4/10/2001

Larry Crino

Another piece of my childhood was lost yesterday. It was a significant piece. Willie Stargell died. One of The Game’s grandest players and most endearing gentlemen passed away in the early morning hours of April 9, Pittsburgh’s Opening Day. His death came a day and a half after a magnificent life-size bronze statue of his likeness was unveiled outside the left field entrance to the Pirates’ brand new ballpark. Plans for a special ceremony honoring the beloved slugger were scotched, because the ailing great couldn’t attend.

4/4/2001

Larry Crino

The 2001 season has begun. It began the same way it began last year and the year before, with Commissioner Bud Light ordering two teams to fly to some foreign country with no big-league baseball so that their own fans can be deprived of seeing their favorite team’s opener. Last year the opener was in Tokyo; this year it was in Puerto Rico.

2/20/2001

Larry Crino

It took him a couple of years, but Gary $heffield has finally shown the Los Angeles Dodgers his true colors: several shades of green. He has demanded that the club trade him or sign him to an inflated “lifetime” extension of his already hefty $11 million-a-year deal that runs through 2003. He’s refusing to report to spring training and Dodgers management has confirmed that its involved in trade talks with more than one club. To drop the bombshell on Dodgers management, $heffield and his agent picked the occasion of a meeting designed to highlight the club’s new publicity campaign showcasing the avaricious left fielder.

12/12/2000

Larry Crino

On Monday, a potentially catastrophic event took place: A baseball team gave $252 million to a baseball player. A baseball team from the oil-rich state of Texas gave a baseball player $252 million. That’s $252 million actual U.S. dollars. That’s a little over a quarter of a billion! For that they can have the services of one baseball player for one decade. No matter how you word it, it’s still mind-boggling, if not sickening.

10/25/2000

Larry Crino

The New York Yankees are playing the New York Mets in the 2000 World Series. New York, New York. You’ve heard that song at least a few times. It has been 44 years since the last all-New York World Series. There should be a brand of baseball excitement like many of us have never witnessed.