MLB History

There are prospects, and then there are mega-prospects.

When each new baseball season rolls around, teams and fans evaluate the talent that each organization holds. Each organization has its gems, some of whom get compliments as the next Alex Rodriguez or Roger Clemens. 

In recent years, players like Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, the Upton brothers, and Jason Heyward have been the league's biggest attention-getters. Over the course of the last 30 or so years, there has been seemingly more and more attention given the apparent superstars of tomorrow.

With the Major League Baseball Hot Stove season almost at its boiling point, many fans across Dodgertown can't help but recollect the most notable trades in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.

Since officially moving to Los Angeles in 1958, many player trades occurred that were instrumental in winning nine National League pennants and five World Series championships. However, along with the deals that were beneficial came the deals that were dreadful, and people wonder what may have transpired if a number of these trades could have been undone.

The New York Yankees are one of the most decorated and historic franchises in sports.

Names like Mickey Mantel, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra and the Babe are just a handful of the historic names to don pinstripes.

“Winning Championships” is the Yankees motto. Baseball is a team sport, which makes individual accomplishments merely an added bonus. Awards for anything other than a World Series will not absolve a season’s failure.

The New York Yankees front office was faced with some problems following the team’s outstanding 1937 season in which they won the pennant by 13 games and defeated the New York Giants in the World Series.

Joe DiMaggio received $15,000 in 1937 and intimated that $25,000 would not be sufficient in 1938. Of course, the reality of the situation was that Joe had only two choices—play for the Yankees or don’t play.  Joe didn’t have the option of becoming a free agent.

There was much more.

Derek Jeter has been the subject of much debate in the off-season so far, ranging from his value as a fielder in the Gold Glove voting to his overall value as a player and icon to the New York Yankees.

Here's a debate that won't rage long with respect to Jeter: there can be no doubt that Derek Jeter is a no-brainer, first ballot Hall of Famer.

Now that the 2010 season, playoffs, post-season, and award season are all in the books, we have everything we need to take an extended team-by-team look at today's players and their Hall of Fame potential.

After defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day, the New York Giants lost three of their next four games. Their only win came against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn's home opener.

On April 20, Johnny Antonelli, who had lost his first start as a Giant to the Philadelphia Phillies and Murray Dickson, 2-0 in a rain-shortened game, made his second start against the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates had won the series opener, 7-5, before a crowd of only 6,865 fans at the Polo Grounds.

Year in and year out, the baseball world becomes littered with free agents in a selection pool.  All of these athletes, now unemployed, are looking for new commitments.  Over the years, we've seen the New York Yankees, in particular, stock up on their share of talent in the winter.  Their surplus in money always makes them a constant player in the free-agent market. 

With the Holiday Season on the Horizon, the end of 2010 drawing near and the year-end MLB awards handed out, there is no better time to look back at the season that was. 

Before long the gifts will be opened, the snow will melt away from the ground and all the trades and free agent signings will be complete, which will signify the start of Spring Training. 

Arthur Daley was a sports columnist for the New York Times from 1942-73. In 1956, he became the first sportswriter to win a Pulitzer Prize. Daley knew baseball, but this is not about him. It is about his take on the upcoming 1954 baseball season.

The New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers had met in the World Series in both 1952 and 1953. They were the popular picks of most fans and "experts" to meet again in 1954, but Daley had doubts.

It may be difficult to believe today, but in 1954, many "experts" considered Tris Speaker the greatest center fielder of all time.

Tris played from 1907-1928. He batted .345 with a .428 on-base average and, despite playing much of his career in the dead ball area, slugged .500.

On April 4, 1954, Speaker spent his 66th birthday watching the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians play an exhibition game in Arizona.