A tip of the cap to Lou Piniella

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Lou+Piniella&iid=7044743″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/7044743/tampa-bay-devil-rays/tampa-bay-devil-rays.jpg?size=500&imageId=7044743″ width=”234″ height=”350″ /] In a graceful move, Lou Piniella has announced he’ll retire after wrapping up the season with the Chicago Cubs. Piniella has distinguished himself as someone who excelled as a player and a manager, a combination that is uncommon if not rare. I’ve followed Piniella’s career for a […]

RIP George Steinbrenner, one of the last great black-and-white figures

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=George+Steinbrenner&iid=2183905″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/2183905/yankees-mets-steinbrenner/yankees-mets-steinbrenner.jpg?size=500&imageId=2183905″ width=”234″ height=”315″ /] As the world knows by now, George Steinbrenner died today. The longtime owner of the New York Yankees was 80 and leaves behind a legacy of championships. This afternoon I put together a gallery of Associated Press photos showing Steinbrenner over the years. What struck me was […]

Bye, Bye, Lebron

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Lebron+James&iid=9312354″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9312354/file-photo-cleveland/file-photo-cleveland.jpg?size=500&imageId=9312354″ width=”500″ height=”319″ /] Lebron James has bid adieu to Cleveland and the Cavaliers, choosing to take his quest for an NBA championship to Miami and the Heat. The tales in the leading newspapers of the two cities are as expected. There’s joy in Miami, where the Herald’s lead sentence tonight is […]

And the blue holiday baseball caps are cool, too

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=baseball&iid=9289359″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9289359/hat-and-glove-member-the/hat-and-glove-member-the.jpg?size=500&imageId=9289359″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /] I didn’t realize when I posted the other night that many Major League Baseball teams are wearing special holiday caps with blue bills this weekend. The mix of red and blue is pretty cool, and I think MLB has a winner. Hard as it is to adjust […]

MLB Independence Day ball caps are looking good

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=baseball&iid=9278128″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9278128/mlb-2010-rockies-beat/mlb-2010-rockies-beat.jpg?size=500&imageId=9278128″ width=”234″ height=”312″ /] For the Independence Day weekend, Major League baseball players are wearing patriotic caps. I think the red bills with white crowns look good, and from the highlights I saw last evening think they go better with most uniforms than previous models. The caps that were used in […]

The Big 10, the Big 12, the Pac 10 and our way of life

We all know the recent machinations realigning some of the major conferences in college athletics are all about money. We take cherished “amateur” sports associated with our institutions of higher learning and milk them for every dime. How quintessentially American. I don’t actually have any particular beef with finances driving universities to seek a better deal. […]

New batting helmets in minor leagues getting high marks for safety

Here’s a story from today’s Modesto Bee about the new batting helmets being used in Minor League Baseball. The specs from Rawlings say their S100 model is built to protect a batter struck by a pitch thrown at up to 100 mph. The Bee story says the helmets are getting rave reviews for their safety, […]

Major League Baseball can do the right thing and give Galarraga a perfect game

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”false” link=”term=Galarraga&iid=8821298″ src=”2/e/3/5/MLB_Red_Sox_a16f.jpg?adImageId=13084662&imageId=8821298″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /] Due to a unique set of circumstances, Major League Baseball can overturn the horrible call that cost Armando Galarraga his perfect game and do so without jeopardizing the integrity of the game. The replay evidence is overwhelmingly conclusive that umpire Jim Joyce made the wrong call. Joyce […]

The Habs have it

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Montreal&iid=8774278″ src=”3/7/4/9/Montreal_Canadiens_Win_6b81.JPG?adImageId=12837698&imageId=8774278″ width=”234″ height=”187″ /] Why are these men smiling? They’re fans of the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Pitsburgh Penguins 5-2 tonight to advance to the Eastern Conference finals in the NHL playoffs. The Habs will play either Philadelphia or Boston, who play tomorrow night. I haven’t paid much attention to […]

Great baseball rivalries: Yankees and Red Sox

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Babe+Ruth&iid=4606837″ src=”f/d/d/8/New_Yorks_dfce.jpg?adImageId=12802092&imageId=4606837″ width=”500″ height=”356″ /] It all goes back to the Bambino. Once Babe Ruth moved to New York from Boston, the die was cast for the greatest baseball rivalry of them all. The two franchises have battled venomously ever since, and only in the last decade have the Red Sox (this […]