In both these games, the players are organized into 2 teams. A player from one team throws the ball and the player from the opposing team tries to hit it far away in the hopes of scoring. One of the most critical things in this game is therefore, the bat. The baseball bat is the tool with which the batter hits the ball and it is this thing that can make the difference between defeat and victory.

The Miken Freak 88 is one of the best, if not the best, baseball bat that you can buy.

It gives you a much better swing, and it has a much better sweet spot. This is a spot which is the best for hitting the ball as it imparts the best possible angle and speed to the ball when hit with it. People who have played with the miken freak 88 baseball bat have been blown away by the bat’s superior performance and its ability to hit out of the park with a consistency that only amazes and tapidly increases the percentage of games that you win when you play with this bat.

Go on, get a miken freak 88 and play the game the way it was meant to be played. This is a great bat that will definitely increase the number of shots you hit and their distance as well.

The lastes drama centers on Roger Clemens. I always liked Roger Clemens, and talk about a good pitcher!! Last week, Clemens, baseball’s only 7 time Cy Young Award Winner, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied to Congress about not using performance enhancing drugs.

Well I’ve made my baseball list of my All Steroid Team, and here they are:

Who’s on first? Why, Mark McGwire, of course! Big Mac’s mot here to talk about the past, just to send baseballs skyrocketing into the future. Plus, as he does with the St. Louis Cardinals, he’ll serve as our hitting coach, where he’ll instruct players how to properly hit a bottle of Andro after a breakfast of extra testosterone.

At second base, I have David Bell, who will fit in nicely. That’s because he’s an admitted HGH user, though at the time he claimed he was on the drug for a medical condition.

At Shortstop I have Miguel tejada, the 2002 AL MVP. Except Tejada is my Most vacuous player, for his ongoing bubbleheaded claim that he’s never used performance enhancing substances. But, are we suppose to overlook that Tejada pleaded guilty in 2009 for lying to Congress about that very topic?

At third base, I have Alex Rodriguez, who has clubbed 604 career home runs, including 156 from 2001-03, when his performance as a Texas Ranger was admittedly enhanced. From Ranger to Rager, he won’t have to worry about being an outcast around here.

In the outfield, I’ve got Barry Bonds. Heck, he had roid rage even before he was using.

Another obvious choice of mine is Manny Ramirez, who in 2009 tested positive for hCG, a woman’s fertility drug used to mask the spiked testosterone levels that followed a steroid cycle.

And in the outfield (which could not be complete without this guy), I have Jose Canseco who became baseball’s biggest whistle blower and steroid injector. As author of two books about the game’s steroid problems, Canseco tells it all.

But, I still need a catcher, so lets go with Mike Piazza, who over the course of his career led all catchers in home runs, RBIs, and, according to reports, back acne. I bet I can guess what volcanic back acne is a side effect of!!

And my designated hitter will be Rafael Palmeiro, who finally admitted steroid use.

And my manager will be Tony La Russa, the only skipper so clueless as to manage both Canseco and McGwire without even suspecting the Bash Brothers biceps weren’t artifically inflated.

There’s my All Steroid Baseball Team. If you have any addional members of baseball that you think I should draft, then let me know in the comment section below as I would love to hear from you. Have a great year, and hopefully the Rangers will go all the way this year. Thank you for your time, and enjoy the Game of Baseball. Thank you.

10) Three way tie between Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, and Ted Williams. Interesting trio, but Williams could hit a nail being thrown across the plate, and Fingers and Eckersley were relievers that might interfere with Williams quest to send that nail into the fence. Fingers turned relieving into a bonafied position, while Eckersley plain out changed the way relievers were viewed. He came in for one pitch, and he got the job done.

9) Dick Green – little known but steady second baseman who put team first and was masterful in his role. He developed the loophole to the infield out rule, becoming an actor of supreme proportions as he let the ball fall, and then caught the lead runner off guard, resulting in either an important out or an unexpected double play. He’s been oft imitated, but Greenie is the real deal.

Ty Cobb – he’s a legend, disliked by many, but no one wanted to win more than Cobb, and he did whatever it took to get that job done.

7) Joe DiMaggio – Nice stats that include that famous hitting streak that still is not forgotten. Then there’s how he brought Hollywood to the sport via his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Baseball became glamorous because of Joe D.

6) James ‘Catfish’ Hunter – an ace of a pitcher who is equally known for his opening the doors to free agency. Were it not for Jim Hunter, free agency may not be the way it is today. He was the one who fought for his freedom, and won, when owner Charlie Finley didn’t follow through on his obligations. Hunter could pitch with the best of ‘em, and he was even a good hitter, but his claim to the history books will probably always be free agency.

5) Jackie Robinson – Simply by taking the field, he established his claim as a top player. He endured more than most can imagine, and in doing so, he opened the doors to the world we live in today. It didn’t hurt that he was a darn good player, too.

4) Willie Mays – He continued the advancement. The ‘Say Hey’ kid was great. He bcame a star, on and off the field, especially after that dazzling over the shoulder catch that still draws aws from young fans. While it was still controversial, many believed he could have been mayor of San Francisco, had he so wanted.

3) Reggie Jackson – He brought things forward even more. He was the straw that stirred the drink, and his teammates. Mr. October cares passionately about baseball. He still has great respect for how he got to where he is, and he tried his damnedest to get younger stars to have a genuine respect for the game, as he does. Were it not for injuries, he could have really whooped that home run record, but he did okay anyway. People still talk about his hitting three home runs in one world series game. He was a presence would not be denied.

2) Lou Gehrig – great player. His stats are undeniable, but it’s his affect on humanity that continues to touch our heart. The disease that bares his name, ALS, still kills, but the fight goes on.

1) Babe Ruth – There is no one who says baseball more than Babe Ruth. Mythology or not, the idea of pointing out at center field and indicating that’s where the next ball is going, is inspiring. He could do it all, and he did. Lovable teddy bear or big brawler, it doesn’t really matter. Think baseball, think Babe Ruth.

Yes, it’s an odd and unusual list, but if you want stats only, there are plenty of those. This ‘top’ list contains heart and soul, as well as stats. It’s our history and our culture. Maybe those named aren’t all the ggreatest, but they are all baseball, and they are all worthy of being remembered.

Rule One:  “Root, root, root for the home team.”  People!  There is a reason that some remarks and terms become clichés.  Often, a direct, high correlation with the truth or a moral principle that should be acknowledged is involved.  For example, in my current hometown, Philadelphia, there is no more annoying creature ever in sight than someone wearing a Mets cap or jersey.  Thus, since most are pretty much correctly taken to be brief visitors, our City Council has recently approved an ordinance allowing “verbal assault of any type” on those so outfitted on the street, and “physical assault up to, but not including, the point of death if the inappropriately dressed fan is within 1000 yards of, or within, Citizens Bank Park.”  My favorite parts of this piece of legislation are the concluding two sentences:  “Mistakes may be made.  All citizens, visitors, and their wardrobes are hereby advised.” 

If you have trouble determining your home team, consult Google Maps.  In the event that you are exactly equidistant, in whole miles, from two different teams, you may choose your home team after filing a proposal with the arbitrator (me – only).  In other words, there is no Red Sox Nation; there is no Yankees Nation, and though it need not be said, no Astros Nation. 

Rule Two:  You may cautiously follow the team where you used to live.  Those, however, who have not been, or lived at “home” for more than ten years, are advised that this is silly.  Nonetheless, I still occasionally peek at the results of Pittsburgh Pirate games, sad as that franchise now is. 

Gear from your “old team” may be worn one day a week (but not in Philadelphia). 

Rule Three:  To paraphrase Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own, “There’s no blankets in baseball!”  Unless you live well south of the Mason-Dixon Line, or your team plays in a dome (shudder here), it is madness itself to watch baseball while shivering.  If you like the idea of baseball en plein air in April, then become a Little League coach.  Give something to the kids instead of 0 to some plutocrat’s monopoly.  And you will give 0 ( + for hot cocoa + for that Phillies, Red Sox, Cubs, or Tigers blankie).  Until May 15th, sit on your sofa.  (Turn on the TV, dummy.  The view is better than 80% of the seats at the park…at any time of the year.) 

Rule Four:  Early season statistics are but a fleeting joy; no reference to them should be made after May 1st.   However, they are fun.  “The Cards’ Kyle Lohse is 3-0!”  “Endy Chavez, who made the greatest catch in baseball history as a Met, is hitting .344 for the Mariners!”  “Adam Eaton actually has a Major League job!!!”  BWA-hahahahahaha….  I wonder what the Baltimore Suckers logo will look like. 

Very obvious case in point:  About two weeks ago, a summary of the N.L. season thus far might have been headlined as follows:  BATTLIN’ BUCS OUTPACING WORLD CHAMPS.  Why, all of Pittsburgh must have been a-twitter.  The club surely held a group screening of Bull Durham before their first game, then decided to heed the advice given by two characters in the film, the first time by the Bulls’ skipper after throwing an armful of bats into a shower inhabited by his underachieving players:  “This is a very simple game.  You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball!  #!@$ +##*…*$ ###@…!!!”  In Pittsburgh’s case, this mostly involved throwing the ball.  Their pitchers seemed to have gained enough experience to move them en masse out of the “young and promising” category.  And look at this:  Both Adam LaRoche and his brother, Andy, are starting for the team.  Why, it’s almost as though they’d brought back the Waner brothers.  

Get a grip.  The La Roches might be “Big Vinegar” and “Little Vinegar” some day, but they’ll more likely be, by July, another version of the second brother tandem that played for the Pirates (in the ‘50s) – Johnny and Eddie O’Brien, career .250 and .236 hitters, respectively.  (I think they were called “Big Milk” and “Little Milk.”)  Indeed, last month the AP didn’t even bother to correctly identify Andy LaRoche in a caption to one of their photos.  He was called a “first baseman.”  He plays third…which certainly begs the question, what is a .223 hitter doing at third base? 

But despite their traditional Rest of the Season Swoon that began about May 1st, at least the Pirates aren’t the Nationals, who have taken to sending their players onto the field in uniforms featuring a misspelling of the team name.  On April 17th Nat stars Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn took the field in jerseys reading “Natinals.”  Majestic Athletic has apologized. 

Not that any one actually cares what Washington wears.  Who thought we’d ever be nostalgic for those ugly Montreal uniforms.  C’mon, raise your hands. 

Rule Five:  The “early season” is over the day on-line balloting for the All-Star Game begins, or May 1st, whichever comes later.  On-line balloting began April 24th, but until May 1st any ballot cast in a locale whose 7 a.m. temperature was below 40 degrees only counted as half a vote.  For April voters in the North, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jeff McLane’s advice was most important:  “So get on the Internet and stuff the ballot box for you favorite unworthy hometown player.”  It remains solid advice in May. 

Hey, look – Matt Stairs is hitting .353!  Click, click, click, click, click…. 

Standard and Backpack Baseball Equipment Bags

Baseball equipment bags are essential for athletes carrying baseball gear to and from baseball games. There are many different types of styles and sizes of baseball bags that you can choose from based upon your personal preference. The standard type of equipment bags are typically lightweight and come with a neck strap that can be adjusted and is cushioned for comfort. These bags come in various sizes depending on the amount of equipment you intend on carrying. There are bags that are designed to hold only a baseball bat while others can hold bats in addition to gloves, balls, cleats, mobile phones, I-Pods, and your money. Many baseball bags also have special pockets with ventilation for baseball shoes.

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Backpack baseball equipment bags are designed in similarity to regular backpacks; however, many are specially designed with a slot specifically to hold a baseball bat. This style of equipment bag allows you to free your hands for carrying other items. Baseball bags are typically made of either nylon or canvas. While the nylon bags are typically less expensive than canvas, they are also less durable than the thicker canvas material. The backpack style bags also come in small and large sizes that can hold multiple bats and have numerous storage pockets specially designed for all of your gear including shoe and ball compartments.

Rolling and Travel Baseball Equipment Bags

The rolling style baseball bags are equipped with wheels which make it easier to transport heavy and large amounts of baseball gear. This type of bag typically comes with a handle that can be folded down for storage and pulled up for movement. The wheels are designed for comfortable travel over most types of terrain or surfaces and the bottom of these bags are typically reinforced to handle the weight of the equipment. Rolling baseball bags come in small sizes for individuals, however, these can be purchased in very large sizes that can accommodate several bats with a lot of space in the main compartment for holding other equipment and accessories.

Travel bags specifically for baseball equipment are designed with a compact shape that can easily fit in the trunk of a car or be taken as part of your luggage when traveling by air. These typically have sturdy straps for the hand or shoulder and have an opening on either end that is U-shaped which makes it easier to slide equipment in or out of the bag. While the design and color of baseball bags are a matter of preference for the individual user, team baseball bags are typically designed for all players with their team colors and logo. When selecting from the various styles and designs of baseball equipment bags, be sure and select one that will accommodate all of your gear and is also of a high quality and waterproof in order to ensure the best protection for your equipment.

Many baseball games are played at night, but about just as many are played outdoors in broad daylight, too. This is when baseball sunglasses are indispensable. Without such sports sunglasses, trying to catch a ball – especially one that is hit up high – is very difficult indeed. Staring straight up into the sun while trying to ascertain the ball’s location and speed of descent can strain the eyes and increase the chance that the ball will be missed. It is partly for this reason that baseball players wear sunglasses – to enhance their playing performance. Many baseball sunglasses come with lenses that are optimized to eliminate glare and enhance vision, especially on sunny days. Baseball players prefer wearing so-called amber sunglasses on such days, even though the lenses aren’t really amber. More often than not, they are either brown or gray.

There are also baseball sunglasses that are suitable for games played at night, but the tint of the lenses need to be considered very carefully. It is best to use clear lenses that have an anti-reflective coating to offset or absorb the glare of bright stadium lights. Baseball players sometimes use sunglasses with yellow lenses for indoor games, but experts warn that such colored lenses can compromise visual discernment and can affect reaction times.

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Another aspect of the importance of sports eyewear is their ability to shield players from serious injury. In fact, figures from the National Society to Prevent Blindness show that thousands of injuries were caused directly or indirectly by playing baseball. Many of the injuries were inflicted on players’ eyes when the ball would hit them there. A baseball that has been pitched or batted can travel at very fast speeds, and the injuries they can cause have the potential to be very serious indeed. For this reason, it is recommended that baseball players choose sports sunglasses with polycarbonate lenses, which are able to withstand the impact of a baseball and are virtually shatterproof. Having a lightweight but durable frame is just as important. Polycarbon frames are likewise resistant to breaking and are suitable for baseball players. Some baseball sunglasses have a shield design where the entire front of the frame is a polycarbon lens while the temples are another material. What’s good about this type of design is that the lens can be changed to suit the daylight condition of a particular game.

Players who need prescription sports sunglasses or goggles need not worry. Many brands now offer customized eyewear to fit any prescription. There are even models where the user can change the lenses to fit lighting conditions while maintaining lens prescription. Rudy Project is one such brand that offers prescription sunglasses.

There are many other baseball sunglasses brands in the marketplace, the vast majority of which offer the high quality and stylistic design that athletes want and need. Some brands use their own proprietary technology in their sports sunglasses. For instance, Oakley incorporates its Polaric Ellipsoid technology in its lenses to ensure purity of vision, one that is not hampered by distortions. Akadema is another popular brand whose shades offer 100% ultraviolet radiation protection and shatter-proof frames and lenses. Kaenon, Nike, Bolle – these and many more grace the faces of baseball players and other athletes, both in the professional and non-professional leagues.

Baseball sunglasses are part of the whole package that contributes to how a pitcher pitches, a batter bats, or a catcher catches. They can enhance playing performance and play a major role in protecting players from eye injuries caused by either sunlight or an errant ball. On top of all that, they can make a player look cool, too! This proves that baseball sunglasses are not only useful and functional, but that they are attractive pieces of sports eyewear as well.

Baseball betting revolves around the money line. Unlike football and basketball, which use spreads, in baseball sports bettors simply need to pick the real game winner of each event. The “spread” is worked in the money that must be laid or taken for each side. For example, let’s say that the New York Yankees are playing the Kansas City Royals. Let’s assume that the Yankees are having a great year and the Royals not so much. You might see a line like this: Yankees -300 Royals +270.

In our example, you would need to wager .00 on the Yankees for every one dollar you wanted back—should they win. Unlike football and basketball, the Yankees don’t need to win by a certain amount. They simply need to win the game. Bettors of the Royals in our example would receive .70 for every .00 they wagered. You see, the closer the two teams are to each other, skill wise, generally the closer the game is on the money line. Let’s look at another example.

This time we will look at a game against two first place teams—Team X and Team Y. All things being equal, the line might be something like Team Y -110 Team X +105. You see, the closer the teams are, the closer the line is to .00. It’s important to remember that the job of the spread is not to predict outcomes, but to split public opinion. I bring this up, because there are “gifts” out there. For example, this season there was a game involving the Royals—they were the worst team in baseball at the time.

The Royals were playing a sub-.500 team, which means that team has lost more games than it won. The game should have been somewhat close on the money line, but linemakers knew they could not split the public with a close line. As a result, the line was set at +260 for the Royals. This happened three games in a row and the Royals won 2 of those 3. This example clearly shows that the job of the line is to split the public and not predict games.

Here’s a quick tip. When you are deciding who will win a MLB baseball game, look at the whole team. Too often losing sports bettors simply look at the starting pitching. However, starters will only pitch about 66% of the game on average. What about the other 34%? Don’t fall into the trap of buying starting pitching. Do your homework and look at the team as a whole.

The evolution of the baseball uniform Baseball education has taught us legendary stories about the greatest players ever to set foot on a baseball field. Even going back before the beginning where baseball coaching was non-existent, there were individuals that helped shape the game of baseball as we know it today. Many times overlooked, however, is the transformation of baseball uniforms in the process, which is a story in itself and intertwined with the history of the game. Since the inception of the National League in 1876, there have been thousands of different uniforms to surface around the league. Over four thousand to be exact, and just as the game transformed several times over, we have seen some of the best and worst uniforms do the same during our time. What once started as a simple long sleeved shirt as your uniform, quickly was accompanied by pants, ball caps, stirrups, belts, and much more. Ever thought about playing baseball with two sweatshirts on and a coat? Maybe, but have you ever thought about doing it in the summer? At the beginning of the 20th century, uniforms were made of 100% wool flannel. It took forty years before the sport came up with something that was lighter, but issues of durability was always surfacing and it wasn’t until the mixture of Orlon with wool during the sixties, and double knit fabric in the seventies that there was a real difference. Uniforms that once where only white for home games and gray or hue for road games took only seven years from the turn of the century to invent unies with pinstripes. In the beginning, these were only used for road jerseys and while the Lovable Losers started the fad, it was the Boston Nationals who actually wore noticeable pinstripes that were green. Attempts to change the look of jerseys started by 1937 when the Brooklyn Dodgers jumped out on their own and produced tan uniforms. Although a stepping stone to today’s versions, challenging look sometimes took a little longer to be embraced by the fans and players around baseball. Like the 1963 gold and green combination that the Kansas City A’s dawned for everyone to see. However, you’ll find that on special occasions, teams of today will take a walk down memory lane and wear the old fashioned uniforms for all see. Jerseys weren’t the only thing to take a stab at alterations, as ball caps also went from the Chicago and Brooklyn styles, it was the Boston-type caps that became the beginning diagrams even to the styles of today. During throwback days, you will see the players wear ball caps that have the button more towards the front of the brim, which was the style for several decades, along with pinstripes on them as well. If there was anything that transformed as much if not more then the jerseys and style, it was the shoes. It wasn’t the black and white pictures that fooled you, there really were only black shoes available. It wasn’t until the evolution of the Athletics uniforms did a different colored shoe emerge, and it took over 100 years for the league to come out with a new color, which was white. Today however, as long as there isn’t a distraction to the pitcher, it doesn’t matter what color the shoe is as long as its full in color. Several colors came in and out of uniforms over the years that gave us the hot red pants worn by the Cincinnati Reds during night games, knickers that once became Bermuda shorts in the seventies, Good or bad, it’s the history of baseball and even though at the time it either was a good idea or not, it’s something new we can learn for our own baseball education. Probably the most notable uniform ever worn by a team was also released by the Cincinnati Reds, who actually used green on St. Patrick’s Day in 1978. Because they were the first team ever to do this, those uniforms have become a collector’s item that is hard to find thirty years later. Other teams have also tried to make their own presence felt with different effects like the 79′ Phillies and 84′ Astros that were completely humiliating for the fans, players, and baseball management. As baseball fans, we become infatuated with the thought of owning something of value that has been around for quite some time. Both old and new uniforms give us that feeling actually, and why memorabilia is such a booming business. Even baseball cards have pieces of jerseys in them that have been worn in a game. It lets even young ones that just love the sport for what it is, hold on to a piece of the nostalgia that will surround baseball for eternity.

Many people today still do not know where baseball originates from, so lets take a brief look at baseball’s history.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint an exact birthday birth place for baseball, we can trace it back to the most logical of places…England.

Games involving a bat, a ball and bases have been around for many hundreds of years, in many parts of the world. It is this reason that brings uncertainty to baseball’s one true origin.

The modern game of baseball is in fact a direct sibling of the English game of rounders. Rounders has been played in England for hundreds of years, and it is thought that the English brought the game over to the United States, where it later evolved into the sport we now know as baseball.

There are many similarities between the two sports, the most obvious being that both sports have the same basic structure. Both involve having manned bases, with the object of the game to throw the ball, hit the ball and then run in order to score points.

Since it was brought over to the United States, the game known as rounders in England was known as Town Ball in the United States. It wasn’t until Alexander Cartwright came along and recreated the sport of Town Ball, giving birth to the game of Base Ball.

Base Ball is the first “rough” version of the sport of baseball that we now play. The rules that Alexander Cartwright drew up back in 1845 played an extremely important part in the creation of the modern sport of baseball and thus he is known as the inventor of modern baseball.

Little has changed in baseball’s history since then, except for a few rules and regulations as time progressed. What the future holds for baseball…we don’t know. But what we do know is that baseball has evolved to be one of the most beloved sports in American history…baseball’s history can’t get better than that!… The future looks bright.