Check this out. Apparently Major League Baseball and New Era caps have been selling caps in Harlem stores that contain gang signs. Now I wouldn’t know this, and I’m sure most of the Wall Street folks who make up marketing don’t know what a gang sign is, either, but it strikes me as odd that they didn’t know this ahead of time. Here’s a quote from the article:

“Major League Baseball … is very concerned about the issue,” said Silvia Alvarez, the league’s director of multicultural and charitable communications, in a statement.

They obviously weren’t concerned enough to research the problem before these things went on sale, were they? :)

You know, all the problems, all the investigations… I have to say, congratulations to Barry Bonds. No matter what you think of him, no matter what you think he may or may not have done, it’s still an impressive accomplishment. No, I don’t have a problem with this, really.
The way I look at it is this. Even if I took twice the amount of things people have said Barry did. Heck, even four or five times the amount, there’s no way it would make me hit baseballs like that. The natural talent is still there, and it’s still impressive. Even if you go back to a time before all these issues are alleged to have started, he was still a hall of famer. Great player. To hit that many baseballs takes talent that I don’t think any drug can give you. Plus, to be honest, it is still a big deal, and I’m not going to get all mad about it, get all pissy like a lot of sports people will probably do (Jim Rome comes to mind). I’m going to enjoy it. Partially because I figure Arod will probably beat it a few years down the road. :)
The local connection is that former Ranger Mike Bacsik was the one who gave up the shot. Quite a fiasco in the stands rumbling around for the ball.
Also, I was QUITE surprised at the video message from Hank Aaron. Given how much has been written about how Aaron can’t stand Bonds, I was quite frankly shocked to see that there, especially given the remark that Hank Aaron made not too long ago saying he “didn’t know how to spell his name”. So it was quite surprising to see him there. Barry definitely loves his dad – that much showed in his speech.
I say let it go, because if you asterisk this event, then where do you stop with the “steroid era” stuff? Do you just eliminate anything that happened between 1985 or so and now? You can’t do that either, so you just live with it, I think.
Now if something definitely happens, and we have concrete proof and he admits something, I might change my opinion, but for now…
Congratulations Barry Bonds.

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In a move that will probably make the zealots over at Peta happy.. It was announced today that starting in 2007, there will be new baseball caps worn by the players on the field. They won’t look any different, but they’ll be made out of different material. Previously (and for some time, too) they were made out of wool. The new ones will be made out of 100% polyester. It’s some sort of new tech in the hat to reduce sweat, and make the hat better in say 100 degree days.
I wonder what they’ll feel like – according to the article, they’ll all have black brims, and will conduct sweat away much better than before. I know a lot of people get all bent out of shape over change. What I worry about is if they’ll use this as an excuse to raise the prices again. These things are already way too expensive ($28 per cap). In re-reading the article, I missed the sidebars the first time. The price is going up again. Retail on these hats will be $32, instead of the $29 they previously were. Hopefully they don’t get so sweat stained up as much, so I can keep one for a few more seasons than before, and amortize the cost. It seems really weird to be using the phrase “amortize the cost” in a story about a baseball cap.
Anyway, go check out the full article over at USA Today, which has quotes from several players. One of my favorites is a line from Diamdondbacks infielder Orlando Hudson, who says that after the season starts, it will be about his performance, not his hat.

Last night MLB.com posted a story on changes in the game. Normally I roll my eyes at things like this (whatever happened to the consistant strike zone attempt from a couple of years ago), however, some of these could be interesting. Here’s some of the points they made:

• Tie Games: Used to be if a game was a tie and was called for weather, they’d be replayed, but now according to the article, “While previously such games were considered official and replayed in their entirety from the beginning, hence they will be “suspended” and resumed at the point of stoppage.” According to the article, “Tie games will resume prior to the next scheduled game between the teams, in the visitors’ park if no more games are scheduled at the same site. If no more games are scheduled between the teams, the tie would stand unless an outcome would decide a playoff spot — in which case the game would be replayed in its entirety. ”
• Time Between Pitches: Apparently a pitcher gets 20 seconds between pitches to deliver the next one. That’s been reduced to 12. I can see a lot of fidgety guys complaining that it’s ruining their pitching if they start going bad. The violation each time is a ball. Al Hrabosky wouldn’t like this, I’m sure. :)
• Batters Box: What might be called the anti-Nomah rule, you now have to keep one foot in the batters box during your at-bat, otherwise they call a strike. Now things like almost getting hit by a pitch and bailing out, that would be OK, but the article states “requiring they keep one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat, except for certain game-play conditions — during which he is still not allowed to leave the dirt area surrounding the plate.” That seems pretty wide open to interpretation.
• Ball Scuffing: A major change here. Used to be they’d call a ball if you were busted scuffing the ball. Now it’s a 10 game suspension? Wow. That’s a HUGE change. I wonder what they’ll do about 42 year old pitchers in the world series with substances on their hands? 100 game suspension, and a forced listening of Kenny G’s catalogue?
• Rosin on ball: Whoops. Spoke too soon. There’s the Kenny Rogers rule. 10 game suspension.
• Political Correctness: While the rules have never ruled out women, there hasn’t been a woman get anywhere near the major leagues (that I’m aware of) on the grounds of merit before. So in order to make things more “fair” (WTF), the rulebook now has a disclaimer that says “The rulebook now includes the disclaimer that references “to ‘he,’ ‘him’ or ‘his’ shall be deemed to be a reference to ‘she,’ ‘her’ or ‘hers'” where applicable.”. (WTF 2)

According to the article, they’re the first rule changes since the attempt at unifying the strike zone in 1996. There were a couple of changes to the official scoring rules, too. I’ll just quote from the article, since neither are a major deal to the way I score a game:
“”For instance, the guidewords for deciding whether to credit a batter with a sacrifice bunt have changed from him being possibly retired on a “perfect play” to “ordinary effort” by the defense.
And fans weary of hearing “defensive indifference” on stolen-base attempts will be heartened to learn that the scorer must now base that call on all game circumstances, not merely on whether someone covered the base or the catcher got off a throw.”

There’s an article up on mlb.com which talks about the new managers this year. Specifically it gets into who the author thinks will have the most impact on their new clubs. Obviously, there’s a section on Ron Washington. Here’s all the managers discussed:
Lou Piniella (Cubs)
Bruce Bochy (Giants)
Manny Acta (Nationals)
Bob Geren (A’s)
Fredi Gonzalez (Marlins)
Bud Black (San Diego)
Ron Washington (Rangers)
That’s 7 of the 30 managers being new, and of those seven, five of them are first timers to boot. Check out the article, some nice reading.

For a few years (a few years ago) I subscribed to the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV. It allowed you to see a lot more games than you normally would. You can’t see everything, mind you, but you get to see a lot. A lot of fans are addicted to this package – I personally stopped getting it when I realized I was watching about 90% Rangers games, the cost for the packge didn’t make it worth it for me. But it’s worth it for others, and I bet a lot of those “others” are pissed off at the story MLB is cooking up with Extra Innings.
While the agreement hasn’t been formally signed and announced, everything points to the MLBEI package being a DirecTV exclusive product starting this season in a similar fashion to the NFL Sunday Ticket package (which I do subscribe to). Folks who got MLBEI on cable will be left out, unless they switch to DirecTV, of course. This is all about a cash grab, and it doesn’t strike me as the best strategy, unless they feel that the money they’d get from MLB would offset the loss of revenue from folks who will not switch to DirecTV.
One thing that is coming out of this will be a 24 hour baseball channel on DirecTV, starting in 2009 according to this article over at “The Biz of Baseball”. I’ve linked to these guys several times, and if you aren’t reading it regularly, you should. For some reason, as I got close to 40, I became a lot more interested in the business side of baseball. I still love the sport, love watching games, always will. But I love the backside stuff now a lot more than I used to, and TBoB is a great site for this kind of thing. Make sure and check out their updated article on the MLB Extra Innings deal, which has some nice details on the matter.

One guy I know some of my other Ranger fan website brethren have advocated, Andy Pettite, appears to be close to resigning with the Yankees. Ugh. I hate it when someone helps the Yankees, and you know that $7 mil a year we’re sending Steinbrenner really frosts my weenie. ;)
Seriously, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Pettite here, but I didn’t think it was a realistic option. I figured it would be Houston, New York, or the baseball game that comes with the Nintendo Wii.

Saw a minute or two ago that Ryan Howard was named MVP of the NL for 2006. As a Phillies fan in addition to a Rangers fan, I have to admit I had a bit of the homer choice there. :)
It is an accomplishment – I heard on XM’s Home Plate channel last week that if Howard did get it, he’d be one of only a few players in MLB history to be crowed rookie of the year and then league MVP the following year. Cal Ripken did it, I forget who the other was (memory says it’s just one other guy).
I think Pujols probably would have gotten it had he stayed healthy all season.
P.S. Wanted to say hi to the guy who works at the Garland Firewheel Build a Bear Store. I was in there Sat night making a bear for my daughter, and he recognized me. Yo! :)

On the second day after the World Series ended, several more players have filed for free agency, bringing the total up to 89. Several Rangers have filed, including Gary Matthews on Sunday.
Here is my updated list of Rangers and former Rangers that have filed:
Red Sox: Gabe Kapler, Doug Mirabelli
White Sox: Sandy Alomar Jr
Twins: Phil Nevin
Texas: Rod Barajas, Mark DeRosa, Adam Eaton, Gary Matthews Jr, & Eric Young
Blue Jays: Frank Catalanotto
Braves: John Thomson
Reds: Royce Clayton, Todd Hollandsworth
Mets: Ricky Ledee
Phillies: Aaron Fultz
Padres: Rudy Seanez
Giants: Todd Greene, Mike Stanton
Nationals: Alfonso Soriano
I wouldn’t mind having Alfonso Soriano back to play left field next year if it’s determined that Brad Wilkerson won’t work out. But they probably won’t take that gamble. Right now I’d rather have Soriano in left than Lee.