Wild Pitches

I am dragging from watching these extra inning late night games right now! Man, the Brewers, Cards, Tigers and Rangers all look good!

I like to keep the focus of this blog on lesser known players, strange books, and the minor leagues. I like little known facts and the obscure.

Still, I want to take a moment to tip my cap to the very mainstream magazine, Sports Illustrated. Have you picked up the latest issue? If you look around, you can find subscription deals for way less than a buck each. They even tossed in a Colts jacket with my subscription.

There is a great article about the teams that played past the Red Sox and Braves to make it to the playoffs.

Another article talks about how interesting baseball might be if there was a tournament at the end of the season to determine the weakest team in baseball. That team would get demoted to AAA. The winner of the AAA playoffs would get bumped up to the majors. Yeah, there are some logical issues, but there would be ways to work around that. Yes, I know this would never happen, but I REALLY like this idea. Again, read Grant Wahl's Scorecard in SI for more on this interesting idea.

Chris Ballard and Owen Good contribute a very thorough article on Jack Swift, the last 30 game winner in the minors. EASILY one of the best baseball articles I have read in some time. If you love stories about lesser known and forgotten players in baseball, here you go!

I guess, there is a bit of an underdog baseball theme going in this week's SI!