11/23/11

Baseball: - Colby Lewis, Earliest Mention of Baseball, Stan Musial, Smokeless Tobacco, Draft Tax

Sunday morning however, something extraordinary was taking place, as nearly 200 people braved the soggy conditions to officially dedicate Field No.1 as "Colby Lewis Field." Among those that watched the unveiling of the newly-installed sign hanging just behind home plate, was Bakersfield honoree and Texas Rangers' pitching ace, Lewis himself. Surrounded by a swarm of young aspiring ball players, as well as family and friends, the two-time World Series pitcher kicked off the ceremony by tossing out the first pitch on the newly named field http://www.bakersfield.com/news/sports/local/x1479489391/Diamond-dedication

The earliest mention of baseball may be in Northanger Abbey, of all places: … it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books. Jane Austen wrote that passage in 1798, 41 years before Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game in 1839. Evidence now suggests that “America’s game” evolved in England and was imported to the New World in the... https://plus.google.com/u/0/#100383421862266190237/posts

Quote of the day from Stan Musial –American Baseball Player - (born Nov 21 1920) - "You wait for a strike, then you knock the shit out of it." https://plus.google.com/u/0/#111617651227620738310/posts

Baseball's new labor deal will limit the use of smokeless tobacco by players, but not ban it during games, as some public health groups had sought. Players have agreed not to carry tobacco packages and tins in their back pockets when fans are permitted in the ballpark, or use tobacco during pregame or postgame interviews, and at team functions. But the restrictions fall short of the call by some advocates, including members of Congress, who argued that a ban on chewing tobacco and dip during games was needed to protect impressionable kids watching on TV. http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/221938

Under the new CBA, teams that exceed the "aggregate signing bonus pool" assigned to them for the first 10 rounds of the draft would be subject to a tax on the overage and a loss of draft picks. A 0-5 percent overage would result in a 75 percent tax; a 5-10 percent overage would result in a 75 percent tax and the loss of a first-round pick; a 10-15 percent overage would result in a 100 percent tax and the loss of first- and second-rounders; and a 15 percent or higher overage would result in a 100 percent tax and the loss of two first-rounders. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/2011/11/draft-cap-may-not-be-so-harsh

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