You know how the NBA is cannibalizing itself right now, and how that totally sucks? Especially if you’re not psychotically clamped to the NFL teat?
Good news. Major League Baseball won’t be doing that for at least another five years. Say what you will about Bud, but the lessons learned from the 1994-95 strike have not been forgotten. Credit to both sides. Play ball.
Bob Forsch has died. The former Cardinals pitcher was 61. Forsch was the 3rd-winningest pitcher in Cardinals history. He threw two no-hitters, including the one seen above in 1983.
One of the many great things about sports – including baseball – is that we generally see merit win out over other factors. This is true for individuals and teams. While we may get screwed over at work because of politics, this is less likely – we believe – to happen in the world of sports, because success and failure is so clearly defined.
This meritocratic tendency of sports has helped larger society deal with big problems. At the top of that list is race. Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King, Tommy Smith, et al.
So, then. Kindly hold your nose at what appears to be a rather crude appreciation of Albert Pujols. The question: Where does Albert rank all time among Latino baseball players?
Would we have a list of greatest black NBA stars?
In case you’ve been living under a rock, dig it: Both the National League and American League Wild Card races are tied heading into the last day of the regular season (today).
As if the Rays furious rally in the standings to tie the Red Sox isn’t impressive enough, they went all triple play and stuff on the Yankees last night. Beeyotch!
In this video, we see an unfortunate scene where a man drops his small child reaching for a foul ball. It’s not entirely rare. It happened earlier this year at Dodger Stadium. However, in this instance, the setting is Taiwan. Taiwan, if you don’t know, is an island off mainland China where Chinese people live without being communist. It used to be called Formosa. It’s a neat place! And, they love baseball.
Note how no translation in necessary from Cantonese or Mandarin (we can’t tell which is being spoken here) to understand the humor the broadcasters find in the circumstance. Also note how the ice daggers the man’s wife shoots at him from her eyes are universally recognizable to male homo sapiens all over the known universe.
Mariano Rivera’s resourcefulness demonstrates a desire to play the game that should serve as an inspiration to us all. Thanks to LarryBrownSports for finding this gem.
So now we must drag up the old argument. Is 600 homeruns no longer a big deal? Has the pollution of steroids distorted the once sacred numbers of baseball?
Maybe.
Here’s one. Who cares? Jim Thome has 600 homeruns. That’s a hell of a lot more than most people, and a nice round number. Cheers, Jim!
The team general manager says there was a disagreement.
Now. Let’s be fair.
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