By Karl Jacobsen

Opening Day! Just saying those two words creates a glimmer of hope that one of my two teams will wind up playing in Yankee Stadium come October. Why Yankee Stadium? Because everyone who knows the current state of baseball realizes that the World Series is an annual New York event — or so it seems. Am I upset about recent, and past, Yankee championships? Not in the least. Remember, New York fostered the beginnings of the game over a hundred and fifty years ago, and much of traditional baseball history has revolved around New York teams. Don’t get me wrong, if Hell had a baseball team, I’d root for Hell against the Yankees, but for an old traditionalist like me, there is something right about seeing the American League pennant waving over Yankee Stadium. (more…)

“To Leave the Game Better Than We Found It” — it is that simple.  The i Won’t Cheat! foundation has a clear objective:  no steroids in any level of baseball, period.

Dale Murphy, 2-time MVP with the Atlanta Braves, recently started i Won’t Cheat! to combat the use of performance-enhancing substances in baseball, which often starts well before the major league level.  The program extends far beyond steroid usage, however, as it encourages “young people between 5th and 12th grade to make the pledge to not cheat in sports, in the classroom or in life.”

The foundation will be working with Little League Baseball and ESPN during this year’s Little League World Series to promote the initiatives of i Won’t Cheat!.

Watch one of the i Won’t Cheat! promotional videos:

By Kevin McCann

“Why, you couldn’t get away with that, even in the Kitty League!”

Despite the quip of vaudeville comedians to the contrary, it seemed like the players, managers, and even the fans of the Kitty League could indeed get away with practically anything.

Like the feline it was named after, the Kitty League had many lives. It started as the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League in 1903, a Class D league with teams in Paducah, Hopkinsville, Henderson, and Owensboro, Kentucky; Cairo, Illinois; and Clarksville and Jackson, Tennessee. It didn’t take long for sportswriters to shorten its name to the “Kitty” League and with a nickname like that, it was hard for fans not to expect quirky plays and equally quirky ballplayers and managers. (more…)

Reasons why I love Spring Training Games:

• You are this close to the field - in the two games I attended this Spring, I was no further than 8 rows from the field
  
• Day Games - All of them in the bright sunshine.
• Old folks - I talked with the gentleman in front of me — a Sawx fan. After I told him that I was a Cards fan and went to game 4 of the 2004 WS, he told me he was still bitter about the World Series against the Cards. I asked, “1967?” He said, “no, 1946.”
• Play Ball! - I was pleasantly surprised to see the players on the field in Clearwater for the singing of the national anthem. And disappointed that they didn’t do the same in Sarasota
  
• Weather reports - “In Minnesota, it’s 34 degrees, in Cincinnati, it’s 53 degrees. Here in Sarasota….”
• Spring Training Numbers - The Twins had players wearing numbers from 91 to 95 on the field at one time.
• Not playing to win - I love the lack of pressure.
• You can leave early - and we did leave.
• Kids - the kids who are into the game really make me think that baseball has a future
  

I love Spring Training games so much that I put ketchup on my niece’s hot dog.

Where have you gone Dave Van Horne?  What’s that you say, Mrs McKenzie?  Dapper Dave has left and gone away — to Florida? Yes, a nation does indeed turn its lonely eyes to Dave Van Horne, the man whose voice was a fixture to Canadian fans on many a summer evening for over 30 years. (more…)