Our fellow Sporting News columnist, and great thinker, has decided that because pitcher Chien-Ming Wang was injured running the bases, the National League should take on the designated hitter.

“My only message is simple,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century.”

Steinbrenner said he was angry and added: “I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

Oh, Hank: Where do we start here? We look forward to your next calculated, Steinbrenner-esque "rant," in which you rail against the single-ear-protector batting helmets ("What if my guy falls backwards and lands on the wrong side?"), those darned new teams ("The mountain air is awful for my outfielders' sleep apnea") and role-specific relief pitching ("Whatever happened to the ambidextrous robot pitchers? They need to grow up and join the 22nd century.")

Steinbrenner Rants On National League [New York Times]

Seriously, Tampa. You mess with the pinstripes, and you're gonna ... well, you're not gonna! Yeah, take that!

"There are going to be problems, especially if they go after our stars. It's not going to be tolerated. We never have done it to them. It's just not going to happen anymore."

But they shouldn't go after Shelley Duncan! Absolutely not. Not when the Yankees, in a way, literally own the Rays:

"I don't want these teams in general to forget who subsidizes a lot of them, and it's the Yankees New York Yankees, the Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets New York Mets. I would prefer if teams want to target the Yankees that they at least start giving some of that revenue sharing and luxury tax money back. From an owners point of view, that's my point."

You just know there's an anti-blog screed lurking in the aorta of Hank's chest. C'mon, Little Stein. Let it out. It desires freedom.

Hank: We're Not Going To Take It [New York Post]

In an interview this weekend, Little Stein said that Red Sox Nation was an invention of ESPN, who's filled with Red Sox fans, and that this is still a country of Yankee fans. Even me. That Detroit Free Press insert hanging on my wall that they were handing out after the Tigers 2006 ALDS victory over the Yankees? It's because I really like the New York team.

That alone is enough proof that what Steinbrenner said is true. And now the retort by steel-drivin' Red Sox owner John Henry:

I'm a big Hank fan," Henry wrote. "Just to ensure he knows how cool Red Sox Nation is, today we officially inducted him as a member of Red Sox Nation and we are sending him his membership card giving him access to an array of options including our newsletter, bumper stickers, pins, Green Monster seats and a hat personally autographed by David Ortiz."

Loudmouth Hank Is Now A Member of RSN [Sox & Dawgs]