Another classic BaseballInk.com baseball limerick…was it really blood on Curt Schilling’s sock in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees?

There once was a pitcher named Schilling
Whose Game 6 performance was thrilling
But many an eye
Thought it red dye
Not the blood it was claimed he was spilling

By Dave Boeckhout

He turns and watches the ball exit the park. It is a moment internalized, reticent and reclusive. Its wicked surprise launches optimism and expectancy into the obscurity of the night, confidence and ego riding along with it. The knock of good-wood, of the batter getting all of it reverberates like a rifle report, echoing through the air, through the stands; through his skull. Seconds are lengthened. They try him, balancing somewhere between smear and mockery. And the ball lands, mercifully — ricochets across lengths of steel bleachers, a solitary fan chasing down the souvenir. (more…)

McHale’s Yankee

A circa-1950s neon signing beaming “McHale’s Bar” beckoned from the corner of West 46th Street and 8th Avenue. Determined to sample the “true local flavor” during this visit to New York City, my wife and I ducked in and grabbed a couple of bar stools.

Locals occupied many of the seats. Ice cold domestic beer poured from the taps. Thick juicy cheeseburgers quickly disappeared. Autographed pictures of sports figures lined the walls. The television above the bar was tuned silently to the Yankees game. (more…)

Another classic BaseballInk.com baseball limerick:

There’s a slugger in baseball named Barry
Who hits homers so often it’s scary
But he gets annoyed
When you ask him ’bout ‘roids
So if you interview him please be wary!

Baseball already has an integrity problem, and at least two reporters in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America are not helping.

Alex Rodriguez got all of the first-place votes for AL MVP…except for the two that went to Maglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers.

The two reporters? From Michigan, of course: Tom Gage of The Detroit News and Jim Hawkins of The Oakland Press in Pontiac.

Should Ordonez get credit for his batting title? Absolutely. Was he his league’s most valuable player? Not a chance. And these two homer reporters diluted what should have been a clear-cut unanimous MVP for Rodriguez.

This same kind of stunt was pulled when Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., were denied unanimous acceptance into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thirteen of 545 writers left Gwynn off their ballots; eight dissed Cal.

The writers of the BBWAA should be held accountable. I move that Gage’s and Hawkins’s be kicked out of the BBWAA, along with the writers who omitted Gwynn or Ripken, Jr. These writers should not be the story. The players they report on should be.