MLB History

With such a rich and lengthy history, the Cubs have seen roughly 2,000 players don the Cubbie blue over the years.

Because of that, I thought it would be fun to name who I feel are the top five players for all 26 letters of the alphabet, going by last name.

To qualify, the player needs only to have played at least one game for the Cubs.

A serious Triple Crown candidate is emerging in Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera's 18 homers and 53 runs batted in pace the American League and he ranks fourth in batting average (.339).

I know precisely what you're thinking. It's the second week of June.

How dare you utter "Triple Crown"!

Well, let's look at it this way—with each mention of the feat, writers offer a refresher course in history.

Who was the last player to earn the Triple Crown?

Carl Yastrzemski.

When was this feat last achieved?

Fresh off the heels of rookie Jon Niese’s near-perfect one-hit complete game shutout, the Mets head to Baltimore tonight to resume interleague play.

After all the troubles the Mets have had on the road, the schedule softens up for the next week as they face the Orioles and Indians, two of the worst teams in baseball. If there was ever a time to remedy the putrid 8-18 road record the Mets are currently sporting, these six games are the time to do it.

Currently, the Minnesota Twins are one of two Major League teams who boast a roster with two MVP winners.  

Joe Mauer (MVP-2009) and Justin Morneau (MVP-2006) have led the Minnesota Twins to three AL Central Division Titles over the past five years.

Mauer already has three batting titles and two gold gloves, while Morneau has been leading the league in hitting for most of the season so far in 2010.

Where would this "Dynamic Duo" rank amongst some of the best in baseball history?

In his book, "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract," Bill James described Darrell Evans as "probably the most underrated player in baseball history."

James supported his argument by pointing out that while Evans had a low batting average (.248), he had a very high "secondary average," which is a statistic Bill James uses to measure, well, everything else.

Whatever.

Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce’s blown call on a play at first cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce’s mistake, for which he apologized, opened the floodgates on the debate of expanding instant replay in MLB. Was it an honest mistake, or all part of an intricate conspiracy plotted by MLB? And, will these events lead to more instant replay in baseball?

“Honest mistake?” Baseball umpires don’t make those; baseball players do, in front of Congress.

The Philadelphia Phillies and the Florida Marlins wrapped up a three game set on Thursday at Citizen's Bank Park on a cool and breezy evening.

The game matched one of the most veteran and experienced teams in the league against a Florida Marlins team full of promising, developing young talent.

Unfortunately for the Marlins, much of this promising, developing young talent may end up being the stars of tomorrow for some other team.

The Marlins have spent most of their existence developing young talent and, just as it begins to ripen, selling it off to big market teams for the fresh fruit of t

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.

The Cincinnati Reds were able to turn around their four-game series against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night with a 6-3 win.

So, after losing twice to the Giants earlier in the week, what changed in this game that allowed the Reds to win?

For starters, the Reds did a much better job manufacturing runs. That’s the obvious difference shown by the final score. The six runs they scored were the most they've tallied in a game thus far in the series.

The Reds also did a better job of batting, and giving themselves an opportunity to score the runs they did.

Hey there, Phillies fans, I am not sure if you heard but the Washington Nationals had a young pitcher (I've got his name here somewhere) make his major league debut on Tuesday and he pitched pretty well.

The youngster (again, his name in a second) struck out 14 batters in 7.0 innings, throwing a dominant curveball, a fastball that regularly hit 99 miles per hour, and a changeup and slider that were simply baffling.

Now Phillies fans, I've sure you've heard all about this guy, but what you may not have realized is that he isn't the only youngster coming up in the NL East division.