Really Weird Mushrooms – 1/2

 I’ve recently gotten into mushrooms. I gotta admit, it’s a pretty weird space.

First of all, there are so many of them, and they can be so much alike. Further, some minor detail can make all the difference between something that’s edible and delicious and something that will sicken or kill you.

Second, it attracts a very odd following. Probably the funniest Facebook group I belong to is one dedicated to mushroom identification. I’d say about a third of the posts have to have comments turned off because the discussions get so heated. Wonderfully nerdy.

Finally, there are the names. Dead Man’s Fingers, anyone? How about False Eyelash Cup? Custard Crust, Witches Butter, Bone Bowl, Forest Lamb? Golden Helmets, Yellow Blusher, Tinderhoof?

Below, I’m sharing my top 50, ranked in increasing order of craziness (but split over two posts, as there are so many). Enjoy!

50. Piglet  (Microstoma floccosum)

They’re small, pink, and have white hairs, but otherwise have nothing to do with baby pigs

49. Dung Apples (Pizolithus arhizus)

Sure enough, they look a lot like “road apples”

Fun fact:  Also known as dead man's foot, dyeball, pardebal & Bohemian truffle

48. Clabber Dots (Byssonnectria cartilagenia)

Look more like salmon roe to me (clabber is a white, yogurt-like product, with visible curds)

47. Coal Balls (Daldinia concentrica)

They’re black and round all right

Fun fact:  AKA Coal Fungus, King Alfred's Cake & Cramp Balls

46. Cauliflower Ruffles (Sparasis spathulata)

Definitely looks like cauliflower

Fun fact:  Edible & with a “mild, nutty, and earthy flavor”

45. Strict Coral (Ramaria stricta)

Very coral-like; not so sure why it’s so strict

Fun fact:  AKA Upright Coral

44. Winter Stalkball (Tulostoma brumale)

You sure that’s not a sport?

 

Fun fact:  Brumale means winter, when the thing actually appears

43. Stinksac (Phallogaster saccatus)

“The internal tissue is gelatinous with distinct chambers in the upper portion holding the dark green, slimy, fetid spore masses at maturity.”

Fun fact:  AKA Club-shaped Stinkhorn or Stink Poke

42. Mudsplat (Pachyella clypeata)

Yeah, I think I can see it

41. Slime Pouch (Cortinarius pinguis)

Very slimy; not sure where the pouch comes in though

Fun fact:  Strong, sweet odor

40. White Cheese Polypore (Tyromyces chioneus)

Very descriptive ... except when it comes to edibility, that is

Fun fact:  Polypores have pores instead of gills

39. Artist’s Conk (Ganoderma applanatum)

Believe it or not, you can draw on them with your fingernail, and the image will stick

Fun fact:  Conks are shelf-like projections that appear on standing trees

38. Wine Slimecap (Chroogomphus vinicolor)

Surprisingly descriptive

37. Cylindric Lizard-Claw (Lysurus cruciatus)

Looks like something else to me

Fun fact:  There’s a ribbed one as well

36. Ivory Fiberhead (Inocybe geophylla)

Beginning our set of mushrooms that sound like the characters in a bad novel / movie

Fun fact:  Highly poisonous

35. Wrinkled Scaberstalk (Leccinum scabrum)

Scabers are the little black things on the stalk

Fun fact:  There is also a Ghost Scaberstalk

34. Domicile Cup (Peziza domiciliana)

They are actually famous for sprouting indoors (i.e., in people’s domiciles)

Fun fact:  Has been found in Antartica & the Himalayas

33. Carnation Fiberfan (Thelephora caryophyllea)

Surprisingly carnation-like

Fun fact:  Suppilosilokka in Finnish, Prachtfranjezwam in Dutch & Trichterförmiger Warzenpilz in German

32. Dingy Stickycap (Suillus umbonatus)

“Among the drabbest, least conspicuous of our local slippery jacks”

Fun fact:  Other stickycaps include Spicy, Stubby, Weeping, Wooly & Chicken-fat

31. Imperial Tallowgill (Catathelasma imperiale)

“"Imperial’ refers to the (at times) imposing size of the fruit bodies.”

Fun fact:  Edible but endangered

30. Jelly Woodcrust (Phlebia tremellosa)

“The consistency is soft, elastic, and gelatinous when fresh.”

Fun fact:  AKA Jelly Rot

29. Berkeley’s Fanfare (Bondarzewia berkeleyi)

Well, it certainly is big and showy

Fun fact:  A “parasitic butt rott”

28. Stinky Squid (Pseudocolus fusiformis)

Oddy descriptive

Fun fact:  “The foul smell of stinkhorns at maturity would likely deter most individuals from eating them.”

27. Violet Toughshanks

Perfect character name

Fun fact:  “Odor … sometimes reported as reminiscent of gunpowder, garlic, or radish.”

26. Shaggybear (Lactarius repraesentaneus)

It certainly is shaggy

Fun fact:  Source of an antibiotic

Who’s the Baseball Hall of Famer?

Some HoFers have very unique names – Harmon Killibrew, Rabbit Maranville, Eppa Rixey, Heinie Manush …  Others, however, are common as dirt. 

And that’s who we’re going to look at here. In particular, we’re going to look at HoFers whose names are so common that there’s another MLB player out there with the exact same name … but nowhere near the same credentials.

Here we go …

Ben Taylor

HOFer:  Negro League first baseman, .337 lifetime average over a 20-year career

Other guy: 

• Pitched in 2 games for the 1912 Reds, going 5.2 innings & recording a 2.12 WHIP
• Interesting tidbit:  Named after former president Benjamin Harrison

Ray Brown

HOFer:  Negro League pitcher; won pitching triple crown; led league in wins (8 times), strikeouts (3) & ERA (2); pitched perfect game

Other guy: 

• Pitched in 1 game for the 1909 Cubs; started and went all 9 innings, giving up 2 earned runs & notching the win; drove in a run
• Interesting tidbit:  Middle name was Percival

Joe Williams

HOFer:  Negro League picther, played for 27 years, omce struck out 27 men in 9 innings, 20-7 against white major leaguers in barnstorming games

Other guy:  

• Played shortstop for 2 games for the Chicago American Giants in the Negro League, got 1 hit in 6 at bats 
• Interesting tidbit:  Nothing else known about him

George Davis

HOFer:  19 seasons; not sure he should be here, but he was a fave of Bill James & the Veterans Committew

Other guy: 

• Pitched 4 years (191 innings) in the bigs, 3 with the Boston Braves; went 7-10, with a no hitter
• Interesting tidbit:  Harvard Law School grad, nicknamed “Iron”

Buck Ewing

HOFer:  first catcher elected to the Hall; played for 17 seasons, managed for 6; lifetime average of .303. stole 354 bases

Other guy: 

• Played catcher for 2 years in the Negro League, getting 217 ABs
• Interesting tidbit:  17 at debut; may have been named after the HOFer (real first name was William)

George Wright

HOFer:  shortstop for first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings; batted .633 with 43 HRs in 57 games, all of which Cincinnati won; first batter in National League history

Other guy: 

• Played OF with for 5 years in the 1980s, mostly with Texas
• Interesting tidbit:  Played 162 games one year

Joe McCarthy

HOFer:  manager, won 9 pennants & 7 World Series, recorded 100 wins 6 times, regular-season & postseason winning percentages are the best of all time

Other guy: 

• Outfielder for Giants for 4 games in 2020; got 10 ABs, but no hits
• Interesting tidbit:  UVA grad

John McGraw

HOFer:  managed for an NL record 31 years, winning 10 pennants & 3 World Series; also played for 15

Other guy: 

• Pitcher for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops (in the Federal League) in 1914; went 2 innings, with 2 Ks and no earned runs
• Interesting tidbit:  Born in Intercourse PA; went to Carnegie Mellon (one of my alma maters)

Billy Wiillams

HOFer:  Rookie of the Year; 6-time All Star; finished with 426 homers, 1,475 RBIs & 2,711 hits

Other guy:  

• Outfielder for the Seattle Pilots, going hitless in 10 at bats
• Interesting tidbit:  Major league debut at 36

Joe Morgan

HOFer:  second baseman for 22 years; 2-time MVP, 10-time All Star, 5-time Gold Glover; finished with 689 stolen bases

Other guy: 

• Pitcher who played for 5 teams over 5 years and finished with a record of 59-64; manager with a record of 301-262
• Interesting tidbit:  Still around at age 92; All-American in hockey at Boston College

Bob Gibson

HOFer:  played 17 yearts for the Cards; 9-time All Star, 2-time Cy Young winner, MVP, 9 Gold Gloves; finished with 251 wins, 3,117 K’s & a 2.91 ERA

Other guy: 

• Pitched 5 years in the 1980s, mostly for Milwaukee; finished 12-18
• Interesting tidbit:  Baseball-reference.com bio link takes straight to Hall of Famer

Least Likely College Champs

There are a lot of colleges out there. And they play a lotta sports. And they’ve been playing those sports for a long time.

So, among the UNCs, Alabamas, UCLAs, and Ohio States, there’s gotta be some champions out there who maybe aren’t quite so well known. Heck, I remember Coastal Carolina winning it all just a couple of years ago in baseball. Now, let’s see who else is out there.

NOTES – I’m limiting this to:

• Just the basic sports. No bowling, no golf, no field hockey, no curling, no underwater tiddlywinks
• Men’s sports only. They’re really just was not that much women’s sports before Title IX.  ;^(

Football

Washington & Jefferson – 1921

You may never even have heard of these guys. They’re in western Pennsylvania, in the town of Washington, about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. The school dates back to the 1700s, and has about 1,100 students.

W&J got its share of the 1921 title by tying Cal-Berkley in the Rose Bowl. How did they get there? Well, back in the day, football was kind of a Northeast thing. There weren’t a lot of state schools around, so sports were dominated by schools like the Ivies and smaller, well-established liberal arts schools like W&J.

Today, the Presidents compete in Div III.

I like the color combo

Basketball

CCNY – 1950

Yup, City College of New York. You may have heard of this one, though you probably don’t exactly associate them with big-time athletics.

So, how did these guys get there? Well, back in the day, basketball was a Northeast thing as well. Further, it was a very urban sport (as it still is today). Finally, NYC was something of a hot bed of talent at the time.

The 1950 team was unique in winning both the NCAA championship and NIT in the same year. Unfortunately, they were also involved in a major point-shaving scandal.

Since then, it looks like the Beavers have also had some luck in … fencing. No national titles, but several individual champions and Olympians.

Baseball

Holy Cross – 1952

Hey, it’s cold up there (central Massachusetts). I wonder if they have to plow the field before games.

Alright, so what’s with these dudes? Well, there was a time when baseball was a Northeast sport too. Unfortunately, that was way back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Not sure what to tell you about these guys.

Now, they were 21-3. And they did beat Missouri in the final of a double-elimination tournament. It was just the sixth tournament though. Couldn’t find much more on it unfortunately (baseball wasn’t really a big college sport back then).

Interestingly, the Crusaders also have a national championship in basketball as well. Currently, Holy Cross is a Div I school, in the Patriot League.

Having Bob Cousy on the roster certainly helped the hoops team

Hockey 

Lake Superior State – 1988, 1992, 1994

Sounds cold up there as well. This time, though, that makes a ton of sense. Other champions include such snowy places as Michigan, North Dakota, Maine, and Minnesota.

But who the heck is Lake Superior State? Well, perhaps you know them by some of their former monikers. Lake Superior State College of Michigan Technological University amyone? How about Sault Ste. Marie Residence Center of the Michigan College of Mining & Technology? Nope, didn’t think so.

This college of 2,600 is in Sault Ste. Marie – practically in Canada itself. It dates back to only 1946, and was built on the site of a former Army base.

That said, they have won the national championship in hockey no less than three times. And of their 19 notable people, 13 are professional hockey playesrs (along with two college hockey coaches).

Their team is called the Lakers. And they have two mascots, Seamore the Sea Duck and Fog Horn the Sailor

Soccer

West Chester – 1961

Ah, the world’s sport. Which, if you think of it, is probably why it’s only been a popular college sport in the US only recently. Which allows us to sneak someplace like West Chester in there back in the day.

Never heard of ‘em? I don’t blame you. My Dad’s family’s from the area (south Philadelphia suburbs), and I’ve never heard of them.

They do date back to 1871 though. They also have 17,000 students, undergrad and grad.

As for that soccer team … Well, it sounds like they’ve actually got a pretty good athletics program. In addition to the soccer championship, they’ve been numero uno in baseball, as well as women’s lacrosse and field hockey. Okay, that’s all DII. But that soccer title is legit.

Track & Field

Navy – 1945

Okay, so this one’s easy to explain. It was WWII, and Army and Navy totally loaded up their rosters with servicemen. Army, for example, won the football championship in 1944 and 1945.

Well, I probably don’t need to say much about the Naval Academy. It (and West Point and the Air Force Academy) aren’t usually thought of as athletic powerhouses though.

On a personal note, I just so happened to live in Annapolis when a cousin of mine was going to the Academy. And wouldn’t you know? He was on the track team.

Midshippersons

 

Gymnastics

Chicago – 1938

Hey, Chicago’s a great school – probably the best in the Midwest. That said, I associate them more with Nobel Prize than Heisman Trophy winners.

That said, would you believe that the first of the latter (Jay Berwanger) actually played for Chicago? Indeed, the football team claims two national titles, 1905 & 1913.

And, yes, that is the period when private schools tended to rule the roost (see above). In fact, Chicago and Notre Dame were some of the first teams outside the Northeast that made the “national championship” actually national. Interestingly, though, Chicago banned football from 1939 to 1969.

Okay, back to gymnastics. Well, I can tell you that it was the first championship, was held at Chicago, seven teams participated (including Gustavus Adolphus), and some guy named
Joe Giallombardo won the all-around individual title.

Probably not the same guy (thanks anyway, Google Images)

Swimming & Diving

Yale – 1942, 1944, 1951, 1953

Here’s another school known for their academics. Probably don’t need to say any more about them.

Somewhat surprisingly, they’ve got a ton of national championships. I’m talking 19 in football; 21 in golf; 1 each in hockey, lacrosse, & women’s fencing; and 4 in swimming. Now, the football ones date back to the days of leather helmets, single-wing offenses, and limited passing. And those other sports aren’t exactly in the same league as football or are just one-offs.

But those swimming titles definitely seems legit. So, what’s the explanation here? Well, it turns out they’ve been doing it for quite a long time – since 1891. Sounds like they also had one of the greatest coaches of all time as well – one Robert J.H. Kiphuth – who coached them from 1917 to 1959.

Would you believe they’ve had 31 Olympians? And I’ve actually heard of one of them – Don Schollander.

Wrestling

Cornell – 1947

Nope, not the one you’re thinking of. Cornell College is in Mont Vernon, IA, and has a little over 1,000 students. Wikipedia list 24 “notable alumni,” none of whom I’ve ever heard of.

Like a couple of other schools in Iowa, though, they sure do excel at wrestling. To quote Wikipedia again:

“Cornell wrestlers have won eight individual national titles... Sixty-Two Cornell wrestlers have been named NCAA All-Americans, and seven have been elected to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Seven wrestlers have also competed at the Olympics.”

Unfortunately, the Rams are now DIII.

Oops, wrong Cornell

Lacrosse

Johns Hopkins – 1974, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2005, 2007

Our final academic powerhouse / athletic 90-pound weakling.

As Iowa is known for wrestling, Maryland is known for lacrosse. In addition to JHU, Maryland’s won three titles, and Navy and Towson State have each been in the final. (On a personal note, a dear family friend, Bob Stockbridge, was an All-American at Maryland.)

Other than lacrosse, Hopkins plays at Div III. They have had some success there, though, winning titles in swimming and field hockey.

Almost forgot – they’re the Blue Jays

(That’s supposed to be a Blue Jay)

Secret Catholic Colleges

We all know that Notre Dame’s a Catholic school, right? 

Same goes with anything with a name like Sacred Heart, Assumption, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word …

And you can usually count on any place named after a saint – St. John’s, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas, St. Norbert …

Did you know, though, that Georgetown’s a Catholic school? How about Boston College?

Whoops, wrong one

Now, if you’re a Catholic, or a big sports fan, or both, you probably did. Here’s a few, though, that might stump even you.

Saint-Adjacent

These are pretty clever. Instead of calling your school St. Catherine, try Siena instead. Instead of St. Aloysius, how about Gonzaga? St. Francis Xavier? Nah, Loyola!

Villanova – after St. Thomas of Villanova, a major advocate for the poor

LaSalle – after St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers

Seton Hall – after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first saint born in the US

Chaminade – after St. Guillaume-Joseph Cahminade, founder of the Marianists

Iona – from Iona Island, in Scotland, a famous center of Gaelic monasticism in the Middle Ages

I also own a castle

Marquette – after Pere Marquette, an early Jesuit missionary to – and explorer of – the Midwest

DePaul – after St. Vincent De Paul, another advocate for the poor

Bellarmine – after St. Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit, cardinal, and doctor of the church 

Canisius – after St. Peter Canisius, a Dutch educator and early Jesuit

They’re the Golden Griffins

No Connection

As for these, there doesn’t seem to be any Catholic tie at all. And for a lot of them, it might just be a case of because it was available.

Manhattan – it’s actually in the Bronx

Providence (RI) 

Stonehill (MA) – from the name of the estate of the Ames family, who donated it to the church

Dayton – originally St. Mary’s College; changed when the school became a university, and “to reflect its close connection with the city of Dayton as well as to claim an American identity for its Catholic students” 

Niagara – originally The College and Seminary of Our Lady of Angels … maybe so it wouldn’t get confused with UCLA?

Fairfield (CT) – in the town of Fairfield; originally Fairfield Univ. of Robert Bellarmine (see above)

Fordham (NY) – founded as St. John’s College; changed to the town in which it was located

Creighton (NE) – after benefactor, businessman Edward Creighton

He built the first transcontinental telegraph

Seattle (WA) – the second college in Seattle after the Univ. of Washington 

San Francisco – originally St. Ignatius College; changed when the school became a university 

Santa Clara (CA) – heck, the city’s named after a saint anyway, right?

Portland (OR) – formerly a Methodist college, taken over by the Catholic church after it was abandoned (but without ever changing the name)

Dallas – originally Holy Trinity College

San Diego – founded in 1949

St. Louis – hey, this city’s named after a saint too

They’re called the Billikens
(whatever that is)