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Template:Did you know nominations/Kelly Heath

Kelly Heath[edit]

• ... that Kelly Heath received his only Major League Baseball at-bat because of a case of hemorrhoids?

• Reviewed: IOU One credit from Template:Did you know nominations/Fierce Five, City of Jesolo Trophy

Created/expanded by Muboshgu (talk). Self nom at 00:33, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

• I think this barely had the article length for DYK, but it was expanded by more than five times. The hook was referenced, though I can't confirm it. I believe this article must be expanded a little more. Arius1998 (talk) 10:59, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

• Comment: Its 1672 characters of readable prose, meets the min requirement. Samar ^Talk 14:03, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

• Agreed that 1672 characters is sufficient, and the article looks perfectly reasonable for DYK (i.e., not like a stub). However, as the nominator still owes a QPQ, the article isn't yet eligible for approval. No expansion will be required. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:12, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• I did not expect this hook to be reviewed so quickly. QPQ provided. – Muboshgu (talk) 15:55, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• The sources seem to be in disagreement as to the reason Frank White left the game, giving Heath his one chance at bat: source 4 (semi-accessible, though not cited for the White portion) says it was a "sore toe", while source 5 (inaccessible) claims the far more hooky hemorrhoids. This is exactly the sort of thing that a newspaper (or Heath himself) is likely to be discreet about in a newspaper interview for a story 25 years after the fact, but I thought I ought to check. BlueMoonset (talk) 18:48, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• It's a good point. I don't see source 4 saying it was a "sore toe" in the semi-accessible portion. As for source 5, I pulled my copy of Moneyball off of my book shelf to quote here what Michael Lewis wrote. It's in a paragraph discussing some of Oakland's scouts:

"Kelly Heath had played second base in the Royals organization, and had exactly one major league at bat, in 1982, after the Royals regular second baseman, Frank White, decided in the middle of a game that his hemorrhoids were bothering him. As one of the other scouts put it, Kelly was the only player in history whose entire big league career was made possible by a single asshole."

• I can see sources of the time not saying hemorrhoids, since noone will admit that at the time, especially with White being an active player then. However, I believe the players know what goes on in the locker room and are supposed to keep quiet about it (which is why Jim Bouton and Sparky Lyle had some blowback after their tell-all books, Ball Four and The Bronx Zoo (book), revealed more than their teammates wanted them to). Since Lewis is basing the hemorrhoid fact on conversation with the player and his associates 20 years after the fact, I believe it. – Muboshgu (talk) 18:59, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• I'd definitely take a well-researched book over a newspaper story, and the anecdote is priceless. Thanks for the quick response. BlueMoonset (talk) 19:10, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• Article is both above the minimum at 1672 prose characters according to DYKcheck, but was at least 5x expanded on the day it was submitted to DYK. Well sourced, and hook fact is sourced at the end of the sentence involved; given the reproduction of the sentences here, I'm giving it the full green tick, rather than the AGF one. QPQ review has been completed. BlueMoonset (talk) 19:10, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

• Thank you very much. When I read that paragraph in Moneyball recently, I knew I had to bring it to DYK. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:40, 18 September 2012 (UTC)