Initials

I just realized that H's initials are "HR." Maybe he'll challenge Blyleven for the season record (HR's allowed, like I said, the guy seems to be a pitcher).

Just looked at the leaders list, what a crazy bunch of pitchers:
1. Blyleven, 50 (1986)
2. Lima, 48 (2000)
3. Blyleven, 46 (1987)
5. Moyer, 44 (2004)
6. Milton, 43 (2004)
9. P. Niekro, 41 (1979)

One stat people might want to avoid when campaigning that "Bert Belongs": He's the only guy to give up 96 homers over an 18-month span.

Why Baseball?

I can't imagine anyone reads this site without reading Seth Stroh's site, but in case that is the case for you, I got my "Why Baseball" article published at his site today.

Here's the link:
http://www.sethspeaks.net/121405.htm

In other news, the whole family is doing well and I'm anticipating the pro baseball World's Cup (the World Baseball Classic, not the be confused with the Baseball World Cup, which I believe is amateurs, minor-leaguers, and the Cubans who could be pros but haven't defected). All I've been reading is about how stacked the Dominican team will be and how the US will have a lot of talent but little motivation. I wonder why no one mentions how good the Venezuelans will be. Silva, Santana, Garcia, Zambrano, with Henry Blanco catching. They'll probably have to win each game 1-0, though they do have Abreu and Mora.

Also, the US gov't says the Cubans can't play. [Ignoring politics,] I don't know exactly what I think about that. I guess that no defectors would play for that team, so maybe a "free Cuba" team would be better. But it would be nice for rival nations like Cuba and the US to play on a stage where they are equals. Hell, China and Taiwan are in the same pool. I did notice that MLB now refers to Taiwan with the Olympic title "Chinese Taipei." That's too bad, because I wanted to see a Taiwanese team play for its own flag, especially against China.

H is born!

My long-gestating son, the "Person To Be Named Later" from last spring's trade in which C went from "Baby" to "Big Sister." Was born and named today. Here is "H":



That kid's got the "staring down the batter" thing down. Let's hope he's got the heat to back it up.

For more pics, full names, and other details, check my wife's family blog: R Family Blog.