Not like I was, I guess, Mark. I’ve gotten invited into fantasy leagues the past two years, and that’s piqued my interest somewhat, plus the Cardinals winning it all a few years back helped a bit as well. It’s still a massively-broken game (witness the Yankees and Red Sox–again–trying to buy the pennant), and I can’t imagine ever coming back to it to nearly the degree it had me hooked before the 1994 strike, but if one of these years the owners will lock the players out ’til the union is broken–which is what it’ll take to fix baseball–then maybe I’ll come all the way back. It’s a great game; it’s a shame that it’s run by the people who run it.

I’m wondering if Bert Blyleven is ever going to get in. It’s a shame he’s not. He played for the Pirates, Twins and Indians, and still managed to winn 280 + games. To me that is incredible (none of those teams were any good except for the Pirates for a year or two). He never did ‘roids, and he never cheated and then freely admitted it, as Gaylord Perry did in his book “Me and the spitter”. Perry is in the hall, right? Bert had an amazing curveball when it was working, though he sure grooved enough of them. I know he led the league in homeruns allowed more than one year, but he had a respectable ERA, and pitched a heckuva lotta innings every year also. What is wrong with these voters? Are they waiting to place all of the sins of Baseball on his back and then send him off into the wilderness with a shout? They might as well.

As much as I like Jim Rice, I believe that Bert is at least as deserving if not more so.

Can’t wait for Spring training. Are you still boycotting the game, Byron?