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POPS"Left" out at catcher Remarkable, i had no idea this was the case for left handed catchers. And if you think baseball has something against lefty infielders too, you'd be right... "Not one left-handed thrower has played an inning at shortstop in the majors in 100 years. As for second base, there have been only three since World War II" Wow. Talk about inside baseball...this stuff is the baseball equivalent of molecular biology
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POPSThe Best Switch-Pitcher in Baseball Crazy right? its true though, this kid throws both left and right handed coming out of the bull pen...and he's killing it. Unfortunately, he's more of a side - left or right ;) - show than a real prospect and its likely he'll never see a big league game. That said, with guys like Rick Ankiel making the jump from pitcher to slugging outfielder I suppose it will happen in the majors one day.
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POPSFresh Growth: It must be spring...and PLAYOFF HOCKEY! This time every year the run for Lord Stanley's cup brings about a wonderful tradition (or is it superstition?) among hockey players...scraggly playoff beards. These interesting (read: nasty) facial adornments typically remain until they lose, or win it all. Since the NHL resonates with only a very small subset of sports fans, most think the Red Sox "idots" featuring Johnny Damon and co. ushered in this idea. Not true. Baseball players definitely cornered the market on superstition, but this one belongs to the NHL. Here's a great example of the Niedermayer brothers followed by the '94 Rangers cup team that won despite going against the playoff beard tradition. Note: their way of breaking a jinx dating back to 1940 was to go clean shaven...it worked.
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POPS"That's Just Wrong" So, I was at a Little League baseball game today watching my son play. I was standing next to another father while the opposing team was warming up on the field. We were chatting away about our sons' team, the Yankees, the halcyon days of our own little league baseball youth, etc. when he turned to me and said "man, look at the other team's uniforms, they're wearing navy blue pants with light blue shirts - they look like freakin' pajamas! That's just wrong." I got a chuckle out of it for sure, because they did look like pajamas, but it made me recall some horrible uniforms from the 70's and eighties (below): the 1976 Chicago White Sox uniforms featuring shorts (they looked like a mens slow pitch softball team) and the NHL's Hartford Whalers and Philadelphia Flyers of the 80's who wore pants. Shorts on baseball players? Pants on Hockey players? Now That's just wrong. Who do you think has the worst uniforms in professional sports today?
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POPS"The Bird": Gone But Not Forgotten So sad. What a wonderful character he was. Showed up out of nowhere and won just about every award possible in his first season (check out the amazing stats below). He was supremely talented, and baseball fans - regardless of their loyalty to the home team - adopted him as their own. He had a gentle goofyness about him and the irony that he looked like Jim Henson's beloved character "Big Bird" was hard to ignore. Detroit and Major League Baseball caught lighting in a bottle that summer and by the time his rookie season was over, "The Bird" was too. He was never the same again, but he left the kind of indelible mark on the game that few players since have. Baseball sure could use a bright light like Mark Fidrych again. The Bird is gone, but not forgotten...R.I.P.
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POPS$126 Million Dollar Man Heads to the Bullpen Wow. This is just amazing. Everyone who knows baseball knew Zito's deal was terrible for the Giants. Zito was very, very good but worth $126 Million? Definitely not. Truth is, he could still be a good pitcher and perhaps a stint in the pen could help him considering he has gone 247 games without missing a starting turn.
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POPSGossage In but Rice out of the Hall of Fame IMO this should have happened years ago. Now, why can't the writers get there *&%$ together and vote Rice in?! He was only the most feared hitter in the sport during his peak years. I'm a big time Yankee fan, but even i recognize his contribution. Now, if only Donnie Baseball got his due ;)
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POPSYanks Made a Big Mistake: No Donnie Baseball Oh, man. Where's the old General when we need him? The younger Steinbrenners somehow got the wrong side of George's DNA. How could the Yanks miss so badly. This decision could haunt them for years. Yes, Girardi is a smart baseball man and a great teacher/motivator of young talent. But, he is not favored by his contemporaries and this hiring also tells me that there is possibly worse news to come: Rivera, Posada, and possibly Petitte will follow Arod out the door. See you in 4 years when the youngsters mature...
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