There is an old story that may or may not be completely true.  Ricky Henderson singles, rounds first base and trots back to the bag.  He looks up to see first baseman John Olerud standing there and says,

“Hey, I used to play with a guy in Toronto who wore a batting helmet in the field.” 

Apparently Henderson had no idea it was the same guy.

Batters have been wearing helmets since the 40s.  Over seventy years.  Players, not so much.

A ball travelling toward a batter can usually be clocked somewhere in the ninety miles per hour range.  Let’s call the upper end ninety-eight.

If a ball comes in at ninety-eight miles per hour and is hit squarely by a batter.  That ball leaves the bat at approximately 105-miles per hour travelling out into the field.  Now, chances are the player who will touch that ball next will have ...

Poor Dale Sveum.  First off, he has spent a great deal of his life telling people the proper pronunciation of his last name because it is next to impossible to get it on the first try.  S-V-E-U-M sounds like SWAIM.

Next, he is in the midst of managing the Chicago Cubs who are now a not-so-sparkling 5-13 and rivalling Houston, San Diego and Miami for the worst record in baseball.

And third, he has been in the middle of a media firestorm, both social and reporter.

Sveum was being interviewed before Chicago’s game on Sunday and was talking about what you would expect him to be talking about:  His team’s poor performance.

He apparently singled out a few guys who needed to be better.  His stars.  Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo and some of the worst money spent in baseball, in Alfonso Soriano.

As Sveum was mentioning their names, he was ...

If you find yourself feeling like a concerned Blue Jays’ fan, do not worry.

There is an elixir that is better than Uncle Sasquatch’s Snake Oil and All-Around Remedy.

It’s something that you can repeat to yourself whenever you need it and it should take away the rapid heart rate and cold sweats.

Two words:  Doug Mirabelli

If you were expecting the Toronto Blue Jays to come flying out of the gate last night and you now feel a sense of shock similar to finding out your teenage son has emptied your beer fridge or your cat has brought you a mouse-sized present, do not worry.

Just repeat that name: Doug Mirabelli

Doug is presently a real estate agent in Traverse City, Michigan.  He is also probably the best knuckleball catcher ever to live.

He would be the first to look back at last night’s game and shrug.

Passed balls ...

Jose Bautista was wrong.  The Blue Jays’ slugger came out after the Canada-Mexico game on Saturday at the World Baseball Classic dissolved into a brawl and said, "I believe in the unwritten rules of the game.  It's a code amongst players and everybody who plays baseball at a level higher than Little League knows what it is and there's no excuse (for the fight).”

Ahhh, the code.  The unwritten rules that players abide by.  Most times it fits.  The exception is international play or games in which tiebreakers allow for grey areas in that code.

Mexico didn’t like the fact that Dorchester’s Chris Robinson bunted for a single with Canada leading 9-3 in the ninth inning.  In a normal game, you don’t do that.  That is showing up your opponent.  But this was not a normal game.  

What happened afterward wasn’t all that normal either. 

Mexican pitcher Arnold Leon ...

Jim Fanning has one sharp mind for baseball.  Ask him to regale you with old baseball stories and he can spend hours.  Ask him to comment on the present and the future and his insight goes to work and comes up with incredibly keen observations.

Fanning was asked last night on NewsTalk 1290 to give his thoughts on the Blue Jays and the excitement that filled his voice would have made a playground with sixteen kids, three sandboxes and a slide pale in comparison.

In the mind of Jim Fanning, the Jays are in great shape, but he sees more.  He put forth an idea, clarifying that he has no inside knowledge because he and Alex Anthopoulos never talk players, that Toronto may have one more trade at their feet.

While the world around Dunedin is crowing about the pitching of Ricky Romero to this point in spring training, Fanning ...