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Condemning Them to Be Free
Growing up can be an awkward phase of physical and social development. Many parents find that enrolling their children in a sport early in life can lead to a balanced improvement in a child’s physical coordination, emotional health and mental focus. The National Alliance of Sports estimates 20 million kids in America, between the ages of 5-12 years old, register to play a competitive sport every year; most in sports such as, football, baseball, basketball and soccer. And by age of 13, the N.A.S. also estimates that 70 percent of these children will end up quitting league sports all-together, and never return to league sports again.
Most adolescents cite a loss of fun as the main reason they end up quitting their sport. The sports they enrolled in earlier in their life having evolved into a more competitive atmosphere - the focus centering more on winning than general understanding and competence. And only kids showing the competitive edge, or a sense will and passion, will usually continue to pursue their sports well their mid-teens.
Occasionally, out of these ranks a young athlete will transcend the competition around him, in every sense of ability and physical development. Options narrow, and it seems the only option for the young athlete to continue to develop would be to advance to a more competitive level. In rarest of cases that means turning pro for the growing adolescents. These young athletes that turn pro are usually buffed with choice words; such as, gifted or prodigy. The societal pressure to live up to expectation becomes immense, and many of the prodigies never live up to the lofty expectations handed down on them. Read More >>
The Visible Spectrum
… Another year, another championship featuring a team from New York or Boston. Some years, if we’re lucky though, us spectators get the special benefit of watching two of America’s largest sport markets duke it out in the same championship game. When the right side of this coin flips, this media Supernova can leave us sport’s fans outside the market left behind in the massive glare of the oncoming media onslaught. Outside of the happenings of Upper East Side of the United States, time begins to crawl, in a unobservable manner where our attention slowly, but forcibly, approaches the day of the game. Minor news regarding team’s organizations, player’s injuries, fan reaction and strategic speculation may seem to stretch on for days. From their perspective, everything outside of their market’s big game comes to a stand-still, no passing news surrounding buzzer beaters, college upsets and player trades and signings can penetrate through the realms of their metropolitan pride. When these media Supernovas happen, we’re all subject to a cosmic censorship of the sport. Read More >>
NFL’s Con-fessional Bowl
Let me give you a scenario, and you can tell me if it seems like something you’d enjoy watching. The scenario involves a group of athletes voted to play in an all-star game. Fans have a certain number of votes per each position, and may cast an unlimited number of ballots - representing what is supposed to be 1/3 of the total vote for athletes. These athletes that eventually get voted in get to travel, usually with their family’s, to Honolulu, HI a week before the all-star game. Keep in mind these athletes are still recovering from a full 16 game season of hitting, tackling, lifting and rehabbing. The athletes will get to lounge around in 80-90 degree weather, practice a little bit with their fellow conference all-stars, play pranks on each other, converse, surf, and talk about who is going to win their sport’s champ
ionship the next week. Doesn’t sound half bad for the athletes, does it?
This scenario I’m describing is the NFL Pro Bowl, a game held (as of the past few years) a week before the Super Bowl. It is the only major sports all-star game that garners lower T.V. ratings than its regular season games. Players are voted in based on what could essentially be equated to a popularity contest. Coaches for each conference are automatically selected from the teams that lost the NFC and AFC title games, coaching teams, with usually, a good percentage of players opting out of the game for various reason, some related to injuries sustained during the regular season, some because their respective team is the one playing in the Super Bowl the following week… And if you’re Randy Moss, back before the game was held after the Super Bowl, you’ll opt out of playing, cause the week before your New England Patriots ended up losing the Super Bowl. Hawaii was just not motivating enough.
Last of a Kind
Jorge Posada might or might not be a MLB Hall of Famer but with five years before he appears on the ballot, there will be plenty of time to ponder his case. No time is necessary, however, to conclude that a unique unit to which Posada belonged deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
That would be the Core Four, a great and fitting name for what was the longest-running quartet in American sports.
Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Posada all were signed and developed by the New York Yankees. All four debuted in the MLB in 1995. All four would be teammates for the next 16 years, except for a three-year stint Pettitte served with his hometown Houston Astros.
Theirs was an unprecedented alliance that included five World Series championships, seven AL pennants, 12 division titles and even more individual accolades.
Theirs was a run that might never be matched. Think about it. First, you’d need four players exceptional enough to play 16 years in the big leagues. They would need to come up at around the same age. They would need to play for a big-money club that would be able to afford them when they reached the free-agent market. And their team would need to win consistently in order to reduce the chances of annual makeovers.
It’s Time, National League!!!
Major League Baseball’s MLB new collective bargaining agreement included several groundbreaking changes, including expanded playoffs, HGH testing and the relocation of the Houston Astros from the National League to the American League in 2013. One item the players and owners overlooked but immediately should address: the use of the designated hitter in both leagues at all times beginning in MLB 2013.
Consider it a celebration of the 40-year anniversary of the DH.
Lance Berkman may not like the idea, but it’s time for the NL to adopt the designated hitter. (AP Photo)
This might be the move that pushes purists from the brink over the edge. But it is time to come to grips with the fact that this isn’t 1930. The game already has had several rounds of expansion and realignment, and radical changes such as interleague play and the wild card(s) have been huge successes. They even play at night now!
Since 1973, the two leagues have operated with one glaring disparity: NL pitchers have to bat, and AL pitchers don’t. The fact that such a drastic difference existed for even one season is ridiculous; that it somehow managed to survive nearly four decades is downright miraculous.
RELATED: Fielder, Nationals talking deal
Logistically, implementing the DH full-time in both leagues by the 2013 season will be tough. But perhaps this can move to the top of commissioner Bud Selig’s agenda once he agrees to his new contract extension. The players (with the exception of the few pitchers who think it is cool to hit) would be in favor of it, and a strong enough case can be made to sway the owners.
Three reasons this proposal should become reality in 2013:
1. Continuous interleague play
Hall of Fame Voters Should Not Be Responsible To Clean Up The MLB’s Steroid Mess
I’m still three years away from being eligible, as a 10-year member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, to vote for the MLB Hall of Fame. Which isn’t too bad, since the way things sound right now—after Barry Larkin was voted in Monday—the biggest names on next year’s ballot still will be around.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa? The odds are good that none will get the required 75 percent in the next two votes. Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro? Even less of a chance.
Major League Baseball MLB embraced the 1998 home run chase of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. (AP Photo)
That’s a shame. Because I’d vote for all of them.
It might not make a dent in what’s already a pattern of denial for the public faces of the Needle-Ball Era. McGwire got 112 votes this year, Palmeiro 72. Those who voted for them likely didn’t do so for the same reasons. Neither did all the voters who left them off, nor did the nine voters who submitted blank ballots.
The Time Is Now
While it is true that the Nationals will have a full MLB season from Stephen Strasburg and possibly an extra wild card berth to shoot for, they also play in the loaded NL East, which houses the Philadelphia Phillies’ dominant starting rotation, the Atlanta Braves’ strong pitching staff and the Miami Marlins’ revamped roster.
That clearly didn’t scare away Washington general manager Mike Rizzo, who sent three of the organization’s top nine prospects (per Baseball America’s rankings) and another minor league pitcher to the Oakland A’s for lefthander Gio Gonzalez, a frontline starter who won 16 games, had a 3.12 ERA and averaged 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings in an All-Star season in 2011.
Gonzalez, 26, adds another strong starter to a rotation that already had plenty of promise with Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann at the top.
Those three will have to carry the team to that MLB wild card spot, because the offense is still lacking—the Nationals were 13th out of 16 NL teams in on-base percentage (.309), 11th in slugging (.383) and 12th in OPS (.691). The lineup has a young core with Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa, Mike Morse and Wilson Ramos, but there doesn’t seem to be a Batman to the super-expensive Robin that is Jayson Werth and his 97 OPS+, although Zimmerman and Morse could develop their utility belts soon.
There is also the question of when the team will call up the game’s top prospect, Bryce Harper. It probably won’t be until June because of new Super Two arbitration rules, but it’s likely Harper won’t be that game-changing slugger immediately.
The lack of an imposing middle-of-the-order presence and the fact that Rizzo has money to spend has led to plenty of speculation that the Nationals could be in on the Prince Fielder bidding. Putting a bat like his with some of those others could make that lineup much more forceful, and because Washington’s strong pitching is coming relatively cheap, signing Fielder is not out of the question.
MLB “How to Retire” for Good: Customize Your Favorite Team With Any Name and Number at www.onthefield.com
Major League Baseball MLB and its participating clubs have retired various uniform numbers over the course of time, ensuring that those numbers will always be associated with particular players or managers of note. The use of numbers on uniforms to better identify one player from another, and hence to boost sales of scorecards, was tried briefly by the Cleveland Indians of 1916, and the St. Louis Cardinals of 1923. The first team to permanently adopt the practice was the New York Yankees of 1929. By 1932, all sixteen major league clubs were issuing numbers, and by 1937, the leagues passed rules requiring it.
The Yankees’ original approach was to simply assign the numbers 1 through 8 to the regular starting lineup in their normal batting order. Hence, Babe Ruth wore number 3 and Lou Gehrig number 4. The first major leaguer whose MLB number was retired was Gehrig, in January, 1940, following his retirement due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which became known popularly as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Since then, over 150 other MLB players have had their numbers retired. This includes managers and coaches, as Major League Baseball is the only one of the major North American professional leagues in which the coaching staff wear the same uniforms as players. Four numbers have been retired in honor of people not directly involved on the playing field—three for team executives, and one for a team’s fans. Some of the game’s early stars, such as Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson, retired before numbers came into usage. Teams often celebrate their retired numbers and other honored people by hanging banners with the numbers and names. Early stars, as well as honored non-players, will often have numberless banners hanging along with the retired numbers. Because fewer and fewer players stay with one team long enough to warrant their number being retired, some players believe that getting their number retired is a greater honor than going into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ron Santo, upon his number 10 being retired on the last day of the 2003 regular season, enthusiastically told the Wrigley Field crowd as his #10 flag was hoisted, “This is my Hall of Fame!”
Two teams (the Seattle Mariners, and the Colorado Rockies) have never retired a jersey number.
The Mariners have kept the following numbers out of circulation since the departure of a popular player who wore it: #11 (Edgar Read More >>
600 Home Run Club
When Jim Thome hits his 600th MLB home run, he’ll join a club that began in 1931. A chronological look at the MLB 600-home run club:
Aug. 21, 1931: Babe Ruth, New York Yankees (vs. George Blaeholder of the St. Louis Browns)
Sept. 22, 1969: Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants (vs. Mike Corkin of the San Diego Padres)
April 27, 1971: Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves (vs. Gaylord Perry of the San Francisco Giants)
Aug. 8, 2002: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants (vs. Kip Wells of the Pittsburgh Pirates)
June 20, 2007: Sammy Sosa, Texas Rangers (vs. Jason Marquis of the Chicago Cubs)
June 9, 2008: Ken Griffey, Cincinnati Reds (vs. Mark Hendrickson of the Florida Marlins)
Aug. 4, 2010: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (vs. Frank Francisco of the Texas Rangers)
Source: baseballreference.com
Jeter Might Sit?
Derek Jeter might have to wait until Thursday to resume his pursuit of 3,000 career MLB hits.
The New York Yankees shortstop could get Wednesday off as New York completes a road series against the Cleveland Indians.
Derek Jeter is four hits shy of 3,000.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi has said he wants to give Jeter a breather sometime this week. Jeter has played four consecutive days, counting his two minor league rehab games, after missing 18 games with a calf strain.
Jeter Meter: The quest for 3,000
The Yankees are at home this weekend, and many observers believe the club wants to give Jeter an opportunity to reach the milestone in the Bronx. He is four hits away from 3,000 after going 2-for-6 on Tuesday.
Girardi insisted that location would have no bearing on when he sits Jeter.
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