History

Ivan Rodriguez is once again looking to make history in Major League Baseball.

If he is given the opportunity by Nationals skipper Jim Riggleman, the man best known as "Pudge" will be setting another mark in his great career tonight.

Today marks eight years that have passed since the untimely death of former Major League Baseball pitcher Darryl Kile. Although his life was cut far too short at just 33-years old, Kile's legacy as a player, friend, husband, and father remains alive and vibrant.

The Yankees are right in the middle of their interleague games this season and are heading west to play the D-Backs and Dodgers, two former World Series opponents.

Their last two series have been against the Mets and Phillies, who were also in the World Series against the Bombers.

The Phils and Yanks faced off last October, with the Yankees winning the series four games to two for their unprecedented 27th championship. But it was the Phillies who took the three-game series this year.

Alfonso Soriano plays left field for the moribund Chicago Cubs. He is batting .267, with 10 home runs, 34 RBIs, and has stolen foures bases. In 2009, he hit .241.

At the age of 34, it is safe to say that Mr. Soriano will not have the career Derek Jeter predicted for him.

In 2001, Soriano hit the home run off Curt Schilling that was supposed to bring the New York Yankees' fans their fourth consecutive World Championship. It would have been the third time sports greatest dynasty accomplished the feat, but it never happened.

Baseball history was changed forever on Nov. 28, 2003.

Curt Schilling was traded to the Boston Red Sox by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Without Schilling, the Red Sox would not have been World Champions in 2004 or in 2007.

Schilling didn't mince words. At the press conference announcing the trade, he succinctly summed up the situation. He told the world that he wanted to be part of bringing the Red Sox their first championship since 1918.

He was a Gold Glove center fielder, a four-time World Champion, a batting title winner, and a fan favorite for the biggest, most important baseball team in the history of baseball.

So, let’s ask: Is Bernie Williams a Hall of Famer?

Statistics: Career Ranking Amongst Center Fielders

If you’re reading these words, chances are—like me—you’re a baseball lover.

How many dreams come true in Pittsburgh?

On Friday, April 6, 1979, a 27-year-old man from Waltham, Massachusetts crouched behind Pirates catcher Ed Ott and prepared to call balls and strikes in Three Rivers Stadium in his first game as a big league umpire.

Whether the first pitch from Bert Blyleven was a ball or a strike has long been forgotten.

What is irrefutable from that day is this: Dave Pallone pulled his mask over his face, and he left it there for the next 10 seasons.

Stephen Strasburg, meet Karl Spooner, who might have become one of the all-time greats.

Karl Spooner made his Major League debut on Sept. 22, 1954, shutting out the soon-to-be World Champion New York Giants.

The Brooklyn Dodgers young left-hander struck out 15 Giants to set the strikeout record for a major league pitching debut, which J.R. Richard equaled a few years later.

In his next and final start of the 1954 season, Spooner shut out the Pirates, striking out 12, to set the record of 27 strikeouts by a pitcher in his first two games.

Hey Stephen Strasburg, it's all been done before.

On June 27, 1973, 18-year-old David Clyde made his major league debut for the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium before the largest crowd in Rangers' history.

The top selection in the June 1973 baseball draft, Clyde, who had pitched nine no-hitters for Westchester High School in Houston, signed for a $125,000 bonus. It was the most money given to any drafted player in return for signing.