History

Commissioner Bud Selig recently sat down with Bob Costas for an interview that aired on the MLB Network. Among the topics discussed was the possible inclusion of Pete Rose in the baseball Hall of Fame.

The topic of Rose and his possible admittance into the Hall has been one of baseball's most hotly debated issues since his lifetime suspension in 1989 by former commissioner Bart Giamatti.

Every fan knows them. They are cheer. Some times not.

Albert Pujols is known as “El Hombre” in St. Louis and possibly could win his third career National League MVP award.

Felix Hernandez is known as “El Rey” in Seattle and possibly could win his first career Cy Young award.

I want to ask each and every one of you a question. What becomes of the never-was? Not the has-beens, the drop-outs, or the draft-day busts. I speak of the men who were never given their chance to compete at the major league level. They were robbed of the chance to play the game they loved. I present to you, on this Veteran's Day, the story of one such man.

Some weeks back I had a spare hour on my hands, and wanting to not get swallowed up by fond nostalgia for the 1995 Mariners, I put together a starting lineup and roster of the best ex-Mariners. These are guys who played however briefly at the Kingdome or Safeco, were traded, signed with other teams, or were simply released, and went on to star elsewhere.

In 1961, the American League added the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators to become a 10-team league. Finishing in eighth place no longer meant finishing last.

Ninth to First

Five years later, in 1966, the Boston Red Sox finished a dismal ninth, but they weren't as bad as they looked. The following season, they proved it by winning the pennant.

The Boston Red Sox became the first American League team to go from ninth to first.

The Yankees' manager, in his second season at the helm, was confident that his team would beat the Phillies in the World Series.

The Phillies Were a Fast, Hustling Team

"Not that I'm underestimating these Phillies. My reports show they are a fast, hustling club and they have good pitching.

In fact, I respect their pitching more than anything else and if they do beat us it will be pitching alone that will turn the trick.

One of these men IS a Red Sox. The other WAS a Red Sox, having been made available by the Pittsburgh Pirates who failed to protect him off waivers, and then having been traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Willy Mo Pena.

One was a league MVP in 2008. The other has, at times, been kind of a marginal player in the game.

One of these men might unkindly, but reasonably accurately, be described as "pint sized." The other is a "hunk," over half a foot taller than the first.

The first set of attributes belongs to Dustin Pedroia; the second, to Bronson Arroyo.

In the early fall of 2001, New York was rocked by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.  In one hour and forty three minutes, the tallest buildings in Manhattan had gone from glistening beacons of American achievement to a mass grave for three thousand innocent people. 

Here's a little tidbit from the What Might Have Been Files, taken from a Glenn Dickey column in the San Francisco Chronicle of July 4, 1988. The headline: "Picture Giants With Bonds And Incaviglia":

Year: 1902

Record: 52-83

Win Percentage: .385

Win Percentage Change: -.163

Run Differential: -91

Pythagorean Record: 58-77

AL Finish: Seventh of eight

Manager: Frank Dwyer

Best Transaction: Picked up Wild Bill Donovan