Bonds and the Media

Barry Bonds is in the news again and it doesn’t have to do with his knees, his homeruns or even steroids. It does show, however that his reputation with the media may be justified. A quick summary of the story: Ron Kittle, former outfielder, has claimed in a tell-all book that Bonds once denied him … Continue reading “Bonds and the Media”

Barry Bonds is in the news again and it doesn’t have to do with his knees, his homeruns or even steroids. It does show, however that his reputation with the media may be justified.

A quick summary of the story:

Ron Kittle, former outfielder, has claimed in a tell-all book that Bonds once denied him an autograph back in 1991 because “I don’t sign for white people”.

Now I’m not going to get into whether this is true or not. I have my doubts, though with Barry, anything is possible.

However, consider the following comment to the media by Bonds in response to Kittle’s book:

“Who is Kittle? How long did he play? He played in our league?”

Ok, call me a baseball purist but the fact that he doesn’t remember or know of Ron Kittle, a former rookie of the year who hit 176 homers in his career, bothers me. Jeez, they both played together in the majors for 6 years.

Or worse, he’s feigning ignorance with a macho in-your-face attitude.

Get a clue, Barry.

As for Kittle (emphasis mine):

“It’s the truth. I don’t lie,” Kittle told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. “I tell it as it is. It’s unfortunate it happened. And I didn’t bring it up to sell the books.“

Riiight.

6/8 Linescore of the Day

Sergio Mitre, Chicago Cubs 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K 1 for 2, 2B, run, rbi Sergio pretty much did it all in the 2-0 win over the Blue Jays. He pitched a flawless 7 innings as well as driving in one run and scoring another. Sergio 2 Blue … Continue reading “6/8 Linescore of the Day”

Sergio Mitre, Chicago Cubs
7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
1 for 2, 2B, run, rbi

Sergio pretty much did it all in the 2-0 win over the Blue Jays. He pitched a flawless 7 innings as well as driving in one run and scoring another.

Sergio 2 Blue Jays 0

A-Rod and 400

A-Rod became the first player to reach the 400 mark in homeruns before the age of thirty. These tidbits from Jayson Stark at ESPN help put that in perspective: • That’s two years and three months younger than Aaron was when he hit No. 400. • It’s almost two and a half years younger than … Continue reading “A-Rod and 400”

A-Rod became the first player to reach the 400 mark in homeruns before the age of thirty. These tidbits from Jayson Stark at ESPN help put that in perspective:

• That’s two years and three months younger than Aaron was when he hit No. 400.

• It’s almost two and a half years younger than Willie Mays was when he hit No. 400.

• It’s four years and two months younger than Bonds was when he hit No. 400.

• It’s four years and seven months younger than Mark McGwire was when he hit No. 400.

Rodriguez was helped by the fact that he came up at the age of 18 and began playing full time by the age of 20. That and he didn’t have an aversion to the long ball. In roughly 10 full seasons, he hit 40 dingers. It’s not hard to do the math.

Ironically, Stark throws doubt on whether A-Rod can reach Aaron giving examples such as Ken Griffey Jr and Jimmie Foxx who both petered out as age crept up on them.

A Yank’s Take on the Zim

I was cruisin’ the blogs tonight and ran across this entry on one of my personal favorite people in baseball, Don Zimmer. I found it on WasWatching.com a Yankee site. It’s a backhanded homage to the Zim and calls into question whether he might have been one of the brains behind the Yankees dynasty. Still … Continue reading “A Yank’s Take on the Zim”

I was cruisin’ the blogs tonight and ran across this entry on one of my personal favorite people in baseball, Don Zimmer. I found it on WasWatching.com a Yankee site.

It’s a backhanded homage to the Zim and calls into question whether he might have been one of the brains behind the Yankees dynasty.

Still trying to figure out what PITA stands for, though.

Washington making it truly a “National” Pastime

Behind the pitching of Livian Hernandez, the Washington Nationals have won their season-best seventh in a row. This is the latest a Washington baseball team has been in first place since 1933. A headline I saw: First in war, First in peace, First in the National League East Well, two out of three are right.

Behind the pitching of Livian Hernandez, the Washington Nationals have won their season-best seventh in a row.

This is the latest a Washington baseball team has been in first place since 1933.

A headline I saw:

First in war, First in peace, First in the National League East

Well, two out of three are right.

6/7 Linescore of the Day

Pedro Martinez, New York Mets 9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 1 HR Pedro allowed 2 hits, including a Chris Burke homerun. Nonetheless, a fine performance racking up 12 Ks. Martinez has the best Strikeout-to-Walk ratio of any post-1900 pitcher (4.314). Curt Schilling is second and Jon Lieber is … Continue reading “6/7 Linescore of the Day”

Pedro Martinez, New York Mets
9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 1 HR

Pedro allowed 2 hits, including a Chris Burke homerun. Nonetheless, a fine performance racking up 12 Ks.

Martinez has the best Strikeout-to-Walk ratio of any post-1900 pitcher (4.314). Curt Schilling is second and Jon Lieber is third.

Wild Bill Holden- Walking the Walk

For those who haven’t heard about Wild Bill Holden’s adventures, it’s quite a story.

holden1.jpg

Wild Bill has pledged to walk from Arizona to Wrigley Field… all 2100 miles of it. Inspired by the story of former Cub Ron Santo, he’s doing it to raise money to help fund research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.

He’s made it all the way to Illinois… and he’s raised $75,000 in the process.

Not bad for a 56 year old man with two bum knees.

He’ll be in Morton, IL for an event this Friday. As it is, I’ll be passing through there so I’m planning to stop by to see him.

CANSECO’S BOOK

My uncle was telling me the other night at dinner he was reading a book I had to read. I was surprised to learn he was talking about Canseco’s “tell all steroid” book. Uncle Jerry said he wasn’t a fan of Canseco, but thought he raised some interesting points in the book. From what I … Continue reading “CANSECO’S BOOK”

My uncle was telling me the other night at dinner he was reading a book I had to read. I was surprised to learn he was talking about Canseco’s “tell all steroid” book.

Uncle Jerry said he wasn’t a fan of Canseco, but thought he raised some interesting points in the book. From what I understand there are a lot of Dominican players making lots of money that might not be in the majors if it weren’t for steroids. Jose claimed he wouldn’t have had nearly the success if it hadn’t been for “the juice”. It even made him faster, he claims. Canseco was touting steroids as a way for players to make it big in baseball. From like high school, on up. I told my uncle I wasn’t interested in reading Canseco’s book. The real problem I have with books like his, is him getting his and then ratting out his fraternity.

Ball Four was the first book I ever read and it was different. Jim Bouton was basically talking about players wiping snot on other players arms and watching them throw up. Or drilling holes in the back of the bullpen to get some peeks up unsuspecting women fan’s dresses.

I’d be interested in hearing your take on Canseco’s book. Did you read it? Would you read it? What did you think?

MLB Draft Summary

Well, the draft is done. To no one’s surprise, Arizona picked high school shortstop Justin Upton. As a matter of fact, 35% of the draftees came from the high school level. Number Two was Alex Gordon, a Cornhusker third baseman. There were some familiar names in the draft. This is from mlb.com’s web site: The … Continue reading “MLB Draft Summary”

Well, the draft is done. To no one’s surprise, Arizona picked high school shortstop Justin Upton. As a matter of fact, 35% of the draftees came from the high school level.

Number Two was Alex Gordon, a Cornhusker third baseman.

There were some familiar names in the draft. This is from mlb.com’s web site:

The Cardinals chose Jesse Schoendienst, the great nephew of their Hall of Fame infielder and former manager Red Schoendienst, in the 40th round, while the Twins grabbed Toby Gardenhire, son of skipper Ron Gardenhire, in the 41st round. Seattle grabbed Andrew Hargrove, son of manager Mike Hargrove, in the 47th round while the White Sox grabbed John Wolff, the grandson of Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Wolff, in the 47th round.

Toby Gardenhire?? Wait a minute… I know that name!! He’s the slick fielding shortstop from our own University of Illinois! Way to go, Toby!

As it was, five Illini were chosen in this week’s draft. Not surprisingly, Chris Robinson was chosen pretty high. Robbie was chosen in the 3rd round (90th overall) by the Detroit Tigers.

From fightingillini.collegesports.com, here is the list of Illini that were picked in the MLB draft.

Illini Picked in the 2005 MLB Draft

Chris Robinson – 3rd round – Detroit
Jimmy Conroy – 19th round – New York AL
Drew Davidson – 22nd round – San Diego
James Morris – 23rd round – Cincinnati
Toby Gardenhire – 41st round – Minnesota

Congrats to them all!

ESPN/Baseball America has a scouting report of the top draft picks. Check it out.