The official rules of Major League Baseball are available on their website here.
However, does anyone know if there’s pdf version available? They have several other documents available in pdf format, but I’ve yet to see the official rules that way.
If anyone has seen that, please let me know where to get ’em. Thanks.

I was going through my photo gallery today, and this picture came up at random. Whenever I see it, I think this should be a legitimate sign, and not a fan made one. What do you think?

Whenever my wife sees someone wearing #7 or #29, I usually hear “That’s not Pudge” or “That’s not RUSTY!”

I get a decent collection of emails in my almost 10 years running this site. Most are pretty nice, and occasionally, I get some that are somewhat rude. Like this exchange. Last night I get an email from a guy. I won’t name him, but let’s call him Oscar for the sake of this discussion. Unsolicited last night Oscar sends me this email:

I don’t know about you , but the Rangers are bad enough on their own , but that pissant announcer Josh Lewin makes me sick while I watch a horrible game

So I wrote back a couple of hours later with this:

I can’t help you there. I like Lewin. Also, “pissant” won’t foster many good conversations, really.

One other thing I should add is all the emails I send out have a bible scripture in the signature. I change it from time to time, but the current one is Philemon 1:6, which reads, I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. This will come up in the next sequence.
So this evening, I get another email back from Oscar, saying this:

Ok , Joe , I apologize for offending you . Looks like a clear case of me barking up the wrong tree . My mistake by writing a letter to a person who has a ranger baseball site but is not that much into baseball . Josh’s penchant for talking about anything other than baseball is ludicrous , but if that’s your cup of tea , more power to you . Maybe one day you’ll appreciate the great game of baseball for what it is , the national pastime , NOT a forum for lame comedy acts.
BTW , Jesus never played the game

Now, I know Josh Lewin isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I realize that. I like him, but I don’t go around calling him a pissant, or assuming people’s appreciation of the game is based on whether or not they like a particular television play by play announcer. That seems quite out there, and is the reason I’m posting this. The entire exchange seems quite bizarre. Anyway, I sent this back to him…

>>Ok , Joe , I apologize for offending you . Looks like a clear case of me barking up the wrong tree . My mistake by writing a letter to a person who has a ranger baseball site but is not that much into baseball . I'm very into baseball. Moreso than I think you possibly realize or assume. >> Josh’s penchant for talking about anything other than baseball is ludicrous , but if that’s your cup of tea , more power to you . Maybe one day you’ll appreciate the great game of baseball for what it is , the national pastime , NOT a forum for lame comedy acts . I'm 42. Been paying attention since I was 7. Thank you for assuming you are aware of all the facts of my life and that you know enough about me to assume you know what's going on in my mind and how I appreciate things. Insulting me merely because I like something you don't is a pretty narrow minded view of the world and people. Grating emails like that don't make me want to explain myself to you. Just makes me want to stick you on ignore, so I don't have to see you again, but I won't do that. >> BTW , Jesus never played the game No, but there's a lot to learn from Jesus about anger and poor attitudes towards people.

I really am perplexed by this. I will pray for understanding on this Oscar, as well as for your rather open hostility towards me.
Someone care to tell me (besides Oscar) if I’m off base here?
UPDATE: Friday evening, I got this back from our buddy Oscar. I don’t quite understand him at all.

why waste your time responding to a person who obviously is beneath you ? I’ve got all day , but your message of hope is wasted on cretins like me. Strike me from your reply list

So I gave him this in reply, but I think I’m done here unless he wants to discuss the Gospel some more.

It’s not my message of hope. It’s Jesus’ message of hope, and it’s never a waste of time. If you’d like to talk about it, I’d be glad to. Here’s one that I think applies to you.
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3: 22-24)

Dear Mr. Hicks.
We suck.
Lovingly,
Joseph M. Siegler
P.S. You should have retired Johnny Oates’ number when he was alive.

A friend of mine sent me this video, which he found on one of my regular Anglican news websites. Anyway, it’s a video where some folks turned a random minor league game with 10 year olds into something resembling a major league game.
If you have a kid who plays ball, you’ll probably find this amusing.

One of the lesser known things I have on my site here is my archive of pocket schedule images. I say that because I myself neglected it, and never updated it with the 2007 images. Now that I’ve been out to a game, and obtained the 2008 pocket schedule, I scanned it in, and put it on my page of images, which you can check out by clicking here.
I’ve been collecting these myself since about 1996 or so. I moved here in late 1992, but never saved them until a few years later for some reason. Also for some odd reason I don’t have the 2005 pocket schdule.
The collection is definitely not complete, there’s holes in the past. A few times I’ve gone out on the net looking for images. Most of the stuff I have up from the 70’s and 80’s is there because it was on an Ebay listing. I would like to get really decent quality copies of the entire past, but I know that’s a big deal. The Rangers themselves might have copies in their archives of the old ones, but they wouldn’t be open I’m sure to letting me borrow them to scan (rightfully so, I wouldn’t honor that request if I was them).
That’s why I’m posting here. Do you the reader have copies of Rangers pocket schedules that are not on my page, or have a better quality copy of one I do have? If so, please drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you. But even if you don’t, check out my archive of old pictures. Interesting to see how the layouts have changed over the years.

In case you haven’t seen it, there’s a very good interview with Chuck Morgan over at the Ft Worth Star Telegram. You should read it. It’s nowhere near as long as I would have liked, but it was definitely a good read.  (UPDATE Dec 2019: This link appears to be totally unavailable anymore.)

I hope there’s a much more in depth interview with Chuck coming in the program this year. There’s some really good interviews in the program the last few seasons; I hope they give Chuck a good article in the program this year as the 2,000 games milestone is a good one, and should be recognized.

Chuck has been here for awhile, and like Bob Sheppard, I hope he’s here for a very long time into the future. The only thing I personally want to happen when Chuck eventually hangs up his mike is to hand pick his successor. The last time the Rangers tried to pick someone (or more specifically this ownership group tried to pick someone), it was a seriously long ride on the fail train. Chuck is as much a part of Rangers baseball as anyone on the field. They simply cannot make the same mistake again. Does anyone even remember the name of the guy who handled the mike when Chuck was in Kansas City for a year? I certainly don’t.

That’s an idea – how can we get Chuck Morgan into the Rangers Hall of Fame? I assume it would be the same conditions as Tom Vandergriff. As Chuck partially runs the thing (at least I think he does), I doubt he’d be thrilled with putting himself in there, but someone has to do it. Anyone else think this should be done?

A few seasons ago, Chuck was kind enough to invite me into his office for a look around during some pre-game down time. I have had some pictures of that up for a long time, but I thought I’d take this chance to point them out.

Here’s a pic of what Chuck sees out his window…  Took this myself on a visit there.

Oh look. Galloway is bitching about the Rangers again. Is anyone else sick of this guy’s constant complaining?
Now I’m not saying he should be happy all the time, but he just bitches and bitches – and it’s turned me off from wanting to read him anymore. Now I know he’s been at it a long time – he covered some truly BAD teams (some of that is detailed in the wonderfully written book “Seasons in Hell” by Mike Shropshire), but I’m just tired of his constant complaining about the Rangers.
Funny thing is I grew up in Philadelphia, and I saw where that can lead you. A once great sports writer there by the name of Bill Colin has turned really vitriolic towards his local team in his old age, something that Galloway will probably be if he’s still doing this in another 10-15 years or so, although it might take less time.
One positive thing is that Galloway at least knows baseball, something that Jean-Jacques Taylor at the Dallas Morning News doesn’t seem to have – every time I read one of Taylor’s piece, it makes me think he feels like he’s the same as those call in guys on post game shows that go “Hey, how come we don’t spend some money and get some pitching?” – you know the oft repeated, not very well thought out questions.
Sigh. Don’t even get me started on The Ticket. If either Galloway or Taylor read this, I’m sure it will be dismissed as just “one of those bloggers”, but screw that. I’m a fan before I’m a blogger, and I tire of reading nonstop complaining about my team.
They should all be fired and replaced with Jamey Newberg.

If you read my site on an RSS reader, you might notice some repeat entries. This was because I discovered this morning that I forgot to cover a game last week, and as such, my game count was off. I had to adjust the “game numbers” for about 5 game recaps, and as such, it changed the URL’s for a few entries, and put them back into the RSS feed. Sorry for the confusion.

You know, if the Rangers were in the National League, it would provide Josh Lewin with a lot of reasons to talk about the Mendoza line. Having Luis Mendoza bat, and having his average below the Mendoza line would be something we’d hear about all the time. Don’t you think?