"The Daily Rock"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too Stretchy! I've enjoyed our chats as well...what a great group of people in that room, and alot of fun! Have a great time in The Big Apple, I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

It won't be long until we're back at the fields. With all that snow on the ground, it's hard to believe the first high school scrimmage is only 8 weeks away! Play ball!

 

MLB in Charlotte: Any chance?

Any chance Charlotte goes after a MLB franchise? 4 teams are averaging less than 20,000 in home attendance, and several aren't even filling up half the seats. Couldn't Charlotte beat that right now with the proper ballpark? It just appears to me that alot of MLB owners are doing a lousy job. Pittsburgh, for instance, has been a loser for 18 straight years.

 

Times Square is the place to be for New Years

In the Apple Store in the Big Apple testing a MacBook Pro/Air. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Karlrocket is the man for taking over the Daily Rock....

Sunday Tattoos: I believe they should be private and not viewable to the world as you will regret it come time to be a business person, father and grandfather!

Monday DH: To me real baseball is the National League!

Tuesday MLB Charlotte: Give it 5 more years and I bet we get a team. It would be so awesome!

 

December 29: Roger Maris

In 1961, Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record with 61 taters. That record was eventually broken by both Mark McGuire & Sammy Sosa in 1998, and later by Barry Bonds. Given what we know about McGuire, Bonds, and Sosa now, shouldn't Maris be reinstated as the home run king? I say he should. No doubt in my mind.

 

I agree. I never could accept them breaking his record because I always felt they cheated. Maris should be put back on top.

 

It makes me sick just looking at Mark McGuire now. The McGuire-Sosa home run battle was huge during 1998, and I remember McGuire pointing to the skies surrounded by the Maris family. The whole nation was caught up with it at the time. What a hoax!

 

December 30: High School Homers

Last year of the BESR bats in high school. If you had to guess, who in your area will be hitting alot of home runs during the upcoming season? I'd have to go with Thomas Berry from Rocky Mount. The senior has put many a dent in the outfield fences around here. Really smooth line-drive-type swing!

 

The trio in the middle of the Providence Panther line-up. Brett Austin, Jake Fincher and Jackson Campana combined for 27 HRs in 2010 and I would bet that they will top 30 in the comming season as they continue to improve. Hard to pitch around all three, plus a number of other strong sticks around them giving even more protection.

Sure, Panther Park is a bandbox, but you don't see many of their shots just crawling over the fence.

Coach Hignight might want to keep a spare dozen of pearls available at their games.

 

I agree that it bothers the hell out of me NOW. (By the way I can't stand Barry Bonds) At the time I was into it as much as anyone, but you really have to ask yourself a question!

That is:

Go back in time to then (1998) and REALLY think about it ......... if you had the chance to extend your career and keep up with the Jones (because a lot of people were doing the same thing) would you????

My answer is easy .......... YEP! Is it wrong YEP!

Guess what, ....... throwing a spit ball in the era was wrong too. But people did it! Gaylord Perry is in the Hall of Fame while he doctored the ball (he admitted it)! Was that wrong ....YEP!

Did players take other drugs to enhance their play? YEP, Steve Howe (and MANY others) was caught (I believe 7 times) for drugs and MLB kept slapping his hands!

I could go on and on, but you get the point! Times were a lot different then, maybe not too much, but still different!

Do I believe that Roger Maris is the single season HR king? YEP

Do I believe that Hank Aaron is the career leading HR king? YEP

 

Performance enhnacers

The baseball heroes are slaughtered because they tried to gain an edge (a pharmaceutical edge) while stars in others sports like the NFL are suspended for a few games and move on for similar missteps. I think that is because there are no other records as hallowed as baseball records and because baseball writers and commentators are so relentless and self-righteous. When I see the talking heads on ESPN acting so indignant when talking about the cheating ways of Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, I wonder how their lives would hold up under the scrutiny of investigators and probing media.

There are all kinds of performance enhancing techniques and technologies that corrupt the record books. I wonder how Paul Warfield and Raymond Berry feel about the "techno-gloves" that Nike equips todays recievers with that make pass catchers of today look like SpiderMan....the one-hand grab is so common place now because of these super-tacky, pass-grabbing gloves....performance enhancers for sure.

I saw where Rafael Palmiero was claiming his innocence again...what a shame that a man who is one of only four players in the history of baseball to hit over 500 homers with over 3000 hits is on the trash heap. Most of the star baseball players from that era are on the trash heap today (Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, Sosa, Palmiero, Strawberry, Gooden, Canseco, etc)....trashed by their bad behavior and by the non-stop persecution by the self-righteous media. I believe these guys cheated....some more than others and some more-knowingly than others. But I also believe these players were some of the best baseball players that ever played the game (far better than a pull-hitting Roger Maris dropping fly balls over a preposterously short porch at Yankee Stadium)