ESPN should shut their trap about Mike Wallace--living as they do in a glass house.

Seeing a headline about an upcoming 60 Minutes segment, I ask,

• Mr. Wojciechowski of ESPN, where is the proof you are different or better?

• Your report appears on ESPN, whose boss is George Mitchell.

• Doesn't George Mitchell "adore" the Red Sox? (You say Mike Wallace "adores" the Yankees..).

• ESPN is a business partner of "Bud" Selig's MLB, Inc. Why are you or ESPN more credible than Mike Wallace?

• Why is Mitchell credible as "Director" of the Red Sox and recipient of money in that connection?

Just a point of order, Mr. W. Just curious.

• "Wallace should throw high and tight with Clemens interview - Columnist," ESPN - 6 hours ago

• By Gene Wojciechowski: "And so it comes to this: An 89-year-old "correspondent emeritus" who adores the New York Yankees, spends quality time in owner George ..."

Headline and opening from googlenews.com, 12/31/07

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China teaches journalists Marxist restrictions--Washington Post

• MLB nevertheless feels comfy doing "business" in this hell-hole:

From the Washington Post, Beijing: "Journalism students at (elite university) Tsinghua are taught not only about Watergate and the rise of the Internet, but also about the restricted role reporters are expected to play under a Marxist government such as China's.

• ....the party's Central Committee in 2001 urged Chinese media and journalism schools to adopt the concept of "Marxist journalism." The term was broadly interpreted to mean journalism that the government views as improving society and taking account of Chinese realities, including censorship under one-party rule. Fan Jingyi, a former editor of People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, set out at about the same time as the Central Committee edict to supply Tsinghua journalism students with a framework of proper Marxist theory for their studies. Fan, 76, came to Tsinghua and began teaching his course, mostly by inviting editors and government officials to be guest lecturers....

"Reviewing the reality of journalistic education, one finds many inclinations that need attention," he continued. "One is out-of-date textbooks. One is the Westernized concept of journalism. And another is the abstract research approach in which theory and practice do not match. These problems can only be solved by strengthening the Marxist concept of journalism."

• Tsinghua University, one of China's most renowned institutions of learning, would not explain further the center's purpose or mission....

Interviews with students and others associated with the center suggested unease at what the Marxist journalism courses were supposed to impart. Some students said they could not remember what they were taught, or that they paid little attention because they were concentrating on other subjects. None seemed eager to discuss the course.....

• The center's name, implying a mission to keep journalism students on the straight and narrow path of Marxism, was chosen in part to attract support, and perhaps funding, from party officials, he said. "That is important," he added, smiling. "Can you imagine what would happen if you started an institute of capitalist journalism?"

Addressing censorship, Fan told students that the government must "guide public opinion" because many Chinese are not well educated and cannot understand current events well.

• "The situation of our country decided we need to guide public opinion," he said. "We should consider the social effects of every report, thinking if it is good or bad for our country, society and people, especially for the stability and development of the country.""

From Washington Post article by Edward Cody, "For China's Journalism Students, Censorship is a Core Concept," 12/31/07.

• Via Poynter.org/Romenesko

P.S. Definition of a politician: one who trades in favors. Big ones. Including human beings. (sm)

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In 1994, anticipating George Mitchell's appointment as MLB Commissioner

A 1994 article predicted George Mitchell would very shortly be Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Referencing comments at that time, Steve Marantz' article in The Sporting News:

• "Mitchell can be coy. Baseball owners, fans and media will have to get used to him. A profile in Congressional Quarterly's "Politics in America" describes him thusly: "As a lawyer, judge and politician, Mitchell relates to interviews as debates
• and treats questions as three-dimensional traps.
• He often responds to questions not by answering them but by questioning their premises -- usually with a few words of courteous preface such as |with all due respect.'"

(Marantz): "

"If you become baseball commissioner, will you bring major league baseball to Maine?"

For a long instant Mitchell gives me the twice over. Then, a wide grin.

"We have a good Double-A team in Portland this year," he says. "A florida Marlins team. My friend, Dan Burke, runs it. I haven't had the opportunity to see them play yet. But I hope to do so soon."

I give Mitchell a chance to duck another question.

"Can you talk about becoming baseball commissioner?"

• "Nobody's offered me anything," Mitchell says. "I haven't accepted anything. I'm getting a lot of proposals from other fields. Corporations, businesses, universities, law firms and others. My intention is to wait a period of time and see what interest me the most."

Mitchell's office had warned me that the senator is not discussing baseball issues of substance: the antitrust exemption, expansion, collective bargaining, cable copyright law. That leaves softball.

"Generally speaking, would you talk about your connection to baseball?"

• "I've been a lifelong baseball fan. I played Junior Legion baseball through high school. I've been to Fenway Park hundreds of times...."

"Old Orchard Beach used to have a Triple-A team called the Maine Guides," he goes on. "It came from Charleston and now it's in Wilkes-Barre. Gary Thorne occasions I sat in play announcer. On a few occasions I sat in with Gary and did color."

"How did it compare with being a senator?"

"It was different."

"Do you remember your first trip to Fenway?""

• THIS SIMPLE QUESTION SO OVERWHELMS MITCHELL THAT HE DOES NOT ANSWER. (SM)

Marantz: "King of the hills: Where does Mitchell stand on becoming the next commissioner? Like the politician he is, Mitchell isn't saying.

Mitchell appears stumped, gazing at the Capitol's fancy marble work. He ruminates."

• INSTEAD OF SAYING ONE WORD PUBLICLY ABOUT HIS RED SOX, or where he stands on becoming commissioner, HE CHANGES THE SUBJECT. TO GUESS WHAT? THE YANKEES. A tough subject for Mitchell going way back. (sm)

(Marantz): "I can remember one of my brothers taking me to see the Yankees," he says finally. "I remember DiMaggio hitting a long ball that was just foul. It must have been just after the war."

"It baseball in trouble?"

Mitchell winks.

"Nice try," he says.

• Although Mitchell says he has not been offered the job, many baseball observers say he and the owners already have reached an agreement. One of the Red Sox's limited partners with close ties to Mitchell was seen shopping with his fiancee for an apartment in Manhattan this spring, fueling speculation."

• (MITCHELL IS THE CAUSE OF PRES. GEORGE BUSH #1 STUPIDLY GOING BACK ON HIS 'NO NEW TAXES' PLEDGE....)

Marantz: "Once elected majority leader, Mitchell had a seat at an exclusive poker game whose stakes included the White House. Part of Mitchell's job was to prevent a second term for President Bush. Political writer Sidney Blumenthal described part of Mitchell's strategy in The New Yorker:

• "With exquisite politesse and delicacy, through a protracted budget summit in 1990, Mitchell coaxed George Bush to abandon his iron-clad campaign pledge, 'No New Taxes' -- an act that repudiated the Reaganite theology and proved devastating to Bush politically."

Thanks in no small part to Mitchell, Bill Clinton won the presidency. With Mitchell working the inside levers, Clinton's controversial first budget was enacted and NAFTA narrowly passed.

• Two summers ago, shortly after Fay Vincent's forced resignation, Mitchell experienced an epiphany. it occurred while the Senate was locked in an all-night filibuster. He later told the Bowdoin College alumini magazine that he was struck by a thought: "What an I doing here? Why am I doing this? I'm going to be 60 next year and is this really what I want to do with the rest of my life." Mitchell recalled speculating on what he would do if he were not in the Senate. "I said ...'I just think I'll be commissioner of baseball, get paid several hundred thousand dollars more a year, watch baseball games and I won't have to stay up all night listening to Senator D'Amato."

His musings were not groundless. One of the owners first broached the commissioner's job to Mitchell in 1990, he told the magazine. In December 1992, interim commissioner Bud Selig was in Washington for Sen. Howard Metzenbaum's hearings on baseball's antitrust exemption. Mitchell and Selig talked about the vacant commissioner's job....."

• Mr. Marantz concludes by noting 1994's upcoming baseball crisis might cause Mitchell to stay on the sidelines. He wouldn't want his name involved in what would be a mess. Sure things, ok. (sm)

• Reference, "The Maine Man:Senator George Mitchell," by Steve Marantz, published in the Sporting News, June 13, 1994

(P.S. A politician trades in favors--big ones. One cannot be a politician without doing this. If you think that lifestyle confers "integrity" on someone, have a nice day). sm

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New York Post prints a lie about Andy Pettitte today

"Saunooke (Jose Canseco's attorney) declined to discuss any big players named or any big details revealed in the book, but said that it would be a more complete version of the Mitchell Report, which stunned the nation with steroid allegations against the likes of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte."

• THERE HAVE NEVER BEEN ANY STEROID ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ANDY PETTITTE. EXCEPT THOSE MADE UP IN ARTICLES LIKE THIS FROM THE NY POST AND OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS WITHOUT FOUNDATION AND SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD. WHO BENEFITS FROM THE NY POST REPEATING THIS LIE?

Reference, NY Post article, "Canseco Baring More Juicy Details in Steroid Sequel," by Peter Cox, 12/30/07

• AND PAUL BYRD SMILES....STILL NO MENTION OF THE ONE PLAYER WHO WOULD NOT DENY INJECTING HGH UP TO AND INCLUDING HIS 2007 ALDS WIN OVER THE YANKEES---PAUL BYRD.

• MATTER OF FACT, HE WOULDN'T EVEN DENY IT DURING THE ALCS V BOSTON WHEN WORD MYSTERIOUSLY LEAKED OUT VIA ESPN EMPLOYEES IN THE SF CHRONICLE. (sm)

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"Robber wearing NY Yankees jacket pointed semi-automatic gun at him..."

• From Miami Herald police blotter, Miramar:

"Deliveryman robbed: About 8:40 p.m. Dec. 5, a pizza deliveryman arrived at an apartment in the 8300 block of Sherman Circle North and was met by four men as he got out of the elevator. The driver told police:

• *one robber wearing a navy blue New York Yankees jacket pointed a black semi-automatic gun at him and told him to give up all his money and the keys to his car.

The other three robbers searched his pockets and stole $196 in cash and his cellphone. When they asked him again for his keys, he said they were in the car.

• When the robber in the Yankees jacket told him to look the other way, all four of the robbers fled in an unknown direction."

From Miami Herald, Police Report, headline "Thief Drops Navigation Device, Flees," scroll down to Miramar, compiled by Alan Skolnick, 12/30/07

• Moral of the story, I guess, always beware of persons wearing Yankee jackets. sm

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Desperate for "Made in America?" Try MadebyYankees.net

• Tired of poisonous pet food, fatal toys, athletic helmets with defects, poisonous food, etc.? The Answer by a newly formed business is GO YANKEES....

"A newly formed business, Made by Yankees, has one sole purpose; provide data to the consumer regarding what products are made in the US and where they can be purchased.

• The website madebyyankees.net has been developed to assist consumers in finding exactly what they are looking for, fast and easy.

This is a no nonsense exclusive (free) database providing consumers the names of American made products and retailers with out spending a lot of time looking at boxes or surfing the web. The range of products to be found on this site includes household products, sporting goods, toys and tools."

• From KansasCityInfozine News, "Finding Made in the USA Products the Easy Way," by Tammy Turner, 12/29/07

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West Virginia Football team WORE YANKEE CAPS to meet South Florida....

From 'The Oklahoman' by John Helsley, 12/29/07

• "Before its September matchup with South Florida, this same team compared itself to the New York Yankees"... (Referring to West Virginia's football team)...
• (Somebody screwed up and didn't give these guys the NY media slant...)SM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — "True story:

Heading for a late-September football game at South Florida and learning that the Bulls had managed a sellout for just the second time in school history, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez must have been feeling a bit frisky, popping off.

"We're highly ranked, and when you go somewhere, they're going to sell out the stadium,” Rodriguez said. "I think it's like the Yankees. Every game, they get a big crowd.”

Let's see, West Virginia… New York Yankees.

Uh, no. Where's the championships? (And please, no Big East braggadocio.)

San Diego Padres, maybe. Similar color scheme, too.

But wait, it gets better.

• When West Virginia arrived at Raymond James Stadium that day for its Friday walkthrough, the Mountaineers emerged from the team bus sporting ball caps — Yankees caps.

Love the attitude.

Not that it helped that weekend, with South Florida sticking a 21-13 loss on West Virginia, which hardly conjured any pinstripe pride, bumbling through six turnovers and failing to produce a touchdown until just more than five minutes remained.

"Kind of backfired on us,” Mountaineers kicker Pat McAfee said. "But it was a kind of cool idea, I guess.”

Or not so much.

"You can tell West Virginia they can take those Yankees hats and stick them… you know what I'm saying?” South Florida defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said afterward.

But wait, it gets better.

Now, it appears, some Mountaineers want to play the insult card.

Disrespected they've been, hearing word of Sooner wishes that they'd rather have played Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl for potentially higher stakes instead of the Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl.

"We found out what they said, they wanted to play Virginia Tech,” Mountaineers wide receiver Darius Reynaud said. "That really got us heated.

"Now we've got to come out and really show 'em that we can hang with the big boys.”

Seems the Mountaineers are dealing with an identity crisis.

First, they're college football's version of the New York Yankees.

Now they're the dishonored little guy.

So which is it? Or is there some confusion? What, with Rodriguez no longer around, having bolted for Michigan, where it's actually OK to reference the Yankees.

Every day, there's something in the news, and little of it has to do with Wednesday's date with the Sooners. The school's lawsuit with Rodriguez over a little matter of $4 million he owes. The growing list of coaches apparently not interested in the West Virginia job.

Is some guy named Steinbrenner scaring off candidates?

"What's pretty sad is SportsCenter,” McAfee said.

Said West Virginia center Mike Dent: "I just flip the channel.”"

• From Oklahoman article by John Helsley on NewsOK.com, "Once-Mighty Mountaineers Ready to Play Disrespect Card," 12/29/07

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NY Daily News and John Harper, "Conscience of the Game," seem to be missing a conscience of their own.

Is the NY Daily News about to go out of business? Is employee and "CONSCIENCE OF THE GAME," BBWAA member John Harper about to lose his job? Why else do they continue to erroneously link Andy Pettitte to steroids?

• NY Daily News, 12/29/07: "And so the news just keeps getting gloomier for Yankee fans in this holiday season. After weeks of steroid revelations brought into question the integrity of many of the heroes from those championship teams of the late '90s, none more so than Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, Leyritz leaves a stain as well on those days that Yankee fans remember so fondly."

ANDY PETTITTE HAS NEVER BEEN LINKED TO STEROIDS BY ANYONE EXCEPT ERRONEOUSLY BY MEDIA SUCH AS THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

• P.S. "New York media" member and "Guardian of the Game" Harper also incorrectly characterizes many Yankee fans on the topic of Santana. He says Yankee fans were "DROOLING" at the thought of having the *out of town pitcher fly in for the big cash-out of his lifetime.* Maybe it's Harper who's drooling. He also cites a statement to back up his hype from Jorge Posada, but fails to mention that Posada made his comment before the Yankees had re-signed Andy Pettitte--making them less desperate for the out-of-towner.

• (*words between asterisks are my own characterization).

NY Daily News: "The Johan Santana talks then proved - so far, at least - to be a tease to Yankee fans drooling over what once seemed to be the imminent acquisition of the type of ace that none other than Jorge Posada publicly declared necessary to end their recent run of October futility."

• The NY Daily News has been a paid sponsor of NY Yankee radio broadcasts with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman for some years (going back before Suzyn's time). Several of its employees are graciously welcomed into Yankee radio booth broadcasts during the season. John Harper was one last year. I see no reason for any NY Daily News employees to be on Yankee radio broadcasts. It helps their own celebrity and immortality but demeans and cheapens the broadcast and experience for Yankee fan listeners. (sm)

Reference, NY Daily News column by John Harper, "Bad Karma Continues for Yankees," 12/29/07

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Mariano Rivera Tribute by yankeesrule009

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How 2008 Will Be--A Newsday writer's guess

• (Hold on--he has Paul Byrd pitching a complete game in the post season...)

"Roger Clemens, taking advantage of Bud Selig's general amnesty agreement, signed with the Yankees on Aug. 30 and made a surprise appearance in Hank Steinbrenner's box at Yankee Stadium. Broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, overcome with emotion, passed out. She recovered with the aid of a B-12 shot from an unnamed former athletic trainer, who happened to be in the press box taping a segment for "60 Minutes." Her first words were "Oh, your gracious goodness" (a phrase that was included in every article about Clemens the rest of the season).

• A season-ending 17-game losing streak cost the Mets a playoff berth. They finished a game behind the Braves, who clinched when Tom Glavine pitched a no-hitter on the final day.

The Yankees lost in the first round to the Indians. The turning point was Game 3, when Joba Chamberlain, in relief of Johan Santana, seemed a little unnerved by a swarm of locusts.

• Cleveland clinched in Game 5 as Paul Byrd, hurriedly returning from a dental appointment in Florida, pitched a complete game."

From Newsday article by Mark Hermann, "2008, The Year About to Be," 12/29/07

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By all means, "Bud" Selig, send our players into the Chinese filth

• *Pollution so bad residents WARNED NOT TO EXERCISE.

""Level five is the worst level of air pollution. This is as bad as it has been all year."

According to the bureau's website, 15 out of the 16 pollution monitoring stations in urban Beijing registered a "five" for air quality rating.

• The main pollutant was suspended particulate matter, which is usually attributed to coal burning and automotive exhaust.

"Old people and young children should reduce outdoor activities and protect their health," the spokeswoman said.

• The Beijing Evening News warned residents not to do their morning exercises on Friday as pollution levels were likely to linger over the capital until a cold front moved in and blew some of the bad air away later in the day."....

From AFP article, "Beijing Air Pollution As Bad as it Can Get," 12/27/07, via Breitbart.com and "Foul Beijing Air May Delay Some Olympic Events."

• P.S. I THOUGHT NBC SPORTS HAD SOLVED GLOBAL POLLUTION BY TURNING OUT THE LIGHTS IN THEIR STUDIOS...

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Is Dan Naulty out of money?

I see on my XM screen someone has disrespected the Minnesota Twins. Dan Naulty is being interviewed on XM, a former MLB pitcher who spent 3 years with the Twins and only 1 season with the Yankees, 1999. (Naulty was not on the Yankees 1999 post season team which wasn't made clear in his interview published in the NY Daily News recently).

• Yet the XM screen identifies Naulty:

• not as a former MLB pitcher,

• not as a former AL pitcher,

• not as a former Twins and Yankees pitcher. I'm shocked, shocked to see he's only identified as a...

"Former NYY RP." ....Shocked, I tell you.

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LaTroy Hawkins on Sirius radio: drug use is "not my business"

From Watchdog blog: "New Yankee LaTroy Hawkins appeared on Sirius Satellite Radio and had an interesting take on the steroids saga in MLB:

• Host Jason Page: “You’re stepping into this Yankee fray. It’s going to be kind of an awkward time. You know in the pre-season especially there are going to be all the questions about what Roger Clemens did, Andy Pettitte did and all that stuff. How do you kind of side-step that stuff when the media comes to you on it?”

• LaTroy Hawkins: “It’s not any of my business. First of all the thing is I don’t care. Only person cared about that was [Commissioner Bud] Selig. I don’t care about it. That’s just my own personal opinion.”

• Page: “You don’t care if hitters are juicing up?”

• Hawkins: “No, I don’t. That’s just my personal opinion. Still got to hit the ball, brother.”"

From Neil Best's Watchdog blog on Newsday, 12/28/07

• P.S. Andy Pettitte has never been connected to steroids at any time by anyone. Except the New York media, an example of which you see in the intro to this item on the Newsday reporter's sports media blog. Of course, this is peanuts compared to the gallons of ink used in headlines or bile passed through radio and tv guys.

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Hal might be my pal...

From Joel Sherman today:

• "But multiple sources say the media has focused on the wrong son of George Steinbrenner. These sources say Hal Steinbrenner is most responsible for dictating financial policy and does not want to spend the dollars in salary and luxury tax (nearly $30 million annually) necessary for Santana."

I'd been wondering if Hal was still in the picture. It sounds as if he is and I deem this a good thing. The organization needs as many people as possible with the right motives making the right decisions with the big picture in mind. It's obvious the Yankees can't afford Santana's salary to start with.

• Why not have Goldman Sachs buy Santana--they own 40% of the YES Network, which is more than the Yankees own. They can rent him out to various teams.

• It should also go without saying the Yankees can't afford to give Minnesota about half a team in good young players they can use for the next 8-10 years.

Certain media members seek to define it in other ways.

• Reference NY Post column by Joel Sherman, "Boston's Market, Bo-sox still lead in Johan race," 12/28/07

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WFAN's Steve Somers makes no sense about Andy Pettitte

Steve Somers' WFAN radio show is what happens in a vacuum-garbage dumps in. In this case, it's an absence of Yankee leadership vs the media. The first segment of Steve's show on Monday night in the 6PM hour was typical. If a radio station's license should be revoked for anything it should be for what Somers has been allowed to say on the air about Andy Pettitte, and he's said it numerous times approximating the following:

• Somers: I believe Brian McNamee because the threat is enormous to him were he not telling the truth. So I absolutely believe what he says about Clemens, with the times used in each year. And I believe McNamee about Andy Pettitte, too.

(Steve doesn't mention McNamee said Pettitte's usage was at most a few times in early 2002).

• *Paul Byrd by far the biggest and possibly present day user in the whole report rests easy since he's on the wrong team. New York papers continually ran headlines that their home town heroes "admitted using steroids" or "used steroids," which they didn't and wasn't true. They don't treat home town players like that in Cleveland media from what I've seen.

Somers goes on to say the 2000 Yankee team was loaded with users and is suspect, etc. Which is false anyway--even going by Mitchell/Radomski, there's only 1 Yankee from the 2000 team the report said was using that year (Clemens). I've detailed that on this blog with backup from the report.

• Caller: Steve, you keep saying the 2000 Yankee team had so many people using, you talk about Pettitte but his admitted use was only in 2002.

*(Remember Somers has repeatedly said he absolutely believes everything McNamee has said. He seems to forget Andy Pettitte's admission basically AGREED with McNamee).

• Somers: Well, HOW DO YOU KNOW, I DON'T BELIEVE A WORD ANDY PETTITTE SAYS ANYWAY. NOBODY DOES. PEOPLE DON'T BUY IT. YOU CAN'T JUST USE 2 OR 3 TIMES LIKE HE SAID HE DID. EVERYONE KNOWS IT HAD TO BE FOR MUCH LONGER THAN THAT. SO YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT OTHER YEARS. ANDY PETTITTE IS LYING AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT. (He doesn't say who "everyone" is).

(Caller isn't heard from again).

• As I say, I've heard Steve Somers give this same speech about Pettitte several times, saying he implicitly believes McNamee. He overlooks that Pettitte agreed with McNamee. Somers' diatribe only makes sense if he thinks McNamee is lying but I've never heard him say or imply that. He says Pettitte is lying, and I've heard other radio hosts give the same circular crap on WFAN and the local ESPN station.

This whole subject is a riot, including Mitchell's use of the false front page LA Times story to back up his personal destruction of Andy Pettitte's career. It would greatly have helped Andy if the truth had been unsealed a few days earlier. But a judge adamantly refused to open it until after the Mitchell Report. By then, its helpfulness for Andy was greatly minimized, and Mitchell had left the stage in triumph to return to his paid position as director of the Red Sox.

• And WFAN still has its license.

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Rodin, the Thinker becomes Baseball Hall of Fame voter in Jack O'Connell Era--see funny celebrity ballot- 12/23/07

• I try to avoid HOF ballot discussions in the Jack O'Connell era as they mostly add to the celebrity and immortality of the voter. Not vetted by anyone I trust, individuals are allowed to do as they please without oversight and it's just a bad system. Some of the remarks on this person's ballot illustrate why these awards should be canceled so well I made an exception. Especially every word he says about Lee Smith and closers. Note: yet again the term "closer" is being put in a box by these guys. (Solution: Use the term, "late inning reliever"). Funny word games while old, wrinkled men sit by the phone with their family, tears streaming down their faces, waiting for the King, Jack O'Connell whose own fame and immortality continue to grow. Classic Jack O'Connell era inscrutability. From Ken Davidoff of Newsday:

"This marked my second Hall of Fame ballot, as you have to serve 10 years in the Baseball Writers Association of America before you are eligible to vote, and I made some changes from my first ballot. I voted for some players last year about whom I felt less enthusiastic this year. And vice versa.

• I believe this is a product of time - of another year of baseball changing perspectives, and of whatever baseball knowledge I've accrued in the same period.

So here we go, in alphabetical order:

• Brady Anderson: No.

• Harold Baines: Would've been interesting if he had reached 3,000 hits, but he didn't (2,866), so No.

• Rod Beck: No.

• Bert Blyleven: I was baseball-conscious for the majority of his career and never did I think, "Bert Blyleven will be in the Hall of Fame someday." But look at his numbers. He's a remarkable fifth all-time in strikeouts (3,701), ninth in shutouts (60) and 13th in innings pitched (4,970). There's too much great stuff to ignore. Yes.

• Dave Concepcion: He's a favorite among Big Red Machine fans, but I can't support someone with a career .322 on-base percentage and .357 slugging percentage. No.

• Andre Dawson: A very tough decision. That .323 OBP is brutal. Still, there are 438 homers in the (mostly) pre-steroids time, 314 stolen bases, strong defense and a high-impact career that featured three top-two finishes in the National League Most Valuable Player voting (second in 1981, second in 1983 and first in 1987). For now, he's a Yes.***

• Shawon Dunston: No.

• Chuck Finley: No.

• Travis Fryman: No.

• Rich Gossage: It is confounding how it has taken Goose this long, but this should be his year after he tallied 71.2 percent of last year's vote (you need 75 percent to gain induction). Gossage and the already-inducted Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter were far more valuable than today's closers because they routinely pitched multiple innings. Yes.

• Tommy John: Sorry, but no extra points for the surgery, and the numbers just aren't there. No.

• David Justice: No, and not because of the Mitchell Report.

• Chuck Knoblauch: Just like Justice, he was a No even before last week.

• Don Mattingly: Sorry, Yankees fans, but when you break it down, there were four brilliant years (1984-87), two very good ones (1988-89) and two decent ones (1992-93), and not much else. No.

• Mark McGwire: On the merits of his career, he'd be a Yes. But here's the evidence that he cheated: 1) In February 2005, he issued a flat-out denial that he ever used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. In March 2005, he refused to repeat that, under oath, during his congressional testimony; 2) Congressman Tom Davis, then the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, divulged that McGwire attempted, on the day before the infamous hearing, to admit to steroid use in return for immunity. That's evidence that we'll allow into the court of public opinion. No.

• Jack Morris: His numbers might not stand out among the all-time greats, and this is a vote on which I could change in the future. Right now, I view him as the best of his time period (1977-94). The last starting pitcher to get voted in on the BBWAA ballot, interestingly, was Nolan Ryan in 1999. Morris deserves it, in my mind, because his innings pitched (3,824) back up his reputation as a workhorse, because his 254 wins reflect the fact that he hung around games for so many decisions, and because of his postseason excellence. Yes.

• Dale Murphy: An interesting career, featuring back-to-back NL MVP awards in 1982-83, but not strong enough for the Hall. No.

• Robb Nen: No.

• Dave Parker: He was a Yes for me last year, but I just wasn't feeling him this year. His 339 homers fell short of Dawson and Jim Rice, for instance, as did his .471 slugging percentage. Maybe I'll flip back the other way on him next year, but he's a No for now.

• Tim Raines: My only Yes among the first-year candidates. He was one of the best leadoff hitters of all time, but he happened to be Rickey Henderson's contemporary, which overshadowed his accomplishments. I agree with Newsday alumnus Tom Verducci.

• Jim Rice: A few more strong years would have helped, but check out his first 12 full years in the major leagues. He was dominant. Yes.

• Jose Rijo: No.

• Lee Smith: I voted Yes last year, but the more intelligent analysis you read about closers, the less you tend to appreciate them. Smith didn't average even 1 1/3 innings per appearance. No.

• Todd Stottlemyre: No.

• Alan Trammell: I went the other way on him: No last year, Yes this year. If Ozzie Smith, his contemporary at shortstop, is in, then Trammell should be in, too. Trammell may not have been the defensive wizard Ozzie was, but his offensive superiority more than makes up for it."

From Newsday article by Ken Davidoff, 12/23/07, "Ken Davidoff's Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot."

• ***P.S. I never cease to marvel at how many of these guys use terms like "very tough decision" as Davidoff just did or "voters struggled" as I've seen others say. Right. The Jack O'Connell era.

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Gentlemen of the Press? Tell us YOUR names--the LA Times' "correction"

Funny how timing works--if the false claims in the LA Times' front page story had come out only a few days earlier, they would have weakened the so-called Mitchell Report. Mitchell happily creates a link between the (fake) LA Times story and the court of public opinion as another reason for Andy Pettitte to lose his career.

• (By the way, once again Paul Byrd's name is miraculously out of the limelight. How nice for him).

Fascinating--the LA Times had continually requested the affadavit revealing the truth to be unsealed, but "spokespersons" declined to elaborate on the hold-up, waiting until after Mitchell had triumphantly left the stage. Judge Voss, presiding over the unsealing, himself adamantly refused to let the truth come out until AFTER George Mitchell took the stage. Disingenuous of him to sputter about it now, later in this post.

• The so-called front page correction loses the casual reader with a confusing jumbled opening quietly getting to a correction--its purpose--in the third paragraph:

LA Times:"Former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley accused baseball players Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa of using steroids, according to a federal affidavit that was unsealed Thursday, 18 months after the document was first released with players' names blacked out.

• Grimsley, a reliever who last pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, also named Chuck Knoblauch as a human growth hormone user, and accused former teammates David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs.

The unsealed affidavit contradicts a story The Times published Oct. 1, 2006. Citing anonymous sources, including a Grimsley confidant and an individual "with authorized access to [the] unredacted affidavit," The Times' story said Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, Miguel Tejada and Segui and strength coach Brian McNamee were named in the document. In fact, Clemens, Pettitte, Gibbons and Roberts were not named. Also, The Times' report said Grimsley alleged that Tejada used anabolic steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was a conversation he had with teammates about baseball's ban on amphetamines."

• NAME OR NAMES OF THE PERSON WHO REPORTED THIS FALSEHOOD AND HIS BOSS WHO APPROVED IT. NEED THOSE. (sm)

LA Times correction article: "The day after the story ran, Kevin Ryan, then the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said it contained "significant inaccuracies."

• (It appears the inmates are running the asylum). sm

LATimes: "The Times made repeated attempts, including earlier this week, to have the government clarify what the inaccuracies were, but spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco declined to elaborate."

• ON GEORGE MITCHELL'S USE of the FALSE STORY TO BACK UP HIS CLAIMS:

• Judge Voss who presided over the unsealing NOTED THIS:
• LA TIMES: "The [Times] article trumpets the success . . . in ending the 'months of speculation' surrounding which major league ballplayers Jason Grimsley named. . . . A review . . . proves that The Times never saw the unredacted affidavit. . . . At best, the article is an example of irresponsible reporting. At worst, the 'facts' reported were simply manufactured." Voss added:
• "Unfortunately, The Times' article still has legs," a reference to its mention in last week's 409-page report by former Sen. George Mitchell on performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball."

From the LA Times "Baseball Affadavit is UnSealed," by Lance Pugmire, 12/21/07

• P.S. I understand you want everything in life to be "random"--murders, slanders, libel, robbery, plagiarism, bombings, and everything in baseball. In other words, we should all go home and die and let you have the world. That requires one to be a brain-dead robot, an employee of ESPN/MLB or aspiring to be such.

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Mariano Rivera could be greatest relief pitcher to date...Michael Hoban, 12/26/07

A longtime SABR member, Michael Hoban, Ph.D, reaches the following conclusion about Mariano Rivera--without post season or All Star numbers.

• "As you can see, at this point in his career, Mo Rivera is way ahead of the HOF standard and could emerge as the greatest relief pitcher to date."

Dr. Hoban's new book, "Baseball's Best, The True Hall of Famers," covers relief pitchers in Chapter 11. It incorporates his "NEWS" analysis tool which among other stats recognizes Win Shares: 2. "The 150/1700 standard – The true relievers

There are only five pitchers in the 20^th century who have attained a NEWS score of 150 while pitching in fewer than 1700 innings. These are the true relievers who have definite HOF numbers. Here they are:

Player	IP	NEWS
Mariano Rivera	953	175
Lee Smith	1289	164
Bruce Sutter	1042	164
Dan Quisenberry	1043	156
Rollie Fingers	1701	155

Rollie Fingers just makes it since he actually pitched in 1701 innings. Only Bruce Sutter and Fingers are in the Hall of Fame.

• This would seem to imply that Mariano Rivera is the best true reliever of the century.

You will note that Trevor Hoffman (the “saves” leader) is not on this list. His NEWS score is 142.

• For more info on the NEWS HOF Gauge, see BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers on this site."

"From Seamheads.com blog, 12/26/07"

• A short bio on Michael Hoban on The Baseball Guru.

(I was directed to this work by another blog, Sean Lahman's Seamhead.com on which he has a chart of Dr. Hoban's work. Seamhead.com posts Dr. Hoban's results. ed.)

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Red Sox fans apparently will never get over Clemens

From The Ellsworth American: "Don't waste your time watching the Rocket defend himself on "60 Minutes" on Jan. 6th. It's shaping up to be as big a fraud as his post-Sox baseball career....

• (Mike) Wallace acknowledged that some might perceive him as a less-than-perfect questioner because he is a Yankees fan. He has been a frequent guest of George Steinbrenner in Steinbrenner’s suite at Yankee Stadium..."

The New England publication also reports Wallace saying he and Clemens are "friends." I don't care about Clemens one way or the other, but Red Sox fans can't let go of him, analyze his every move.

• P.S. On the other hand, I assume Red Sox fans consider a director of their own team, George Mitchell, as having no problems being objective about topics concerning Clemens, the Yankees, etc.

Reference, The Ellsworth American (Maine) article by Lisa Keenan, "Mike Wallace, Clemens Fan," 12/26/07

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Back off Paul Byrd--he's a Christian with a book coming out and Cleveland fans deserve to be happy.

• "Asked if he was currently taking HGH, Byrd said, "That's a private matter with me. I do still have a pituitary issue.""

From NY Daily News article by Anthony McCarron and TJ Quinn, "MLB Denies Allowing Paul Byrd to Use HGH," 10/22/07. Filed from Boston before Game 7--Indians in a tizzy. *AP photo in NY Daily News

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Cleveland media guilt complex showing re Indians tainted 2007 ALDS

Time and media holidays allow us to see the overlooked story of the Mitchell report--Paul Byrd. Hoping to distract the public from this, Paul Hoynes comes out the other day praising the 2007 Indians for doing it with "character and conviction."

• This knowing Byrd didn't deny using HGH during his game 4 Yankee win. Today, another Cleveland media guy, Terry Pluto, makes his attempt to fog the issue. With what else? THE BUGS of course. A handy one to get the focus off Byrd and his "TAINTED TEAM."

The talk of that game was actually the reverse of what Pluto says, that the Yankees "whined:" "and the Yankees whined" Pluto writes.

• Which is of course a joke because the talk during and after the game was that JOE TORRE HAD NOT WHINED, HAD NOT FLINCHED DURING JOBA'S WHOLE BUG EPISODE. Pluto's supposed proof is a throwaway line from Derek Jeter who's the last person to whine about anything.

"Talk about a home-field advantage," said Derek Jeter, as if the bugs only landed on players from New York....

• At that point, you knew the Yankees were finished in the series." (Pluto says)

Translation: The Yankees final demise wasn't cheater Paul Byrd's tainted game 4.

• Pluto: "Yes, you gotta love The Bug Game.

if any group of fans earned a good memory, it's us."

• Translation: Since we're the Indians and not the Yankees, we suffer every day. So, no matter how we won, we deserve to be happy.

Article by Terry Pluto from Cleveland Plain Dealer, "This Memory Won't Fly Away," 12/26/07

• P.S. I didn't write the 2 articles referenced, nor am I the one who doesn't deny being an active HGH user. Those who seek affiliation with ESPN or MLB don't want to focus on Paul Byrd, so be prepared for this issue to be ignored and labeled crazy or conspiracist. The New York media have not written articles like this about their home-town boys-sorry.

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Paul Byrd doesn't deny using HGH while pitching vs Yankees in Game 4, 2007 ALDS

From NY Daily News, 10/22/07:

• "Asked if he was currently taking HGH, Byrd said, "That's a private matter with me. I do still have a pituitary issue.""

From NY Daily News article by Anthony McCarron and TJ Quinn, "MLB Denies Allowing Paul Byrd to Use HGH," 10/22/07. Filed from Boston on the night of Byrd's press comments.

• Most people who read or write baseball blogs would love to work for ESPN or have some involvement with MLB--including those who identify themselves as Yankee fans. The Paul Byrd issue should overshadow most other so-called "Mitchell Report" media hysteria but it doesn't. It's not what MLB or ESPN (chairman of their parent company is also George Mitchell) wants. People who think it would be a "dream" to work in this kind of monopolistic environment harm their chances of doing so if they stray from the current attack format--ie Andy Pettitte's reported and admitted 2x usage in early 2002 in Tampa while on the DL. (sm)

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Page 294, Mitchell Report shows Paul Byrd lies are perfectly fine--he's in "the clear"

Page 293 on PDF, 245 on Report: Fascinating--even if he had this pituitary thing, he was continually in a superior physical state vs. his competitors due to a drug.

• One of his shipments went to a "New York hotel" between 8/2002 and 1/2005--Footnote #466 of report, via Fainuru Wada/Williams.

Did Byrd get his "New York Hotel" shipment around his 8/8/02 game at Yankee Stadium as a Kansas City Royal? If so it was a losing effort for him. Baseball-Reference.

• (Page 294 on pdf): "Byrd also reportedly said "the Indians, my coaches, and MLB have known that I have had a pituitary gland issue for some time,
• but Rob Manfred in the Commissioner's Office denied that Major League Baseball had given Byrd or any other player a therapeutic use exemption for human growth hormone HGH)."

(Footnote #469, MLB Denies Byrd story, NY Daily News article by McCarron and Quinn, 10/22/07)

• UPDATE: Byrd's "New York Hotel" shipment turns out to be in 2004 while his then team, the Braves, was playing the Mets:

"On July 22, 2004, according to the records, $2,000 worth of somatropin and syringes was shipped to Byrd at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, where the Braves were playing a series against the Mets. The Braves were scheduled to stay at the Grand Hyatt during that trip, according to media information distributed by Major League Baseball."

• This quote from Diatribe, Cleveland Indians blog, 10/21/07

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If Paul Byrd Were a Yankee...

24/7 on all media platforms dripping with scorn and sarcasm would be things like:

• 1. 'Hey Paul, what brand of KY Jelly do you like best?' (see his 10/07 ESPN.com interview. It doesn't have to be something he actually admitted doing).

• 2. 'Paul Byrd is a liar, no one believes him. Pituitary problem, HA.' (Some media people actually suggested Byrd's story about his pituitary problem was legitimate. Their first impulse was to accept what he said, not ridicule him (Ken Rosenthal posed the idea and it was was picked up by Will Carroll. Some also believed him when he said MLB teams always knew about his "condition" as he stored his syringes and HGH in clubhouse fridges. That turned out to be false also--MLB said they didn't know about it and had no medical clearance for it). (Byrd also notes Mitchell is with the Red Sox).

• 3. 'Oh right, HGH was banned but not illegal whatever. He's a liar if he says he stopped taking it years ago. He probably used with the Yankees right up til the winning game in the post season against the Yahoos. That whole Yankee team is tainted, that victory really needs to be analyzed. Ha Ha.'
• 4. 'Now he's writing a book, too--there must be something illegal about that too, profiting from cheating. Ha Ha.'

• 5. Mike Lupica would demand Paul Byrd sit before Congress on television and sweat bullets.

Since Paul Byrd isn't a Yankee, none of this will happen.

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Paul Byrd's 1000 HGH units and 100 syringes aren't enough for Mike Lupica

Lupica's angry point is he wants Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens to sit on television in front of Congress just like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did. Lupica will accept nothing less. At the very end of the article he throws in 2 more names he'd like to see, but he's done being furious, just mentions the names: Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada.

• How does Paul Byrd, a major user over a period of years, winner of the deciding game against the Yankees in the 2007 ALDS, escape the extreme anger of Lupica? Byrd doesn't even get a mention? Much of Byrd's 'oh come on, this was for an approved medical condition and everyone knew about it' has been disproved.

How does the case of Paul Byrd totally escape Mike Lupica? Why aren't Paul Byrd and his litany of lies making headlines?

• Reference, NY Daily News column by Mike Lupica, "House Should Play Hardball," 12/23/07

P.S. What if George Mitchell had been a director of the Yankees, a past lobbyist for the tobacco industry, and named prominent Red Sox in his report. And he got the Red Sox names from a Boston area clubhouse guy who had a plea deal with the feds. And there were no prominent Yankees on the list. All things being equal, this should've been as likely a scenario as any other. But it never would've been considered for 1 second by Bud Selig.

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Baseball writers should Opt-Out of Baseball Awards voting--Star Tribune

Star Tribune: "Fifteen years ago, the New York Times was the first newspaper -- and so far the only paper -- to order its sports department to stick to sportswriting and avoid voting in the league's popularity contests."

• (I believe there are several other papers who've adopted the same policy). sm

Star Tribune: "As its baseball reporter Murray Chass wrote at the time: "Reporters have no business serving as the guardians of a private or public establishment. We should be covering the news created by the Hall of Fame elections, not creating the news itself."...

• His advocacy was recalled a few weeks ago when the BBWAA voted not to participate in voting for such awards as Most Valuable Player, which can translate into contractual bonuses for players. (That excludes the Hall of Fame voting, because the candidates are inactive.)...

The players union was said to be outraged by the agreement. It evidently believes the writers are conspiring to deny its members rewards for excellence. The union presumably is unaware of the writers' only function: to report the news.

The "get even" reaction, reports Star Tribune baseball writer LaVelle E. Neal III, was strong hints from the Players Association that it would push to severely limit reporters' clubhouse access to players -- or encourage the players not speak to the media at all..."

• (In conclusion the writer says):

"And if the baseball writers had followed Chass' advice years ago to simply report the news and not participate in making it, they wouldn't look so silly today."

• From article in Minneapolis Star Tribune by Lou Gelfand, "Journalists Shouldn't be Deciding Athletes' Performance Bonuses," 12/23/07

Via Poynter.org/Romenesko

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Mel Stottlemyre still says--get me the sinker ball pitcher

"(Mariners) Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre insists (Carlos) Silva was No. 1 on his list of free-agent pitchers, saying he expects his strike-throwing, sinkerball style to play well in spacious Safeco Field. Silva went seven-plus innings 12 times last year. Hernandez was the only Seattle starter who did that."

• From ChicagoSports.com article by Phil Rogers, "NL not ponying up for horse Santana," 12/24/07

(We still miss you, Mel. Although I thought your son Todd was quite rude). sm

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ESPN is worse than the Yankees--NY Times

• Like other newspapers, the NY Times is losing valued sports reporters to ESPN. They can't compete with the money and perks offered (and Bristol, Ct. is easily accessible to any reporter who might briefly have thought New York was home base.--sm). The Times article is titled, "The Top Player in this League? It May be the Sports Reporter," by Richard Perez-Pena, 12/24/07.

NY Times: "A few teams are rich and getting richer, hunting more avidly than ever for talent, raiding the less-endowed leagues, poaching free agents and bidding the prices of star players to unheard-of heights.

• But the high-paid objects of desire are not pitchers, running backs or point guards — they are sportswriters.

ESPN and Yahoo Sports are on a furious hiring binge, offering reporters and columnists more than they ever imagined they could make in journalism. And ESPN, in particular, has gone after the biggest stars at newspapers and magazines, signing them for double and triple what they were earning — $150,000 to $350,000 a year for several writers, and far more for a select handful.

• The competition for writers has even produced bidding wars, especially for big-name columnists like Rick Reilly (from Sports Illustrated to ESPN), Howard Bryant (from The Post to ESPN) and Selena Roberts (from The New York Times to Sports Illustrated) — but also for less widely known reporters. People who were briefed on the deals said that Mr. Reilly’s contract, easily the biggest of the recent signings, was worth more than $3 million a year.

“It’s the exact same model as what happened to athletes,” said Leigh Steinberg, a top sports agent. “We’re seeing free agency for sports journalists.”

• He and Scott Boras, the agent for Alex Rodriguez and other stars, said that change had no doubt already produced an unnoticed milestone: In a sports locker room somewhere, in an interview between a prominent reporter and a low-level player, the scribe is the better-paid person in the conversation.

Rising demand for star sportswriters, driven by rising television and Internet revenue, coincides with the declining fortunes of newspapers, which has left fewer jobs and less money to go around for most journalists. The paradox is not lost on the lucky few who benefit....

• The (ESPN.com) web site holds the vast bulk of what the writers produce, much of which is never seen on printed pages or heard on the air, including news, features, analysis, commentary and articles to accompany segments produced for television....

For some newspaper reporters, the appeal of a place like ESPN is not just the money but the vastly expanded audience, the ability to became a brand name, available through several media formats....

• The change has been more jarring for the biggest newspapers, like USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. They have always lost the occasional writer to a better offer from a magazine or from television, but not on this scale....

From NY Times article by Richard Perez-Pena, "The Top Player in this League? It May be the Sports Reporter," 12/24/07

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Note to baseball players: Cheating on the Cleveland Indians gets you love (not hate).

• Note to baseball players: if you cheat in Cleveland you'll get away with it. If you cheat or are mentioned in passing as ever having spoken about cheating while passing through the Bronx, you'll probably lose your career.

In New York, a Yankee player mentioned in passing in the Mitchell Report is rushed by the media into the "tainted dynasty" trough. I just noticed an article from a Cleveland newspaper praising the 2007 Indians team for "character and conviction." I was surprised to see this, as they had a pitcher on record having bought 1000 vials of HGH and 100 syringes.

• He also won a deciding post season game for his team in 2007, and there's been not a whisper about him or his "tainted team."

Paul Byrd also told big lies, kept his goods in clubhouse fridges, said MLB knew about his "pituitary problem" (which they denied) and is reported by ESPN.com to be selling a book about his life as a Christian. (All of these things have been recently linked on this blog which almost no one reads).

• Today we have an article from Cleveland baseball media, Paul Hoynes. He doesn't even mention Paul Byrd til the end of the article, and then very softly. How's this for contrast--a love story describing a team with a blatant cheater who helped them win a pennant this year as built on "character and conviction:"

"Cleveland Indians' 2007 Season Built With Character and Conviction," by Paul Hoynes, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 12/23/07.....

• (I didn't make this up--it's an actual article). sm

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"Paul Byrd's Struggle to Walk with God," ESPN.com interview, 10/17/07. Book profits?

Paul Byrd's ESPN.com interview 10/17/07--a few days BEFORE he was outed:

• From ESPN.com interview: Paul Byrd, "the author of "The Free Byrd Project," a finished manuscript that details Byrd's spiritual journey through the major leagues and the pitfalls that pious jocks must leap in navigating a ballplayer's lifestyle.

Byrd has managed to overcome his doubters ... in battling back from Tommy John surgery in '03 to win 37 games the past three seasons and

• gutting out an ALDS-clinching win over the Yankees in Game 4.

On the eve of his ALCS Game 4 outing, Byrd took some time to talk about some of the topics he'll cover in his book, including his struggles with pornography, cheating, and sharing his faith with the media and clubhouse mates, and to discuss how religion can unify and, at times, divide a clubhouse.

• I can help people by being honest.

Alipour: It's clear you have a lot to share, but will this book speak to non-Christians, readers who might not respond well to preaching?

Byrd: People who aren't Christians, like one of my good friends in the game who's an atheist, read it and was like, "Man, I've never heard somebody be open about this. They usually write about how they have it all together....So far, the response has been terrific. I have two publishers who have made firm offers, so it's officially going to become a book for next spring. What's cool is they're both major publishers with spiritual, religious divisions. And it's going to be available in both Christian bookstores and regular, secular bookstores like Borders.

Alipour: In what other ways does the game test your faith?

• Byrd: Religion can go over into every area, like whether I should cheat out on the field.
• I write about the desire to just make money at any cost.
• I share about my temptation to spit on the ball,
• put KY jelly on it or
• scuff it,
• to win more games and make more money.
• That's a big temptation for me, being a guy who throws 82, who relies on movement. You have a pull, because you have a certain window up here that stares you in the face.
• Are you willing to take steroids?
• Because that's available. People viewed that as me being weak. Like, "This guy doesn't want to win."

I also write about what it's like to play on a team where you're trying to get a start and, in a weird way, you can start to pull against your teammates. You're like, "Man, I want my chance." And the only way you get your chance is if the other guy does bad. You have these thoughts, like "Man, that's not right. Why did that pop into my head?" These are the things you encounter when you try to walk with God.

• Alipour: When you were pegged last week as the ALDS Game 4 starter, and not staff ace C.C. Sabathia, many questioned the decision.
• Then you came in, pitched remarkably well in
• perhaps the biggest game of your career, and proved the critics wrong.
• It wasn't quite a miracle, but
• it was a great achievement.
• Do you feel your performance in that game -- and generally speaking -- was God's work?"

********************

(Byrd doesn't respond directly about his being chosen for that game nor its outcome. He continues speaking of his spirituality in general terms).

*********************

• From ESPN.com interview published there on 10/17/07, by Sam Alipour, "Paul Byrd's Struggle to Walk with God."

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DAN NAULTY WAS NOT ON THE 1999 WORLD SERIES YANKEE TEAM--B-R.com

A reader of the NY Daily News headline and opening would not think so. It says:

• "Reliever Dan Naulty from 1999 World Series Team Spills Ugly Truth on Steroids"

I looked on Baseball-Reference and his name isn't on the roster. They open Naulty's "confession" with him saying he was in the "dugout" when the Yankees "clinched" to advance to the World Series. It then moves to his feelings when "we won" (the World Series) and what he did after he left the "stadium" that night. The reader is invited to think Naulty was on the World Series team when he was not. He made some appearances during the 1999 regular season. The NY Daily News introduction of Naulty's speech could've made that clear, but didn't. And as the headline says he was "from the 1999 World Series team."

• Why does this happen?

• Because the Yankees allow it. They're asleep at the wheel.

• It's easy for media since the Yankees don't care.

• I haven't found that the NY Daily News has a "Corrections" page either in the paper or online. They can say whatever they want, assuming that's how you choose to make a living.

• It pleases the power elite in baseball, and that means money.

Reference: NY Daily News article, interview with Dan Naulty,"Reliever Dan Naulty from 1999 World Series team spills ugly truth on Steroids," 12/23/07

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The Mitchell Report does not state what NY Times implies--sorry

DON'T TAKE THEIR CALLS, JOE TORRE. If A LIE is repteated OFTEN ENOUGH, PEOPLE START BELIEVING IT'S TRUE AND IT'S NOT.

• NY Times, Murray Chass: "Now, however, it develops that the Yankees’ 2000 team was loaded with players who used performance-enhancing drugs before, during or after that season."

Again, the media portrays the 2000 Yankee team as fraudulent. But I just did all the checking, using the report, and it only supports 1 Yankee using during the 2000 season--Roger Clemens.

• There's a picture of Chuck Knoblauch along with this article saying he's been linked to usage while in the Bronx. What it doesn't say is his usage wasn't until after 2000, according to the Report. But there's his picture along with this article about the 2000 tainted team.

And on Neagle: Murray Chass: "Neagle played for the Yankees in the latter half of that season and, according to Mitchell, used human growth hormone."

• THE MITCHELL REPORT DOES NOT SAY NEAGLE USED HGH IN THE LATTER HALF OF 2000 AS CHASS IMPLIES HERE. IT SAYS HE PLAYED FOR THE YANKEES, HE SUBSEQUENTLY MET RADOMSKI AT A CLUB, AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE HE BECAME A CLIENT AND ALWAYS PAID BY CHECK. THE PHOTOCOPIES OF ALL THE CHECKS ARE IN THE APPENDIX OF THE MITCHELL REPORT ON PP389 AND 390 FROM NEAGLE AND NONE ARE WRITTEN BEFORE 2001. FIRST YOU SAY WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THE REPORT, THEN YOU SAY WE'RE SUPPOSED TO ADD OUR OWN IMAGINATION TO IT.

Chass must have at least looked at the 2000 World Series itself and found out that Neagle did practically nothing, so he focuses on his few outings at the latter half of the 2000 regular season, imagining that the Red Sox might've gone to the World Series had it not been for Denny Neagle and Roger Clemens and their drugs. Again, Chass has left the reader to assume Neagle was on drugs at that time. According to the Mitchell report which was supposedly so great, there is no check written by Neagle until sometime in 2001.

• Reference NY Times article by Murray Chass, "Does Yankee Steroid Use Indirectly Taint Torre?" 12/23/07

(I wonder if anyone at the NY Times imagines Paul Byrd "stole" Game 4 of the ALDS from the Yankees? No, I didn't think so). sm

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Only 1 Yankee on 2000 team named by Mitchell Report

Following are 10 names the media has said "are linked to the 2000 Championship Yankee team," (and of course Joe Torre) etc. The Report has only 1, Roger Clemens, as a Yankee team member actually using or paying for a substance during that year. I've included documentation where available:

• 1. Yes. Report cites Clemens using in middle of year 2000, injected by McNamee .
• 2. No. Grimsley checks to Radomski are 2001-2005.
• 3. No. Glenallen Hill first check to Radomski March 14, 2001:

"For the investigation, Radomski produced one check from Hill for $3,200, dated March 14, 2001,"

• From article in SantaCruzSentinel.com, Jim Seimas, 12/14/07, "Ex-MLB Outfielder Named in Mitchell Report." ***This article also states Hill met with MLB as required as he's an MLB employee.
• The AP Thumbnail on Yahoo Sports doesn't state the 2001 date of the check. Leaving out this key detail allows the reader to assume Hill used in 2000 while a Yankee.
• Both AP and the Santa Cruz paper note Hill's meeting with MLB, that he acknowledged purchasing a substance from Radomski but never used it, and had been having marital stress at that time.

Regarding Glenallen Hill's 2000 World Series performance: Over all 5 games:

• 3   3  0  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  .000  .000  .000  0
  

From Baseball-Reference.com

• Nevertheless, you see the exact opposite written, such as this from the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"SANTA CRUZ -- Hometown hero Glenallen Hill -- a key player on the New York Yankees' 2000 World Series championship team -- was named in the Mitchell report released Thursday."

• A "key player" on the World Series team? Over the 5 games he had 3 at bats, got no hits, no walks, nothing.

• 4. No. David Justice. First, the AP report says Radomski sent Justice something "AFTER the 2000 World Series". Assuming that's so, the AP report states Justice paid by check and that Radomski cashed the check. But AP leaves out a key detail again: Radomski had no canceled check, did not provide any record of such to the Mitchell Report. The lack of a canceled check has been noted elsewhere including ESPN.com, 12/14/07. Also noted in the NY Times, Justice did meet with MLB once before the report.
• 5. No. Chuck Knoblauch. "In the report: McNamee said that he acquired human growth hormone from Radomski for Knoblauch in 2001."
• 6. No. Denny Neagle. The Mitchell/Radomski report page 235 said "Neagle always paid by check." The Mitchell Report included photocopies of all checks. NONE WERE DATED BEFORE 2001. They are located on pp. 389 and 390 in the Appendix of the Mitchell Report. THE MITCHELL REPORT ITSELF DOESN'T CLARIFY THIS FACT IN THE TEXT. YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE APPENDIX AND SEE THE CHECKS. The AP report notes verbal testimony of sales being made between 2000 and 2004 thereby allowing the reader to assume he used while on the Yankees, which was not shown by the evidence in the Report. (In the 2000 World Series, Mariano Rivera pitched more innings than Denny Neagle) anyway.
• 7. No. Andy Pettitte. Only stated and acknowledged during early 2002 for HGH when Pettitte was on the DL.
• 8. No. Mike Stanton. The report states the first sale to Stanton was in 2003 when he was on the Mets.
• 9. No dates relevant. Jose Canseco. Had 1 AB in 2000 World Series and struck out.

• 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

From Baseball-Reference.com

• 10. No. Allen Watson. Name was not on Mitchell report. His name was mentioned in passing by Grimsley but not for steroids or HGH. Something unspecified, no dates, has been denied by Watson's lawyer who has threatened legal action for anyone making any such statements about Watson. Watson did not appear in the 2000 World Series, had a 10.23 ERA in his 22 IP in the 2000 regular season.

Reference, AP report published on YahooSports.com, "Thumbnails of Players Mentioned in Mitchell Report"

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