Rankings/List

What is the importance of a number on a baseball jersey? How long have they been wearing numbers?

All teams began wearing numbers on their jerseys in 1937 though some wore them inconsistently prior to that.

In 1929 the Yankees started wearing numbers on their jerseys. Their numbers corresponded to their place in the batting order. In other words Babe Ruth batted third, therefore he was #3. Lou Gehrig batted fourth so he wore #4.

Today, it is quite fashionable for young guys to emulate their favorite player by wearing his number on their little league uniforms.

This story was written by Stan Whyte, currently a writer for Baseball Reflections.com.

With every new baseball season comes a renewed sense of hope for baseball fans everywhere. With everyone's record tied at 0 - 0 every fan of every team can imagine a scenario in which their favorite team finds a way to make it to the playoffs and, with a little luck, the World Series.
Behind these hopes there is often times a prediction of a breakout performance by a young player, a return to form by a veteran, or simply a continued dominance by a team's superstar.
2009 has already seen examples of all of these and teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are reaping the rewards.

NOTE: Team W-L records and player stats updated through Sunday morning, May 17.

So here are my top 30 MLB Power Rankings for week six. I give my comments on only the top 10 teams this week mainly because of my busy schedule. Enjoy and feel free to drop a comment if you agree or disagree with my rankings.

1. Texas Rangers (22-14, Last Week: No. 6)

Team (Current Record|Last Week's Ranking)

1. Toronto Blue Jays (25-14|1)

What a team you have when both your offense and pitching are top five statistically. The Blue Birds lead the MLB in runs (223), hits (408), total bases (647), and RBI (211). They're also second in extra base hits (142) and batting average (.290). The pitching staff is also impressive, leading the American League in quality starts (21) and batting average against (.243). Playing at Boston this week will be a test to see whether this team is for real or not.

June 1 tends to be the time when a lot of the top prospects start getting called up.  We are now two weeks away, so let’s take a look at seven prospects (I left out names like Clay Buchholz and Lastings Milledge, who have already seen extended time in the major leagues) that should be on owners radars, as they could offer potential help once recalled:

Matt Wieters - Baltimore Orioles

This is not a list of who I think belongs in the Hall of Fame. This is a list showing the way I think the BBWAA will vote.

I know some think that the “Crime Dog” should be admitted post haste. Maybe so, but not if voters conduct themselves according to their record instead of according to Hoyle.

A person has to be great if they want a first ballot nomination. It happens, but you have to be special like Stan Musial, Nolan Ryan or even Ricky Henderson. The Fred McGriff’s of the game do not usually make it for several years if at all.

Am I slamming McGriff?

This is the final year of the Metrodome, home to the Minnesota Twins since 1982. There have been many memorable moments in Metrodome history. From Kirby Pucketts game winning homerun in the World Series to Minnesota winning the AL Central on the last day of the 2006 season. Along the way, many great names in the gam called Minneapolis home. From Puckett to Morneau, Blyleven to Santana, the list goes on and on. Here are the top 10 Twins players to call the "Homerdome" home.

After the cookie cutter era of baseball stadiums built in the 1960's and 1970's, Major League Baseball owners started to decide in the late 1980's and 1990's to build new retro styled stadiums stadiums to replace the old cookie cutter stadiums, and older stadiums from the first half of the 20th century with these brand new models, and to this day, owners are trying to get new stadiums to replace these older stadiums. Here is my list of the ten best baseball stadiums (with their original names) built during this era.

Each and every player in the top 10 is an A + offensively and overall. But, I will also list a defensive letter grade with each player so you know where they stand in that category, the way I see it.

Here it is. Unblurring history. The way it really was.

10. Arky Vaughan (1940s) defensive rating: C +

He finished his career with a .318 BA and a .406 OB%. The guy could flat out hit and he was certainly one of the best pure hitting Shortstops in history.