Mariano Rivera Had Tommy John Surgery in 1992
I never knew this until yesterday, and I wonder how many people know it. I found it on this list under the "Tommy John Surgery" entry on wikipedia.org, and was stunned. I confirmed it with multiple sources. Speaking of Wikipedia, the Joseph Checkler entry is also quite excellent.

Did YOU know about the Mo/Tommy John connection? Post a comment. Let me know.

Post-Roid, It's a Story If Barry ALMOST Homers
How funny is it that this morning's New York Times has the following headline? "Bonds, At 41, Nearly Hits a Home Run in His Return to the Giants." - Nearly hits a home run? Ha ha. That makes me laugh. I wonder who's first on the all-time "near home run list."

Welcome Back Barry! -
Dear Barry Bonds,

*Hi Barry. Beisbol. You playing beisbol tonight, huh my friend? It’s about friggin’ time.

*I guess you just wanted to make sure that your 13 knee surgeries had all healed properly. It’s funny how long it took you to heal. Oh, speaking of healing slowly, whichummacallit, um, I just read somewhere that when somebody stops doing steroids, it is much easier for them to get injured and much harder for them to heal. Have you ever heard that?

*But anyway, back to my main point. I’m glad to see that you’re grabbing your lunch pail, putting on your uniform, rolling up your sleeves and getting back to the game. Which reminds me: Can you roll up your sleeves for me for a minute? I just want to see how large your muscles are? I want to have a role model to look up to, someone whose muscles I can look up to.

*It’s so admirable that you’ve always been a class guy and a class teammate. I mean you’re so nice to your teammates, that you give them all the space that they want. How admirable it is of you to stay at a different hotel than the rest of the team? When the team is stretching before batting practice, it’s seriously so nice of you to stretch on your own so they don’t have to smell the body odor coming from your underarms. And those three lockers you have in the corner of the Giants locker room, I heard that you once let a teammate touch one of the lockers. Dude, you’re a class act.

*So as you come back today, I just wanted to welcome you to the new National League West. The new N.L. West is led by a team that’s been hovering around .500 the entire season, the San Diego Padres. I really think that you can help your Giants make a run at the mediocre Padres.

*Which makes me remember to ask you, Why are you coming back again? Are you coming back to make a run at the postseason, or are you coming back because you think you can hit 11 homers this month to catch Babe Ruth and then 42 next year to beat Hank Aaron? I know, I know, you’ll let your muscles do the talking. You’ll let those legitimate, non-performance-enhanced, natural muscles do the talking. I can’t wait to see you play Barry.

*I can’t wait to see you play. I can’t wait to see you be a role model for all those kids out there that you can teach about honesty, and fairness. You must be so happy to be back, you role model. You’re a friggin’ role model. You’re wonderful Barry.

*BARRY, I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I USED ASTERISKS AT THE BEGINNING OF ALL MY PARAGRAPHS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I WASN'T TOTALLY BEING LEVEL WITH YOU THROUGHOUT ANY OF MY LETTER. YOU SHOULD START GETTING USED TO ASTERISKS. WE LIKE TO USE THEM WHEN PEOPLE AREN'T BEING LEVEL WITH EACH OTHER ABOUT THINGS. HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF WHERE YOU MIGHT SEE ASTERISKS:

HOME RUN LEADERS
BONDS - 759*
AARON - 755
RUTH - 714
MAYS - 660

*STEROID AIDED