This connection is admittedly one that recognizes how punk rock has
 transmitted at least some of its artifacts into mainstream culture in
 general. However, this is also an example of how certain aspects of
 baseball, at least what is considered the authentic or "pure" nature of
 baseball, can be captured, or recreated, if recognized. Just as queer theory
 sometimes devotes its time to finding elements of queerness in cultural
 artifacts, so too do punk fans attempt to find punk rock in culture.
 This is nothing new, but the connection between punk rock and sports
 zines is not simply one of spotting the punk in baseball. Although
 certainly there are elements of this. ChinMusic also had an article and
 interview that dealt with the case of Jim Walender of the Detroit Tigers. In
 an article from Issue #2 of ChinMusic titled "How publicly admitting
 you like the Dead Milkmen can destroy your professional baseball career!
 An Interview With Ex-Detroit Tigers infielder Jim Walewander by Jeff
 Fox" Fox noted that:

In 1987, he was brought up from the Mud Hens to play in the majors for
 the Detroit TIgers. Oddly, soon after his arrival in Detroit,
 Walewander became infamous for (of all things) being a Dead Milkmen fan. This
 fact is even noted on his major league rookie card, which reads,
 "[Walewander] became an instant legend in Detroit for his devotion to an
 obscure punk-rock band called The Dead Milkmen." On the Detroit stop of the
 Milkmen's tour that year, Jim came out to see their show in Detroit and
 then invited the band to Tiger stadium for an early game the next day
 against the Angels. Walewander's unlikely association with the Milkmen
 became cemented when he hit his first major league homer against the
 Angels that day, fueling speculation that it may have been the Milkmen's
 presence at the park that had inspired him to hit the two-run, upper
 deck blast.

According to Fox, Walewander was somewhat embarrassed by the attention
 paid to him as a punk rock fan, even his baseball card mentioned his
 love of the Dead Milkmen, but most baseball players come from small rural
 communities and few are veterans of the punk rock community. There are
 notable exceptions. Both the Chanel article in Ztsk and an interview
 in ChinMusic dealt with St. Louis Cardinals' reliever Scott Radinsky,
 who first played in seminal punk band Scared Straight and later formed
 the successful Epitaph band Pulley. This does not imply a direct
 connection between punk rock and baseball, only a desire on the part of the
 producers of the sports zines to try and connect their mutual loves of
 punk rock and baseball as a coherent whole.

-- From "Was He Safe or Was He Out?": Sports Zines and Questions of Authenticity
Cogan, BrianJournal of Popular Culture

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