Pujols hits 30th HR, Angels drop Toronto into wild-card tie

An article by USA Today

Even in a lost season for the Los Angeles Angels, Albert Pujols has still managed to grow his legacy.

Pujols hit his 590th career home run and the Angels beat Toronto 6-1 Saturday night, dropping the Blue Jays into a tie for the top two AL wild-card spots.

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Gary Sheffield explains what Tim Tebow needs to do to hit in MLB

An article by USA Today

Tim Tebow's foray into baseball came with an immediate endorsement from one of the greatest hitters the sport has ever seen: Nine-time MLB All-Star Gary Sheffield, who, in the wake of Tebow's initial announcement, tweeted that he had spent time in the batting cage with the former college football standout and come away impressed.

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David Ortiz Is Ready to Trot Away

An article by New York Times

On Oct. 1, 1986, at the old Arlington Stadium in Texas, Dave Kingman hit his 35th home run of the season for the Oakland Athletics. About 7,000 fans were there to see it. Kingman finished the season hitting .210 and never played in the majors again.

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Tim Tebow to Pursue a Professional Baseball Career After Training for the Past Year

An article by People Magazine

Tim Tebow is eyeing a return to professional sports – but it won't be in the NFL.

The former quarterback has been working on his baseball skills since last fall, training at facilities in both Arizona and California, and PEOPLE confirms that Tebow is actively working toward a career in the major leagues.

Tebow, 28, has always made it abundantly clear that he is open to new opportunities. After being cut by the Philadelphia Eagles last year, he was optimistic about his future.

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Ortiz Ties Jimmie Foxx for 18th on All-Time Home Runs List

An article by bleacher report

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz moved up another notch on the all-time home run list in Sunday's 10-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals, joining former Red Sox slugger Jimmie Foxx in a tie for 18th place at 534 career home runs, perESPN Stats & Info.

The 40-year-old smacked a 420-foot solo shot to center field off Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura in the fourth inning, cutting an early lead to 2-1 in a game Kansas City would eventually run away with.

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For David Ortiz, All-Star finale a joyous end to 'a couple wonderful days'

An article by USA Today

The typically intense pitcher-batter confrontation takes on a different mien when a retiring legend is playing in his final All-Star Game, especially a player as beloved as David Ortiz.

So it was that Ortiz’s two plate appearances in Tuesday’s showcase, which the American League won 4-2 to secure homefield advantage in the World Series, featured more smiles and joking around than menacing stares.

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David Ortiz Immortalized By Baseball Peers In 'Oral History' Of Big Papi's Career

An article by CBS Boston

Pedro Martinez knows greatness when he sees it. The Hall-of-Famer knew David Ortiz was “Big Papi” before even Ortiz knew.

The Red Sox icons met each other in their native Dominican Republic back in December of 2002, not long after the Minnesota Twins released Ortiz and left his future in doubt. According to an article by Ortiz in thePlayers Tribune, he was sitting in a restaurant feeling sullen about his release when Martinez reacted to it with unexpected glee – because it turned out that Pedro wanted him in Boston and saw the legendary “Big Papi” before anyone else, even Ortiz himself.

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Five most epic 'Farewell Tour' by modern MLB hitters

An article by USA Today

Though David Ortiz regrets disclosing that 2016 will be his final year in the major leagues, fans should be thankful he gave us ample time to appreciate his greatness. Big Papi is treating the fans to one of the finest farewell seasons by a hitter in MLB history.

With 3.2 wins above replacement already accumulated through 64 games played, he’s on pace to set a career high in WAR at 40 years old. That’s absurd, but as this week’s Weekly Rotation will show, it somehow understates how legendary his final campaign could be compared to other swan song seasons.

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Slugger Reggie Jackson launches site targeting $36B car parts business

An article by USA Today

Not far from a busy highway intersection sits a low-slung warehouse of an unremarkable nature.

But step inside Reggie’s Garage and you enter a fantasyland that splits its allegiance between major league baseball memories and American muscle car totems.

That’s because the Reggie in question goes by the last name Jackson, the baseball Hall of Famer and Yankee legend – go ahead, call him Mr. October, he’ll just smile – whose passion for automobiles dates back to helping his father fix the vans used in the family’s dry cleaning business in rural Wyncote, Penn.

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Albert Pujols Finally Homered Against All 30 MLB Teams

An article by Liz Roscher, Big League Stew

Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels has played in the majors for nearly 16 years. And in that time, he had hit home runs against 29 teams. There was just one team missing — until Thursday night.

Of course, it makes perfect sense that the St. Louis Cardinals were Pujols' last homer-less team. He played for them for 11 years, which made it impossible for him to smash a dinger against them during that time. And even though it's been four years since he joined the Angels, they're in the American League and they don't normally play games against the Cards.

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MLB's 100-WAR club: Who is next?

An article by Sports on Earth

Despite baseball's statistical revolution, the career milestones we tend to look at remain the traditional ones -- 3,000 hits, 500 home runs or 300 wins -- even if they have lost a bit of their luster.

Yet 100 wins above replacement (WAR) -- the Baseball Reference version -- has a lot to offer as a milestone. It's a round number, it's incredibly difficult to reach and it puts position players and pitchers together in one category. True, WAR is far from a perfect metric, but it comes closer than any other single number to summing up a player's contributions.

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Ortiz Regrets Announcing Retirement Before Season

An article by Yahoo! Sports

Even by David Ortiz standards, the Boston Red Soxslugger is in the midst of a career year. Entering Monday's game the 40-year-old leads MLB in doubles (29), slugging percentage (.710), OPS (1.133) and total bases (164).

But Ortiz's success at the plate this season has nothing to do with the fact he regrets announcing his retirement before the season.

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Baseball Has Yet to Deliver Greatest Tribute to Jackie Robinson

An article by Sports of the Times

For me, Jackie Robinson day is a celebration of struggle and perseverance, a reminder that hope and progress in civil rights are often mistimed allies.

There are steps forward, then back, with incremental advances to show for them. The process is frustrating and frequently demoralizing, and it shaves years off the lives of the pioneers and activists who have been compelled by conscience or circumstance to challenge the status quo.

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Pujols hits 574th homer in Angels' 7-3 loss to A's

An article by USA Today

The Los Angeles Angels hit three homers and finished with 13 hits. Still, it wasn't enough to end their longest losing streak of the season.

Coco Crisp hit a two-run single and scored four times, helping the Oakland Athletics beat the Angels 7-3 on Saturday night.

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Former MLB executive settles sex discrimination lawsuit against Frank Robinson

An article by New York Daily News

A former exec at the commissioner of Major League Baseball’s office has settled her sex discrimination lawsuit against Frank Robinson, according to court filings.

Sylvia Lind, the former MLB director of baseball initiatives, sued the famed slugger and league in December 2014, alleging the organization was a boys club that passed women over for under-qualified men.

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Why David Ortiz Still Plans on Retiring Despite His Amazing Start

An article by Yahoo Sports

Earlier this week, after another age-defying night, David Ortiz received a text message from a friend: “Man, you’re [expletive] your retirement up!” Ortiz laughed, because what else could he do? He is 40 years old. For the first six weeks of what he said would be his last season, he was the best hitter in baseball. That’s what everyone knew. They didn’t understand that it hurts Ortiz just to walk. And the energy it takes to steel his mind against his own second-guessing, let alone others’. And here was a friend – a Yankees fan no less – telling Ortiz not to go, not yet.

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Slowly, Mark McGwire Makes His Way Back to the Field: 'It's a great feeling'

An article by USA Today

The biggest bench coach in baseball is leaning against the dugout railing at Petco Park, bat in hand, sunglasses in place, talking about his great new gig and his managerial debut. It came here last week against the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the third inning of the 14th game of the San Diego Padres season, after the man who hired him, rookie manager Andy Green, got tossed for arguing a botched balk call.

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Hall of Fame's Anti-Recency Bias

An article by Sports on Earth

In baseball history, I believe we now have what I would call an "anti-recency bias," believing what we have just witnessed can't be nearly as important as what has come before it. Deeds we have seen with our own eyes can't possibly measure up to the feats that now have the imprimatur of history. Baseball has a powerful nostalgia engine working full-time. Books and columns are churned out year after year, emboldening the belief in the greatness of old-time players. Players from the cable era were far more exposed, with every bad start, and every blown postseason save on national display. It's a new twist to the old Groucho Marx line, where we wouldn't want any part of a club that would have one of our own generation as a member.

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The His-Story of MLB's Best Starts

An article by Sports on Earth

At the beginning of a season, everything that happens -- good or bad -- is under a microscope.

A hot streak in June is just a hot streak, but when one arrives right out of the gate, it stands out with no other previous numbers there to obscure it. The question is, does this represent the first step toward a great season, or simply a small-sample blip that just happens to be coming during the opening week?

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Meet Tony Clark, The Most Important Man In Baseball

An article by Mark Waldon (Huffington Post Sports)

Tony Clark was a 20-year-old minor leaguer when he walked into the Negro Leagues exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He made the drive from nearby Niagara Falls, where he had an off day from practice in the Single-A New York-Penn League. For hours, he soaked up the history of his sport — and of men who, like him, were black and, unlike him, would never have the opportunity to play Major League Baseball.

Three years later, the Detroit Tigers summoned Clark to the big leagues for the first time. He made his debut on Sept. 3, 1995 — a tumultuous time for baseball. Just 13 months prior, baseball players had launched a high-stakes strike that resulted in the cancellation of the World Series. The league Clark entered was still grappling with the reputational damage done by the 232-day dispute, which at the time was the longest in American professional sports history.

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