I just found an interesting article here that discusses how Barry may have had unfair advantages for his home run records. Now, you may be thinking that the article talks about steroid abuse and the like, but it consider something much more interesting: Barry’s “arm brace.”

The articles considers that the arm brace probably improves his swing by making it more consistent and rigid and that the added weight adds power to the swing among other ideas. Its an interesting read, be sure to check it out.

Here’s another humorous clip from Japan. On the final strike at the top of the inning, the ball hits the ground. The pitcher and the rest of the team don’t notice that the ball has grazed the ground and start to leave the field. The batter takes advantage of this and runs the bases on an empty field. Pretty ridiculous mistake to make…but it happens.

Take a look at this hilarious pitching style from Japan. The pitch definitely gets by the batter, but was it a strike?

You dont see this happen anymore in the major leagues - but, man its sweet when you do. Take a look at the video where Aaron Hill steals home against the Yankees.

Want free baseball tickets? All you had to do last night was show up at Miller Park, home to the Milwaukee Brewers, and let a doctor check your prostate. After the “free and confidential” rectal exam, you would have scored two free tickets to a future Brewers game.

Seems like a pretty strange way to promote a baseball game to me. Who came up with that idea anyway? Would that motivate anyone to goto the game? Do they think rectal exams will get more people interested in baseball or do they hope to get more people interested in rectal exams? Either way its really weird. Maybe next game they will offer free tickets for a cholesterol check - that would seem more relevant to me.
Source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Law enforcement officials have charged baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda with possessing marijuana and other drugs, a California Highway Patrol official said on Wednesday. Cepeda, 69, who now works as a community representative for the San Francisco Giants speaking to children about the dangers of drugs, was stopped on Tuesday while driving 83 mph on a major highway with a speed limit of 65 mph northeast of San Francisco.

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Just like the San Francisco Giants before them, the Colorado Rockies are getting the itch to go green. The team is installing a set of solar panels on their stadium in order to reduce the energy consumption of Coors Stadium. It’s great that MLB teams are taking a healthier stance on the environment and making baseball more friendly to the environment.

The Colorado Rockies have now joined a select group of baseball franchises that taking a more green approach to doing baseball. According to a very brief article at Renewable Energy Access,

“The 9.89-kilowatt solar array, installed by Independent Power Systems, will produce over 14,000 kilowatt hours of energy, enough to offset the consumption of the Rockpile LED board over one year. In the walkway just under the system, a flat-panel monitoring system will show fans the real time consumption of the Rockpile LED board as well as the real time energy production from the solar array. Fans will also be able to learn more about solar energy throughout the season at an educational display inside the ballpark.”

Whether these teams are motivated by improving their image and public relations or just decreasing their operating costs… It’s great to see MLB take a positive step forward for the environment. Kudos to the Rockies and Giants, lets hope this trend continues for baseball and infects other industries and sports.

The Washington post wrote an interesting article about the history behind US presidents throwing the first pitch at opening game for baseball in the nation’s capital. The article talks about the long standing tradition and history with presidents throwing the first pitch and how Bush declining the honor for a second year in a row may be an indicator that not only do politicians care less about baseball, but the public at large cares less for baseball.

I have to agree that baseball doesn’t have the same grip on the public that it has had in previous generations, but it is still our nation’s past-time.  And, I must admit that I am disappointed with the president’s decision to skip this honored tradition, because, “his schedule was too busy.”

Here’s the article from the post if you’d like to read more about this.

According to the Giants team website, the Giants intend to install 590 solar panels in at&t park to make the stadium more energy efficient. Here’s some info taken from the Giants’ website,

“We will showcase solar power in one of the most visible locations on the waterfront. In turn, we hope to send a message to our fans, television viewers and the greater community about the importance of using energy wisely and efficiently.

The 590 solar panels are about the same as 40 home roof systems and will be built above the gates on the back of the stadium near McCovey Cove. Other panels will be placed on the roof near the front of the stadium by the Acme Chophouse restaurant. The installation will start in April and be finished in about two months.”

I cant say that I am surprised by this news, after all, it is California. I wonder if we will see anything similar in the nationals stadium once it is finished.

The MLB intends to randomly screen all employees for drugs. That includes the players but also all the off-field employees as well. Maury Brown of the Web site the Biz of Baseball reports that commissioner Bud Selig issued a memo Feb. 21 titled “Major League Baseball’s Drug Policy and Prevention Program,” which outlines drug-testing procedures for all personnel, meaning major and minor league players; major and minor league “non-playing personnel”; umpires and employees of the commissioner’s office.

So, why would they do this? Its hard to say exactly why they would do this..I cant for the life of me think of a good reason to drug test the secretaries, ticket handlers, janitors, or any other MLB employees, other than the actual players. It doesnt make much good sense. In fact, I’m not totally on-board for testing the players either - it seems like a blatant invasion of privacy in my opinion.

The difficult question of why they are doing might be less important that noticing the slippery slope and precedence that they are setting: They decide to drug test the players, then they say, “let’s go ahead and test everybody”. If I worked for the MLB, which I dont, I would be extremely upset that I was required to take drug test - not because I do drug (in fact, I dont do any drugs) but because I would feel my privacy had been invaded and my right to being assumed innocent had been infringed.