He started umpiring in the Pony League. He moved to the Canadian-American League in 1950, followed by the International League in 1952 and reached the American League in 1954. His career included many different highlights and firsts. He umpired in the first ALCS game in 1969. Then went on to umpire in the 1972 and 1973 ALCS games, serving as crew chief in two out of three series.
 
He also worked in six All-Star games and five World Series. Among the most notable World Series games was the seventh game of the 1977 series, in which he was behind the plate.
 
During his career, he worked such gems as Sandy Koufax’s last game in the 1966 World Series. He also was the home plate umpire during the first game in Toronto, in 1977, against the White Sox, in the middle of a snowstorm.
 
Nestor had to call two notable forfeits in his career. One, during his umpiring days, was declared a forfeit when the crowd, on “10 Cent Beer Night” (June 4, 1974) in Cleveland, got unruly. Fighting, among the spectators, spilled out onto the field, where Nestor was hit over the head with a chair.
 
Nestor retired from umpiring in 1978 and became an assistant league supervisor of umpires. It was during this part of his career, where he had to call another notable forfeit on July 12, 1979. When a demonstration by a local disc jockey, during the intermission between games resulted in a riot, Chylak insisted that the second game would not be played. This is now known as the infamous Disco Demolition at Comiskey Park. White Sox owner Bill Veeck protested, but American League president Lee MacPhail upheld Nestor’s decision and awarded the second game in the Tigers favor.
 
Upon his death in 1982, of a heart attack, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said, Few have ever been more respected in his field. Everyone looked up to him, and I developed more respect every time I saw him in a World Series or All-Star Game.
 
Chylak was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, by the Veterans Committee.
 
See Chylak’s page at baseball-reference.

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It was impermissible as a news organization that the Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. continuously posted inappropriate articles in the WaiWai column of the Mainichi Daily News (MDN), its English site.
The articles had inappropriate content that should not have been dispatched in Japan or to the world, such as incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual topics. We apologize deeply for making many people feel uncomfortable, damaging many people's reputations, causing great trouble and at the same time, betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shimbun. We are deeply sorry.
An in-house investigation has indicated that many articles in the column in question were barely checked before being posted, and that the seriousness of the problem went undetected even within the company. We neglected repeated warnings from those outside the company. These are serious errors and are extremely regrettable. In accordance with internal regulations, those involved in the matter have been severely punished.
In an effort to maintain and improve the quality of the printed edition of its newspaper, the Mainichi Newspapers has an article review division, and has also set up an Open Newspaper Committee, a third-party panel comprised of experts. Nevertheless, we failed to notice the problems that occurred on the English site. Our quality-control system was insufficient. We also failed to clearly define the role of our English site, which dispatches news to the world.
We have worked out measures to prevent a recurrence while keeping in mind the results of our in-house investigation and opinions from many readers.
We have decided to reform the MDN in order to rehabilitate it into a site that can dispatch information to the world that can help people properly understand Japan.
We will appoint a female employee as the new chief editor, based on our realization that the lack of a woman's point of view, in addition to the lack of a checking system, helped to create a situation in which inappropriate articles continued to be published in the column. An advisory group will be set up to give appropriate advice on the content of articles.
We have already shut down the WaiWai column, but if we find outside Web sites that have copied and posted past WaiWai articles, we will explain the situation and ask the site operators to correct or delete them.
We received valuable opinions from members of the Open Newspaper Committee, who were asked for the first time for their views on the English site. We will ask them to keep a close eye on Mainichi Web sites including the MDN. We will also boost the system to properly respond to opinions from those outside the company.
The WaiWai problem has called into question whether the Mainichi Newspapers has clearly defined the role of its English site. We are determined to try our utmost to regain the public trust that we have lost as a result of this problem.
The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd.

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C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P., et al.
F.3d , 2007 WL 2990366, 84 U.S.P.Q.2d 1328 (8th Cir. 2007)
In a much watched case, on October 16, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P., et al., regarding whether it is ok for fantasy sports operators to use professional athletes’ names and historical statistics without a license from the players, the players association and/or the relevant league. In this case, the sport is baseball, but the ruling can be applied across the board to any fantasy sports league. In this case, the Eighth Circuit held that C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. (“CBC”), a provider of online fantasy baseball products, could use the names of and statistics of Major League Baseball (“MLB”) players without a license from Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (“Advanced Media”), a MLB holding company to whom The Major League Baseball Players Association (“the Players Association”) had granted the exclusive right “to use baseball players’ names and performance information ‘for exploitation via all interactive media.’” Slip. Op. at 3. MLB and Advanced Media unsuccessfully argued that CBC’s use of player names and statistics was a violation of the players’ rights of publicity, copyright infringement, and breach of contract, among other theories. The court held that the fantasy sports operators actions were protected under the First Amendment.
In 1995, the Players Association first granted CBC a license to use the names of MLB players and their corresponding statistics in fantasy baseball games. In 2002, the Players Association granted CBC a renewed license, which gave CBC the rights to use “the names, nicknames, likenesses, signatures, pictures, playing records, and/or biographical data of each player” in connection with CBC’s fantasy baseball products. Slip. Op. at 3. When this renewed license expired in 2005, however, the Players Association did not grant CBC another renewed license. Instead, the Players Association granted the exclusive right “to use baseball players’ names and performance information ‘for exploitation via all interactive media’” to Advanced Media (the MLB holding company mentioned above). Id. After Advanced Media received this exclusive license from the Players Association, it approached CBC and proposed a license under which CBC could promote fantasy baseball games on MLB.com, but could not continue offering its own fantasy baseball products. CBC subsequently brought this declaratory judgment lawsuit, seeking a court decree that it could continue to use the names of and statistics related to MLB players without a license from Advanced Media.
At issue in this case was whether MLB could exercise exclusive control over the fantasy baseball business by limiting others’ access to factual player information (i.e., names and statistics). In order to exercise this control, MLB, acting through the Players Association and Advanced Media, tried to establish that CBC’s use of the names of MLB players and their corresponding statistics violated rights of publicity, was copyright infringement, and was a breach of the previous licensing contract. At the trial court level, MLB argued that CBC was violating the baseball players’ individual rights of publicity, which are protected under state law (Missouri state law in this case, pursuant to federal jurisdictional rules). Although the trial court held that MLB failed to establish these state-law rights, the Eighth Circuit reversed this determination and found that state-law rights of publicity were implicated. However, the Eighth Circuit further held that First Amendment considerations (i.e., the “right to use information that is available to everyone”) trumped these state-law rights. Significantly, in deciding that these state-law rights “must give way” to First Amendment considerations, the Eighth Circuit characterized the baseball players’ names and their corresponding statistics as information that is “readily available in the public domain.” Slip. Op. at 7. Because MLB (or anyone else for that matter) cannot exercise exclusive control over information in the public domain, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s judgment in favor of CBC, thus allowing CBC to continue using MLB players’ names and statistics without a license.
(Earlier in the case, MLB and Advanced Media also tried to argue that the use of player names and statistics was an infringement of one or more copyrights owned by MLB. MLB argued that it owned a copyright in the compilation of names and statistics. The court didn’t buy it and indicated that the names and statistics were public domain factual information.)
So for those of you running your own fantasy sports sites (or at least fantasy baseball sites), the decision in this case means that you can make use of the same information as CBC (i.e., player names and statistics) without obtaining a license from the relevant professional sports league. However, you should still consult a lawyer regarding your particular situation, because the ruling in this case involves some complicated interactions between state and federal law, and perhaps could have been decided differently by a different court with respect to the rights of publicity issues.

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Toni Smith or Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refuses to stand at attention for the Anthem because of deep, important, valid personal beliefs, and we as a society crap all over them for it.  We say that theyre wrong for acting that way.  But two hundred people walk over Francis Scott Keys sweet tunes for no better reason than securing a couple of metal bleacher seats in prime homerun territory?  Thats cool, man.  Dont worry about it.  No big deal.
4) The National Anthem is a cool, meaningful song that should be respected; God Bless America is a little different.  Not that it doesnt deserve much love, but it always feels a little out of place, like were trying too hard to showcase our patriotism.  I dont know if thats the best explanation.  Bottom line, for whatever reason, Ive never felt it was nearly on the same level as the Anthem.  You can walk around the ballpark, get a hot dog, talk to a friend during God Bless America and it doesnt feel strange.
Anyway, they played God Bless America in the seventh inning, we all stood up, Billy and Chris took off their hats - business as usual (I wouldve taken off my hat if Id been wearing one.  Why?  Because Im a follower).  As I listened, it seemed like this particular version had a little extra flair thrown in - like they stretched out some of the notes to add some pizzazz.  It was like the instrumental of the Ronan Tynan version.  Eventually it came to what we thought was the end, Billy started to put his hat back onand the song kept going.  Not for long, but the flair had thrown him off, there was more song to be played, and he had jumped the gun.  He let his displeasure be known by loudly saying, OH COME ON!   
This, of course, cracked me up.  He wasnt trying to be disrespectful, not at all, but the combination of a never-ending song and his failure to secure one of the Dustin Pedroia bobbleheads being given away prior to the game (more on that in a minute) had led him to his breaking point.  Billy wasnt lashing out at God Bless America, he was lashing out at the inequities and inconsistencies of life, and I thought it was hilarious.
3) The Pedroia Situation has to be number three.  When I bought the tickets, I picked August 2 for two reasons: one, it was the closest date that worked for all four of us and two, they were giving away Dustin Pedroia bobbleheads to the first 4,000 fans.  Unfortunately, I have a problem with not reading things closely, so it took awhile before I learned that the giveaway was planned for the first 4,000 KIDS ONLY.
This took a toll on Billy, who apparently is a big Pedroia fan.  Before the night was through, he had gone to every usher in the place, trying his best to talk someone into giving up the bobblehead.  No dice, even after they started giving them out to random adults.  The best moment, however, was soon after we entered the ballpark.  We were out in left field, checking things out, when a group of three kids wandered by.  One of us, I forget who, suggested that Billy offer them a couple of bucks to get him a Pedroia.  So he did.
It was hilarious, seeing a grown man chatting up three adolescents in the farthest reaches of the stadium.  I expected Chris Hansen to appear at any time.  The kicker, though, the thing that made me lose faith in the children of Rhode Island, was when I asked Billy how much he paid the kid to get the merchandise.  I figured it was at least five, maybe ten.  If the kid was smart, he recognized the desperation and held out for the Hamilton.
No, he gave him two dollars.  A couple of Georges.  Thats it.  I was shocked when I heard that.  Not so much because Billy lowballed him off the bat - thats just good business - but because the kid didnt try to drive up the price at all.  Clearly, Rhode Island schools need to add Economics to the curriculum.
2) For the latter part of the game, there was a drunk fan standing at the top of the bleachers.  At some point, he made it his goal to taunt the centerfielder for the opposing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.  Only problem was, he didnt know the name of the centerfielder for the opposing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.  So for who knows how many innings, we were subjected to witty remarks directed at Number 36.  If youre gonna heckle, at least buy a program.  Make an effort.  And show me something early, or stop shouting.  If youre giving a guy a hard time for backing up a play - in other words, making a good baseball play - youre too stupid and/or drunk to heckle. 
The guy disappeared in the eighth, I think, which was sad because I was very close to starting a How drunk are you? chant (I think it wouldve caught on).  When he returned, maybe a half inning later, I nudged Chris, who in turn nudged my brother and suggested he trip him on his way up the stairs.  He didnt realize right away who it was, or he might actually have done it.
Oh, and for the record: Matt Carson, number 36sorry about the douchebag in the bleachers on August 2.  Im sure you get taunted a lot by opposing fans, but I was impressed by how well you handled it.
1) As luck would have it, we found ourselves four seats that were almost completely surrounded by families.  Behind us, six or seven kids from a birthday party were sitting with what appeared to be two adults.  The kids kept accidentally kicking Billy in the back; by the fifth inning, he was about ready to give somebody, anybody, a piece of his mind.  (This was the same group that, amazingly, allowed three kids to leave the area without adult supervision and walk down to the bullpen for autographs.  These kids were maybe ten years old - maybe.  Not a parenting move I would have made.)  They did provide me with a moment of levity, however, when the one Yankees fan in the group started a s go Yankees! cheer.  His friends responded with, s go Red Sox!  Within about ten seconds, I had no clue who was saying what.  I think if you recorded it and played it backwards, it said Paul is dead.
Now, to the front was an older guy with a couple of older ladies, one of whom Im assuming was his wife.  There were a couple of kids down there who were really well behaved.  Barely heard anything out of them the whole night.  Nothing worth complaining about there.
Our left flank carried the greatest threat to our sanity.  The actual composition was fuzzy, but as near as I could figure we were looking at a mother, two young kids, a grandmother, and a father.  Though everyone in the group had their weird little quirks, it was the father that really caught the eye of all four people in our group.  Three incidents in particular stand out:
He and the mother were bringing the kids somewhere and made it down onto the walkway at the front of the bleachers.  The father was carrying one of the boys.  All of a sudden, my brother noticed him yelling at the woman, Take him, take him, Im dropping him!  Fortunately, she was there to grab the child so he didnt have to worry about, I dont know, putting down the beer he was holding.  I like a man who has his priorities in order.
As the game wore on and this wonderful fellow continued to down as much beer as possible, we noticed that the threat of nudity became greater and greater.  He was completely dressed at the beginning; by the time they left, his Red Sox jersey was completely unbuttoned, and the young lady with him was informing the children that it was time to go, before Daddy took his pants off. 
On their way out of our section, the ball park, and our lives, the mother tried to give the father a couple of those ice cream-filled batting helmets to hold.  They were empty, of course, save for some sticky ice cream residue.  She was struggling with both kids and the assorted crap that all mothers carry whenever they go out in public with their children; he was holding - surprise - a beer.  His response: I dont wanna touch that!  This happened immediately in front of my brother, who noted on the way home that we were lucky he hadnt had anything to drink, because if he had, he probably would have said something.  And that, friends, would have been bad.
This guy had one redeeming quality, at least: he showed me that even though I think Im a bad father sometimes, I really could be doing a lot worse.
Now, I know Ive made it sound as though this was the worst game and the worst ballpark in the history of the world.  There were some good points, however.  We got to see a six-run Paw Sox rally in the bottom of eighth, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 victory.  Ben Broussard, waived by the Rangers and picked up by the Yankees, hit a long homerun off the centerfield scoreboard, just above and to the left of us.  The food was terrific - I had never had an italian sausage and peppers with the peppers underneath the sausage; much easier to eat and enjoy that way.  And McCoy Stadium is a nice ballpark, with very good sightlines and a sort of quaint vibe - the luxury boxes, for example, are at field level, which is a nice bit of individuality.
Bottom line: Pawtucket will definitely get another chance, if only because I need to see if this game was the rule or the exception.

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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Two Area Code Teams Stay Unbeaten
The Brewers Blue team, quite frankly, is expected to do well this week at Blair Field. The Rangers, on the other hand, have been on a roll after a mediocre performance last year. The 20th and final game on Sunday could be a showdown of undefeated clubs, but obviously there is still a lot of baseball to be played before that. Other Thursday highlights include a Washington Nationals outfielder that hit for the cycle in the nightcap.
Milwaukee Brewers Gray 5, Oakland As 2
The Milwaukee Brewers Gray club developed a small case of stage fright in their Wednesday evening game and early Thursday morning they attempted to get off the snide against the Oakland As, a team comprised of players from Florida and the Southeast. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, the gloves again allowed the opponent a gift run early. It wasnt until the fifth inning that Milwaukee Gray club (Northern and Southern California players) could overcome its early demons at Area Code to pull out the win.

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Its not that Moehler was great - he gave up 4 runs over 6 innings. Its that The Pirates gave up 2 more and Chris Sampson and Jose Valverde didnt.
Speaking of bullpen pitchers, turns out that Villareal refused to go to the minors, so the Astros have to trade or release him. You think any team out there is gonna pick up that 1 1/2 year 2 mill contract? I wouldnt be real too surprised if some team picks him up after hes released and he improves with an actual major league pitching coach.
And speaking of actual major league pitching coach and getting sent to the minors, will be interesting to see if Dewey gets sent back down and Burt Hooten gets called up
Jose Ortiz said something about Runs Elvys coming back - and that is NOT good news, especially as it looks as if Sampson has been relegated to the bullpen again. Going to be interesting to see who is going to be the 5th guy. Of course, we wont need a 5th guy until 2 weeks from today, so well just have to see. I do know that Paulino is nowheres near anywhere ready to pitch, and McLemore is hurt and so is Bud Norris.
Ah well. To discuss hitters - Pence, at leadoff, went ofer. Ive been watching his swings and looking at the location and pitches on gameday. I looked at his PA over the past 3 weeks - he swings early, almost never gets even 2 balls, and he swings at pitches out of the strike zone - in fact, his homer the other day was on a chest high FB. I looked up his overall stats for this year. He has 3.61 pitches/PA, exactly the same as last year. BB/PA is 0.54, exactly the same as last year - K:BB is 3.6:1 - exactly the same as last year - this year, he strikes out 19.4% of PA - exactly the same as last year. His ground ball hit % is 49%, same as last year. His LD - line drive % is down, however - 15.2% this year as opposed to 19.4 last year and also the infield fly/fly balls is up - 9.6% to 12.8% and I would guess that this means that he is hitting a lot more weak grounders and a lot more popups than last year. Which means, I would guess, that pitchers are throwing him a lot more offspeed stuff (especially sliders and FB low and outside, as weve all noticed.) And, in case you are curious, is BA with RISP is exactly the same as his BA, same as last year. And here are his OPS for each month: April - .680; May - .977; June - .596; July - .518.
Bourn was back in the lineup hitting in the 7-hole. He seems a LOT more comfortable there. Hes hitting 54 for 267 with 23 BB: 202 BA, .549 OPS at leadoff and hes hitting (yeah, I know - small sample size) 13 for 32 in the 7-hole: .406 BA, .862 OPS. And here are his lines for each month:
April: .195/.271/.310/.581 over 96 PA
May: .214/.264/.286/.550 over 120 PA
June: .274/.317/.326/.643 over 101 PA
July: .120/.154/.160/.314 over 26 PA
A little, uh, regression in July, yes?
Seems to me it would be MOST sensible to bat Wiggy leadoff - and Cooper had BETTER freaking tell him to stop trying to steal bases cuz he looked a TOTAL fool last night - then Matsui second and Bourn in the 7-hole.
Miggy Tejada, All-Star 2008 and Clubhouse Leader (according to Jose Ortiz) has the following lines for this year:
April: .339/.376/.560/.936 over 115 PA with 22 RBI
May: .291/.311/.402/.713 over 119 PA with 15 RBI
June: .227/.292/.392/.684 over 105 PA with 6 RBI
July: .129/161/.206/.367 over 35 PA with 1 RBI
I will note that his overall BA is .277, but his BA with RISP is .226. NOT and not good for a batter hitting 3rd or even 5th.
He sat out last night and Blum played short - and his 3 run homer in the first inning turned out to be the difference maker.

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Now that the Tampa Bay Rays have suspended efforts to build a new waterfront ballpark in St. Petersburg, the team's stadium quest suggests a ship in search of a port.
With no new home identified, and indications that the process will take some time, stakeholders are turning to close study of how baseball and a new ball park could affect tourism in Pinellas County. It's arguably work that should have been done long ago.
At a meeting today of Pinellas County's Tourism Development Council, Rays vice president Michael Kalt said the team had hired a Tallahassee consultant to perform an economic impact study. And the TDC's research consultant, Walter Klages, is also at work on a study.
It's expected that both will be completed by Sept. 10, the next time the council meets.
Use of the county's tourism bed tax could play a crucial role in financing a new ball park, which explains the interest of the TDC.
In recent weeks, Klages has interviewed fans at Rays home games with the Marlins, Cubs, Astros, Red Sox and Royals. The goal is to figure out where folks are coming from and whether they are staying in local hotels.
Klages did similar work back in 1995, when St. Petersburg was in the hunt for a professional team. That work found that baseball would draw nearly 90,000 new visitors a year, producing an initial economic impact of nearly $43-million.
Klages told the TDC that his projections then were borne out, but said his new study will likely show an even greater impact.
The TDC steered clear of any overall policy discussion of using the bed tax to support a new stadium, and the highlight was perhaps a question posed to the room by St. Petersburg council member Leslie Curran.
If we do make the playoffs and the World Series, she asked, would Bud Selig have trouble going to Tropicana Field then.

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Things have changed since September 11th. Security at airports is more of a pain in the ass in the ever. For some reason, we still have to take off our shoes, as if the terrorists are really that dumb to put C4 in their shoes anymore. The United States is set at a constant state of Orange Alert, whatever that means. Countries can be attacked even without doing anything to the U.S. Our government can spy on us without a court order. However, were still looking for WMDs in Iraq.
But what pisses me off almost as much as having to take my shoes off at airports is listening to the song God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch of Major League Baseball games. The policy was implemented the day baseball returned to the airwaves after the attacks, and that is fine. The policy continued through the playoffs and World Series. OK.
Then God Bless America, if memory serves, played during the 7th Inning Stretch of every MLB game in 2002. A big baseball fan, I go to a lot of games. Maybe not as many as some, but Id say 25 games a season is more than most people go to. Thats a lot of times to hear God Bless America, and think of the players - they have to hear it at least 162 days a year. Sure, the National Anthem and Take Me Out to the Ballgame are played every game, but one is our national anthem, and other is a pure baseball tradition. God Bless America is just something Bud Selig added to appeal to patriotic sensibilities, and presumably NASCAR fans.
Dont get me wrong. Im patriotic. Yes, Im liberal AND patriotic (I dont view the two as being mutually exclusive, at all). No, I dont wear American flag underpants or burn Dixie Chick records or take everything (or anything) our President says at face value; in fact, I question most things our government tells us, and even what the national media tells us. But I love America and am proud to be an American, despite everything we do to the world.
So, when I say I hate the song, God Bless America, I am not being unpatriotic; I am simply saying that it is an overly used, annoying, biased and ultimately offensive piece of music.
Why should MLB not play God Bless America at its baseball games anymore.

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the photo was taken from hangzhou, china may 2006.. i realized i should be blogging here since ~haha. anyway... i was obsessed with baseball caps before, and i bought this one from hongkong. i still have alot at home (but was soon "stolen" by my male cousins huu..) and i remembered even saving of getting myself more von dutch and ed hardy's.. until i realized it wasn't really cool wearing them in manila, as it was in hk/china. WHY? because usually, when i wear baseball caps here, they thought i was korean (or maybe because my bff was korean?) and i was having fun with all the guessing games ~hehe. while if im in manila, they thought i was just a stupid "tomboy" whatever...

so i looked through the korean street style (now) again, and they're still into it. i usually ask myself, whats with koreans and baseball caps.

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Aaron Bates posed with the SOX1FAN license plate in the darkness of the Sea Dogs dugout on May 21st SOX1FANation photo

S1F: Aaron, the scouting reports speak highly of your work ethic… could you describe what your game-day routine is like (for a 7 PM game)?
AB: Well, I lift weights four days a week, so on the days I’m lifting I’ll go to the ballpark sometime around 10:00 AM and lift for a couple of hours; otherwise, I’ll grab some lunch, maybe get a sandwich to go, and get to the park sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 PM. I’ll eat at the ballpark.
I’m big on keeping a log book. I have all of the pitchers from the different teams we face in the book… I keep it in the dugout and make entries after every at-bat – what he threw me on what counts and how I did in the at-bat. So when I get to the park, I know who is going to pitch that night and I’ll start by reviewing my log. And Dave Joppie, our hitting coach, will have printouts and scouting reports and some other stuff ready… he’ll put those things in my locker before I even get there and I’ll take a look at those things, too. I start going over that stuff around 1:30. If I’ve faced the guy before, it’s important I know how he’s pitched me and how I’ve done against him… if I haven’t seen him before then I’ll rely more on the scouting reports and Joppie’s printouts to tell me about his tendencies and stuff.
After that I start to get loose and warmed up for pre-game. At 2:00 PM we have “open cage”, so I’ll go up to the batting cage and start getting loose. I’m big on tee-work, so I’ll get my tee-work in and some front-toss before we stretch at 2:45. Then we start batting practice at 3:15.
After BP, I start honing on what I’m going to do that night… what the opposing pitchers are going to throw me in certain situations and that kind of stuff. I want to know what a guy’s tendencies are so I know what to expect when I am in the on-deck circle.
After I study I tend to read for awhile. Reading keeps your brain focused but gets you away from the game so you don’t OVER-think everything and drive yourself crazy… because I tend think about everything until it drives me crazy. So me and Mickey Hall read and share a lot of books.
After I read for about a half-hour, I go back upstairs and start getting loose again for the game.
S1F: Are you in any way surprised by where you are at right now (your progression towards the big leagues)?
AB: I don’t think I really had a schedule in my mind as far as what age I would be when I make it to the big leagues. I think a lot of that stuff is dependent on outside factors that I can’t control. I wouldn’t say that I am surprised where I am… I mean, I’ve always envisioned myself being in the big leagues and this is the path to getting there. I don’t worry about what’s ahead of me or behind me, I just try to focus on the things that I can control – and that’s getting better as a player.
S1F: Speaking of that, has the organization sat down with you and identified the specific things you need to do to get better, the skills that you need to work on to get to the big leagues and to succeed once you get there?
AB: You know, we had our meetings – individual meetings – up there at the winter camp. Theo laid it out really well for us, the twelve of us who were in attendance. Basically what he said is that to make it to the big leagues we have got to make the routine plays – ALL of the routine plays. He said that when they call us up they aren’t expecting us to hit a three-run homer to win a game against the Yankees, but they want to know that we are going to make the plays. They want to know that we are going to make the plays in place of the guy who is injured or who you are replacing, and that you are not going to freak out in front of 40,000 people.
As far as them laying it out, pretty much what they said to me is to continue to work hard and keep doing what I am doing and the rest will take care of itself… just continue to work hard and hone my skills and work to get better each day. And that’s what I think I do every day. I’m not someone who is going to sit back and rest on what I’ve done or anything like that… I’m always trying to improve myself as a player. There will always room for improvement as long as I am playing this game.
S1F: Who else was at the Rookie Development Camp?
AB: Bubba Bell, Dustin Richardson, Justin Masterson, Chris Carter, Devern Hansack, Clay Buchholz, Dusty Brown, Jonathan Van Every, Jed Lowrie… there were twelve of us all together.
S1F: What happened at the camp?
AB: Everything they did was geared to help the younger players get ready mentally for what is coming. They had people come to talk to us, people like Larry Luchhino and Theo (Epstein) and Tito (manager Terry Francona) and Peter Gammons. They talked to us about how to deal with the media and how to deal with a variety of situations that we are going to have to deal with in Boston, as opposed to other cities. You know, Boston is a big market and everything gets magnified… when you play well it’s great, but there are going to be days when you don’t play as well and there are going to be twenty-five reporters wanting to know what’s going on. How a player handles that is going to have a big impact on how long their career is going to last in Boston.
And we also worked out at Boston College in the giant bubble. Everyone was there looking over everything we did. Mike Hazen, the farm director, was there a lot… and all of his assistants and interns were there every day. Raquel Ferreira (the Director of Minor League Operations) was there for us, and she was just amazing. And Theo was there…
It was an amazing experience.
S1F: If you were going to write a scouting report on yourself, what would you say?
AB: A strong, disciplined hitter with good power… with a good idea of what he wants to do at the plate… a hitter who will take a lot of pitches and get a lot of walks. I recognize the value of on-base percentage because as long as I am getting on base I am helping the team… I think that’s part of the reason the Sox drafted me.

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Thats what my left side looks like right now, courtesy of todays starting pitcher for the Maassluis Gophers. His 1-2 pitch in my first at-bat went way inside and hit me square above the hip. Its one of the more painful hit-by-pitches Ive had in my baseball life.
The same pitcher proceeded to hit our right fielder in his thigh in the second inning. In the third, he hit our left fielder (a new guy, in his first ever at-bat) on his wrist, deflecting against his cheek. The pitcher got pulled after that frame, only to have the reliever hit our catcher in his foot in the fourth.
It got us a couple of base runners, but we couldnt really come through at the plate otherwise. (In fact, we might have had more hit batsmen than base hits.) We had a lousy day on defense as well, resulting in a 21-2 loss. The good news: we had fun. Weve had a couple of big losses this year, but were having fun each time. Were not playing to win this year, but to have a good time.
In between the having fun, Im also swinging the bat quite well. I have a five-game hitting streak going, getting my average up to .412. Thanks to eight walks and three HBPs in 28 plate appearances, my on-base percentage is .643.
I was back to the second spot in the line-up today, after hitting lead-off for the previous two games. I was 3-for-3 in those games (a double to start each game and a single in the first game) with three walks, so I kind of wonder why our coach put me back in my old spot. I still got a hit today: a roller that only got halfway to third base. Not a chance for either the third baseman or the pitcher to throw me out on that one. My third at-bat almost resulted in a sacrifice fly. I hit a one-out fly ball to right field deep enough for the runner from third to score, but the runner from first went too far from his base and he was put out before the other guy crossed the plate. Instead of a sac fly, it was an inning-ending double play.
After starting as short stop, I got to pitch the final 1.2 innings. We were already far behind when I took the mount, so I treated it pretty much as a practice session. My best pitch was the one that ended the last inning. I was throwing fastballs all the time, because I didnt really have control on my change-up. With the bases empty and two out, I got the batter on one ball and two strikes. I thought Id try another change-up and this one worked beautifully. It went through the middle of the zone, but the batter swung way too early. Strike three.
Meanwhile, my old team continues to play well. After winning the championship in the 5th Division last year, theyve led the standing in the 4th Division all year so far. (The lower the number of a Division, the higher the level of play.) I dont have any numbers on this, but Im sure it doesnt happen often that a team wins one Division one year and a higher Division the next year. With nine out of sixteen games played, my old team has an 8-1 win-loss record. The number two team is 5-3, followed by two 5-4 teams and two 4-4 teams. My old team wont play the number two team until late August. If they win that game, the championship is pretty much theirs.

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Oh, mighty Oracle! Where does the fountain of your knowledge spring from? The D'Backs have one of the most effective pitching staffs in baseball, so technically Melvin is right. They need to start hitting. They were absolutely on fire for the first month and a half of the season. According to Intern Darren, they averaged 5.44 RPG in the first 43 games, and 3.48 in the 41 since. Their team OPS sits at a truly middling .737 reflecting their two faced season. Which one is the real deal? An extended slump that lasts a month and half may not even be a slump. It may just be the way this team hits.

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Well it has been about three weeks since we arrived in my home state of Colorado and it feels great to be back playing a high level of baseball close to home. We started our stay at my parents home and by picking up another player at the Denver airport who flew in from South Carolina.

After spending a couple of days at home we headed up to Greeley and after getting a little lost we met the team at one of our sponsors restaurants. Not wanting to waste time we quickly found out who and where everyone was from. We have players from Alabama, South Carolina, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and even two other countries, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Surprisingly, it feels very natural to be playing with players from other countries just like the pros do.

After the introductory lunch we all meet and headed to the homes of our own host families. Matt Krueger and I were split up due to limitations on cars and I headed off to meet the rest of my host family and my roommate. Eric is a junior college baseball player from Louisiana transferring to a college in Ohio. My host family is a multi-generational family. I share a room with my roommate and the rest of the family is housed in the room next to us and the basement. They are a very nice family with many kids who are very active.

Since being here I have gotten a gym membership and started working out at Ross. We are about 15 games into our schedule now with more losses than wins but our team is really starting to come together and the signs of improvement in our hitting and pitching are significant. I can't wait to write again when we are the league champs and I hope Alex, Steve, Cory, and Nathan will be doing the same. Good luck everyone.

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North Las Vegas, NV (June 25, 2008 ) - As a prelude to the New York Yankees upcoming move to their new stadium next year, the Upper Deck Company has built a beautiful new home in which to display its 6,661-card Yankee Stadium Legacy insert set. When the insert cards initially launched as part of Upper Decks 2008 Series One Baseball launch in February, collectors could only imagine what a set this size might actually look like. Well, they no longer need to guess as visitors to next months 2008 MLB All-Star FanFest show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City will get a first-hand look at the impressive display as part of Upper Decks corporate booth.
Now that all 6,661 cards have been released and are available across various 2008 Upper Deck Baseball products, it is possible that some collectors will be able to put the entire set together. The collection features one card for every single Yankee home game ever played at Yankee Stadium since its doors opened on April 18, 1923. Collectors who are already pursuing the collection have been using a special website (www.ownthelegacy.com) that Upper Deck designed that allows them to archive the cards online and track their progress against fellow collectors to see whos the farthest along.
With so much news surrounding the closing of historic Yankee Stadium, Major League Baseball paid a recent visit to Upper Deck headquarters to see the complete set. To view the segment, click on the following link at MLB.com and search for the Upper Deck Releases the Yankees Legacy card series at: http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp
It took nearly three days for a staff of four to pull each of the cards and then another two days for a staff of four to collate them in the proper order, said Terry Melia, Public Relations manager for Upper Deck. The display is an impressive way for us to showcase the enormity of the set. We had nine decades to cover, so each of the 18 drawers contains approximately half a decades worth of games. If placed end-to-end, the cards would measure 1,943 feet long! We are very excited about sharing this incredible set - and its special display case - with baseball fans at this years MLB FanFest.
A final decision on where the Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection display case will ultimately reside has yet to be made.
ve been approached by the Yankees, so this could make a nice addition to the new stadium, said Melia. But weve also received inquiries from the Museum of the City of New York. Its important that the display case reaches a final destination where baseball fans and historians alike can appreciate its size and historical significance. Thats what makes card collecting fun and thats what this set is all about.

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