MLB History

There are eight teams remaining in Major League Baseball that began playing in the National League during the 19th century: The Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Even though I’m not a basketball fan, I find myself rooting for the New Jersey Nets.

They’re on pace to break the record for worst NBA season this year, surpassing the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers.

I want to keep the city of Philadelphia associated with failure.

Hockey has the Suter family, football has the Mannings and baseball had the Boones, Bells, Alous, and Bonds...take your pick.

Some families are blessed with so much talent that it's passed for one generation to another.

Even wrestling have famous families, like the Von Erich, Hart, and A'noi (Samoans) family.

Let's take a look at the dad's who provided their active sons with a "god gift" to play baseball.

Ken Griffey (Junior)

Considering that baseball's spring training camps have just opened, and that this is Black History Month, it would be a mortal sin not to call attention to an institution that is a significant part of the game's lore.

This is a part of baseball history that's as big as Babe Ruth and Yankee Stadium, something that for the first half of the 20th century served a portion of America that was criminally excluded from Major League Baseball due to racial bigotry: the Negro Leagues.

As most of you know by now, the Yankees moved into a brand new stadium last season. The old Yankee Stadium is being torn down to make way for a large park that is expected to include baseball fields, a track, tennis courts, and more. Only one gate remains from the original 1923 Yankee Stadium.

That gate is Gate 2.

Yankee Stadium is currently being torn down and Gate 2 is expected to go with it.

See what you can do to save it!

Glen Bheck was so happy that he couldn't believe it.

At the end of play on Sept. 5, 1966, the New York Yankees were eliminated from the pennant race. It was the earliest this wonderful event had occurred since 1925.

Sixth-Place Yankees

I suffered so much. Oh, how much I suffered. I started watching baseball in the early 1950s, and almost invariably, the New York Yankees won, or at least were in, the World Series.

Any attempt at creating a list of "the best" anything is very difficult. The good part is that no matter who you pick (most of the time), some will like it and some will think it sucks. That, my friend, is the nature of the beast.

Johnny Damon blew it.

And not by signing with the Detroit Tigers a few days ago. That was just more fallout.

No, Damon blew it in December 2005, when he agreed to sign a free agent contract with the New York Yankees.

Let me start by saying this: I’m a Boston Red Sox fan, but this isn't a fan’s rant about how Damon turned his back on Red Sox Nation to join its most hated rival. The thought never really crossed my mind.

This is simply a practical look at a short-sighted decision made by Damon and his camp four years ago—one that will haunt him for years.

Beyond Hanley Ramirez and the mammoth 2005 deal that sent the slugging shortstop to Florida in exchange for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota, who are the best former Red Sox toeing the rubber and flashing their leather today?

You know some of these, but some may surpise you. Who else in your fantasy draft was once a Red Sox? Who should have called Fenway home, but Fenway shut the door?

Here are my top ten.

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Just in case anyone missed the month old occurrence, the BBWAA elected their Hall of Fame class for 2010.

Standard for the course, a lot of anger resulted from the public this year over some noteworthy omissions. Robbie Alomar was one, and Bert Blyleven was denied admission to the Hall in his next to last go around.

For having the distinction as the longest standing professional sports franchise in one city spanning 128 years, it is somewhat amazing that a large concentration of the Philadelphia Phillies organization's postseason highlights have come in the most recent 30 years.

Certainly, some of this relates to Major League Baseball's format changes that first added a round of league playoffs with the initial formation of divisions and then expanded to the current four playoff participant approach in each league.