Getting drafted by a pro team guarantees nothing. History is filled with people who are picked high but who never live up to their potential. No one can ever say that about Barry Larkin. If anything, he went beyond expectations. Taken as the fourth overall pick in the 1985 draft, Larkin has landed in the […]
It’s a scene played out all over the country — and even outside the country — during baseball’s off-season. Big-league players make appearances, either for money, as a favor or out of a sense of gratitude. Whatever the reason, you never know what effect these visits can have. It’s like a stone thrown into a […]
Marge Schott, former owner of the Cincinnati Reds, once fired some of her scouts, famously saying that “all they do is watch baseball games.” Yes, and once they watch those games, they must answer this question: Which young players have the best chance of becoming a big-league star? It’s a tricky question in which scouts […]
What comes first, winning or team chemistry? There will likely never be an answer to that, but baseball writer Joe Strauss takes a close look at the issue of clubhouse dynamics in today’s St. Louis Post Dispatch. On baseball’s Opening Day, Strauss discusses some of the St. Louis Cardinals’ off-season moves through the prism of […]
Sparky Anderson, who managed three World Series champions in a Hall of Fame career, has died. The secret to his success? ”He understood people better than anyone I ever met. His players loved him, he loved his players, and he loved the game of baseball,” said Pete Rose, one of the stars who flourished under […]