Category: Uncategorized
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Bobby Jenks and closers
Former White Sox closer and member of the 2005 WS champion White Sox passed away at the age of 44. It sounds as if his particular form of stomach cancer was exceptionally unpleasant. Hopefully, the Sox and their fans will celebrate his life, career and character at the upcoming 20th reunion. While I didn’t have…
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If scoreboards and trade deadlines
The greater the frequency of pitchers heading to the IL is probably a bigger impetus for making a trade than a couple losses, but I’m not sure. Contenders are already eyeing the July 31 trade deadline like Sylvester slobbering over Tweety. Fans and media in markets like Chicago are impatient and clamoring for the Cubs…
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Celebrating Independence Day
Sure, I’d like to be celebrating the holiday at a ballpark, but sometimes life in the form of work interferes. A year ago today, I was concluding my four-city, four game tour of Northern Ohio. It was a memorable if exhausting journey-mainly because it was four games in four nights. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the holiday…
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Of gemstones and milestones..
Last night the White Sox scuffed up Clayton Kershaw for 9 hits, 4 earned runs in 6 innings of work. However, Kershaw and the Dodgers managed to hold off the Sox in a 5-4 victory. Clayton didn’t earn the victory, but it did strike out his 2998the,99th and 3000th batters. Unfortunately, I wasn’t at Chavez…
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R.I.P Dave Parker
By holding off another week to post about Dave Parker‘s recent passing at 74, I admit I thought I’d find some more relevant stories to share. Maybe because he was elected to the HOF months ago, many fine tributes were published. His family will hopefully enjoy the fanfare around the HOF ceremonies later this month,…
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Every game counts
The current MLB season feels a lot like most NFL seasons. Even the best teams have survived losing streaks and endured critical injuries. As a fan of a couple teams battling for postseason spots every game is mattering no matter what the front offices tell us. The Cubs completed a 7-game road trip in St.…
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A cautionary tale
In case you haven’t noticed, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the leading vote getters in the upcoming MLB All-Star game (ASG) and will be starting for the AL and NL respectively. In order to make the team, the other players have to survive different phases of voting. I don’t understand the specifics, but figure…
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You can’t escape it
Every ballpark in professional baseball has a backdrop whether the team likes it or not. It’s unclear to me if the designers and city planners make the effort to study the neighborhood before construction starts. Even if you’ve never been to a particular ML ballpark, you are probably aware of the backdrop-especially if it’s an…
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A trip to the IL and St. Louis in 18 hours
Planning my recent trip to STL began a couple of weeks ago when I heard that my cousin Lois might be in town when the Cubs and I were going to be there. I figured a midweek, four-game series might offer a better chance at reasonably priced tickets. More importantly, I’d be able to hit…
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Hardly what I expected
In less than an hour I’ll be driving down 55 to see the Cubs play the Cards in Busch Stadium, and instead of seeing the Cubs take the four-game series with an easy win, I hope to see them win for the first time in four days. STL has completely clobbered the Cubs. More important…
I'd rather be sitting in a ballpark. 