The Mad Dominican

Is anybody else out there feeling a Mad Hungarian thing going on with Jose Valverde? The crazed eyes, the stalking around the mound, the private psych-up sessions? The overall feeling of theatrical madness?

For those of you who have (sadly) forgotten Hrabosky, he was a relief pitcher of note during the 70's and 80's with the Cards and Braves. Of Hungarian descent, and born, like most mad Hungarians, in Oakland, he used to stand in the back of the mound before every new batter talking to himself and the resin bag and pounding the ball in his glove to get really really AMPED before he pitched. Then he would throw down the resin bag with disdain and spin around and storm up to the pitching rubber, his eyes blazing with barely-controlled fury. This would be like, in the top of the seventh of a 6-1 game. It was awesome. He was pure WWE.

Valverde seems to me to be bordering on this kind of routine, but if he wants to become a true celebrity wildman cottage industry like the Mad Hungarian (who is still living off his schtick, now as an announcer and radio personality in St. Louis), he's going to need to formalize his act a little more, and, of course, he's going to need a nickname. The first thing that leaps to my mind is "Locomotive Breath."

(P.S. - Just now, I stumbled across alhrabosky.com. I never would have thought. Does, like, Burt Hooton have a website? John Lowenstein?)