From the category archives:

“Ripped from today’s headlines…”

Next on the tour: Connecticut Tigers (Tigers) Kane County Cougars (Cubs) Lakeland Flying Tigers (Tigers) Lynchburg Hillcats (Braves) New Britain Rock Cats (Twins) New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) Sacramento Cats (As) By the way, a casual glance at the list of minor league baseball nicknames shows a disproportionate number of birds. Cats looove birds. […]

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Whatever happened to this locker room (and cultural) philosophy? Rumor’s out that “Former clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels has been shopping a book to publishers, and it’s sure to air some dirty laundry.” (ESPN story) Samuels, who worked for the Mets from 1976-2010, was convicted of stealing $2.3 million worth of memorabilia from the club. $2.3 […]

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Is he destined to be a pop culture touchstone? From this week’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me from host Peter Sagal: In just a minute, Carl gets ejected when umpires find rhyme tar on his neck. It’s the Listener Limerick Challenge.

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But how sad is this: The Newark Bears Professional Baseball team and its concessions company are hosting a liquidation sale and auction at 10am on April 26, 2014. Location: Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, 450 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102 Business and personal items will be available for purchase.  There will be items offered through set pricing as […]

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Looks like Paul Dickson and Bill Mead (who turns 80 today; Happy Birthday, sir!) will have to update their old title.

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It should come as no surprise that the ESPN The Magazine article about Ian Kinsler referred to earlier this week on my other blog, has generated some buzz. In the grand scale of things, it won’t matter, but for now, with a routinely dull spring training under way, with A-Rod out of the picture, the […]

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Lest we forget: Ralph Kiner

February 6, 2014

Ralph Kiner, one of the game’s all-time great sluggers, passed away today at the age of 91. Kiner, who led the National League in home runs for seven straight seasons, was favorite of mine on one of the best trio of broadcasters in baseball. He was the last to go from his NY Mets booth-mates […]

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A “commercial” success?

January 21, 2014

Hey, don’t blame me. I probably would have forgotten about these if it wasn’t a segment on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. Two excellent pieces on Alex Rodriguez in The New York Times over the past few days. One was this from William C. Rhoden, who asks the question, “When will baseball, which only belatedly […]

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Sorry, couldn’t think of a pithy headline, I’m that blasé. Say what you want about the guy — his arrogance, his ego, his need for attention, etc. — I think he nevertheless should be accorded the same due process as anyone else. Except DP doesn’t seem to apply to athletes. A lot of chatter on […]

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Yesterday I posted about the mockery sportscaster Dan Le Batard made with his Hall of Fame voting privileges. Well, he doesn’t have to worry about that any more. According to this piece on ESPN, he “has been kicked out of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for one year and barred from future Hall of […]

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The bloom is off Rose

January 9, 2014

Danny Peary, author or coauthor of numerous baseball titles including Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero and Cult Baseball Players: The Greats, the Flakes, the Weird and the Wonderful among many others, was unable to add this comment in response to yesterday’s post, “All he is saying, is give Rose a chance,” about Kostya Kennedy’s commentary […]

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According to the Orlando Sentinel, “Mark Gilbert, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser from Boca Raton, may be on his way to New Zealand and Samoa” as U.S. ambassador. If Gilbert’s name seems at all familiar, you’re an older baseball uber-fan: Gilbert appeared in seven games for the Chicago White Sox in 1985, batting .273 in […]

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Congrats to the newest electees to the Hall of Fame — Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. But shed a tear for Craig Biggio, who missed joining them by two votes. At least one potential vote is attributed to that genius who declined to vote for anyone on the who played in the PED […]

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Congratulations to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas, who were announced today as the newest inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame. According to the organization’s press release, this marks just the second time that three players were elected in their first year of eligibility. From a fan’s point of view, I think it’s […]

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A-Rod memoir, redux

December 19, 2013

Or maybe not, when it comes to a purported new book by Alex Rodriguez. Rob Neyer might read it, but it sounds like it would take more than $1 to make it worth his while.

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From Business-Standard.com: Alex Rodriguez is set to seal a multimillion-dollar deal for a tell-all book about his legal battle with Major League Baseball (MLB). The 38-year-old baseball player claimed that he would reveal full dirt of MLB’s tactics that were used against him, the New York Daily News reported. According to a source, HarperCollins and […]

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Please, Dear God, no…

December 16, 2013

Associated Press: ‘Bull Durham’ musical to debut in Atlanta.

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From ESPN.com: Reginald St. Fleur, 20, a tanning salon employee, was charged Wednesday by Boca Raton police with armed burglary. The charge stems from the March 24 break-in of a car rented by Porter Fischer, a former Biogenesis client and investor. Documents that Fischer had previously taken from the clinic were stolen and would later […]

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Or amazing, or unbelievable. There’s yet another batch of “awards” this year from Major League Baseball: The GIBBYs, short for Greatness in Baseball Yearly awards. That ain’t even good English. Please. How many awards can you give already? These seem to duplicate a lot of honors that have been awarded for years: rookies, batters, starting […]

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