The Street and Smith's Annual is Here!

The Street and Smith's Baseball Yearbook has been a staple of my life for decades. I picked up a copy of the 2005 edition while at the airport to pick up our daughter today. Obviously, I haven't had much of a chance to devour it yet, but I was struck by a few passage from publisher Mike Kallay's notes on the first page:

Those who say the steroid scandal rivals the 1919 Black Sox scandal are wrong. The former affected a single team with slave-owner management. In one league. In one World Series. For all its ugliness, it had a largely positive impact on baseball. Where have you gone, Judge Landis?

I couldn't agree more! Half-measures won't do. Anyone who tests positive for steroid use should be banned from the game for life. The use of these drugs threatens the integrity of what happens on the field as much as gambling.

(And yes, though I've been a Cincinnati Reds fan for thirty-six years, I think that Pete Rose's ban from baseball is just and should remain permanent. I think the same thing about the ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other banned White Sox players.)

Kallay even suggests that (1) Baseball's antitrust exemption be ended and (2) John McCain should be made commissioner of baseball, "unless he sets his sights higher, of course."

Then this tidbit about the Washington Nationals, as the former Montreal Expos are being dubbed:

When the Nationals unveiled their new hats in the team's colors (red, white, and blue), [Nationals president] Tavares noted a developing trend.

"It seems like all the Democrats are buying our [blue] away hats and all of the Republicans are buying all of our [red] home hats..."