From Pizza Delivery to the Big Leagues: Jim Rushford and His Amazing Journey Through Baseball

Research shows that only about 0.5 percent of high school seniors who play baseball will get drafted by a baseball team; and less than 11 percent of varsity baseball-playing college seniors will get the call. Of those few that become a draft pick, less than one in five will eventually play in the majors. These numbers all make […]

Trevor Hoffman’s Hall of Fame Status Anything But Certain

Ken Griffey Jr. and Trevor Hoffman are the headline first-timers next year on the Baseball Writers of America Hall of Fame ballot. Griffey Jr. is a slam dunk. Hoffman is not. The long-time San Diego Padres closer locked down saves for the better part of sixteen seasons, compiling a whopping 601 in his 18-year career. […]

Stephen Peterson: Adversity Just Another Obstacle for Milwaukee Brewers’ Prospect

Left-handed pitcher Stephen Peterson has been a scrapper throughout his baseball career. It has served him well so far, and with any luck it will help him one day make the major leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers. Out of high school, the southpaw opted to attend Marist University, but transferred to the University of Rhode […]

An Interview with MLB Commissioner Selig

Hey baseball fans! Today I have a very special interview for you. One of my biggest ones yet. It’s with a very famous baseball figure and someone who I am very honored to have interviewed via email. He used to be the owner of the Brewers, but he is currently the Commissioner of Major League […]

Monday Night in Chicago

Nearly 100 years ago the South Side of Chicago was home to one of the greatest shames in baseball history when eight members of the 1919 White Sox were accused of taking money from gamblers and handing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Shame and controversy – and a battalion of reporters – returned […]

Touring The Bases With…Gabe Kapler

Gabe Kapler was a 57th round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 1995 amateur draft, then began a very successful minor league career that resulted in a late-season call-up in September 1998.  The righthanded slugger dominated the low minors at the ages of 20 and 21, hitting .300 with 45 doubles, 26 homers, […]

Clearing The Bases

Welcome to the first day of spring and if you live in the Northeast well then you know it’s about 30 degrees and snowing, not exactly good news for MLB, when the season will begin in about 10 days.  Today we will complete our rankings with the outfielders.  I’m not going to rank designated hitters […]

Kid Blogger Interviews Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio

Hey baseball fans! I have yet another interview for you! This time, it is with Milwaukee Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio! He was a really interesting guy and a fun person to interview. We spoke for over an hour!! And the Brewers happen to be my favorite National League team!! Anyway, in case you didn’t know much about […]

Clearing The Bases

With the season being a little less than 50% over we’ve decided to take a look at players who have played below expectations so far this season.  Once again I’m not looking to choose players that no one expected much out of anyway, but players who many thought would at the very least have a […]

A Grooved Pitch—Hall of Famer vs. Three Game Cup of Coffee Youngster

On Sunday, May 26, 1912, the sixth place American Association Milwaukee Brewers opened a series against the second place Minneapolis Millers, facing future Hall of Fame member Rube Waddell. The eccentric Waddell is known to most baseball fans. Although on the downside of his career, he was still a pitcher to be reckoned with. During […]

Clearing The Bases

Injuries are probably playing a big part in how your fantasy team is performing this season.  It seems every week we are seeing three to four players land on the DL, and I’m not talking about a long reliever or backup middle infielder that no one cares about, I’m talking about top of the line […]

The Milwaukee Brewers Once Famous Mascot

Most ballparks now have mascots. But how many have a real live animal mascot? Perhaps the oddest I came across were the 1902 proposed mascots for the Denver and Colorado Springs teams: a live Grizzly Bear and a live Mountain Lion. Other Western League owners frowned on the idea and the bear remained the pet […]

BBA Names Arizona’s Gibson, Tampa Bay’s Maddon Top Managers

Top Blogger Organization Awards Connie Mack Award For 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon were named the 2011 Connie Mack Award winners today by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  The Connie Mack Award recognizes those considered the top manager for the season. Gibson took over an Arizona team that […]

Creighton Gubanich: Making a Grand Entrance

Drafted in the 6th round of the 1990 baseball draft by the Oakland Athletics, Creighton Gubanich’s 6-3 200 pound build represented his identity as a power hitting catcher. Also playing a little third and first, Gubanich posted solid numbers everywhere he went in the minors, but was blocked at the major league level by All […]

Clearing The Bases

Unless you’re not all that big a baseball fan, you know the non-waiver trade deadline is this Sunday at 4PM.  It’s a major league team’s last chance to fix a problem on their roster before players must pass through waivers in order to be traded.  Trades seem to be harder to work out in this […]

Mantle In Milwaukee: Sixty Years Ago

Milwaukee commuters wrestling their way down highway 43 may not know that the pavement between Locust and Burleigh Streets is hallowed ground, the former site of Borchert Field, home of the minor league Milwaukee Brewers for much of the first half of last century. Borchert Field was an old, rickety ballpark with crazy dimensions: the […]

Q and A: What is Commotio Cordis?

Earlier this month tragedy struck the baseball field in Arizona when a 13-year-old Little Leaguer was trying to bunt and got hit in the chest. He took a few steps towards first and collapsed. He died the next morning. Getting hit by a pitch is to be expected when playing baseball. Dying is not. The […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we discussed the most disappointing players at each position, this week we’ll go with the most surprising, players who are playing well and above what we thought they might in spring training.  Some of the players listed are no longer playing at that position but that is where they qualified at coming into […]

A Good Old Fashioned Mano a Mano Fight in Milwaukee

Baseball fights still occur, but very seldom are they only a two-man affair. It seems the entire team has to show up now. But in baseball’s Deadball Era I have come across a number of one-on-one fights. One of the nastiest occurred in Milwaukee on May 8, 1913. The press coverage gives us the feeling […]

It Could Have Been Worse, Milwaukee

Opening day 2011 saw the Milwaukee Brewers suffer an improbable defeat, allowing four runs in the ninth inning – punctuated by a two-out, three-run game-winning home run by Ramon Hernandez – in a 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. A deflating loss? Yes. Crushing? No doubt. Frustrating? Of course. The worst loss in opening day […]

Wilhelmsen, Almonte Step Up, Give Indy Game 14 on Opening Day Rosters

     Erick Almonte’s unexpected jump onto the Milwaukee Brewers’ bench grabbed much of the Independent Baseball attention during spring training, but now that the reality of Opening Day is here the 32-year-old, who has not been in the major leagues since 2003, has to share the spotlight with a quartet of pitchers who also have […]

Quiet and Steady as She Goes

The Nationals traded Nyjer Morgan for Cutter Dykstra and during the wee hours. The move was no surprise to anyone, but some had opined that the Nationals would take almost anything to get rid of the distractions surrounding Morgan. Dystra is not “almost anything,” but he knows a little bit about distractions. Anyone who has […]

Clearing The Bases: Outfielders

Outfield seems to be a jumbled mess of players once you get thru the first dozen or so.  This position is nowhere near as deep as it once was, and even most of the top ten players come with question marks, whether it be their injury history or resume.  This list assumes you are playing […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL Central – Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers all-star 1B Prince Fielder  Milwaukee Brewers (2010 record: 77-85) The Milwaukee Brewers front office entered the off-season with one primary task: improve the pitching staff. The club finished last season with the third-worst ERA in the National League – the primary reason the club finished with a sub-.500 record. General Manager Mark Attanasio immersed […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL Central – St Louis Cardinals

Could 2011 be Albert Pujols’ last season in a Cardinals uniform? St. Louis Cardinals (2010 record: 86-76) As spring training got underway a few weeks ago, the Cardinals were a serious threat to win the NL Central division title. But with the Albert Pujols contract situation hanging like The Sword of Damocles above everyone’s head […]

2011 World Baseball Coaches’ Convention to Feature Garciaparra, Leiter, Valentine

For Immediate Release Contact: Rick Orluk (o) 860.674.1770 (c) 860.670.2905 Rick_Orluk@GoldOrluk.com NOMAR GARCIAPARRA, AL LEITER, KEVIN LONG, AND BOBBY VALENTINE HEADLINE 2011 MOHEGAN SUN WORLD BASEBALL COACHES’ CONVENTION UNCASVILLE, CT – The 2011 Mohegan Sun World Baseball Coaches’ Convention will take place at the spectacular Mohegan Sun Convention Center in Uncasville, Connecticut, from January 20 […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part II, #11-#20)

  With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of […]

Black Ball, Both Real and Imaginary

I’ve never been a huge fan of baseball fiction. The game’s natural mythology and unforgettable luminaries since the turn of last century is so rich and entertaining by itself that I never felt a need to delve into stories and characters separate from the real ones. I did make an exception for W. P. Kinsella’s […]

The Bud Selig Statue

The Milwaukee Brewers were brought back to life by Bud Selig and no one has done more for baseball in the second half of the 20th century–in Milwaukee that is–than Selig.  So having a statue to Selig outside Miller Park in Milwaukee–alongside Robin Yount and Hank Aaron??–what the heck, why not.  He tried to contract […]

Hammering Away with Henry

For much of his life, Henry Aaron has felt marginalized. Hank Aaron arguably sits atop the baseball pyramid as its home run king. But what about Henry? Blessed with baseball talent that landed him among the best all-around players ever, Hank Aaron assumed a public persona. Meanwhile, “The Hammer” effectively subjugated his private side, Henry. […]

Touring the Bases With…Craig Breslow

Relief pitcher Craig Breslow has been referred to as “the smartest man in baseball” because of his degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry earned at Yale University, and his performance on the field has been equally impressive, boasting a 2.78 ERA in 172 career games.  Breslow was drafted out of Yale by the Milwaukee Brewers […]

Adams Still Learning, But Impressing

It’s a tough transition for any player this late in the game to switch from being a position player to a pitcher full time, or vice versa. That player has spent years gaining experience and building credibility at a specific position, only to have to start from square one again and practically learn a new […]

Touring the Bases With…Darryl Hamilton

Darryl Hamilton was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 11th round of the 1986 amateur draft and spent seven seasons in Milwaukee before signing as a free agent with the Texas Rangers in 1996.  After only one season in Texas, Hamilton played for the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and New York Mets, with […]