Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

Gary Sinise - An American Hero. If you support one of his charities great. If not you can indirectly support him by watching CSI New York or writing an email to CBS telling them how much you like Gary Sinise and his show CSI New York

Buck Showalter Signing Autographs For Three Amish Guys

Now that Tony La Russa is gone from Cardinals' camp, Ozzie Smith is back

"My Faith: What I learned from my 46-day beer-only fast" Many guys will read this and seriously think about a beer-only fast. But keep in mind that he was drinking just 5 beers max a day. Now if those 5 beers were 40 ounce then maybe we could talk

Cool - how a fly mimics a spider

WTF? The Badgermin

Jimmy Fallon sings Pearl Jams "Jeremy' (Lin)

Images of literary characters made from police sketch software

The penthouse where NASCAR was founded in 1947 is now a gay bar 

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Jacoby Ellsbury has 22 straight steals without being caught so far to start his career. The record is 27 set by Tim Raines... When I was a kid there was a popular question - "would you rather be hit in the nuts by a Bobby Orr slap shot or a Nolan Ryan fastball?" The question never made much sense to me because who wants to be hit in the nuts in the first place. The only reason I bring it up is because Tim Wakefield needs to hit (well he doesn't NEED to hit anyone but you know what I mean) just 2 more batters and he'll tie Nolan Ryan for 10th place all-time with 158 hit batsmen apiece. I do know the answer to the question of - who would you rather be hit by a pitch from Nolan Ryan or Tim Wakefield?... Jim Edmonds was released by the Padres. I said it was a bad trade when Edmonds was acquired but I'm not here to toot my own horn. I do wonder what the baseball landscape would be like if the rumored trade (back in November of 2005) involving the Yankees and Cardinals took place. The Cardinals were supposedly going to send Edmonds to the Bronx in exchange for Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang. A very interesting "what if?" scenario if there ever was one... Edmonds will not make it to the Hall of Fame (the Hall of Very Good maybe). Is that fair when a player like Ozzie Smith is in there as a Cardinals representative? I do have to ask if Edmonds' defense (8 Gold Gloves to Ozzie's 13) and offense (Ozzie wasn't close to being the offensive force Edmonds was) tip the scales in Edmonds favor as the more valuable player? Both players were instrumental in leading Saint Louis to a World Championship...

Top 5 - Baseball Players from Alabama

Here are who I consider the top 5 baseball players born in Alabama.

1. Hank Aaron - the undisputed RBI king and in my mind still the true Home Run King
2. Willie Mays - in almost any other state - Willie Mays would be #1
3. Satchel Paige - one of the greatest pitchers of all-time
4. Willie McCovey - Hall of Fame 1st baseman
5. Ozzie Smith - Hall of Fame shortstop - one of the greatest defensive players in history - 13 consecutive Gold Gloves

I wasn't prepared for the number of great players from the State of Alabama. The above top 5 players would give any state a run for its money and consider that the following Hall of Famers did not even make the list.

Heinie Manush - Hall of Fame outfielder and one of the all-time great names in sports
Joe Sewell - Hall of Fame infielder
Billy Williams - Hall of Fame outfielder for the Cubbies
Don Sutton - Hall of Fame Pitcher - 324 career victories
Early Winn - Hall of Fame pitcher - exactly 300 career wins

I couldn't help but think that you could put together a great all-time team from Alabama. The two weak positions would be at catcher and closer but you could have Bo Jackson coming off the bench and George Foster at DH.