The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox had their second dust-up in just over a week on Saturday, with Josh Donaldson again being at the center of the controversy. The Yankees third baseman and Chi-Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal started jaw jacking at the close of the fifth inning, with the benches clearing almost immediately. Tim Anderson, the second participant in the argument in Chicago, ran onto the field before being restrained by Jose Abreu and Gavin Sheets.
Vaguely reminiscent of the previous issue between Donaldson and Anderson, the scrum ended with no ejections and apparently no warnings from home plate umpire Nick Marhley.* Little mention was made of the incident during the remainder of the YES Network broadcast.
In a post-game interview, Sox manager Tony LaRussa claimed that Donaldson had “made a racist comment”. According to Anderson, Donaldson called him “Jackie” in reference to a 2019 interview in which Anderson referred to himself as a “modern day Jackie Robinson”. When asked about the comment, Anderson said the comment was “disrespectful” and that it was along the same lines as “racist”.
The interview in question was a 2019 discussion Anderson had with a Sports Illustrated reporter. Anderson said “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson. That’s huge to say. But it’s cool, man, because he changed the game, and I feel like I’m getting to a point to where I need to change the game. Just more so on the side of I'm trying to have fun — and they don't want me to have fun. So I think it's cool when you bring excitement to the game and you bring something different. I think I bring something different to the game, and that's a lot of energy and a lot of excitement." Donaldson, in his comments, stated that while playing for Minnesota, he and Anderson joked about the use of Jackie, and that he (Donaldson) had “no idea what has changed with Tim” before apologizing if Anderson took the comment offensively this time around
*Correction - Nick Mahrley did issue warnings to both benches.
Photo courtesty of Getty Images
First of all, I am an admitted and unabashed Ring of Honor mark. While WWE and AEW were fighting the brief and pointless Wednesday Night War (more like a battle, one that AEW easily won) I was waiting for the next ROH Pure title defense and realizing that Johnathan Gresham was the greatest underrated talent in the business. When the announcement of the "hiatus" of ROH came, it was a gut punch similar to the night Paul Heyman walked out onto the Raw set and I realized ECW was gone.
Secondly, I don't trust Tony Khan. Something about the man just rubs me the wrong way. I don't know what it is. Those two facts out of the way, TK has promised to revive ROH and even booked the Supercard of Honor XV show on April 1, 2022. Of course, Supercard felt as though it would have been far better off if Delirious had still been booking.
ROH is now officially owned by ROH Acquisition Company, which is of course owned by Tony Khan. On May 6 ,2022 the sale was made final by the United States Trademark and Patent Office. As seen on WrestlingHeadlines.com :
“Entertainment services in the nature of live wrestling performances; Entertainment services in the nature of production of television shows and multimedia entertainment content featuring wrestling programs and events; Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing multimedia program featuring wrestling distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring wrestling provided through a global computer network; Entertainment services, namely, production and distribution of ongoing television programs in the field of wrestling; Entertainment services, namely, providing ongoing webisodes featuring wrestling via a global computer network; Entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests; Providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network”...
Whatever the hell that means.
Look, we have no delusions that TK will somehow treat ROH as an equal brand to AEW, even though ROH was actually a superior brand prior to it's closing. TK is a lot like Vince McMahon in that respect, he will never let another promotion get over on his guys. We have a new logo, but no word about a television deal or even any touring schedule. It's hard to imagine ROH running without Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, PCO, Kenny King, Brody King, or Jay Lethal (at least Lethal is somewhat still in the umbrella of AEW/ROH). I am not hopeful for the future of ROH and not really a fan of the new logo, but time will tell.
-Terry L. Wilkerson is an unashamed ROH mark, and his opinions of any brand other than ROH can tend to be quite skewed
Despite the investigation and the evidence, none of the blue checks have posted retractions or apologies.
In the top of the ninth inning with OF Lewis Brinson at the plate, a Rockies fan seated behind the home plate are began calling to the Rockies' mascot Dinger.
That is the truth, but what the blue checks on Twitter decided was that the man used a racial slur to describe Brinson. Brinson did not hear the word, the fans seated around the fan did not hear it. Security did not hear it. In fact, on the video (which oddly is now nowhere to be found) the fan clearly yells "Dinger".
Eight hours of Twitter hell befell the fan. MLB, the MLBPA, the Rockies organization, and Huff Post editor Philip Lewis all posted in a clear attempt to destroy the fan's life. After several investigations, it was determined that the fan was indeed calling out to Dinger. No shit.
Despite the investigation and the evidence, none of the blue checks have posted retractions or appologies.
By-Terry L. Wilkerson
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut once again has dominated the field in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island. The GOAT of competitive eating set a new record with 76 hot dogs and buns in the fifteen minute competition. Once again, Chestnut takes home the mustard yellow championship belt.
In the women's competition, Michelle Lesco won her first championship with 31 hot dogs and buns. Reigning champion Miki Sudo did not compete this year due to her pregnancy.
Congratulations to Jaws and Lesco on their victories.
In a move being described by WWE Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan as a "cost-cutting measure", WWE releaesed Braun Strowman, Ruby Riott, Lana, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, and Santana Garrett on Wednesday.
This does not seem a real loss to any of the newly free wrestlers. Strowman, Lana (C.J. Perry), and possibly Ruby Riott (as Heidi Lovelace) will likely end up in AEW. Murphy will be a good fit for Impact Wrestling and I would personally like to see Santana in the NWA women's division.
Immediate booking?
-Tommy End (Black) as the new leader of the Dark Order.
-Adam Scherr (Strowman) the new muscle for Chris Jericho's Inner Circle.
-Heidi Lovelace goes directly into a program with Dr. Britt Baker.
-Murphy in a program with Rich Swann. The two have worked together before.
-Garrett challenging Kamille, who I have to assume well defeat Serena Deeb at When Our Shadows Fall for the NWA World Women's
-Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer was placed on administrative leave on Friday in response to the sexual assault allegations levied against him, according to an MLB press release.
Related: Article From MLB Trade Rumors
In what appears to be another glaring example of the current climate of Guilty Until Proven Innocent, MLB places Bauer on the administrative leave list for a minimum of seven days. Of course, the High Commissioner Rob Manfred can extend the leave at his discretion.
So, when does the MLBPA step in here and fight for Bauer's rights? Easy answer is never. It makes the Player's Association look better to kowtow to the snowflake cancel culture than it does to stand up to it. If the allegations against Bauer do prove to be false, look for the league and the MLBPA to sweep this while thing right under the rug.
The San Diego Padres signed OF Fernando Tatis Jr. to a 13 Year, 340 million dollar contract extension. The 22 year old has played 143 games with a .301 average and 39 homers.
Ric Flair Returns at NWA 73
Finally, Naitch has returned home.
On Sunday, August 29, 2021 the National Wrestling Alliance held it's NWA 73 PPV. Capping off the show was he emotional victory by Trevor Murdoch winning the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship from the National Treasure Nick Aldis. But it was segment three that will forever define the show.
Here is the fifteen minute promo from the GOAT.
Today, we remember Lou Gehrig on the anniversary of his passing from ALS.
The saga of the "modern day Jackie Robinson" Tim Anderson seems to have taken a bizzare turn, calling into question again the veracity of Anderson's innocence in the Donaldson issue.
Dejah Lenae, reportedly an Instagram model, reportedly has become pregnant with Anderson's child. The issue? Well, that would be the fact that there is a Mrs. Anderson.
Bria and Tim Anderson were married in 2017, in Tim's second season in the majors. The couple have seemed like a fairly normal celebrity duo (if that's a real thing these days). In fact, Bria posted her and her short stop hubby together on social media on the Saturday just before the potentially damning post by his side chick.
Lenae uploaded her own happy family video showing the White Sox star in the passenger seat of her SUV with the caption "baby father". There is zero chance of mistaking who the man in the video is, by the way.
Anderson has plenty of time these days to play a different kind of field. He was placed on the 10 Day DL on May 22 for a groin injury. Seems oddly appropriate.
Anderson was hitting .365/5/19 at the time the injury
Two time NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Busch will leave Joe Gibbs Racing at the conclusion of the 2022 season and join Richard Childress Racing. The announcement came Tuesday during a press conference at the NASCAR Hall Of Fame
Busch's new contract contains a provision allowing him to run a car in the Indianapolis 500, for a Chevrolet team.
Kyle Busch Motorsports, which has been a part of Toyota Racing Development, will move to Chevrolet as well. The future of the current drivers for KBM is uncertain.
Busch leaves JGR with 56 career Cup Series wins, the most in the team's history.
Chase Elliot started his number 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in full command of the 2022 Nascar Cup Series regular season points championship. By the end of the first stage, Elliot had solidified his second championship, and punched his ticket into the Nascar playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. A week later, after the regular season finale at Daytona, Elliot, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Larson comprised the top five in points.
That is where all logic in the Nascar playoff system falls apart.
Despite finishing the year 141 points behind Elliot, MTJ failed to make the playoffs due to not having won a race during the 2022 season.
In the not so distant past, Nascar's point system would inevitably lead to the best driver overall winning the Winston/Sprint/Nextel/Monster Energy Cup. The current playoff (and ratings) driven format has left numerous drivers out in the cold during it's run. No exclusion has been more blatant or glaring than Truex, Jr.'s.
For a moment, just imagine the three drivers to win Seven Cup Series Championships running in the current format. How would Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt function in this environment? Could the King have won at Daytona and just ran well until the playoffs began? Could The Intimidator have forced himself to sit back and just keep collecting stage points? Would J.J. even have won three Cups under this format? The answer to all three is not likely.
Nascar's win-and-in system has felt hinky for years, but the fact that the fourth most consistent performer in the 2022 season is out of contention leaves the sport with a lot to think about and just as much to answer for.
by- Terry L. Wilkerson
I'm not much of a fan of finding the graves of celebrities. Seems kind of a morbid hobby if you ask me. I obviously would like to visit the resting places of Dale Earnhardt, John Wayne, and Chris LeDoux. Well, Jim Croce too, since the "I Got A Name" singer is buried just a mile away from a family member's home. However, when I found out my fiance's Mom-Mom was buried in the same cemetery as Benny Bengough, the backup catcher for the 1927 Yankees, I couldn't help but visit his grave.
It was somewhat odd to visit the headstone of a man I have no connection to, other than the fact that he is in the 1991 Charles Conlon baseball card set that I have in storage. Still, I would like to think that Mr. Bengough and his family would appreciate the fact that a Yankees fan would seek out his plot just to say hello and ask him to say hi to the Babe for me.
In his eight year career, all eight with the Yankees, Benny slashed .256/0/81. Just imagine though, this man played with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazerri, Earl Combs, and Urban Shocker. Benny may be a footnote in baseball history, but I will now and forever think of him as one of my favorites to have worn the pinstripes.
By Terry L. Wilkerson
Major League Baseball has a huge problem with offense in the game. As of June 3, 2021 the league is slashing .236/.312/.395 with 1,877 home runs, 5,483 walks, and a combined 14,823 batting strikeouts (we will circle back around to these stats in a bit). Forget for a moment that the compilation stats average 80% of the totals from the shortened season. Runs per game is averaging 4.36, slightly down from last season’s total of 4.65 RPG. All it takes is watching an MLB game for a few innings to see that offense is way down across the board, and strikeouts are the acceptable norm.
Okay, black ink out of the way, we go into what has become the standard response to the decline. Pitchers doctoring the ball with foreign substances has been a long standing tradition in the National Pastime. Names such as Joe Neikro, Preacher Roe, Whitey Ford, and of course Gaylord Perry come to mind when the topic of junk balls comes up. It seems the problem has resurfaced in the current MLB climate. MLB released a statement in March reminding the entire league of Rule 6.02c, which states in part:
the pitcher shall not:
(2) expectorate on the ball, either hand or his glove;
(3) rub the ball on his glove, person or clothing;
(4) apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball;
(5) deface the ball in any manner; or
(6) deliver a ball altered in a manner prescribed by Rule 6.02(c)(2) through (5) or what is called the "shine" ball, "spit" ball, "mud" ball or "emery" ball. The pitcher is allowed to rub the ball between his bare hands.
(7) Have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance. Rule 6.02 (c)(7) Comment: The pitcher may not attach anything to either hand, any finger or either wrist (e.g., Band-Aid, tape, Super Glue, bracelet, etc.). The umpire shall determine if such attachment is indeed a foreign substance for the purpose of Rule 6.02(c)(7), but in no case may the pitcher be allowed to pitch with such attachment to his hand, finger or wrist.
Okay, in recent weeks, Giovanny Gallegos of the White Sox and James Karinchak of the Indians were both suspected of placing illegal substances on the ball while on the mound. Twins OF Josh Donaldson claims to have a treasure trove of video of cheating pitchers. As a Yankees fan, I look back at the embarrassing 2014 incident where Michael Pineda was caught with pine tar on his neck. Today, during the owners' meetings, commissioner Rob Manfred made it clear that MLB will be cracking down on pitchers who violate this rule. So, there you have it. The problem is to be solved. Offense will go back up around the league.
Right?
I would argue that it will not, in fact, go back up. Why? There is another issue that MLB refuses to openly address. That issue is the game killing concept of the “Three True Outcomes”.
For those of you not familiar with the idea, the “Three True Outcomes” are walk, strikeout, and home run. The tall and short of this near twenty-year-old trend is that strikeouts, once an event to be avoided at all costs, are now considered commonplace. Don’t worry about getting on base. Just lift the ball in the air and hope it clears the fence. Or draw a walk to get on base and hope the next batter hits it out. Or strikeout and try again next time. I am not being dramatic; this is the mentality of the modern MLB player.
SABRmetrics, once a hobby of mine, has led the way in accepting these outcomes as writ. Of course, there is no visual proof of the efficacy of this idea, nor is there any statistical proof. For a fantastic article debunking the “Three True Outcomes” check out this link.
There is a key element that gets lost in the race-bait media coverage of the Tim Anderson/Josh Donaldson debacle. The element of truth.
You see, it was Tim Anderson who referred to himself as the "modern day Jackie Robinson", a proclamation that deserves both ridicule and more than a little bit of historical context. Tim Anderson wanting to change the game to "have more fun" is in no way like a man risking his life to integrate Major League Baseball. Comparing bat flips and hand shakes to facing the most vile examples of segregation is not comparing apples to apples, but rather apples to bullets flying at your head. Anderson believes players should show off their style with their uniforms. Jackie Robinson was lucky if his uniform wasn't stolen.
Josh Donaldson talked about how he called Anderson "Jackie" when Donaldson played 3B for Minnesota. It was an inside joke between them, at least to Donaldson's understanding. That was 2019. A lot has changed in race relations in the ensuing three years.
The explosion of racial tension following the summer of BLM made its' way into MLB when the season resumed in 2020. The dust-ups between the White Sox and Yankees over the last two weeks seem to or show that the tension has not subsided. Even Tony LaRussa found himself swept up in the tide, lying to the media about the substance of Donaldson's comments. Yes, the same LaRussa who has received criticism in the past for his right-leaning views. Yasmani Grandal took umbrage with Donaldson a week after the initial incident.
Silent on the issue are the two Yankees players who most spoke out during the 2020 season, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton. One wonders if this is an implicit support of Tim Anderson over their own teammate.
Despite Donaldson apologizing, the only one who should be remorseful in any way is Tim Anderson. For a man who respects the history of the game to compare home run trots to the inhuman treatment of Jack Roosevelt Robinson is unforgiveable. Instead of considering a suspension of Josh Donaldson, MLB should consider history lessons for the White Sox shortstop.
By: Terry L. Wilkerson
As the 2012 PBR World Finals dawned on the Thomas & Mack center in Las Vegas, Nevada, only two things were known to be certain. Two time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers and 2007 PBR World Champion bull Chicken On A Chain would each be taking their last outs. As often happens in the world of rodeo, the draw brought two legendary worlds together when Shivers climbed into the chute for what would be Chicken's final ride. The battle was won by the bull, with a buck off at the 6.73 second mark. Shivers would have one more ride the next night before stepping away from rodeo, himself.
Chicken On A Chain was sired by a bull known as #599 Scar. Jeff Robinson purchased the young bull in 2006, and soon acquired his iconic name. According to Clint Hass:
"They went down 'ner and they knocked on the door and this little boy come to the door. They was like, 'We're here to pick up that bull.' That little boy says, 'Yes, dad told me you could have him, but said on one condition: he had to leave his name the same.' And Jeff's like, 'What his name?' And he says, 'Chicken on a Chain.' Jeff's like, 'Ok, how'd he get that name?' The boy says, 'That mean mother (expletive) got out and run through' – they had them, they was into cock fighting. You know how they got all them roosters staked out with a chain on the foot to keep them in place? Apparently he'd run through the prized fighting chickens and got the best rooster's chain wrapped around his foot. That little boy said it took us a damn two weeks to catch the son of gun to get the chain off. He drug a dead chicken for two weeks. After that they called him Chicken on a Chain."
Chicken on a Chain retired with 127 outs (80 at the premier level), being ridden 33 times. He became the first bull to have 100 or more rides with a 45 point average and was given the PBR Brand Of Honor in 2015.
Soon, in that great Round Up in the sky, we can look forward to Lane Frost riding Chicken. Happy Trails, big fella.
Copyright © 2024 Terry Wilkerson - All Rights Reserved.