THE NINTH MAN

He is out there somewhere in spring training. He’s probably 20 or 21, maybe 22. And he will retire in the year 2016. He will be the grand old man of baseball. And they will say, ‘He’s so old that the year he broke in, Eddie Murray was still playing.’ And he will become the ninth man. Eddie Murray’s the eighth man. When he broke in, Brooks Robinson was still playing. And when Robinson broke in, Bob Feller was still playing. And when Feller broke in, Rogers Hornsby was still playing. And when Hornsby broke in, Honus Wagner was still playing. And when Wagner broke in, Cap Anson was still playing. And when Anson broke in, Dickey Pearce was still playing. And when Pearce broke in, Doc Adams was still playing. Adams played for the Knickerbocker club inthe first organized game of baseball in 1846, number one of the eight men whose careers cover the 152 seasons since. And somewhere out there is the ninth man.–Keith Olbermann, 1997

Well? Who is it? Who’s the 1997 rookie who’s going to be the link to baseball’s past? Here’s a list of the AL rookies from ‘97, and here’s the NL list. Leave your nominations in the comments–I see two strong possibilities, and they’re both on the AL list. (There are some better names on the ‘96 NL list, it must be noted.)

IS ‘IOWANS LOVE POTATO SALAD’ A STEREOTYPE?

Who knows? But, courtesy of my hometown paper, here’s a bunch of potato salad recipes. (For the record, this displaced Iowan doesn’t care for potato salad. Macaroni salad is another story, however.)

BUT IS JASON ALEXANDER ORANGE ENOUGH?

Good news for Tony Kornheiser fans: CBS has picked up the still-untitled sitcom based on his writings and added it to the fall schedule, possibly to follow “The King of Queens” on Wednesdays.