By Punch N. Judy
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news

As the powers that be in Baseball’s front office attempt to rectify the dwindling number black players in the game I think a step outside the batters box may be in order. While at my day job, (bellman by day, writer by night) I happened to be helping a gentleman up to his room who was sporting a complete Homestead Grays ensemble. The Grays were arguably the most successful Negro League team of their time along with the Kansas City Monarchs. Based in Pittsburgh they boasted a lineup that at one time or another featured all the great stars of the day including Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson and of course Punch’s favorite player he never saw, Leroy “Satchel” Paige.

After a brief conversation about the guy’s outfit and the fate of a league whose demise was precipitated by Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, I went on my merry way content with a decent tip and five minutes of stimulating baseball talk. And that’s when this idea hit me like a Satchel “Bee Ball” in the side of the head. Why doesn’t Major League Baseball revive the concept of the Negro Leagues as a way of paying tribute to an otherwise regretful past, while developing a new generation of budding African American stars. By working in conjunction with the union and concerned fellow players like the Twins Tori Hunter, perhaps MLB could entice inner city kids whose dreams are resigned to the NFL and NBA to take a shot at baseball as their means of escape.

Young Guns
Anyone who has visited this site probably gets the idea that BBM staffers hold little respect for that other league masking themselves as professional ball teams. Yeah I’m talking about the National League, known here as the Junior Varsity. Now I’m no Branch Rickey, or even Dave Dombrowski for that matter but . . . memo to NL GM’s everywhere: Start promoting your young power arms up to the big league level ASAP. I don’t know if it’s changing of the steroid era guard or what, but the American League has absolutely been dominated by pitchers barely old enough to grab a beer after the game.

Whether its starters such as Justin Verlander or Jared Weaver, or dominant relievers like Jonathan Papalbon and Joel Zumaya, youth has been served in a big way. Unlike a decade or two ago, the risk of burning out a great prospect by bringing them along too quickly has become a virtual non-factor with the advent of pitch counts and heavy reliance on the bullpen from the sixth inning on. Wake up Senior Circuit, one more World Series sweep and I promise to get that petition to revoke your Major league status circulated.

Here and There
You won’t see Punch sporting band-aids on his knees any time soon but I have to tell you the more games the Tigers lose like tonight the more I feel like jumping off my roof if not the band wagon. Wasting a great effort by the resurgent Todd Jones, the Tigs blew one tonight courtesy of the human error machine Carlos Guillen. Committing 25 eez over a season sure isn’t going to make this fan forget Alan Trammel. I’d mention that Guillen still isn’t done, that the season still has over 20 games left, but after leaving in the bottom of the ninth with what appears to be hamstring injury I fear the guy maybe out for the year. What really galls me about the injury is that it appeared as though Guillen got hurt turning the jets on after loafing around first. Ahhhg! Somewhere in a Toronto hotel room The Heckler is seething while reading this post on assignment. It’s just a question of whether it’s because he’s in agreement or just thinks I’ve hit that big red panic button. Fear not Heckles I’m merely venting after the only loss of the year that will possibly see me lose some shut-eye.

Come back next time as Punch lets the Moneyball establishment have it with his take on why all the computer printouts in the world won’t help a team in the heat of a tight pennant race. Also, in continuing our look at flame-throwing prodigies, we’ll step back a few years and look at a few big-name busts that went from can’t miss to can’t pitch. Good-night all . . .

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Punch N. Judy Pinch-hits, Baseball News and Views, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.