The Day in Baseball – April 15

Today is a special day as every player in baseball will be wearing the number 42 as a tribute to Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in major league baseball. A year ago I wrote my thoughts down about Jackie Robinson – how special a person he was, and what his lasting legacy would be. It’s still as poignant today as it was then. Here is the link to Here’s to You Mr. Robinson.

Jacoby Ellsbury can’t take deep breaths without having a sharp pain in his side. I’m no doctor, but that sounds like a serious issue with his rib cage. That return date of Friday isn’t going to happen. Ellsbury will go for more tests on Friday to determine what’s going on and if a DL stint is needed.

Jose Guillen is a man on a mission. Whether that mission is to return to relevance on the ball field, to work his way out of Kansas City, or just to be healthy again, Guillen is making noise. He has certainly placed his stamp on the season having gong deep in each of the past four games with a total of five homers and eight RBI. Don’t forget that Guillen has gone deep at least 20 times in each of his last five healthy seasons during which time he has averaged 92 RBI a season (he had only 241 at-bats in 2006 and just 281 last season). As for the last part, he obviously seems healthy, a fact that he no longer takes for granted after he literally feared for his life this offseason because of blood clots. “The doctor started talking about dying,” he said. “I didn’t even know what a blood clot was. It was so bad that I couldn’t feel my legs.” You can read more about the harrowing experience at Guillen Almost Died.

Francisco Liriano looked like the “old” Liriano today. He threw seven shutout innings against the Red Sox striking out eight. If he throws strikes this season, he could have a ton of success given that he has rediscovered about three mph on his fastball and some bite on that once nasty slider.

Bud Norris – that’s a young arm I really like. He may struggle at times since he really doesn’t have a third pitch, but when he is on, he can dominate batters. He did just that on Thursday allowing the Cardinals only a single unearned run in five innings. He whiffed nine in the victory.

I was pleasantly surprised today watching Scott Olsen pitch today. I know he gave up four runs in 5.2 innings to the Phillies, but he actually pitched much better than that – though I still wouldn’t count on him to be effective enough to be a weekly option in NL-only league. At the same time, I wasn’t at all impressed by J.A. Happ who continues to work with a massive rabbit’s foot in his pocket. Somehow he didn’t allow an earned runs despite walking six batters in 5.1 innings. He’s walked eight guys in 10.1 innings this season yet he owns a 1.65 ERA. Just like I said last year, a correction is a coming.

David Ortiz is hitting .154 with 13 Ks in 26 at-bats, and all you hear about is the fact that he could be the worst hitter in the history of baseball, which makes me wonder – why is it that J.D. Drew is basically getting a pass despite being just as awful (.143 with 13 Ks in 28 at-bats)?

I’m totally shocked that Jeff Suppan gave up four runs in five innings in his season debut. Actually the only shock is that it was only four runs.

Carlos Zambrano threw 123 pitches today — and only lasted five innings. Besides the stupidity of allowing anyone to throw that many pitches in just five innings, how could anyone let someone do that in the second week of the regular season? And people say that Dusty Baker abuses his pitchers.

By Ray Flowers

Here's to You Mr. Robinson

On Wednesday major league baseball paid tribute to one of the greatest men even to don a uniform. Jackie Robinson, the man who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, persevered despite racism, death threats and extremely vocal scorn from a large portion of the country back before the time of racial equality in this country (hard to believe it was less than 65 years ago). In my report today I’ll touch on Robinson’s playing career and his lasting legacy.

After a superb college career at UCLA that included being the first athlete in school history to letter in four sports (baseball, basketball, football and track), Robinson entered the U.S. Army. He then played a year of baseball in the Negro Leagues, before Branch Rickey of the Dodgers brought him into the fold in major league baseball.

Robinson proceeded to dazzle the American public with talent that made the color of his skin irrelevant. In his first season he won the Rookie of the Year award hitting .297 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI while scoring 125 runs and swiping 29 bags. He finished fifth in the NL MVP race. In year two Robinson was equally solid hitting .296-12-85-108-22, but it was his third season in which he really broke out as he produced one of the best seasons ever by a second baseman.

In 1949, at the rather advanced age of 30 for a third year player, Robinson won the NL MVP thanks to hitting .342, mark that lead the league. Robinson also led the league with 37 steals as he went deep 16 times at the dish. Robinson also scored 122 times and knocked in 124 runs with a .960 OPS in a truly majestic season.

All told, Robinson was named to the All-Star team six times, won the Rookie of the Year, one MVP award and finished in the top-16 in NL MVP voting eight times in just 10 major league seasons. His career was all too brief given his late start, but his impact will never be forgotten.

And that leads to my comment on his legacy. Robinson’s work on the field was superb, but it is what he meant to social change and the growth of America that will never be forgotten. There may have been better players of non-European decent than Robinson who graced the baseball diamonds of this land prior to 1947, but he was the perfect man to break the color barrier. Robinson was a man of integrity and honor, and obviously his ability to concentrate despite the death threats and drama that surrounded him on a daily basis must have been acute.

As a result, this great man was honored on Wednesday as every player on every major league team wore Robinson’s number of 42. While I fully support the belief that this man should be remembered every year, I think MLB should refine how it goes about doing it. To this end, I have read elsewhere an idea I support. Instead of having every player where the number, why not let each team vote one player to where the number on the anniversary of the day Robinson broke the color barrier? That way not only would Robinson be honored, but each team could also honor one of its players as well. I mean I’m all for Rich Aurilia wearing #42, but wouldn’t it have more meaning if it was on the back of Fred Lewis? In addition to the honor on the field, perhaps major league baseball could then gather all thirty team’s #42 jerseys and have a huge auction to the public of the game worn jerseys to raise money for the Jackie Robinson Foundation. To me, that would be an even more befitting honor for the man who finally proved to everyone that it’s not about the color of your skin that matters; it’s about the heart that beats beneath it.

Cheers to you, Mr. Robinson, wherever you are.