Random Baseball

Another kid was severely injured at a baseball game in Chicago. His skull was fractured by a foul ball hit by Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly. As of 07/14, the boy is out of Intensive Care. Lilly and Cubs first baseman, Derek Lee, have visited the boy at the hospital.

I'm not advocating any real changes in ball parks. Being close to the field of play and having an unobstructed view is one of things that makes going to a game so awesome. People have to be careful though. I've said it before and will again, YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION when you are sitting close to the field. That ball can leave the bat at over 100mph. On some level, most people aren't going to have the reaction time to avoid the ball. If they did, they'd be on the field. It drives me absolutely crazy when I see kids playing in the front rows (and I'm not saying that is what happened in this case) or people talking on their phones. This was Ted Lilly, a pitcher who did this. If it had been Lee or Ramirez or some other slugger the boy may not have gotten up.



DJW at Lawyers, Guns, and Money does a number on Jose Vidro.

In a similar vein, this comparison shows Jim Edmonds is historically very good when compared to historical Cub center fielders. I remember a few years ago thinking that Edmonds was washed up but then read an article that compared him to current center fielders and he was near the top of the list.



At the end of the first round of the home run derby I told my friends that the lesson from this year's derby would be not to run up a single round total because the hitter and pitcher are going to be to tired to compete. I understand that Josh Hamilton's pitcher, who was in his 70s, threw between 70 and 80 pitches in the first round. That's close to a complete game.


Inland Real Estate, a Chicago based investment group, has bid $300M for Wrigley Field. This past week marked the deadline the Tribune Company had set for bids for both Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs franchise. According to NPR this morning, MLB has approved 9 bids so far. I would bet the last dollar in my pocket that Mark Cuban did not make the cut.