Your Newest Hall of Famers: Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice

Congratlations to both Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, your 2009 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I figured most knew that Henderson was going to get in based on his incredible stats and accomplishments; however, the verdict was still out on Jim Rice.

Rice, I felt was good enough to get in based on the stats of his era; however, I figured some members of the media might have still held a grudge against him. Time must definitely heal all wounds, and since he was so close last year, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Rice would finally get in this time around.

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Old Our Friend Sammy Sosa Wants To Return To Baseball...

Reading the information super-highway the other day, I caught that Sammy Sosa -- a member of the 600 home run club -- was looking for a return to the Major Leagues.

The slugger who excited the world of baseball with his home run hitting ability, unabashed love for the game, and his infectious smile brought joy not only to Cubs fans in the 1990's, but to the world of baseball.

Furthermore, many credit him and Mark McGwire for rekindling the interest of the sport to fans and admirers alike; however, all the goodwill he had built up went pretty much down the toilet after his appearance on Capitol Hill years ago.

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Happy Trails, Mike Mussina -- Calling It A Career

It looks like former Oriole and Yankee Mike Mussina is pushing towards retirement. No matter you feel about him, you cannot deny the career he's had. He will more than likely be a Hall of Famer for sure.

From all appearances, the venerable Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com just broke the news about a 1/2 an hour ago.

Fox Sports: Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina is retiring.

Mussina will make his decision official later this week, major-league sources say.

The Yankees, who are aggressively pursuing free-agent starting pitchers, were not expecting Mussina to return.

Mussina, who turns 40 on Dec. 8, is coming off the first 20-win season of his 18-year career. He is selling his home in Bedford, N.Y., according to one source, and planning to spend more time with his family in Montoursville, Pa.

Mussina held off his announcement until the completion of baseball's award cycle. He recently won his seventh Gold Glove, tied for sixth in the American League Cy Young award voting and even received one eighth-place vote for Most Valuable Player.

A first-round pick of the Orioles in 1990, he finishes his career with a 270-153 record and 3.68 ERA.

His victory total falls short of the unofficial Hall of Fame standard of 300 wins, but his candidacy for the Hall will be enhanced by the fact that he pitched in the Steroid Era and spent his entire career in the offensively oriented AL East.

Like I said, he's had one hell of a career. I'm sure at this point, his family commitments are tugging at him, and baseball has been very good to him.

Happy trails, Mike.

A tip of the hat to Cheryl of Bottom Feeder Baseball for emailing me with the news...

The Case For Erik and the CY Young; The Rundown

Erik Bedard is a on roll, and with his success as of late, he's no doubt a contender for the Cy Young Award this season. Although he'll never win the award for most talkative or for community service, he's doing something special this season for the Birds.

If you get a moment, read the piece, "Here and Now", by Jeff Zrebiec in the Baltimore Sun today on Erik Bedard.

Right now, if I were the Orioles, I'd be working on a way to lock him up now before his asking price becomes absolutely astronomical and other teams come into play.

Bedard is currently leading the league in strikeouts, and has won eight straight.

It mystifies me that he is not getting the national attention he deserves, and playing for the Baltimore Orioles (along with their decade of losing) is the reason.

We have a gem here, it seems to be, and let's hope the Orioles do right by Bedard and most especially the fans.

Bill Ordine in an excellent post on the O, by the Way blog on the Baltimore Sun website illustrates why Bedard should be re-signed; meanwhile, also brings up the Orioles' history of signing pitchers long-term, which has been anything but stellar.

However, Peter Schmuck who wanted Bedard traded is now changing his tune...

Spencer Fordin of the Orioles.com answers questions from fans about the team...

Josh Frazier of Press Box Online believes that the Orioles must go after Mark Teixeira after his time is up in Atlanta.

Dave Trembley is not going to quit on the season, and from the looks of it, the team is responding to him. At this point, the Orioles have an outside chance at .500...

Meanwhile, Stan "the Fan" Charles" gives us his thoughts on Ripken and the whole Hall of Fame induction experience; meanwhile, some local kids from the Baltimore region took in the sights and the sounds of Cooperstown...

Press Box Online has more stories from fans about their experience in Cooperstown.

Allen McCallum believes that Cal Ripken and Tony Gywnn are the last of their kind...

The Iron Man Celebrated, Honored and Hailed in Cooperstown Send-Off

Here's an article I wrote for the DC Sports Box about Cal Ripken and his send-off, hope you enjoy..

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Although the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area is pretty much awash with the red, white and blue of the Nationals, lest we forget many in the area for about four decades rooted, cheered and followed the Baltimore Orioles.

Our neighbors to the north have not had a lot to cheer about for the past decade, as the Orioles have had nine straight losing seasons, a dramatic decline attendance, and fan dissatisfaction towards owner Peter Angelos.

However, on Tuesday night before a match-up with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, fans got a chance to relive the glory days of the past as the Orioles honored Cal Ripken, Jr. in a “send-off to Cooperstown” celebration.

A crowd about 43,000 strong celebrated a universally-respected man who was not only a great baseball player, but also a part of Maryland heritage.

The crowd last night was boisterous, decked in black and orange, and you saw the number "8" abound on jerseys, shirts and whatever else you could find.

With an elaborate display setup of a large inflatable jersey of Ripken’s number in center field, the number “2632” posted on the warehouse to commemorate the number of consecutive games that he played, along with a podium and seating in the infield, Tuesday was all about Cal.

Although the start time of the game was set back more than half-an-hour, dignitaries such as Baltimore mayor, Sheila Dixon; fellow Hall of Famers and former Orioles Eddie Murray, Brooks Robinson, and Earl Weaver were on hand to support and honor Cal Ripken.

Fans were shown a continuous loop of footage of the future Hall of Famer on the video screen in centerfield; therefore, as he was announced, Cal sat in a pristine Chevrolet Corvette as it drove along the warning track, waved to the crowd and tossed a few baseballs to a few lucky fans.

Like a scene out of a movie, fans watched and stood with amazement as they took photos, video and tried to get as close as they could to the field.

Cal addressed the crowd and spoke for about ten minutes with thoughts of his career, his upcoming induction to the Hall of Fame, and his work with kids via Ripken Baseball.

Afterwards, he threw out the first pitch of the ballgame to former teammate, Eddie Murray.

In addition, Orioles’ Chief Operating Officer Andy MacPhail presented a check for one million dollars to Cal Ripken, Jr. to help out the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, a non-profit foundation that provides baseball and softball programs to underprivileged children named in honor of his father.

In light of the Orioles being a second division team at the moment, Tuesday was an example of what could be -- or in better terms, what should be for the team north of Washington D.C.

(Pictures) Sharing the Love: Cal Ripken Send-Off, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Cal Ripken Send-Off; Oriole Park at Camden Yards - July 24th, 2007

For my reflections, click here: http://oriolepost.blogspot.com/2007/07/sharing-love-cal-ripken-honored.html

The Only Two - Cal and Tony are now Immortals...

Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn on Tuesday will officially be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July. Congratulations to both men, as they got on their first year on the ballot.

According to the AP, Ripken was picked by 537 voters, appearing on 98.5 percent of ballots, falling just short of the record percentage of 98.84 set by Tom Seaver when he was selected on 425 of 430 ballots in 1992. Gwynn was just behind Cal with 532 votes, 97.6 percent.

Goose Gossage barely missed getting in with 71.2 percent of the vote, just a few percentage points of getting to the Hall. Mark McGwire only got 23% of the vote.

It's good day for all us Oriole fans, let us all walk with heads held high and be proud...

Flash Presentation from the Baltimore Sun: Link

More Cal Ripken Love...

Fellow blogger, Aaron Brazell of Suicide Fan has a clip on his site as to why Cal Ripken should be in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Take a visit to his great site and you'll fing the link to the audio file there, plus other awesome sports related posts.

It's a foregone conclusion that he should be in the Hall of Fame. He's an icon, but the numbers didn't impress me as much as his willingness to go to work, play through pain and whatever else because he loved what he did for a living. More importantly to me, he was the epitome of professionalism, sportsmanship and integrity.

Myself, I cannot say I even like my job and I'm sure millions of others can say the same.

I have no idea if I'll be going to Cooperstown for Ripken's induction, because I didn't think about going to it before I started my blog. Anyhow, it will be a decision made later this spring, not because of funds, but more on the logisitics side as I would need to find lodging, much less a place to view the induction (ok, I would literally have to camp out), traffic issues and parking. If I do go, I'll probably drive up and stay with friends in NYC or find some other arrangement outside the immediate area of Cooperstown.

I'm sure a ton of fans will be there, and I'd love to interact and mingle. However, I don't know at this point if it would be worth it for me to go, or to watch it on TV.

If anyone is planning to go, or has been to a Hall of Fame induction, what's to be expected?

Either leave a comment on the blog, or email me at mdguy2415@aol.com.

The Aberdeen Ironbirds Play in Cooperstown Before the Hall of Fame Induction

It is almost a forgone conclusion that Cal Ripken will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so the Aberdeen IronBirds, one of the Orioles A affiliates and by owned by him, will take part in the Hall of Fame Weekend celebration, playing in the New York-Penn League Game at historic Doubleday Field according to the Examiner Newspaper. Expect a Maryland-centric weekend in New York as a ton of people from the state will flock up there to see Cal Ripken get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Link: http://www.examiner.com/a-455357~Baltimore_invasion_of_Cooperstown.html

O's Quick Notes

• First off, if you have not heard, David Newhan and Todd Williamas were informed that their contracts will non-tendered by the O's. In other words, they have been released and are free to sign with other teams. I had spoken to David Newhan a few times while he was part of the Orioles, and I'll say he's one of the nicest guys in baseball who was very open to the fans and would take a minute to chat with anyone. He was a fan favorite, and although his numbers were marginal for the past few seasons, he always tried and played the game with passion. Todd Williams had a few good seasons with the O's, but got killed last year and was a victim of the bullpen improvements.
• Second, Jay Payton is now officially an Oriole. He's signed for 2 years and about 10 million. In reading the Sun article this evening, I found this statement from him really cool when he described his desire in playing in the stacked AL East against the Sox and Yankees : "I love trying to battle ... the two Evil Empires, I call them, between Boston and New York, and knock those teams off," said Jay Payton, the 34-year-old outfielder, who hit .296 with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs for the Oakland Athletics last season. "It's a lot of fun to go into the stadiums and play in front of those crowds with all that energy."
• Third, the Orioles were chosen to play the New York Mets in the Hall of Fame game on May 21st in Cooperstown, NY. Of course, as we all know Cal is expected to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame this year.
• Fourth, Lee Mazzilli, former O's manager, recently on the Yankee bench as a coach has accepted a job with SportNet NY, the Mets Channel up in the Big Apple, NYC. Lee played for the New York Mets from 1976 to 1981, as well as in '86, when they won the World Series.

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