Congratulations to the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown has honored the best of the best once again.  At this year's ceremonies and induction the Hall welcomed its 2025 class of Dick Allen, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner into baseball immortality.  Sabathia, Suzuki and Wagner were voted in by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Allen and Parker were voted in by the Classic Baseball Era Committee.

I count myself extremely fortunate to have seen Allen, Parker, Suzuki and Wagner play in person. Allen played for my beloved St. Louis Cardinals at Busch II in 1970. I saw Parker play several times over the years when the Pirates would come to St. Louis.  I was able to see Suzuki play at Busch III due to interleague play when the Mariners would visit the Cardinals.  Billy Wagner was on the hated Houston Astros when the Cardinals and 'Stros had a heated rivalry.  We didn't like him much as Cardinal fans, but deep down I secretly admired him and thought he would have made a great Red Bird.  I never saw Sabathia play in person but I did on TV and he was everything he was cracked up to be.

Voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year in the broadcaster's and writer's wings were Tom Hamilton and Thomas Boswell respectively.  Hamilton is a favorite of mine, whom I first listened to on XM radio starting many years ago and now listen to on the audio channel of MLB.TV.  Mr. Hamilton is the most under rated play-by-play guy in the Majors. He is old school and reminiscent of Vin Scully.  They are similar in that Hamilton does it all.  He handles the play-by-play, the commentary and all of the stats.  Hamilton is everything I would want if I were able to hire the PBP guy for a baseball club.

Boswell won the Baseball Writers' Association of America Award given for Meritorious contributions to baseball writing.  He was a writer and columnist for the Washington Post and spent 37 years in D.C. from 1984 to 2021. He's also written seven books on baseball and is still interviewed frequently by other journalists.

This year rather than write more about each inductee I have located their induction speeches and listed the links below.

Dick "Richie" Allen  Speech by Mr. Allen's widow Willa Allen

Dave Parker  Speech by Dave Parker, II, son of Dave Parker

CC Sabathia

Ichiro Suzuki

Billy Wagner

Tom Boswell   

    (the link for Boswell and Hamilton is the same as they were inducted on 7/26/25)

Tom Hamilton

Congratulations to all seven of these gentlemen!

Ramblings from an Angry Old Man in the Middle of the United States of America

-The more I deal with the United States healthcare industry the more frustrated I am.  A family member recently took a fall and is dealing with three compressed discs in her back.  Because of her age there is nothing the medical community can do for her surgically to repair the discs.  The doctor who visits her in the hospital has done absolutely nothing to address the underlying condition of pain in her back since we declined surgery for her. As a result she is in excruciating pain whenever someone moves her or tries to help her with other medical issues.  I won't name this particular hospital but I wouldn't take my dog to it.  I've also learned hospital administrators apparently could care less about their patients.  The bottom line at this supposed not for profit suburban hospital is the almighty dollar.

-Baseball has reached it's unofficial midway point of the 2025 season.  The game continues to die a slow death due to mis-management and poor promotion of the game itself.  Despite implementing a pitch clock two years ago the games are returning to longer play times.  This due to in part to players learning to manipulate the rules and more commercials in each game.  MLB continues to overhype home runs at the expense of the rest of the facets of the game.  If there are no dingers chances are you won't be seeing highlights of that game.

-I still haven't decided whether to keep posting or not. Not many people are reading this blog and most of its hits are coming from bots.  Still, I like to write and may continue just for the joy it brings me. Where I live it's been very hot for the last three weeks and we're less than a month into summer.  So, stay cool and thanks for reading.

Halfway Through the Year

Here we are at the end of June and the second quarter of 2025.  I don't have much to write about this month and am considering bringing this blog to a conclusion.  I've read Google is going to change this platform so it may no longer be an option.

For now I will try to post monthly until I either get bored with it or Google says enough is enough.  As always, thanks for reading. Have a great July!

Memorial Day 2025

Today we honor those who've made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the United States of America free. Thank you to all of the brave men and women of our armed forces past and present who have stepped into harm's way to keep us free and safe. Since declaring its independence in 1776 to today, more than 1.3 million American men and women have sacrificed their lives to preserve our nation, our freedoms and our way of life. Thank you to all brave American soldiers past and present for your service to our country.

Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia looking East to the Washington Monument in D.C.

The Vietnam Wall on the National Mall in Washington D.C. 58 thousand Americans died in the war. This view is looking west.

This is Korean War Memorial located just to the south and east of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. More than 54,000 US troops gave their lives for their country.

Today is the one year anniversary of receiving my new kidney at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.  For those of you in the area who see me regularly you know what a wonderful gift it is and how it's dramatically improved my life.  For those of you outside the St. Louis region or out of  country, I'm back doing whatever I want and have not felt this good in several years. I'm able to eat and drink what I want and I no longer have any physical restrictions. I will take anti-rejections meds for the rest of my life. But, my doctors have taken me off several meds I needed after the transplant. Tomorrow I will stop taking another.

You will never know how thankful I am for this miracle that arrived literally days before I would've started dialysis.  God's timing is perfect and the kidney he gave me is a champion. For that I am thankful. To God be all the Glory!

I'm also thankful to the nurses, doctors and health care professionals on my transplant team who have worked with me since May 11, 2024. And a shout out to my transplant coordinator Char, who I've probably driven crazy with a million questions and concerns.

Thank you to my family, especially my sisters Lynn and Cara and my brother John. You will never know how much what you did for me means to me.

Thank you to my friends, neighbors, coworkers and church family.  You were all there for me when I needed help.  As the saying goes, "A friend in need, is a friend indeed".  Thank you all for the love and compassion you've shown me in the past 365 days. I will never forget it.

I had a few minor setbacks during the past year including losing a battle with my yard waste container in October. I fell on my abdomen and put a few large gashes in my left leg in the accident. It ultimately required three interventional radiology procedures at Barnes on Kingshighway to drain fluid from the area around the new organ.  A week later I also managed to get bit by a dog.  When I called my coordinator to see how to handle it, she said there was no protocol for a transplant patient getting bit by a dog.  My guess is there is now!  My PCP handled it by removing torn skin, cleansing the wound, putting Neosporin on it and giving me a tetanus shot. In the big picture those incidents were just blips on the radar screen.

This is much longer than I intended.  But, if I may leave you with a thought, please consider becoming an organ donor if you've not already done so. You can help many lives by signing the back of your driver's license. It only takes a minute.  One very generous person, who signed the back of their driver's license, gave me a second chance at life

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