Bloggin' Baseball

The unfamiliar AM station I somehow set my beside clock radio to last week reported briefly this morning on the passing of 92-year-old Preacher Roe, onetime Brooklyn Dodger. He was a country boy from the Ozarks, he threw a mean spitball, he was one of the Boys of Summer . . . basically everything in this guy's obituary, including the nickname, is what baseball used to be and isn't anymore. So there's your day's sepia-toned sports nostalgia.

Of course, he was also acquired by the Dodgers in a lopsided multi-player deal that turned out badly for the Pittsburgh Pirates, so some traditions continue.

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Meanwhile, Evan Longoria has won the American League rookie of the year award. The most impressive aspect of Longoria's performance isn't that he helped lead the bottom-dwelling Tampa Bay Rays surge into the World Series, I think, but rather that he did so while maintaining his kooky drag-wearing alter ego on a popular TV program for so long without anyone realizing it. Which is really bizarre. I mean, "Eva Longoria"? It's like he's not even trying to cover it up. Now he might think that he can get away with this indefinitely, with only his wisecracking housemate Bill Murray in on the secret, but all it takes is one live taping gone hilariously awry and the whole thing will come crashing down. We've all seen this movie before, figuratively speaking.

Hopefully, at least, in an ambiguous yet heartfelt final scene, Longoria will be able to reach for a difficult way forward with his love interest, San Antonio Spurs all-star point guard Tony Parker.