Home run hitters tend to have nicknames. Babe Ruth was “The Bambino,” Dave Kingman was “Kong,” David Ortiz ”Big Papi” and Frank Thomas the “Big Hurt.” Bill “Moose” Skowron was a power hitting first baseman for the Yankees in the 1950s, but his nickname had nothing to do with anything he did on the field. “My grandfather shaved off all [...]

Steroids created a lot of “video game” type of results over two decades. Two records that still were elusive to jacked up hitters was Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams .406 batting average. When ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst  John Kruk said Derek Jeter can hit .400 earlier this month, everyone blew it off as crazy.  Thirty-four games [...]

It was announced earlier today that former Indiana Pacer and Knicks nemesis, Reggie Miller, will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this September. Miller is best known around these parts for his exploits against the Knicks in the 1994 and ’95 NBA Playoffs. NBA TV has a show called “Open Court” that stars [...]

The Mets lack of pitching depth has been widely discussed this spring. Look past the starting five, and you don’t see many options that make you warm and fuzzy. Perhaps Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia will change that mid-season, but neither should be put into the equation on March 20th. With the new rule that [...]

All reports indicate that MLB will expand its playoff system this year to include a second Wild Card team. MLB continues to be the only sport that doesn’t get it. What I mean by that is they don’t have the understanding or ability to create an economic system where the disparity in local revenues between [...]

According to a tweet the other night by Buster Olney, the Philadelphia Phillies attempted to trade pitcher Joe Blanton to the Los Angeles Angels for OF/DH Bobby Abreu, then planned to flip Abreu to the New York Yankees for A.J. Burnett.  My first thought was how much cash would the Phillies have wanted the Yankees [...]

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 [...]

Here is another cool baseball-football connection this Super Bowl week. I am sure this has been talked about before, but Jeff Bradley did a nice piece in the Star-Ledger about Patriots QB Tom Brady and his near baseball career. You know about the three Super Bowl titles, but did you know that Brady was an outstanding baseball [...]

Let’s have some fun. I was surfing Sportsbook reviews looking for what the odds makers think about the local teams chances of winning the World Series. The big free agent signings of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder have surged the Angels and Tigers into the top five, respectively. The Yankees are tied with the Angels was 13-2 favorites. The Phillies are still #1 in [...]

Ken Rosenthal broke down what he calls the “Super Six” in the American League on Fox Sports. After an offseason of spending, the Angels and Tigers join the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and Rangers as the elite teams in all of baseball. This year, the American League appears to have the potential to be even more top [...]

Update: 1:40 PM Andrew Marchand of ESPN NY dispels this rumor @trager11 I’m told that Trumbo-Robertson rumor is not true. Makes no sense from Yankees perspective. Forget about that one.Sat Jan 14 18:06:09 via TweetDeckAndrew MarchandAndrewMarchand Original Post Source: #Angels and #Yankees discussing Mark Trumbo. Robertson in play.Sat Jan 14 01:36:11 via webScott SwaimMLBInsideNews Would [...]

The quotes to Bob Klapisch at Fox Sports from a senior Yankees official  caused very little stir. Perhaps because it’s a holiday week and the usual pundits are on vacation. Perhaps because Klapisch wrote it on Fox Sports instead of the Post or Daily News. Perhaps the opening week of the NBA and the Giants and Jets fighting [...]

In recent months I have discussed the dangers of long-term deals, specifically when it came to the Mets signing Jose Reyes. The years, more than the dollars, is usually the problem. Long-term contracts lead to teams paying premium dollars for players past their prime. The average annual value is often skewed because you have situations (see [...]

The Yu Darvish bidding ended last night and I noticed a lot of complaints about the posting system used with NPB players. As I wrote in November, Hideki Irabu played a similar role to Curt Flood as his transition to the United States in 1997 was extremely volatile. That year, the San Diego Padres signed a [...]

The Winter Meetings ended Thursday afternoon, but the NBA picked up on the craziness with an evening of trade rumors and controversy. When Commissioner David Stern overturned the three-team deal that would have landed Chris Paul with the Lakers, it conjured up memories of a similar situation that occurred in baseball 35 years ago. On [...]