History

Scott Brosius, '98 World Series MVP, has been out of baseball since 2001.  The three-time World Series winner now coaches baseball at his alma mater in Oregon, Linfield College, where he has put together an impressive resume.  

Over his first three seasons at the helm, Brosius compiled an outstanding 100-38 (.724) record.  The Wildcats have won two Northwest Conference Championships and two regional titles.  Linfield finished fifth in the NCAA championship tournament in 2008 and third last season.  

The New York Yankees finished third in 1959.

It was no less than Tom Seaver—”Tom Terrific”—who went to extraordinary lengths to protect his right arm, which he astutely realized was nothing more than his livelihood.

Seaver, while traveling as a player, wouldn’t carry any of his luggage with his right appendage. In fact, he tried mightily to do nothing with his right arm other than hurl baseballs at 90+ mph toward enemy hitters.

The Pittsburgh Pirates did win the season series against the Chicago Cubs, but the final series, in Wrigley Field, left a bad taste in the mouth, losing two out of three on the road.

Actually, the Chicago Cubs are one of two teams that the Bucs have beaten (5-4) on the road this season. The other one is the Colorado Rockies (2-1). (Although they barely managed a 2-2 tie in PNC Park.)

If the season ended today, the St. Louis Cardinals would fall short of a playoff berth.  This failure could be epic, it could be historic, and it could be something we never witness again.

On Saturday Albert Pujols and his manager, Tony LaRussa, attended the "Restoring Honor," rally held on the Mall in Washington D.C.  The rally was organized by popular radio and television host Glenn Beck.

The rally was exceedingly well attended with estimates placing the crowd between 300,000 and 500,000.  Beck and his organizers stated goals were to raise money for the families of fallen special forces soldiers and make a public expression of faith and patriotism.

The rally was not without its critics.

When we think of great hitting catchers, we think of Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, and Mike Piazza. Two are already in the Hall of Fame, and the other is well on his way.

But when reading the list of Hall of Fame catchers, you'll see names like Ray Schalk, Roger Bresnahan and Rick Ferrell. For a position that has been pretty underrepresented in Cooperstown, some pretty weak candidates have gained entrance to baseball's most hallowed hall.

As soon as media outlets started reporting that Shawn Chacon was traded to the New York Yankees for two prospects, reporters and critics started to rip the Yankees apart. They claimed that Chacon was just going to hold up in the Yankees rotation for a bit like temporary starters. 

Enter Shawn Chacon vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the first time in pinstripes. He did not allow a single run through six innings. Silence goes over the doubters. 

There are times when an idea, a theory, or a point needs to be made with extensive evidence, logic, and explanation. The idea/theory/point can be so subtle, so complex, so involved, that the importance of it is not immediately clear. Some ideas take a lifetime to understand.

I am not here today with such an idea.

This week it was announced that a grand jury is indicting Roger Clemens for lying to congress. Really. In this economy. 

Glad to know we're keeping on top of the things that are important.

I've been very clear in several articles that I think we need to give up the war on PED's because it will never work. But even if you believe that drug testing in sports can work, you have to admit that prosecutions like this one are frivolous.