Valadius

]Tejada tells team he�s 33, sted 31 HOUSTON (AP)�Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada has told the team he�s actually 33, two years older than he�s listed in the club�s media guide and other baseball records. Tejada, saying he wanted rid himself of a burden, approached general manager Ed Wade and asked to correct misinformation he gave the Oakland A�s when he signed in 1993, the Houston Chronicle reported on its Web site Thursday. Team officials were not immediately available to comment to The Associated Press. The Astros were wrapping up a three-game series Thursday with the Phillies in Philadelphia. Tejada was actually 19 when he signed out of poverty-stricken Bani, Dominican Republic. At the time, he says, a local coach encouraged him to say he was 17. �I�m a poor kid that wanted to sign,� Tejada said on the Chronicle site. �I�m feeling free now. It�s something that I had in my mind.� The former American League MVP was signed out of the Dominican Republic by Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, but he was clear Marichal had no part in the deception. Moreover, Wade and Tejada both said the shortstop�s green card, driver�s license and other legal papers in the United States reflect his actual birthday, May 25, 1974. The Astros� media guide lists his birthday as May 25, 1976.

From the Boston Globe: ]Tommy Holmes, star outfielder, embodiment of Boston Braves Tommy Holmes, who drove home the winning run in the first game of the 1948 World Series for the Boston Braves, had a special relationship with the fans who sat in the "jury box" bleachers along the right-field line at Braves Field in Allston. "Tommy represented what the Braves were all about," said Boston Braves Historical Association executive board member Saul Wisnia. "A non-flashy, working-class player who conversed with the fans during games and signed autographs in his street clothes afterward. " 'How many hits you gonna get today, Tommy?' a patron might yell, and Holmes would shout back a reply or hold up however many fingers he deemed appropriate. Once the fans had a Boston cop throw a guy who was heckling Tommy out of Braves Field. He remained their favorite son at our Braves reunions." Mr. Holmes, the 1945 Sporting News Player of the Year who was also player-manager of the Braves for most of the 1951 and part of the 1952 season, died yesterday after a short illness in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 91. "Tommy Holmes is as beloved to Braves fans as Johnny Pesky is to Red Sox fans," said Braves Historical Association business manager George Altison of Marlborough, a member of the Braves "Knothole Gang" in 1941 when Mr. Holmes played his first season in Boston. "Tommy was a wrist hitter who credited the great Pirates hitter, Paul Waner, with helping him improve when Waner was finishing his career with the Braves." His son, Tommy Jr., of East Hampton, N.Y., said Mr. Holmes kept his Braves uniform, socks, and cap. "He loved every minute of his time in Boston and he received fan mail long after he left," he said. During the 1945 season, Mr. Holmes, who wore No. 1 as a Brave and batted leadoff, was the first major league player to finish first in home runs (28) while recording the fewest strikeouts (just 9). He set the National League consecutive-game hitting record (37 games), broken 33 years later by Cincinnati's Pete Rose, and he also led the league with 224 hits, 47 doubles, a .577 slugging percentage, 81 extra-base hits, and 367 total bases while batting .352. Former Braves catcher Del Crandall, Mr. Holmes's teammate in 1949 and 1950, said he was treated well by the veteran outfielder. "He always made rookies like myself and Johnny Antonelli feel like one of the guys," Crandall said. "He was a real pro the way he went about his business, and when I played in Milwaukee, I inherited his uniform No. 1." Over 10 years with the Braves and a portion of the 1952 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mr. Holmes had a career .302 batting average, 88 home runs, and 581 RBIs. He hit .325 in 1948 when the Braves - who moved to Milwaukee five years later - won the National League pennant, then lost the World Series in six games to Cleveland. His game-winning hit at Braves Field (now Boston University's Nickerson Field) came off Cleveland ace Bob Feller. From 1973 to 2003, Mr. Holmes worked for the New York Mets as director of amateur baseball relations. In that capacity, he was in attendance at Shea Stadium when Rose broke his record. "Tommy, always the gentleman, came onto the field with tears in his eyes and thanked Rose for helping fans remember him," said Wisnia, who has written an essay on Mr. Holmes for an upcoming book, "Spahn, Sain and Teddy Ballgame: Boston's (almost) Perfect Baseball Summer of 1948." Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Holmes originally was signed by the Yankees, then sold to the Braves. "I always said it took the best ballplayer in the world - Joe DiMaggio - to run me out of New York," Mr. Holmes once joked. "But the Boston fans would do practically anything for me, and I never forgot it." He was also instrumental in helping the Braves initiate the Jimmy Fund in 1948. He was one of several players, along with manager Billy Southworth, whose visit to a young cancer patient known as "Jimmy" (real name Carl Einar Gustafson) at Children's Hospital was nationally broadcast on radio. The Braves' efforts helped raise $200,000 that year. Mr. Holmes also leaves his wife of 67 years, Lillian (Petterson) of Boca Raton; his daughter, Patricia Stone of Woodbury, Conn.; two sisters, Kay Ferraro of Staten Island, N.Y., and Loretta Watkins of Lake Lucerne, N.Y.; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services will be Friday at 11 a.m. at Kraeer Funeral Home in Boca Raton.

He has the emotion for radio that has been stripped now that he's on TV. I miss hearing him yell, "IT'S OUTTA HERE!!!"

Go back to radio, Gary. Please.

I agree with seawolf. Dick Allen should be a Hall of Famer.

soupy - the Angels bought out Edison's naming rights a few years ago. It's just Angel Stadium now.

I agree, the progression of corporate advertising needs to be halted. And the Mets didn't need to sell the naming rights. We're in the upper echelon of teams that don't need to sell naming rights. I mean, which teams have the highest payrolls? The Mets, MFYs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, and Cubs come to mind. And not a single one of those teams currently play in a stadium that has sold its naming rights. The Mets just didn't need it.

Ask Edgy. It's a little quirk of his, I dunno.

Edgy wasn't around to start the IGTs.

Spitzer. He'll play dirty but he'll get you your wins. Hillary, on the other hand, is an incompetent manager at every level and would be in over her head. We'd wind up with an enormous problem in the clubhouse and the team would self-destruct.

Looking over his stats - he had an AMAZING 1945 season. 28 homers, 117 RBI, 224 hits, 9 strikeouts.

Hail!!!

An absolutely fantastic film, with one of the greatest lines in movie history - "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!"

]Tommy Holmes, who had 37-game hitting streak, dies at 91 BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP)�Tommy Holmes, who hit in 37 consecutive games in 1945 to set a modern National League record that stood until it was broken by Pete Rose, died Monday. He was 91. Holmes died of natural causes at an assisted living facility, daughter Patricia Stone said. Holmes� hitting streak came while he played for the Boston Braves and is the ninth longest in major league history. Rose hit in 44 in a row in 1978, the post-1900 NL mark. In 11 years in the majors with the Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers, Holmes had a .302 batting average, 88 home runs and 581 RBIs. From 1973 to 2003, he worked for the New York Mets as director of amateur baseball relations. �Tommy Holmes was one of our sport�s truest gentlemen,� said Jeff Wilpon, chief operating officer of the Mets. �His passion for the game and up-and-coming players, along with his 30-year association with our franchise was unsurpassed.� Stone said her father loved baseball and watched games until the end of his life. �When he played baseball, there would be days he�d leave early and he�d pass children playing and he�d stop to play with them,� she said. Besides his daughter, Holmes is survived by his wife of 67 years, the former Lillian Petterson; a son, Tommy Holmes Jr.; two sisters; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Let's go Delgado!

Come on Carlos. Launch one.

Oh good lord.

What happened?

Runners at the corners with no out against Piece of Shit Mota.

Beat the crap out of Mota!!!

I would love to find out if Castillo is still going to lots of clubs late at night, because that would explain a lot.

Fuckshit.

Let's beat the cheat!

Who the hell is Iribarren?

Come on Delgado! We need a homer here!