July | 2010 | The Golden Sombrero Baseball Blog | MLB, Fantasy, College & High School Baseball News

Articles from July 2010



The Quest to Be King: Four Players in the Running for Baseball’s Triple Crown

Winning Major League Baseball’s Triple Crown is arguably the noblest distinction an offensive player can receive. To hit dominantly for both power and average is a tremendous feat and even if someone manages that, a good bit of luck is still necessary to provide the base runners necessary to bat runs in. As prevalent as offense was throughout the steroid era, it still never happened. In fact, the feat is so rare that it was last accomplished by the Boston Red Sox’ Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. That season, the Yaz hit .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in. But we are now past the halfway point of the 2010 campaign and there are presently four different players still in the running for this most illustrious of baseball awards.

The first and most likely candidate to keep up the consistency needed to win the Triple Crown is Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera. The four time All-Star first baseman is currently second in the majors in batting average, hitting .349, and considering he is a career .314 hitter it is definitely within his capabilities to maintain such a high mark. At the moment he is also second in the American League in home runs with 24 and leading the AL in RBI at 88. Prior to this season the once wild-partying Cabrera entered treatment for alcoholism and followed up with a promise that he has so far delivered on to be more focused this year. The Tigers are currently three games back in the AL Central division and with lead-off man Austin Jackson hitting well over .300 there should be ample opportunity for Cabrera to drive home runs. If he doesn’t fall off the wagon down the stretch either personally or professionally then Miguel Cabrera is by far the most probable contender to become MLB’s first Triple Crown winner in over forty years.

(more…)

The Best Baseball Commercials, Part 6: Giants Closer Brian Wilson/B-Weezy

Even though none of these videos are actually commercials, they are just as entertaining thanks to the hilarious antics and personality of San Francisco Giants’ closer, Brian Wilson.  If you know nothing about the flame-throwing right-hander, there is a lot to take in.  Wilson dresses like a rock star, acts like a rock star, is continually sarcastic, is a self-proclaimed genius, has the best mohawk in baseball, and is rarely serious.  Just like when he takes the mound, Wilson wants to be the center of attention at all times: he is incredibly entertaining with his electric fastball, devastating slider and post game celebration.  Additionally, it’s quite possible that he was put on this planet for the sake of providing the most comical sound bites.

On Wednesday, Major League Baseball fined Wilson $1,000 for wearing the loud, orange cleats that he first displayed in the All-Star Game.  They stated that his cleats could only be 50% orange, as opposed to the 100% that he was currently sporting.  How did he respond?  Wilson simply used a sharpie to fill in some of the areas of his spikes to make them more presentable.  Even though some of these videos are rather lengthy(some checking in at around 10 minutes), they are worth every second.  Here is a combination of his self-shot videos on YouTube that have been dubbed “Life of Brian”, and his interviews with Chris Rose on The Cheap Seats:

(more…)

Classic Sports Illustrated Covers: Andre Dawson

Congratulations to 2010 Major League Baseball, Hall of Fame inductee Andre “The Hawk” Dawson.

July 20, 1987

The Final Chapter of the Ricketts Park Series: Connie Mack World Series Time

How you doin Sombrero Nation?  I know I have not posted in a while and I apologize for that.  I have been busy handling my coaching duties for the Farmington Cardinals, your 2010 FABC representative Host team in the 2010 Connie Mack World Series.  I say that with pride.  The Cardinals were the winner of the local city league (state) tournament.  Winner of this tourney gets an automatic bid in the annual Connie Mack World Series tournament.

Early in the year I began writing pieces about my city’s spectacular baseball field, Ricketts Park.  As the start of August runs near, the FABC Connie Mack League embarks on a journey.  This journey leads to the holy grail of Amateur baseball, the one and only Ricketts Park.  As the local teams of the Farmington league do battle, every last one of them has one common one thought in their brain; “If we win this thing, I get to be in the Connie Mack World Series!”  I write this piece with a special piece of my heart, for I grew up and still reside in Farmington, NM.  I grew up watching first round draft picks play on the field that I hoped to one day play on myself.  As a 17 year old I lost in the championship round after throwing a complete game 1 hitter (that can still be argued today as a no-hitter) and lost.  As an 18 year old, I was beat on Championship Night by Mike Dunn, who just recently got called back to the show by the Braves.  Last year he even won a ring with the Yankees.  Not a bad guy to lose to at 18 years old.  Then, last year, fellow writer Barfy and I lost on championship night; as coaches.  I was actually picked up my 18 year old summer by Barfy’s team, the Sky Sox.  But I digress.  There will be time for a trip down memory lane later.

(more…)

Curt Schilling Is an Uber-Dork

Few people would argue that former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling was a gamer. The guy’s fierce and sometimes angry competitiveness was well documented throughout his career; for many the most indelible memory of Schilling will always be his “bloody sock” performance in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. But what many people don’t know is that Schilling is also a major gamer of another type. The live-in-your-mother’s-basement-playing-video-games-and-get-no-ass-type, to be exact. That’s right, the pitcher who struck fear into the hearts of batters everywhere is a self-admitted video gaming freak. Being the computer-smashing competitor that he is, it’s hard to imagine how Schilling treats his controllers after a bad outing. But he’s such a competitor that he actually founded his own video game production company, 38 Studios. He then went all New York Yankees on it and hired the biggest names in the fantasy gaming world to build his little dream project, including New York Times Bestselling sci-fi author R.A. Salvatore, legendary comic book artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and some guy name Ken Rolston that apparently is a big deal in that realm. Schilling and his big three were at the annual Mecca for nerds, geeks, gamers, and dorks worldwide, -San Diego Comic-Con- last week to promote the game, which is due for release this fall. Listen here as Schilling discusses the designers, the game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and why the only diva contract stipulation late in his career was that all hotel rooms required high speed internet.

(more…)