The Big Hurt recently had a little visitor: a former munchkin.

Mickey Carroll, one of the munchkins in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, met up with 6′5″ Blue Jays DH Frank Thomas at the Jays spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla. on Sunday. The 4′7″ Carroll, 87, talked and exchanged autographs with the Big Hurt.

Now, when I think of spring training, this isn’t the first image that comes to mind. But, throughout a February that produced a frenzy of bizarre spring training storylines, this one was undoubtedly the most refreshing. Would Lou Piniella and Mark Prior already be scuffling if they had a munchkin in their clubhouse? Would anyone be worried about Curt Schilling’s weight problem if Carroll were stomping around Fort Myers declaring “We thank you very sweetly for doing it so neatly” (this in fact was one of Carroll’s lines in the movie…after Dorothy’s house fell from the sky and crushed the Wicked Witch of the West)?

It seems as if many of baseball’s biggest problems can be overshadowed by the mere presence of a small person. Just ask former Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez, whose frequent entourage included the late 1′9″ Nelson de la Rosa.

I congratulate Frank Thomas for recognizing the link between little people and baseball success. He is truly a man among boys…er…munchkins.

Ken Williams who?

The Phillies have been trying to trade Jon Lieber all winter. So, like most people do when their job status is uncertain, Lieber went out and bought himself a $211,000 truck. If you can call it a truck. It’s more of a blight. A monstrosity of gargantuan proportions. An epic eyesore.

From the Philly Inquirer:

Lieber rumbled into spring training yesterday in his 2-week-old Ford F650 SuperTruck, a customized blue-and-black beast, 9 feet, 2 inches tall and 25,000 pounds, with six doors, 45-inch wheels, seating for seven, a satellite dish and customized leather interior. It cost him $211,000, more than twice the $94,000 base price.

There are three other people who own a truck similar to the one Lieber purchased: King Abdullah II, of Jordan, Sheik Mohammed, of Dubai, and Shaquille O’Neal.

If you thought Lieber ruined the Phillies season last year, you should see what his truck is getting ready to do to the ozone layer. It has, according to the Inquirer, “Four 50-gallon diesel tanks, which cost $500 to fill, though, at a thrifty 12 miles per gallon coming from a 300-hp Caterpillar engine, Lieber only used a quarter of a tank driving here from his home in Mobile, Ala.”

And to think, all of that is money he could have been spending on liposuction.

“I’ve heard it my whole life. If you guys think I’m fat and out of shape, you guys will say it. I feel great. I’m ready to help.”

You’re fat, Jon. Fat and out of shape. We’re saying it.