Dugout Diary by Joe Boesch

Pitchers, like poets, are born not made." – Cy Young Greg Maddux excels at it. Mariano Rivera saves it. Whitey Ford set the standard for it. Of all things, we are talking about pitching in baseball. The art of being a pitcher takes practice, precision and patience. To develop as a good baseball pitcher, starts at a young age and begins with understanding the mechanics of pitching – how to pitch and not throw the baseball.  Pitching also deals with understanding the actual baseball itself and how to grip it by the seams and the physics of the delivery of the ball. Former Oriole and Yankee pitcher John Habyan credits many for his 11-year Major League success as a middle and long relief pitcher. It should be noted, that he also pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, California Angels and Colorado Rockies, but spent the majority of his career with the Orioles and Yankees. "My father gave me good advice…he encouraged me and said, 'I'll help you make a car...

Step aside football, baseball now will take center stage. The time has come for baseball to resurface, to bring the "Boys of Summer" back. This is the time to say goodbye to Winter, even though the Northeast is getting hammered with snow and cold, and ring in Spring. The crack of the bat, the pounding of the mitt, the yelling of "playball" is what the game of baseball is about. Baseball shapes America and families that make up America. Baseball shapes the Summer, where more and more families go to the game to cheer on their favorite team. This is the game of all games. Push aside football, basketball and, oh yea, hockey. Baseball is the sport. Spring Training begins this week, all the media has their eyes set on Florida and Arizona, the training sites for all the teams. What team will be the team this year. Will it be the Cubs? What about the great rivalry of the Yankees and Red Sox? Will the Astros repeat? Will the Mets make it exciting as they did last year? Only ...

Step aside football, baseball now will take center stage. The time has come for baseball to resurface, to bring the  "Boys of Summer" back . This is the time to say goodbye to Winter, even though the Northeast is getting hammered with snow and cold, and ring in Spring. The crack of the bat, the pounding of the mitt, the yelling of  "playball"  is what the game of baseball is about. Baseball shapes  America  and families that make up  America . Baseball shapes the Summer, where more and more families go to the game to cheer on their favorite team. This is the game of all games. Push aside football, basketball and, oh yea, hockey. Baseball is the sport. Now that Spring Training  begins this week, all the media has their eyes set on Florida and Arizona, the training sites for all the teams. What team will be the team this year. Will it be the Cubs? What about the great rivalry of the Yankees and Red Sox? Will the Astros repeat? Will the Mets make it excit...

He was a skinny, chicken-chested, right-handed pitcher—about six-foot-two and 140 pounds. The kid was drawing some attention as a junior, but his coaches didn't even think he was the best pitcher on the team. Nonetheless, scout Red Murff sat in the stands baking in the Texas heat, watching and listening. And when Murff heard the whoosh of the kid's fastball explode into the catcher's glove, he knew he had found something special. A big-league prospect. When Murff submitted his scouting report later he would write: "Has the best arm I've ever seen." You don't have to see it but one time to know it's there, and Murff had seen it—and heard it—and would soon deliver Lynn Nolan Ryan to professional baseball.   Scouts like Red Murff were once essential to the well-being and sustained excellence of Major League Baseball. Their jobs of sizing up young talents across the country—and around the world—and projecting their futures was challenging, vitally importan...

Spring Training has just started and already many are making predictions of the good, bad and ugly baseball teams. It is still too early for the predictions such as: "the Yankees might not make it to the post season." "Will the Phillies make a repeat trip to the World Series?." "The Mets look promising." It is still way too early to start worrying about this. Let the teams play and let the cards fall where they may. Most teams are still getting the Winter kinks out and are still in the pre-molding stage. Let's worry about stuff like this after the season starts. Spring Training is not even a month old. Until then, see ya at the park. — Joe Boesch

As we get ready for daylight savings time, many are waiting for Spring to arrive. Many are waiting to get the grill going, listening to the radio (well Alexa in today's time) sitting in the backyard listening to the game. This is the time to for baseball. This season I will be traveling to some major and minor league ballparks, enjoying the game and spending lots of time with my beautiful wife and family. As always, I write here at MLB.com and also write about baseball cards at my other blog The Card Life. When the sunrises on Sunday the days will start to get longer and warmer. The great Rogers Hornsby said it best: "People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Until then, see at Spring Training! — Joe Boesch

Rogers Hornsby said it best: "People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Until then, see at Spring Training! — Joe Boesch