Many fans around today know little of the game of baseball’s history. Its past is filled with colorful characters. Some performed at levels today’s stars will never reach, especially on the pitching side of the game. It is a safe bet that no one ever approaches 511 wins. I would say 300 is out of reach in today’s game. Only two players in the history of the game have achieved…
Well, the baseball winter meetings are now a little over a week away. The big question for Dodger fans is what, if any, moves will the Dodgers make. A couple of free agents have come off of the board: Lynn to the Cardinals, Gibson to the Cardinals, DeJong to the White Sox, and the biggest fish so far, Nola back to the Phillies. Usually, there is a lull until the…
I did a post last year where I talked about the Asian players who the Dodgers have signed over the years. A few of them had a very positive impact on the Dodgers’ fortunes. The two very first were Park from Korea and Nomo, the Dodgers’ first Japanese signing. This year, there are two very good and very intriguing pitchers from Japan about to be posted. Yamamoto is supposed to…
From December 3rd to the 6th, baseball’s winter meetings will be held in Nashville, Tennessee. On Dec 5th, there will be a live broadcast on the MLB network of the newly installed draft lottery. MLB started this to deter tanking. It will give the top six spots in the draft to six of the following nine teams. Athletics, Royals, Rockies, Angels, White Sox, Cardinals, Mets, Guardians, Pirates. Teams that pay…
Coming off of two straight epic post-season meltdowns, is this Freidman’s most important off-season since he took over? I get the impression from reading many baseball blogs and websites that the Dodgers fan base wants something really big and really dramatic. I get the impression that half-measures and signing fringe guys is not going to satisfy the average Dodger fan. I see a lot of no more Peralta’s and no more…
Change is coming, bank on it. Change in baseball is inevitable. There will be tweaks to the rules, from the looks of things, a lot of player movement, and somewhere down the road, expansion and maybe a team or two moving to a new city. Rosters change every year. Just how much in today’s game depends on the number of free agents a team might have, prospects ready…
For quite some time we have heard rumors that MLB wants to expand to 32 teams. It makes sense. Instead of uneven leagues, you would have 16 in each league, which would allow you to have four 4-team divisions. That also fixes some of the problems with the way the playoffs are set up now. Four division champs in each league. You could also if you liked, do some re-alignment….
Now the fun really starts. Every day the free agent list will grow as players are non-tendered or options are not picked up. The trickle becomes a deluge. And sometime over the next couple of weeks, after the season ending awards are handed out, players will begin the negotiation process with teams that are interested. There has been one trade so far involving a major league player as Mark Canha…
Casey Stengel once said that Moe Berg was the strangest man to ever play baseball. Berg was born in New York on March 2nd, 1902. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father, Bernard Berg, was a druggist. He arrived from the Ukraine in 1894 and found work ironing in a laundry. Rose Tashker, arrived two years later when Bernard saved enough money. Bernard also put aside enough money to open…
Most of us who love and played the game had those dreams when we were young. We were all going to play for our favorite team and hit a homer in the 9th inning of the seventh game of the World Series. Marry the most gorgeous girl in high school and be the envy of all of our friends. That kid in the photo had those dreams. I also wanted…