Missing the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium Sucks!10 Experiences that Help Ease My Pain...

I'm devastated to be missing the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium today. But to be perfectly honest, only because I'm missing Anthrax.

I've been a die-hard New York Yankees fan for as long as I can remember, and Anthrax are my favorite metal band. No disrespect to Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica, but I saw them all at the Southern California Big 4 - their Bronx experience will likely be the same.

But missing out on the opportunity to stand on the same Yankee Stadium infield as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriquez, Robinson Cano and Mark Texiera and revel in the performance of a band that I'm blessed to call friends? A band that are excited beyond words to play on the hallowed ground of a team they love as much as I do, and in the city they call home? That's the type of once in a lifetime opportunity I'm fairly certain I'll never have a chance to experience again.

Which got me to thinking: while I am missing out on this epic afternoon, I have had my share of chances to experience pop-culture history firsthand - here are ten of my favorites...

10. Yankees vs Braves, Game 4 of 1996 World Series
Since we're talking Yankee Stadium, I'll start with the Yankees, who played the Braves in the 1996 World Series. My Bronx Bombers lost the first two games of the series at home, then won Game 3 in Atlanta. I was in Atlanta and had tickets to Game 4, and it was ugly, New York trailing 6-0 after five innings. They had narrowed the margin to 6-3 when Jim Leyritz came to bat in the eighth inning facing Braves closer Mark Wohlers with two runners on - he took him deep, hitting a three-run homer to tie the game. The Yankees would go on to win 8-6 in extra innings, and win the Series in six. One of the most memorable long-balls in Yankee history, and I was there!

9. Lions vs Packers, 1994 NFC Wildcard game
Staying on the sports tip, I had a field pass for the 1994 NFC Wildcard game, where the Green Bay Packers hosted the Detroit Lions in the first found of the NFL playoffs on December 31, 1994. I worked for the Associated Press and was assigned to pre-game coverage in the parking lot - no small feat at Lambeau Field, one of the world's most sacred stadiums and host to some of greatest fans in sports. I needed to file my story and notes when the game started, which took most of the first half - I spent the rest of the game standing on the Green Bay sideline watching the Packers defense dominate the Lions, holding Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders to -1 yard, and the entire Detroit offense to -4 yards on the ground. Brett Favre ran out the clock by scrambling into his own end zone and giving up an intentional safety to seal the 16-12 Packers victory.

8. Anthrax, House of Blues Anaheim (October 27, 2004)
What was so special about this show? I'll tell you... Frank Bello had briefly left the band, and this tour featured Armored Saint's Joey Vera on bass for Anthrax. But here's where things get crazy - Frank joined Helmet, who also had a show in Anaheim, CA, this night. Helmet's show ended in time for Frank to attend the Anthrax show, and I sat in the front row of the balcony and watched Anthrax - sitting next to Frank Bello. How freaking surreal is that for a piece of Anthrax history that only about a half-dozen of us can share?

7. 2011 Sunset Strip Music Festival
I recently wrote a detailed review of this slice of history, which you can read here. In a nutshell? I experienced The Doors on Friday night at the legendary Whisky A Go Go, then saw Motley Crue headline the third annual street festival Saturday night, literally performing on the Sunset Strip. Two bands that made the Sunset Strip famous, back-to-back. It never happened before, and will likely never happen again.

6. VH1 Behind the Music - Megadeth
I'm no stranger to VH1, but there are a few appearances that stand out for me, including being a featured guest on The List and providing commentary for the Behind The Music on The Cult. But the appearance I'm most proud of? Being featured in the Megadeth Behind the Music. The band is in a dead heat with Anthrax as my favorite metal band, and this was an honor I will forever cherish. We did the interviews at the video shoot for "Motopsycho," and Dave Mustaine was apparently pretty nervous about what I'd say - I'd been a bit too honest about my feelings regarding the Risk album in Metal Edge, and he was worried those sentiments might roll over to the documentary. I'll never forget him coming up to me after reviewing the footage and thanking me for my support and friendship. He remains my favorite personality in metal, bar none.

5. Contributing to David Lee Roth's autobiography
From my favorite personality in metal, to my favorite personality in music - Diamond Dave! I reviewed his Crazy From The Heat autobiography for Metal Edge when it came out in 1998, and apparently Dave took a liking to what I wrote. I was sitting at my desk one morning (not early morning, trust me), and the phone rang - it was Eddie Anderson, David Lee Roth's right hand man. He said that David Lee Roth had a favor to ask (I still can't wrap my head around that, but those were his words!) - the man has been my muse for as long as I've known how to write a sentence, and he wanted to know if he could use part of my book review as the back cover of his softcover release. Ready for the kicker? Eddie proceeded to explain that Dave was not a fan of Metal Edge's history, but he was a fan of mine - would I mind if he just attributed the quote to me, and didn't acknowledge the magazine at all... I've had the pleasure of hanging with Dave many, many times - he even introduced me to John F. Kennedy Jr. - and as great as those memories are, nothing will top the honor of being immortalized on the back cover of his book.

4. Working with the original lineup of KISS
I grew up on KISS, and Alive II was the first record I ever bought. I'll never forget walking out of Caldors with the album... Who knew that someday I'd make KISStory? To the best of my knowledge, there's not another person on this planet that has interviewed all four original members of KISS, done a band photo shoot with all four original members, and photographed an entire live show featuring all four original members. I can literally write a book of my KISS experiences, and have the photos to document them all - who knows, maybe someday. An honor and a privilege that I don't take for granted.

3. Ozzy Osbourne plays me Under Cover
I've had countless bands play me their new music before it's been released (or even completed, for that matter), but never quite like this... I was invited to the Osbourne house to interview Ozzy in summer 2005, and when we were done with the interview he asked me if I wanted to hear some of the songs he mentioned while we were talking - uhm, hell yeah! Ozzy leads me into his study and proceeds to play me selections from the Under Cover album on his stereo, with stories and explanations of each. I had tears in my eyes as he played me John Lennon's "Woman" after explaining how he recorded it for Sharon... Yeah, I wiped tears from eyes in front of Ozzy - what's more metal than that? Ozzy fucking rules. Period.

2. Paul McCartney & Roger Waters at Coachella
These shows were the perfect storms. I was raised on oldies, not the Beatles, so I discovered the Fab Four late in life - but when I fell, I fell hard and fast (I swear I appreciate them more as a result). A friend asked me to see McCartney at the Staples Center with him several years ago, and I was an instant convert. The Beatles are my wife's favorite band, and I absorbed the inner depths of their catalog like a sponge. Being able to see McCartney headline Coachella in 2009 with my wife and some of our closest friends was a celebration I'll never forget and one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Roger Waters headlined Coachella on his Dark Side of the Moon tour the following year, and that was a much more personal experience for me - Pink Floyd are one of my favorite bands of all-time, and the set was an epiphany. Practically a religious experience...

1. Pope Benedict XVI leading mass at the Vatican
Yes, I realize I just called Roger Waters a religious experience - but music means that much to me. My wife and I went to Italy for our honeymoon and our time in Rome coincided with a mass Pope Benedict was celebrating at St. Peter's Basilica on October 9, 2008, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's death. We didn't expect to be able to attend, but we wanted to try... We found ourselves in a Vatican line that we assumed was for sightseeing, and when we passed through security and got to the front they told us we couldn't go further unless we were attending the mass. We said we were - and it was really that simple! It was literally a religious experience - Pope Benedict passed within a few feet of us, and people reacted as you'd expect, but also as you could never imagine. Think of the biggest celebrity in the world - this was a hundred times that. This topped anything I've ever experienced in music.

Goodbye, George Steinbrenner... Goodbye, Excellence

I just got off the phone with a friend in New York, and he was complaining about the George Steinbrenner media saturation in the wake of the Yankees owner's death Monday morning. "They're deifying the guy," he told me. "Enough already!"

Not enough, I say.

I'm not advocating the deification of entertainers in the least bit, but at a time when LeBron James can turn the shunning of his hometown into a prime-time, worldwide spectacle, Tiger Woods can act indignant and cavalier about sinking his putz into more strippers than golf holes, and Michael Vick can torture and kill dogs in cold blood and still be rewarded a multi-million dollar NFL contract, can we really over-saturate the passing of a man who celebrated excellence in a world that can't spell the word?

Cynics say George Steinbrenner did little more than ruin baseball with his exorbitant spending, brash firings and ostentatious demeanor, but they live in a world where ignorance is bliss, Miller High Life is truly the "champagne of beers," and everything is black or white.

But we live in a grey world, and not only did George Steinbrenner give it color, he did it with zest, elevating accountability to a pedestal while others just embraced excuses.

George Steinbrenner had pride, and he transformed it into a legacy of Yankee Pride.

Sports is entertainment, and George Steinbrenner understood that reality better than anyone. He knew fans were paying their hard-earned cash to watch his product, and he believed in giving them nothing less than the best product his money could buy. But Steinbrenner didn't stop at paying top dollar for stars like Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Alex Rodriguez - he expected nothing short of top-dollar performances, as well as top-dollar images.

If you wanted to play with a raggedy beard or scraggy hair, go play ball in bohemian Boston. In a day-and-age where mediocrity has not only become the norm, it is also rewarded, George Steinbrenner represented the last bastion of capitalism at its finest - he rewarded premium players with premium contracts, and accepted nothing less than premium results.

And if he didn't get them, he wasn't afraid to be vocal.

Working as a Sr. Editor at one of the largest internet companies in the world, I had to hire a new Editor to join my team. When our human resources representative handed me a stack of a dozen resumes and started to walk away, I told her to stick around - and in less than a minute, handed her my three choices. "What?" she asked me, a confused look on her face. "Those are the people I'm interested in talking to," I said nonchalantly. "Those are all good resumes, and you never even looked at them," she countered, pointing to the stack of paper I still held. "I don't have to," I told her, "they're applying for a job as an Editor, and they have typos in their cover letters than an eighth grader could catch - I'm not interested." "You're not being realistic," she said, "you need to lower your expectations."

George Steinbrenner never lowered his expectations, and he helped teach me that I shouldn't need to lower mine.

In the 37 years he owned the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner's team won seven World Series trophies and 11 American League pennants. They were one of the Top 5 winning teams in the American League every year since 1993, and in the Top 3 all but two of those years. In his four decades as owner, the team only finished in the bottom half of the American League standings seven times - one was the year he bought the team, and five were the rebuilding years, from 1988-92.

The passing of George Steinbrenner is more than the passing of an iconic figure in sports, it is yet another nail in the coffins of excellence, pride and accountability in a nation that rewards people for doing barely enough to get by.

George Steinbrenner has died. Mediocrity is alive and well.

Rest in peace, Boss - you'll be missed.

Thank you.

Three Angels Get Their Wings

The celebrity of Los Angeles Angels pitcher and top prospect Nick Adenhart makes his death no more tragic than that of the other two people killed after their car was struck by a drunk driver in southern California early this morning, but it does bring the grievous events of late last night into a glaring media spotlight.

We can only pray that lives can be saved as a result.

Most of us, at one time or another, have gotten behind the wheel of a car when we probably shouldn't have. How many more tragedies will it take to make sure we don't ever do it again?

In this case, not only have authorities reported that the driver of the vehicle that ran a red light and broadsided the car driven by 20-year-old college student Courtney Stewart was legally drunk, but they have also confirmed that he was driving without a license, as his had been suspended after a prior DUI conviction. Adding insult to injury, he fled the scene of the accident on foot, only to be apprehended by police a short time later.

Stewart, Adenhart, and fellow passenger Henry Pearson have died because of the irresponsibility of one person who believed he was above the law, and the lives of countless family, friends, classmates and coworkers have been shattered in the process.

This isn't baseball, and the accused shouldn't get a chance at a third strike. Three people are dead - and the fourth passenger in Stewart's car is critically injured - because of one man's selfish and blatant disregard for human life.

He should be treated no differently than he would be had he fired a loaded gun into a crowded room, because the outcome was exactly the same. The accident may not have been premeditated, but getting behind the wheel of a car drunk and without a driver's license was, and that is where this tragedy was set into motion.

From there, it took only one unthinkable moment for the lives of Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson to be lost forever.

Three Cheers for A-Rod...

Hip-hip, ster-oids!
Hip-hip, ster-oids!
Hip-hip, ster-oids!

With the year Alex Rodriquez is having, you could almost feel sorry for the guy... Almost. Regardless of how much time he spends on the disabled list due to the torn labrum in his right hip, he's still going to collect $32 million and be baseball's highest paid player in 2009.

Nice work, if you can get it.

Here's a thought for Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig: Since Rodriquez may have a lot of time on his hands over the next few months, how about being proactive and sending him a list of banned "healing supplements" now, so a year from now we won't have to hear "I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using" all over again.

One thing A-Rod definitely wasn't "negligent, naive," and guilty of "not asking all the right questions" about? The 10-year contract he signed with the New York Yankees last season, in which he's owed $275 million dollars, total, through the 2017 season.

At least we know how he got injured... He was trying to stuff his wallet into his back pocket.

Is Manny Smelling Green and Seeing Blue?

One of two things is about to happen to Los Angeles baseball: Manny Ramirez will sign with the Dodgers, or the Angels will get a rapid boost in their quest to coax L.A. fans south to Anaheim.

For the Dodgers to be taken seriously if they don't resign Manny Ramirez, one of the most dominating hitters in all of baseball and the heart of the blue batting order for the final two months of last season, they would have to replace his loss to their lineup

And now they can't.

With the signings of Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn late this week, Ramirez becomes the only marquee hitter remaining on the free agent market.

Neither Abreu or Dunn are in the class of Ramirez, but both could have filled the hole in the Dodger batting order. Despite his low batting average, Dunn would have been the better fit, filling the need for a power threat in the heart of the lineup.

Hitting at least 40 home runs in each of his last five seasons, Dunn would have provided some much-needed force in a lineup that, while well-rounded, only features three serious threats to hit even half as many long balls (Matt Kemp, Casey Blake and Andre Ethier).

Dunn's drawback is his average. A lifetime .247 hitter with a propensity for strikeouts, he signed a two year, $20 million contract with the Washington Nationals Wednesday.

Abreu can't match Dunn's power, but he is one of the most rounded hitters in the game, a lifetime .300 hitter who has scored at least 98 runs in 10 consecutive seasons, tallied at least 100 RBI in seven of his last eight seasons, hit 20 home runs in eight of his last ten, and stolen at least 22 bases a season for the past decade.

Turning 35 on March 11, Abreu joins Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson as the only players in history to hit 200 home runs and steal 300 bases with a lifetime on-base-percentage of at least .400. He signed a one year, $5 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels Thursday, including bonus incentives that could push the contract beyond $6 million.

Ramirez hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in 187 AB after coming to the Dodgers in a deadline deal with Boston and Pittsburgh August 1. To put his impact in perspective, only Blake (21), Ethier (20) and Kemp (18) hit that many homers for manager Joe Torre's Los Angeles team all last season.

One of the games elite talents, Ramirez is a .314 lifetime hitter who has averaged 99 runs, 36 HR and 118 RBI over the last 14 seasons. His age (he will be 37 when the season starts) and motivation are heavy concerns, which is why he remains a free agent this late in the off-season.

Seeking a contract that would keep him under wraps until he turns 40, Ramirez and uber-agent Scott Boras are looking for a four year deal in the neighborhood of $100 million. So far, the Dodgers have come to the table with a two-year, $45 million deal, and a one-year, $25 million offer.

With Spring Training already underway and no free agent options remaining, the negotiations have tilted in the slugger's favor. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti has commented that the trade market would be an in-season option and, yes, trimming salary has its advantages in today's economy, but neither of those would mean much to fans heading into the 2009 season.

In addition to a lethal bat, the acquisition of Manny Ramirez also brought a high-profile Latin superstar to a city whose blue collar population was hungry for a baseball hero. His presence electrified Dodger Stadium, and with the Southern California economy crumbling, a player of his magnitude will no doubt help in selling tickets.

The only other team thought to be considering Ramirez are the Dodgers' upstate division rival San Francisco Giants, who have one of the best pitching staffs in the National League. Though their offense ranked amongst the worst in baseball last season, the addition of Ramirez would make them an immediate favorite in the NL West.

While the Dodgers might be able to contend in their weak division without the addition of Ramirez, fan excitement will no doubt be tempered by a team forced to play small ball with emerging talent and little star power.

Ramirez pending, last season's entire starting lineup is returning intact. But the same can't be said for the starting rotation.

After losing Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and Greg Maddux to free agency, the only addition was veteran Randy Wolf. The fifth starter is likely to be either Jason Schmidt, who at 36 has been nagged by injuries and pitched only 25 innings since 2006, or converted outfielder and top prospect James McDonald, who impressed in relief as as September call-up last season, but whose endurance is still a question mark.

Where does this leave the Dodgers?

Without Ramirez, their lineup lacks a spark plug and their rotation will be in constant need of run support.

Not a good place to be heading into a season with hopes of repeating as division winners for the first time since 1978.

This means a Manny-sized payday may be on the horizon.

A-Roid the Great

I don't know what is worse, the fact that I wasn't surprised, or the fact that I simply don't care.

Alex Rodriguez did steroids? No way! Please don't say that he cheated on his wife, too...

I tried to catch up on sleep this morning, and learned the news of A-Rod's steroid use via a forward of a CNN "Breaking News" alert from my father on my Blackberry. His entire email read, "Do I really care? If this is 'breaking news,' we're in worse shape than we think we are!" Even with that disclaimer, when I scrolled down to see what the actual news was, I admit I was a bit disappointed.

An athlete does steroids? I'm just glad rock stars don't do drugs, and that actresses and supermodels don't take pills.

Truth be told, I was actually a little happy to read the headline.

There has always been something about A-Rod that has rubbed me the wrong way. His holier than thou perception, his tabloid relationship with Madonna that neither will confirm or deny, the fifth-grade bullshit between him and Derek Jeter... It's nice to see him fall a few rungs and have that smug persona of his take a hit.

I like my athletes with a little bit of gristle, some dirt on their uniform, and a character flaw that reminds me that they are human. If I want to see superheroes, I'll watch Iron Man, 24, or a Harry Potter movie. Even those character have problems, and they live in the land of make-believe.

Why? Because it's a lot easier to be absorbed by entertainment when the characters are at least plausible. Kids will look over the small detail that Harry Potter flies on broomsticks and has a cloak that makes him invisible if he at least has acne and is awkward around girls. What's the difference between Jack Bauer and John Rambo? Rambo is a mechanical killing machine, Keifer Sutherland is human killing machine who has a daughter that doesn't talk to him and has lost every woman he loves.

America loves a tragic hero. And even more than we love them, we love to forgive them.

Just ask Michael Phelps, who's been all over the headlines lately because someone got a picture of him smoking dope. Oh, the tragedy! How will we move on? We'll manage. Remember when an underage Phelps plead guilty to drunk driving little more than four years ago? Don't worry, most people don't remember it. It fell out of our collective conscience faster than George W. Bush.

We don't want a world that isn't shocked by a Christian Bale outburst, but a little bit of Tom Cruise jumping on a couch seems to be good for our collective psyche. It makes us remember that the people we pay far too much attention to are still really human. It allows us to remember, if even for a fleeting moment, that they're really no different than you or I.

Apart from the paycheck, ego and attitude, maybe.

People act surprised when I say that Joe DiMaggio is my favorite baseball player. So what if I never physically got to see him play? My wife's favorite bands are the Beatles and Queen, and she's never seen either of them perform live.

I loathe the Boston Red Sox, but love Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski. How? Because when I grew up, not so long ago and in a galaxy not so far away, baseball was a different game. It was a game where players actually meant something more than a line of fantasy statistics.

Graig Nettles had a lifetime batting average of .248 and is still one of the greatest Yankees ever. Nobody cared that Thurman Munson was the captain, but not a media darling. And Reggie Jackson wasn't afraid of being the straw that stirred the drink, because he wasn't worried about endorsement deals.

Everybody wrote a book, and nobody cared. You didn't have to talk about "the sanctity of the clubhouse," because nobody in said clubhouse was delusional enough to think their "sanctity" was that important. When did Major League Baseball become the Roman Catholic Church?

If Major League Baseball honestly expected fans to believe that their drug-testing policy was going to rid the game of a problem that they claimed to know nothing about, then they truly believe us to be one dumb breed. Maybe we weren't all members of the National Honor Society, but that doesn't mean we still don't read a book or two. Some with words, even.

Are we really supposed to buy the idea that the only players doing steroids are the ones that get caught? It's convenient to pretend that the only people taking them are the players that sit on the bench, because they're looking for that extra something to get them in the lineup... Until we hear that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire got caught. So now we know the guys on the top did them. It only makes sense, then, that the guys in between might, too. Right? Or is it just more convenient to stop making sense?

Major League Baseball enacted their mandatory random drug testing program in 2004, after an anonymous sampling in 2003 resulted in at least five percent positive results. That means we know that at least five out of every hundred guys were doing steroids at the time of the test (A-Rod being one of them). That's one of twenty. Or, more concisely, more than one player per active roster. My guess? It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that there were at least a handful of guys doping in every team's dugout.

I see your five percent, Major League Baseball, and raise you to 15 percent. And I bet I'm still low. Would it be that surprising to find that one in every five players used steroids at one point or another in the late '90s and shortly thereafter?

Don't forget, MLB never released the results of their tests, they only stated that it was a number "greater than five percent."

The real "breaking news" to me isn't that A-Rod did steroids, it is the allegations buried paragraphs into the story that he was tipped to when his "random" tests would be the following year.

In other words, its okay for Jorge Piedra to take a random test, but the players union will warn poster boy Alex Rodriguez in advance.

I still love the game of baseball as much as I did as a kid, but now I love it for different reasons. I love the game, not the players. I love the chess match on the base paths, it doesn't matter which pawn it is trying to steal. And I love a home run more than the next guy, regardless of where it comes in the batting order.

Baseball is a great game, and it is played by great athletes. But being a great athlete doesn't make you a great person.

The great Alex Rodriguez - A-Roid, as he will be known from this day forward - taught us that today.

We were also taught that as great as the game of baseball may be, it will never be as great as it once was.

Manny Smells Green, Not Dodger Blue

I have no problem with professional athletes making obscene amounts of money.

They are the top of the talent bracket in their given profession. No, they're not surgeons, teachers or world leaders, but if you're going to criticize an athlete for making $20 million a year, you also better criticize the highest paid actors, musicians and other entertainers.

And if you're going to criticize entertainers, don't be a hypocrite - stop watching sports, television and movies, and make sure you don't listen to any music... Good luck with that.

If a professional baseball player makes an absurd salary demand and an owner bites, all the power to the player. Like musicians and actors, their value is dictated by the market, and until there's a system in place to better contain baseball's open market (ie, a hard salary cap) stars have every right to play the system for as much money as they can.

Manny Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras have been playing the Dodgers since the end of last season. So what do they do when the Dodgers finally bite, offering Ramirez a one-year contract worth $25 million? They turn the Dodgers down.

Now I have a problem with Manny Ramirez.

The Man-Ram wants a guaranteed four or five year contract worth $25 million a year. He's one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, but turning 37 in May, he's entering the twilight of his career. He's also got a reputation for only playing hard when he wants to, and sulking, moping and pouting just as hard.

We've all read about how well that goes over in a locker room - and if we haven't read it yet, we can in Joe Torre's book, "The Yankees Years," which came out today.

Maybe the problem isn't the money for Manny, it's Joe Torre. Knowing that Torre, now in his second year as Dodgers manager after 12 years in the Bronx, has such a flair for writing, maybe Manny's afraid that a one-year contract coupled with another Torre tell-all could dampen his future contract talks.

Not likely, I know.

The fact of the matter is, Manny Ramirez changed Dodger baseball. Before him, the city had so little allegiance to its Dodgers that the Anaheim Angels were able to waltz right up and change their name to the Los Angeles Angels. It's 40 miles from Anaheim to Los Angeles. That's two hours in typical 405 traffic. If you're lucky.

But when Manny came here, he gave the city's abundant Latin population a hero to rally behind. Families of 14 now had a reason to come to the ballpark, and even transplanted baseball fans like myself now had a reason to more aggressively cheer for their new hometown team. With Manny in the lineup, the Dodgers not only had a bona-fide bat as the heart of their order, but the owners also demonstrated that they have a will to win.

The Dodgers offered Manny a three year, $45 million contract in November, and the offer was ignored. Yes, ignored. (Hey Boras, did you check your spam folder?) Then the team offered him salary arbitration, and that was declined. So now they offer a one year, $25 million contract that will make Ramirez the highest paid outfielder in the history of baseball, and the second highest salary in baseball this season, behind only Alex Rodriquez.

And he turned it down faster than most of us could brew our morning coffee.

Los Angeles has a county-wide unemployment rate that is flirting with 15-percent, and the nation is an economic free fall. And Manny turns down a guaranteed $25 million because he wants a longer contract?

Here's a thought, how about earning your $25 million this year, then re-signing for the same amount next year? What's the worst that can happen, you might only make $15 million if you have an off season?

Manny Ramirez not only said no to the Los Angeles Dodgers' contract, he also sent a message to Dodgers fans, and baseball in general: The Red Sox were right to dump him when they did. The city he's playing in means nothing to him, and the money only means something if it is guaranteed til he turns 40.

Motivation? He has none.

That's a Man-Ram no teams needs in the backdoor of their clubhouse.

Welcome to the Dodgers, Adam Dunn, don't forget to send Manny a thank you note.

Hall of Fame Reaction

There were no surprises when the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2009 today: All-time stolen base and runs scored leader Rickey Henderson made it in on his first ballot, Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice made it in on his last, Andre Dawson and Burt Blyleven need to wait another year or two (three tops), and the jury is still out on Lee Smith, Jack Morris, Tim Raines and Mark McGwire.

Especially given the weak crop of HOF-eligible newbies over the next three years (more on that later), Blyleven and Dawson - who received 67 and 62.7 percent of the 75 percent vote needed for induction, respectively - are virtual locks for election by 2012 (Blyleven's final year of eligibility). Judging from voter precedent, we can also expect to see Lee Smith (44.5 percent) and Jack Morris (44 percent) make a strong run at it on the next few ballots, with Tim Raines (22.6 percent) also seeing a big bump in recognition now that his prime competition for the spotlight while he was a player, Rickey Henderson, has been enshrined.

But the player I'm most curious about is former Atlanta Braves slugger Dale Murphy (pictured above). Now that Rice has made it in, Murphy shouldn't be far behind. A look at the statistics:

J.Rice: 8225 AB, .298 AVG, 382 HR, 1451 RBI, 1249 R
Murphy: 7960 AB, .265 AVG, 398 HR, 1266 RBI, 1197 R

Yes, the difference in batting average is glaring, but the peripherals speak to Murphy's favor. Rice played on a powerhouse Boston squad that included three fellow Hall of Famers - Carl Yastrzemski, Dennis Eckersley and Carlton Fisk - as well as perennial all-star Fred Lynn and three-time all-star Dwight Evans. Murphy was part of a limp Braves lineup that featured Hall of Famer Phil Niekro in the rotation, but little more than Gary Matthews, Sr. and Bob Horner helping with the offense. Want to talk about the difference a team makes? Still, Murphy won two league MVP awards to Rice's one, and five Gold Gloves to Rice's none.

How dominant a force was Murphy in the '80s? No player in all of baseball had more total bases that decade, only Mike Schmidt hit more home runs, and only Eddie Murray had more RBIs. Both Schmidt and Murray are Hall of Famers.

Yet Murph only received 11.5 percent of this year's votes (62 of 539), and hasn't topped 15 percent since getting 23.2 percent in 2000.

Did I mention that he also won a Roberto Clemente Award, given to the one player each year who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team"? Can someone please tell me what I'm missing here? He's got four more years of eligibility - if he doesn't make it into the Hall, it will be an atrocity.

A few more notes from this year's ballot...

*Rickey Henderson's 511 of 539 votes gave him the 13th highest percentage of any Hall inductee (94.8). I'd love to hear the arguments of the 28 who didn't feel him worthy.

*The fate of Tommy John, having failed to get in on his fifteenth and final ballot, is now in the hands of the Veterans Committee, who seem to be more sympathetic to the notion that the Hall of Fame should not only include the elite players, but also the biggest names. While his stats don't merit his inclusion, he's a legend in that he's had a surgery named after him, so odds are in his favor. After the Veterans take care of Gil Hodges, of course, who is the only player to land on at least 60 percent of the ballots, yet never get enshrined.

*The following players didn't receive the five percent of votes necessary to retain their eligibility next year: Mark Grace (22 votes), David Cone (21 votes), Matt Williams (7 votes), Mo Vaughn (6 votes), Jay Bell (2 votes), Jesse Orosco (1 vote), and Ron Gant, Dan Plesac and Greg Vaughn (no votes).

2009 National Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Totals

And, finally, a few notes on the upcoming Hall of Fame classes...

2010
ROBERTO ALOMAR, EDGAR MARTINEZ & FRED MCGRIFF
I don't see any of these guys as Hall of Famers. I understand the arguments for Martinez, but I view him much the same as Don Mattingly at the plate. Yes, Mattingly only had six great years to Martinez' seven, but if I'm not endorsing Mattingly with his nine Gold Gloves in ten years, Martinez shouldn't get in as a designated hitter.

2011
JEFF BAGWELL
It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't get in on the first ballot, but he deserves to get there. He was the class of his position for a decade, and one of the best 1B of the modern era.

2012
BERNIE WILLIAMS
I'm leaning towards no with Bernie. He's a great Yankee, and arguably the epitome of all-around players, but he was never the elite at his position. He only started one All-Star game in his 16-season career (he was named to five), and only finished in the Top 10 of MVP voting twice, finishing seventh in 1998 and tenth in 2002. He was great, but definitely not one of the greatest to ever play the game.

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To look back at my preview of the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2009 ballot, click here.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Rickey!

When the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame announces their Class of 2009 on Monday, Rickey Henderson will become the 39th player to be inducted in his first year of eligibility. The only question that remains is whether or not the game's all-time stolen base and runs scored leader will break Tom Seaver's record, set when the pitcher appeared on 98.84 percent of his first-year ballots (425 of 430) in 1992. Considering Cal Ripken, Jr. only appeared on 537 of 545 ballots last year, in his first year of eligibility, I wouldn't count on it - I would also consider telling a certain eight people from last year that they are no longer receiving voting privileges. Players like Ripken and Henderson come around once in a lifetime, and if they're not elected unanimously, we seriously have to question voter motivations.

To put Rickey Henderson's electrifying career in perspective, there is only one active baseball player within 1000 of his record 1406 steals - Juan Pierre, who is 977 swipes away with 429. Johnny Damon is next with 362. And, as Dennis Eckersley recounts in this story, Henderson was one hell of a presence, too! But what about the guys on the ballot who aren't as obvious? Keeping in mind that, according to the Baseball Writer's Association of America, "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played," here's my take on the guys who are on this year's bubble, in the order that I feel they deserve consideration...

TIM RAINES is fifth on the all-time stolen base list with 808. Only five players have stolen more than 800 bases, the other four being Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton and Ty Cobb (all HOFers). Let's compare Raines' to Brock, who was a first-ballot inductee in 1985:

LB: 938 SB, .293 AVG, 149 HR, 1610 R, 900 RBI, .343 OBP, 307 CS
TR: 808 SB, .294 AVG, 170 HR, 1571 R, 980 RBI, .385 OBP, 146 CS

Apart from Rickey Henderson, what more could you want in a lead-off hitter? The argument will be made that Raines wasn't as dominant as Henderson, since they both played the game at the same time, but where does "dominance" come into the voting criteria? In 1460 fewer at bats, Raines has essentially the same metrics as Brock, with a stolen base percentage that is ten percent higher. He scored 80 or more runs in a season ten times in his career, and was elected to the All Star team seven years in a row, from 1981-87.
SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

ANDRE DAWSON is in some pretty elite company - Only two players in the history of the game have more home runs AND stolen bases: Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. He's a member of the 400 HR club with 438, swiped 314 bases, and has a lifetime average of .279. He won the MVP award in 1987, was awarded nine consecutive Golden Gloves from 1980-88, and made eight All Star appearances. He was one of the most rounded hitters to play the game, and was just as good in the field. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

BURT BLYLEVEN raises an interesting point for Hall of Fame voters: Should you penalize a player for the team he was on? Blyleven's win totals aren't overwhelming (he's 26th all-time with 287), but his strikeout numbers are filthy, placing him fifth all-time with 3701, behind only Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton. His peripherals are similarly superb, sporting a lifetime 3.31 ERA and 1.198 WHIP. The question that begs asking is, with numbers that good, why are his wins so low? Run support. Blyleven had at least 15 wins in 10 of his 22 Major League seasons. Not great, I know. Then consider that he had double-digit losses in nine of the seasons in which he didn't win 15 games. Put this guy on a contender, rather than the Minnesota, Texas, Pittsburgh and Cleveland squads that struggled to convert his 3.31 lifetime ERA (and 242 complete games) into wins, and he'd have been a lock for the Hall years ago. Don't agree? Add 20 more wins to his lifetime totals, and he'd have more than Tom Seaver and Gaylord Perry. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

JIM RICE played all 16 of his MLB seasons with the Boston Red Sox, and in the 11 seasons where he had at least 500 AB never hit fewer than 85 RBI. He hit at least 100 RBI eight times in his career, was elected to the All Star team eight times, won the MVP award in '78 and finished in the Top 5 in MVP voting six times. In terms of all around hitting talent, only 14 players have more career home runs and a higher batting average. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

DALE MURPHY doesn't have the same numbers as Andre Dawson, but he was the same type of player on both sides of the ball. That said, if Rice gets in, Murphy belongs in with comparable numbers. He may not have been the all-around hitter Rice was, and his lifetime .265 average is no doubt his biggest hurdle, but Rice never won a Gold Glove award. Murphy won five Gold Gloves in a row, and was also a starter in the All Star game each of those years, 1982-86. He was named league MVP twice, and was named to a total of seven All Star games in eight years. What Murphy lacked in average, he made up for with his leather. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

LEE SMITH ranks third on the all-time Saves list with 478 (with no active pitcher within reach), and fifth all-time in strikeouts by a closer with 1251 (though it's worth noting that the four relievers with more strikeouts - Dennis Eckersly, Goose Gossage, Hoyt Wilhem and Rollie Fingers - all saw time as starters in their career, helping boost their totals). Smith may not have the charisma of Gossage or the career as a starter like Eckersly, but he was a dominant force and integral in redefining the role (and status) of closers in baseball. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

MARK McGWIRE will forever be linked to steroids, which speaks directly to the character criteria when weighing votes. Fine, point taken. Babe Ruth was a womanizer and hard drinker, Gaylord Perry's main pitch was a spitball (cheater), and there is no shortage of claims that Ty Cobb was a racist. Ah, those were different days, one might argue. Okay, well so were the '90s. Baseball was slumping, and the historic 1998 home run race between McGwire and Sammy Sosa revived the game on a worldwide level. Few can deny that baseball turned a blind eye to the problem of performance enhancing drugs, which in turn only encouraged the practice. We'll never know how many players that make the Hall actually did steroids, but we'd be burying our heads in the sand if we don't think there will at least be a few. Is it fair to make McGwire an example? His 583 career long balls place him eighth on the all-time list, he was the game's premier slugger for a decade, and he appeared in 12 All Star games in his 16 season career. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? Yes.

JACK MORRIS spent 18 years in the Majors. In his first 16 seasons as a full-time starter, he failed to reach the 15-win plateau only twice (and one of those times was 14 wins in 1981). He has four World Series rings with three different teams, was named to the All Star team five times, and finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young Award votes five times. He was clearly a great pitcher, and one of the most consistent of his era, but his peripheral 3.90 career ERA (he's got the highest ERA ever by a pitcher with at least 250 wins) and 2478 strikeouts aren't enough to truly merit elite status.
SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? No.

ALAN TRAMMELL had a Hall of Fame stretch from 1983-88, winning two Gold Gloves and Silver Slugger awards, earning Top 10 MVP votes and finishing in the Top 5 in batting average three times each, being named World Series MVP, and getting voted to four All Star squads. But those were only six years in a 20 year career. The reality is, those years made his name a lot bigger than his overall stats. If we let him in, we've got to open the door for guys like Don Mattingly, Dave Parker and Darryl Strawberry - As good as they were, the prolonged careers just weren't there. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? No.

TOMMY JOHN and his elbow should get a Hall of Fame exhibit opened in their honor, but not a plaque. He's got one more win than Burt Blyleven in four more seasons, and 233 fewer strikeouts than Jack Morris had in eight less seasons. He was a good pitcher, but not a great pitcher. SHOULD HE BE INDUCTED? No.

ALSO ON THE BALLOT: Harold Baines, Jay Bell, David Cone, Ron Gant, Mark Grace, Don Mattingly, Jesse Orosco, Dave Parker, Dan Plesac, Darryl Strawberry, Greg Vaughn, Mo Vaughn, Matt Williams.

2008 National Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Totals

Hall of Fame members, ranked by voting percentage
(Absent from the ranking is Goose Gossage, voted in last year.
He received 466 of 543 possible votes, for a total of 85.8 percent)

New York Yankees Holiday Shopping

It's the day before Christmas Eve, and while you might think you have a lot of shopping to do, rest-assured you're not alone.

The New York Yankees started their holiday spending spree a few weeks ago, committing $243.5 million in long-term contracts to two front-line starters in CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Yesterday they re-signed Chien-Ming Wang to a comparatively bargain-basement price of $5.0 million for 2009, giving them three potential Cy Young Award candidates to anchor a rotation that was an achilles heel throughout the 2008 season.

What they still haven't addressed is the fact that their offense scored 179 fewer runs in 2008 than they did when scoring a Major League-leading 968 in 2007. Counting on the addition of 1B/OF Nick Swisher (86-24-69-.219 in '08) to replace free agent DH/1B Jason Giambi (68-32-96-.247) is realistic, but still doesn't account for the offensive hit the team is suffering by not resigning OF Bobby Abreu, who averaged 107-17-103-.291 and 26 SB in each of his three seasons in the Bronx.

There's been a lot of talk about Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira possibly ending up in pinstripes, and most of it is attached to criticism of the team's payroll and spending habits. To note, yesterday the Yankees were assessed a $26.9 million luxury task by Major League Baseball and handed a bill for 40 percent of every dollar over the league's $155.0 million soft cap in 2008 (that cap increases to $162.0 this year, and another $8.0 each of the next two years). What did New York get for their $222.2 million payroll? They finished in third place for the first time since the American and National Leagues expanded to three divisions in 1994, didn't qualify for postseason play for the first time since 1993, and subsequently failed to make the World Series for the fifth consecutive season.

The emergence of the Tampa Bay Rays (who won the Yankees' division and the American League Championship before falling to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series), coupled by the success of the Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks in recent years, has done much to counter arguments that salary equates with success in Major League Baseball. It has also placed even more stress on large market teams like the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers to step up their attempts to restore the storied luster to their franchise legacies.

But nobody is feeling it more than the Yankees, who in fairness, have more money to spend than any of the teams, and shouldn't be afraid to spend it to bring the results that their fans (and foes) demand. Peter King, in my opinion one of the greatest sports journalists of our time, asked in a recent Sports Illustrated column, "In this economy, should a baseball player be paid more than $20 million a year?" I counter with this question: Why not?

In 2008, Bon Jovi earned more than any other touring musical acts, amassing $210.7 million on the road. Bruce Springsteen followed, topping $204 million, and Madonna's tour grossed more than $185 million. Marquee movie stars are routinely paid between $10-$20 million for a single film, and some of the biggest actors and actresses on television make upwards of one million dollars an episode. So why shouldn't an elite baseball talent get $25 million/season? They'll be expected to play in 161 games (and presumably a post-season) in front of a league-average of 30,000 fans a game, each paying a league-average ticket price of more than $25.

We can balk about the current economy all we want, but the minute a professional athlete signs that contract that makes them "professional," they become an entertainer, no different than a musician, actor, or anyone else who is paid a premium to distract us from the rigors of our day-to-day lives. A player will likely make more with the Yankees than they will with the Milwaukee Brewers, just like a musician will make more playing the Staples Center in Los Angeles than they will the Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho. It is supply and demand, and market dictates value.

The New York Yankees averaged an MLB-high 53,069 fans per home game in 2008, and will be opening a new stadium for the start of the 2009 season. The New York Post reported in a Nov. 11 piece that luxury box sales for the new stadium had stalled, with seven $600,000 boxes remaining vacant, and the last sale of a luxury box dating back to August. While that, no doubt, has more to do with the economy than it does the Yankees recent struggles, the Bronx Bombers remain the most storied franchise is sports history, with a tradition of winning. People who pay a premium price, expect to see a premium product.

Along with that tradition of winning (stress on tradition, as they haven't been winning as of late), the Yankees generate significantly more in licensing revenue than many other MLB teams combined, and are the only professional sports franchise in America with their own television network, the YES Network (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network). Criticize their spending all you want, but they have the revenue streams to back it up. And can it truly be said that their high-priced spending is making baseball top-heavy, when the more they spend, the less they seem to win?

With the Yankees investing as much as they have in their pitching this off-season, they need to make one more significant splash before heading into Spring Training, and that splash needs to come in the form of offensive firepower. With three aces in their deck, they'd only be selling themselves short if they don't go all in with one of the marquee bats on the free agent market.

Mark Teixeira or Manny Ramirez in Pinstripes? It has to happen... And will.