From the Rolodex of the mind...
-- Last season for Yankee Stadium, last All-Star Game to come its way. Ghosts of the past. Living legends. National TV. All the glitter that only New York City can dish out.
It'll be quite a feast for baseball souls tonight. It's one All-Star game that should rack up a solid TV rating.
-- What's that breeze I'm feeling? Why, I do believe it's the air of expectation about the Bruins. Yes, the Bruins. Hey, feel free to jump aboard, you pucksters. We can deal with another of our teams pushing for a championship.
-- The young man, blessed with so much talent that the Tampa Bay Rays game him a $3.5 million signing bonus, morphed into a drug-addicted mess. Sure looked like Josh Hamilton's promising career was going to get knocked way off track. And it was.
He was signed by the Rays in 1999 after Baseball America named him the best high school prospect in the country. In 2001, he went into rehab after playing in just 21 minor league games. The next season, at Bakersfield, he had nine homers and 44 RBI in 56 games, but missed the rest of the year with back and shoulder injuries.
He was a problem at spring training the following year, showing up late, disappearing, showing when he felt like it. In 2004, he was suspended a month for violating baseball's drug policy. From 2002 to 2006, all he played was those games at Bakersfield.
He was traded to Cincinnati. Last April 2, Hamilton made his Major League debut. The fans knew about his past, about his journey just to get to this moment. He received a standing ovation, then lined out to leftfield where former Red Sox property Matt Murton took a hit away with a sliding catch.
The Reds traded him last winter to the Rangers, and that's where Hamilton's story takes off in the right direction. He's hitting .310 with 21 homers and 95 RBI.
The only question now is: who plays him in the movie about his life?
-- Has Paul Pierce soaked up the Celtics' title or what? He's appeared on every TV show except Sesame Street and Jerry Springer.
-- A semi-pro football team coming to Medway makes me long for the Marlborough Shamrocks, who were the Yankees of the Eastern Football League. Soft summer Friday nights at Kelleher Field watching greats like Dennis Kelly, Dave Palazzi, Larry Heindl, Mike Balzarini and Frank Fay was a kick.
Owner Bob Kays, legendary coach Bob Brennan and the late, great Ralph Grasso were the backbone of the Shamrocks.
-- The Fox camera kept showing Pedro Martinez in the Mets dugout Saturday, and he looked like a man who'd just met up with his mortality. Pedro had thrown three hitless innings against the Rockies. In the fourth, he threw two pitchers to Matt Holiday that were wider than the Missouri River. Manager Jerry Manuel and the trainer ran out.
Pedro finished the inning, but his day was done. And it looked worse, although he's scheduled to pitch Sunday. or worse. He'd reinjured his right shoulder, which required surgery in 2006.
Theo Epstein made the right call on Pedro after the '04 season.
-- I would've paid to see former Colorado and NFL player Vai Sikahema drop Jose Canseco to the canvas twice in the first round of their celebrity boxing bout the other night. Just wondering if Canseco was the one who gave A-Rod Madonna's phone number.
-- Yes, this Brett Favre thing is getting a little ridiculous, but I am curious about how it turns out. Maybe he comes back and leads the Pack to the playoffs again, raising even higher his sainthood status in Green Bay; or he has an off year, the team goes nowhere and management wonders What were we thinking? Or he signs with a division rival and faces his ex-team. Maybe he stays retired.
The story changes every hour or so.
-- The Tigers may have known they'd taken a risk by signing Dontrelle Willis to a three-year deal worth $29 million. They just didn't think it would be this bad. Willis started the season with the big club, but was as wild as Amy Winehouse and Lindsay Lohan on a double date.
He threw just 11.1 innings for the Tigers, walking 21. He's in the minors trying to re-invent himself by getting away from that elaborate high-kick windup he had.
-- The Milford American Legion baseball team is at it again. Post 59 is 20-1, adding to its legacy that goes back to the 1940s. It doesn't happen by accident. The program is run by smart, dedicated people. On the field, manager Richie Piergustavo has a keen eye for talent, and has Milford baseball running through his veins. A summer night at Fino Field: Priceless.
-- Losing Hazel Mae is one thing. Losing James Posey would be a really rotten thing.
(Lenny Megliola is a Daily News columnist. His e-mail is lennymegs@aol.com)
