Major League Baseball

Like most films depicting historic accounts of real-life events, the bio-epic "42" carries the immediate disclaimer that it is based on a true story, leaving room for interpretive analysis and creative license. Consequently, dramatic interpretations are by their nature subject to scrutiny and debate. While the film sticks close to the well-chronicled historic record regarding Jackie Robinson's unique place in time as the first African American to play in the major leagues, its sins are mostly of omission.

Arundel High School sophomore Chloe Hill entered a screening of the motion picture "42" on Thursday indebted to the film's main character, baseball player Jackie Robinson. The film depicts Robinson's struggles and triumphs in becoming the first African-American to play in the major leagues, breaking the national pastime's color barrier on April 15, 1947. "Thanks to him, I'm able to play," said Hill, who is black and plays for Arundel High's junior varsity softball team. Hill was among 300 junior varsity baseball and softball players from all 12 Anne Arundel County public high schools to attend a screening hosted by OriolesREACH and Major League Baseball at Hoyt's West Nursery Cinemas in Linthicum.

As a Baltimore native, Orioles spring training season ticket holder and longtime Jeremy Guthrie fan, I'm saddened that my favorite pitcher was traded to the Rockies ("Orioles' spring version of the show: 'As the Rotation Turns,'" Feb. 8). But the recent acquisition of relief pitcher Pat Neshek - the only known vegan player in the Majors - definitely softens the blow. I'll cheer for a vegan pitcher any day - even if he blows more than eight saves. Anyone who spares animals, helps save the environment and promotes healthy living is a champion in my book.

Thanks for your wonderful article about Sam Lacy ("How Sam Lacy helped integrate baseball," April 22). My husband and I were privileged to know Mr. Lacy during the last decade of his life and to hear directly from him what it was like during the days when Jackie Robinson broke into the majors. Sam's omission from "42" is indeed a travesty, to quote his son Tim. An equally apt word would be injustice. We are grateful to you for enlightening The Sun's readers about the pivotal role this modest, quiet, determined and gentle man played in establishing Major League Baseball as we know it today, and in recognizing that Jackie Robinson did indeed have the guts to let his skill do the fighting for him. Jan Roth Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

If you run into Walt Wagner, don't be surprised if he tells you right away, that his son — HIS SON!! — is one of two guys Major League Baseball is paying — PAYING!! — to hole up and watch every last inning of every last ball game. His boy, born in Baltimore and raised on the Orioles, beat out 10,000 people for the chance to "eat, sleep and live baseball" for the entire season — albeit behind glass in a Manhattan storefront. "I still get the shakes when I talk about it," gushes Wagner, a retired city cop. "That's my son. " Ryan Wagner, who's 25, is spending the next seven months with fellow winner Mike O'Hara, lazing on a sofa, sipping Budweisers and fixing his attention on what will turn out to be 2,430 games — a head-spinning number of pitches, countless fly balls, who knows how many stolen bases.

Late Orioles game: Last night's game between the Orioles and Chicago Cubs at Camden Yards was delayed by raln in the ninth inning and ended too late to be included in this edition. A complete report can be found in later editions or on the Internet at http://www. sunspot.net. CHICAGO -- Sammy Sosa didn't have much to say after Major League Baseball heard the appeal of his suspension. He added no new information and declined to take questions. Yet Sosa wanted to say one more time that he was sorry --or the Chicago Cubs wanted him to, anyway -- so they trotted him out before the assembled media in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Alan Rifkin, outside counsel for the Orioles and owner Peter Angelos, said Monday that reports of a possible MASN sale are innacurate. "There has been no contact," he said. "There has been no offer. There has been no discussion of it. MASN is not for sale. " According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, Fox and Comcast have had negotiations with Peter Angelos about acquiring his majority share of the television network and the rights to both Orioles and Nationals games.

Major League Baseball's desire to test players for human growth hormone got a boost Monday from an unlikely source: British rugby player Terry Newton , who became the first athlete suspended after a positive blood test for the performance-enhancing drug. The New York Times reported MLB would rush a blood-testing program into use at the minor league level during the 2010 season. But that appears unlikely according to a highly placed source, who spoke Friday after baseball officials spent the week discussing the legalities and logistics of the situation.

This year, millions of people will watch the Orioles at Camden Yards or on TV. We can't know whether the O's will win or lose, but there's at least one thing every baseball fan can be sure of witnessing: spit tobacco use. Baseball has always been a numbers game. Fans everywhere know their favorite players' batting averages and earned run averages. Here in Baltimore, the number 2,632 — Cal Ripken's record for consecutive games played — is etched in many minds. Well, how about these numbers?

SARASOTA. Fla. - Jason Pridie will be the first to admit his mistake. The 29-year-old outfielder has spent most of the past six years on the cusp of finding a home in the big leagues - his life-long dream just within reach. But around this time last season, Pridie's very public miscue had him worried that he might have handed himself a career-crippling sentence into baseball purgatory. Last March, Pridie was fighting for a roster spot in Oakland Athletics' spring training camp when he received a 50-game suspension for a second failed test for a recreational drug - a "drug of habit" as Major League Baseball calls it. First failed tests are kept confidential.

Like most films depicting historic accounts of real-life events, the bio-epic "42" carries the immediate disclaimer that it is based on a true story, leaving room for interpretive analysis and creative license. Consequently, dramatic interpretations are by their nature subject to scrutiny and debate. While the film sticks close to the well-chronicled historic record regarding Jackie Robinson's unique place in time as the first African American to play in the major leagues, its sins are mostly of omission.

Karl Marx is credited with saying that religion is "the opium of the people. " But here in the nation's capital, baseball is the drug of choice that rescues political junkies from the unpleasant realities around them. Currently providing relief from the congressional stalemate over the deficit that has produced the "sequester" of spending cuts, job furloughs and general fiscal paralysis is the return of last year's Cinderella baseball team, the Washington Nationals. After rising from traditional doormat to champion of the National League's East Division, the Nats heart-breakingly collapsed in the final game of their first playoff series.

On Wednesday, the sunny, breezy first day of spring, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young walked up to a podium inside the Warehouse at Camden Yards and started to sniff the air. Young asked an audience that included area high school players and coaches, Orioles team officials and local politicians if they got a whiff of what he was smelling, too, before exclaiming: "That's the smell of baseball in the air. " At the Wednesday morning...

SARASOTA. Fla. - Jason Pridie will be the first to admit his mistake. The 29-year-old outfielder has spent most of the past six years on the cusp of finding a home in the big leagues - his life-long dream just within reach. But around this time last season, Pridie's very public miscue had him worried that he might have handed himself a career-crippling sentence into baseball purgatory. Last March, Pridie was fighting for a roster spot in Oakland Athletics' spring training camp when he received a 50-game suspension for a second failed test for a recreational drug - a "drug of habit" as Major League Baseball calls it. First failed tests are kept confidential.

Alan Rifkin, outside counsel for the Orioles and owner Peter Angelos, said Monday that reports of a possible MASN sale are innacurate. "There has been no contact," he said. "There has been no offer. There has been no discussion of it. MASN is not for sale. " According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, Fox and Comcast have had negotiations with Peter Angelos about acquiring his majority share of the television network and the rights to both Orioles and Nationals games.

I was saddened to read of Towson State University's move to eliminate the mens' soccer and baseball programs ("University plans to cut baseball and men's soccer," Oct. 7). Sure, my alma mater is in the middle of a major growth spurt, but the decision to discontinue these sports just reeks of a skewed playing surface. The effort to get the university to reconsider their decision is gaining momentum. At a recent alumni baseball game, more than 100 former Towson baseball players attended, including Casper Wells, who currently plays major league baseball for the Seattle Mariners.

September 29, 1953: Baltimore was awarded the St. Louis Browns, bringing major-league baseball back to the city.

Baseball Seasons 8 p.m. [MLB Network] The program looks back at 1968 - the Year of the Pitcher. Bob Gibson (left) and Denny McLain were among the dominant performers. Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with a .301 average. The next season, Major League Baseball lowered the mound.

Major League Baseball has not made an official ruling regarding Mark Reynolds' umpire-bashing comments in Detroit as of early this afternoon. A decision should come today or tomorrow. It is expected that Reynolds will be fined but not suspended. Reynolds went off on the umpires following Friday's game after he was ejected for tossing his glove to the ground when an out call at first was overturned. To paraphrase, he said there should be more accountability from umpires, that they didn't take their mistakes seriously enough and that he felt, at times, they were purposely against the Orioles.

Old guys everywhere have a little more swagger today. They're smiling more. Holding their heads a little higher. The reason? Jamie Moyer refuses to give up the ghost.  At age 49, the soft-tossing -- and that might be too generous a description -- lefty has signed a minor-league deal with the Orioles, emphasizing the idea that they'll have to cut the uniform from his cold, dead body before he retires from baseball. The man has now been pitching in the major leagues for 25 years.