History

Two of the best managers in this era of baseball will be retiring at the end of this 2010 season—the Atlanta Braves Bobby Cox and the Chicago Cubs Lou Piniella.

Both managers were great beginning their careers around the same time in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Piniella with the New York Yankees and Cox with the Atlanta Braves.

Despite the Mets being known more for failure than triumph as of late, the 21st century has provided an abundance of thrilling finishes in the Mets' favor.

Let's take a look back at some of the more memorable walk-off victories.

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From Benitez to Looper to Wagner to K-Rod, the 21st century has been cruel to New York Mets closers.

Let's take a look back at some of the more "memorable" meltdowns of the last decade.

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This weekend, the Cincinnati Reds will be inducting three former players to the Reds Hall of Fame—Pedro Borbon, Chris Sabo, and Tony Mullane. I am familiar with both Borbon and Sabo, and enjoyed watching them play.

Since 2003, the league that wins the All-Star game opens the World Series at home, which means that if a seventh game is necessary, the result of a July exhibition game determines where the deciding game of the World Series is played.

Eliminating the times that the World Series was decided by a best five out of nine series, the World Series has gone to a seventh game 35 times.

The home team has won 18 times or 51.4 percent of the time.

The Cincinnati Reds announced today that Edinson Volquez would be returning to the team after more than a year’s absence.

This is great news for the Reds who could use a pitching boost in the middle of the season.

With summer in full swing, now is the best time to take in a baseball game. And while there are terrific professional ballparks scattered around the country, some of the best collegiate players can be found each summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL).

Every year from June until August, 10 teams in the CCBL draw crowds to stadiums across the Cape in Eastern Massachusetts. Many players go onto higher levels of success, with over 200 CCBL alumni currently playing in the Major Leagues, including stars Tim Lincecum and Evan Longoria.

In the same week, the New York Yankees have suffered two heart breaking losses. The first to pass away was long time public address announcer Bob Sheppard, at 99 years old.

Sheppard passed away on July 11th, and two days later long time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner followed him. Heading into the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star break, Yankee fans and the organization will have heavy hearts.

Remembering the life of George Steinbrenner is a monumental challenge. Steinbrenner lived a full life that was not just confined to being the owner of the Yankees.

It was at a baseball card show in Dec. 2000, a few months after New York's first subway series since 1956.

I had the opportunity to speak with Tug McGraw.

The father of one of my students, Becky Hisler, ran the show. The theme was, of course, the subway series.

Almost all the players signing autographs had been or were still on the New York Yankees or the New York Mets.

My son, Scott, wanted Doc Gooden's autograph. We went into a large room where Gary Carter, Doc Gooden, and Tug McGraw were signing.

As most of us know, the Pirates have stunk for a long, long time.

Since 1992, the Buccos have made mistake after mistake in the development, trading, drafting, and signing of free agent players. Every time a player starts to pan out, the Pirates trade him for an average of three prospects.

When you're lucky, one of those three pan out. Then you trade that guy for three more prospects and hope one of those pans out so you can start the vicious cycle again.

When you pan over this era, you see a few deals that have been good ones, not many, but a couple have worked out.