Swabbin’ the Deck for the Best Baseball News

Howard Bryant is a super cool cat, but his new book (The Last Hero — a Life of Henry Aaron, due out from Pantheon next week)  is going to be even cooler. Check out this article by Allen Barra on the Bryant revelations of just how much hatred existed between Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

"Bryant cites a first-hand account from 1957, a United Press/Movietone News reporter named Reese Schoenfeld, that Mays ragged on Aaron from the sidelines while Henry was being interviewed in front of a TV camera: “How much they paying you, Hank? They ain’t payin’ you at all, Hank? Don’t you know we all get paid for this? You ruin it for the rest of us, Hank! You just fall off the turnip truck?”"

My cuz’ Bryan Smith of FanGraphs does a reality/need based mock draft for next month.  Guess who Smitty has the Nats take?  Guess who the Bucs take?  Here is a hint.

"A 6.79 team ERA doesn’t even tell the full story on how bad the Pirates need pitching in their system. There are some arms that have varying degrees of supporters (Morris, Lincoln, Owens, Locke) and some solid arms in Extended Spring Training, but not nearly enough to match an offense that should have Pedro Alvarez and Andrew McCutchen blossoming simultaneously."

WhyGAVS talks Cubs and has some cool photos from Indy.

"New ownership and what seems to be the end of the Piniella regime seem to indicate a commitment to rebuilding isn’t far off…"

Speaking of Indy, great.  Just great:      

"Walker in lineup this morning, but it was more than not running out a pop out that got him pulled. His attitude should be adjusted today about 4 hours ago via web Retweeted by 1 personReplyRetweet"

ScottDMcCauley

Awesome.  What would you do for $40? 

"This is the only clubhouse in the league that advertises these type of games, but they happen everywhere.  I’ll give you some advise, if someone challenges you to drink a gallon of milk in hour, don’t.  It can’t be done; unfortunately several clubbies and bat boys have learned that lesson the hard way."

Big League Stew says the kid who got the taser is going to Penn State? 

"The kid was fine; after he regained the ability to walk……"

Does TIGO know this kid is coming to Happy Valley?

Welcome aboard Steve Pearce.  Get better Brendan Donnelly.