Table of Contents
- Baseball #5 – Baseball Cards, Flipping Crazy!?
- Nebaletan Word of the Day – CAGAGAZZ!?
- Pizza Review – 500 Degrees, NY Style Pie, Nokomis, FL
The Baseball Series:
- Baseball – Why Do I Love Thee? (here)
- Baseball – Baseball Cards!
- Whiffle Ball!
- High School Baseball!
- Baseball – The Pros and The Cons (of statistics that is…)
Baseball #5 – Baseball Cards, Flipping Crazy!?
A couple of summers ago, on a bike ride, my buddy Paulie and I got to talking about how we each grew up with baseball. Different cities, same obsession:
- Paulie: Brooklyn
- Me: Ashtabula (yes, that’s a real place)
- Paulie: stickball on the pavement at PS with a firm rubber “spaldeen” (Spalding)
- Me: baseball on any open patch of grass
- Shared experience: card flipping. Who knew?
You’re probably asking, “Flipping baseball cards? What the heck is that?”
Well… it was basically playground gambling. Yep, right there on the asphalt of Mother of Sorrows — the Catholic schoolyard where we were supposed to be busy saving our souls, not betting Topps cards.
Card flipping at Mother of Sorrows wasn’t just a pastime. It was serious business. If the local mafia was recruiting, they were definitely scouting us. We were tiny sharks in polyester pants.
So how’d this shady enterprise work? It wasn’t HGTV house flipping, thank God. Here’s how it went down:
Match or No Match
- I’d flip a card onto the asphalt. If it landed heads up (player photo facing up), I’d shout: “Match or No Match?”
- My opponent had to decide: would his flip match mine? “Match!” he’d say.
- And then — the wager. We’d bet cards, real stakes. That’s where it got spicy.
- Me: “I’ll put 10 cards in if you throw in your Tribe Thumpers card.” (I didn’t have it, so naturally, it was priceless.)
- If my opponent had a duplicate Thumpers, he’d accept. If not, he’d bluff and stall — real poker face stuff — trying to drive up the pot.
- Then he’d flip:
- Heads up? He wins.
- Tails? I win.
Simple, brutal, addictive – just like gambling!
Paulie and I were stunned at how universal card flipping was back then. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones glued to the game. If you’re skeptical, check this:
- From Streetplay on Baseball Cards – “There are certain skills that you might spend hours perfecting in childhood, which are totally meaningless when you grow up…” Yep, flipping was top-tier.
- Also, check out this FLIPPING BASEBALL CARDS – COLORS video (he says “colors” — it’s just heads or tails, let’s be honest).
Playground Brawls & Grey Pants
Card flipping came with a price: fights. Lots of them. I was in more than my fair share.
One time, I came home with holes in my Carlisle’s special-order husky grey pants (standard-issue from the nuns, who ran the place like Gestapo). Got a beating for not standing up for myself.
So the next day, I broke my opponent’s nose — and promptly earned another beating for bleeding all over my white shirt and MOS-branded tie.
Aw, childhood: where gambling, fashion, and violence came together under the watchful eyes of Jesus and Sister Mary Tarcisius.
Nebaletan Word of the Day – CAGAGAZZ!?
In my never-ending quest to learn Italian (or at least swear like a local), I’ve been watching shows in Italian. One favorite? Dinner Club on Amazon Prime. We’ve binged all three seasons, and it’s a gem.
Season 3, Episode 1 had me in stitches. Around the 10-minute mark, actress Sabrina Ferilli (see here) is asked: “What burns your ass?”
Without missing a beat, she smirks and deadpans: “I CAGAGATZI!”
She then elaborates: suitors — the ones who start out charming — eventually become the ones lighting fires under her ass.
I nearly fell off the couch laughing.
Naturally, my brain shot back to my blog post from August 28, 2020 (see here) where I tried to define the phrase “Caboo Gatz,” a high school favorite of ours — especially in the dugout during baseball season.
When writing that blog post, I search and couldn’t find the term anywhere online. I even tried reverse-engineering the meaning myself and worked out my own definition: Caboo Gatz = d*ckhead.
But now, thanks to Sabrina and my trusty subtitles, the English translation on screen read: “Ball Buster.” Now we were getting somewhere.
Curious, I did a bit more digging. I figured the real Italian version might differ slightly from the version we threw around in Ashtabula. So I searched for the word CAGACAZZO — jackpot!
From talkinitalian.com:
“CAGACAZZO comes from the expression “mi hai cagato il cazzo,” and refers to someone who’s incredibly irritating and annoying. It’s invariable.
Example: Alessia è proprio una cagacazzo. (Alessia is a real f***ing pain-in-the-ass.)”
Nailed it. Caboo Gatz (CAGAGATZ) is actually CAGACAZZO (plural CAGACAZZI). I was surprised that I was actually close!
A word I thought was simply a Bula-ism turns out to have a legit Italian cousin!
Pizza Review – 500 Degrees, NY Style Pie, Nokomis, FL
Another solo lunch run while Cathy was away — and this time, it was to 500 Degrees, a new spot that opened its doors in March 2025. T he place came highly recommended by a total stranger I met while at a different restaurant. Normally, I’d file that under “sketchy Yelp,” but this guy was from Avellino, so I took it as gospel.
HE WAS RIGHT.
As always, I posted up near the ovens — the action zone. I want to see the pizzaioli at work. If the pizza ends up being great, then yeah, that’s where the magic happens.
First up, I chatted with Sal Jr., one of the pizzaioli. Mid-convo, he shoved some freshly baked bread into the oven to rewarm it, then handed it over like a gift from the carb gods. Fresh, warm, house-made bread — and I’m already halfway in love. I’m chewing on a slice with a bit of butter while Sal Jr. and I geek out about dough — fermentation time, hydration ratios, the good stuff. This guy isn’t playing around.
Then his uncle — also a pizzaiolo and fresh from Italy — came out briefly. Unfortunately, I forgot his name (blame the bread coma), but his presence alone added credibility. You don’t open a shop called 500 Degrees and bring in a guy from Naples for decoration.
Then came Mariah, Sal Jr.’s mom, to take my order. I told her I was flying solo for the week and needed something for now and something for later:
One NY-style pizza for lunch, one eggplant parm to-go.
She laughed — and it was immediately clear that Mariah was the boss. Thick NYC accent (Brooklyn, I’d bet the house), attitude sharp as a pizza wheel, and warm as a kitchen on Sunday morning.
Before long, Sal Sr. showed up at my table too. A total gentleman — smiling, easygoing, the kind of guy who makes you feel like you’ve known him since third grade. Turns out his roots are in NYC too (now the accent makes sense), but he’s spent the last 15+ years down in Venice, FL, working with his father at Benny’s Bada Bing. This new place? His chance to do things his own way.
So far, I’ve been served warm bread, had great conversations, met three generations of pizza passion — all I needed now was for the food to live up to the vibe.
OH MY. It did. It really, really did.
| Date | April 11, 2025 |
| Pizzeria | 500 Degrees Eatery |
| City/ Neighborhood | Venice, FL / Near the new hospital |
| Website | |
| About Us | No real website with an about us section – too bad, they have a nice story! |
| Style | New York Style |
| Ambiance | Brand new and spotless. While the space thankfully avoids the dreaded warehouse-high ceilings, it’s not exactly cozy or quaint though. At the time of my visit, the place was just a couple of weeks old, so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt — hopefully, they’re still dialing in the atmosphere. Some window treatments could definitely help soften the glare and warm up the space a bit. That said, the floors? Absolutely stunning. |
| Beverage Pairing | Coke Zero |
| Rating Criteria | |
| Shape | Round |
| Dough/Crust | Tickness – Tin to Medium Cook – Soft, Crispy, and Chewy Flavor – Buttery, Sweet, Not the normal sour taste of a well fermented Neapolitan, it also didn’t have a bread taste that you might expect as a result, interestingly different. Also, due to its likely short ferment, it was heavier than a Neapolitan, although it was not objectionably heavy as I’ve found with some NY style crusts |
| Cornicione | Crispy crunchy, Spongy/airy, Bubbly, Chewy, and Sweet This might be the first time that all the boxes of my rating tool were checked! The pans were new, so there must be done oil in the sauce to get the crispness |
| Toppings | 1/2 Pepperoni and Cheese (menu said it was Buffalo moozedell!) – Given the creaminess – it’s likely! Fresh – seems to be |
| Sauce | Sweet, Spicy – strongly oregano, Thin Very nice! Sweet either from a high quality tomato or the addition of some sugar |
| Cheese | Cheese Type – Moozedell Cheese Distribution – splotchy although all over Salty OH MY! Buffalo silky smooth How do they do it for $10?! |
| Cheese to Sauce Ratio | Sauce – A little to Medium Cheese – Medium Balance – well done can taste dough, the sauce, AND the cheese |
| Value | $10 for a 12″ round! That’s $10 for a 12″ equivalent (since it’s 12″)! THE BEST VALUE IN TOWN!!!!! |
| Overall Rating | Great! Upon the first bite, there’s an immediate different taste that is remarkably interesting fun! I spent a good portion of time tearing the dough apart with my fingers to figure out what was going on! I debated between Good and Great because, as you know, I’m not a great fan of NY Style pizza because they are heavier and less digestible than my favored Neapolitan. But between the Buffalo Moozedell and the $10 – it’s got to be considered GREAT! It’s also my new favorite NY style in the Sarasota area surpassing Long Island Bros in North Port. And oh, by the way, the Eggplant parm that I took home – holy moly! |
| Would I Go Back? | Yes – in a Brooklyn Minute (which I did immediately upon Cathy’s return, see next blog post for that review!) |
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