(Photo courtesy of the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum)
People often talk about degrees of separation, or the number of people that stand between you and a certain person. Six is usually the number. But this past August there was just one between me and the greatest baseball player that ever lived: Julia Ruth Stevens, daughter of Babe Ruth. Read the full story
By Stephen Turk
When I think of fundamental baseball, I think of the old style of play. And when I think of the old style of play, I think about hard nosed grinding. I think of going out there and getting it done any way possible, stealing bases, railroading guys in the base paths, getting whatever foreign substance on the ball that can be gotten away with. I certainly don’t think about hitting the ball over the fence and keeping the uniform clean. Down and dirty was the way Ty Cobb played the game, and he was the best.
By Stephen Turk
Here at the end of the regular season for baseball, we get to see all the season stats! I’m not much of a stat head. Indeed, the longer I follow sports, the more I learn and see, the less I can really be absolutely sure about. So when an interesting stat comes about, like how a recent AP article ( http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/09/29/leaders.season.ap/index.html) reports that home runs are down at a 15 year low, my mind goes in about a million different directions to try to explain it. The article quotes a couple of big leaguers blaming everything 
from steroids, bigger stadiums, and squishy baseballs.
First and foremost, it could be an aberration. There definitely needs to be a few more years of lower home runs to think of it as a trend, but as with anything in sports, it’s fun to speculate. Steroids of course are mentioned, but my favorite quote comes from Torii Hunter mentioning that the game is being played in the old style (he says as a result of the ballparks, but I’m not so sure about that).
As someone with an interest in sports history, I really like that idea, but looking at the stats, which anyone can do at www.baseballreference.com and likely understand more than me, this season has shown that hitting in general is down. Does this mean that pitching is better? That steroid testing is taking effect? That guys are trying to do different things at the plate? Are the minors different? Is coaching different?
