Fantasy Drafthelp: Top Baseball Call-Ups

This week, we bring you our Top 20 baseball pickups from the minors for June and beyond.

1 Mike Moustakas

2 Desmond Jennings

3 Brett Lawrie

4 Lonnie Chisenhall

5 Anthony Rizzo

6 Jemile Weeks

7 Jason Kipnis

8 Jesus Montero

9 Yonder Alonso

10 Domonic Brown

11 Paul Goldschmidt

12 Dayan Viciedo

13 Mike Montgomery

14 Jaff Decker

15 Trayvon Robinson

16 Dustin Ackley

17 Randall Delgado

18 Drew Pomeranz

19 Cord Phelps

20 Mike Trout

This Day in Black Sports History: February 13, 1920

Before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier in 1947, the Negro leagues provided the only arena for aspiring African-American players to showcase their talents on a wider scale.

That arena was created on Feb. 13, 1920 with the establishment of the Negro National League (NNL), the first black professional baseball league, at a YMCA in Kansas City, Mo. Andrew "Rube" Foster, considered the best African-American pitcher of the 1900's, was the driving force behind the league's organization and served as its president.

With member teams in the South and Midwest, the NNL successfully operated until 1931, and as a result of his leadership role in the early years, Foster came to be known as "the father of black baseball."

Consisting of eight teams—the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABC's, Kansas City Monarchs, St. Louis Giants and the Cuban Stars—the NNL was the first African-American baseball circuit to achieve stability and last more than one season.

Initially, the NNL mainly operated in Midwestern cities, ranging from Kansas City to Pittsburgh. In 1924, the league expanded into the south, adding franchises in Birmingham and Memphis.

Three years after NNL's formation, the Eastern Colored League (ECL) was founded, and in 1924, the very first Negro World Series was played between the ECL and NNL champions.

The ECL collapsed the spring of 1928, but its member teams reemerged in 1929 as the American Negro League (ANL).

Under the economic stress of the Great Depression, the NNL disbanded in 1931.

A new NNL was organized in 1933, eventually becoming concentrated on the East Coast.

Four years later, the Negro American League (NAL) was founded, which included several of the same teams that played in the original NNL. The NAL carried on as the western circuit of black baseball.

The second incarnation of the NNL lasted until 1948, the year following the integration of Major League Baseball. Its surviving teams merged into the NAL, operating as the last black major professional baseball league until 1960.

Over the course of four decades, the Negro leagues would be the launching point for the legendary MLB careers of prominent African-American players such as Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson.

More than 50 years after his death, Foster finally gained recognition for his immeasurable achievements, most notably establishing the first formal Negro League, when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.

Baseball’s Triple Crown: Easier To Win As A Pitcher Than A Hitter

The definition of baseball dominance can be summarized with a crown, a Triple Crown that is.

One of the greatest accomplishments to win as a baseball player is to be the best in three statistical categories; for hitters it’s to have the most homeruns, RBIs and the best batting average while pitchers long to lead the league in ERA, wins and strikeouts by season’s end.

As the 2010 season rolled along, baseball announcers and analysts were keeping tabs on individuals flirting with a chance at sporting the crown. Players like Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton were in the discussion of possibly being bestowed with the prestigious title.

Despite their strong efforts throughout the summer, all four players have fizzled out as a top leader in one of the essential categories.

Pujols currently stands number one in the NL in HRs and second in RBIs, but is far from the top of the list according to batting average with Carlos Gonzalez more than 30 points ahead of him.

Cincinnati Reds slugger Votto is a bit closer to Gonzalez, but still trails by twenty points behind him. He is also five homeruns behind Pujols and shares second place with him in the RBI category.

Tigers first baseman Cabrera had the most realistic shot at the crown when he led all three categories in the middle of the season. Now, he has dropped to thirteen homeruns behind the AL league leader and just under 30 points for the batting title despite being the current leader in RBIs.

Hamilton, on the other hand, has a hold of the batting title witha .361 AVG, but has really fallen off the pace in HRs (fourth in the league, sixteen behind the leader) and RBIs (tied for tenth, 21 from the top).

All four players were once in the discussion because becoming a Triple Crown winner is a feat that is nearly impossible. This is why the discussion of a hitter winning it becomes a hot topic at the midway point in the season and why the cameras stay focused upon them until they appear out of contention.

What is more interesting is that pitchers have won the award more frequently lately, but don’t have the same attention as the hitters do.

Why does that happen?

For most pitchers in baseball, being dominant across the board is easier to accomplish than being the best for a season in the three offensive categories.

In the history of baseball, there have been nearly twice as many pitchers who have won the Triple Crown (38) than hitters’ (16). Within those totals, only two hitters have won the prestigious honor twice while seven pitchers have been crowned twice (Sandy Koufax even won it three times).

To put it another way: pitching is easier to dominate than hitting.

That dominance is obvious when looking at the previous winners. There have been eight pitchers who won the award as a pitcher since the last batting Triple Crown winner in 1967.

A big reason for that are the characteristics and styles of those pitchers makes it easier for them to win the award.

Jake Peavy, Johan Santana, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Dwight Gooden are all the same type of pitchers: power pitchers who can place their fast ball in the high 90s, but still have a wide variety of pitches that leaves hitters off balance.

Being a power pitcher is essential because the hardest category to reach for the Triple Crown is strikeouts. Only a handful of players have the ability to over power hitters and K them consistently. All six of the pitchers listed above have that skill in their repertoire.

With high strikeout totals comes the low volume of runs they allow to cross the plate. This helps them keep their ERA at a meager level. With fewer runs given up comes a higher total in the win column.

While winning the pitching Triple Crown is easier to achieve, hitters find it nearly impossible.

The most recent hitter who won the Triple Crown did so over 40 years ago. Carl Yastrzemski won the title as a Boston Red Sox first baseman and outfielder in 1967 with a .326 AVG, 44 HRs and 121 RBIs.

Those totals wouldn’t even win him the award this year in either league.

A big reason why a batting Triple Crown is nearly impossible and why there hasn’t been a winner in over 40 years is the discrepancy among the various types hitters.

While being a power pitcher gives them a better chance to win the award, the three categories for hitting do not connect the same way as the pitching categories do depending upon style of player.

Pitchers with a high strikeout total have a great chance to keep a low ERA total and accumulate a high number of wins. For hitting, being a power hitter does not necessarily make them a strong hitter for average and vice versa.

Also, when it comes to RBIs, hitters need to have other teammates who get on base at a high rate. Smashing homeruns or spraying hits all over the field will not guarantee a high number of RBIs. The only way to increase those totals is for others to get on at a high rate in front of them.

While a pitcher like Ubaldo Jimenez and David Price appear to be possible pitching triple crown winners in the next few years, hitters like Votto and Cabrera will probably be cursed as hitters with the potential to reach that plateau, but sadly never will.

The crown that hasn’t been placed on a hitter’s head in over 40 years and that trend looks likely to continue for another 40 years.

How Big League Baseball Can Learn From The Little Guys

Lies, performance-enhancing drugs and questions about putting asterisks on historical records has become baseball’s reputation thanks to the spawn of the Steroids Era in Major League Baseball in the 1980s.

Jose Canseco was one of the best baseball players during the 1980s and 1990s. Years later, he wrote a book about his steroid use and the widespread use of it throughout baseball clubhouses everywhere.

Barry Bonds is the current owner of the baseball home run record, but came out stating that he never “knowingly” took PEDs during his illustrious career.

Roger Clemens recently got indicted on perjury charges after he was accused of lying about his steroid use. “The Rocket” has won the most CY Young awards ever with seven.

All three of these players are only a tiny shred of the list of players who have used steroids during their baseball career. The temptation of cheating and using PEDs for personal gain has become an epic dilemma that will haunt baseball forever.

Major League baseball needs a change and a new fresh outlook. They need to reclaim the pureness and camaraderie that it inspired before the steroids era tainted the sport.

The answer: the kids.

The 2010 Little League World Series wrapped up on August 29th, 2010 as the international champions, Japan, defeated the United States champions, Hawaii. The team from Tokyo celebrated at the pitcher’s mound after their win by collecting dirt from the mound as souvenirs of their great achievement.

That moment was a reflection of how the game has regained some inspiration and dignity. The sport was appreciated for all the blessings the players received because of it.

An appreciation that has been lost in the big leagues.

All the kids in the tournament happily ran around the outfield making diving catches and miraculous snags of groundballs around the diamond not for the sake of popularity or to increase their own value, but for the sake of helping the team.

There were no players worried about their stats or records they could accomplish. They had one goal in mind through each game they played; they are playing for more than themselves, they were playing for their country.

That understanding was felt by each player of each team.

The best players from all the squads were always the most quiet who led by example and their play, not by their statistics and contract earnings. They didn’t use their baseball ability to become bigger than the sport; they used it to enhance who they represented.

A team essence was felt in each and every game they played. Whether it was the team from Texas, who all sported eye black like young phenom Bryce Harper, or the team from Taiwan, who had a pitcher-by-committee rotation; each team understood that they needed each other to play unselfishly to become champions.

Major League Baseball needs to regain that unselfishness the league once exemplified.

The majors were once a great league that defined what baseball was all about. Baseball is one of the ultimate team sports and past players knew that their output was important for the success not just for the team, but for the legacy of the sport.

Being great was never about records, money nor doping to gain an advantage.

Now, the legacy of baseball has become tainted with selfish players and cheaters looking for a way to hold all the records and make the millions of dollars.

What was once the sport labeled “America’s Pastime” has now become “America’s Worst Crime”. An injustice created by a sport that was born in the United States when the Major League formed in 1901.

The Little League teams have always looked up to the stars in baseball as their heroes and inspiration as they hope to one day be like them.

Maybe it’s time the Major Leaguers emulate the Little Leaguers.

What If Other “Superfriends” Joined Forces Past And Present In Sports?

Now that South Beach has formed a new delegation with “King James” (Lebron James), “The Flash” (Dwayne Wade) and “CB4” (Chris Bosh), the NBA will see just what can be accomplished by Miami Heat’s “Superfriends” in Miami.

But, what other creation of super powers would have been interesting to watch in basketball in the past? Or better yet, what about in regards to other sports and their superstar athletes both past and present?

Here are some possible ideas of what other superstar formations would have been interesting to see in their sport and time period:


Football: Present Day


Quarterback: Peyton Manning; Running Back: Chris Johnson; Wide Receiver: Larry Fitzgerald


Having these three on a team would make any Defensive Coordinator be a no-show on Sunday.

Manning is the best quarterback at dissecting a defense and analyzing what they are going to do. If any defense decides to sit back and cover the pass, Manning can hand it off to last season’s 2,000 yard running back Johnson. If any team decides to load the box and try to keep Johnson in check, Manning can just put up in the air and have Fitzgerald win one-on-one battles all game long.

The solution against this offense is simple, pick your poison and hope that the other option doesn’t kill you.


Baseball: Present Day


Hitting: Ichiro Suzuki, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols
Pitching: Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price, Tim Lincecum


Any manager would love to have these six players at their disposal.

Ichiro is the best lead off hitter and, probably, the best defense outfielder in baseball. He can hit and run while throwing out any player who decides to try and advance a base on him. Cabrera is the most dangerous hitter in the league right now and might have a shot at winning the Triple Crown. In each of his nine seasons in the big leagues, Pujols has at least 30 HRs, 100 RBIs, and a batting average over .300. He’s on pace to do the same this season.

Add a rotation with Jimenez (who has been virtually unhittable this season with only one loss at this point), Price (who appears to be the best pitcher in the American league this year) and Lincecum (back-to-back CY Young awards in 2008 and 2009), and no one will be able to score on this team.

Basketball: Past

Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson


There’s been the talked about trio of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird already, so they will be excused (despite those three being probably the best trio that could ever team up in basketball).

But spin time backwards even farther in time when there was no three point line and post players dominated the league. Russell alone won eleven titles in thirteen seasons, while Chamberlain won two in his fourteen year career. Having both players on the same team would simply be unfair.

Add in the mix “The Big O”, who was the only player ever to average a triple double in a season and quite possibly the best combo guard of all time, and each team they face would forfeit every game.


Football: Past


Quarterback: Dan Marino; Wide Receiver: Jerry Rice; Running Back: Barry Sanders


All three players are arguably the best at their position and would form the greatest football team if they played together.

Marino’s claim to the title of best quarterback can be seen in his career statistics. If not for “Mr. Iron Man”, Brett Favre, Marino would be the all-time leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns. On the other hand, Rice owns all receiver categories with the most receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Sanders was a human blur on the field and could have led any statistical running category he wanted if he didn’t retire after 10 NFL seasons.

Having all three on the same side would have been a nightmare for any opponent.


Baseball: Past


Hitting: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson
Pitching: Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax


The idea of having these players on the same team would be a dream come true for any baseball squad.

Aaron was regarded as the home run king for many decades and could hit the ball out of any ballpark. Mays was one of the greatest all around players who could hit for power, hit for average, run, throw and catch. Robinson was a great hitter as well and that was shown when he won the Triple Crown in 1966.

On the other side, having this rotation would be even more dominant. Gibson had an overbearing look on his face whenever he stepped on the mound and won over 250 games with over 3,000 strikeouts. Marichal was just as good with more wins than any pitcher during the 1960s (that includes Gibson and Koufax). Koufax had outstanding numbers (165 wins and 2,396 strikeouts) and would have had even better numbers if his career wasn’t cut short due to arthritis.