The Captain, Derek Jeter, tied New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig for the most hits by a Bronx Bomber at 2,721 last night inside the new Yankees Stadium. Jeter tied the record, which has stood for over 70 years, in the 7th inning against the Tampa Bay Rays when he slapped a sinking fastball to right field off righty Jeff Niemann.
Jeter promptly received a standing ovation from the 45,848 fans in attendance as he stood on first base tipping his cap. The shortstop had an opportunity to surpass Gehrig’s record in the 8th inning but was walked by reliever Grant Balfour.
He will surely pass the Iron Horse, setting his eyes on 3,000 hits. Many believe Jeter, 35, may one day join Pete Rose and Ty Cobb as the only players to get 4,000 hits. Till then, we’ll have to wait in anticipation.
Another one of Major League Baseball’s elite power hitters has been implicated as a steroid user today. David “Big Papi” Ortiz’s name was cited as one of the 100 players who tested positive for performance enhancement drugs in 2003 – a list of players that MLB and the players’ union agreed would be confidential.
With the shock effect of steroids now gone, it’s interesting to know who is diming out the players on the infamous list of dopers? Although the tests’ results are supposed to be confidential, anonymous sources have decided to pick and choose what names to disclose to the public. Among the players whose names have been improperly disclosed are Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa and David Segui – all of whom are Hispanics.
Utilizing the race card may be premature considering pitcher Jason Grimsley and utility player Larry Bigbie, who are white players, were also ratted out however the outing of potential Hall of Famers of Hispanic descent is an intriguing story in itself.
We’re not trying to support these cheats, but let’s be fair. If names are being revealed on a list that is confidential then all the names should be revealed so as to avoid any feelings of discrimination.
Major League Baseball’s mid-Summer classic is here. The most exciting event during the three-day classic is definitely the Home Run Derby. This year’s All-Star derby is highlighted by “The Machine,” Albert Pujols. The St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman is the favorite but don’t fall asleep on sluggers Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez and Carlos Pena.
It appears that Carlos Zambrano’s on-and-off field meltdown yesterday against the Pittsburgh Pirates will cost the Venezuelan ace a six game suspension.
Considering that nobody was hurt and that El Toro’s meltdown was one of the funnier baseball disagreements I’ve ever seen, this punishment seems a little excessive to me. Bud Selig needs to develop a darker sense of humor.
Wow! Was the first word I uttered when I heard SportsCenter report that Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a performance enhancement drug.
‘Damn’ was the next one, because I’ve always been a huge fan of the Washington Heights born slugger and always thought he played clean. Unfortunately, I was naïve – how silly I was to think that any player smacking 30-plus homeruns a year deep into their 30s in the decade after the last MLB strike.
Truth is that after the last players’ strike in 1994, professional baseball was in dire straits to reinvigorate its fan base, which were sick and tired of the work stoppages and weren’t exactly rushing back to stadiums. All of a sudden there were new stadiums going up with the outfield fences in closer, making it more conducive to the home run ball.
Shit, experts even theorized that baseballs were being strung tighter, therefore, resulting in the dramatic increase in the long ball. It wasn’t until an Associated Press reporter noticed a bottle of Andorstenedione in Mark McGwire’s locker that anyone began to question steroid’s potential impact on the game.
Truth is Major League Baseball executives had to had known that even with the smaller fields and expansion, it was unnatural for older player to continue growing in mass and hit more homers later into their careers than they had earlier on. In my estimate team and league officials are complacent in the whole “steroid era” that is ruining historical records like Roger Maris’ single season homerun record and Hank Aaron’s all-time homerun record.
In the larger scope, Congress should be subpoenaing more trainers, managers and front office executives about their role in the whole fiasco because they purposely turned a blind eye to Barry Bonds increasingly growing neck and head. However, the chances of that happening are little, if at all, because at the end of the day Major League Baseball is a multi-billion dollar business that generates tons of monies for the government.
Instead Uncle Sam will handle it the way it handles every other quagmire, they’ll blame it all on the petty users and punish them with jail time while the big willies at the top skate free without being held accountable – it’s America’s pastime.
