Mel Hall, who roamed the outfield for the Cleveland Indians in the mid-to-late 80's and was one of the most feared batters on the team of that found era, learned his fate after being guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl he coached on a basketball team. The 48 year will spend at least 22 1/2 years behind bars with the maximum of 45 years if he is not granted parole.

Prosecutor Kim D'Avignon said after sentencing:

"We believe that the verdict does on some level show that the jury understood,'' adding. "They looked in these girls' eyes and said this is worth 40 years, and we agree with them.''

Hall played thirteen seasons in the Major Leagues with his best years coming with the Indians and New York Yankees.

It’s time somebody had some sense. Major League Baseball may have struck the first blow to end the life of Chief Wahoo.

It’s overdue that the Cleveland Indians buried Chief Wahoo, a racist emblem that brings shame to the baseball team and the city of Cleveland.

Maybe Mayor Frank Jackson should speak out. Maybe City Council should act against this racist insignia.

C’mon, Dolans, do away with this blemish on Cleveland.

I guess Major League Baseball is saying just that. MLB nixed the Indians’ cap with a stars-and-strip emblem depicting Chief Wahoo with the American flag and its stars and stripes. The new hat design is meant to honor U. S. service people, making it even more repugnant.

Please end this obnoxious racist and ugly team emblem.

Here is what MLB thinks.

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Make your voice heard by voting in our poll. Should the Indians Get Rid Of Chief Wahoo?

As sad as it was to find out that former Cleveland Indians star Manny Ramirez had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, it wasn't shocking. So many baseball greats had been exposed as frauds before that it was just a matter of time before another superstar tested positive for a banned substance. The latest person who has been linked to cheating in sports is an outright shocker. Bloodhorse has reported that a horse in Queen Elizabeth II’s stable tested positive for using a banned substance after a race.

You'd think that the Queen's connections would be a sure fire bet to win if it was using unscrupulous measures against her rivals. Not so, the six-year-old Moonlit Path finished sixth after testing positive for tranexamic acid.

Like Manny, the trainer for the mare Nicky Henderson blames the doctor saying:

“The substance concerned was administered by my vet entirely in the interests of the horse’s welfare, which is always paramount. There was no intention to enhance performance and it is worth pointing out that we won the race in question with the odds-on Ravello Bay.”

Britain's horse racing board disagrees with that saying that the medication was given:

According to the Los Angeles Times, Manny Ramirez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and will begin a lengthy 50-game suspension today. The results of the test and his subsequent suspension are expected to be announced later today.

Replacing Ramirez in the outfield for the Dodgers will be Xavier Paul from the club's triple-A team.

It is expected that Ramirez will blame the test results on medication received from a doctor for a personal medical issue.

When the 50 game suspension goes into effect tonight, that means Ramirez won't be eligible to return to playing for the team until July 3, and he's pretty much blown any chance of making it to his 10th straight All-Star Game.

For Manny Ramirez, Cleveland will always hold a special place in his heart. In a recent interview with the USA Today, the all-star slugger mentioned how he'd love to return to Cleveland to end his baseball career. In a new interview with Playboy magazine, Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, said that Manny wanted out of Boston because it wasn't like Cleveland. Presumably, Los Angeles is a lot more Cleveland-like, and so the outfielder was happy to make the move there.

PLAYBOY: Manny Ramirez made himself such a distraction for the Red Sox last year that they traded him to L.A., where he led the Dodgers to the playoffs. Why did he want out of Boston?

BORAS: Manny enjoyed his Red Sox teammates and loved the organization, but he did not enjoy living in Boston. It wore him out. He wasn't comfortable. It wasn't like Cleveland.

PLAYBOY: He wanted out because Boston isn't like Cleveland? 


Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber mentioned the empty seats he spotted at the New York Yankees' brand new ballpark recently. His comment did not go unnoticed, and just one day after making the remark, Yankee's president Randy Levine shot back some testy remarks of his own.

"Don Garber discussing Yankee attendance must be a joke," Levine said Friday. "We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously.

"Hey Don, worry about Beckham, not the Yankees. Even he wants out of your league," said Levine.

(David Beckham is on loan from the MLS's Los Angeles Galaxy to AC Milan through the end of the Italian Serie A season).

Garber had mentioned last Thursday while speaking with the press that he noticed unfilled seats at New York's two new stadiums. FOr the five games following their home opener, the Yankees premium seats were more than half empty. He said:

"It's incomprehensible that you watch a game, and there will be front-row seats empty."

Told this week of Levine's comments, Garber explained himself:

Starting today you can cast your ballot for your favorite Cleveland Indians star. The Tribe has 8 players on the ballot which are as follows:

1B Ryan Garko
2B Asdrubal Cabrera
SS Johnny Peralta
3B Mark DeRosa
C Victor Martinez
OF Grady Sizemore
OF Shin Soo-Choo
OF Ben Francisco

If your a Tribe fan you will probably see that noticibly absent is Travis Hafner. Pronk, who has seemingly returned to form after an off year, is not on this years ballot because their will be no DH as this years game is played in St Louis which is a National League team.

You will be able to vote 25 times per email address by going to their official website which is located at the following url http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2009/ballot.html. The press release put out by MLB today in part read:

"The Major League Baseball All-Star Game Balloting program is one of the great traditions in sports and serves as a powerful way to engage baseball fans around the world," MLB president Bob DuPuy said. "Major League Baseball is delighted that fans once again will determine the Midsummer Classic's starting lineups as we celebrate the 80th All-Star Game in one of America's truly special baseball cities."

A good piece today on how many home runs George Herman Ruth would hit if he played at the new Yankees Stadium made me wonder where the Babe's legacy will lie in the future. The article Ian O'Connor wrote states that Ruth was "the first living-large mega star of American sport". I think boxing historians, and perhaps horse racing enthusiasts who would point to Man O' War, would cringe at that statement considering the popularity of famed boxer John L. Sullivan, whose legendary exploits still befuddle the mind today.

Sullivan, like Ruth, was a hard drinker who was far and away the best at his sport during his era. As legend has it, the fights of his day were held near pubs and he would often get drunk before disposing of his next victim in the ring. The New York Times said this about Sullivan in his obituary:

Everywhere that Sullivan went he was hailed as a hero. Everywhere his train stopped there were great throngs to cheer him. Men fought with each other to reach him and shake his hand.

There is little doubt how loved Sullivan was in his era. Today, he is virtually forgotten except by those people who are sports historians.