Whats A Crop?

Criminey

2011-02-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

Now that Mark is getting close to Spring Training, he's been throwing bullpens 2x a week and going to the gym 2x a day... I've been going with him at night but I'm going to start going in the morning with him too. I'm not really into lifting... more conditioning.... but it's not gonna hurt to tighten up a bit more....

Between working out twice a day and working so much I'm gonna need to double up on the caffiene too... good thing Luigi taught me how to make a wicked espresso at the Cafe in Otto at work... I now have double shots at my fingertips whenever I need a pick-me-up at work which is a LOT.

Mark was really sweet tonight on the way from his bullpen to the gym today-- he said he had to be selfish because he only had a few weeks before ST and needed to concentrate solely on baseball...which convienently for him I fully support anything and everything baseball 100% of the time... I even enjoy going to his bullpens... I know he's my boyfriend but getting to watch him throw the way hes been throwing is awesome. I love seeing his pitches break up close like that. His coach is Teddy Concepcion and he's awesome.... The first thing he did when he met me and found out I was a White Sox fan was show me that he had Joey Cora's phone number... hes a really awesome guy.

Anyways... I thought it was sweet that Mark thought he was being selfish by concentrating all his time on baseball... Theres nothing I want more than for him to succeed and I really love being a part of his pre-season training.

Anyways--- this weekend is convention week... I got notes from my boss that we're at full capacity and it's gonna be nuts this week. There's a shoe convention and a motorola convention too so work's gonna be friggin nuts this week. That's good though because I'll be making my first visit to California next week for Kathy's (mark's sister) Senior game at Santa Clara. I for sure wanna throw back some money in the savings before the game and before we go to Cali because Mark and I really want to go to San Francisco so I can see the town. For those of you who forgot, Full House was filmed there and I WILL be riding a trolly.

Today I was in a pissy mood though. I own money on the electric bill back home and I was wanting to pay it on Saturday but Bank of America apparently wont process my check until tonight and it wont be in my account until tomorrow. The problem is that I cashed my check there on FRIDAY. I couldn't be more pissed about that whole situation... it also effed up Mark and I's date night... we were gonna go to dinner and a movie but we only have like $12 in our account so there goes THAT on my only day off. Then on top of it I couldn't find anything to eat (granted I was being picky just because I was in a bitchy mood) so I downed coffee all day long... by 6pm I was going stir crazy and after going to Mark's bullpen we went to the gym.... the only thing available for me to work out on was a bike that was far too tall for me and hurt my crotch and made my pants ride up my ass. On top of it, there were eleventy billion girls in the locker room at LVAC walking around naked. WTF?

Anyways before I call it a night--- I wanna put a challenge to everyone.... name the reference forthe new name of my blog.. "Whats a Crop?" ...... :)

Melissa's Book of the Week: The Devil Wears Pinstripes

2011-02-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

I read this book on my way to Spring Training in 2007 and fell in love with it. I let a co-worker barrow it a while back and never got it back and have just placed an order for it through Amazon as that's the only place I can find it now.

It might be the most hilarious book about the Yankee's that I've ever read in my life.. Jim Caple I believe is still an avid columnist on ESPN's Page 2 and is always a good read... I learned the majority of my information about the Yankees and went on to actually make an attempt to fall in love with the history of the team quickly after reading the book and understanding who the real "villians" of the franchise are based on this book alone.

Pick it up. At $3.41 for a new copy on Amazon you simply can't afford NOT to.

Direct link here

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

2011-02-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I feel as though I owe everyone some sort of explanation. Most of you know that I moved this site to it's own domain (which I hope to restart whenever I learn how to do that) of www.whitesoxdiaries.com. About 4 months ago I was told that my website had been suspended and after a rather controversial 2010 season for my blogging, my (and others) immediate thoughts were that it had been shut down by *perhaps* white sox media relations.

I'm rather glad to report that's NOT the case :)

Instead, the domain that was supporting it was shut down (at least I think... Im rather technologically retarded, but thats what I got out of the explanation), so until then I'm going to start reposting on this website.

So, before the questions roll in, which I'm sure they will, I'll explain my absence.

In the last 8 months that I haven't been posting, I've been diagnosed with ADD (that alone should explain it, haha), started dating my future husband, lost 30 lbs, moved out of my roommates house, and then made the move to the FABULOUS Las Vegas where I am now working for Iron Chef, Mario Batali at Otto Enoteca at The Venetian on the strip. Oh, and I adopted a stray cat. Her name is Chelsea.

I feel as though some of you think I have "given up" on baseball, but thats highly not the case. I just haven't had time or access to the constant White Sox chatter as I did last season. Also, for those of you keeping track, this is about the time last year when I started this blog, so we'll look at this as my own Spring Training after a rather long and eventful offseason.

As I will be blogging about the White Sox, Baseball, etc, I've also come to the conclusion that baseball is not my WHOLE life, it is only a really really large part of it. I now live in Las Vegas and will be blogging about my life as an avid baseball fan, who has moved far away from her family and all of her friends, is working in a job she NEVER thought she'd have, and who's boyfriend is moving away for 7 months in about 30 days.....

There's only so many characters that facebook status updates can hold.

So without further ado, let the blogging commence.

I'd like to leave you after this first post with a small story of something that happened to me yesterday.

While I was at work, a man I was waiting on saw my Sox tattoo on my wrist and immediately started flirting with me. You know how you tell a lie and you think you're really cool because you don't think anyone else will call you out on the lie?

Well, this guy starts to tell me that his best friend owns the majority of the stock in the White Sox, and then asks me to meet him to go out after work. I'm assuming he saw some special on the Packers and how they were a publicly traded company, and then just assumed that ALL pro teams were publicly traded or something.... because he was straight up trying to tell me that his best friend owned ALL this stock in the Chicago White Sox and basically owned the team.

So I simply told him that the White Sox weren't a publicly traded company. He looked at me slightly confused and responded with "Yes they are." I calmly said "no sir, they aren't like the Packers. The Packers are publicly traded but the White Sox aren't. In fact, I don't believe ANY Major League teams are traded, and I know for a fact that the Packers are the only NFL team that are."

I kind of expected the guy to put his tail behind his legs and say something like "oh well, I must be confused" or something to the effect but this guy WOULDNT STOP. He responded with "Well, my best friend owns the majority of the team, I know that. He's like the guy that works right above their GM."

Of course I responded with "Oh, so your best friend is Jerry Reinsdorf?" "No, it's ____(insert guys name that I've NEVER heard of before in my life). He lives in Florida, and he owns the White Sox."

At this point I was getting slightly annoyed. I mean who the hell doesn't just back down when they're wrong? Luckily his friend cut in with "I don't think you need to be drinking this early in the morning anymore" and brushed him off allowing me to leave the table without decking the guy in the face. Something about morons trying to talk baseball when they know nothing about it just totally irks me.

By the way, 12 days til pitchers and catchers report :)

Feelin .500 Good

2010-06-20T16:24:00.001-07:00

My recap on ChiCitySports

The last time the Chicago White Sox were at .500 was April 7th of this year when they were 1-1 in their series opener. It’s safe to say that they’ve made large strides during this 10 day 9 game roadtrip, sweeping both the Pirates and the National’s and taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs up at Wrigley to get back to that spot.

Sitting with my father watching the game today on Father’s Day, the Sox didn’t let either of us down as they went on to take the 3rd game in the series against the Nat’s. It would also be a big day for Rookie Dayan Viciedo who got his first Major League start at third base.

Alex Rios started things out for the Southsiders with 2 out in the 1st with a single hit to center field. With Konerko batting, he stole 2nd and scored on a line drive single by Paulie, making the score 1-0.

Dayan Viciedo, who lined out sharply in the 2nd inning of the game, got his first major league hit in the 4th with a single on a line drive to center field and was given his game ball after the inning

Sweaty Freddy was in typical form today with an ace of a performance striking Nat’s pitchers out left and right. Washington didn’t score until the bottom of the 4th when Cristian Guzman tripled and then scored on a fielders choice single by Adam Dunn. Shortly after Roger Bernadina singled on a ground ball to Alex Rios and Dunn scored making it 2-1, Washington. The Nats then advanced the score to 3-1 on a single by Wil Nieves that scored Josh Willingham.

Not ready to give up, the Sox came back in the top of the 5th starting with two consecutive singles from Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez. Almighty Rios knocked in a run with a sharp line drive double to score Pierre. Not to be outdone, Konerko stepped to the plate and singled on a ground ball scoring Ramirez. 4-3, White Sox.

A single by Ramon Castro kept the inning alive with no outs followed by an RBI double play ground out by Dayan Viciedo who managed to get his first hit and first RBI all within two innings. Not an awful day for the rookie.

The Sox kept the lead and kept Nat’s pitching at-bay until the 9th inning when Drew Storen came in for reliever Miguel Batista. Vizquel spent his time advancing after starting the inning off with a single with help from Pierre, Ramirez, and finally an RBI single by Alex Rios. “Obviously Alex Rios was the hardest out for me,” said Nat’s reliever Drew Storen to me this evening, “he got two hits off of me!”

“It was cool to pitch against them because my dad and I used to go watch them play in Chicago all the time when I was growing up.,“ Storen continued giving me his opinion on the team. “Obviously the lineup is good and full of good hitters that are patient and have a good plate presence. They’re a great lineup to face and they got a few hits off of me.”

JJ Putz would come in to close for the Pale Hose and allow for another victory against Washington and ultimately their second sweep in a row.

They Sox have an off-day tomorrow and then will face the Atlanta Braves at home for a three game set.

When Did Joe West Make the 40-Man? This Game is NOT About You!

2010-05-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

What happened in today's game was a joke. Hawk has never been more correct. Not only was it a joke, but Joe West is a joke. I won't even bother going into the first alleged balk because anyone with eyesight could see it clearly wasn't.

The problem here is that Joe West doesn't know how to control his emotions, and he's the epitome of an "attention whore."

Before I get into the depth of it, let me just say this. Joe West is an umpire. He is ALSO a country music writer and singer. For the sake of passing on information and to further prove my point that he's loves the spotlight, I'll share the following. I've been told by more than a few media writers in the industry that Joe West has his own personal PR Agent. The media constantly gets emails offering interviews with Joe and ways to promote his music career. The girl in me would like to equate this to the huge douche, Wes, on The Bachelorette. His actions to get his name out there are to be kept off the baseball diamond. Plain and simple.

West who has a contract with MLB through 2014 proved today why he needs to stop calling games all together. I never dog on Major League umpires. I'm aware of how hard it is to get to the bigs as an umpire- some would even say it's harder than making it as a player, and they get paid less than a league minimum player would (300k a year at the most). However there comes a time after 32 years when it's just simply time to stop calling balls and strikes. When you're blowing calls, taking vendetta's with managers out on mild-mannered pitchers, and being an all around side-show, it's time to retire.

I never go to the game excited to see the umpires. I'd venture to say that 99.9999999% of fans don't go in hopes of seeing a great call by the home plate umpire. However, ALL fans go to the game to see the players PLAY. He ejected Buehrle on a BS call (he didn't eject him for balking.. he ejected him for "throwing" his glove after the 2nd balk he called on the same pitcher who had only one balk called on him previously in the last 3 years. Buehrle also has one of the best pick-off moves in the AL and its the same move he's been using his entire career).

The problem here is as follows:

1) By ejecting Buehrle after 2.1 innings pitched, he forced the White Sox to tax their bullpen, going into the Tampa Bay series with tired arms.
2) He significantly could have altered the mood of play of the players to feel as though they had no control over the situation at hand with the game being ruled by overly pompous umpires.

3)He took his emotions out on a manager that he openly dislikes. He didn't call the balk on Buehrle, he called it on Ozzie who he had already ejected.
4)He made the game about himself, which is disgraceful, disrespectful, and wrong.
5)Buhrle never balked.

I'd like to concentrate on point 5. MLB outlines 13 different rules on what is and isn't a balk. Basically it's when a pitcher intentionally tries to deceive a base runner while pitching. There are 1000 different situations in which this can happen, but we'll concentrate on today's problem. Reviewing the clips, the main argument was whether Mark's right leg was taken too far back, crossing either the left leg planted on the rubber, or the plain of the pitching rubber on the mound. After clear review it is obvious that neither of these things happened. Mark's knee crossed his mounted leg, but his foot did not. After talking to fellow umpire, Michael Frain, there are also a few other points that could allow West to have called a balk the 2nd time, but both can be laid to rest by simple rules. They are as follows:

(Via Michael)
1. A left-handed pitcher should NOT be called for a balk for closing the front shoulder (only a RHP should be called on it)
2. The 1b umpire does not have the correct angle to judge a shoulder movement - that is completely and SOLELY the plate umpire's coverage

With that being said, I went tech-savvy and took frame by frame pictures of the series of events that lead to Mark's second called balk. Enjoy :) Because of the way this site is set up, I only included three frames, but if you want the rest, you can email me and I'll foward them to you.

You can cleary see where Buehrle's foot never crossed either his left leg or the rubber. Not a balk. Signed. Sealed. Delivered.

Now when is MLB going to do something about these umpires? This isn't the first time West has made sure he's been in the spotlight during a game. During the BoSox/Yankee's series West had to make sure everyone was listening when he complained about the pace of the game. I'm not sure when he thought we cared about his opinions outside of the ballpark, but it was completely unacceptable.

Any time a player, coach, manager, or umpire brings unrelated vendetta's into a ballgame and uses them to directly influence the outcome or put a team at a disadvantage he needs to be fined, suspended, and depending on repeated offenses and the circumstances, even forced to retire or fired.

When a player starts showing signs of depreciation or lack of respect in a disgraceful way he is sent down, traded, put on waivers, released, what have you. There is no system in place like that for umpires like Joe West. Talk about tainting the game. Whatever problems an ump has with someone on a team or in a franchise, it's his DUTY and JOB to to bypass such feelings and do his best to call a fair game. He has a responsibility to the fans, players, and everyone else in the MLB to do what's right, and if West isn't held accountable for his actions, then I've lost a little bit of respect for the MLB.

Homeless Man Takes Stroll Across Warning Track to Get Concessions

2010-05-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

When one lives outside the confines of conventional society or woefully below
the poverty line, obeying accepted boundaries and respecting the niceties of
regular behavior just doesn't seem quite as important. Say, for example,
you're a homeless man sitting in the bleachers of a ballpark. You spy a
concession stand across the concourse.
Do you:

Make your way
from your seat to the concourse, joining the crowd of well-to-do attendees who
scorn you and heap disdain upon on your tragic plight?

Or, do you:

Hop the centerfield wall and meander through the outfield (Ed. Note:
Link goes to Busted
Coverage, which has some NSFW content.) in hopes of
stumbling across some food, before eventually being caught by security?

Whatever you chose doesn't matter. Because 24-year-old Tyrone R. Squires
already selected the latter last night at an Altoona (Pa.) Curve game.

[He] was described by police as being homeless and originally from
Massachusetts but with no permanent address. Sporting a thick, dark beard and
wearing an old-time military hat, Squires kept
his hands in his pockets as
he strolled at a very slow pace from left to right along the outfield wall on
the warning track. Ballpark security allowed him to keep walking until he exited
the field near the Curve bullpen down the right field line, where officials
detained him. About 20 minutes later, Logan Township police arrived on scene to
make an arrest.

Naturally, no talk of a fan trespassing on a baseball
field is complete without referencing the taser incident that occurred in
Philadelphia earlier this month. Cleveland Indians prospect and Akron Aeros
outfielder John Drennen, who was less than enthused by the delay, told the
Altoona Mirror, "There's no room for that. He should have gotten Tasered."
Fortunately for Squires, Altoona security officials don't carry Tasers. Problem
is, they don't lug around concession items either.

Link to the story

I mean, come on. This is just plain funny. A little ironic after the fan that got tased during the Red Sox game, and then another fan running onto the field during the Sox game, that some homeless guy would wander around the warning track looking for nachos and a ice cream ballcap. I could only imagine what was going on in these player's heads.

"I was in the stands charting and looked up to a guy just strolling threw the outfield with out a care in the world. I guess he was just trying to find out where the concession stand was. I'm just happy no one got hurt" Altoona Pitcher Rudy Owens told me this evening.

When asked about his opinion on the homeless man getting Tased, Rudy laughed, "At the time I was [for him getting Tased] but he wasn't trying to be stupid and get a laugh out of it. Now that I sit back and think about it probably not"

So what are you opinions on the matter? Is this another guy trying to get some attention? How out of hand is this "fans being on the field" thing getting? In my opinion, it's starting to get old and out of control. There's a reason why the guys on the field get paid $6mil to play the game and why we pay money to WATCH them. Let's make sure the guys getting paid the big bucks are the ones getting the TV time.

Today in Baseball History; May 20th

2010-05-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

MAY 20

1919: Babe Ruth won a game on the mound and at the plate. He hit his first career grand slam as the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 6-4.

1932: Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit four doubles in one game.

1941: Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox won his 20th consecutive game at home, the longest home park streak in the major leagues. Boston beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2.

1953: In the 13th game of the season, the Milwaukee Braves surpassed their 1952 attendance of 281,278, when they were in Boston.

1959: The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees 13-6, placing New York in last place for the first time in 19 years.

1978: Willie Stargell hit a 535-foot homer off Montreal’s Wayne Twitchell, the longest home run in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, highlighting the Pirates’ 6-0 victory. It was also Stargell’s 407th career homer, tying him with Duke Snider on the career list.

1984: Boston’s Roger Clemens earned his first major-league victory. The Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4.

1999: Robin Ventura became the first major leaguer to hit grand slams in both games of a doubleheader, leading the New York Mets to a sweep over Milwaukee, 11-10 and 10-1. He had two slams in a game for the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 4, 1995.

2001: Barry Bonds hit two homers in the San Francisco Giants’ 11-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves, giving him a total of five in two games, becoming the 23rd player in history to do so.

2006: Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth for second place on the career home run list during San Francisco’s 4-2, 10-inning victory over the Oakland Athletics.

2009: Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury tied a major-league record with 12 putouts by an outfielder in a nine-inning game, previously done by Earl Clark of the Boston Braves in 1929 and Lyman Bostock of the Minnesota Twins in 1977. He accomplished the feat in the Red Sox’s 8-3 win over Toronto.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/19/1957868/this-date-in-baseball-may-20.html#ixzz0oUxo9PHm

Storen Gets First Major League Win, keeps ERA Full of Goose Eggs

2010-05-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Storen's stat line for tonight: .2IP 0H 0R 0ER 0SO 0BB 0.ooERA (W)

Storen came in the top of the 7th in tonight's game against the Mets. After Blanco singled on a line drive and Alex Cora advanced him on a sac bunt, Storen entered the game with the score 5-2, Washington.

The first batter he faced was Jose Reyes who lined out after 3 straight fastballs from Storen topping out at 95MPH. 1 on, 2 out.

Storen's favorite thing to do is count on the defense of the players behind him and that's exactly what he did tonight when he faced his next batter; Luis Castillo. Three fastballs (95, 93, 95), a slider, and another fastball later (94), Castillo grounded out to Ian Desmond.

Storen was then replaced by his friend and Former Yankee, Tyler Clippard. The Nat's went on to win it 5-3 and Storen recorded his first Major League win.

Congrats to Drew!

High School Pitcher Loses College Scholorship/QB Posistion- Seeks MLB Draft Instead

2010-05-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Utah quarterback recruit Tyler Shreve won't be attending classes in Salt Lake
City this fall after a scuffle with his high school baseball coach. The Utes
suspended his scholarship and said his status will be reevaluated in January.

Shreve acknowledged to The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., in
March that he wrestled Redlands East Valley High School baseball coach James
Cordes to the ground after being told he was kicked off the team.

He has
been charged with battery on a school employee and is scheduled for a pretrial
hearing May 27 in San Bernardino County (Calif.) Court.

It is possible
Shreve never plays for Utah. A talented pitcher, he could be selected highly in
the MLB draft this June and opt for professional baseball.

Link to story here

Can someone explain to me what team would want to draft a kid who attacked his baseball coach in HIGH SCHOOL? Anger issues anyone? Have fun dealing with that- I'll be anxious to see if any teams take him on after this. Utah has clearly made the right decision in signing another QB for the upcoming school year and if a team drafts Shreve, then they have a lot of anger issues to help this kid through. It reminds me of a young Bobby Jenks who allegedly got into arguments with Angel's minor league coaches and managers all the time.

Shreve, who is supposed to be one of the most talented high school players in the country, throws a 91-93 MPH fastball, cuts his curve at 89 MPH with late movement, and has a pitch that can be turned into a slider.

He says that he will forgo college if he's drafted high enough and the money is right.

His coach at Redlands East Valley dismissed him from the team because he wasn't attending class or showing respect to his coaches. Shreve said that he thought he was showing the coaches nothing but respect and cited the reason for the attack being that the coach was taking his dreams away from him. He said, "I'd worked so hard and if you were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars you wouldn't be too happy either"

Entitled much?

I'll tell you one thing, if I found out I had to play with this kid in the minor's, I'd stay away from him in the club house after a bad outing, that's for sure.

MLB And Welcome Back Veterans releases 2010 New Era Patriotic Caps

2010-05-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Major League Baseball will begin its third year of national fundraising and awareness initiatives for Welcome Back Veterans, a program which addresses the needs of returning American Veterans and their families. With the support of Major League Baseball and its Clubs, Welcome Back Veterans since 2008 has awarded $8.3 million in grants to 30 non-profit agencies across the country targeting veterans' greatest needs, including mental health and job training/placement.

At three key points of national reflection during the baseball season -- Memorial Day (May 31), Independence Day weekend (July 4) and Patriot Day (September 11) -- all Clubs will participate in a number of initiatives to support Welcome Back Veterans.

For games on Memorial Day, all Major League Baseball Clubs will wear special new "Stars & Stripes" caps. The caps will have the American flag etched into the team's logo and for the first time, will be off-white in color with red or blue brims (the Toronto Blue Jays hat will incorporate a Maple Leaf design instead of the "Stars & Stripes"). These MLB Authentic Collection caps, produced by New Era, are available for sale to the public at www.mlb.com. Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. will donate all of the proceeds it receives from the sale of the caps to Welcome Back Veterans. In addition, MLB.com will donate an additional $1 to Welcome Back Veterans for each cap purchased through www.mlb.com. Pictured are the caps to be worn by the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees and National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Images of the caps for all 30 clubs are available at MLBPressBox.com.

Also on Memorial Day, Major League Baseball once again will participate in the National Moment of Remembrance, with all games in progress pausing at 3:00 p.m. ET to encourage all citizens to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who have served in the armed forces.

"As a social institution, Major League Baseball considers it a privilege to assist our troops in any way possible," said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. "We are proud to help Welcome Back Veterans provide funding to such worthy institutions helping our troops, and we ask our fans to join us on Memorial Day and beyond in this effort to raise awareness and support for this important cause."

"Helping our troops is a cause very close to my heart, and I'm glad to see Major League Baseball will once again pledge their support on Memorial Day and beyond," said San Francisco Giants pitcher and founder of Strikeouts For Troops, Barry Zito. "I'll wear my Stars & Stripes cap proudly that day, and I encourage all my fellow players to get involved, give back to those who give so much and show these brave men and women how much we care about them."

"We are honored to support those who have served our country and their families who have given so much," said David D. Hiller, president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. "We are proud to join Major League Baseball in this effort and provide matching dollars to help our servicemen and women successfully return to life with their families and communities."

"Major League Baseball's powerful commitment to supporting our soldiers and their families is truly inspirational," said President and CEO of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), Lisa Paulsen. "EIF is proud to join MLB and the fans of America's pastime in honoring and celebrating the lives of America's heroes." Welcome Back Veterans is an MLB Charities initiative in partnership with the McCormick Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. The program is supported by Major League Baseball Advanced Media and MLB Network. Welcome Back Veterans has awarded $8.3 million in grants to 30 non-profit agencies across the country targeting veterans' and their families greatest needs.

For additional information on Welcome Back Veterans, please go to http://www.welcomebackveterans.org/.

story courteousy of www.mlb.com

I like the new caps as opposed to how they have been in the past- I enjoy the off white... I think it looks really nice and classy and I LOVE what they did was the Blue Jays caps. I think everyone should purchase a ballcap or even one of the equally as patriotic tshirts that a lot of the clubs have as well.

MLB Charities does a lot to help different organizations and Veterans. Don't forget that some of the greatest ballplayers in history are veterans as well! The American past time is entertwined so richly with American history and the Welcome Back Veterans Program is a great thing to help with while you buy your next ballcap!

Storen's Major League Debut

2010-05-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

video courteousy of nationalstube on youtube.com

Drew Storen: He May Be Numb, But His Career is On Fire

2010-05-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Monday night: It's the 7th inning, 1 out, and the Cardinals are leading the Nationals 4-2 at Busch Stadium. 22 year old Drew Storen sat in the Nat's bullpen and got the call. Warm-up.

This is the 2nd call Storen's gotton in the last three days. The last one came this past weekend after his game in AAA Syracuse, when he was pulled off to the side and told "congratulations, you're getting called up."

"Who did you tell first?" I asked Drew today. There was a pause, and then I could visibly hear the pride in his voice. "My dad," he responded "he was so excited. He's on cloud 9.... he's been on cloud 9!" His father, who Drew talks about with reverie every time he's brought up, used to come home and play catch with him in his suit after work with him when he was a little boy. It's no surprise that that's the first person he would call and tell when he finally got the news that his dream had come true: he was going to play in The Show.

When asked how he felt Drew responded with a laugh "I've been numb. I've been numb since it happened. I was numb when I found out, and excited, it was a flood of emotions." When asked about his most famous match-up in his very young major league career, Storen explained to me that he wasn't really nervous facing Matt Holliday.

"I was trying to challenge him, get him to put the ball in play. I threw him a slider and then he swung through it."

"God forbid you walk him" I joked back with him about his most dreaded stat: the walk.

Despite what Nat's broadcasters kept saying, Drew says his heart was not racing and he was not freaking out or scared during his outing on Monday night. He, in fact was as he described earlier "numb."

Storen's final stat line looked like this: .2IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO 0.00 ERA. In the words of Hawk Harrelson, that's a lot of goose eggs on the board.

Drew dominated the minors at the beginning of the season, climbing the ladder steadily from AA Harrisburg to AAA Syracuse and leaving his minor league stats behind with a 1.08 ERA.

"He was just ready, there was nothing more that he could have done in the minors that he couldn't do for us in the majors" says Nat's GM Mike Rizzo.

Drew, who was in high spirits when I talked to him this afternoon, was packing up his gear and heading off to the field at around 1pm. He was as sweet as always on the phone, and I can't wait to go see him play the Brewers in July with some friends. If there is any guy in the minors who is deserving of a major league career, it's Drew.

I look forward to watching his career skyrocket, because if you ask me, baseball success really does come in the form of Karma. If there's one person who deserves all the success in the world, it's Drew Storen.

Iraqi Co-ed Team Gets Their First Taste of the American Pastime

2010-05-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Recently an Iraqi co-ed baseball team (from the article I'm guessing they were all teenagers) got to visit the US and their first actual ball club. They took spots on the field and got to see things from the player's perspective at a Washington National's game. This story really struck me... Usually I just post links to thinks like this on my twitter or facebook and call it a day but I felt compelled to actually write about this one.

The link to the full story can be found here and is well written by Nancy Youssef. These Iraqi children, don't even want their name mentioned for fear of backlash when they get home for talking so nicely about American baseball or even BEING in America.

The Iraq baseball federation doesn't give the team any money and hoardes balls and bats so the kids that want to play ball in Iraq can't do so very easily. The coach of the team talks about how they have enough money in the country but none of it is used for baseball, so instead they have to play on rocky, rough ground which causes a lot of injuries. He says in the article "we are rich enough to have something better but because of officials and corruption, we will never have it"

It literally pains me that there are children in the world who can't even play ball in their country because the country doesn't support it. I couldn't imagine growing up with baseball not being a huge part of my life.

We honestly live in a great, amazing country that makes it possible for us to sit at home on our couches and watch 5 games at once... Could you imagine living somewhere where the sport wasn't even supported? That's just awfull... We get jersey's and signed pictures and hot dogs at the game and fantasy baseball teams to participate in in America. In Iraq, the baseball life the way American's live it is just a fantasy.

Let's have some fun out here! This game is fun, okay? Fun Goddamnit!

2010-05-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Rivalries are one of the best parts of baseball. The whole point on the sport is to win. Everyone wants that championship ring, everyone wants to be in the dog pile, every fan wants to tell their friends and families over and over again for years exactly what they were doing when that last out was made in October.

If you don't want to win, then whats the point of playing?

Division rivalries are the best. Sox/Twins, Sox/Tigers, Sox/Indians.... hell, even Sox/Royals, but what a lot of people don't understand is Sox/Cubs.

And to be honest, the more I've grown up and matured, the more I don't get it either. I mean I understand the stereotypes. I understand the "Sox fans are jealous" and "Cub fans know nothing about baseball," and you know what? There are a lot of fans in both fan bases that feed into those stereotypes.

But why do we really have this Sox/Cubs rivalry? Before we even played in a Cross-Town Rivalry Series, what was the immense hatred and what did it stem from? Sox fans should have no reason to hate the Cubs, they aren't in our division. And Cub fans should have no reason to hate the Sox for the very same reason. However there's this loathing hatred that consumes the fans to the point of things getting plain ludicris.

So for those of you who grew up being told that if you were a Northside you had to hate the Boys in Black and if you were a Southsider then you better never be caught up by Clark and Addison, here's a post I think you might find interesting.

These are completely my opinions. I'm not a fan of Cub fans- but I have nothing against the team. I shouldn't because outside of the 6 games we play a year, it doesn't matter- the team just simply doesn't matter to me. But yet day after day I deal with their fans constantly throwing it in my face that the "Sox suck" and yada yada. Well guess what? I don't think too highly of their fans, or their stadium- and I have historical data to back up my reasoning.

The History

Charlie Comiskey, the owner of the Chicago White Sox helped directly organize and form the American League in 1899. Before this, the National League was the only running organized form of baseball in the US. The Chicago Cubs, who had jumped around town (they didn't even actually play on the Northside of town until 1916 and spent most of their time on the West Side and even some time on the Southside of Chicago) had been the only team in Chicago until Comiskey moved his minor league team to the city.

Ban Johnson, the owner of the Western League and good friend of Charlie Comiskey got wind of the fact that the National League was going to decrease in size and when they cut their teams from 12 to 8, Johnson swooped in and placed teams in Chicago and Cleveland.

At first there was an uproar with the Cubs franchise, as the owners didn't want to share the town with a team that would most likely become a part of Johnson's American League. However after negotiations it was determined by the National League that the newly formed AL would not be a threat to their organization and Comiskey was allowed to let his bring his team to Chicago as long as he didn't use the city in it's name. The White Sox were named The White Stockings and omitted "Chicago."

So as you can see, the original "rivalry" was an economic one between owners. The Cubs didn't want the Sox infringing on their "established" team in Chicago, and Comiskey wanted to take his minor league team and turn it into one of the first teams in the American League. The National League Cubs got salty when people started to pay attention to the White Stockings (Mostly because American League tickets/beer/food was cheaper at White Stocking's games and the Major Leagues hadn't been around long enough for people to be completely married to a team in Chicago yet), and the American League continued to push through with the annoying dominating attitude that was Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey.

Now that the history is established, I'm going to break down the rivalry and stereotypes based solely on each specific stereotype. Hold onto your hats, this should be fun. Again, I'd like to make sure everyone knows that these are strictly my opinions.

Wrigley Field is a dump and US Cellular is ugly and too modern.

Alright. Wrigley Field is a dump. It just simply is. I wish I could say I'd never been there and I don't really know but unfortunately I have, and I prefer never going back.

This is what I don't get about Wrigley Field. All I ever hear is how "nostalgic" it is and how amazing of a place it is to be. However most Cub fans don't even know what Wheegman stadium started out as- and that was a cheaply built stadium that was intended for the Federal League's Chicago Whales. Today it holds true as a still cheaply built, crumbling, horrible smelling blight for Cub fans who, unless they sit in the bleachers, have a 25% chance of sitting with their view obstructed.

Look, Wrigley, cramped and old, and was never built to be the "Holy Shrine" of the Cubs. The Cubs managed to spin it into one after the Federal League failed in 1916 (for those of you wondering, the Federal league was a briefly lived attempt at major league expansion in the mid 1910's.)

The smell is horrendous. One fan referred to it as "taking a fantastic voyage inside a penis." It literally never ceases to smell like urine, and fortunately for me, I've never had to venture into the mens restrooms. However the one time I had to attempt to find the women's restroom (it took me a good 1/2 inning) by the time I walked in, I waited in line for 10 minutes, then finally managed to get into a stall where toilet paper was strewn around, the toilet didn't flush, and women had obviously assumed the toilet was where pee, poop, and whatever left over beer or Wrigley's poor excuse for a Mai Thai went, and the bathroom attendant smiled at me in my Sox gear like "poor little girl, you don't like the facilities at the Northside? Too bad!" Even when i attempted to find a soap dispenser that HAD soap in it, the attendant sat there smiling, completely aware of the fact that she worked in a dump, and found the hilarity in my attempt to wash my hands.

As far as a place to watch a game, I have my own opinion on good ole Wrigley Field. It's not the place where I'm going to pay $30-$40 to go watch a game. If I'm going to pay that kind of money and go up to Chicago to watch baseball I want the major league experience- otherwise I'll go down to my local minor league stadium, the gorgeous, beautiful, O'Brien Field and watch the Peoria Chiefs take on the Kane County Cougars or the ever exciting Tampa Bay Ray affiliates- The Bowling Green Hot Rods. I want the loud organ music, and the pre-game video on the huge screen, and the exploding scoreboard and the large seats where I can sprawl out. I want the bullpen to be a huge where all the guys can bring out cots and nap if they feel like it or take up residency and get their mail forwarded. Matt Thornton: US Cellular Field Bullpen. 35th and Shields, Chicago, IL.

I don't want to sit in an old stadium where roof might fall on me and crush my skull during the 5th- or where the stadium seating is so far back I feel disconnected from the game. I don't want to go to a small, old stadium. If I wanted to do that I would literally go to Burlington Iowa and watch the Royal's affiliate in the same stadium structure for $2 a ticket. The Mikes Hard Lemonades are also $1.50 there, not to mention the team plays with about the same amount of talent.

Alright... now here's where I have to TRY to be un-biased: My take on US Cellular Field.

I don't remember much about Old Comiskey because I spent most of my time at new (I was 5 when they built the new one) so I can't comment personally on how the stadium was prior to 1992.

The Sox were toying with the idea of moving in the late 80's and in order to stay in Chicago requested a new stadium (because Comiskey was... well.. old.) that mimicked Kaufman. The tax payers of Chicago shelled out for the new stadium in order to keep the franchise happy and in Chicago and what we got was a field that abruptly tore down neighborhoods, and turned Old Comiskey into a parking lot.

The new stadium that was supposed to be "family and neighborhood friendly" took upper deck seats clear up to Mt. Kilimanjaro that would give anyone vertigo in an attempt to find them. Even now if I ever dare venture up to the upper deck area (and there's really no reason to, as there's always plenty of empty seats) I have to keep looking at where I'm walking so I don't get nauseous and pass out from fear of falling to my death. I refuse to ever drink or get half way tipsy up there. In a hot second I'm falling over something and plummeting onto the field right in front of Paul Konerko and, well, I refuse to put my first baseman in a position where he can't make a decent infield pick.

US Cellular is also littered with statues around the outfield concourse. Personally I enjoy them and would rather have them inside my park on a huge outfield concourse instead of out in front of the stadium near traffic but, that's personal preference.

I've also heard so many complaints about the fact that the Sox are on the Southside of Chicago where the crime rate is "horrible." Funny thing is... I'm a 23 year old pretty small Irish country girl from Peoria, IL., and I've never had a problem with the area. I routinely leave my car, a 2007 Ford Focus parked over night in the parking lot of Schallers Pub on Halstead. I drive up there by myself or with my equally attractive and naive roommate, and neither one of us have been shanked, robbed, raped, or had any kind of weapon held to our heads for what little money we have. I've never been propositioned by a guy outside of the field, and I've never felt even slightly scared of the area. In fact, I've only ever been treated with respect and nicely- especially when I can't find where I'm trying to go. Amanda and I got lost once trying to get back on the interstate and drove around 37th street where the houses were gorgeous with big in ground pools in the backyard. I understand a lot of the Southside is not a great part of town but to me, it doesn't look any worse than Sterling Avenue in Peoria... and I've been more afraid out downtown here than I ever have up by US Cellular.

The Attendance record:

I saw probably my favorite anti-sox shirt ever at the Sox/Cubs series in 2007 at Wrigley Field. It was a picture of the scoreboard at Us Cellular and it said "US Never-Sell-Out Field." Clever.

In 2010 the White Sox pulled on average 22,842 fans a game at home. In contrast the Cubs, at home, pulled 38, 511 fans. Now here's an interesting little diddy. The Cubs, who pulled around 15,000 fans more per game at Wrigley than the Sox did at US Cellular, seemed to not have the same affect on the road. The Chicago Cubs only drew 27,620 at their respective counterpart's stadiums on average. Now, it could be said that the any team would have a dip in attendance on the road, but unfortunately, that's not entirely the case. The Cubs play the Cardinals, Reds, Pirates, and Brewers the most during the season. Only the St Louis Cardinals pulled more fans at home out of those teams in 2010 and they had a significantly lower dip in fans per game on the road. In fact, every other team that had a larger home attendance record than the Cubs in 2010 had a MUCH lower dip in fan away game attendance.

Which proves my point that Wrigley Field is a well marketed bar and of course they're going to sell out every night. Good for them! If my team played in the largest outdoor bar in the country I'd expect them to sell out every night as well. Unfortunately the Sox play the same as every other mediocre-average ball club in this country- they market according to their talents, not their liquor.

Look... take the minor leagues as an example. The Syracuse Chiefs are up out the ass in attendance right now. You wanna know why? Because Nationals First round pick's Strasburg and Storen are killing it. Just a few nights ago they pitched 8.1 innings all together allowing no runs .... Strasburg with a 0.00ERA and Storen with a 1.35ERA.

Teams sell out when the players are doing well. The Phillies had the number one attendance record in the major leagues last year... and before 2007 they weren't even in the top 10. The attendance has clearly skyrocketed with their ability to put talent on the field.

You know what's best about this whole argument? None of it matters. Because no matter how many fans you pull into a stadium on a nightly basis... if you suck, YOU STILL SUCK.

Cub Fans are college yuppies don't pay attention to the game, and Sox fans are White Trash

Chicago is just like any other city in the United States- there's a poor community, and a rich community. The Southside of Chicago is not the wealthiest and the Northside is surrounded by a higher socioeconomic class of people.

At any given time you can go to Wrigley and sit in the bleachers and be surrounded by a thousand college guys who are attempting to turn the right field bleachers into Sigma Chi. I wish I could say that I have seen all these white trash people littering section 127 at US Cellular Field but the fact is, I haven't. Have I seen white trash people there? Yes. Is there an over abundance? No. The stigma of stereotypes of Cub and Sox fans is unfortunately for Cub fans more true than it is for Sox fans.

Are there people who sit on their phone and get drunk and don't care about the game at US Cellular Field? Of course there are. There are in any stadium- but there's an over abundance of them at Wrigley.

I really believe that the "White Trash" stereotype stems strictly from where the Sox's stadium is located in Chicago. There are a lot of bad neighborhoods around the field and I've even been told that I can take a cab down to the field, but don't expect a cab to come pick me up after dark- which is true... it's a bitch trying to get a cab after a game.

It's just a simple fact that the "Southside" of any city is known to be riddin with poverty, crime, etc., and I truly believe that most people assume that because the field is located on the Southside of Chicago that those are the fan's who come to the games.

Here's my experience: The last three times I've been to US Cellular I have not had one problem with people. I sat in front of a group of lawyers and interns during a Twins/Sox games, behind a family (mother, father, son, daughter) and next to a group of old ladies in Sox hats and fans at an Angels/Sox game, and at a Mariners game I sat in front of two college boys (not a lot of people at that game as it was about 40 degrees and a straight through double header) who bought me a hot dog and a blanket.

No one I was around was White Trash, no one was annoying, no one was getting plastered and high fiving each other for no reason.... when I'm at Sox games I feel like I'm at home with the people who want to be at the stadium to watch the game- not to get drunk.

I'm not saying there aren't people like that at Wrigley... I met a very nice couple who was hanging out, taking score, and paying attention after I switched my seats 4 times at a Cub game. Unfortunately- the people I was around before that only solidified my annoyance for Cub fans in general. One of them wanted to start a poll to see if any one around us knew who the starting pitcher was (to prove to me that Cub fans know what's going on............) and another one turned to his friend and said "whoa! When did we score 7 runs???" (It was in fact, the 7th inning... there were only 3 runs on the board. 2-1 Cubs).

Again, all of this is based on my experiences at both stadiums. I know there are many many Cub fans who go to games to watch the team, are intelligent, and know what's going on. I'm not going to pretend like I think the fact that getting drunk that the game is bad- there's a reason I leave my car at a pub on the Southside and don't drive after games- I enjoy an over-priced Miller lite or margarita during the game or 5. I'm sure there are many many white trash or poor people at US Cellular but I'm not 100% sure where your economic status has any effect on the people around you at games-it shouldn't. The people who go to Wrigley for the sole purpose of getting drunk and hanging out, however, do effect my time at the ballpark as I, as a baseball fan, would prefer being able to watch the game instead of consistently asking the people in front of me to sit down, shut up, drink their beer, and stop... for the love of God.. STOP high-fiving each other every time they down another Old Style.

Sox Fans care more about the Cubs than they do their own team.

The Sox will always, no matter how many championships they win, be the second team in Chicago. They just simply will, and I've come to terms of that. But there's a real historical reason for that and it's not because the Cubs are "cooler" or a "better team" or "have always had more fans." They haven't always had more fans, they haven't always been the number one team in Chicago, but as far as our generation is concerned, we haven't known it any differently.

The Sox actually outdrew the Cubs in the 40s and 50s and even some years in the 60's. The Go-Go White Sox were one of the best teams in the 50's and Chicago packed Comiskey Field every day to see guys like Aparicio, Fox, and Appling play.

So what happened? Marketing, my friends. In the 1980's the Sox attempted to head off a service of Pay-TV called "On-TV." People who subscribed to this were able to watch Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks games with use of what today looks like a cable box and "de-scrambled" the television frequencies so more people could watch games. The Sox were by far the more popular team in Chicago running off their previous decades of accomplishment and a pennant in 1959.

The Cubs, however, took a smarter route and signed with WGN. As one of the first completely nationally broad casted teams in the majors they were able to reach more fans around the country.

When the Cubs signed away their broadcasting rights to WGN, and WGN became a super station, People refused to pay the steep $30 a month for On-TV and the Sox had additional trouble selling their rights. Harry Caray who didn't want anything to do with pay-tv went straight over to the Northside and did more to promote that team than any other broadcaster had done in decades.

Even smarter than marketing rights, the Cubs were smart enough to sell their team based on a "love able loser" stigma in the 1970s. They figured if they couldn't pull attendance in the stands based on the product they put on the field (which was poor), then they would sell an experience- and that's exactly what they did. They marketed and promoted the "baseball experience" which today is known as the "bleacher bum" experience. Here in lies the beginning of "The Friendly Confines" and "Historic Wrigley Field." (As opposed to older and MORE historic Comiskey Park- as you remember from previously, Wrigley wasn't built until the mid 1910's)

Still in 2010 the marketing schemes are the same. The Cubs market their team based on the "Wrigleyville experience" and the Sox market their team based on the talent they put on the field. Historically the Cubs were smarter in their marketing ideas and the Sox, who catered to the success of their team, and failed to pull the same attendance as the Cubs.

It's really not a jab at Cub fans when Sox fans say that they would rather be at a stadium full of people who know what's going on then a stadium of people who are just there to get drunk. The Cubs and Sox have had clear and different marketing strategies and the Cubs were more successful in theirs. Don't get pissed when someone says something like that- because it's exactly what the Cubs want are are trying to sell- an experience, not a team.

With all that being said, you'd be suprised at how much I agree with the statement that the Sox care more about the Cubs than their own team. They do. It's sad. They really shouldn't but when you're a 50 year old man who has seen all that the Sox have had to offer over the last decades compared to the Cubs, and have watched the northsiders grow in popularity while even a World Series Championship couldn't bring the Sox up to the same popularity status, it sucks. Yes we're bitter and we have every right to be, damnit. So if you find one of us smiling while Baseball Tonight is on at a bar and we saw that the Cub's lost that day, just get over it. What little we have left is the fact that our team doesn't consistantly put a horrible product on the field, and yours does.

And Finally: Why does any of this matter anyways? We aren't even in the same divisions!

This whole thing is ridiculous. I've explained my reasons for why I don't like Wrigley, or most Cub fans- but I don't dislike the team. The rivalry is fun and of course I'm going to cheer for my team in the Cross-Town Classic. I'm going to be happy when they get the BP Cup- but do I think it's stupid? Absolutley. It brings out the worst in fans from both sides of the city and it simply doesn't matter. We might both be in Central divisions but at the end of the day, unless we're meeting eachother in the World Series, it doesn't matter how either one of the teams does. I've always been the first one to admit when my team isn't doing well- I dont accept mediocrity in any form and I refuse to claim that we're gonna win it all with a .500 record at the end of May (which is looking bleak for the Sox AND the Cubs at this point). There are so many things about the fans and the way people view the Cubs that bothers me and I think anyone from any team would be disengaged from being a Cub fan after seeing the way most fans treat the game. It's like a circus act- and to me, that's wrong.

The whole BP Cup has only fueled the fire for this season and come June when the teams meet, it's going to be embarassing if the winning teams are posing for pictures and in the paper for winning the cup because both teams are horrible this season. I just don't get it. To me, only one trophy matters and that's a World Series Trophy. If fans don't have their eye on that then they aren't true fans- and that is annoyance in any level for true baseball fans.

AJ Pierzynski: Give it a break!

2010-04-15T17:27:00.001-07:00

Most of you know how big of a Pierzynski fan I am. I have a signed AJ picture hanging on my wall next to my bed. I have an AJ bobblehead that I got at Sox fest... mostly this turns up missing because my roommates 4 year old son like to jack it and keep it in his room but.. regardless.. I do. I even own 2 different Pierzynski t-shirts. (size kid's large for those of you who wanna donate Sox shirts to the Dickson/Wambold pro-Sox fund.)

I like my players feisty. Going back to the purpose of this blog, I'm a huge Buck Weaver fan. I love men who play the game for the sheer principle of being able to play. If that means you get let go by your team and have to play independent league ball for nothing then... so be it. If you have passion- I love it. Passion. Pride. Tradition.

I've loved AJ since he played with the Twins. Sorry, Sox fans. I love my players scrappy. I love them feisty. I love a player who plays with his heart on his sleeve and goes into the game giving two shits about what's going on. I love a player who gets so frustrated with his lack of offense that when he walks out of the batters box and adjusts his gloves you can visibly see him mouthing "F*ck!" I love that he cares. I'll never dislike a player for any reason like that, whether they play for the Sox or not.

I hate people that dog on AJ. I hate that people find it amusing to routinely write stupid SHIT about him just for the purpose of writing it. When/If I become a professional writer for a national organization, and I fall into writing things like the "Phantom" AJ HBP, I beg each of you to send me a letter with a clip out of my column with a big red "X" over it to remind me that I need to find something better to write about.

In Tuesday's game AJ may or may not have been hit by a pitch. He may or may not have faked it. Who knows? Those of you who sit around tweeting and facebooking about how "That's AJ being AJ... it didn't hit him." Well.. unless you're AJ Pierzynski I don't really see how you can have a definite opinion. Unless you were there and it happened to you, you don't get to say "it did" or "it didn't." You just DON'T.

You know who's job it is to have that opinion? The umpires. It's HIS JOB. That's was MLB pays him to do-- to look at AJ and say "no you're full of shit.. get back her and finish your At-bat"... instead the home plate ump in Tuesday's game was all for AJ taking his base. If you have beef... take it up with him!!

I'm just sick of hearing it. AJ isn't well liked. We all know that. We get it. CHRIST! For numerous stupid pro-media related reasons no one likes AJ.

Guess what. AJ probably doesn't care. He has the attitude where he plays for his team. He plays to win. And the simple fact is, those of us who are paying $60 a piece to watch HIM play, he doesn't really care about our opinions. You know who he cares about? Buehrle...and Peavy.. Danks... Floyd.. Garcia. Those are the guys he cares about. And rightly so.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about people dogging on AJ for stupid reasons. People are even comparing this to the dropped strike 3 in the 05 WS. Guess what- NOT THE SAME!

AJ is a tough player. He's feisty and he cares. If you don't like it- don't cheer for him... I don't care! I've loved him for years and I will always love him... those of you who are freaking out about him and the "phantom" HBP need to get a life. HPB's occur EVERY DAY in baseball... they just do! If anyone else did what AJ did last night (if it in fact, DIDN'T hit him), then people would be calling that other player a "hero" and "smart." Because AJ is who he is, people are calling for his execution.

You know what?

Get OVER IT! find something better to write about! Find something better to talk about!!! AND FOR GODS SAKE... quit writing about it!! There has to be more in major league baseball for ESPN.com and SI.com to write about.... FIGURE IT OUT! Journalism 101... stop searching for BS crap to write about.. I'm sure you're getting paid much more to write about something that I can't easily blog about. If not, then someone need to send my resume to Sports Illustrated. Pretty sure I could take over a few jobs there.

Race for a Contract

2010-04-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

I always liked Orlando Hudson for one reason. He talks a lot.

I talk. A lot. All the time. I don't shut up. My parents used to have to go to McDonalds and get a chocolate shake to get me to stop talking in the car when I was little. My boss today still tells me he wishes he had a volume control for me. I'm that girl who is really really intelligent (aside from my admittance to not being able to spell for crap.) but will literally be standing there and say "I want vanilla pudding. We should start buying vanilla pudding." and then be stared at like "wtf... where did that come from?"

I have ADD in my head, I swear. Orlando Hudson has always reminded me of me. If I were a baseball player, I would be Orlando Hudson personality wise.

However Hudson and my moral opinions differ extremely and over the last year or so I've become more and more annoyed with his media outbursts.

After today, I'm pretty confident I've reached my tolerance limit of crap spewing out of Hudson's mouth. I'm really ashamed of his comments about the reason why Jermaine Dye hasn't been signed to a major league contract.

Orlando says "We both know what it is. You'll get it right. You'll figure it out. I'm not gonna say it because I'll get in a lot of trouble." in context to his opinion on why Dye hasn't been resigned, he alludes to it being because Dye is black.

I can't stand that crap.

Orlando Hudson is ridiculous. There's absolutely no racist reason on why Jermaine hasn't been signed by another team.

Dye hasn't been signed because he's asking for too much money. He wants at least 1/4 of his $11.5M contract with the Sox last year. He wants a full time outfield position and has said that he "might" play 1st here and there but that he mainly wants to be in the outfield full time, and won't even considering being a 4th outfielder or DH. He has been declining in talent in both offensive and defensive categories.

Dye has been offered deals with the Nationals, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. He hasn't signed because of his pickyness of position played, salary, and wanting to play for a contender. If Dye wants to play, he would play. Thome wanted to keep playing and he, who is willing to play specifically to be in a rotating DH system, was willing to pick up a contract with the Twins for a $1.5M/1yr contract. Maybe Dye should stop being so picky?

The history of baseball has been skewed with racism, true, but I'm someone who feels as though in this day-in-age we make our own destiny. If you hold yourself back saying "I'm not going to be able to do this because of race, age, or gender" then the only person holding you back, is you.

Major league baseball has been making ridiculous strides to appeal to the African American community, including working hard to bring baseball into inner-city neighborhoods with the RBI Program. No one can force a kid to want to play baseball. He has to play because he loves it. You can bring him a bat and a ball and a mit, but you can't make him throw or hit, no matter what color their skin is. If Orlando Hudson or anyone else is mad because of a declining number of African American's in MLB then they should be working toward bringing the spirit of the game to kids they think have talent. They should not be running their mouth off to the media making themselves look like victims because of another player's lack of contract.

If Hudson thinks that the reason the Sox didn't resign him is because of racist reasons, then maybe he should take a look at our GM and manager. We have an African American GM and a Venezuelan manager. This might be a bit of a stretch but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that racism... PROBABLY not the reason we didn't re-sign Dye.

Hudson also says that he has "a lot to say" after he retires. Awesome. If it's anything like this stretch of crap, then save it, please. I have no problem with people being opinionated but I do have a problem with ignorance.

I wish Jermaine Dye the best of luck in what's left of his major league career, and I wish Orlando Hudson would shut up.

Hey Jays Fans...There's No Crying in Baseball!!

2010-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's safe to say that the fact that that White Sox finally broke a 10-game losing streak in Toronto was slightly over-shadowed by Alex Rios' return to the Rogers Centre.

Even during batting practice, Comcast's Chuck Garfien reported on twitter than Rios was getting heckled by the fans. Playing along, Rios tipped his cap to the fans. Ozzie Guillen took a direct punch at the kidney's of Jay's fans and responded with "We need people in the ballpark just to come out and boo Alex. Please, we haven't seen many fans out here in the last 3 or 4 years. Come out just to boo him."

The question is, why were Jays fans booing Rios so harshly?

Rios was offered a contract with the Jays in April of 2008 that promised him $69 over 7 years. They had little trade options last season based partly on their contractional obligations to Rios. The Jays simply didn't have any payroll flexibility. Not surprising when your team pulls on average 8,000 fans a game- there's not a lot of revenue coming in on a nightly basis.

Jays fans who actually paid attention to their team rejoiced when Toronto placed him on waivers, begging any team to take him off their hands so they could secure Halladay for another 2 years. I remember specifically when Rios was placed and it was rumored that KW would pick him up. All I heard from Jays fans was "good riddance!"

What's mind boggling is that Jays fans were offering to give up Rios for a few ash bats and a Vernon Wells jersey and now, when Rios returns to Toronto, they're booing him as if he broke their hearts by leaving.

Let's examine what I like to call "AJ Pierzynski Syndrome."

In a ballclub that routinely pulls one of the lowest attendance in the majors, on opening day you're going to get a packed house full of bandwagon fans. You just simply are. So one guy starts booing Rios because he thinks its funny, and then everyone other d-bag in the stadium follows. People have no idea why they're booing Rios, but they do it, laugh, and cuss at him the entire game. Classless and unintelligent.

I've spent the last few hours this morning talking to Jays fans and most of them, who are real Jays fans, can't understand why the booing went on. They were happy that Rios was playing well this year, and proud of his accomplishments on their team.

What I'm realizing is- the majority of the people there just simply had no idea why the booing was going on. They were going along with the pack. Hence "AJ Pierzynski Syndrome." Just because Minnesota and San Fransisco boos AJ, the entire rest of the fans in the MLB do it. They dont know WHY they do it for the most part, they just do. Because, you know, it's AJ Pierzynski and that's the thing to do.

Ozzie equated the entire thing to when Cleveland fans booed Thome we he came back to their park, but honestly it's not even the same situation. Jays fans wanted Rios gone for the simple fact that their idiot GM, J.P. Ricciardi decided to actually sign Rios for that $69m/7yr deal and Kenny Williams had to come bail him out and pay off his debt. Alex Rios didn't leave on horrible conditions. He didn't request a trade. He didn't end his contract and decide to take up a larger contract with another team. He was placed on waivers.

Okay. For those of you who I've been going back and forth with on Twitter, let me explain something to you.

Waivers are a tricky thing and sometimes hard to understand.

When a team is in a situation such as the Jays were with their contractional obligations to a mediocre player like Alex Rios, they can chose to place him on waivers. (actually, a team can chose to place a player on waivers at pretty much any time at all during the season, but most people tend to pay attention to the waiver claims that happen after the trade deadline.)

When that happens, 3 things can go down.

The team that places the player on waivers can either a) trade him outright to the team that claimed him for another player, b) take back their offer and call the whole thing off completely (if that happens and the team decides to place the player BACK on waivers again, then they aren't allowed to use the option of taksies-backsies a 2nd time) or c) allow the team that claimed the player to have the player, take on that guy's payroll, pay a small waiver fee to the waiving team, and place the player directly on the 40 man.

A lot of the time, teams will grab a player on waivers strictly to blockade any other teams from getting them. If that happens a player is claimed by more than one team, then priority is as follows:

The team in the same league as the player (With Rios, it would have been the American League) with the worst record gets him. If no team in the player's league claims him, then the team with the worst record in the other league gets him.

A player can also "clear waivers" which means that if after the 3 day span of being able to be claimed, no one claims him, then he's cleared waivers and the waiving team can option to send him to the minors. When that happens a player can either go down, or refuse assignment and become a free agent.

The entire thing is really just a cat and mouse game, but a good tool to help managers shape their team.

In this instance, the Jays put Rios on waivers, the Sox claimed him, taking on his entire contract, and Toronto rejoiced. Sox fans freaked a little with the new acquisition of Jake Peavy earlier in the week and the thought of taking on such a high contract, but adding Rios helped shape our roster for the 2010 season after we freed up some money by not resigning Thome or Dye, two big salary roster spots.

So Alex Rios was dealt by their front office to the White Sox, and didn't technically WANT to leave Toronto, where-as Jim Thome, he was the Indian's 13th round pick in the 1989 draft, came up through their organization, and was the most loved player on their team, decided to LEAVE Cleveland to pursue a larger contract in Phillidalphia ($85m/6yr as compared to $60m/5yr)

As classless as it is to boo someone like Jim Thome in my opinion, I can see where the Indian fans kind of had their hearts ripped out when Big Jim decided to go to the Phillies.

Jays fans don't have the same argument. They rejoiced when he was signed to a 7 year contract, confident that the tag-team of Wells/Rios would bring a championship to Toronto along with ace Halladay. I didn't hear fans booing Rios when he played in Toronto once.

Were there fans that wanted Rios gone to free up their payroll? Absolutely. However to be fair, the majority of baseball fans don't pay that close of attention to payrolls. I don't know a lot of fans that didn't love Alex when he played in Toronto. Most were shocked and surprised when we picked him up, and the backlash is based solely on his leaving the organization.

This is where AJ Pierzynski Syndrome comes in.

Take one ballpark that can fit upwards of 40,000 people, add 8,000 REAL fans, and another 32,000 who are there for beer and hot dogs, and what do you get? An entire fan base of Canadians who are booing Alex Rios for leaving Toronto.

So Rios didn't really live up to the potential of a $69 million contract. Somehow that's Rios' fault. Remember in my last post I talked about how I found it wrong to heckle a rookie player for "sucking" when it was actually management's fault for not keeping him down in the minors to season and get to the point where he can become a solid big leaguer? It's the same with a player who is signed to a huge contract and doesn't technically produce.

So Rios hit upward of .300 for the majority of his career with Toronto and after 1/2 a season of batting under .270, and being traded to the Sox, the fans are ready to call him a joke and a waste.

Toronto fans do nothing more than simply prove to me that there are more idiot fans out there than there are intelligent ones. I talked to a Jays fan on twitter this morning who just kept telling me "He sucks." as the reason why the fans were booing him.

Really? "He sucks"? THAT'S your argument? That he sucks?? The kid doesn't bat under .291 for three straight seasons and after 4 months of a mediocre batting average, he SUCKS? No. He doesn't "suck." Your ex GM sucks. The Rios contract threw away money and was ridiculous. It's one of the many reasons he got fired after last season, and is THE reason why Rios was placed on waivers and let go to another team. It was because your GM was stupid enough to make an idiot contract that allowed him no room for payroll diversity. You should have all been booing your front office, not Rios.

Another smaller reason why people say they were booing him is because of a video leaked on youtube last year in which a fan continuously heckles Rios for not signing autographs as he leaves a charity event. Rios responds by telling them to "F*ck off." Well, you know what? If I was being bombarded by a bunch of clearly unintelligent fans who were spouting off at the seems about ignorant things, I'd tell them to "F*ck off" as well. One Jays fan used the argument "he's mean. try saying hi to him after a game and see what happens."

Well. I'm pretty confident that Alex Rios would not freak out if I came up to him and said "hi." Now if I followed him out to his car screaming "You're useless Rios, you're a horrible player! You're lucky you even have a job! You're lucky anyone wants you! You're f*cking horrible!" I would expect him to tell me to "f*ck off." Just sayin.

Maybe I'm just annoyed with the lack of intelligence, I don't know. However I just don't understand the concept of Jays fans booing him so mercilessly yesterday. I wasn't the only one who didn't get it either. The Jays broadcast team had questions about the booing as well, chucking at the sheer ignorance of it.

The fact is: He was claimed off waivers, he left, the Sox took on his payroll and freed up issued the Jays were having with it. The fans should be happy, or at the very least, indifferent. So he yelled back at a fan who was heckling him last season. The guy he yelled at clearly wasn't a "fan" so who cares? At least it fires Rios up and he clearly fed off the negativity at the Rogers Centre last night going 3-5 with a run scored. But then again, you know. He sucks.....

Booing a player for un-baseball related reasons is for the bar. Keep it out of the ballpark.

I'd like to name this post something I can't.. so it's staying with.. Prospects: Ryan Tatusko

2010-04-07T19:26:00.001-07:00

Ah the world of Twitter. You'll never believe who you'll meet on that thing. My entire friend base makes fun of my tweeting. One of my best friends, a beat writer for MLB.com, exclaims on a regular basis that there's not much the world doesn't know about me because of twitter.

And there's not a lot the world doesn't know about fellow tweet-freak, Ryan Tatusko.

When I first started this prospects blog I tried to start following some minor league guys, which lead me to my previous interviews which were really nice. I actually became fast friends with Ryan despite there being no interview involved. We bonded over our Catholic religion, interesting stories, my wanting to live vicariously through him while he was in Spring Training and I was enjoying a 6-inch snow during the middle of March, and jeering back and forth over his love for the Cubs, and mine for the Sox.

So we finally toyed around with the idea of actually doing an interview together. This is the first time I've ever actually interviewed a friend- and I have to tell you, it's a lot harder than interviewing a stranger. I already knew a lot about him so it was kinda pick and choose what my readers would want to have him share. Ryan's an out going kid so getting a face paced (and by that I mean.. this kid really talks VERY FAST) interview out of him wasn't hard. Keeping up with him was, and usually is, the opposite.

Me: You're a level headed guy, and a huge Cub fan. Big Z is known for his emotional outbursts on the mound. Have you ever had any Big Z moments?

Ryan: Uhm I've had a couple really emotion moments. I try not to get too emotional. That's none thing I was instilled at a very young age. All my coaches told me that with a good pitcher you should never know if he's up by 10, or down by 10 on the mound, but sometimes it's really hard to not have those emotional moments.

Me: How did your reviewing tapes this off season help with your mechanics?

Ryan: It helped immensely. When I went back and reviewed I noticed I had mechanical faults that were causing me to rush and I was losing all power in my legs. I realized I needed to stand on my back side a whole lot more. So that's all I focused on all off season. I really focused on standing up on my back side and getting the drive out of my legs that I needed.

Me: You've been reading Mind Gym. How is that affecting your pitching approach this season?

Ryan: I'm really not too much into the book right now buts it's all about learning how to control the stuff you can't control which is very hard. As a pitcher by nature you wanna be a micro-manager. You have to focus on just controlling the things that you can control. When you're in a game and things don't start going your way... that's really the thing you need to focus on. Keeping a level head on the mound and trying to get out of the situation with minimal infliction. It's really gonna help me a lot as I get further into the book.

Me: I know you have a little good luck charm you keep during a game- tell me about it.

Ryan: The medal in my pocket,It's Saint Rita, the Patron Saint of Impossible Hopes and Dreams. It's actually really weird because I carried the medal in my back pocket before the movie The Rookie even came out and in the movie he gets the medal and its hanging on his rear view mirror. I was given it as a gift from my grandparents before the movie but people think I copied but actually I had it first.

Me: You know that movie was a book before it was a movie

Ryan: Yes I read it

Me: I'm gonna leave that statement alone, haha. What else did you do during Spring Training this year to kind of pass the time away?

Ryan: Most of what we did.. we got up early during the day especially when games started so all we really wanted to do was hang out. We had a hot tub and we utilized that a lot. Especially for soar muscles and aches and pains. Billy butler lives right downstairs and he'd come up and hang out and play MLB The Show. It was fun to play a video game with the guy actually sitting right next to you. Mostly a lot of video games and relaxed. We knew we had to get up early the next morning.

Me: And I know you're a big music fan as well as video games. What are your top 5 "pump me up" songs on your iPod?

Ryan:
1- Linkin Park- Bleed it Out,

2- Metallica with the SF Orchestra- Wherever I May Roam

3- Metallica with... wait, what's the name of the song?

Me: This is your story.

Ryan: It's Mariano Rivera's player intro song.

Me: I have no idea...

Ryan: You're this baseball nut and you don't know??

Me: Do you want me to google it?

Ryan: Enter Sandman!

Me: Light bulb! Okay.. keep going.....

Ryan:

4- Skillet- Monster

5- Skillet- Rebirthing

Me: Okay okay... serious question. Tell me about Pitcher's Power Drive.

Ryan: It's a device that my pitching coach back home introduced to me. We realized that I had some problems staying back in pitching but he was never really a gimmick guy. Drew Storen and I were playing catch together during the off season and Jay Lehr introduced us to this and said that it was something he really believed in. Drew and I started messing around and tinkering with it. It really helped us find our mechanical flaws. We probably worked on it 20-30 minutes on it every day. It's really really helped me. Ive picked up about 3-4 MPH

on my fastball just from last year.

Me: So do you sponsor it?

Ryan: I have some comments on the website and he's put me on the website and sent me a few things. I introduced our pitching coordinator with the Rangers to it , and some other teammates I've introduced to it. I really think it will help other people as well.

Me: Jay sounds like a pretty important guy to you. I know you're really close with both your dad and your step-dad. Who else has helped you shape yourself and your career?

Ryan: Yeah absolutely Jay Lehre, our pitching coach from Indianapolis. He's really the last 3-4 years helped shape my mechanics and fine tune things and has helped me become the pitcher that I am. Especially flip flopping between the bullpen and starting and getting ready for both.

Me: You've been starting primarily and this year you're starting out the season in AA as a bullpen pitcher. How are you going to approach your role in the pen this year?

Ryan: I don't think its gonna be much of a change because I'm going to be the long relief guy and I'm throwing multiple innings. I'm really gonna try to keep my routine... I'm gonna have to expedite my warm up routine. I have to realize that the game for me starts the inning I go out there. Obviously with long relief guys they try and get you in there with a fresh inning and if I'm afforded that opportunity I'm gonna try and approach it as a starter and keep the most familiar routine that I can even though ill be in the bullpen.

Me: I was asking you earlier what jersey number you got this year- you told me 40. I know you have a thing with the number 40. Is it just a superstition?

Ryan: Yeah its mostly a superstition. I was 40 in my final year of HS and I had an ok year besides having Tommy John. I was 40 my three years at Indiana State. It was always something I carried over. I was 40 in Low-A. In High-A I settled for number 20. It's just a number I'm comfortable with and I'm used to seeing myself in. Just another one of those baseball superstitions. Everyone has the number they feel comfortable in. It's a little bit of a motivational factor. If you go back and look at great players who have worn numbers there's not a lot that have 40-- so in my mind set its kinda motivational that I can go out there and do something great in the number.

Me: Tommy John surgery your senior year of HS. Walk me through that.

Ryan: My ligament blew completely. I went in a regular season game against a rival HS in our conference. I still remember the pitch. It was a 6th inning fastball and it just went off on me. I got multiple diagnosis that all said tendinitis. Even though I'd never had anything major, the swelling wouldn't go away. Finally after I went and saw an elbow specialist they diagnosed it as an ulnar collateral ligament injury and I wound up having surgery a week later.I missed the rest of my senior year due to surgery. I also missed my entire true freshman year of college due to rehab.

The hardest part about having the injury was the mental aspect. You're stuck for 3-4 months not allowed to move your arm past 90 degrees. To really think you have to throw a ballgame when you cant move your arm is hard. 6 months into the 18 month rehab is learning to get a full range of motion back in your elbow. Afterwards you start tossing with tennis balls up to 90 feet. 30 feet with baseballs, flat ground, then to the mound, working on your pitches. Your minds playing tricks on you with aches and pains and you're thinking "am I doing enough?" "am I doing too much?" "Am i doing everything correctly?" You really can't get a good grip on whats going on. The hardest part is getting on the mound day in and day out. It's a scary thing to do and you get back on the mound there's a huge sense of accomplishment. Nothing can parallel it. That's nothing I've ever felt in my entire career.

Me: You're a mature kid. Is that where you get all your focus from? Because seriously Ryan. You're focused to the point where it's annoying- but in a good way!

Ryan: Yeah it almost gets to feel like that you have a second opportunity at baseball and when you're given that opportunity when you think everything taken away from you you cherish being at the ballpark and being a the field. The greatest thing you can realize is the game can be taken away from you tomorrow. I don't wanna look back at my career and think "what if," I wanna look back and think "I gave it my all." I wanna look back with satisfaction and know I gave it my all.

Me: You have a great opportunity in Frisco this year. From what I've heard the stadium is gorgeous. How excited are you to be playing there?

Ryan: Being inside that stadium that's that amazing brings out the little kid in you. You get there and look around and look at the scenery and realize you're fortunate enough to play in one of the best minor league stadiums in the nation. You get giddy to come to the ball park. Tomorrow's Opening Day and we're sold out with it holding over 10,000 people. You get excited to see how the games gonna be and the reactions of the fans. It creates an electric atmosphere. You have something to be excited about every day.

Me: Alright Ryan you knew this was coming: Favorite ballplayer of all time.

Ryan: Nolan Ryan. I love the way he attacks hitters. he was a fierce athlete throwing mid-90s in his 40s. The way he goes after batters is the way I try and model my game. He was aggressive and had total conviction. No matter what he threw whether it was a strike, ball, home run, hit, knew it was the right pitch. I try and have the certain conviction that he had. Not only that but the work he did to lead up to a start was unmatched.

You Can Put it On the Board...... YES!!!

2010-04-07T17:19:00.001-07:00

Do you ever just sit at a ballpark and take in the sights and sounds around you? Stare at the fans, all involved in their own analysis of the game, breath in the smell of kosher hot dogs and beer, envision yourself standing on the dirt in the infield?

Sometimes when I'm at a ballgame I get this "wow-factor" feeling.I feel like it's like my first time at a ballgame. I'm entranced by the geometry of the baselines, the perfect green of the outfield, the players spotted across the field all paying intense attention to a little ball about to leave a glove.

And it's like life is perfect.

I could have cared less what was going on outside of that stadium. When I'm at a ballgame I feel at home. I feel alive- like this is where I'm supposed to be. In the 5th inning of Monday's home opener, I turned to my friend and said "You know that 'is this Heaven line' on Field of Dreams? I honestly haven't ever agreed with something more. When I die, I want to sit right here. Right at this field- every single day... and watch players execute a game. That is perfect- that's Heaven."

He looked at me, laughed, and said "It's a good thing I've known you for like a year and know you routinely go all baseball poetic on people, or else I'd tell you I'm not going on any more margarita runs for you today and cut you off."

My point here is- Monday's White Sox home opener was one of those spine tingling, goosebumb games. From the pitching, to the offence, to Buehrle's web gem of the year, to Rios and PK going yard, to the return of a glimpse of Ozzie ball (get em on, get em over, get em in). It was one of those games that reminds me of how much I love baseball- and why I spent the entire off season praying for first pitch to get here as quickly as possible.

I'm not going to try and mask myself into some professional blogger who drove to Chicago, got there 30 minutes before the game, and sat nicely in my seat keeping score and eating nachos. Instead I'm going to be real and honestly recount my day- because it was awesome. Yes I drank, yes I had a good time, and I plan on honestly depicting it to you all. Those of you who know me would call "bullshit" if I even attempted to pretend like I was all professional baseball fan on Monday's game anyways. :)

I left Peoria around 7:30 anticipating traffic- It wasn't too bad and I listened to Mully and Hanley on 670 The Score. That's a pre-game ritual of mine that I tend to annoy my friends with when they drive to Chicago with me. I don't like the drives to games by myself, but I have always been a "coffee and MLB Network in the morning" kinda girl, and sipping on a 24 oz black coffee and listening to sports news talk calms me and helps the time pass. I also enjoy all the pre-game talk and excitement as fans from the Chicago area call in and give their "professional" opinion on the upcoming 2010 season.

Around 9:20 I started getting into what I like to call the "oh shit" part of 55. That's right after you pass Arsenal Bridge about 50-60 minutes from Bridgeport. I hate Arsenal Bridge with every bone in my body due to bridge inspection last season on my way to SOX/LAA that caused my roommate and I to miss the Sox opening video which, if you know me, is the equivalent to missing the previews of a movie, only way worse. I effing hate it. I'm a creature of habit and if I miss seeing that video, people will hear me bitch for a good 2 innings. I hate to drone on and on about it but it needs to be said that I cure Arsenal Bridge every time I pass it regardless of traffic.

Anyways, as soon as you pass that bridge it's like passing into an alternate universe. It's as if God drops 40 additional cars on the highway and you start "Chicago Driving" which means you literally play cat and mouse with everyone around you, and you get points above your car for how many different times you can touch all 3-4 lanes. In and out passing gets you 5 additional, by the way.

I was calling and getting calls from my two friends, Steph and Brandon who were both going to be at the game as well- a pack of beer in my passenger seat screamed out the inevitable: It was almost 10:00am and I needed to start tailgaiting.

Around 10:15 I finally found my way to the Ashland Street exit. Most of you are probably wondering why I take Ashland off 55. I'll tell you. It's so much easier to take Ashland the 2 miles down to 35th and take 35th up to USCF. I only say this because, and Amanda will attest, I will always, and I mean always, take the wrong exit on the Dan Ryan. It never fails. I will end up in downtown Chicago and almost get run over by a semi and then end up crying trying to figure out how to get on Lakeshore and then remember which exit I was supposed to actually take.

I shouldn't be allowed to drive in Chicago. Honestly.

After arriving at USCF, I threw some beer in my purse, and sought after my friend Stephanie who was there with her friends and co-workers from the Bulls/Sox Training Academy. After running into a very awesome Ron Kittle who scared the crap out of me when he came up and said "Hey I'm loving the jersey!" (yes it was throw back, no it wasn't a Kittle. It was Baines. I'm sure Ron didn't mind though), I gave him a hug and we conversed briefly.

Ron Kittle may be one of the coolest guys in the world. He's always super nice to everyone, reaches out to his facebook followers daily (in fact, one lady came up to us while we were talking and said "I'm your friend on facebook!"... Ron just has one of those faces) and makes time for all his fans.

Right afterwards I ran into Dr. David Fletcher- my boss and founder of the Chicago Baseball Museum. He was busy rushing around and tending to our special guest, Bob Feller. I wont go into the specifics because you're going to get a huge blog on it later- but we hosted Feller for the 70 year reunion of his no-no pitched on Opening Day against the White Sox when he played for the Tribe. (In attendance at our event was also Moose Skowron. Talk about cool).

After finding Stephanie, another run in with Kittle, and finding my friend who had my ticket, I finally got a chance to knock down a few beers.

One of the coolest things is that one of the ladies in attendance in Stephanie's pack of friends had a legit Sox World Series ring. Don't ask me what she did in the Sox organization to get the ring, because I have no idea. All I know is that I got to wear it. Now that, my friends, is a surreal experience.

So it's 20 minutes before game time and my check-list is as follows:

5 beers- Check
Run in with former White Sox great Ron Kittle- Double Check
Meeting with baseball legend Bob Feller- Check
Wearing the White Sox World Series Ring- Check.

Needless to say things were starting out well- and they were only going to get better.

Like I said I'm really particular about getting inside the ballpark to see the opening video. If you guys haven't seen it, the youtube video is right under this paragraph :) It's insane how cool it is. It starts off going through a trophy case of just tons of historical White Sox memorabilia (the fans always cheer the loudest passing over the names and jerseys, pics, etc of guys like The Big Hurt, Harold Baines, and of course all the guys from the 05 Season)... then it goes to a video montage of all these awesome historical moments from the past years to the song "He's a Pirate" from Pirates of the Caribbean. Whoever put the video together is just genius. I love how they show Fisk's double tag at the plate, the lights being shutout for the last time at Old Comiskey from an aerial view, Bo Jackson's homer, when Luke Appling got his car at Luke Appling Night, Tony LaRussa throwing the base when he managed here, the 2000 AL Central celebration at the Metrodome, moving across from Old to New Comiskey, Burl's Perfect and no-no, Brian Anderson's diving catch to end game 163 in 08,and of course different highlights from 1917 season, Go-Go Sox, Winning Ugly, Southside Hitmen, etc.

Well rest assured, I made it in in time to watch it, getting goosebumbs as usual.

The National Anthem was sang as members of the armed services brought a whole-field American Flag out and an aerial show ended the anthem. I've personally never seen one of the aerial shows before. I have no idea how they time that out so perfectly when those US Navy jets fly overhead, but it really is just the icing on the cake on Opening Day. It's like the whole world is cheering for you. I don't specifically mean for the White Sox, but for baseball. When you're in the stadium it's like you're shut off to the world. You're not really caring nor are you paying attention to anything else that's going on outside. Sure it's an open stadium but there's 35,000+ people there are concentrating on the same exact thing for over 3 hours... and you tend to forget that there are other things going on in the world, the jet's are kind of a proverbial "Play Ball!" that just gives you chills.

I was excited to get things going with Mark Buehrle on the mound. I mean, who doesn't want to see Mr. Perfect? I knew it would be a shorter game (I was right, the game's official time ended up being 2:24), because if there's one person who will go out on the mound and work with purpose, it's Burls. He didn't disappoint. Two ground outs from Cabrera and Sizemore and a fly out from Choo ended the inning in quick 1-2-3 fashion which follows Buehrle's pitching style perfectly-his fielders always backing him up as he's not a big strike out guy.

I have a weird superstition- I don't get up before there's a hit made in a game. I psych myself out and feel like if I get up when the visiting team is up before someone gets the first hit, then they'll hit it... and if I get up before the first hit is made and the Sox are up, then they won't get a hit. So I stay in my seat. I spent the middle of the 1st trying to find Anthony, the jet-pack margarita man (Yes I'm on a first name basis with him. Don't judge me), and finally settled on a beer as I didn't want to miss the first at-bats of the Sox 2010 season. Pierre and Bacon both grounded out but TCQ solved my superstitious problems by doubling on a line drive to right field.

I'm just glad I didn't get up to go meet my friend Brandon before Paulie's at-bat. With Quentin on 2nd, PK stepped into the batters box and launched a long fly to right field. It was the first "rise to your feet" moment of the season and I nearly spilled my beer everywhere as Quentin and Konerko rounded the bases and the exploding score-board went off for the first time this season. Na-na-na-na hey hey hey... goodbye!

White Sox 2, Tribe 0.

After a home run is hit with two outs in the inning you still DON'T GET UP. You just simply dont. Long balls give a team momentum and even with 2 outs and no one on base, you expect the adrenaline to be pumping and the fans are only hoping for the best. So I stayed in my seat and watched Kotsay take a walk after working the count full.

Rios' first at-bat of the 2010 season lead to a force out with Kotsay out at 2nd. The inning was over, and I was ready for a margarita (I've really never been a huge beer girl at ball games. Especially since you get to keep the cups the margarita's come in, and they don't make you put ice in them. Fun fact- go to a ballgame and ask for no ice in your drinks like premade vodka/lemonade. You just simply get more liquor. Win-win.

I moved down to the left field seats right behind the bullpen to sit with my friend Brandon, one of the local weathermen for our CBS affiliate down here in Peoria, and fellow huge White Sox fan. Brandon and I have a tendency to get really loud, really obnoxious, and become huge smart asses when we're together- but Brandon's worse than me. It wasn't long before we were taunting Cleveland left fielder Michael Brantley, and our own bullpen rookie, Sergio Santos. "Hey Santos! You're not at Wrigley! Quit lookin at the girls and pay attention to the game! We don't do that on the Southside.. we PAY ATTENTION THE THE BALL GAME!"

I have no idea if Santos even knew what we were saying, but it didn't cease to be funny. I have no problems taunting our own players. Last year I was at a game where Ryan Sweeney was just brutalized. I felt kinda bad for him, because a lot of the time when a young player "sucks" we should really be screaming at our front office and management for not sending him down to get the at-bats he needs to become a good player, instead of bringing the player down for not being developed enough to be in a big league uniform. However, when players pull crap like flirting with girls in the stands when they're in the bullpen, they deserve to be ridiculed. Santos needed to recognize that that's not how we role on the Southside. If he wants to play around during the game and pass out his number to anything with a bra strap showing then he can go elsewhere (and I'm sure you all know where I mean by elsewhere). Here on the Southside we take our baseball seriously.

The first hit of the game for the Tribe came in the Top of the 2nd from Travis Hafner but didn't capitalize into anything as LaPorta quickly grounded into a DP after a fly out from Peralta.

Another thing my friends and especially my roommate will tell you is that I don't allow people to talk when AJ Pierzynski is up to bat. I seriously love him as a player. If I could say I have a favorite player on the team, it's AJ. I love his attitude and how he plays the game. Not to mention he's just plain good and a highly under appreciated catcher.

Well, AJ grounded out in his first at-bat of the 2010 season, something I noticed a lot of during Spring Training. Teahen walked and was then out caught stealing 2nd after a fly out from Ramirez.

Another single started the 3rd but is followed by another scoreless inning despite hits from both Grudzielanek and A. Cabrera. That would be the last hit Buehrle gave up to an Indian for the rest of his outing.

The Sox scored another 2 runs in the 3rd off a Beckham single, Quentin HBP, Beck's taking 3rd on a wild pitch during PK's at-bat, Konerko walk to load the bases, force out by Kotsay that scores Beckham, and another wild pitch by Westbrook to score Quentin.

Sox 4, Tribe 0

Now here's where we get the difference between the 2009 White Sox and the 2010(at least the way they played Monday). In 2009 we would have loaded the bases eleventy billion times and ended the inning on a strike out by just about anyone on the team. True we capitalized off poor defense by the Tribe but get em on, get em over, get em in, right? I'm not going to be picky on exactly how we get em in.. as long as they get in!

Now I'd like to jump straight up to the 5th inning when after a ground out by Mark Grudzielanek, Burls worked a count to Lou Marson 2-2. What happened next is typical Buehrle. I say typical because this guy rarely does anything that doesn't amaze me.

Marson hit a sharp ground ball up the middle which Buehrle DEFLECTED off his shin. He said post-game that he wasn't even thinking, he just knew that if the balls coming in that direction he's going to throw any body party that he possibly can out there to deflect it. It deflected off to the first base side and Burl's took off after it. AJ came up to cover Paulie but he didn't need to.

Mark Buehrle, proving why he is being presented with a Gold Glove this Saturday, ran past Marson, shuffled to the ball, grabbed it with his gloved hand, flipped it backwards BETWEEN HIS LEGS without looking to Paul Konerko who barehanded it, making the out. (Video below)

I mean... wtf. I can not even explain to anyone reading this the thought going through my mind when I saw that play. That is the 2nd time I've been at USCF when Mark Buehrle has given me goosebumbs (the last time was of course his no-no in 07). I just remember looking at Brandon going " ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Buehrle got up off the ground, started laughing (this guy laughs when he does something awesome. Have you noticed that? It's like he cant believe it happened to him, and guess what- no one else can either!), and AJ fist pumped as he and Paulie congratulated him.

The entire crowd went nuts, yelling "MVP! MVP!" and "BUEHRLE!"... I just had a disbelief moment. I couldn't comprehend as I watched the replay on the jumbo-tron how he could have possibly made that play. Paulie catching it barehanded was just icing on the cake.

Buehrle got out of the inning and we backed up our awesome starting pitcher again with a double by Beckham, Carlos Quentin getting ANOTHER BB with a hit by pitch (this guy really crowds the plate- in case you haven't noticed by his record setting HBP's), a walk to Konerko to once again load the bases, and another ground out by Mark Kotsay scoring Gordon Beckham.

White Sox 5, Tribe .........stilllll 0.

Buehrle continued his Tribe masacre to the 8th, ending up with a stat line of 7IP, 3 Hits, 3 SO, 1 walk, and a steller 0.00 ERA.

JJ Putz, newly acquired from the NY Mets, showed us his stuff as he struck out his first two batters faced. To say the crowd was on their feet is an understatment. A single from Michael Brantley (and more taunting from our section) followed by a fly out by Cabrera ending the 8th and we were home free.

Enter Alex Rios.

Talk about being awesome at the plate, and defensively on Monday. Not only did he make a diving catch to end the game in the 9th after a lights out performance from Matt Thornton (2 strike outs and a line out), but he also hit a solo bomb after being down 0-2 in the count in the 8th- just to solidify our lead for Mr. Perfect.

So Burls got the win his 8th Opening Day start this year which sets a franchise record previously held by Billy Pierce. (Had he started in 2007 instead of Contreras it would be 9 straight and we wouldn't have seen Sizemore go deep in the first at-bat of that God-awful season. I also believe that was the same year that Buehrle got hit by a ground ball up the middle that took him out of the game and caused Nick Masset to come in for the REALLY REALLY long relief..like the 2nd game of the season.) Buehrle now also officially leads the majors in Quality Starts with 189.

AJ Pierzynski, as I mentioned before is an extreamly under appreciated catcher. He caught his 10,000th inning on Monday.

Paul Konerko also set a record with opening day starts as well, surpassing a record previously held by none other than The Big Hurt.

After the game was over, it was time to head down to Schallers for some Jameson and lemonades with my friends. To say we were all on a huge high for the 2010 season is an understatment. We couldn't have been more excited. The field rang with echos of "Let's Go White Sox," "Buehrle," "Ozzie," etc. It was one of those games were you stop and stare at the field after the game and just thank God that such a sport exists.

There's something so poignant and beautiful about the game of baseball. It takes you away from every hard ship you may have or any worry in the world and puts you in a dream where the most important things in life are hard hit line drives in the gap, solid strike-outs, a good manager who makes you laugh, bubblegum, sunflower seeds, beer, and Kosher hot dogs with extra grilled onions and mustard. For 9 innings the only thing you have to worry about is strike zones and good defense and hanging sliders.

How many times can you go somewhere and see someone make an out like Mark Buehrle did and spend the entire day talking about it with people you don't even know? Baseball brings us all together as Americans. This is our sport- this is what we live and die for. There may be deception and drama and greed in the creases of the American Pasttime, but they're ironed out by moments when the crowd rises to its feet from a long ball, a diving catch to end an inning, a bullpen that comes in with comrodery to get a starter out of a jam, and the 5 year old in front of you playing with his AJ Pierzynski bobblehead.

So to all my fellow White Sox fans, Cub fans, Cardinal fans, and fan's of any other team that just love baseball as much as I do- welcome to 2010. It's going to be a pleasure chronicalling the season with all of you and I look foward to any and comments and feedback about games/plays/etc. You don't have to agree with my opininos (they will not always be pro-sox) but I think we can always agree that we are a family in one aspect: our love for baseball.

I also urge all of you tonight to catch up on what's going on with your local Minor League affiliate teams, as it's opening day for them. To those minor leaguers of you who read my site- good luck in continuing your chase to the dream. I hope someday to be writing about you on Opening Day when you're sporting a major league uniform :)

Ozzie Guillen: Loud Mouth, Championship Manager, Baseball Genius, and above all: Family Man

2010-03-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

"KW always gets his man."

Sox fans repeat this mantra every off season and all season until the trade deadline every year- applauding KW on such acquisitions in the past as Nick Swisher, Carlos Quentin (not someone like him.. THE Carlos Quentin), and most recently, Jake Peavy.

But there may be one man, or 4, that might be a little hard for KW to capture.

Entire: The Guillens.
As close-knit as they come, Ozzie Guillen and company are your overly entertaining, Hispanic Catholic, "mess with one of us and you mess with all of us family." A lot like mine- Just replace "Hispanic" with "Irish." There's nothing my family wouldn't do for me, and if you cross me the wrong way- watch out. You'll have 3 cops, an ex-cop, an ex-fire captain, and one VERY angry Catholic school teacher all over you. Not to mention a slew of other aunts, uncles, and cousins that would just as easily verbally kick your ass as they would sneak a flask of Jameson into one of our family's many weddings (and a rosary, mind you).

Which is why after spending my one evening off of work on Twitter, drinking a glass of red wine, and watching Field of Dreams for the 15,495 time, I'm officially in 100% support of the Guillen family.

Now here's the back story.

The middle of three of Ozzie and Ibis' sons, Oney has held a position with the White Sox in the scouting system for a little over a year.

Like the eldest son of the family, Ozzie Guillen Jr., and his father- famed manager and all-around bad-ass, Ozzie Guillen Sr., Oney has a twitter account set up to reach out to family, friends, and fans. A low number of followers (340) compared to his father's (42,773), Oney's twitter consists mainly of quirks, updates, and opinions here and there. (Unlike my personal twitter which chronicles everything from what I eat for breakfast to quotes from what episode of The Office my roommates and I happen to watching.)

It was no surprise that when Ozzie Sr set up his own Twitter account to personally connect with fans and friends (and I say "personally" because Ozzie made it clear that his twitter was specifically about his personal life), there was a backlash from the White Sox front office. Kenny Williams and Ozzie haven't always seen eye-to-eye. Most recently KW has publicly expressed his doubt in Ozzies DH-by-committee idea for the upcoming 2010 season. When Ozzie exploded onto the twitter scene in such a way that blew his call-in to Mike North on 670 The Score out of the water two weeks ago, KW had something to say about that too.

Ozzie expressed that his twitter account would be used for personal reasons only... and why not? Ozzie Guillen is human. He has a mouth on him, he's a manager of a major league baseball team, and was once one of the best short stops in the game- but he's only human. No one complains that Nick Swisher, Jason Grilli, CJ Wilson, or even the Sox's own Mark Teahen has a twitter. So why should Kenny Williams care about Ozzie's? Maybe it was that Ozzie doesn't have a filter, or that he IS the manager of a potential division-winning 2010 team, but should that really matter? As long as Ozzie's not tweeting on his blackberry during the 7th inning of a game, is it really Kenny Williams' business?

The answer to that is an obvious "no."

Ozzie may not be from America but as a citizen he's protected under this nation's First Amendment.

And as a dual-citizen of both Venezuela and the USA, so is Oney Guillen.

Oney was told in a round-about way by Kenny Williams to "tone down his tweets." I'm not sure, after reading all of Oney's tweets over the last week or so, what he was supposed to "tone down." Perhaps his excitement about seeing his brother at dinner, or having fun playing poker with his family, or his tweet about going to wrestlemania? Nor do I understand how that affected the White Sox front office, or scouting dept., but apparently it pissed off KW.

Oney responded by stepping down from his position and a very equally (and rightfully so) pissed off Ozzie Guillen refused to talk to Chicago press or media after the Sox loss to the Cubs this afternoon.

The drama surfaced a few days ago when Oney tweeted "I love it how people are monitoring my tweets like I'm someone important. Everyone is entitled to there own opinion"

After we found out that Oney had resigned from his position with the Sox, Ozzie tweeted "Hey kid we are behind you. no matter what"
Ozzie also apologized for his snubbing of the Chicago media today via twitter saying "I extremely apologize to the chicago media from the bottom of my heart but it wasn't the right time for me to talk and hope this doesn't ... affect our relationship... also the respect I have for all of you tomorrow is another day"

Ozzie makes contact.......this could go a long way.... the center fielder is running back, back to the warning track, he looks up... and that ball is OUTTA HERE!!!!

Now let me just go "mom" on everyone for a minute. I have a two year old son. He's the love of my life. There is not a thing I wouldn't do or a bullet I wouldn't dodge for my child. One of the first words we taught him was "ozzie"... now he runs around the house saying "Ozzie!" whenever we ask him where the Sox are, and claps for himself. My child is the love of my life and I imagine that when I have more children I will feel just the same about them. My grandmother told my mom when she was pregnant with my little brother that "love for your child doesn't divide, it just multiplies."

I hope to God (and I wouldn't even have to hope, because I already know) that my father would stick up for me and be just as equally pissed off as Ozzie was for his son today.

Ozzie is a father. He is a major league baseball manager. But it is his first and foremost duty to protect his children. Today shows me and reaffirms every love I've had for Ozzie Guillen since I was a little girl watching him play for the White Sox. Ozzie Guillen is a lot of things, but above all he is a father, and today he showed that.

The first time my son was sick after he was born, around 8 months of age, I left him in the care of my parents while I went to work on a Friday night.

I may or may not have rung 80 things in wrong while bartending, dropped 4-5 drinks, and had to go on at least 7 "cigarette breaks" to call and check on him. All he had was a fever and a runny nose. Nothing life threatening, nothing that he probably even cared about. He slept the entire night, was given some Children's Tylenol, and was fine. And he was in the perfectly caring hands of my parents.

With that said, I can't imagine the distraction Ozzie Guillen must have been under after hearing of all the stupid CRAP going down with his son today. Could that have affected the outcome of today's game? Don't get me wrong- I'm not a Cub fan. I don't make excuses for how my team plays... but any baseball fan knows that a team plays well that has a great manager. A manager that is in the zone, in the game, and is 120% focused. Was Ozzie Guillen 120% focused today? I'll tell ya what, I wouldn't have been even 50% focused enough to manage a baseball team if my son were under distress or going threw the crap that the organization I had won a World Series Championship for had treated him the way Oney was treated.

I just have one question for Kenny Williams and whoever else was so "offended" by Oney Guillen's tweets- why the hell do you care?

Shouldn't you be more concerned about a lack of a big left-handed bat in the lineup? Or the fact that Scott Linebrink sucked AGAIN today? Or how about the fact that we left, oh, I dont know, 249120481947921 men on base today? What about Danks' outing? Or maybe the fielding by Teahen last week during the Sox/Cubs game? Maybe giving up extra bases on the first play of a game is something you should be spending your time analyzing? Perhaps that fact that Bobby Jenks gave up 5 runs on 4 hits this last week.... or that Ramierez is STILL chasing shit outside? Maybe, Kenny Williams, you should concentrate on THAT instead of Oney Guillens twitter account?

Perhaps KW should heed his own advice when, according to Joe Cowley's article in the Sun Times, he responded to inquires about a website with "don't talk to me about twitter, websites, blogs....." Maybe, KW, you shouldn't pay SUCH CLOSE attention to things posted on Twitter? Are you an Internet babysitter in your spare time? Are you getting paid extra for that? I'd prefer knowing your head was in the GAME and was dissecting what was going on on the field rather than was was going on on Oney, Ozzie Jr, or Ozzie Sr.'s twitter accounts.

The fact stands. These guys (and the youngest, Ozney) love the White Sox. They love that team with every bone in their body. To think they would do or say anything to hinder or embarrass the team is insane. The boys are close with both Suntimes and Tribune White Sox beat writers. They banter back and forth... they all joke around with eachother. The relationship is fine- and Chicago LOVES THE GUILLENS.

If KW is so concerned about what they are tweeting about he needs to find a new hobby- one that doesn't involve what happens with people OFF the baseball field. Maybe he should start monitoring Mark Teahen's "Quotes of the Day" on twitter which involve making fun of White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper. Maybe THAT is more out of line than whatever the Guillens are tweeting- or maybe Williams has a vendetta. Who knows? All I know is that even my 44 year old father doesn't monitor my tweets as closely as KW monitors the Guillens and something, my friends, is wrong with that picture.

So to Ozzie Guillen, and every other father who puts his "dad" role first- kudos. I'm glad to have such a family driven, amazing man managing the team I love to root for. It only makes me that much more passionate about the Sox, and about you as their manager. I've been a big Ozzie Guillen fan since I was 5 years old and as I grow up I only become more and more enthralled with Ozzie and his family. His sons are a group of amazing, well behaved, respectful young men. I'm proud to call Ozzie one of my hero's, a great manager, and a father that ranks in the top percentage of dads in my book. My father and Ozzie have the same "I don't care what you think about me" attitude, and I love it. After today, I more importantly, love that I know Ozzie and my father have the same "don't you care screw with my kid" attitude. Good for you Ozzie- I back you and your family 100000%. Now let's get out there and win another division title!!

KW-I love you as a GM but..... Mind your own business......Damn.

Prospects Q&A with Michael Schlact

2010-02-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Texas Rangers pitching prospect Michael Schlact sits on his back porch reflecting on Spring Training. "One tweets a lot when they're rehabbing. And I feel like I'm 10 years old again playing baseball."

They say you have to have a lot of little boy in you to play professional ball, and Schlact has just that. His passion and love for the game emulates out of his respect and care for his career, his fans, his teammates, and all those around him. After coming off of a near career-ending injury that lead to surgery and currently, rehab, Michael agreed to do a brief interview with me in between chronicling his "March to the Mound" on Twitter (clever), playing Words With Friends, and going to In-And-Out Burger with his wife.

Me: You were drafted in the 3rd round out of high school. Do you think not playing at a collegiate level helped or hindered your performance in pro ball?

Michael:I believe that foregoing college helped my performance in pro ball. I was able to jump right into professional competition, with the best coaches,against the best players. I think that helps you become a better player every day, because you have to rise to the occasion in order to compete.

Me: The Rangers organization, before your injury, was really into developing your 4-seam fastball to compliment your sinker. Any hopes of continuing that when you're done rehabbing or has the 4-seam gone to the wayside?

Michael:I will still use the 4seam fastball. my primary pitch is my sinker, and I will use that the majority of the time when I return. The Rangers were developing my 4seam fastball to help me add arm strength, and give the hitters a different look.

Me: I haven't found a whole lot about your injury aside from what you mentioned briefly to me a few days ago. Can you tell me more about it?

Michael: I had 3 small tears on the backside of my rotator cuff, a small tear in the labrum, and some bursists. They cleaned up the shoulder (debridement) and then removed the bursa sac and shrank the shoulder capsule at the end.

Me: I've heard your sinker is your go-to pitch, but that you have trouble with letting it go high. Is keeping it down in the zone something you struggle with?

Michael:I don't think that I have trouble keeping it down, but in the past, I had some trouble trusting the pitch. Pitching is all about trusting your stuff to do what it's meant to do. When you don't do that, and you try and aim your pitches, they will usually not do what they are meant to do. a big focus on mine is trusting my sinker to go down in the zone, and I will work on that tirelessly when I return to pitching.

Me: How is life on the road being married? I know your faith in God means a lot to you, does that help you deal with the distance?

Michael:My faith in God is key in dealing with being away from my family. Fortunately, my wife can travel with me during the season. Being married is tough as a ballplayer, because we move around a lot, I leave for long roadtrips, and sometimes living conditions in the minors are less than favorable. She is such a blessing for me though. She supports my dream, and has been by my side through everything.

Me: Tell me about one of your most fun moments in either Spring Training or during your time in the minors.

Michael:I think playing in the Championship series with the Frisco Roughriders in 2008 was my most fun moment in Pro Ball. We made it all the way to the final game of the series, where it's either win and you're champs, or lose and you're not. There is something fun and exciting about playing for all the marbles.

Me: What have you been doing during your rehab? What % would you put your health at today?

Michael: I have been working out every day, and running a lot. The key to returning healthy is to be stronger than you've ever been before. I do shoulder routines each day, that compliment my workouts. I told myself that I will never go through this again, so being as strong as I possibly can is the only option. I would say that I'm 70-75% right now.

Me: Aside from rehabbing this spring training, what are you working on fine-tuning, especially with your secondary pitches?

Michael: Once I get to the mound again, I'm going to work on my mental side of pitching. Trusting my stuff, being a competitor, focusing on one pitch at a time, rather than who the next 8 hitters are. My slider could be much better, and I can also make my change up be a lot more consistent down in the zone.

Me: What do you think your biggest fault is as a pitcher?

Michael:It would have to be giving the hitter too much credit. One of my favorite baseball quotes is "the ball is round, the bat is round, but you have to hit it square." There are many great hitters that play this game. But, just like pitching, it's very hard to hit. If I can control the mental side of my game that will help me become a much better pitcher.

Me: What benefits you most as a pitcher?

Michael: I think my height. Creating a downward angle on pitches definitely adds a whole new look to pitching versus pitches that come in flat.

Me: What do you love most about the Rangers organization?

Michael: I love that Nolan Ryan is our president, and that he has a huge hand in the pitching department. Having the greatest pitcher to ever play as one of your leaders in the pitching department is the coolest. Also, they only hire the best. Everyone is our organization is a class act. They are knowledgeable and want the best for us.

Me: You were being developed primarily as a starting pitcher, will it be the same when you finish rehabbing?

Michael: I haven't heard much about what my role will be when I return. I guess right now I'm focusing on just getting healthy. I want to pitch in the big leagues, so whatever role they think will get me there, I'll take.

Me: My favorite question to end with- Who is your favorite ballplayer of all time, and why?

Michael:My favorite ballplayer of all time would probably be John Smoltz. He is a warrior on the mound, a great person, and he'll do whatever it takes to win. He's one of my childhood heros.

Joe Torre's Safe At Home Foundation

2010-02-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

About the Foundation (from www.joetorre.org)

Joe Torre, former professional baseball player and manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, grew up the youngest of five children in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a New York City police detective and revered in his community. He was the cop that made everyone feel safe. Everyone except his own family.

Joe, Sr. ruled his home with an iron fist. He was a physically abusive husband and an emotionally abusive father. The violence that had besieged the Torre household for so many years was a well-kept family secret and stayed a family secret for generations. However, in December of 1995, Ali and Joe Torre attended a seminar called Life Success. As a result of Joe's participation in that seminar, he began to talk openly of his childhood experience with domestic violence. He went public with his family secret in his autobiography, Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series.
Ali and Joe Torre wanted to educate children about the issue of domestic violence. In 2002, they created the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is "educating to end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives".

Initially, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foundation focused its resources on awareness building through a local and national multimedia campaign. However, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foundation quickly determined that they want to educate children about violence so that children understand that they are not alone and that there is hope.

In 2005, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foundation opened its first school-based programming initiative, Margaret's Place, at Hostos-Lincoln Academy, Bronx, NY. Margaret's Place, a tribute to his mom, is a comprehensive program which provides students with a safe room in school where they can meet with a professional counselor trained in domestic-violence intervention and prevention. Currently, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foundation has ten fully funded and operational Margaret's Places in New York City and Westchester County. The sites are fully funded and have a minimum commitment of three years.

I didn't know about this charity until a friend of mine brought it to my attention. After doing some research I realized it really hit home for me. Those of you who know me know I was in a really abusive relationship for years. Under some great advice (this morning surprisingly) I've decided not to let that man affect my life anymore. For some reason talking about him has happened a lot lately and I've realized that it's my own fault for keeping up the discussion by agreeing to answer questions and discuss him.

Of course I was never married or had children that were affected by his rage, but it affected my life greatly and has ultimately made me the person I am today. I believe I would probably be a completely different woman if I hadn't been through said relationship.

Domestic Violence is not only physical. What most people don't understand is that a person (man, woman, or child) can be hurt and scarred just as badly emotionally as they can physically. The emotional abuse, I found, took a worse toll on my life than anything physical could have.

Abuse doesn't just affect a person when it happens or in the moments after, or during recovery. It affects the way they live their life, who they trust around them, and the choices they make. I feel as though doing a spotlight on blog about this charity is a closing for me. A way for me to move on with my life. Baseball has always been a huge part of it, and for a while I was afraid that because of my past relationship I would give up on my love for the game all together. Luckily, things happened in my life that forced me to not give up, and reminded me about why I'd loved baseball since I was a little girl in the first place.

I'm so glad that what happened to me (even though I wish it hadn't happened at all) happened early enough- before I had children, before I got married. I know now that the way I continually let my ex treat me was not "ok," no matter how much I convinced myself that it was. I never want my children to think it's okay for a man (or a woman) to treat their significant other in that manner.

Joe and Ali Torre believe it's important to educate children about the effects of domestic violence and I couldn't agree more. I grew up in a family where my father and mother never treated each other with anything other than love and respect. I only remember once them getting into a huge argument but it never escalated past yelling, and ended with my father getting down on the floor trying to make a distinction between "chocolate... vanilla... chocolate... vanilla!" (I'm not sure WHAT he was trying to use that as a metaphor for)... I laughed... a 5 year old laugh.. my parents looked at each other, my dad started cracking up- and though the fight probably wasn't resolved, for that moment it was over.

My parents loved me and always told me that it was never okay for a man to hit a woman, my dad being a cop was always the up most advocate against that, but I never really was talked to or talked about emotional abuse. By the time I had been with my ex long enough for his emotional abuse to infiltrate my confidence, the "no guy should ever hit you" rule was null-in-void.

The Torre's recognize that emotional abuse affects someone just as deeply as physical, and I couldn't be more in love with this charity. Thankfully Torre has recognized and dealt with the abuse he dealt with as a child, and I can only pray that what I've dealt with will always help me to be a strong woman so that my children don't have to deal with the kind of abuse Torre dealt with and witnessed. I wish what happened to me had never happened but I'm glad it made me just that much stronger of a person.

I truly believe that this is one of those organizations where getting the word out helps more than anything. Education IS prevention. Funding will not only help with the education but will ultimately help prevent domestic abuse in family homes.

To donate you can click here. Ali and Joe Torre will match any donations up to $500,000. Donate $50 and you're actually donating $100! If that isn't awesome, I don't know what is!

You can also order this amazing key chain- its a house and a key and when you flip the house over it's Home Plate engraved with Joe Torre's signature. You can follow this link to do so.

I encourage everyone to check out Torre's foundation- it's a great cause and really hits home for me. No child should ever be abused or witness abuse. Parents should know that its not ok to put up with abuse, and everyone should be able to say "no" and feel like it's okay to walk away. I will be donating to Torre's charity tomorrow morning and would like to rally and get at least $500 donated in the name of this blog. Please comment when you've donated, or send me an email, and we'll tally the donations at the end of the month.

Please make sure and spread the word. Domestic violence is NOT OKAY. We can help prevent it!!!!!

We Are Chicago Baseball

White Sox Retire Frank Thomas' #35

2010-02-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

Frank Thomas' Proud, Honored that White Sox will Retire his Number.

By Dave van Dyck

The White Sox said Friday they will retire Frank Thomas' No. 35, as their former slugger officially announced his retirement at U. S. Cellular Field.Thomas' uniform number will be retired during an on-field ceremony on "Frank Thomas Day," Aug. 29, when the team hosts the New York Yankees at 1:05 p.m.

"I'm very, very proud and honored," Thomas said of having his number retired. "If it was up to me, I would have played every year of my career here in Chicago. But I understand pro sports, and as guys get older, guys move around. But this is where I've always wanted to be, and to have my number retired here, it's a huge honor."

Thomas, who last played for the White Sox in 2005 before finishing in Toronto and Oakland with 521 career home runs, didn't play last season. At age 41, he said he realizes his retirement announcement has been "a long time coming.""I had to get baseball out of my system before I made this announcement," Thomas said."I'm at peace with it. I had one heck of a career, proud of it. It's been one hell of a ride."

Thomas' No. 35 becomes the 10th uniform number to be retired by the White Sox, joining No. 2 (Nellie Fox), No. 3 (Harold Baines), No. 4 (Luke Appling), No. 9 (Minnie Minoso), No. 11 (Luis Aparicio, currently un-retired for the 2010 season), No. 16 (Ted Lyons), No. 19 (Billy Pierce), No. 42 (Jackie Robinson) and No. 72 (Carlton Fisk)."

Everyone who enjoyed watching Frank Thomas perform during his outstanding career with the White Sox quickly realized we were watching one of the greatest offensive players of all-time, a player destined to re-write our club's record books," Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. "When your career comes to an end and your body of work is compared to Hall of Famers like Mel Ott, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, you truly rank among baseball royalty."I believe it is only a matter of time until Frank receives the game's greatest honor in Cooperstown and he unquestionably deserves the honor of being recognized among the elite White Sox players in this franchise's history by having his No. 35 retired."

No one will ever play the game the way Thomas played it.. I grew up watching Frank and he will FOREVER be a huge part of my life and my love for baseball. I respect this man so much and am so happy that the Sox are retiring his number. I can't wait til 2014 when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame- no one deserves it more! I'm so glad I got to see such an amazing player steroid-free in an era when finding untainted players is so hard. Thank you so much for the great memories and for turning me into such a big baseball fan, Frank!

Q&A With Top Prospect Drew Storen

2010-02-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

I recently did a top prospects blog on Washington National's first round pick, Drew Storen. Nicely enough, Drew agreed to "sit down," if you will, with me for a question and answer session. As nervous as I was, this being my first professional interview, Drew talked lightly, and was insanely nice and easy to talk to. Our conversation quickly switched back and forth from baseball, to minor league antics, to mutual friends, to our disdain for PED's. By the end of the interview, I realized that Storen really was as nice as all the articles painted him, and that's exactly how he wants to be known.

Me: This is going to be your first visit to Spring Training. How are you feeling about that?

Drew: Well, kinda nervous because its something new and Ive never been there and I'm kinda excited. I used to go to spring training with my dad so its gonna be kinda cool to be on the other side of it. They gave us the schedule and it said "Yankees and Mets" and its not like the farm teams or minor league teams- it's the actual major league teams so it'll be a little different.

Me: Who did you go see in Spring Training when you were younger?

Drew: We would go see the Red Sox, Twins. They were down there in Florida so we'd always go see them.

Me: Did you grow up a fan of any team in particular?

Drew: I didn't really grow up a fan of any team in particular, but I did like the White Sox. I was a big Frank Thomas fan. I wouldn't say I had a specific team as much as I was fan of a bunch of different players.

Me: Who's your favorite pitcher in the game?

Drew: Mariano [Rivera]. Hard not to like that guy. There's different things about different guys but he's such a professional- just kinda poker face the whole time.

Me: Some people are criticizing the National's organization for planning on rushing you through the minor league system. I was telling you earlier about how I'm not a fan of that- How do you think that's going to affect you when you make it to the show?

Drew: I think its (short pause)...I don't really worry about it. You've seen guys do it before- Zim (Ryan Zimmerman) moved quickly and obviously he's doing ok. They're doing a good job not moving me too quickly. Doing things like the AZ fall league is good preparation. My performance is going to warrant that call and they're also look at the big picture.

Me: You've only spent 3 months in the minors. It hasn't been that long since you were drafted- walk me through draft day.

Drew: We had a big thing of friends and family...probably like 40 people all down in my basement. I had an idea that I could be the pick, but I wasn't for sure. I didn't tell anyone except for my parents. I really had no idea it was gonna happen for sure, it was kinda cool. It happened and then all of a sudden my phone started ringing. I had like 250 texts and however many phone calls... I was up doing interviews all night, I didn't go to bed until late and then the next morning I was on the plane at 7am. It was probably the craziest 24 hours. I still get chills talking about it.

Me: What advice did your family give you when you were drafted?

Drew: A lot. I wouldn't say it was one of those things where my dad was like "let's sit and talk about this." He ingrained in my head a long time to not be "that guy".. to treat people right. I dont want people to meet me and be like "that guy was a jerk." Another thing is, that not gonna cheat to get there, that's not how I like to do things. if I'm going to make it its going to be on my own count and not because some kinda PED (Performance Enhancing Drug).. that's something big for me.

Me: That's so admirable- you seem so natural talking during an interview. Have you always been so open with the media?

Drew: Its just easy because my dad's been in the media (his father is Mark Patrick) and I've always been around it so its really easy for me to do. Its not like reporters aren't people... its easy for me to sit and talk to people.

Me: I just read Odd Man Out by Matt McCarthy, have you read it?

Drew: (laughing) No, I haven't but I've heard so many stories that I feel like I have

Me: Do you read a lot of books about baseball?

Drew: I've read Livin on the Black, Moneyball of course. The only thing is when I drive I listen to books, Ive listen to Outliers and Talent is Overrated.... Freakenomics.

Me: Moneyball- Billy Bean of course- that's kind of you in a way.

Drew: Yeah being drafted out of college.

Me: College and the minors are two totally different atmospheres, I bet.

Drew: Yeah well in college you're playing ball and going to class and flying to games and staying in hotels. The minors aren't quite like that.

Me: Long bus rides, tons of fast food.

Drew: Yeah I think I've had more buffalo wings this last summer than I have my entire life. This summer when I was in AA I went and bought a $4 blow up raft and laid it in the middle of the aisle of the bus so that I could sleep.

Me: That's hilarious. You're known a lot for you low number of walks. You rarely walk a guy- but when you do, how's it make you feel? Walk me through Drew Storen walking back to the rubber after the ump tells the batter to take his base.

Drew: That makes me the most mad of anything- that's what I tell people. Oooooohhhhhh I can not stand walking people! You just look at the numbers. Why not let him put it in play? You have good enough fielders who are gonna make the play, why let the guy have a free pass? Even the best of the best relievers get in trouble because they walk a guy. Especially in big spots like that it just takes that one swing and momentum that changes things. The biggest thing to me is when i get 2 quick outs I never want to fall behind 2-0 to a guy. Everybody does it, but the guys that don't do it as much are the most successful.

Me: What matters most when you're trying to get a guy out? Velocity or getting the ball in the zone?

Drew: Its all about results.. you talk about any major league pitcher or hitter.. it doesn't matter how hard you throw... you gotta get the ball down. I went into the minors going okay-- I'm throwing, I'm going to try and throw it past guys here...That quickly changed.

Me: Haha, yeah, isn't that mentality you had when your second pitch of your career got belted 500 feet over the center field wall this summer?

Drew: Yeah, haha. I realized I need to throw the ball down in the zone. I was going to try and throw it past him, that was a 96 MPH fastball too.

Me: Besides that moment, did you have any other "welcome to pro ball" moments this summer?

Drew: My first week and 1/2 was a welcome to pro ball moment. I would have outings where they were good outings, except for one or two pitches. I'd give up a home run in Hagerstown and it was after falling behind the guy. It was like an acclamation period.

Me: Spring training this year, besides throwing down in the zone, what else do you hope to work on?

Drew: Being quicker to the plate- something that kinda resolved by using a slide step. I'd used it a bit in college, but I used it all the time in the fall league. That and minimizing my pitch count.

Me: If they do throw you in as a starter, what adjustments are you going to need to make with your change-up?

Drew: Oh geeze, I guess get a feel for it, get that confidence, that mental confidence. They haven't said a word to me a bout becoming a starter though, all these wild rumors started flying around.

Me: What's your favorite baseball movie? And choose wisely, I'm really picky about my baseball movies.

Drew: Well you have to love the classics like The Natural and Major League, and of course Field of Dreams.

Me: Perfect answer. Anyone can tell you, I'm obsessed with that movie. Around this time I start getting cabin fever and I'll just put it on to fall asleep with it. I've never not teared up at the "Hey dad, wanna have a catch?" line.

Drew: Oh yeah, and that reminds me of me and my dad. We'd always have a catch- he'd come home in his shirt and tie and throw with me. I also like For Love of the Game. It's got a few cheesy lines but I love the "clear the mechanism." I've never obviously pitched in such an intense game but it really is true, that you have to just clear your mind.

Me: Okay Drew, last question- and most important. Who's your favorite ballplayer of all time?

Drew: Oh uhm... Eric Van Leemer from Summer Catch!

Me: haha, seriously?

Drew: Oh yeah! No one else can rock cut off shirts and leather pants like that guy.

Me: That is an awesome answer.

Drew: Haha, thanks. Real player though, I'd say Ken Griffey Jr. He's always been my favorite. My dream is to face him.

Prospects: Drew Storen

2010-02-10T15:36:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts about baseball is that it's such a fine-tuned sport. MLB players are brushed through with a fine tooth comb, meticulously looked over and judged every plate appearance or visit to the mound until they are deemed "ready" to play with the greats.

Or deemed not good enough.

Unfortunately there's a bigger chance of not making it than even having a chance of making it. Roughly 10% of minor league ballplayers will have a chance to make it through the roughly 6 levels of play before they lace on the spikes for their Big League debut. Only 3% of minor league ballplayers actually will make it to the bigs.

Which is what makes MiLB top prospects so interesting. These guys are the valedictorian's of their class. They are the captain of the football teams, the million-dollar babies. They have the greatest chances of making it, and we as fans love to watch their journey.

I grew to love baseball even more by being around minor leaguers. I sold Dippin Dots for the low class-a affiliate for the Cardinals (and later Cubs) when i was 16 as my first job, and I realized that watching a minor league game is the closest you can come to watching baseball at it's purest.

I still go to that ballpark that I sold Dippin Dots at and sit behind the visiting bullpen, drink beer, and keep score by myself. I love the smell of the ballpark, watching the guys goof off in the bullpen, hearing the crack of the bat with only 800 people on a Wednesday night to keep me company. I love traveling to different minor league stadiums and doing the same thing, and I love following guys in the Midwest League.

Watching some of the guys I still have scorecards for, and was close to when I worked for the Peoria Chiefs make it to the big leagues is the most amazing feeling. It sounds dumb but 5-6 years after watching them, guys like Sam Fuld, Jake Fox, and Brendan Ryan are making it to the bigs and some of them even playing in the post season,.I feel like a proud sister watching her surrogate big brothers reach their dreams.

So the older I got the more I got into following top prospects, and especially Midwest League players. I enjoy going to see the guys play first hand, and I thought I would share my joy of watching these boys' journey's by doing a Spotlight on: Prospects, blog now and again.

I'm not going to force any players down your throat- and I'm not going to specify my prospects blogs to Top Prospects- there are a lot of players in the Midwest League who aren't top Prospects but for those of you who live in the Peoria Area (and Chicago- as there are some Midwest League affiliates up North), it might be fun for you to get out and see some of these guys play.

You might be watching the next Albert Pujols :)

So today I want to concentrate on one of MLB Network's top prospects- Drew Storen.

Storen is MLB Networks number 40 Top Prospect.

A Right Handed pitcher from Stanford, Storen was drafted in the 2009 Amateur draft in the 1st Round, 10th overall for 1.6 million by the Washington Nationals (After they chose Stephen Strasburg with the Number 1 pick). A small(er) signing bonus is product of Storen not wanting to fuss over his contract, hoping to catapult his career quickly through the minors- perhaps even becoming the Nat's closer at the end of the 2010 season.

Storen has a fastball in the 90-94 MPH range with quality movement, a cureveball that breaks in hard at 79-83 MPG (that he refers to as more of a "slurve"), and a changeup that he rarely uses due to his pitching in relief.

Drew flew through his first season in the Minors starting out in A and ending out in AA pitching for the Harrisburg Senators in the Eastern League.

His 2009 combined stats look a little something like this:

2-1 Record

1.95 ERA

28 Games

11 Saves

37 IP

21 Hits

8 runs

2 HR's

8 Walks

49 Strike Outs

.784 WHIP.

I've clearly bolded the most impressive of his stats. (check out that WHIP!)

In the Arizona Fall League, he had 2 wins, 4 saves, a .66 ERA, and a 1.39 WHIP.

So after a productive first year in the minors and in the Arizona Fall League, what has Storen been working on in the off season? Improving his control will always be at the top of the list, but he also specifically began working on his control over the running game. Base runners have had an easier time stealing bases against him and Storen has successfully lowered his time-to-the-plate from 1.7 to 1.3 without losing velocity or movement.

Drew is likely to start the season in AA again, and as I said before, we can look at him to be the potential closer for Washington at the end of the 2010 season.

Spotlight On: Mel Ott

2010-02-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

Kevin Youkilis, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Ichiro Suzuki.

What do these guys have in common?

Out of the ordinary batting stances.

Back in the 1930's there was another guy with an odd batting stance that caused a lot of talk- Mel Ott.

New York Giant's right fielder, Mel was brought up into the majors at the ripe age of 16 because Giant's manager John McGraw, was scared that his time in the minor leagues would mess with his more than interesting batting stance.

Known to lift his right leg prior to impact, this helped Ott with his power. Clearly it worked becaused Mel was the youngest player in baseball history to hit for the cycle, was the first NL player to surpass 500 home runs, was a 6 time NL home run hitter in 1932, 1934, 1936-38, and 1942. In addition to being a power hitter, Mel was also a 6x NL leader in walks.

"Whoa that's Smokey Joe Wood, and Mel Ott, and Gil Hodges!"
-Archie Grahm, Field of Dreams

After playing for 22 seasons in the major leagues, Mel managed the Giants from 1942-1948. His lax-a-dazy managing style left the standings for the Giants with much to be desired. In fact, then Dodger's manager Leo Durocher came to coin Ott's managing style with the phrase "Nice guys finish last!" He was insanely popular with his team and also with the fans.

"Look over there. Do you know a nicer guy than Mel Ott? Or any of the other Giants? Why, they're the nicest guys in the world, and where are they? In last place!" - Leo Durocher

After his stint managing the Giants, Ott teamed up with Van Patrick in 1955 as the radio and video commentator for the Detroit Tigers.

In 1951 Ott was elected on the first ballot with 87.2% of the vote to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His number 4 was retired by the Giants in 1949. Ott passed away tragicially in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958. He is remembered by the Mel Ott Little League in Amherst, NY, which was begun in 1959 in rememberence of this great ballplayer.

" 'O' is for Ott

of the restless right foot

When he leaned on the pellet,

the pellet stayed put."

-Ogden Nash, 1949

"Stats are like Heroin to the Baseball Fan"

2010-02-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

I watched a great special on MLB Network about the best stats in the 2009 season and I thought I'd share- some of them are pretty interesting.

Highest OPS

-Albert Pujols- 1.101
-Joe Mauer- 1.031
-Prince Fielder- 1.014
-Joey Votto- .981
- Derrek Lee- .972

Most Extra Base Hits

-Albert Pujols- 93
-Ryan Howard- 86
-Mark Teixeira- 85
-Prince Fielder- 84
-Adam Lind- 81

Highest OBP

-Joe Mauer- .444
-Albert Pujols- .443
-Nick Johnson- .426
-Todd Helton- .416
-Joey Votto- .414

Highest BA

-Joe Mauer- .365 (it never ceases to amaze me how insanely monsterous this is)
-Ichiro Suzuki- .352
-Hanley Ramirez- .342
-Derek Jeter- .334
-Pablo Sandoval- .330

Highest BA With Runners in Scoring Posistion

-Yunie Escobar- .373
-Hanley Ramirez- .373
-Joe Mauer- .367
-Kevin Youkilis- .362
-Bay- .360

Consecutive Games Played

-Prince Fielder- 185
-Andre Etheir- 116
-Everth Cabrera-97
-Joe Mauer- 95
-Robinson Cano- 90

Most Pitches Seen

-Chone Figgins- 3,078
-Jayson Werth- 3,041
-Brian Roberts- 2,895
-Adam Dunn- 2,893
-Ryan Howard- 2,870

Most Intentional Walks

-Albert Pujols- 44
-Adrian Gonzalez- 22
-Prince Fielder- 21
-Manny Ramirez- 21
-Chipper Jones- 18

______Pitching_______

Most Quality Starts (at least 6 innings pitched with 3 or fewer earned runs)

-Felix Hernandex- 29
-Tim Lincecum- 26
-Zack Greinke- 26
-Adam Wainwright- 25
-Jair Jurjens- 25

Most 10K Games

-Tim Lincecum- 8
-Justin Verlander- 7
-Jon Lester-6
-Zack Greinke- 5
-Ricky Nolasco- 5

Highest Percentage of Team's Victories

-Zack Greinke- 24.6% (This is huge considering he played for the ROYALS)
-Roy Halladay- 22.7%
-Felix Hernandez- 22.4%
-Justin Verlander- 22.1%
-Adam Wainwright- 20.9%

Lowest Home ERA

-Zack Greinke- 1.70 (again... proving why he was the AL Cy Young winner)
-Clayton Kershaw- 1.83 (phenomenal especially considering his age and division played in)
-Ted Lilly- 1.87
-Tim Lincecum- 1.88
-Adam Wainwright- 2.05

Most 1-2-3 Innings by a Pitcher

-Justin Verlander- 95
-Dan Haren-91
-Tim Lincecum- 91

Most Pitches Thrown

-Justin Verlander- 3,931
-Felix Hernandez- 3,627
-Adam Wainwright- 3,614
-CC Sabathia- 3,586

Most Innings Pitched in Relief

-DJ Carrasco- 89.1
-Brian Bass- 83.2
-Todd Coffey- 83.2
-Andrew Bailey- 83.1
-Ramon Troncosco- 82.2

Lowest WHIP

-Dan Haren- 1.00
-Chris Carpenter- 1.01
-Javie Vazques- 1.03
-Tim Lincecum- 1.05
-Ted Lilly- 1.06

Common Gregg, show us that million dollar arm- Cuz I gotta good idea about that 5-cent head of yours

2010-02-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

Jays Sign Gregg to One-Year Deal

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com

02/05/10 11:16 AM EST

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays have made it official: Kevin Gregg is competing for the closer's job. On Friday, Toronto officially announced that it has signed the reliever to a one-year contract that includes a pair of club options, adding more depth to a crowded bullpen.

Gregg will earn $2.75 million in 2010 and has the potential to remain with the Blue Jays through 2012. Toronto will have the choice of exercising a one-year, $4.50 million club option for 2011 or a two-year club option worth $8.75 million for the 2011-12 campaigns.

The options give the Blue Jays the opportunity to retain Gregg if the club lacks other closing options over the next two years. That's important considering that left-hander Scott Downs and right-hander Jason Frasor -- Gregg's competitors for the ninth-inning job this spring -- are both eligible for free agency next winter.

Including the two club options also increases Gregg's potential value as a bargaining chip around the July 31 Trade Deadline. Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is focusing on the club's long-term situation and is trying to gather as many assets as he can. Having Gregg in the fold as a potential trading chip is of value for a Toronto team that is trying to obtain young players for the future.

Gregg also qualified as a Type A free agent this offseason and there is the chance that he could be worth compensation Draft picks again down the road. That also is true of Downs or Frasor, who would likely be at least Type B free agents next offseason. If all three relievers qualify, the Jays could have a handful of compensatory picks to help build up their farm system.

Adding Gregg to the mix could also signal that Anthopoulos is considering trading Downs, Frasor or another reliever. As things currently stand, the Blue Jays have more than a dozen arms in the mix for the seven available bullpen roles. With Gregg, Downs and Frasor set to make the team, that leaves few jobs up for grabs.

Over the past three seasons, the the 31-year-old Gregg has posted a 3.86 ERA with 84 saves in stints with the Marlins and Cubs. The right-hander has also blown 20 saves over that time period -- seven with Chicago a year ago while earning $4.2 million -- and he allowed 13 home runs last season, which was tied for the most yielded by a Major League reliever.

Gregg did finish with 23 saves and 71 strikeouts over 68 2/3 innings with the Cubs in '09, but he lost the closer's job to Carlos Marmol in August and was shut down toward the end of September due to a crack in the cartilage in his left rib cage. In the season's final two months, Gregg allowed 18 earned runs over 20 1/3 innings, giving him a bloated 7.97 ERA over that time period.

Even with that recent history of inconsistency, Gregg has more experience as a closer than Downs or Frasor, who have performed well in setup roles. Downs and Frasor helped out in the ninth inning last year after former closer B.J. Ryan battled injuries and command issues, leading to his release in July. Ryan is still owed $10 million for this season.

Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs

Realignment of divisions or..... reassigment of career?

2010-02-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Originally posted on ESPN Page 2- follow the direct link to the story here
***************
In the article linked above, David Shoenfield talks about his idea for realigning the AL divisions every year in a "lottery" in which a "face" from each team (except for 3 of the AL West teams, and the Yankees and Red Sox) would come and draw what division they would play in every year. Most of the Western division would stay due to "location" (please commence eye rolling now) and the Red Sox and Yankees would stay in the East due to being more of "national" teams.
*************
The last part of thearticle seems odd to me. No, not the: "It's time for the sport to think outside the box," but the: "David Shoenfield is a senior editor for ESPN.com."

What?

How is this guy a senior editor for the largest and most popular sports broadcasting collarborative in the history of American Sports?

And what is he smoking?

He seems to think this is a great idea, and as I'm reading the article I'm sitting there to myself saying "This guy can't be serious... he just CANT be serious."

Here's 5 reasons why realignment every year of the divisions will never work and is moronic:

1) It increases travel espenses.

Every season teams in the MLB play in a sepecifically set up division partially to allow for easier and cheaper travel. Major league ballplayers require not only good amounts of rest and relaxation (especially pitchers), but ease from point A to point B durring their traveling. If we realigned the Divisions the way he wanted to, then instead of playing 6 series against Cleveland every year, for example, the White Sox would be playing in 2010 6 series against the Seattle Mariners. Instead of a first month spent mostly in the central against their division opponents in neighboring states, the White Sox would spend the month of April a little like this (home games are denoted in bold):

4/5- Mariners
4/6- Off
4/7- Mariners
4/8-Mariners
4/9- Angels
4/10-Angels
4/11-Angels
4/12- Blue Jays
4/13- Blue Jays
4/14-Blue Jays
4/15- Blue Jays
4/16- Mariners
4/17-Mariners
4/18-Mariners
4/19-Off
4/20-TB Rays
4/21-TB Rays
4/22-TB Rays
4/23- Orioles
4/24-Orioles
4/25-Orioles
4/26-Off
4/27-BoSox
4/28-BoSox
4/29-BoSox
4/30-NYY

Notice how based on Schoenfield's realignment system the White Sox would be playing teams from either side of the country at home, and spend the rest of the time on the West Coast, then off to the East Coast. Jet-lag much? What about the starting rotation? With these guys jumping from coast to coast so much, the team is going to have incur even more expenses sending the next-day's starting pitcher ahead of the rest of the team to make the coastal jump in order to get rest before his start.

Way to cut back on all that unnecessary spending there, Schoenfield......

2) Not everyone cares that much about the Yankees and Red Sox.

This guy acts like we all sit and drool over what Theo Epstien's next off season move will be, and blare "Empire State of Mind" in the showers, dreaming of the glitz and glam of the big New York City lights of Yankee Stadium.

Give me a break. Since the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 ESPN has shoved that team so far down our throats that we'd spit up red and white if we tried to swallow. Then start prouncing Harvard "Ha-vahd" and buy our children little Wally the Green Monster dolls to sleep with. I thank God every day for MLB Network because it's a rare occassion that I turn on ESPN to watch Baseball Tonight when I can easily get an unbiased well-rounded commentary on The Hot Stove.

But to posistion New York and Boston so that they are constantly in the East is the most ignorant part of this idea yet. What? So that Kansas City can play in the East and lose even more? That's not exactly how to increase the fairness of the playing field, is it? I'm not sure what difference I see when you compare to the win/loss record for Kansas and Baltimore-(The Orioles finished 64-98 while Kansas City smoked them at 65-97.....) it's replacing crap with crap. The only problem I can see is that poor Grienki, who won the American League Cy Young this year, would be paired up against the Red Sox and Yankees more often, most likely incurring less wins and therefore decreasing his trade-value.

Again, another STELLER idea, Schoenfield.

3) Changing the alignment of divisions won't increase a losing team's winning chances.

The Yankees don't win the world series every year but the Pittsburg Pirates do come in last place divisionally every year.

Let's put it this way. Since 2002, the Pirates have come in dead last place 4 times. When they haven't come in last they've come in 2nd to last. The one time they came in 3rd they finished 24.5 games back. The Kansas City Royals also came in last 5 times since 2002 in the AL Central.

How is putting the Royals in the AL East or the AL West going to help their chances? Maybe it will keep the team on their toes a little bit but whether they're losing to the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox or New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, the fact remains- they're losing.

Perhaps if MLB was doing something like increasing Wild Card posistions the teams would have a better chance of winning the world series, but what's the point of fighting for the division title if there's going to be 6 Wild Card posistions? In my opinion that not only discourages teams from productive playing and hard work, but encourages mediocrity.

4) We need to focus on fixing the "fixes" before MLB moves onto another gimmick.

Two Words: Revenue Sharing.

The problems with revenue sharing lay in the complexities and loopholes that allow teams to get out of directly contributing to the revenue poll. The Yankee's building their new stadium allowed them to get out of contributing 100% of the funds they were supposed to. However, with the past acts of the Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays I'd try and get out of contributing roughly 1/3rd of the $300 mil contributed to the revenue pool as well.

Perhaps if Selig had specified that the money that goes into the revenue poll was to be used directly for player payroll, teams wouldn't be trying to get out of paying into the pool. However, in another show of how he loves to do things half-way, Selig and the Blue Ribbion Panel only said that the money was to go to "increasing player productivity on the field," leaving the outcome of the $30 million dollar checks the lower market teams recieved open to interpruation.

The Whole out-of-box idea of Schoenfield's is to increase competitiveness, and if the revenue sharing plan were fixed, it would work to do that better than his moronic idea. The Rockies and Royals are known for investing all of their revenue checks into player payroll.

The player's union would never agree to a salary cap, so entertaining the thought is worthless. If revenue sharing were played out the way it's supposed to be then the teams who go over on their payroll, and know there is a luxuary tax, invest the % (it originally was 40% and is teetering around 31% currecently) of revenue to the smaller market teams. Smaller market teams would invest the $20-$30 mil back into their player's payroll, signing a few big names, and increasing competitive balance.

Schoenfield should write an intelligent article about that before he goes blasting off about ridiculous realignment strategies.

5) This is just a friggin stupid idea.

I bet if i did a count on the number of times in this blog I've used different versions of the word "moron" or "idiot" it would be in the double digets. I don't even feel bad about it because this really is the MOST RIDICULOUS IDEA I'VE EVER HEARD.

Here's an idea-- why dont, when the teams go to the lottery and pull out their assigned division, they also pull out a randomized roster from Yahoo! Sprots of the top 30 most productive Fantasty Baseball teams. Then we can cut out payroll problems all together! Who knows if the Yankees or Padres are going to be more successfull- baseball is a gamble!

I, personally, as a White Sox fan, would love to watch my team spend 65% of the season on the West Coast- I dont get enough sleep as-is so why not watch all my teams games from 9pm-12am? Nevermind that they would be crucial division rivalry games, but the teams they'd be playing against wouldn't have to travel nearly as much because, as Schoenfield puts it, West Coast teams would need to stay put for the most part due to "location."

Location? I'm sorry-- LOCATION?

Location IS WHY WE HAVE A CENTRAL, EAST, AND WEST! That's the whole reason! Because of location!

My whole advice to Schoenfield is to stop. Just stop writing. Stop thinking, and for the love of God- please dont discuss baseball in a serious manner ever again. I'm not sure who let this article slip through at ESPN but they, along with you, should be fired. Usually I can take something tongue-in-cheek with a laugh but this--- this you were clearly serious about. I have yet to read one comment not ripping you to shreds, and rightfully so.

So before you decide to contribute to the baseball world with another brilliant suggestion, tuck your tail between your legs and run along- grown ups converse here....

We Are Chicago Baseball

Spotlight On: Roy Campanella Night

2010-02-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

"Campy's now gone, Jackie's gone.

Moving from our friendly confines at

Ebbet's field to the glitz in Hollywood..

that was a pretty big move for us."

-Carl Erskine, Dodger's pitcher.

In 1958 the Dodgers spent their season losing- something they hadn't been used to in the last decade. Their 2nd season at the Coliseum in Los Angelas they needed some inspiration to lift their spirits and bring a World Series Championship home to a new group of fans in a new town like they had promised.

The only problem was that winning wasn't coming easy for the "boys of summer." The new park, which was the Los Angelas Memorial Coliseum housed a left field fence that was 257 feet, and a right center field fence that went back 455 feet.

The team was struggling, and along with that, their most famed players were no long with the team. Jackie Robinson had been gone since the end of the 1956 season, Duke and Hodges were on their last leg, and the Dodger's famed catcher, Roy Campanella, had suffered from a car accident which left him paralyzed and ended his career right before the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn.

The Dodgers finished 2nd to last in the West in 1958 and they needed something to lift their spirits in 1959.

Enter, former Dodgers catcher, Roy Campanella.

It hadn't been long since Campy, as he was called by his teammates, had been playing with the Dodgers. Roy, of Italian and African American decent was the 2nd player in Dodger history to break the color barrier. In 1948, a season after Jackie Robinson, he came to Brooklyn after spending two years jumping around their minor league system.

Campy also was the first African American player to coach a group of white professional athletes when he took over the manager role when Walter Aston was ejected from a game during the minor leagues in the 1947 season.

Campy's career was not without success. With 8 All-star selections, 3 NL MVP awards, and a World Series under his belt, Roy is a deserving Hall of Fame inductee. Campy was also a favorite on his team- which is why the LA Dodgers banned together in 1959 and decided to send their team some inspiration in the form of the very man they had played with for a decade.

On May 9th, the Dodgers held an exhibition game for which the Yankees agreed to fly to LA. This night, which was used to raise money for Campy's medical bills, would forever be known as Roy Campanella night. The Dodgers announced to the 93,103 in attendance that the lights would be turned off as former teammate Pee Wee Reese wheeled Campy to the mound.

"They told everybody-

we want each of you to light one match....

What a sight that was."

-Joe Pignatano, Dodger's catcher.

The entire coliseum lit a candle or match, and commentators remarked that it was the most beautiful and stunning sight you would ever see in sports.

Here was a city, which had only welcomed this former power-house of a team for a season- and a season which left much to be desired. Yet here were almost 100,000 fans and residents of LA packing into a football field to honor a man they had never even seen play before. LA was ready to back their Dodgers, and the Dodgers welcomed the encouragement.

"Roy had never played one inning in LA,

and yet, somehow,

that fandom in California

caught the spirit of Roy Campanella"

-Carl Erskine, Dodgers pitcher.

In 1959 Campy was also appointed the assistant supervisor of scouting for the Easter Coach. He went to spring trainings and helped mold young catchers and pitchers. "Campy's Bullpen" is still used in Dodger spring training today.

Sometimes, in baseball, fans come together to support a team in a way that can only be described as magical. This game has transcended through the ages and never ceases to be one of the main events in American culture and history to touch the lives of humans so perfectly. One fact remains- that when you get a group of 93,000 fans together to honor a great baseball legend, the event touches a lot of people. It also inspires a lot of people including the 1959 Dodgers who went on to beat my Go-Go White Sox and win the World Series that year.

Campy passed away in June of 1993 but not after helping mold the lives of many young players and fans. He will forever be remembered as not only a great player, and man, but also one of the most historically popular African American players of his time.

We Are Chicago Baseball

Spotlight On: Christy Mathewson

2010-02-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

I've recently decided that every few days I'm going to do a Spotlight On blog... these will be focused completely on the history of baseball and will include players, managers, parks, events, etc- all celebrating the greatest and some of the least known or publicized parts of baseball history. My whole point in doing this is to hopefully teach those of you who don't focus much on baseball prior to the 1990's, some interesting tidbits about the game.

I will also be doing a Spotlight On: Prospects, blog once or twice a week. I'd like to get more traffic on the site and be able to pass some of my knowledge and favorite reasons why I love this sport to others.

Today I decided to start with someone I learned about based on reading Eight Men Out. Hugh Fullerton, a Chicago sports writer, and Christy Matthewson sat in box seats during the 1919 World Series and circled "suspicious" plays including two by ace, Eddie Cicotte, in Game 1.

The first play that cued Mathewson, who was a retired Reds player and manager, off? An intentional hit of Cincinnati lead off hitter Morrie Rath to single to New York gamblers that the players were in agreement with the fix.

It comes as no surprise that Christy Mathewson would be one to watch every game in deep scruntity of every play. As a manager he had suspended Hal Chase for "indifferent playing." On and off the field "Matty" as he was nicknamed in the bigs was the epitome of a role model. He never played ball on Sundays, went to Bucknell University, and served as his college class president.

In a time when booz, gambling, and women were rampant in baseball, Mathewson was the odd man out. He attended a literacy club, and coined the phrase "you can learn little from victory, but everything from defeat."

He was deemed arrogant by his teammates but he was one of the few who could easily be arrogant and it be acceptable.

Matty started his professional baseball career playing minor league ball with the Norfolk. From there he was bought for $1,500 from the Giants, and after going 0-3, returned with receipt in hand when the big league team demanded their money back. Soon afterwards he was sold to the Reds for $100 and then went full circle and was traded back to the Giants for a burnt out fast ball pitcher.

Christy has a little more than a fastball under his belt. Andrew Foster taught him a pitch that he used maybe only 12 times a game- but was always a threat. Called a "fadeaway" in the dead-ball era, Christy Mathewson is one of the best known screwball pitchers in baseball history. (A screw ball is a reverse curve that breaks in to right handed batters. It usually leaves the batters line of vision easily hence the nickname "fadeaway").

With a combination fastball, screwball, and change up, Matthewson won a career 373 games, had a 2.13 career ERA with 80 career shutouts, 2,502 K's and only 844 walks.

In 1905 the Giants won the World Series. Matty, always persevering, started in Games 1, 3, and 5. Christy Mathewson not only pitched 3 complete games by himself, but gave up only 14 hits and no runs. That's right- this guy pitched 3 complete game shutouts during the 1905 World Series.

By 1908 Matty had completed 2 no hitters, had won the Triple Crown for pitching twice, and was regarded as baseball's first real superstar.

Due to his morality and passion for God and life in general, he was the perfect role model for young boys. He took it a step further when he joined the army for World War I in 1918 and went over seas with Ty Cobb to fight for America's freedom.

In France he was accidentally gassed and as a result, developed tuberculosis.

Matty returned home to coach the Giants during the 1919-1920 season, but his illness kept him out of baseball after that except for a brief stint with the Boston Braves as a co-president in 1923. He suffered silently and ultimately passed away in 1925 at only 45 years old.

Christy Mathewson died on Opening Day of the 1925 World Series and members of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators wore black arm bands and the US mourned his passing.

11 years later Mathewson was one of the first five players ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was the only one not there to see it.

Matty will always be remembered for his insane arm, his 13 times winning 20+ games and 4 times winning 30+, his intelligence, his love for the game and trying to keep it clean, and-a personal favorite of mine- what I call the "curse of Christy Mathewson." Matty pitched and lost a playoff game against the Chicago Cubs who went on to win the 1908 World Series. They haven't won one since. I've always found that little piece of history entertaining.

"M is for Matty
Who carried a charm

In the form of an extra

Brain on his arm"

-Ogden Nash

We Are Chicago Baseball

Right Man, Right Hat, Wrong Attitude

2010-01-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

The greatest honor bestowed on someone who works in the professional baseball world is to be elected into the Hall of Fame. Most men greet this induction with professionalism, excitement, and gratitude. After all, it takes a vote of 75% of more for a player to be inducted, and for most, years and a ton of lobbying to get to that point.

This year Andre Dawson (nicknamed "The Hawk") was elected into the hall of fame after 8 years of being on the ballot. This is not a blog to argue if he should be in the Hall or not. I am 100% in agreement that he should have been elected and am extremely excited for him.

This is about the exhausting bellyaching that he has been doing about not being inducted into the Hall with a Cubs hat on.

Andre Dawson became a household name with the Chicago Cubs. I don't even know many White Sox fans who were or are not fans of his- and rightfully so. He had a stand up season in 1987 with the Cubs winning the NL MVP award with an outstanding 49 home runs and 137 RBI's. For a lot of Cub fans, he was their Frank Thomas of the late 1980s-early 1990s.

If Dawson wants to go in with a Cub hat to the Hall of Fame, that's great, I'm happy for him. I'm also sad for him that he didn't get his wish, but after coming out to the press telling about how he was disappointed in the decision, he didn't let it go. In fact, he mentioned on the 27th that he was "disappointed in the fact, but from there I will move on."

This morning ESPN reported that Dawson has not moved on. In fact he'd done quite the opposite. Dawson now is reporting that he will don a Cubs hat at his induction ceremony.

"I don't want to do anything that might be an embarrassment to someone or show someone up, that's not my character. But there will be some way I will try to acknowledge the Cubs fans to show just how important they were to me. I did think about at some point in time during the speech putting a Cubs cap on, but I don't know if that's appropriate."

To be fair, let me recap a little history for you. In 2001 the Hall of Fame changed the rule to reflect that they would make the executive decision of what logo a player would wear on the cap on his HoF plaque. The reason for this is because some teams were playing unfair and trying to buy out HoF elect's logo decisions. The Tampa Bay Rays offered Wade Boggs money to wear the TB logo on his cap which was clearly unfair and corrupt.

The choice of which logo goes on the cap is the decision of the museum, but the player's preference is always taken into consideration. Dawson after learning of his election had expressed his desire to go in with a Cub logo. The Hall, who's mission it is to preserve the sports history, thought it appropriate to preserve the history of the Montreal Expos and the portion of his career that catapulted him to the status he reached ultimately as a Cub by placing the logo on Dawson's cap.

Either logo would have been appropriate in my opinion, but to look at things historically, the Montreal logo made the most sense. There are many who look at Dawson as the Montreal Expo. The Expos moved to Washington DC in 2004 and renamed themselves the Nationals, and aside from Gary Carter, Dawson is the only other player to be inducted with an Expo's logo on his cap.

Fans who were and still consider themselves to be Expo's fans are disgusted. Carter, Dawson, and Raines were the three of the biggest names in Expo's history. Andre spent the first 11 seasons of his career in Montreal and in 1977 Dawson won the Rookie of the Year award there with a .282 average, 19 Home runs, and 65 RBI's, and was the MVP runner up in 1981 and 1983. Five Expo's represented the team when the 1982 All-Star game was held in Montreal: Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Al Oliver and Rogers, and Andre Dawson.

For Dawson to come out and be so incredibly disgusted with the Hall's choice to use the Expo's logo on his cap is not only a slap in the face to Expo's fans but also the Hall of Fame in general.

If he wanted to express his opinion on the matter, that's fine, but the comments he's been making about the decision is just plain disrespectful.

All this complaining coming from a guy who was running around promising teams that he would go into the Hall with the logo of whatever team he finished his career out with. He ultimately signed an obligatory-logo clause with the Marlins when he went to play with them for the last stint of his professional career. Apparently, it didn't matter then what logo he went into the Hall of Fame with, but now that the clause has been overturned by the Hall's choice to make the ultimate decision theirs, it's suddenly important.

Now, after he's found out of his election, the Cub's were offering to retire his number if he went in with their logo. I just have one question for the Chicago Cubs- when did it become 'ok' to abuse politics in baseball? Isn't this exactly the kind of compensation the HoF was taking into consideration when they adjusted things so that the logo decision would be theirs alone???

Now, everyone knows that it wasn't Andre's decision, but since the HoF takes a player's preference into consideration, lobbying the Hall to go in as a Cub would have helped increase the chances of that happening. Reports of the number-retire buyout surfaced previously but clearly didn't make a difference. Andre lobbied and the Hall declined his partiality.

In addition to all of the complaining, Dawson has also blasted White Sox fan, and President of the United States, Barrack Obama, for not calling him to congratulate him for his election to the Hall.

"I haven't heard from President Obama probably because he's a White Sox fan."

Dawson remarked to the Chicago ESPN affiliate.

Wow. You're right- you haven't heard from Obama because he's a White Sox fan. It's not like he has anything else to do like RUN A COUNTRY. Forget prepping for the State of the Union address- the number one on his "To-Do" list was: Call and congratulate Andre Dawson. But he didn't- ONLY BECAUSE HE'S A WHITE SOX FAN... Are you kidding me?

To me this whole thing seems like a circus act. Andre complaining, the Cubs offering to retire his number, the Hall declining, and Andre lashing back out shows every sign of a media extravaganza.

To the members of the board of the HoF this is a slap in the face. The greatest honor you can receive is to be inducted into Cooperestown. Andre Dawson should be proud to be a member of such an elite group. The Cubs, if they really valued him as a player so much, should retire his number despite what logo Dawson wears on plaque.

Like I said, this blog isn't to debate what logo he should wear, or if he should have been elected into the Hall (and personally, if anyone wants to debate that, there's no point. Not only does the guy have Hall of Fame numbers but for the most part he has a Hall of Fame career class-wise. He was a part of baseball history and deserves his election), or to upset Cub fans. This blog isn't to debate whether or not a player should be able to pick his own logo, but to remind everyone that an election into the Hall is an honor. An election into the Hall of fame is a privilege.

If Andre has a problem with the logo then by all means, he should voice his opinion, but he should not contradict himself, and he should not spend 48+ hours bellyaching and complaining about the decision. Dawson- let it go. Show us what a classy guy you are and stop complaining. Don't wear a Cubs hat during your induction ceremony- it's just inappropriate and a slap in the face to the men who elected to bring you into Cooperstown. You've made your point clear- and Cub fans are aware of your desire to go in as a Cub and your love for Chicago and it's fans.

My advice to you is to wear your Expo's logo proudly and be one of the classy men that the Hall loves to promote. You are one of two (maybe three, because Raines will most likely go in as an Expo as well) to keep the history alive for Montreal. Above all, you are a Hall of Fame inductee. Some men spend 15 years after retirement lobbying to be in the Hall, and the decision of these worthy players now lay on the shoulders of the Veteran's committee.

And if that doesn't put it all in perspective- I leave you with this: Buck Weaver only got to play less than half the time Dawson did in the majors but managed to have over half the games played, hits, runs, and doubles as Andre. Their batting averages .273 (Buck) and .279 (Dawson) respectively were insanely close, as were their OBP- .307 (Buck) and .323 (Dawson). Keeping in mind that Buck Weaver was banned from ball in the heyday of his career, Dawson should feel lucky and exhilarated that he not only got to live out his career as major league player, but also be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Andre- start counting your blessings, and get rid of the attitude. Try showing fans of baseball and the fans you love to represent on the Northside of Chicago what it is to be a classy Hall of Famer. Because personally, I'm sick of the complaining and I don't want to hear it anymore.

*****************************************************

For reference these are some HoF players who have been associated with multiple teams: (per wiki)

Frank Robinson: Robinson chose to have the Orioles cap displayed on his plaque, although he had played ten seasons with the Reds and six seasons with Baltimore. Robinson won four pennants and two World Series with the Orioles and one pennant with Cincinnati. His second World Series ring came in the 1970 World Series against the Reds. His numbers with the Orioles and the Reds were very good and he won an MVP award while playing for each team.
Catfish Hunter: When elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987, Hunter declined to choose between the teams for which he played — the A's and Yankees— as he had been successful with both teams and maintained good relations with both teams and their respective owners. His plaque shows him wearing a cap without a logo.
Nolan Ryan: Born and raised in Texas, Ryan entered the Hall in 1999 wearing a Texas Rangers cap on his plaque, although he spent only five seasons with the Rangers, while having longer and more successful tenures with the Houston Astros (nine seasons, 1980–88 and his record-setting fifth career no-hitter) and California Angels (eight seasons, 1972–79 and the first four of his seven career no-hitters). Ryan's only championship was as a member of the New York Mets in 1969. Ryan finished his career with the Rangers, reaching his 5000th strikeout and 300th win, and throwing the last two of his seven career no-hitters.
Reggie Jackson: Jackson chose a New York Yankees cap over an Oakland A's cap. As a member of the Kansas City/Oakland A's, Jackson played ten seasons (1967–75, '87), winning three World Series and the 1973 AL MVP Award. During his five years in New York (1977-81), Jackson won two World Series with his crowning achievement occurring during Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, when he hit three home runs on consecutive pitches.
Carlton Fisk: Fisk went into the hall with a Boston Red Sox cap on his plaque in 2000 despite playing with the Chicago White Sox longer and posting more significant numbers with the White Sox. Fisk's choice of the Red Sox was likely because of his being a New England native, as well as his famous walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with which he is most associated.
Dave Winfield: Winfield had spent the most years in his career with the Yankees and had had great success there, but chose to go into the Hall as a Padre due to his feud with Yankees owner George Stienbrenner.

We Are Chicago Baseball

"The Strongest Thing I put Into my Body Is Steak and Eggs." Chicago Passes on a REAL Class-Act.

2010-01-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Chicago is in an uproar. Last night news broke that the White Sox would not be re-signing Jim Thome as a part of their rotating designated hitter spot. Immediate flashbacks to 2006.

I'd never heard more fans complain than the day we traded Aaron Rowand, Gio Gonzalez, and Daniel Haigwood (the two later being minor leaguers) to Philadelphia. When we found out who we'd got in return, I also can't remember hearing more fans as elated: Jim Thome. Mister power house. Mister home-run hitter. Past the heyday of his career, Jim was still a monster at the plate, and as a home town boy, a hero to all of us respectively. We all loved Jim. There wasn't a fan in the greater Peoria area, or anywhere else in the state that didn't know and adore him.

I'd been a fan of his for years. I'd grown up watching him hit bombs with the Tribe, followed him in Philly, and though I was upset to see Aaron Rowand leave, I couldn't have been happier to get Thome on our team.

It's safe to say that Big Jim had his first career home run on October 4th 1991, and never stopped hitting them.

I don't think I have to go through all of Mr. Incredible's career highlights including a career high 52 home runs in his 2002 season with Cleavland (steroid-free, mind you), his 564 career home runs, his 5 all-star selections, his silver slugger award in 1996, his American League comeback player of the year award with the White Sox in 2006, and his ability to be an insane power-hitter while exhibiting intense control at the plate while leading the AL in walks in 1997, 1999, and 2002.

Beyond what he does on the field, Jim has been nick named the "classiest guy in baseball" by all who have played with him, and most all who have played against him. There is not a nicer, more passionate, respectful man in baseball. All who meet Jim Thome come away from the experience saying that you never expect him to be as nice as he is- but he really is just that nice of a guy.

What other man in baseball hosts a charity even in his home town every year since 1995 and has members of his former team and former manager of the Phillies come to speak on his behalf as a surprise? Jim Thome- that's who. Charlie Manuel and Paul Konerko couldn't have had better things to say about him at the Children's Hospital of Illinois benefit just a week and a half ago.

What Jim does off the field is as amazing as what he does on the field. He has hosted the Children's Hospital Benefit for 15 years and has helped raise over 1.7 million dollars, all of which has been directly contributed to helping provide care to the families at the Children's Hospital of Peoria. The benefit which was originally started by Joyce Thome, Jim's mother, has always had a special place in Jim's heart. He has renamed it and dedicated it to her every year since she passed away in January of 2005.

In addition to the Children's Hospital, Thome (and his wife, Andrea) have been working together with the Konerkos to help with the Children's Home + Aid Society to help with foster children in Illinois. They head up the White Sox Bring Me Home campaign (original post of the campaign and ways that you can donate can be found by clicking this link). Both Konerko and Thome have wrote letters to the Chicago Sun-Times asking lawmakers not to let there be cuts to foster-care services. There is truly no better example of a good, hard working, charitable man as Jim Thome.

Durring the benefit, Paul Konerko told stories about how the team would joke around with Thome just to see if they could get him to act the wrong way just once. They would mess with his key card at hotels, or his food and pull pranks on him, but Jim always stayed composed and classy. That's just the kind of man he is.

"I would be in the dugout after Jim had struck out during a game and he'd come back in and I'd think 'Man, this guy's gonna be mad as can be!' and he'd look at me and say 'Man! I really missed that one...'
-Paul Konerko

Along with being one of the classiest men in baseball, Jim also has been a role model for hundreds of young players who have had the pleasure of playing with and against him. Just recently this year, White Sox rookie Gordon Beckham had an amazing first season in the bigs and attributes a lot of his success to the mentoring given to him by Thome. Jim's teammates said that his approach every day in baseball is as if he had done nothing in this league, and he had everything to prove. What a guy to look up to when you make your big league debut. I couldn't think of anyone better I'd rather be on the field with.

In 2007 Jim was named the friendlies player in baseball by a pool of 464 major leaguers. Jim has always had the up most respect from his team. Konerko would say "When I thought I was good and thought I was something special, I'd look down at Jim and think 'That's good. That's what good is right there."

Even eccentric manager Ozzie Guillen came to his rescue when Texas Rangers reliever CJ Wilson entered a game where his team was up 12-7 in the 9th. After nearly blowing the lead and giving up 4 runs, he struck out Jim Thome and went wild on the mound. Ozzie flew off the handle (anyone surprised is ordered to raise their hand...... now.) and started screaming at Wilson.

Ozzie addressed this issue on Saturday at the town hall meeting at SoxFest. "Jim Thome is the classiest guy in baseball. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame. You don't show up a guy like that. You just don't do it. I don't care who you are." Ozzie expressed shaking his head and making a disgusted motor sound with his mouth at the mention of Wilson's name.

The sheer thought that after 3 years, Ozzie still has such disdain for a player because of the way he treated Thome is a testament right there to Thome's popularity and persona. There will never be another player to play this game that is so well liked and appreciated as Jim Thome is.

Jim will always be one of my personal heroes. No matter where he goes or who he's with I will always cheer him on. Unfortunately he will not be returning with the White Sox this year (which was a mutual agreement for those of you harping on Ozzie. Guillen and Williams want a DH-by-committee during the 2010, and while they offered Thome a chance to sign with the team, while most likely sending Vizquel down to make room for him on the 40-man, Thome declined. You can't blame either party. KW has already spent the money on Kotsay, Jones, and Nix, and Thome wants more at-bats that a DH spot with the Sox could offer him this year). The Twins, Tampa Bay, and Detroit are all interested in him, and where ever he goes I hope he knocks those final 36 home runs out of the park to reach the 600 club. There is no man in active baseball who deserves it more, and I look forward to seeing Jim in Cooperstown one day.

I will never forget watching him hit his 500th home run, or his blast during the Black Out Game against the Twins in 08. He has provided some great memories for me as a Sox fan, but mostly as a baseball fan. Good luck Jim, in everything you do!

We Are Chicago Baseball

The Chicago Baseball Museum- Keeping our History Alive

2010-01-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

"Baseball is a game dominated by vital ghosts; it's a fraternity, like no other we have of the active and the no longer so- the living and the dead."- Richard Gilman

One of the earliest lessons taught to us as young children is that those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it. There is only one instance in which I can consider that a positive- and that's when it comes to baseball. In baseball, those who dont remember the past are doomed to forget it, and that seems like a worse punishment.

Ballplayers always remark of how they grew up watching players who they asipred to be like, and coaches call on managers and coaches from their past that they were taught by.

Most of us can recall a player or two that we specifically remember growing up listening to stories of, or watching as a young child who really touched our hearts. For me, that was Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt was staple of my young child hood, but I grew up listening to stories of guys like Dick Allen, Richie Zisk, etc. Rarely however, do I remember hearing much about the players pre-1959 "Go Go Sox" era.

In fact, not until I in my early teens did I really open my eyes up to players who marked the times at the turn of the century, or in the roaring 20's, or durring the Depression Era. Guys like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio I had heard of, of course, but I dug deeper and read about Christy Matthewson, Lefty Grove, Mel Ott, Goose Goslin, and Grover Cleveland. I could name the entire starting line up for the 1917 and 1919 White Sox team by the time I was 15. Still everyone around me seemed to be talking about the players "today." A-Rod, Jeter, the power houses of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, McGwire and Sosa, etc. Not once did I ever hear someone say "Hey, CC Sabathia just won his 28th game this season."

In fact, in 2001 when Sabathia tore up the American League going 17-5, I remember being looked at strangly in my home room when I chimed in "Lefty Grove had a 31-4 record one year when he played." "Who the HELL is Lefty Grove?" a kid asked, looking at me like I was the biggest idiot. Clearly I had been talking about someone who played in the minors, or little league, or who had had some steller freshman college career that maybe they might want to hear about for drafting reasons.

I sunk back in my chair and went back to doing homework. I felt stupid explaining to them who Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove, was and how he had completed 8 of his 17 major league seasons with 20+ wins. The guy played back in the 1920's and 1930's. No one cared about him right now. At least not a bunch of 15 year old teenage kids. Right now they cared about Roy Oswalt and CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki.

I cared about Lefty Grove, and Buck Weaver, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. I still come close to tears thinking about the hard work men like them put into the game. At 23 years of age I sometimes run into the occassional die hard fan who wants to talk about Eddie Cicotte or Lefty Williams with me (dont get confused- Lefty Williams and Lefty Grove are not the same people. Back before the 1980's EVERYONE in baseball had nicknames, and a lot of them got repeated). It's usually guys in their late 20's who want to sit and have a drink and talk about the "good old days" as if they had actually been there, and usually they play or have played a professional sport.

However, what about those guys who dont know about the greatest players to ever play the game? Not just Ted Williams or Dimaggio or Ruth, but right here in our own back yard. What about Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, Ray Schalk, Happy Felsch, Buck Weaver, Joe Jackson, Eddie Collins and Jimmy Adair, Johnny Evers, Vic Aldridge, Grover Alexander, Jimmy Archer, Frank Chance and Joe Tinker? Obviously just to name a few.

I'm a Chicago White Sox fan but I have the upmost respect and appreciation for the Chicago Cubs organization. They have turned some of the greatest players to ever play the game out into baseball and I will always be thankfull and respectfull towards men who put up numbers like Ryne Sandberg,Ernie Banks, and Andre Dawson. Chicago is rich and full in baseball history. In all of the places I have lived since I was out of high school, I have never lived in a place that is so full of baseball excitement as Chicago. Sure, ESPN coins Boston "Red Sox Nation" and New York is "Yankee Town," but Chicago has the Cubs and the Sox.

Chicago has a 1/2 century old rivalry that puts Yanks/Mets to shame. Chicago has turned out some of the greatest names in baseball history- both in players, managers, owners, and coaches. Chicago has brought excitement, and sadness to it's fans. Defeat and elation, joy and exhaustion, as year after year the Southside and Northside teams duke it out with their respective National and American League counterparts for a division title.

The Sox/Cubs fan sterotypes and rivalry plague Chicago like a black blanket sweeping over the town as soon as the first pitch of opening day is thrown in both parks across town, and doesn't end until late into the fall when the last out is made. Some will debate that the rivalry doesnt even end then- it's just masked by a mutual love for the Bears or Blackhawks while we all patiently wait for Cubs Convention and SoxFest when we can start ribbing eachother again.

But in the grand scheme of things, whether we bleed Cubby Blue or know that Good Guys Wear Black, none of that matters because we are Chicago fans. We may hate the Sox, or hate the cubs, but we love baseball. We love the history, rich and exotic. We love the stories of the mind-numbingly brilliant ballplayers who have graced the streets of our town. We retire numbers and put pictures on outfield walls to honor the late greats who have come before us. We erect statues outside on Clark and Addison, and 35th and Shields, so that our children will never forget the men who made the game of baseball great in the windy city.

We have virtually turned Chicago into our own Cooperstown, but what if we had the chance to go somewhere and visit and learn about the history of Chicago Baseball? What if there were an actual place where we could take our children, bright and eager to learn of Ernie Banks and Minnie Minoso? Where we could teach them about the reign of Bill Veeck on the Southside and of Harry Caray's exceptional broadcast excellence on the Northside?

What's best about the idea- is that it's a possibility.

Dr. David Fletcher has been working to erect The Chicago Baseball Museum for a few years now. Once just a dream of his, he has brought it so close to be reality that he, and Conrad "Connie" Kowal can smell it. Both huge baseball advocates, they understand the importance of keeping the history of baseball alive in Chicago. They have founded the Chicago Baseball Museum out of passion and love for the game, and continue to work to help bring it into existance for all baseball fans in the city.

Right now it's in it's beginning stages and continues to grow due to the generoicity and excitment of Chicago's very own plans. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, it "collects, preserves, documents, researches, and interpruts artifacts and events which are associated with the legacy, evolution and contemporary life of Chicago baseball." (http://www.chicagobaseballmuseum.org/)

The dream of the CBM (which has so amazingly agreed to let me work with them to promote awarness for their campaign and the campaigns for Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson) is to become a place to exhibit gallerys for Chicago Baseball including the Cubs, White Sox, the Chicago Negro Leagues, both the minor and major leagues, 16" Softball, and Chicago Baseball Broadcasting.

The CBM will include seminars, speaking events, galleries, programs, workshops, lectures, debates, baseball skill workshops, fundraising galas, festivels, community events, etc. However to make this all a reality, the CBM needs your help. In order to get on it's feet the CBM first and foremost needs a location. Already the proud owners of the Jerome Holtzman collection, the CBM could open easily within 2 weeks if it had a location. In order to get a location the CBM needs funding. This is where you all come in.

The CBM is a 501(c)(3) which means your donations are tax deductable. So all you simply have to do is donate. There are 4 levels of donation including

The CBM Single ($25)

-recieve a comemorative label pin

The CBM Double ($50)

-reieve a Chicago Baseball Museum long sleeved t-shirt

The CBM Triple ($75)

-receive the CBM-produced DVD Documentary, “Buck O’Neil and Black Baseball in Chicago

The CBM Home run ($100)

-receive CBM commemorative Lapel Pin

-receive CBM commemorative Long Sleeve T-Shirt

-receive the CBM-produced DVD Documentary, “Buck O’Neil and Black Baseball in Chicago

Of course, donations of any kind are always appreciated. There are a few ways you can do this. One is by following the link here.

You can contact the CBM at:
847.337.1191

The Chicago Baseball Museum

Attention Dr. David Fletcher
1611 W. Harrison, Suite 351
Chicago Il, 60612

or you are welcome to contact me for ANY information, brochures, etc

309.573.5234
wrongedmanout@yahoo.com

In order to preserve and help keep the history of Chicago Baseball alive, we as fans, in this town that loves baseball more than anything else, need to ban together to and make this possbility into a reality. I equate it to the Buck Weaver campaign. It might take a while to get done, but it's going to happen.

We're a baseball town. We need to teach the ins and outs of this amazing sport to our children. And when we pass away there needs to be something there to help our children teach their children even more throughlly about this sport so that they dont forget Algren's Ode to Shoeless Joe or Tinker-To Evers-To Chance.

So donate. I couldn't think of a better cause for a historical aspect in Chicago. In a few years, take your children to see pictures and still movies of your favorite baseball hero's. Join panels to discuss the 1919 Black Sox scandal (don't be suprised when you see me there!), go to community events and utalize all of our favorite sport. Become a part of a cause today, that will keep baseball history alive tomorrow.

Because,

We Are Chicago Baseball

SoxFest: A Look at the 2010 Season

2010-01-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

All of the questions during the off season about whether pitcher Matt Thornton or newly acquired JJ Putz were going to take over the coveted main closer position were put to rest first thing on Friday at SoxFest.

"He looks the best I've ever seen him," said Sox GM Kenny Williams.

"Bobby Jenks is going to be my closer until he can't be my closer anymore," Ozzie followed up on Saturday morning during the AM seminar.

News broke late last Saturday evening that both Jenks and outfielder Carlos Quentin had avoided arbitration by signing 1-year multi million dollar contracts. Bobby's didn't come without stipulations. Last year plagued by kidney stones, fatigue, and injuries, Jenk's ERA went up and his time spent on the mound went down. KW deemed these things "fat man" problems. Both he and Ozzie mad it clear to Bobby that he needed to downsize, and fast.

After a quick outburst to mlb.com about what he thought were comments singling him out after the 2009 season, Bobby did just that. Reports surfaced quickly Friday evening at Sox fest about the weight he'd dropped, and the Chicago Sports beat writers sat around talking about how great Bobby looked. Joe Cowley reported that he looked as though he had lost nearly 30 pounds, and Jenks followed up that it was "all in his shoes."

During the morning seminar I couldn't get over the love fest going on for Jenks. "They should rename this 'Jenks Q&A/Appraisal with KW and OZ" I tweeted around 10am.

"This pitching, our 1-11 guys,

is probably the most solid we've had in a long time"

-Kenny Williams

Good thing, because we all know pitching wins games.

Of course another topic that fans couldn't get enough of was the topic of the DH. The first question brought to KW's attention when he arrived 15 minutes before Ozzie, Ed Farmer, and Darrin Jackson was about the re-signing of Thome. The first fan stood up and remarked "Whats going on with Thome? We're hearing it's 50/50 now."

"Well when a reporter says it's 50/50 isn't he really saying 'We don't know what the HELL is going on.'?" Kenny replied which brought laughter to the room. Avoiding the question a little bit, he followed with "You know I lobbied for Ozzie to let me come in as a DH but he told me that I couldn't hit even when I was younger." Kenny Williams is no stranger to the fact that a good chuckle will usually get a questioners mind off of things, but 3 minutes later the question resurfaced again. "It's really up to Ozzie. If that's how Ozzie wants to do things then we'll do it. If not, then Thome will always be a part of the [future] White Sox family."

Ozzie followed up that we would all know the Thome/DH situation by the time he leaves for Miami, which is slated as tomorrow evening.

For now I'm guessing Thome will end up with the Twins. If Ozzie breaks down and decides we really do need a big bat like Jim's in our line up and that a rotating DH is best for him, then I'll be very surprised. However with Kotsay and Jones in the DH spots, I find it hard to believe that we'll actually sign Big Jim.

So what about this rotating DH spot? KW and Ozzie were addressed that question this morning at the seminar too. Ozzie remarked after the fan finished speaking and the crowd sighed and booed, tired of hearing the words "designated hitter" in every other question, "You guys boo because it keeps getting brought up, but every time someone says DH, these guys [the media and beat writers] do this.. (put their heads down to listen and pens to their pads of paper as if KW and Oz will say something new)"

Speaking of the National League, former northside outfielder, Juan Pierre was acquired by the Sox this off season and welcomed with open arms at SoxFest as well. Some fans voiced their opinion of how they would have rather had Scott Podsednik, who had arguably one of his best hitting seasons with the Sox last year, but Ozzie and Kenny reassured us that Juan fit in perfectly with the Sox and that they just couldn't give Pods a multi-year deal the way he wanted.

The issue of our infield was probably one of the most fun topics for me to listen to. Any of you who follow me on twitter know I was tweeting like crazy the entire time at Sox Fest. (I even had some fellow tweeters come and find me while I was having a glass of wine at Potters in the Palmer House Hotel where the event took place.) One of the most fun ways to keep up with the players and what was going on at different seminars was by following newly acquired 3rd baseman Mark Teahen. On twitter as ESPY_TEAHEN (apparently its supposed to be his dog's twitter page.....) he tweeted how excited he was for SoxFest, how awesome his teammates were, and how he was excited to sign autographs. "BREAKING NEWS!" he tweeted around 10am this morning, "Looks like im going to be wearing #23." Robin Ventura fans, I'm sure, will have something to say about this, but it's nice the kid was so excited about getting his jersey number.

Kenny and Ozzie talked up our infield whenever they were addressed questions about whether putting Beckham at 2nd base was the right decision (which was quite often because, you know, we as fans clearly know more than Ozzie or Kenny put together do about where our players should field on a day-to-day basis...............), and talked about how great Teahen was going to be, and how we would have one of the best defensive infields that the team had seen in a while.

Tweeting away like crazy, I see a new tweet from Mark Teahen just as Ozzie and Kenny are talking up his praises. "KC I apologize. I love @Boulevard_beer," he said in regards to his tweet the night before about how Goose Island 312 was delicious and Boulevard beer had nothing on it. "I got a little wrapped up in the big city lights last night and let the 312 do my twiiting."

I paused, laughed at the irony, and immediately facebooked: "So, I'm sitting in seminar with KW and Ozzie Guillen who are praising Mark Teahen and his defensive fielding, and as Im listening to this, Teahen himself is twittering apologizing to a beer for his favoritism of another beer last night. I'm not sure if I'm in love with this guy or if I should be nervous about a hung over third baseman all season."

Probably the sweetest and most heart warming (this is where the girl in me comes out) part of the panel was when Ozzie interrupted Kenny Williams speaking as a little baby boy came running across the stage. Ozzie put his microphone down, ran to the child with open arms, scooped him up and held him in an embrace. The crowd resounded with "awwww," as we quickly realized it was Mark Buehrle's son, Braden, who Ozzie apparently has a very close relationship with.

What excited me the most was Ozzie's demands that our team play small ball this summer. He and Kenny voiced that he didn't want to put all the pressure on long-ball hitters, but instead wanted our guys to focus on driving in as many runs as they could in a productive manner. Kenny remarked that "that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to pick up Pujols and stick him in the middle of our lineup," but made it clear that small was the name of the game, and that's what they were sticking to.

All-in-all, questions were addressed well so far at SoxFest. I'm excited that Jenks is healthy and our bullpen is going to be productive, that the young guys in our infield have a good chemistry and will hopefully execute defensively as well, and excited to see how this rotating DH will work for the team this year. After everything I couldn't be more excited for the season, and for those of you as pumped for spring training as I am, Ed Farmer wanted to remind everyone that 1) he hates the yankees, and 2) spring training broadcast will begin March 4th.

Well, that's all for tonight, tomorrow I will address something near and dear to my heart, the Chicago Baseball Museum. Look for a new blog before midnight and as always,
We Are Chicago Baseball

Fisk Blasts Steroid Users

2010-01-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

The recent revelations and admissions of steroid use by baseball stars such as Mark McGwire and Alex Rodriguez came as no big news to Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk.

"I didn't just find this out," Fisk told the Tribune Tuesday from Florida. "I worked hard in the gym to look like I did and feel like I felt. (Catching) took a toll on me, too. A lot of people knew. Nobody wanted to really address the issue.

"But when you have some of these obscene numbers being put up by people who shouldn't even be there. … I mean, you know what's going on. … The people it should have been most obvious to are the people who covered it up by not addressing it."

Some critics have blamed the media for not being more vigilant during the '80s and '90s. Others say the players who were clean should have exposed the cheats. And some say that Major League Baseball dropped the ball because it took so long to adopt stringent testing.

"You don't blame people for not ratting them out; you blame the people who abused the pharmaceutical world," Fisk said. "It's not like you are taking a couple of aspirin and you don't know what's going on. (Non-prescription steroid use has been) a federal offense for a long time, regardless of whether baseball was recognizing it and putting rules into place. The people who did it … they were breaking the law to start with. It doesn't have to be a baseball law. They knew what they were doing and the reason they were doing it. Now they are sorry because they are getting called out."

Fisk blasted McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and other alleged or admitted steroid abusers in baseball, calling McGwire's recent claim that steroids did not help him hit more home runs "a crock."

"(McGwire) says, 'Well, it doesn't help eye-and-hand coordination.' Well, of course it does. It allows you more acuity physically and mentally and optically. You are going to be stronger and you are going to be better," said Fisk, who starred for the Red Sox and White Sox.

"Some of these numbers that are out there are really warped. Should they be considered? You saw how McGwire was viewed in the Hall of Fame voting. If you take the length of time that (steroid abusers) use that stuff and subtract 15 or 20 home runs a year for those guys, where are their numbers then?"

McGwire, the new Cardinals hitting coach, apologized last week for his steroid use as a player but claimed steroids had nothing to do with him hitting 70 homers in 1998.

"That's a crock," Fisk said. "There's a reason they call it performance-enhancing drugs. That's what it does — performance enhancement. You can be good, but it's going to make you better. You can be average, but it is going to make you good. If you are below average, it is going to make you average. Some guys who went that route got their five-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can't use (steroids) anymore, they can't play anymore.

"And steroids, during that time, probably did as much to escalate players' salaries as did free agency, as did arbitration, and all of that stuff. It did more than just put home runs up on the board or money in the guys' pocket."

McGwire said the steroids merely helped him stay in the lineup because of injuries he had sustained.

"Try having your knees operated on and catching for 30 years," Fisk said. "Do you think you feel good when you go out there? (McGwire) had to stand around and play first base. So excuuuuuse me."

Fisk also took a shot at accused steroid user Roger Clemens.

"The reason he got let go from the Red Sox was because he was starting to break down," Fisk said. "His last couple of years in Boston just weren't very productive, a la 'The Rocket.' Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards (in '97 and '98). Come on, give me a bucket.

"It's obvious to players. You notice that stuff. You know how hard it is to play the game. You know how hard it is to be productive at any age, but especially at an older age. You see guys who are as productive later on as they were early (in their careers). It offends guys that stayed clean. But (the abusers) set their great, great, great grandchildren up for the rest of their lives.

"Guys are bigger, guys are stronger, granted. Strength and conditioning and all of the knowledge that goes into being a bigger, better and stronger athlete is at everybody's disposal right now. Guys are bigger and stronger. Better? I don't know about that. But there is more stuff available to guys today.

"I think back to when baseball was scuffling to recapture the passion of the American fan after the '94 season. I think baseball and everybody involved in the decision-making at every level just turned their head and said: 'This is good for baseball, look at the prosperity of the game. It's growing and growing and growing.'

"And now it's (in bad shape) because it wasn't addressed back when the rest of us knew. How did that guy (using steroids) outgrow his uniform?"

(original story can be found here)

*******

It's not a suprise to any of you who know me that my favorite player for the Sox right now is AJ Pierzynski. I like my ballplayers scrappy. I like to see a guy who gets foul tipped and picks up dirt and throws it at Johnny Damon durring his at-bat. I like a guy who covers the plate durring a game as if his life depended on it and gets into a brawl with Michael Barret. I love a guy who is smart enough as a catcher to reach on a dropped strike three durring the ALCS.

I love a guy who proudly proclaims "Schilling and Bonds are both retired now so I'm number one!" (most hated player in baseball)

I absolutley cant stop telling people about the "legend" of AJ kneeing Giant's trainer Stan Conte in the groin when he asked AJ how it felt getting beamed there. "Like this." he supposedly replied.

I've been told my a pretty repitable source that the last story is just that- a story. It's about as true as Babe Ruth calling his own home run, but I love it. It sounds like something AJ would do, and I've never even personally met him.

I like AJ for another reason too. He reminds me of Pudge.

I grew up watching guys like Ozzie Guillen, Carlton Fisk, Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas, and the like. One of my favorite stories is when Fisk was playing against Deion Right-now-im-a-baseball-player Sanders who hit a routine pop fly and refused to run it out to first, assuming it would be easily caught. His next time at-bat Fisk let him know what he thought about how offensive it was for him to act so lazy when it came to the game he loved so much.

"If you dont respect this game I'm going

to kick your ass right now."

Carlton Fisk is a lover of baseball. I think we all can take a lesson from him and his opinions. Part of me hopes AJ speaks out like this when he's retired as a ballplayer but I'm not ignorant enought to think that he can put up the numbers or games caught that Fisk did before beind inducted into the hall, nor would be probably make a stance on such issues. Carlton continues to be a staple of Southside tradition and I'm proud to have watched him play as a young girl.

Enjoy your weekend & remember,

We Are Chicago Baseball.

Thome: Hard Work, Professionalism, Class, Perspective, Unselfishness.

2010-01-18T16:20:00.000-08:00

My Son, Adler, and I on his first birthday

I used to tell everyone when I was younger that if I ever got to meet Jim Thome, I would cry my eyes out.

People thought I was exaggerating.

In the summer of 2007 I did meet him. Walking into a local restaurant I saw him and actually DID start crying. "What's wrong?" he asked me. "Im wearing your shirt," I sniffed out in between tears. He promptly signed my "Thome" shirt that I had been wearing after softball practice, talked to me for a good 5 minutes and was genuinely intrigued by my love for the game. I told him about how I grew up watching him, and that he had been one of my favorite players since he was with the Tribe, even thought my family were all Sox fans. He smiled, took a picture with me and was genuinely the nicest guy I'd ever met.

I've met Jim a few times since then, and every time he's been just as nice. Up until he left the Sox when people asked me who my favorite player on the team was I would reply "right now, or of all time?" Jim Thome was my "right now," (even though Paul Konerko ribbed me jokingly when I told him on Saturday that my favorite player was now AJ Pierzynski) and Buck Weaver, of course, was my "all time."

This last Saturday at the Joyce Thome Benefit for The Children's Hospital of Illinois, Jim was no different. When my friend and WhiteSox.com beat writer Scott Merkin introduced me to Jim as "this is my friend Melissa, I think you've met before," he smiled and gave me a resounding "Oh yeah! Hi!" as if I was an old friend he hadn't seen for a while. What stuck me the most though during the encounter was the time I spent with Andrea Thome, Jim's equally kind wife.

I immediately told her what a fan I was of her charity. By "her" charity I actually mean the Konerko/Thome charity that both husbands and wives work with. I had recently heard of it this summer through an interview Andrea had done on 670 The Score, and thought it was amazing. As a single mother, I am lucky to have the support system that I do. However, there are many people out there who are left to raise children without that support system, or are forced to put them into foster homes. The Children's Home + Aid Society of Illinois is an organization designed to help those foster children.

Not only is this a great organization that the Thome and Konerko's help out with, but it an old one that has pioneered the fostering idea throughout its almost 150 years in existence. The Children's Home + Aid Society of Illinois, founded in 1883, helps more than 40,000 children and families in need a year. According to it's website, it has 70 social service programs throughout 40 Illinois Counties.

This organization is not a small one, it helps with not only foster children, but has pioneered movements in HIV aid and treating, psychological misfortunes in foster children, teen pregnancy, mentoring, enrichment for mothers, and provides such services as Head Start and Early Start in many locations.

Jennifer Konerko, equally beautiful and kind wife of Chicago White Sox 1st baseman, Paul Konerko, came from a family who has adopted quite a few foster children. Both wives have been working for 3 years with the organization and do things such as back-to-school shopping with some of the foster kids. They also head up the White Sox Bring Me Home campaign with Paul and Jim.

This campaign gives the two families a way to really reach out to a lot of Southside fans by sponsoring ways to donate to the cause. Fans can either donate directly and get a chance to win box seats at games, meet and greets, etc, or can even do a "per home run" donation with the same benefits. Even a dollar/home run is a significant contribution to a great cause. However you might want to watch before you donate, both of these men are not unknown for their power at the plate! :)

To donate to this amazing cause, please visit Children's Home + Aid Society . To visit the specific White Sox "Bring Me Home" campaign for official information, please visit this link

As you all know, the entire point of my blog is to increase awareness for Buck Weaver. This campaign is another cause that not many people around this area know about. What Jim, Andrea, Jennifer and Paul do is a testament to the amazing players and people they are both on and off the field. Instead of just donating a large sum of money to an organization, these couples go out of their way to donate time, charity, and love to children who may not have it. You don't have to become a foster parent in order to help out foster kids. Money donated goes to clothes, food, books, school supplies, and resources for the Children's Home + Aid Society.

Another great testament to the large hearts of the Thome's is the Children's Hospital of Illinois benefit that Jim has been hosting for the last 15 years. This charity has helped raise over $2 million for the Children's Hospital.

This year the charity included a large silent auction, as well as an entertaining live auction. Included in the live auction were a trip to Prague and Paris (donated by Jim and Andrea Thome), a meet and greet with Paul Konerko and tickets to a Sox game, a trip to Dallas, Texas for a NASCAR event, and many others.

Including this blurry (thanks to my iPhone),
but recognizable, picture of the
1919 White Sox which went for
way more than what I could afford.
There's Buck laying in the middle
on the ground :)

Present for the event were of course, Paul and Jennifer Konerko, and Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. Both Paul and Charlie recounted their favorite times with Jim and told fantastic stories of working with him.

"Man, Thome was so green when I was coaching him" remembered Manuel, "I used to think to myself 'He's so green I could stick him in the ground and he would grow'"

Paul gave a fun and entertaining 15 minute speech including the "5 Best things about Jim Thome" (also the title to my blog). He spent the last few minutes of his speech quoting messages from White Sox players and trainers including Gordon Beckham and Mark Buehrle (Beckham who let Jim know there was "no need to thank him for the back messages and rub down I gave you when I was hit less in my first three starts." Buehrle made sure to mention "everybody knows your great, we all know it, all I wanna know is can I go up to your hunting land and kill the geese on your lake.")

Needless to say it was an amazing event. I met some phenomenal people, and got to be a part of a great cause. I'm going to end this blog with my favorite quote form Paul Konerko's stories of anecdotes from the Sox players to Jim.

Paul Konerko: "Okay this is my favorite, this is me writing. 'Hey boys I'm heading to Peoria IL to go to Jim's charity benefit. I have to give a speech to kind of honor Jim. I thought it would be kinda cool to include a couple of thoughts or messages from you guys. It could be anything- something funny, or whatever. I will say it's coming from you when I do the speech. Hope you all are doing well.....' and this is Bobby Jenk's reply.....'Jim who?'"

In the words of Paulie, That will keep you on your toes.

Til next time,

We Are Chicago Baseball.

The Steroid Age: A look at McGwire and Weaver.

2010-01-14T10:46:00.000-08:00

"Birds of a feather flock together"-Judge Kenesaw Landis, 1922.

Buck Weaver spent his entire life knocking on the door of baseball, only to be turned away. At the age of 63 he voiced to an Oakland, CA reporter that his only hope in life was just to "teach a few kids how to play third." Two years later he passed away. He never got the chance to teach anyone how to play third, how to hit a double down the line, how to throw a guy out at home.

Recently, home-run power hitter Mark McGwire finally came out to admit his use of steroids beginning as early as his 1989 pro season.

"Now was Mark McGwire punished for taking steroids?" my roommate asks me as we sit on the couch watching Everybody Loves Raymond and eating pizza this afternoon.

"Nope. Hes the new hitting coach for the Cardinals." I respond.

"What? All this talk you do about baseball and Weaver could never play, but McGwire gets to? Now you should write a blog about THAT" she shakes her head, taking another bite of our stuffed crust cheese lovers pizza (we rarely get bread or sauce with our cheese).

Funny thing was, I had already opened the tab and started the blog. She knows me so well.

Hank Aaron came out to the press and absolved McGwire of all wrong doing this last week. A jury of 12 peers absolved Buck Weaver of all wrong doing in the fall of 1921. Guess they didn't have a lifetime .305 batting average, were massive home run hitters, or inducted into Cooperstown.

Even Bud Selig is giving McGwire a get out of jail free card. Taking performance enhancing drugs even after illegal drug use of any kind had been banned in baseball in 1991? Well that's okay. Not snitching on your teammates when approached about an "idea" to throw ballgames? Well... that's NOT okay. Lifetime ban for you. Not to be lifted. "No time" in baseball to clear the name of innocent men. We have more poignant things to worry about during my reign, like revenue sharing.

Give me a break, Selig.

Id be curious to see what happened if we put McGwire, Bonds, Ramierez, etc on a trial with a jury of their own peers. Would they be acquitted? There's a difference sometimes between whats legal in the baseball world and the real world. In 1921 the law acquitted the 8 Men Out of any legal wrong-doing. They paraded around the courtroom on the shoulders of their jurors- all of whom admitted to not being a fan, nor knowing anything about baseball- something the prosecuting lawyers thought would help their case.

Judge and later, Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis decided months later to still ban the 8 men from baseball regardless of the jury's verdict, to send a message out to the baseball world. Cheating and gambling, under no circumstance, was not to be tolerated in baseball

Illegal steroid use? Well, thats another story.

Don't get me wrong, I loved being 11 years old and watching the McGwire/Sosa race of '98. My friends at the small Catholic School I went to made fun of me. "Im rooting for Sammy- I like blue better than red" the girls would say. I knew better. "I'm rooting for McGwire. Im a sox fan. I hate the Cubs. Thats how my daddy says it goes." I would chime in on the playground. In central Illinois where there are far more Cub fans than Cardinal fans- and even more Cardinal fans than White Sox fans, I remember my family talking about the race. "Something just isn't right" the men in my family would remark.

I only wish I had known back then the importance of the record McGwire and Sosa were working so hard to break. Now I do, and now I wonder like the rest of the baseball world, how fair or real all the excitement in the 1998 season really was.

12 years later, a confession finally comes to light from 1 of the 2 men. I sat in my room with my ESPN text message of the breaking news and started laughing. I mean common, I was about as surprised about this as I had been when I found out Tim Lincecum smoked pot. Of course McGwire did steroids. Now he's a national hero.

The Maris family, Hank Aaron, and even Bud Selig in all his moral intelligence has forgiven McGwire. LaRussa stands in his corner, and I sit on my couch in Peoria wondering WHY a man who cheated the game so melodically by juicing for over half his career is allowed to come back and coach a bunch of guys on how to swing a bat. Do you choke up more when you're on or off the juice, Mac?

This acceptance of guilt only fuels my fire for lifting the ban on Weaver even more.

“You know Commission the only thing we have left in this world is our judge and the 12 jurors and they found me not guilty. They do some funny things in base ball.”-Buck Weaver, 1953

Like ban a guy who doesn't snitch to make an example out of him for the rest of the players in MLB, and let a man who admits to cheating the game coach a major league team only a decade after his retirement? Yeah, they do do some funny things in baseball, Buck.

If Selig were smart and actually took a clue from Judge Landis, the man who also banned blacks out of baseball as well as Weaver, (which he clearly backs up 100%) he would have put a ban on McGwire as soon as he admitted his guilt, told him "no way do you get to coach the Cardinals next year, sorry for your luck" and made an example out of him to the baseball world.

But, that would make just way too much sense, wouldn't it? Birds of a feather, after all, do flock together.

Til Next time,
We Are Chicago Baseball

A Little About Me:

2010-01-13T12:38:00.001-08:00

My name is Melissa Dickson. I'm 23 years old and live in central Illinois.

I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family. My mom taught me how to be a good Catholic, my dad taught me how to be a good White Sox fan.

When I was younger I was introduced to Field of Dreams. Always an inquisitive girl, I immediately went and picked up a copy of 8 Men Out from the library. I don't remember understanding much about gambling and the League of Gentlemen or what the American or National leagues were, or much else about the game at the age of 9 or 10, but I do remember feeling an intense passion for Buck Weaver.

I understood the basics of the fix. Thanks to Kevin Costner and my own father explaining it to me, I tried to fill in the pieces by reading the book about the 8 men who threw the world series.

By the time I was in high school I had read the book over and over again. I learned more about baseball and filled in the details as I grew up. I realized what a fastball was, a double play, and why/how Eddie Cicotte helped throw the world series games by taking "a little something" off his fastball and double fisting the ball to miss an easy double play.

I was a fanatic by my sophomore year of high school. I lived, ate, and breathed Chicago White Sox baseball. My history teacher, also a large baseball fan, used to let me use his computer to check the scores when the season started and during the post-season. I hated day games because I was always in class for them, and was glad not to be a Cub fan so I could spend my nights watching baseball with my family.

The more I grew up the more I realized I could control my own destiny when it came to baseball. I went to spring training, instructional league, and made it to every White Sox game I possibly could.

Now, at the age of 23, I am living with a roommate in Peoria who I successfully converted into a Sox fan this past summer. I'll never forget the crazy look she gave me when I fell to the floor crying when Buehrle pitched his perfect game in July, or how she laughed at me and told everyone at the bar about it that night. I took her to her first sox game against LAA, and spent the day game explaining why the American League had a DH, what extra bases were, how to calculate OBP and why it was the most crucial stat in batting to understand.

The father in front of us turned around and told me how impressed with my knowledge he was, and I realized how my father must have felt explaining the game to me as I was growing up. Mark Kotsay hit a home run and my roommate and best friend, Amanda, now wants me to get his card signed at SoxFest. I'm excited to do so.

Amanda calls me her "party trick." She bartends on Tuesday nights so almost every Tuesday, even though I'm usually not drinking, I'll go up and keep her company. It's a smaller bar and almost everyone are regulars, but my favorite thing to do is ask everyone who their favorite ballplayer of all time is, and then debate with them on why mine is better.

I don't think it's hard to figure out who I debate about. George "Buck" Weaver. Ive had grown men tear up as I explained Weavers passion, love, and child-like joyfulness he always had about playing baseball. How he was nicknamed "Buck" because he was always smiling, always happy because he was on the field, and just had a chance to play. I'm not sure if it's because I will, on more than one occasion, tear up myself when I'm talking about him, or if it's just because (and I hope) they are remembering their own love for the game and are touched by how a player embodied it so well.

I recently decided that while my family and friends call me a walking billboard for Buck Weaver's reinstatement, purely talking about him to people wasn't going to help. I needed to do something. I needed to get involved. The cause for Buck Weavers reinstatement seems to have taken a back seat to a lot of other things in MLB, including one for Joe Jackson who, unlike Weaver, really did throw the 1919 world series.

Mark Mcgwire recently came out and admitted his use of steroids. Hank Aaron forgave him. Aaron cited that if that was all it took to get Mcgwire into the hall of fame, that we should all follow his example. A player who admittedly used steroids to "cheat" the game of baseball is being petitioned to go into the hall of fame and the man hasn't even been banned from baseball. Buck Weaver had the ultimate joy in his life stricken of him without even the chance to become a batting coach for a semi-pro team, let alone work in The Show. Although he is now passed away, it is time to do right by Weaver and lift the ban that tortured him his whole life.

In order for this to be possible, the commissioner of baseball needs to re-instate Weaver. There are many petitions for him to be re-instated, including the most successful, http://www.clearbuck.com/. Selig has pretty much guaranteed that he wont reinstate Weaver, but there's a larger chance with Selig's reign ending in 2012 that the new commissioner will.

In order for this to happen, awareness needs to be spread and more people need to help Weaver's cause. Not many fans my age or in my generation know about Weaver and I'm afraid that, like a lot of things in baseball, his importance will be diminished and ultimately as well, forgotten.

So I welcome and appreciate you all following me through my journey to get Weaver reinstated. I don't know how long it will take or if it will ever happen, but I intend on documenting everything I do. I also will be blogging about the White Sox, and events I am at or going to. Please don't ever hesitate to get the word out or ask me any questions.

You can all contact me at wrongedmanout@yahoo.com or on facebook.com (Melissa Dickson). I have an iPhone that never leaves my side so please don't ever hesitate to get ahold of me for any reason relating to baseball. :)

Thanks for following and supporting and as always,

We Are Chicago Baseball

Buck Weaver: Wronged Man Out. An Introduction.

2010-01-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

"Don't bring up Buck Weaver

or how he looked the last time you saw him

begging a reporter six months out of high school

to clear his name so he could play again.

'I'll play for nothin, tell 'em! Just one season tell 'em!"

-Nelson Algren

George Daniel "Buck" Weaver is one of the most herald 3rd basemen of his time. Born in Pennsylvania to a poor family, he worked with the likes of "Kid" Gleason, Chicago White Sox manager, to become one of the best infielders of the early 1900's.

Buck Weaver has been called "the only 3rd basemen I refuse to bunt against" by Ty Cobb. Banned from baseball for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Landis, Buck was accused of having "guilty information" about the 1919 World Series fix by his teammates, the Chicago White Sox.

Despite being present at meetings in which 1st basemen, Chick Gandil, and other gamblers promised each player money to throw the 1919 World Series to the Reds, Buck Weaver refused to participate in it. He remained loyal to his love for the game. As Elliot Asinof states, Buck,"couldn't act accordingly when he put on the spikes."

He was acquitted of all legal wrong-doing during a trial in 1920, but was still banned from ball by the commissioner that following season. Of all the ballplayers who conspired to throw the series, only Buck Weaver maintained his innocence to the grave.

Even the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who is often the "wrong man out" when portrayed by baseball fans, admitted to taking $5,000 and also purposely throwing the series.

Buck Weaver batted .324 during the 1919 World Series with 11 hits and never committed an error. As one Cinncinnati reporter, unaware of how Buck's teammates including starters Eddie Cicotte and "Lefty" Williams were purposely throwing the games wrote,

"Though they are hopeless and heartless, the White Sox have a hero. He is George Weaver, who plays and fights at third base. Day after day Weaver has done his work and smiled. In spite of the certain fate that closed about the hopes of the Sox, Weaver smiled and scrapped. One by one his mates gave up. Weaver continued to grin and fought harder….Weaver's smile never faded. His spirit never waned….The Reds have beaten the spirit out of the Sox all but Weaver. Buck's spirit is untouched. He was ready to die fighting. Buck is Chicago's one big hero; long may he fight and smile."-Ross Tenney, Cincinnati Post.

Buck Weaver has long embodied what it is to truly love the game of baseball. Growing up in the working class at the turn of the century, he was taught that snitching on your brothers and family was immoral and wrong. He refused to tell on his teammates- his brothers, but he also refused to turn his back on the one thing he truly loved. Weaver has been wrote about and praised from beginning to end of his career for his true love and passion for the sport. To deny him reinstatement to major league baseball is cruel.

In a day where steroids, selfishness, and large payrolls run baseball, we as fans miss out on watching men who got paid nothing play.They didn't play for a $26 million over 3 years with a one year extended option, but for the simple fact of putting on the spikes, picking up the glove, and playing for joy and love.

Despite the corruption in the game, and all the "sad" days in baseball, there are still glimpses of hope from these men who take the field every day. These boys grew up on stories of Babe Ruth, Christy Matthewson, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and sometimes, even Buck Weaver.

The previously mentioned list of men didn't play for much. There was no arbitration back then, no collective bargaining. If they wanted to play baseball they played where they were assigned. If they didn't want to play for that team they had no choice. It was the owner's way or the high way.

Buck Weaver spent the rest of his life petitioning to be reinstated into major league ball. Even in his old age he wanted nothing more than to put on a uniform and coach a semi-pro team. To no avail he was never reinstated, and passed away of a heart attack at the age of 65.

And this is where you, as fans come in. Most of you know me and my love for Weaver. I have hopes of working directly with the Chicago Baseball Museum and www.clearbuck.com to help Buck Weaver become reinstated. I ask that you do something small by going to www.clearbuck.com and signing the petition.

Though Buck Weaver may be dead, it is the dream of his family, and many fans that he will be reinstated into baseball one day. Unlike Pete Rose, his teammates on the 1919 team, and those who continued steroid use even after it became illegal in baseball, Buck did nothing illegal in the game. He didn't cheat himself, his team, his fans, or the game. He simply did not snitch. Turning the other way when you have information that there may be a fix in the World Series? That deserves punishment for sure. However Weaver has received his punishment. To take the words from his own mouth,"There are murderers who serve a sentence and then get out. I got life."