We—all of us, here with our computers and our calculators and our Moneyballs—fired Joe Morgan from ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball last year. Poor Joe now toils in the Cincinnati Reds front office, advising Walt Jocketty on which mediocre outfielder has the most hustle. ("It might be Chris Heisey, but it could be Drew Stubbs.")
Of course, the Reds' season is limping to a close, with the mighty Milwaukee Brewers having blasted Cincy into NL Central oblivion, and Morgan must find other ventures to keep himself occupied during the fall and winter. One of these ventures is, for some reason, the World's Largest Chicken Dance, at Cincinnati Oktoberfest:
Reds great and Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan will lead the annual World's Largest Chicken Dance at Oktoberfest next Saturday.
Morgan, a 10-time All-Star and National League MVP in 1975 and 1976 when the Reds won back-to-back World Series titles, is the second former Red to lead the Chicken Dance, joining Joe Nuxhall, who did it in 2007.
The dance will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, on Fountain Square.
The organizers say Morgan's leading the dance because he has so much experience. They claim to be referring to his peculiar batting stance, with his elbow bent, dropped low and flapping. But we know they mean that Morgan has a lot of experience making a fool of himself on a grand stage.
Joe Morgan to lead Oktoberfest chicken dance [Cincinnati Enquirer]