Articles written by James Lincoln Ray
Showing 1-100 of 452 Articles
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Jimmie Foxx Was the First Player to Win 3 MVPs
Albert Pujols joined an elite club by winning his third MVP award in 2009. Only eight other players have done it; the first was Jimmie Foxx.
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Schenk vs. United States and Freedom of Speech
Oliver Wendell Homes held that Congress could regulate speech that created a clear and present danger to cause the substantive evils that it has a right to prevent.
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Five Decisions the Yankees Must Make Very Soon
N.Y. won 103 games this year and then roared to their 27th title. Now, management must make tough personnel decisions if they want to create a new Dynasty in the Bronx.
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Why Yankee Fans Should Always Vote Democrat
The Yankees have always been associated with Republicans, but the team has a much better track record when there is a Democrat in the White House.
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Bobby Abreu Signs $19 Million Deal With Angels
Bobby Abreu couldn't find a job last winter, but a strong season in 2009 landed him a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels.
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Brad Lidge Must Return to Form in 2010
If the Philadelphia Phillies are going to return to a third straight World Series, Brad Lidge must return to his old form.
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Greatest World Series Comebacks
Can the Phillies be the sixth team to come back from facing elimination and win the World Series?
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Phillies Send World Series Back to New York
Maybe it was starting A.J. Burnett on short rest. Maybe it was just the Phillies incredible determination. Either way, the World Series is going back to Yankee Stadium.
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Matching Up the Yankees and Phillies
Both teams can hit the cover off the ball, but which team has the better offense?
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The 1950 Philadelphia Phillies
The 1950 Philadelphia Phillies, whose youth and enthusiasm earned them the nickname the "Whiz Kids," were the surprise team of the season.
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Boston Embarassed in Second Straight Postseason
The Red Sox appear to be on the way down after an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
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St. Louis Cardinals First World Series Title
With the help of future Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, St. Louis won its first World Series title against one of the deadliest offenses in baseball.
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A-Rod Answers Critics With Hot Posteason Start
After four straight years in the postseason doghouse, Alex Rodriguez has opened up the 2009 ALDS with a bang.
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2009 American League Cy Young Candidates
Here are the top five Cy Young contenders, and a few more who have an outside shot at the award.
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National League Most Valuable Player Candidates
Pujols is still the favorite, but Fielder and Ramirez have legitimate chances to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
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Another Boston Massacre for the Yankees
Perhaps rattled by repeated steroid scandals, the Red Sox drop four straight games at Yankee Stadium for the first time in more than 20 years.
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Remembering Thurman Munson
On August 2, 2009, thirty years will have passed since the tragic death of one of baseball's most beloved players, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson.
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A Brief History of Baseball's 300 Game Winners
Only twenty-four pitchers in major league history have won at least 300 games. Here is a brief history of the 300-win club, from Pud Galvin to the Big Unit.
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Randy Johnson Wins His 300th Game
One of the game's greatest pitchers joins the craft's most elite club.
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The Royal Rooters
Formed by a local tavern owner and a future mayor of Boston, the Royal Rooters were a club of insane Red Sox fans who often directly impacted the outcome of Boston games.
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Teixeira and Sabathia Finding Their Way in N.Y.
The Yankees two highly paid free agent acquisitions are finally playing well in New York.
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Jose Canseco Was Right About Steroid Users
Jose Canseco's 2005 book made some startling allegations about steroid use in baseball. Many of them have been proven to be true.
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Great London Pubs and Taverns
London is home to some of the most historic, most storied, and in some cases, the most raucous taverns in all of Europe.
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10 Great Things About Major League Baseball
Stop listening to the negative baseball media and focus on some of the good things in baseball today.
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A Brief History of Baseball Expansion
In the past 50 years, Major League Baseball has added 14 new teams and drastically revised it's structure and standings.
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Phillies Poised to Make Another Run in 2009
No National League team has won back to back World Series since the Big Red Machine did it in 1975 and 1976. Can the Phillies do it?
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Top 20 Fantasy Baseball Outfielders
The outfield is the best and deepest source for great fantasy baseball players.
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Donnie Baseball's Greatest Playing Moment
More than thirteen years removed from his retirement, a look at Don Mattingly's brilliant 1995 postseason.
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Gary Sheffield Signs With Mets, Seeks 500th HR
Gary Sheffield, arguably a future Hall of Famer, was cut by the Detroit Tigers on March 31st. Now he's a New York Met who's looking for a position and his 500th home run.
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2009 Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Shortstops
The three "Rs" are still the best fantasy options at shortstop.
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Top 10 Fantasy Second Basemen for 2009
Chase Utley of the Phillies is healthy and poised to put up some serious fantasy numbers. Take him first among second basemen.
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2009 Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Third Basemen
Here are the Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Players at Third Base.
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2009 Top 20 Fantasy Baseball First Basemen
The First Base position is the strongest and deepest in the fantasy baseball world. Here are the top 20 at the best position.
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Fantasy Baseball Player Rankings 51-100
Players 51-100 on the 2009 Fantasy Draft Rankings include some aging stars and some young up-and-comers.
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Review - It Was Never About the Babe
Finally, a book that debunks the silly notion that the Red Sox long championship drought had anything to do with Babe Ruth.
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2009 Fantasy Baseball Top 50 Players
Get ready for your 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft with this cheat sheet of the 50 best players.
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2009 New York Yankees MLB Preview
After an unsuccessful 2008, the Yankees spent a fortune on three free agents they hope will put them back in the World Series.
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How the Government Railroaded Alex Rodriguez
How did anonymous, confidential steroid test results of 104 MLB players end up in the hands of one IRS agent? Well, he stole them.
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Baseball's Seven Deadly Sins
For a sport and a fan base that once held itself out as the embodiment of the New England Ideal, it's scary to see the great game of baseball go to the dark side.
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A Brief History of the Spitball
Crafty pitchers have been 'doctoring up' baseballs for more than a century. It's all just part of the game.
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Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson
Here is a brief synpopsis of the Hall of Fame career of one of the game's greatest pitchers.
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Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean
Dizzy Dean's brief but brilliant career landed him in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.
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Hall of Famer Walter Johnson
Although Cy Young won more games, and Christy Mathewson won more acclaim, it is hard to argue that any pitcher was better than Johnson during the early 20th century.
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Hall of Fame for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice
The Baseball Writers Association of America voted Rickey Henderson, on his first ballot, and Jim Rice, on his final one, into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Hall of Fame Candidate Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson's long and storied career should earn him a ticket to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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New York Yankees Pursuing Manny Ramirez
The Yankees have already landed the two biggest free agent pitchers in baseball. Now, they are setting their sights on the game's most dangerous hitter.
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The Five Richest Pitching Contracts in History
Five starting pitchers have inked deals worth more than $100 million. A few have not been worth the money. Here is a rundown of pitchers with eight figure deals.
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New York Mets Land K-Rod and J.J. Putz
The New York Mets countered their cross-town rival Yankees landing of C.C. Sabathia with a big time catch of their own: Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez.
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C.C. Sabathia To Sign Record Deal With Yankees
The New York Yankees, who struggled just to find healthy starters to put on the mound last year, are ready to sign one of the game's very best hurlers.
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.400 Seasons in Modern Baseball History
Hitting .400 is indeed a rarity. Only eight players have done so since the dawn of baseball's modern era, which began in 1901 with the birth of the American League.
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The Phillies Win a Championship For Philadelphia
The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies broke a championship drought that has lasted for 100 seasons in the City of Brotherly Love.
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Can Red Sox Recover From a Disappointing 2008?
You'd think the Boston Red Sox, a team with a $135 million payroll, could beat the Tampa Bay Rays, a team with a $43 million payroll. They couldn't.
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Philadelphia Phillies World Series History
The Philadelphia Phillies franchise was established in 1883, but didn't win a National League pennant until 1915. It took another 65 years to win the World Series.
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Philadelphia Baseball's Whiz Kids
The "Whiz Kids" were an exciting, energetic, youthful club that captured the hearts of Philadelphia baseball fans like no team before -- or perhaps since.
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The 1915 Phillies vs. Red Sox World Series
The current favorites to meet in the 2008 World Series first hooked up in the fall classic almost 100 years ago.
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The History of Baseball's MVP Award
The MVP award has been around, in one form or another, for almost a century. Here's a brief history of its origins and many incarnations.
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Is Manny Ramirez Major League Baseball's MVP?
Manny Ramirez won't win the MVP award in either the American or National League, but his composite performance would win him a fictional MLB Most Valuable Player trophy.
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The Ageless Jamie Moyer
The Philadelphia Phillies Jamie Moyer is coming off one of the best seasons of his career at an age when most players have been retired for a decade.
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Phillies Seek Postseason Success in 2008
The Phillies have another chance to do what they failed to do last year: bring a World Series trophy home to the City of Brotherly Love.
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2008 National League MVP Candidates
There are a lot of genuine MVP candidates in the National League, including old names like Pujols and Howard, and new ones like Ryan Braun and Ryan Ludwick.
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2008 American League MVP Candidates
The favorites for the 2008 AL MVP award are not the cast of usual characters. There's no Manny, no Vlad, and no A-Rod, but there are Hamilton, Pedroia and K-Rod.
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Who is Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin?
A few years ago, Sarah Palin was the mayor of a tiny town in Alaska. Today, she is John McCain's choice to lead the free world if McCain cannot complete his term.
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Great Yankees-Red Sox Regular Season Series
The Yankees and Red Sox have had some of the most memorable regular season series in baseball history. Here are a few of the best in the first 100 years of the rivalry.
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Baseball's Biggest Stories of 2008
2008 hasn't been short on good baseball stories. Here are five of the best.
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The Best Hitters of the 1990s
Ken Griffey, Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza head the list of the best batsmen of the Clinton Era.
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Albert Belle Career Profile
Albert Belle was the most feared hitter in baseball -- and at times the most the most frightening man in the game -- during the 1990s.
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Fantasy Football Top 20 Wide Receivers 2008
Coming back from a devastating injury that some thought might end his career, Marvin Harrison should be a good, but probably not a great, fantasy wide receiver in 2008.
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2008 Fantasy Football Top 10 Wide Receivers
The usual names like Moss, Owens and Chad Johnson appear on this year's list, but there is some new blood with Braylon Edwards, Marques Colston and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
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2008 Top 20 Fantasy Football Quarterbacks
Quarterback can be the make or break position in Fantasy Football. This year, there appears to be only three sure-fire stars at QB: Brady, Manning and Romo.
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100 Best Fantasy Football Draft Picks
Here are the fifty "next best" draft picks in fantasy football. The list assumes a two running back system that is not in a keeper league.
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2008 Fantasy Football Top 100 Players
Here they are, the 100 best fantasy football players on the planet, along with their 2007 season statistics. Brett Favre is a late arrival.
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2008 Top Fantasy Football Running Backs
The RB position is getting thinner, mostly due to the advent of the shared-back system, but there is still enough depth to get at least one very good back on your squad.
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2008 Fantasy Football Top Draft Picks
Sure, I'm a baseball writer, but I'm also a fantasy football lunatic, so I thought it'd be fun to give my top FF picks. Here are the best of the best.
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Baseball's Hottest Hitters
Some baseball players take a while to heat up. For these five players, the hot days of July have been a blessing for their respective swings.
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2008 American League Midseason Awards
With the All Star Game coming up on Tuesday, July 15, it's time to hand out the midseason awards to the best American League baseball players, managers and executives.
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Brett Favre Has Quitter's Remorse
Brett Favre has only been retired four months, but he appears to want to play next season. Is he really ready for a comeback or is he just having quitter's remorse?
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Baseball's Best Trade Deadline Deals
A good trade deadline deal can transform a contender into a World Series champion. Here are the five best such trades of the past fifty years.
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The 1964 Deadline Trade of Lou Brock
The 1964 National League pennant race was a hotly contested chase, but it may have ended very differently if the Cardinals hadn't gotten Lou Brock at the trade deadline.
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The Pittsburgh Baseball Drug Trials
Baseball has always been wracked with scandal: gambling, corking bats, steroids, spying. But perhaps no scandal in MLB history was worse than the Pittsburgh drug trials.
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Best-Ever 40 Year Old Hitters
Baseball is a short career. Most players, even great ones, are washed up by their mid-thirties. But not these hitters; they all had great seasons after age 40.
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Best-Ever 40 Year Old Pitchers
Conventional wisdom says that baseball is a young man's game. But these five pitchers all proved that a major leaguer could still be productive after the age of forty.
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Important Facts About Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax may have been the best left-handed pitcher of all time. Here are ten essential things that every baseball fan needs to know about the man.
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Ken Griffey Nears 600 Home Runs
Ken Griffey Jr. is just one home run away from hitting 600 in his career. The scary thing is that if he had stayed healthy, he would probably have a lot more.
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MLB's Biggest Surprises of 2008
Just two months into the 2008 baseball season, these players and teams have been the game's biggest surprises.
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Josh Hamilton Comes Back To Life
Sidelined from the game for years, Josh Hamilton's return to baseball has been nothing short of miraculous.
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Baseball May Adopt Instant Replay
Bud Selig has said for years that instant replay isn't good for baseball. But with 25 general managers and the public in favor of replay, things may soon change.
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Pete Rose's Gambling Troubles
Charlie Hustle has been banned from baseball for almost twenty years, and has almost no chance of ever being allowed back into the game.
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2008 MLB Baseball's Best Hitters
These five players have started off hot. Can they keep it up?
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2008 Baseball Early Season Slumps
These stars are supposed to be hitting and pitching their teams toward big awards and postseason play. Instead, they're playing like Rudy Stein of the Bad News Bears.
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How to Run a Minor League Team
Part Two of an interview with the new executive management team of the AA Baseball Harrisburg Senators.
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The New Harrisburg Senators
Harrisburg's great minor league baseball tradition has taken a downturn lately, but new ownership and new management are looking to return the franchise to prominence.
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The Infamous Hal Chase
This slick-fielding first baseman was also, unfortunately, an inveterate gambler and a well-known cheat.
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Fantasy Baseball Sleepers for 2008
These players will fly under the radar in most leagues. Picking one of them up could help push your team over the top.
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The Yankees Greatest Dynasty?
This dynasty, which began with DiMaggio's debut and ended with Gehrig's retirement, was the best team in the world during the darkest days of the Great Depression.
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Baseball's Worst Team Ever
There have been a lot of brutally bad baseball teams in major league history, but none were more pathetic than the 1899 Spiders.
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2008 Detroit Tigers MLB Preview
The 2006 American League champs dropped to second place last year. But after a boatload of winter acquisitions, they look like they can win it all in 2008.
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2008 MLB Colorado Rockies Preview
Last year, they were one bad series from the world championship. With their potent offense back and perhaps gettign better, can the Rockies go all the way?
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2008 Arizona Diamondbacks Preview
The young Arizona Diamondbacks surprised a lot of people by winning the National League West in 2007. Can they do it again? Can they go further?
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2008 Los Angeles Dodgers Preview
With a new skipper, a new slugger and an imported starting pitcher, the Dodgers hope their returning stars can stay healthy all year as they try to win the NL West.
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The Shot Heard Round the World
Bobby Thomson hits the most famous home run in baseball history.
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