Game Of Baseball

Despite the snow on the ground, at least one county coach is already passionately thinking about the spring baseball season. He's the new Centennial Eagles baseball coach, Denis Ahearn, who has had a couple of meetings with prospective ballplayers. Ahearn, 26, a native of Westchester County, N.Y., has an impressive baseball background, is married to a former Mount Hebron lacrosse player and considers himself lucky just to be alive, much less able to coach. He replaces Dave Appleby, who resigned because of a time conflict with his responsibilities as guidance counselor at Elkridge Elementary School.

SAN FRANCISCO -- After learning his 2,131st consecutive game had been voted as Major League Baseball's most memorable moment last night, Cal Ripken said, "It blows me away." Ripken was at Pacific Bell Park for the ceremony before Game 4 of the World Series, and the fans greeted him warmly. The reception wasn't nearly as loud, however, as the cheers for Pete Rose, whose 4,192nd hit was voted as baseball's sixth-most memorable moment. Hank Aaron's 715th career home run, the one that broke Babe Ruth's record, was voted as the second-most memorable moment.

If football is analogous to war - players hit, kick, throw bombs - what does the gentler game of baseball represent? Jack Petrash has discovered the answer. When he sat down to write a book about fatherhood, the comparison to the national pastime was irresistible. "It was the best way to explain what I wanted to say on the subject," says Petrash, a twice-married father of three who lives in Kensington, a suburb northwest of Washington. Petrash, 51, a teacher for 25 years at the Washington Waldorf School, a private school in Bethesda, took a year off to write "Covering Home" (Robins Lane Press, $19.95)

St. Louis Cardinals superstar Mark McGwire has drawn his line in the sand. Baseball's reigning home run king figures to be well into the 600s by the end of the 2001 season, but he reiterated recently that he will not even attempt to challenge the all-time home run mark if baseball delays or interrupts another season with a work stoppage. "If there is a lockout or strike after next year, you won't see me in uniform as a player again ever," McGwire said during the Cardinals' recent visit to Arizona's Bank One Ballpark.

NEW YORK -- As a starter in the National League Championship Series, Atlanta's John Smoltz plowed through the New York Mets' batting order. As a reliever, he was buried under a pile of runs.Smoltz will return to his more familiar role tonight, taking the ball for Game 4 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. The only time he'll be in the bullpen is to warm up.The Braves -- down 3-0 in the Series -- need Smoltz to be as effective as his Oct. 16 outing at Shea Stadium, when he held the Mets to one run through seven innings before two more scored in the eighth once he had been removed.

Say whatever you want about the gulf in political philosophy between the United States and Cuba, but one can always find commonality in the great game of baseball.Take last night's exhibition between the Orioles and a Cuban all-star team, for instance. From the third-floor broadcast booth at Oriole Park, Josh Lewin was bemoaning how badly the home team was playing on American television.And one door over in the next booth, Hector Rodriguez, one of three Cuban television announcers, was doing the same thing, albeit in Spanish.

Ticket policy sounds familiarIt is with some amusement that I heard some commentators complain about Fidel Castro's policy of distributing tickets to the Orioles-Cuba exhibition game by invitation only, thus depriving the average Cuban baseball fan of attending the game. Apparently, those who were offended by the policy are laboring under the misapprehension that tickets are distributed in a more democratic manner here in Baltimore.Anyone who has had the good fortune to attend an Opening Day, All-Star or playoff game at Camden Yards will tell you that the assemblage at such events is disproportionately composed of the Washington "Chablis and suspenders" crowd.

MIAMI -- When Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and the New York Yankees did their things this past season, they gave back to the game of baseball a soul that has been lacking for some years. Several weeks later, baseball showed that soul was only temporary.It may seem only minor that baseball took away the 2000 All-Star game from South Florida and awarded it to Atlanta. But beneath it lies something that should concern any city with a major-league team, or one hoping to get one.It's about a new stadium.

The Streak died last night of natural causes. It was 2,632.Cal Ripken, who has played with grace and grit for a generation without daring to miss a game, stepped into manager Ray Miller's office shortly before last night's game against the New York Yankees and asked the unimaginable. He asked for the night off.Sixteen years after Earl Weaver penned his name on the lineup card on May 30, 1982, Ripken did what only he could do. Recognizing the time had come for him to let go of one of the game's most impressive records, he sat on the bench as the Orioles took the field for their final home game of the season.

The Sun's Peter Schmuck recently tagged Orioles assistant general manager Kevin Malone and asked him for his pitch on reading:"I think reading has nothing but positive effects on every person, no matter what profession they are in. It stimulates all kind of different thought processes."One of the things people don't think about - reading provides a release. It's a form of relaxation, a sanctuary where people can separate themselves from the pressures of the game of baseball."Reading books also expands your horizons and helps with your ability to think and conceptualize.