Dear Edgar Renteria,

As a Cardinals fan and admirer of most of your work in St. Louis, I want to take the time to congratulate you on winning the World Series and MVP honors.  You’ve had a tough career recently, what with your struggles in the American League and the recent trips to the DL.  But you came through for your team when it mattered most, and I respect that.  However, something has been bothering me the last few days, and I hope you don’t mind if I give you a short history lesson which isn’t in chronological order (otherwise it ruins the punchline, so just go with it), followed by a very simple question.

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Recently, first-team all-Midwest Conference South Division pitcher Ryan Harris wrote his second Golden Sombrero article, where he rightfully rips into beleaguered FOX Sports color commentator Tim McCarver. While I could not agree more with his candid (and rather harsh) account of Joe Buck’s right hand man, I believe that calling baseball games is a difficult job. And while those who have been given the privilege of calling the World Series and still perform poorly deserve every bit of the criticism the heralded Pioneer hurler dishes out, it is equally important to salute those who do the job well game after game, year after year.

There are a select few announcers out there who, by their very presence, make the experience of watching a baseball game on TV or listening to it on the radio more enjoyable. In my June article on this topic, I tipped my cap to Jon Miller, Dick Enberg and Vin Scully, three of baseball’s greatest voices, all of whom I am privileged to hear nearly eighteen games every season while watching my Rockies take on the hated Giants, Padres and Dodgers. In this edition, I look outside the NL West for two other announcers who do more than their fair share to make our game the greatest in the world.

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The Golden Sombrero presents MLB Look-alikes: Khalil Green and Jeff Spicoli(Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

Maybe Spicoli could have given Khalil a little something to help with his anxiety…

On Tuesday night Trevor Hoffman reached the remarkable milestone of 600 saves when the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 at Miller Park.  Hoffman has always been regarded as a class act and has solidified himself as a Hall of Famer well before last night’s achievement.

The Golden Sombrero congratulates Trevor Hoffman on his unparalleled, 600th career save.

Here is a classic Sports Illustrated cover from May 13, 2002:

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As if walking off the field under his own power didn’t make him seem like a total badass, Logan Morrison proved how tough he really is by starting both games of Monday’s double-header, less than 24 hours after being drilled in the face by teammate Emilio Bonifacio’s foul ball.

Late last night I reflected on what happened to Morrison by invoking my memories of how a similar incident ended the career of Juan Encarnacion in 2007.  Thankfully(and surprisingly), Morrison escaped the scary incident without any serious injuries- just a golf ball sized lump beneath his left eye and some serious seam marks.

Based upon the video replays of Morrison wearing a foul ball to the face, and considering the photo(pictured above) that he posted on Twitter last night, I expected that he might hit the 15-Day DL, or at the least be held out of Monday’s games- I mean come on, the guy took a batted ball to the face!

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