History

I was not shocked when I heard the news.

It was so obvious, and I would've been stunned if another city had topped us for the dubious honor. Forbes magazine tagged Seattle as "the most miserable sports city" for 2009.

This is non-debatable.

Breaking it down sport-by-sport, the Seattle fans were treated, or should I say punished, to the worst sports year I've ever heard of.

On Dec. 13, 1956, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson to the hated New York Giants for left-handed journeyman pitcher Dick Littlefield.

The only problem was that neither team knew that Robinson had decided to retire from baseball.

Like he has so many times before, Ichiro Suzuki slapped a single through the right side of the infield.  Pretty routine if you think about it…but the historical significance was huge.

With that hit, Ichiro surpassed Isao Harimoto and became the all-time hit leader among Japanese baseball players.

The stolen base in Major League Baseball is sadly, a lost art. In an era that is slowly recovering from the aberration that was the "live ball era" (i.e. steroid era) and coming to grips that it all was just a sham, before this fad, was the art of the stolen base.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

April 12 marked the 47 year anniversary of the first game the Mets ever played when the team was established back in 1962. Back then, they were a work in progress, losing more games than ever before. It looked like the team would be a cellar-dweller for years and years to come, but in their eighth season as a franchise, the club pulled off a miracle that nobody will soon forget. Led by the likes of Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, the miracle Mets won their first world championship in franchise history.

Early Monday evening, my father informed me of the passing of possibly my biggest, and possibly only, hero in sports, Mark Fidrych.

Since hearing of the news, many of my thoughts have gone back to my years growing up and the way sports became a big part of my life. It all started with "The Bird."

I have hailed from Connecticut my whole life, born to a Yankees fan (my father) and a Red Sox fan (my mother). My maternal grandparents were, and in my grandmother's case still are, die hard Sox fans.

There are many images that come to mind when I think of Jose Canseco: Bash Brother on the Oakland A's in the late '80s, outfielder who assisted a home run with his head, and clown prince of the Steroid Era.

Yes, he took PEDs. So did many other players during the second half of his 17-year major league career. Hold that thought for a minute.

Does anyone remember Mark "Hard Hittin'" Whiten?

I do and very well, also. You probably thought that in my "Does Anyone Remember..." series that I only use football players. Well I use other players, too. I also will do MLB, NBA, PGA, and probably boxing in my series.

So now I'm with Mark Whiten. Now I have a reason to use every player for my series. I usually get it from my player cards. And that is how I found Mark Whiten with that.

Minute Maid Park celebrates its 10th anniversary this season as home to the Houston Astros. When the ballpark officially opened for the 2000 season, the initial name was The Ballpark at Union Station.

For a three-year period, the name of the park frequently changed. Enron bought the naming rights to the stadium in April, 1999, for a 30-year, $100-million deal.

Unfortunately, the Astros organization experienced a shocking situation when Enron declared bankruptcy in conjunction to one of the most greatest corporate scandals in U.S. history.

Being a lifelong fan of the California Angels baseball team [now known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim] has never been easy.

For most of my childhood, the team was a struggling second division team. With the exception of 1967, when they somehow managed to win 84 games, seasons above the .500 mark were few and far between.

And then, in 2002, they managed to pull off the miracle: The Angels were crowned World Champions. It was as if they had finally buried a curse that seemed to plague their very existence, both on and off the field.