Congratulations Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2026

Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame

Congratulation to the three newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent were inducted into the Hall yesterday afternoon. When the three were officially elected in January, I had doubts about the credentials of Jones and Kent. But, after reading more about them and their lifetime statistics, I'm convinced they do belong in the Hall and the Baseball Writers Association knows a lot more than I do. Congratulations are also in order for Joe Buck and Paul Hoynes. Buck is the 2026 winner of the Ford Frick broadcaster award. Hoynes is the winner of the J. G. Taylor Spink writer award.

I saw Beltrán, Jones and Kent all play in person. I also listened to Joe Buck call St. Louis Cardinal games on the radio. He started his career with his father, Jack Buck who won the Frick Award in 1987. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to read Hoynes' work. But seeing his introduction and speech on Saturday makes me wish I had, during some of the Indians/Guardian seasons. Rather than recap their careers I will leave you with memories of the three players and their acceptance speeches.

I remember Carlos Beltrán from his days with the Mets in the mid 2000s. My strongest memory of him was not a shining moment for him. Instead, I remember him at the plate for the Mets in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Then Cardinal closer Adam Wainwright struck out Beltrán on three pitches to secure the game for the St. Louisans. On the final pitch of the game, Wainwright threw a filthy curveball that froze Beltrán and sent the Cardinals on to the World Series. You can watch Beltrán's acceptance speech here on YouTube.

Initially, l did have doubts about his credentials in getting him into the Hall. But, after looking at Jones' career aggregate stats, he belongs in Cooperstown. If nothing else his WAR rating is better than a lot of others in the Hall, including his teammate in Atlanta Fred McGriff. And to top it off Jones is in the top 50 all time home run hitters. I count myself luck to have seen him play against the St. Louis Cardinals frequently at Busch Stadium II from the mid 90s to mid 00s. View Jone's induction speech here.

Jeff Kent was a clutch hitter. It seemed like every time I had a chance to watch him play in person in St. Louis he would destroy Cardinals pitching and was on base every time you looked up. He hit more homeruns than anyone else to play second base in the history of the game. They've been playing professional baseball for 157 years. His 377 dingers is the gold standard at second base. Add a 17-year career OPS of .855 and a WAR rating of 55.4 and he is certainly a Hall of Famer. Kent's speech is also available on YouTube.

Joe Buck and Paul Hoynes had their own awards ceremony the day before the player induction ceremonies in the city of Cooperstown. Hoyne's acceptance speech for the Spink Award can be seen here. Buck's acceptance speech for the Frick Award can be viewed here.

Happy Semiquincentennial

 Happy 250th Birthday United States of America!

I am blessed to live in the USA. We are still the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But more importantly, I'm allowed to worship as I please. I am able to express myself and criticize our leaders as I see fit due to the Bill of Rights of this great land.

We are passionate about how our nation should be run. We are more divided now than I remember when we celebrated the Bicentennial on Sunday, July 4, 1976. But in the end, we are all still Americans wanting the very best for our democracy, our heirs and future generations of Americans.

We are one of the longest running democracies in the history of this world. This has been accomplished through the sacrifice of thousands upon thousands of patriots going back to the Revolution against the British. It continues today with our troops deployed in Iran and other Middle East hot-spots. The brave men and women of our military paid the ultimate price for our liberty. I have no good way of sufficiently expressing my gratitude to them and to those who have served in conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and now Iran. I say thank you to all of our armed forces, past and present! Because of you, I'm able to live in what I truly believe is the greatest nation in the history of the world! Happy Semi-quincentennial America! May God bless America! Long may she stand!

Where Has the Month Gone?

It's the end of June and this is the first post of the month. Not much here to really write about, but I have a few thoughts on my mind.

-The World Cup Soccer Tournament is underway here in North America. Numerous tourists are here to watch the "Beautiful Game". I've watched the US play its three Group D matches, including a real 'who cares" game Thursday night. Türkiye beat the United States 3-2 on the final kick of the match. Türkiye gets to save a lot of money on hotels and food and go back home early. The US moves on to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 on July 1st. Being retired, I've seen parts of quite a few games on TV. One of the things that has impressed me is the support of fans from around the world for their country's team. They are loyal and spend a lot of money following their teams. They've been complimentary of the host nations.

-This month also saw the completion of the NCAA Men's Baseball and Women's Softball College World Series tournaments. Congratulations to the Oklahoma men and Texas women. Gee, isn't it interesting both of these teams are members of the Southeast Conference. That's the same collegiate conference my beloved Missouri Tigers compete in. Personally, I rooted for both the schools' opponents in the finals. I wanted Texas Tech to knock off Texas and North Carolina to beat Oklahoma.

-We also saw the US Open Golf Tournament on Long Island, New York. It was played at Shinnecock Hills Country Club in the Hamptons. Wyndham Clark not only had to beat a very difficult course but also deal with a lot of nasty New Yorkers who didn't want him to win. More than just a few of the fans were assholes, but as one of my buddies put it, "they don't know any better. That's how they're raised".

-There's been a tempest in a teapot in Washington, D.C. over United States President Donald Trump's newly "refurbished" Reflecting Pool. After years of doing its job of reflecting the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments on the mall, Mr. Trump decided he wanted to paint it another color. Trump's cronies got a contract to do it, and now it looks like an algae-filled cesspool. The president is angry and claims his enemies put a "250 foot gash in the pool liner." Seriously? Mr. Trump is aware there are a multitude of security cameras trained on the mall at all times.

I'll tell you the same thing I do each month; "I plan to write more in the coming days", but, in reality, I'll probably have just a couple of posts and one will come at the end of the month to keep my monthly submission streak alive. Have a nice July.

Memorial Day in the United States of America

Thank you to those who have paid the ultimate price to keep this great nation free. I also say thank you to the brave men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line each and every day to keep the rest of us safe especially those in harms way today in the Iran War. Happy Memorial Day! May God bless the United States of America!

The image above was taken in early September of 2015 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. The view is looking east across the Potomac River towards the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Happy 21st Birthday Anti-Post!

Today marks the 21st anniversary of this blog. I started it on this date, May, 21, 2005. I didn't really know what to expect but was gung-ho to jump on this new form of communication called a "blog". At the time there were literally thousands of blogs popping up on the web. As you are probably aware, since then many of the blogs that existed have gone away or have been abandoned by the authors. There have been several times when I thought I was done with "The Anti-Post".

My favorite topics have been sports related. I love writing about my beloved Missouri Tigers and ripping on Major League Baseball's incompetence. I also love to rip on local and national media when they screw up or attempt to pass off commercials as news. (It happens more frequently now, then it did 21 years ago. Now, you'd be surprised how many stations are compensated for news coverage or product placement).

Sometimes it's been a blast to write for, God only knows, who reads this. Other times its been a drudge to find a topic and write. My current goal is to post at least once a month. So, with this birthday post I've doubled my average monthly production!

I will keep writing as long as I'm able if you will keep reading. I very much appreciate your patronage!

A Sad Day for Radio News is Approaching

Following almost 99 years of operation, CBS News Radio will go dark tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. CDT. The CBS Radio Network started the news service in September 1927. Rather than attempting to paraphrase its history, read this Wikipedia article.

As a broadcast journalist who spent much of my life reporting, writing and anchoring newscasts, this makes me sad. CBS was the gold standard for radio news and was the source for many Americans getting their news from the second world war. Edward Murrow covered the blitz of London, the numerous battles as the fascist Axis powers plowed through much of Europe and North Africa. That was followed by the D-Day Invasion of France and the eventual liberation of much of Western Europe. Murrow was also the first American radio journalist to break the news of the existence of German POW camps near the end of the war.

CBS Radio News also broke the news that President John Kennedy had died in Dallas on November 22, 1963. They scooped all other outlets with a source in Texas who verified the fact the President was dead, before others had a clue what was happening at Parkland Memorial Hospital. I use the word scoop in this post because that's what a scoop is. Not the baloney tossed about today by cable networks and local newscasts.

In January 1986, CBS News broke the news to its listeners the space shuttle Challenger had exploded shortly after it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. The CBS Radio News network also told listeners of its affiliates about the attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001.

CBS News was the only network of which I'm aware that featured a ten minutes newscast at 6 p.m. every weeknight. It was called the "CBS World News Roundup" and gave its listeners every significant story that happened domestically and internationally that day.

I have a personal tie to the CBS News format and style. I studied Journalism at the University of Missouri, in the early 1970s which had a strong relationship to CBS. I was taught how to write a newscast following the CBS style that included re-writing the AP "A" wire, pulling voicers, wrap arounds and actualities from the CBS feed to affiliates. My efforts were graded and my professors must have liked what they heard. That education served me well through my 40+ year broadcast career.

Friday will be a sad day for me both professionally and personally. CBS Radio News you will be gone but the stories you covered will live on in my memory.

MLB Screws Up Again

Happy last day of April. I hope it's been a good month for you. I've been working a part time gig, which makes it one of my busiest months of the year.

Baseball is back and so are some changes to MLB's (Major League Baseball's) rules. This year computer umpires are calling every pitch of the game, but so are human umpires. The human umpire behind home plate is still calling balls and strikes the entire game, but this year, pitchers and batters can challenge a ball-strike call if they think the ump missed it.

Image courtesy of nesn.com

With a lot of rain in April where I live, I've seen a lot of games. And I've seen a lot of ABS challenges. (ABS is the computer umpire calling every pitch.) I don't like ABS.

Many of the challenges show the umpire made the right call. But, everyone makes mistakes and the human gets overruled. Then a ball becomes a strike or vice versa. Teams are given two challenges per game and, as long as they are right in their challenge, they retain them. But, if they are wrong, they lose a challenge. Then miss another one, and the team has none left for the rest of the game. The problem is, as the game gets to the late innings, the challenges mess up the rhythm of the game, and it drags out the last inning or two. Combine the ABS challenges with the other challenge calls, and it slows down the pace of the game, especially if the score is tight in the last few innings.

My advice to MLB is to get rid of ABS challenges and let umpires do their jobs just as they have for the last 157 years. Maybe some fans like looking at a scoreboard image to see if the baseball touched an imaginary electronic strike zone. I don't.

Get rid of it MLB and, while you're at it, re-evaluate the other video replay challenges allowed too frequently in major league games. 

Happy Spring 2026

It's been several weeks since I've written but in that time our long cold winter has given way to warmer temperatures and more sunshine where I live.

All, I can says is thank God!  Now, I can get out in my yard and work in it. I will try again to kill all of the weeds along my neighbor's and my fence line. Honeysuckle is a noxious weed and every summer I try to eradicate it and each spring it comes back with a vengeance. But, this year I have a new weapon with which to battle the weed. It's all natural ingredients and friends have told me it works if applied properly. I am a skeptic so we shall see. If it does the job I will let you know.

You are probably aware I don't have much use for winter. So, today I am a happy camper with the high forecast in the upper 70s.

Big Spring Missouri - image courtesy explorewestplains.com

Hope You are Doing Well

Greetings, we've made it to the end of the month and are one day closer to Spring. I am alive and well and have frequently planned to write in this blog, but just as frequently got distracted. As a result I am still posting only once or twice a month.

I have a lot to say about the current administration in the United States, but you'll need to stay tuned for my take on Washington and the way the media has reacted.

My most written about topic has always been sports. I won't go into detail about the game, but congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on winning the NFL Championship. The Seahawks made the New England Patriots offense look like a seventh grade flag football team. I enjoyed the first half and the tough defense displayed by Seattle and New England. The second half wasn't much to see as Seattle exerted its dominance.

Look for more thoughts from an old man in the middle of the Midwest United States.

Happy 2026!

Happy New Year!

2025 was a mixed year for me. Our Mom passed away in mid-July and I'm still grieving her death.

But, in early November I experienced the joy of going back to Europe for a ten day vacation. We visited Portugal and Spain and I am learning to embrace the slower approach to life and living at a slower pace than in the United States. I also found a spot I could move to and become an ex-pat. I will go into that in a future post.

I hope 2026 is your best year yet yet and brings you health, peace, joy and happiness!

Merry Christmas 2025!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  - Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

Home from a Holiday in Europe

The vacation was great! It was a once in a lifetime adventure.  There were five of us on the vacation. Two couples I have known since my early 20s. We left Lambert St. Louis International Airport aboard Lufthansa on Sunday evening November 2nd at 5:25 and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany Monday morning at 9:15. We then changed planes and flew on to Lisbon, Portugal where we spent the next two days. I loved Lisbon and its people. The Portuguese all spoke English (even those my age) and are friendly and eager to help. I enjoyed their national food of Cod, even though most of it is now imported from Scandinavia. They say a good Portuguese cook knows a thousand ways to prepare Cod. The meal prices in Portugal were less expensive than dining out in the States. And there is no tipping because servers there and other European nations are paid a living wage. Much of our sightseeing in Lisbon included the Portuguese age of Discovery and the expeditions sanctioned by the crown and Henry the Discoverer. Ferdinand Magellan and Vasco DeGama are still held in high esteem. Christopher Columbus, not so much.

Monument of the Discoveries - Lisbon, Portugal

After two nights in Lisbon we travelled on to Seville, Spain and spent two nights there. On the way we stopped for lunch in Tavira, Portugal. It's a town of about 25 thousand people 50 kilometers west of the Spanish border and a mile north of the Atlantic Ocean. Because, of it's location it is warm/hot 10 months of the year. I learned there are a large number of ex-pats there from the US, Canada, UK and western European nations. The Spanish are more reserved than the Portuguese and not as outgoing. But, if I tried to speak the little Spanish I know they would eventually loosen up and speak English. Seville is a scenic city on the Guadalquivir River. It's history included Moors from Africa invading the Iberian Peninsula in the 700s and ruling until the early 1500s, when Spanish troops routed them and Queen Isabella booted them out of Spain. The siesta is alive and well in Spain. Late lunches followed by a rest or nap and then back to work to work for a few hours is not uncommon, from what I was told. Dinner doesn't take place until 9 or 9:30 and it is not fast. It is slow food with relatively slow but good service. The food is so good. I ate paella and it is all it's cracked up to be!

Rio Guadalquiver - Seville, Spain

After two nights in Seville the next stop was Madrid. It's a metropolitan area of six million residents. While, Portugal was my favorite nation, Madrid was my favorite city. While there I observed families enjoying life on the weekend in large plazas with markets, cafes, shops, and bars. It was a fun atmosphere where families got together to enjoy life. After navigating the Madrid Subway system I walked past the European Union Parliament building and the US Embassy to Spain, not far from our hotel. I walked past the embassy on a Saturday morning and it was quiet. But, there were still Spanish National Police standing guard, armed with what I believe were AK-47s. The police presence was deliberately visible. The highlight of my time in Madrid was visiting the Prado, a 200 year old art museum in a huge former royal palace. It hosts a large number of Spanish and European masterpieces. It features works by Reubens, Goya, Velazquez, Titian, El Greco and Bosch. There is also a work by Rembrandt hanging in a hard to get to room on the third floor of the Museum. Never did I think I would stand three feet away from a Rembrandt classic.

Plaza Mayor - Madrid, Spain

                                                                        

Museum Prado - Madrid, Spain

From Madrid we continued on to Barçelona in Catalonia. Five million people live in this city on the Mediterranean Sea. Here I ate Tapas for the first time. Tapas are snacks or appetizers. They're also known as "small plates".  Some are as simple as olives or bread with olive oil. Others are elaborate with Iberian Ham, or "Jamon", Fried Squid and a dish called Patatas Bravas. Patatas Bravas are white potatoes cut into bite sized cubes and then fried in Olive Oil and seasoned with a Bravas sauce. Bravas is a sauce made of olive oil, Paprika and tomato sauce. They all were delicious. While we were drinking in a local bar we each got these small plates and shared them.

My visit to Barçelona was highlighted by a visit to Sagrada Familia Church (Sacred Family). It's a Roman Catholic Church that was designed by the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It's been under construction for over 200 years. And they're not done yet, as evidenced by the cranes on the spires several hundred feet above the ground. While in Barçelona I also achieved a goal of mine to walk in another ocean. So, on the last day of vacation we went to the city's beach and walked in the Mediterranean Sea.

                  

                  Sagrada Familia

 Barçelona City Beach - Spain 
     

In between the four cities listed above, We were able to make stops of a few hours each in Cordoba and Zaragoza. Cordoba was an interesting stop showing the history of the country and control by the Moors from the mid eighth century to the sixteenth century. In the 1500's the crown overthrew the Moors and booted both Muslims and Jews out of the country.

Mosque - Church Cordoba, Spain

We also made a short stop in Zaragoza. There was the mandatory Roman Catholic Basilica on the River Ebro to see. But, I was more fascinated by the Christmas Market going up in the plaza housing the Basilica and yet another Roman Catholic Church. Construction workers were busy on Sunday afternoon November 9th, putting up the temporary buildings for the upcoming Christmas Market.

Zaragoza Christmas Market - Spain

Overall, we had a blast but it was not without a few speedbumps. When we left St. Louis we were told because of "weight issues" the A330 would begin boarding but they would not be taking our luggage. Instead we were told they would be put the bags on the next flight to Germany and be couriered to us in Europe. Of the five of us, one of the couples got their bags in Madrid five days in and my friend P got her bag in Barçelona the night before we flew home. I got home after flights from Barçelona to Frankfurt to Denver to St. Louis on the 11th. My suitcase finally showed up on my doorstep on Nov. 18th about 10:45 p.m. A buddy of mine B, finally got his bag on Saturday morning November 22nd (a week and a half after we got home). I survived by washing out socks, underwear and T-shirts each night, I had deliberately put in my carry on bag in the event my big bag got lost. I washed clothes each night when I got back to the hotel and buying clothes as needed in various cities along the way. I also had to buy a new carry-on bag to bring the extra clothes I bought back to my house. I will submit the bills to Lufthansa when I have the time.

Another Long (and Sometimes Boring) World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up the 2025 World Series last night with a four games to three win over the American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays. Last night's game was exciting as the two evenly matched clubs played eleven innings to decide this year's championship. Unfortunately, it was another one dimensional game in which the game was decided by home runs.

I've written of the times of World Series games for the last several years. But, I'm not going into the length and boredom factor of each game as in years past. Here are the actual times of game for each of the seven in the 2025 “Fall Classic.”

Game 1     3:13
Game 2     2:36     This was the most snappily played game of the series.
Game 3     6:39     This was an 18-inning game. Had it been two games, each would have been long.
Game 4     2:54
Game 5     3:02
Game 6     3:02     Yes, it's the exact same length as the previous game.
Game 7     4:07     The game went 11 innings.

All together it was 1533 minutes of baseball. Not all of it was good when nothing happened at the plate due to walks, strikeouts, or hit batsmen. To put it another way, it was 25 and a half hours of  “America's Pastime.” Or, to put it another way, over a day of your life was gone if you watched every single game and every single pitch.

Rather than ignore the time the extra innings added to Game 3 and Game 7, I've calculated the average length two ways. The actual average time of game was 3:39. But, if recalculated using an average time per inning, the number is 20.716 minutes. Then, when that average per inning is multiplied by 9, it results in a time of game of 3:06.

While both times are still way too long for me, it's better than it had been before MLB implemented its time clock to speed up play. It's helped, but now the Major League Baseball powers that be need to go back to the drawing board and shorten the time between pitches.

Random Thoughts in the USA Midwest in the Middle of October

It's raining! Finally, it's raining! Where I live in the Middle of the United States it's been a beautiful fall. We've had daytime highs in the low 80s and night time lows in the upper 50s and low 60s. It's been terrific except for one problem. We haven't had any real rain in over six weeks. I've been watering my garden and bushes every other day. With the nice days the tomatoes have continued to roll in every day. But, as I look out the window now, it's finally raining. Glorious rain! Thank God for small favors!

The rain has motivated me to write a bit since my beloved Missouri Tigers football team is out of town this weekend. The team is now 5-1 having suffered its first loss last weekend in Columbia to a good Alabama team, 27-24. Missouri could have won the game but shot itself in the foot several times and the errors ended up costing Mizzou a win.  Tonight the team is in Auburn, Alabama to take on that breed of Tiger. Mizzou is a one and a half point favorite according to the so called experts.

-Have you been watching any of the Major League Baseball playoffs? I haven't. But, then I never went to a game all season and never watched an entire game on TV including these boring playoffs. MLB continues to focus on the long ball at the expense of other facets of the game. MLB promotional types continue to screw up at every turn. I've written in the past a monkey could do a better job. It's amazing to me how whenever MLB makes a decision its the wrong one. Keep it up MLB and you'll kill the Golden Goose.

-Just to be fair while I haven't watched an entire baseball game all year, I've not watched an entire professional football game either. The pros could care less about me and will never earn my loyalty again after having dumped on me twice when my home town teams moved away to other cities.

-There are some other things I could write about politically where I live. But, I'm not going to change anyone's mind with what I write and they won't change my mind if I let them respond to anything I write. It is what it is. And speaking of off limit topics a friend of mine has a sign he puts up every year at he and his wife's NFL Championship party.  It reads "No elections, no genuflections and no erections!"

Have a great weekend and I will write again soon.

-

Missouri Tiger Football Off to a Great Start

If you read this blog frequently, you know I'm a big fan of college football and specifically the Missouri Tigers. Mizzou is off to a 3-0 start, beating up on cupcakes Central Arkansas and Louisiana (the team formerly known as the University of Louisiana at Monroe).

The Tigers also had a huge win over their archrival Kansas nine days ago on September 7th. The Tigers got down 21-6 ten minutes into the game and then clawed their way back to a 21-21 tie at the half. Missouri dominated the chickenhawks in the second half, outscoring KU 21-10. In the last 50 minutes of the game, Mizzou outscored Kansas 36-10. Mizzou ran away to win the game 42-31.

Mizzou will take its undefeated record into this Saturday night's game against South Carolina (2-1) at Faurot Field in Columbia at 6 p.m. CDT. ESPN will show the game nationally.

Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction

I'm late in posting this, but congratulations to the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class in Canton, Ohio two weeks ago today, on August 2nd.  While I've lost interest in the National Football League, due to its business practices and monopoly, I still have the utmost respect for these players who are among the best to ever play the game.  The 2025 class includes Defensive Back Eric Allen, Defensive End Jared Allen, Tight End Antonio Gates and Wide Receiver Sterling Sharpe.

By clicking the links for each player, it will take you to their induction speech.

Jared Allen

Sterling Sharpe

Eric Allen

Antonio Gates

We've Lost Our Mom

I am going to try and keep this factual but the fact is I am grieving.  We lost our Mom on July 19th and it has been a tough two and a half weeks.  I touched on her fall in my last post in July.

She was in excruciating pain the last two weeks of her life and the medical community did very little to alleviate that pain. I will always hold the hospital where we took her in high contempt.  The nurses were compassionate at times, but the doctors did little for her and unless I demanded to speak to them would not make any effort to give us an update on her daily condition.

Mom was with her family as she celebrated her 98th birthday on July 18th in the hospital.  She was in a lot of pain but did not want people worrying about her.  She was happy to be surrounded by her extended family from her kids to her great grandkids.  She died the next day of an apparent heart attack.  I don't believe her body could take it any more and her heart wore out from the pain and the medications she was on for other illnesses.

We buried her yesterday with our Dad at the National Cemetery here.  The funeral was tough to take and so was the graveside service. Still, I know her soul is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Heaven.  As a Christian we will see each other again on Judgement Day.  I know that my Redeemer Lives!

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!