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By Gary Armida
 As we head into June, the races are starting to take shape. As we said in the April Trends, it is too early to start saying that teams are dead or are definitely contenders. But, we are starting to see the which teams are looking like they may stick around, which slow starters [...]

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By Gary Armida
What does a team owe its fans? In reality, the cold hard truth is that a team does not owe a fan anything. As long as a fan continues to pay for tickets, buy the merchandise, and watch the games, a team has no obligation to the fan. But, suspending the “harsh reality” [...]

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By Douglas Hill
 
“Nobody cares, you think Mickey Mantle is gonna pay your rent? He don’t care, why should you? Nobody cares.”
When Sonny spoke those words during a great movie, A Bronx Tale, it was one of the few lines I disagreed with. I have since changed my opinion on how much professional baseball players actually [...]

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By Gary Armida
2008 is shaping up to be the year youth takes baseball by storm. The rookies are taking the lead from last year’s phenom, Ryan Braun who came up to the major leagues on May 25, 2007 and stole the Rookie of the Year award by clubbing 34 homeruns in just 113 games. The [...]

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As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, let’s take a tour of the baseball landscape…

The Yankees have begun the process of making Joba Chamberlain a starting pitcher. First, as I’ve written before (here), the correct role for Chamberlain is the starting rotation. What I dislike is the fact that he is now conditioned to be [...]

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By Gary Armida
Racism. It’s always a tough topic to discuss with people. It’s especially tough to talk about within the seemingly ridiculous context of sports. Most will try to avoid it and just concentrate on the game. But, if the issue isn’t discussed, progress can never be made. We here at FCP prefer to discuss [...]

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By Gary Armida
The greatest offensive catcher of all-time retired yesterday. That statement may surprise some people, but for those of you who don’t know, Mike Piazza was the best hitting catcher to ever play the game. Sadly for Piazza, he did not get to say goodbye on the field. However, his career accomplishments speak for [...]

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By Gary Armida
Sometimes good things happen to good people. Even better, sometimes great things happen to great people. Although baseball is taken seriously around here, there are more important things in life. Jon Lester, the 2007 FCP Story of the Year (read here), melded both worlds together. Jon Lester threw the 18th no-hitter in Boston [...]

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