Here’s hoping you all have a very happy and safe New Year….

For the Phillies, almost all the winners were no brainers, the
one that did surprise me was the Roy Oswalt for Oddity of the Year, after he
came in to play left field following Howards ejection. Obviously Halladay is
Halladay and there should be no surprises when he or something he is apart of
wins an award. Carlos Ruiz voted ‘X-Factor of the Year’ finally got some
recognition for his excellent performance during the 2010 season.

As we draw closer to the year end, we tend to look back at what
the year held for us, that’s when the anticipation of the 2011 season begins to
build, knowing its only 8 or 9 weeks before team members start arriving at
spring training gives us plenty of time to shuffle and re-shuffle the starting
lineup only to be surprised come opening day again.

In a perfect world the Red Sox would go broke and Liverpool
FC would be the owners main interest, in my brothers warped and sadistic mind maybe. A real perfect world would be in 20 some years, the Phillies would be debuting that years ‘Rookie of the Year’. My son however probably has
designs on him being a premier league football player, only time will tell how
much influence Grandpa can wield…

There are however something’s that Phillies fans need to keep
under control and that is over hyping the starting rotation, we all know the fan
base in Philadelphia can turn their love into hate on the toss of a coin. They
can deny it all they want, but deep down they know who they are and it’s those
fans that will be the first to call for Amaro’s head or Charlie to be replaced
when Phillies famous four get swept by a team like the Pirates or Astros.

One more note for the Phillies fans we don’t need a cutesy name
for these four guys, so enough with ‘Phour this’ or ‘that Phour’ the H2O was fun
but lets leave that as a thing of the past it really is ‘water under the
bridge’.

Should we be surprised at the general response from Yankee fans
who say what they will now, the majority thought they had Lee in pinstripes and
now of course the jibes at Lee for going back to Philadelphia are nothing more
than that of a spoiled little brat not getting that Christmas gift they wanted.
They are not the only group of fans that have shown that deep down they despise
Lee for wanting to go where he wanted to go and not where others thought he
should go.

For those that still seem to be bewildered by Lee leaving money
on the table to sign with the Phillies, ask LeBron James, he seems to think ‘when
your getting that much money $20Million is nothing, it wont change your life,
it’s about where you want to be after the first $100million’.

Just remember it’s not even January yet, hell any or all of them
could twist an elbow opening Christmas presents, or hurt a rotator cuff carving
the turkey. This is one Phillies fan that wants to enjoy the 2011 season with no
expectations other than to be truly entertained all season long by a
Philadelphia baseball team that has chemistry and energy with every start.

On a final note, what if the Phillies traded Blanton, Kendrick
and whoever could they still land Zack Greinke … ho!ho!ho!

It’s that time of year when the Phillies organization pulls a
shocker out of the hat. Last year it was trading Cliff Lee and signing Roy
Halladay, this year it’s signing Cliff Lee and trading no one.

Now I know everyone was expecting him to be in either a Rangers
uniform or the Yankee pinstripes, but it was those who truly believed (beLEEved)
was always hopeful of his return to the Phillies and this I am sure has left
fans in New York and Texas seeing RED, yep Phillies RED.

Now lots of people will be saying told you so and they can say
that, even I stated in my blogs earlier in the year that Lee would be back with
the Phillies, as much as I would like to take credit for seeing into the future
it was nothing more than wishful thinking by all that made the claim. I know I
am one happy Phillies fan seeing LEE back in the Phillies uniform….

I am sure there will be those that will say we paid too much,
that we are trying to buy a World Series, but the truth be known the Phillies
are just putting together a group of players they believe will WIN the World
Series. Some fans will continue to use this as an excuse to trash the Phillies,
that’s okay they can do that, but to all those Phillies fans that were critical
of the organization for allowing Werth to go to the Nationals, I say before you
gloat about this you should issue a full apology to the Phillies organization,
because LEE on the Phillies team is considerably better than what the Nationals
got in Werth.

The
first encounter with this town would include 3 gas stations and a McDonalds, it
was at the McDonalds that you first see signs of Cy Young, where they have
images hanging on their walls, for McDonalds that’s a nice touch.

I headed into the town and discovered somewhere there was a
museum/room dedicated to Cy Young, but locals I spoke to, either pointed me to
the baseball field or looked confused as to who I was talking about.

I chose to head to the ball field I had been directed to, and
this is where I found the State Historical Marker. This was the site of a Little
League ball field, since it was off season and the weather had turned very cold
the field was looking a little worse for wear, although it was mostly leaves and
wind assisted debris that had blown into the area.

At the entrance of this ball field was a nice monument to the
late great Mr Young….

….as you can see the monument was set at what would be the
pitchers mound of a fake baseball diamond, the white stone in the ground closest
has the words ‘Home Plate’ etched into it. This Little League field is over
looked by SR 36 and is right at one of the main entrances to the town.

I further later discovered the town has a ‘Cy Young Day’ once a
year with a festival that celebrates the life of this great man, I will try and
find out when this is for next year and may make the effort to visit the
festival.

Hot Stove – RumorMill

The
fact that Jayson Werth is still a free agent is giving media and bloggers
a like the ammunition to claim he is close to a deal with the Phillies, where as
I my unnamed sources tell me this is not going to happen. The problem is Werth
and Boras think he is a 6 or 7 year signing with a $16M to $20M price tag, this
would be like paying a designer price for a Walmart product. It would be good
for a year, maybe, but then you may as well throw it away.

The only club who should be looking to pay over the odds, or
current designer prices for last years model is the Yankees, it’s not that Jeter
is that good of a Short Stop, I think every non Yankee fan knows his Gold Glove
Award this year was without question a joke, don’t get me wrong, he is a very
good Short Stop, but the Yankees aren’t looking to sign him just as a Short
Stop, they are looking to sign a Yankee icon, someone who will help the team and
the ‘Yankee brand’ on and off the field.

When you compare these two free agents, then signing Jeter is of
greater value to the Yankees than the Phillies signing Werth. The Phillies need
to use their resources elsewhere, the bull pen needs help and maybe another SP
instead of Kendrick.

Further research proved to be lacking in new information,
although I found out he was one of 5 children, although I got little or no
information relating to his siblings. Conflicting reports indicated the family farm
could have been almost anywhere in a 10 mile radius or beyond.

As reports indicated Cy Young’s final resting place was not
too far, in a town named Peoli, with a few screen touches, my iPhone was happy to
guide me in the right direction.

As I headed towards Peoli, a little ways outside Gilmore the
local church was on the left side of the road, with the cemetery in plain view,
front and center was a large granite headstone with the name ‘YOUNG’ engraved in
large letters.

Knowing I was still some 4 or 5 miles from Peoli, I chose to
stop anyway to find out if there was any connection between this ‘Young’ and the
‘Denton Young’ I was researching.

To
my surprise the large stone had 2 smaller stones either side, the one was
engraved with ‘McKinzie 1843-1928′ the other was engraved with ‘Nancy
His Wife 1847-1915′ , my prior research had given me enough information to
know I had stumbled upon the grave site for Cy Young’s parents. It was late in
the afternoon and the sun was starting to set faster than I wanted it too. I
knew I had to move on and continue heading towards Peoli before daylight had
completely vanished.

I knew at some point I would have to abandon my trek for another
day, I already knew where a Cy Young memorial was placed. The town that liked to
call themselves the home to Cy Young was Newcomerstown, although it is probably
the closest larger town the only official claim they can make is it is listed as
the location where he eventually passed away.

With
the light fading I eventually came upon the Peoli Cemetery, first impressions
gave you an eerie feeling. It sat on the side of the road, with an olden style
iron entrance, I guess it was only fitting. I was later to discover that
although the cemetery is still used as the final resting place to locals, the
small building, formally a United Methodist Church, had not been in use for
almost 20 years.

I parked along side the former church building, at the front was
a hand painted sign from 2003 indicating that this was the final resting place
of baseball legend Cy Young, I took a deep breath in anticipation of what I was
about to experience.

I took a slow walk around the cemetery, looking at every name,
every engraving in the hope of discovering the great Cy Young’s grave. In my
search I found my self standing up flowers or straightening some grave side
ornaments that had been left to subside. It was then I bent down to pick up a US Flag that had fallen over, as I firmly pushed it
into the ground I looked at the engraving on the stone it was….

….that of Cy Young and his wife Roba. As I stood there reading
the inscription on this, the stone placed to show the final resting place of
probably the best baseball pitcher that ever lived, I wondered what would he
think if he new pitchers today are honored with an award bearing his name, that
today recipients of the award are voted on by people that probably only know him
by the name of the award they are bestowing on others.

This has been an experience for me, I have learned more of
Denton True ‘Cy’ Young than I thought I would, facts that I didn’t know, but now
realize why the award carries his name. In part three, the final part of
visiting Cy Young, I found an official plaque and baseball field to honor him.

In closing, did you know this man pitched a double header,
pitched back to back complete games, on the same day, to close out the 1890
season, won both games of the double header, against Philadelphia.

The end of the baseball season has put us into the awards for
baseball, it always seems you get those players winning because of name or
because they have more highlight reels than others, we know the process of
awards is very much a personal choice matter, even when using stats to convince
yourself, that your guy should have won, can be very ambiguous, as with most
numbers they can be made to reflect what you want, because stats don’t show the
big picture, there is no getting away from the fact that there is no fair way to
decide on award recipients.

The National League Cy Young award, for me and it seems the vote
givers was a no brainer, no matter how hard fans of other teams may have tried
to portray the hard work their guy had done, there was no getting away from the
fact, Roy Halladay was the clear winner, so congratulations to the Doc on his
being voted as the 2010 NL Cy Young winner.

If you read my last
post, then you’d know I am apparently being confused as a ‘Pro Blog’, and
since not everyone can grasp the dark sarcastic British humor, I at times
attempt to instill into my writings, I have chosen to take a more self research
view to this post and attempt to be a little more serious, well that was the
concept when I started this post.

The Cy Young award is given out each year to an American League
and National League pitcher and many of you know it as an award which utlilizes
the name of one of baseballs greatest pitchers, as with all claims of the
greatest it is debated as to who actually is, but that’s not what this is about.
Since the baseball antics of Cy Young seem to be well documented, I decided to
look into the man before and after baseball and I must say I was a little
surprised at what I discovered.

First things first, hit google, as with most things it’s
over to Wikipedia
‘the free encyclopedia’ to discover more information. Now if your one of
those who believe everything you read, then I hope you have a happy life, but if
your one of those with some intelligence, then you know, ‘you get what you
pay for’ and when it’s ‘free’ there is always a reason. So with this in mind
I checked some of the information, seems the links to Mr. Youngs biography are,
well, missing links. The CMG
Worldwide doesn’t even list Mr. Young, or Cy Young as a client, so I headed
elsewhere.

Since the web extends beyond the boundaries of the Wakipedia, I
was able to locate an actual place of birth for Mr. Cy Young, and with the aid of google
maps, there was, Gilmore, Ohio. Further assistance from my trusted
iPhone and a wonderful free app named ‘MapQuest’ I now had turn by turn directions
and decided on a ‘Road Trip’.

I am not sure if you’ve ever taken a road trip to somewhere that
you have no idea of what you’ll find, but I always try to picture what I think I
should find, in this case, an icon of America’s national pastime, let me see,
maybe a plaque where he lived, or at the very least where he was born, how about
the town road sign telling all visitors it’s the town where Cy Young was born.
Nope, nada, nought, nothing….

….Now you may think this is fiction, but I can tell you I went
there, I took this picture and I can also tell you just over the brow of the
hill you see in front of you is a 4 way intersection with 3 stop signs and what
you see is the most densely populated part of Gilmore, Ohio. This is a village,
not a town, it is mostly farm land and a good portion of it is Amish owned and
operated. This didn’t deter me from my quest, I was still not able to find out
where his farm land was, or his house, but I do understand it is now owned by
the Amish, it’s location however is still a mystery in the process of being
solved.

So anyone that has read a little about Cy Young, knows his name
was Denton True Young and that the nickname ‘Cy’ comes from the abbreviated name
the ‘Cyclone’ which was given him when he first visited a semi-pro club in
Canton, Ohio, due to the speed he was throwing the ball, some say it was the
destruction of the fence he threw the balls at during his tryout for the club,
some say it was the young catcher catching his throws that claimed “He
throws the speed of a cyclone”, who knows, except that Ken Burns was wrong.

With my trusty iPhone singing out my directions, I decided maybe
I could get more information at the site of his grave…..

to be continued, my next post – part two, where I visit the supposed burial
site of Mr. Denton True ‘Cy’ Young…

As with most people you scanned the list to see where your own ‘BLOG’
had landed on the final list of the season, then you went down to the comments
section, added your usual complimentary comment and moved on. How many actual
pay attention to the list of blogs other than where it concerns your blog?

How many would notice an anomaly in the list, I’m not talking
about ‘Confessions of a
She Fan’ not being at number 1, or ‘Red
State Blue State’ not being at number 2, (although they did lose that
status last
month). I am talking about things like the numbers at the bottom of the
‘Fan Blog’ list having 2 number 44′s and being out of order or even a less recognized
blog in the community being moved from the ‘Fan Blogs’ to the ‘Pro Blogs’
listing, who would actually notice that….?

So now all that’s left to find out is ‘what do I get ?’, now my
blog has ‘PRO’ status, do I get a cute ‘MLB PRO BLOG’ logo for the top of blog
page, or do I get erased from the list quietly, without a ripple being created
in the world of MLBlogs, or maybe just nothing happens and I remain in obscurity
at the bottom of a list of names….

Then we have ESPN, who decided to listen to the millions and
millions, okay a dozen or so, regular viewers and oust the 20 plus year duo of
Sunday night baseball. Now if only Fox would concede to the sporting fans and
say bye bye to Joe Buck in time for next season.

The lack of instant trading and player acquisitions has given
the media to much time to create news instead of reporting it, I am sure if the
baseball season was in full swing the White House press secretary would have
been more concerned with Strasburg’s next start or which diamond to get the
POTUS on to throw out a pitch and ESPN wouldn’t have cared who was calling the
balls and strikes on Sunday night. It maybe time for the media to try a remedy
for the lack of baseball news….

….I am sure one of these is more than fitting for those media
people being the news instead of reporting it.

As
was expected the Yankees dove in head first and contacted Cliff Lee’s agent,
Darek Braunecker, just to let him know the obvious, that they were interested
and would be making an offer, also making contact was the Phillies, Ruban Amaro
jr. There were some other teams names being bandied about, but in all
seriousness Braunecker said they are just reviewing options and there is no rush
to commit. I think in reality the only serious contenders here are the Yankees,
Phillies and Rangers.

The Red Sox jumped into the Hot Stove with interest in an
outfielder, which could be Werth, since they contacted Boras. However how
serious can the Red Sox be this off season, since the owners have spent some
good money on acquiring the Liverpool Football Club and have made a commitment
to build that club back up and make it the top club in the Premiership, and if
you think baseball players salaries are high, then google some of the top
Premiership players salaries. I believe as far as teams with high payrolls, the
premiership has the most teams in the top 10, but I could be wrong.

It’s going to be a wait and see for the most part with some of
the top names on the free agent market and I am not convinced anything will be
solidified with the top names till later in December, even early January. Except
for those given to be re-signed by the Yankees.