It's Jackie Robinson Day, Everybody!

In 1997, Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s number 42.

Now, I didn’t need to tell any of you that, but did you know that even though teams couldn’t release the number…seven players still wore the number following the league-wide retirement?

Perhaps.

If you’ve ever checked out Craig Robinson’s brilliant website Flip Flop Fly Ball…you’ve no doubt seen his “42” chart. The “infographic” breaks down, by team, the last player to have don the number.

The list is varied and, as you would expect, so are the seven guys who wore the number following the retirement of Jackie Robinson’s iconic 42.

So on this eighth anniversary of “Jackie Robinson Day”…let’s remember the last seven guys to wear 42 in the Majors.

Butch Huskey (1993-2000)
Huskey exploded onto the New York scene in 1996 with the Mets, but never quite lived up to expectations. He was out of baseball before he even turned 30. Thanks to the grandfather clause, Huskey was allowed to wear Number 42 for as long as he wanted…he changed his number to 44 in 1999 while with the Red Sox, but then reverted to 42 with the Twins.

Lenny Webster (1989-2000)
Webster played for five different teams during his 12-year career, but only appeared in more than 100 games in one season…1998 with the Baltimore Orioles. The catcher is the last played to wear Number 42 for the O’s.

Scott Karl (1995-2000)
Primarily a starter throughout his six-year Major League career, Karl is the last player to have worn Number 42 for the Milwaukee Brewers. Most recently, he has been in venture capital.

Mo Vaughn (1991-2003)
Vaughn hit .293 over the span of his 12-year big league career. He hit 328 career home runs, took home the American League MVP in 1995 and has the unique distinction of being the last player to wear Number 42 for three different teams (Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and the, then Anaheim Angels). Currently, “The Hit Dog” is the owner of a trucking company outside of Cleveland.

Michael Jackson (1986-2004)
Journeyman reliever Jackson pitched for eight different teams during his 17-year career. His 1005 games played ranks him 13th all-time among pitchers…three more than Hall of Fame closer Goose Gossage. Jackson is tied with Paul Assenmacher for the most games pitched in the 1990s with 644. He is also the last player to wear Number 42 for the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians.

Jose Lima (1994-2006)
Lima’s personality was much bigger and brighter than his overall game. Sure, he went 21-10 and was an All-Star in 1999, but outside of that…dude was 89-102 with a 5.26 ERA for his career. Sadly, “Lima Time” was cut short when the pitcher dies last May. He was 37-years-old.

Mariano Rivera (1995-Present)
Enter Sandman. Now, if Jackie Robinson is the greatest hitter to have worn Number 42…pitcher Rivera might just be the best player to have worn the number on his back. At 564 career saves, he's 38 saves away from becoming the all-time leader in the category. Can he do it? “Mo” started the season 43 back and that’s a total he's topped six times in his career...so it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

As a sidenote, while baseball has retired Number 42 league-wide for Jackie Robinson…only one team has retired it for someone else.

In 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals retired the number for Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter.

Suffice it to say, whenever Rivera decides to hang up the spikes…he’ll have his number retired by the New York Yankees.

You can count on it.

Below is the graph listed above.  Click that sucker to make it bigger!

Carlos Delgado to Hang it Up for Good

If you follow any of the numerous reports out there...former slugger Carlos Delgado will be announcing his retirement Wednesday.
It's been pretty much a foregone conclusion given dude can't seem to get his hip 100% or find a ride.

But what about those Hall of Fame chances?

As I've written before, Delgado's career totals of a .280 batting average, 473 home runs and 1512 RBI are impressive. Unfortunately, the climate of today's baseball frontier is such that if you didn't produce those numbers over the span of a 17-year career...it is pretty much deemed a failure of sorts.

But...no hardware to speak of, only two All-Star appearances and a mere 2038 hits?  Yeah, Delgado is going to need a little more to get my support.

Overall, if you look at Delgado's numbers, he stacks up rather favorably to some players already in the Hall of Fame. Among those players (according to Baseball-Reference) are legends Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey and Duke Snider.

Of the more recent players on the list, Delgado matches up well with Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga. The problem? None of the three of them are considered shoe-ins...and neither should Delgado.

The Cansecos Speak!

Alright, alright...JOSE Canseco speaks. Ozzie just sits there and kinda listens and nods his head.

In what is the first of hopefully many videos that the Yuma Scorpions will put out between now and the beginning of the season, their newly minted player/manager Jose Canseco talks about what he and twin brother Ozzie will bring to the ballclub.

Let the promotional circus begin!

***Warning: The audio is wicked low.***

David Ortiz's Annual Triple is in the Books

In an effort to take the focus off their miserable start, David Ortiz legged out his annual triple Monday night against Tampa Bay.

Sure, the Red Sox ended up losing (again), but with the three-bagger, the slugger joins Detroit Tigers outfielder Carlos Guillen as the only two players to have had at least one triple every year since 2000.

Yeah...we're talking twelve straight seasons!

Second on the active leaders list (Ortiz's new teammate Carl Crawford leads everyone with 105 triples), Johnny Damon with 100 career triples, will join the pair when he gets his.

For his career, "Big Papi" has 16 triples. And to put things in perspective (or not), career triples leader, Hall of Famer Sam Crawford, has 309 and 13 times over his 19 year career, he had 15 or more.

But here's the kicker, gang, the Red Sox and Ortiz's former team, the Minnesota Twins are 11-4 in the 15 games where Ortiz has reached third without stopping first for oxygen at either of the previous two bases.

An interesting sidenote...one of those three losses (an 8-3 victory by the Orioles July 22, 2004) marks the only game where Ortiz hit two triples in one contest.

Both times he was left stranded at third.

ANOTHER Caray Enters the Broadcast Booth

Last week, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs announced that the grandson of legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray will be joining "Crustacean Nation" for the upcoming baseball season.

Josh Caray is the latest Caray to sit down behind the microphone as he follows his grandfather (Harry), father (Skip) and brother (Chip) into the family business

Caray will be in the Crabs broadcast booth and call all 126 games on BroadcastMonsters.com with live video webcasts set on ibnsports.com. Their season begins April 29.

This is the part of this post where I'm supposed to elaborate further and say something clever about the "apple not falling far from the tree" right?

Not. Gonna. Happen.

Well...at least not until Friday. Stay tuned.  In the meantime, check out Josh's audition to become "the Voice of Wrigley Field".

Meet Jose Canseco...Manager?

It appears as though Jose Canseco is ready to pen the latest chapter (you know...because he wrote those books) of his life.

As the latest publicity stunt, er...manager of the Yuma Scorpions.

I'll save you the hackneyed vernacular...this is what the team had to say.

The Yuma Scorpions announced today that Jose Canseco has been named as the Manager of the minor league baseball team for this coming season in the North American League. He will also play 1B or DH and will be the first fulltime player manager in professional baseball since Pete Rose held the similar position with the Cincinnati Reds in 1984 - 1986. In addition, his twin brother Ozzie will serve as his hitting/bench coach and will also play fulltime. Expected to bat in the 3rd and 4th spots in the order, the brothers will be facing a league stocked with AA, AAA, and major league experienced pitching many of whom are half their age. He will also face opposing managers with major league credentials of their own such as Garry Templeton (Maui), Mike Marshall (Chico), Tim Johnson (Lake County), Doc Edwards (San Angelo), and Morgan Burkhart (Calgary).

"I'm excited about my first chance to manage a club in professional baseball and to begin to transition my career to helping younger players and giving back to the game," Canseco said via the team's press release.

"I know I can still play and hit so this player/manager opportunity was just what I was looking for. Two of my idols started as player managers...Frank Robinson (Cleveland 1975) and Joe Torre (NY Mets 1977), and I can only hope to follow in their footsteps."

Given dude's recent track record...it'll be interesting to see how long this latest venture will last.

Best of luck though...see you when the Scorps get to Chicago. Or not.

Pedro Martinez Says He's Ready

Stop me if you've heard this one before...Pedro Martinez wants to come back and pitch. 

Again.

And according to the New York Times...dude is ready.

"I'm in shape right now and I'm training and I'm playing catch," Martinez said, "so getting to full strength would probably take me a month, month and a half, to be on a mound."

When asked who he'd like to play for, Martinez was quick with a response.

"I'd probably have to say the Red Sox. I would like to win a World Series in the National League, so the Phillies are in there, too. But for the time I'm going to be playing, I think Boston is more suitable so that I can retire with the Boston Red Sox and go to the Hall of Fame with the same hat."

As it stands, Martinez would be on the 2015 ballot and at first glance...the thing is packed.

So, yeah, come on back, Pedro. Throw an inning or two in a Red Sox cap and get your name on that 2017 ballot.

Or better yet...keep your legacy in tact.  Pack up your .687 winning percentage, sub-3.00 ERA, three Cy Young Awards and status as a Boston legend and reserve a hotel in Cooperstown for July 2015.  There's nothing more for you to prove.

Friday Night Belonged to Chipper Jones

Friday night at Turner Field was the home opener for the Atlanta Braves and front and center (just like he has since 1990) was Bobby Cox.

This time, he was former Braves manager Bobby Cox and he was in the ATL to throw out the ceremonially first pitch.

But, the night didn't belong to the former skipper. Cox will get his due August 12 when the Braves retire his number and induct him in the team's Hall of Fame.

It belonged to Chipper Jones.

Due to injury, Jones was forced to close out 2010 with 2490 hits, 436 home runs, 1491 RBI and a .306 career batting average...arguably some of the best numbers ever put up by a switch hitter.

Jones got off to a hot start this season and quickly got the hits necessary to put him in the position to get hit number 2500 at home Friday night in front of a standing-room-only corwd.

And with three more RBI, dude is now just three shy of joining Eddie Murray as the only switch-hitters in Major League history to record 2,500 hits and 1,500 RBIs in a career.

You're going to find some pieces online saying that this cemented Jones' Hall of Fame chances and some that still question his credentials, but believe this...the Cooperstown plaque makers already have the thirdbaseman's likeness carved out.

They just need to figure out if it should say "Larry" or "Chipper".