on people! Everyone needs to watch it at least once in their life, baseball fan or not. Another reason why Bryce is the man: he loves the Sandlot and tweets about it a lot. He wore a shirt in the clubhouse once that said “Wendy Peffercorn is a dime.”
JM- Dream vacation spot, or your favorite vacation you’ve been on?
RJ- My favorite vacation I’ve been on has got to be Hawaii. I went in February and the weather was just perfect. There’s so much to do despite being small islands. It was the best week ever. Then again I was 13 and didn’t have to pay for anything…
My dream vacation is probably Australia. The only thing that comes close to my obsession with Bryce is my obsession with the Australian accent. I want it and it makes me sad I’ll never have it. Plus I’m big into sharks and if there’s one thing the land down under has it’s sharks. Call me crazy but I’d love to go cage diving with a Great White.
JM- Who is your favorite “non-Yankee”/ “non-baseball” Twitter profile to follow?
RJ- The Rock always tweets gold. His Instagram videos are always hilarious and if I’m bored I’ll just scroll through and watch them.
JM- If you could break one record in baseball what would it be?
RJ- Even though it is impossible with the way the game is played today, I’d want to break Cal Ripkin’s consecutive games streak. No offense to him, I think he’s one of the greats, but that record should have stayed in pinstripes. I’d have to do it for the Iron Horse.
JM- You can do one of the following sports feats to become a hero, which is it? Hitting a walk-off HR in the 9th of the 7th game of the World Series, Scoring the winning TD in the Super Bowl, Hitting a winning three in game 7 of the NBA Finals, Scoring the winning goal in overtime of Game 7 in the Stanley Cup, Winning an Olympic Gold or Winning the Masters.
RJ- The NFL doesn’t even know what constitutes a catch, they’d probably overturn the call. [EDITORS NOTE- #DezCaughtIt] I’m not big into hockey or basketball and I’m not patient/calm enough for golf, so it would have to be the walk off homer. Whenever I hear walk off I just picture Aaron Boone in the 03 ALCS . The feeling I get just watching that, even now 12 years later, is indescribable. Coming home and having my teammates swarm me would be an unforgettable moment.
There you have it folks. I think RJ held his own and hit one out of the park! Thank you for your time RJ it was a blast. Make sure you all give him a follow on Twitter at @ThoseRJs and send him your favorite Seinfield quote.
Make sure to check out the next Behind Bronx Pinstripes this weekend!
