Baseball Quiz: Name the 8 active players entering 2007 with a
career batting average of .305 or higher…minimum of 10 major
league seasons and 4000 at bats. Answer below.
All-Star Weekend in Vegas
Incredibly, the stories are still piling in concerning the NBA’s
showcase weekend in Las Vegas for last week’s All-Star game
and I suspect we’ll be hearing them for some time to come.
Johnny Mac passed along this piece from AOL Sports’ Jason
Whitlock.
“NBA All-Star Weekend in Vegas was an unmitigated failure,
and any thoughts of taking the extravaganza to New Orleans in
2008 are total lunacy.
“An event planned to showcase what is right about professional
basketball has been turned into a 72-hour display of why
commissioner David Stern can’t sleep at night and spends his
days thinking of rules to mask what the NBA has come to
represent.
“Good luck fixing All-Star Weekend. The game is a sloppy,
boring, half-hearted mess. The dunk contest is contrived and
pointless. The celebrity contest is unintended comedy. And,
worst of all, All-Star Weekend revelers have transformed the
league’s midseason exhibition into the new millennium Freaknik,
an out-of-control street party that features gunplay, violence,
non-stop weed smoke and general mayhem.
“Word of all the criminal activity that transpired during All-Star
Weekend has been slowly leaking out…
“ ‘It was filled with an element of violence,’ Teresa Frey, general
manager for Coco’s restaurant, told klastv.com. ‘They don’t
want to pay their bills. They don’t want to respect us or each
other.’
“Things got so bad that she closed the 24-hour restaurant from 2
a.m. to 4 a.m.
“ ‘I have been spit on. I have had food thrown at me,’ she said.
‘I have lost two servers out of fear. I have locked my door out of
the fear of violence.’”
Well over 350 arrests were made over the weekend of terror in
Vegas, with at least two shootings, including one involving the
NFL’s Pacman Jones and rapper Nelly. This particular tale is
unreal.
From ESPN.com:
“Police seized $81,020 in cash belonging to Tennessee Titans
cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, money they said sparked a
melee and a triple shooting at a strip club over the weekend….
“Jones was showering more than 40 strippers onstage at Minxx
Gentlemen’s Club & Lounge early Monday with the cash
‘intended as a visual effect,’ according to a search warrant. But a
scuffle broke out when the Houston promoter who hired the
strippers told them to pick the money up.
“The promoter, identified as Chris Mitchell, owner of ‘Harlem
Knights,’ and a male associate took a plastic trash bag containing
Jones’ money and walked out the front door, the warrant says.
Police recovered the money and two Breitling watches inside a
safe at Mitchell’s hotel room Monday morning….
“After Mitchell left the club, ‘a melee broke out,’ the warrant
says.
“ ‘Jones became irate about the loss of his money, and the fact
that girls were in a frenzy, picking up the money at their feet,’
the warrant says.
“Later, a woman identified as a member of Jones’ group fought
with one of the strippers and security tried to break up the fight,
it says. Jones told the guards to back off and reached behind his
back ‘as if he were retrieving a weapon there.’
“Jones’ entourage was moved outside, but the woman continued
to fight….
“The woman hit a guard in the head with a champagne bottle and
‘began biting and screaming’ when other guards tried to restrain
her, the warrant says.
“Minutes later, a valet told police that he heard shots fired near
the front entrance and saw a black man with cornrows in his hair
pointing a black semi-automatic handgun, it says. The man then
fled.
“The shots hit a female customer in the head and two security
guards, one of whom remained in critical condition and is going
to be paralyzed for life.”
[As of Sunday, 2/25, the shooter remains at large.]
Pacman Jones has faced criminal charges three times before, all
since being drafted out of West Virginia in 2005.
Michael O’Keeffe / New York Daily News
“The hangovers have passed. The gambling losses have been
forgotten. The hookers have gone home, and the strippers have
put their clothes back on. The orgy that was the NBA All-Star
Weekend in Las Vegas is officially over.
“Tommy Urbanski, meanwhile, remains in critical condition at
University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, until late last
night lying unconscious and breathing through a ventilator….
“(Pacman) Jones, 23, has denied any involvement in the shooting
and says he doesn’t know who opened fire that night. But Minxx
co-owner Robert Susnar says surveillance videos show the
gunman …was a member of Jones’ party.
“ ‘He came in with him, he was talking to him, he was drinking
with him,’ Susnar says. ‘Without a doubt he knew the guy. And
now the spoiled little s— is hiding behind high-level attorneys
and claiming he wasn’t involved.’
“Nobody from the Titans, the NFL or the NBA has reached out
to the Urbanski family….
“ ‘The millionaires and billionaires who run the NFL and its
teams have shut up and surrounded themselves with lawyers,’
Susnar says. ‘But we will not rest. We want justice for Tom.’
….
“According to the search warrant issued to Las Vegas Metro
Police, Cornell Haynes Jr. – better known as the rapper Nelly –
and hip-hop artist Jermaine Dupri were already sitting in the
Minxx VIP lounge when Jones and his crew arrived for their
second tour of the night.
“Jones saw Nelly tossing dollar bills on the stripper stage.
Susnar says the football player asked club employees to break
$3,400 in large bills into smaller denominations and started
throwing money at the dancers too.
“But Jones allegedly turned irate when the strippers picked up
the cash – apparently he believed the money was just for show
and not a tip for exotic entertainment. He grabbed one woman
by the hair, smashed her head into the stage and then punched
her in the face, Susnar says. When (bouncer Aaron) Cudworth, a
martial arts expert, intervened, Susnar says Jones threatened to
kill him.”
The unidentified shooter later shot Cudworth at the front door
after Pacman’s party had been ushered out. Cudworth, unlike
Urbanski, escaped serious injury.
Minxx has been receiving menacing phone calls, according to
Susnar. “He says one caller threatened to kill every bouncer at
the club. Susnar, however, says he’ll continue to talk about the
incident. ‘I’ve had two employees shot. The least I can do is
step up and tell their story,’ he says. ‘I’m not going to let
Pacman Jones intimidate me. Are we supposed to cower simply
because he’s a pro athlete?….The NFL is starting to look like an
organized crime family and I find that objectionable.’”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“These stories do not shock anymore in sports. They do not
shock when somebody like Pacman Jones, who has been talked
to by the police eight times in the last two years. Nobody is
shocked when we hear that there might have been a connection
with a $50,000 necklace being stolen from Sebastian Telfair
(NBA) one night in New York City and the rapper Fabolous (sic)
being wounded by a gunshot not long afterward.
“ ‘The investigation is moving on,’ Telfair said a few days later.
‘I’m moving on.’
“We all moved on. Stephen Jackson of the Pacers moved onto
the Golden State Warriors not long after he was firing his own
gun, reportedly in self-defense, five shots from his 9mm pistol,
after a fight inside an Indianapolis strip club. That club was
called Club Rio, on West 38th St. So it was Club Rio for Stephen
Jackson when a gun – his – went off and it was the Ice Bar for
Tank Johnson’s bodyguard and it was the Minxx Gentlemen’s
Club on a festive All-Star weekend in Vegas.
“The night Darrent Williams of the Broncos got shot dead, it was
in an area south of downtown in Denver, in a club sometimes
called Shelter and sometimes called Safari, which makes you
think it was something less than ’21.’
“Sometimes it isn’t guns, and you just have nine members of the
Cincinnati Bengals arrested in the last 14 months.
“This time it is Vegas. This time it is Pacman Jones and the guys
with him and the owner of the club saying that the guy carrying
the gun was a member of Jones’ party. This time the victim is
Tommy Urbanski. He goes down when another gun is fired
around sports. We don’t even flinch.”
Meanwhile, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Koren Robinson
will serve 90 days in jail for fleeing police last summer and
leading them on a high-speed chase while he was at Vikings
training camp. The sentence will run concurrently with another
90 day sentence he will be serving for violating his probation in a
drunk-driving case.
So what to do?
It would appear that the NFL Players Association has had
enough. Executive Director Gene Upshaw said he was surprised
at a meeting the other day that “there was a feeling…the same
guy can’t be in the wrong place at the wrong time three or four
times” in discussing a possible ‘three strikes and you’re out’
proposal. This would certainly send a powerful message, but
new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t strike me as a
trailblazer.
Stuff
–Remind me why I stay up to watch the entire Oscars broadcast
each year even though I don’t go to the movies? Yet each time
the telecast outdoes itself for sheer boredom. A lot of it, though,
is because some of us of a certain generation and above
remember when Hollywood had real stars, the Jimmy Stewart,
Gregory Peck kind. Actually, maybe that’s not fair. Leo is
carving out a helluva career, after all.
But one thing is for sure. For the rest of our lives we are going
to have to deal with Jadeh Smith, Will’s bratty little boy. If I
have to see this punk every year, I think I’ll shoot myself.
As for the ladies dresses, did you ever see a bigger waste of
fabric or what?! Give me Raquel Welch, circa 1970, any day. I
saw peasants in Morocco wearing better crap than these girls had
on.
Admittedly, I’ve seen only three movies in a theater over the last
seven or eight years, the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. I do buy
some of the Oscar nominated flicks later, though, and this year
I’ll be purchasing “Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Blood Diamonds,”
and “The Last King of Scotland.”
As for Al Gore, goodness gracious….I thought I was watching
the ghost of Orson Welles.
–Washington Post columnist Robert Novak
“Oct. 10, 1942, was up to then the best day of my life. I had
talked my father, University of Illinois Class of ’22, into taking
me at age 11 along with him to homecoming weekend. On a
golden autumn afternoon, lowly Illinois upset Minnesota, the
Midwest football powerhouse. And, for the first time, I was
privileged to watch Chief Illiniwek proudly dance down the field
to Indian war music.”
But now Chief Illiniwek is no longer, as I noted last Bar Chat.
Novak, who went on himself to graduate from Illinois:
“This is a melancholy moment for me and many other Illinois
alumni and university officials….The university has been forced
to yield to blackmail. The death of the Chief epitomizes some
unsavory aspects of contemporary American public life: political
correctness, hypocrisy and bureaucratic tyranny.
“Only a small minority of Native Americans is shown by polls to
oppose Indian nicknames in sports. The campaign against them
gained momentum only when the NCAA, which can hardly cope
with policing athlete misconduct and illegal payments in college
sports, crusaded against dozens of colleges in the name of
political correctness. The NCAA, under President Myles Brand,
labeled Chief Illiniwek one of the ‘hostile and abusive
racial/ethnic/national origin mascots.’
“But the Chief is no mascot (the university calls him a symbol).
The big-headed depiction of the father of this country at George
Washington University, the turtle representing the University of
Maryland and the Demon Deacon for Wake Forest are mascots.
Such college mascots are comical figures who engage in sham
battles with each other and go into the stands to hug children.
Chief Illiniwek did not. He was always austere and dignified.
“The accusation that Illinois and other schools degrade Native
Americans is absurd. These schools picked Indian symbols in
admiration of their valor, ferociousness and indomitable spirit in
the face of overwhelming odds. Native Americas were honored
in naming states. Illinois is Algonquin for ‘tribe of superior
men.’ Indiana means the ‘land of the Indians.’….
“Chief Illiniwek was done in by politicians jumping on the
NCAA’s political correctness bandwagon. Illinois State Senate
President Emil Jones Jr., no friend of the university, warned that
trustees might not be confirmed unless they dumped the Chief,
and university officials feared their appropriations coming under
attack.
“While I can understand dumping the Chief, I don’t like it. I
could react by withdrawing from my long-range commitments to
support the University of Illinois, but I won’t. That would put
me in the same class as the petty bureaucrats and politicians who
killed Chief Illiniwek.”
I’d withdraw my own support, personally. But then I have a long
history on this topic myself. I’m not exactly sympathetic to the
Native American cause………………………..but love them
casinos!
–Some Rutgers fans are now up in arms their season ticket prices
are going up. Get over it. You finally have a good football
program and you don’t think this comes without a cost?
–If you haven’t figured out what a phony Tiki Barber is by now,
you never will. After receiving his television contract with NBC,
Barber blamed Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s training regimen
for his early retirement. The other day Coughlin responded.
“To give the illusion that I had something to do with his
retirement, I don’t quite follow that.”
As the Daily News’ Ralph Vacchiano noted, “Coughlin reminded
everyone that (Tiki’s) three-year tenure with the Giants
coincided with the three best years of Barber’s 10-year career.
‘That’s what really disappoints me,’ Coughlin said.”
–And in catching up on things the past week since my trip
overseas, Alex Rodriguez said he and Derek Jeter are no longer
buddies, and it would appear it all goes back to a 2001 Esquire
article where A-Rod said Jeter wasn’t a leader.
“Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. He’s never
had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun.”
As the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner wrote, “Jeter can hold a
grudge, and after that article appeared he never really welcomed
Rodriguez back into his inner circle, even though Rodriguez
drove to his house and apologized. Their interaction in the
clubhouse is cordial at best, chilly at worst.”
Actually, Jeter was the bigger jerk last week in just sloughing A-
Rod’s comments off and not instead doing something publicly to
show bygones are bygones. But here at Bar Chat, we just eat this
stuff up and can’t wait for the season to begin with yet more
turmoil and over-analysis of every single move both on and off
the field.
–Barry Bonds told a press assemblage his first day at training
camp that the BALCO investigation “doesn’t weigh on me at all.
It’s just you guys (the media) talking.” Unfortunately, it would
appear Bonds is in decent physical shape as the season
approaches. It is going to be one depressing march to 756 and
beyond, sports fans.
But now…it’s time for another installment of ANIMAL CHAT!!
And boy is there a lot to talk about.
Like the Denver zookeeper that was mauled to death by a jaguar
on Saturday. It’s not known how it happened but, sadly, the
animal was killed when it approached armed emergency workers
attempting to treat the injured woman who later expired. The 6-
year-old male went by the name Jorge, having come to Denver
by way of a sanctuary in Bolivia. I’m imagining he became
unhappy when the zookeeper changed the channel on his
television from a soccer game to the Anna Nicole proceedings
last Thursday, and for the next 48 hours Jorge plotted his
revenge. This is information you’ll find only here.
In China, however, it was a tiger that killed a six-year-old girl at
a zoo in Kunming. According to BBC News:
“The girl was posing for photographs with the tiger when it was
startled by camera flashes and pulled the girl’s head into its
mouth, state media said. Staff beat the tiger until it released the
girl, but she had suffered a crushed skull and died in hospital….
“A local newspaper said the zoo had been charging visitors for
the opportunity to pose with the tiger since May 2005.”
Now is this the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard in your life or
what?! The girl’s parents were right there (the mother was bit
trying to rescue her daughter), so we hereby nominate Mr. and
Mrs. Xin for “Idiots of the Year.”
[If you’re having déjà vu on this one, as I did, we’re probably
both recalling a similar deal involving panda bears in China.]
Hey, did you see that squid that was caught in the Antarctic by a
New Zealand fishing crew? It wasn’t a giant squid, which can
grow to 12 meters but is very skinny. No, this was what’s known
as a “Colossal squid” that can grow to 14 meters in length and is
much thicker. This particular one weighed in at 450 kg and
looked to be about 3 meters long.
The fishermen were catching Patagonian toothfish when they
caught the squid, which was feasting on a toothfish as it was
hauled up.
“He just appeared as a great, big, dark shape coming out of the
depths,” said ship captain John Bennett. “We decided he was in
too poor a condition to release, so we got a cargo net around it
and lifted it aboard.” [Agence France-Presse]
This is the largest one ever caught and it’s so big that if calamari
rings were made from it, they would be the size of tractor tires.
Uh oh…here’s a sad one. Loons have been dying in New
Hampshire, apparently confused with the warm start to winter.
Normally, loons head into the ocean during the season, but 17
were found dead on Lake Winnipesaukee last week, which froze
over much later than normal.
But while they had some open water to live in, loons need 100
yards of it to gather enough speed to lift off. In essence, it would
seem they were trapped. As one biologist put it, they thought
they could make it through the winter without migrating, “They
gambled and lost.”
In a dump in Spottsylvania, VA, site of a famous Civil War
battle, a severed foot was found that led to initial reports it was
from Bigfoot. The hairless, five-toed, eight-inch appendage had
detectives baffled. But upon further investigation, Spotsylvania
Sheriff Howard Smith concluded it was the skinned hind paw of
a bear, saying someone out there has a nice, warm bearskin rug.
But who’s to say Bigfoot himself didn’t kill the bear? No one
seems to be addressing this angle.
Lastly, in the animal kingdom, whether it is chimps being
observed forging weapons in Senegal, the tiger in China or the
jaguar in Denver, we have long maintained here at Bar Chat that
the Animal Kingdom is preparing a full-blown assault on the
human race; by air (eagles), land and sea (sharks and squids).
And while all eyes remain riveted on the terrorism threat posed
by the likes of al-Qaeda, may I submit that a recent development
in New York City’s Bronx River is far more important. Beavers
have been found for the first time in 200 years.
These are the scouts, the spies, setting up an intelligence
network, folks……That or homebuilders coming late to the party.
–Jeff B. passed along the story of the gunman that killed two
clowns at a traveling circus in eastern Colombia. Geezuz, this
fellow shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people,
the local police chief told Reuters.
The same official said it appeared the killings had nothing to do
with the show, so clearly the clowns were involved in some
shady business of their own.
Remember, kids, if a clown appears at your front door call 911
immediately and, whatever you do, don’t let the clown in your
home.
–Great story out of Costa Rica as a bunch of elderly American
tourists chartered a bus on a day when their cruise ship was in
port at Limon. Three local thugs then attempted to rob the group
but a 70-something U.S. military veteran put one of the gunmen
in a headlock and killed the guy! [Alright, alright. Our
sympathies to the thug’s family.] The hero was not identified
and the Carnival Lines Cruise Ship was delayed only
momentarily as police ascertained it was simply an act of self-
defense. The hero then had his pick of women back on board.
–Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is attempting to track down the author of
a piece that ended up in his Wikipedia entry. Zoeller filed the suit
in Miami-Dade Circuit Court as “John Doe” to protect his
privacy but obviously that didn’t work. Zoeller is upset the entry
alleged he abused drugs, alcohol and his family, with no
evidence to back up the statements. [I see his Wiki entry has
now been amended to reflect the suit.]
But what this brings up is the sticky issue of these communal
media sites, and wouldn’t you know it but yours truly,
unintentionally, is involved in them big time.
In the 8 years of StocksandNews, I estimate, conservatively, that
I have written well in excess of 17,000 pages of material. That’s
a lot. And some of it is sticking.
As an example, Google “Rudy Giuliani.” Now click on the first
item that appears, his Wikipedia entry. The largest quote in the
entire piece is from a story I did on his days as prosecutor. Of
course I had no idea this was the case until one of you alerted me
to the fact. [I don’t agree with the editing comment on the part of
the Wiki folks, by the way.]
Google “Hunt Brothers,” who were involved in a famous attempt
to corner the silver market. The first two entries, including the
Wikipedia one, refer to a story I did years ago for “Wall Street
History,” then picked up by my friends at BuyandHold with
whom I have a syndication agreement; though the two articles
leave out the juiciest part from my original posting at
StocksandNews having to do with the assassination of JFK.
I have to admit this is all kind of scary, actually. Thankfully, my
more serious columns have been thoroughly researched and
footnoted. But it’s a lesson for all you in a similar line of work.
For starters, make sure your liability insurance is in place, if you
catch my drift.
–Did you know that chickens can regenerate the tiny hair cells in
their inner ear, the cells that convert sound into electrical
impulses, which travel to the brain and produce hearing? It’s
true. In other words, “there is no such thing as a deaf bird,”
according to a bit in the current issue of Business Week.
Researchers are now trying to figure out how to replicate this in
humans.
–Until reading a piece in GolfWorld, I had forgotten that former
major league slugger Ken Harrelson, who attempted to get onto
the PGA golf tour after his playing days were over, actually
qualified for the British Open in 1972, though he missed the cut.
–Fred Funk became the fifth oldest PGA Tour winner when he
won this week’s event in Mexico. Funk is 50. Meanwhile,
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson added his name to a growing list of
rising young stars in capturing the World Match Play
Championship.
–The NFL family had some tragic news as Denver running back
Damien Nash collapsed and died after a charity basketball game.
Nash was just 24 and cause of death hasn’t been determined.
The game, though, raised money for a foundation for heart
transplant research after Damien’s brother Darris, 25, received a
transplant himself; so you can begin to draw some conclusions.
And LaDainian Tomlinson’s father was killed in a car accident
this weekend. Very sad. Some reports say it may have been the
result of a blown tire but Mr. Tomlinson was thrown from the
pickup so it’s also clear he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
–One of the famed Fearsome Foursome has died. Lamar Lundy,
71. Lundy spent his entire 13-year career with the Los Angeles
Rams where he teamed with Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones and
Rosie Grier to form one of the great defensive lines in NFL
history. In 1968, the Rams set a league record for fewest yards
allowed during a 14-game season.
In reading Lundy’s obituary, though, I forgot he started his
career as a tight end, catching 35 passes before moving to the
defensive side of the ball. Lundy was also the first black football
player to receive a scholarship at Purdue.
–And we note the passing of former NBA great Dennis Johnson
at the all too early age of 52. I have to tell you, I always thought
of Johnson as being in the Hall of Fame and was embarrassed to
find out he wasn’t. But in reading some of his obituaries,
imagine that he was the 10th man his senior year on his high
school team! Yet this class act went on to true greatness with
both Seattle and then the Celtics.
–Three ultra-endurance runners completed their quest of running
4,000 miles across the Sahara Desert, doing it in 111 days.
American Charlie Engle, Canadian Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin of
Taiwan ran through six countries – Senegal, Mauritania, Mali,
Niger, Libya and Egypt. Matt Damon’s production crew filmed
it and this should make for a terrific documentary.
–Huge news concerning “For Better or For Worse.” I realize I
probably should have known this before but creator Lynn
Johnston is hanging it up in September! [The strip will then
continue in syndication with new material mixed in with old in
what promises to be a dreadful format.]
So what this means is that among other plot lines, Ms. Johnston
told Beth Duff-Brown of the AP that Liz’s “love interest is going
to be resolved.”
As we have already seen in the last few days, it is increasingly
clear Pitiful Wimp Anthony is going to win over Liz’s affections.
Jeff B. told me over the weekend he already spent the $10 we’ve
bet on the matter.
Well, this truly sucks. We now have 6-7 months to slowly build
up to an Anthony-Liz wedding and I need to go on the record
here as predicting the final strip.
Anthony and Liz are piling into the limo, outside the church on
their wedding day, with all the other characters waving goodbye
and throwing rice. It will be enough to make you sick. Then
again, maybe Howard Bunt escapes from prison and takes the
insufferable Liz hostage, forcing Dr. Patterson to cough up the
family’s life savings to save their daughter; thus leaving
everyone safe, but crying, in the final panel.
–What I’m overplaying these days on my car stereo…Keith
Urban’s “Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing.” I even ordered
tickets to one of his concert dates this summer….Milwaukee,
baby! Beer on Lake Michigan is on me.
–By the way, I’m still doing my thing at the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame induction ceremony in New York on March 12. Haven’t
exactly figured out how I’m going to display my displeasure that
the Dave Clark Five isn’t among those being inducted, but I’m
committed to creating mayhem…………………on a small scale,
that is. I decided it’s probably best to avoid a prison sentence,
seeing as my loved ones wouldn’t be too happy with me if I
ended up in Attica.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/26/77: #1 “New Kid In Town”
(Eagles) #2 “Love Theme From ‘A Star Is Born’ (Evergreen)”
(Barbra Streisand….ughh) #3 “Blinded By The Light” (Manfred
Mann’s Earth Band)…and…#4 “Fly Like An Eagle” (Steve
Miller) #5 “I Like Dreamin’” (Kenny Nolan………..HELP!
HELP!) #6 “Enjoy Yourself” (The Jacksons…far from their
best) #7 “Torn Between Two Lovers” (Mary MacGregor…..
eegads) #8 “Night Moves” (Bob Seger) #9 “Dancing Queen”
(Abba) #10 “Weekend In New England” (Barry Manilow…hope
he had a reservation; it being the height of ski season and all)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 8 active players with a batting average of
.305 or better.
Todd Helton – .333
Vladimir Guerrero – .325
Nomar Garciaparra – .318
Derek Jeter – .317
Manny Ramirez – .314
Mike Piazza – .309
Alex Rodriguez – .305
Magglio Ordonez – .305
[Chipper Jones is at .304.]
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
