Free Republic

The Polo Grounds: A Calm Review of Baseball Sunday, September 22, 2002Cursebusters, Inc.? by Jeff Kallman Plans can change. Sometimes, maybe they should. Saturday in Seattle, they certainly should have. Not very nice, Seattle Mariners. The visiting Anaheim Angels were in town Saturday, needing one game to clinch a postseason spot. Who comes out to throw out the ceremonial first pitch? An assassin from yesteryear: Dave Henderson, Boston Red Sox, Class of '86. Talk about the hand that held the dagger thrusting it into the back of the sons who are not supposed to be visited with the sins of...

Braves' Old World by Jeff Kallman Familiarity breeds indifference when not breeding contempt. Exhibit A, the Atlanta Braves; exhibits A-1 and A-1a, Mr. and Mrs. Greg Maddux.Maybe securing the division clinch on their day off had something to do with it. Make no mistake of thinking the Braves earned nothing; they just earned it too soon. They turned a rickety April and a game but grinding May into a June prune, shearing to the hilltop and planting enough thorny thicket behind them to obstruct anyone even thinking about trespassing. It meant Maddux getting to spend what proved clinching day...watching Monday...

Wrestling With The Angels by Jeff Kallman The original Angels In The Outfield, circa 1952, predated the Anaheim Angels franchise by a decade. And that time, it was an orphanage moppet bringing in the divine comedians to get the mojo working for her hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. Stealing a cute film's remade premise (as in, the Danny Glover hit of a few years ago) would not be the grandest theft with which the Angels were ever involved. For that matter, their theft of Nolan Ryan from the New York Mets may not be the grandest theft they have ever gotten away...