Marijuana in MLB
Posted: April 20, 2021 Filed under: 21st Century | Tags: 420, Baseball, CBD, drugs, Major League Baseball, marijuana, MLB, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, NBA, NFL, NHL, opioids, sports, videos Leave a commentIn honor of 4/20, here’s a brief overview on Major League Baseball’s policy regarding use of marijuana. In December 2019, MLB announced that it would be dropping marijuana from the list of drugs it would be testing for (while, at the same time, adding opioids and cocaine to that list).
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsToday, @MLB and the @MLB_PLAYERS jointly announced significant changes to the Drug of Abuse provisions of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. pic.twitter.com/jIie1JDVAg
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) December 12, 2019
A few weeks prior to the originally scheduled start of the 2020 season (which ended up not happening… thanks, COVID!), Dave Samson delved into the policy in a little more detail, and also overviewed the policies regarding the drug in other professional sports:
“The Great Mississippi,” by Jordan A. Deutsch
Posted: April 18, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, history, Jordan A. Deutsch, Major League Baseball, Mississippi River, MLB, National Association, poetry, sports Leave a commentThis poem by Jordan Deutsch was published in 1932, and you can see the history all over this piece. I really love the imagery of the sunrise, and the phonetic spelling out of the conductor’s pronunciations (“… Shecargo and Saint Louieeeeee”) just put a voice in my head yelling these cities out.
*
Up from the grasslands,
The plains, the cities,
Up from the vastness of the land itself:
Up Up Up
To the Great Mississippi.
Up to that First Field bathed in the sun,
Basking in the glory of its birth
Immersed in future time.
Further up slides the sun.
Up
To the Red Stockings from Cincinnati,
The original Magnificent Machine,
The dynasty without a future.
Up
To the National Association,
Swaying in its greatness.
Further up slides the sun.
Through the mouth of history slide provocative names
Once breathed on the lips of dreamers.
In what fine grave do the Elizabeth Resolutes
Troy Haymakers,
And Lord Baltimores now rest?
Up moving up
To expanding cities pocketed
In gray concrete.
(Can you hear the shrill and melodic chant of the
Train Conductor calling out his roll?)
:NewYawkHartfordBosstonPhilaDELphia
LouievilleCINCINnatiShecargo and Saint Louieeeeee.
Up up up
Up
To the Great Mississippi.
Quote of the day
Posted: April 16, 2021 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, humor, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Yankees, quotes, sports, Yogi Berra 2 CommentsOkay you guys, pair up in threes!
~Yogi Berra

Independent Sentinel
Jackie Robinson biography
Posted: April 15, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, history, Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson Day, Kansas City Monarchs, Major League Baseball, MLB, Negro league baseball, Negro Leagues, sports Leave a commentHappy Jackie Robinson Day! In celebration, here is a video biography of Robinson, posted by Biography this past January.
This day in baseball: Harding’s first pitch
Posted: April 13, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Griffith Stadium, Major League Baseball, MLB, Opening Day, POTUS, President of the United States, sports, Warren G. Harding, Washington Senators 2 CommentsPresident Warren G. Harding threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Washington Senators game held on April 13, 1921, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Washington ended up losing to the Red Sox, 6-3, making this the first time in six Opening Days contests the Senators have lost with the President of the United States throwing out the first pitch.

Library of Congress
Killer baseball
Posted: April 12, 2021 Filed under: Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes, comics, humor, sports 2 CommentsMany a child can identify with Calvin in this one.

Bill Watterson
Quote of the day
Posted: April 9, 2021 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Christine Pelosi, quotes, sports Leave a commentBaseball calls it a curve ball for a reason: you just don’t know where some pitches will land. Your ace could get injured. Your golden glover could err. Your team could sit through a rain delay. Your manager could get ejected. Your bench must be broad and deep enough to overcome.
~Christine Pelosi

Wikipedia
“Opening Day,” Terry Cashman
Posted: April 8, 2021 Filed under: Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, music, Opening Day, sports, Terry Cashman Leave a commentIt’s been a week since Opening Day, but the season feels new enough that this song still feels appropriate. I really love the line about being “a kid once more.”
Ethnic makeup of MLB players over times
Posted: April 6, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, ethnicity, graphs, history, infographics, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports Leave a commentHere’s a cool, animated graph that shows the change in the ethnic makeup of MLB since the late 1940s. The number of African-American and Latino players drew even in the early 1990s. The percentage of Asian players is still barely more than a blip on the graph, but that does seem to be changing.
