Most Deserving All-Star Candidate From Each American League Team

Most Deserving All-Star Candidate From Each Team: AL Edition   Baltimore: Manny Machado While Mark Trumbo is enjoying a bounce back season and currently leading the American League in homers, Manny Machado has been one of the best players in the MLB this season. He’s hitting .325, good for fourth in the American League, and […]

Making Baseball Work in Montreal

The City of Montreal would like you to know they are ready for Major League Baseball to return. With the help of the Toronto Blue Jays, huge crowds filled Olympic Stadium the last two exhibition seasons to watch the Jays play the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds. Fans of the old Expos will remind […]

Could MLB Really Return to Montreal?

The Toronto Blue Jays recently held two exhibition games in Montreal, Quebec against the Cincinnati Reds, drawing nearly 92,000 into Olympic Stadium. The home of the Montreal Expos from 1977 until their move to Washington after the 2004 season, the stadium, built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, was considered an albatross. Throw in a shaky […]

The Baseball Historian’s Notes for August 19, 2013: All Hail the Hidden Ball Trick!

In a sport increasingly known for money, technology and deeds of avarice, the hidden ball trick has to be one of the rarest and time-honored plays in baseball. It’s something that has been utilized since the earliest days of the game, yet still has a place today. One blog post from several years ago reported […]

Nolan Sanburn: Oakland A’s Pitching Prospect Talks Baseball

The Oakland Athletics have displayed a knack for producing quality Major League pitching in recent years, with the likes of Tim Hudson, Trevor Cahill, A.J. Griffin and Sean Doolittle just to name a few. Young Nolan Sanburn is hoping he can be one of the next in line to emerge from their system. Sanburn is […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Rickey Henderson

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the last video in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you don’t know who it is, here’s a hint: this outfielder played in four decades and is most remembered for his ability to steal bases and score runs. If you haven’t guessed who he is, I’m […]

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

There was no column last week as I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and needed a few days to recover.  I’m back now and with the non-waiver trading deadline just 12 days away it seems prudent to talk about some of the players that might need to send a change of address to the post […]

Overbearing, Ostentatious and Odd

Overbearing, ostentatious, odd. All three words could describe the way Charlie O. Finley operated. You won’t want to miss this week’s read, “Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball’s Super Showman” by G. Michael Green and Roger D. Lanius. Read this book because: 1. Charlie Finley did some good. Up until the end of his […]

The No. 8 Most Quotable Figure in Baseball History

There are few nicknames in all of sports better than Mr. October. The very nature of the moniker keeps Reginald Martinez Jackson in the conversation of the best Big Game performers, and his status in the lexicon of Great Yankees is assured. Coming out of Arizona State, Reggie was drafted 2nd overall by the Kansas […]

Clearing The Bases

The baseball season is more than 1/3 completed, the weather is warming up, and pennant races are starting to shape up.  We are in mid-June; no longer can any player state that they are in a slump. Slumps don’t last two plus months.  With that in mind we are going to take a look at […]

2011 MLB Pre-Season Preview: AL West – Oakland Athletics

Athletics staff ace, Brett Anderson Oakland Athletics (2010 record: 81-81) The Oakland Athletics finished last season with a .500 record after three consecutive losing seasons. They were able to do so thanks largely to an excellent young rotation, a good bullpen and a solid defense. Little of what they accomplished was owing to their offense […]

“We Had to Pay the Price:” How the Pirates Traded for Chuck Tanner

Chuck Tanner’s death last Friday struck particularly close to the hearts of longtime Pirate fans.  He was the down-to-earth local kid who went away, made good, and then returned to lead his hometown club to a World Series title in 1979.  But as the Pittsburgh media reminisced about Tanner’s life and career last week, they […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part III, #1 – #10)

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 the […]

Toronto Acquires Davis, Increases Outfield Options for 2011

When the Oakland Athletics acquired David DeJesus from the Kansas City Royals one week ago there appeared to be a logjam created within their outfield as the team simply had too many players for the positions available. To further complicate the situation, four of the eight outfielders that were on the team’s 40-man roster as of this morning have […]

Story Lines Terrific for First No-Hitter in 6 Years

While major league baseball has been basking in perfect games and no-hitters this season, it had been nearly six years since the Atlantic League enjoyed such a feat before Southern Maryland’s Joe Newby and Jim Ed Warden combined to hold Newark hitless in a 3-1 victory at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium Wednesday night.  The […]

‘Well, Yeah,’ Why Wouldn’t Pensacola Boss Enjoy Record-Setting 15-Game Win Streak?

All too often when the Florida Panhandle is in the news it seems to revolve around an oil spill or a hurricane bearing down on the area.  A more pleasant “hurricane” has swept through the area this month in the form of a stunningly-hot Pensacola Pelicans baseball team. The final game of a lackluster first […]

Touring the Bases With…Melanie Levy

Melanie Levy is the Senior Group Events Executive for the Sacramento River Cats Baseball Club, Sacramento, California.  They are an Affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. SEAMHEADS: What does your job consist of? MELANIE:  I am a Senior Group Events Executive for the Sacramento River Cats. My job in particular involves working closely with schools K-12 […]

Straight To The Show

After pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning of his major league debut, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake settled down and pitched seven innings, allowing only one run against the Chicago Cubs. Leake’s debut was a unique one; not only was it his major league debut, but the game doubled as his […]