On Saturday, I attended a screening of Knuckleball! at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. The documentary, by award-winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, follows knuckleballers R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield during the 2011 season. Stern and Sundberg also tell the story about how both pitchers came to embrace and master this unique pitch.  Charlie Hough, Phil Niekro, Jim Bouton  and long-time White Sox [...]

The Braves ended R.A. Dickey’s streak of 14-consecutive quality starts that fell just short of Dwight Gooden’s team record set in 1985. Ironically, it was the Braves that ended Doc’s on July 4th of that season. That was the infamous 19 inning game that ended at 4:00 AM. Dickey’s streak has been over two seasons, [...]

Back in 2006, the Atlanta Braves thought they had their slugger of the future in 6-foot-4, 240-pound Cody Johnson. Atlanta spent its first-round pick on the strapping Johnson, luring the native of Panama City, Fla., away from a scholarship at the University of Florida. Johnson did not disappoint. In 2007, playing with the Danville Braves [...]

Rumors spread yesterday that the Mets are planning on honoring Chipper Jones this season before a game at Citi Field. This immediately spurned outrage (some of it in the fake format, specifically the radio airwaves) by individuals exasperated the team would recognize a player that has tortured them on the field. When it was first announced that [...]

The Yankees 0-3 start is reminding everyone of the ’98 squad that won a then American League record 114 games. Allen Barra of The Village Voice points out various reasons why this group isn’t anywhere near the class of that historic team. The good folks at Baseball Think Factory linked up this piece and provided their usual pithy comments. [...]

A loaded Grapefruit Roundup tonight at 8pm Hear me talk about the Joba Chamberlain‘s injury and answer the critics who believe I am off base in my criticism of his judgement. I also talk about Chipper Jones being an all-time Mets killer, and what the Wilpon victory in court means for the Mets. Joining me during [...]

It was announced earlier today that Chipper Jones, one of the greatest sports villains in New York history, will be exiting stage right at the end of the season. When you think about some of the prominent villains over the last 25 years Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Pedro Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jones stand out. For as aggravating as [...]

More than a week ago, New York Mets GM Sandy Alderson finished his long drive down to Port St. Lucie, FL for spring training. A week ago Saturday he held a gathering with reporters, answering questions on the state of the Mets organization. There was no truth to the rumor that Alderson was late for [...]

The Ryan Zimmerman contract extension sent shock waves throughout baseball. Anytime a player is awarded a deal north of $100 million, its big news. The biggest waves, however, reached the shores of Port St. Lucie, despite the fact that David Wright and the organization downplayed the impact. You know the drill by now. David Wright has a $16 million [...]

Yesterday I wrote at Sports Media Watchdog about the public overreaction to the ESPN “Chink in the Armor” story; today I came across a story about MLB messing with tradition in the name of political correctness. Last September, the League prevented the Mets from wearing hats honoring first responders during their game against the Cubs [...]

It is common knowledge among the electorate the 2012 New Mets aren’t going to be that good. Without a deep starting pitching staff and not even a true ace, Mets GM Sandy Alderson has attempted to follow the lead of the Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers by building up a solid bullpen to improve their [...]

We’re at the time of year now when the various media outlets and fan blogs start releasing their minor league top prospect lists for 2012. Baseball America is clearly the industry standard leader in this venture, popping out their Top 100 lists every year since 1990. (Their number one Number One? Braves left hander Steve Avery). Whether you [...]

I had an opportunity to chat with Steven Travers last night, author of a new book called “The Last Icon: Tom Seaver and His Times,” on my radio program. Never before has someone delved into the career of the man known as “The Franchise.” You all know about his accomplishments on the field, but Travers [...]

During last night’s Knicks-Nuggets game at the Garden, Mike Piazza appeared at halftime with Jill Martin on the MSG Network. You can watch the segment below, but some of the highlights were Piazza saying he and Johnny Bench are tied as “the best hitting catchers of all-time,” how he would like to go into the [...]

Back in November the Caribbean Journal ran this video about how there is an attempt to revive baseball on the islands of the Bahamas. There have been six big leaguers of Bahamian descent. The most successful is Andre Rodgers, a shortstop that spent 11 seasons in the big leagues in the late 50s and early [...]