Merv worked to see that no other coach or player talked to Gwynn about his swing.

Plus there's the pompous title, "The Last Yankee." I wonder what Jeter and Rivera would think about that.

Nevertheless, I learned a couple of interesting things:

Martin supposedly turned the Tigers into a base-stealing, bunting team in 1971-72. I mean, how ridiculous is that, with a power-hitting team with little speed playing in an extreme hitters park?

Martin was fired twice in midseason and got a new job within two weeks. In midseason. How rare is that? And for it to happen twice with the same guy?

And in the replay of the George Brett pinetar game, Martin immediately appealed that Brett had missed first base. When the ump signaled safe, Martin said, "How do you know? You weren't there."

<.....2014 has been an utter bust on the mound: Verlander is carrying a career-worst 4.98 ERA and fanning just 6.4 batters per inning, his lowest figure since 2006. Recently a high-90s flamethrower, the 31-year-old’s average fastball speed in (sic) down to 92 mph.>

Years past, there was a Curse of Jennifer Capriati, as the career or every tennis boyfriend went into the tank.

My worry is arm trouble, what With symptoms like lack of speed and inability to locate the ball. That's something he would have trouble admitting.

On other note:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/sto...

Just fooling around here a bit:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/f...

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/vi...

Good morning, baseball rules wizards. I just saw two strange plays in two days of the College World Series.

Friday: Bases loaded, one out, hitter hits a hard line drive that hits the umpire in the infield. One run scores and the 2nd baseman throws out the hitter at first after chasing down the ball. Ruling--dead ball when it hits the umpire (because he is in front of the infield at the time) and everyone moves up a base, including the hitter who was thrown out at first. Instead of a potential inning-ending double play, the bases are still loaded and the hitting team goes on to score more runs and win the game.

Saturday: bases loaded, third strike on the batter but the ball gets away from the catcher and goes into the dugout (another dead ball).

Ruling---batter is out because first base is already occupied. Had first base been empty, the runner would have been awarded the base. The fielding team gets out of the inning and goes on to win the game.

Have you ever seen plays like this? I hadn't.