oakland athletics Discussions
| Niners won't suspend Bryant for drunk-driving arrest | |
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Receiver Antonio Bryant won't be suspended by the San Francisco 49ers after his weekend arrest on charges on reckless and drunken driving. Although the NFL could issue disciplinary action against Bryant when his case is resolved, coach Mike Nolan said Wednesday he will allow Bryant to keep practicing and playing. The 49ers (5-5) are on their first three-game winning streak in four years heading into Sunday's road game against the St. Louis Rams. "I'll let the judicial process do its deal, because that's the way it should be," Nolan said. "It wasn't something that he did within the building to this team. It's certainly a distraction and it becomes one that affects our football team, but we dealt with that, and hopefully it won't distract us after today." Bryant was seen driving his orange Lamborghini more than 100 mph on a local freeway Sunday night. The fifth-year pro allegedly showed signs of drunkenness and became verbally combative after being pulled over, with officers forced to use leather restraints to put Bryant in their car. Nolan addressed the issue when the team reconvened for practice Wednesday, but Bryant didn't... | |
| | Twins 1B Morneau edges Yankees SS Jeter for AL MVP | | Derek Jeter barely lost the batting title to Joe Mauer. He also was nosed out for American League Most Valuable Player by Justin Morneau, another member of the Minnesota Twins. Morneau edged the superstar shortstop of the New York Yankees by 14 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America announced Tuesday. The 25-year-old Morneau is the youngest player to win the AL MVP since Frank Thomas won with the Chicago White Sox in 1993 and the first Twin to earn the honor since Rod Carew in 1977.
A first baseman, Morneau hit .321 with 34 homers and 130 RBI - second most in the league and in franchise history - as the Twins won the American League Central Division title. "I never thought I'd be sitting here with this award," Morneau said at an afternoon news conference. "I was just lying there with the phone by my side all day hoping it would ring. The phone never left my side." The Twins heated up around the same time as Morneau. They were 25-33 and 11 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit on June 7. From there, the Twins went 71-33 as Morneau hit .362 with 23 homers and 92 RBI. Jeter put together perhaps his best all-around season in... | |
| | Sportsticker Baseball Notebook | | LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Charley Finley, the former owner of the oakland Athletics, clearly understood the law of supply and demand as related to major league baseball players. With the emergence of free agency more than 30 years ago, Finley was one of the few executives in baseball to express the thought that the best structure for management would be to allow all players to become free agents every year. In this situation, Finley reasoned, supply would be matched up with demand.
Finley didn't get his way as to how the topic of free agency would be defined and this wasn't surprising in that his fellow owners were seldom, if ever, in step with him. In baseball today, there is a great demand for free agents and very little supply. This has created a situation where players have used clauses in their contracts to become free agents and join the fun in the market place. The Boston Red Sox paid $51.1 million just for the rights to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, while the Chicago Cubs have signed Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year contract for $136 million. From the standpoint of the players, the... | |
| | Ripken, Gwynn, McGwire headline Hall of Fame ballot | | Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn will likely make the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Mark McGwire was believed to be a virtual lock as well before being linked to alleged steroid use. Ripken, Gwynn and McGwire headline the first-time candidates on the 2007 Hall of Fame ballot, which was released on Monday. Jose Canseco, whose book led to a congressional hearing on steroid use in baseball, is also on the ballot for the first time.
Canseco has admitted to using steroids and accused McGwire of also taking performance-enhancing drugs when the two were teammates with the Oakland athletics. McGwire refused to talk about his past when he appeared before a congressional committee. With 583 career home runs, McGwire would have likely been selected to the Hall of Fame. He became the first player to hit 70 home runs in a season in 1998 and followed with 65 in 1999. Canseco hit 462 career homers. Ripken is baseball's ultimate ironman, eclipsing Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games. Ripken spent his entire 21-year career with the Baltimore Orioles and set his record of 2,632 consecutive games... | |
| | | Tony LaRussa D.U.I. | | Tony LaRussa In DUI Arrest
Cardinals manager nabbed near team's Florida spring training facilityMARCH 22--Meet Tony LaRussa. The manager of the reigning World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, was arrested early this morning for drunk driving. LaRussa, 62, was popped in Jupiter, Florida, where the team's spring training facility is located. According to Jupiter Police Department reports, LaRussa was found slumped over at the wheel of a Ford SUV that had stopped in a traffic intersection around midnight. After repeated knocks at the window, LaRussa awoke. He told one officer that it had been a "long day" for him and he was returning home from dinner, during which he had "several glasses of wine." During questioning by Officer John O'Keefe, LaRussa answered "no" when asked if he was under the influence. However, after LaRussa failed a series of roadside sobriety tests (which were videotaped), he was arrested. For example, when asked to recite the alphabet, LaRussa stumbled after "n." He claimed, according to a report, that the letter was followed by "i, z, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, v, z, t, u, v..........x,y,z with a pause." Breathalyzer tests later administered at the Palm... | |
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