A Challenge For Tony Massarotti

Less than two weeks into spring training and Tony Massarotti sees "continuing signs that interest in the team is waning ... [camp is] devoid of any real buzz".

Could it be that the Red Sox are getting -- dare we say it -- relatively boring?

Mazz was, of course, a central part of the media horde that wanted Manny Ramirez (who he still refers to as "immature and irresponsible") dumped at nearly any cost. Now he laments the lack of drama?!?!?

Check out his latest column:

Before 2004, we never really had such a long-term outlook when it came to the Red Sox. The absence of a world title for 86 years understandably made us short-sighted and impatient. Burdened by past failures, we placed undue emphasis on relatively meaningless events and melodramas, from the late arrivals of spring to ordinary stints on the disabled list to the frustrating losing streaks that are part of any season.

But now? Now we shrug it all off because we know the Red Sox will be good. We just don't know if they will be great. And because that answer will not begin to come until Aug. 15, at the earliest, we chalk up most of the early developments to an accepted part of the journey, only fueling the theory that the Red Sox and their followers finally have reached an emotional maturity.

I followed the Red Sox last summer -- and I recall several "melodramas" during which "emotional maturity" was sorely lacking.

But the bigger point is that Massarotti is claiming that since October 2004, "we" (meaning both the media and the fans) now see these various melodramas as "meaningless events". Fussing over those soap operas (like when someone is due to arrive in camp) -- giving them "undue emphasis" -- is passe, part of the world we inhabited in 2003, 2002, 2001, etc. We have left that old-fashioned thinking behind, however. With the clarity of a world championship in 2004 (and another one in 2007!), we have evolved, and come to understand that "shit happens". We no longer let those silly issues clutter our mind.

Are you f#@%ing kidding me?

Some people think Manny lives in his own dream world, but it looks like it's Massarotti who has no clue what goes on around him.

There is also a subtle subtext of annoyance that Mazz can't simply file gossipy crap. He ends his column:

At this point in time, and in this day and age, the Red Sox are nothing short of a well-oiled machine operating at peak efficiency. They have good ownership, good management, good big league players, and a good minor league system. None of that is really debatable anymore. The entire clubhouse generally seems like a collection of good guys genuinely interested in each other's well being, which makes them all very easy to like and root for.

At the moment, it just makes them challenging to talk about.

So, without the swirling melodramas, doing his job has now become a "challenge". ... Maybe that subtext is not so subtle, after all.

It's not that uncommon for Boston sportswriters to whine about having to actually go out and find some baseball stories. But it's usually CHB who is complaining that he simply can't cut and paste his old material and mail in: "Manny's At It Again #8,306" or "My New Nickname for Carl Everett" or "Stats Are Weird/Bloggers Are Nerds".

There may not be any controversy in camp at the moment, but something will happen this season. Many things, actually. And they will fit Massarotti's definition of a "meaningless event" to a T. And I can pretty much guarantee that Mazz will ditch the wisdom that it's all "part of the journey" and give the issue far more attention than it deserves.

Will he take his own advice? Will he do what he believes has already been going on for 4+ years? I say no. Prove me wrong, Tony!

Penny Feels Great

Brad Penny threw live batting practice yesterday. He says he feels great:

Today, for me, answered a lot of questions, mentally and physically. I didn't know what to expect the first time going out there to face hitters, but everything felt great. ...

I had life on my fastball, felt a good rotation on my breaking ball. The splitter was a little erratic, but that will come later in spring.

Penny is on target to start on March 5 and Jonathan Papelbon, who also threw live BP (video), may see game action on March 3.

Julio Lugo is hungry to "ready to get back to the level I was at. ... That's why I get paid so much money -- to do well." (Keep in mind that among AL shortstops with at least 300 PA last year, Lugo's .355 OBP was 2nd best.)

YFSF: "David Ortiz made some waves this spring by advocating again for the acquisition of a big bat to hit behind him in the lineup -- under the theory that without a Manny Ramirez-esque bat protecting him, he will receive no pitches to hit." Paul SF examines whether Ortiz's worries are well-founded.

All home games previously scheduled for 7:05 PM will now begin at 7:10. Larry Lucchino:

During the week approximately 60 percent of our fans enter the ballpark after 6:30 p.m. Moving the starts by even a few minutes will give them a little more time to make it to Fenway Park ... and reach their seats before the first pitch.

(More) Ortiz on Presinal

Amalie Benjamin spoke with David Ortiz today about trainer Angel Presinal. The Globe has audio and a transcript:

AB: Were you ever trained by Presinal?

Ortiz: Of course. Yeah, like I said, I've known him for a long time. All I know from him is he teaches how to keep our bodies ready, working out, teaching how to do the right exercises and things like that. ... He's been doing that for years. ...

AB: So he never pushed steroids?

Ortiz: No, no. Not at all.

AB: Are you worried that people will now associate you with steroids?

Ortiz: I'm not worried about that. I said what I had to say and that's about it.

Flo also took some live BP.

Pitching Matchups

The starting pitchers for the Red Sox's first six spring training games!

Wednesday: vs Boston College: Josh Beckett
           at Minnesota: Tim Wakefield
  
Thursday:  vs Pittsburgh: Jon Lester
  
Friday:    at Tampa Bay: Michael Bowden
  
Saturday:  vs Northeastern: Kris Johnson
           vs Cincinnati: Clay Buchholz

Ortiz Talks About Angel Presinal

David Ortiz spoke to Gary Tanguay and Mike Felger of Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight this evening about his relationship with banned MLB trainer Angel Presinal:

This place, where he work at, is a facility that is like five minutes away from my house [in the Dominican Republic]. So, it's like an Olympic place, where everybody go and hit, run, do all their work in, and that's like in the middle of everybody's house. So we all go there and work out. [pause] He's a good trainer. He's the guy that know how to teach -- he teach you how to train, how to get your body ready to go. You know, but besides that, I have no idea about this.

Video from Comcast SportsNet Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight here.

PECOTA Projected Standings

Clay Davenport, Baseball Prospectus:

...[W]e're playing the entire season from day one, and we're using the depth-chart projections to set the team's strength (though since the depth charts also use a strength-of-schedule adjustment to calculate the records you see, I had to temporarily undo that). We can set a win percentage for each game, and by essentially rolling dice in the computer, we can determine who wins or loses each game. We can do that for an entire season, or a dozen seasons, or a million seasons -- and yes, our usual number is a cool million.

                        Div.     Wild    Total
AL East      W      L   Title%   Card%   Postseason%
Red Sox    98.0   64.0   38.9    24.0    62.0
Yankees    95.9   66.1   32.1    24.5    56.5
Rays       91.3   70.7   20.3    21.1    41.4
Blue Jays  81.2   80.8    6.4    10.1    16.5
Orioles    73.9   88.1    2.3     4.5     6.8

This is the powerhouse division; they very nearly rated as having the three most likely playoff teams in the AL, even though only two of them can make it. An Eastern team took the AL Wild Card in a staggering 84 percent of the simulations; even the Orioles earn a higher wild-card chance than any team in the other two divisions. All that playing against each other comes at a cost, however, as each team is losing 3-4 games against an average strength of schedule.

Forever Young

In mid-2001, when Alex Rodriguez says he and his cousin were beginning to act "young and stupid", A-Rod was 26 and Yuri Sucart was 38 (he's 46 now). They continued being "pretty naive and pretty young" for (at least) another three years.

***

More A-Roid lies, according to ESPNdeportes.com:

According to the official in charge of the agency which regulates pharmaceutical drugs in the Dominican Republic, Primobolan was not available for legal purchase, over-the-counter or with a prescription in his country between 2001 and 2003.

Dr. Pia Veras, who oversees the regulatory agency, told ESPNdeportes.com that Primobolan is known as "boli" in the streets of Dominican Republic, and was not legal for purchase during the aforementioned years.

"What Alex Rodriguez stated at the press conference [in Tampa] doesn't make sense," Veras said. "It is important for us to clarify that such substance has not been registered and is not currently registered for legal sale in Dominican pharmacies -- not now and the same applies for the years 2001 to 2003." ...

Veras allowed ESPNdeportes.com to check the official records of the agency, which oversees, monitors and tracks the pharmaceutical inventory that is legally sold in the Dominican Republic. ...

"No pharmacy carries this product; no pharmacy has this product as registered in its inventory," said [Dr. Milton Pinedo, president of the Dominican Federation of Sports Medicine] ... "You can get this but you have to go to the underground market."

A-Rod: More Steroid Links

The Daily News uncovers more steroid links to Alex Rodriguez, reporting that "four independent sources" have said that A-Rod "has had a long relationship with a steroid-linked trainer who's been banned from major league clubhouses".

Angel Presinal, who was banned from private areas of every MLB ballpark after an October 2001 incident involving an unmarked gym bag full of steroids, has been tight with the Yankee slugger dating back to his time with the Texas Rangers, several sources said.

A former New York-area scout says Presinal, whose named surfaced in the Mitchell Report, was with Rodriguez in New York and Miami as recently as this past fall. ...

Another source said Presinal accompanied A-Rod for the entire 2007 season, staying in the same hotel as the A.L. MVP ... The source said Rodriguez avoided being seen in public with Presinal. ...

In addition to A-Rod, Presinal has worked with some of the game's biggest stars: Juan Gonzalez, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre, Moises Alou, Jose Guillen, Ervin Santana, Ruben Sierra, Francisco Cordero, Jose Mesa and Juan Guzman, among others.

Dustin Pedroia Believes He Is A Better Baseball Player Than Chad Curtis

From Terry Francona's press briefing today, courtesy of the Globe:

Last year, I introduced [Ken] Macha to [Pedroia] and Macha was just making conversation with him and said, "Hey, you remind me of Chad Curtis." Macha meant it like a real compliment, but Pedey was like, "Are you [expletive] me?" Maybe he's right. It went from just trying to introduce him to I had to hold Pedey back ... Good to not introduce him to anybody.

Henry, Lucchino Wrong On Need For Cap

Both John Henry and Larry Lucchino think MLB should consider implementing a salary cap (or "salary zone").

I disagree. There is no need for a cap on players' salaries. When management starts banging the drum for a cap on their earnings or an absolute limit on ticket prices, let me know.

The Red Sox held their first full-squad workout on Wednesday. ... Jonathan Papelbon says he was "starting to kind of break down" during last year's ALCS and hopes that the team's improved bullpen will lighten his work load a bit.

***

ESPN has identified Yuri Sucart, who lives in Miami, as Alex Rodriguez's drug-smuggling "cousin". ... MLB investigators will soon ask Slappy to "further explain his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs".

Daily News reporter Christian Red needed only two minutes and $19 to purchase "one 100 mg ampule of testosterone enanthate, a 2.5 ml. syringe and a package of 10 Methandrostenolone pills, the powerful oral anabolic steroid known as Dianabol" at a nonnondescript pharmacy in downtown Santo Domingo. No word on whether he also picked up some Tic Tacs.

John Harper of the Daily News thinks it's good that Derek Jeter ("the master of the vanilla sound bite") is now speaking out against steroids, but he wonders

where was he seven or eight years ago? ... If he felt this strongly, why wasn't he out front when the players' union was stonewalling for years on drug-testing? Why wasn't Jeter leading a fight for his union to adopt a policy that would protect the clean players, not the dirty ones?

When asked whether he regrets not speaking out as strongly in the past, Jeter actually used A-Rod's "young and naive" excuse.

I think when you're younger, in terms of young players coming up, a lot of times when you're around the (union) meetings and things, you're really learning. It's a learning process.

Harper points out that by the time A-Rod says he began using banned substances, Jeter was one of the game's most famous players and had been a part of four World Series champions. But, to hear him tell it, Jeter was still learning his way around the game, too shy to speak up around the veterans.

Jorge Posada believes Rodriguez was genuinely choked up when he paused for more than 30 seconds at the end of his press conference statement. Of course, A-Rod had no trouble thanking his teammates and continuing to speak at the very beginning of his statement. ... Well, Pedro didn't call him Dumbo for nothing.

Shortstop Competition

So Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie are battling for the starting shortstop job, right?

No, says the Herald's Sean McAdam. He says there is only "the appearance of competition" and that Lugo will be the Red Sox's starting shortstop on Opening Day.

There's no drama here. Unless Lugo gets hurt again or has the most horrific spring of the 60 or so players in camp, he - and not Lowrie - will be the team's starting shortstop when the season opens April 6.

Terry Francona says that while Lowrie will see time at third base -- in case Mike Lowell is not ready to begin the season -- Lugo will not. Tito:

I just think that's going about it wrong. In fairness to him and to Jed, we don't need to start moving guys around. This is a big spring for Julio. He feels like he has a lot to prove and he missed some time. I think the best way to go about it is to let him be a shortstop.

(Lugo has a lot to prove this year, for sure. And with all of this speculation comes the usual caveat that nothing anyone says in mid-February -- though no one in an official position is actually saying much of anything -- can be taken as the way things will be in April.)

Schadenfreude 67 (A Continuing Series)

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

But if you believe his amazing version of his drug history, he wasn't using drugs when he basically went straight from high school to the big leagues, wasn't using them throughout what would have been his college years, only started using them when he got to Texas at the age of 25, going on 26. That was when he finally became "young and stupid."

Joel Sherman, Post:

This was the new story. This should not be confused with the old story, which was just eight days old, but was now treated by Alex Rodriguez and his phalanx of handlers, lawyers and advisers like something wrinkled and useless and in need of being discarded. ...

Brian Cashman tried to explain the inexplicable by saying he thinks A-Rod was being honest, but came across poorly because, "I don't think Alex is very good at communicating, to be quite honest." ...

Bob Raissman, Daily News:

Missing was a combo soundtrack of a sad violin and Suzyn Waldman crying. Except the moment was so hokey, so forced, even the Georgie Girl, who once starred on the Broadway stage, was probably home laughing out loud.

She knows bad acting when she sees it.

A-Rod's "Truth" Changes Dramatically In Nine Days

Jayson Stark notes the ever-evolving "truth" being told by Alex Rodriguez:

... He sure didn't tell the same story Tuesday that he told to Peter Gammons a week and a half ago. Did he? Nine days ago, A-Rod didn't know what kind of drug (or drugs) he was taking -- even though he says he took it for three years.

Now, nine days later, he knows it was something called "Boli." Which, best we can tell, is another name for Primobolan, the exact drug he was asked point-blank by Gammons whether he had taken.

Nine days ago, there wasn't one word uttered about any mysterious cousins who were procuring this stuff and helping him inject it. Now, it's time to start poring over his family tree to try to figure out which cousin it was.

Nine days ago, A-Rod was implying that whatever he was taking, he was buying it down at the mall, presumably while he was waiting for an Auntie Anne soft pretzel to come out of the oven.

Now, he's admitting his cousin was the one doing the purchasing. And although he continued to say this drug was bought "over the counter," we now know that counter was located in the Dominican Republic, not outside his friendly neighborhood food court.

Nine days ago, there was no mention of any other "substances." But on Tuesday, Rodriguez admitted to ESPN's Hannah Storm that he also used to take Ripped Fuel, which was later banned -- at least in its original ephedra-based form -- by both baseball and the FDA.

And nine days ago, Rodriguez was angrily accusing universally respected Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts of "stalking" him. Now, it turns out, he just had a "misunderstanding of the facts." So never mind.

Now let me ask you: Would a man whose mission was simply to tell the truth do that much zigzagging in a nine-day span? Sorry. That's tough to accept. ...

What Rodriguez most needed to accomplish Tuesday was some semblance of closure. Instead, he merely unleashed a whole new set of story lines. ...

• He said at one point that whatever he took, whatever his cousin was injecting into his body, he "didn't think they were steroids."

• But he was still so terrified of anyone finding out, it was "one of those things you try not to share with anyone."

• For "all these years," he said at another point, "I really didn't think I did anything wrong."

• Yet just minutes later, he said: "I knew I wasn't taking Tic Tacs. I knew it was something that could perhaps be wrong." ...

One minute, he's continuing to insist he had no idea he had tested positive -- or, apparently, done anything wrong -- until this story broke. The next, he's grateful that this confession was allowing him to lift the boulder on his shoulder he's been carrying around for eight years. So which is it, exactly? I'm confused. ...

Bonus: Brian Cashman, on whether he "regrets" handing Rodriguez a 10-year, $270 million contract a little more than a year ago:

We've got nine years of Alex remaining. ... We've invested in him as an asset. And because of that, this is an asset that is going through a crisis. So we'll do everything we can to protect that asset and support that asset and try to salvage that asset.

A-Rod: The Circus Rolls On

Alex Rodriguez met with nearly 200 members of the media this afternoon. I watched a video of his six-minute opening statement. He read it as though he was seeing the pages for the first time, stumbling over phrases and pausing in the wrong spots.

Some of the text (and my comments):

... [I]n the years 2001, 2002 and 2003, I experimented with a banned substance that eventually triggered a positive test. [Note that I didn't fail a drug test, the substance triggered a positive result].

In September 2004, I had a meeting with Gene Orza. During that meeting, he explained to me that I had been among the players from which people might conclude that I had tested positive ... [or] might not have actually tested positive. ... [Thanks for that info, Gene!]

Going back to 2001, my cousin started telling me about a substance that you could purchase over the counter in the DR known in the streets as Boley or Bole. It was his understanding it would give me a dramatic energy boost and was otherwise harmless. My cousin and I - one more ignorant than the other - decided it was a good idea to start taking it. My cousin would administer it to me, but neither of us knew how to use it properly, proving just how ignorant we both were. It was at this point we decided to take it twice a month for about six months during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 season. We consulted no one and had no good reason to base that decision. It was pretty evident that we didn't know what we were doing.

[I had signed a $252 million contract, so why should I bother to do even one minute of research about this over-the-counter stuff (that had to be smuggled into the US) that I don't even know the actual name of? I'll just get my cousin, who isn't sure how to administer this stuff, which I don't think is steroids anyway, to inject me with it for at least six months. I was young and stupid -- and young. Sure, I had been playing in the majors for parts of seven years, but I was just a formerly poor kid who hadn't gone to college. And it's all GNC's fault.]

It sounds like the Q&A session -- during which reporters were not allowed to ask follow-up questions -- was a train wreck (something about how if you believe in it, water can be as beneficial as steroids?). If anyone sees a video or transcript, let me know.

His opening statement ended with: "And to my teammates ..." Rodriguez then paused for 38 seconds (!!!) in an obvious, and quite pathetic, attempt to force himself to become overcome with emotion ... alas, no tears or even mild lip-quivering were forthcoming, so he took a swig of bottled water, leaned forward and said, quietly, "... thank you".

Baseball & PEDs: A 120-Year History

NPR, July 17, 2007:

As the sporting industry exploded in the 1920s, athletic trainers and their charges immediately saw the possibilities of using his [Brown-Sequard's] research. Even the Big Bambino himself, Babe Ruth, injected himself with extract from a sheep's testicles, hoping for increased power at the plate (and in the bedroom). He attempted this only once, and it made him incredibly ill; the Yankees covered the story by telling the press that the Babe just had one of his famous bellyaches. Even though the Yankees tend to celebrate all things Babe Ruth, they have never, to my knowledge, had "Sheep Testicles Day" at the stadium.

This claim comes from page 150 of Dave Zirin's 2007 book, Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports. I don't know his source, but knowing this about Ruth isn't surprising.

***

Performance-enhancing drugs have been a part of baseball for at least 120 years.

Way back in 1889, James "Pud" Galvin -- then 32 years old -- injected himself with a testosterone concoction derived primarily from the testicles of a guinea pig and a dog.

It was known as the Brown-Séquard Elixir and his use was common knowledge. On August 14, 1889, the Washington Post reported:

Galvin was one of the subjects at a test of the Brown-Sequard elixir at a medical college in Pittsburgh on Monday. If there still be doubting Thomases who concede no virtue in the elixir, they are respectfully referred to Galvin's record in yesterday's Boston-Pittsburgh game. It is the best proof yet furnished of the value of the discovery.

According to this blog, after the injections, Galvin pitched a shutout and knocked in three runs with a double and a triple.

Galvin was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1965, 63 years after his death.

On August 23, 1889, less than two weeks after the above Post story, the New York Times reported on the controversy regarding the effectiveness of the elixir. According to Dr. Henry Loomis, "the fluid is potent enough to increase the strength of the human organism, presumably in old men, not by structural change, but by nutritive modification ... a consequent recovery of former power by the tissues may supervene". One patient received "four injections of thirty minims each of the elixir every two days".

Another report:

Professor Brown-Sequard recently read a most remarkable paper before the Biological Society of Paris. The aged professor believes he has discovered the secret of perpetual youth. The source is in young animals, guinea pigs, dogs, etc. — from which, while under the influence of anaesthetics, he abstracts organic matter, reduces it to a pulp in a mortar, dissolves all that is soluble in water, then subjects this solution to further chemical action, and finally injects it under the skin of the arm in doses of 1 c.c. at a time. The professor injected the matter into his own arm, and he reports that on the day after he had taken two injections, he felt completely transformed. He could work better, sleep better, and digest his food more perfectly. His appetite improved, and he gained 14 1bs. in weight. It true, these results may well be called extraordinary.

Roger Abrams's book, The Dark Side of the Diamond; Gambling, Violence, Drugs and Alcoholism in the National Pastime, discusses Galvin's drug use. About a year ago, Abrams wrote:

It did not have much of an impact on his performance as he neared the end of his career, at best a placebo effect. For our purposes it is useful to note that no one said a peep about the event. At a time when cocaine was legal and could be ordered by mail or purchased at your local store, steroid-like injections for ballplayers were just matter-of-fact.

Tom House has said he was one of many players in the 1960s and 70s who took amphetamines, human growth hormone and various steroids.

I pretty much popped everything cold turkey. We were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses.

House estimated that six or seven pitchers on every staff in were experimenting with steroids in the 70s.

In Ball Four, Jim Bouton wrote:

I've tried a lot of other things through the years -- like butabolidin, which is what they give to horses. And D.M.S.O. -- dimethylsulfoxide. Whitey Ford used that for a while. You rub it on with a plastic glove and as soon as it gets on your arm you can taste it in your mouth. It's not available anymore, though. Word is it can blind you. I've also taken shots -- novocaine, cortisone and xylocaine. Baseball players will take anything. If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins but might take five years off his life, he'd take it.

Bouton also mentions at one point the players were running low on greenies: "One of our lads is going to have a bunch of greenies mailed to him by some of the guys on the Red Sox."

Drew's Back Still An Issue

J.D. Drew is already having back trouble. His herniated disk has not gotten much better:

It's still pretty stiff. I've fought it all offseason. It's been one of them injuries that has kind of lingered. I've been able to hit, run and all that stuff, but some days I wake up stiff and some days it doesn't seem to be too bad. ... Everything is well enough to play. I just need to isolate it and try to keep it from flaring up too bad.

David Ortiz arrived in camp and was in the cage. The Globe has video. Extra Bases has more info on Drew, Dustin Pedroia and Josh Beckett.

Joe McDonald (ProJo) takes a brief look at the players who hope to win the backup catcher job. Amalie Benjamin spoke to all of them (and Terry Francona); Ian Browne did, too.

As if he thought his job was on the line if the Yankees miss the playoffs, Joe Girardi said "probably".

Kottaras Will Skip WBC, Stay With Sox

Alex Speier, WEEI:

Canadian native George Kottaras confirmed that he won't be participating in the World Baseball Classic for Team Canada in order to concentrate on making the Red Sox roster. Kottaras, who is out of options, was originally on Canada's provisional roster for the WBC.

"I talked to the Red Sox and they said it would be best for my situation right now to stay here and spend every day here, so here I am," said Kottaras before Saturday's workout at the Red Sox minor league training facility in Fort Myers.

Smart move. While Josh Bard may be the favoured backup as camp opens, his name is written in pencil. There's no reason to be away from camp while Bard and Dusty Brown are showing off their stuff.

Pedroia: "I'm Shredded And Jacked"

Dustin Pedroia arrives in camp today. He's ready to go:

I'm shredded and jacked. We're ready to kick everybody's [butt]. ... I'm fired up. It seemed like a really long offseason. I got about 12 to 14 weeks of workouts in. I got a lot faster and a lot stronger and my body is in a position to hold up throughout the 162-game season.

FY added that Jacoby Ellsbury worked out like a madman this winter.

Jed Lowrie says his left wrist (which he hurt last May) is now pain-free:

I took about a month off to just let it heal. We decided not to do surgery just because there wasn't enough time [before spring training]. ... From the left side, and I'm not one to make excuses, it really hindered my ability to swing with any sort of power. My wrist was just not strong enough to keep the barrel above the ball.

Towards the end of the year it really didn't matter what I did. I just kind of hit that wall. ... [Now] I can't even describe the difference. I couldn't even touch my wrist at the end of the year because it was painful. Now that's not the case.

A happy Jason Varitek spoke to the media today:

I'm ecstatic that I'm a Red Sox. I'm ecstatic that I have the peace of mind that I'll be in this uniform and closer to retiring in this uniform. Not saying I see retirement anytime soon ...

I wouldn't say there wasn't any doubt [about returning], but there was no doubt in what I wanted and what my heart wanted.

Terry Francona was asked about pinch-hitting for Varitek during the coming season:

It's the first day of spring and you got me hitting for him. But to answer your question, I would not look for that. If you're waiting for him to be hit for early in the season, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Tito also spoke with Bob Ryan about his job:

I love the games. "Fun" may not be the right word to describe the sensation every night, 'cause there's a lot of anxiety. What I enjoy is the competition. ... There are always going to be good times and bad times, but I always enjoy going through it with a group you like. It's not always going to be perfect. But I like who we are.

John Smoltz talked about his departure from Atlanta after busting his ass in conditioning drills. Smoltz will not throw off a mound until late March. ... Manny Delcarmen: "Last year my fastball was a little inconsistent and toward my second half I had good fastball command. But I'm going to force myself to pitch a little more in to righties, I think, and work on my breaking ball. ... Jon Lester talks about learning from the veterans.

Pre-Season Mags: Lindy's & Athlon

Two more pre-season magazines have hit newsstands. Here are some of their predictions:

Lindy's

AL East        Other Playoff Teams
Yankees        Twins
Red Sox (wc)   Angels
Rays           Phillies
Blue Jays      Cubs
Orioles        Dodgers
               Marlins (wc)
  
AL Pennant: Yankees 
NL Pennant: Cubs
MVPs: Mark Teixeira, Hanley Ramirez
CYs: Jon Lester, Cole Hamels

Athlon

AL East        Other Playoff Teams
Red Sox        Twins
Yankees (wc)   Angels
Rays           Phillies
Blue Jays      Cubs
Orioles        Diamondbacks
               Mets (wc)
  
ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
NLCS: Phillies over Mets
WS: Red Sox over Phillies
MVPs: Alex Rodriguez, Hanley Ramirez
CYs: Jonathan Papelbon, Johan Santana

Masterson Will Start Spring As Starter

Rob Bradford (WEEI), on Theo Epstein's press conference this afternoon:

The team will talk with Justin Masterson about his role going forward Friday. Epstein pointed out that the pitcher will know his role by the time camp breaks, although it will most likely be determined definitively closer to the end of spring training. Masterson will start out his progressions as a starter.

Rob also has some video of Jeemer's bullpen session.

Red Sox Open Camp

Spring training has officially begun!

And (naturally) everyone feels good!

Terry Francona is optimistic about David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, as both men return from injury. ... Brad Penny threw off a mound yesterday -- the first time since last September:

The way I feel now I shouldn't have any setbacks. I've just got to stay after my shoulder work, do the best I can to stay in the best shape I can. Everything else will take care of itself.

Also on Wednesday, Josh Beckett threw a 62-pitch session. ... Tim Wakefield feels good and says he gave no thought to retirement.

Clay Buchholz talked about his struggles last season:

I don't think there's any words for it. Never had to really go through any adversity throughout my whole career, my whole life actually in baseball. ... You live and learn and I learned a lot from it last year.

Playing Pepper 2009

Daniel, a Cardinals fan writing at C70 At The Bat, contacted a blogger for each major league team and posed five questions about the upcoming season. I got tabbed for the Red Sox.

I like his opening: "You know, at one point I kinda liked the Red Sox." ... Heh, then 2004 happened! Anyway, you can find my comments here. Discuss.

Rodriguez Admits To Steroid Use

Alex Rodriguez has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs "for a period of time" while playing for the Texas Rangers (2001-03).

He told ESPN's Peter Gammons, in an interview that will likely be broadcast this evening:

I did take a banned substance, and for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.

When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt all the weight of the world on top of me to perform at a high level every day. I was young, I was stupid, I was naive. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

I just feel that -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry for that time, I'm sorry to my fans. I'm sorry to my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I thought about substances of any kind. Since then, I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that. It was such a loosey-goosey era, I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty of being negligent, not asking all the right questions.

Bill Madden Writes Some Strange Things

While Alex Rodriguez was "drowning his sorrows with Grey Goose and Red Bull in the VIP area at Aura Nightclub in the Bahamas", Bill Madden, long-time columnist of the Daily News, has some advice for the Yankees' front office:

Cut him loose - no matter the cost.

As difficult as it is to imagine eating $270 million, the Bombers will be making a statement, not just for the Yankee brand but for baseball as a whole.

They will be applauded for it.

Yes, Madden is suggesting the Yankees get rid of Slappy while still paying his contract. Reward him for allegedly taking steroids by handing him $270,000,000 for doing absolutely nothing. That'll show him!

Such is the state of American sports writing.

***

Meanwhile, what would we do without the New York Post?

What Can A-Rod Say?

Assuming these four SI sources are correct, what if Slappy came out on Monday and said:

Yes, I did it. Most players did this -- or are still doing it. It's no secret. And if baseball is truly serious about stopping this, then everyone needs to start telling the truth. Players, management, the union, the media.

I am one of the most visible players in the game, playing in the spotlight of New York, so I feel I have an obligation to take the first step. I will try to be as honest as I possible can in answering your questions. I hope others will join me.

Rodriguez has got to say something soon and although I think there's about a .0001% chance he'll go that route, it would be fascinating. Far more then denying everything, apologizing for "something", or saying he did them only once to recover from an injury.

Ken Tremendous (one of the former FJM crew) wrote a similar script at SoSH:

... I used steroids. I knew it was wrong, and I did it, and no one is to blame but myself. I accept any punishment that might be given to me, and I do not ask for anyone's pity. I accept the fact that this may invalidate me from entry into the Hall of Fame, and I would not blame any sportswriter from voting against me. And for the rest of my career, I will voluntarily travel to high schools and youth leagues all over the country and talk about the dangers of steroids, as well as donate $25,000,000 to start a foundation to prevent steroid use from becoming more widespread.

Schadenfreude 66 (A Continuing Series)

Well, no one will be asking any questions about Torre's book when the Yankees open camp next week!

Four Sources Tell SI A-Rod Tested Positive For Two Steroids In 2003

Update: I'm putting newer links to news and commentary in comments.

***
SI:

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated. ...

The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. ...

Primobolan, which is also known by the chemical name methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug that is more expensive than most steroids. ... Kirk Radomski [writes in his recent book] how players increasingly turned to drugs such as Primobolan in 2003, in part to avoid detection in testing. ...

SI also claims -- and this is perhaps a bigger story than Slappy doing roids -- that three major league players have said Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, tipped off Slappy about an upcoming drug test in September 2004. Turning a blind eye to steroid use for years is one thing; assisting players in avoiding detection is quite another matter.

At Shysterball, Craig Calcaterra writes:

Given that it is now inevitable that all of the names who tested positive in 2003 will come out, maybe it's in the union's best interest to release every name now rather than deal with the drip, drip, dripping of names over time. Pull the band-aid off quickly, if you will. ... Doesn't fairness and historical accuracy and all of that demand that we know who else tested positive in 2003?

Here is video of Slappy (three days before the Mitchell Report was released in December 2007) denying ever even being tempted to use PEDs.

Let me add that I fully expect some Red Sox players will be on that 2003 list.

Truck Day

The Red Sox last played a baseball game on October 19, 2008 -- 110 days ago, a bit less than 16 weeks. It feels much longer ago than that.

The Globe has the info on today's activities at Fenway Park:

The 18-wheeler that carries the Red Sox' spring training equipment from Boston to Fort Myers, Fla. will depart from Gate D at Fenway Park at 1 p.m. today to make the 1,467-mile trek from Yawkey Way to Edison Avenue.

The truck [photo at link] arrived at a chilly Fenway Park this morning just after 6 a.m. and the packing began at around 7:30 a.m. ... Red Sox Hall of Famer Johnny Pesky will serve as the Grand Marshal of the truck departure this afternoon. ...

The Globe's blog also has some pictures from last year's Truck Day and video of Kevin Youkilis in an indoor batting cage.

TSN Predictions

I picked up my first pre-season magazine today -- The Sporting News 2009 Yearbook. Spring cannot be far behind!

Sadly, I am in Region 2 and am stuck with cover boy Roy Halladay, as opposed to getting FY and LBJ in Region 1.

In his AL East intro, Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger writes that the division "may have the three best teams in the league, of not all of baseball. And since no more than two of those teams can qualify for the postseason, it promises to be an all-out dogfight."

Here is TSN's predicted finish:

             Final Grade*
Yankees           94
Red Sox (wc)      93
Rays              92
Blue Jays         74
Orioles           65

*: I don't know what this is or how it is calculated, but it sure looks like
TSN could have listed the top three teams in any order and gone to press.

Comments from rival scouts:

Yankees:

They needed starting pitching and they got it. Those two guys they got, Sabathia and Burnett, they're real No. 1-type guys. So they'll be better, no doubt about it. But for me, the biggest problem they had last year was they were a team that looked like it was getting old. And I'm not sure how well they've answered that ...

Bobby Abreu was a real useful player for them, and they couldn't fit him in their [2009] outfield because they're stuck with Damon and Matsui, who can't do much anymore. Jeter is basically a singles hitter now, and he's a disaster in the field. He actually hurts them at shortstop. Posada's coming off shoulder surgery. Cano ... who know what they'll get from him? ...

They could win [the division], but they're not clearly better than those other two teams at the top.

Red Sox:

They'll score plenty. Ortiz should be back from the wrist [injury] and be the monster he used to be. Everybody's raving about the two No. 1 starters the Yankees got, but they forget the Red Sox already had three of them. Beckett and Lester are as good a 1-2 as anybody has. Dice-K drives you nuts, but he knows how to win the game. And Papelbon is the best closer going right now. I love that kid's stuff and attitude. Like, "I'm better than you and there's nothing you can do about it."

Rays:

They won the league with the league's lowest payroll. Seriously, that's a GM's dream, right? What GM wouldn't have traded his whole team, straight up, for Tampa's team last October? The whole 25-man roster. And there's more on the way, too. If they're putting David Price in the rotation, he'll be an impact guy right away. ...

They could use another big bat, but they'll probably get one, and they'd do well to make sure it's one that doesn't mess with the good stuff, chemistry-wise, they've got going on there. The starting pitching is rock solid. I worry a little about their bullpen because I don't see a closer. But they have enough arms to figure it out. ...

Guys like Upton and Longoria are just going to get better and better, and they have more guys in the system coming up to help in the next year or two. They make everybody jealous.

TSN's picks for the other five divisions: Twins, Angels, Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers, with the Mets as the NL wild card.

MVPs: Longoria / Pujols. CYs: Sabathia / Santana.

World Series: Yankees over Cubs. (In 2008, TSN picked the Red Sox over the Cubs.)

Happy 114th Birthday, Babe Ruth!

Tomorrow is the 114th birthday of Babe Ruth.


In addition to my book on the 1918 Red Sox team, I have written two Ruth biographies for books published by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). One, which covers his Red Sox years, appeared in Deadball Stars of the American League. I posted it two years ago -- you can read it here.

That bio was expanded, with information on the rest of his career and life, for When Boston Still Had The Babe, a must-read book featuring extensive bios on every member of the 1918 team.


Picking up Ruth's story in 1920:

Babe Ruth arrived in New York City at the best possible time for his outsized hitting and hedonistic lifestyle. It was the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, a time of individualism, more progressive social and sexual attitudes, and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure. (Prohibition, instituted in 1920, had no effect whatsoever.) Sportswriter Westbrook Pegler called it "the Era of Wonderful Nonsense."

It was also a time when "trick pitches" – the emeryball, the spitter, and various ways of scuffing the ball—were outlawed. Both leagues began using a better quality (i.e., livelier) baseball. Ruth thrived—and over time, so did the players in both leagues.

The Babe got off to a slow start in 1920. He was in spring training for nearly three weeks before he crushed his first home run. Ruth also jumped into the stands to fight a fan who had called him "a big piece of cheese" (probably not a direct quote). While tracking a fly ball during an exhibition game in Miami, Ruth ran into a palm tree in center field and was knocked unconscious.

After a disappointing April, in which he missed time due to a strained right knee, Ruth began May with home runs in consecutive games against the Red Sox. He went on to set a major league record for the month with 11 homers. That record lasted less than 30 days, when he smacked 13 long balls in June. He tied his own single-season record of 29 home runs—set the previous year with Boston—on July 16. Two weeks later, he had 37.

He finished the year with the unfathomable total of 54 home runs. He outhomered 14 of the other 15 major league teams. The AL runner-up was George Sisler, with 19; Cy Williams needed only 15 to top the National League. Ruth hit 14.6% of the American League's 369 home runs. For Barry Bonds to outdistance his peers in 2001 (when he set a new single season mark of 73 home runs) as Ruth did in 1920, Bonds would have needed to hit 431 homers.

In addition to this stunning display of power, Ruth was fourth in batting average at .364. His slugging percentage of .847 stood for more than 80 years -- until Bonds reached .863 in 2001.

Ruth’s arrival in New York began a stretch of offensive dominance the game will likely never see again. In the 12 seasons between 1920 and 1931, Ruth led the AL in slugging 11 times, home runs 10 times, walks 9 times, on-base percentage 8 times, and runs scored 7 times. His batting average topped .350 eight times. In exactly half of those 12 seasons, he batted over .370. (Ruth once said that if he shortened his swing and tried to hit singles, he’d hit .600.)

Ruth also starred in a short movie entitled Headin’ Home, which was filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The plot, such as it was, starred Babe as a country bumpkin who makes good in big league ball—not exactly playing against type. According to Variety, "It couldn’t hold the interest of anyone for five seconds if it were not for the presence of" Ruth. Babe often returned to the Polo Grounds after a morning of filming still wearing his movie makeup and mascara, much to the annoyance of manager Miller Huggins.

Ruth quickly became one of the most famous people in the country. On Yankees road trips, people with no interest in baseball traveled hundreds of miles to get a glimpse of the Babe. He was cheered wildly in every park—for rival fans, if Ruth smacked one out of the park, it hardly seemed to matter what the final score was.

Sunday baseball became legal in New York in 1919 and the fan base changed forever. Women and children came out regularly to the park. One of Ruth’s most enduring nicknames—the Bambino—came from the Italian fans in the upper Manhattan neighborhood around the Polo Grounds.

Everyone wanted to know as much about Ruth as possible. The New York papers (more than 15 dailies) began devoting more and more space to the Babe’s exploits. Nothing was too trivial. According to sportswriter Tom Meany, if Ruth was seen "taking an aspirin, it was practically a scoop for the writer who saw him reach for the sedative." Marshall Hunt was hired by the Daily News to write about the Babe—and only the Babe—365 days a year.

In the 1920s, giddy sportswriters were coming up with nicknames for Ruth nearly every day. His Boston nickname—the Colossus—morphed into the Colossus of Clout. From there, a seemingly endless—and often silly—list emerged: the Wizard of Wham, the Sultan of Swat, the Maharajah of Mash, the Rajah of Rap, the Caliph of Clout, the Behemoth of Bash, the Potentate of Pow, the Wali of Wallop, the Prince of Pounders, and on and on.

His own name became a nickname, bestowed on someone who was the best in his or her field: the Babe Ruth of Surfing, the Babe Ruth of Bowling, the Babe Ruth of Poker. His teammates usually called him “Jidge” (for George).

The Yankees finished the 1920 season in third place with a 95-59 record, only three games behind Cleveland. It was their best showing in 10 years. They followed that up in 1921 by winning 98 games and their first-ever pennant. And somehow Ruth may have actually had a better year at the plate than he did in 1920. His batting average improved slightly (.376 to .378), and while his OBP (.532 to .512) and slugging (.847 to .846) dipped slightly, he drove in 171 runs and hit a career-high 16 triples. (According to manager Huggins, Ruth was the second-fastest player on the team.) He also broke his own single-season home run record—for the third consecutive year—with 59. On July 18, Ruth became the game’s career home run leader, hitting his 139th homer, passing Roger Connor. Ruth also set new season records for runs scored (161), extra base hits (107), and total bases (412).

Ruth also pitched in one game. He started on June 13 and allowed four runs in five innings. He also hit two home runs that day and finished the game in center field as the Yankees won, 11-8.

In September 1921, Ruth underwent three hours of tests at Columbia University to determine his athletic and psychological capabilities. Sportswriter Hugh Fullerton wrote up the findings for Popular Science Monthly:

“The tests revealed the fact that Ruth is 90 per cent efficient compared with a human average of 60 per cent. That his eyes are about 12 per cent faster than those of the average human being. That his ears function at least 10 per cent faster than those of the ordinary man. That his nerves are steadier than those of 499 out of 500 persons. That in attention and quickness of perception he rated one and a half times above the human average. That in intelligence, as demonstrated by the quickness and accuracy of understanding, he is approximately 10 per cent above normal.”

The psychologists also discovered that Ruth did not breathe during his entire swing. They stated that if he kept breathing while swinging, he could generate even more power.

The Yankees faced their co-tenants in the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants, in the 1921 World Series. Ruth cut his left arm (which then became infected) during a slide in the second game and wrenched his knee in the fifth game. Babe made only one pinch-hitting appearance in the final three contests. The Yankees won the first two games, but the Giants took the best-of-nine series, five games to three.

After the World Series, Ruth and some other Yankees went on a barnstorming tour to earn extra money. This was in violation of the National Commission’s 1911 edict that players on the two pennant-winning teams could not barnstorm after the World Series—enacted, perhaps, to preserve the integrity of the World Series or to limit the players’ total income. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, newly installed as the game’s first commissioner, suspended Ruth and fellow outfielder Bob Meusel for the first six weeks of the season, and fined them each $3,362—the amount of their 1921 World Series share).

When Ruth returned to the lineup on May 20, he was also named as the team’s captain, succeeding Hal Chase (1912) and Roger Peckinpaugh (1914-21). The honor lasted less than one week. Ruth was again slow to get his bat started and after five games, he was hitting .093 and being booed.

On May 25, he was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double and, furious at the call, threw dirt in umpire George Hildebrand’s face. On his way towards the dugout, he spied a heckler and jumped into the stands, ready to fight. The fan ran away and Ruth ended up standing on the dugout roof, screaming, “Come on down and fight! Anyone who wants to fight, come down on the field!” Ruth was fined $200 and was replaced as captain by shortstop Everett Scott.

Babe was suspended for three days in mid-June for his part in an obscenity-laced tirade against umpire Bill Dinneen. When Ruth got the news the following day, he challenged Dinneen to a fist fight—and the suspension was increased to five days. In the wake of the suspensions, Ruth made an effort to check his temper. On June 26, as some of his teammates argued with Dinneen, Babe merely sat down in the outfield grass and watched.

Ruth played in only 110 games in 1922. His batting average dropped to .315, but he led the league with a .672 slugging percentage and his OBP of .434 was fourth best.

The Yankees and the Giants met in the World Series for the second straight year. After a three-year experiment as a best-of-nine, the series was back to being a best-of-seven, where it has remained to the present day. The Giants swept the Yankees in five games (Game Two ended in a tie due to darkness). Ruth went 2-for-17.

The Yankees left the Polo Grounds and began 1923 in their own ballpark, directly across the Harlem River in the borough of the Bronx. Yankee Stadium was dubbed the House that Ruth Built, but with its short right field porch, a more appropriate title might be the House Built for Ruth. Babe returned to his battering ways with a vengeance. He hit .393—if only four of his 317 outs had fallen for hits, he would have batted .400—and hit 41 home runs. Harry Heilmann of the Tigers led the AL with a .403 average.

The Yankees won their third straight pennant, finishing 16 games ahead of the Tigers. And for the third straight year, the World Series was an all-New York affair. This time, it was the Yankees, after losing two of the first three games, who prevailed. Ruth went 7-for-19 in the series, with three home runs. However, all three came at the Polo Grounds. Casey Stengel hit the first World Series home run at Yankee Stadium.

Ruth won his only batting title in 1924, easily topping the AL at .378—almost 20 points higher than Charlie Jamieson’s .359. Babe hit 46 home runs and finished second with 121 RBIs. His .739 slugging percentage was more than 200 points higher than runner-ups Harry Heilmann and Ken Williams (both at .533). However, the Yankees finished in second place, two games behind the Washington Senators.

In 1925, the Yankees fell all the way to seventh, 69-85, 28 1/2 games out of first place. It was a bad year from the start. Ruth showed up for spring training at 256 pounds and went on to have the worst year of his career. He hit .290/.393/.543 (batting/on-base/slugging), with 25 home runs and a paltry 66 RBIs. This was also when Ruth suffered the famed “Bellyache Heard ‘Round the World”. Ruth fell ill during the team’s spring training exhibition tour. The initial story was that Ruth had eaten too many hot dogs, and the New York Evening Journal ran a photo of Ruth with 12 numbered franks superimposed on his stomach.

It was clearly more serious than indigestion. On April 17, Ruth had minor surgery for what doctors termed an “intestinal abscess”. Several teammates hinted it might have been a sexually-transmitted disease; one teammate said it wasn’t a bellyache, “it was something a bit lower”.

Whatever it was, it didn’t cramp Ruth’s style. Babe was staying out all night more often than not and by the end of the season, he was a physical wreck. In mid-December, Ruth realized if he wanted to continue playing ball into his thirties, he needed to do something different. He showed up at Artie McGovern’s gymnasium on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, a well-known gym used by New York’s rich and famous.

Ruth committed himself to McGovern’s strict regimen of exercise, diet, and rest. Six weeks later, by the time he was ready to head south for spring training, Ruth had lost 44 pounds and shed almost nine inches from his waistline.

The Babe still had plenty of fun, obviously, but he never let himself get seriously out of shape again. As Robert Creamer wrote in Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, “From 1926 through 1931, as he aged from thirty-two to thirty-seven, Ruth put on the finest sustained display of hitting that baseball has ever seen. During those six seasons, he averaged 50 home runs a year, 155 runs batted in and 147 runs scored; he batted .354. … From the ashes of 1925, Babe Ruth rose like a rocket.”

As Ruth rose, so did the Yankees. The Bombers went from seventh place to first, winning 91 games and the 1926 pennant. Ruth batted .372/.516/.737, with 47 home runs (runner-up Al Simmons had 19), and drove in 155 (41 more than his nearest challenger). The Yankees were also boosted by the great play of two rookie infielders: second baseman Tony Lazzeri and shortstop Mark Koenig. First baseman Lou Gehrig, in his second full season at age 22, led the league with 20 triples and 83 extra-base hits—one more than Ruth.

In Game Four of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Ruth belted three home runs. It was the first time he had ever hit three in one game—and it was the first time that had been done in a World Series game. This was also the game before which Ruth allegedly promised to hit a home run for 11-year-old hospital patient Johnny Sylvester.

The 1926 series came down to a deciding seventh game at Yankee Stadium. New York trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Ruth walked with two outs. Bob Meusel was facing Grover Cleveland Alexander when Ruth took off for second. He was thrown out trying to steal—ending the game and the World Series.

The 1927 Yankees are often talked about as the greatest team in baseball history. New York finished with a 110-44 record, winning the league by a whopping 19 games and sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. They scored 975 runs, 130 more than second-best Detroit.

Ruth’s fabled 60 home runs—which he had become obsessed with since hitting 59 six years earlier—captured the headlines, but Gehrig, at age 24, had a better season. He outhit Ruth (.373 to .356) and nearly matched him in on-base percentage (.474 to .486), and slugging (.765 to.772). Gehrig had more extra base hits (117 to 97), total bases (447 to 417), and RBIs (175 to 164). He also led the league in doubles, was second in triples, second in home runs, second in hits, and third in batting average.

The Yankees won 13 fewer games in 1928, but their 101-53 record was still good enough for a third straight pennant. Ruth batted only .323, but his 54 home runs helped him lead the major leagues in slugging at .709. He and Lou Gehrig each drove in 142 runs. The Yankees used only three pitchers as they swept the Cardinals in the World Series. Ruth batted .625 (10-for-16), with three doubles, three home runs, and a 1.375 slugging percentage. Gehrig hit .545 (6-for-11) and slugged 1.727.

In January 1929, Babe’s first wife, Helen, died in a house fire in Watertown Massachusetts. At the time, Helen was living with Edward Kinder, a dentist, and while the deed on the house listed Helen and Kinder as husband and wife, they were not, in fact, married. (Babe and Helen had never officially divorced.) Ruth was devastated by the news. At the funeral, he wept uncontrollably.

Babe married Claire Hodgson on April 17. The following day, the Yankees—with numbers on the back of their uniforms for the first time—opened the season against the Red Sox. Babe whacked a first-inning home run to left field and doffed his cap to Claire as he rounded the bases.

On August 11 in Cleveland, Ruth hit the 500th home run of his career. The New York World called it “a symbol of American greatness”. The man who retrieved the homer got two signed baseballs and, after posing for a photo with Ruth, the Babe slipped him a $20 bill.

Miller Huggins passed away suddenly near the end of the 1929 season—and Babe lobbied for the manager’s job for 1930. (Ruth would drop hints about wanting to manage for the next four years, but the Yankees never seriously considered it.) Ruth also asked for his salary to be increased to $100,000—this coming a few months after Black Tuesday and the start of what became the Great Depression. He ended up signing a two-year deal for $80,000 per season. With exhibition game receipts, movie shorts, personal appearances, and endorsements, Ruth probably earned close to $200,000 in 1930.

By the end of June 1930, Ruth was ahead of his 60-homer pace of 1927, but injuries slowed him down and he finished with 49.

The Yankees were an offensive juggernaut. In both 1930 and 1931, they scored more than 1,000 runs—an average of nearly seven runs per game. But it was the Philadelphia Athletics who won the pennant in 1929, 1930, and 1931 behind the big bats of Jimmie Foxx and Al Simmons and the pitching of Lefty Grove.

In 1931, at age 36, Ruth had one of his finest seasons. He hit .373/.495/.700, with 46 home runs, 163 RBIs, 128 walks and 149 runs scored.

Ruth made his final trip to the World Series in 1932. Amazingly, in the seven-year reign of Ruth and Gehrig from 1929-1935, the Yankees won only one pennant. Gehrig (.349/.451/.621, 34 HR, 151 RBI) and Ruth (.341/.489/.661, 41 HR, 137 RBI) were ably assisted by Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Ben Chapman and Earl Coombs. However, it was Jimmie Foxx of the A’s who led the league in home runs (58).

The Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series, giving them wins in 12 straight World Series games. It was during the third game—October 1 at Wrigley Field—that Ruth added to his legend. The game was tied 4-4 when Ruth stepped in against Cubs starter Charlie Root with one out in the fifth inning. Ruth had already homered in his first at-bat and the Cubs’ bench-jockeying was at a fever pitch.

Everyone agrees that as Root threw two called strikes to Ruth, the Babe held up one and two fingers. What exactly happened before Root threw his 2-2 pitch will never be definitively known. The legend says Ruth pointed, perhaps with his bat, towards the center field bleachers, indicating that was where he was going to hit the next pitch. Or he may have been saying “I’ve still got one strike left.”

Either way, Ruth swung and belted the ball to deep center field—one of the longest home runs seen at Wrigley—for his second home run of the afternoon. He laughed as he jogged around the bases, pointing and jeering at the Cubs dugout.

Of the many game stories written that afternoon, only one mentioned Ruth “calling his shot”. Within two or three days, however, writers who had initially made no reference to Ruth’s theatrics were offering their own recollections. And thus a legend was born. A 16mm home movie of the at-bat surfaced in 1999. The grainy film does show Ruth pointing his arm, but it’s impossible to determine exactly what he is doing.

Root maintained that Ruth “did not point at the fence before he swung. If he had made a gesture like that, he would have ended up on his ass.” As for the Babe, when asked whether he had really pointed to the bleachers, he smiled and said, “It’s in the papers, isn’t it?”

It was Ruth’s last trip to the World Series. He played on seven World Series champions: four with the Yankees (1923, 1927-1928, 1932), and three with the Red Sox (1915-1916, 1918). He was also on the losing side of three World Series teams with New York (1921, 1922, 1926).

1933 was Ruth’s 20th season in major league baseball. He batted only .301 with 34 home runs, though he still led the league in walks. One of the season’s highlights was the inaugural All-Star Game, played at Comiskey Field in Chicago. Ruth hit the game’s first home run. He also robbed Chick Hafey of a home run in the eighth inning, to preserve the AL’s 4-2 win.

The Yankees finished seven games behind the Senators and, in an effort to boost attendance for the last home game of the year, announced that Ruth would pitch against the Red Sox. The 39-year-old outfielder held the Red Sox without a run for five innings. With a 6-0 lead, he stumbled in the sixth, allowing a walk, five singles, and four runs. He gave up another run in the eighth, but hung on and won the complete game, 6-5. Although Ruth had prepared for the start, it took a toll on his arm. He couldn’t so much as comb his hair with his left arm for about a week.

Ruth took a $17,000 pay cut in 1934. His $35,000 contract was still the highest in the game, but it was his lowest salary since 1921. On July 13, in Detroit, Babe hit his 700th career home run. Three days later, he drew his 2,000th walk.

In August, during the Yankees’ last trip at Fenway, a record crowd of 48,000 turned out, assuming it would be Ruth’s last appearance in Boston. The fans cheered everything Ruth did. When he grounded out in his final at-bat, he was given a long, standing ovation. “Do you know that some of them cried when I left the field?” Ruth said afterwards. “And if you wanna know the truth, I cried too.”

On the other hand, for what was rumored to be his final home game in a Yankees uniform, only 2,000 fans showed up. Babe played only one inning, being replaced by a pinch-runner after drawing a walk. He ended the year with a .288 batting average.

During the off-season, Ruth agreed to travel with an all-star team to Japan. In arranging for a passport, he discovered that his date of birth was February 6, 1895. He had always believed he was born on February 7, 1894. He was actually a year younger.

Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, not wanting Ruth to return in any capacity in 1935, worked out a secret deal with Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs. Fuchs would offer Ruth a contract that included the titles of “assistant manager” and “vice president”. Ruth loved the idea and when he informed Ruppert, the Yankee owner said he wouldn’t stand in Ruth’s way. At spring training in 1935, Ruth learned that the Yankees had already assigned his #3 to George Selkirk. They were also using his locker to store firewood.

Ruth ended up playing in 28 games for the Braves, batting .181. The one bright spot came on May 25 in Pittsburgh. Ruth belted the final three home runs of his career, and drove in six runs. Career home run #714 disappeared over the right field roof—the longest home run ever hit at Forbes Field.

Many of the hitting records Ruth once held have since been broken, but what cements Babe’s status as the best to ever play the game is the combination of hitting for average, hitting with power, and his work on the mound. In addition to his batting exploits, Ruth also pitched in 163 games, with a record of 94-46 and a career ERA of 2.28. For 71 years, he was also the unlikely answer to a great trivia question: Who is the only major leaguer to pitch in at least 10 seasons and have a winning record in all of them? Ruth had winning records in 10 seasons: 1914-1921, 1930 and 1933. Andy Pettitte now holds the record at 12 seasons (1995-2006).

Ruth retired to a life of golf, fishing, bowling, and public appearances. In November 1946, he checked into French Hospital on 29th Street in Manhattan, complaining of headaches and pain above his left eye. It was cancer, though the newspapers never printed the word.

Babe Ruth Day was held at Yankee Stadium (and every other major league park) the following April. A crowd of 58,339 was there and many of them, players as well as fans, were shocked at how frail and shrunken the mighty Babe had become.

Ruth returned to the Bronx one more time, on June 13, 1948. Yankee Stadium was celebrating its 25th anniversary and Babe’s #3 was being retired. Ruth was back in the hospital 11 days later. The cancer had spread to his liver, lungs, and kidneys. He knew he was dying.

Babe Ruth died at 8:01 p.m. on August 16, 1948. He was 53 years old. He is buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, next to his wife Claire.

Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam, called Ruth "the patron saint of American possibility … The fascination with his career and life continues. He is a bombastic, sloppy hero from our bombastic sloppy history, origins undetermined, a folk tale of American success."

Robert Creamer's Babe: The legend Comes to Life is the definitive Ruth bio (Marshall Smelser's The Life That Ruth Built is also well-worth tracking down), but Montville's book is equally superb, as I noted here.

Baseball Toaster, RIP

Sad news: Baseball Toaster -- a collection of superb blogs under a super-cool logo -- is no more.

My path crossed with Toaster last April, when I exchanged several emails with Ken Arneson, who oversaw the site and wrote Catfish Stew, about the possibility of Joy of Sox joining the Toaster family. We discussed how to tweak the blog to make it a better fit and about the idea of having other contributors, including Josh Wilker of Cardboard Gods (a fellow Red Sox fan).

(Actually, the entire discussion began after I wondered in a JoS comment why there was no Red Sox blog at Toaster. Josh emailed me and things took off from there.)

I decided that changing formats (and URLs) in mid-season made no sense, so I proposed to Ken that we revisit the discussion after the 2008 season. In the interim, however, I decided the cons of moving outweighed the pros.

Also, it became clear this week that the toaster in our kitchen needs to be replaced.

Kotsay Had Back Surgery Last Week

Mark Kotsay underwent arthroscopic surgery last Thursday in Los Angeles and may start the regular season on the disabled list. MLB's Ian Browne reports that Kotsay's surgery removed a displaced disc fragment.

Browne has also posted a transcript of his Q&A with Terry Francona. ... At shortstop this spring, it'll be Lowrie vs Lugo.

Lester Arrives In Fort Myers

Jon Lester arrived in Fort Myers yesterday. The Globe has a video interview and lays out the schedule for the next two weeks:

Friday: Truck Day
February 12: Pitchers & catchers report
February 14: P&C first workout
February 16: Position players report
February 18: First full-squad workout

The Red Sox have also signed outfielder/first baseman Brad Wilkerson, 31, to a minor league contract. Nothing major -- just another low-risk-and-possible-reward-of-some-kind deal.

Clemens DNA Linked To Syringes

Hummina, hummina, hummina ...

New York Post:

Scientific tests have linked Roger Clemens's DNA to blood in syringes that a personal trainer says he used to inject the former star pitcher with performance-enhancing drugs, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. ...

Yesterday, Rusty Hardin, Clemens's Houston-based defense attorney, said the DNA tests "won't matter at all."

"It will still be evidence fabricated by McNamee," Hardin said. "I would be dumbfounded if any responsible person ever found this to be reliable or credible evidence in any way."