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wrote yesterday about broadcasters, but I wish I didn't have to write this one: the legendary Ernie Harwell, voice of the Tigers for 42 years, has incurable cancer. Harwell is 91. The grace and strength with which he is responding to this news is staggering, but not surprising. I have had the pleasure of knowing Harwell a little bit through the years, and he is one of the finest people I have ever met in baseball. When I wrote a story about broadcasters last year, I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Harwell telling me he liked the piece....

<p>BOSTON (Sept. 2) -- Curt Schilling, the former major league pitcher who won the allegiance of Bostonians by leading the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series, said Wednesday that he has "some interest'' in running for the seat held for nearly 50 years by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Schilling, a registered independent and longtime Republican supporter, wrote on his blog that while his family and video gaming company, 38 Studios, are high priorities, "I do have some interest in the possibility.'" "That being said, to get to there, from where I am today, many, many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen,'' he added. Any other comment "would be speculation on top of speculation,'' Schilling said, adding, "My hope is that whatever happens, and whomever it happens to, this state makes the decision and chooses the best person -- regardless of sex, race, religion or political affiliation -- to help get this state back to the place it deserves to be." Schilling refused to comment when his office was contacted by phone. The 42-year-old lives in suburban Medfield and campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2004 and Sen. John McCain in 2008. As a player, he won three World Series, in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox. He became a Sox legend when he won Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series while blood from an injured ankle seeped through his sock. He retired in March. He and his wife, Shonda, have four children ages 7 to 14.</p>

ST. PETERSBURG -- Former right-hander Curt Schilling -- who has always had an interest in politics -- confirmed Wednesday that he has been contacted about running for the seat vacated by late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died last week after a prolonged bout with brain cancer. While acknowledging how busy he is in his post-playing career, Schilling did not rule out the possibility of making a run at the Senate. Schilling retired from baseball in March and currently runs an online game-development company called 38 Studios. "While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority,...

BOSTON — Curt Schilling, the former major league pitcher who won the allegiance of Bostonians by leading the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series, said Wednesday that he has "some interest" in running for the seat held for nearly 50 years by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Schilling, a registered independent and longtime Republican supporter, wrote on his blog that while his family and video gaming company, 38 Studios, are high priorities, "I do have some interest in the possibility." "That being said, to get to there, from where I am today, many, many things would have to align...

BOSTON -- Curt Schilling, the former major league pitcher who won the allegiance of Bostonians by leading the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series, said Wednesday that he has "some interest" in running for the seat held for nearly 50 years by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Curt Schilling, best known for his bloody-sock pitching heroics, may step up to the plate and run for U.S. Senate. The retired Red Sox [team stats] ace said today in a telephone interview with NECN that even though his “plate is full,” he’s been contacted to consider a run for the open seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy. A Jan. 19 special election has been set by the governor to fill the post.

In a ruling with broad implications for computer privacy, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that federal investigators went too far when they seized the digital records of a drug testing company and kept the results of confidential drug tests performed on all Major League baseball players during the 2002 season. According to published reports, 104 players tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. The names of four of them — Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and (now retired) Sammy Sosa — were leaked to the press by an anonymous source or sources. The court...

The federal appeals court ruling against the government Wednesday in the long running Major League Baseball drug-testing case has several far-reaching ramifications. The decision means that leaking the names of steroid-tainted players to Sports Illustrated and The New York Times likely constituted crimes, and that an investigation could be launched to identify the leakers. It also means that the blockbuster revelations about steroid cheating by Alex Rodriguez(notes), Sammy Sosa(notes), Manny Ramirez(notes) and David Ortiz(notes) were based on evidence gathered in an illegal search by lead BALCO investigating agent Jeff Novitzky. Unless the Ninth Circuit decision is successfully appealed to the...

In the category of baseball controversies that not only don't die but don't even taper off a little bit, we have now had two decades of the argument regarding Pete Rose. We have come to the 20th anniversary of Rose accepting a lifetime ban from baseball for gambling on baseball. In every single moment during these 20 years, you could start a heated debate among baseball fans anywhere, by uttering these four simple words: "What about Pete Rose ..." It is a classic debate. Against Rose is the fact that he violated the game's first commandment: Don't bet on baseball....

NEW YORK (AP) - Second baseman Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to end the Philadelphia Phillies' wild 9-7 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday. It was the 15th unassisted triple play in major league history—the second that ended a game. Detroit Tigers first baseman Johnny Neun also accomplished the feat on May 31, 1927, completing a 1-0 victory over Cleveland, according to STATS LLC. Bruntlett's triple play preserved a win for Pedro Martinez in his return to New York and quashed a Mets rally against closer Brad Lidge. With runners on first and second in the...

Transaction Still Needs Court, MLB Approval CHICAGO (CBS) ― It's dragged on longer than the Brett Favre "I'm retired, I'm not retired" saga, but the Chicago Tribune reported Friday that its parent company's sale of the Cubs has been finalized, according to CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicag. The paper says the Ricketts family will shell out about $900 million for the team, Wrigley Field, and a 25 percent share in Comcast SportsNet Chicago. "Our family is thrilled to have reached an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs, one of the most storied franchises in sports," said...

20-7 Yanks. I just wish the game would be over already. It's embarassing for the Red Sox, and given the propensity for the Yanks to give up leads, potentially embarrassing for them.Pitching, pitching, pitching.

Big league Hall of Famer Jim Rice opened the World Series for Little Leaguers with a fiery speech that even the grumpiest of grumpy old men could appreciate. The message: Don't look up to today's players because they're all bums. Rice explained that the All-Star chumps you see today, can't compare to genuine American heroes of Jim Rice's day. They didn't have the rock and roll and the drugs back then, so their old timey brand of baseball was pure and good. Unlike the kind you see from that hippie Derek Jeter. Guys that I played against and with, these...

After retrieving a loose ball he wanted tossed out in the fourth inning, [Toronto Blue Jays] rookie left-hander Brett Cecil — forgetting to call timeout first — chucked the live ball into the Jays dugout as he walked back to the mound. Umpires sent Jason Bay, who had walked to lead off, to third base because Cecil had thrown the ball out of play. Bay had stopped briefly at second; Cecil's error was so unusual, it took umps a moment to realize Bay deserved another base. Cecil threw up his arms at first as if to ask, "What did I...

<p>CHICAGO (WBBM/AP) - The daylong search is over and the person believed to be beer tosser has turned himself in, police said.</p> <p>During the fifth inning of Wednesday night's Cubs-Phillies game, one Wrigley Field bleacher dweller took out his frustration with the Cubs' poor performance on Shane Victorino.</p>

In a recent Los Angeles Times article, the conclusion was drawn that Vin Scully will retire after 61 years as the Dodgers' announcer following next season. Since this is Scully's 60th year it had been speculated he might retire after this one. But Scully made it clear that won’t be the case.

"WHAT'S up, old friend?" I asked the other day. But there was no response. The old friend was muffled, muzzled, unable to say anything, trapped in his new black straitjacket. I looked at him sadly. He looked back silently. I wanted to offer comfort, but what could you say? What could you do? "Thanks for the memories," I said, walking away. And Yankee Stadium -- the old one, the real one, the one presently wrapped by black scaffolding as it undergoes a painful transformation from national treasure and civic landmark to picked-apart, torn-asunder rubble -- didn't say a word. Noble...

The MLB supports Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, despite all the alligations against Michael Jackson.

The late-afternoon news coming from the car radio was stunning. The report was that Thurman Munson had been killed in Ohio, something about an airplane accident. Details were sketchy, but the words were chilling: Thurman Munson was dead at age 32

...Vin Scully, thought to be retiring this winter after 60 seasons, said this week he is planning on coming back for one more summer. Scully, 81, said if he continues to feel well he will work past his landmark year and retire after the 2010 season...

Boston's erstwhile slugging duo reportedly on list of 104 According to lawyers who spoke to the The New York Times, and whose names were not revealed, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the list of 104 players who tested positive in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing for performance-enhancing drugs, testing that was agreed to and conducted only on the condition that the results would remain anonymous. Ortiz and Ramirez were members of the Boston Red Sox at the time and helped the club end an 86-year streak in which they hadn't won a World Series. Results from the...

According to a New York Times report, both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list of roughly 100 major leaguers to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The report cites unidentified lawyers with knowledge of the results for the information

COOPERSTOWN - Thanks to the behind-the-scenes lobbying from some of the most influential Hall of Famers, commissioner Bud Selig is said to be seriously considering lifting Pete Rose's lifetime suspension from baseball. The tip-off that Selig may now be inclined to pardon baseball's all-time hit king was Hank Aaron's seemingly impromptu interview session with a small group of reporters in the lobby of the Otesaga Hotel on Saturday. In declaring for the first time that he would want an asterisk put on the achievements of any steroid cheats elected to the Hall of Fame, Aaron brought up Rose, who, in...

That’s second, after Albert Pujols, according to Baseball Prospectus’ WARP statistical survey. It is not obvious that he is the second best position player (excluding pitchers) this year in both leagues, for these three reasons. First, his batting, while 13th best 13th best in the majors, is actually quite a bit better than that--it is obscured because he plays half his games in the second worst ballpark for offense in the big leagues. On a neutral field he is actually baseball's 9th best batter. Second, his "peripheral" skills add substantially to his value. Rather than being a one-dimensional slugger, he...

ABC News’ Karen Travers, Jon Garcia and Rachel Martin report: Just minutes after pitching a perfect game, Chicago White Sox Mark Buehrle was pulled out of his post-game press conference to take a phone call from one very well-known fan. On the line was President Obama, an avowed White Sox supporter, calling to congratulate Buehrle on throwing the 18th perfect game in major league history and the first since 2004. On his way to the airport, to fly from Cleveland to his hometown of Chicago, Obama learned via email from a staffer back at the White House that the White...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Click to enlarge 1 of 1 AP Mark Buehrle has accomplished one of the rarest feats in all of sports: a perfect game. The White Sox pitcher shut down the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0. There was a tense moment in the night inning, when DeWayne Wise made a spectacular catch in center field to preserve Buehrle's gem. Wise sprinted into deep center field to take away what would have been a home run off the bat of Gabe Kapler. "I was just hoping it didn't have enough distance to get out of here," Buehrle said. The Rays'...

INDIANAPOLIS (June 23) - The son of former New York Yankees star first baseman Don Mattingly was arraigned Wednesday on misdemeanor charges of shoving his mother and spitting in her face after she allegedly sent him an insulting text message. The case against Taylor Mattingly, 24, was deferred so he can apply for a pretrial diversion program, said Angela Watson, director of the program for the Vanderburgh County prosecutor's office. Mattingly expressed an interest in the program during his court appearance, where he was not represented by an attorney, she said. He is scheduled to appear in court again Sept....

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2009 – Military children and their families were honored here yesterday by a troop-support group and others when the Washington Nationals took on the New York Mets. Left to right, Riley Anderson, his sister, Olivia, and his brother, Adrian, participate in Tribute to Our Troops, July 21, 2009. Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals, Careerbuilder.com’s "Mission Get Hired" program and troop-support group Our Military Kids joined together for the event at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. As part of this event, 1,500 tickets were given to military families to enjoy an evening of baseball. Riley Anderson threw out...

...I've started...an internal debate as to what the greatest achievement we've ever seen by an old baseball codger happens to be. For my money it has to be Nolan Ryan's record seventh no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 1991. Nolan was 44 years old at the time and had pitched his first no-no 18 years earlier. Still two years away from pummeling a randy Robin Ventura, Ryan struck out 16 batters. Also, not only did Ryan throw 122 pitches that day, but he had thrown 131 in his previous start, presumably using only Advil to alleviate the...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (July 20, 2009) — While the national television and radio audience may not have known it, Fort Leonard Wood soldiers took center stage at last week’s All-Star baseball game in St. Louis, with more than a hundred personnel from the post joining in a flag ceremony in front of President Barack Obama and tens of thousands of fans. Waynesville R-VI School Board member Randy Walters, who attended the game, thanked Mike Warren, the post’s representative to the school district, during Monday night’s school board meeting. “Fort Leonard Wood had a tremendous presence there. The 5th Engineers,...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (July 18, 2009) — Two major conferences are coming later this month to Fort Leonard Wood, one of them featuring John Ashcroft, Missouri’s former governor and the nation’s former attorney general, speaking on combating weapons of mass destruction in a post-9/11 environment. Ashcroft’s speech will be part of the Joint Senior Leaders’ Course, held from July 23 to 25, which focuses on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear training being offered by Fort Leonard Wood’s CBRN School. Another conference will be held at Fort Leonard Wood the following week that specifically focuses on foreign military issues of...

If you need to recall what National Pride feels like, take a moment to view this video. Please keep the comments to the event of Oct. 30, 2001. (The MSM gave King Obama enough accolades over his 1st pitch already!)Video of a great American moment!

If you're a sports fan, you have to feel good that one among us works in the Oval Office. -snip-- Which brings us to his ceremonial first pitch Tuesday night at the All-Star Game. How best to put this? He throws like a ... wait, I'm not going to say it. It's not worth the protests by the U.S. women's national softball team that inevitably will blossom outside Tribune Tower. Let's just say he throws like someone who hardly has played sports. If the Cardinals' Albert Pujols hadn't stepped up and made a catch, Obama's pitch would have bounced in...

Those of you who watched the beginning of the All Star game last night will have noticed that, when President Obama threw the first pitch, the camera shot was a close-up that made it impossible to see whether his pitch was on target. I found this odd, and so did Andy McCarthy. I'll make an educated guess that this was done at the insistence of the White House to prevent embarrassment in case Obama's pitch was a poor one. To be sure, the White House ultimately could not prevent everyone from seeing a bad pitch (YouTube and all of that),...

Not bad.

Yes there is political significance of a girly pitch

Video: http://butasforme.com/2009/07/16/video-jimmy-kimmel-pokes-fun-at-obamas-first-pitch-at-all-star-game-man-up-mr-president/

July 16, 2009 A Real Curve for White Sox Fans Matthew May So the President of the United States cannot throw a baseball with any sort of velocity or modicum of athletic grace. So what? He is at best an average basketball player, but it's easy to look great when you aren't being guarded. Certainly it would be gravy for baseball fans if all of our chiefs were able to duplicate what George W. Bush did at Yankee Stadium during the 2001 World Series. It would be lovely if they could fondly reminisce about their own days in the sandlots...

In which CNN totally redeems itself for the other mom-themed political video they foisted on us today. Watch closely here and you’ll see the tweet that was sent to me last night — and which I linked in our post about The One throwing out the first pitch — flash by for a second or two. Good lord: Did Hot Air launch the Obama “mom jeans” meme? Behold my proudest moment as a blogger, my friends.

In which CNN totally redeems itself for the other mom-themed political video they foisted on us today. Watch closely here and you’ll see the tweet that was sent to me last night — and which I linked in our post about The One throwing out the first pitch — flash by for a second or two. Good lord: Did Hot Air launch the Obama “mom jeans” meme? Behold my proudest moment as a blogger, my friends.

There is a center field camera angle of Obama's ceremonial first pitch about 28 seconds into the video.

Some pundits are using President Barack Obama's throwing out the first pitch at the 2009 All Stars Baseball game to find a new way to criticize him. Apparently, though it was not readily apparent to TV audience, Obama throws like a girl. The account by Examiner Larry Amon was typical. "Yesterday, at the major league all star game President Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Now politically this doesn't matter much but for a president who has carefully crafted his image, especially as a sports enthusiast, it's worth noting that President Obama is not much of a baseball player....

On Wednesday’s CBS Early Show co-host Russ Mitchell described President Obama’s lackluster first pitch at Tuesday night’s All-Star game in St. Louis: "And it appears President Obama has a wicked sinker."

Barack Obama Booed at the All-Star Game in St. Louis On Tuesday! And, he threw a sissy pitch: It's going to be a rough 4 years. He's only been in office 5 months and he's already getting booed. ...And protested.

The more debatable point from the historic moment was the reception the President was afforded by the self-described "best fans in baseball." Though Obama was roundly cheered by the All-Star fans, his live presence still didn't attract the applause that George W. Bush did during a taped announcement by the four previous Presidents before the game and some boos could even be heard among the cheers.

Here is video from last night's All-Star game where President Obama joined Fox announcer Joe Buck and analyst Tim McCarver in the booth for part of an inning. As they talked, Joe Buck said to Obama, "no bailout for the National League," referring to the National Leagues woes of not winning the All-Star game for the last 13 years, to which Obama replied, "We're out of money." As the old saying goes, "Many a truth are said in jest." Thanks to Obama, we are out of money. . . . . (Watch Video)

We thought St. Louis liked Barack Obama, but the audio tells a different tale. Much different. We're not sure what the unemployment rate is in the city (it is 9.7% nationally), but from the sounds of things, it might be relatively higher in Missouri than in other parts of the USA. What makes this reaction so shocking is that St. Louis was one of the crucial urban centers which Obama carried in 2008 that enabled him to closely contest the state of Missouri against John McCain. Obama won only about five counties in the entire state, but one was St....

Here is video of a President Obama interview with Bob Costas where he got the name of his favorite team's ballpark wrong, calling it "Cominskey Park," instead of the correct name - "Comiskey Park." Obama claims to be a big White Sox fan, even talking about having gone to games there, while he inexplicably got the name wrong. . . . . . (Watch Video)

On Today's Show... July 15, 2009   This President Throws Like a Girl  (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) He may be an athletic supporter, but that pitch didn't make it over the plate. It just didn't. » Video:  Obama Pitches It » Video:  George W. Bush Throws a Strike Just After 9/11 » S&L: Fox Hides Fact Obama Throws Like Girl » Andy McCarthy:  Meet Me in St. Booie!   Obama called Comiskey Park "Cominsky Field." Must be 'cause he was raised by communists.   State-Run Media Reports Limbaugh Effect on Sonia Sotomayor Hearings   "If I were advising these Senators like the press...