I missed my last deadline because I was on vacation, and I’m sitting here trying to figure out what to write, and nothing is coming to mind. At first I wanted to write about a Marine Corps thing called Force Design 2030, and I will eventually, but it is a very complicated topic that uses jargon that is even hard for me to understand. Should I do another post about things that are annoying me right now? I decided against that because right now I’m just not feeling energized enough to go on multiple rants about subjects that are in the news. So, I decided to fall back on an old standby, baseball. This time instead of complaining about baseball, I thought I would enter the “who’s the best” fray by listing my opinion of the best player at every position. My dad would say this is a stupid exercise because of the long history of baseball and the different playing styles throughout that history, but I just think it would be fun to revisit some old time players and since I was just at the Baseball Hall of Fame, I thought now is as good a time as any. I will list eleven players; two pitchers (a right hander and a lefty) and one player from each position, including a DH. Once again, this is my view of the best players not anyone else’s and opinions may differ. Here we go.

Right handed pitcher: Nolan Ryan

This is an easy choice, Ryan is the most dominate pitcher of all time. He was the first pitcher that was clocked on a radar gun throwing over 100 MPH but thanks to the scientific and mathematical analysis done in the documentary Fastball, we now know that his fastest pitch should have been recorded at 108.5 MPH! In his 27 year career from 1966 to 1993, with the Mets, Angels, Astros and Rangers, he was 324-292 for a winning percentage of .526 and this was while playing for some bad teams, in fact his teams only made the playoffs six times. He has a career ERA of 3.19 and led the Majors in ERA twice (1981 and 1987), walks eight times (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982), strike outs eleven times (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990). He has 222 complete games, to put that in perspective and give a little ammo to my dad’s argument, since 2016 there have been 269 complete games for every Major League team combined. He has 61 shutouts putting him 7th all time (only one of the other six pitched after 1930). He compiled 5,714 strikeouts 1st all time (second on the list is Randy Johnson who is 839 strikeouts behind. The current active leader in strikeouts in Max Scherzer with 3,294). Oddly, Ryan also leads baseball in walks with 2,795 but that doesn’t mean he was wild since he only hit an average of seven batters a season. He holds the record for the lowest batting average against him, with opposing hitters batting .207 when he pitched. He was a 8-time All-Star and also holds the record for the most no-hitters with seven, four more than any other pitcher. He also has the most one-hitters with 12 and the most two-hitters with 18.

Ryan was born in January 31, 1947 in Refugio, Texas but grew up in Alvin, Texas and played baseball at Alvin High School. Ryan set the school's single game strikeout record, striking out 21 hitters in a seven-inning game (which is ever hitter he faced that game). In 1963, at a game against Clear Creek High in League City, Texas, Red Murff, a scout for the New York Mets, first noticed the sophomore pitcher. In his subsequent report to the Mets, Murff stated that Ryan had "the best arm I've seen in my life." As a senior in 1965, Ryan had a 19–3 record and led the Alvin Yellow Jackets to the Texas high school state finals. Ryan pitched in 27 games, with 20 starts. He had 12 complete games, with 211 strikeouts and 61 walks. In 1965 MLB Draft (the first ever) the Mets drafted Ryan in the twelfth round, 226th overall. Ryan signed with the Mets and was sent to the Rookie League Marion Mets. In 1966 he was sent to the Class A, Greenville Mets where he was 17–2 with a 2.51 ERA and 272 strikeouts in 183 innings. He was promoted to the AA Williamsport Mets where he was 0–2 with a 0.95 ERA, striking out 35 batters in 19 innings. His performance earned him a late season call up to the Mets where he appeared in two games but did not fare well with an ERA of 15.00 in only three innings. Ryan missed much of the 1967 season due to illness, an arm injury, and service with the Army Reserve, pitching only eleven innings for the whole year. In 1968 he made the Mets major league roster out of training camp and would stay in the Majors until his retirement in 1993.

On December 10, 1971, the 24-year-old Ryan was traded to the California Angels along with pitcher Don Rose, catcher Francisco Estrada and outfielder Leroy Stanton for Jim Fergosi (who later managed Ryan with the Angels). The deal has been cited as one of the worst in Mets history, but was not viewed as unreasonable at the time given Ryan's relatively unremarkable numbers as a Met and Fregosi's good career to that point. On July 9, 1972, Ryan struck out three batters on nine pitches in the second inning of a 3–0 win over the Boston Red Sox, becoming the seventh American League pitcher to throw an immaculate inning, and the first pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the feat in both leagues (he had his first immaculate inning in 1968 wit the Mets). Ryan threw two no-hitters in 1973. In the second one, on July 15 against the Detroit Tigers, he struck out 17 batters – the most in a recorded no-hitter. Ryan was so dominant in this game, it led to one of baseball's best-remembered pranks. Tigers first baseman and cleanup hitter Norm Cash came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, having already struck out twice, carrying a clubhouse table leg instead of a bat. Plate umpire Ron Luciano ordered Cash to go back and get a regulation bat, to which Cash replied, "Why? I won't hit him anyway!" With a regulation bat in hand, Cash did finally make contact, but popped out to end the game. Cash's teammate Mickey Stanley commented on facing Ryan that day by saying, "Those were the best pitches I ever heard." Ryan had another no-hitter in 1974 at home against the Twins walking eight and fanning 15. In 1975 again at home but against the Baltimore Orioles he had his fourth no-no striking out nine and walking four and tying Sandy Kofax for the record. He broke the record in 1981 while playing for the Houston Astros, when he no-hit the LA Dodgers, striking out eleven and walking three. He had his sixth no-hitter in 1991 against the Oakland A’s and his seventh against the Toronto Blue Jays in 1991 at the age of 44.

On a personal note, my favorite memory of Nolan Ryan was on August 4, 1993, in a game against the Chicago White Sox, when he hit Robin Ventura with a pitch in the back. Ventura charged the mound. Not one to back down from a fight, Ryan more than held his own against a player 20 years younger. He quickly put Ventura in a headlock and rained punches on the overmatched third baseman's head. This has to be one of the most lopsided fights in Major League history and you can watch it below.

Left handed pitcher: Warren Spahn

This is a controversial choice, with Randy Johnson, Sandy Kofax and Steve Carlton out there, but this is my list and I like him. I have a special connection to this gifted lefty. He was born in Buffalo, New York, the city I was born in, and when he was a kid he delivered newspapers with my Great Uncle. Warren Spahn had a 21 year career from 1942 to 1963 minus 1943, 1944 and 1945 when he served as a Combat Engineer and was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He has a record of 363-245, a winning percentage of .597 and makes him the winningest left handed pitcher in Major League history. His career ERA is 3.09, he has 382 complete games and struck out 2,583 batters. He was a 14-time All-Star and the Cy Young Award winner in 1957 as well as the runner-up in 1958, 1960 and 1961. He led the National League in wins eight times (1949, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1961), ERA three times (1947, 1953 and 1961), and strikeouts four times (1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952). He threw a no hitter in 1960 at the age of 39 and another the next year at 40. After his dominate performance in the 1948 playoff, the Boston Globe Sports Editor Gerald Herm wrote a poem about Spahn and his equally dominate teammate Johnny Sain.

The poem was inspired by the performance of Spahn and Sain during the Braves' 1948 pennant drive. The team swept a Labor Day doubleheader, with Spahn throwing a complete 14-inning win in the opener, and Sain pitching a shutout in the second game. Following two off days, including a game lost to rain, Spahn won the next game, and Sain won the day after that. Three days later, Spahn won again and Sain won the next day. After one more off day, the two pitchers were brought back, and won another doubleheader. The two pitchers had gone 8–0 in 12 days' time.

As I said, Spahn grew up in Buffalo, New York were he attended Buffalo Bisons games with his father and initially wanted to be a first baseman. However, in 1935 when Spahn began to attend South Park High School, the first baseman position was already taken. Reluctantly, he took up pitching and led his high school team to two city championships, going undefeated his last two seasons, and throwing a no-hitter his senior year. He was signed by the Boston Braves after his senior year and sent to the Class D Bradford Bees. In 1941 he was assigned to the Class B Evansville Bees and in 1942 he pitched for the Class A Hartford Bees. In 1942 he made the Braves lineup out of spring training and there he stayed until 1966 and 1967 when he pitched in the Mexican League and AAA Tulsa.

On July 2, 1963, facing the San Francisco Giants, 42-year-old Spahn became locked into a storied pitchers' duel with 25-year-old Juan Marichal. The Giants manager Alvin Dark, visited Marichal on the mound in the 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 14th innings, and was talked out of removing Marichal each time. During the 14th-inning visit, Marichal told Dark, "Do you see that man pitching for the other side? Do you know that man is 42 years old? I'm only 25. If that man is on the mound, nobody is going to take me out of here." The score was still 0–0 in the bottom of the 16th inning after more than four hours of baseball when, with one out, Willie Mays hit a game-winning solo home run off Spahn. Marichal ended up throwing 227 pitches in the win, while Spahn threw 201 in the loss. When asked about the homerun after the game, the always well-spoken Spahn said “Gentlemen, for the first 60 feet that was a great pitch!”

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez

Another controversial choice with Johnny Bench, Mickey Cochrane and Mike Piazza out there. Pudge, played from 1991 to 2011, amassing 2,844 hits, 311 homeruns, 1332 RBIs and a career batting average of .296 and he stole 127 bases as a catcher making him 7th all-time on that list. He was one of the best defensive catchers ever. He won thirteen Gold Gloves and threw out 46% of all runners that attempted to steal against him, including the 2001 season when he threw out 60% of all runners. He was a 14-time All-Star and the American League MVP in 1999. He also won seven Silver Slugger Awards (created in 1980 and given to the best hitter at each position). For his career he hit better than .290 with more than 2,500 hits, 550 doubles, 300 home runs and 1,300 RBI, an accomplishment equaled only by four all-time greats: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, George Brett and Barry Bonds. He also holds the record for most games played by a catcher and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017 in his first year of eligibility.

Rodríguez was born on November 27, 1971 in Manati, Puerto Rico and grew up in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. He learned baseball at an early age with his biggest rival on the Island being another future major leaguer, Juan Gonzalez. When he was eight, his dad, who was also his coach moved him from pitcher to catcher, because he was throwing so hard it was scaring the other kids. His favorite player growing up was Johnny Bench, even before he moved to catcher. He said that the Reds were always on TV in Puerto Pico and he saw how good Bench was. Rodríguez attended Lino Padron Rivera High School in Puerto Rico, where he was discovered by scout Luis Rosa. Rosa reported that "He showed leadership at 16 that I'd seen in few kids. He knew where he was going.” Rodríguez signed a contract with the Texas Rangers in July 1988, at the age of 16, and began his professional baseball career. Pudge made his professional debut in 1989 at the age of 17 as catcher for the Gastonia Rangers of the South Atlantic League. In his first game, he went 3-for-3 at the plate against Spartanburg. In 1990 he moved up to the Florida State League where he was given the award for Best Catcher and named to the All-Star team. That winter he played baseball in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (a pro league in Puerto Rico) where he earned his nickname. According to Rodriguez:

“I got my nickname on the very first day of camp. Chino Cadahia, who was a Rangers coach at the time, gave me that name. He saw that I was short and stocky (5’9” 215 lbs.), so, from Day One, he started calling me "Pudge." It caught on, and the rest is history.”

At the beginning of the 1991 season, Rodriguez played 50 games with the Tulsa Drillers of the AA Texas League. After hitting .274 with three homeruns and 28 RBIs he was called up to the Majors, bypassing AAA. On June 20, 1991 he made his Major League debut and became the youngest catcher to play a MLB game at the tender age of 19.

First Base: Lou Gehrig

The original Iron Man, Gehrig held the record for consecutive games played with 2,130, for 56 years. Then, while still a great player, he was struck down with a disease that no one had heard of and for the longest time was called Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Every baseball fan worth their salt remembers the speech he gave on July 4 1939, only four lines of the speech exist in recorded form:

Lou Gehrig played Major League Baseball for 17 years, from 1923 to 1939. In 2,164 games he amassed 2,721 hits, 493 homeruns, 1,995 RBIs and a career batting average of .340. He was the American League MVP twice and a seven time All-Star (the All-Star game wasn’t started until 1933). He won the Triple Crown (the best batting average, most homeruns and most RBIs in a season) in 1934 a feat that has only been accomplished seven times since. He is the only players to have at least 400 total bases in more than three seasons. He is one of two players to collect 500 doubles, 150 triples and 450 homeruns in a career, (Stan Musial is the other), he is one of four players (along with Babe Ruth Ted Williams and Stan Musial) to end their careers with at least a .330 batting average, 450 homeruns and 1,800 RBIs. He drew over 100 walks in a season eleven times. He scored the game winning run in eight World Series games and was the first athlete to appear on a box of Wheaties. Even though he is one of the greatest players of all-time, he was rarely the headliner in the papers, with teammate Babe Ruth garnering most headlines. Even on the day he became the first player to hit four homeruns in one game, the headlines the next day were about the retirement of New York Giants long-time manager John McGraw. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 in a special election, waiving the normal five year waiting period.

Gehrig was born June 1903 in Manhattan, New York. He attended PS 132 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, then went to Commerce High School were he first garnered national attention for his baseball ability while playing in a game at Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field) in Chicago. His team was playing Lane Tech High School in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators. With his team leading 8–6 in the top of the ninth inning, Gehrig hit a grand slam completely out of the major league park, an unheard-of feat for a 17-year-old. After graduation he studied engineering at Columbia University and was the full back on the football team. On April 20, 1923, he was signed by the Yankees and left Columbia. He played 59 games in Class A Hartford before being called up to the Yankees where he hit .423 in 13 games. He spent most of the 1924 season in Hartford where he hit 37 homeruns before being called up again. This time he stuck and would play the rest of his career with the Yankees. Oddly enough, other than 193 games in Hartford he played his entire baseball life, sandlot, high school, college and pros, within a five square-mile area in New York City. He was a odd duck, which might have contributed to the lack of headlines. He lived with his parents until he was 30 and finally got married. His wife Eleanor took over for Gehrig’s mother as the driving force in Lou’s life. It was Eleanor that convinced the Iron Horse to hire Babe Ruth’s agent and it was the agent that got him on the Wheaties box. The agent, Christy Walsh, persuaded him to audition for the role of Tarzan in the independent film Tarzan’s Revenge. Gehrig only got as far as posing for a widely distributed, and embarrassing, photo of himself in a leopard-spotted costume. When Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs saw the photo, he sent a telegram to Gehrig reading, "I want to congratulate you on being a swell first baseman."

No one is sure when the ALS first started to manifest itself but by the second half of the 1938 season, Gehrig knew something was wrong. On May 2, 1939, before a game against the Detroit Tigers, Lou went to Yankees manager Joe McCarthy and told him he was taking himself out of the lineup “for the good of the team” (at the time he only had one RBI and was hitting .143). Before the game began, the announcer told the fans, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time Lou Gehrig's name will not appear on the Yankee lineup in 2,130 consecutive games." The Detroit Tigers' fans gave Gehrig a standing ovation while he sat on the bench with tears in his eyes. He stayed with the Yankees as team captain for the rest of the season, but never played in a major-league game again. As Gehrig's debilitation became steadily worse, his wife, called the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She spoke with Charles Mayo, son of the founder, who had been following Gehrig's career and his mysterious loss of strength. Mayo told Eleanor to bring Gehrig as soon as possible. Gehrig flew alone to Rochester from Chicago, where the Yankees were playing at the time, and arrived at the Mayo Clinic on June 13. On June 19, 1939, after six days of extensive testing at the clinic, doctors diagnosed Gehrig with ALS, it was his 36th birthday. The prognosis was grim: rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy less than three years, although no impairment of mental functions would occur. He would die on June 2, 1941 at his house in the Bronx. In 1949 American poet Ogden Nash wrote a poem for Sport Magazine called Line-up for Yesterday where he mentions a baseball player for every letter of the alphabet. Lou Gehrig represents G:

Second Base: Rogers Hornsby

Rogers “Rajah” Hornsby played in the Majors for 23 years from 1915 to 1937. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. He played 2,259 games and racked up 2,930 hits, 301 homers, 1,584 RBIs and a career batting average of .358. He led the Majors in hits four times, (1920, 1921, 1922 and 1927), including a Major League record 227 hits in 1924. He was the National League MVP twice (1925 and 1929). He won the Triple Crown twice (1922 and 1925), was the National League batting champ seven times (1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1928), the National League homerun champ in 1922 and 1925 and the National League RBI champ four times (1920, 1921, 1922 and 1925). He is the only player to hit 40 homeruns and hit .400 in the same season (1922). His .424 batting average in 1922 is the highest in Major League history and he is tied with Ty Cobb with the most seasons hitting .400 or over with three. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942 in his fifth year of eligibility. Rogers Hornsby was so respected as a hitter that once, when a rookie pitcher complained to umpire Bill Klem that he thought he had thrown Rogers a strike, Klem replied, "Son, when you pitch a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know." Hornsby never went to movies or read books, convinced that it would harm his eyesight, and he never smoked or drank. He was notoriously difficult to get along with, a major reason he changed teams so frequently in the last decade of his career.

Rajah was born on April 27, 1896 in Winters Texas but grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He took a job with the Swift and Company meat packing plant as a messenger boy when he was 10, and he also served as a substitute infielder on its baseball team. By the age of 15, Hornsby was already playing for several semi-professional teams. He also played baseball for North Side High School until 10th grade, when he dropped out to take a full-time job at Swift. In 1914, Hornsby's older brother Everett, a minor League baseball player for many years, arranged for Rogers to get a tryout with the Dallas Steers of the Texas League. He made the team, but was released two weeks later without appearing in a game. He then signed with the Hugo Scouts of the Class D Texas-Oklahoma League as a shortstop for $75 per month ($2,191 today). The team folded a third of the way through the season, and Hornsby's contract was sold to the Denison Champions of the same league. In 1915 Denison changed its name to the Railroaders and joined the Western Association and raised Hornsby's salary to $90 per month ($2,603 today). At the end of the season a writer from The Sporting News said that Hornsby was one of about a dozen Western Association players to show any major league potential. Hornsby came to the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals during a series of exhibition games between the two teams during spring training in 1915. In September, the Cardinals purchased Hornsby's contract from Denison and added him to their major league roster and there he would stay until his last game in the Majors in 1937.

Rajah was also featured in Line-up for Yesterday, obviously representing H:

Hornsby was also a Player-Manager throughout his career. In 1925 and 1926 with the Cardinals, 1927 with the Giants, 1928 with the Braves, 1930-1932 with the Cubs, and 1933 to 1937 with the Browns. Following his release from the Browns, Hornsby was unable to retire because he had lost so much money gambling over the years. He signed as a player-coach with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League in 1938 before leaving them to play for and manage the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association for the rest of the ‘38 season. Hornsby then returned to the Orioles in 1939. Halfway through 1940, he signed on to manage the Oklahoma Indians of the Texas League and led them from last place to the Texas League playoffs, where they fell to the Houston Buffaloes in four games. Hornsby began 1941 managing the Indians once again, but he resigned in the middle of the season. In November, he became the general manager and field manager of the Fort Worth Cats, also of the Texas league. Fort Worth finished in third place and made the playoffs in 1942, but they were eliminated in the first round and the league decided to suspend play for the duration of World War II. In February 1944, Hornsby signed as a player-manager with the Veracruz Blues of the Mexican League.

Hornsby actually won two games by inserting himself as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning, including one time where he drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double. His tenure in Mexico ended after only nine days, however, owing to financial differences with team owner Jorge Pasquel. Following his return to the United States, Hornsby spent 1945 out of baseball, his first campaign out of the game in over three decades. There were rumors that Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis had informally blackballed him from the majors because of his persistent gambling but he returned to manage the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952 to 1953. The Browns players were so happy about Hornsby's firing that they gave team owner Bill Veeck an engraved trophy to thank him. He usually left due to falling out with the front office. As one contemporary writer put it, "Hornsby knew more about baseball and less about diplomacy than any player I knew." His lack of personality skills might have led to him being passed over four times for the Hall of Fame.

Third Base: Brooks Robinson

The Human Vacuum Cleaner, Mr. Hoover or Mr. Impossible, accurately describe Brooks Robinson, the greatest fielding third basemen of all time. He played 23 years in the Majors, from 1955 to 1977, for the Baltimore Orioles. In 2,896 games (2,870 at third base, a record for most games played at one position), he racked up 2,848 hits, 268 homeruns, 1,357 RBIs and a career batting average of .267. He has the highest fielding percentage of third basemen based on innings played with .971. He is a 18-time All-Star, the American League MVP in 1964, the World Series MVP in 1970. He sixteen Gold Gloves in a row, from 1960 to 1975. Those sixteen Gold Gloves are the most for any non-pitcher in history. He led the American League in RBIs in 1964. Upon his retirement during the 1977 season, Robinson's 2,896 career games and 10,654 at bats each ranked fifth in major league history and behind only Ty Cobb among AL players, and his 2,848 hits ranked seventh in AL history. From 1969 to 1980, he held the AL record for career home runs by a third baseman, (broken by Graig Nettles). He won the Roberto Clemente Award (given annually to the MLB player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team) in 1972 and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983 in his first year of eligibility

Robinson was born on May 1937 in Little Rock Arkansas, Brooks rooted for the St. Louis Cardinals and his favorite player was Stan Musial. He played American Legion baseball for the M. M. Eberts Post No. 1 Doughboys. The team reached the regional finals in 1952, when Robinson was 15 and advanced to the sectional tournament in 1953. Robinson who also played basketball graduated from Little Rock High School in 1955, earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Arkansas. However, Robinson wanted to become a professional baseball player. Lindsay Deal, who went to the same church as Robinson, had been a minor league teammate of Baltimore Orioles manager Paul Richards, wrote a letter to Richards praising Robinson's ability. "He's no speed demon, but neither is he a truck horse," Deal wrote. "Brooks has a lot of power, baseball savvy, and is always cool when the chips are down." Later in 1955, the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Orioles all sent scouts to Arkansas to attempt to sign Robinson, each offering a $4,000 signing bonus. Robinson ultimately chose to sign with Baltimore because the Orioles had shown the most interest and had the most opportunities for young players to become everyday players on their roster. Robinson was sent to the York White Roses of the Piedmont League, he had late season call up where he played six games where he only hit .091. In 1956 he played for the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League. He got another call up that year and hit better, with a .227 in fifteen games before being sent back to San Antonio. In 1957 he made the major league roster but tore the cartilage in his right knee while avoiding a tag at first. After he recovered from his injury, he spent a month in San Antonio on a rehab assignment. Robinson competed for playing time with future Hall of Famer George Kell, though Kell happily mentored the younger player. Following the 1958 season, Robinson served six months in the Arkansas National Guard, which spared him the risk of being drafted and having to serve continuously for two years. The service kept him from being in optimal baseball shape, and shortly after the 1959 season started, Robinson was sent to the Vancouver Mounties of the AAA Pacific Coast League. He was recalled before the All-Star game and he played in the majors until his retirement in 1977.

In Ted Patterson’s book The Baltimore Orioles: Four Decades of Magic from 33rd Street to Camden Yards, he mentions that Robinson was very particular about his glove. He would try the gloves of different players and trade two of his own for theirs if he really wanted it. Once he found one he liked, he would take a year to prepare it. When he felt it was ready for game action, he would use it exclusively during games, using others for batting practice and infield workouts. He was also picky about his bat, though he would use different ones from game to game, sampling those of his teammates and even opposing players before he found one he wanted to utilize. Aside from his playing ability, Robinson endeared himself to the Orioles fans because of his personality. "Other stars had fans," goes a quote in Patterson's book. "Robby made friends." He treated them with patience and kindness while taking an interest in them as well. “When fans ask Brooks Robinson for his autograph,” commented Oriole broadcaster Chuck Thompson “he complied while finding out how many kids you have, what your dad does, where you live, how old you are, and if you have a dog. His only failing is that when the game ended, if Brooks belonged to its story – usually he did – you better leave the booth at the end of the eighth inning because by the time the press got to the clubhouse, Brooks was in the parking lot signing autographs on his way home." “Ted Patterson summed Robinson up this way “Never has a player meant more to a franchise and more to a city than Brooks has meant to the Orioles and the city of Baltimore,."

Shortstop: Honus Wagner

The Flying Dutchman Honus Wagner is a player that lives in the mists of time. He played for a Major League team that most people have never heard of, the Louisville Colonels. One one alive today even knows someone that saw him play. His 21 year career with the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League was over before World War I was over. In fact the American League didn’t even exist for the first four years of Wagner’s career. Honus played from 1897 to 1917 and in 2,794 games he amassed 3,420 hits, 101 homeruns, 1,732 RBIs, 723 stolen bases and a career batting average of .328. He led the majors in hits twice (1902 and 1906), doubles seven times (1900, 1902, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909), triples three times (1900, 1903 and 1908), RBIs four times (1901, 1902, 1908 and 1909), stolen bases four times (1901, 1902, 1907 and 1908), and batting average eight times (1900, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1911). In 1899 he became the first player to steal second, third and home on consecutive pitches.

When the Baseball Hall of Fame held its first election in 1936, Wagner tied with Babe Ruth for second in the voting, trailing only Ty Cobb. Christy Mathewson, a Hall of Famer in his own right and also in that first class with Wagner, asserted that Wagner was the only player he faced who did not have a weakness. He felt that the only way to keep Wagner from hitting was not to pitch to him. Ty Cobb himself said Wagner was "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond". He is also the featured player of one of the rarest and the most valuable baseball cards in existence. The T206 card issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911, only 57 copies are known to exist. On August 3, 2022, a T206 was sold in a private sale for a record $7.25 million, eclipsing the previous high of $6.6 million.

Wagner was also honored in Line-up for Yesterday, representing W:

Honus was born February 24, 1874 in Chartiers Borough, Pennsylvania. He dropped out of school at age 12 to help his father and brothers in the coal mines. In their free time, he and his brothers played sandlot baseball and developed their skills to such an extent that three of his brothers went on to become professionals as well. Honus' brother Albert "Butts" Wagner was considered the ballplayer of the family but in 1895 when his Interstate League team was in need of help, it was Albert that suggested Honus to his coach. Wagner played for five teams in that first year, in three different leagues over the course of 80 games. In 1896, Edward Barrow, from the Wheeling Nailers, the team Wagner was playing for at the time, decided to take Honus with him to his next team, the Paterson Silk Sox of the Atlantic League. Barrow proved to be a good talent scout, as Wagner could play wherever he was needed, including all three bases and the outfield. Wagner hit .313 for Paterson in 1896 and .375 in 74 games in 1897. Recognizing that Wagner should be playing at the highest level, Barrow contacted the Louisville Colonels who had finished last in the National League in 1896 with a record of 38–93. They were doing better in 1897 when Barrow persuaded club president Barney Dreyfuss, club secretary Harry Pulliam and Player/Manager Fred Clarke to see Wagner play. Dreyfuss and Clarke were not impressed with the awkward-looking man, not surprising, as Wagner was oddly built: he was 5 ft 11 in tall, weighed 200 pounds, had a barrel chest, massive shoulders, heavily muscled arms, huge hands, and incredibly bowed legs that deprived him of any grace and several inches of height. Pulliam, though, persuaded Dreyfuss and Clarke to take a chance on him. Wagner debuted with Louisville on July 19 and hit .338 in 61 games, beginning his illustrious career. Wagner was not finished playing after his retirement from Major League baseball. He managed and played for a semi-pro team and served the Pirates as a coach for 39 years, most notably as a hitting instructor from 1933 to 1952. His appearances at National League stadiums during his coaching years were always well received and Wagner remained a beloved ambassador of baseball. Wagner also coached baseball and basketball at Carnegie Institute of Technology, now now part of Carnegie Mellon University.

Left Field: Ted Williams

The Splendid Splinter or The Kid is the greatest hitter of the modern era of baseball and the last player to hit over .400 in a season. He played nineteen years for the Boston Red Sox, from 1939 to 1960 minus 1943, 1944, 1945, nearly all of 1952 and most 1953 when he served as a Marine Corps Aviator during both World War II and Korea. He was awarded three Air Medals and future astronaut, John Glenn called him one of the best pilots he knew and made Williams his wingman.

During his career he played 2,292 games getting 2,654 hits, 521 homers, 1829 RBIs and a batting average of .344. He was a 19-time All-Star, two-time AL MVP (1946 and 1949), two-time Triple Crown winner (1942 and 1947). He was a six-time AL batting champion (1941, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1957 and 1958), four-time AL homerun leader (1941, 1942, 1947 and 1949), four-time AL RBI leader (1939, 1942, 1947, 1949). He led the AL in runs scored six times (1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947 and 1949), doubles twice (1948 and 1949), walks eight times (1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1954), and his career On Base Percentage of .482 is a Major League record. He was a distracted fielder at the best of times, often practicing his swing in left field while the game was going on but the Red Sox were willing to live with that because of his superb hitting. Throughout his career, Williams stated his goal was to have people point to him and remark, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." Williams was an obsessive student of hitting. He famously used a lighter bat than most sluggers, because it generated a faster swing. In 1970, he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting (revised 1986), which is still read by many baseball players. The book describes his theory of swinging only at pitches that came into ideal areas of his strike zone, a strategy Williams credited with his success as a hitter. Pitchers apparently feared Williams; his bases-on-balls-to-plate-appearances ratio (.2065) is still the highest of any player in the Hall of Fame to which he was elected in 1966 in his first year of eligibility.

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Williams was born in San Diego on August 30, 1918. At the age of eight, he was taught how to throw a baseball by his uncle, Saul Venzor, a former semi-pro baseball player who had pitched against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game. He attended Herbert Hoover High School and although he had offers from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees while he was still in high school, his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed up with the local minor league club, the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. Williams played back-up behind Vince DiMaggio and Ivey Shiver but when Shiver announced he was quitting to become a high school football coach in Georgia, the job was open for Williams, he posted a .271 average in 42 games for the Padres in 1936. Unknown to Williams, he had caught the eye of the Boston Red Sox's general manager, Eddie Collins, while Collins was scouting Bobby Doerr in August 1936. Collins later explained, "It wasn't hard to find Ted Williams. He stood out like a brown cow in a field of white cows." In the 1937 season, after graduating from Hoover High in the winter, the Padres ended up winning the PCL title and Williams hit .291 with 23 home runs. Meanwhile, Collins had kept in touch with Padres general manager Bill Lane, calling him throughout the season. In December 1937, during the winter meetings, a deal was made between Lane and Collins, sending Williams to the Red Sox and giving Lane $35,000 and two major leaguers, Dom D'Allessandro and Al Miemiec and two minor leaguers. In 1938, the 19-year-old Williams was 10 days late to spring training in Sarasota, Florida, because of flooding in California that blocked the railroads. When he finally arrived, Red Sox equipment manager Johnny Orlando told Collins "'The Kid' has arrived" and nickname stuck. He stayed with the Sox for a week and was then sent to the AA Minneapolis Millers of the Western League. While in the Millers training camp, Williams met Rogers Hornsby, who was a coach for the Millers and had hit over .400 three times, including a .424 average in 1924. Hornsby gave Williams useful advice, including how to "get a good pitch to hit". Talking with the game's greats would become a pattern for Williams, who also talked with Hugh Duffy, who hit .438 in 1894, Bill Terry, who hit .401 in 1930, and Ty Cobb with whom he had a long relationship and would argue about the proper swing path for a hitter. Williams thought a batter should swing upwards on the ball while Cobb’s view was that a hitter should hit down on the ball. Williams ended up hitting .366 with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs that season, winning the Western League Triple Crown and finishing second in MVP voting to Ollie Bejma (woops!). In 1939 Williams made the roster of the Red Sox and would play in the Majors until he retired.

Williams was temperamental, high-strung, and at times tactless and had a strained relationship with reporters and often the fans as well. He lost the MVP voting in 1947 by one vote because a reporter who didn’t like him left Williams off his ballot. On one hand Williams gave generously to those in need, especially the Jimmy fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which provides support for children's cancer research and treatment. Williams used his celebrity to virtually launch the fund, which raised more than $750 million between 1948 and 2010. Throughout his career, Williams made countless bedside visits to children being treated for cancer, which Williams insisted go unreported. Often parents of sick children would learn at check-out time that "Mr. Williams has taken care of your bill". The Fund recently stated that "Williams would travel everywhere and anywhere, no strings or paychecks attached, to support the cause. His name is synonymous with our battle against all forms of cancer." On the other hand Williams demanded loyalty from those around him. He could not forgive the fickle nature of the fans—booing a player for booting a ground ball, and then turning around and roaring approval of the same player for hitting a home run. Despite the cheers and adulation of most of his fans, the occasional boos directed at him in Fenway Park led Williams to stop tipping his cap in acknowledgment after a home run. Williams maintained this policy throughout his career, including his swan song in 1960. After hitting a home run at Fenway Park, in what would be his last career at-bat, Williams characteristically refused either to tip his cap as he circled the bases or to respond to prolonged cheers of "We want Ted!" from the crowd by making an appearance from the dugout. Boston manager Pinky Higgins sent Williams to left field to start the ninth inning, but then immediately recalled him for his backup Carroll Hardy, thus allowing Williams to receive one last ovation as he jogged onto then off the field, and he did so without reacting to the crowd. Williams's aloof attitude led the writer John Updike to observe wryly that "Gods do not answer letters."

Center Field: Willie Mays

The Say Hey Kid, it could be argued, is the greatest ball player of all time. His combination of power and speed was unheard of before he burst on the scene in 1951. Mays played for the New York/San Francisco Giants and New York Mets in a 23 year career. From 1951 to 1973 minus 1953 when he was in the Army, he played in 3005 games amassing 3,293 hits (13th all time), 660 homers (6th all time), 1,909 RBIs (12th all time), and a batting average of .301. He was a twenty-time All-Star, two-time NL MVP, 1951 NL Rookie of the Year, twelve-time Gold Glove award winner, NL batting champion in 1954, and the Roberto Clemente Award winner in 1971. He led the National League in homeruns four times (1955, 1962, 1964, 1965) and stolen bases four times (1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959). He had the seventh four-homerun game in Major League history on April 30, 1961, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility.

Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, a primarily black company town near Fairfield, Alabama. His father, a talented baseball player on the black team at the local iron mill, exposed Willie to baseball at an early age, playing catch with him at five and allowing him to sit on the bench with his Birmingham Industrial League team at ten. His favorite baseball players growing up were Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Mays played football and basketball as well as baseball at Fairfield Industrial High School. Mays's professional baseball career began in 1948 when he played briefly during the summer with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, a black minor league team. Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League managed by Piper Davis, a teammate of Mays' father on the iron mill team. When his high school principal threatened to suspend Mays for playing professional ball, Davis and Mays' father worked out an agreement that he would only play home games for the Black Barons, and in return he could still play high school football. Mays helped Birmingham advance to the 1948 Negro World Series, losing to the Homestead Grays four games to one. Mays only hit .262 for the season but stood out because of his excellent fielding and base running. Several major league teams were interested in signing Mays, but they had to wait until he graduated from high school to offer him a contract. After graduation he signed with the New York Giants for $4,000. Mays spent the rest of 1950 with the Class B Trenton Giants of the Interstate League and hit .353 for the season, before being promoted to the AAA Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. After playing well in Minneapolis, Mays was called up to the Giants on May 24, 1951, he was reluctant to accept the promotion because he did not believe he was ready to face major league pitchers. Stunned, Giants manager Leo “The Lip” Durocher called Mays personally and said, "Quit costing the ball club money with long-distance phone calls and join the team." The Giants hoped Mays would help them defensively in center field, as well as offensively. The Giants played in a stadium called the Polo Grounds which featured an unusual horseshoe shape. It had a short fence in left (280 feet) and right( 258) but had the deepest centerfield in baseball history at 483 feet, which put tremendous pressure on the centerfielder to cover a lot of ground. Mays appeared in his first major league game on May 25 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park, batting third. He had no hits in his first 12 at bats in the major leagues, but in his 13th on May 28, he hit a home run off Warren Spahn over the left field roof of the Polo Grounds, (the always loquacious Spahn told reporters that he thought that Mays was going to hit a lot of homers before his career was over). Mays went hitless in his next 12 at bats, and Durocher dropped him to eighth in the batting order on June 2, suggesting that Mays stop trying to pull the ball and just make contact. He would then go on a tear and finish the season with a .274 average, 68 RBI and 20 home runs and win the Rookie of the Year in the National League.

Defensively, Mays was one of the best outfielders of all time, as evidenced by his record 12 Gold Gloves. His signature play was his "basket catch," the technique that displayed Mays's stylistic flash as opposed to the pure raw skill that was on display when he made "The Catch" in the 1954 World Series.

Holding his glove around his belly, he would keep his palm turned up, enabling the ball to fall right into his glove. Sportswriters have argued about whether the technique made him a better fielder or just made him more exciting to watch, but the basket catch did not prevent Mays from setting a record with 7,095 outfield putouts. While the Giants were in New York there were endless debates on playgrounds, in diners, boardrooms and anywhere else baseball fans in New York gathered, about which of the three New York center fielders was the best; Willie, Mickey or the Duke (referring to Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle of the Yankees and Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers). Mays was also a popular figure in Harlem, home of the Polo Grounds. Magazine photographers were fond of chronicling his participation in local stickball games with kids, which he played two to three nights a week during homestands until his marriage in 1956. Mays could hit a shot that measured "six sewers" (the distance of six consecutive New York City manhole covers), nearly 450 feet. When Mays was elected to the Hall of Fame, he only garnered 409 of the 432 ballots cast (94.68%), causing the acerbic New York Daily News columnist Dick Young to quip "If Jesus Christ were to show up with his old baseball glove, some guys wouldn't vote for him. He dropped the cross three times, didn't he?

Right Field: Babe Ruth

The Great Bambino, The Sultan of Swat, The Prince of Pounders, The Wizard of Whack, The Behemoth of Bust, The King of Swing, The Titan of Terror, The King of Crash, The Colossus of Clout, The Mauling Menace, Jidge or Babe, whatever nickname you want to call him we all know who were talking about, George Herman Ruth, the greatest sports hero of all time and one of the best baseball players ever. Ruth was the first baseball star to be the subject of overwhelming public adulation. The US had seen stars of baseball like Ty Cobb and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, but both men had uneasy relations with fans. At the time of Ruth’s emergence onto the public stage, the country had been hit hard by World War I and the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic and longed for something to help put those traumas behind it. Ruth also represented a country which felt, in the aftermath of the war, that it took second place to no one. Ruth was a larger-than-life figure who was capable of unprecedented athletic feats in the nation's largest city. In his history of the Yankees, Glenn Stout writes that "Ruth was New York incarnate—uncouth and raw, flamboyant and flashy, oversized, out of scale, and absolutely unstoppable". He played Major League baseball for 22 years for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Boston Braves from 1914 to 1935. In the early part of his career he was a pitcher, and only hit when he was pitching, but he made the move to full-time player in 1919. In 2,503 games he had 2,873 hits, 714 homeruns, 2,214 RBIs and a batting average of .342. He was the league MVP once (1923), two-time All-Star, AL Batting Champion once ( 1924), twelve-time MLB homerun leader (1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1931), five-time MLB RBI leader (1919, 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1926), eight-time MLB runs scored leader (1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927 and 1928), his career slugging percentage of .690 is a Major League all-time record, and in 1916 he led the AL in ERA (earned run average, a measure of a pitcher’s effectiveness). He was also tied for the second-most votes for the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame with Honus Wagner, trailing only Ty Cobb. Ruth was also honored in A Lineup for Yesterday, obviously as the letter R:

George Herman Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895 in the Pigtown section of Baltimore, Maryland. Many details of Ruth's childhood are unknown, details are equally scanty about why, at the age of seven Ruth was sent to the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage. However, according to Julia Ruth Stevens' (Babe’s daughter) account in 1999, because George Sr. was a saloon owner in Baltimore and had given Ruth little supervision growing up, he became a delinquent. Ruth entered St. Mary's on June 13, 1902, he was recorded as "incorrigible" and spent much of the next 12 years there. Although St. Mary's boys received an education, students were also expected to learn work skills and help operate the school, particularly once the boys turned 12. Ruth became a shirtmaker and was also proficient as a carpenter. On his first day at St. Mary’s, he was told to join a sports team, by the school's athletic director, Brother Herman, he chose baseball and became a catcher. He was encouraged in his pursuits by the school's Prefect of Discipline, Brother Matthias Boutlier. A large man, Brother Matthias was greatly respected by the boys both for his strength and for his fairness. For the rest of his life, Ruth would praise Brother Matthias, and his running and hitting styles closely resembled his teacher's. Most of the boys at St. Mary's played baseball in organized leagues at different levels of proficiency. Ruth later estimated that he played 200 games a year as he steadily climbed the ladder of success. Although he played all positions at one time or another, he gained stardom as a pitcher. According to Brother Matthias, one day, Ruth was standing to one side laughing at the bumbling pitching efforts of fellow students, and Matthias told him to go in and see if he could do better. Ruth had become the best pitcher at St. Mary's, and in 1913 when he was 18, he was allowed to leave the premises to play weekend games on teams that were drawn from the community. He was mentioned in several newspaper articles, for both his pitching prowess and ability to hit long homers.

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In early 1914, Ruth signed a professional baseball contract with Jack Dunn, the owner of the minor league, Baltimore Orioles, a team in the International League. The circumstances of Ruth's signing are not known with certainty. By some accounts, Dunn was urged to attend a game between an all-star team from St. Mary's and one from another boys home, Mount St. Mary’s College. Other versions have Ruth running away before the eagerly awaited game, return in time to be punished, and then pitching St. Mary's to victory as Dunn watched. Ruth, in his autobiography, stated only that he worked out for Dunn for a half hour, and was signed. Babe’s first professional appearance was in an exhibition game versus the Philadelphia Phillies. Ruth pitched the middle three innings and gave up two runs in the fourth, but then settled down and pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth innings. The next afternoon, Ruth entered another game against the Phillies during the sixth inning and did not allow a run the rest of the way. When the Orioles scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to overcome a 6–0 deficit, Ruth was the winning pitcher. Once the regular season began, Ruth was a star pitcher who was also dangerous at the plate. The team performed well, yet received almost no attention from the Baltimore press because a third major league, the Federal League had begun play, and the local franchise, the Baltimore Terrapins, the first Major League team in the city since 1902 were taking all the press coverage. Few fans visited Oriole Park where Ruth and his teammates labored in relative obscurity. Ruth may have been offered a bonus and a larger salary to jump to the Terrapins but when rumors to that effect swept Baltimore a Terrapins official denied it, stating it was their policy not to sign players under contract to Dunn. The competition from the Terrapins caused Dunn to sustain large losses. Although by late June the Orioles were in first place, having won over two-thirds of their games, the paid attendance dropped as low as 150. Dunn explored a possible move by the Orioles to Richmond, Virginia, as well as the sale of a minority interest in the club, however these possibilities fell through, leaving Dunn with little choice other than to sell his best players to major league teams to raise money. He offered Ruth to the reigning World Series champions, Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s, but Mack had his own financial problems. The Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants expressed interest in Ruth, but Dunn sold his contract, along with two other pitchers to the Boston Red Sox on July 4 1914. The announced price was $25,000. Ruth remained with the Orioles for several days while the Red Sox completed a road trip, and reported to the team in Boston on July 11. In his major league debut as a batter, Ruth went 0-for-2 against left-hander Willie Mitchell, striking out in his first at bat before being removed for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. Ruth was not much noticed by the fans, as Bostonians watched the Red Sox's crosstown rivals, the Braves, begin a legendary comeback, that would take them from last place on July 4th to the 1914 World Series championship. After a season in which he was little used, Ruth was sent to the minors, playing for the Providence Greys. Ruth joined the Grays on August 18, 1914. Ruth was deeply impressed by Providence manager “Wild Bill” Donovan, a star pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, winning 25 games in 1907. He credited Donovan with teaching him much about pitching. Ruth was often called upon to pitch, in one stretch starting (and winning) four games in eight days. On September 5 at Maple Leaf Park in Toronto, Ruth pitched a one-hit 9–0 victory, and hit his first professional home run, his only one as a minor leaguer. After the Providence season was over, the Red Sox recalled Ruth and he never played in the minors again.

Babe Ruth’s impact on the game is nearly incalculable as is his impact on American culture, his penchant for hitting home runs altered how baseball is played. Prior to 1920, home runs were unusual, and managers tried to win games by getting a runner on base and bringing him around to score through such means as the stolen base, the bunt, and hit and run. What today is called “Small Ball” was dubbed “Inside Baseball” back then and advocates of it, like Giants manager John McGraw, disliked the home run, considering it a blot on the purity of the game. However, according to sportswriter W. A. Phelon, after the 1920 season, Ruth's breakout performance that season and the response in excitement and attendance, "settled, for all time to come, that the American public is nuttier over the Home Run than the Clever Fielding or the Hitless Pitching. Viva el Home Run and two times viva Babe Ruth, exponent of the home run, and overshadowing star." When the owners discovered that the fans liked to see home runs, and when the foundations of the games were simultaneously imperiled by disgrace (the 1919 Black Sox scandal, where eight player on the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series), then there was no turning back. While a few, such as McGraw and Ty Cobb, decried the passing of the old-style play, teams quickly began to seek and develop sluggers. In 1930 when he demanded the Yankees pay him $80,000 a year, more then the President of the United States at the time (Herbert Hoover), Ruth said that he had, had a better year! During World War II Japanese soldiers yelled in English, "To hell with Babe Ruth", to anger American soldiers. Ruth replied that he hoped "every Jap that mentioned my name gets shot. He transcended sport and moved far beyond the artificial limits of baselines, outfield fences and sports pages. In 2018, when President Donald Trump awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Babe Ruth he said;

The fascination with his life and career continues. He is a bombastic, sloppy hero from our bombastic, sloppy history, origins undetermined, a folk tale of American success. His moon face is as recognizable today as it was when he stared out at Tom Zachary on a certain September afternoon in 1927. If sport has become the national religion, Babe Ruth is the patron saint. He stands at the heart of the game he played, the promise of a warm summer night, a bag of peanuts, and a beer. And just maybe, the longest ball hit out of the park.

Designated Hitter: Stan Musial

I know, there wasn’t designated hitters in Musial’s era but he needs to be on this list and I’m not leaving off Hank Aaron, Ted Williams or Lou Gehrig, so this is where he’s going. Stan “The Man” Musial played Major League baseball for 22 years from 1941 until 1963 minus 1945, when he was in the Navy. In 3,026 games he amassed 3,630 hits, 475 homers, 1951 RBIs and a career batting average of .331. He led all of baseball in hits six times, doubles eight times, triples five times, RBIs twice and batting average seven times. He was a twenty-time All-Star and the National League MVP three times, in 1943, 1946 and 1948. In fact he only finished lower than tenth in MVP voting three times in his 22 years.

Musial was born in Donora Pennsylvania on November 21, 1920. Young Stan frequently played baseball with his brother Ed and other friends during his childhood, and considered Lefty Grove his favorite ballplayer. He started playing semi-pro baseball in 1935 at the age of 15 with his home town Donora Zincs as well as his high school team, where one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, father of Ken Griffey Sr. and grandfather of Hall of Famer, Ken Griffey Jr.). In 1937 the St. Louis Cardinals, who had scouted Musial with the Zincs, offered him a professional contract as a pitcher, after a workout with their Class D Penn State League team. He was a great all-around athlete, earning a basketball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania but opting for baseball instead. In what was then a common practice, the Cardinals did not file the contract with the Office of the Baseball Commissioner, until June 1938. This preserved Musial's amateur eligibility, allowing him to keep playing high school sports and leading Donora High’s basketball team to a playoff appearance. After his senior year was over, Musial reported to the Cardinals' Class D affiliate in West Virginia, the Williamson Red Birds. By 1940, he had moved over to the Class D Florida League and the Daytona Beach Islanders, where his coach Dickie Kerr recognized his hitting abilities and would play him in the outfield between starts. He injured his shoulder diving for a ball there and he was never the same pitcher after that. Kerr made moved Musial to the outfield full time and in 1941 he made his Major League debut and the rest is history. On September 17, 1941, Musial made his major league debut during the second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman’s Park and with the Cardinals in a tight pennant race with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Musial collected 20 hits in twelve games. Despite Musial’s efforts the Cards ended the season 2-1/2 games behind the Dodgers.

Stan Musial played baseball the right way. Few who saw the Cardinals’ legend in person thought a better ballplayer existed. More than half a century after his retirement, Musial remains the face of a Cardinals’ franchise he helped turn into a dynasty. In a 1952 article in Life Magazine Ty Cobb said:

"No man has ever been a perfect ballplayer. Stan Musial, however, is the closest to being perfect in the game today. He plays as hard when his club is away out in front of a game as he does when they're just a run or two behind."

He is so beloved in St. Louis, that the city staged a lobbying effort to get Musial the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. He was awarded the medal in February 15, 2011. When Albert Pujols, arrived in St. Louis, he insisted that he no longer be called by the nickname El Hombre (Spanish for The Man) that he had, had since high school because there was only one “The Man” in St. Louis and it is Musial.

There is my list, please feel free to argue amongst yourselves and with me over the content of this list. If you think I should have put Roger Clemens in place of Nolan Ryan, or Mickey Mantle instead of Willie Mays or Johnny Bench in place of Pudge, let me know. This is meant to start conversations and remind everyone how great the game of baseball is. I hope you enjoyed this post and please share it with everyone you can. Sorry it’s late, I thought I was going to release one on vacation but that was a pipe dream.

Chris

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Tomorrow I’m going on my annual vacation with my son, and a post for this week has eluded me. Therefore, I’m going to post an old post today and next time. I will return to regular broadcasting at the end of August. This time, with the college summer baseball league wrapping up I thought I would repost the one I did back in August of 2023. I hope you enjoy it and I’ll see everyone later.

Chris

There are at least 48 different summer collegiate baseball leagues in America but most of the focus, press and accolades go the the Cape Cod League (CCL). It has been around since 1885, although it has only been a college league since 1963. It also has all the “boys of summer” vibe and a laundry list of Major Leaguers that played there. Including Carlton Fisk, Frank Thomas, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, all of whom are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and players of today like Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber. However I think the Northwoods League (NWL) is a much better league for a whole host of reasons, which I will list below. The NWL has been around since 1994 and started out as a college league. It also has a list of MLB players that have played in it., like Pete Alonso Javier Baez, Curtis Granderson, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer and Mike Trout.

Just for transparency sake I must tell you that I routinely attend games of the Northwoods League Traverse City Pit Spitters (The name is a nod to the National Cherry Festival and one of the contests that happens every year).

Schedule:

The number of games each league plays is vastly different. While the CCL plays 44 games each season, the NWL plays 72 games. As an example, from June 16th to August 2nd the Bourne Braves had eight days off unless the players were involved in the All-Star game than they only had seven days off. In the NWL, on the other hand, from May 29th to August 13th the Pit Spitters had five days off. Unless they were involved in the All-Star festivities in which case they only had three days off. Obviously, this gives the NWL players more game experience, than the CCL, and that is what the summer leagues are all about. It also is a miniature version of a minor league season. An “A” team plays 108 games a season so the 72 games the NWL league plays prepares the players much more than 44 games the CCL play. It is also a good indication for the major league scouts of which players can hack the grind of the minor league season.

Size:

There is also a big difference in size between the two leagues as well as the towns and cities they play in. The CCL is the smaller of the two, with ten teams, in two divisions East and West, that play each other frequently throughout the season. Eight of the ten teams make the playoffs. The NWL is far bigger, with 24 teams in four divisions, the Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West, Great Plains East and Great Plains West. The Great Lakes and Great Plains essentially operate like the American League and National league used to, before the start of interleague play, with the championship game the only time a Great Lakes team ever plays a Great Plains team. The average metro area of a NWL team is 153,600 and for the CCL it is 25,100. Although since they’re so close to one another you could say that the metro population for the Cape Cod League is 251,500, the NWL still has six teams that have a larger population then that.

Attendance:

This season the CCL had an attendance of 259,208 or an average of 589 fans per game. In the NWL this year they had 1,297,864 fans attend games, for an average of 1,583 people a game and yes, there are more teams and more games but it is just another way in which the NWL is superior to the CCL. If all your career, you’re used to to playing in front of 589 people and now that you have been drafted you’re playing in front of 3,746 every game (the average attendance for the “A” Midwest League in 2023), it could take a toll on the players. Along with more fans comes extra pressure, as well as more eyes and more hecklers, and there will be some players that can’t handle the extra stress. Wouldn’t be good to get used to it as early as possible, or for a scout to see that now before they’re drafted?

Distance:

The leagues also vary in the distance they travel during the season. The Wereham Gatemen, the western-most Cape Cod League team, only has to travel 44 miles to reach the eastern-most team, the Orleans Firebirds. So they don’t have to stay overnight anywhere, all season. Sure, that saves on team expenses, but you lose team bonding in the process, and it certainly isn’t anything like the minor leagues. The Northwoods League, on the other hand, has much farther to travel. In the Great Lakes Division the longest trip is 484 miles and in the Great Plains it is 720. If the eastern most Great Lakes team played the western most Great Plains team in the championship, that would be a trip of 1,081 miles. Again the NWL prepares a young player for the grind of a long season with long bus rides, (Yes, bus rides. “AAA” will fly commercial but the low minors still ride team buses) and less than first class conditions they will find in the minors. The Pit Spitters for example had a road trip this year where they left Traverse City on the morning of July 4th, after playing the night before, drove to Battle Creek MI (206 miles), played two games (July 4 & 5), drove to Fond Du Lac WI (324 miles) played two games (July 6 & 7), drove to Wisconsin Rapids WI (103 miles), played two games (July 8 & 9) and than drove back to Traverse City (480 miles) and played the 10th through the 14th. Then went back on the road to Madison WI (470 miles) played the 14th and 15th, finally had a day off but had to travel to Rockford IL (73 miles), and played there on the 18th and 19th before going back to TC (411 miles and playing at home on the 20th. That is 2,067 miles covered in 16 days. The CCL doesn’t have anything like that. Out there you take a bus to the game, play it, go back to your host family’s house get up the next day and do that again. In fact if you divide the 2,067 miles travelled by the Pit Spitters by 44 miles (the two farthest CCL teams are apart) you could make 47 trips from Bourne to Orleans, and remember the CCL only plays 44 games. That means in one 16 day stretch where they played 14 games, the Pit Spitters travelled more than it is possible to travel in the CCL and the Spitters had an additional 58 games that I didn’t count. If you add up all the travelling the Spitters did this season, it comes out to 7,923 miles!

Players:

This is a category where both leagues are pretty much the same. In fact there are a bunch of kids from the same college on teams in both leagues. University of San Diego, just to name one, has players the Bismarck Larks in the NWL and the Orleans Firebirds in the CCL. Lots of people will say that all the best players go to the CCL, but that just isn’t true. There are players from all 64 schools that make the NCAA baseball tournament that leads to the College World Series, on teams in both the NWL (42) and the CCL (70), as well as players in each league from each of the final eight teams in the 2023 College World Series. There are two reasons there are more players from those schools in the CCL than in the NWL. First is the prestige of the CCL, it has long been considered THE summer baseball league and it gets some of their operational budget from Major League Baseball, so college coaches want their players to get into that league for the exposure. The second reason is that the CCL teams run players through the league at an alarming pace. One team, the Bourne Braves had 75 players play at least one games for them this season. A NWL team has a roster of 25 kids, so that means the Braves had as many players as three NWL teams! There are plenty of Division I athletes in both leagues as well as plyers from Divisions II, III, NAIA and Junior Colleges so the play is similar, although I would say it is a little better in the NWL. Because of the number of players the CCL runs though each team, I think you lose the familiarity of players that get to know each other and their tendencies. I have seen dozens of NWL games, both in person and online, and a handful of CCL games online and I’m no casual observer as you might have figured out. When I watch a baseball game I’m there for the game not the rest of the stuff. I’m concentrating on the play, and I can tell you that the supposed big guns in the CCL aren’t any better than the NWL players. I like the brand of baseball the NWL plays better, they want to score runs and don’t wait for homeruns to help them score. They play more small ball with lots of stealing, hit and runs and bunts, although players from the Wilmar Stingers and Duluth Huskies both hit 15 homers and eight others were in double figures this season.

Both leagues have what is called Host Families that sign up to give the players a place to live when they’re not playing or on the road, which in the NWL is most of the time. Those families that open their homes to complete strangers (college kids no less) are the real heroes of these leagues. Neither one could operate without them.

Max Scherzer with the Lacrosse Loggers (left) Aaron Judge with the Brewster Whitecaps (right)

Financial Model:

Here is another big difference between the two leagues. The Cap Cod League is a “not for profit 501-C3” venture with most of the people involved in day to day operations being volunteers, except for the coaches, and the teams do not charge admission for games, (donations are accepted). All the fields the teams play on are either owned by the city or local high schools (and an elementary school in one case) but are better than you would normally find in those situations. However, they have limited seating and all they do have are bench seats. Every venue has a small snack stand with peanuts, popcorn, candy soft drinks and sometimes hotdogs. All the CCL teams use a two camera system to stream their home games and most are available on YouTube. The Northwoods League is a “for profit” league with a fully paid staff for each team including stadium staff and coaching staff. The vibe is like that of a minor league game, with in between inning games for the fans and giveaways almost every night. Most teams also have fireworks on select nights (the Pit Spitters had fire works on ten nights). All the teams charge admission but it is reasonable, right around what a minor league team would charge, between $12 and $18 with a parking fee of $5-$6. The stadiums are also much nicer with most having at least some chairback seats and even tables with a dedicated waitstaff and a wide variety of food options. The NWL has their own free streaming service and use a four camera system. The NWL has also partnered with ESPN to show two games a week and all the playoff games on ESPN+, which is $9.99/month. This year there were two All-Star games in the NWL, one for the Great Lakes division and one for the Great Plains division and both games were broadcast on ESPN U.

There it is, my argument that the Northwoods League should be considered the best college baseball league in the country. It more closely mirrors the minor leagues, both in travel, crowds and environment. The play is better (by just a little) and even though you have to pay to see it, I believe that you get good value for the money. Even Max Scherzer and Chris Sale, (who played in both leagues), have said they think the NWL better prepared them for the minors and later the major league. So quit giving all the press and accolades to the Cape Cod League and recognize that the premier summer college baseball league in the country is the Northwoods League.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave me a comment, and share this with anyone that would be interested.

Chris

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Last time we met I was dropping a post about three interesting people. Today, since it is the 96th MLB All-Star game, I’ll be looking at the travesty that is MLB All-Star voting. Let’s start with a look at the history of All-Star voting.

Key Eras of All-Star Voting

• The Fan-Vote Origins (1933–1934): In 1933, Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward devised the All-Star Game that coincided with the Chicago World’s Fair. Fans cast their votes using physical ballots clipped from newspapers, and picked the starting lineups for both the American and National League teams.

• The Managerial Era (1935–1946): Due to fading early novelty, MLB handed all roster selections directly over to the league’s managers.

• Hybrid Voting Returns (1947–1957): Fans regained the power to vote for the eight starting position players, while managers continued to select pitchers and reserves.

• The “Ballot Stuffing” Ban (1958–1969): During the 1957 balloting, fans in Cincinnati engaged in a localized campaign that resulted in seven Reds players being elected to the starting lineup (Cardinals first baseman Stan Musial was the lone interloper). This raised first the eyebrow and then the hackles of Commissioner Ford Frick. Frick responded by yanking Gus Bell and Wally Post from the lineup and replacing them with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays (well played, Mr. Frick), and stripped fans of their voting power, ruling that all voting would be handled exclusively by players, managers, and coaches.

• The Modern Fan Return (1970–Present): Facing declining public interest, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn restored voting rights to the fans in 1970. Starters have been selected by fans ever since, though the format has seen significant modernization. Until 2002, the voting was done at MLB stadiums with a paper ballot where fans had to color in a circle for the players of their choice (ala scantron tests). In 2002 they allowed fans to vote for the final player on each team (originally the 30th and later the 32nd and finally the 33rd player) on team websites and ESPN.com. By 2015 the ballot was completely online.

• Phase-Based Voting (2019–Present): To prevent fans from just checking boxes for popular teams, MLB implemented a two-phase election format. During Phase 1, fans vote for all positions, but the top vote-getters advance to Phase 2 (a secondary “reset” period) to specifically lock in the starting lineup. The also replaced the “final vote” with the Phase 2 voting.

During the 70s when I started to go to MLB games I remember coloring in those circles to vote. At the time, without the internet and the thousands of websites where one can find all the stats of every player in the history of baseball, it was hard to vote correctly. Unless you were able to get a big city newspaper that might have the league leaders in the big categories (batting average, hits, homeruns and RBIs), you had to vote by who had been good the previous season. Those players got in because they were good last year, not necessarily that they were good during the current season. I also don’t remember there being a bunch of controversies surrounding the results. Obviously in 1957 there was a significant ballot stuffing issue and there have been others.

2015 Kansas City Controversy

In 2015, Royals fans rallied behind their roster, briefly leading to eight Kansas City players on track to start. The grassroots movement overwhelmed the newly digital ballot system. At the peak of voting, eight of the nine AL starting positions were occupied by Royals players, including Omar Infante, who was leading the league in total votes despite a poor batting average. This sparked national debate, as objectively better statistical performers (such as Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson) were being edged out by fan popularity. In response, Major League Baseball stepped in and canceled approximately 65 million suspected fraudulent or automated votes originating from "bot" networks designed to stuff the digital ballot box. Ultimately, when the final rosters were locked in, the Royals ended up with four starters (Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, and Salvador Perez). The backlash and ballot-stuffing incident forced MLB to re-evaluate its voting protocols, leading them to cap the number of online ballots a single fan could cast in future seasons. Fans would still be able to vote five times a day for a week from a single email address.

2026 Blue Jays Controversy

This year is another one that has seen fans stuff the digital ballot box. Sure there are some Jays that deserve an All-Star nod, but three stand out as flagrant examples of fan ballot stuffing. First Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement, while he has played solidly as a utility player, he received the most votes of any player in the entire American League, earning an automatic starting spot over much more productive peers. Secondly, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. maintained a massive voting lead for AL First Base. This is very frustrating for fans and analysts alike, because Yankees rookie Ben Rice is posting MVP-level numbers (including a staggering 1.005 OPS) but trailed Guerrero on the ballot. Lastly, and the most egregious of all is Toronto part-time catcher Alejandro Kirk. It should have been fans voting for either Shea Langeliers of the A’s and Dillon Dingler of the Tigers. You can tell it’s a Blue Jays problem because the National League is not affected at all. Let’s look at the numbers as of 07/05/26:

Catcher

Shea Langeliers (A’s): 330 AB, 51 runs scored, 83 hits, including 20 homeruns, 44 RBIs, batting average- .264, OBP- .328, SLG- .494, OPS- .822 in 80 games. 2,077,756 votes.

Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays): 70 AB, 7 runs scored, 14 hits, including 2 homeruns, seven RBIs, batting average- .200, OBP- .260, SLG- .314, OPS- .574 in 20 games. 1,488,788 votes.

Dillon Dingler (Tigers): 308 AB, 46 runs scored, 82 hits, including 19 homeruns, 59 RBIs, batting average- .266, OBP- .328, SLG- .526, OPS- .854 in 82 games. 924,766 votes.

Looking at these numbers you can see that there is a strong case for either Langeliers or Dingler to be the starting catcher for the AL, but there is absolutely no way that Kirk should have even been on the ballot, let alone second in fan voting. As it turned out Kirk was scrubbed from the roster. Langeliers is the starter, with Dingler and Adley Rutschman of the Orioles as the backups.

First Base

The situation at first base is a little different, Vlad is having a down year, but he should not have been the top vote getter at first. Ben Rice deserves it, and was selected as a reserve by MLB. The bad thing is who got left off because Jays fans stuffed the box. Munetaka Murakami should have been getting more votes, but he has been hurt, so I understand that. but the A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz should have been the reserve.

Vladimir Guerrero (Blue Jays): 355 AB, 46 runs scored, 82 hits, including 4 homeruns, 35 RBIs, batting average- .265, OBP- .346, SLG- .346, OPS- .693 in 84 games. 2,500,000 votes.

Ben Rice (Yankees): 307 AB, 58 runs scored, 82 hits, including 24 homeruns, 56 RBIs, batting average- .267, OBP- .362, SLG- .564, OPS- .926 in 83 games. 1,250,00 votes.

Nick Kurtz (A’s): 320 AB, 61 runs scored, 89 hits, including 20 homeruns, 66 RBIs, batting average- .278, OBP- .420, SLG- .519, OPS- .938 in 88 games. 595,412 votes.

Vladdy Jr. says he’s hurt and won’t play in the game (I think he is just too embarrassed to play, because he knows he doesn’t deserve it). Kurtz will be the starter and Rice will be a reserve. I’m ok with that.

Second Base

Ernie Clement garnered the most votes of any American League, not named Shohei Ohtani! While he is a decent player with a high batting average, his numbers don’t really reflect the vote total he received. The same goes for Ezequiel Duran, but his number are a little lower. Jose Altuve was third in voting with even worse numbers, followed by Jazz Chisholm and Travis Bazzana and Chase Meidroth.

Ernie Clement (Blue Jays): 328 AB, 38 runs scored, 96 hits, including 7 homeruns, 29 RBIs, batting average- .296, OBP- .316, SLG- .430, OPS- .746 in 86 games. 2,054,130 votes.

Ezequiel Duran (Rangers): 275 AB, 35 runs scored, 35 hits, including 7 homeruns, 44 RBIs, batting average- .273, OBP- .323, SLG- .418, OPS- .742 in 81 games. 531,182 votes.

Jose Altuve (Astros): 259 AB, 41 runs scored, 61 hits, including 8 homeruns, 22 RBIs, batting average- .236, OBP- .314, SLG- .386, OPS- .700 in 68 games. 456,242 votes.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (Yankees): 298 at bats, 43 runs scored, 67 hits, including 12 homeruns, 33 RBIs, batting average .225, OBP- .307, SLG- .396, OPS- .703 in 85 games. 419,777 votes.

Travis Bazzana (Indians): 221 AB, 28 runs scored, 55 hits, including 7 homeruns, 27 RBIs, batting average- .249, OBP- .339, SLG- .412, OPS- .750 in 59 games. 388,507 votes.

Chase Meidroth (White Sox): 325 AB, 51 runs scored, 85 hits, including 7 homeruns, 29 RBIs, batting average- .268, OBP- .339, SLG- .378, OPS- .717 in 87 games. 253,229 votes.

Out of these players, I’ll go with Clement I guess. Travis Bazzana was picked as a reserve.

THIRD BASEMEN

The Blue Jays fans could not overcome the stats of Caminero but managed to get their third baseman in second place. Even if he doesn’t deserve it.

Junior Caminero (Rays): 383 at bats, 57 runs scored, 56 hits, including 26 homeruns, 56 RBIs, batting average- .248, OBP- .333, SLG- .488, OPS- .821 in 86 games. 1,310,879 votes.

Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays): 352 at bats, 44 runs scored, 44 hits, including 19 homeruns, 54 RBIs, batting average- .210, OBP- .286, SLG- .403, OPS- .689 in 86 games. 1,282,884 votes.

Miguel Vargas (White Sox): 318 at bats, 59 runs scored, 78 hits, including 20 homeruns, 56 RBIs, batting average- .245, OBP- .280, SLG- .443, OPS- .723 in 83 games. 633,675 votes.

Josh Jung (Rangers): 350 at bats, 40 runs scored, 93 hits, including 9 homeruns, 32 RBIs, batting average- .266, OBP- .322, SLG- .400, OPS- .722 in 83 games. 471,452 votes.

As you can see, Okamoto shouldn’t have been the second highest vote getter at AL third base and MLB saw through the votes. They added Vargas as the backup over Okamoto.

SHORTSTOPS

In another case of the rest of the fan base cancelling out the Blue Jay fan vote, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. won the starting job. In my opinion Kevin McGonigle should be the backup at short, ever through it is unusual for a rookie to be pick for the Mid-Season Classic.

Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals): 328 at bats, 46 runs scored, 95 hits, including 12 homeruns, 36 RBIs, batting average- .289, OBP- .362, SLG- .479, OPS- .841 in 84 games. 1,701,407 votes.

Andres Gimenez (Blue Jays): 274 at bats, 24 runs scored, 64 hits, including 7 homeruns, batting average- .233, OBP- .279, SLG- .369, OPS- .648 in 84 games. 894,926 votes.

Kevin McGonigle (Tigers): 331 at bats, 56 runs scored, 95 hits, including 8 homeruns, batting average- .287, OBP- .401, SLG- .360, OPS- .761 in 89 games. 460,075 votes.

MLB did the right thing and added McGonigle to the All-Star roster and removed Gimenez. So, they are getting it right but it shouldn’t have to be this way. I understand the desire to involve the fans in the voting process, but they have repeatedly demonstrated that they can’t put aside hometown bias in favor of picking players that actually deserve it. So what is the solution? I think that the solution is just a tweak of the current system. Allow fans to vote for the starters, but limit it to five votes per fan, not the five votes per day, every day for right days it is now. That will prevent fans from stuffing the ballot box to elect their hometown heroes. If there are still players that make it through as starters, then the MLB can remove them as they have been doing for some time. I think that strikes the perfect balance between fan involvement and picking the right players. On a related but different topic, I think they should go back to letting the players wear their team uniforms during the game, including their own hats. I know that MLB see this as an opportunity to sell more jerseys and hats, but for the most part all the jerseys have been ugly and uninspiring, stick to the classics. Below is the starting lineup and reserves for the AL and NL tonight. Go out and watch the game tonight, it should be fun, and another celebration of the 250th birthday of America!

American League Starting Lineup

Manager: John Schneider

C: Shea Langeliers A’s
1B: Ben Rice Yankees
2B: Ernie Clement Blue Jays
3B: Junior Caminero Rays
SS: Bobby Witt Jr. Royals
OF: Mike Trout Angels
OF: Cody Bellinger Yankees
OF: Riley Greene Tigers
DH: Yordan Alvarez Astros

Starting Pitcher: Dylan Cease Blue Jays

Pitchers
Parker Messick Indians
Nick Martinez Rays
Drew Rasmussen Rays
Joe Ryan Twins
Cam Schlittler Yankees
Ranger Suarez Red Sox
Michael Wacha Royals
Aroldis Chapman Red Sox
Jacob Latz Rangers
Cade Smith Indians
Louis Varland Blue Jays
Bryan Baker Rays

Reserves
C: Dillon Dingler Tigers
C: Adley Rutschman Orioles
INF: Travis Bazzana Indians
INF: Wilson Contreras Red Sox
INF: Kevin McGonigle Tigers
INF: Miguel Vargas White Sox
INF: Munetaka Murakami White Sox
OF: Randy Arozarena Mariners
OF: Ceddanne Rafaela Red Sox
OF: Tristan Peters White Sox
DH: Yandy Diaz Rays

National League Starting lineup

Manager : Dave Roberts Dodgers

DH: Kyle Schwarber Phillies
LF: Juan Soto Mets
1B: Freddy Freeman Dodgers
SS: CJ Abrams Nationals
3B Max Muncy Dodgers
2B: Ozzie Albies Braves
RF: Brandon Marsh Phillies
CF: Andy Pages Dodgers
C: Drake Baldwin Braves

Starting Pitcher: Christopher Sanchez Phillies

Pitchers
Braxton Ashcraft Pirates
Chase Burns Reds
Jesus Luzardo Phillies
Max Meyer Marlins
Jacob Misiorowski Brewers
Eduardo Rodriguez Diamondbacks
Chris Sale Braves
Paul Skenes Pirates
Logan Webb Giants
Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dodgers
Justin Wrobleski Dodgers
Foster Griffin Nationals
Jhoan Duran Phillies
Raisel Iglesias Braves
Mason Miller Padres
Riley O’Brien Cardinals

Reserves
C: William Contreras Brewers
C: Hunter Goodman Rockies
INF: Luis Arraez Giants
INF: Bryce Harper Phillies
INF: Otto Lopez Marlins
INF: Matt Olson Braves
INF: Sal Stewart Reds
OF: Corbin Carroll Diamondbacks
OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong Cubs
OF: Jordan Walker Cardinals
OF: James Woods Nationals
DH: Ivan Herrera Cardinals

What else should I know?

• This is the seventh All-Star Game to take place on July 14, and six of those seven have taken place in NL parks, with the leagues tied at three wins apiece on this date.

• The six Phillies All-Stars are the most by an All-Star host team since the Dodgers had six in 2022.

• Schwarber will have the chance to join Trout as the only players to win the All-Star Game MVP honor in consecutive years. Trout did so in 2014-15.

• It’s literally the City of “Brotherly” Love for William and Willson Contreras. The Brewers catcher (William) and Red Sox first baseman (Willson) are one of only 19 sets of brothers to both be selected as All-Stars. Willson is a four-time All-Star, William a three-time All-Star, and this is the second time they are All-Stars together (also 2022).

• Philadelphia native Alan Porter is the crew chief and home-plate ump for this game.

• This is the seventh straight All-Star Game with at least five Dodgers reps. That’s tied with the 1942-49 Cardinals for the third-longest such streak, per Elias. They trail only the 1956-65 Yankees (10) and 1936-43 Yankees (eight).

• Three of the top four picks from the 2024 MLB Draft -- Travis Bazzana (CLE), Chase Burns (CIN) and Nick Kurtz (ATH) -- are already All-Stars.

• The Indians are just the fifth team to have multiple rookies (pitcher Parker Messick and Bazzana) on the All-Star roster.

• The All-Star rosters feature 36 first-timers.

I know this was a short one but I hope you found it enjoyable or at least educational. I’m not sure what I’ll have for you next time but I’m sure it will be longer.

Chris

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Last time you saw me slinking around your inboxes, I was delivering Part V of Interesting People. Today, I have three more people that I think have interesting lives. One that was a larger than life personality, another might have possibly saved the world, and a third who is more famous for his death, than almost anything he did while he was alive. Let’s jump right into it.

Peter Freuchen

Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen was a Danish explorer, author, journalist and anthropologist. He was born on February 20, 1886 in Nykøbing Falster, Denmark to Lorentz Freuchen, and Anne Rasmussen. His father was a businessman and wanted nothing more than a stable life for his son. So, at his behest, young Freuchen enrolled at the University of Copenhagen to study medicine. However, before long, Freuchen realized that a life indoors was not for him. Where his father needed order and stability, Freuchen craved exploration and danger.

So, in 1906, at 20 years old, he dropped out of school and began a life of exploration. He made his first expedition to Greenland with his friend Knud Rasmussen, as part of the ill-fated Denmark Expedition. The two-year expedition was conceived and led by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, who had previously led the ‘Literary Expedition’ to Northwest Greenland together with Knud Rasmussen in 1902–1904. The main target of the Denmark expedition was to map the last blank sections of the coastline of northeastern Greenland, between Cape Bridgeman, near Robert Peary’s easternmost geographic exploration in the north, and Cape Bismark, the northernmost point reached by Carl Koldewey in the east. The expedition aimed to gather scientific information on the unexplored area during a period of two years, including information on any remaining Northeast-Greenland Inuit, last seen by Royal Navy Captain Douglas Clavering in 1823 further south down the coast on Clavering Island.

The expedition accomplished its goal of mapping the remaining areas of Greenland, but failed to find any Inuit in the northeast. Their success came at a high cost when Mylius-Erichsen and two others who died of exhaustion and exposure. At the end of the mission Freuchen was hooked on the explorers life and continued to make expeditions to Greenland between 1910 and 1924, often with Knud Rasmussen.

The two explorers were deeply interested in Indigenous culture. They lived with the Inuit for a time, learning their language and accompanying them on hunting expeditions. The Inuit people hunted walruses, whales, seals, and even polar bears, and Freuchen was right at home. After all, his impressive six-foot-seven-inch frame made him uniquely qualified to take down a beast of any size, and before long, he had made himself a coat out of a polar bears he’d killed himself.

In 1910, Freuchen and Rasmussen established the Thule trading post in northwest Greenland. The name came from the term “Ultima Thule,” which, to medieval cartographers, meant a place “beyond the borders of the known world.” In 1911, Freuchen married an Inuit woman named Mequpaluk (also known as Navarana).

The post, meanwhile, served as the base for the seven subsequent Thule Expeditions that took place between 1912 and 1933. He also lectured visitors to Thule on Inuit culture and traveled around Greenland charting previously unexplored areas. In 1912, he set out on the First Thule Expedition, along with Rasmussen and two others. They aimed to test Robert Peary’s claim that a channel divided Peary Land from Greenland. They proved this was not the case in a 620 mile journey across the inland ice that almost killed them. Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society, called the journey the "finest ever performed by dogs”. Between 1912 and 1921 Freuchen continued to live in Greenland with his beloved wife and occasionally continued to explore Greenland. In addition, he lectured visitors to Thule about Greenland and Inuit culture. In 1916, he and Mequpaluk had a son they named Mequsaq, and in 1918 a daughter named Pipaluk.1

In 1919 the family moved to Denmark, but returned to Greenland two years later, leaving the children with Frechen's parents in Denmark. Tragedy visited him two years later when in 1921, an outbreak of Spanish Influenza struck Greenland, and took the life of Mequpaluk, leaving Mequsaq (5) and Pipaluk (3) without a mother.

Freuchen wrote in his biography, A Vagrant Viking, of a day in spring 1923 when he set out on his own to retrieve supplies from a supply dump he had established years before. He was caught in a storm and dug a snow cave to escape the elements. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, his cave had been completely covered by snowdrifts and was trapped. The snow above him had harded, and he had no tools with which to free himself. Then, he remembered how dog feces freezes solid in the snow and had an idea:

“I moved my bowels and from the excrement I managed to fashion a chisel-like instrument which I left to freeze. At last I decided to try my chisel and it worked! Very gently and very slowly I worked at the hole.”

But his harrowing journey was not yet over. When Freuchen finally returned to camp, after crawling for three hours, he found that his left foot was frostbitten, a feeling that he described as “the most agonizing pains.” When his toes became gangrenous, he decided to do something about it:

“I got hold of a pair of pincers, fitted the jaws around one of my toes, and hit the handle with a heavy hammer. Perhaps one could get used to cutting off toes, but there were not enough of them to get sufficient practice.”

Although he removed his toes, his foot continued to cause him pain, and he ultimately had to have it amputated and a wooden foot put in its place.

After this, he returned to Denmark, where he became involved in a different type of adventure altogether. In 1924, he married Magda Lauridsen, daughter of Johannes Lauridsen, Director of the National Bank of Denmark, and joined the Social Democrats movement. He also became a regular contributor to Politiken, a political newspaper, as well as a writer and consultant for films related to the Arctic. One of these movies, Eskimo or Mala the Magnificent, was based on Freuchen’s writings, and he even appeared in it as a ship captain. Notably, Eskimo was the first feature film to be shot in an indigenous language (Alaskan Inuit). It went on to win the very first Oscar for Best Film Editing in 1935. In 1938, Freuchen, wanting to share his passion for adventure, founded The Adventurer’s Club of Denmark, an organization that still exists today. Of course, the onset of World War II one year later, meant that exploring the world would have to wait. Freuchen soon found himself in the center of political drama. He never tolerated discrimination of any kind. Whenever he heard someone express antisemitic views, he approached them and claimed to be Jewish, and with his imposing presence, it usually ended the situation on the spot. He was also actively involved with the resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of Denmark. He hid refugees and worked to undermine Nazi operations. He became such a nuisance and was so boldly anti-Nazi, that in 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to death. However, he escaped from a prison camp by climbing the barbed wire fence and fled to Sweden. In 1944 he divorced Lauridsen, and in 1945 he married Danish-Jewish designer Dagmar Cohn.

After the war, he and Cohn moved to the United States. There, Freuchen continued his writing, completing his autobiography, Vagrant Viking in 1954 and I Sailed with Rasmussen in 1958. In 1956, after six consecutive week on the show Freuchen won the grand prize on the TV quiz show The $64,000 Question thanks, in part, to his extensive knowledge of the world’s oceans, after successfully identifying a species of fish 300,000,000 years old and six other strange nautical objects.

In his later years, Freuchen and his wife Dagmar lived in New York City, and maintained a second home in Noank, Connecticut.

The preface of his last work, Book of the Seven Seas, is dated August 30, 1957, in Noank. He died of a heart attack three days later at the age of 71 at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, after refusing help with his luggage while boarding a plane. After his death, his ashes were scattered on the famous table-shaped Mount Dundas outside of Thule fulfilling his final wish to permanently rest in the place that had come to define his extraordinary life.

Freuchen’s grandson, Peter Ittinuar, was the first Inuk elected as an MP in Canada. He represented the entire territory of Nunavut in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 1984.

Along with winning three Danish writers awards, the Adventurer’s Club of Denmark honored his memory by planting an oak tree and creating an Inukshuk (a type of stone landmark or cairn) near the place where he left Denmark for Greenland in 1906.

It is situated east of Langeliniebroen in central Copenhagen, and not far from The Little Mermaid statue. He sure seems like an interesting person, as well as someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, but also I would want to have dinner and “a few” drinks with him.

Stanislav Petrov

Petrov was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in an incident in 1983 that could have caused World War III and resulted in the destruction of the world as we knew it.

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov was born on September 7, 1939 in Vladivostok USSR. His father, Yevgraf, flew fighters in World War II and his mother, who’s name has been lost to history, was a nurse.

Petrov enrolled at the Kiev Military Aviation Engineering Academy of the Soviet Air Forces. After graduating in 1972 he joined the Soviet Air Defence Forces, and was assigned to the unit the operated the new early warning system intended to detect ballistic missile attacks from NATO. As Petrov rose through the officer ranks and had more and more responsibilities, he met and married his wife Raisa. They had two children, a son, Dmitri, and a daughter, Yelena. Then came the day that changed everything.

A few hours into an overnight shift at Serpukhov-15, a secret command center about 75 miles south of Moscow where the Soviet Union’s military monitored its nuclear early-warning systems, the 44-year-old lieutenant colonel made a momentous decision. In the early hours of the morning of September 26, 1983, three weeks after the Soviet Union had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 0072, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko (eye in Russian) nuclear early-warning system when the system detected an incoming missile strike from the United States. Computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched. The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to retaliate with a nuclear attack of its own. In 2013 Petrov was interviewed by the BBC’s Russian Service about that overnight shift.

“I had all the data. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it.”

Petrov was part of a well-trained team which served at one of the Soviet Union’s early warning bases. His training was rigorous, his instructions very clear. His job was to register any missile launches and report them to the Soviet military and political leadership. In the political climate of 1983, a retaliatory strike would have been almost certain, and yet, when the moment came, he says he almost froze in place.

“The siren howled, but I just sat there for a few seconds, staring at the big, back-lit, red screen with the word ‘launch’ on it,”

The system was telling him that the level of reliability of that alert was “highest”. There could be no doubt. America had launched a missile.

“A minute later the siren went off again. The second missile was launched. Then the third, and the fourth, and the fifth. Computers changed their alerts from ‘launch’ to ‘missile strike’, there was no rule about how long we were allowed to think before we reported a strike. But we knew that every second of procrastination took away valuable time; that the Soviet Union’s military and political leadership needed to be informed without delay. All I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders - but I couldn’t move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan.”

Although the nature of the alert seemed to be abundantly clear, Petrov had some doubts. Alongside IT specialists, like him, Soviet Union had other experts, also watching America’s missile forces. A group of satellite radar operators told him they had registered no missiles. However, those people were only a support service. The protocol said, very clearly, that the decision had to be based on computer readouts, and that decision rested with him, the duty officer. What made him suspicious was just how strong and clear that alert was.

“There were 28 or 29 security levels, after the target was identified, it had to pass all of those ‘checkpoints’. I was not quite sure it was possible, under those circumstances.”

Lieutenant Colonel Petrov decided not to report them to his superiors, and instead dismissed them as a false alarm. This was a breach of his instructions, a dereliction of duty. The safe thing to do would have been to pass the responsibility on, to refer it up the chain. His decision may have saved the world. Petrov called the duty officer in Soviet Army headquarters and reported a system malfunction. If he was wrong, the first nuclear explosions would have happened minutes later.

“Twenty-three minutes later I realized that nothing had happened. If there had been a real strike, then I would already know about it. It was such a relief.”

An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. The system was fooled by a rare geometric alignment of sunlight reflecting off high-altitude clouds over the United States, which mirrored the infrared signatures of multiple intercontinental ballistic missile launches. When he was interviewed by the BBC in 2013, Petrov thought the odds were 50-50 that the alert was real. He admits he was never absolutely sure that the alert was a false one until no nuclear explosions occurred. He was the only officer in his team who had received a civilian education and that might have played a role in his decision.

“My colleagues were all professional soldiers, they were taught to give and obey orders. If somebody else had been on shift, the alarm would have been raised.”

A few days later Lieutenant Colonel received an official reprimand for what happened that night. Not for his decision, however, but for mistakes in the logbook. The whole accident was duly noted and swept under a thick Soviet rug. In 1984, Petrov left the Soviet Air Defense Forces and became a researcher in the same institute that developed the faulty early warning system. For a long time nobody even knew about what had happened or what could have happened. He kept silent for many years.

Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union, did the information about the accident became public knowledge. Although Petrov never received any recognition from his own government, he collected his share of awards from overseas. In 2004, he received the World Citizen Award from the San Francisco-based Association of World Citizens. In 2006, he was honored in a meeting at the United Nations. In 2012, he was honored with the German Media Award and in 2013, he was given the Dresden Prize. There was even a documentary, The Man Who Saved the World.

Stanislav Petrov died on May 19, 2017, at age of 77. There was no international mourning and no news bulletins. Who knows what might have happened if he had passed on the alert. It is very possible that we would all be dead and the earth a nuclear wasteland. He never thought of himself as a hero, he said he was just doing his job. But maybe, those who are just doing their jobs are the real heroes?

Lord Carnarvon

Lord Carnarvon was an English peer and aristocrat best known as the financial backer of the search for and excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert was born at 66 Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London, the only son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a distinguished Tory politician, and his first wife Evelyn Stanhope, the daughter of the 6th Earl of Chesterfield. He was educated at Eton College3 and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1885 he inherited Bretby Hall estate in Derbyshire from his maternal grandmother, Anne Elizabeth Dower Countess of Chesterfield. In 1885 his father died and George became the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.

On June 26, 1895 at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, Carnarvon married Almina Wombwell, allegedly the illegitimate daughter of banker Alfred de Rothschild (yes, those Rothschilds). Rothschild provided a marriage settlement4 of £500,000 (equivalent to $78.2 million in 2025), and paid off all Lord Carnarvon’s existing debts. The Carnarvons had two children, Henry Herbert born November 7, 1898, and Evelyn Herbert born August 15, 1901.

Exceedingly wealthy due to his marriage settlement, Carnarvon was at first best known as an owner of racehorses. In 1902 he established Highclere Stud to breed thoroughbred racehorses, he was a member of the Jockey Club5, and in 1905 was appointed one of the stewards at the Newbury Racecourse. He also acted as a steward at other racecourses. His family has maintained the connection ever since. His grandson, the 7th Earl, was racing manager to Queen Elizabeth II from 1969 until he died in 2001.

Time in Egypt

Carnarvon was an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist, and bought many antiquities for his collection in England. In 1907, Carnarvon decided to put his money where his passion is and sponsored the excavation of tombs of ancient Egyptian nobles in Deir el-Bahri, near Thebes. On the recommendation of Gaston Maspero, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, Carnarvon hired Howard Carter to oversee the digs. Maspero recommended Carter, because he knew Carter would apply modern archaeological methods, systems of recording, and follow the rules of the Antiquities Department.

Carter soon developed a good working relationship with Lady Burghclere, Carnarvon's sister, who lived in Egypt full-time, and reported to her brother when he was in England, observing that:

"for the next sixteen years the two men worked together with varying fortune, yet ever united not more by their common aim than by their mutual regard and affection".

In 1909, Carnarvon, who was a keen motor-car driver, suffered a serious motoring accident near Bad Schwalbach, Germany, and he never fully recovered his health. After a lengthy convalescence his doctors advised that he spend the chilly, wet winters out of England. From then on he and Lady Carnarvon often spent their winters in Egypt.

In 1912 Carnarvon published Five Years’ Exploration at Thebes, co-written with Carter, describing their excavations, and their discoveries since 1907.

In 1914, Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Carter again led the work, undertaking a systematic search of the Valley for any tombs missed by previous expeditions. Carter believed, and had convinced Carnarvon, that there was at least one tomb in the valley that had been missed and might be intact. He even believed that he knew the name of the Pharaoh who’s tomb he was looking for. Before Carnarvon had secured the concession to the valley, Carter had worked for the previous concession-holder and had discovered items near two separate tombs, that had the name of Pharaoh Tutankhamun on them. Carnarvon believed in Carter, and was prepared to finance Carter, in order to find an undisturbed tomb.

Excavations were interrupted during World War I, but resumed in late 1917. However, by 1922, little of significance had been found, and Carnarvon decided it would be the final year he would fund the work. On November 4, 1922, a worker uncovered a step in the rock. The step proved to be the beginning of a tomb entrance staircase. At the bottom stood a doorway sealed with limestone and plaster, into which Carter cut a peephole to see the passage beyond was filled with rubble. Carter sent a telegram to Carnarvon, then in England.

Carter had the workmen re-fill the pit to secure the tomb until Carnarvon’s arrival. While waiting, Carter asked his friend and colleague Arthur Callender to assist with the upcoming excavation.

The digging resumed November 24, after Carnarvon’s arrival in Luxor with his daughter. Upon closer examination the doorway seal was found to be inscribed with the name of Tutankhamun, suggesting that this was his tomb. The debris that filled the passage contained objects bearing the names of other kings, suggesting it might be a cache of miscellaneous objects buried during his reign. The doorway had been partially demolished before being resealed, indicating an ancient robbery, which placed hopes of an intact tomb in jeopardy. On November 26, the excavators reached another sealed doorway. Carter’s book on the discovery, co-written with Arthur Cruttenden Mace, described the breaching of the seal in one of the most famous passages in the history of archaeology:

With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far as an iron testing-rod could reach, showed that whatever lay beyond was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just cleared. Candle tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gases, and then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn and Callender standing anxiously beside me to hear the verdict. At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold.

Carnarvon asked Carter if he could see anything, Carter replied:

The next morning, November 27, saw an inspection of the tomb in the presence of an Egyptian official. Callender rigged up electric lighting, illuminating a vast haul of items, including gilded couches, chests, thrones, and shrines. They also saw evidence of two further chambers, including the sealed doorway to the inner burial chamber, guarded by two life-size statues of Tutankhamun. Despite evidence of break-ins in ancient times, the tomb was virtually intact and would ultimately be found to contain more than 5,000 items. On November 29, the tomb was officially opened in the presence of several invited dignitaries and Egyptian officials.

Carnarvon traveled to England in December 1922, returning in January 1923 to be present at the official opening of the inner burial chamber on February 16. Before the opening, Carnarvon had sold the exclusive newspaper rights to report the excavation to The Times. While this helped finance the work, it created resentment both from other newspapers and from the Egyptians, whose own press was also excluded. Towards the end of February, a rift with Carter, probably caused by a disagreement on how to manage the supervising Egyptian authorities, temporarily closed the excavation. Work recommenced in early March after Carnarvon had apologized. This was to be Carnarvon’s last significant involvement in the excavation project since he fell seriously ill shortly afterward.

On March 19, 1923, Carnarvon suffered a mosquito bite, which became infected after he cut it while shaving. On April 5, 1923, he died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo. Contemporary reports listed the cause of death as blood poisoning and pneumonia. On April 14, his wife left Egypt with Lord Carnarvon’s body and returned to England. His tomb, reflects his archaeological interests, and is situated within an ancient hill fort on Beacon Hill overlooking his Highclere family seat. After Lord Carnarvon’s death, Carter continued the excavation. However the Egyptian government took ownership of the contents of the tomb and in April 1930 provided a grant of $170,100 ($2.163 million in 2025) to the Carnarvon estate as compensation for the cost of the dig.

Legends and speculations “The Mummy’s Curse”

After Carnarvon’s death, and encouraged by newspaper speculation, the ‘Curse of Tutankhamun’, or the Mummy’s Curse, entered into popular culture. It was further fueled when author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suggested that Carnarvon’s death had been caused by “elementals” created by Tutankhamun’s priests to guard the royal tomb. On April 3, 1923, just six weeks after Howard Carter had unsealed the burial chamber in the tomb of Tutankhamun, Conan Doyle arrived in New York to begin a four-month lecture tour on Spiritualism. Two days later he was asked by a reporter whether he connected the breaking news of Carnarvon’s death with a curse of the Pharaohs. Conan Doyle responded to this question by drawing parallels between the death of Carnarvon and his late friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson.6 His comments were reported in an article in the Daily Express newspaper on April 7, 1923. He said:

It is impossible to say with absolute certainty if this is true…If we had proper occult powers we could determine it, but I warned Mr Robinson against concerning himself with the mummy at the British Museum. He persisted, and his death occurred. I told him he was tempting fate by pursuing his enquiries. The immediate cause of death was typhoid fever, but that is the way in which the elementals guarding the mummy might act. They could have guided Mr. Robinson into a series of such circumstances as would lead him to contract the disease, and thus cause his death - just as in Lord Carnarvon’s case, human illness was the primary cause of death.

In 1998 it was argued in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that Conan Doyle may well have been right. The article sited research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society by Sylvain Gandon then working for the Laboratoire d’Écologie in Paris, on the longevity and potency of toxic spores, as well as comments by archaeologist Nicholas Reeves, shortly after the death of Carnarvon on “reports of a black fungus inside the tomb.” Howard Carter dismissed such speculation as ‘tommy-rot’, commenting that:

Carter also asked a scientist he knew to test for possible pathogens on one of Tutankhamun’s bandages, and the test reportedly found nothing. However, modern testing of Egyptian mummies has found the presence of the toxic fungus Aspergillus Flavus. This fungus killed scientists after the opening of a 15th century royal tomb in Poland in 1973. Carnarvon showed symptoms that were at least arguably consistent with poisoning by its spores. The Aspergillus flavus speculation was revived in a 2022 BBC documentary that argued that its spores were a possible cause of Carnarvon’s death, and the deaths of other that had be attributed to the “curse”, including:

• George Jay Gould I: a visitor to the tomb, who died on the French Riviera on May 16, 1923, after he developed a fever following his visit.

• Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid: a radiologist invited to x-ray Tutankhamun’s mummy, died on January 15, 1924, in Switzerland, from complications of abdominal surgery, brought on by skin cancer he developed as a result of his career.

• A.C. Mace: a member of Carter’s excavation team, died in April 1928, having suffered from pleurisy and pneumonia in his final years.

• Mervyn Herbert: brother of Lord Carnarvon died on May 26, 1929, reportedly from pneumonia caused by malaria.

• Captain Richard Bethell: Carter’s secretary, died on November 15, 1929 in bed in a hotel. Police viewed it as an unsolved murder because there was evidence that he was smothered.

• Howard Carter: He opened the tomb on February 15, 1923, and and died on March 2, 1939, well over sixteen years later, of Hodgkin’s lymphoma however, some have still attributed his death to the curse.

Some of the stories were clearly fabricated, including that a curse had been found inscribed on the wall of the tomb, while a study showed that those involved in the tomb’s discovery and clearance did not have a lower than average life expectancy. In 2003, a letter in The Lancet‘s Correspondence section claimed that it was unlikely that Carnarvon’s death had anything to do with Tutankhamun’s tomb. The letter argues that although the earl was one of those to enter the tomb on several occasions, none of the other 25 Europeans was affected in the months and years after their entries.

The cause of Carnarvon’s death was reported as ‘pneumonia supervening on facial erysipelas (a streptococcal infection of the skin and underlying soft tissue). Pneumonia was thought to be only one of various complications arising from the progressively invasive infection that eventually resulted in multiorgan failure.” The earl had been “prone to frequent and severe lung infections” according to the letter to The Lancet and there had been a “general belief ... that one acute attack of bronchitis could have killed him. In such a debilitated state, the earl’s immune system was easily overwhelmed by erysipelas.”

Who can say one way or the other what was responsible for the deaths of these people? There are real medical explanations for each person, but can anyone say for sure that there wasn’t something in the tomb that contributed to their deaths? Medical science is far from perfect, and while I doubt that there was a “curse” on the tomb, there could have been factors present in the tomb that facilitated their deaths. I guess if one wanted that view those factors as a “curse” you could say that there was one, but I find it hard to believe.

That is all I have for this installment of the Musings of a Normal Midwestern Guy. I hope you found these three gentleman as interesting as I did. Until the next time we meet, when I’ll have something else to talk about, I just don’t know what yet. Stay Classy Substack!

Chris

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Hello everyone, it’s been a bit since you have gotten a new post from me. JV baseball is over, and my son is now a high school graduate , so I’m back to my regularly scheduled posting. I’ve decided to do another Interesting People post to work myself back into the routine, but I think these are two people worthy of looking into. I’m sure most of you have heard of the first one, but I imagine that the other will be new to you. If not then just enjoy reading about these people that changed the world. This is a long post with a few links, lots of pictures and many footnotes, so you might not be able to read all of it in your email. Just click on the heading and you can see the whole post in all its glory.

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly was a Gilded Age crusader and writer, like many women of her generation she saw the conditions, the poor, women, children, and the mentally ill were placed in, and took it upon herself to bring the issues to light. She also was a travel writer and adventurer and ushered in the era of stunt girl1 reporting and helped advance a new kind of immersion journalism2.

Early Life

Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born May 5, 1864 in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania to Michael Cochran and his second wife Mary Jane Kennedy. She had five siblings, ten half-siblings, and was the thirteenth daughter in the family. Mr. Cochran bought the local mill and and most of the land surrounding his family farmhouse, and later became a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran's Mills, which was named after him. He died in 1870 when Elizabeth was six. As a young girl, Elizabeth was called "Pink" because she frequently wore that color. As a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, so she dropped the nickname and asked to be called Elizabeth. In 1879, she enrolled at Indiana Normal School (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for one term but was forced to drop out due to lack of funds. In 1880, Cochrane's mother moved her family to Allegheny City, which was later annexed by Pittsburgh.

First forays into Journalism

In 1885, a column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch entitled “What Girls Are Good For” stated that girls were principally for birthing children and keeping house. This prompted Elizabeth to write a response under the pseudonym “Lonely Orphan Girl”. The editor, George Madden, was impressed with her passion and ran an advertisement asking the author to identify herself. When Cochran introduced herself to the editor, he offered her the opportunity to write a piece for the newspaper, under the same pseudonym. Her first article for the Dispatch, titled “The Girl Puzzle”, argued that not all women would marry and that what was needed were better jobs for women. Her second article, “Mad Marriages”, was about how divorce affected women, and she argued for the reform of divorce laws. “Mad Marriages” was published under the byline of Nellie Bly. George Madden wanted her to have a “real” byline a name that was “neat and catchy”, rather than “Lonely Orphan Girl”. It was also customary for female journalists to use pen names to conceal their sex, so readers would not discount them, solely on that aspect. The newsroom made suggestions and the name "Nelly Bly" was proffered. The name had been made famous by the great songwriter Stephen Foster, one of Pittsburgh's favorite sons. He had used the name as the African-American title character in his popular song of the same name. However, Madden wrote “Nellie” by mistake, and the error stuck. Madden was once again impressed with her writing and offered her a full-time job with the paper.

Bly’s early work for the Dispatch focused on the lives of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. Bly went undercover as a poor woman to get hired at a copper cable factory for a firsthand view of the poor working conditions that women and children faced in the typical factory setting. Her columns were applauded by factory workers and the public for highlighting the hidden truths facing factory workers. However, the newspaper received complaints from factory owners about her writing. She was reassigned to the “women’s pages” to cover fashion, society, and gardening, the usual role for female journalists. She became dissatisfied with that role and at only 21, she was determined "to do something no girl has done before.” In 1885, she traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent, spending nearly six months reporting on the lives and customs of ordinary Mexican people.

In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the dictatorship of the Porfirio Diaz regime. When Mexican authorities learned of Bly's report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to flee the country. Safely home, she accused Díaz of being a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press. After the Mexican debacle, the Dispatch assigned her to the women’s pages again. In 1888, her dispatches would be published as a book called Six Months in Mexico.

Hitting it Big

Feeling very limited by her theater and arts assignment, Bly left the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887, and moved to New York City, but encountered rejection after rejection as news editors would not consider hiring a woman. Penniless after four months, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World, pitching a daring undercover investigative assignment to the paper's managing editor, John Cockerill. She would feign insanity and get committed to the notorious Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island (now called Roosevelt Island) to expose its abuse and neglect. It was not easy for her to be admitted to the asylum; she first decided to check herself into a boarding house called a "Temporary Home for Females". She stayed up all night to give herself the wide-eyed look of a disturbed woman. She refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked "crazy." They soon decided that she was "crazy," and the next morning summoned the police. She kept telling them she had amnesia, and once examined by a police officer, a judge, and a doctor, Bly was taken to Bellevue Hospital where several doctors examined her; all declared her insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her." The head of the Bellevue Insane Pavilion pronounced her "undoubtedly insane". The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention: "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif" with the "wild, haunted look in her eyes" and her desperate cry: "I can't remember, I can't remember."

Once admitted to the asylum, Bly abandoned any pretense at mental illness and began to behave as she would normally. The hospital staff seemed unaware that she was no longer “insane” and instead began to report her ordinary actions as symptoms of her illness. Even her pleas to be released were interpreted as further signs of mental illness. Speaking with her fellow patients, Bly was convinced that some were as “sane” as she was.

Bly experienced the deplorable conditions firsthand. The nurses behaved obnoxiously and abusively, telling the patients to shut up, and beating them if they did not. The food consisted of gruel, spoiled beef, bread that was little more than dried dough, and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. The patients were made to sit for much of each day on hard benches with scant protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating places. Rats crawled all around the hospital. Later she wrote about her experiences, saying:

What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my actions, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up, and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck.

A particularly memorable experience for Bly were the baths that the patients received. The bathwater was frigid and buckets of it were poured over their heads, after which the patients were roughly scrubbed by attendants. The bath water was rarely changed, with many patients bathing in the same filthy water. Even when the water was eventually changed, the staff did not scrub or clean out the bath, instead throwing the next patient into a stained, dirty tub. The patients also shared bath towels, with healthy patients forced to dry themselves with a towel previously used by patients with skin inflammations, boils, or open sores. Bly recalled the bathing ritual with trepidation, stating:

My teeth chattered and my limbs were goose-fleshed and blue with cold. Suddenly I got, one after the other, three buckets of water over my head—ice-cold water, too—into my eyes, my ears, my nose and my mouth.

After ten days, The World secured Bly’s release from the asylum. Her report, published in The World, caused a sensation and brought her lasting fame. Of her release, Bly wrote:

I left the insane ward with pleasure and regret–pleasure that I was once more able to enjoy the free breath of heaven; regret that I could not have brought with me some of the unfortunate women who lived and suffered with me, and who, I am convinced, are just as sane as I was and am now myself.

Later in 1887 her reports were compiled and released as the book Ten Days in a Mad-house. The question, was how Bly managed to convince professionals of her insanity in the first place. As revealed in Ten Days in a Mad-House, Bly spoke of how the main physician that performed her examination was more focused on the attractive nurse that was assisting the examination than with Bly herself. While physicians and staff worked to explain how she had deceived so many professionals, Bly's report prompted a grand jury to launch its own investigation with Bly testifying during the proceedings. The jury's report resulted in an $850,000 increase in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. The grand jury also ensured that future examinations were more thorough so that only the seriously mentally ill were committed to the asylum.

In 1893, Bly used the celebrity status she had gained from her asylum reporting skills to schedule an exclusive interview with the allegedly insane serial killer Lizzie Halliday.3 regarding this interview, Bly Biographer Brooke Kroeger wrote:

Her two-part series in October 1887 was a sensation, effectively launching the decade of “stunt” or “detective” reporting, a clear precursor to investigative journalism and one of Joseph Pulitzer’s innovations that helped give “New Journalism” of the 1880s and 1890s its moniker. The employment of “stunt girls” has often been dismissed as a circulation-boosting gimmick of the sensationalist press. However, the genre also provided women with their first collective opportunity to demonstrate that, as a class, they had the skills necessary for the highest level of general reporting. The stunt girls, with Bly as their prototype, were the first women to enter the journalistic mainstream in the twentieth century.

In 1888, Bly suggested to her editor at the New York World that she attempt to turn the fictional Jules Verne book, Around the World in 80 Days into a actual trip around the world. A year later, at 9:40 am on November 14, 1889, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg American Line and began her 24,898 mile journey. Her goal was to finish in 75 days. She brought with her the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (£200 in English bank notes and gold, as well as some American currency) in a bag tied around her neck.

On her travels around the world, Bly went through England; France, where she met Jules Verne in Amiens, Brindisi in southern Italy; the Suez Canal, Colombo in Ceylon, Penang and Singapore on the Malay Peninsula, Hong Kong, and Japan. The development of efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph allowed Bly to send short progress reports, though longer dispatches had to travel by regular post and were thus often delayed by several weeks. Bly travelled using steamships and existing railroad systems, which caused occasional setbacks, particularly on the Asian leg of her race. During these stops, she visited a leper colony in China, and bought a monkey in Singapore.

To sustain interest in the story, the World organized a “Nellie Bly Guessing Match” in which readers were asked to estimate Bly’s arrival time to the second, with the Grand Prize consisting of a trip to Europe and spending money for the journey. During her travels around the world, She had traveled alone for almost the entire journey. Bly was not the only woman attempting to circumnavigate for newspaper sensation: Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore was attempting the journey in the opposite direction, for Cosmopolitan. Bly dismissed the attempts by the press to drum up a cheap competition. "I would not race," she said. "If someone else wants to do the trip in less time, that is their concern."

As a result of rough weather on her Pacific crossing, she arrived in San Francisco on the White Star liner Oceanic on January 21, two days behind schedule. However, New York World owner Pulitzer chartered a private train to bring her home. It was christened the Miss Nellie Bly Special and was operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from San Francisco to Chicago. The special train set new speed records over the route, completing the 2,577-mile journey in 69 hours, averaging 37 mph. When they reached Chicago, back on schedule, Bly presented each division superintendent with a quart of Mumm’s Extra Dry Champagne.

Bly arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m, completing her journey 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes after leaving Hoboken. Bly's journey was a world record, though it only stood for a few months, until George Francis Train lowered it to 67 days. After the fanfare of her trip around the world, Bly quit reporting and took a lucrative job writing serial novels for publisher Norman Munro’s weekly New York Family Story Paper. The first chapters of Eva The Adventuress, based on the real-life trial of Eva Hamilton4, appeared in print before Bly returned to New York. Between 1889 and 1895 she wrote eleven novels. As few copies of the paper survived, these novels were thought lost until 2021, when author David Blixit announced the discovery of eleven lost novels in Munro's British weekly The London Story Paper.

Later Life

In 1895, Bly married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seman. Bly was 31 and Seaman was 73. Due to her husband’s failing health, she left journalism and succeeded her husband as head of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. which made steel milk cans and boilers. Seaman died in 1904. That same year, Iron Clad began manufacturing the steel barrel that was the model for the 55-gallon oil drum still in widespread use today. There have been claims that Bly was responsible for the design, but the inventor was registered as Henry Wehrhahn (US Patents 808,327 and 808,413).

Bly was also an inventor in her own right, receiving US Patent 697, 553 for a new milk can and Patent 703,711 for a stacking garbage can, both under her married name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States, but her lake of business acumen, and embezzlement by a factory manager, resulted in the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. going bankrupt.

According to biographer Brooke Kroeger:

She ran her company as a model of social welfare, replete with health benefits and recreational facilities. But Bly was hopeless at understanding the financial aspects of her business and ultimately lost everything. Unscrupulous employees bilked the firm of hundreds of thousands of dollars, troubles compounded by protracted and costly bankruptcy litigation.

Back in reporting, she covered the Women Suffrage Procession of 1913 for the New York Evening Journal. Her article’s headline was “Suffragists Are Men’s Superiors”, and she accurately predicted that women in the United States would be given the right to vote in 1920. Bly also wrote stories on the eastern Front during World War I.

She was the first woman and one of the first foreigners to visit the war zone between Serbia and Austria, and at one point, was mistakenly arrested as a British spy.

Death and Accolades

Bly died of Pneumonia on January 27, 1922, at St. Mark’s Hospital, New York City, at the age of 57. She was interred at woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. In 1998, Bly was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2002 she was one of four journalists honored with a US postage stamp in a Women in Journalism, and in 2021 a memorial art installation by Amanda Matthews on Roosevelt Island called The Girl Puzzle opened to the public.

The New York Press Club confers an annual Nellie Bly Cub Reporter award to the best journalistic effort by an individual with three years or fewer of professional experience. Since 2017, the Museum of Political Corruption has honored journalists annually with the Nellie Bly award for investigative reporting.

Constance Markievicz

Constance Georgine Markievicz, also known as Countess Markievicz, was an Irish painter, revolutionary national politician, suffragist and socialist. She was the first woman elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Early Life

Constance Georgine Gore-Booth was born at Buckingham Gate in London on February 4, 1868, the elder daughter of the Arctic explorer and adventurer Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th Baronet, an Anglo-Irish Protestant landlord who administered a 39 square mile estate in County Sligo Ireland, and Georgina Hill. During the Irish Famine of 1880, Sir Henry provided free food for the tenants on his estate in the northwest of Ireland. Their father's example inspired in Constance and her younger sister, Eva, a deep concern for working people and the poor. The sisters were childhood friends of the poet William Butler Yeats who frequently visited Lissadell House, the family home, and were influenced by his artistic and political ideas. Yeats wrote a poem, “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz”, in which he described the sisters as "two girls in silk kimono, both beautiful, one a gazelle" (Eva was the gazelle). Eva later became involved in the labor movement and women’s suffrage in Great Britain, although initially Constance did not share her sister's ideals.

To her family’s dismay Constance wished to train as a painter, and in 1892, she began studies at the Slade School of Art in London. One of her contemporaries there was Blanche Vulliamy.5 It was at this time that Gore-Booth first became politically active and joined the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Later she moved to Paris and enrolled at the prestigious Academie Julian where she met her future husband Kazimierz Markiewicz an artist from a wealthy Polish landowning family in present-day Ukraine (then under the rule of the Russian Empire). Kazimierz Markievicz, was known as Count Markievicz in Paris, a title that was the norm for large landowners in Poland at this time. When the Gore-Booth family enquired as to the validity of the title, they were informed through the Russian Secret Police that he had taken the title “without right” and that there had never been a “Count Markievicz” in Poland. However, the Department of Genealogy in Saint Petersburg said that he was entitled to claim to be a member of the nobility. Markievicz was married, though separated, at the time they met; his wife died in 1899 and he and Gore-Booth married in London on September 29, 1900. She gave birth to their daughter, Maeve, at Lissadell in November 1901. Maeve was mainly raised by her Gore-Booth grandparents. Stanislas, Casimir’s son from his first marriage, accompanied the couple to Ireland after their honeymoon visit to his homeland. The Markiewiczs settled in Dublin in 1903 and moved in artistic and literary circles, with Constance gaining a reputation as a landscape painter.

In 1905, Constance along with artists Sarah Purser, Nathaniel Hone, Walter Osborne and John Butler Yeats (father of William Butler Yeats) founded the United Arts Club, which was an attempt to bring together all those in Dublin with an artistic and literary bent. This group included the leading figures of the Gaelic League, founded by future first President of Ireland Douglas Hyde. Although formally concerned only with the preservation of the Irish language and culture, the league brought together many patriots and future political leaders. Sarah Purser, whom the Gore-Booth sisters first met in 1882, when she was commissioned to paint their portrait, hosted a regular salon where artists, writers and intellectuals on both sides of the nationalist divide gathered. At Purser's house, Markievicz met revolutionary patriots Michael Davitt, John O’Leary, and Maud Gonne. In 1907, Markievicz rented a cottage in the countryside near Dublin, the previous tenant, poet Padraic Colum, had left behind copies of The Peasant and Sinn Fein. These revolutionary journals promoted independence from British rule. When Markievicz read them, she was propelled into action.

Beginnings of Political Activity

In 1908, Markievicz became actively involved in nationalist politics in Ireland. She joined Sinn Fein6 and Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Ireland), a revolutionary women's movement founded by Maud Gonne.7 Markievicz came directly to her first meeting from a function at Dublin Castle, the seat of British rule in Ireland, wearing a satin ball gown and a diamond tiara. Constance told her friend Helena Molony that this refreshing change from being “kowtowed to as a countess” only made her more eager to join. She performed with Maud Gonne in several plays at the newly established Abbey Theater, an institution that played an important part in the rise of cultural nationalism. In the same year, Markievicz played a significant role in the women's suffrage campaigners' opposition of Winston Churchill (yes, that Churchill), during the 1908 Manchester North West byelection, by flamboyantly driving an old-fashioned carriage drawn by four white horses through the constituency to promote the suffragist cause. A male heckler asked her if she could cook a dinner, to which she responded, "Yes. Can you drive a coach and four?" Her sister had moved to Manchester to live with fellow suffragette Esther Roper, and they joined the campaign against the anti-suffragist Churchill. Churchill lost the election to Conservative candidate William Joyson-Hicks, due in part, to the suffragists' dedicated opposition.

In 1909 Markievicz founded Fianna Eireann ("Soldiers of Ireland"), a nationalist organization instructing teenage boys in scouting, like their English counterparts, the Boy Scouts. On August 16, 1909, at the Fianna’s first meeting in Dublin, Constance was almost expelled because “women did not belong in a physical force movement”. She garnered the support of Irish Republican Bulmer Hobson, who had also attempted to start a boy scout group in Belfast. His support was key and he became the Chief of Staff for the group.

In 1911, Markievicz was jailed for the first time for speaking at an Irish Republican Brotherhood8 demonstration in 1911, organized to protest King George V’s visit to Ireland. During this protest, Markievicz handed out leaflets, erected large banners emblazoned “Dear land thou art not conquered yet”, threw stones at pictures of the King and Queen and burned the giant British flag taken from Leinster House (home of the Duke of Leinster). Her friends James McArdle and Helena Molony were imprisoned for one month, despite Markievicz testifying in court that she was responsible for the protest.

In 1913, Markievicz joined James Connolly’s socialist Irish Citizen Army, (ICA), a volunteer force formed in response to the Dublin Lock-out,9 to defend the workers from the police. Markievicz recruited volunteers to peel potatoes in the basement of Liberty Hall, while she and others distributed the food. To finance her political activities, Constance was forced to take out loans and to sell her jewellery. She also used her money to help Irish children to attend school and opened a soup kitchen in 1913 with Inghinidhe na hEireann to feed the poor. She wrote editorials for the Inghinidhe na hEireann magazine Bean na h-Eireann (Women of Ireland) in which she gave advice to potential protestors to “Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank and buy a revolver.” She was deeply inspired by James Connolly, and designed the ICA uniform and composed its anthem. Also in 1913, Kazimierz Markievicz moved back to Poland. He would never live in Ireland again, although he and Constance remained married and corresponded often.

Easter Rising

As 1916 began Markievicz became a leader in the Home Rule movement. When Ireland was plunged into revolution with the 1916 Easter Rising, Markievicz took an active role in the fighting as a member of the Irish Citizen Army. Under the command of Commandant Michael Mallin, his second-in-command Kit Poole and Markievicz, between 200 and 250 ICA troops established a position in St Stephen's Green in the center of Dublin. They confiscated motor vehicles to establish roadblocks on the streets that surround the green, and dug trenches in the park itself. This approach differed from other groups during the Rising, that took up positions in buildings. and it proved to be unwise when British Army units occupied the Shelbourne Hotel, at the northeastern corner of St Stephen's Green, overlooking the park. They hauled machine guns to the roof of the hotel and fired down into the entrenchments. However, since this is Ireland, gunfire was temporarily halted during the British attack to allow the park’s groundskeeper to feed the ducks. Finding themselves in a weak position, the volunteers withdrew to the Royal College of Surgeons on the west side of the Green. The ICA fighters held out for six days, only surrendering when the British brought them the written order from Rising leader, Patrick Pearse, to end the fighting. After the surrender order was shown to the ICA, Markievicz kissed her revolver before surrendering it to the English. Oddly enough, the British officer who accepted the group’s surrender, Captain de Courcy Wheeler, was married to Markievicz’s first cousin, Selina Maude Beresford Knox.

485 people were killed during the rebellion. 260 civilians, 143 British military/police personnel, 82 Irish rebels, and more than 2,600 people were wounded. Many of the civilians were killed or wounded by British artillery fire or were mistaken for rebels. Others were caught in the crossfire during firefights between the British and the rebels. The shelling and resulting fires left parts of central Dublin in ruins. The 16 leaders of the Rising were arrested and later executed for their roles in the conflict.

Constance was taken to Dublin Castle and then to Kilmainham Gaol. She was the only one of 70 women prisoners who was put into solitary confinement and the only woman to be court-martialed for her role in the Rising. At her court-martial on May 4, 1916, Markievicz pleaded not guilty to “taking part in an armed rebellion for the purpose of assisting the enemy,” but pleaded guilty to having attempted “to cause disaffection among the civil population of His Majesty”. Markievicz told the court, “I went out to fight for Ireland’s freedom and it does not matter what happens to me. I did what I thought was right and I stand by it.” She was sentenced to death, but the court recommended mercy “solely and only on account of her sex”. The sentence was commuted to life in prison. When informed of this, she said to her captors, “I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me.”

In July of 1916, Markievicz was transferred to Mountjoy Prison, then Holloway Prison, and finally Aylesbury Prison. The last two located in England. Markievicz served just 13 months in prison and was released in 1917, along with others involved in the Rising, as the government in London granted a general amnesty for those who had participated in it. It was around this time that Markievicz, converted to Catholicism, which seems strange for a conflict, that for so many years was very sectarian.

Post Easter Rising Role

She was jailed again in 1917, along with other leading Sinn Fein members, for actively opposing attempts to introduce conscription in Ireland, and jailed again in 1918 for their part in the supposed German Plot.10 On December 28, During the 1918 UK election in Ireland, Sinn Fein won 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland; Markievicz was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin St. Patrick’s, beating her opponent William Field with 66% of the vote.

This made her the first woman elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons. However, in line with Sinn Fein abstentionist policy, she did not take her seat in the House of Commons - as a member of Sinn Fein, she refused to swear allegiance to the English king. Markievicz was in Holloway Prison when her colleagues assembled in Dublin at the first meeting of the 1st Dail, the Parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. When her name was called, she was described, like many of those elected, as being “imprisoned by the foreign enemy”. She was re-elected to the 2nd Dail in 1921.

Markievicz served as Minister for Labor from April 1919 to January 1922, in the Second and Third Ministry of the Dail. Holding cabinet rank from April to August 1919, she became both the first Irish female cabinet minister and the second female government minister in Europe. Her Labor department was concerned with setting up Conciliation Boards, arbitrating labor disputes, and establishing guidelines for wages and food prices. Markievicz left the government in January 1922 along with Eamon de Valera and others opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. She worked actively for the Republican cause during the Irish Civil War, including directing the Citizen Army in the occupation of Moran’s Hotel in Dublin. During the Battle of Dublin (June 28 to July 5 1922) she helped lead the forces of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) Dublin Brigade. Members of Cumann na mBan assisted by carrying dispatches between the occupied Four Courts buildings and the Dublin Brigade headquarters. After the civil war she lost her seat in the 1922 election, she regained her seat in 1923, but once again refused to sit in parliament. In November 1923 she was arrested again, while attempting to collect signatures for a petition demanding the release of imprisoned republicans. In prison, she went on a hunger strike and was released within a month. In 1926, she left Sinn Fein and joined the newly founded Fianna Fail11, chairing the inaugural meeting of the new party in La Scala Theatre. In June 1927 she was re-elected to the 5th Dail.

Death, Funeral and Later Accolades

Markievicz died at the age of 59 on July 15, 1927, of complications after two appendicitis operations, a dangerous surgery in the days before antibiotics. She had given away the last of her wealth. She died in a public ward “among the poor where she wanted to be”. One of the doctors attending her was her revolutionary colleague Kathleen Lynn. Also at her bedside were her husband and step son, Kazimierz and Stanislas Markievicz, Eamon de Valera and her good friend Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. Prior to her death, Esther Roper, Marie Perolz, Helena Molony andKathleen Lynn maintained a vigil at Constance’s bed. She was refused a state funeral by the Irish Free State Government but laid in state in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital, where she had spoken at so many political meetings. Thousands of the Dubliners lined O’Connell Street and Parnell Square to pass by her body and pay their respects to ‘Madame’. It took four hours for the beginning of the funeral, starting from the Rotunda, to reach the gates of Glasnevin Cemetery. Eamon de Valera gave the funeral oration, while Free State soldiers stood on guard to prevent the rifle salute that Michael Collins had called “the only speech which it is proper to make above the grave of a dead Fenian”. Her former Citizen Army colleague the playwright Sean O’Casey said of her: “One thing she had in abundance—physical courage; with that she was clothed as with a garment.

In County Sligo Markievicz Road and Markievicz Park (the main Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in the county) both bear her name. In Dublin, the flat complex Countess Markievicz House also bears her name. In 2018, a portrait of Markievicz was donated by the Irish parliament to the British House of Commons to commemorate the Representation of the People Act 1918, under which, some women were allowed the right to vote for the first time in the United Kingdom. In 2019, a Dublin City Council Commemorative Plaque was unveiled at Markievicz’s former home in Dublin, Surrey House on Leinster Road in Rathmines. Sculpture of Markievicz and her cocker spaniel, Poppet, on Townsend Street, Dublin by Elizabeth McLaughlin. In 2008, the Ukrainian village of Zhyvotivka, where Constance stayed with the Markievicz family in 1903, opened a room dedicated to the couple with the documents brought from Lissadel.

I think you would agree with me that Nellie Bly and Constance Markievicz are two interesting people from history. I hope you have enjoyed this post and look forward to the next one. This was supposed to be a post about four people but I found Bly and Markievicz so interesting it was too hard to cut any of the details of their lives. So, next time I have the other two interesting people to look at.

Chris

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Blanche Georgiana Vulliamy (1869 – 4 August 1923) was an English ceramic artist, painter, and writer. After training as a portrait artist Vulliamy worked mainly as a designer of art pottery, and is best known for her work portraying bats, goblins, and other grotesque creatures.

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Edith Maud Gonne MacBride (December, 21 1866 – April 27, 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary suffragette and actress. Beyond her political activities, Gonne was well known for being the muse and long-time love interest of Irish poet W.B. Yeats, who proposed to her four times and was turned down every time. Yeats wrote at least 40 poems about her or mentioning her, including; “No Second Troy” (1910), “A Woman Homer Sung” (1910), “The Cold Heaven” (1914), and “Among School Children” (1927).

My yearly baseball exile is now over and I just have to get through graduation season before I can get back to my regular schedule. As always, it was a fun but challenging season and it is bittersweet that it is now over. I really enjoy coaching baseball, but it also soaks up a lot my time. I was the head coach of my local Catholic High School Junior Varsity team. We finished the season 8-4 which makes me 18-15 over two seasons, not too bad when you consider I only had eight kids until right before the season and our first outdoor practice was our first two games of the season, a occupational hazard of high school baseball in Northern Michigan.

Today is Memorial Day, a day that I hold close to my heart, for reasons that will become apparent shortly. I have issues with the way this day is celebrated and this post is my fourth annual response to the “yeah, it’s summer” crowd.

Chris

I’m coming to you today with a special episode of “The Musing of a Normal Midwestern Guy” to speak about a holiday that has lost its original meaning (not that every holiday in America hasn’t lost its meaning). That holiday is Memorial Day, in modern America, Memorial Day is the start of summer, a day of picnics, parties, the Indy 500 and other fun outdoor activities. If there is a recognition of the solemnity of the day, it is usually miscast as a celebration of all who served in the military. While a noble sentiment, there is already two days to honor our fellow Americans who have served their country, Armed Forces Day (the third Saturday of May) and Veterans Day (November 11). Memorial Day is, and should always be, reserved for an even more revered group of Americans, those that gave their lives for this country.

Even the traditions of Memorial Day set it apart from every other patriotic holiday. The graves of fallen soldiers should be decorated with flowers or flags and the Stars and Stripes should be flown at half-mast. However, the flag is not left at half-mast all day. The flag is flown at half-mast until noon to honor our fallen heroes and raised to full-mast by those left behind, who resolve not to let the sacrifice of the departed be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all. This holiday, above all others, should inspire awe, reverence and thanks, from every Americans to all those it honors; the honored war dead.

As I’m wont to do, I will start with a little historical background of the holiday. The first known mention of a day to mark the sacrifice of Fallen Soldiers was in a letter printed in the Columbus Sun and Times (Columbus, Georgia) on March 10, 1866. The letter was titled “The Southern Dead” and was submitted by “Southern Women”. It was in fact written by Mary Ann Williams, the wife of Confederate officer Charles Williams. It reads in part:

“The Ladies are now and have been for several days engaged in the sad but pleasant duty of ornamenting and improving that portion of the city cemetery sacred to the memory of our gallant Confederate dead, but we feel it an unfinished work unless a day be set apart annually for its special attention. We cannot raise monumental shafts and inscribe thereon their many deeds of heroism, but we can keep alive the memory of the debt we owe them, by at least dedicating one day in each year to embellishing their humble graves with flowers. therefore we beg the assistance of the Press and the Ladies throughout the South in our efforts to set apart a certain day to be observed and handed down through time as a religious custom of the country to wreath the graves of our martyred dead with flowers.”

This letter was reprinted in newspapers all over the South, and days of remembrance began to be observed in cities and towns across what had been the Confederacy. As the practice grew it started to be picked up by newspapers in the North and the idea gained traction, even though it had began as a way to honor the southern dead. On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR, an organization of and for Civil War veterans) issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide. With his proclamation, Logan adopted the Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states two years earlier. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday. In 1869, memorial events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states, with 336 events in 1870. One author claims that the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle, but according to the White House in 2010, the date was chosen as the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom in the North. In 1871, Michigan (my home state) made Decoration Day an official state holiday and by 1890, every northern state had followed suit. There was still animosity between the North and the South and each area had their own holidays on different days and there was no mention of the other side on those days. By the 20th century, various Union and Confederate memorial traditions, celebrated on different days, merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in military service. Memorial Day speeches became an occasion for veterans, politicians, and ministers to commemorate the Civil War and, at first, to rehash the "atrocities" of the enemy. They mixed religion and celebratory nationalism for the people to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation. People of all religious beliefs joined and the point was often made that German and Irish soldiers, ethnic minorities who had faced discrimination in the United States, had become true Americans in a "baptism of blood" on the battlefield. In 1913 Washington DC was host to a four-day "Blue-Gray Reunion". It featured large numbers of both Union and Confederate soldiers shaking hands and recognizing their shared sacrifice. As well as parades, re-enactments, and speeches from a host of dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson, the first Southerner elected to the White House since the Civil War (he was a horrible president and an even worse person, but that is something for another time). James Heflin, a Senator from Alabama, gave the main address. Heflin, who was a noted orator, was a controversial choice as Memorial Day speaker because of his support of segregation; however, his speech was moderate in tone and stressed national unity and goodwill, gaining him praise from newspapers. However, it seems that the holiday quickly started to lose the reverence intended for the occasion. In 1911 the scheduling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway car race (later named the Indianapolis 500) was vehemently opposed by the increasingly elderly members of the GAR and as early as 1913 one Indiana veteran complained that younger people born since the war ended, had a "tendency to forget the purpose of Memorial Day and make it a day for games, races, and revelry, instead of a day of memory and tears”. In 1923 Indiana’s state of legislature rejected holding the Indy 500 on Memorial Day. However, the newly formed American Legion and local officials and businesses wanted the big race, (and the money it generated), to continue, and they were able to convince Governor Warren McCray to veto the bill and the race has been held Memorial Day weekend ever since. The date of the holiday has moved around over the years, in the Southern Dead letter it was recommended the second Wednesday in May and throughout the country it has been observed from early May to early June. Over time May 30 was standardized as the official date for the observance. Of course that wasn’t good enough for the members of Congress, who on June 28, 1968, passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved three holidays, including Memorial Day, (as well as Washington’s birthday and Columbus Day) from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend.

Now that I have established the history of the holiday, I can get back to the real reason for this post. Why this holiday keeps its original meaning for me and always will.

As you all know, (or might not if you’re a new subscriber) I proudly served in the United States Marine Corps from May 30, 1989, to May 30, 1993. In that time I travelled the world on Uncle Sam’s dime and visited many interesting places, among them were Somalia and Kuwait. It is my time in Kuwait that drives the point home for me as to the real meaning and purpose of this holiday.

During the Gulf War, I was a Field Radio Operator with 3rd Battalion 7th Marine Regiment (part of the 1st Marine Division). In the Marine Corps structure of the time, the Battalion was made up of three infantry companies (for 3/7 it was India, Kilo and Lima) and Headquarters & Service (H&S) Company. The radio operators, were in the Communication Platoon of H&S Company (along with the Headquarters Platoon, Service Platoon, Transport Platoon, Medical Platoon and oddly enough, the Situation and Target Acquisition Platoon, otherwise known as the snipers). You lived, ate, worked and played with Marines from your platoon and had a pretty good level of friendship with the other Marines in your company, and although there was not a whole lot of fraternization between Marines from the different companies everyone knew a few guys in the other companies. Two Marines that fit both of those categories for me were Christian Porter and Brian Lane. Porter was a 20 year old from Chicago who was in the Transport Platoon. I remember him as a funny kid (he was only 20, while I was a seasoned 22), he like rap music, baseball and was going to start a record label after the Marines. The other thing about Chris (yes, it was a little confusing when we were together, although he was call Dark Green Chris and I was Light Green Chris. The was how the Marines dealt with race, there were no black or white Marines, only dark green and light green Marines) was his devotion to his faith, he was much more religious than most Marines. He also loved to sing gospel songs. If I ran into him at the Enlisted Club, he would always talk baseball while having a few drinks, (he always had one or two, while I drank like a Marine) and laugh about the Tigers and how much better the White Sox were. He was always a pleasure to be around and a peacemaker in the sometimes volatile world of the Marines.

Brian Lane was a Marine I knew from India Company, I don’t even remember how I first met him, probably during some kind of training. He was an acquaintance, you know the kind of person that you would greet and make small talk with if you ran into somewhere. I know he was from Indiana and he was 20 like Porter.

These Marines were killed during the Gulf War on consecutive days. Christian Porter on February 24, 1991 and Brian Lane on February 25, 1991. These two heroes were the only two Marines killed during the Gulf War from 3/7 and their deaths have stuck with everyone in the battalion. Christian Porter was killed by “friendly fire” on the first day of the ground war. He was driving one of the M-939 5-ton trucks that we used to transport supplies. He was part of the logistics train following several miles behind the rest of the battalion, who were walking into Kuwait. 3rd Battalion 7th Marines, our sister battalion 2/7 and 3rd Battalion 12th Marines (an artillery unit) comprised Task Force Grizzly, a foot-mobile force, (not counting 3/12 who had trucks for their howitzers), that was tasked with breaching the minefields and bunker complexes just across the border inside Kuwait. Next to us was Task Force Ripper, composed of the remaining battalion in the 7th Marines, 1/7, 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Tank Battalion. This was a vehicle-mobile unit with 40 M-60 Patton tanks. The plan had both task forces driving into Kuwait with Ripper looping around behind Grizzly and attacking in a more westerly direction. Unfortunately, the timing was off and when the tanks of Ripper was moving behind us the came across the logistics train plodding along in their 5-tons and Humvees, neither of which were part of the, already retreating, Iraqi army's list of vehicles. The tanks apparently didn't think that US vehicles coming from the south might actually be US forces and opened fire on the supply vehicles. The tanks were loaded for a fight against Iraqi tanks and had HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) rounds which made mincemeat out of the trucks and humvees. One round travelled through the door of the vehicle Christian Porter was driving, through him, without detonating, out the driver's door and through the beds of three more trucks without hitting anything hard enough to cause it to detonate. Christian was killed instantly. News of his death and the circumstances surrounding it, raced through the battalion like wildfire. All Marines understand that there is a chance that they will be called to serve in a combat situation and their life would be on the line, but the idea that one of us would be killed by fire from our own side was never even considered. There would be consequences for the members of 3rd Tanks but that is another story. There are always “friendly fire” incidents in every war, because of the confused nature of war. It every other war the number of those deaths are vastly outnumbered by the enemy caused deaths. In nearly every other war the percentage of “friendly-fire” casualties is 2%, in the Gulf War it was 25%.

The very next day Task Force Grizzly moved further into Kuwait and was poised to occupy the Kuwaiti Air Force Base of Al Jaber. Unfortunately, because of smoke from all the oil wells fires, we were unable to determine that there was still a substantial force of Iraqis at the airbase. 3/7 was leading the attack with the other two battalions in a parallel line behind us. During a night so black that even starlight scopes didn't help, (because of the massive amount of smoke from the oil wells that had been set on fire by Iraqi forces), we stumbled into a battle we didn't expect in conditions no one should have to fight in. Visibility was at the best of times no more than ten feet and at the worst, one foot. This battle was a violent, sometimes hand to hand collection of little fights between small groups of Marines and Iraqis. It is hard to describe the chaos and confusion of this battle. The radios worked just fine but no one knew where they were in relation to anyone else which made coordination nearly impossible. Once the Iraqis realized they were under attack, they began firing mortars randomly into the dark. I’m sure they hit their own troops as well as making it even more difficult for us to continue the attack. One of those mortar rounds hit near Brian Lane, peppering him with shrapnel, we’re not sure how long after he was hit that it was discovered that he had been wounded but the call came over the radio that a medivac was needed. When the helicopter reach the area they reported that it would be impossible to land because of the smoke obscuring everything. He would have to be evacuated a different way. Lane was taken off the line by fellow Marines and moved to the rear while at the same time a humvee from the Battalion Headquarters was sent to meet him. It was slow going for the vehicle as it had to be escorted by a Marine walking in front of it with a hand on the hood because of the darkness. They eventually met, and Lane was put in the vehicle, which repeated the process to return to the rear. Somewhere in that process, he died. The battle went on throughout the night but at some point the Iraqis withdrew under the cover of the smoke and darkness. It wasn’t until morning that word had spread about a second death in the battalion, to make matters worse three days later, February 28th, President Bush called and end to any offensive operations and on March 3 1991 Iraq signed a cease-fire agreement. The ground war had only taken 100 hours but it has left a lasting mark on me, as well as everyone who knew Christian Porter and Brian Lane.

So today, when everyone is outside having fun and enjoying the start of summer, I’m thinking of two American heroes who would have been 55 this year. They should be enjoying the long weekend with friends and family but instead they gave their last full measure for their country and will remain 20 years old in fading pictures and memories. Today should be the day that all Americans remember those, like Christian Porter and Brian Lane, as well as thousands of others, that have given their lives so we could enjoy the freedom this country has offered since 1776. Today I will have a drink and toast Christian and Brian with a hearty Semper Fi!!

Chris

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Last time I started a look at the odd alternate names minor league baseball teams use to increase attendance and earn a little more income. Today I will conclude the look at the crazy world of minor league promotions. If you would like to read the last episode please click the link below. Just like this time the post is too big to be read in the email version just click on it and read the whole thing on the Substack website. I’ll have another repeat post for Memorial Day and then in June I’ll get back to a regular schedule, I hope!

Erie Sea Wolves

The Sea Wolves are the Double A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers as we covered in my post about the cool names and logos I like. Click below to read it.

Erie Pepperoni Balls

The Pepperoni Balls are an alternate identity that celebrates the pepperoni ball. The pepperoni ball or pepperoni roll, as it is sometimes called, originated as a lunch option for coal miners in north-central West Virginia in the first half of the 20th century. It was ideal because they do not need to be refrigerated and were easily packed for lunch. The practice spread to Pennsylvania coal country and to the western parts of the state, including Erie. As they gained in popularity it was inevitable that someone would cash in on the craze. They were first sold by Giuseppe "Joseph" Argiro at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1927 and it has grown from there. The classic pepperoni roll consists of a soft roll with pepperoni baked into the middle. As is the case with most of these food identities, they do serve them at the stadium.

Augusta Greenjackets

Once again, we revisit another team from my favorite logos post. The Augusta Green Jackets, the Low A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.

Augusta Pimento Cheese

Every year the Masters golf tournament is held in Augusta Georgia, right across the Savannah River from Augusta South Carolina where the Greenjackets play. The Greenjackets play as the Augusta Pimento Cheese to honor the iconic sandwich that is served at the tournament, (for the bargain basement price of $1.50). The tradition began in the mid-1950s, when a South Carolina caterer named Nick Rangos began selling his sandwiches to hungry attendees, gradually cultivating a fan base that came to associate the golf tournament with his signature sandwich. His pimento cheese reign lasted nearly half a century, when in 1998, the tournament gave the sandwich contract to a local fried chicken restaurant named Wife Saver. Rangos, jilted from his position, refused to give up his beloved recipe (in fact, he took it to his grave) and so Wife Saver set out on a long and ambling mission to reconstruct it. They eventually succeeded and the sight of galleries following golfers around the course while munching on the sandwiches continues. If you wanted to make your own pimento cheese sandwich this is what you need:

3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded yellow sharp cheddar cheese
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (4-oz) jar sliced pimentos, drained
1 cup light mayo
2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Mix it all together until it is smooth, chill it in the fridge for an hour and then spread it on white bread. It makes four sandwiches.

Pavos Salvajes de Augusta

Pavos Salvajes is the Copa identity of the Greenjackets. It is a nod to South Carolina’s official State Game Bird, the wild turkey. Turkeys are native to most of North America and even Central America. The birds stand out with their blue heads and colorful feathers, a perfect inspiration for an alternate identity.

Gwinnett Stripers

The Stripers are the Triple A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves in the international League. The name “Stripers” refer to the Striped Bass in the local waterways. Oddly enough for teams today, the Stripers only have one alter ego. However their main logo is not bad either.

Xolos de Gwinnett

The Xolos are the Copa identity of the Stripers and it pays tribute to the Xoloitzcuintle, the hairless dog of Mexico. It is a bread that has been around for hundreds of years and was viewed by the Aztecs as a guide to the underworld for the dead. I just think the logo, and the dog is cool looking.

Aberdeen IronBirds

Another team from my first minor league post, the IronBirds, are the Low A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

Aberdeen Steamed Crabs

In order to honor the fresh seafood in the area the IronBirds sometimes take the field as the Steamed Crabs. Maryland blue crabs, locally caught, seasoned and steamed at the ballpark are the main culinary draw, but there are “crabby specials” all over the ballpark, including Crab Pretzels (smothered in crab dip) and an Old Bay Sausage. They even have their own special mascot for those games Konrad the Crab. I want to go just for the food, I’m sure it is delicious.

Chesapeake Decoy

The IronBirds pay tribute to the very popular pastime of duck hunting along the Maryland shore, by playing as the Chesapeake Decoy. Their hat is a mottled brown camouflage and the jersey is following all the Game Warden rules by having a hunter's orange vest integrated into the jersey.

The Hudson County Cookies

The Iron Birds played for one night as the Hudson County Cookies after making a deal with the local cookie bakery Cookie Cult and their outstanding cookies. It was only for one game but if I ever get out that way I’m making a trip to the store to get some of their amazing cookies.

Portland Sea Dogs

Another team with a cool main logo, the Portland Sea Dogs are the Double A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They have five alter egos.

Maine Whoopie Pies

is in celebration of the official state treat of Maine: the whoopie pie, the Sea Dogs have taken the field as the Whoopie Pies every year since 2019. A whoopie pie is two round chocolate cake-like cookies with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting, sandwiched between them. Many places claim to be the birthplace of the whoopie pie including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. However, the whoopie pie has been a favorite of Mainers for nearly a century, with the first whoopie pie in Maine being served by Labadie's Bakery in Lewiston in 1925. The Maine State Legislature named the whoopie pie the official state treat in 2011 and the world's largest whoopie pie, weighing over 1,000 pounds, was made in South Portland in 2011 by Wicked Whoopies.

Maine Red Snappers

To celebrate National Hot Dog month, the Sea Dogs occasionally take the field as the Maine Red Snappers. The alter ego pays homage to Maine’s iconic red hot dog. Known for their bright red color and natural casing snap. While the red dogs have been the go-to weiner for many Mainers for over 100 years, their exact origins are hard to track down. The most famous purveyor of this unique hot dog is W.A. Beans & Sons, a Bangor, Maine butcher that has been in business for 150 years. They've been making their hot dogs since 1918 and produced more than four million in 2009 alone. The red color is most often simply obtained through the use of good old-fashioned food dye. The reason for this, it is said, was a clever marketing tactic, the bright red color supposedly helped vender stand out from the other brown or gray dogs offered at other places.

Maine Bean Suppahs

Bean suppers, or suppahs for Mainers, is a centuries-old New England tradition, which legend has it, may have started with the Pilgrims who made baked beans and brown bread the night before, so as not to work on the Sabbath. Whatever the bean supper’s origin, it’s undeniably true that cheap and plentiful dried beans (not canned!) such as Jacob’s cattle, yellow-eye, soldier, pea (or navy) and red kidney beans, thrive on Maine and New England soil. Slow-baked with molasses and salt pork, the dish has become a Yankee favorite at community-spirited suppers, typically served on Saturday nights. Bean suppahs have been a source for feeding and gathering communities at churches and grange halls throughout the state. A Maine bean suppah includes baked beans served with franks, red snappers for Mainers, and brown bread.

Alces de Maine

The Alces de Maine, or Maine Moose, is the Copa identity of the Sea Dogs. According to their website, the multi-pronged antlers of the moose Maine's majestic state animal, represent Portland's multi-cultural population. By integrating baseball gloves into the antlers, Portland stands ready to catch and embrace the array of cultures that supports its community. The face of the moose gets the sugar skull treatment, with decorations on it

Maine Clambakes

In 2024, for the first time, the Portland Sea Dogs will become the Maine Clambakes. Clambakes are an old fashioned New England tradition inherited from the Native Americans. The traditional Maine Clambakes includes lobster, clams, corn on the cob, potatoes and blueberry cake. The food is traditionally cooked by steaming the ingredients over layers of seaweed in a pit oven.

Louisville Bats

The Louisville Bats are the Triple A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds in the International League.

Louisville Redbirds

The Bats were known as the Louisville Redbirds from 1982 to 1998 and the take the field once a season to honor their predecessors.

Derby City Mint Juleps

Louisville is the home of the Kentucky Derby and everyone knows that the drink to have at the Derby is the Mint Julep. To honor both the race and it's most iconic drink. The Bats have taken the field the last few years as the Derby City Mint Juleps. The colors of the uniforms are a little much for me but I would drink a Julep or two. The mint julep originated in the southern United States, probably during the eighteenth century. The earliest known mentions come from a 1770 satirical play by Robert Munford, The Candidate (where a drunkard character “Mr. Julip” appears). The mint julep has been a part of the Kentucky Derby since 1938. In 2009, 120,000 juleps were served at Churchill Downs over the Derby weekend, virtually all of them in specially made Kentucky Derby collectible glasses. Since 2006, Churchill Downs has also served extra-premium custom-made mint juleps at a cost of $1000 each. These mint juleps were served in gold-plated cups with silver straws, and were made from Woodland Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, ice cubes made from Bavarian Alps spring water, and sugar from Australia. The proceeds were used to support charitable causes dedicated to retired race horses. For those who wish to add the Mint Julep to your Kentucky Derby festivities at home, the recipe is as follows:

·         2 cups sugar

·         2 cups water

·         Sprigs of fresh mint

·         Crushed ice

·         Old Forester Straight Bourbon Whisky

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of Old Forester Kentucky Whisky. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Louisville Mashers

In honor of Louisville's bourbon history, the Louisville Bats will also play as the Mashers this season.  The name Mashers refers to the first step in the bourbon-making process; the cooking and fermentation of grains called mash.  The bourbon barrel mascot logo is carrying a bag of corn representing the 51% corn mash required to classify whiskey as bourbon.

Murciélagos de Louisville

The Bats COPA identity, Los Murciélagos de Louisville, translates to “The Bats of Louisville", is not the most inventive name but it makes up for it with the cool Aztec bat logo. If I’m ever in the area, I will probably be buying one.

Akron Rubber Ducks

The Rubber Ducks, a name which pays homage to the large rubber industry in the city, is the Double A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians (I know, I refuse to call them that other name), in the Midwest League. They have had five alternate identities.

Barberton Fried Chicken and Hot Rice

In 2023 the Akron RubberDucks rebrand to the Barberton Fried Chicken and Hot Rice for one-night. In 1933, Serbian immigrants Mike and Smilka Topalsky began selling their distinctive fried chicken and hot rice, a rice and tomato sauce side dish seasoned with hot peppers, out of their farmhouse restaurant. The dish became a hit in Ohio and has spread throughout the world, winning multiple awards and appearing on Food Network and PBS shows. Over 90 years later, the restaurant, Belgrade Gardens, is still family owned and operated and serves the world-famous Barberton Fried Chicken and Hot Rice.

Akron Sauerkraut Balls

The Akron RubberDucks will rebrand to the Akron Sauerkraut Balls for one-night only on Friday, Aug. 18 to honor Akron’s favorite appetizer. Sauerkraut balls are believed to be invented in Akron and have been a staple in local bars and restaurants since the early 1960s. The small breaded and deep-fried sphere of sauerkraut and ground pork is most commonly seen on tables on New Year’s Day. The recipe was invented in the late 1950s by two brothers, Max and Roman Gruber for their five star restaurant, Gruber's, located in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Akron White French

In 2024 the Akron RubberDucks will rebrand to the Akron White French for one game. White French salad dressing is uniquely an Akron thing! When most people think of French salad dressing, they picture a bright orange hue and a sweet, tangy taste. However, Akronites have been topping their lettuce leaves with an entirely different dressing that has its origins in the Rubber City. White French is a smooth creamy textured, tangy salad dressing with hints of garlic flavors and, as the name suggests, a white hue. This unique smooth salad topper is not often found outside the confines of Summit County. The origin of who first began to serve White French salad dressing is up to debate, but Papa Joe’s (owned and operated by the Iacomini family for generations) restaurant was one of the first. Some Akron foodies contend the old Stouffer’s restaurant at the Summit Mall was the first place to serve the unique dressing, but both sides can agree the salad dressing originated in Akron and has become an area staple ever since. White French salad dressing is served by many Akron area restaurants, and Akron’s own Ya Ya’s Salad Dressing is the only company that bottles White French to sell in grocery stores. The team has not yet unveiled a jersey to go with this identity.

Akron Devil Strips

The Akron RubberDucks will play one game this year as the Akron Devil Strips. A devil strip refers to the grassy area between the street and the sidewalk. The term is believed to be first used in Northeast Ohio to describe the area between streetcars going in opposite directions. The current use of the term was first used in Akron in the late 1920s. The team has not yet unveiled a jersey to go with this identity.

Perros Calientes De Akron

The Copa identity of the RubberDucks, the Perros Calientes de Akron, literally the Akron Hot Dogs, honors the traditional ballpark food item with a little Spanish flare. I think they could have done a better job in coming up with a Latin identity. The Muscovy Duck is native to to the coasts of Mexico down to most of northern South America. In Spanish they could have been Pato Criollo de Akron with a cartoon version of the real duck, which is much better than a hot dog.

Omaha Storm Chasers

The Storm Chasers are the Triple A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals in the International League.

Omaha Sizzle

Every holiday season we see commercials for Omaha Steaks, right? Well, in 2019 the Storm Chasers decided they'd take their famous beef and turn it into their new name, the Omaha Sizzle. The logo is brilliant, a steak in the shape of their home state of Nebraska complete with grill marks and their main logo where their stadium is, makes this a nearly perfect logo. Plus steaks are one of the best foods on the planet.

Omaha Runzas

The Storm Chasers have been taking the field as the Omaha Runza since 2019 to honor a local culinary speciality. A runza is a bread pocket with a filling of beef, sauerkraut, onions and seasonings. Some have called it “as Nebraskan as Cornhusker football. The runza originated from pirozhok in 18th century Russia. Volga Germans, (ethnic Germans who settled in the Volga River valley in the Russian Empire at the invitation of Catherine the Great, because of their skills in farming), adapted the Pirozhok to create the bierock. When the political climate turned against the Volga Germans as part of Russification, including the threat of conscription into the Russian army, many emigrated to the United States, creating communities across the Great PLains. These immigrants, including the Brening family that settled near Sutton, Nebraska, brought their bierock recipes with them. Sarah "Sally" Everett (nee Brening), originally of Sutton, is credited with adapting her family's bierock recipe into the runza and also inventing the name for the sandwich. In 1949, Everett went into business selling runzas with her brother in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Cazadores de Tormentas

The Storm Chasers Copa identity is just the Spanish equivalent of their regular name, but I guess when you’re from Nebraska you don’t have a lot to choose from. I like the black version better than the lime green one.

Round Rock Express

The Express are the Triple A affiliate of the Texas Rangers in the Pacific Coast League. They play in Round Rock Texas, a suburb of Austin. The team is named after their owner Nolan Ryan who was called the Ryan Express.

Round Rock Donuts

The Express have taken the field every year since 2019 as the Donuts after partnering Central Texas icon, Round Rock Donuts. The team takes on a whole new look to celebrate a legendary Texas bakery that's been cranking out Texas sized sweets and treats for generations.

Round Rock Briskets

Indulge in the mouth-watering delight that is the Round Rock Briskets. Straight from Texas we are the brisket state! This year at Dell Diamond we aren't just smoking the opposing team’s pitching, come out to our backyard for a fun weekend of what we Texans do best. Incredible baseball awe inspiring smoked Brisket! Perfect for summer backyard baseball games with dad - just fire up the smoker, add some BBQ sauce, and enjoy the delicious teamwork of low and slow grilling. It's a fun and flavorful adventure you won't want to miss!

Austin Senators

The Round Rock Express turn back the clock every Tuesday night and transform into Austin Senators. The Original Minor League Baseball team of Central Texas. The Austin Senators is the name of various minor league baseball teams based in Austin Texas, which played on-and-off between 1898 and 1964. Different incarnations of the Senators have played in the Texas League (1888–1890, 1905, 1907–1908, 1911–1914, 1956–1967), Texas Southern League (1896), South Texas League (1906), Middle Texas League (1915) and the Texas Association (1925–1926).

Chupacabras de Round Rock

Chupacabras de Round Rock is the Copa de la Diversion identity for the Round Rock Express. An alleged urban legend, chupacabras (literally 'goat-sucker' in Spanish) have been seen throughout Texas, northern Mexico and other areas for decades. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. In Puerto Rico and in Mexico and Central America it is generally described as a heavy creature, reptilian and alien-like, roughly the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail, while in the Southwestern United States it is depicted as more dog-like. The team says that Round Rock's team mentality embodies the chupacabras' relentless determination, fierce attitude and superhuman ability to avoid capture.

Austin Black Senators

The Express will pay homage to the Austin Black Senators, a Texas Negro League baseball team based in Austin from the 1920s through the 1940s. Round Rock players and coaches will don Black Senators jerseys and caps to help honor one of Central Texas' earliest professional sports teams. Their most famous player was shortstop Willie Wells, an Austin native who played with the Black Senators briefly before going on to an internationally acclaimed career. His nickname, earned while playing in Mexico, was "El Diablo." One of only a handful of players to be inducted into the American, Mexican, and Cuban Baseball Halls of Fame, some believe he may have been the best shortstop who ever played the position.

Stockton Ports

The Ports are the Low A affiliate of the Oakland A’s in the California League. They take their name from the massive port nearby. They have one alter ego and one theme where they keep the Ports name but wear asparagus themed uniforms. This was one of the earliest themed jerseys in the minors.

Caballos de Stockton

This is the Ports Copa identity. It translates to Horses of Stockton and gives a nod to the important mode of transport brought to the New World by the Spanish.

Stockton, California, is the asparagus capital of the world. The stinky, but tasty, green stalk is one of the San Joaquin Valley’s major crops, and the city of Stockton is home to the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival, which celebrates all things asparagussy. The problem is, Hadley Massachusetts; Oceana County, Michigan; and Isleton, California, also lay claim to the title asparagus capital of the world—and those are just asparagus capitals of the world in the USA. The crop was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans, so who knows how many international asparagus capitals of the world there are? The Ports have been wearing asparagus uniforms since 2012 and have had many different versions over the years. An animated tattooed stevedore character holding an asparagus is emblazoned on the uniform caps. The character’s name, 5 O’clock Dock, represents the 9-to-5, blue-collar workers that are a big part of the Stockton community.

Hickory Crawdads

For our last team were going to look at the Alter egos for the Hickory Crawdads, the High A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They have three alternate identities.

Hickory Couch Potatoes

Meet the Crawdads wacky alternate identity: the Hickory Couch Potatoes. The Couch Potatoes name honors the local community which is known as the Furniture Capital of the World and the state of North Carolina, which is the leading sweet potato producer in the country.

Hickory Dickory Docks

With some alternate identities, an elaborate backstory is unnecessary. "Hickory dickory dock" is one of the most well-known opening lines in the Mother Goose canon, so the Crawdads, proud representatives of Hickory, N.C., decided to capitalize. Their Dickory Docks alternate identity features -- how could it not? -- a baseball bat-wielding mouse running up a clock. The clock, understandably perturbed that a mouse has invaded its personal space, displays the time as 8:28. It's always 828 in Hickory, as that is the city's area code.

Llamas de Hickory

On select dates, the Crawdads take on the identity of the Llamas de Hickory as part of Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión or "Fun Cup," which is a season-long event series designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities. Dating back to the Incan Empire, llamas have long been revered for their utility and strength, both of which are tentpoles for the Crawdads organization. The logo holds nods to both Hickory's furniture-producing industry, see the furniture leg in the llama's mouth, and Latin America's vibrancy through the animal's colorful chullo (hat).

That is all I’ve got for this time. There are many more alternate identities I could look at but two parts are enough. It is the time of the year that I love: BasebalL Season. Because of time I have to spend at games and practices during this wonderful time. I will be only be posting every two week, until the fall. If I manage to fit an episode in on the off week, you can just think of it as a bonus episode for you. I hope everyone looks forward to these posts, enjoys them and maybe even learns a thing or two.

Chris

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As i’m in the middle of my JV Baseball season, here is one of my most talked-about posts from the past. Enjoy!

Today I will continue our trip through the minors with a look at one of the strange ways they generate fan interest and some income, alternate identities. Some of the teams we visit here will be familiar from the last post but others will be brand new and like I said before, a celebration of the minor leagues is always called for.

Minor league teams are always looking for new ways to generate fan interest and additional income. One way teams do it nowadays is the “alternate identity”. In the 21st century it seems like every minor league team has at least one “alternate identity”, meaning on certain days, they play under a different name with different uniforms and logos. Quite often there is some kind of connection to the local area and frequently, there is a food connection and the organization serves a corresponding item at their food counters. Considering there are around 1800 players from Spanish-speaking countries on minor league rosters, there has also been an effort on the part of Minor League Baseball headquarters to have a Latin-inspired alternate name for teams, in order to tap into that market. It is called Copa de la Diversion, which means “fun cup” and is just a way for the teams to connect with a Latin American fan base that loves baseball. I know it is just a marketing tool and a way to make a boat load of money in hat and jersey sales but, I think many of them are really cool and I know that if I'm at a minor league park and they have an alter ego, I'm probably going to buy the hat. Today I’m going to look at some of my favorites and some that are just plain strange, this should be real fun. If you were wondering about the Exploding Whales you will have to wait for Part II. One piece of housekeeping, with all the pictures in this post, you will most likely not be able to read the full post in the email. Just click on the title and it will take you to the entire post.

Hartford Yard Goats:

First up or our old friends from the Double A Eastern League, the Hartford Yard Goats. The Colorado Rockies farm team. They have three alternate names:

Hartford Bouncing Pickles

This name comes from an obscure Connecticut Blue Law that made it illegal to sell a pickle that did not bounce. I was not able to find if the pickle had to bounce a certain height or just not splat on the ground. Their jerseys are shades of green with the bumps associated with all good pickles, and if you look close the o in “Bouncing” is a pickle chip. The logo on the sleeve and the hat is a smiling pickle wearing a backwards baseball cap and to make sure he bounces, the pickle is on a Pogo stick. During their times as the Bouncing Pickles, Hartford sells deep-fried pickle chips at their counters.

Hartford Steamed Cheeseburgers

For those unfamiliar with the finer points of the Nutmeg State’s culinary history, the steamed cheeseburger is one of Connecticut’s most iconic, if maligned, contributions to the American menu. It traces its origins back to Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden Connecticut, and is exactly what it sounds like: a cheeseburger, where the burger is streamed rather than grilled and the burger is rectangular. The uniforms Hartford wears during these games are yellow, or what might be considered bun-colored. Both the hats and jerseys have a brown “burger” section atop a “lettuce section and under a “ketchup” section, with three french fries forming the H on the cap. One even has ketchup dripping off of it, and I know I'd buy one. In fact I'm sure I'd buy all of these hats.

Los Chivos de Hartford

The third name is Hartford’s Copa name. It is Los Chivos de Hartford, it translates to Goats of Hartford. The logo is a stylized goat skull decorated, like many of the Copa logos, in a el Dia de los Muertos sugar skull style with lots of colors and designs. The jerseys are aqua blue with navy blue sleeves with the goat head logo.

West Michigan Whitecaps:

Next up are the Double A Tigers farm club, and as I said, it is the minor league team I have seen the most. They also have three alter egos.

Beer City Bung Hammers

The Grand Rapids area of Michigan has 40 craft beer breweries within a thirty minute drive of downtown and therefore claims the title of Beer City USA (I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just explaining). Everyone knows that beer travels from point a to point b in barrels. How, you might wonder, does the brewer seal the barrel after the beer goes in? Well, that would be the job of a piece of wood called the bung and a piece of equipment called a bung hammer. It goes something like this. Insert bung into hole in barrel, use bung hammer to hammer the bung further into the hole, barrel sealed. That is a roundabout way to explain the reason the West Michigan Whitecaps are sometimes called the Beer City Bung Hammers but it gets the job done. The Whitecaps have been the Bung Hammers once a season since 2018 and therefore have two different hat and jersey combos.

Grand Rapids Dam Breakers

Even though the city is called Grand Rapids, there haven’t been rapids on the Grand River since the 1850s when dams were put up on the river to assist with industrialization. Recently there has been a movement to restore the river to its former glory. The Dam Breakers are part of that effort, and part of the sale of all Dam Breakers gear goes to Grand Rapids WhiteWater, a group which aims to restore habitats, enhance recreational opportunities, remove dangerous dams, block invasive species and bring the rapids back to a two-and-a-half-mile stretch of the Grand River. Once a year the Whitecaps don new uniforms and caps emblazoned with a sturgeon holding a bat, breaking a dam.

Calaveras de West Michigan

The Calaveras de West Michigan is the Whitecaps Copa identity, the Calaveras moniker translates to skulls and pays homage to the Dia de los Muertos and the sugar skulls given out to children. The hat they wore the first year is a sugar skull with the 616 area code of Grand Rapids on it, over the Whitecaps wave. The second season hat is the area code and resembles a mask one might wear on that day.

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Wisconsin Timber Rattlers:

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are the High A Midwest League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and they two alter egos.

Wisconsin Udder Tuggers

The Timber Rattlers become the Udder Tuggers every year during their Salute to Cows promotion. It was created to celebrate America's Dairyland during Dairy Month in June. The way they incorporated the overalls look into the uniforms last year is pretty cool, even if the name is ridiculous. They do offer both white and chocolate milk at their food counters.

Cascabeles de Wisconsin

The Copa identity of the Rattlers is the Casabeles de Wisconsin. The name translates to Jingle Bells and is a take of the rattle of the Timber Rattler. In my opinion they didn’t buy into the Copa idea as much as some of the other teams. They chose to just take a feature of their regular name and “Latinize” it, rather than trying to find a similar thing in Latin culture. For example Quetzalcoatl the Aztec god of the sun and wind, is represented by a wing serpent. Seems pretty good to me, sure it’s a little hard to pronounce but why wouldn’t you want to name your team after a god?

Rochester Red Wings:

The Rochester Red Wings are the Triple A affiliate of the Washington Nationals in the International League. There has been a baseball team in Rochester since 1899.

Rochester Plates

Every Thursday in Rochester, the team takes the field as the Rochester Plates to celebrate a legend of local Cuisine - The Garbage Plate. An authentic Garbage Plate is a mix of meat (burger or hot dog), home fries, macaroni salad, and topped with meat sauce. The Garbage Plate has a history dating back nearly 100 years to a place called Nick Tahou Hots. The dish – originally referred to as "hots and potatoes" – started out as a "kitchen sink" sort of menu item, beloved by those coming off of the third shift or anyone looking for a filling meal on the cheap. Sometime in the ‘50s years after its creation, some local college kids were in Nick Tahou’s and one of them said, "I’ll have a plate with all the garbage on it," and thus the Garbage Plate earned its name. In 1992, the term "Garbage Plate" was trademarked by the restaurant.

Cocos Locos de Rochester

Cocos Locos is their Copa identity, it is a Caribbean drink made with white tequila, melon liqueur, coconut rum, pineapple juice and a lime, that they serve in the stadium when they play as the Cocos Locos. However, just like the Timber Rattlers I think they haven’t fully grasped the Copa idea. It seems like a cop out, to name your team after a drink, that is mostly served to people in Miami. Since they are the Red Wings, they should have been Aguila Arpias, or the Harpy Eagles, one of the biggest eagles in the world and the national bird of Panama.

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Norfolk Tides:

The Tides are the Triple A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They have an unusually large, five, alternate identities and they don’t even have a Copa one.

Norfolk Coffee

The Tides give a nod to the local area with this name. The Hampton Roads region is called the East Coast Capital of Coffee because it is home to many coffee roasters and prominent coffee brands like Chock full o’ Nuts, Hills Bros. and Kauai. The region's warehouses hold over 50 million pounds of coffee, enough to brew 2 billion cups of coffee, and has the third-highest concentration of people employed in coffee and tea processing in the entire country. The team let the fans vote on whether they should wear the “hot coffee” hats or the “iced coffee” hats. Iced coffee won by a large margin but you can still buy either on their website.

Norfolk Squeezers

If you are not familiar with the bar scene in the Hampton Roads area you will not be aware of a drink called an Orange Crush (no, not the orange pop). The Orange Crush first came to Hampton Roads in 2004 when a local restaurant owner returned home from a trip to Maryland, bringing with him a reformulated version for Virginia. Nearly twenty years later, the drink can be found on nearly every restaurant menu on the oceanfront and on the bay. The drink, and they do serve it at the stadium, is a navel orange freshly juiced, vodka, grand marnier and lemon-lime soda with a orange wedge.

Norfolk Lumpia

Norfolk celebrates the region’s robust Filipino-American culture, by becoming the Norfolk Lumpia once a season. The Hampton Roads community, which encompasses the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, is home to one of the largest Filipino American populations in the country. Many Filipinos immigrated to the area via the United States military, particularly the United States Navy, as well as health professions, and teachers. A lumpia is a type of spring roll filled with either sweet or savory fillings and served at most Filipino gatherings as an appetizer.

Norfolk Red Stockings

Once a season the Norfolk Tides transform their identity into the Norfolk Red Stockings to celebrate the Negro League team that played in Norfolk from 1878 into the early 1900s. The Red Stockings were one of the first professional black baseball teams in the country and the first in the south.

Tidewater Tides

The Tidewater Tides played from 1969 to 1992 at Frank D. Lawrence Stadium in Portsmouth and Met Park in Norfolk. The Tides won the Governors‘ Cup, the International League championship, in 1972, 1975, 1982, 1983, and 1985 and in 1983, they won the Triple-A World Series, between the winner of the International League and the Pacific Coast League. Minor League Baseball stopped playing the series in 2000. The Norfolk Tides honor their forbearers once a season by wearing a modern version of the old uniforms with their trademark pillbox hat.

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Fort Wayne TinCaps

The TinCaps are the High A affiliate of the San Diego Padres in the Midwest League. The name TinCaps comes from the legend that Johnny Appleseed died in Fort Wayne, and according to the legend he wore a cooking pot on his head. They really lean into it by serving applesauce at every food counter in the stadium.

Hoosier State Tenderloins

The Breaded Tenderloin Sandwich has long been a Hoosier tradition and the TinCaps have embraced it. It is essentially a large breaded pork tenderloin cutlet on a hamburger bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions along with ketchup and mustard. The sandwich looks ridiculous because it hangs over the edges of the bun so much. It also looks tasty and, of course, they serve it at the stadium.

Manzanas Luchadoras

The Copa identity of Fort Wayne, is a take on their regular name as well as the part that Lucha Libre wrestling plays in Mexican culture. Manzanas Luchadora, means Fighting Apples, and their logo with the apple wearing a Lucha mask and two fists floating oddly to each side, drives the point home. Lucha Libre professional wrestling blends the luchadores' vibrant masks and wardrobes, with their showmanship and athleticism and is the perfect secondary name for a baseball team.

Fort Wayne Daisies

The TinCaps also honor the Fort Wayne Daisies by wearing a jersey that is reminiscent of the uniforms the Daisies wore. The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team that played in Fort Wayne from 1945 to 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Even though the Daisies made it to the playoffs in every year from 1948 to 1954, and earning first place from 1951 through 1954, they failed to win a championship title. Among its notable players were the sisters Betty Foss and Joanne Weaver, who were able to win the final five batting championships of the league and two Player of the Year awards. In their history, Daisies players won six batting crowns, setting a league record.

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Hudson Valley Renegades

The Hudson Valley Renegades are the High A affiliate of the New York Yankees in the South Atlantic League.

Hudson Valley Cider Donuts

What is Cider? This question has plagued mankind for centuries. The ancient Greeks believed that Cider was the teardrops of the lonely Hesperis, the clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaia gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. The Romans believed that Cider was the sweat of Pomona, the Roman goddess of orchards and fruit trees. And the people of the northern US, including New York, believe that Cider is the juice that comes from smashing a bunch of apples. Regardless of where you are from or what you believe, the one thing we can all agree on is that Cider is apple related and delicious. When cider is made into a donut it goes to a whole other level. Invented in New York in the mid-20th century, and with 33 apple orchards and two dozen cideries calling the region home, you could argue that apple cider donuts are synonymous with fall in the Hudson Valley, The Renegades have taken this gift from the heavens and turned it into an alter ego. The donut on their hats is called Dusty, for the dusting of cinnamon sugar on every tasty donut, their jerseys have their own “dusting” of cinnamon sugar on them, and in a nod to realism, a “hole’ in the middle, on both the front and back of the jersey, and a bite out of the side. And, yes, for those of you that are wondering, they do sell cider donuts as well as cider at the stadium.

Los Fenómenos Enmascarados del Valle de Hudson

Los Fenómenos Enmascarados del Valle de Hudson or The Masked Phenoms of the Hudson Valley, celebrates and pays homage to the Lucha Libre culture. They say on their website that Hudson Valley aims to provide the same blend of fighting spirit and showmanship at the ballpark as the wrestlers do in the ring. Their hat has the Renegades mascot, Rascal, wearing a Luchador mask in the middle of a title belt. Their jersey has the title belt slung over the shoulder like a wrestler would.

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Syracuse Mets

The Syracuse Mets are the Triple A affiliate of the New York Yankees. There has been a team in Syracuse in one form or another since 1934. The Mets have three alter egos, two of which, are related. Philip and I went to Syracuse in July of 2023 but the game was rained out after an hour delay but we were able to get their signature food item and our favorite hats.

Salt City Mets

Syracuse is known as Salt City because of the large salt industry in the area for much of the 19th century. The salt was not mined like in other areas but came from salt springs on the southern end of Onondaga Lake. The brine was processed either by solar evaporation or boiling.  In the solar evaporation method, the salt water was pumped into large, shallow vats and exposed to the sun for a few weeks. As the water evaporated, salt was raked up and then packaged for shipping.  This process produced coarse salt.   The boiling method produced fine salt.  In this process, the salt water was pumped into large cauldrons that were heated from beneath and brought to a boil.  As the water boiled off, the remaining salt was scooped out and made ready for shipping. This method produced fine salt. When we were there for our only rained out professional baseball game since 2016, Philip bought the blue Salt City hat.

Syracuse Salt Potatoes

Salt Potatoes were invented in Central New York many years ago when the Irish workers in the Syracuse area salt mills, brought their white potatoes to work for lunch. They boiled their potatoes in the brine from the salt mines and dipped them in butter or drizzled butter on top. To this day, salt potatoes are enjoyed by Central New Yorkers. To make a batch, boil four pounds of new potatoes with two cups of kosher salt for 15 minutes let them dry to form the salt crust and pour melted butter on top. I have made them and they are delicious. When we were there I bought the Salt Potatoes hat and whenever I wear it, I always get question about what it is.

Congueros de Syracuse

The Mets’ Copa identity is a tribute to the conga drum and the place it has in many Latin countries. Originating in Cuba, the sound of the Conga drums has traveled throughout the world, and became the Copa identity for the Mets.

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Springfield Cardinals

Springfield is the Double A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, playing in Springfield Missouri. They have one cool identity and a Copa one that might be the lamest one of all time.

Springfield Cashew Chicken

The Ozark Mountains region might not seem like an area in which to seek out groundbreaking Chinese cuisine, but things are often not what they seem. Sixty years ago in Springfield, chef David Leong created a cashew chicken dish which remains a local and national favorite to this day. The dish's popularity inspired the Springfield Cardinals to play as the Cashew Chickens several times a season. The team also serves cashew chicken at the ballpark, calling it a "miraculous combination of perfectly fried chicken, roasted cashews and chopped green onions all in a savory sauce."

Cardenales de Springfield

Cardenales de Springfield is the Copa identity of the Cardinals. All they did was the use the Spanish version of their name and give the hat some fancy designs. Like I said a second ago, this is probably the cheesiest idea for a Latin theme in the entire Copa world. I think they should have been the Buitre Negro de Springfield, the Springfield Black Vultures. It’s still a bird and a much scarier bird at that and the Black Vulture is found from the southern US to the southern tip of South America.

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Iowa Cubs

The Cubs are the Triple A team for the Chicago Cubs and have been playing in Des Moines since 1969.

Iowa Caucuses

Iowa's "first in the nation" voting status in the presidential campaign is a source of pride for Iowans and prompted the Cubs to use that as an alter ego. The uniform retains the iconic Cubs pinstripes while incorporating stars and stripes as a tribute to our nation's flag. The red, white, and blue caps feature the Iowa Caucuses logo, which is shaped like the state of Iowa, with a "1st" foam finger to indicate Iowa's "first in the nation" position.

Iowa Oaks

The Cubs were known as the Iowa Oaks from 1969 until 1983 and the current club has honored their forbearers several times over the years. Fans of the Oaks got to see players like Hall of Famer Harold Baines, Bucky Dent, Goose Gossage and Vida Blue.

Demonios de Des Moines

The Cubs’ Copa identity pays tribute to the professional baseball team in Des Moines known as the Demons that played from 1925-1937 and again from 1959-1961. They were Western League Champions in 1925 and 1926 and then took the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League title in 1959. The name Demonios is nearly an anagram of Des Moines, it just needs an extra 'e' and 's'. The Demonios logo was designed to be a modern version of an old favorite with a mischievous look that makes you wonder what he knows that you don't.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

The Blue Wahoos are the Double A team for the Miami Marlins and have played in Pensacola since 2012.

Pensacola Pok-ta-Pok

The identity for the Pensacola Pok-Ta-Pok was created by Mexico City based artist Jacobo Vidal. The logo shows a Pok-Ta-Pok player playing the game in front of the famous El Castillo pyramid at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico. Chichen Itza has one of the largest and most well-preserved original Pok-Ta-Pok courts. The rules of the game are not known but it seems like it was similar to handball but the players hit the ball with their hips and with the added stone hoops to increase scoring chances. It might have also involved ritual sacrifice with the losers of the game also losing their lives.

Pensacola Mullets

Everyone loves a mullet, (just think Jaromir Jagr or Billy Ray Cyrus), and the Wahoos have caught the fever. They are playing a few games this season as the Pensacola Mullets (a mullet is also a type of fish), and even if their players don’t have a real mullet, there is a stylized one on the back of the jersey.

Pensacola Crabzillas

In 2021 the Pensacola Blue Wahoos served their fans a feast for the eyes at the Festival of Crabzilla by taking the field in the worst uniforms in sports history. The team unveiled head-to-toe eyesore orange uniforms. While the front of the uniforms are atrocious, the true fashion crime rests on the backside, where a cartoon crab makes unflinching eye contact from the rear of the pants. With crab claws crawling down the legs of the pants and crab eyes staring squarely from the butt of the pants, the team was sure to both terrify and confuse opponents. The Festival of Crabzilla celebrates the humongous Crabzilla sandwich that was named the Best New Food Item in the country by Ballpark Digest in 2019. The feast of a sandwich includes a full soft-shell crab, crab remoulade, pork belly, parmesan crab mac and cheese, fried shrimp, hush puppies, lettuce, and tomato on a brioche bun with a heaping helping of crab fries on the side. After its introduction at the stadium, the sandwich became so popular with fans that a pre-game hotline had to be established to allow fans to call in their Crabzilla order before heading to the ballpark.

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Buffalo Bison

Back again are our old friends the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple A team of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Buffalo Wings

Who doesn’t love a dozen (or more) spicy buffalo wings? The answer is no one, and the Bison have capitalized on that fact along with the ubiquitous food item being invented in Buffalo, to come up with one of the more popular alter egos in minor league baseball. It is so successful that they have been the Buffalo Wings at least once every season for the last few years. They have taken their identity to another level with the Wing races at every game and of course the original Buffalo Wings at every food counter

This is my non-exhaustive list of my favorite alter egos for minor league teams. I could go one for a really long time since there are so many minor league teams and pretty much all of them has at least one alternate identity but I will keep it to just two parts with Part II coming next week. I hope you are enjoying these posts and find them, at least a little amusing and maybe a little educational.

Chris

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Last time I was spotted in your inboxes, I was dropping the second part of my look at the 2026 Detroit Tigers season preview. Click below if you missed it.

Today I will try to recreate the magic I harnessed two years ago with my team by team outlooks and predictions. I will attempt to gaze even deeper into my crystal ball, peering into the mists of time, channel my inner Casey Stengle, and predict the end of the season standings for the American and National Leagues. I will also try to improve upon my postseason predictions and championship picks. Please do not take any of this to the bank or even more importantly, to FanDuel or any other betting site. This is a REALLY long post, so your email might not handle the whole thing. Just click on the title at the top of the page to read the entire post. I know that the season has already started but I’ve been writing this for a while and I haven’t changed anything based on how the season has gone so far.

This will also be my last regular post until the end of May. It's time for me to coach my JV baseball players and then my son's high school graduation. I might post things from the archive or if something really bothers me, but otherwise, I’ll see you in May.

American League

AL East

New York Yankees

In 2025 the Yankees finished tied in the East with a record of 94-68, to the Blue Jays, but lost on the head to head record tiebreaker. They were a Wild Card team, beat Boston in the first round in three games, but lost to Toronto three games to one. In the offseason they lost relief pitchers Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Ian Hamilton, Jonathon Loaisiga, and Mark Leiter Jr. to free agency, and traded four minor leaguers to the Marlins for starting pitcher Ryan Weathers. They also resigned outfielder Cody Bellinger, catcher Trent Grisham, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, infielder Amed Rosario, and pitchers Ryan Yarbrough, and Paul Blackburn

Rotation
Max Fried, LHP
Cam Schlittler, RHP
Will Warren, RHP
Ryan Weathers, LHP
Luis Gil, RHP

Carlos Rondon is due to return from left elbow surgery in late April or early May, while Gerrit Cole is expected back from Tommy John surgery in May or June. The Yankees believe that their staff can take Weathers to the next level in his journey.

Lineup
Trent Grisham- CF
Aaron Judge- RF
Cody Bellinger- LF
Ben Rice- 1B
Giancarlo Stanton- DH
Jazz Chisholm Jr.- 2B
Jose Caballero- SS
Ryan McMahon- 3B
Austin Wells- C

The Bronx Bombers still have Bellinger, Judge, and Stanton lurking in the lineup, and after resigning Paul Goldschmidt this winter, the Yankees could use a platoon situation with Ben Rice, like they do at third base with Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario. It pains me to say this, but as long as the Yankees don’t fall too far behind before they get Rondon and Cole back, they However, if they can’t keep their heads above water before the pitchers return, Fried gets hurt, or Judge, and/or Stanton are injured, they could fall to a wild card spot. I think they will win the division with a record of 94-68.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Jays finished 2025 with a 94-68 record and an AL East title. They beat the Yankees three games to one, beat the Mariners in seven games in the AL Championship, and lost to the Dodgers, including an 18 inning heartbreaker. In the offseason they lost shortstop Bo Bichette, starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, relief pitcher Seranthony Dominguez, infielders Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ty France to free agency. They traded left fielder Joey Loperfido to the Astros for right fielder Jesus Sanchez, and cash for relief pitcher Chase Lee. They signed starting pitchers Dylan Cease (the biggest deal in franchise history, 7 years $210 million), and Cody Ponce, relief pitcher Tyler Rogers, and third baseman Kazuma Okamoto.

Rotation
Kevin Gausman, RHP
Dylan Cease, RHP
Eric Lauer, LHP
Cody Ponce, RHP
Max Scherzer, RHP

The Blue Jays staff was already weathering the absence of Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios, but now they are also without rookie phenom Trey Yesavage. They will lean on Cease and Gausman, and Scherzer will keep the younger pitchers focused.

Lineup
George Springer- DH
Nathan Lukes- LF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.- 1B
Addison Barger- RF
Alejandro Kirk- C
Daulton Varsho- CF
Kazuma Okamoto- 3B
Ernie Clement- 2B
Andres Gimenez- SS

Losing Bo Bichette will leave the Blue Jays searching for a new plan to insulate Vladdy in the middle of the lineup. They will likely play the matchups on a more day to day basis. Get ready for a lot of different lineups over 162 games, especially with Anthony Santander expected to miss most of the season following shoulder surgery. The questions becomes will they hit as good as last year and can the pitching staff hold up until their injured players return? I think it will, and they will finish second in the East with a record of 93-69 and be a Wild Card team.

Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore finished last in the East in 2025, with a record of 75-87. During the off season they lost shortstop Jorge Mateo, starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, and catcher Gary Sanchez to free agency. The traded starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for left fielder Taylor Ward, traded relief pitcher Kade Strowd to the Diamondbacks for a minor leaguer, and sent cash to the Cubs for reliever Andrew Kittredge. They made a big splash this winter by signing Pete Alonso to a big deal (five years, $155 million), they signed starting pitchers Chris Bassitt, Zac Eflin, and Shane Baz. As well as reliever Ryan Helsley, and outfielder Leody Taveras.

Rotation
Trevor Rogers, LHP
Kyle Bradish, RHP
Shane Baz, RHP
Chris Bassitt, RHP
Zach Eflin, RHP

In an unexpected move, right-hander Dean Kremer was optioned to AAA Buffalo on March 21, locking in the other five starters, including Eflin, who had a strong spring coming off of back surgery. It would not be surprising if the O’s go to a six-man rotation that includes Kremer early in the season (assuming everyone remains healthy).

Lineup
Taylor Ward- LF
Gunnar Henderson- SS
Pete Alonso- 1B
Adley Rutschman- C
Samuel Basallo- DH
Tyler O’Neill- RF
Colton Cowser- CF
Coby Mayo- 3B
Blaze Alexander- 2B

Second baseman Jackson Holliday (broken hamate bone in right hand) and third baseman Jordan Westberg (partial right UCL tear) will open the season on the injured list, opening spots for Blaze Alexander and Coby Mayo, whose red-hot spring has solidified his spot on the roster. Alexander is likely to move around the diamond as a utility man once Holliday returns, which could be in mid-April. I think they will finish third in the division, but sneak into the playoffs as a Wild Card, with a record of 90-72.

Boston Red Sox

In 2025 the Red Sox finished third in the East and made the playoffs as a Wild Card and lost to the Yankees in three games. In one of the busiest off seasons I’ve ever seen, they lost third baseman Alex Bregman, pitchers Steven Matz, Liam Hendrix, and Dustin May, outfielders Rob Refsnyder, and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to free agency. They traded three minor leaguers to the Cardinals for starting pitcher Sonny Gray. They traded three more minor leaguers to the Cards for first baseman Wilson Contreras. They delt pitcher Kyle Harrison, infielder David Hamilton and a minor leaguer to the Brewers for third baseman Caleb Durbin, shortstop Andruw Monasterio and a minor leaguer. They traded pitcher Jordan Hicks three minor leaguers and cash to the White Sox for two minor leaguers. The moved outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia and a minor leaguer to the Pirates for starting pitcher Johan Oviedo and two minor leaguer. The signed starting pitcher Ranger Suarez, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and reliever Danny Coulombe.

Rotation
Garrett Crochet, LHP
Ranger Suarez, LHP
Sonny Gray, RHP
Brayan Bello, RHP
Connelly Early, LHP

Thanks to an aggressive offseason by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, this is the most talented rotation the Red Sox have had in years. Following an impressive spring, Early won the fifth starter spot over Johan Oviedo, who will slot in as the long reliever in the bullpen.

Lineup
Roman Anthony- LF
Trevor Story- SS
Jarren Duran- DH
Wilson Contreras- 1B
Caleb Durbin- 3B
Wilyer Abreu- RF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa- 2B
Carlos Narvaez- C
Ceddanne Rafaela- CF

Anthony could become one of the elite all-around hitters in MLB in his first full season, and by adding Contreras, manager Alex Cora has a proven run producer who should thrive in Fenway. I think they will finish third in the East with a record of 88-74.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays finished fourth in the East with a record of 77-85. This off season, they lost reliever Pete Fairbanks, left fielder Andrew McCutchen, right fielder Tommy Pham, and starter Adrian Houser to free agency. They traded Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery to Pittsburgh for two minor leaguers, starter Shane Baz to the Orioles for four minor leaguers, and traded Josh Lowe to the Angels for infielder Gavin Lux, and two minor leaguers. They signed pitchers Gregory Soto, Steven Matz, and Nick Martinez, as well as centerfielder Cedric Mullins.

Rotation
Drew Rasmussen, RHP
Joe Boyle, RHP
Steven Matz, LHP
Nick Martinez, RHP
Shane McClanahan, LHP

If McClanahan is healthy and back in ace form after missing the past 2 1/2 seasons due to significant injuries, he and the underrated Rasmussen could make a huge impact. Martinez and Pepiot will be expected to contribute more significant workloads while the Rays ease McClanahan back into action, guide Matz back into a starting role and continue to monitor Rasmussen.

Lineup
Yandy Diaz- DH
Ryan Vilade- LF
Jonathan Aranda- 1B
Junior Caminero- 3B
Ben Williamson- 2B
Jonny DeLuca- RF
Nick Fortes- C
Cedric Mullins- CF
Carson Williams- SS

The Rays should have three of the best hitters in baseball atop their order every day in Diaz, Aranda and Caminero, a potent trio with a strong mix of contact, on-base ability and power. Expect manager Kevin Cash to play matchups after that. That said, I don’t think they can keep up with the big dogs in the East, and will fall to fifth place with a record of 78-84.

American League Central

Detroit Tigers

Last season, as I have said at length, the Tigers suffered through the worst collapse since 1969. They finished with a record of 87-75, beat the Indians in three games and took the Mariners to a 15 inning Game 5 before running out of steam. In my last two post I spent quite a lot of time explaining everything the Tigers have and haven’t done to make themselves better, so I won’t belabor the point here. Although they officially announced that Kevin McGonigle is on the opening day roster, and the signing of relief pitcher Connor Seabold. All I’ll say is that if the hitters can get timely hits, Detroit puts Kevin McGonigle on the Opening Day roster, and the pitching holds up, I think they could make a deep playoff push. If the hitting fails, like I think it might or a pitcher or two gets hurt, this could be a long season. Anything other than their first Division Title since 2014, will be considered a disappointment. Overall I think the Tigers can win the division with a record of 91-71 record.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals finished 2025 with a record of 82-80 and missed the playoffs. In the offseason they lost outfielders Randal Grichuk, MJ Melendez and Mike Yastrzemski, starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen, relief pitchers Hunter Harvey and Taylor Clark, along with infielder Adam Frazier to free agency. They also traded relief pitcher Angel Zerpa to the Brewers for outfielder Isaac Collins and relief pitcher Nick Mears. They also traded relief pitcher Jonathan Bowlan to the Phillies for relief pitcher Matt Strahm and received outfielder Kameron Misner from the Rays for a player to be named later. They signed outfielders Lane Thomas and Starling Marte, as well as relief pitcher Alex Lange.

Rotation:
Cole Ragans, LHP
Michael Wacha, RHP
Seth Lugo, RHP
Kris Bubic, LHP
Noah Cameron, LHP

Assuming health, these are the five best starters on the Royals’ roster, and Ragans will start his third consecutive Opening Day, with the rest of the order not yet set. Kansas City had a lot of starters in camp, but the competition has narrowed with Stephen Kolek’s oblique injury and Ryan Bergert being optioned to AAA, but the Royals still must decide how best to use Bailey Falter on their pitching staff.

Lineup:
Maikel Garcia- 3B
Bobby Witt Jr.- SS
Lane Thomas- CF
Salvador Perez- C
Vinnie Pasquantino- 1B
Starling Marte- RF
Jonathan India- 2B
Isaac Collins- LF
Carter Jensen- DH

The Royals are finally filtering some young bats into the system, and if you were watching the WBC, you know that Bobby Witt Jr. looks like he’s about to win the first of multiple MVPs. Of course he wasn’t even the Royals infielder who actually won the MVP for the WBC, that was third baseman Maikel Garcia. They also still have Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez launching homeruns. If the Tigers falter they will win the division, otherwise they will finish second in the Central and be a Wild Card with a record of 89-73.

Cleveland Indians (Still not calling them that other name)

Last year, after the Tigers epic collapse, the Indians won the Central with a record of 88-74, but lost to Detroit in three games in the first round of the playoffs. In the offseason Cleveland lost outfielders Lane Thomas, and Will Brennan, starting pitchers John Means, and Triston McKenzie, relief pitchers Sam Hentges, and Jakob Junis to free agency. They signed relief pitchers Colin Holderman and Shawn Armstrong and first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

Rotation:
Tanner Bibee, RHP
Gavin Williams, RHP
Slade Cecconi, RHP
Joey Cantillo, LHP
Parker Messick, LHP

Bibee earned a second opportunity at his first career Opening Day start after his last-minute scratch in 2025. The rest of the rotation will feature Williams, Cecconi, Cantillo and Messick, after the Guardians Optioned Logan Allen AAA Columbus.

Lineup:
Steven Kwan- LF
Chase DeLauter- RF
Jose Ramirez- 3B
Kyle Manzardo- DH
Bo Naylor- C
Rhys Hoskins- 1B
Daniel Schneemann- CF
Gabriel Arias- SS
Brayan Rocchio- 2B

They still have Jose Ramirez, Stephen Kwan, Kyle Manzardo, Bo Naylor, and Brayan Rocchio. After what I would call an underwhelming offseason (it must be bad if a Tigers fan is calling it underwhelming), they are hoping, just like the Tigers, that their offense from last season can come through for them again. I don’t think it will and they will fall out of the playoffs to third place in the Central with a record of 82-80.

Chicago White Sox

In 2025 the White Sox finished with a record of 60-102, last in the Central by ten games. In the offseason Michael A. Taylor retired, they traded Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets for Luisangel Acuna and a minor league pitcher. The lost starting pitcher Martin Perez, relief pitchers Tyler Alexander and Miguel Castro, and outfielder Mike Tauchman to free agency. They signed starting pitchers Anthony Kay, Jordan Hicks, Sean Newcomb and Erick Fedde, relief pitcher Seranthony Dominguez, infielder Munetaka Murakami, and outfielder Jarred Kelenic.

Rotation:
Shane Smith, RHP
Sean Burke, RHP
Anthony Kay, LHP
Davis Martin, RHP
Erick Fedde, RHP

Smith was the fifth starter in the last five seasons to get the Opening Day start for the White Sox. Hopefully, Fedde can provide a little stability at the back end of the rotation.

Lineup
Chase Meidroth- 2B
Colson Montgomery- SS
Miguel Vargas- 3B
Andrew Benintendi- DH
Austin Hays- LF
Munetaka Murakami- 1B
Everson Pereira- RF
Edger Quero- C
Luisangel Acuna- CF

Austin Hays, and Andrew Benintendi will both see time at designated hitter. Starting catcher Kyle Teel is out of action for four to six weeks with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain suffered during an 8-6 victory for Team Italy over USA on March 10, opening the spot for backup Edgar Quero. Believe it or not, I’m predicting the White Sox will climb out of the cellar of the Central Division, not by much, mind you, but not in last place. I think their young players are starting to mature and can string some wins together. I think they will finish fourth with a much improved record of 71-91.

Minnesota Twins

Last year the Twins finished with a record of 70-92 fourth in the division. This offseason they lost catcher Christian Vasquez to free agency, traded second baseman Edouard Julien and relief pitcher Pierson Ohl to the Rockies for a minor league pitcher. They also traded cash to the Dodgers (like they need it), for relief pitcher Anthony Banda. They signed catcher Victor Caratini, first baseman Josh Bell, relief pitchers Liam Hendriks and Taylor Rogers.

Rotation
Joe Ryan, RHP
Bailey Ober, RHP
Taj Bradley, RHP
Simeon Woods-Richardson, RHP
Mick Abel, RHP

With Pablo Lopez out for the season after Tommy John surgery, everyone else moves up one step. When Zebby Matthews was optioned to AAA, Abel claimed the final spot. It makes sense, as Abel was the best starter in camp.

Lineups
Austin Martin- LF
Byron Buxton- CF
Luke Keaschall- 2B
Ryan Jeffers- C
Matt Wallner- RF
Josh Bell- DH
Victor Caratini- 1B
Royce Lewis- 3B
Brooks Lee- SS

Alan Roden and James Outman will get playing time on the corners, Victor Caratini will get plenty of time at DH, first, and catcher, and Kody Clemens will play all over the place. I just don’t see the moves they made making much of a difference and I think with the improved White Sox, they will sink to the bottom of the division with the same record from last year of 70-92.

AL West

Seattle Mariners

Last season the Mariners won the West with a record of 90-72. They had a first round bye, beat the Tigers in five games, but lost to the Blue Jays in seven games. In the offseason they lost third baseman Eugenio Suarez, second baseman Jorge Polanco, and relief pitchers Caleb Ferguson and Gregory Santos to free agency. They traded catcher Harry Ford and a minor leaguer to the Nationals for relief pitcher Jose A. Ferrer and a minor leaguer. They also traded two draft picks, outfielders Colton Ledbetter, Tai Peete, third baseman Ben Williamson, and pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, to St. Louis and Tampa for second baseman Brendan Donovan. They also acquired pitcher Cooper Criswell from the Mets for cash. They resigned first baseman Josh Naylor to a five year $92.5 million contract, and signed outfielder Rob Refsnyder.

Rotation
Logan Gilbert, RHP
George Kirby, RHP
Bryan Woo, RHP
Luis Castillo, RHP
Bryce Miller, RHP

Keeping this group as healthy as possible could be the difference of whether the Mariners run away with the division, and they already are expected to be without Bryce Miller, who’s working back from left oblique inflammation. That should open the door for Emerson Hancock. Last year, Gilbert, Kirby and Miller were each on the IL for significant stretches in 2025, and Woo missed a full month leading into the playoffs.

Lineup

Brendan Donovan- 3B
Cal Raleigh- C
Julio Rodriguez- CF
Josh Naylor- 1B
Randy Arozarena- LF
Luke Raley- RF
Dominic Canzone- DH
Cole Young- 2B
Leo Rivas- SS

With Donovan slotting in as the leadoff hitter, the Mariners feature All-Stars from the past two seasons, filling their 1-5 spots. That said, at its ceiling, the rotation could be among the sport’s best. I think they will pick up right where they left off and win the West again, this time with a 92-70 record.

Texas Rangers

Last year the Rangers finished third in the West with a record of 81-81, missing the playoffs. In the offseason they lost outfielder Adolis Garcia, starting pitchers Merrill Kelly, and Tyler Mahle, relievers Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong, Jacob Webb, and Danny Coulombe, utility player Dylan Moore, first baseman Rowdy Tellez, and catcher Jonah Heim to free agency. They traded Marcus Semien to the Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo and cash. They traded five minor leaguers to the Nationals for starter MacKenzie Gore. They signed free agents catcher Danny Jansen, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, relief pitchers Chris Martin, Alexis Diaz, Jakob Junis, Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander, and DH Andrew McCutchen.

Rotation
Jacob deGrom, RHP
Nathan Eovaldi, RHP
MacKenzie Gore, LHP
Jack Leiter, RHP
Kumar Rocker, RHP

The final spot in the rotation came down to Jacob Latz and Rocker. While Latz has had more success at the big league level than Rocker, but he’s thrived in a swingman role in 2025 and could be more useful out of the bullpen early in the season. If Rocker can take a significant step forward, it would do wonders for the stability of the rotation.

Lineup
Brandon Nimmo- RF
Wyatt Langford- CF
Corey Seager- SS
Jake Burger- 1B
Andrew McCutchen- DH
Josh Jung- 3B
Josh Smith- 2B
Danny Jansen- C
Sam Haggerty- LF

There are a lot of new names in the Rangers’ lineup, but some of the core pieces remain the same as multiple players eye bounce-back seasons. The biggest questions are, if Evan Carter can hit left-handers well enough to remain in the lineup every day and if Joc Pederson can return to being an above-average hitter. The bottom half of the lineup will likely be shuffled around depending on the handedness of the opposing pitcher. They will finish second in the West, with a record of 88-72.

Houston Astros

In 2025 the Astros finished second in the West, and out of the playoffs, with a record of 87-75. During the offseason they lost starting pitcher Framber Valdez, relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel, catcher Victor Caratini, second baseman Brendan Rodgers, and third baseman Ramon Urias to free agency. They traded utility player Mauricio Dubon to the Braves for second baseman Nick Allen. They delt outfielder Jacob Melton to the Pirates for relievers Carter Baumler, and Mike Burrows, and traded outfielder Jesus Sanchez to the Blue Jays for outfielder Joey Loperfido. They also signed starting pitchers Tatsuya Imai and Ryan Weiss.

Rotation
Hunter Brown, RHP
Mike Burrows, RHP
Cristian Javier, RHP
Tatsuya Imai, RHP
Lance McCullers, RHP

The Astros are going to begin the season with a five-man rotation before bringing up Ronel Blanco for a six-man rotation a couple of weeks into the season. McCullers locked down that fifth spot last week when Spencer Arrighetti was optioned to AAA.

Lineup
Jose Altuve- 2B
Yordan Alvarez- DH
Isaac Paredes- 3B
Carlos Correa- SS
Joey Loperfido- LF
Cam Smith- RF
Christian Walker- 1B
Yainer Diaz- C
Jake Meyers- CF

They are missing Jeremy Pena after he fractured his right ring finger in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game while playing for the Dominican Republic. They just don’t have the talent to keep pace with the Mariners or Rangers and will finish out of the playoffs, third in the West with a record of 85-77.

Athletics

The A’s finished fourth in the West last year with a 76-86 record. This season will be their second in Sacramento and they won’t move to Las Vegas until the start of the 2028 season. This offseason they lost pitcher Sean Newcomb, and outfielder JJ Bleday to free agency. They traded a minor leaguer to the Mets for utility player Jeff McNeil and cash. The signed starting pitcher Aaron Civale, and relief pitchers Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Barlow.

Rotation
Luis Severino, RHP
Jeffery Springs, LHP
Luis Morales, RHP
Jacob Lopez, LHP
Aaron Civale, RHP

Civale’s addition just before camp likely solidifies the rotation with five members the A’s would feel good about entering the season. J.T. Ginn, Mason Barnett, Gunnar Hoglund and Jack Perkins could factor into the rotation if a need arises, while top prospect Gage Jump could make his big league debut later this season.

Lineup
Nick Kurtz- 1B
Shea Langeliers- C
Tyler Soderstrom- LF
Brent Rooker- DH
Jacob Wilson- SS
Lawrence Butler- RF
Max Muncy- 3B
Jeff McNeil- 2B
Denzel Clarke- CF

The A’s expect to have one of the better offenses in baseball next season on the strength of a core featuring American League Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, and are set with established starters at every position outside of third base, which could see Muncy, Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris all factor in, until one of those three seizes the everyday role. Colby Thomas and Carlos Cortez will see matchup-based opportunities in the outfield. Even with one of the better offenses in the league, the pitching is the weak point, and I just don’t think they’re ready to take over third in the West but if the Astros falter they will move into third. They will remain in fourth with a record 84-76.

Los Angeles Angels

In 2025 the Angels finished last in the West with a record of 72-90. In the offseason starter Kyle Hendricks retired, and they lost Kenley Jansen, relief pitchers Luis Garcia, and Andrew Chafin to free agency. They traded outfielder Taylor Ward to the Orioles for starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez, sent outfielder Isaiah Jackson to the Red Sox for second baseman Vaughn Grissom, and traded reliever Brock Burke to the Rays for Josh Lowe. The resigned third baseman Yoan Moncada, and signed free agents, starting pitcher Alek Manoah, second baseman Adam Frazier, and relief pitchers Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Jordan Romano, and Brent Suter.

Rotation
Jose Soriano, RHP
Yusei Kikuchi, LHP
Reid Detmers, LHP
Ryan Johnson, RHP
Jack Kochanowicz, RHP

The Angels have placed both right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (right arm soreness) and Alek Manoah (blister) on the injured list to start the season, allowing Johnson and Kochanowicz to claim rotation spots. Walbert Urena was also in the mix but will serve as long reliever.

Lineup
Zach Neto- SS
Mike Trout- CF
Nolan Schanuel- 1B
Jorge Soler- DH
Yoan Moncada- 3B
Jo Adell- RF
Josh Lowe, LF
Logan O’Hoppe- C
Oswald Peraza- 2B

Trout is back in center field after an experiment in right last year, while Oswald Peraza will share time at second base with Adam Frazier. Even with an active off season, it doesn’t appear the Halos have improved much over last year. I think they will finish last again, with a slightly improved record of 80-82 record.

National League

NL East

Philadelphia Phillies

In 2025 the Phillies won the East with a record of 96-66. They had the first round bye, but lost to the eventual champion Dodgers three games to one. This offseason David Robertson retired, the lost starting pitchers Ranger Suarez, and Walker Buehler, outfielders Harrison Bader, and Nick Castellanos, and relief pitcher Jordan Romano to free agency. They also traded relief pitcher Matt Strahm to the Royals for relief pitcher Jonathon Bowlan, and a minor leaguer to the Diamondbacks for relief pitcher Kyle Backhus. They resigned first baseman Kyle Schwarber, catcher JT Realmuto, and signed free agents relievers Brad Keller, and Zach Pop, and utility player Dylan Moore.

Rotation
Christopher Sanchez, LHP
Jesus Luzardo, LHP
Aaron Nola, RHP
Taijuan Walker, RHP
Andrew Painter, RHP

Zach Wheeler has been doing well in his rehab from thoracic outlet decompression surgery on Sept. 23. He could rejoin the rotation sometime this month. Nola and Painter both pitched well this spring, which are important developments. Nola is coming off the worst year of his career, and Painter is making his MLB debut on March 31.

Lineup
Trea Turner- SS
Kyle Schwarber- DH
Bryce Harper- 1B
Alec Bohm, 3B
Bryson Stott, 2B
Adolis Garcia, RF
Brandon Marsh- LF
JT Realmuto- C
Justin Crawford- CF

It appears that Phillies manager Rob Thomson has Schwarber hitting second and Harper third, following offseason speculation that Thomson might reverse their spots. Another change is Stott hitting fifth, he had an excellent spring, following a strong second half last year. This is their division to win or lose. Even with the loss of Suarez, and Bader they just reloaded and will try to replicate what they did last season. If too many players have bad years their record could fall, but they should be so far ahead that it might not make a difference. They will finish first in the East with a record of 95-67.

New York Mets

Last season the Mets were second in the East with a record of 83-79, but missed the playoffs. They lost first baseman Pete Alonso, closer Edwin Diaz, relief pitchers Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley, Gregory Soto, Danny Young, and Drew Smith, starting pitcher Griffin Canning, and outfields Cedric Mullins and Starling Marte. They traded outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for cash and infielder Marcus Semien. They sent utility player Jeff McNeil to the A's for a minor leaguer. They delt pitcher Brandon Sproat and shortstop Jett Williams to the Brewers for pitchers Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers. They traded second baseman Luisangel Acuna and a minor leaguer to the White Sox for Luis Robert Jr. They sent relief pitcher Cooper Criswell to the Mariners for cash. They signed free agents shortstop Bo Bichette, second baseman Jorge Polanco, outfielder MJ Melendez, and relief pitchers Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Luis Garcia.

Rotation
Freddy Peralta, RHP
David Peterson, LHP
Nolan McLean, RHP
Clay Holmes, RHP
Kodai Senga, RHP

While the Mets intend to use a six-man rotation in April, they will begin the season with Sean Manaea in the bullpen. That allows them to take advantage of early off-days to keep everyone else on a more traditional, five-game routine.

Lineup
Francisco Lindor- SS
Juan Soto- LF
Bo Bichette- 3B
Jorge Polanco- 1B
Luis Robert Jr.- CF
Brett Baty- DH
Marcus Semien- 2B
Carson Benge- RF
Francisco Alvarez- C

Top hitting prospect Benge did indeed make the team, and he slotted into the lineup on Opening Day against the Pirates. Lindor, who is healed up from February 11, hamate surgery, will be in his customary leadoff spot. They may have lost Alonso, but signing Bichette and Roberts Jr. might cancel it out. They will get more hits, and less strikeouts than with the Polar Bear, but if either one of them have a down season, the Mets could regret not resigning him. They have to try to keep pace with the Phillies, if they want to have any chance to make the postseason. I think they will finish in second with a record of 88-74.

Atlanta Braves

The Braves finished fourth in the NL East with a record of 76-86. This offseason they lost DH Marcell Ozuna, starting pitcher Alek Manoah, and reliever Pierce Johnson to free agency. Atlanta traded infielder Nick Allen to the Astros for utility player Mauricio Dubon. They resigned shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, and relief pitchers Raisel Iglesias, Joel Payamps and Tyler Kinley. They also signed free agents; outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, shortstop Jorge Mateo, catcher Jonah Heim, starting pitcher Martin Perez, and relief pitchers Danny Young, Ian Hamilton, and Robert Suarez.

Rotation
Chris Sale, LHP
Reynaldo Lopez, RHP
Grant Holmes, RHP
Bryce Elder, RHP
Jose Suarez, LHP

Spencer Strider (left oblique strain) Spencer Schwellenbach (right elbow surgery), Hurston Waldrep (right elbow surgery) and Joey Wentz (torn ACL in right knee) are all slated to open the season on the IL, so the team’s rotation depth will be tested immediately.

Ronald Acuna Jr.- RF
Drake Baldwin- DH
Ozzie Albies- 2B
Matt Olson- 1B
Austin Riley- 3B
Eli White- LF
Mauricio Dubon- SS
Jonah Heim- C
Michael Harris II- CF

Jorge Mateo will also see time at short, since Dubon can play nearly everywhere. The fate of the Braves offense rests on the health of Olsen, Harris, and Acuna. If they can play the majority of the season, the offense should be good, if they spend significant time on the IL, their season is in jeopardy. Also, the sooner they get the pitching Spencers (Strider and Schwellenbach) back the better. I think they move into third place in the East, but still miss the playoffs, with a record of 80-82.

Miami Marlins

In 2025, the Marlins finished third in the East with a record of 79-83, missing the playoffs. Over the winter they traded starting pitcher Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for outfielder Owner Caissie and two minor leaguers. They delt starting pitcher Ryan Weathers to the Yankees for four minor leaguers. The sent outfielder Joey Wiemer to the Giants for cash (he was later claimed off waivers by the Nationals). They traded outfielder Dane Myers to the Reds for a minor leaguer, and traded first baseman Eric Wagaman to the Twins for a minor leaguer. The signed free agents relief pitchers Pete Fairbanks, and John King, infielder Christopher Morel, outfielder Esteury Ruiz, and starting pitcher Chris Paddack.

Rotation
Sandy Alcantara, RHP
Eury Perez, RHP
Max Meyer, RHP
Chris Paddack, RHP
Janson Junk, RHP

Junk (a great name for a pitcher), won the final spot over left-hander Braxton Garrett, who was returning from a second elbow surgery. I hope they have better luck with Paddack then the Tigers did. He was a complete waste for Detroit.

Lineup
Austin Slater- RF
Agustin Ramirez- C
Jakob Marsee- CF
Otto Lopez- SS
Connor Norby- 1B
Heriberto Hernandez- LF
Xavier Edwards- 2B
Owen Caissie- DH
Javier Sanoja- 3B

The Marlins will be without All-Star Kyle Stowers, who strained his right hamstring late in camp. Like most teams in modern baseball they will roll out a right-handed-heavier lineup against lefty pitchers, to play matchups. I think their finish last season was a little bit of an over performance and they will fall back a little. They will finish in fourth with a record of 77-85

Washington Nationals

In 2025, the Nationals finished last in the East with a record of 69-96. In the offseason they lost first baseman Josh Bell, and third baseman Paul DeJong to free agency. They traded starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for five minor leaguers, and traded relief pitcher Jose A. Ferrer to the Rangers for two minor leaguers. The signed free agent starting pitchers Zack Littell, Miles Mikolas, and Foster Griffin.

Rotation
Cade Cavalli, RHP
Foster Griffin, LHP
Zack Littell, RHP
Miles Mikolas, RHP
Jake Irvin, RHP

Cavalli persevered through three years of injury to earn the honor of Opening Day starter. He will be joined by returning Irvin and a trio of veterans who signed this season. Brad Lord will be a long reliever out of the bullpen.

Lineup
James Wood- LF
Andres Chaparro- 1B
Brady House- 3B
Daylen Lile- DH
Joey Wiemer- RF
CJ Abrams- SS
Nasim Nunez- 2B
Keibert Ruiz- C
Jacob Young- CF

A player notably not in this lineup is Dylan Crews, who the Nats optioned to AAA Rochester, amid Spring Training struggles. The 6-foot-6 Wood drives the Nationals’ offense with his dominant power. Look for Luis Garcia Jr. to see time at second and first base this season. They did nearly nothing to improve their roster over the winter and I think they actually made themselves worse, and their struggles will continue. They will finish last in the East with a record of 62-100.

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NL Central

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers finished last season by winning the NL Central and being the highest seed in the National League, with a record of 97-65. They had a first round bye, beat the Cubs in five games, but were swept by the Dodgers. Over the winter they lost first baseman Rhys Hoskins, starting pitcher Jose Quintana, catcher Danny Jansen, relief pitcher Shelby Miller, and starting pitchers Erick Fedde, and Jordan Montgomery to free agency. They traded starting pitchers Freddy Peralta, and Tobias Myers to the Mets for starting pitcher Brandon Sproat and shortstop Jett Williams. They traded infielder Caleb Durbin and infielder Andruw Monasterio to the Red Sox for infielder David Hamilton and starting pitcher Kyle Harrison. They traded outfielder Isaac Collins and relief pitcher Nick Mears to the Royals for relief pitcher Angel Zerpa. They resigned starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff, and signed free agents outfielder Akil Baddoo, and catcher Gary Sanchez.

Rotation
Jacob Misiorowski, RHP
Chad Patrick, RHP
Brandon Sproat, RHP
Kyle Harrison, LHP
Brandon Woodruff, RHP

Woodruff is coming off a couple of injury-shortened seasons and ramping up cautiously, hence a position at the back of the rotation. Quinn Priester, a 2025 breakout, will begin ‘26 on the IL with a nerve issue. Overall, it’s a very young group, with other prospects like Robert Gasser (another great name for a pitcher), Logan Henderson, and Shane Drohan all likely to start games for Milwaukee this year.

Lineup
Brice Turang- 2B
William Contreras- C
Christian Yelich- DH
Andrew Vaughn- 1B
Jake Bauers- LF
Sal Frelick- RF
David Hamilton- 3B
Garrett Mitchell- CF
Joey Ortiz- SS

After the announcement earlier in spring training that Jackson Chourio would miss time (two to four weeks) with a fractured left hand, the Brewers will have to shuffle the deck with Jake Bauers, Christian Yelich and Brandon Lockridge splitting time in left field until Chourio returns. Just like the Phillies in the East, the Central Division is the Brewers’ to win or lose. If they can get over their injuries, they can win it again, and if the pitching can’t stand the strain of 162 games, they will fall from their perch at the top, and the Cubs are right there waiting for a misstep by the Brew Crew. I think they will win the division with a record of 96-66.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs finished 2025 in second place in the Central with a record of 92-70. They were a wild card team, beat the Padres in three games, but lost to their arch rival Brewers in a hard-fought five game series. Over the winter they lost outfielder Kyle Tucker, relief pitchers Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, Taylor Rogers, Eli Morgan and Ryan Brasier, utility player Willi Castro, first baseman Carlos Santana, and starting pitchers Michael Soroka, and Aaron Civale to free agency. They traded outfielder Owen Caissie and two minor leaguers to the Marlins for starting pitcher Edward Cabrera. The resigned starting pitcher Shota Imanaga. They signed free agents; third baseman Alex Bregman, first baseman Tyler Austin, outfielder Michael Conforto, and relief pitchers Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton Caleb Thielbar, Shelby Miller, Hoby Milner, and Jacob Webb.

Rotation
Matthew Boyd, LHP
Cade Horton, RHP
Edward Cabrera, RHP
Shota Imanaga, LHP
Jameson Taillon, RHP

Imanaga took the ball on Opening Day a year ago, but that assignment will go to Boyd this year after the veteran’s first career All-Star showing last year. Horton enjoyed a breakout rookie showing in ‘25. Cabrera joined the staff via trade this winter. Behind these five, Chicago has depth in Colin Rea, Ben Brown and Javier Assad, with Justin Steele (left elbow) looking to return in the first half.

Lineup
Michael Bush- 1B
Alex Bregman- 3B
Ian Happ- LF
Pete Crow-Armstrong- CF
Nico Hoerner- 2B
Carson Kelly- C
Moises Ballesteros- DH
Dansby Swanson- SS
Michael Conforto- RF

With Seiya Suzuki (right knee) missing time (probably back second week of April), Conforto will get most of the playing time in right with Shaw filling in. Shaw will fill a super-sub role for multiple spots in the infield and outfield. Miguel Amaya and Kelly are expected to split time behind the plate. They are going for a division title and a deep playoff run, but Boyd is getting older and after Imanaga, the rest of the rotation is going to take a step back. If the Brewers stumble the Cubs would be happy to swoop in and take over the top spot in the division, but I think they will be a wild card after a second place finish in the Central with a record of 90-72 record.

Cincinnati Reds

In 2025 the Red were a wild card team and third in the Central with a record of 83-79. They were swept by the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs. In the offseason they lost outfielders Austin Hays and Miguel Andujar, starting pitchers Zack Little, and Nick Martinez, and relief pitchers Brent Suter and Scott Barlow to free agency. They traded infielder Gavin Lux to the Rays in a three team deal that saw the Reds get starting pitcher Brock Burke from the Angels. They sent a minor leaguer to the Marlins for outfielder Dane Myers. The signed free agents; third baseman Eugenio Suarez, outfielder JJ Bleday, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, and relievers Emilio Pagan, Pierce Johnson and Caleb Ferguson.

Rotation
Andrew Abbott, LHP
Nick Lodolo, LHP
Brady Singer, RHP
Rhett Lowder, RHP
Chase Burns, RHP
Brandon Williamson, LHP

With Hunter Greene opening on the IL (right elbow out to July at least), the Reds are opting, at least in the short term, to go with six starters in five spots. Lowder, Burns and Williamson will all somehow pitch on an every fifth day basis, but one of those will come out of the bullpen in a sort-of tandem starter situation depending on the matchups. None of them will be used out of the bullpen when the top three starters are going.

Lineup
TJ Friedl- CF
Matt McLain- 2B
Elly De La Cruz- SS
Sal Stewart- 1B
Eugenio Suarez- DH
Spencer Steer- LF
Tyler Stephenson- C
Noelvi Marte- RF
Ke’Bryan Hayes- 3B

Adding Suarez, who tied a career high with 49 homers last season, will provide lineup protection behind De La Cruz and Stewart and add more punch to an offense that was 21st in MLB last season with 167 homers. One drawback is Friedl is the only pure lefty hitter while De La Cruz is a switch-hitter. If they can get over the loss of Greene for the beginning of the season and Suarez can replicate 2025, the Reds can stay in third behind the Brewers and Cubs, although they will have a hard time earning another wild card spot. They will finish third in the Central with a record of 85-77.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Last season the Pirates finished last in the Central with a record of 71-91. In the winter they lost DH Andrew McCutchen, outfielder Tommy Pham, and reliever Colin Holderman to free agency. They traded starting pitcher Johan Oviedo and two minor leaguers to the Red Sox for outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia, and traded starter Mike Burrows to the Astros in a three team deal where they received second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and relief pitcher Mason Montgomery from the Rays. They signed free agents first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, DH Marcell Ozuna, starting pitcher Jose Urquidy and relief pitcher Gregory Soto.

Rotation
Paul Skenes, RHP
Mitch Keller, RHP
Bubba Chandler, RHP
Braxton Ashcraft, RHP
Jose Urquidy, RHP

The Pirates could have one of the more exciting rotations in baseball this year, headlined by the reigning NL Cy Young winner Skenes and a top pitching prospect in Chandler (MLB #11 overall). The newly signed Urquidy should help solidify the rotation until Jared Jones (surgery right elbow) returns later in the year.

Lineup
Oneil Cruz- CF
Brandon Lowe- 2B
Bryan Reynolds- LF
Marcell Ozuna- DH
Ryan O’Hearn- RF
Jared Triolo- SS
Spencer Howitz- 1B
Nick Gonzales-8- 3B
Henry Davis- C

Trading for Lowe and adding O’Hearn and Ozuna gives Pittsburgh three new sluggers for 2026. MLB’s #1 overall prospect Konnor Griffin, to begin the season in the minors. We will see him after about 60 days of the season when he will not earn a year of MLB service for this season. Even with the service time manipulation, that I truly hate, the Pirates will improve this year and pass the Cards for fourth in the Central with a record of 77-85.

St. Louis Cardinals

Last year the Cardinals finished fourth in the Central with a record of 78-84. Over the winter they lost starting pitcher Miles Mikolas, and reliever John King to free agency. They traded first baseman Willson Contreras and starting pitcher Sonny Gray and cash to the Red Sox for starting pitcher Hunter Dobbins, and two minor leaguers. They traded third baseman Nolan Arenado and cash to the diamondback for a minor leaguer. They sent infielder Brendan Donovan to the Mariners for two minor leaguers and a draft pick. The resigned catcher Yohel Pozo and signed free agents; starting pitcher Dustin May, relief pitcher Ryne Stanek, and infielder Ramon Urias.

Rotation
Matthew Liberatore, LHP
Michael McGreevy, RHP
Dustin May, RHP
Kyle Leahy, RHP
Andre Pallante, RHP

The Cardinals’ Opening Day rotation is set. Richard Fitte, was a candidate, but he was optioned to AAA Memphis. Leahy will be converting from a reliever to a starter.

Lineup
JJ Wetherholt- 2B
Ivan Herrera- DH
Alec Burleson- 1B
Masyn Winn- SS
Nolan Gorman- 3B
Jordan Walker- RF
Nathan Church- LF
Pedro Pages- C
Victor Scott II- CF

Wetherholt, the Cards’ top prospect and MLB’s #5 overall, has officially made the team, after the Donovan trade, and Lars Nootbaar starting the season on the IL (there is no timeline for his return after surgery on both heels), Wetherholt will be be leading off the weak Cards lineup. The Redbirds did not do a lot to improve their roster this winter, and I think it will show up in the on field results. They will finish fifth in the Central with a record of 70-92.

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers

Last year the Dodgers were first in the West with a record of 93-69. Swept Cincinnati, beat Philly three games to one, swept the Brewers and beat the Blue Jays in a seven game series to claim their ninth World Championship, and the second in a row. Over the winter they lost relief pitcher Kirby Yates, and outfielder Michael Conforto to free agency. They traded relief pitcher Anthony Banda to the Twins for future considerations1 and international bonus pool money.2 They resigned shortstop Miguel Rojas, utility player Kike Hernandez, and relief pitcher Evan Phillips. The signed free agents outfielder Kyle Tucker, and closer Edwin Diaz.

Rotation
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP
Emmet Sheehan, RHP
Tyler Glasnow, RHP
Roki Sasaki, RHP
Shohei Ohtani, RHP

Given their early off-days, the Dodgers can get through the first couple weeks of the season with a five-man rotation, but they are still carrying a sixth starter on the Opening Day roster, Justin Wrobleski will be a long reliever the first two or so turns through the rotation, after which he will shift to starting.

Lineup
Shohei Ohtani- DH
Kyle Tucker- RF
Mookie Betts- SS
Freddie Freeman- 1B
Will Smith- C
Max Muncy- 3B
Teoscar Hernandez- LF
Andy Pages- CF
Miguel Rojas- 2B

Tucker’s addition brings another big bat to the top third. The fact that Pages, who hit 27 homers last year, is hitting in the bottom third is a testament to the length of this lineup. Rojas is more likely to play against left-handers in the regular season, but given his World Series heroics and that this is his last season before retirement, he’s earned the start on Opening Day. They will win the West with a record of 99-63.

San Diego Padres

In 2025 the Padres finished second in the West with a record of 90-72, earning a wild card spot, but lost to the Cubs in five games. In the offseason they lost starting pitcher Dylan Cease, first baseman Luis Arraez, outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and relief pitcher Robert Suarez to free agency. They resigned starting pitchers Michael King and Kyle Hart. The signed infielder Sung-Mun Song, outfielder Miguel Andujar, first baseman Ty France, outfielder Nick Castellanos, relief pitchers Ty Adcock, and Daison Acosta, starting pitchers Triston McKenzie, Griffin Canning, German Marquez, and Walker Buehler.

Rotation
Nick Pivetta, RHP
Michael King, RHP
Randy Vasquez, RHP
German Marquez, RHP
Walker Buehler, RHP

Joe Musgrove will miss the start of the regular season as he builds his way back from Tommy John surgery, though his return likely isn’t too far off. Same holds true for new signing Griffin Canning, who tore his left Achilles last June. With those absences, Márquez and Buehler won spots at the back end of the rotation.

Lineup
Fernando Tatis Jr.- RF
Xander Bogaerts- SS
Manny Machado- 3B
Jackson Merrill- CF
Miguel Andujar-DH
Gavin Sheets- 1B
Ramon Laureano- LF
Freddy Fermin- C
Jake Cronenworth- 2B

Sheets will get regular starts at first base against right-handed pitching. Andujar and Nick Castellanos enter the mix as righty bats with a chance to help balance the offense. Second in the West with a record of 89-73

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondback finished 2025 fourth in the West with a record of 80-82. This winter they lost relief pitcher Jalen Beeks to free agency. They traded outfielder Jake McCarthy to the Rockies for a minor leaguer. The sent shortstop Blaze Alexander to the Orioles for three minor leaguers. They delt Kyle Backhus to the Phillies for a minor leaguer. They traded a minor leaguer to the Cardinals for third baseman Nolan Arenado. They resigned starting pitcher Zac Gallen, and catcher James McCann. The signed free agents; starting pitchers Merrill Kelly and Michael Soroka, first baseman Carlos Santana, and relief pitchers Paul Sewald, and Taylor Clarke.

Rotation
Zac Gallen, RHP
Ryne Nelson, RHP
Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP
Michael Soroka, RHP
Brandon Pfaadt, RHP

The rotation appears set after the D-backs brought back Gallen for 2026. The team expects to get right-hander Corbin Burns back from Tommy John surgery around the All-Star break, while right-hander Merrill Kelly will be ready to join the starting five sometime after Arizona’s first homestand.

Lineup
Ketel Marte- 2B
Corbin Carroll- RF
Geraldo Perdomo- SS
Gabriel Moreno- C
Pavin Smith- DH
Nolan Arenado- 3B
Carlos Santana- 1B
Alek Thomas- CF
Jordan Lawler- LF

Manager Torey Lovullo has said the order of the top three could change throughout the year, but not the contents. Those are his three guys to set the tone. Lawlar will be asked to hold down the nine-spot that Perdomo manned for much of the last three years, serving as a second table-setter for the top of the order to give the D-backs some extra spark the second time through. They will be a team that scores a lot of runs, and the success, or lack thereof, will come down to the pitchers, if they can keep it close the D-Backs could steal some games this season. However, in the high-powered NL West they are destined for third place with a record of 87-73.

San Francisco Giants

In 2025 the Giants were third in the West with a very average 81-81 record. Over the winter they lost starting pitcher Justin Verlander and catcher Andrew Knizner to free agency. They signed free agents: outfielder Harrison Bader, second baseman Luis Arraez, outfielder Will Brennan, starting pitchers Adrian Houser, and Tyler Mahle, and relief pitchers Sam Hentges, and Jason Foley.

Rotation
Logan Webb, RHP
Robbie Ray, LHP
Tyler Mahle, RHP
Adrian Houser, RHP
Landen Roupp, RHP

The Giants are projected to have a pair of All-Stars leading their rotation in Webb and Ray, though they’ll need Mahle and Roupp to stay healthy and Houser to build on his resurgent 2025 campaign to ensure they receive consistent production from their starting staff.

Lineup
Luis Arraez- 2B
Matt Chapman- 3B
Rafael Devers- DH
Willy Adames- SS
Jung Hoo Lee- RF
Heliot Ramos- LF
Casey Schmitt- 1B
Patrick Bailey- C
Harrison Bader- CF

The arrival of Arraez, the game’s best contact hitter, should help offset some of the swing-and-miss tendencies from sluggers like Devers, Adames and Chapman, giving the Giants’ lineup a much-needed dimension heading into 2026. After the cleanup spot, this lineup is weak. If Bader can return to his 2021 form it could give the Giants a boost at the bottom of their lineup, setting the table for the top. They will finish fourth in the West with a record of 83-79.

Colorado Rockies

In 2025 the Rockies were last in the West with a record of 43-119, 50 games behind the Dodgers and an amazing 37 games behind Arizona in fourth place. In the Wwinter they lost shortstop Orlando Arcia, first baseman Michael Togila, infielder Kyle Farmer, and starting pitcher German Marquez to free agency. They traded relief pitcher Angel Chivilli to the Yankees for first baseman TJ Rumfeld. They sent a minor leaguer to Arizona for outfielder Jake McCarthy, and a minor leaguer to the Twins for second baseman Edouard Julian and relief pitcher Pierson Ohl. The signed free agents utility player Willi Castro, and starting pitchers Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana, and Tomoyuki Sugano.

Rotation
Kyle Freeland, LHP
Michael Lorenzen, RHP
Jose Quintana, LHP
Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP
Ryan Feltner, RHP

The Rockies spent the days leading up to camp surrounding Freeland with experience. At the end of the Cactus League schedule, the Rockies decided Feltner’s experience put him ahead of talented righty Chase Dollander, who begins in long relief.

Lineup
Jake McCarthy- LF
Hunter Goodman- C
Willi Castro- 2B
Ezequiel Tovar- SS
TJ Rumfield- 1B
Jordan Beck- RF
Brenton Doyle- CF
Edouard Julien- DH
Kyle Karros- 3B

Rumfield arrived in a trade with the Yankees and showed power and patience all spring, and Karros showed an advanced approach throughout camp. Both are young players who improve the lineup. The addition of McCarthy gives manager Warren Schaeffer speed at the top. Don’t worry, their not getting much better anytime soon. They will finish last in the West withan improved, but still horrible record of better yet. Finish last in the West with a record of 57-105.

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Playoffs

Here are my projected division winners, wildcards and seeding:

AL East- Yankees: 94-68 (AL 1) NL East- Phillies: 95-67 (NL 3)

AL Central- Tigers: 91-71 (AL 3) NL Central- Brewers: 96-66 (NL 2)

AL West Mariners: 92-70 (AL 2) NL West- Dodgers: 99-63 (NL 1)

AL Wildcard 1- Blue Jays: 93-68 (AL 4) NL Wildcard 1- Cubs: 90-72 (NL 4)

AL Wildcard 2- Orioles: 90-72 (AL 5) NL Wildcard 2- Padres: 89-73 (NL 5)

AL Wildcards 3- Royals: 89-73 (AL 6) NL Wildcard 3- Mets: 88-74 (NL 6)

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So the way I have everyone finishing, the playoffs would set up like this (higher seed [home team] is listed first):

AL Wild Card Series

Tigers vs. Royals - Tigers win

Blue Jays vs. Orioles - Blue Jays win

AL Division Series

Mariners vs. Tigers - Tigers win

Yankees vs. Blue Jays - Yankees win

AL Championship Series

Yankees vs. Tigers - Yankees win

NL Wild Card Series

Phillies vs. Mets - Phillies win

Cubs vs. Padres - Cubs win

NL Division Series

Dodgers vs. Phillies - Dodgers win

Padres vs. Brewer - Brewers win

NL Championship Series

Dodgers vs. Brewers - Dodgers win

World Series

Dodgers vs. Yankees - World Series Champion - Dodgers

There you go, my predictions for the standings, the playoff matchups and the eventual World Series champion. I hope you know how hard it was for me to pick these two teams to compete in the Fall Classic. The Dodgers are quickly becoming “The Team That Shall Not Be Named West”. I know picking the Dodgers is not a controversial pick. In fact it is the same pick I made last year, but it is hard to see them losing to anyone this year.

Once again, please remember, that this is just for fun. Do not place bets on this information or take it as gospel! I am not a professional prognosticator, I’m just a guy who loves baseball and has ideas of his own. Remember, this is only the third time I’ve done this and my success has been spotty at best. Please don’t message me at the end of the season and tell me you lost your house on a bet you placed because of my predictions! That said, I hope you have enjoyed this post. I have no idea what I’m going to write about next time so it will be a surprise for all of us.

Chris

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Last time you saw me in your inboxes it was when I dropped Part I of my 2026 Detroit Tigers Season Preview. Click below if you missed it.

Today I will wrap up the season preview with a look at the potential lineups and rotations. It is going to be shorter then last year, since they are pretty much rolling out the same defense as they did in 2025, and they’re already known quantities. So let’s jump right in, I’ll go around the horn position by position and look at how I think it should shake out. Then, I will list the players I think will be on the Opening Day roster and what I think the lineups should be against left and right handed starting pitchers.

NOTE: All of the stats listed in this post are current as of Saturday 03/21/25.

Position by Position Infield

Catcher

This one is easy. The catchers for the Detroit Tigers in 2025 will be Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers. Last year Rogers started off as the starter but quickly lost that job to, the much better hitting, Dingler. As long as the offseason elbow surgery that Dingler had doesn’t affect his throwing, he will get the majority of the starts, with Rogers filling in when Dingler needs a break. Last season Dingler won a Gold Glove, and hit .278 with 13 homeruns, 57 RBIs, 110 strikeouts, an OBP of .327, and a SLG of .425 in 126 games. Rogers, on the other hand, hit an abysmal .187 with three homeruns, 19 RBIs, 39 strikeouts, an OBP of .227, and a SLG of .333 in 39 games. So, you can see that Dingler has taken over as the starting catcher. If Dingler has to miss the start of the season because of his elbow and Rogers hits like he did last year, we could see Eduardo Valencia1, who split time between AA Erie and AAA Toledo last season. Overall he hit really well with a .311 average, 24 homeruns, 95 RBIs, 86 strikeouts, an OBP of .382, and a SLG of .559 in 103 games. these stats are almost exactly split between Erie and Toledo which means he didn’t suffer a decline in offense while facing the stiffer competition in AAA. Of course, they say that the jump from AAA to the Majors is the biggest of all, so all we can do is wait and see. There is also a impossibly small chance that we could see Tigers #7 prospect Thayron Liranzo, but he hasn’t played a game higher than AA so probably not.

First Base

Last year in my season preview I said that this position was one of the hardest to figure out, because of the horrible 2024 season Spencer Torkelson had. This year, as long as he can return to his form in the beginning of 2025, he will get the majority of starts at first base. Last year he hit .240 with 31 homeruns, 75 RBIs, 169 strikeouts, an OBP of .333, and a SLG of .456 in 155 games. He had a strikeout percentage of 27% which is much higher then the MLB average of 22%. However, his 31 round trippers is much better than the league average of 17 homeruns. If he can cut down on the strikeouts this season, either walking more or just racking up more singles, it will greatly enhance his value. He still isn't very good defensively, other then picking bad throws, and hasn't improved at all from last year in that respect. That could be a reason that the Tigers have been playing lots of other players at first during spring, although it could just be about getting players at bats.

If he goes down with an injury the Tigers have multiple players that could fill in. Colt Keith, Wenceel Perez, Matt Verling, and Jace Jung have all played there either last year or this spring, and can hold down the fort of Tork is out for an extended time.

Second Base

The situation at second base is easy to call. It belongs to Gleyber Torres. Last year I called him all kinds of names and even questioned his commitment to the team. I want to apologize again for that. He was an All-Star in 2025 and hit .250 with 16 homeruns, 74 RBIs, 101 strikeouts, an OBP of .358, and a SLG of .387. He was one of the players I mentioned when I wrote about the huge slump in September last year, but I didn't know that he had suffered a sports hernia. Now I'm amazed that he hit at all, let alone played. He us still not the best fielding second baseman in the league, but he cut his errors from 18 in 2024 to five last season, and his fielding percentage went from .960 to .990. We are going to need him to be at his best since they signed the pitcher with the highest ground ball rate in the Majors.

If he gets hurt the Tigers have a few options to replace him. They could move Colt Keith back to second, or Kevin McGonigle (a name we're going to see a lot) could be called up. Jace Jung has been taking reps at second, of course he needs to prove he can hit at the Major League level, and is naturally a third baseman anyway. Third generation MLB hopeful Trei Cruz (grandson of Jose Cruz, son of Jose Cruz Jr.), is on the 40-Man and can play second base, as well as shortstop, third, and center. He is also a possibility if Torres goes down. If Torres can stay healthy and have a season like he did in the first half of 2025, it will be a successful signing for the Tigers.

Third Base

The “hot corner” is a position with more questions than answers. The team has been playing Colt Keith there when he lost his job at second and first base. They also played Zach McKinstry there a lot, they also are trying Jace Jung there this spring. He is a better defensive player than Keith but it comes down to hitting, as it seems to for most players. In 2024 when I first mentioned the Tigers signing Keith to a six-year contract that guarantees him $28,642,500, I did not know that the Tigers were going to sign Gleyber Torres and Keith was going on a journey to find a place to play. They moved him to first, then Torkelson starting hitting, they moved him to third but kept moving him around. He played 37 games at third, 26 games at second, and 18 games at first. This is a lot to ask from a 24 year-old who’s trying to find his Major League identity and his swing at that level. I know they are paying him millions of dollars, but hitting a baseball is hard, and if you have to wonder every day where you’re playing it can get inside your head, especially for a young player. Last year Keith hit .256 with 13 homeruns, 45 RBIs, 48 walks, 102 strikeouts, an OBP of .333, and a SLG of .413 in 137 games.

McKinstry hit .259 with 12 homeruns, 49 RBIs, 46 walks, 19 stolen bases (top on the team, the rest of the team combined had 24), 111 strikeouts, an OBP of .333, and a SLG of .438 in 144 games. However, he might also be needed at shortstop, if McGonigle doesn’t start out on the roster.

Third choice for third is Jace Jung who played his way to Toledo with his lack of hitting. He hit .106 with 0 homers, three RBIs, seven walks, 16 strikeouts, an OBP of .236, and a SLG of .106 in 21 games. In Toledo he hit .252 with 17 homers, 74 RBIs, 78 walks, 125 strikeouts, an OBP of .370, and a SLG of .447 in 110 games. If he can figure out Major League pitching he could be a solid third baseman but that is a big IF. Counting the 55 games and the 50 games he’s played in spring training over the last few years, he has exactly two homeruns, and three extra base hits! He needs to find the power that he has shown in his 363 minor league games, where he has hit 61 homeruns and 89 extra base hits.

Fourth would be Trei Cruz, as I said he has played third, and he’s a switch hitter so Hinch can play matchup ball.

Jung, McKinstry, and Keith all hit left handed, so if it is a platoon, it would have to be one of those and Cruz. I guess I’m going to say that Keith will start the most games at third with Cruz and McKinstry filling in every now and then. Jung will find himself back in AAA to find his power. All if this is also contingent on Kevin McGonigle not spending significant time in Detroit.

Shortstop

The more I’m getting into this position by position review, the more I realize how fragile this season is. Tork at first, Torres at second, chaos at third, and now we come to shortstop. I sound like a broken record, when I say that this is another position with more questions than answers. Last year McKinstry, Javy Baez and Trey Sweeney all spent time at short. Baez was an All-Star but it was as a centerfielder, not a shortstop. He hit .257 with 12 homeruns, 57 RBIs, 10 walks, 109 strikeouts, an OBP of .282, and a SLG of .399 in 126 games, (62 at short). McKinstry hit. 259, with 12 homeruns, 49 RBIs, 46 walks, 111 strikeouts, an OBP of .333, and a SLG of .438 in 144 games, (48 at short). Sweeney hit, an anemic .196, with three homeruns, 32 RBIs, 26 walks, 92 strikeouts, an OBP of .258, and a SLG of .291 in 118 games (112 at short).

Once again the fate of Kevin McGonigle will affect the situation at short. If he makes the team then he will either start most of the games there, or platoon with Baez. If he doesn't make the team then Baez can platoon with McKinstry. Or McKinstry will platoon with Sweeney, or Baez will platoon with Sweeney. Or Baez will platoon with McKinstry. So you can see, it is a very confusing situation. Plus all of this also hinges on what happens in center field, more on that later.

If I had to pick what the Tigers will do, and I guess that's the whole point of this post, I'll go with the Baez/McKinstry platoon. It was successful last year and the Tigers don't seem to be interested in changing much about the defense.

Kevin McGonigle

I’ve spent a lot of words on this kid who may or may not make the opening day roster or even play in Detroit this season. So here is a little introduction to the #2 ranked prospect in all of Major League Baseball.

He will turn 22 in August, he grew up in Aldan Pennsylvania. After being named Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in his senior year he was picked 35th overall in the 2023 MLB draft, the same draft that the Tigers picked Max Clark 3rd overall. To keep him from going to the Auburn Tigers, Detroit signed McGonigle for an above slot deal worth $2,850,0002. He shot through the minor leagues and ended the season in AA Erie. He has been making a huge splash in spring training this year and there are many discussions about McGonigle actually making the roster out of spring training, So far this spring he is hitting .237 with two homeruns, two double, a triple, six RBIs, eleven walks, eight strikeouts, an OBP of .420, and a SLG of .500 in 18 games. Both of his homeruns were moonshots, the first one was on the first pitch of the game against the Dominican Republic WBC team.

The second was against the Phillies and went 437 feet, a record for left-handed hitters at Joker Marchant Field.

The big question with McGonigle was his defense, but this spring, he has played third, second and his natural position, shortstop, and he has played them all well.

At the same time as all the hype around him there has been talk of the Tigers using “service time manipulation”3 to keep him under control for one year longer. I would love to see him start the season with the Tigers but my cynical nature says they will start him in Toledo and bring him up later, if at all. The current front office doesn’t seem to be in a hurry with any of the prospects, but if he is one of the 26 best players in the organization, then he should be on the roster.

Position by Position Outfield

Left Field

Just like last season, Riley Greene is going to be the left fielder in 2026. Last year Greene had the same feast or famine season that most of the team had. He was an All-Star, fell flat on his face in the second half, won a Silver Slugger, but set the franchise record for strikeouts. For the season he hit .258, with 36 homeruns, 111 RBIs, 46 walks, 201 strikeouts, with an OBP of .313, and a SLG of .493 in 157 games. He has been working on cutting down the strikeouts in spring and if he can turn some of those into hits, he could finally reach the celling the team has known he is capable of. If Greene is injured Zach McKinstry or Matt Vierling would fill in. You might be wondering why not Jahmai Jones? He’s a right handed hitter with pop in his bat. It’s because he is a significant to explain it I have to dip into the stormy seas of advanced stats. There is a stat called “Range Factor per Game” it is putouts plus assists divided by Games Played, as well as one that measures the average in the league. The league range factor for left field is 2.02 (I really don’t understand what it measures but it is a tool for comparison), Jones was 0.40. For reference Riley Greene was a 1.00 last year, not great, but way better than Jones.

Center Field

The center fielder in 2025 and for many years to come was supposed to be Parker Meadows. However, he was hurt in spring training last season, missed most of the season, and didn’t hit well when he came back. He hit .215 with four homeruns, 16 RBIs, 21 walks, 56 strikeouts, an OBP of .291, and a SLG of .330 in 58 games. He is not hitting all that well so far this spring but has been better as of late, hitting .190, with zero homers, two RBIs, six walks, twelve strikeouts. He has a OBP of .292, and a SLG of .238 in 16 games. If the team feels like he needs extra time to fix his issues in Toledo, then Verling, who was also hurt last year, but is hitting very well this season, or Javy Baez will take over center field. Vierling hit .239 with one homerun, eleven RBIs, seven walks, 24 strikeouts, an OBP of .310, and a SLG of .307 in 31 games. However, in spring he is .295, with two homers, nine RBIs, two walks, seven strikeouts, an OBP of .333, and a SLG of .458 in 15 games.

Last year Baez was an All-Star in center and hit .257 with 12 homeruns, 57 RBIs, ten walks, 109 strikeouts (he is still Javy after all), an OBP of .282, and a SLG of .398 in 126 games. He is hitting a solid .258 this spring with only five strikeouts in twelve games. If Meadows needs time in AAA, that would increase the chances that McGonigle will make the team as the every day shortstop, and Baez will be in center

Another option would be Trei Cruz in center. He hit pretty well last season, splitting time between Erie and Toledo. He’s fast and has a good glove as well.

Right Field

Another position with questions. Last year right field belonged to Kerry Carpenter but he hardly ever was allowed to hit against left handed pitches. Last season he hit .252 with 26 homeruns, 62 RBIs, 18 walks, 109 strikeouts, an OBP of .291, and a SLG of .497 in 130 games. This spring he is in a little slump, hitting .179, zero homers, two RBIs, four walks, twelve strikeouts, an OBP of .273, and a SLG of .256. He needs to figure out his issues, because a dangerous Carpenter makes this lineup much better, wherever he is playing. I think that a likely solution to this issue is for Vierling to play right and Carpenter to be in a DH platoon situation with Wenceel Perez. Last year Perez hit .244 with 13 homeruns, 43 RBIs, 31 walks, 87 strikeouts, an OBP of .308, and a SLG of .430 in 100 games, but is only hitting .167 with no homeruns and three RBIs. This situation is the direct result of not signing a single hitter in the off season. I hope that these guys can turn it around, so we can make it three years in a row for the playoffs.

Designated Hitter

If Carpenter is going to be the DH against right handed pitchers then either Perez or Jahmai Jones will be the DH against left handed pitchers. Last year Jones hit .287, with seven homeruns, 23 RBIs, 18 walks, 32 strikeouts, an OBP of .387, and a SLG of .550 in 72 games. If I were to choose, I would go with Jones over Perez as the right handed DH, at least until Perez proves he has worked through his issues at the plate. Having Carpenter, Jones and Perez as the possible DH gives Hinch options late in games for pitching match-ups.

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Rotation

There is how the rotation will look. Once again this is contingent on everyone staying healthy. If it were up to me, I would split up the lefties, but Hinch has already announced that he’s not going to do that. The only real question is about the bottom two spots, and this is what I think will happen.

Tarik Skubal (L)- Obviously the ace of the staff. Too bad this is most likely (I’m 90% sure), his last season in Detroit.

Framber Valdez (L) - So far this spring he has looked good, we’ll see if he can keep it up for a whole season with the Tigers defense behind him.

Jack Flaherty (R) - If his curve is good, he’ll be good. If not, then it will be a struggle.

Justin Verlander (R) - Just remember that this is 43-year-old Verlander not the 28-year-old version. Please temper your expectations.

Casey Mise (R) - If his splitter is working he can be good, if not he could find himself in the bullpen.

Bullpen

Long reliever

Drew Anderson (R), he will also be the spot starter if someone needs to miss a start. He would also be the pitcher that replaces Mise if he struggles too much.

Middle innings guys

Tyler Holton (L), Brenan Hanifee (R), Brant Hurter (L), Enmanuel De Jesus (L) - As you can see we have the opposite problem as last season. We only have one right handed middle innings guy, but since the “Three-headed Monster” at the back end are all righties, some of them may also come in during the middle of games.

Late innings guys

Will Vest (R), Kyle Finnegan (R), Kenley Jansen (R) - This is the order I would roll them out in, but it doesn’t really matter. You could also just go with the hot hand, or even look at a matchup against a specific hitter.

40-Man Roster

Here is the Tigers 40-man roster as of Saturday 03/21/26

Pitchers

1. Drew Anderson

2. Beau Brieske

3. Enmanuel De Jesus

4. Kyle Finnegan

5. Jack Flaherty

6. Sawyer Gibson-Long

7. Brenan Hanifee

8. Tyler Holton

9. Bailey Horn

10. Brant Hurter

11. Kenley Jansen

12. Jackson Jobe

13. Ty Madden*

14. Troy Melton

15. Jake Miller*

16. Casey Mise

17. Keider Montero *

18. Reese Olson

19. Tarik Skubal

20. Dylan Smith*

21. Drew Sommers*

22. Framber Valdez

23. Justin Verlander

24. Will Vest

Catchers

25. Dillon Dingler

26. Jake Rogers

27. Thayron Liranzo*

28. Eduardo Valencia*

Infielders

29. Jace Jung

30. Colt Keith

31. Hao-Yu Lee*

32. Zach McKinstry

33. Trey Sweeney

34. Spencer Torkelson

35. Gleyber Torres

Outfielders

36. Javier Baez

37. Kerry Carpenter

38. Trei Cruz

39. Riley Greene

40. Jahmai Jones

41. Parker Meadows

42. Wenceel Perez

43. Matt Vierling

* Indicates player is in the minors

Players on the 60-day Injured List

Pitchers: Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, and Reece Olsen.

As you can see, Kevin McGonigle is not on that list. If the Tigers want to have him on the Opening Day Lineup he needs to be placed on the 40-man roster first. There are a few ways they could do that. They could remove someone from the list and send them to the minors, if they have at least one option left, otherwise they would have to clear waivers first, and any team could claim them.4 The Tigers could place an injured player on the 60-Day Injured List which would also clear a spot, of course that is just a temporary measure. When the player is healthy, they would need to clear a spot another way. Beau Brieske, Trey Sweeny or Thayron Liranzo are all currently injured and if those are bad enough, they could be placed on the 60-Day IL. They could also trade a player for cash, or just straight up release a player, who would automatically become a free agent. Sweeny and Jace Jung are, in my opinion, are players who could be released. They both have spent time in the majors. Jung has played 55 games over two seasons and has a career .190 average with zero homeruns and six RBIs. Sweeny has played 49 games for three teams (Yankees, Dodgers, and Detroit). He has hit .232 with three homeruns, and eight RBIs. I think both of these players would not be missed if the Tigers cut them, and it would allow McGonigle and maybe even Max Clark to be put on the 40-Man roster.

Opening Day Roster and Lineups

Everything from here on down is made using the current injury situations for the Tigers and how I think it should shake out. I’m going to back track and day that McGonigle will make the roster, not because I think it will happen but because I want it to. Here is my version of the 26-man Opening Day roster, as it stand right now. This list is contingent on everyone else making it through Spring Training healthy:

Starting Pitchers

Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Justin Verlander, Casey Mise

Relief Pitchers

Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, Drew Anderson, Brenan Hanifee, Brant Hurter, Will Vest, Tyler Holton, Enmanuel De Jesus

Position Players

Dillon Dingler, Jake Rogers, Gleyber Torres, Javier Baez, Jahmai Jones, Kevin McGonigle, Trei Cruz

Zach McKinstry, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Wenceel Perez, Spencer Torkelson, Matt Vierling

Lineups

This is what I think the lineups could be against left-handed and right-handed pitchers when everybody is healthy:

Right-handed pitcher

1. Matt Vierling-Right Field

2. Gleyber Torres-Second Base

3. Riley Greene-Left Field

4. Kerry Carpenter-DH

5. Spencer Torkelson-First Base

6. Kevin McGonigle-Shortstop

7. Dillion Dingler-Catcher

8. Colt Keith-Third Base

9. Parker Meadows-Center Field

This lineup gives the Tigers left-handed hitters in every spot but second, fifth and seventh. It would show Meadows that the Tigers still have faith in him as a hitter in the ninth spot, as low stress as MLB at-bats could be. Hopefully they would be able to score some runs before getting to the weak bottom two in this lineup.

Left-handed Pitcher

1. Trei Cruz-Center Field

2. Gleyber Torres-Second Base

3. Spencer Torkelson-First Base

4. Riley Greene-Left Field

5. Dillion Dingler-Catcher

6. Jahmai Jones-DH

7. Wenceel Perez-Right Field

8. Kevin McGonigle-Shortstop

9. Colt Keith-Third Base

This is a balanced lineup, with Greene, Keith, and McGonigle as the lefties. Jones feasts against left-handed pitchers, so the DH spot is perfect for him. To me, this actually seems like a lineup that will score more runs then the other one, but that’s why they play the games.

How will the Tigers fare in 2026? That is a question for my next post, where I will look into my crystal ball and see the future. I do pretty well in the regular season but I always miss a few teams, which inevitably screws up my playoff seeding and predictions. Look for it soon, in an inbox near you.

Chris

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Last time I was creeping around your inboxes, I was there to deliver a post about assimilation of immigrants, both the good and the bad points. Click below if you missed it.

This time I will bring you my third annual review of the Tigers’ off-season moves, as well as their outlook for the 2026 season.

Another MLB season is fast approaching, in fact the first Spring Training games started Saturday February 20. As a die-hard Tiger fan, I always have high hopes but those are tempered by the fact that they have shown over many years that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They have proven this time and time again with dreadful play, stupid decisions, horrible trades and a nearly indefensible history of bad free-agent signings and non-signings. Traditionally, I just assume that they will be bad, then I’m not disappointed when they are. Especially after the way the 2025 season ended. They led the Central Division and even the entire American League for most of the first half of the season, before a MLB record collapse that saw them blow a 12 game lead in the last month of the season. Click below if you want to wallow in the putridness that was the 2025 season.

I can’t bear to write it down again, all I will say is that nearly the entire team went into a month long slump at the same time. I have never seen a whole team slump simultaneously, and it has never happened in the divisional era of baseball which started in 1969.

2025-26 Off-Season

What have the Tigers done this year to inspire their fans to believe that the 2025 season was an anomaly and that 2026 will be different?

Before I look at what the Tigers did during the offseason, let’s look at who Detroit cut ties with. They released or didn’t resign pitchers Chris Paddack (signed by Marlins), Rafael Montero (Yankees minor league contract), Tommy Kahnle (unsigned as of 3/18/26), Jose Urquidy (signed by Pirates), Alex Cobb (unsigned as of 3/18/26), Alex Lange (signed by Royals), Jason Foley (signed by Giants), and utility player Andy Ibanez (signed then released by the Dodgers, then signed by the A’s). They traded reliever Chase Lee to the Blue Jays for minor league pitcher Johan Simon, and traded Justyn-Henry Malloy to the Rays for cash. They also let reliever Kyle Finnegan go to free agency, and gave a qualifying offer1 (QO) to second baseman Gleyber Torres. After testing the free agent market,

Torres signed his QO and will make $22.025 million for the 2026 season, before he becomes a free agent again. Also, after testing the market, Finnegan resigned with the Tigers on December 20, on a two-year deal worth $19 million.

It includes an $8.75 million salary for 2026 and an $8 million salary for 2027, with $125,000 performance bonuses in each year for 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished. There is a $10 million mutual option for 2028 or a $2.25 million buyout.

Another thing hanging over Detroit’s offseason was the fate of Tarik Skubal. He was eligible for arbitration2 and it is also his last year of team control.

Meaning he will be a free agent at the end of the 2026 season. Teams hate, and I mean HATE, to go to arbitration with players. The team and the player each decide what they want to offer for a one year contract and show up for a hearing in front of a panel of three independent arbitrators and make their case. The team has to say “we think Chris is only worth $10 million, because of A,B and C, right in front of the player. It has been known to sour the relationship between teams and players, and I can see why. So it was in the best interest of the Tigers to get at least a one year deal done with Skubal before the January deadline. There were also plenty of MLB talking heads that said the Tigers should trade Skubal as soon as possible and get as much as they could, but all the mock deals I saw involved Detroit getting a load of prospects and no real established Major League pitchers back, and there is no incentive for the Tigers to make that kind of deal.

So, with the way 2025 ended, the players the Tigers had let go and the Skubal situation hanging over their heads, what did they do in the free agent market to retool or reload their roster to make another run at the playoffs? The Tigers had the ability to sign multiple free agent this winter and there were quite a few big name free agents out there. First basemen Pete Alonso, Carlos Santana, Luis Arraez, shortstops Bo Bichette, Ha-Seong Kim, third basemen Alex Bregman, Eugenio Suárez, centerfielders Cody Bellinger, Harrison Bader, rightfielders Kyle Tucker, Mike Yastrzemski, DH Kyle Schwarber, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, Nick Martinez, relievers Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, or Raisel Iglesias.

Drew Anderson

No, they didn’t get any of those players. Instead on December 16, they signed right-handed pitcher Drew Anderson to a one-year, $7 million contract with a $10 million club option for 2027. You might be wondering “who the heck is Drew Anderson?” I was thinking the same thing, although the name seemed a little familiar. After a little digging, I found out why. The played for the Toledo Mud Hens in 2024. He pitched 14 innings before the Tigers cut him loose and he went to Korea to play. In fact he has spent more time playing overseas than he has here in the US. From 2017 to 2021 he pitched for the Phillies, White Sox and Rangers, were he was 1-1 with a 6.50 ERA, while giving up 32 runs, 53 hits, walking 17, striking out 30, and with a WHIP of 1.579 in 44-1/3 innings of work. After being released by the Rangers he went to Japan and played two seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. While there playing for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp he was 7-5 with a 3.05 ERA, 44 runs, 40 walks, 98 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.139 in 115 innings. In the Korea Baseball Organization3 he played two seasons for the Inchon SSG Landers. He was 23-10, with a 2.91 ERA, 93 runs, 104 walks, 443 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.124 in 287-1/3 innings. Considering the level of play in Korea, this is not a very impressive resume, especially for someone earning $7 million. for the season. If I were in charge (and obviously I’m not), I would give him a one year deal for the league minimum salary ($780,000), with a team option for another season at an increased salary, and load the contract with incentives (more money for over ten starts, or a set number of wins or strikeouts etc.) and let him prove he can perform at the Major League level. This contract just seems like a waste of money, that you could be using to resign Tarik Skubal.

Kenley Jansen

On December 17, the Tigers made a bigger splash in the baseball world by signing the active MLB saves leader, Kenley Jansen, to a a one-year, $9 million contract, which also includes a club option for 2027 worth $12 million or a $2 million buyout. The 38-year-old Jansen leads all active Major Leaguers with 476 saves, just three shy of passing Lee Smith for third on MLB’s all-time leaderboard. He doesn’t really have a shot at the top two spots, since he is 125 behind Trevor Hoffman and 176 behind leader Mariano Rivera and would probably have to pitch for another seven years to pass Rivera, although he only needs 24 saves to reach 500 and be only the third player to do it. Jansen has played with four other teams in his 16 year career and recorded at least 25 saves in 13 consecutive seasons, excluding the pandemic-truncated 2020 campaign. In his career he has led MLB in saves twice (2017 and 2022), and recorded 40+ saves four times (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2022). He is a three-time All-Star, and a top ten vote getter for Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award. He has a career record of 54-40 with an ERA of 2.57, 284 runs given up, 282 walks, 1,278 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.962 in 927-1/3 innings of work.

Last season for the Angels he was 5-4 with 29 saves, an ERA of 2.59, 17 runs, 19 walks, 57 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 0.949 in 59 innings of work. By adding Jansen, Will Vest already in the pen, and resigning of Finnegan, Detroit has a bullpen where they can continue to mix and match situationally, up to the ninth inning, where the potentially hand it off to Jansen, who will be their most experienced closer by far. However, this also sets up an interesting situation. No team in the history of baseball has had three relievers that had 20+ saves the season before, but with Vest, Finnegan and Jansen, Detroit does. The big question is how will they ration out the save opportunities and will the three “closers” buy into whatever system Hinch is selling? Jansen did say in his first Tigers press conference that he wasn’t concerned with his saves, he was here to help the Tigers win. I don’t know him enough to know if that is real or athlete-speak.

After the signing of Jansen and Finnegan the Tigers were remarkably quiet, and I started to get worried that this was all they were going to do. I heard reports that the Tigers were waiting to see what the outcome of the Skubal arbitration hearing would be, before they decided if they were going to make any other moves. I thought that was a ludicrous thought, they are a sports franchise worth $1.6 billion owned by a man Christopher Ilitch worth $6.9 billion. I think they can afford to pay the best pitcher on the planet and still have money for other players. That said, when it was time for Skubal and the Tigers to submit their arbitration figures, the gap between the two sides set a MLB record. The Tigers offered $19 million for one season, and the Skubal camp submitted a one year salary figure of $32 million, a gap of $13 million. Skubal's number was the highest ever submitted by a player, and the $19 million offer by the Tigers was the most ever offered to a pitcher. So the stage was set for the arbitration hearing that would change baseball forever. If the arbitrators believed that Skubal was worth a penny more than $19 million then he would win, if they thought it was one penny less than $32 million then he would make a paltry $19 million for the season.

Framber Valdez

On February 5, with the Skubal decision still hanging over their heads, the Tigers blew my mind by announcing that they were signing 31-year-old left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez, to a three-year $115 million deal, the richest free-agent deal for a pitcher in franchise history. The southpaw will earn $37.5 million in each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons, and there is a player option for 2028 worth $35 million. $20 million of his 2026 salary will be classified as a signing bonus and deferred, with payments beginning in 2030. Valdez's contract also carries a mutual option for 2029 valued at $40 million, which includes a $5 million buyout. The deal also includes several performance incentives, including $2 million each for a Cy Young win and World Series MVP, $1 million each for second place in Cy Young voting and ALCS MVP, and $500,000 for third place in Cy Young voting. Since Houston extended a qualifying offer to Valdez, Detroit will surrender its third-round pick (134 overall) in the 2026 MLB Draft. While we won’t get to see his famous “rock the baby” motion because MLB has declared it illegal4, I’m still pretty happy to see him in an old English D. He has played his entire eight year career with the Astros, where he was a two-time All-Star, and a three-time top-ten Cy Young Award vote getter. He is 81-52 with an 3.36 ERA, 444 runs surrendered, 389 walks, 1.053 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.204 in 1,080-2/3 innings.

Valdez has been one of the top 15 pitchers in baseball, over the last four years. His durability, command, and high ground ball rates enable him to eat up innings, prevent home runs, and generally make it very difficult for teams to have a big inning against him. Not only does he have a 3.21 ERA in that timespan, he’s also averaging over six innings per start, which isn’t easy to find these days. Valdez is going to be a godsend to A.J. Hinch as he can now deploy his bullpen aggressively knowing he’s got Skubal and Valdez to rest the pen on their start days. In his last four seasons, Valdez has averaged roughly 60 percent ground balls, and typically keeps opponents’ line drive rates low as well, making it very tough for them to do any major damage. Beyond his ability to keep hard hit ball to a minimum, his walk rates are around league average, so even when he does give up homers or extra base hits, he isn’t hurting himself much by allowing extra runs.

Valdez main pitch is his sinker, which he uses about 45% of the time. He averaged 93.7 mph with it in 2025. His curveball is his second pitch, using it 33% of the time. He will throw the 79-80 mph bender against hitters of either hand, but it’s his secondary weapon against lefties. He’ll also mix in the 90 MPH changeup against right-handed hitters. If there’s a question mark with Valdez and his arsenal, it’s whether he can keep striking out hitters at an above average rate. His strikeout rates have dipped a little bit each year since his peak in 2023. However, he still posted whiff rates5 of 11.3%, 11.6%, 11.4%, and 11.5% in the last four seasons, more importantly, his whiffs come mostly from the curveball and changeup. His command and the consistency of his sinker say that walks and homers aren’t going to be an issue, but he doesn’t feature the nasty slider or splitter, nor the high 90’s gas that typically leads to huge whiff rates. The curveball drew a whopping 43.7% whiff rate in 2025, while the changeup was at a solid 28.7%. He will mix in the odd slider as well. That pitch has been effective at times, but he’s relegated it to a rarely thrown fourth pitch over the last two seasons.

Another factor in the success of Valdez will be the fact that we will pitch in Detroit’s roomier Comerica Park rather than the close confines of Daikin Park in Houston. There is just more room, especially in left field. It should work to his strengths, even if he does give up hard contact, it is less likely to be a homerun. Also, he will be pitching in colder weather early in the spring. Hitters hate facing a nasty sinkerballer in cold weather and Valdez is outstanding with jamming them with sinkers that numb hands and get beaten into the ground. The rare one that gets lifted may be smothered a bit by the cold weather early in the year. I wouldn’t expect Valdez to be significantly better in Comerica Park, but it is a factor that could help him.

He will also get a major upgrade in the quality of his batterymates, going from Victor Caratini and a cast of depth catchers to Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers. Valdez thrives by pounding the bottom edges of the zone for strikes and weak contact, and Dingler in particular is very good at getting low strikes, depending on the effect the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS)6 Challenge System has on the ability of catchers to steal strikes. Overall, the catching upgrade in Detroit is going to be good for Framber Valdez.

The big fly in the ointment is that the Tigers infield isn’t good defensively, and there really are no signs of a upgrade coming either. Not necessarily a great thing for a pitcher with one of the highest groundball rates in baseball. They’re basically running back the same infield as last season which was around league average. Gleyber Torres played through a hernia for two months, so perhaps his defensive numbers will rebound somewhat, but Colt Keith at third and Zach McKinstry at shortstop, are not, what you’d call All-Star caliber, so things could get worse rather than better. The jury is still out on the defense of #1 prospect Kevin McGonigle at shortstop, and most likely he isn’t going to start the season in Detroit. Either way, Valdez is probably going to give up a few more hits over the course of the season than he did with the Astros infield behind him.

There is a case to be made that putting Valdez into the Tigers rotation alongside Tarik Skubal gives them the best 1-2 punch in the Central Division, and perhaps the best starting rotation in all of baseball. It improves their bullpen and their pitching depth for 2025 by pushing guys like Troy Melton (who’s hurt anyway and will miss the start of the season), and Drew Anderson, to the pen until they’re needed to fill in a rotation spot. Valdez also offers the Tigers a good starting pitcher to keep leading the way beyond 2026 once Tarik Skubal presumably departs in free agency.

Justin Verlander

If I was blown away by the Valdez deal, the next signing tugged at my heart strings and reminded me of Tigers team from the past. Later in the day, after signing Valdez, the three-time Cy Young award winner, Justin Verlander, returns to the Tigers on a one-year deal worth $13 million with $11 million of it deferred in payments to begin in 2030. It’s been eight and a half years since August 31, 2017, when the Tigers traded the franchise legend to the Houston Astros. True Tigers fans know the numbers; 2006 Rookie of the Year, a Cy Young, and MVP in 2011, six-time All-Star, Pitchers Triple Crown in 2011, two-time AL wins leader, led the AL in ERA in 2011, four-time AL strikeout leader, two no hitters, led the Tigers to the World Series in 2006 and 2012, a record of 183-114, and 2,373 strikeouts.

Now, we can’t get caught up in the memories, and must remember that this is not 2011 Verlander, or even 2019 JV when he won his third Cy Young with the Astros. This is 43-year-old Verlander coming off a season with the Giants where he was 4-11 with an 3.85 ERA, while giving up 74 runs, 52 walks, 137 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.362.

In 2024 things weren’t looking so hot for Verlander. His was back with the Astros after a brief stint with the Mets in 2023. His 2024 campaign was marred by a shoulder strain that limited him to 90 1/3 innings, and his 5.48 ERA was easily the worst mark of his career. The San Francisco Giants took a chance on him for the 2025 season, and for a few months, it looked like he was playing his final season. He had less than league average strikeouts, and higher walk rates, a few too many home runs allowed, and another minor injury, a neck strain. Verlander produced a 4.70 ERA for the first half of the season. His slider was still effective and his velocity was intact, but hitters were teeing off on his fastball and curveball to a surprising degree.

Verlander managed to shake off the neck strain by July, and it turned out, he had a few more tricks up his sleeve. Adjustments he started in June were refined over the All-Star break, and he came back out for the second half, cut the home run rate down dramatically, and started collecting more whiffs and weak contact. A 2.99 ERA after the All-Star break says he figured some things out. Two adjustments he made in 2025 were pretty straightforward. First, he started taking the ball out of his glove earlier in his delivery. Secondly, he moved over to the third base side of the rubber. The different angles that created seemed to help his fastball, and he was still able to maintain enough deception out of the glove that hitters weren’t picking up any early visual cues. He also started his arm motion a little earlier, freeing his arm to catch up with the rest of his motion. something he didn’t need to worry about earlier in his career. Pitchers are always tweaking little timing mechanisms, and something about it clicked for him.

It’s also possible that he just got healthier. After some shoulder trouble in 2024, and then the neck strain in 2025 that cost him about a month, Verlander made every scheduled start from June 18, to end of the season, and other than getting blown up on a few occasions, was consistently good the rest of the way. Better health would also explain why he was able to get back to the higher arm slot he threw from in his best years with the Tigers and Astros. That alone helped him to get a bit more riding action back on his fourseamer, a few more whiffs, and fewer homeruns.

Verlander has slowly dialed back his four seam fastball usage as his velocity has dipped, and a lot of that extra workload has fallen on his slider. Early in 2025 he just didn’t have much else to work with. His trusty curveball was even less effective than the fourseamer in the first half, and right-handers in particular were hitting it harder than ever before. The solution was to develop a sweeper7, that he throws at 84-85 mph. Much firmer than the curveball, the sweeper has sharp glove side break, while the curve is the traditional 12-6.8 Neither pitch needs to be more than a third offering from him, and by pairing the two, hitters had a harder time getting solid contact on either of them. By season’s end, Verlander was mixing the curveball and the sweeper in equal doses, replacing a third pitch with two solid breaking balls that look similar out of the hand. Neither is a huge swing and miss pitch, but mixing the pair made it harder for hitters to barrel them up.

While the sweeper is an interesting development, another thing that really helped Verlander squash left-handed hitters was using his circle changeup more effectively. Long-time Tigers fans will remember the early years of his career, when he routinely dropped in a straight 88-90 mph changeup. Back then, it played well mainly because the fourseam fastball was so terrifying, routinely hitting triple digits. The version he’s started working with in recent years, and used more in the second half of 2025, is more of a classic circle change that moves away from lefties like a sinker.

A successful season in Detroit would see Justin Verlander throw 150 innings as the fourth or fifth starter. Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez are tasked with leading the way. The Tigers legend just needs to contribute good outings and hopefully have another mostly healthy season. What we don’t know is how long he want to pitch. He said he’d like to pitch until he’s 45, but maybe that was wishful thinking. If he has a good season, maybe he’ll resign with the Tigers and finish off his Hall of Fame career where it started

This is the nostalgic depth move in franchise history, and we shouldn’t be too greedy about it. If he’s healthy, can get in a good groove and keep making counter adjustments to hitters, Justin Verlander will give the Tigers decent bottom of the rotation production, high-level leadership, and a little extra edge. We all remember how much of a competitor he is. As long as he doesn’t completely crash and burn, the fans will flock to see him pitch, it should be really special to watch.

Wrapping up the offseason

Just a day after the news of the Valdez and Verlander signings, we found out that the Tigers lost their arbitration hearing with Tarik Skubal. He will make $32 million for the 2026 season and we will have to see what will happen after that (if their is even a season in 2027, but that is a topic for another post). We also heard that Reece Olsen

will miss the entire 2026 season after surgery to repair his right labrum. This puts a different spin on both the Valdez and Verlander signings. It seems like the Tigers might actually be trying to make a run in the playoffs this season, but the problem looks like it is going to be the offense. If you paid attention to the players listed above, you will notice that every one of them is a pitcher, they did not sign a batter to a deal in 2026. This doesn’t count Torres, since he was with the team last year. I guess, if I’m going to illustrate why I’m worried about the 2026 Tigers offensive output, I’m going to have to relive September of 2025. Just know I’m crying as I type this.

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September was a nightmare of a month of the Tigers. They were 7-17 for the month, including an eight game losing streak, during which the Cleveland Indians (nope, still not using that other name), beat them five times in six games. In fact Cleveland won more games at Comerica Park (3 games, they only ones they played there), than the Tigers did (2 games, they played 12 games at home). They were swept by the last place White Sox (who ended up losing 102 games and finished 27 games behind Detroit) and by Atlanta, who finished eleven games worse then the Tigers. Nearly the entire team suffered through a horrible August and September. Just look at these stats. These are the stats just for August and September:

Riley Greene— .216, 27 RBIs, 10 homers, 18 walks, and 57 strikeouts. Greene was a strikeout machine (he had 44 in June and July, and on the season he led all of the MLB with 201 strikeouts), and stopped hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP).

Gleyber Torres— .218, 23 RBIs, 5 homeruns, 30 walks, and 44 strikeouts. He seems like he was just going up there to walk and wasn’t swinging at pitches he had been hitting earlier in the season. We found out after the playoffs that he had a sports hernia for the last two months of the season.

Trey Sweeney— .117, 5 RBIs, 1 homerun, 3 walks, and 24 strikeouts. He just can’t hit at the Major League level, that’s all there is to it. He didn’t play as much as some of the others but, with numbers like that, would you put him in?

Javy Baez— .239, 16 RBIs, 2 homeruns, 1 walk, and 32 strikeouts. Javy was an All-Star in the first half but starting in July he went back to “swing at anything” Javy. He was outstanding in the field this season playing centerfield, shortstop and second base.

Kerry Carpenter— .229, 27 RBIs, 9 homers, 10 walks, and 44 strikeouts. Just like the rest of the team, Carp was horrible with RISP, in his case, he was pretty bad all season hitting .163, with 29 strikeouts in 86 at bats with RISP.

Andy Ibanez— .229, 4 RBIs, 1 homerun, 5 walks, and 10 strikeouts. He was billed as a lefty killer, but in the last two months couldn’t hit anyone. In fact he spent most of June and July in AAA and was only brought back because of injuries.

Jake Rogers— .186, 6 RBIs, 0 homeruns, 3 walks, and 14 strikeouts. He became the backup catcher after Dylan Dingler had a great start, so only saw limited action, but he also didn’t earn his job back with a hitting display.

Parker Meadows— .232, 7 RBIs, 2 homers, 9 walks, 16 strikeouts. Parker was hurt for the entire month of August and is still looking to regain his timing after the long break. He is a top-notch defender and a base stealing threat if Hinch wants to use him.

On the other end of the scales are these three players:

Dylan Dingler— .272, 15 RBIs, 4 homers, 13 walks, and 40 strikeouts. He was the most consistent hitter down the stretch. He was also a force behind the plate, with one of the strongest arms in the league, throwing out runners at 31.7% clip, good enough for 9th in the league.

Spencer Torkelson— .241, 15 RBIs, 8 homeruns, 26 walks, and 63 strikeouts. He was a singles machine in August and September with 32 of them, but he didn’t drive in as many runs as he had earlier in the season. A common theme for the team.

Colt Keith— .262, 13 RBIs, 5 homers, 11 walks, and 34 strikeouts. He was injured on September 9, which really ended the hope I had of actually winning anything. He is a great contact hitter with a high ceiling and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in the future.

So, in 2026 the Tigers are betting that the last two months of 2025 were an aberration, not the team coming back to earth from a phenomenal first half. I hope they’re right because I don’t want to see Detroit losing 1-0 or 3-2 all season long. Plus, that puts an enormous amount of pressure on your pitchers to be perfect, all season long, and we all know that is impossible. I would hate to miss the postseason because we can’t score runs.

So far in Spring Training (as of 03/10/26), Kerry Carpenter is hitting .250 with seven strikeouts, in nine games. Dillion Dingler is recovering from elbow surgery and is hitting .100. Riley Green is hitting .222 with five strikeouts in eight games. Colt Keith is hitting .263 with ten strikeouts, in eight games. Parker Meadows is hitting .125 with ten strikeouts in eight games. Wenceel Perez is hitting .150 with six strikeouts in nine games. Spencer Torkelson is hitting .211 with six strikeouts in eight games. None of this fills me with confidence about the regular season. I know that there is still two weeks of spring baseball left before they start the regular season, but if they can’t hit against the AA and AAA pitchers they’re facing early in spring, how are they going to be against the real thing?

We have now completed our look at the offseason moves and free agent signings. Next time I will look at the potential lineups and rotations. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who might be interested.

Chris

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Last time you heard from me, I was delivering the second part of my look at the fraud in Minnesota. Click below if you missed it, or just need to read it again, because you can’t believe the level of corruption that was allowed to flourish in the Land of 1,000 Lakes.

Today, I’m going to talk about something that has bothered me for a long time, assimilation among immigrants, especially illegal aliens, refugees and the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) people. If you come to here to live, raise a family, and become a citizen. You swore an exclusive allegiance to our nation, and should also believe in the rule of law, in freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, in colorblind meritocracy, in the US Constitution, and the American dream. Then you are an American.

Being American is more than checking a box on a government form. It means learning and speaking our language, appreciating our culture and history, obeying our laws, embodying our work ethic, and preserving the traditions and attitudes that once made this the most prosperous, powerful, and free nation on earth. As Ronald Reagan quipped, “You can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman; but anyone from any corner of the world can come to live in the United States and become an American.” No matter your ancestry, if you wait your turn, subscribe to the creed of the American founding and the culture that was born of it, and obtain citizenship, you are every bit as American as a Mayflower descendant. This is what makes American exceptionalism possible. It is a balance every wave of immigrants has made. Nobody pretends that you have to stop loving grandma’s cooking, or that you shouldn’t speak to your grandmother in her language. This is something that has always been a part of America. What we should be saying to the immigrants, is that there is a common project that you should join. You should be able to understand and partake in the history and culture of the United States. Come be part of the American family, and it will actually help you succeed in life.

The whole point of this “Melting Pot” country is that we throw a bunch of people from around the world in the US pot and we are all melted into Americans. We should share the same culture, values, language, and goals. We shouldn’t go into the pot and come out the same as we went in. If you are that wedded to the culture of your country of origin, then stay there. If you decide to come here, then be prepared to learn English, learn our history, follow our norms and do your part to be a good American. This country was not built to take a large amount of people who refuse to adapt. It just doesn't work. I understand the desire to maintain your culture, but that must be tempered by acceptance of your new culture. You can celebrate Lunar New Year and western New Year, or Kenyan Independence Day (December 12) and the 4th of July. Achieving this balance allows for integration without a complete loss of your heritage, for example, speaking English in public, while maintaining the mother tongue at home.

Our assimilation problem is self-imposed. The fault is with us, not with immigrants. More specifically, the “us” means our woke progressive elite that has successfully instituted a cultural revolution against historic America. The lack of patriotic assimilation in contemporary America has been a direct cause of our public schools and cultural institutions, public and private, that have embraced a new religious faith: that of multiculturalism. It starts before K through 12, it starts in preschool. You see school children constantly being told that diversity is a strength, that we are a diverse country. What we need to do is emphasize what we have in common. Empathize the common project, emphasize our common destiny, that is what our schools should be teaching. Diversity is our strength is an oxymoron, it is contradictory. On its face, it’s contradictory and that’s why they have to teach it again and again and again to drill it into peoples’ minds, especially young minds. We must undermine this new religion along with its evil siblings, DEI, anti-racism, radical gender theory, and all forms of wokeism. We must fight on every level to ensure that our schools and cultural institutions will once again transmit the patriotic and civic history of our country to immigrants and the native-born. The left will, of course, oppose patriotic assimilation in principle. It is no accident that the Biden Administration prohibited the use of the word “assimilation” in government documents. What we need to say is that the United States is inclusive, not in the leftist sense, but the real sense, the sense that anyone who wants to join us can. Let's look at some of the factors involved in assimilation.

Language

Let’s begin with language. The US is an English-speaking nation, but it is not an exclusively English-speaking nation. About 22% of people in the US use another language at home. 13% speak Spanish at home, with around 9% speaking a non-English non-Spanish language at home. A bit less than half of US immigrants speak English “very well” upon arrival. One of the first signs of integration into America is generally improving one’s English skills. There are significant economic benefits to learning English. If you only speak Spanish, you are restricted to employers who also speak Spanish at work. This is quite a significant decrease in possible employment opportunities. It also rules out many educational opportunities; while there are a handful of universities in the US that teach their B.A. degrees in Spanish language/literature entirely in Spanish, you’re probably out of luck should you want a degree in anything else. Speaking excellent English increases income by at least $2,400, and arriving in the US when you are young enough to become a near-native speaker increases your income even more more.

English language skills are also useful in social integration. When people are more comfortable with English, they tend to become more civically engaged - taking an ESL class doubled the likelihood of registering to vote. Fluent English speakers are less likely to live in ethnic enclaves and are more likely to marry people of other ethnicities. Of course, learning English takes time. In general, the longer an immigrant has been in the United States, the more likely they are to speak English very well. These things are most useful if you plan to stay in the US long-term; if you plan to move back to your home country in a few years, you’re less likely to invest in the multi-year project that is becoming fluent in English. While we cannot always determine which immigrants want to stay in the US, true refugees, as opposed to economic refugees are generally expecting to spend the rest of their lives in the US, since their home country is no longer safe for them. They therefore learn English more comprehensively than other types of immigrants.

There does seem to be a ceiling, though; even after 30 years in the US, only about 70% of immigrants can speak English very well. The likelihood of any particular immigrant becoming fluent in English appears to be heavily dependent on age; almost all immigrants who arrived as children become fluent in English, while it is likely less than half of non-English-speaking immigrants who arrive as adults do. Even if they don’t become fluent, though, there is some benefit to trying to learn English. In an experiment, people felt more positively towards immigrants who speak heavily accented English - that is, signaling that they were in the process of making a costly investment to assimilate. Americans know English is hard to learn, and they respect the effort it takes.

Ethnic Enclaves

Ethnic enclaves are neighborhoods where a particular ethnic group clusters. They are common in cities where there is a large number of immigrants. The most well-known are probably the various Chinatowns around the United States, but there are also ethnic enclaves for Koreans, Mexicans, Somalis, Vietnamese, as well as historic enclaves for Jews, Italians, and Irish immigrants. For decades, if not centuries, ethnic enclaves have been a common first destination for immigrants arriving in the United States. This makes sense. If you speak limited English, you are probably going to move to an area where 1) you may know people, and 2) where other people speak the same language as you, it makes the transition easier.

On the other hand, many native-born Americans dislike ethnic enclaves. There is a perception that the residents of ethnic enclaves are not integrating into American society, that living in an ethnic enclave is a sign that you are resisting integration into American society. This is, to some extent, true. It seems that moving to an ethnic enclave does reduce integration relative to moving to a place where there are fewer people of your ethnicity. In the twentieth century, residents of ethnic enclaves were less likely to change their names to fit in with American culture. As an example, in the early 20th century, when Italian immigrants attended Italian churches (often located in enclaves), they took longer to integrate into wider American society. They were less likely to intermarry and less likely to become naturalized. However, there is also some evidence that enclaves can be beneficial because they provide a soft landing point for new immigrants. Living in an ethnic enclave can make it much easier to find a job with limited English skills, and appears to increase employment rates for newly-arrived immigrants. In some cases, it appears that people could make more money inside their ethnic enclaves than they could outside them, so it is not universal that ethnic enclaves harm economic integration.

While it is plausible that enclaves are helpful in providing a soft landing when immigrants first arrive, they are net negative for immigrants who have been in the US longer and could be on the broader job market. Also, the separation of neighborhoods by race and ethnicity can lead to social pressure to adhere strictly to group standards, and in some cases, creates political divisions. Therefore, there might be an optimal amount of time to live in an enclave. More importantly, enclaves just don’t seem like a problem. Yes, they are common, but enclaves are neither more nor less prevalent now than they were in the 1920s. And they also seem to be temporary. The groups that populate today’s enclaves are not the same families as those who populated enclaves in the 1920s. Even if some immigrants did stay in enclaves longer than would have been optimal, they eventually integrated into wider American society.

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Tools of Assimilation

Since the modern US is not the same as the US of the early 20th century, the Age of Mass Migration, should we expect similar integration outcomes for modern immigrants? One way to measure cultural integration is through the names immigrants choose for their children. Naming your child “Inaya” or “Aarya” is quite popular in India, but these names are less common in the United States. If parents instead choose to name their child “Emma” or “Amelia”, this suggests that parents care more about their child being perceived as “normal” in the United States rather than being perceived as “normal” in India. In fact, it goes a bit further; choosing an “American” name is a sign that one wants to be perceived as “normal” by Americans, rather than by fellow immigrants. Naming is a particularly good way to measure assimilation for several reasons. Naming a child is a relatively unconstrained choice available to all types of immigrants. It does not cost more to name a child “Emma” than “Inaya”, meaning that such a choice is equally available to rich and poor immigrants. Unlike measures like intermarriage, it does not require the cooperation of anyone outside the immigrant family unit - after all, to marry someone from another ethnic group, that person also has to want to marry you. The only constraint on choosing a “American name” is one’s desire to have a child with a “American name”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, people are more likely to choose “American” names for their children the longer they have been in the US. More surprisingly, the rate at which people choose “American” names is relatively unchanged over the last 100 years. People transitioned from the Greek “Giorgios” to the English “George” in the 1910s at roughly the same rate as people transition from “Juan” to “John” today. By this metric, then, immigrants integrate just as well today as they did in the Age of Mass Migration. We can see this in some of the names that were once distinctively “ethnic” are now just names. In the 1900s “Eric” and “Kurt” were names that one could easily identify as belonging to an immigrant from Germany or Scandinavia. In 2026, those are names one might choose in order to assimilate into American society. It is likely we will see some of the same things in future - names, foods, and practices once thought to be foreign that become American. Being American is a dynamic thing, but US immigrants seem more than happy to try to meet that moving target.

There is a notable exception to the narrative that immigrants want to assimilate and be perceived as American. Somalis have been taught by the leftist leaders in their wider communities, that black Americans are a marginalized group that faces significant discrimination. If someone thinks the discrimination they’d face as a black American would be worse than the discrimination they’d face as an immigrant, they might choose to maintain attributes that mark them as not-American, including being less likely to adopt American-sounding names. That suggests that name assimilation is something immigrants do only when they think it will be advantageous. If immigrants think assimilation would lower their social standing, they will choose to assimilate less. Assimilation is not a one-way street. Even as immigrants (mostly) move towards the dominant American culture, the dominant American culture moves towards them. Our melting pot is affected by additional ingredients. Over the last two and a half centuries, millions of Americans have done the same, slowly flavoring the melting pot with a few new spices.

Cultural Accommodation

Why do you need to become culturally accommodating to live here? Because our shared culture is what holds this country together. We are not a country with a single ethnic group or even one with a few dominate groups, we are that melting pot, and our culture and beliefs are the glue that binds us. We all need to believe that. The question of who we are as Americans raises the issue of what exactly immigrants should be assimilating to. Does it mean assimilating to a set of universal principles and ideas or a particular people and culture? Or both? Is there an ideological component to being an American? Even though the migrant and their children (the true ones that followed the process), may come from China, India, Guatemala, or Norway, they must embrace Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Hamilton as their ancestors. When reading about the history of the War of 1812, they identify with historic America and think, “We fought the British in 1812,” as opposed to thinking that they (white males) fought other white males 200 years ago. Assimilation happens when our nation’s story has become part of their inheritance as Americans.

I maintain that American patriotism rests on both ideas and culture. The American creed is the keystone of American national identity, but it requires a culture to sustain it. There is an ideological component to American nationhood, and there are times when ideas trump culture. 18th-century American colonists were shaped by a shared culture, including the King James Bible, Shakespeare, Protestant theology, Plutarch, and the like. American Patriots and Tories shared the same culture, but from 1776 to 1783 they killed each other over to split or remain under British rule.

Hyphenism

If you become a citizen, therefore an American, that is what you are, not a Somali-American, or a Mexican-American. This is, or at least shouldn’t be a country of hyphenated people. I’m not Polish-American, or Scottish-American. I’m an American. Teddy Roosevelt gave a very important speech on this topic on October 12, 1915, in an address to the Knights of Columbus at Carnegie Hall, in New York. He said:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American. There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else. For an American citizen to vote as a German-American, an Irish-American, or an English-American, is to be a traitor to American institutions; and those hyphenated Americans who terrorize American politicians by threats of the foreign vote are engaged in treason to the American Republic.”

This is as true today as it was in 1915. Ethnic “hyphenism” is just another form of tribalism. In order to gain a power base, liberals need to fit each of us into a nice, neat little box. They use those labels to force us to compete against each other so they can champion a cause and gain more power. When immigrants arrived at Ellis Island in the early 1900s, they did not call themselves Italian-Americans. They became Americans, and they were proud to be Americans. They did not want to be classified as anything else. In Iraq, people are Sunnis, or Shiites and have fought each other for centuries. No matter the country, tribalism destroys the unity of a country so that the nation is unable to function for the good of its citizens. When the citizens of this country want to build a wall along our border with Mexico, we are anti-Mexican-American. When we arrest a terrorist, we are anti-Arab-American. Only by breaking us into tribes can the liberal politicians hope to gain power, they do it by defending “our” tribe.

During the 1990s and the early 21st century, conservative thinkers overemphasized the concept of America as a “proposition nation.” They taught that unlike other countries, America was founded on ideas rather than culture or traditions. This attitude went hand in hand with support for mass immigration, with little or no emphasis on assimilation. If our nation is based solely on ideas, then anyone in the world, that agrees with those ideas, can easily become an American. Furthermore, liberal conservatives argued that since assimilation was successful in the days of Ellis Island, it would continue to be successful. This ignores the two main reasons assimilation worked in the early 20th century. American leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and even Woodrow Wilson, insisted on Americanization, and immigration was drastically cut in the 1920s. The American Right’s overemphasis on the proposition nation narrative was a mistake. Not surprisingly, the American Left adopted this ideological narrative and reinterpreted core American ideas as the revolutionary expansion of the progressive project, promoting DEI, LGBTQ rights, and the “fundamental transformation” of the United States. Our forefathers knew that this newborn nation had to be unified if it was to survive. The Constitution starts off, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, ...” Our forefathers took separate states and merged them into one union. We are not Georgia-Americans, or New York-Americans — we are Americans. When you call 911, do you ask that the firefighter be of a certain ethnic background, or are you interested in saving your home from a fire? Tribalism has no place in America. The Constitution was established to “insure domestic tranquility,” not domestic separatism.

Common sense is something that has been lacking in the “immigration debate”. Is it common sense to open the borders of your country and then to spend truckloads of taxpayer dollars to feed, house, and nurture the millions of illegal migrants who have poured in? No, it is not. These days, the revival of common sense is often opposed by the rule of the bureaucrats and others the media calls “the elites.” These shiny, self-satisfied group are the folks in Davos who want to vaccinate us into oblivion, encourage us to give up steak for insects, keep tilting at windmills to battle the weather, and encourage the removal of national borders. So are the products of our Ivy (and near-Ivy) League institutions—those whom the critic Harold Rosenberg called the “herd of independent minds” who all think alike, believe they were born to rule, and occupy nearly every perch upon the tree of society. But rather than being a true elite — which suggests a quota of excellence, merit, and achievement — the functionaries we call “the elite” are really just the credentialed class. It is becoming more and more obvious that the “elite” do not care about the common American, native born, naturalized or even Illegal alien, no matter what platitudes may come out of their mouths. All they really care about is remaking the United States in their “global community” image and gathering as much power as possible.

The impact that mass illegal immigration, let alone legal immigration, has had on vital public institutions like schools is exactly why immigration laws and limits exist not only in this country, but virtually every country on earth. Large-scale immigration affects every aspect of life in the receiving nations. Schools that are suddenly forced to accommodate tens of thousands of indigent migrant kids, who do not speak English and often have no educational background when they arrive, will neither serve the educational needs of the newcomers, nor the existing student body. Many of the school systems that have been absorbing migrant students were already plagued by poor educational performance. The American taxpayer foots the bill to the tune of about $80 billion annually in education costs for illegals through federal, state, and local taxes with the federal government contributing about $6.6 billion, while state and local governments are spending around $73.3 billion. Annual healthcare costs for illegal immigrants are estimated at over $40 billion. Combined federal, state, and local criminal justice costs are estimated at approximately $47 billion annually, including the costs of incarceration and court systems. While federal law generally bars illegal immigrants from most federal benefits, their U.S.-born citizen children can be eligible for some programs. The estimated annual cost for food and cash assistance programs is around $13.5 billion. Cities designated as "sanctuaries" like New York City, Chicago, and Denver have spent millions or billions on services (shelter, food, etc.) for new arrivals since 2022, leading to significant local budget shortfalls and service cuts.

With that said, what is to be done today?

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Solutions?

First, we must mobilize the emotion-laden concepts of Americanism patriotic assimilation and battle against the Left’s weaponized theories of multiculturalism and diversity everywhere we find them — in universities, schools, foundations, non-profits, civic organizations, corporations, faith-based institutions, and all levels of government: federal, state, and local.

Second, we must reduce immigration across the board, both legal and illegal. Current levels of immigration are clearly harming the prospects of assimilation. America faced a similar situation in the 1920s when Calvin Coolidge argued, “New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American.” We should act on Coolidge’s sage advice today.

A sovereign nation, by definition, must be able to enforce its laws within its own territory When federal immigration law is openly resisted, and elected leaders excuse, rationalize, fail to deter, or even encourage violence against those tasked with exercising constitutional authority, both the federal government and the nation lose their fundamental legitimacy. America now finds itself at an inflection point, and the sides in this conflict could not be further apart. One side, the conservative right, believes America is a sovereign nation with the right and the obligation to enforce its borders. The other side, Democrats and their leftist/activist allies, reject the very concept of US sovereignty, operating on the belief that “no human is illegal” and that the American project itself is illegitimate, going back to the 1619 lie about how slavery was an American invention. The fight, between federal law enforcement and activists playing out in sanctuary cities across the nation, isn’t a political disagreement or a debate over policy. It’s a civilizational battle. We either have a country, or we don’t. A country that cannot, or will not, enforce its immigration laws is no longer a sovereign nation. And a government that retreats whenever enforcement becomes controversial has ceased to govern and has resigned itself to simply manage its own decline.

This is the crisis facing Americans as we approach the 3rd decade of the 21st century, and it might be the largest and most important one in the history of our country. If this is solved in a way that allows America to stay America then our country as we know it, will be no more.

That is all for this time, next time I’ll be posting my annually anticipated look at the 2026 season of the Detroit Tigers. I hope you have for this post educational and maybe entertaining. Please pass it on to anyone who would be interested.

Chris

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I’m having a hard time writing my latest post, so rather than miss my self-imposed every two week deadline, I’ll combine two of my most successful post of all time. I have updated it to be more relevant for 2026. For all our new people I hope you like it.

Today I think I need to complain about some things that annoy me. Just like laughter, we all have things that just rub us the wrong way. I’m a big believer in getting those things off your chest once in a while, thereby reducing the amount of stress in your life and who isn’t down with that?

The Designated Hitter:

I have always disliked the Designated Hitter and I dislike it even more now. Between 1973 and 2022 the DH was only a rule in the American League but it was negotiated into the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement making it the law of the land in the National League as well. The Players Union was all for it because it would give a multi-million dollar job to fifteen aging Major Leaguers. To heck with all the strategy, to heck with the double switch and to heck with the pitchers hitting for themselves and the joys. pains and guffaws that brought everyone. Because of this switch we will no longer get the pleasure of watching pitchers hit home runs or embarrass themselves. I am also personally distraught that I will no longer get to see at bats by my Guru and Life Coach: Bartolo Colon.

Spineless Republicans:

Today’s left-wing radicals do not play by the normal rules of polite society and if Republicans don’t learn that lesson quickly, they are going be the perpetual opposition party, even when they control all the branches of government. Do you know why Republicans are so frequently disappointed with the rulings of “their” Supreme Court Justices? It’s because they actually appoint people that look at what the Constitution says, or at least what they think the framers meant. The Justices that are appointed by the Democrats are chosen for their ability to toe the party line, every time, in every situation, without fail. If the right, appointed people based on an ideological willingness to rule on the dictates of the party then they would have a predictable set of justices.

The border and the “immigration crisis” is another on the long list of areas where the Republicans are losing because they are letting the Democrats frame the narrative. The people crossing our border are not “migrants” they are not immigrants, they are criminal aliens breaking one of the most basic laws of any country. I really don’t care if they’re coming here for a better life or they feel persecuted in their own country. There is a process to immigrating to this country and they need to follow it. If you follow the process, I will welcome you with open arms just as Americans have since the country began. The United States doesn't have an obligation to take bedraggled peasants from every crappy country in the world (especially if they are stealing us blind, i.e Minnesota). If your country is so bad, fix it yourself, we did. 250 years ago a group of people upset with the way their country was being ruled took up arms to overthrow the most powerful country on earth. If we did it, so can you.

It isn’t just in the Supreme Court or immigration where the Republicans are losing. Take the current “debate” over “transgender issues”. The right is losing because they automatically ceded ground by going along with the left’s terminology, such as “transgender woman”.

Hey Republicans, we elected you to change things in Washington, and stand up for the “silent majority”. Not to go along with the Democrats because you want to be liked or don’t want to be called names. Grow a pair!

That’s a Dude, Dude!

Speaking of all the “trans” stuff nowadays. If you were born a boy or a girl and that’s what you are forever! Besides, it gets so confusing. Is a “trans man” a man that thinks he’s a woman or a woman that thinks she’s a man? I’m too old to keep up with this stupidity. You can “identify” as whatever you want but you will always be what you were born as. I identify as the starting second baseman of the Detroit Tigers but that doesn’t mean if I went to the ballpark they would let me play, although I could hardly hit worse than they do (I’ll be writing about them shortly).

Dylan Mulvaney is a guy, “Chaz” Bono is a girl named Chastity, I saw her on TV in the 70’s, so I know she is a she. “Elliot” Page is a girl named Ellen, I saw her in Juno. “Caitlyn” Jenner is a guy named Bruce, I ate Wheaties out of a box with his picture on it. “Rachel” Levine is really a guy named Richard. “Amy” Schneider is really a man named Thomas, the Wachowskis are not “Lilly” and “Lana” but brothers named Larry and Andy, and who can forget Jazz Jennings, who we have seen being abused by her mother on TV for 21 years. I’m sorry if you have mental issues but I’m not going to play along with your delusions, just like you don’t have to go along with mine. I also don’t care what your pronouns are, you are either He/Him or She/Her and each of those goes along with what kind of DNA you have. I can’t even pronounce some of the endless pronouns they have today. Like; ex, ze, ey, how the heck do you say those?

There is an even worse subset of the stupid “trans” idiocy and that is the “trans athlete”. I think there is a special place in Hell for guys who can’t hack it in the men’s division then “identify” as a woman to clean up against (sorry feminists) inferior athletes. I don’t care if you’re “suppressing” you testosterone and taking estrogen, if you already went through puberty you have denser bones more muscle mass and muscles spread out differently than a female. There are no if and or buts about this, it is a biologic fact. There are thousands of male high school and college sprinters that run faster times than the current fastest woman alive. The all-time female 100 meter dash record holder is Florence Griffith-Joyner with a time of 10.49 which would not even put her in the top 25 of men. In fact in wouldn’t put her in the top 25 of men under 20 or even in the top 25 of boys under 17. She would have to race the 14 year old male record holder, to finally beat a male record holder, but when that 14 year-old turned 15 he ran fast enough to beat her.

You can also look at weightlifting. There are two Chinese weightlifters that hold current records; the first is a woman named Li Wenwen, she weighs 331 pounds and can snatch (the one where you squat behind the bar pick it up over you head and then stand up) 326 pounds. In the clean and jerk (the one where squat, but not as deeply over the bar pick it up to your shoulders and then raise it over your head) 412 pounds. Li Dayin is a Chinese man who weighs 210 pounds but can snatch 396 pounds as well as clean & jerk 458 pounds. Now do the math here, a man that weighs 136 pounds less, can left 70 and 46 pounds more than a woman, but the pro-transgender people say there is no advantage to have gone through male puberty.

Let’s also look at the world famous Lia (really Chris) Thomas. After his “transition”, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer soared from a 554th ranking in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle to fifth, first and eighth in those respective events in the women’s events. His NCAA title winning 500 freestyle time was a whole second faster than the second place finisher, Emma Nordin (the real winner in my opinion). When Thomas won the 200 freestyle at the Ivy League Champs in 1:43.12, he was even with runner-up Samantha Shelton at the midway point, but crushed the Harvard swimmer over the last 100, highlighted by a 25.04 split for the last 50 yards. The closing split for Thomas was faster than the finishing laps of Missy Franklin in her American-record performance, that tells me he was sandbagging it to make it appear to be a closer race, as well as his naturally larger lung capacity and stamina as well as larger hands and feet.

Here is another example, one not very well known in the US. The case of Australian handball players Callum Mouncey (he calls himself Hannah now). He is a 6’2” 220 pound man who thinks he’s a woman, and plays handball (kind of like soccer, except you run while holding the ball and throw it into a goal), as well as rugby. He is just running over the poor woman he plays against (and I mean that literally). Not only is he much bigger than the real girls, he can throw the ball much harder, again because he is a man, just watch this video.

We could also talk about Boyd Burton (now known as Fallon Fox) the male MMA fighter that decided he was really a woman and then got in a cage and started beating up girls. He hit one of his opponents so hard he fractured her skull, that seems fair. I think that all these male athletes are identifying as female because they have such low self-esteem that they can’t stand losing to other guys and would do anything to win. So instead of just practicing more, or realizing they just aren’t going to be good enough, they found this loophole and are able to win and now they can feel better about themselves.

Celebrities who think I care what they think:

Why do stars like Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Springsteen, LeBron James and others think that I value their opinions? Sure, I may like their movies or music or watching them on the court, but why do they think that means I want to hear what they think about current issues? I liked DiCaprio in The Revenant but how does that make him an expert in climate science? Did he get a degree when I wasn’t looking? Besides, I have a hard time listening to some star’s speak at the UN, about “climate change” when they say I need to buy an electric car to save the planet, but they arrived in a private jet or on their 450 foot yacht. Hey Bill Gates, if you’re so concerned about global sea levels rising why did you just buy $43 million beachfront mansion in San Diego? Having the super rich tell me I need to make sacrifices to save this or end that, just smacks of hypocrisy. This is the United States, so celebrities can express whatever opinions they hold but they do not have the right to expect the public to listen to them just because their rich and famous. I find it incredibly annoying that the glitterati continue to believe that they have all the right answers and anyone who disagrees with them is a right-wing Q-Anon nut job, or even better a Nazi. Hey, LeBron James, how comfortable is your $36 million Hollywood mansion? I'll bet it is way more comfortable then the huts the Uyghurs that make your shoes live in. When the Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. James said the GM was “not educated on the situation.” Now we know that he was worried about the launch of Space Jam 2 in China and that is why he condemned the tweet. Why should Morey be concerned about LeBron’s movie? This is a free country and if Morey wants to tweet his support of the Hong Kong protesters, that’s his right. Hey, Billie, since your multi-million dollar mansion is on the land stolen from the Tongva tribe (don’t get me started on this issue), are you going to give it back to them? No. Then shut the hell up, I don’t care what you have to say. If a major celebrity spoke out every now and then about some center or right-wing cause I might not be so jaded when it comes to them.

Taking the fighting out of hockey:

To quote a letter to the editor I had published in The Hockey News many years ago. “There are two times in a hockey game the crowd is guaranteed to be on their feet and yelling. “A goal and a fight.” The NHL has been trying to take fighting out of hockey for a long time and they have been fairly successful at it. In the 2000-01 NHL season there were 684 fights in 1230 games or 0.56 per game. In 2024-25 there were 569 fights in 2,624 games, or .22 per game, a 12% decrease. Now, some would say that this is a good thing, that no one like a league full of goons, but I disagree and I’ll bet that most people if able to answer anonymously would agree with me. Even the Hockey News, a leader in the quest to scrub hockey of fisticuffs, speaks out of both side of their mouths on the issue, they decry it most of the time but had a four page article on the Red Wings vs. Avalanche rivalry in a 2022 issue. To read a detailed account of the rivalry read my article about the Wings click the link.

Fighting has always been part of the NHL and it should always be. The play in the NHL is better when the players are the ones policing themselves. It used to be a well-known fact that if you mess with a teams star, you will answer for it from the enforcer who’s job it is to make sure that the stars are not mistreated.

Since the extinction of the enforcer from NHL lineups, high sticking and cross-checking penalties have risen and more star players are getting hurt. If the enforcers were brought back, those incidents would be brought back to a normal level and the game would be more exciting to boot.

Climate Change

Sure, climate change is real, that’s why there are not glaciers two miles thick over the top of my house. I just don’t believe that the current small warming trend is our fault. By the way the temperature is up .8 degrees C. since 1850, wow .8 degrees in 173 years that is .005 a year. It is just another cudgel to beat the people who can think for themselves, over the head with and get them to fall in line with vision of the planet’s elite. See, they don’t think we are smart enough to make decisions for ourselves. They are the smart parent and we’re are the dumb kids. They think we should just shut up, drive our electric cars, eat our bugs, go to our government sponsored Drag Queen Story Hours and attend one of their liberal indoctrination camp, I mean college. The elite want us to forget all the freedoms we are losing and shop where they tell us, drive, what the tell us and NEVER, EVER question what the government says.

Sorry, mini-rant over, I’m taking off my tinfoil hat.

The earth is, give or take, 4.5 billion years old. The people of Earth have only been able to take accurate temperature measurements for 250 years or so. In fact the two temperature scales most of us use, Fahrenheit, invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and Celsius, invented by Anders Celsius did not even exist 300 year ago. So the scientists are going to tell me they can draw conclusions from a data set that is only .00000083% of the age of the Earth. That .00000083% works out to be the equivalent of 35 seconds of a 76 year human life, so again you’re going to tell me you can work out the trends of a human life in 35 seconds of measurements? I say there is no possible way you can draw real insights on the trends of something affecting an entire planet, with such a small of a sample size. The models the “climate scientists use, also don’t take the solar cycle into account. Our Sun is a huge ball of electrically-charged hot gas, this charged gas moves, and as it does, it generates a powerful magnetic field. That magnetic field goes through an eleven year cycle, called the solar cycle. Every eleven years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips. This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. It takes around another eleven years for the Sun’s poles to flip back again. The solar cycle affects activity on the surface of the Sun, such as sunspots which are caused by the Sun’s magnetic fields. As the magnetic fields change, so does the amount of activity on the Sun’s surface. Sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections increase as the cycle goes on. Solar cycle 23 lasted 11.6 years, beginning in May 1996 and ending in January 2008. Solar cycle 24 began on January 2008, and ended in December 2019 after 11.0 years and Solar cycle 25 began in December 2019 and is still going on. Every time there is an increase in solar radiation being shot into space there is also a change in conditions on earth, most of the time we don’t really notice but sometimes sunspots will effect radio communications and even the electric grid. There are also other affects. During solar cycles 20-23 (1963 to 1996), energy changes in UV radiation which affects the production and loss of ozone caused the 30 hPa (hectopascals or 30 millibars) atmospheric pressure level to change height. There was an increase in ozone production and actually led to stratospheric heating and to the poleward movements in the stratospheric and tropospheric winds systems. So the miniscule temperature increases there have been in the recent past could very well be chalked up to the sun and not be the cause of man at all.

It has also be widely acknowledged that the computer models, the so called climate scientists, use to predict temperature increases are flawed and spit out results that match the desired outcome (i.e. it’s the end of the world, sea levels will rise, millions of people will drown etc.). Here is a link of a great article explaining the errors in climate change models, it is from 2017 but all the science and math are still true. Read the Hoover Institution article here!

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Local Meteorologists:

Speaking of weather, this one might be a local thing but it annoys me nonetheless. Up here in Northern Michigan we have two main meteorologists, Joe Charlevoix and Mark Watkins. Joe Charlevoix (the same name as a local town), whose name was probably Joe Milwaukee or Joe Columbus at various points in his career, is the kind of guy who's out there filming segments on cat fashion shows and pie eating contests when he’s not doing the weather. Mark Watkins is the slicked backed hair, tailored suit, pinkie ring kind of guy who might have sold used cars or discount appliances before becoming the weather man. Both of them are doom and gloom guys when it comes to our strange weather. Every day their teasers go something like this: “I hope you have enjoyed the sunshine because tomorrow the clouds return and the temperatures plummet. Tune in at eleven for the full forecast”. Now, our weather up here is bad enough without these guys making it seem like Narnia where it’s always winter but never Christmas. Another thing I don’t want to hear from them near the end of a six month winter is “We’ve had a lack of snow recently, will we be able to catch up to normal?” No, I hope we won’t catch up to “normal”, winter is long enough as it is.

Why do the weather programs always have to be called “The Storm Team”, why can’t it be called the Fair Weather Fans or the Blue Sky Bunch. It is the worst of both worlds, the two guys are cheery and upbeat and always giving us bad news. As an example, here is a recent weekend forecast.

The wide range of high and low temps is due to the size of the forecast area, all the way from the Canadian border to the middle of the mitten.

Hate Speech:

The problem I have with hate speech is that there is no such thing as hate speech, at least not the way the modern left thinks of it. The left says if speech is hurtful, upsetting, inflammatory or what they would call misinformation, then they believe that speech should be restricted at the least but more likely, completely banned. They seem to forget that we have the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

While it might be uncouth or insensitive to say things about someone different from you, it is not against the law nor is it a violation of the First Amendment. One must remember that the First Amendment doesn’t just apply to speech that you agree with. To quote a famous American.

“If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free speech — not free speech for those who agree with us but freedom for the speech that we hate.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Supreme Court Justice

What ever happened to the old schoolyard adage “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” and what about this;

If one cannot tell the difference between words and axes, let both be hurled at them until the can.

— Viking proverb

So, while you might not like what someone posted online, they are completely free to do it and should not face consequences for it. If a bank manager posts “I like Hitler” on their personal Twitter account they should not face any punishment by the government for it, because the First Amendment allows you to say what ever you want. However, if the manager posts the same message from the bank’s official Twitter account they can be fired because a company has the ability to control the speech of it’s employees in a work setting.

What, you may say, about shouting fire in a crowded theater? That can't be protected speech, right? According to actual constitutional law scholars, you are allowed to yell whatever the heck you want in the crowded theater.

Here is an article on shouting "fire" in a theater.

Read about the first amendment and the few instances it is curtailed here.

James Madison the architect of the Bill of Rights, had a commitment to free speech that should serve as a reminder that, while people say things that we might find personally offensive, we should never wish the state or anyone else to squash their right to do so. Our First Amendment freedoms combined — freedom of religion, of assembly and petition, of press and speech — give us the right to think what we like and say what we please. If we the people are to govern ourselves, we must have these rights, even if they are misused by a minority. If James Madison isn’t enough of an authority on the subject maybe the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, is. In his first inaugural address he said.

“If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”

In other words, people that try to talk others into changing our system of government and God-given rights, are allowed to hold those opinions because freedom of speech is the sword to combat undemocratic ideas. So go out there and say whatever is on your mind and know that the First Amendment has your back.

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Bench Clearing Brawls:

I hate bench clearing brawls in baseball for the simple reason that for the most part they are stupid and pointless. The vast majority of times a batter is hit by a pitch it is unintentional. Sure, sometimes it happens for a reason but more times than not the pitch just got away from the pitcher. If you’re a Major League hitter and the three guys ahead of you all hit homeruns, you should be prepared to have the next pitch be inside maybe even close enough to knock you down. It’s not personal just business, the pitcher has a job too and he’s just sending you the message not to get too comfortable in the batter’s box. If you hit a homerun and stand at the plate watching it or make a dramatic bat flip be prepared to take a pitch in the ribs in your next at bat and of course if one of the pitcher’s teammates has been hit by a pitch someone on your team is next. Too many players now a days take it personally when a pitcher throws inside, apparently they believe that the inside of the plate belongs to them and the pitchers aren’t allowed to throw pitches there. I know it hurts to be hit by a pitch, I had my hand broken by an 83 MPH fastball, and I can only imagine how it feels to be hit by a 100 MPH pitch but that’s no reason to charge the mound. Take your base and get your revenge by scoring.

Besides, baseball brawls are the most pointless thing ever. So, you have a hitter who takes exception to either getting hit or having a pitch go too close to him. Most of the time he thinks about it for a second before charging the mound, giving the umpire and the catcher time to get between him and the pitcher. If the batter breaks away from them and charges the mound he’s outnumbered 9 to 1 which is why his teammates come out of the dugout to help. Once everyone gets out there, it’s mostly just a bunch of guys in tight pants milling around. These are hardly ever anything like a hockey fight. The most ridiculous part of baseball brawls are the players running in from the bullpens, which are usually just outside the fence in the outfield. If they want to fight so bad why don’t they just go over to the opponents bullpen and fight right there? Then there is always one hot head that just can’t let it go. I’ve seen plenty of fights that had run it’s course and everything had calmed down and all of a sudden, one guy starts yelling and pushing and there it goes again and 9.5 times out of 10 it is some guy that was sitting on the bench not even a player involved in the real incident. So my advice to MLB players is go out there and play the game, don't try to show up your opponent, act like you’ve hit a homerun before and remember the pitchers have a right to throw a pitch over any part of the plate.

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Hipsters:

You know the kind of guys I mean, the pretentious ones who wear skinny jeans that don’t go down to their shoe tops, with untucked flannel shirts, beards, man buns, thick-rimmed glasses, tattoos, riding their stupid fixed gear bikes and talking about their organic honey or their small-batch artisanal pickles. I say shave, get a haircut, get a real job and start contributing to society. I always want to ask them if their mothers know what they look like and how do they feel about it?

They are a subculture with no strict ideology, but one crammed with bizarre contradictions. Hairy but groomed, homespun but mass produced, the demographic most likely to invest in reissued Nokia phones, but also the one that seemingly grew up on their smartphones. No soundtrack to speak of but whatever they listen to it must be on vinyl. Non-conformity expressed through conformity, the worst of every world.

How many different craft beers does one town need, and do I really need small batch pickles or artisanal mayonnaise or a place to drink wine while I knit? They're all so snooty about their products, it drives me crazy. I'm always hearing things like “the beer has hints of lavender and coriander with a hoppy finish” or “this cheddar has notes of hazelnuts and a creamy finish”. I just hate that, I don't taste those things I only know know what I like and what I don't like. I really don’t care that you think your vintage t-shirt store is authentically vintage or that the sardines in the Sardine Bar (a real business in San Francisco) are sustainably caught in the wild or that a percentage of every purchase of beard oil goes to bearded men in third world countries.

The Hipsters are all about following “their path” and claptrap like that. Every time I hear one of them say “follow your dreams”. All I can think of is a quote from Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe who says “Just because it’s your dream, doesn't mean you don't suck at it”.

This is actually just a portion of the things that grind my gears and none of these things might bother you at all. That’s ok, everyone is different, but if you like the Yankees I really think you should examine your priorities. Until next time, You stay classy Substack. If you wish to comment on my list of annoyances, share this post with your favorite curmudgeon. or subscribe to this publication, please click one of the buttons below.

Chris

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Last time we met, I gave you Part I of my look at the corruption in Minnesota. I laid the groundwork by examining the situation in Somalia since 1991 and a little look at the state of corruption in Somalia. Click below if you missed it or just want to read it again.

Today, I will look at how the situation in Somalia made its way to Minnesota and why no one should have been surprised by the level of grift surrounding Somalis in Minnesota.

What is happening

Although most people have just heard about the issues in Minnesota, this is a problem that goes back a few years. In 2021, federal law enforcement first probed a series of multimillion dollar fraud schemes. Those fraud schemes have led to federal charges against 92 people, with 62 convicted — and counting.

Feeding Our Future: The case that started it all

Feeding Our Future (FOF) was founded by Aimee Bock in 2016, and repeatedly applied for grants from the state of Minnesota, but was rejected due to allegations of mismanagement and abuses. In July 2019, Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) officials identified early signs of fraud, including meal claims they considered implausible. Bock began pressuring workers who raised questions about their first submissions, and officials began documenting her "concerning behavior". The concerns about Feeding Our Future was bad enough that in February 2020, the organization's nonprofit tax status was revoked by the IRS.

However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) waived some of the standard requirements for participation in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Among other things, the USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate in the program, as well as allowed for off-site food distribution to children outside of educational programs. Feeding Our Future reapplied for compensation for services, and employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota. These sites fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day, just days or weeks after being formed. They created dozens of shell companies to enroll in the program as Federal Child Nutrition Program sites. FOF also created shell companies to receive and launder the proceeds of their scheme.

To carry out the scheme, the fraudsters submitted fraudulent meal count sheets documenting the number of children and meals served at each site, and false invoices documenting the purchase of food to be served to children at the sites. They also submitted fake attendance rosters listing the names and ages of the children receiving meals at the sites each day. These rosters were created using fake names. For example, one roster was created using names from a website called “www.listofrandomnames.com.” Because the program only reimbursed for meals served to children, other conspirators used an Excel formula to insert a random age between seven and 17 into the age column of the rosters.1 Despite knowing the claims were fraudulent, Feeding Our Future submitted the fraudulent claims to Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and then disbursed the fraudulently obtained Federal Child Nutrition Program funds to the individuals and entities involved in the scheme.

In exchange for sponsoring the fraudulent participation for these sites in the program, Feeding Our Future received more than $18 million in administrative fees. In addition to the administrative fees, Feeding Our Future employees solicited and received bribes and kickbacks from individuals and companies sponsored by Feeding Our Future. Many of these kickbacks were paid in cash or disguised as “consulting fees” paid to shell companies created by Feeding Our Future employees to make them appear legitimate.

When MDE attempted to perform necessary oversight regarding the number of sites and amount of claims being submitted, Bock and Feeding Our Future gave false assurances that they were monitoring the sites under its sponsorship and that the sites were serving the meals as claimed. When MDE employees pressed Bock for clarification, Bock accused MDE of discrimination and unfairly scrutinizing Feeding Our Future’s sites. When MDE denied Feeding Our Future site applications, Bock and Feeding Our Future filed a lawsuit accusing MDE of denying the site applications due to discrimination, in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

In total, Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites throughout the state of Minnesota and fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. The defendants used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, fund international travel, and purchase real estate in Turkey and Kenya (why Kenya? It is the closest half-way safe country to Somalia). Below is a list of all the people charged so far in cases connected with this incident.

• Aimee Marie Bock

• Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh

• Salim Ahmed Said

• Abdulkadir Nur Salah

• Ahmed Sharif Omar-Hashim

• Abdi Nur Salah

• Abdihakim Ali Ahmed

• Ahmed Mohamed Artan

• Abdikadir Ainanshe Mohamud

• Abdinasir Mahamed Abshir

• Asad Mohamed Abshir

• Hamdi Hussein Omar

• Ahmed Abdullahi Ghedi

• Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed

• Abdiaziz Shafii Farah

• Mohamed Jama Ismail

• Mahad Ibrahim

• Abdimajid Mohamed Nur

• Said Shafii Farah

• Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin

• Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff

• Hayat Mohamed Nur

• Qamar Ahmed Hassan

• Sahra Mohamed Nur

• Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud

• Filsan Mumin Hassan

• Guhaad Hashi Said

• Abdullahe Nur Jesow

• Abdul Abubakar Ali

• Yusuf Bashir Ali

• Haji Osman Salad

• Fahad Nur

• Anab Artan Awad

• Sharmarke Issa

• Farhiya Mohamud

• Liban Yasin Alishire

• Ahmed Yasin Ali

• Khadar Jigre Adan

• Sharmake Jama

• Ayan Jama

• Asha Jama

• Fartun Jama

• Mustafa Jama

• Zamzam Jama

• Bekam Addissu Merdassa

• Hadith Yusuf Ahmed

• Hanna Marekegn

Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock and her main accomplice, Salim Said, were convicted earlier this year. Bock, on four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Said was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, eight counts of bribery, one count conspiracy to commit money laundering and five counts of money laundering. So far 52 other people have been convicted or pled guilty to charges stemming from these cases.

Housing Stabilization Services

In 2020, Minnesota began to use federal Medicaid dollars to fund Housing Stabilization Services (HSS), a program intended to aid homeless Minnesotans. The program was expected to cost $2.6 million a year, but quickly reached over $100 million a year by 2024, as fraudsters began to take advantage of the program. Fraudsters billed the program for services that were never provided, billed for dead clients, bribed homeless people, falsified records, and forged signatures. The program had insufficient vetting, minimal guardrails, and a lack of accountability and transparency. HSS providers were not required by Minnesota to obtain a license to provide services and the program was so notoriously easy to defraud that “fraud tourists” from other states traveled to Minnesota to become HSS providers. Over 1,700 housing stabilization providers were created in Minnesota, including 22 providers that operated out of a single building in St. Paul.

In October 2023, Hennepin county officials received information about HSS providers failing to provide services that they had claimed. In March 2024, county officials began warning Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) about suspicious activity from HSS providers, including Minnesota’s largest HSS biller, Start Today Hennepin. Separate warnings were sent to DHS in May, July, and December 2024. DHS did not take action against Start Today Hennepin or other HSS providers flagged by county officials. Even as county officials banned payments to providers, DHS continued to pay them at the state level. In January 2025, DHS asserted that there was no widespread fraud in their services, with DHS commissioner Jodi Harpstead saying fraudsters “didn’t dare try to do that in our licensed or unlicensed services”. After local TV station KARE 11 broadcast an expose on HSS fraud in May 2025, the FBI began raiding HSS providers and DHS designated HSS as high risk and began terminating providers. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson described HSS as an “easy-to-obtain benefit and a program that imposed relatively few eligibility requirements for individuals to receive services” and said that the “vast majority” of HSS spending was likely to consist of fraudulent payments. He also said:

Thompson attributed the widespread fraud in HSS to state leaders, law enforcement, news media, and community leaders turning a blind eye to the problem. In August, DHS shutdown HSS over concerns regarding the level of fraud in the program. The following month, the Department of Justice began to charge defendants with fraud related charges for their role in defrauding HSS.

In September 2025, DHS fired the Assistant Commissioner of Homelessness & Housing Supports, Eric Grumdahl, hours before the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee of the state House of Representatives held a hearing on HSS. Lawmakers in the committee accused DHS of being slow to act, despite internal memos showing that DHS had been warned of fraud in HSS for over a year. The following are the people charged so far in this incident.

• Moktar Hassan Aden

• Mustafa Dayib Ali

• Khalid Ahmed Dayib

• Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed

• Christopher Adesoji Falade

• Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade

• Asad Ahmed Adow

• Anwar Ahmed Adow

• Hassan Ahmed Hussein

• Ahmed Abdirashid Mohamed

• Kaamil Omar Sallah

• Anthony Waddell Jefferson

• Lester Brown

Autism services

Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) services began in 2017, intended to assist people under the age of 21 with autism spectrum disorder. It initially cost $1 million a year, but by 2024 had rapidly grown to an annual cost of over $220 million. EIDBI services saw particular growth among East African providers, with 1 in 16 Somali-American children reported on the autism spectrum, double the average for non-Somali children in Minnesota. The program did not require providers to obtain a license to begin providing services and state officials changed rules over the COVID-19 pandemic to allow providers to more easily bill for remote services. Scammers made fraudulent Medicaid claims, hired relatives instead of qualified professionals, and targeted the program by providing kickbacks to parents to enroll their children into the program. Of the more than 450 EIDBI providers in Minnesota, 1 in 5 came under investigation from DHS. Federal officials began investigations into EIDBI providers in December 2024, in connection with the Feeding our Future investigations. At least a dozen defendants suspected of fraud related to Feeding our Future also owned or were associated with autism centers in Minnesota. Federal officials charged two defendants in connection with EIDBI fraud in 2025.

• Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf

• Asha Farhan Hassan

In December 2025, Ms. Hassan plead guilty to stealing $14 million in EIDBI funding. She is also charged in the Feeding Our Future incident.

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Integrated Community Supports

Minnesota’s Integrated Community Supports (ICS) program, intended to aid adults with disabilities, launched in 2021. It initially cost the state $4.6 million a year but by 2025 had grown to nearly $180 million. Fraudulent providers for ICS failed to provide services and have been connected to the death of at least one participant in ICS. In 2025, Rick Clemmer died of a medical emergency when there was nobody around to call 911. His ICS provider, Abdul Ibrahim of Ultimate Home Health Services LLC, said he checked on Clemmer only once a day, but Ultimate Home Health Services billed Minnesota for 12 hours of one-on-one daily care. In 2025, at least 17 providers were suspended by DHS due to credible allegations of fraud. In December 2025, the FBI raided Ultimate Home Health Services, alleging that it billed for services that were not provided but had been charged to the state, including billing ICS for services to one individual on all but four days over a 447-day period. Another company, Guardian Home Health Services, and its owner have been charged with with eight felony counts of theft by false representation in state court, for billing Medicare $3 million in fraudulent charges over a three year period. I was only able to find the name of the person charged in state court.

• Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd

Non-emergency Medical Transportation

In 2020, 16 people were charged in relation to fraud committed in non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). They were alleged to have exploited program rules by driving passengers to receive specialty care between Anoka and St. Cloud, Minnesota about 60 miles apart. Why 60 miles? UCare, the primary insurance company, allowed its members to travel up to 60 miles for a medical service without pre-authorization. Victims were steered to clinics just under the 60-mile limit, so drivers could maximize their reimbursement. At the clinics, they would also defraud Medicaid by billing individually instead of by groups, and billing for services not provided. Clients sometimes received kickbacks of up to $450 for participating in the fraud. 15 pleaded guilty in 2021. In 2024, a Medicaid fraud ring centered around Faribault, Minnesota recruited or stole the identities of hundreds of residents as “passengers” to be driven by NEMT providers to specialty clinics 60 miles north in the Twin Cities. Somali interpreters coordinated the fraud scheme by recruiting clinics with offers to build a client base. The providers would bill for services not received or not needed, while looking the other way on transportation and interpreter records, which were also billed to the state. Minnesota launched an investigation into the scheme called PITSTOP-66. So far these are the people that have been charged.

• Nasro Aden Takhal

• Fardosa Ali Ibrahim

• Bashir Aden Bare

• Warfa Osman Mohomud

• Omar Abdi Ahmed

• Amal Mohamed Budul

• Khalif Abdi Madobe

• Bishara Salat Abdirahman

Home and Community Based Services

In January 2023, DHS investigated Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) provider Promise Health Services LLC. The company was accused of overbilling, billing for services not provided, forging documentation, and recruiting HCBS clients through kickbacks. In June 2024, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office charged Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife Lul Ahmed, the owners of Promise Health Services, with defrauding Minnesota of $7.2 million through Promise Health. The couple spent Medicaid funds on personal luxury items. Yusuf was convicted by a jury in August 2025, but his conviction was overturned by Hennepin County Judge Sarah West. West wrote that while she was “troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated at Promise Health”, she overturned Yusuf’s conviction because the state’s case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence” and there could be other “reasonable inferences”. The jury foreperson in the trial expressed shock at West’s decision, saying: “It was not a difficult decision whatsoever. The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt.” In June 2024, the Attorney General’s office charged Abdiweli Mohamud for PCA fraud in connection with Abdifatah Yusuf and Lul Ahmed’s HCBS scheme. Mohamud operated Minnesota Home, which was accused of fraudulently billing Medicaid for $1.8 million.

• Abdifatah Yusuf

• Lul Ahmed

• Abdiweli Mohamud

Personal Care Assistance

In August 2023, a Personal Care Assistance (PCA) company called MN Professional was under investigation by the Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. On August 29, 2023 five people were charged, in what the Attorney General’s Office called the largest case of fraud brought forward by its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. It involved $9.5 million in stolen Medicaid funds through MN Professional. MN Professional was accused of billing Medicaid for services not provided and providing services without a nurse or qualified professional present. Abdikarim Mohamed and Ahmed Nur, the two owners of MN Professional, also fraudulently listed their wives as “board members” and “consultants” at MN Professional and paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars in “salary.” The “salary” went into joint bank accounts where Mohamed and Nur had the ability to withdraw or transfer the funds into their own accounts. The individuals engaged in other illicit activities as well, including recruiting clients and PCAs with the intent of using them to defraud the Medicaid program and falsifying information to obtain loans related to COVID-19 relief programs. Prosecutors said the fraud was being concealed by an “elaborate cash-checking scheme” in which checks were written in the names of legitimate PCAs whose identities were used by people who kept the money for themselves. The owners of MN Professional, Abdikarim Mohamed and Ahmed Nur, along with managers Abubakar Ahmed and Ali Elmi and accountant Omar Dirie, are each charged in Hennepin County District Court with one count of racketeering, one count of engaging in business of concealing criminal proceeds, and eleven counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle (over $35,000). In October 2023, the Attorney General’s office began investigating several other PCA companies. They were found to have ties to Abdirashid Said, a PCA provider who was convicted in 2021 of theft by swindle. Many of the companies were in the same building and run by people with family connections.

• Abdikarim Mohamed

• Ahmed Nur

• Abubakar Ahmed

• Ali Elmi

• Omar Dirie

Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services

Several Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) providers, intended to help clients with social competencies and psychiatric stability, have come under scrutiny for over-billing, billing for services not provided, and ties to providers indicted for fraud elsewhere. Federal prosecutors stated that they were investigating ARMHS providers owned by defendants charged in connection with the Feeding our Future scandal, while state investigators found that Abdifitah Mohamed, who owned HSS providers suspected of $2.5 in fraud, also owned ARMHS Reach LLC. A 2025 KARE11 investigation showed that ARMHS provider Action Therapy had the same address as a HSS provider indicted for fraud and billed the state for services provided to clients who did not report receiving any. Similar patterns of "ghost billing" were found by KARE11 in ARMHS provider Community Care Partners. KARE11 noted that DHS was slow in providing records related to ARMHS and other Medicaid programs, despite state law requiring timely responses to requests for information.

• Abdifitah Mohamed

Adult day care

Minnesota DHS announced a freeze on new licenses from February 2026 to January 2028 for adult day care programs, which are intended to serve elderly and disabled Minnesotans. The freeze in licensing came amidst suspicion of fraudulent activity among daycare providers, particularly kickback schemes, in which providers provide payments for individuals to enroll in programs, which allow providers to bill the state for services. Other fraudulent actions plaguing adult daycares in Minnesota included the filing of false and inflated service claims to DHS. From 2020 to 2025, Minnesota saw a 43% growth in licensed capacity in adult day cares, and only a 7% increase in participants, resulting in over 3,000 more licensed day center spots than participants. In early 2023, small adult daycare providers accused DHS of overburdening them with onerous licensing regulations, which DHS said were necessary safeguards. Lawmakers and DHS agreed to work with providers to alleviate their concerns. Later that year, the Minnesota Reformer reported that many defendants involved in the Feeding our Future fraud case were also operating adult daycares. While some defendants had their licenses suspended, others continued to receive payments from DHS, with funds budgeted for them into 2024. Another prominent daycare which saw its license suspended by DHS served as a campaign office for state senator Omar Fateh.

Child care

From 2021 to 2025, the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) DHS fraud team referred an average of five cases annually for criminal prosecution. Most cases involved over-billing and faking services. DHS also stopped payments to 79 childcare providers in the same time frame. In January 2025, Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) commissioner Tikki Brown noted that the state had gaps in their fraud detection systems caused by difficulties in verifying attendance numbers. In May 2025, the legislative auditor found that Minnesota was likely making at least one error in 11% of payments to childcare providers. It warned that “Minnesota’s limited oversight of attendance documentation at childcare centers resulted in overpayments to providers”, and “lack of oversight to ensure accurate and complete attendance documentation could increase the risk of fraud, waste and abuse to the CCAP program”. In December 2025, YouTuber Nick Shirley released a viral video on claims of child care fraud in Minnesota, resulting in national scrutiny.

Why is it important?

It is important, because the stolen money accounts for roughly half of the $18 billion in total federal funds provided to the Minnesota-run services since 2018, and that’s only what we know about so far. Somali fraudsters in Minnesota stole billions of dollars from American taxpayers over a period of years, and the state government did nothing to stop it. Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive esprit de corps, refuse to connect the dots. Remember, it wasn’t long ago that Minnesota governor, and vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, was bragging about how he was sending even more money to the childcare programs in the debate against JD Vance. Walz cannot explain why the feds had to step in and why he never even investigated this until the media and the Trump administration drew his attention to it. This was not a clerical error nor bureaucratic incompetence. It was systemic failure — or worse, fraud or systemic complicity — in the administration of public funds on a staggering scale. And it seems to be a pattern throughout major American cities.

In addition, federal counterterrorism sources confirmed millions in funds for Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program, Feeding Our Future and the other fraud cases were sent to Somalia and cannot be accounted for. It is very possible that the terrorist group Al-Shabab may have obtained that cash, and that isn’t good for Somalia, the United States, or the world. As I said in Part I al-Shabaab is still a major problem in Somalia, and an influx of millions of dollars stolen from American taxpayers would be a big boost to the terror group.

How was it allowed to happen?

In 2024 the Minnesota Informer published a piece about the corruption clearly taking place among Somalis in Minnesota. It was written by Kayseh Magan, a man with a Somali background, who had worked as a fraud investigator in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Magan explained that this crime problem is the classic case of when “desire meets opportunity.” Magan wrote that “Minnesota’s public programs don’t adequately guard against organized fraud.” Part of the issue: The fraudsters have exploited “the burgeoning political power of the Somali community. Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General, for example, has talked about expecting campaign contributions from the Somali community in some kind of quid pro quo fashion. Makes you wonder if the lack of investigations wasn’t the quo in that relationship.

In Minnesota, we see the crisis facing many Western governments playing out in the most extreme way. They’ve combined a generous welfare state with the near religious belief in mass immigration from Third World countries, and to even question that system is to be ostracized as part of the wholly unacceptable (in their view) “far right”. You can see it in the fear that politicians and state agencies show when faced with charges of racism or Islamophobia.

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Why the Somalis?

Now, you may have noticed that of the 77 names list in this post, only three are American names, the rest are Somalis. Why is that? I believe it goes back to the conditions and situations in their home country that I looked at in Part I. Somalis who came to the United States after their country’s civil war, and the chaos that followed, were raised in a culture in which stealing from the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt government was widespread. In another example of corruption in Somalia, in 2022 it was discovered that two-thirds of the five thousand civil servants in Somalia didn’t report to work and in many cases were likely “ghost employees”. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud actually groused about the issue. “There are more than 5,000 civil servants registered in our biometric system, but only 1,500 of them report to work every day, where are the rest? They do not exist or they do not live in the country. However, they are still paid. They are thieves and their superiors who accepted this scheme are also thieves. They are simply stealing public money.” Hassan may be right, but he should have listened to the saying, “those in glass houses should not throw stones”, since he’s been accused of corruption related to public land sales. It is not just the president of Somalia involved in corruption, and this time it is connected to all the fraud in Minnesota. Jibril Mohamed, the Senior Policy Advisor for the Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs, owns a home healthcare company, Essential Care Partners LLC, in Ohio. There are multiple other home healthcare companies at the same address, and another company with Somali names attached, in the exact same office suite.

There has also been, to no one's surprise, widespread problems with theft of international aid in Somalia too. The European Union had to temporarily suspend Somalia’s World Food Program in 2023 because of widespread theft. The program was supposed to send $130 a month to displaced persons in a refugee camp, but they would frequently only receive $65 after the camp manager got his cut. It’s immoral, but easy to understand in a basic sense. It’s the kind of corruption that ruins countries the world over.

Another reason for the fraud could be the financial situation in Somalia. The gross domestic product per capita of Somalia is $763 (186th out of 197 countries, US is 8th with $89,599), and according to the UN, approximately 40% of households in Somalia receive remittances from abroad. In 2023, the Somali diaspora sent $1.7 billion to the country, higher than the annual budget of Somalia. Therefore it is essential for Somali immigrants, no matter where they end up, to send as much money home as they can.

What the Somali fraudsters did in the US was a matter of greed and crookedness, a replication of the kind of schemes that allow one to get ahead in their homeland. It should be no surprise that in concentrated Somali communities, like the ones that exist in Minnesota, the scams have taken place. The unrestrained immigration over the last decade has made it more likely to occur in states all across the country. One doesn’t need to be wholly against immigration to understand that. After all, Thomas Jefferson warned in his famed Notes on the State of Virginia about taking in too many people from “absolute monarchies” who will bring with them “the principles of the governments they leave imbibed in their early youth.” “These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children,” Jefferson wrote. “In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us in legislation. Our laws and institutions must therefore be guarded with jealous attention; and in order to preserve them, we must incorporate our immigrants into the body of our people.” He recommended carefully picking who we allow into the country. That’s prudence, not nativism.

This does, however, open a larger question. If you were an immigrant and you came to the United States from a war-torn, impoverished, and dangerous place, like Somalia, shouldn’t you express gratitude? The most prominent example of this controversy right now is Ilhan Omar.

The arch Somali: Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Abdullahi Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October 4, 1982. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed was a colonel in the Somali Army under the brutal dictator Siad Barre. The family belongs to the Osman Mohamud sub-sub-clan, of the Majeerteen sub-clan, of the Darood clan. Because of his military position, and clan dynamics, the family were forced to flee the country after the fall of the Barre regime. She and her family spent four years in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Omar's family secured asylum in the US, and arrived in New York in 1995. They lived in Arlington, Virginia for a time before settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

When she came here at 13 she given every benefit of being a US resident and then a US citizen. She was given a public school education, a generous scholarship to go to North Dakota State and major in political science and international studies. She was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016, then the United States Congress, four times, starting in 2018. Even though she is an naturalized American citizen, she refused to assimilate, and insisted on wearing the hijab (fellow Muslim, Rashida Tlaib, does not). This forced the House to make a special exception, just for her, to the rule banning any headwear inside the Capitol chambers when Congress is in session. I mention this because she has expressed overt criticism of the country that befriended her and allowed her to be educated, mostly at public cost, to be a representative in Congress, and to even write a book with a major New York publisher, her public statements form a pattern of hate directed at the country that has given her everything someone could want. Yet, how does she thank us?

Ilhan in her own words

In 2012, before joining Congress, she tweeted, "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel".

2019 was a banner year for Omar putting her foot in her mouth:

Omar responded to a journalist who accused the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, of “attacking free speech” by targeting Omar and Tlaib for expressing a divergent view on Israel. Omar responded by tweeting “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” That tweet generated a response from a Jewish journalist who asked Omar who she believed was “paying American politicians to be pro-Israel”. The congresswoman replied “AIPAC” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

At a town hall event, speaking about political influence in the US, she said that it is "okay to push for the allegiance to a foreign country," referring to Israel. Obviously invoking the dual loyalty trope.

While discussing the rise of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) after the 9/11 attacks, she said, "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something.”

In 2021, she tweeted that “we have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.” obviously comparing Hamas and the Taliban with the US and Israel.

In 2024, during the campus protests over Israel's justified actions against Hamas, she referred to Jewish students not engaging in protests as "pro-genocidal”.

In 2024, she said that the United States was a trashy country and that the “Trump dictatorship”, was not much different from the one that she left in Somalia.

In 2025, just days after Kirk’s murder, Omar appeared on the Breaking Points podcast where she claimed “those people saying Charlie Kirk just wanted to have a civil debate are full of shit”. She said that everyone commenting that he never said or did anything racist is wrong and that there is “nothing more fucked up than to pretend his words and actions have not been recorded over the past decade.” She dismissed the grief of millions as “a complete rewriting of history”. The next day, when asked about her comments she doubling down on her attacks while his family was still planning his memorial, calling him a “stochastic2 terrorist” and a “reprehensible human being.”

It appears her house isn’t in order

According to her financial disclosure filing in 2019 Omar had a negative net worth. In 2020, she married Tim Mynett, a political consultant and entrepreneur and her 2024 financial disclosure report that she is worth between $6 million and $25 million dollars. The reporting does not provide specific dollar amounts, only ranges.

The first asset is Rose Lake Capital, which is worth between $5 million and $25 million.

Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, is listed as co-owner of Rose Lake. The website lists a total of nine employees including:

• Will Hailer- Co-owner with Mynett and previously worked for the Democratic National Committee and Attorney General Keith Ellison.

• Bill Quesada Derrough- Former Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2021.

• Adam Ereli- Former United States Ambassador to Bahrain from 2007 – 2011 under Barak Obama.

• Max Baucus- Former Congressman from 1975 to 2014 and former Ambassador to China from 2014 –2017 under Obama.

• Keith R. Mestrich- Former president of Amalgamated Bank, from 2014 to 2021.

• Alex Hoffman- Former chief of staff for the National Finance Chair and deputy chief of staff for Finance at the Democratic National Committee. Also Co-Founder of GiveBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform.

• Sheila Healy- Former Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party and advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders.

Rose Lake was created after Mynett and Hailer closed their firm E Street Group, after it was revealed that Omar’s campaign paid the E Street Group $2.78 million in 2019 and 2020 to help with Omar’s reelection, including payments to the company after they were married, payments that Omar directly benefited from as the wife of the owner of E Street Capital.

The other asset Omar reported owning is a winery in Santa Rosa, eStCru (yes, that is how they spell it. It also seems like a nod to E Street Capital), which is worth between $1 million and $5 million. The winery is owned by Mynett and Hailer, who have been accused of swindling investors in 2024. The lawsuit alleged that Mynett and Hailer promised an investor that if they gave them $300,000, they would buy grapes, make them into wine, sell the wine, and pay the investor $900,000. The investor alleges they were never paid.

Ilhan Omar stands out as the prime example of an ungrateful immigrant. We did not ask her to come here, but when she did, in an appropriate manner (so says the government, but that is a different post), this country lavished benefits, and extended her every imaginable opportunity. Yet, to thanks us, she’s attacked the President of the United States, she suggested that the country was a trashy dictatorship, she said that Charlie Kirk was a terrorist, she even said some people did something on 9/11. No, Ilhan, not something, 3,000 Americans were murdered on that day, and it wasn’t Christians or Jews that flew those planes into the towers.

And so, Ilhan Omar is an example of what’s wrong with legal and Illegal immigration. We allow “refugees” from countries that are in chaos to enter the US, or just leave the border wide open. We extended them every benefit, and how do they repay us? They trash the country at every opportunity, and do not assimilate, do not even learn our customs or language, or try to become Americans, in fact they want us to bow to their culture. When they are criticised for their behavior, they call us Islamophobic, xenophobic, racists Nazis, and paint themselves as the victims.

My point is that, in the larger discussion about the fraud in Minnesota, our concern should also be the underlying issue. Immigration in to America. As we have seen, foreigners on our campuses are stirring up trouble. Immigrants behind the wheel of a semi-truck are killing people because they can’t read the street signs, or aliens coming in illegally and committing acts of violence, maybe, just maybe, we should ask our immigrants to show a little gratitude. We did not ask for them to leave their home countries and come to the United States. If they want to be here then they need to follow our rules and norms.

There you go that is what I have to say regarding the unprecedented corruption in Minnesota. The most important thing to remember is that Minnesota is only one state out of 50, and what will be uncovered in the rest of the states? I hope you found this post illuminating, please feel free to share it with anyone who might be interested or should be. I’ll see you next time.

Chris

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Welcome to the first post of A Normal Midwestern Guy of 2026! I’m glad 2025 is over and looking forward to seeing what 2026 will bring. For the last post of 2025, I dropped a look at four interesting people throughout history. Click below if you missed it or just want to revisit those amazing people.

Today I’m going to look at what is going on in Minnesota. The amount of fraud and misuse of fund happening there is beyond belief, actually it’s really not, if we look at how the “government” of Somalia operated and continues to operate, we shouldn’t have been shocked that once they moved to America, it was business as usual. Today I’m covering the history of Somalia from 1890 until 2025 and corruption in Somalia itself. Next time I’ll look at how it translates to Minnesota. For those of you that are new, or haven’t checked out my archive of old articles, I, unlike most people talking about this issue, have actually been to Somalia. While I was in the Marines, I was in Somalia from December 10, 1992 until April 12, 1993, as part of Operation Restore Hope.

Early Modern History (1890 to 1991)

Somalia is one of the most backward places on earth, I loathe to call it a country because that would imply that it has things that a country has, like running water, electricity, and a currency (they do have a currency the Somali Shilling).1 Somalia has no electricity or running water, in fact Somali wasn't even a written language until 1974! It was ruled by various Muslim groups until the 1890s, when half of Somalia was colonized by the United Kingdom and the other half, by Italy. Italy ruled the northern half of Somalia until 1941, when it was occupied by UK forces. After World War II, the northern half was given back to Italy to rule as a UN Mandate. UK also ruled the southern half as a Mandate.

At that time, Mogadishu was known as the White Pearl of the Indian Ocean, it had beautiful palm lined boulevards, whitewashed buildings and a new soccer stadium. In 1960 the two halves were united as the Republic of Somalia. In 1969, a month after the elected president was killed by one of his bodyguards over a clan dispute, General Siad Barre staged a coup. He would rule Somalia with an iron fist until he was driven into exile in 1991. Somalia would degenerate into civil war and clan violence that would last until 2011 or today, depending on how you look at it). In the north, the semi-autonomous Somaliland region had declared independence in April 1991 but was still facing significant military activity by militia groups; the United Somalia Front, the Somalia Democratic Front, the Somali National Movement and the United Somali Party. In the rest of the country, it was sub-clans fighting against one another for control of the capital and other areas.

Before we go any further, we have to look at the clans. Everything that happens in Somalia is driven, not by religion, political party, or any other factor, but nearly 100% of the time, by clan affiliation, and even more often, by sub-clan or sub-sub-clan ties.

Everything you didn’t want to know about Somali clans

The most important aspect of Somali society, and perhaps the most difficult for Western observers to understand or appreciate, are the concepts of lineage and clan affiliation. The clan groupings plays a central part in Somali culture and politics. Clans are patrilineal and are divided into sub-clans and sub-sub-clans, resulting in extended families. It is no exaggeration that Somali children are taught their clan lineages back to the founders and their sub-clan and sub-sub-clan lineages back six generations, so when they meet another person, each can recite his ancestry and thus understand his obligations and responsibilities to the other. All Somalis trace their ancestry back to one man, Abu Taalib, an uncle of the Prophet Mohamed. His son, Aqiil, in turn had two sons, Sab and Samaal. It is from these two, the six clan-families descend and through which all ethnic Somalis trace their ancestry. The Sab branch is represented by the Rahanweyne clan, while the Darood, Dir, Issaq and Hawiye are descended from Samaal branch. Over generations, each of these clans were further subdivided into sub-clans and sub-sub-clans. If you ask a Somali who he is, he will tell you what sub-clan and clan he belongs to, not that he is a Somali or even where he is from. Clan structure and interactions are so important that I received a extensive briefing on the subject before I deployed there.

Major Somali clans:

Dir- 7% of Somalis are members of this clan. Gadabursi, Biymaa, Mahe, Madaluug, Madoobe, and Madahweyne are the sub-clans in the Dir family. There are at least twelve sub-sub-clans as well.

Rahanweyn- 17% of the population are members of this clan. Mirifle, Sagaal, Sideed, and Digil being the sub-clans, and there are a further 30 sub-sub-clans.

Darood- 20% of Somalis belong to this clan. The sub-clans inside the Darood are: Majeerteen, Ogaden, Marehan, and Harti. There are 41 sub-sub-clans as well.

Isaaq- 22% of the population belongs to this clan. Habr Awal, Issa, Arap and Gadaburs are sub-clans in the Isaaq family. There are thirteen sub-sub-clans attached to the Isaaq clan.

Hawiye- At 25% it is the largest clan. The sub-clans are the Karanle, Gugundhabe, Jidle alias, Jijeele, Gorgaarte, Jambeelle, Xaskul, Habar Gedir and the Abgal, and there are also 125 sub-sub-clans connected to the Hawiye clan.

Modern History (1991 to 2025)

In 1992, during a significant drought, members of the Hawiye clan (the largest clan, see above), began using a famine as a weapon of war against the smaller Dir clan. They were preventing food and aid shipments from leaving the ports of Mogadishu and Kismayo or hijacking them enroute to be used for their own people.

The UN responded to public outcry after pictures and news reports of starving children in Somalia splashed across western tv screens. This led to the formation of UN Operations in Somalia I (UNISOM I) and eventually, after the failure of that operation to restore the rule of law and secure food shipments, the US led Unified Task Force (UNITAF, or Operation Restore Hope), UNITAF was able to secure food shipments and made decent inroads in restoring a sense of lawfulness, at least in Mogadishu, and was replaced by UNISOM II. If you would like a more detailed look at the efforts of UNITAF, at least from the perspective of a Marine Corps Radio Operator, click below.

UNISOM II saw a upsurge in violence and attacks against UN and US forces (it started while I was there, but it got much worse after the bulk of US forces left), including the infamous Blackhawk Down incident during the ill-advised Operation Gothic Serpent (US forces attempted to capture General Aidid). On March 3, 1995 UNISOM troops, including American advisors withdrew from the country. The UN pointed to a lack of progress on peace proposals and a failure of the Somalis to cooperation on security issues as reasons they did not complete their mandate. They received significant backlash after the withdrawal prompting them to state they were not abandoning Somalia. However, they provided little military support until the formation of the more African-centric AMISOM operation in 2007.

On August 2, 1996, General Mohamed Farrah Aidid (clan Hawiye, sub-clan Habar Gidir) died from a heart attack while in surgery for wounds he received during fighting against Ali Mahdi Muhammad (clan Hawiye, sub-clan Abgaal) and Osman Ali Atto (clan Hawiye, sub-clan Habar Gidir, sub-sub-clan Ayr)2 in Mogadishu. This cleared the way for the 1998 constitutional conference held in the northeastern town of Garowe. Over a period of three months, the area’s political elite, clan elders, and other civil society representatives, established the Puntland State of Somalia. It would function like an American state, inside the framework of a federal Somali government. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a real federal government to join with, as the central and south of Somalia was still in turmoil.

In 2000, “President of Somalia” (I put it quotes because how can you be president of a country where you are only in charge of a small portion of it?) Ali Mahdi participated in another conference in Djibouti. He lost a re-election bid to former dictator Siad Barre’s Interior Minister Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. In 2000, the idea of a Transitional National Government was broached as a way to attempt to move on from the constant state of violence and lawlessness that had plagued Somalia since 1991. It would be one step in a process.

In 2004, the next step of the process, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), was established in Nairobi, Kenya. By June, the selection of members of parliament was underway. In August, over two hundred members of parliament took the oath of office, and in October 2004, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected president by the parliament. However, in March 2005, the TFG split after a brawl in parliament over deployment of peacekeepers and disputes over an interim capital. The parliamentary speaker led some members to Mogadishu while the president and others remained in Nairobi. In June 2005, under pressure from Kenya, the remainder of the TFG left Nairobi for Jowhar, 50 miles north of Mogadishu.

Islamic Courts Union

In the weeks following the toppling of the Barre regime, militias that had routed the government began hunting down civilians based on their clan affiliation. Around this time, several well-known Somali Islamic scholars established Sharia courts to rescue civilians from these attacks and to address the rising levels of lawlessness. The first Shari'a courts were started on a small local neighborhood level by Somali religious leaders as a way to address issues in their communities. Most problems they dealt with were related to petty crimes and family disputes. In the chaotic political context of war torn Mogadishu the religious leaders were considered by most Somalis as some of the only people who could be trusted to impartially resolve disputes. Importantly, the courts also did not take positions on national-political or clan affairs, lending significant credence to their purported impartiality. In the early 2000s, as the courts began to realize that they could join together across the country and actually form, what could become a functioning government, tensions escalated with the warlords, who were becoming increasingly marginalized. The courts began calling themselves the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

The ascendance of an Islamist political force in Somalia during this period was perceived as a threat to US strategic interests in the Horn of Africa, and a potential terror risk. The US did not want Somalia to become another terrorist heaven like Afghanistan was. Beginning in 2003, the CIA initiated covert operations against the Islamic Courts Union, aiming to depose them from power. The CIA and the warlords formed a group called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) and in the first half of 2006, the ARPCT confronted the ICU in Mogadishu. However, the ICU won a decisive victory in June of that year, then rapidly expanded and consolidated its power throughout southern Somalia. By August 2006, the TFG was confined to Baidoa under Ethiopian protection.

In December 2006, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia to assist the TFG against the ICU, initially winning the Battle of Baidoa. With Ethiopian support, TFG forces recaptured the capital from the ICU, which helped the TFG solidify its rule. On January 8, 2007, TFG president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. Unfortunately, the TFG was seen, by most of the population of Mogadishu, as a puppet of Ethiopia, and the militias that became TFG security forces became the principal source of violence against the local population, engaging in kidnapping, assaults, and worse. Within weeks, an armed insurgency arose in the capital against the TFG and its Ethiopian allies.

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al-Shabaab

Following their defeat, the ICU splintered into several different factions, the most radical elements became an al-Qaeda affiliate group called al-Shabaab.3 Throughout 2007 and 2008, al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. Ethiopia was surprised by the insurgency’s persistence and strength and frustrated at the TFG’s chronic internal problems. By January 2009, al-Shabaab had forced the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an understaffed African Union peacekeeping force.

Early in 2009 al-Shabaab controlled 80% of the country, but between February 2009, and September 2014, with the help of AMISOM4, and US airstrikes, government forces fought against al-Shabaab and another Islamist group Hizbul Islam5 active in Somalia. In 2010 a new government was elected and was able to pay government soldiers, which greatly helped the efforts against al-Shabaab. In August 2011, al-Shabaab was forced to withdraw from most of Mogadishu. al-Shabaab did still retain a foothold in the northern outskirts of the capital, but by January 2012, the combined efforts of Somali government and AMISOM forces had expelled them from the city completely. After the capital was cleared, Somali Armed Forces and the Kenya Defense Forces launched Operation Linda Nchi6 a joint operation against al-Shabaab which, at its conclusion left the southern port city of Kismayo as the remaining stronghold of al-Shabaab. In September 2012, a Kenyan-led AMISOM force launched an offensive against Kismayo. After a three-day battle government forces were able to gain control of the city. While urban areas had been seized, al-Shabaab still controlled many rural areas, where a number of their operatives disappeared into local communities in order to try to wage a guerrilla campaign. September 2012 also saw the establishment of the Federal Government of Somalia.

In January 2014, following UN Security Council Resolution 2124, an additional 4,000 UN troops were brought in to augment AMISOM’s 22,126 strong force. In early March 2014, AMISOM, supported by Somali militias, launched another operation to remove al-Shabaab from its remaining areas of control in southern Somalia. By the end of March they had liberated 10 towns , and UN Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay described the operation as the most significant and geographically extensive offensive since AMISOM troops began operations in 2007. Following its territorial losses al-Shabaab reverted to guerrilla attacks on AMISOM and government forces. The group also undertook high-profile attacks outside Somalia such as the September 21-24, 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 dead and 163 wounded. In August 2014, the Somali Armed Forces launched Operation Indian Ocean, aiming to reduce insurgent-held areas along the coastline. They were assisted in this effort, when on September 1, 2014, a US drone strike killed al-Shabaab leader Muktar Abu Zubeyr. After the killing of Zubeyr, the Somali government offered a 45-day amnesty and 700 Al-Shabaab militants took advantage of the offer.

On April 15, 2015 al-Shabaab struck Kenya again, attacking and seizing the Garissa University College. The terrorists killed 148 Christian students, and wounded 48. Nonetheless, by 2016, experts believed that Al-Shabaab was significantly weakened both by the ongoing military campaign, the death of their leader, and further defections. However, the reports of the demise of al-Shabaab were proven premature, when on October 14, 2017, 587 people were killed and 316 were wounded in a double suicide truck bombing in Mogadishu. al-Shabaab did not claim responsibility for the attack but intelligence reports pointed to them as responsible. December 28, 2019 saw another al-Shabaab suicide truck bomb attack, this time killing 97 people and wounding 146. On January 5, 2020, al-Shabaab targeted American military personnel in an attack on Camp Simba in Kenya. The raid, by 40 al-Shabaab terrorists, killed one US military member and two civilian contractors, as well as destroying five aircraft, and damaging a third. Two US military vehicles and three fuel tankers were also destroyed. Five terrorists were killed and five captured. By 2020, the group’s strategy of semi-territorialism allowed it operate freely in much of rural Somalia, with its primary base in the Jubba River valley. al-Shabaab had also began an operation in Puntland, prompting a military offensive by Puntland forces in 2021. The resurgence of the group was partly enabled by a reduction in the number of American air strikes, and also possibly motivated by competition with Islamic State in Somalia7, which has been conducting its own expansionary campaign.

In March 2022, the 14-year long AMISOM mission came to an end. It was replaced by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (AUTMS). On July 20, 2022, al-Shabaab launch an invasion of Somali Regional State8 taking advantage of the ongoing Tigray War9 with the goal of establishing a presence in southern Ethiopia. After two weeks of intense fighting the Ethiopian National Defense Force, along with Somali Regional Security Forces regained control of the area, except for 500 al-Shabaab militants that have been hiding in the Bale Mountains.

During the evening of August 19, 2022, al-Shabaab militants attacked the Hyatt Hotel in Mogadishu, with two car bombs and gunfire. 22 people were killed, and 30 others were wounded. After this attack, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared “total war” against al-Shabaab during a televised address. He also announced that the Somali military had regained territory from al-Shabaab in the central Galmudug state and the Southwest state. The Somali Armed Forces and the ATMIS, with US support, focused on disrupting al-Shabaab activity in Somalia’s central Hiran region of the Hirshabelle State. Other al-Shabaab-controlled areas in southern Somalia were also targeted, and on September 20, The Somali Ministry of Information released a statement stating that President Sheikh would not offer any other option than surrender for al-Shabaab members. al-Shabaab was unimpressed, and on October 29, 2022 detonated two car bombs outside the Ministry of Education. The attack killed 121 people and wounded 333 more. Then on May 26, 2023, al-Shabaab attacked the ATMIS forward operating base near Buulo-Mareer, 75 miles southwest of Mogadishu., killing 54 Ugandan soldiers.

In December 2024, the UN Security Council approved a resolution to establish the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM),a streamlined successor to ATMIS, which ended in 2024. The AUSSOM deployed 12,626 personnel to support Somalia’s fight against al-Shabaab. Also in December, al-Shabaab confirmed the death of Mohamed Mire Jama’a, senior leader of the group, in an American drone strike. Despite all the hand-ringing at the UN, al-Shabaab remained a threat to Somalia and the region as a whole. This was made apparent in early 2025, when al-Shabaab launched a large-scale military offensive. It’s most ambitious operation in years, the ultimate objective was to seize Mogadishu and overthrow the federal government. Probing attacks that began in January escalated into major offensives on multiple fronts, stretched government troops to their breaking point. By April the military situation had deteriorated to the extent that rumors were circulating on social media of an impending assault on the capital. No attack on the capital occurred, but they did try to kill President Mohamud with multiple bombs along his motorcade route. US airstrikes and local counterattacks helped slow their advance, but al-Shabaab remains, and will continue to be, a very serious threat to stability in Somalia. al-Shabaab has begun to implement a “hearts and minds” strategy in areas they have occupied. They are attempting to shed their well-deserved reputation as a proponent of a reactionary version of Islam and the multiple suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of civilians.

Corruption in Somalia

The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International ranked Somalia as a 9 on a scale from 0-100, with 100 being the least corrupt. Only South Sudan had a lower score (8).10 Somalia’s economy is mostly an informal operation, led by the livestock trade, telecommunications and remittances from those abroad, (that’s where all the federal and state dollars given to those “daycares” ends up). Somalia's telecom sector is deeply affected by endemic corruption, with officials allegedly demanding bribes, companies paying "taxes" to militant groups like al-Shabaab for operational access, and a general lack of transparency leading to misuse of funds and unfair demands, even as the sector thrives due to remittances and diaspora needs, making it a vital but compromised part of the economy. Corruption manifests as routine undeclared payments to officials, unlawful taxes, embezzlement of state revenue, and weak oversight, with companies often forced to operate outside legal frameworks, facing financial harm and reputational damage.

People like Abdirizak Osman, a local entrepreneur, in the central Somali city of Gaalkacy, used his “telecom profits” to provide streetlights to the town, in exchange, of course, for tax breaks and fewer problems with red tape. He is not the only one to use their profits from the corrupt telecom sector to finance electrical projects for the country. One could look at these efforts as the price of doing business in a country where nothing gets done without palms being greased but the government is hard-pressed to contain the level of corruption.

Charcoal trafficking, which is a significant source of revenue for criminal networks, also further fuels corruption. It began with the collapse of the banana industry in the 1990s. Charcoal is produced by cutting down and burning acacia trees, then transporting the charcoal to ports in southern Somalia for export to the Gulf Cooperation Council states. The charcoal trade in southern Somalia relies on partnerships between local businesses, mainly in Kismayo, and corrupt regional authorities. The business has been lucrative. In 2012, a bag of charcoal that was priced at around $3.50 (US dollars) in Somalia was sold for approximately $10.00 in the Gulf States. The charcoal trading pattern has exacerbated Somalia’s imbalances and has resulted in Somalia’s political elite becoming more reliant on personal patronage, and embroiled them in competing rivalries, which destabilizes both Somalia and the wider region. The Jubaland State, for example, has profited significantly from the illicit charcoal exports by collecting tolls and fees at checkpoints and ports. In 2016, fees of $3.00 per bag were levied, resulting in a monthly income of between $1.1 million and $1.5 million for the Jubaland administration. In early 2010s an established trade cycle involved the importation of sugar to Somalia and the export of charcoal to the GCC countries on the same vessels. Charcoal traders would send their ships to Barawe or Kismayo to load charcoal for the return trip after offloading sugar at the port of Mogadishu. In 2012, 26% of the ships off-loading at the port of Mogadishu were heading to Kismayo next and most of them originated from Dubai, UAE.

The second, and much more well known method of funding corruption, is piracy. Beginning in the 1990s, the collapse of the central government and the absence of a functioning coast guard led to an increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia. Pirates targeted commercial vessels, holding them for ransom and generating significant revenue. In 2008 alone, Somali pirates were responsible for approximately 100 attacks, with ransoms ranging from $500,000 to $3.5 million per vessel, totalling $120 million. The economic impact of piracy extended beyond the immediate ransoms. Global shipping companies faced increased insurance premiums and rerouted their vessels to avoid Somali waters, leading to higher operational costs. The World Bank estimates that Somali piracy added approximately $18 billion annually to global shipping costs due to increased insurance premiums and rerouting.

It is not just the private sector that is rife with corruption, the government, such as it is, is also riddled with corruption. Even going as far as misallocating weapons for al-Shabaab. The UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group reported that systematic abuses by Somali government officials had allowed weapons to be diverted away from Somalia’s security forces into the hands of faction leaders and al-Shabaab militants. The panel had observed various problems with the management of weapons and ammunition stockpiles, including difficulties by monitors in accessing local weapons stockpiles and obtaining information about the arms. The monitors also suggested that one key adviser to the president was involved in planning arms deliveries to al-Shabaab and that shipments of weapons from Djibouti and Uganda could not be accounted for. The Somali government was also required to routinely report on the structural status of the military, as well as provide information on the extant infrastructure and protocols designed to ensure the safe return, storage, and maintenance of the military equipment.

There are multiple reason corruption exists at the level it does in Somalia:

• Weak governance and institutions resulting from the protracted governmental vacuum and fragmented state structures, hinder the establishment of effective anti-corruption measures and oversight.

• Ongoing conflict, including terrorism, stifles state efforts, creates lawlessness, and allows illicit economies to thrive, with officials often tolerating illegal activities for bribes.

• Clan loyalty and politics supersedes national interest, with positions used for personal gain, while clan affiliations are invoked to shield corrupt officials from accountability.

• Poverty and a large informal economy push individuals towards bribery for survival, while lucrative sectors like telecom see elites co-opt officials for benefits.

• Weak financial management systems, opaque processes, and limited public access to information enable the misappropriation of funds, with little consequence for powerful individuals. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it Governor Walz!

• Unmonitored aid flows can be siphoned off, exacerbating existing corruption and undermining development. Governor Walz has checking this one off his corruption bingo card.

I think I have laid the groundwork for the next post when I will look at how this all connects with what is happening in Minnesota (from the fraud angle, not the trying to kill ICE agents angle). I hope you have found this post illuminating and possibly even educational. Feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested. As I said, next time I’ll look at the fraud in Minnesota and how no one should have been surprised that it was happening.

Chris

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Here we are the last post of 2025. This has been a good year for me here. I wrote 24 posts and went from 35 to 158 subscribers. I hope all of you are enjoying the posts you receive from me and will enjoy them in 2026. Last time we met I was delivering the second part of my look at the best nicknames in MLB history. Click below if you missed it or just want to revisit the amazing and odd players I looked at.

Today I’m going back to the old standby, a look at four interesting people throughout history. Today I’ll be looking at two 19th century women and two 20th century men. As always this post is long so just click on the title to read the whole thing. That said, let’s jump right in to it.

Shavarsh Karapetyan

Karapetyan was born on May 19, 1953, in Kirovakan (now called Vanadzor), the third largest city in the Armenian SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic). When the family moved to Yerevan in 1966, Shavarsh was enrolled in a gymnastics academy run by former Olympian Albert Azaryan. Karapetyan impressed the gymnastics coaches with his commanding build, quick reflexes, and relentless ambition, but they said he had started too late to become a champion. One coach suggested Karapetyan take up swimming, and the sport clicked for him, and over the next several years he excelled in the backstroke and freestyle events as a top junior prospect in Armenia. But Karapetyan hit a ceiling in classical swimming, he had a lot of deficiencies in his technique, and he didn’t have the required flexibility. When Karapetyan was dropped from the Armenian select team at age 17, he was crushed. The day 17-year-old Shavarsh Karapetyan was informed he had no future as a classical swimmer, he met a hard-drinking lifeguard named Liparit Almasakyan, who was known as Lipo. Almasakyan helped pioneer Armenia’s underwater sports program, including finswimming.1 Karapetyan knew him from swimming circles, and the two went to a nearby watering hole to pound beer and vodka while Karapetyan lamented the abrupt end of his athletic career. Lipo had been recruiting athletes for a finswimming team, and he told Karapetyan he’d like to train him. They began later that day.

Whatever Karapetyan’s physical limitations were in classical swimming events, they became irrelevant when he strapped on the giant monofin that was popular in finswimming at the time. Resembling a dolphin’s tail, the device harnessed the kinetic energy from Karapetyan’s explosive core and leg muscles and transformed him into a torpedo. At the 1972 European championship in Moscow, Karapetyan, then 19 years old, captured gold medals in the 50- and 100-meter sprints. His performance was chronicled in national newsreels and the Soviet magazine Underwater Athlete, which gushed, “It’s safe to say we’ll see this young athlete from Armenia at many more major championships.” In the three European championships from 1972 to 1975, Karpetyan obliterated a bevy of world records and grabbed eight gold medals.

His first brush with heroism occurred in 1974. Karapetyan was riding a bus when the driver pulled over to check on a mechanical problem. He left the engine running and must of left the bus in neutral, because it suddenly started rolling down the road towards a cliff. Karapetyan broke down the partition separating the passengers from the driver’s compartment, took control of the bus and turned it away from a horrific plunge over the cliff.

In 1976, just when Karapetyan was preparing to continue his reign at the inaugural finswimming world championship, he was dropped from the team. He had fallen ill a few months earlier but had fully recovered, and he believes Soviet sports officials wanted to feature other athletes at the worldwide meet. Karapetyan was only 23 years old and he had a lot of gold left to win. He began a nearly suicidal workout regiment. He'd finswim 10 to 12 miles a day, and run 12 to 18 miles a day, often loaded down with a sand-filled backpack. There were rowing workouts on manmade Lake Yerevan, which had been created a decade earlier by a newly built dam, and had already become so inundated with industrial runoff that only the drunk or the indifferent dared swim in it. He would attach planks of wood to cross-country ski boots and jog in them to improve his foot strength. He would carry his brother Kamo on his shoulders while running in the hills along the shore of Lake Yerevan, or he’d climb those same hills on his hands while Kamo held his legs, wheelbarrow-style.

On September 16, 1976, after completing his usual finswimming distance of 12 miles, Karapetyan was jogging alongside Lake Yerevan with Kamo as normal, when they heard the sound of a crash and saw a sinking trolley bus. The bus had lost control and driven off a bridge. It was lying at the bottom of the reservoir 80 feet offshore almost completely submerged.

Despite the sewage-infested waters and poor visibility, Karapetyan dived in and used his legs to kick open the back window of the trolleybus. In total he dove 20 times, each dive lasting about 25 seconds, and pulled out a total of 37 people. Nine others escaped on their own through the window he broke. He managed to rescue 46 out of the 92 passengers onboard. Unfortunately, despite medical attention at the shore, only 20 of the 46 passengers he rescued survived.

Karapetyan’s body was devastated by the rescue, multiple lacerations from the broken glass, the stress of the work, and the exposure to the cold contaminated water. He was taken to the hospital with an 104°F fever. He developed pneumonia, and sepsis, and was hospitalized for 45 days. Karapetyan’s heroics were not immediately recognized because Soviet censorship suppressed any news about disasters in the USSR.

Three weeks after Karapetyan got out of the hospital, he was back in the pool. But he found that he wasn’t the athlete he used to be — his respiratory system had suffered irreversible damage from his time in the toxic lake and the resulting pneumonia.

“When I started heavy training, I couldn’t handle it,” he told me. Mucus was coming up from my lungs. I was coughing all the time. We use a mouthpiece to breathe from the scuba tank. The mucus would get caught in the breathing valve, and when you inhaled, it would come right back. You started coughing again — trying to spit it out, taking off the mouthpiece.”

He also encountered a new psychological barrier. “It wasn’t that I was scared of the water, I just hated it.” Karapetyan persisted through his newfound handicaps. He forced himself to run and swim as he choked on the mucus that was expelled from his lungs. Day after day, for months, he lowered himself into the pool with all the joy of a man jumping into a tank filled with piranhas.

By the time the USSR championship rolled around the following spring, Karapetyan sought to reclaim his perch atop the finswimming world. The event was held in Baku, the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan, and Karapetyan’s entire family traveled to watch his return. Karapetyan was slated for the third heat in the 400-meter event. One of his opponents had set a world record in the first heat; that mark was then eclipsed by a swimmer in the second heat. When Karapetyan leapt from his platform in the final heat, in his words:

His lungs burned as he worked the monofin with his legs, his arms extended in front of him as he grasped the scuba tank. Kamo paced on the deck of the pool, watching for signs that his brother’s body might give out on him. When Shavarsh touched the wall far ahead of everyone, Kamo saw that his brother was too weak to make it out of the pool by himself. He jumped into the water and hauled his brother from the water. Shavarsh Karapetyan’s time? 3:06.2 his 11th and final world record.

“I proved myself,” Karapetyan said, “and then shut my mouth about how difficult and painful it was.”

Later that year, Karapetyan captured three silver medals and a gold at the European championship in Hungary. It was a remarkable return to the pinnacle of his sport less than a year after he nearly killed himself trying to pull survivors from the sunken bus.

During his career, Karapetyan became a Merited Master of Sports of the USSR, and an eleven-time world record-breaker in finswimming. He won seven Soviet championships, 13 European championships, and 17 world championships for a total of 37 gold medals by the time he retired at the age of 24.

On October 12, 1982, six years after his heroic efforts, he finally became a household name in the USSR and the world, when Komsomolskaya Pravda published the article entitled “The Underwater Battle of the Champion”. Karapetyan was given the Soviet Medal for the Salvation of the Drowning, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and an UNESCO “Fair Play” letter of congratulation. Many demanded that Hero of the Soviet Union award, (their highest medal), should be given to him, but the Soviet leadership refused.

He had another incident of heroic behavior when on February 15, 1985, was near the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Entertainment Complex when a fire broke out, trapping people inside. He assisted the firefighters in the rescue of multiple people. Once again, he was badly hurt with severe burns and spent a long time in the hospital. In September, 1986 asteroid 3027 Savarsh was named after him.

Some time after the fire, Karapetyan moved to Moscow and founded the Second Breath Shoe Company, he still lives there. In 2014 he ran two legs of the 2014 Winter Olympics torch relay. He was passed the torch in Moscow carrying it toward Krasnogorsk. He said “I carried the torch for Russia and for Armenia. He is still alive and living in Moscow, and if you need saving he's the man.

Olive Oatman

Olive Ann Oatman was born September 7, 1837, the third of seven children to Royce Oatman and Mary Ann Oatman in La Harpe, Illinois. In 1839, her parents belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) under the leadership of Joseph Smith. After Smith was killed in June 1844, the Oatmans chose to affiliate with the Mormon splinter-group called the Brewsterites (which was founded in 1848 by James Brewster) instead of staying with the main body of Mormons under Brigham Young. On August 5, 1850, the Brewsterites with 94 people and 24 wagons left their encampment near Independence, Missouri, headed to the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers in modern day Yuma Arizona. It was there, that Brewster claimed was the “intended place of gathering” for The Church of Christ followers. Dissension caused the group to split near Santa Fe, New Mexico. When the Oatmans and several other families reached Maricopa Wells (20 miles south of modern-day Phoenix, Arizona), they were told that the Gila Trail was barren, dangerous, and frequented by hostile Indians. They were warned that they would risk their lives if they proceeded further. While the other families resolved to stay in Maricopa Wells, the Oatmans chose to continue their westward journey. On the fourth day after leaving Maricopa Wells, the Oatmans were approached by a group of nineteen Indians asking for tobacco and food. Since they were also short of supplies, Royce Oatman was hesitant to share too much with the small party of what they thought were Apaches, but were most likely Yavapai Indians.2 The Yavapais became irate at his stinginess and attacked the Oatman family. They clubbed the family to death. Royce and Mary Ann (who was eight months pregnant) and four of the seven children were killed. 15-year-old Lorenzo, was left for dead, while 14-year-old Olive and 7-year-old Mary Ann were taken captive.

After the attack, Lorenzo regained consciousness to find his parents and siblings dead, but he saw no sign of little Mary Ann or Olive. Lorenzo searched for them and eventually reached a settlement, where his wounds were treated. He rejoined the Mormon wagon train, and three days later returned to the spot of the massacre. There was no way to bury the bodies volcanic rocky earth, so they gathered the bodies together and built a cairn over them.2 Lorenzo Oatman became determined to never give up the search for his only surviving siblings.

After the attack, the Yavapais took some of the Oatman’s belongings, along with Olive and Mary Ann to their village eight miles southwest of Aguila, Arizona. After arriving at the village, the girls were initially treated in a way that appeared threatening, and Oatman later said she thought they would be killed. However, they were spared and used as slaves foraging for food, lugging water, gathering firewood, and for other menial tasks. Sometime during the girls’ captivity with the Yavapais, a group of Mohave Indians came to the village to trade. Topeka, the daughter of the Mohave leader, Espaniole, saw the girls and tried to make a trade for them. The Yavapais refused, but Topeka, was persistent and returned once more offering a trade for the girls. Eventually the Yavapais gave in and traded the girls for two horses, some vegetables, blankets, and beads. After the trade, the girls walked for days to a Mohave village along the Colorado River (near what is today Needles, California). They were taken in by the family Espaniole. The Mohave tribe was more prosperous than the group that had held the girls captive, and both Espaniole’s wife, Aespaneo, and Topeka, took an interest in the Oatman girls’ welfare. Oatman expressed her deep affection for these two women numerous times over the years after her captivity.

Aespaneo arranged for the Oatman girls to be given plots of land to farm. A Mohave tribesman, Llewelyn Barrackman, said in an interview that Olive was most likely fully adopted into the tribe because she was given a Mohave nickname, something only presented to those who have fully assimilated into the tribe. Olive herself would later claim that she and Mary Ann were held captive by the Mohave and that she feared to leave, but this statement could have been colored by the Reverend Royal Byron Stratton, who sponsored the publication of Olive’s captivity narrative shortly after her return to western society. For example, Olive did not attempt to contact a large group of whites that visited the Mohaves during her period with them, and years later she went to meet with a Mohave leader, Irataba, in New York City and spoke warmly with him of old times.

Anthropologist Alfred Kroeber wrote in an article about the Oatman captivity, in which he said:

“The Mohaves always told her she could go to the white settlements when she pleased but they dared not go with her, fearing they might be punished for having kept a white woman so long among them, nor did they dare to let it be known that she was among them.”

Another thing that suggests Olive and Mary Ann were not held in forced captivity by the Mohave is that both girls were tattooed on their chins and arms, in keeping with the tribal custom. Oatman later claimed (in Stratton’s book and in her lectures) that she was tattooed to mark her as a slave, but this is not consistent with the Mohave tradition, where such marks were given only to their own people to ensure that they would enter the land of the dead and be recognized there by their ancestors as members of the Mohave tribe. While the tribe did take slaves, they did not care if their slaves could reach the land of the dead, therefore they were not tattooed. It has also been suggested that the evenness of Olive’s facial markings may indicate her compliance with the procedure. She also chose not to reveal herself to white railroad surveyors who spent nearly a week in the Mohave Valley trading and socializing with the tribe in February 1854. She later said that she did this because she did not know that Lorenzo had survived the massacre, and believed she had no immediate family, and the Mohave treated her as one of their own.

In 1855-56, when Mary Ann was ten or eleven, she died of starvation, there was a severe drought in the region and the tribe experienced a dire shortage of food, Aespaneo only had enough food to keep one of the Oatman girls alive and since Mary Ann often yearned to join “that better world where Father and Mother had gone”. just Olive was fed. Shortly thereafter when Olive was 19-years-old, a Yuma Indian messenger, anmed Francisco, arrived at the village with a message from the commander of Fort Yuma. The message said that he had been informed of rumors that a white girl was living with the Mohaves, and he requested her return, or to know the reason why she did not choose to return. The Mohaves initially stonewalled the request. First they denied that Oatman lived with them and then that she was even white. Over the course of negotiations, some of the Mohaves expressed their affection for Oatman, while others feared reprisal from the soldiers. Francisco, made a second attempt to persuade the Mohaves to part with Oatman. Trade items were included this time, including blankets and a white horse, and he passed on threats that the soldiers would destroy the village if they did not release Oatman. After some discussion, in which Oatman was included, the Mohaves decided to accept these terms. Oatman and Topeka and a few other Mohave made the 20-day journey to Fort Yuma. Topeka accompanied Olive on the journey. Before entering the fort, Oatman was given Western clothing by the wife of an army officer, as she was clad in a traditional Mohave skirt with no covering above her waist. Once inside the fort, Oatman was surrounded by cheering people. Within a few days of her arrival at the fort, Oatman discovered that her brother Lorenzo was alive and had been looking for her and Mary Ann. Their meeting made headline news across the West.

Olive later spoke with fondness of the Mohaves, who she said treated her better than her first captors and most likely considered herself assimilated. She was given a clan name, Oach, and a nickname, Spantsa, a Mohave word having to do with unquenchable lust or thirst. There were rumors that she had been sexually mistreated by the Yavapai or Mohave. She declared that “to the honor of these savages, let it be said, they never offered the least unchaste abuse to me.”

In 1857, a pastor named Royal Byron Stratton sought out Olive and Lorenzo Oatman. He co-wrote a book about the Oatman Massacre and the girls’ captivity titled Life among the Indians: or, The Captivity of the Oatman Girls Among the Apache & Mohave Indians. It was a bestseller for that era, selling 30,000 copies. Stratton used the royalties from the book to pay for Olive and her brother Lorenzo to attend the University of the Pacific. Olive and Lorenzo accompanied Stratton across the country on a book tour, promoting and lecturing about the book. Olive was a curiosity, her boldly tattooed chin was on display and people came to hear her story and witness the blue tattoo for themselves. She was the first known tattooed American woman as well as one of the first female public speakers.

On November 9, 1865, Oatman married John Brant Fairchild in Rochester, New York. They met at a lecture she was giving in Michigan. Fairchild was a wealthy rancher who had lost his brother to an attack by Indians during a cattle drive in Arizona in 1854, the same time Oatman was living among the Mohave. Stratton did not receive an invitation to the wedding, and Olive never reached out to him again. Stratton became institutionalized after the development of hereditary insanity and died in 1875.

Olive and John Fairchild moved to Sherman, Texas, where Fairchild founded the City Bank of Sherman and together they lived quietly in a large Victorian mansion. At this time, Olive began wearing a veil to cover her famous tattoo and became involved in charity work. She was particularly interested in helping a local orphanage. She and Fairchild never had their own children, but they did adopt a little girl and named her Mary Elizabeth after their mothers, nicknaming her Mamie. Her brother Lorenzo died on October 8, 1901, and Olive Oatman Fairchild died of a heart attack on March 20, 1903, at the age of 65.

Richard Bong

Richard Ira Bong was born September 24, 1920, in Superior, Wisconsin, the first of nine children born to Carl and Dora Bong. Known as Dick (Dick Bong, no thanks), he grew up on a farm in Poplar, Wisconsin, where he became interested in aircraft at an early age while watching planes fly over the farm carrying mail for President Calvin Coolidge’s Summer White House in Superior, and was an avid model builder.

Bong entered Poplar High School in 1934, where he played the clarinet in the marching band, played baseball, basketball, and hockey. Because Poplar was a three-year school at the time, Bong transferred to Central High School in Superior for his senior year, graduating in 1938. He began studying at Superior State Teachers College (the current-day University of Wisconsin-Superior) in 1938. While there, Bong enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program and took private flying lessons. On May 29, 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. One of his flight instructors was Captain Barry Goldwater (future Senator from Arizona). Bong was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and awarded pilot wings on January 19, 1942. His first assignment was as an instructor gunnery pilot at Luke Field, Arizona, from January to May 1942. On May 6, he received his first operational assignment, the 49th Fighter Squadron of the 14th Fighter Group, at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, California. It was there that Bong learned to fly the twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

On June 12, 1942, three pilots flew a loop around the Golden Gate Bridge, and were joined by Bong as they buzzed the home of a fellow pilot who had just been married, in nearby San Anselmo, flown at a low level down Market Street in downtown San Francisco and blown the clothes off a Oakland woman’s clothes line. All four pilots were temporarily grounded for breaking flying rules. They were reprimanded by General George Kenney, commander of the 4th Air Force, who told them

The pilots were also made to do any chores the Oakland woman needed completed for three week. Bong always denied flying under the Golden Gate Bridge. Nevertheless, Bong and the other three other pilots were still grounded when the rest of his group was sent to England in July 1942. Bong then transferred to another Hamilton Field unit, 84th Fighter Squadron (FS) of the 78th Fighter Group (FG). He soon received orders to report to the 17th FS of the 49th FG in Queensland, Australia. In June 1942, he was transferred to the 9th FS (still part of 49th FG). The 9th Squadron, know as the “The Flying Knights”, were famous for their defense of Darwin, Australia from March to August of 1942. They were flying the obsolete Curtis P-40 Warhawk, but were transitioning to the P-38. Bong was among a group of new pilots in the South-West Pacific Area (SWPA) with experience flying the new twin-engine fighter, and they helped these pilots convert from the P-40 to the Lightning.

In November, while the squadron waited for delivery of more of the scarce P-38s, Bong and other 9th FS pilots were sent on a Temporary Duty Assignment (TDA), to the 39th Fighter Squadron “The Cobras”, based in Port Moresby, New Guinea. On December 27, 1942, Bong claimed his first two victories, shooting down a Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” and a Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscar”. For his actions he was awarded the Silver Star.

Bong rejoined the 9th FS in January 1943, with three victories. On January 7, his first mission after his return, he made an immediate impact, shooting down two planes and damaging two more. The next day he became an Ace when he shot down another Oscar. In April he downed three more planes, damaged four more and was promoted to First Lieutenant. In May and June he racked up his 10th and 11th victories, damaging two other planes. On July 26, Bong downed four Japanese fighters over Lea, New Guinea, in an action that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross and made his total 16. In August, he was promoted to captain. In September to November 5, 1943, he shot down five planes and damaged two more.

In mid-November he returned to the United States on leave and met Marjorie Vattendahl at a Superior State Teachers College homecoming event, they began dating. After returning to the southwest Pacific in January 1944, he named his P-38 Marge and adorned the nose with her photo.

It worked wonders as between February and April 1944, He downed seven more Japanese planes and damaged two more. This raised his total kills to 28, making him the highest scoring Ace in American military history, passing WWI Ace Eddie Rickenbacker. As such, he was promoted to Major, and once again sent back to the US. He met Commander of the Army Air Forces General of the Army (five stars) Henry “Hap” Arnold, visited training bases to inspire the cadets, and went on a 15-state bond promotion tour.

Bong returned to New Guinea in September 1945. He was assigned to the V Fighter Command staff as an advanced gunnery instructor, with permission to go on missions but not to “seek combat”. In October, he somehow managed to shoot down another five planes, damaging two more. In November he had three kills and by December he had upped his total kills to 40. Bong considered his gunnery accuracy to be poor, so, to make sure he hit them, he got as close as possible to his targets. In some cases he flew through the debris of exploding enemy aircraft, and on one occasion collided with his target, which he claimed as a “probable” victory.

On the recommendation of General Kenney, by now the Far East Air Force commander, Bong received the Medal of Honor from General Douglas MacArthur in a special ceremony in December 1944. If you want to know what I think of him check out my two part post, just click below to read Part I.

Bong’s Medal of Honor citation says that he flew combat missions despite his status as an instructor, which was one of his duties as standardization officer for V Fighter Command. By January 1945, with Bong’s total kills at 40, Kenney sent America’s Ace of Aces home for good. Bong married Marjorie Vattendahl on February 10, 1945. He participated in numerous public relations activities, such as promoting the sale of war bonds. Bong then was assigned to the test pilot program at Lockheed’s Burbank plant, flying the P-80 Shooting Star, America’s first jet-powered fighter.

On August 6, 1945, he took off to perform the acceptance flight of P-80A 44-85048. It was his 12th flight in the P-80; he had a total of four hours and fifteen minutes of flight time in the jet. The plane’s primary fuel pump malfunctioned during takeoff. Bong did not switch to the auxiliary fuel pump, he either forgot or was unable to do so. He ejected from the plane, but was too low for his parachute to open.

The plane crashed into a narrow field at Oxnard Street and Satsuma Avenue, North Hollywood, he was 24-years-old. His death was front-page news across the country, sharing column space with news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The I-16 auxiliary fuel pump had been added to P-80s after an earlier fatal crash. Captain Ray Crawford, a fellow P-80 test flight pilot who also flew on August 6, later said that before the flight, Bong had told him that he had forgotten to turn on the pump on an earlier flight. In his autobiography, Chuck Yeager said that anger toward pilots who died in test flights was part of the culture of test pilots at the time. This was to avoid being overcome by sorrow for lost comrades because of their fearsome mortality rates.

In 1986, Bong was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and has several commemorative monuments named in his honor around the world, including an airport, two bridges, a theater, a veterans historical center, a recreation area, a neighborhood terrace, and several avenues and streets, including the street leading to the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Zheng Yi Sao

Zheng Yi Sao was born as Shi Yang in 1775 near Xinhui, Guangdong, China. She may have been a Tanka, (a Boat Dweller), and is sometimes described as having worked on a floating Tanka brothel in Guangdong, as a prostitute. In 1801, Shi Yang married Zheng Yi, he hailed from a family of pirates whose roots traced back to the Ming dynasty. Zheng Yi fought as a privateer for the Vietnamese Tay Son dynasty, and Nguyen Anh, first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. While fighting for the Tay Son’s, he fought in his cousin Zheng Qi’s fleet. He had an adopted son Zhang Bao, whom he had abducted in 1798 at the age of 15 and pressed into piracy. After the marriage, Shi Yang became known as Zheng Yi Sao (”wife of Zheng Yi”), to avoid confusion I will refer to her as Yi Sao going forward.

In February 1802, Zheng Yi’s cousin Zheng Qi was captured and executed by Nguyen forces in the town of Jianping, on the border of Vietnam and China, near what is now Dongxing. On July 20, 1802, Nguyen Anh entered the city of Thang Long ending the Tay Son dynasty. Zheng Yi took over Zheng Qi’s fleet after his death and sailed back to the Chinese coast with the pirates. Following a period of infighting among pirates near Guangdong, Zheng Yi, with the capable support of Yi Sao, united the pirates into a confederation through an agreement signed on July 39,1805. Each pirate leader agreed to sacrifice some of his autonomy for the greater good. The confederation consisted of six fleets, distinguished the color of their flags – red, black, blue, white, yellow, and purple. Zheng Yi commanded the largest, the 200-ship Red Flag Fleet.

On November 16, 1807, during a gale, Zheng Yi fell overboard and was never seen again, he was 42. Yi Sao took over her husband’s operations, with the support of Zheng Yi’s nephew Zheng Baoyang and his second cousin, Zheng Anbang. Yi Sao was an expert at balancing the various factions in the confederation, and had an ally in Guo Podai, leader of the Black Flag Fleet, the second largest fleet in the confederation. Most importantly, Yi Sao had the support of Zhang Bao, who commanded the Red Flag Fleet, for all intents and purposes. It seems that even before the death of Zheng Yi, Zhang Bao and Yi Sao had become lovers, further cementing their bond.

In September, 1808, Zhang Bao destroyed the 35 ship fleet of Qing dynasty admiral Lin Guoliang. A month later, Zhang Bao defeated another Qing dynasty fleet, reducing the imperial Chinese provincial fleet by half. This cleared the way for the pirates to enter the Pearl River, the gateway to the interior of China.

In March of 1809, a fleet of 100 ships under the command of Qing dynasty provincial commander Sun Quanmou engaged a small group of pirates near Dawamshan Island, of the coast of Macau, and the pirates called on Yi Sao for aid. Before the battle, she took command of the Red Flag and White Flag Fleets. Yi Son ordered Zhang Bao to attack from the front, while two lieutenants would attack from the flanks, and elements of the White Flag Fleet would complete the encirclement and cut off any chance of retreat. At a key point in the battle Yi Sao charged in with the bulk of the Red and the White Flag Fleets, and destroyed the Qing fleet. However, on July 21, 1809, the Qing navy dealt a major blow to the Pirate Confederation by destroying the White Flag Fleet and killing its commander Liang Bao, in an engagement west of Macau.

Liang’s death and the destruction of the White Flag Fleet did not deter Yi Sao. In August 1809 she ordered a massive three-pronged raid. She would attack Xinhui, Zhang Bao would assault Dongguan with the Red Flag Fleet, and Guo Podai would raid Shunde with the Black Flag Fleet. While numerous villages and towns fell victim to the pirates, the Black Flag Fleet was particularly effective, sailing through the numerous waterways along the Pearl River for six weeks, causing massive devastation and killing around 10,000 people. The Red Flag Fleet attacked another large town near the Pearl River delta, and killed 2,000 people. The raids continued until late October causing extensive damage and loss of life. On October 21, 1809, another Qing fleet commanded by Sun Quanmou was defeated by Zhang Bao near the town of Shawan. In desperation, Qing official and Viceroy of Liangguang, Bai Ling looked to the Portuguese Empire, which controlled Macau at the time, hoping to obtain aid against Yi Sao and the Pirate Confederation. The Portuguese were eager to help – on September 5, 1809, Yi Sao had captured the brig of Antonio Botelho Homem (the Portuguese governor of Timor), briefly held him, before sending him back to Timor. On the 15th the British sent the brig HMS Mercury to join 60 provincial warships in patrolling the inner passage of the Pearl River.

On November 4, 1809, Yi Sao was anchored in Tung Chung Bay on the island of Lantau off Hong Kong for repairs, when four Portuguese ships arrived. She immediately called Zhang Bao for aid, but on the 5th when he arrived, the Portuguese were no longer there. He also decided to anchor his ships for repair and maintenance. On the 8th, six Portuguese ships, the Inconquistavel (frigate), the Indiana (brig), the Belisario (brig), the Conceicao (brig), the Sao Miguel (brig), and the Princesa Carlota (brig), under the command of José Pinto Alcoforado de Azevedo e Sousa, blockaded the pirates in the bay. On the 20th, 93 Qing ships, commanded by the ever-present Sun Quanmou joined the Portuguese in their blockade. Yi Sao made several attempts to break the blockade, but because of unfavorable winds, were unsuccessful and the situation turned into a stalemate. On the 28th, frustrated with the lack of progress, Sun Quanmou converted 43 of his ships into fire ships3 and set them on a path towards the pirates in Tung Chung Bay. The pirates intercepted the fire ships, towed them ashore, extinguished the fires, and broke them up for firewood. When the wind changed two of the fire ships were blown back to the provincial fleet and ignited two of Sun’s own ships. On the 29th, with the favorable wind, Yi Sao and Zhang Bao broke through the blockade, and escaped into the South China Sea. On November 23, the Portuguese signed an agreement with Bai Ling, that called for six Portuguese ships to join the Chinese provincial fleet on patrol between Humen and Macau for six month.

By the end of 1809 the tide was turning against Yi Sao and the Pirate Confederation. Guo Podai, leader of the Black Flag Fleet, refused to reinforce Yi Sao during the Battle of Tung Chung Bay, and later openly battled with Zhang Bao near Humen. On January 13, 1810, Guo Podai officially surrendered to the Viceroy of Liangguang, Bai Ling, and was rewarded with the rank of sublieutenant. Bai Ling’s policy of militia training and embargoes enjoyed reasonable success in cutting off the pirates’ supply lines. It was for these reasons, plus the organizational limit of the Pirate Confederation, which was only held together by a few charismatic leaders such as Yi Sao, Zhang Bao, and Guo Podai, that led Yi Sao to consider surrendering to the authorities in early 1810.

On February 21, 1810, with Macau’s magistrate Miguel José de Arriaga as mediator, Yi Sao, Zhang Bao, and Bai Ling officially met on Zhang Bao’s flagship. The negotiations quickly broke down when Bai Ling refused Yi Sao and Zhang Bao’s demand of retaining 80 ships and 5,000 men in order to entering the salt trade and joining the anti-pirate campaign in western Guangdong. At the end of the day, ten British merchant ships sailed past the pirate fleet and alarmed Zhang Bao, who suspected some sort of Sino-European trap and quickly retreated. On April 17, Yi Sao attempted to break the deadlock, by personally leading a delegation of 17 women and children to Bai Ling’s headquarters at Guangzhou. After some negotiations Bai Ling yielded to her demands, and on April 20, 1810, Zheng Yi Sao and Zhang Bao officially surrendered to Bai Ling. She surrendered 250 ships, 1,315 cannons, 2,798 assorted weapons, and 18,751 pirates.

Zheng Yi Sao and her crews were pardoned, and the men were awarded with pork, wine and money. Along with her amnesty, Yi Sao was also given land in Canton where she owned and operated a very successful gambling house. Zheng Yi Sao was also given permission to officially marry Zhang Bao. Zhang Bao was awarded the rank of lieutenant, and was allowed to retain a fleet of 25 ships. After the surrender Zhang Bao distinguished himself by defeating the Blue Flag Fleet under Wu Shier. He and Yi Sao were later transferred to Fujian Province, where, in 1813, Yi Sao gave birth to a son, Zhang Yulin. She also gave birth to a daughter but her name and birth date have been lost to history. In 1822, at the age of 39, Zhang Bao died in unknown circumstances near Penghu while serving as a colonel in charge of the Penghu garrison. In 1824, Yi Sao returned to Guangdong with Zhang Yulin and her daughter. In 1844, Yi Sao died at the age of 68 or 69, having led a relatively peaceful life after the death of her second husband, as the proprietor of the gambling house.

There you go, four interesting people from history. I hope you found this post interesting and maybe even educational. Who said you can’t learn anything from the internet? Please feel free to share this post with anyone who might find it illuminating. I’m not sure what I be writing about for my first post of 2026 but I’m sure that it will be a long post. Happy New Year everyone!!

Chris

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Last time I graced your inboxes I was dropping Part I of my look at the best nicknames in baseball history. Click below if you missed it, or just want to relive all the amazing baseball history contained therein.

Today I’m going to finish looking at baseball nicknames, I forgot two great Part I nicknames then I’ll cover players everyone knew by their real names but just as often referred to them by their iconic nicknames. They just don’t have nicknames like the ones in these two posts anymore, and I think the baseball world is poorer for it. As with all my posts this one is very long with pictures, comic strips and videos, so there’s a good chance you email with truncate it. Just click on the title to read the whole thing.

Elliott Wills: “Bump”

Wills, son of Dodger great, Maury Wills, got his nickname from Wills’ grandfather who started calling him “Bumpy” because of his frequent kicking while still in his mother’s womb, as he became older and better baseball player, he dropped the Y to make it seem more mature. Bump played for the Rangers and Cubs from 1977 until 1982. He then played one year in Japan. Like his father Maury, Bump was respected for his speed. In 1978, he stole 52 bases, that remains a Ranger record for stolen bases in a season.

Joe Medwick: “Ducky”

Medwick got his nickname from a young lady at a baseball game who noticed he “walked like a duck” and the name “Ducky” (and sometimes “Ducky Wucky”) stuck. Ducky played for the Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and Boston Braves from 1932 until 1948. He was a ten-time All-Star, a World Series champion in 1934, and in 1937 he won the NL MVP and triple crown. He is also the only player in MLB history to be ejected from a game for his own safety. During the 1934 World Series against the Tigers, Ducky slid hard into Tigers third baseman Marv Owen. This caused a bit of a brawl between the two players. When Medwick went out to play left field in the next inning, Tigers fans started pelting him with fruit and vegetables. Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis ordered Ducky removed from the game, after which Medwick told reporters “I knew why they threw them. What I don’t understand is why they brought them to the ballpark in the first place.”

He was competitive to the point of combativeness, and regarded by some as self-centered. This caused another strange incident in his career. In 1938, six days after he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers he was hit in the head by a pitch by Cardinals pitcher Bob Bowman. As Ducky lay in the dirt at home plate, a mob of Dodgers led by their manager, Leo Durocher, charged the mound and benches cleared. After a request from Dodgers President Larry MacPhail, officers from the New York City Police Department sat with Bowman in the dugout to protect him from the crowd, by the end of the game there were over 100 officers at the stadium. William O’Dwyer, the Brooklyn District Attorney, started an investigation to determine whether Medwick had been hit on purpose. Bowman blamed the incident on sign stealing by Dodgers coach Chuck Dressen. He said that Dressen would whistle each time he saw the sign for a curveball. Hearing the whistle, Medwick stepped toward what he thought was a curveball, but Bowman had decided to throw a high, inside fastball to confuse them. When Medwick strode forward, the ball hit him in the temple and knocked him out. Medwick did not blame Bowman for the beaning, telling one of O’Dwyer’s aides: “No direct threat had been made to me by Bowman. I saw the ball leave from his hand, but that was the last I saw of it.” NL President Ford Frick also started an investigation. Durocher and the Dodgers told him they thought the hit by pitch was deliberate; Bowman countered that “I never meant to hurt Joe.” On June 20, O’Dwyer’s office dismissed the case for lack of evidence. The next day, Frick reached the same conclusion.

William Keeler: “Wee Willie”

Another fairly obvious one, Keeler was only 5’4” 140 pounds, but was a menace at the plate. Keeler’s advice to hitters was “Keep your eye clear, and hit ‘em where they ain’t”—”they” being the opposing fielders. He played from 1892 until 1910 for the NY Giants, Orioles, Brooklyn Superbas and the Yankees. He hit over .300 16 times in 19 seasons, and hit over .400 once. He twice led his league in batting average and three times in hits. His 44 game hitting streak in 1897 stood until 1941 and Keeler had an amazing 206 singles during the 1898 season, a record that stood for more than 100 years until broken by Ichiro Suzuki. Keeler had the ability to bunt most balls pitched to him, enabling him to avoid striking out; his skill at prolonging at bats by fouling pitches off, was the impetus for the rule change that made a foul bunt with two strikes a strikeout. While playing for the Orioles in 1894, he perfected the “Baltimore Chop”, where he would chop the ball into the ground hard enough to cause a high bounce, which enabled him to reach first base before a fielder could glove the ball and throw him out. Keeler has the highest career at bats-per-strikeout ratio in MLB history, averaging 63.17 at bats between each strikeout. Over the last five years of his life Keeler suffered from tuberculosis and endocarditis. By late 1922, his condition had worsened and whether he would live into the new year was doubtful. Seriously ill on New Year’s Eve, he heard bells and sirens in the streets when the new year arrived. Keeler sat up and said to his brother, “You see, the new year is here and so am I—still.” He enjoyed a drink and a smoke, then said that he was ready for a long sleep. A short time later, Keeler died; he was 50. He was mentioned in Ogden Nash’s Line-Up for Yesterday.

John O’Neil: “Buck”/”Nancy”

Since I saw the Baseball documentary by Ken Burns I have always thought that Buck O’Neil was a national treasure. He could spin a tale like no other, and he saw a lot of things in his long life around baseball. Watch the clip below to see the passion he had for this wonderful sport. O’Neil got his nickname Buck because someone confused him with the owner of the Negro League Miami Giants. The nickname Nancy was given to him by Satchel Paige. Paige had met a young lady named Nancy while the team was in Chicago and invited her to his hotel room. O’Neil suddenly realized Paige’s fiancé Lahoma was making an unexpected visit. He did some quick thinking, moving Nancy to a room next his. In the middle of the night, Paige came knocking on Nancy’s door, calling out, “Nancy! Nancy!” O’Neil heard Paige’s door opening and knew Lahoma was curious to see what was going on. O’Neil bolted up and opened his door, asking, “Yeah, Satch. What do you want?” Realizing Buck had just saved his hide, Paige responded, “Why Nancy. There you are.” Forever after, Paige called O’Neil “Nancy.” O’Neil was a first baseman and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. He also worked as a scout for the Chicago Cubs and signed Lou Brock. He also was the first black coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 as an executive.

Bill Lee: “Spaceman”

Lee got his nickname in 1971 from Red Sox utility infielder John Kennedy. After Lee was discussing the Apollo 15 moon landing with reporters, Kennedy, unable to get to his own locker because it was blocked by the press, joked, “Looks like we got our own spaceman”. The name stuck due to Lee’s unconventional and free-spirited personality, both on and off the field. He played for the Red Sox and Expos from 1969 to 1982. He was an All-Star in 1973. Lacking a good fastball, Lee developed off-speed pitches, including a variation of the Eephus pitch, he called the Leephus pitch or Space Ball. Here is a video of one. This one is hit a long way, but you get the idea.

Lee was an original in a sport that often frowns on any show of originality. In fairness, Lee would have been an eccentric in almost any field he chose to pursue, but in baseball he was considered positively certifiable. Over the years, reporters came to know that regardless of the on-field prospects of the Red Sox, this refreshing newcomer could provide them with lots of colorful copy. Lee rarely disappointed. He always seemed good for an original quote, not just a canned cliché. Lee spoke in defense of communist China’s population control measures, Greenpeace, and forced busing in Boston. He once bragged about sprinkling marijuana on his organic buckwheat pancakes so that when he jogged to the ballpark he would be “impervious to bus fumes.” He berated an umpire for a controversial call in the 1975 World Series, threatening to bite off his ear and encouraging the American people to write letters demanding the game be replayed. When asked about his views on mandatory drug testing, Lee quipped: “I’ve tried just about all of them, but I wouldn’t want to make it mandatory.” In 1988, Lee was the Rhinoceros Party presidential candidate running on a platform of bulldozing the Rocky Mountains so Alberta could receive a few extra minutes of sunlight and banning guns and butter. His slogan was “No guns, no butter. Both can kill.” Here is another video of him speaking about pitching. Please notice his hat.

Mark Fidrych: “The Bird”

Fidrych got his nickname “The Bird” from Jeff Hogan, the coach of Detroit’s Single A affiliate Bristol Tigers in 1974. Hogan said he looked like the character Big Bird from Sesame Street because of his curly blonde hair and lanky frame. He played for the Tigers from 1976 until 1980. He was a two-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year in 1976, and led the AL in ERA that year. Fidrych captured the imagination of fans with his antics on the field. He would crouch down on the pitcher’s mound and fix cleat marks, in what became known as “manicuring the mound,” talk to himself, talk to the ball, aim the ball like a dart, strut around the mound after every out, and throw back balls that “had hits in them,” insisting they be removed from the game. He would also walk around to shake hands with the infielders after they made great plays in the field. Because the Tiger coaches were somewhat superstitious about jinxing Fidrych’s success, Bruce Kimm, a rookie catcher, caught each of Fidrych’s outings.

As his success grew, Tiger Stadium crowds would chant “We want the Bird, we want the Bird” at the end of each of his home victories. The chants would continue until he emerged from the dugout to tip his cap to the crowd. While these “curtain calls” have become more common in modern sports, they were rare in mid-1970s baseball. Attendance for his 18 appearances at Tiger Stadium, equaled half the 81 home games. Teams started asking Detroit to change its pitching rotation so Fidrych could pitch in their ballparks, and he appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including twice for Sports Illustrated (including the Big Bird one above), Rolling Stone (the only baseball player to appear on the cover), and The Sporting News. Fidrych also drew attention for the simple, bachelor lifestyle he led in spite of his fame, driving a green Chevy Chevette, and living in a small Detroit apartment, wondering aloud if he could afford to answer all of his fan mail on his league-minimum $16,500 salary, and telling people that if he hadn’t been a pitcher, he’d have been happy pumping gas in his hometown of Northborough Massachusetts. On April 13, 2009 The Bird was found dead under a Mack dump truck he was working on. His clothes had become entangled with the drive shaft and he suffocated.

Mordecai Brown: “Three-finger”

Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand in a farm-machinery accident in his youth and in the process gained a colorful nickname. While his hand was still healing, the injury was further aggravated by a fall he took. He broke several finger bones, that were not reset properly, especially the middle finger (see photo).

He turned this handicap into an advantage by learning how to grip a baseball in a way that resulted in an exceptional curveball which broke radically before reaching the plate. With this technique he became one of the elite pitchers of his era. He played for six teams most notably the Chicago Cubs from 1903 until 1916. He led the MLB in ERA in 1906, led the National League in wins in 1909, and won two World Series (1907 and 1908). If one could ask Brown about his greatest game, he’d say October 8, 1908, at New York’s Polo Grounds. That was the day the Giants and Cubs met for a playoff game to determine the National League championship. Brown said “I was about as good that day as I ever was in my life.”

The game became necessary because of the “Merkle Play.” In the ninth inning during Giants and Cubs game on September 23. 1908 the Giants rookie first baseman Fred Merkle failed to touch second base on a play that should have scored the winning run for the Giants. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers, called for the ball and jumped up and down on second base until he got the umpire’s attention, and Merkle was called out. However, because the field was overrun by fans who thought the game was over, it was decided the game would be declared a tie, and would only be replayed at the end of the season if it became necessary. Well, it did, because the Cubs and the Giants were deadlocked at the top of the National League standings. Jack Pfiester started the game for Chicago, and Christy Mathewson took the hill for New York, a repeat of the Merkle game match-up. Brown had started or relieved in 11 of the Cubs’ last 14 games so manager Frank Chance decided not to start his ace. The crowd was enormous. People filled every available space inside and outside of the Polo Grounds, lining fence tops, sitting on the elevated train platform, and perching on housetops. The Giants got to Pfiester in the first inning, scoring one first run. Not willing to risk sticking with the starter, Chance called on Mordecai. Pushing through the overflow crowd, Brown made his way in from the outfield bullpen and went on to win his 29th regular season game, securing Chicago a third straight pennant and sending them to the World Series. After the game, believing the Cubs had stolen the pennant from their team, New York fans threw hats, bricks, and bottles at the Chicago players. Frank Chance has hit so hard in the throat by a fan, that he couldn’t speak for days. The riotous atmosphere required the police to transport the Cubs from the stadium by paddy wagon. One last interesting fact about Brown was his middle name. He was born in Nyesville Indiana in 1876, so his parents gave him the middle name of Centennial to honor the 100th birthday of the US.

Leo Durocher: “The Lip”

Leo received his nickname “The Lip” during his first full year in the majors, 1928. However,the roots for the name and the behavior that spawned it, reached back to his boyhood days in West Springfield Massachusetts. Durocher idolized Rabbit Maranville, the Boston Braves’ diminutive shortstop who hailed from nearby Springfield. Maranville came to know the neighborhood’s emerging star and once told young Leo, “Never back up, the first backward step a little man takes is the one that’s going to kill him.” Rabbit meant this advice to apply to fielding the ball, but Leo took Maranville a bit too literally. From the earliest days of his playing career to the end of his managing days, Durocher loved to yap. He played for five teams from 1925 until 1945. He was a three-time All-Star, and two-time World Series champ, but it was as a manager that he really made his name. He managed the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cub, and Houston Astros from 1939 until 1973 and won another World Series. He is 13th all-time in managerial wins and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994. During spring training 1947, Durocher became involved in a very unpleasant feud with Larry MacPhail, who had become a new co-owner of the Yankees. Durocher and MacPhail exchanged a series of accusations and counter-accusations, with each suggesting the other invited gamblers into their clubhouses. In the press, a ghostwritten article appeared under Durocher’s name in the Brooklyn Eagle, seeking to stir the rivalry between their respective clubs and accusing baseball of a double standard for Chandler’s warning him against his associations but not MacPhail or other baseball executives. Chandler was pressured by MacPhail, a close friend who was pivotal in having him appointed commissioner, but the commissioner also discovered Durocher and Raft might have run a rigged craps game that swindled an active ballplayer of a large sum of money. Chandler suspended Durocher for the 1947 season for “association with known gamblers”

Before being suspended, however, Durocher played a noteworthy role in erasing baseball’s color line. In the spring of 1947, he let it be known that he would not tolerate the dissent of those players on the team who opposed Jackie Robinson’s joining the club, saying:

I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin’ zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What’s more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded.

He greatly admired Robinson for his hustle and aggression, calling him “a Durocher with talent.” While Durocher sat out his suspension, the Dodgers won the National League pennant under an interim skipper, Burt Shotton, but lost the 1947 World Series to MacPhail’s Yankees in seven games.

Joe Jackson “Shoeless”

Jackson's nickname was born during a game in Greenville, South Carolina. He had gotten new spikes before the game, and they were hurting his feet. So before an at-bat, he took them off and played the rest of the game in his socks. A spectator saw him running the bases and yelled, “You shoeless son of a gun!” and the nickname stuck. He played for the Philadelphia A’s, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox from 1908 to 1920. He won the World Series in 1917 and was a top-ten finisher in MVP voting from 1911 to 1914. Of course he is known for his alleged involvement in the Black Sox1 scandal.

After the Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, Jackson and seven other White Sox players were accused of accepting $5,000 each ($94,000 in 2025) to throw the Series. In September 1920, a grand jury was convened to investigate the allegations. Jackson’s 12 base hits set a Series record that was not broken until 1964, and he led both teams with a .375 batting average (.286 in the games the White Sox lost and .545 in the games they won). He committed no errors and threw out a runner at the plate. However, the Reds hit nine triples, an unusually large number, three of them, to Jackson’s position in left field. The Sox pitchers said the team’s outfielders were playing out of position and slowly fielding balls. Jackson admitted to participating in the fix during grand jury testimony on September 28, 1920, although he maintained he had not taken any on-field actions in exchange for the $5000 he received. In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted Jackson and his seven teammates of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed Commissioner of Baseball, banned all eight players for life, saying

Years later, the other seven players implicated in the scandal confirmed that Jackson was never at any meetings. “Shoeless Joe” remains very much alive in the minds of baseball fans, partly because of the scandal that cost him his career, and in part because of that indelible nickname.

Henry Greenberg: “The Hebrew Hammer”

Hank got his nickname because he was Jewish and could really smack the ball. He played for the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1930 to 1947, minus 1941 to 1945 when he was in the Army Air Corps. He was a five-time All-Star, two-time World Series champ, two-time AL MVP, he led the AL in homeruns and RBIs four times each. On October 16, 1940, Greenberg became the first American League player to register for the nation’s first peacetime draft. In the spring of 1941, the Detroit draft board initially classified Greenberg as 4F for having flat feet. The rumors that he had bribed the board, and concern that he would be likened to Jack Dempsey (who had received negative publicity for failure to serve in World War I), led Greenberg to request to be reexamined. On April 18, he was found fit for regular military service and was reclassified. On May 7, 1941, he was inducted into the U.S. Army after 19 games for the Tigers. He reported to Fort Custer, in Battle Creek, Michigan as an anti-tank gunner. His salary was cut from $55,000 a year, ($1.2 million in 2025), to $252 a year ($6000 in 2025). Because the draft only required men to serve until they were 28, he was honorably discharged on December 5, 1941.

On February 1, 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the declaration of war, Greenberg re-enlisted as a sergeant and volunteered for service in the Army Air Corps, becoming the first major league player to volunteer. He was commissioned as a First Lieutenant and was assigned to the Physical Education Program. Greenberg remained in military uniform until he was placed on the military inactive list and discharged from the US Army on June 14, 1945. He was the first major league player to return to the majors after the war. In his first game back on July 1, he hit a home run. In 1947, when he was playing for the Pirates at the end of his career, he was one of the few opposing players to publicly welcome Robinson to the majors at a time when most players were openly hostile. As a Jew, Greenberg himself had faced hostilities from opposing players and spectators who often shouted antisemitic slurs at him during games and, hence, knew what Robinson was going through. During a game against the Dodgers, he collided with Robinson while covering first base. Afterwards, Greenberg asked if Robinson was alright and encouraged him to “Stick in there. You’re doing fine. Keep your chin up.” Robinson later praised Greenberg, saying, “Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg.”

Ted Williams: “The Splendid Splinter”/”The Kid”

Williams got the nickname his rookie year because he could really hit and he was skinny. “The Kid” nickname originated during his first spring training in 1938 when he was late due to a California flood. The Red Sox equipment manager, Johnny Orlando, saw him and said, “the kid has arrived”. Williams played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960, minus five years spent in the Marines during World War II and the Korean War. He was a 17-time All-Star, two-time AL MVP (plus was in the top ten in voting ten other times), two-time triple crown winner, four-time AL , four-time AL homerun leader, and four-time AL RBI leader. Not only was Williams the last major leaguer to hit .400, the Red Sox actually moved their bullpen to right field to shorten the distance from home plate from 400 to 380 feet. It was christened Williamsburg because everyone knew it was there to allow Williams to hit more home runs. Williams’ career was interrupted twice, and who knows how it affected his final stats. During World War II, Williams enlisted in the Naval Reserve on May 22, 1942. Williams did not opt for an easy assignment playing baseball for the Navy, but rather joined the V-5 program to become a Naval aviator. Williams was first sent to the Navy’s Preliminary Ground School at Amherst College for six months of academic instruction. Williams was talented as a pilot, and so enjoyed it that he had to be ordered by the Navy to leave training to personally accept his American League 1942 Major League Baseball Triple Crown. Williams’ Red Sox teammate, Johnny Pesky, who was in the same aviation training program, said: “He mastered intricate problems in fifteen minutes which took the average cadet an hour, and half of the other cadets there were college grads.” Williams completed pre-flight training in Athens Georgia, his primary training at NAS Bunker Hill, Indiana, and his advanced flight training at NAS Pensacola. He received his gold Naval Aviator wings and his commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on May 2, 1944. He stayed at Pensacola serving as a flight instructor teaching young pilots to fly the complicated F4U Corsair. When the war in the Pacific ended Williams was in Pearl Harbor awaiting orders to join the Fleet. He he was released from active duty on January 12, 1946, but remained in the Marine Corps Reserve. When he returned to baseball he led the league in homeruns twice, RBIs twice, and walks four times.

On May 1, 1952, 14 months after his promotion to captain in the Marine Corps Reserve, Williams was recalled to active duty for service in the Korean War. He had not flown an aircraft for six years but he turned down all offers to sit out the war in comfort as a member of a service baseball team. Williams reported for duty on May 2, 1952. After eight weeks of refresher flight training and qualification in the F9F Panther at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, Williams was assigned to VMF-311 based at the K-3 airfield in Pohang, South Korea. On February 16, 1953, Williams was part of a 35-plane raid against a tank and infantry training school just south of Pyongyang, North Korea. As the aircraft from two Marine squadrons dove on the target, Williams’ plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, knocking out his hydraulics and electrical systems. Williams limped back to K-3 where he made a belly landing. He was awarded the Air Medal for his actions that day. Williams flew 39 combat missions in Korea, earning two more Air Medals, before being withdrawn from flight status in June 1953 after a hospitalization for pneumonia. This resulted in the discovery of an inner ear infection that disqualified him from flight status. The second half of his time in Korea he was the wingman for John Glenn (one of the original astronauts, and the first American to orbit the Earth). Glenn described Williams as one of the best pilots he knew. Williams likely would have exceeded 600 career home runs if he had not served in the military, and might even have approached Babe Ruth’s then record of 714. He might have set the record for career RBIs as well, exceeding Hank Aaron’s total of 2,297. While the absences in the Marine Corps took almost five years out of his baseball career, he never publicly complained about the time devoted to service in the Marine Corps. His biographer, Leigh Montville, argued that Williams was not happy about being pressed into service in South Korea, but he did what he thought was his patriotic duty.

Jimmy Foxx: “Double X”/The Beast

The reason for the Double X nickname is obvious, but the beast comes from his strength and homerun hitting prowess. He was said to often hit homers over 500 feet. When he retired his was only behind Babe Ruth in homeruns. He also hit a then-record 30 or more home runs in 12 consecutive seasons and drove in more than 100 runs in 13 consecutive years. After hearing the Apollo astronauts found objects on the moon, Lefty Gomez said he was sure one of them was a baseball Foxx hit off him in 1937. He played from 1925 to 1945 for the Philadelphia A’s, Red Sox, Cubs and Phillies. He was a nine-time All-Star, two-time World Champion, three-time AL MVP, won the triple crown in 1933, was the AL batting champ in 1938, four-time AL homerun leader, and three-time AL RBI leader.

After his Major League career, Foxx worked as a minor league manager and coach, including managing the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1952. He guided the Daisies to the playoffs where they lost in the first round best of three series against the Rockford Peaches. The character of Jimmy Dugan in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, played by Tom Hanks, is loosely based on Foxx, though his players remember Foxx as having behaved significantly more gentlemanly to them, rather than the brusque manner Hanks showed his team. Foxx also served as head coach for the University of Miami baseball team in 1956 and 1957. He had a record of 20-20 but was fired after the 1957 season.

Tyrus Cobb: “The Georgia Peach”

The great sports writer Grantland Rice gave Cobb his nickname because of his great play as a young man in Georgia. Cobb played for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia A’s from 1905 to 1928. He won the triple crown in 1909, was the AL MVP in 1911, was a twelve-time AL batting champion, four-time AL RBI leader, six-time AL stolen base leader and led the AL in homeruns in 1909. When he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the inaugural class in 1936, he received more votes (98.2%) then Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner (95.1% each), Christy Mathewson (90.7), or Walter Johnson (83.6). Ty Cobb had a reputation of being a very violent player that hated the fans, players and umpires but these primarily stem from a couple of mostly discredited biographies that were released following his death, including his first biographer Al Stump whose stories about Cobb have been proven as sensationalized and largely fictional. He did have occasional fistacuffs, like this following example. On May 15, 1912, Cobb assaulted a heckler, Claude Lucker in the stands in New York’s Hilltop Park where the Tigers were playing the Highlanders. Lucker was described as a Tammany Hall lackey and two-bit punk who often berated Cobb when Detroit visited New York. In this game, the two traded insults through the first couple of innings. Cobb at one point went to the New York dugout to look for the Highlanders’ owner to have Lucker ejected from the game, but his search was in vain.

He also asked for the police to intervene, but they refused. The situation came to a head when Lucker called Cobb a “half-nigger.” Cobb, himself when speaking about the incident later avoided such explicit words but alluded to Lucker’s epithet by saying he was “reflecting on my mother’s color and morals.” He went on to state that he warned Highlander manager Harry Wolverton that if something was not done about that man, there would be trouble. No action was taken and at the end of the sixth inning, after being challenged by teammates Sam Crawford and Jimmy Delahanty to do something about it, Cobb climbed into the stands and attacked Lucker, who it turned out had lost all of one hand and three fingers on his other hand in an industrial accident. Some onlookers shouted at him to stop because the man had no hands, to which Cobb reportedly retorted,

But the New York crowd cheered Cobb on in the fight and there were no consequences at the. However, the next day AL President Ban Johnson suspended him and fined him $50.00 ($1,600 in 2025). To protest the suspension and the lack of protection of players from abusive fans, his Tiger teammates went on strike, before the May 18, game in Philadelphia. For that one game, Detroit fielded a replacement team made up of hastily recruited college and sandlot players plus two Tiger coaches and lost 24–2. The strike ended when Cobb urged his teammates to return to the field. In a real look at his reputation, Cobb started a large college scholarship fund for Georgia residents financed by his early investments in Coca-Cola and General Motors. Five years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Cobb publicly supported blacks and whites playing baseball together, adding: “Certainly it is okay for them to play. I see no reason in the world why we shouldn’t compete with colored athletes as long as they conduct themselves with politeness and gentility. Let me say also that no white man has the right to be less of a gentleman than a colored man; in my book that goes not only for baseball but in all walks of life.” In 1952, using even stronger language, Cobb told the Sporting News “the Negro should be accepted and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly^.”

Henry Aaron: “Hammerin’ Hank”

Hank Aaron got his nickname for his ability to crush baseballs. He played for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League, and the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. He was a 21-time All-Star, NL MVP in 1957, won the World Series in 1957, three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time NL batting champion, four-time NL homerun leader, and four-time NL RBI leader. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and in 1999, MLB introduced the Hank Aaron Award to recognize the top offensive players in each league. He began playing pro baseball in the Negro American League for the Indianapolis Clowns. As a result of his standout play with the Clowns, Aaron received two offers from MLB teams via telegram, one from the New York Giants and the other from the Boston Braves. Years later, Aaron remembered:

I had the Giants’ contract in my hand. But the Braves offered fifty dollars a month more. That’s the only thing that kept Willie Mays and me from being teammates — fifty dollars.

Aaron actually started his career as a shortstop and wore jersey number 5, he would make the switch to the outfield during his first spring training with the Braves after Bobby Thompson broke his ankle sliding into second base. On April 13, he made his major league debut and was hitless in five at-bats against the Cincinnati Redlegs.2 In the same game, Eddie Mathews hit two home runs, the first of a record 863 home runs the pair would hit as teammates. On April 15, Aaron collected his first major league hit, a double off Cardinals pitcher Vic Raschi. Aaron hit his first major league home run on April 23, also off Raschi. In 122 games, Aaron batted .280 with 13 homeruns before he suffered a fractured ankle on September 5. He then changed his number to 44, which would turn out to be a lucky number for the slugger, as he would hit 44 homer in four different seasons. In the late 60s and early 70s Aaron rapidly climbed up the homerun and hits lists. On July 14, 1968 (five days after my birth) he became the eighth player to hit at least 500 homeruns, one year after Mathews. By the end of the 1969 season he was third on the homerun list, behind Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. In 1970 he collected his 3,000 hit, and in 1971, his 600 homerun, and at the end of 1972 he had 673 homeruns, second only to the Babe. That was the hype surrounding Aaron as the 1973 season started; would he surpass Babe Ruth? Aaron himself downplayed the “chase” to surpass Babe Ruth, while baseball enthusiasts and the national media grew increasingly excited as he closed in on the 714 career home runs record. Aaron received thousands of letters every week during the summer of 1973, including hate mail. Aaron (then age 39) hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record. But in his final game that year, playing against the Houston Astros (managed by Leo Durocher who had once roomed with Babe Ruth), he was unable to achieve this. After the game, Aaron said his only fear was that he might not live to see the 1974 season. He was the recipient of many death threats and a large assortment of hate mail during the 1973–1974 offseason from people who did not want to see Aaron break Ruth’s nearly sacrosanct home run record. The threats even extended to those providing positive press coverage of Aaron. Lewis Grizzard sports editor of The Atlanta Journal, reported receiving numerous phone calls calling journalists “nigger lovers” for covering Aaron’s chase. While preparing the massive coverage of the home run record, Grizzard quietly had an obituary written, afraid that Aaron might be murdered. Sports Illustrated pointedly summarized the racist vitriol that Aaron was forced to endure:

Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball’s attic?

At the end of the 1973 season, Aaron received a plaque from the US Postal Service for receiving more mail (930,000 pieces) than any person excluding politicians. Aaron received an outpouring of public support in response to the bigotry. In August 1973, Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz drew a series of strips in which Snoopy attempts to break Babe Ruth’s record, only to be besieged with hate mail.

Coincidentally, Aaron finished the 1973 season one home run short of the Babe. Ruth’s widow, Claire, denounced the racism and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron’s attempt at the record. As the 1974 season began, Aaron’s pursuit of the record caused a small controversy. The Braves opened the season on the road in Cincinnati with a three-game series against the Reds. Braves management wanted him to break the record in Atlanta and was going to sit Aaron those three games, but Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled that he had to play at least two games of that series. He played two out of three and tied Babe Ruth’s record on April 4, 1974, on his first swing of the season, offf Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, but did not hit another home run in the series. The Braves returned to Atlanta, and on April 8, 1974, a crowd of 53,775 people showed up for the game, a Braves attendance record. The game was also broadcast nationally on NBC. In the fourth inning, Aaron hit home run number 715 off LA Dodgers pitcher Al Downing. The ball was caught in the Braves’ bullpen by relief pitcher Tom House. While cannons were fired in celebration, two college students sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. As the fans cheered wildly, Aaron’s parents ran onto the field as well. Afterwards, Aaron remarked how “I never knew my mother could hug so tight,” though he later learned that Aaron’s mother kept hugging him because she was worried someone could try to shoot Aaron, and she thought nobody would try to shoot him if she was hugging him.

Joseph DiMaggio: “Joltin’ Joe”

DiMaggio had several famous nicknames, most notably “Joltin’ Joe for his powerful hitting and the Yankee Clipper for his graceful fielding and speed. DiMaggio was a three-time AL MVP, and an All-Star in each of his 13 seasons. During his tenure with the Yankees, the club won ten American League pennants and nine World Series championships. He was also a two-time AL batting champion, two-time AL homeruns leader, and two-time AL RBI leader. His nine career World Series rings put him second only to his fellow Yankee Yogi Berra for the most by a player. He was also known for his marriage and lifelong devotion to Marilyn Monroe and being the long-time spoksman for Mr. Coffee. DiMaggio’s most famous achievement is his MLB record-breaking 56-game hitting streak in 1941. The streak began on May 15, a couple of weeks before the death of Lou Gehrig, who had been DiMaggio’s teammate from 1936 to 1939, when DiMaggio went one-for-four against the White Sox. Major newspapers began to write about DiMaggio’s streak early on, but as he approached George Sisler’s modern-era record of 41 games, it became a national phenomenon. Initially, DiMaggio showed little interest in breaking Sisler’s record, saying: “I’m not thinking a whole lot about it... I’ll either break it or I won’t.”, but as he approached the record, DiMaggio showed more interest, saying, “At the start, I didn’t think much about it, but naturally I’d like to get the record since I am this close.”

On June 29, 1941, DiMaggio doubled in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators to tie Sisler’s record and then singled in the nightcap to break it. A Yankee Stadium crowd of 52,832 fans watched DiMaggio tie the all-time hitting streak record of 44 games (by Wee Willie Keeler in 1897), on July 1. The next day against the RedSox, he homered to extend his streak to 45, setting a new record. DiMaggio recorded 67 hits in 179 at-bats during the first 45 games of his streak. DiMaggio continued hitting after breaking Keeler’s record, reaching 50 straight games on July 11, against the St. Louis Browns. On July 17, in Cleveland DiMaggio’s streak was finally snapped at 56 games, thanks in part to two backhand stops by Indians third baseman Ken Keltner. DiMaggio batted .408 during the streak with 15 home runs and 55 RBI. On July 19, he started another streak that lasted 16 games, therefore hitting safely in 72 of 73 games. During the streak, the Yankees’ record was 41–13–2. The closest anyone has come to equaling DiMaggio is Pete Rose, who hit safely in 44 straight games in 1978. Most consider DiMaggio’s streak an unbreakable record, and a statistical near-impossibility. Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould called DiMaggio’s 56-game achievement “the most extraordinary thing that ever happened in American sports”. After that season, DiMaggio enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, as a physical education instructor. Other than being paid $21 a month, DiMaggio’s service was as comfortable as a soldier’s life could be. He spent most of his military career playing for baseball teams and in exhibition games against fellow Major Leaguers and minor league players, and superiors gave him special privileges due to his prewar fame. DiMaggio ate so well from an athlete-only diet that he gained 10 pounds, and while in Hawaii he and other players mostly tanned on the beach and drank. Embarrassed by his lifestyle, DiMaggio requested that he be given a combat assignment but was turned down. Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio, both from Italy were among the thousands of German, Japanese, and Italian immigrants classified as “enemy aliens” by the government after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were required to carry photo ID booklets at all times and were not allowed to travel outside a five-mile radius from their home without a permit. Giuseppe was barred from San Francisco Bay, where he had fished for decades, and his boat was seized. Rosalia became an American citizen in 1945, followed by Giuseppe in 1946.

In the 1970s, DiMaggio became a spokesman for Mr. Coffee and was the face of the product for more than 20 years. DiMaggio’s spots were successful with consumers. In a 2007 interview with The Columbus Dispatch Mr. Coffee CEO Vincent Marotta joked that “millions of kids grew up thinking Joe DiMaggio was a famous appliance salesman.”

That’s all for this post, I could keep going but I don’t want this to become a year-long series. I hope you have found these posts entertaining and informative. As always, feel free to share them with anyone who might be interested. Next time I promise I talk about something different.

Chris

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Today I will talk about the best nicknames in baseball history. Most players have a nickname, but some rIse to a level that eclipse the rest, and I will talk about those ones. I’m not going to talk about modern nicknames for the most part. While Kyle Seager’s nickname “Corey’s Brother” or Miguel Cabrera’s “Miggy”, are funny or even iconic, they don’t rise to the top tier of the baseball pantheon. It isn’t just about the abilities of the player either, there are players on this list that were good but not great. But their talent and the nickname together require them to be on this list. Also it’s not just players, there are a few managers and one broadcaster on this list. This post, like all my posts is long and filled with pictures so you email might truncate it, just click on the title to read the whole post. I will start with players those who are so identified with their nicknames, that most people don't know their real names. So, without further ado, here we go.

George Ruth: “Babe”

Of course I’ll start with the player everyone knows. I’m not even going to go over his stats. Everyone knows Babe was one of the greatest ever. What if he had gone by George Ruth, would he still be as iconic as he is? It’s hard to even imagine. In 1914 when Ruth was signed by the Baltimore Orioles manager Jack Dunn, he was only 19 years old. His teammates referred to him as “Dunn’s new babe”, the name stuck and he was known as “Babe” for the rest of his life. Over the years, he was called many other things — “Bambino,” “The Sultan of Swat,” “The Big Bam” The Colossus of Clout, and “Jidge” — but to fans the world over, he was always Babe, and 100 years after he began, everyone still knows him that way. As was a few players on this list, he was mentioned in Ogden Nash’s 1949 poem Line-Up for Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals.1

Edward Ford: “Whitey”/”Chairman of the Board”

Ford got his nickname “Whitey” from his light blond hair, when he was a minor league player. His manager, Lefty Gomez, started calling him “Blondie” and “Whitey” because he had trouble remembering the new players’ names, and “Whitey” eventually stuck. “Chairman of the Board” reflected his ability to stay calm and in control during high-pressure situations, and he faced plenty of those situations. He won six World Series championships, was the World Series MVP in 1961, won the Cy Young in 1961, was a ten-time All-Star, led the AL in wins three times and in ERA twice. He played for the Yankees from 1950 to 1967, minus 1951 and 1952 when he was in the Army.

Dorrel Herzog: “Whitey”

Herzog got his nickname from a broadcaster in McAlester, Oklahoma who thought he looked like Yankees rookie pitcher Robert “White Rat” Kuzava. He was a platoon player in the majors, playing 634 games over eight years for the Washington Senators, Kansas City A’s, Orioles, and Tigers. He was also a manager for 18 years, with the Texas Rangers, California Angles, Kansas City Royals, and St. Louis Cardinals. He won a World Series (1982), and two pennants with the Cards (1985 and 1987). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Walter Barber: “Red”

Barber, who was never a pro baseball player, got his nickname because of his flaming red hair. While he didn’t play, he still earned a place the Hall of Fame, and a generation of baseball fans knew his voice. He was one of the best broadcasters in the history of baseball. He called games for the Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Yankees from 1934 to 1966. He coined many phrases still used in baseball like “can of corn” for a lazy flyball, a “rhubarb” for any kind of heated on-field dispute or altercation, and “sittin’ in the catbird seat” for when a player or team was performing exceptionally well. Starting at :40 to 1:36 of this video is Red’s amazing call of the walk-off double to end the 1947 World Series. The broadcasters of today wish they could weave a story like this.

James Hunter: '“Catfish”

Hunter was signed by the Kansas City A’s in 1963 and A’s owner Charlie Finley decided Hunter needed a flashy nickname to build fan hype. Finley asked Hunter what he liked to do, and Hunter said “hunting and fishing.” Finley concocted a story that as a child, Hunter had run away from home to go fishing and was eventually found holding a string of catfish. Finley then instructed him to repeat the story to everyone he met. Hunter really did enjoy fishing, but the story about him running away and being found with catfish was fabricated by Finley. However, the name stuck and it is even on his Hall of Fame plaque. He played with the Kansas City/Oakland A’s and the Yankees from 1965 until 1979. He won the World Series five times, the AL Cy Young award in 1974, led MLB in wins twice, the AL in ERA once, threw one perfect game, and was an eight-time All-Star.

Dennis Boyd: “Oil Can”

Boyd got his nickname because in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, “oil” was slang for beer, and he drank a lot of it. In high school, a friend called him “Oil Can” after seeing him drink a huge quantity of beer, and the nickname stuck throughout his baseball career. He spent ten years in the majors pitching for Boston, Texas, and the Montreal Expos. From 1984 to 1986 he was 43-35 but was never able to sustain that success. The main reason for his decline is his well documented substance abuse issues. He has admitted to smoking crack before a game and was once too drunk to pitch. What do you expect from a guy whose nickname involves alcohol?

Leroy Paige “Satchel”

Paige got his nickname “Satchel” from childhood work carrying bags at a train station. He used a pole and rope to carry multiple bags at once, making him look like a “walking satchel tree,” and another story suggests it was because he was caught trying to steal a satchel. He developed different versions of the story, with the more commonly accepted one being that the name came from his job as a porter. In 1935, while playing in the California Winter League, Paige faced off against Dizzy Dean in an exibition game infront of 18,000 fans in Los Angeles. Dean’s team included major league stars like Arky Vaughn and Wally Berger. The two teams battled for 13 innings, with Paige’s team finally winning 1–0. Bill Veeck, future owner of the Indians, St. Louis Browns, and White Sox, called it “the greatest pitchers’ battle I have ever seen.” While it is hard to know the exact stats Paige compiled because records in the Negro Leagues isn't complete, he was an two-time All-Star in his six years with Cleveland and Kansas City in the majors and this is when he was over 41 years old.

Lawrence Berra: “Yogi”

Berra got his nickname “Yogi” as a teenager, because a friend, Jack Maguire (who played 94 games major league baseball for the Giants, Cardinals and St. Louis Browns), thought he resembled a yogi from a movie, specifically due to the way he would sit with his arms and legs crossed while waiting to bat. That name, earned during his time playing American Legion Baseball, stuck and became his famous public identity. Berra is one of the most successful players in baseball history. He was a 15 time All-Star, three-time AL MVP, and won ten World Series championships, a record. He frequently made statements that came to be known as '“Yogisms”. Like the time a pizza parlor asked him if he wanted his pizza cut into six or eight pieces and he said “better make it six, I'm not that hungry today”, or the time when the wife of the New York City Mayor, commented how cool he looked in his new linen suit, and he responded by saying “you don't look so hot yourself”.

Jay Dean: “Dizzy”

Dean earned his nickname while he was in the Army pitching for the Fort Sam Houston baseball team. The 19-year-old Dean was on the mound in a scrimmage against the Chicago White Sox. As Dean worked his way through the Sox lineup, an exasperated Chicago manager Lena Blackburne2 yelled “Knock that dizzy kid out the box!” He proceeded to call him “dizzy kid” through the rest of the game, and the moniker stuck. He played for the Cards and Cubs from 1932 to 1941. He was a four-time All-Star (it did start until 1933), NL MVP once, led baseball in wins twice and strikeouts four times. While playing for the Cardinals in 1934 his brother Paul was also on the team and the press called him Daffy. The Cards also had Dazzy Vance and Ducky Medwick to complete the set. He was mentioned in Line-up for Yesterday.

Andrew Foster: “Rube”

The story goes that Foster acquired his nickname, “Rube,” after outdueling another future Hall of Fame hurler, Rube Waddell (see below), in an exhibition game. Hall of Fame slugger Frank Chance described Foster as “the most finished product I’ve ever seen in the pitcher’s box.” Foster is known for founding and managing the Chicago American Giants, one of the most successful black baseball teams of the pre-integration era and organizing the Negro National League, the first long-lasting professional league for black ballplayers, which operated from 1920 to 1931. He is known as the “father of Black Baseball.”

Jacob Fox: '“Nellie”

Fox got his nickname because is middle name is Nelson and his 5’9” frame conjured up images of a little girl. He wore the name with pride and played with the determination that helped the gritty kid with a burning love for the game become a perennial all-star and ultimately a Hall of Famer. He made up for his modest size and minimal power — he hit only 35 homers in his career, and never more than six in a single season — with his good eye, excellent fielding, and baserunning speed. Fox was perennially one of the toughest batters to strike out, fanning just 216 times in his career, an average of once every 42.7 at-bats, which ranks him third all-time. Fox played for the Philadelphia A’s, White Sox and Houston Colt .45s/Astros from 1947 until 1965. He was a twelve-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner and was the AL MVP in 1959.

James Grant: “Mudcat”

Grant was given his nickname at Cleveland Indians training camp in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1954. Teammate Leroy Irby thought Grant looked like he was from Mississippi and started calling him “Mudcat”, a nickname for Mississippi and the catfish found in their muddy streams. Indians coach Red Ruffing3 adopted the nickname, and it became official when Grant’s name was read out as “Mudcat Grant” on the field. Grant played 14 seasons (1958-1971) for the Indians, Twins, Dodgers, Expos, Cardinals, A’s, and Pirates. He was a two-time All-Star and in 1965, became the first black pitcher in the American League to win 20 games in a season and the first to win a World Series game. In 1965 he won Games 1 and 6 both complete games, and hit a three-run homer in Game 6, but the Dodgers won the series in seven games.

William Showalter: “Buck”

During his playing days in the minor leagues, he picked up the nickname “Buck” from his tendency to walk around the clubhouse “buck naked”. He never played in the majors (he played 793 games in the minors), but he coached 3,393 games with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Orioles, and Mets. He was a four-time Manager of the Year, and also spent a lot of time walking around naked in major league clubhouses.

George Anderson: “Sparky”

Anderson got his nickname from the late Bill Hightower, the radio announcer for the Fort Worth Cats in 1955 after an incident where he was arguing with an umpire. Hightower dubbed him “Sparky” on the radio, and the nickname stuck because of his passionate and sometimes temperamental nature. He played 152 games in the majors with the Phillies, and managed 4,028 games with the Red and Tigers. He won three World Series titles two with the Reds and one with Detroit, he was the first manager to win a title in each league. His temperamental nature never went away proven by his 56 ejections as a manager.

Albert Lyle: “Sparky”

Lyle got the nickname from his father because of his endless energy as a kid. He played from 1967 until 1982 for five teams, most notably the Yankees. He was a two-time World Series champ, three-time All-Star, two-time AL saves leader, and won the Cy Young award in 1977. A noted clubhouse prankster in his playing days, Lyle was known for sneaking into the locker room during games to sit naked on his teammates’ birthday cakes, leaving his butt print in the frosting. However, one time his teammate Ron Swoboda turned the tables on him by defecating on a cake which was then delivered to Lyle. Lyle said the reason why he eventually stopped his cake sitting was because of the notoriety he gained from doing it, thinking that someone might try to “put a needle in the cake” to hurt him. As a world-class practical joker, Lyle engaged in creative pranks like putting goldfish in the dugout water cooler and ordering pizzas to be delivered to the other team’s bullpen. He loved giving “hotfoots”, a time-honored baseball trick where a player will sneak up on another player or reporter while they are giving an interview in the dugout. The unsuspecting victim then has a match or two placed gently in the back or side of their shoe, with the head facing out. When the moment is right, the prankster lights the match head and slinks away to watch from a distance. As soon as the flame from the slowly burning match reaches the victim’s shoe, it usually garnered a startled yelp from the target in the middle of their conversation.

James Galvin: “Pud”

The nickname “Pud” originated because Galvin was said to make hitters “look like pudding.” I’ve always pronounced this one as Pud like puddle but apparently it’s Pud like pudding. Either way he was the first 300 game winner in major league baseball. He was also the first player believed to use “performance enhancing substances”. He took something called the Brown-Séquard elixir that contained monkey testosterone. No one seems to care, and newspapers occasionally endorsed it, saying “ that Galvin provides the best proof, yet furnished, of the value of the product.” He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1965.

Vernon Gomez: “Lefty”

This is one is obvious, Gomez was left-handed so people called him Lefty. He played 14 years for the Yankees and Senators. He was known for his sense of humor, even on the field. In one game, he came up to bat when it was slightly foggy. Bob Feller was on the mound and Gomez struck a match before stepping into the batter’s box. “What’s the big idea?” asked the umpire. “Do you think that match will help you see Feller’s fast one?” Gomez replied, “No, I’m not concerned about that. I just want to make sure he can see me!” Another time, a reporter asked the noted brushback pitcher, “Is it true that you’d throw at your own mother?” Gomez replied, “You’re damn right I would. She’s a good hitter.” Gomez also often remarked, “I’d rather be lucky than good”, and he was both. He was a seven-time All-Star, five-time World Series champion, he won the pitching Triple Crown twice, led the AL in wins twice and strikeouts three times and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.

Robert Grove: “Lefty”

Another obvious one, for the same reason as Gomez. Grove played 17 years for the Philadelphia A’s and Boston Red Sox. While it is debatable that Grove may have been baseball’s greatest all-time pitcher, he was certainly its most dominant. He was a six-time All-Star, two-time World Champion, AL MVP in 1931, won the pitching Triple Crown twice, led the AL in wins four times, ERA nine times, and strikeouts seven times. He even led all pitchers by striking out 593 times as a batter. Few if any pitchers threw tantrums on a par with Lefty. When a rookie named Doc Cramer4 doubled against him in an intrasquad game, Grove hit his teammate in the ribs the next time Cramer batted. On August 23, 1931, he had tied the American League record with 16 straight wins. Their opponent: the hapless St. Louis Browns, but Grove was charged with the loss after rookie left fielder Jimmy Moore dropped a line drive allowing one run. He lost 1-0 and in what was probably an unprecedented display of postgame pique, Grove tried to tear off the clubhouse door, shredding the wooden partitions between lockers, smash up the lockers, broke chairs and ripped of his shirt, buttons flying. He said later “I threw everything I could get my hands on — bats, balls, shoes, gloves, benches, water buckets, whatever was handy,”

Leon Goslin: “Goose”

Goslin’s difficulty in judging fly balls contributed to his nickname. Opposing players said Goslin resembled a bird flapping its wings when he ran after a ball with his arms waving. While not a great fielder, Goslin did have a good throwing arm, leading the American League in outfield assists in 1924 and 1925. However, one year during spring training, Goslin wandered to an adjacent field where a track and field team was working out. He tried the shot put and his throwing arm was never the same afterward. He played for the Senators, St. Louis Browns and Tigers from 1921 to 1938. He was a two-time World Series champ, an All-Star (1936), AL batting champ (1928), and the AL RBI leader in 1924. Goslin finished his career a .316 batting average, a .500 slugging percentage, 2,735 hits, 1,612 RBIs, 500 doubles, and 173 triples. He had 11 seasons with at least 100 RBI, and 124 RBIs in 1924 deprived Babe Ruth of the triple crown. He hit .300 or better in 11 seasons. He also hit three home runs in a game three times and had five hits in a game five times, along with 40 four-hit games.

Richard Gossage: “Goose”

The nickname came about when a friend did not like Gossage’s original nickname “Goss”, and thought he looked like a goose when he extended his neck to see the signs given by the catcher. Goose pitched for 22 years for nine different teams, most famously the Yankees and the San Diego Padres. He was a nine-time All-Star, three-time AL saves leader. For me he is best known for giving up the World Series clinching homerun to Kirk Gibson in Game 5 of the 1984 Series. He refused to intentionally walk Gibson, even after a mound visit by manager Dick Williams, with two runners on and first base open. On the second pitch, Gossage and the Padres would regret that decision, as Gibson homered to deep right field, clinching a World Series win for the Tigers. The Padres still have not won a Fall Classic.

Charles Hartnett: “Gabby”

The nickname was given ironically, as he was known for his shy and reticent nature. Hartnett played for the Cubs and New York Giants from 1922 to 1941. He was a six-time All-Star and was the NL MVP in 1935. During the course of his career, Hartnett took part in some of the more memorable events in Major League Baseball history including: being behind the plate for Babe Ruth “calling his shot” in the 1932 World Series, Carl Hubbell’s 1934 All-Star game performance5, and Dizzy Dean’s injury in the 1937 All-Star game.6 However, the greatest moment of Hartnett’s career came with one week left in the 1938 season, when he hit a game-winning homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the Cubs in first place. The event, which occurred as darkness descended on Wrigley Field became immortalized as the “Homer in the Gloamin’”.

Byron Johnson: “Ban”

Johnson’s nickname was just a shortened version of his middle name Bancroft. He bought the floundering minor Western League and developed the American League into a “clean” alternative to the National League, which had become notorious for its rough-and-tumble atmosphere. To encourage a more orderly environment, Johnson strongly supported the new league’s umpires, as well as fined and suspended players who used foul language. Under Johnson’s leadership, baseball’s attendance numbers soared and the game rose to prominence as America’s National Pastime. Johnson banned liquor from all major league parks, cracked down on violent players and continued to upgrade the umpiring staff. “A good umpire is the umpire you don’t even notice,” Johnson said. “He’s there all afternoon but when the game is over, you don’t even remember his name.” Johnson dominated the AL from 1901 when it became a major league, until the mid-1920s, when a public dispute with baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis culminated in his forced resignation as league president.

Cornelius McGillicuddy” “Connie Mack”

Connie Mack is just a shortened version of his given name, but it is the name by which he is known and the name on his plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame. From 1886 to 1896 Mack played in the National League mainly as a catcher. After his playing days he managed the Pirates and owned and manage the Philadelphia A’s, and that is where he really made his mark on the game. Mack holds records for the most wins (3,731), losses (3,948), ties (76), and games managed (7,755) in MLB history. His victory total is 847 more than second place Tony La Russa. His lead in losses is 1,449 more than La Russa. He was very noticeable on the field since he always wore a suit rather than a uniform like every other manager. He felt wearing a suit signaled his role as both owner and manager, distinguished him from players on the field, and represented a professional, businesslike approach to baseball management. He is also mention in Line-Up for Yesterday.

Harold Reese: “Pee Wee”

Reese’s nickname originated in his childhood, as he was a champion marbles player (a “pee wee” is a small marble) in his hometown of Ekron Kentucky. as a shortstop for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1940 to 1958. He was a ten-time All-Star and won two World Series. Reese is also famous for his support of his teammate Jackie Robinson, especially in Robinson’s difficult first years, most notably when he put his arm around Robinson during a pre-game warmup in front of a heckling crowd. Following his retirement as a player, Reese enjoyed considerable success as a baseball play-by-play announcer and color commentator. He called Game of the Week telecasts on CBS from 1960 to 1965 with Dizzy Dean, and for NBC from 1966 to 1968 with Curt Gowdy. Reese also broadcast the 1967 and 1968 World Series for NBC Radio, and Cincinnati Red telecasts in 1969–1970. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.

Walter Maranville: “Rabbit”

He earned the nickname because of his large ears and his speed on the basepaths. The diminutive shortstop stood 5’5” and weighed 155 pounds. He recognized that smaller players needed a mental edge to compensate for their lack of size. He told a young Leo Durocher “Never back up, the first backward step a little man takes is the one that’s going to kill him.” He played 23 years for five teams, most notably the Boston Braves. Maranville was known as one of “baseball’s most famous clowns”. He used to don a pair of glasses to make fun of umpires and mimic the actions of hitters or pitchers who took an especially long time to get ready. On a road trip to New York, Maranville had teammate Jack Scott cry “Stop, thief!” as Scott chased him through Times Square. Another time, his concerned teammates broke into his hotel room after hearing screams, breaking glass, and gunshots emanating from within, as well as Maranville groaning, “Eddie, you’re killing me!” An unharmed Maranville and two friends greeted the players like nothing was wrong as they wandered out of the room.

Edwin Snider: “Duke”

Snider was nicknamed “Duke” by his father at age 5 as the result of a self-confident swagger that caused his parents to say he carried himself like royalty. When he began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers the fans called him the Duke of Flatbush, because of how good he was. He played 17 years mostly for the Dodgers, he was an eight-time All-Star and won two World Series. He was a part of many New York City schoolyard debates. At the time there were three great center fielders in the city; Mickey Mantle for the Yankees, Snider for the Dodgers and Willie Mays for the Giants, and the kids would have discussions about which one was the best. Following his retirement from baseball, Snider became a popular TV/radio analyst and play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1971 and for the Montreal Expos from 1973 to 1986.

Charles Stengel: “Casey”

Casey came from the initials of his hometown Kansas City he played 14 seasons in the major leagues and managed for 25 seasons, most notably for the Yankees during the 50s and for the expansion Mets. Stengel remains the only manager to lead his club to victory in five consecutive World Series. Like Yogi Berra after him, Stengel had a way with words and he has many interesting quotes, including: “I couldn’t done it without my players.” “I don’t know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits on the ball.” “I don’t like them fellas who drive in two runs and let in three.” “If anyone wants me, tell them I’m being embalmed.” “I feel greatly honored to have a ballpark named after me, especially since I’ve been thrown out of so many.” “Most people my age are dead at the present time.” “OK, line up alphabetically by your height.”

Johannes Wagner: “Honus”

Honus is a diminutive of Johannes, his other nickname was the “Flying Dutchman” because of his German heritage. Wagner was the first five-tool player. Great glove, amazing arm, superior speed, can hit for average and for power. He is widely regarded as the greatest shortstop of all time. He was a eight-time NL batting champion, four-time NL RBI leader, five-time stolen base leader, and World Series champion in 1905. Christy Mathewson believed that Wagner was the only player he faced who did not have a weakness. Mathewson felt that the only way to keep Wagner from hitting was not to pitch to him. Wagner remained involved with baseball after retirement, serving as a coach for the Pirates from 1933 to 1951, helping Arky Vaughan, Ralph Kiner and Pie Traynor learn to hit Major League pitching. In 1936, he was one of the five players inducted into the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame class. Wagner is also mentioned in Line-Up for Yesterday.

Lewis Wilson: “Hack”

His nickname came from his physical resemblance to the short, stocky, and barrel-chested professional wrestler George Hackenschmidt. He stood 5’6” weighed 195 lb, had an 18-inch neck, and wore size 5-1/2 shoes. Sportswriter Shirley Povich observed that he was “built along the lines of a beer keg, and was not wholly unfamiliar with its contents.” While Wilson’s combativeness and excessive alcohol consumption made him one of the most colorful sports personalities of his era, his drinking and fighting undoubtedly contributed to a premature end to his athletic career and, ultimately, his premature death. On June 22, 1928, a near-riot broke out in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field against the Cardinals when Wilson jumped into the box seats to attack a heckling fan. An estimated 5,000 spectators swarmed the field before police could separate the combatants and restore order. The fan sued Wilson for $20,000, but a jury ruled in Wilson’s favor. The following year, Wilson took offense at a remark by Reds pitcher Ray Kolp, and — upon reaching first base on a single, he charged into the Reds dugout, punching Kolp several times before they could be separated. Later that evening at the train station, Wilson exchanged words and blows with Reds pitcher Pete Donohue. His unusual physique was considered an oddity at the time, but his large head, tiny feet, short legs, and broad, flat face are now recognized as hallmarks of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Denton Young: “Cy”

Young’s nickname was “Cyclone” because of the speed and force of his fastball, which was so powerful it reportedly broke the boards on a backstop fence during a tryout. It was later shortened to “Cy”. He pitched for five teams between 1890 and 1911. He was a World Series champ in 1901, won the pitching triple crown in 1901, he was five-time wins leader, two-time ERA leader, two-time strikeout leader, threw a perfect game, and three no hitters. Young’s career is seen as a bridge from baseball’s earliest days to its modern era; he pitched against stars such as Cap Anson, already an established player when the National League was formed in 1876, as well as against Eddie Collins, who played until 1930. When Young’s career began, pitchers delivered the baseball underhand and fouls were not counted as strikes. The pitcher’s mound was not moved back to its present position of 60 feet 6 inches until Young’s fourth season; he did not wear a glove until his sixth season. In 1956, about one year after Young’s death, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the best pitcher in Major League Baseball each season. The first award was given to Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe. Originally, it was a single award covering all of baseball. In 1967 it was divided in one award for each league. Young is also mentioned in Line-Up for Yesterday.

Harold Traynor: “Pie”

He received his nickname as a child in Somerville, Massachusetts, because he frequented a grocery store and always asked for pie. The store owner called him “Pie Face”, which was later shortened to Pie by his friends. played his entire career for the Pirates from 1920 to 1937. Traynor had a .320 career batting average, batting over .300 ten times and drove in 100+ runs seven times. He played in Forbes Field, the most difficult park for power hitting in the National League.7 He compensated by reaching double digits in triples eleven times, leading the league in 1923.

Charles Vance: “Dazzy”

Vance’s nickname came from his blazing, “dazzling” fastball, which he displayed as a teenage semi pro player in Nebraska. Vance played from 1915 to 1935, except for 1919 to 1921 when he was in the minors. He played for five teams in his career, most notably the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cardinals. He won a World Series in 1934, won the pitching triple crown and was the NL MVP in 1924. He led baseball in wins twice, ERA three times and strikeouts seven times. On September 24, 1924, Vance became the sixth pitcher in major-league history to pitch an immaculate inning, striking out all three batters on nine pitches in the third inning of a game against the Cubs. He finished the season with 262 strikeouts, more than any other two National League pitchers combined (Burleigh Grimes with 135 and Dolf Luque with 86 were second and third respectively). He was also mentioned in Line-Up for Yesterday.