Category Archives: Baseball

Cubs fans. What can you say? If a curse can somehow live in the intricate windings of cork, rubber, yarn and cowhide that make up a baseball, then the Chicago Cubs can look forward to a luckier future. The team’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s interesting to read the reaction to the A-Rod deal in the Dallas press. While these guys all more or less seem to grasp that Tom Hicks is an idiot, they don’t quite get why he’s an idiot. Kevin Blackistone: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Bud Selig has approved the trade that will send Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees and Red Sox fans everywhere into apoplexy. I’ll have some thoughts about this later, but for now, I agree with what Peter Gammons says. And before … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Boy, talk about a disturbance in the Force: In an offseason when a flurry of high-profile players switched teams, the Yankees early today were on the verge of making the biggest splash of all. Barring a last-minute snag, industry sources … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nolan Ryan is poised to rejoin the Astros. No, silly, not as a pitcher, but on a personal services contract, which is to say he’ll get paid to schmooze with big shots. According to a person close to the situation, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now that we’ve gotten all this Super Bowl silliness out of the way, we can start getting ourselves in the right frame of mind for baseball. We’ll begin with your 2003 national champion Rice Owls, who make their initial defense … Continue reading → Continue reading →

According to this story, the Society for American Baseball Research is trying to determine if William Edward White, who played one game with the National League’s Providence Greys in 1879, was the first black man to play in a major … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Very nice article on Wayne Graham, coach of your 2003 National Champion Rice Owls baseball team. The season kicks off on February 10, and it’s going to be different this year as The Defending Champions instead of some Cinderella story. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I guess reports of his retirement were greatly exaggerated. Astros owner Drayton McLane has done it again, persuading future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to put off retirement for a year. McLane acknowledged the deal, but he preferred to withhold … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Some more evidence from Richard Justice’s column that Pete Rose badly miscalculated with his non-contrite admission of gambling on baseball after so many years of denial. The Chicago Tribune surveyed 159 Hall of Fame voters, and only 45.3 percent of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the comments to this entry on Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame, Mike says the following: If we are going to start picking and choosing the ballplayers that we honor based on whether or not we liked them … Continue reading → Continue reading →

First and foremost, congratulations to Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley for their well-deserved election to the Hall of Fame. I’m surprised Ryne Sandberg is still not in, though with Wade Boggs as the only deserving newcomer to the ballot next … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Damn. Tug McGraw, the zany relief pitcher who coined the phrase “You Gotta Believe” with the New York Mets and later closed out the Philadelphia Phillies’ only World Series championship, died Monday. He was 59. McGraw died of brain cancer … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you’ve watched any sports on ABC or ESPN recently, you’ve probably seen the teaser for the Pete Rose interview to be aired on Thursday night in which he’s asked the question “did you bet on baseball?” To no one’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s been a lot of caterwauling over the now-dead deal that would have sent Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez and enough financial transactions to keep a fantasy accountants’ league busy for the rest of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

With the signing of Andy Pettite, the Astros are the talk of baseball as the winter meeting goes on in New Orleans. General Manager Gerry Hunsicker is talking about what else he has in mind, while local radio DJs Dean … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I confess, I never really thought the Astros would have a shot at Andy Pettite, but it looks like I was wrong. It’s a gutsy move on their part, though it does have a downside, as Pettite has benefited from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Hall of Fame ballot has been released, and I think it’s safe to say that the two top newcomers, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley, are the two favorites for enshrinement this year. It’s the returning players that interest me … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Warren Spahn, probably the greatest lefthanded pitcher ever and the winningest pitcher since the 1930s, died yesterday at the age of 82. David Pinto and Rob Neyer have some good profiles on him. Rest in peace, Warren Spahn. Continue reading →

I do a lot of bashing of Beelzebud Selig and his cronies for their relentless avarice and stupidity, so I owe it to them to point out when they’ve done something farsighted and intelligent. Sunday, MLB and its fledgling counterpart, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Radley Balko, in writing about baseball’s legitimacy problem vis-a-vis steroid usage, falls victim to a common and annoying fallacy when discussing the effect of allegedly amped-up players on the sport’s record books. While I don’t think steroids should be illegal, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Astros, for reasons that make sense only to themselves, have resigned 34-year-old Brad Ausmus to two a two-year contract, reported by Giff Nielson (who was so ecstatic I thought he was going to wet himself) as being $2 million … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I probably should have written about baseball’s new steroid policy last week, but I punked out on it. Honestly, I see this as more of a PR thing than anything else. Thanks to the Ken Caminitis and Jose Cansecos of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is a bit of a shock, but no surprise. All-Star closer Billy Wagner was traded Monday from the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia sent Houston right-hander Brandon Duckworth, and minor league right-handers Taylor Buchholz and Ezequiel Astacio. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Congratulations to the Florida Marlins, a very deserving World Series champion. Josh Beckett was amazing, and he needed to be since Andy Pettite pitched very well also. I’m rather surprised that the one name no one mentioned during the game … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s just as well for Kevin that Peter Ueberroth has dropped out of the California recall election. Gary Huckabay at the Baseball Prospectus wrote on Friday in a behind-the-paid-firewall article that Ueberroth gets an awful lot of credit for doing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Chron columnist Ken Hoffman provides a nice update on former Astro star J.R. Richard, who is now helping teach kids how to pitch at the Sports House athletic facility in southewest Houston. Richard began coaching kids last year. He happened … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I wish I had a clear memory of Bobby Bonds, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 57 yesterday, but I don’t. I remember the Yankees traded fan favorite Bobby Murcer straight up for him, he had one of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So I get a phone call from Tiffany… T: A vendor wants to take a bunch of us to their luxury box at Minute Maid Park for an Astros game next week. Do you want to go? C: You’re asking … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Baseball Prospectus has an exclusive report which says that Pete Rose has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball that will allow him to come back in 2004 and includes no admission of wrongdoing by Rose. I am in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Barry Bonds, whose many skills do not include tact, generated some controversy at the All-Star Game when he talked about eclipsing Babe Ruth. The San Francisco slugger leads the majors with 30 home runs at the All-Star break and has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So now we enter that three-day long, dark tea-time of the baseball fan’s soul known as the All-Star break. For approximately the 28th consecutive summer (not counting 1981, when the ASG was played immediately following the end of the strike), … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The 2003 National Champion Rice Owls baseball team – and no, I’m not going to get tired of typing that any time soon – got a victory parade in downtown Houston yesterday along with the Calder Cup-winning Houston Aeros. What … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A big and loud crowd packed into Reckling Park last night to welcome back the National Champion Rice Owls baseball team. The Chron did not give an estimate of attendance, but the consensus on the Rice Sports Forum is about … Continue reading → Continue reading →