Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Tony La Russa has had enough of Ryan Franklin in the closer role. Franklin and his four blown saves and 11.57 ERA. La Russa is going to, in his words, āchange the responsibility a little bit for a little bit."
According to USAToday Sports:
Franklin has already made a cosmetic change, shearing off more than half of a long beard that juts off his chin.
LOL, wut?
Seamheads (which has one of the coolest banner images for a baseball website) is now holding a contest. The prize? An Xbox360 version of MLB2K11. The contest? Coming up with the best nickname for an active Major League player.
Says Seamhead Mike Lynch:
āI want the nickname to be creative, clever, colorful and say something about the player. And it doesnāt matter if he already has a nickname; if you can come up with something better, by all means submit it. You can submit as many nicknames as you want for as many players as you want. The contest will run from April 19 to May 20 and the winners will be announced on Memorial Day (May 30).ā
Chris Berman need not apply.
The vintage base ball team Vermilion Voles based in Danville, Illinois have released their 2011 schedule.
I am happy to see that not only is their schedule full (they have 15 days scheduled and 5 home dates) but it is quite imminent. They will start playing next month. Their first game is on May 8 at Springfield.
If you want to see them at their home park, youāll only have to wait till May 22nd when they play their rivals the Rock Springs Ground Squirrels.
Good Luck this season, Voles!!
My buddy Todd, the umpire, may not realize it but I actually learn a few things from him.
All baseball history buffs know about Eddie Gaedel, the man who stood 3 foot 7 inches and was brought in as a pinch hitter for the St Louis Browns on August 19, 1951. It was a stunt by Browns owner Bill Veeck, known for his off-the-wall publicity moves. Gaedel walked, of course and his mark as the shortest man to ever play baseball still stands.
But I learned something the other day that kinda blew my mind. There is a descendant of Gaedelās that is playing the game of baseball today. Kyle Gaedel is Eddieās great-nephew and plays for Valparaiso University.
The irony of it all? Not only is Kyle Gaedel a fine ballplayer (he was drafted by the Rays out of high school in 2008) but he is a statuesque 6 foot 4 inches.
The Valparaiso University athletics web site did a spotlight on him last year.
No, really, he is. An IronPig. Us Cub fans probably have lost track of Ryno but heās quite busy trying to get used to his new setting and job as manager of the Phillies Triple-A Lehigh Valley (PA) IronPigs.
The local Lehigh Valley Live media outlet did a quick 5 question interview with Sandberg during late preseason. Ryno talks about his playing days, his aspirations and plans for the IronPigs
A couple of very interesting articles over at The APBA Blog. Interesting, that is, if you play the tabletop sports game, APBA.
Dusty Welsh did a guest post on the history of the actual APBA game boards. Very fascinating (again, if you play the game) as he researches the game back to its roots in 1951 and follows it to modern day. He documents all the changes throughout the years.
And just today, an interview with the CEO of the APBA Game Company was posted. John Herson agreed to answered some of my questions. The good news is that he might make it a regular feature.
The Onion Sports Network does it again with their article:
āChicago Cubs Can’t Believe They’re Doing This Againā.
"Why the hell are we still putting ourselves through this?" left fielder Alfonso Soriano said during an Opening Day press conference, adding that no one on the team has ever been happy at the end of the season, during the season, or at the beginning of the season, which, according to Soriano, is when everyone actually feels the most hopeless. "We just have to admit to ourselves that the Chicago Cubs should not be playing in a professional baseball league. Can we all just do that and put an end to this misery?"
It would be funny if it werenāt so true. Fortunately, this is next year.
In case anyone didnāt notice, outfielder Ichiro Suzuki became the all-time Mariners hits leader with 2,248. Knowing him, Iām surprised it took him this long.
Ichiro did it in style, too:
Suzuki has 2,248 hits, one better than Edgar Martinez’s previous club record. The milestone came on the 10th anniversary of Suzuki’s major league debut.
Maybe now heāll announce to the world that he really can hit for power, too.
Albert Pujols says āWinners use JUGSā?
taken at the opposition dugout at last nightās Illinois baseball game.