I learned one of life’s most important lessons from my mother’s second husband in 1979. He thought it would be a good idea to bet me money that the Pittsburgh Pirates would beat my beloved Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. He didn’t care for the Pirates. He was more concerned with enriching my upbringing. I know this because of [Read More]

Baseball has a stat for everything: WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched), LIPS (late inning pressure situations), ERA and IRA (earned runs allowed and inherited runs allowed), plus dozens more. But as my math teacher was fond of saying, “Garbage in means garbage out.” Baseball’s nagging problem is BUSTS (bad umpiring and scoring tarnishes stats). Players and fans alike [Read More]