We’ve often heard that question when we were younger. Usually, it just inferred that our parent didn’t know what we doing, sometimes if the tone went up…we knew that our parents did not approve of what we were doing or what we had done. So too… in the sports world!
….WHAT’S GOING ON? The MLB batting records are being completely modified. Major League Baseball has made the decision to incorporate the statistics of former Negro Leagues players into its historical MLB records. What it means is that the records of the Negro League players will become part the MLB records. In some cases, legendary batting leaders like Babe Ruth & Ty Cobb have been replaced in the record books by players that were not allowed to play against them on the same fields during the segregation era. There were many “new” looks to the record book. Some very noticeable ones were Josh Gibson, one of the greatest sluggers in the history of the Negro Leagues, is now listed as MLB’s new all-time career leader in batting average at .372, moving ahead of Ty Cobb at .367. The MLB website shows Gibson also overtaking Babe Ruth in career slugging percentage. We can’t un-do history. It was a totally different world at that time. It was unfortunate that integration was not accessible to African-American baseball players who clearly demonstrated that they had the skills to play in the MLB level for several decades. In fact, it took a star,Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American to play in modern Major League baseball. Robinson broke the color barrier when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on Opening Day, April 15, 1947. It ended the segregation that had begun in the decades following the Civil War. There were some integrated teams but records were few & far between on those teams.. Slowly, however, segregation began to take hold in baseball and mirror mainstream culture.
….WHAT’S GOING ON in NCAA Baseball? It’s really a long playoff set up. In the 1st round—called the Regionals it’s set up like this…there are 64 teams split into 16 brackets (obviously 4 team/bracket). Each bracket is double elimination (they must lose 2 games to get bumped from the tournament). The 16 winners advance to the SUPER REGIONALS. Set up like a regular 16 team tourney- 8 pairings like usual #1 seed v #16 seed, #2seed v #15 seed, etc, etc. Each paring in each round plays a best of 3 series!! The 8 winners advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska (always the site of the NCAA finals). They are split into two-double elimination brackets (obviously 4 teams each). The 2 winners of the brackets play face each other in a best of 3 series to determine the NCAA Champion! WOW! You better have lots and lots of quality pitchers along with a real ace for each “final” game. The school with the most NCAA-baseball championships is Univ of So California. The Trojans have 12 titles to their name, with the first coming in 1948, and the most recent in 1998. That also includes a stretch from 1968 to 1974, when USC won six of seven titles.
…the logical follow-up question is… has Mizzou ever won the NCAA Baseball Title? YES they have! The 1954 Missouri Tigers baseball team won the NCAA baseball championship. The Tigers won the College World Series, defeating Rollins College 4-1 in the final game. MU which went 22-4 for the entire season, was coached by Hi Simmons in his 16th season at Missouri at the time. In that era, the Tigers only played 20 regular season games (going 17-3).
….WHAT’S GOING ON? We walked by the Blues office and took a peek in. There were all kinds of papers scattered all over the office. It’s busy off-season time to acquire, part with, resign, etc, etc. I’m not a hockey guy (as I’ve told you many times) but.. it seems to me that the Blues need some physicality. I know just the guy.. he doesn’t score much, can’t skate real fast but he check’s hard, plays with emotion, fights frequently, has a reasonable salary and he’s a StL hero—Pat Maroon. He MUST be doing something right…he’s been in the playoffs for 8 straight season wearing different jerseys along the way. We all know that he was a valuable piece of the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions- St Louis Blues (boy, that feels good to type 😊) Get him again! He knows what it takes to win….the fans would love him! Hopefully, the younger players could emulate his physicality (As much as they could).
….WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE STL SOCCER WORLD? Quietly growing and developing players for the City SC team is the Next Pro-St Louis II team. Equivalent in many ways to the MLB minor league system, this team’s primary function is to keep a “life line” of young players coming up to City SC. Currently the StL Next Pro team is in 2nd place in their conference. They have 24 points in 11 matches with a 7-2-2 record (3 pts for a win; 1 for a draw). Some of the players have advanced from City SC Academy Team. Others were just signed outright. City, like all the other MLS teams, signs players from all over the world. Some of the players have advanced from City SC Academy Team.
….WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE NFL(as the voice level goes up) these days? I know that many, maybe most, StL sports fans have shunned the NFL since the Rams ran out on the Lou. I still enjoy the NFL….it IS the highest level of football with many exciting endings to their games. However there is the Dirty Dozen of the NFL. The 12 teams that have NEVER won at least 1 of the 57 Super Bowls to date. Go ahead …try to name them… answer is @ the bottom.
…WHAT’S GOING ON with ol’ time strategy in MLB? For decades, pinch hitters have been used. It was thought that it’d improve the offense for that spot. But…according to 2023 MLB stats, Pinch hitters had 707 hits in 3250 AB’s last year. That’s a whopping .217 batting average!! Is it worth it? Forget about that right/left matchup! As far as batting for pitchers…just have them sacrifice bunt.. or have the pinch hitter bunt….at least the runner would advance!!
…WHAT’S GOING ON? (the tone went up) We saw some fans scrapping off a sports tombstone. It was the tombstone of Marcel Ozuna!! We’d remembered the horrible experience of Marcel Ozuna in the Lou and buried him (at least in our mind). Although, he’d batted .280 in 2018, his 1st Cardinal Year, nonetheless–many StL fans had poor images of Ozuna. The major factor was his defense. His defense was horrible. I recall seeing him ‘in person” jumping high against the wall and ball hitting the wall about shoulder high just to his left…ugh. Although he batted .280 with 88 Rbi’s, which was solid, but his defense really tainted his batting marks!
…Those horrible fielding miscues were still taking place in 2019 and probably clouded my mind about his “overall” value. He still kept his power at the plate with 29 HR, 89 Ribbies but he struck out 114x about every 4.2 at bats(that never wins “over” fans). The defense was still unacceptable. The fans, became Boo-Birds. Probably, too much. I think that it adversely impacted Ozuna’s overall play. Some players can ignore the boo-birds…some are bothered by it. But now in 2024, as we cleaned off his tombstone in the Lou, we realized that he’s still playing in his 12th MLB season. And….playing very well. He’s 5th in NL batting average-.313; Leads the NL in RBI’s -53; is 10th in NL in HITS. He’s 1st in NL in OPS of 1.001 (on-base % + slugging). He’s a long, long way from being dead (or playing like he did in the Lou)!
…WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR NFL QUIZ? There are 4 NFL teams who haven’t even made an appearance in a Super Bowl—Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars. The other 8 teams who HAVE played in the Super Bowl but have never won the Super Bowl. Those teams are—StL/Arizona Cardinals (1 appearance); Atlanta Falcons(2x); Buffalo Bills (4x); Minnesota Vikings (4x); Cincinnati Bengals (3x ); Los Angeles Chargers (1x), Tennessee Titans(1x); Carolina Panthers (2x). Which team surprises you the most to see on this list? For me, it was Minnesota.
….WHAT’S GOING ON NOW? Nothing…we’re done. Thanks for your time & the read! YOUR reactions/thoughts are ALWAYS invited. I publish them on my Facebook page (or you could do it too if you prefer). Please spread the word to your sports friends, family, etc. Bob
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