2017 Season

Edition No. 6

March  29, 2017

Brethren:

Now that was a good time.  Last Saturday, HSL Draft Day, was once again the funnest day of the year.  Thanks to B.T. and Tirebiter for providing the victuals and drink, thanks to Linda for readying our draft board and draft sheets, thanks to the Commissioner for keeping us all pointed in the same direction, kudos to anyone else who contributed to the preparations, and thanks to all of you for being present for our 33rd Annual Hot Stove League Draft. 

And although I didn’t think about it until the day after, congratulations to Mouse and to Tirebiter, who both participated in their 25th Hot Stove League Draft, a laudatory milestone, to be sure.  And who knows, maybe a quarter of a century will be deemed by the Baseball Gods as one of them having finally paid his dues and henceforth eligible to etch his name on The Cup at season’s end.  Good luck to both of them, and to each and every one of us in our new campaign. 

THIS JUST IN FROM POSSUM

In case you didn’t remember from Draft Day, three messages from Brother Possum: 

1.  From here on out, he prefers to be referred to as PAwesome.

2.  Magpie is going to win it all in 2017, guaranteed; and

3.  There will be swag.¹

PROBABLY NOT ON OPRAH’S LIST, BUT . . .

While in Mexico last week raising funds for The Wall, I had a chance to read the third book in the Dirk Hayhurst trilogy, entitled Bigger Than the Game (copyright 2014), and while it is probably not his best work, it is still a good read.  Bigger chronicles Hayhurst’s 2010 year as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, which begins with him injuring his right (throwing) shoulder during an offseason workout, and continues to describe in great detail the physical and emotional torture he went through as he tried to rehabilitate himself so he could continue his fledgling major league pitching career.  As the story unfolds, Hayhurst’s first book, The Bullpen Gospels, is about to be published (and would eventually make the New York Times Best Seller List), and leads to many of his Blue Jays teammates scorning him for breaking the clubhouse code of silence.    

Although Hayhurst gives them aliases (T.J. Collins and Brice Jared), he calls out two former Blue Jay teammates for being absolute A-holes to him and to the world in general, including a very unveiled threat by Collins to have Hayhurst killed if he ever saw him bring his tape recorder into the clubhouse again.  According to the internet (so it must be true, right?), these two aliased Blue Jays are in reality B.J. Ryan and Rommie Lewis, in all likelihood. 

For what it’s worth, I recommend Bigger Than the Game for your reading pleasure. 

NEXT WEEK:  SKIPPER’S PICKS ‘N’ PANS

Sorry, fellas, but I am just getting ready to leave for Florida as I put the finishing touches on this short edition of From the Bullpen, and I have not yet had time to finish up with my annual rankings and comments about our 2017 drafted teams.  While I am down in the Florida sunshine with Stretch and my two boys, I will finish up my work on my annual Skipper’s Picks ‘N’ Pans, and provide you with what you are all anxiously awaiting in next week’s edition of From the Bullpen.  Until then, I remain,

Gratefully yours,

Skipper

Finally, the losing skein is over!

But:  Easy come, easy go.

PAwesome rounds out the

33rd Annual HSL Draft

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