• Hardest-throwing reliever in the majors last year? Right: Joba Chamberlain. Second-hardest, though? Would you believe Matt Lindstrom? You can find this fun fact and many more in Jonathan Hale's look at the fastest average fastballs of 2007.
• David Pinto cites
yet another example of free agency boosting attendance.
• In his
career,
Placido Polanco has batted .260 after being burdened with two strikes. That's an outstanding figure; last year American League hitters batted .198 with two strikes. Also last year, Polanco batted
.350 with two strikes. Even
Jim Leyland, no stat-hound,
knows that. I wonder if Leyland knows that among the reasons Polanco won't hit .341 again, his .350 with two strikes is probably No. 1.
• Baseball Analysts' Al Doyle runs through some of this spring's more
interesting non-roster invitees. I'm pulling for all of them, but especially for
Tim Raines,
Mike Sweeney, and (of course)
Maxim St. Pierre.
• Say what you like about
Hank Steinbrenner, but give the guy credit for
telling it like it is: "Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs. I don't know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don't tell me it's not more prevalent. … If a sport is riddled with it, it's riddled with it. Why aren't they looking at the NFL?" The NFL will respond that they've got a severe testing program, but anyone with eyes or ears must know that's a joke. Shortly after
Super Bowl 38 three-fifths of the Panthers' starting line were
implicated in a federal investigation … and yet none of them had ever tested positive.
•
Dave Niehaus is going to Cooperstown this summer, and I couldn't be happier for him. As it happens, Niehaus turned 73 yesterday, so news that he's won the
Frick Award must have been a lovely birthday present. I suspect that if you haven't lived in the Northwest or don't watch M's games on Extra Innings, you may never have heard Niehaus call a single inning. I moved to Mariner country in 1996, though, and I can report that Niehaus is everything you'd want in a Hall of Fame broadcaster.
• Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Bill James went into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame last weekend, which got
Joe Posnanski thinking. Oh, and from yet another of JoePo's record-breaking blog posts, much of it having nothing to do with baseball or any other sport,
this wonderful little sidebar: "The color of the grass, which was reported in more than two dozen newspapers across America, is caused by chlorophyl that is used in a process called 'photosynthesis.' A quick survey indicates that the grass is a brilliant green at the Mariners complex in Peoria, it is a vivid green at the Rays camp in St. Pete, immaculate green in Clearwater, and, and officials are anticipating emerald green at Fenway Park. Sources in Surprise call the grass here viridescent, but those were sources with a Thesaurus handy."
• During the 2000 World Series, I visited the former site of the
Polo Grounds. One thing I'll never forget is the view of Yankee Stadium from atop Coogan's Bluff, but I completely missed
this, the last remaining vestige of the old ballpark. The good news, at least for history buffs, is that apparently the old staircase, complete with
85-year-old plaque, will be restored and preserved.
Rob Neyer
