Now Batting, Rod Blagojevich?
The Joliet JackHammers, a minor league baseball team in Illinois, has reportedly offered Rod Blagojevich a contract for the 2009 season.
Blagojevich's publicist said he wasn't sure how serious the team's offer was, but that the ex-Illinois governor would be interested. "The governor is a huge baseball fan, and playing in the minor leagues is something he has wanted to do as a kid and would do for nothing," Glenn Selig told the Chicago Tribune.
The club has said it would give the 52-year-old Blagojevich a standard rookie contract. Additionally, the team would hold special promotions surrounding Blagojevich, including a "Bobblehair" giveaway and the sale of "golden seats," a tongue-in-cheek nod to the ex-governor's attempt to sell President Barack Obama's Senate seat.
Also, it seems the team would give Blagojevich some extra perks. According to the JackHammers Web site, "Travel arrangements will be made exceptionally comfortable for Blagojevich. He'll have his own seat on the luxurious coach bus during the JackHammers road trips. As is the case usually for only team veterans, Blagojevich will get his own room on the JackHammers overnight trips."
The JackHammers play a 96-game schedule as part of the Northern League.
While some fans have blanched at the prospect of seeing Blagojevich on the team, JackHammers executive vice president Kelly Sufka said he would have to earn his spot on the squad.
"He would have to work hard in spring training to find himself a regular spot in the lineup," she told the Tribune. "Most fans see the humor in it, but not all of them."
This week, Blagojevich lashed out at the lawmakers who impeached him from office. "I feel like I can serve the people in a good way now because I have all kinds of insights that virtually no one has," Blagojevich said on a Chicago radio show. "And I can give anecdotes and all kinds of stuff. I don't know if it's dirt or not. It's just facts."
"I've got my crayons ready, I'm ready to write it. I'd like to tell those stories," Blagojevich said during a Wednesday interview on WLS Radio's "The Don and Roma Morning Show."