baseball Page 296 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Giancarlo Stanton Crushed A Big-Ass Home Run Today
This happened in the seventh inning of today's spring training game between the Marlins and the Mets. Can anybody mash a tater as hard as Giancarlo Stanton can? No, nobody can mash a tater as hard as Giancarlo Stanton can....

That ESPN Poll Claiming MLS Is As Popular With Kids As MLB Is Bullshit
The other day, ESPN published a story, citing data from the ESPN Sports Poll Annual Report, claiming that Major League Soccer now "equals MLB in popularity with kids." The story was quickly picked up by MLS, CBS, The Big Lead, the Orlando Sentinel, the Seattle Times, and the Seattle Post-Intelligenc...

Tiny Person Tim Lincecum And Large Person Kameron Loe Traded Uniforms
Here's some fun spring training shenanigans courtesy of the San Francisco Giants, who understand that people wearing comically ill-fitting clothes is always funny. Tim Lincecum, who is just 5-foot-11, traded uniforms with Kameron Loe, who is 6-foot-8. Much fun was had....

Dem Bums In Da Spring
These are some damn good pictures. There is energy here — a genuine playfulness and terrific personalities. But the real appeal of these George Silk photos from the Dodgers' spring training camp in 1948 is the singular glimpse they afford of baseball in post-WWII America. ...

Albert Belle Is Still A Glorious Asshole
One of the worst things about getting older is watching age wear down everyone else's edges, and wondering if the same thing is happening to you. That radical you knew is now a lawyer who hems and haws a lot about working inside the system, that one guy in the band you liked does corporate training...


MLB Drug Testing Drives One Prospect From Marijuana To Alcohol
The AP has a story about top Astros prospect Jon Singleton, the point of which seems to be to leave readers feeling inspired by Singleton's journey from being a marijuana-addicted and troubled youngster to clean-living prospect knocking on the door of the big leagues. And I suppose it is that kind o...

Jake Peavy Suffers The First Weird Baseball Injury Of Spring
Thanks to Jake Peavy, we don’t have to worry about this spring coming and going without anyone fulfilling one of baseball’s greatest traditions: players hurting themselves in really stupid ways during spring training. ...

MLB Announces Revolutionary New Fielding-Tracking System
Even in their recent state of repair, defensive metrics have always had a certain reverse-engineered, SABR-in-retrograde quality to them, even in a statistically mature sport like baseball. MLB Advanced Media just announced a new system that would slam the door shut on that era. ...

Vin Scully Calling A Kid Rolling Down A Hill Is What Spring Is For
Part of me loves this clip because that little kid is way cute and listening to Vin Scully talk about anything is always a good time, but another part of me hates it deeply. ...

And Now, A Scene From A Rays Spring Training Game
There's a lot going on in this picture, but don't let this man's back-of-the-neck fat escape your attention. That's some fantastic back-of-the-neck fat....

The Cardinals Are Very Embarrassed By Carlos Martinez's Wall Of Porn
Yesterday, we brought you news of Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez's big ol' wall of Twitter porn. Somehow, Carlos Martinez's big ol' wall of Twitter porn was perceived by his skipper, Mike Matheny, to be the kind of issue and "distraction" that required a face-to-face meeting between the two. Toda...

MLB Bans Home-Plate Collisions, But Not Really
Here is the newly approved (and "experimental" ) Rule 7.13. You need only pay attention to the parts I've bolded....

Mike Trout Has Finally Broken Baseball's Math
For the past few years, Mike Trout has been the biggest steal in sports. He's had two otherworldly seasons, and he's only 22. So on the surface, news that the Angels are trying to lock him up to a six-year deal worth about $150 million makes sense. But it's actually remarkable for how much sense it ...

The Milwaukee Brewers' Adopted Stray Dog Is The Best Dog
This is Hank the dog. Hank is a stray who wandered into the Milwaukee Brewers' spring training facility last week, and has since become the team's unofficial mascot. Hank is the best dog....

Paranoia: It Really Works
Billy Martin proved what a powerful strategic tool paranoia is. He believed that everyone was against him. And so he spent every waking moment figuring out how imaginary enemies could be defeated in their nefarious plots. And sometimes he not only created strategies to defend against things that wou...

Down With The NCAA's No-Agent Rule
Originally published on Bloomberg View....

The Best Sports Movie You Can't See
Check out this lovely tribute to the late Paul Hemphill by Richard Hyatt:...

Report: The Phillies Ratted Out Two Draft Picks To The NCAA
Oregon State pitcher Ben Wetzler has been suspended since the start of college baseball season. The NCAA is investigating whether he retained the services of an agent to negotiate with the Phillies, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2013 but were unable to sign him. Now it seems the Phillies hav...
