George Steinbrenner, who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4.

Steinbrenner had a heart attack, was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and died at about 6:30 a.m, a person close to the owner told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not disclosed those details.

Prayers with the family and friends.

On the day that Ken Griffey Jr, the best baseball player of the last 2 decades retires, a blown umpire call trumps all? Yes, I understand that it was a blown call to cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game, but when a legend retires it deserves more than just a ticker across the bottom of Sportscenter.  Major League Baseball wonders what’s happening to the fan base? You guys keep missing the boat.  Not only was Ken Griffey Jr one of the best baseball players, if not pure athletes of the last 20 years.  He has NEVER been linked to steroids, or any other performance enhancing drugs.  Let’s think about that for a moment, NEVER been linked to steroids. He played in the 90′s right? Oh, every superstar was doing steroids in the 90′s right? Jose Canseco, Roger Clemmens, Barry Bonds, Mark Mcguire, Sammy Sosa, for christ sake Wally Joyner is even in the Mitchell Report.

No, while everyone around him was sticking themselves in the ass with a needle in a clubhouse somewhere,  Ken Griffey Jr. was doing it the right way.  If people want to make athletes role models, start with Ken Griffey Jr.  He missed roughly 4 years of his career due to injury, and is still considered to be the best center fielder to EVER play the position.  If you were going to make a highlight reel that would span his entire career, how many amazing catches would be left on the cutting room floor? How many times could Stuart Scott yell *BOO-YA* for a Ken Griffey Jr catch?  Oh, by the way, steroids and HGH probably would have really helped Ken Griffey Jr get back out on the field, but, instead of traveling down that path, once again, he did it the right way.  I mean, isn’t that the normal song and dance now when someone is caught using performance enhancing drugs? *I was trying to get back out on the field. I felt I was letting my team down by being on the disabled list. *shakes head*

Keep in mind that Ken Griffey Jr. missed roughly 4 years of his career due to injury while you’re soaking in these stats.

• 13× All-Star selection (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993,1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004,2007)
• 10× Gold Glove Award winner (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
• 7× Silver Slugger Award winner (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
• 1997 AL MVP
• 1992 MLB All-Star Game MVP
• 2005 NL Comeback Player of the Year
• 3× Home Run Derby winner (1994, 1998, 1999)
• Major League Baseball All-Century Team

Lifetime Stats

There is not a doubt in my mind, had Ken Griffey Jr stayed healthy, he would have been the one to break Hank Aaron’s record.  In my mind, Hank Aaron still holds the homerun record.  To me that one is not even up for debate. If you’re a Barry Bonds fan, we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

So while you powers that be are trying to figure out whats happening to all your fans,  just know, once again, you BLEW it by letting Ken Griffey Jr just disappear into the sunset. You should have made a big production out of his retirement.  One of your CLEAN superstars  just retired, and he barely got a mention.  I am not the baseball fan I used to be, but I was a fan when I was growing up.  As all the players I loved to watch as a kid started being linked to steroids, at least I still had one player to hold on to. Thank you Ken Griffey Jr.  I won’t be like Major League Baseball, I will say thank you.  Thank you for playing for the love of the game. Thank you for being one of the good guys.  Most of all, thank you for the memories of a time when I used to enjoy Major League Baseball.

Chicago White Sox Pitcher Mark Buehrle became only the 18th Major League Baseball player to pitch a perfect game. It is the first such game pitched in the Major Leagues in five years.

I’m shocked!!!!!

Before and after pictures of Sosa:

Wow……. Who knew?

Sammy’s dog, Juicer…

Major League Baseball is all about strategy: knowing when to run, when to hit big, and being able to read the signals. But outside of the ball park the strategy of these players left something to be desired. Even though they made gads of money in their time playing ball, all of these famous players went bankrupt after their career was over or while they still were playing ball.

And the countdown starts with:

5. Tie: Adrian Beltre, Johnny Damon, Xavier Dely, Carlos Pena, Mike Pelfrey and Darren Oliver. No one knows exactly how much money these notables have lost through the total fraud of the Stanford Securities ponzi scheme in 2009 but they all have had their assets totally frozen by the Feds. All ripped by Boras, who lead them to an unrelated third party for investment management, none of the sixsome has any cash to spare – some have reported that 99% of all their money was placed with Stanford.

4. Bill Buckner. The Red Sox player that made the play that kept the Curse of the Bambino alive in the minds of die-hard Sox fans couldn’t get a break later in life either. In the 1986 World Series, Bucker let a grounder from the Mets go between his legs that potentially cost them, the game. For fans it seemed emblematic of the troubles of the Red Sox for the previous 70 years. After moving to Idaho, his luck did not change: he started a car dealership that failed and he went bankrupt in 2008.

3. Gaylord Perry. Hall of Famer pitcher and the notorious face behind many spitballs throughout his 21-year career, Gaylord (yes, that’s right) retired in high style onto a 500-acre peanut farm and grew tobacco like the gentlemen of long ago. Unfortunately, Gaylord un-retired three years later when he filed for bankruptcy and had to work as a first base coach at a community college for six more years before he re-retired for good in 1991.

2. Rollie Fingers. Another Hall of Fame pitcher from 1992, Fingers retired in 1985 and made it four years before investments in pistachio farms, Arabian horses and wind turbines took him down. In bankruptcy, creditors claimed he owed more than $4 millions and listed his assets at less than $50,000. He resolved that by selling baseball cards and going back to work but then a tax scandal flared up 2007 over back taxes. Fingers also cleared that up with some investigative work.

1. Tony Gwynn. Gwynn was always known as a gentleman during his 20 year career in Major League Baseball but off the field he wasn’t a businessman, at least early on. In his sixth season, the San Diego Padre filed for bankruptcy even as he was in the midst of a very lucrative contract, citing bad investments and back taxes of just over $1 million. Gwynn went on to make as much as $6.3 millions per season for his work at the plate.