Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Not too many things can chase my ass to the computer to blog like earth-shaking St. Louis Cardinals news, and that's exactly what did it this morning when I fired up the Firefox and found that Jimmy Edmonds is now a San Diego Padre. I'm not shocked--he was old, expensive, and blocking young talent from playing center field for the Cards--but he was the longest-tenured Cardinal, the emotional epicenter of the team and a damn good-looking guy. He was awesome for his patented upercutting power stroke, his perfect diving catches, and his attitude. He'll be missed, and if he manages to make it to Cooperstown, I'll be proud for him to be wearing a St. Louis cap. I think the odds of his making it are a lot more likely now than they were a week ago.

Why do I say that? Well, anyone who has a sports pulse followed the unveiling of baseball's Mitchell Report with at least mild interest. Better than six dozen players were revealed to have (at least a fair) connection to steriods and HGH. Many of these players are retired or well on their way. Albert Pujols wasn't there, as had been reported initially, and thank goodness. Neither was this guy. Ergo, most of my faith in the game remains intact, though I hardly think the Michell Report is a capstone of any sort. Really, I think the witch hunt and punishment of violators is a joke; baseball would be better off acknowledging, fixing, and moving on. Keeping McGwire and Bonds and Clemens out of the Hall of Fame only keeps the wound open and festering. They were the best players of an unfortunate and flawed era. You can't change history, only learn from it.

What does this have to do with Jimmy Ballgame? Well, I think, five or six years from now when Bonds, McGwire and (possibly) Clemens are still sitting there, ignored, on the voters' ballots, a guy like Edmonds, who played the game hard, with flair--and, most importantly squeaky clean, unless weird things come to light--appears on the ballot, writers will be inclined to vote for him (them). Others who fit this bill will be Craig Biggio, Bernie Williams, Larry Walker and Jason Varitek. Of course, many of these players have been tagged as possible users, which brings me to my final point: We don't really know. Never will, with certainty. Perhaps Bonds deserves to be an outcast for his federal purjury charge. Maybe. But I still think Pete Rose should be in the Hall, so what do I know?

Barring further development, this is all I'll say on steriods for the forseeable future, unless I start using, in which case I'll blog in detail about my massive biceps and inverted testicles. It'll be my gift to all of you!

For those of you who care, life is predictably hectic. Work, of course, has combined with MBA finals, holiday shindigs and a nasty, nasty sinus infection to frazzle me a good deal. I haven't begun to Christmas shop. But it'll get done, it always does. I'm looking forward to the Christmas-to-New Year's stretch because that's when old friends come home and I recharge my batteries a bit.

More this week, me promises.

Peace.

ML