Friday, September 23, 2011

Baseball: Shelby Miller, Aramis Ramirez, Johnny Bench, South Carolina, College Sports


Class AA Springfield righthander Shelby Miller, the crown jewel of the Cardinals' farm system as the team's top pick in the 2009 draft, has been suspended indefinitely by the organization, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Tuesday night. Mozeliak said Miller had been suspended for a "violation of team policy." Without amplification, Mozeliak said the incident in question had occurred last week. The decision to suspend the 20-year-old Miller had been reached in the last day or so after a meeting by telephone among Miller, Springfield manager Ron "Pop" Warner and Cardinals' farm director John Vuch. "I'm not going to get into specifics," said Mozeliak. "Let's just leave it at that." -  http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_261b2aac-b97e-5a24-9707-b3958b30c75b.html#ixzz1YXvJfxkK

Slugger Aramis Ramirez is ready to test free agency. The team holds a $16 million option on him for 2012, but it appears the Cubs won’t pick that up. Ramirez says he wants to stay, but said “we haven't heard anything” from the Cubs. Has he reached out to the team? “We don't have a GM, so I don't know who you talk to,” he said.  http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/article_09fa9242-e451-11e0-b74f-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1Yati0Euh

Statues, though hardly a new phenomenon at baseball stadiums, are now popping up all over. Some 70 former players have been immortalized, several this season. The latest: Johnny Bench, whose likeness was unveiled last weekend at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park. Bench said last week that a statue was “far cooler” than any other accolade. He said he was delighted at the depiction of him rising out of a catcher’s crouch and erasing a base-stealer.  “I’m really excited,” he said. “From this day on, I will be honored.” What began as a tribute to bygone stars and as a device to dress up the stadium grounds now serves multiple purposes. Statues have become meeting places for fans, and photo opportunities. - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/sports/baseball/baseballs-bronze-age.html

South Carolina baseball has landed the top recruiting class in the country as announced by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on Tuesday afternoon. The Gamecock newcomers include seven players that have been drafted as well as several standouts from both the high school and junior college ranks. “We are ecstatic with this group of newcomers that have entered our program,” said South Carolina recruiting coordinator Chad Holbrook. “This is a class we are excited about because of its depth, athleticism and versatility. We have a talented group of young, athletic infielders with the addition of Joey Pankake, T.J. Costen, Connor Bright, as well as outfielders Tanner English and Shon Carson. English and Carson were labeled as two of the best available athletes in the 2011 MLB draft. - http://collegebaseball360.com/2011/09/20/south-carolina-has-collegiate-baseballs-top-recruiting-class

A litany of scandals in recent years have made the corruption of college sports constant front-page news. We profess outrage each time we learn that yet another student-athlete has been taking money under the table. But the real scandal is the very structure of college sports, wherein student-athletes generate billions of dollars for universities and private companies while earning nothing for themselves. Here, a leading civil-rights historian makes the case for paying college athletes—and reveals how a spate of lawsuits working their way through the courts could destroy the NCAA.  - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643

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