MLB History

Victor Mohn, despite being a Boston Red Sox fan, admired Mickey Mantle, but he felt that injuries were part of the game.

Victor wasn't surprised to learn that New York Yankees' general manager Ralph Houk talked Mickey out of retiring after the disastrous 1965 season.

Mickey Mantle revealed the truth. At the age of 34, the second greatest center fielder in New York Yankees' history no longer could run or throw well, and was no longer an effective hitter from the left side of the plate.

Mary Lynne Munroe roots against the New York Yankees as much as the next woman, but even she felt sorry for Tony Kubek when he was hit in the throat by a ground ball that took a bad hop in the 1960 World Series.

Kubek suffered a neck injury that might have led to his early retirement.

Bill Virdon's Ground Ball

Now don't get me wrong.

Bryan Kashmen passed by Yankee Stadium in early October, 1965. The ball park that would be destroyed following the 2008 season was eerily silent.

For the first time since 1959, there would be no World Series games at Yankee Stadium. Bryan felt so good.

Tired of the Yankees in the World Series

I couldn't root for the New York Yankees for many reasons that I will not discuss in detail. Let's just say that they had great advantages over their opponents with respect to money.

Bryan Kashmen thinks that the only reason the New York Yankees rehired manager Johnny Keane three weeks before the end of the 1965 season was to avoid embarrassment.

Yankees' management knew that that the team had deteriorated with time, and that firing Keane would result in too much bad publicity since he could hardly be blamed for what happened.

Topps, the Exclusive trading card partner of Major League Baseball, is celebrating Mother's Day a little bit early this year.

Beginning yesterday, www.ToppsMillion.com opened up for collectors to "unlock" their redemption cards, which are randomly inserted (1:6 packs) in 2010 Topps baseball, for a chance at reclaiming one of 38,000 different cards their mother may have tossed in the trash.

The Philadelphia Phillies hold the distinction of the longest standing franchise in professional sports having been formed 127 years ago. As many Phillies fans will attest, the team has endured more than its fair share of lean seasons on its way to also setting the record for most losses with 10,167 and counting.

Of course, a great deal of that is ancient history as the team is currently considered one of the elite teams in baseball, if not professional sports.

With former Chicago White Sox star Frank Thomas announcing his retirement on Friday, the thought crossed my mind to what his legacy will be.

Just a few years back, there were questions whether he would be a Hall of Famer.

Now it seems to be a slam-dunk that not only will he get in, but that it will be the highest honor of all—first ballot.

But is Frank Thomas really a Hall of Fame baseball player?

Statistically he is. With 521 career home runs, a .301 lifetime batting average, 1,704 ribbies, and a .419 OBP, am I crazy for even asking this question?

As the New York Yankees prepared to face the Boston Red Sox on Jul. 20, 1965, the defending American League Champions found themselves ensconced in sixth place, 12.5 games behind the league-leading Minnesota Twins.

The Red Sox were in even worse shape. They were ninth in the 10-team league, 22 games out of first.

Trendy Game

Some games define trends, and this was one of them.

The month was January 2009. It was a simpler time, when unemployment was only in the single digits, Michael Jackson was still alive, and baseball awards were still predicated on RBI totals and Wins.

We can thank the latter of all that for the mistake that occurred: Jim Rice, in his last Hall of Fame ballot, was elected into the Hall of Fame.

He of magical, feared 128 OPS+ glory, like other feared players Ryan Klesko and Jimmy Wynn.

Frank "Big Hurt" Thomas will always be remembered as one of the hardest hitting Chicago White Sox in history. 

Thomas had stints with the Oakland A's and Toronto Blue Jays, but his legacy will be that of a South Sider when he's one day enshrined into baseball's hall of fame.

A player doesn't earn the moniker "Big Hurt" without reason. Thomas was big, 6'5" and 275 pounds, and legend has it that he "Sandlotted" a baseball, annihilating it with his powerful swing—ripping it to shreds.