Houston, We Have Realignment

Yount Statue circa 2008 NLDS

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• Ryan Braun is the first Brewer MVP since Robin Yount won twice in the 1980s. A member of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers and signed through the year 2020, Braun finished ahead of Triple Crown threat Matt Kemp of the .500 Dodgers. Prince Fielder finished third as he heads out of town. The job to bat behind the 30-30 Braun will most likely fall upon a free agent like Derek Lee or all-star Rickie Weeks.
• As we edit our book, Bobby Valentine is close to becoming the Red Sox manager. The Stamford resident might get the job before our deadline to submit the book. Dale Sveum becomes the Cubs manager. Who knew when he was busy filling in for the Brewers 2008 playoff run that he'd become a hot commodity. Wally Backman is been bumped up to AAA Mets team.
• The sale of the Astros is complete and they will be moved to the AL giving each league 15 teams and making interleague play a daily part of the MLB schedule. The Marlins have a new look while the Blue Jays went back to their old look. A new CBA has been reached by MLB giving them 21 straight years of labor peace.
• Juniper and Cyrus are doing fantastic. Cyrus keeps improving his language and sense of humor while Juniper approaches her third week on planet Earth. Shira is a super-mom superhero.

Happy 100th Buck!

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Buck O'Neil. O'Neil played for and managed the Kansas City Monarchs. Buck was also a scout and the first African-American coach in MLB history. Joe Posnanski's book on Buck, The Soul of Baseball, is one of my favorite baseball books of all-time. It is chock full of O'Neils penchant for storytelling and his drive to keep the memory of the Negro Leagues history intact. When Shira and I visited Kansas City we visited the Negro League Baseball Museum which Buck helped establish and where he could often be found. O'Neil also played an important role in the induction of six Negro Leaguers to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, yet that honor alluded him when the Hall opened its doors to 17 others (see picture). O'Neil did not cry foul yet was involved in the honoring ceremony. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 94 and was honored posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by the Hall of Fame in his honor in 2008 and will be granted every three years. In 2011 it was awarded to former MLB exec Roland Hemond. Check out this video of Olberman and Buck to get an understanding of the class that Buck exuded throughout his lifetime.

Miami Marlins

Jon tells Dontrelle he won't ever win another game.

The Florida Marlins (owners of two World Championships but no division titles) are set to reveal their new uniforms tonight. They have also been involved in meetings with Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes. If they land Reyes the Mets can say hello to fifth place for a few seasons. Could that also signal a return to Boston for Hanley Ramirez? Ozzie Guillen is in town and it will be interesting to see how Marlins baseball plays out. When they've pursued a title they've been successful winning all of their playoff series in 1997 and 2003.

Juniper Hope

You have to love the smiles Juniper flashes...A week ago  we were preparing to meet up with the midwives in Norwalk, but Shira’s labor instantly quickened and before we knew there was little time before the baby was here! There was a brief moment while holding Cyrus and waiting for my parents where I couldn’t figure out how the situation just blazed by…in a moment of clarity I called for an ambulance. Shira, my biggest hero, knew the baby was coming while I was hoping the ambulance was coming. When the seven person crew arrived I finally calmed down a bit, but time was all a blur. The banter between the EMS crew was calming for me because I knew Shira and the baby were not in danger. In about 90 seconds they knew the baby would be born in our home and the firefighter receiving the baby would be catching his first newborn. The crew was very experienced at one point one of them turned to me and said, “You’ve got a great crew here.” Finally my parents arrived and I passed off Cyrus to them (he had watched most of Shira’s labor and in the days that followed did an impersonation).  Shira had about a dozen serious surges as we tried to turn the room into a delivery room. She finally rolled over to her back and gave birth to a baby girl. One of the first things she asked for was to get Cyrus, so I ran downstairs and told my parents we had a girl and grabbed Cyrus. He didn’t want to stay too long, but we would be on the move to the hospital soon. Shira and the baby were stabilized and she was brought safely downstairs. I was pretty dizzy as I never thought we’d have a girl (let alone in our own home). I handed Juniper to my mom as I quickly collected our bags which I had moved from the car to the basement. Our arrival at the ER was like a scene out of a movie and one I’ll never forget. There had to be about 50 people just staring at us as we walked in with a …newborn! After we settled into delivery room I began to call a few people, my mom mentioned Cyrus was talking about the moon and mentioned a Hope Street baby. I now knew what Juniper’s middle name would be! Some people go their whole life without a good story to tell. Juniper is only one week old, but she’s already got a great one.
From Lady Chandara:  a big big big congratulations to my amazing sister (and daughter) of the Craft, Shira  her husband Allie  and their son, Cyrus, on the new adition to their family, Juniper Hope, who decided hospitals are for wusses, that she didn't need no stinkin midwife, nurses or doctors (midwives...you know I love you!) and decided she wanted to be born on her mommy's comfy bed! An amazing story!