'Big Hurt' bids baseball farewell

CHICAGO (AP) — Hall of Fame slugger Ernie Banks, the two-time MVP who never lost his boundless enthusiasm for baseball despite years of playing on losing Chicago Cubs teams, died Friday night. He was 83.

Today, former White Sox first baseman and designated hitter Frank Thomas, along with former pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and former managers Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre, were inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Miguel Cabrera is the two-time reigning American League MVP and arguably the best hitter in baseball. If we look at his career statistics he is starting to look an awful lot like Hank Aaron, a player many consider one of the best in baseball history. Both players began their careers at age 20. Cabrera has had 7.306 plate appearances in his career and is hitting .320 with 371 home runs and a .567 slugging percentage. Through the same number of plate appearances, Aaron was hitting .320 with 372 home runs and a .567 slugging percentage according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Alex Rodriguez lost $22.1 million in salary as a result of his year-long suspension. But that hasn't stopped him from being the highest-paid player in Major League history. Thanks to a pair of contracts worth more than $250 million, Rodriguez has made more than $350 million in his career. But A-Rod is not alone.

San Francisco (AFP) - San Francisco pitcher Tim Hudson takes the mound on Friday as the Giants host Kansas City in game three of the World Series, a chance on baseball's biggest stage he once feared might never come.

After several months of rumors and speculation, Major League Baseball has officially announced that Alex Rodriguez has been suspended for 211 games due to his use and possession of performance enhancing substances and his attempts to “obstruct and frustrate” the Biogenesis investigation. The suspension will begin on Thursday unless Rodriguez files a grievance. In a show of great respect for the Major League Baseball Players Association, Commissioner Selig decided not to pursue a punishment for Rodriguez under Article XI A(1)(b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Kansas City (AFP) - A pitching masterpiece by San Francisco left-hander Madison Bumgarner sparked the Giants over the Kansas City Royals 7-1 in Tuesday's opening game of the 110th World Series. 

We are now one-fourth of the way through the baseball season and some players are starting to make their cases for the MVP award in their respective leagues.