The game of baseball lost one of its more endearing personalities yesterday when Tug McGraw died of brain cancer at age 59. I have fond memories of Tug as a Phillie, the ace reliever for the loyal opposition to my Dodgers in the late ’70s and early ’80s. I enjoyed pulling for the Phils in …
As the baseball world prepares for the announcement of the Hall of Fame Class of 2004, one very high profile ex-player has begun laying the groundwork for his own election in 2005. Pete Rose has published a book in which he admits to gambling on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team in 1987 and …
With results of the 2004 Baseball Writers of America voting to be announced on Tuesday, the Hall of Fame is on everybody’s lips. Writers everywhere — those with ballots real and imagined — have been posting their votes online. Alex Ciepley has an accurate take on the situation — and some good picks — at …
It’s been a slow week on the baseball front, which has suited me fine. Things might stay a little quiet around here for the next several days; I’ve got a couple of big projects in the works which are taking a lot of my writing time. If the tumbleweeds start to get you down, I …
This one just writes itself… Item 1 (Wednesday, December 25): Yankees assessed luxury tax of $11.82 million, based on their $184.5 million payroll. They are the only one of 30 teams to exceed the $117 million threshold set by the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement. The threshold will rise to $120 million in 2004, as …
The following is an encore presentation of my annual December 25 piece, revised to incorporate new stats and other info through the 2003 season. December 25 marks a holiday for most of this country and probably, for most of my readership — if so, my sincere wishes for a happy holiday to you. For me …
Continue reading ‘Happy Birthday to Me, Rickey Henderson, and 64 Other Ballplayers’ »
Word on the street is that due to a dispute between my service provider and my web host, email to me at jay@futilityinfielder.com may be bouncing. Should that happen to any of you, please email me at this address until further notice. Apologies for the inconvenience; you can guess how happy I am over this …
“Ain’t no sense worrying about things you got no control over, because if you got no control over them, ain’t no sense worrying.” — the Prophet Gozzlehead Because its status has changed as often as the weather, and because of some sage wisdom I once received from a pinstriped leadoff hitter with the worst throwing …
Home for a week in Salt Lake City, my eye drifted to this SI.com article about former local minor league star Willie Mays Aikens, whose legend was made during my youth here. Born just following the 1954 World Series (not during, as the baseball cards claimed), Aikens was named by his delivering physician for the …
On his eponymous blog, Will Carroll has a hilarious blind-item list of the great but (sadly) unattributable quotes from the Winter Meetings. There are too many reputations to protect to go attaching names to these (I only gave away a couple), but it’s great that somebody has preserved some of the more memorable lines from …