Hank Aaron

Two rules to live by: Don’t mess with Georgia and don’t steal from Hank Aaron.

A Georgia man will be on probation for the next half-century after pleading guilty to breaking into the Hall of Famer’s house and taking several of the former pro’s prized baseball possessions.

This season brings the 40-year anniversary of the legendary Hank Aaron breaking fellow Hall of Famer Babe Ruth's all-time home run record. In fact, April 8, 1974—40 years ago today—is the exact date on which Aaron hit No. 715 to pass The Babe.

This is the first in a series of probably twenty-some lists. I doubt some letters, such as I, Q, U, Y and maybe Z, will be able to field a team. I may be wrong, we shall see. You may want to argue about some selections; as always, that is your prerogative. I have started this list out in a quasi-1959 Topps look, but will probably change it with each new letter.

This should be fun. Let's get started.

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On Thursday, March 31, baseball will make its long-awaited return with its traditional Opening Day.  It will be a day when fans just sit back, relax and enjoy the game before the divisional rivalries cause battles in the bleachers.  With the epic pitching matchup of CC Sabathia vs. Justin Verlander kicking off the season, it's sure to be a great 2011.

In other games, careers will be made while others may end due to injury.  Fans will laugh, cry and cheer as their favorite players have (hopefully), amazing first games.

On today’s edition of This Day in Black Sports History, the 77th birthday of the man who is still widely recognized as Major League Baseball’s home run king is celebrated.

Born in Mobile, AL on Feb. 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron grew up in relatively poor surroundings, picking cotton on a farm and hitting bottle caps with sticks because his family couldn’t afford baseball equipment.

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, and to honor African American players in the major leagues, I have compiled a nine player lineup of the greatest African American players in baseball history.

There were a number of tough decisions in naming the team, and the likes of Ken Griffey Jr, Joe Morgan, and Frank Thomas, among many others didn't make the cut.

So here it is, the starting nine African American players in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

Small-market stars are few and far between in today's modern MLB. Sure there are plenty of players who come up with the league's have-nots: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Milwaukee.

But they don't seem to stay there for very long. Do we really expect Prince Fielder to stay in Milwaukee forever? Or Zack Grienke in Kansas City? We just saw Dan Uggla shipped to Atlanta for very little in return, partly because the Marlins didn't want to pay him a huge, long-term deal.

With the 2010 season ending for the New York Yankees after Friday night's Game 6 loss to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS, the focus has quickly shifted to the off season and what moves the Bombers will make in order to win a 28th World Series championship in 2011.

One of the pressing items on the Yankees' to-do list this winter is to re-sign captain and soon-to-be free agent Derek Jeter.

Last night, after I put my son to bed I sat down on my couch with a beer and my dog and began watching The Tenth Inning, the sequel to Ken Burns's Baseball.

A quick review is that the documentary is fantastic, and if you haven't seen it yet, find out what channel you're local PBS is on and check it out.

Hank Aaron was recently at the US Open to receive the U.S. Tennis Association’s “Breaking the Barriers” award.

While there he was asked about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and the steroid era in baseball as a whole.

Aaron was able to sum up his thoughts in a single word: