To know list: 7 ways to spend your time that beat the heck out of two-a-days

Sporting News, The, July 28, 2003

(1) MLB TOP 50

Whet your appetite

A poll of major league executives determined our annual top 50 list, which appears on Page 10. But why wait so long to dig in?

* Twenty-two players who made the list last year are absent this year. Tom Glavine, 15th in 2002, is the player ranked highest from last year who failed to make the list. Mark Prior, sixth this year, is the highest-ranked player who didn't make it last year.

* The top 50 includes zero catchers. Is that evidence of catchers getting dissed or an accurate rendering of the state of backstops? If the list were the top 75 instead of the top 50, four catchers would've made it--Jorge Posada (53), Mike Piazza (58), Ivan Rodriguez (63) and Javy Lopez (75).

* On the other hand, seven left fielders made the cut, with Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols leading the charge. Garret Anderson, also a left fielder, gets a well-deserved nod--and the voting took place before the All-Star week festivities.

* A great debate in player development the last few years has been whether it's smart to draft high schoolers. The A's draft college players not because they think prep players are no good, but because they think the odds are better with college players. That's a common sentiment, but the A's adhere to it more strictly than most teams. Among the top 50, 27 players attended at least one year of college.

* Only one of these players missed the top 10 in one of our last three polls (2000, 2002, 2003). Read the story on Page 10 to find out who it is.

Nomar Garciaparra

Randy Johnson

Alex Rodriguez

Barry Bonds

* Only one of these players made this year's top 50. Read the story on Page 10 to find out who it is.

Miguel Tejada

Roger Clemens

Kevin Millwood

Jim Thome

(2) RICKEY HENDERSON

A steal of a deal

Baseball men often will say of a washed-up player, "You couldn't trade him for a bag of balls." Technically, the Dodgers didn't trade for Rickey Henderson. But they did give up a bag of balls. The Newark Bears, an independent minor league team, were contractually obligated to release Henderson, 44, if a major league club wanted him. But when Henderson departed, the Bears made a special request of the Dodgers, asking for a shipment of balls. The Dodgers happily obliged with six dozen, establishing a new going rate for a future Hall of Famer: approximately $130,000--the prorated portion of the minimum salary the Dodgers will pay Henderson--plus 72 balls.--Ken Rosenthal

(3) MAYBE HE WAS MISQUOTED

'Armando Benitez ... in a big-game situation is about as reliable as a schizophrenic on crack.'

--David Wells, whose Yankees acquired Benitez from the Mets last week, in his March 2003 autobiography Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball

(4) A PEEK AT THE PGA

Curtis faces long odds, but he's used to it

As remarkable as Ben Curtis' win at the British Open was--he was ranked 396th in the world going in--don't expect him to double up on majors this season.

The last major is the PGA Championship, which will be played in August at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Only three prayers have won the British Open and the PGA Championship in the same year. Walter Hagen did it in 1924, Nick Price in 1994 and Tiger Woods in 2000.

An early PGA favorite is Vijay Singh, who tied for second in the British Open and won the PGA in 1998, the last time it was played at Oak Hill.--Matt Crossman

(5) ON THE BOARD

2004 NBA champions

Almost as soon as the Spurs finished off the Nets in The Finals, odds were posted in Las Vegas on the 2004 championship, with the Lakers favored to win at 5:2. How strong a favorite are they now that they've signed future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton but are facing the uncertainty of Kobe Bryant's future?

Odds to win 2004 title
(top six teams)

1    7:5
2    4:1
3    5:1
4    8:1
5   12:1
6   15:1

Source: John Avello, director of race and sports at Bally's and
Paris Las Vegas.

(6) FRUSTRATED YANKEE

NFL teams will pounce if Henson gives up baseball

A power struggle between the Yankees' Class AAA manager, Bucky Dent, a possible heir to the managerial throne in the Bronx, and Gordon Blakeley, the franchise's vice president of baseball operations, has the interest of NFL scouts. A point of contention between Dent and Blakeley is how to handle Columbus Yankees third baseman Drew Henson, a former quarterback at Michigan and a sixth-round pick of the NFLs Texans in April. Blakeley insists that Henson stay put at his current position. Dent, who seems to have the ear of The Boss, wants to help Henson's struggling bat (.217, 11 homers, 47 RBIs, 89 strikeouts, 18 walks) by easing his defensive burden--Henson has committed a team-high 18 errors--with a move to the outfield.

The Texans and other NFL teams are hoping the 23-year-old Henson, who maintains he's in baseball for the long haul, will scratch the itch to strap on the pads. Says The War Room's Todd McShay, who spoke with the personnel boss of an A.L. East rival: "He told us that frustration is growing on the part of both the player and the Yankees"