Kuzul

Ryne Sandberg was a second baseman for the Chicago Cubs and briefly the Philadelphia Phillies. Sandberg now manages a Phillies minor league team, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, and is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame 2005 class. In his 16 years in the major leagues, Sandberg was a 10-time All-Star, nine time Gold Glover, seven time Silver Slugger and was the National League MVP in 1984. Ryno's .989 career fielding percentage at second base is a record for second basemen. Interestingly, Sandberg is named after three time All-Star Ryne Duren.  Instead of the interview being written completely, I am experimenting with a YouTube video of the interview. Hopefully, I will do some video interviews soon so you can actually watch the interview. Please comment below if you enjoy the older format of written interviews, instead of YouTube video interviews. The interview is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDeDRvxlXFo Enjoy! Check out my blog posts at ...

Going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York is a place where you can dig your mind into a gold mine of artifacts and have an amazing day in one of the greatest sports-related places in the world. I have gone to the Hall of Fame multiple times, and diehard baseball fans can never leave Cooperstown without new chunks of baseball knowledge. The man that runs sports' most storied Hall of Fame, Jeff Idelson, has been its President  since April 2008 and has been in baseball for almost 25 years. Here's my interview with Mr. Prez: Brad Wolff: How did you get your first job in Major League Baseball?   Jeff Idelson: My first job in baseball was being a vendor at Fenway Park in Boston.  I was a vendor in junior high school, high school and part of college.  My first internship was with the Red Sox in ...

In one line I will say this: Anything but a World Series in the year of the loss of George M. Steinbrenner, would be a disappointment.  The best and highest paid team in baseball needs to be motivated after tonight's emotional memorial for George Steinbrenner. Watching the memorial I saw a man standing at the right field foul pole with a sign saying, "Win one for The Boss." I know it is easier said than done to win a World Series, but a repeat for The Boss would even make rival managers melt down in tears. The Yankees and the Rays meet today and it also brings a question to mind: Is it more important to play the Twins in the divisional series by winning the wild card? The Twins are a team the Yankees don't find trouble with in the playoffs, or the other scenario is this: the Yankees could go ...

We all know July 31 and the days leading up to that day change the season for some teams. There were some serious trades including a trade involving a Cy Young winner and a couple of ex-first overall draft picks. This slideshow shows the top nine pickups and the worst trade deadline pickups. The slideshow only shows teams in second or third place who brought in players who have played well since joining their new team.Begin Slideshow

Marty Appel was the Public Relations Director for the New York Yankees from 1973 to 1977. After resigning as the PR Director in 1977, he began a sports management company and later worked with World Team Tennis and Billie Jean King. Later on in his career he won an Emmy as the executive producer of Yankee telecasts. He has written 18 books including collaborations with Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Tom Seaver.BW: I know Mantle lived a wild life, what was the weirdest thing you ever saw or read in Mickey Mantle's mail? MA: I always found it amusing that people would send him bar mitzvah invitations, as though they expected him to attend. BW: I read that you originally got your job with the Yankees by writing to Bob Fischel, the then PR Director, what do you think stood out in your letter that intrigued them to hire you? ...

Ben Zobrist is the starting second baseman on the Tampa Bay Rays. He made the 2009 American League All-Star team with a batting average of .297, 27 home runs, and 91 runs batted in. That season, he was voted MVP of the Rays by the Tampa Bay sector of the Baseball Writers and finished 8th in American League MVP voting. "Zorilla," the nickname given to him by his manager Joe Maddon, is very involved with his Christian faith and is a true class act. Here is my interview with Mr. Zobrist—   Brad Wolff: Reading about you and meeting you tells me that you are a nice person. How do you plan on maintaining being a child's role models as you get older? Ben Zobrist: I model my life after my Lord and Master Jesus Christ and his life. He has called me into God's family and I am a representative for him so I ...