Who was the best rookie in Major League Baseball in 2011? Freddie Freeman

In the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, this is my rookie year for voting in the group’s end-of-season awards. In the BBA, the Willie Mays Award goes to the top rookie, and here’s my ballot influenced heavily by the great MLB.com statistical rundown on rookies: 1. Freddie Freeman, Atlanta – Braves: Playing virtually every game at 1st […]

Take me out to the ball game, and buy me some ear plugs

Take me out to the ball game, but skip the peanuts and Cracker Jack. I need ear plugs. I’ve made it to four major league ball parks this year, and my ears haven’t stopped ringing. The worst offender was Kauffman Field in Kansas City, where we were seated down range from what I presume was […]

The pleasures of day baseball

Back in our old neighborhood in Alameda today, a friend and I decided there could be no better way to spend the day than by making the short drive to the ballpark. My friend, my younger son and I were rewarded with an entertaining game at the coliseum in Oakland. The Kansas City Royals pounded […]

I finally make it to Kauffman Stadium, and the Kansas City Royals still stink

When Kauffman (nee Royals) Stadium opened years ago, I remember the announcers cooing about how cool the fountains were. Presumably they concentrated their gaze beyond the grass because the grass was plastic. Kansas City prides itself as the city of fountains, and through the many times I’d visited over the years I’d never managed to […]

What’s the best time zone for baseball fans?

Road trips are rough on major league teams, particularly when making the big leap from Eastern time to Pacific time or vice versa. It’s also an issue for us baseball fans, who have to show nimble ingenuity to catch the broadcasts of our favorite teams. This week it’s been a trade-off for me: the San […]

The Granderson trade: Grist for the Yankee-haters’ mill

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=curtis+granderson&iid=4994621″ src=”0/9/d/f/Detroit_Tigers_vs_a152.JPG?adImageId=8153941&imageId=4994621″ width=”234″ height=”159″ /] The floats that rolled down the Canyon of Heroes in the World Series victory parade have barely cooled their engines and the New York Yankees are already bolstering their formidable roster. The details aren’t final, but at the winter meetings in Indianapolis the Yanks have engineered a […]

What exit? Yes, It’s the Jersey Turnpike World Series!

1985: The Cardinals and the Royals meet in an all-Missouri matchup, and it’s the I-70 World Series. 1989: The Giants and Athletics endure an earthquake to play in the Bay Bridge Series. 2000: The Bronx Bombers rumble with the Metropolitans of Queens in an all-NYC Subway Series. This is 2009, Yankees versus Phillies, and there’s only one possible […]

For most of us, it’s ‘Wait Until Next Year’

Playoffs notwithstanding, for most baseball fans today is the first day of the long winter. The season is over, the concession stands are empty, the lockerrooms bare as the players have packed up to go fishing or hunting or whatever they do in the off-season. For followers of the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Indians, the […]

Caps off to The Captain, Derek Jeter, on tying Lou Gehrig’s hit mark

It took me a while to appreciate the greatness of Derek Jeter, who tonight in New York tied Lou Gehrig for a record 2,721 hits in a Yankees’ uniform. He’ll undoubtedly break the record in the next few games, and I hope he keeps on swinging until he reaches 3,000 hits. For most of my […]

Love those throwback uniforms!

I always get a charge out of the games in which major league ball clubs wear “throwback” uniforms, such as the Pittsburgh Pirates did last night. The Pirates wore the uniforms of the Homestead Grays in defeating the Kansas City Royals, who were wearing Kansas City Monarchs uniforms. Virgil Vasquez (in photo) sports a Grays […]