Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter. World Series champions. Yankee gods.

And former A’s.

Nobody in New York even remembers that Maris was an Athletic first. Or that the “invincible” Yankees of 1927-28 were utterly destroyed by the A’s of 1929.

Our Reggie wears a Yankee cap in Cooperstown. That hurts. (At least Catfish stuck with us. He would.) And there was the Berkeley Brawler, Billy Martin. Wanting to be a Yankee for life, he was demoted to the A’s (the Kansas City version). For a New York loyalist, it was the equivalent of a degrading banishment to baseball Siberia.

Sounds like some bad blood, or maybe even a rivalry, doesn’t it?

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At least here in the Bay Area the 2006 Major
League Baseball season will be welcomed.
The San Francisco 49ers were bad, like bad,
before the kids meant to call bad=good.
The Oakland Raiders were also very bad, the
Warriors have not made it to a playoff since
the Korean War, the San José Earthquakes
moved out of San José into Houston, Texas
and the San José Sharks playoff hopes are
hanging in the rafters of the HP Pavillion.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Marty: It will shortly be announced, if it hasn’t already, that George Mitchell has been chosen by Bud Selig to conduct an investigation into the past use of performance enhancing drugs in the sport. Mitchell is the widely respected former Majority leader from Maine. Since leaving the Senate, he has been called upon to lend his deserved reputation to tasks such as bringing together the parties to the century long Irish dispute, the cause of bloodshed, death, broken lives and despair. In the judgement of many, he was largely successful.

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Musical Chairs

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – They left Philadelphia. Twelve years later they left Kansas City.

Now the Athletics are packing again. Lewis Wolff, A’s majority owner and one-time champion of a new baseball-only facility within the city, appears to be looking elsewhere for a new suburban home for our nomadic nine.

“Doesn’t anybody stay in one place any more?” lamented Carole King.

No, they don’t. Goodbye Brooklyn. Hello Hollywood. See ya’ Coogan’s Bluff. Open your Golden Gate, San Francisco. Toot-a-loo, Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators (twice), and Montreal Expos.

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Marty: Great that you brought Rick aboard. I started to insert this in the “comments” section of his article but quickly realized that it would be too lengthy for a simple comment. I agree with his jeremiad respecting the media’s “selective spinning and pontificating” concerning Bonds alleged steroid use. Evidences of cheating throughout the years are legion and well known.

One doesn’t have to look very hard to find an answer to the media’s preoccupation with Bonds. Bonds is simply a very unpleasant character. There is no point in delineating the well known ways in which Bonds has shown his lack of respect for the media. Whether this came before the media displayed their lack of respect for him, or after, is up for grabs. If Bonds was a likeable fellow, something he is unlikely to be given credit for, the attitude of the media might be more kindly.

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Blaming Barry

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer
OAKLAND – Move over, Rafael Palmiero and Tom DeLay. Now Barry Bonds has amnesia. He is as puzzled about the steroid allegations as Sammy Sosa was about his corked bat.

So, what’s new? Bonds is once again the latest media sensation. In Game of Shadows, to be published on March 27, in which two investigative reporters seek to document Bonds’ steroid use, the seven-time MVP winner is an ego out of control. But is rudeness, or even cheating, the real story?

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Marty: The season is only a few short weeks away. It is time to check in with you, to ramble on about the Giants and how they look for the coming one hundred and sixty two games. When I started thinking about the makeup of this club, I realized that Sabean had put together an intriguing collection of ancient, over the hill, ball players.

Ed’s fans have been waiting patiently for his award winning analysis of the Giants. Welcome to the 2006 NL West. Thanks Ed.

Marty

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by Glenn Dickey
Mar 17, 2006
EVERY SPRING the question arises: Will this be the year Eric Chavez reaches his potential? The answer may finally be yes, but more because of what the A’s have done in the offseason than because of Chavez himself.

Since Chavez hit .311 in the final month of the 1998 season, when he was still 20 (his birthday is Dec. 7) extravagant predictions have been made for him, some in this space. Historically, when a player can demonstrate at that early an age that he can hit major league pitching, the Hall of Fame is most likely in his future. [Read more →]

As I am in Phoenix for Spring Training a lot of
the players in many of the camps here, specially
the Hispanic players are trying to follow, when their
time allows this first World Baseball Classic and
it is nice to see the passion they are exhibiting.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

The Caracas Lions,representatives of Venezuela
beat the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Republic
to capture their first title in the Caribbean Series since 1989.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]