“Best Wishes,  Fritz Peterson #19″  That’s how my copy of Mickey Mantle Is Going To Heaven starts.  It is a book written by a famous former New York Yankee pitcher.  He was an All-Star.  He won 20 games once.  He played with Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle – legends, not just Yankees legends, but baseball [...]

If you had to pick a handful of games played over baseball’s rich history, which ones would stand out the most?  You’d possibly be a little biased and focus on the era you grew up in, only because of the familiarity. Or you’d be focused on games that took place closer to where you’ve lived, [...]

Lists.  That’s a great thing about sports; about baseball.  You can come up with Top 10 lists about anything, from Top 10 pitchers of all-time to the Top 10 hitters of all-time to the Top 10 Yankees teams of all-time.  There are lists about Hispanic players, the hotness of players’ wives; lists of brothers who’ve [...]

Imagine playing baseball for 22 years and suddenly – Poof!  It’s over.  Imagine playing from mid-February until the final weekend of September, grinding and pushing and throwing your body and mind and soul completely at one goal and – Poof!  It’s over.  That’s what it’s like for the guys watching the post-season from their couches [...]

You just tweaked a hamstring.  Or you sprained an ankle.  Or popped something in your elbow.  Or, on that last pitch, your shoulder felt like it had just been stabbed by a broken beer bottle.  You get injured and it’s bad.  There’s pain, sometimes lots of pain.  There’s concern that you’ll hurt yourself somewhere else by favoring [...]

…And some guys can’t wait.  After the last 7+ months of hanging around 25 other guys, many of whom were the same over these last 7+ months, you can get pretty sick of some faces.  Players love to talk about the camaraderie after they retire, how much they miss it and, if they could come [...]

In the film Major League, the team’s owner wanted to move the Cleveland Indians to Miami.  In order to do so, the team had to get out of its lease with Cleveland.  And the only way that could happen would be for the team to stink; to lose every game possible.  A team of losers [...]

It’s September.  The pennant races are officially pennant races.  The whole, “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” thing can be thrown out like Prince Fielder trying to steal second base because, yes, it’s a sprint.
This isn’t just a sprint of teams trying to make the final eight.  It’s also a sprint of September call-ups, [...]

The amateur draft signing deadline was Monday night and top pick Stephen Strasberg signed with the Nationals for over $15 million.  Good for Stephen.
But…
I don’t like it.  I am in total, unequivocal favor of a salary cap for draftees.  Isn’t that ironic?  The players have been fighting against a salary cap for years, like in 1994 [...]

One of the easiest things to do in the world is quit.  Not doing well in school?  Just quit.  Having a tough go in your marriage?  Quit.  You’ve thrown a thousand curveballs that never curve?  So quit.  Giving up today is easy if you don’t think about what you could have done if you’d kept [...]