The Drubbing

Ten years ago, on September 11th, 2001, one of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil took place physically in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.  As you can see I mentioned the word physically because to me it took place in every American emotionally. We saw the fear in the eyes of those watching the towers collapse. We heard screams and tones of disbelief.  We saw our flag tattered. We saw our land of the free slowly being bulldozed away.  But in this moment we heard a voice stir in each one of us and remind us not to forget the other statement in our Star Spangled Banner: We are the home of the brave.  This was capsulated to Americans and the world in one moment.  In one pitch.

Continue reading “The pitch of a nation. The pitch for 2,977.” →

From the summer of ’61, to the spring of ’98. From androstene to HGH. 61. 70. 73. 715. 755. 762.
It comes down to 3 single words.

I don’t care.

Keep in mind these words are coming from a person that has never done drugs, drank or smoke and was a really good athlete in his heyday. I take sports seriously, ask my wife. She once was winning in a game of horse and I kicked the ball to the playground side of the park and hit some kid with it. I also take cheating seriously shown by my straight C’s in high school. I don’t care though, I really don’t and you shouldn’t either. I’ll tell you why with a question.

Where do we draw the line?
Continue reading “All their balls are dirty” →

This week 142 people did something stupider than Gilbert Arenas’ 21 gun salute.

This week 142 people lost their collective minds and should lose their collective jobs.

This week 142 people decided that Roberto Alomar was not worthy of being elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.  As a result, Roberto Alomar, needlessly, must wait until 2011 to stand at the podium at Cooperstown and tell John Hirschbeck how he… deliver a Hall of Fame speech.
Continue reading “Roberto Alomar deserves better” →

No doubt in response to the “They bought the championship” cries that have been ringing throughout Philadelphia, Red Sox Nation, and every other part of the country not named New York, Connecticut or Northern New Jersey, renowned designer Khoi Vinh has done some research on the business of Major League Baseball.

Vinh did some great work digging into teams finances and comparing the money each team brings in each year as compared to their payroll, resulting in what he’s dubbed their “Investment Rate”. According to his findings, on average MLB teams put 45% of their 2008 revenue towards their 2009 payroll. Vinh’s New York Yankees by comparison tied for the 4th-highest investment rate at 54%.
Continue reading “The Yankees sure know how to spend” →

For whatever reason, kids these days have some sort of apathy when it comes to taking the stickers off of their baseball hats. I don’t know if they just want to leave the door open to potentially returning the hats, or if they think the New Era sticker designers do better work than the New Era hat designers. At any rate, Craig Robinson at Flip Flop Fly Ball has stepped up to the plate to help them out with a set of step-by-step, illustrated instructions.

Hurrah! Now your ballcap is ready to wear without advertising to everyone on the bus that you’ve got a size 7 5/8 head.

Continue reading “Take the sticker off your hat, you look like a tool” →

A few weeks ago, Chuck Norris presented a link to Jose Canceso’s comments around David Ortiz’s steroid use.  What i found most interesting, besides the fact that Jose can continually be in the media spotlight is this comment,

“When you tell me something I didn’t already know, I’ll be surprised,” Canseco told ESPN. “And I’ll tell you this, Major League Baseball is going to have a big, big problem on their hands when they find out they have a Hall of Famer who’s used.”

That last part got me thinking a bit “a Hall of Famer who’s used”.  Is Jose saying that he knows of a HOF who has used PEDs?  If so, which one? While the 1970′s had rampant steroid use, especially in football (i am looking at you “juiced Steel Certain”) i would have to think the person he is speaking about played around the same time as Jose during the 1980′s and 90′s.  Lets look at a list of who is in the Hall & had significant playing time while Canseco was in the league:
Continue reading “Looking into Jose Canseco’s comments a bit further” →

July 19th, 1974 was an interesting day in Cleveland. It was in the 70′s most of the day and there was some rain. When the day started, it was like any other day, but by the time it ended, it would be a day that many would soon forget. For one man, it would be day he probably can never forget.

As he strode to the mound, Dick Bosman was still a serviceable major league pitcher. His glorious 1969 season was well behind him. That 2.19 ERA was the pinnacle of his career, but he was not through. He had been struggling through a few years but still enjoyed the glory that comes with playing in the big leagues. His 30 year old body took the mound wearing the home uniform of the Cleveland Indians to face the Oakland Athletics. Later that year, these same A’s would go on to win the World Series.

Continue reading “July 19th, 1974: Dick Bosman starts in Cleveland” →

I want you, not the guy next to you, you. Stop acting like one of the Night at the Roxbury guys and get out here

Near the end of my last column on the pitchers I have been tracking since before the season, I wrote the following about Ramon Troncoso:

“In the article before the season, I said that Ramon’s worst enemy was Joe Torre. I worried that he might blow out his arm. Currently, he has pitched 53 innings in 82 Dodger games. That’s on pace for more than 100 innings. Here is my prediction: Either Troncoso gets injured in August or he gives up a devastating hit in the Division Series because his arm is shot. Write it down, its a lock.”

After writing that, I got to thinking about whether or not Joe Torre was bad on relief pitchers. Everyone seems to say that he is, and as you know all to well now, once I start thinking about something I have to know if it is true. So, once again, lets start with an explanation, show you a chart, and then talk about what it might mean.
Continue reading “Does Joe Torre ruin relief pitchers?” →

The festivities outside Toronto's Rogers Centre

Saturday, June 6th Rodney, Nate and myself all took in a Blue Jays vs. Royals game at the lovely Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome).  Yes, that is Centre with an “re” not an “er”.  Let me first say that for the most part, Canadians are very nice.  Throw in a french accent and its downright joyful to talk to the locals.  The stadium itself is right downtown near the lake.  There were a lot of festivities going on outside, and since the weather was in the mid 80′s and sunny, we got to enjoy the dome roof being open.  All and all a great day to catch a game (would have been better if we were not so hung over, but that is for another post).

The stadium itself is very nice, and extremely clean.  Since the Royals and Jays do not exactly have a huge following we were able to get tickets the day of, and sat about 20 rows directly back of home plate.  Good times all around.  I purchased an old school Blue Jays hat to add to my collection of hats from stadiums visited (its up to 9 stadiums and 8 hats.  Sorry old Yankee stadium, i think an NYY hat will burn in my hands if i purchase it) and we then hit up the food vendors.
Continue reading “Toronto, where even the polite heckle at Baseball games” →

A couple of weeks ago, I looked back at the article I wrote about last year’s rookie hitters. So for today’s treat, we’ll check in with those rookie pitcher’s from last year that I previewed before the year. If you missed last year’s article, you can find it here. So without further ado, here we go first with the chart I included in the first article, followed by the chart showing this year’s stats:
Continue reading “Last year’s rookie pitchers revisited” →