Happy Retirement to Ichiro, the True Hit King

Ichiro Suzuki retired from professional baseball today.

I love Ichiro Suzuki. The guy was pure class, poise and one hell of a baseball player. I vaguely remember when he came into the majors how big a deal he was. He was this great hitter and had a laser arm. Right off the bat he proved that both of those things were true. The guy might be the best base hitter since Tony Gwynn, my all time favorite baseball player. He would stand at the plate, take pitches until he got one that he liked, and he'd smack it into the outfield. He was never a homerun hitter either. This guy was all about getting on base and letting his teammates knock him in. Not only was he a great hitter, he was a smart hitter. He knew what to do, when to do it and how to do it. His running hits were amazing. By this I mean, he would start to run as the pitch came in, smack it to the opposite field and almost always reach base. It was a thing of beauty.

As far as his laser arm, that was proven true immediately. I vividly remember one of his first games seeing him throw out a guy that was on second, from deep right field, with ease while that player thought he could walk to third base. The throw was an absolute dart, and the base runner was out by a mile. I was astonished. I had never seen anything like that before. It was amazing. I'm sure he used to throw guys out at first too, slower guys, who would hit liners to him in right, and he would throw another dart to the first baseman for an easy out. It has been said about pro baseball that they put some of their best, and hardest throwing players in right field, and Ichiro proved this tenfold. He was amazing to watch play defense, and that is saying something when talking about baseball. To be excited by an outfielder making a throw means that player is transcendent. That was Ichiro.

I remember when he was on that Mariners team that won something around 115 games, then getting beat in the first round of the playoffs by the Yankees. It wasn't his fault. He did everything he could to get that team as far as they could, but he is only one guy. That was the problem in Seattle, he never really got the help that he needed. He was a great leadoff guy, but that can only take a team so far. The Mariners never helped him out. Sure, they would bring in guys here and there, but it was never a guy or guys that could help. They were all at the end, or never really had it.

When Ichiro left Seattle, and I didn't know what to make of his career from there. I still loved him as a baseball player, but I thought he may have been done. But, in true Ichiro fashion, he goes to Miami, at around 40 years old, and still was banging out hits and making great throws. He, along with Giancarlo Stanton, were the only reasons to watch that Marlins team. Sure, they had other guys, but Stanton was the long ball guy, and Ichiro was the old vet on his last run. And they both had the Marlins in the playoff race for a long time during last season. Much longer than they should have been in it.

When Derek Jeter and company came in and started to dismantle the team, I didn't know what Ichiro would do. In fact, I was more interested where he would go as opposed to where Stanton would go. When he decided to return to Seattle, I was stoked. It was so fitting. It made too much sense. I loved that he was going back where it all started in America for him. Now, the Mariners aren't world beaters, not by a long shot, but it was awesome to see Ichiro in that uniform one more time.

I assumed he was going to finish this whole season out, but with him retiring effective immediately, it gave me conflicted feelings. I'm sure he is toast, but I wanted to see of he could get 100 plus hits again. I wanted to see him throw darts. I don't like MLB, but I should have watched him a bit more this first quarter of the year, had I known he was going to walk away during the year.

Ichiro Suzuki is a great, Hall of Fame player. He is the hit king. He was a classy pro baseball player. He let his game do his talking. He was never over the top or acted like he was bigger than the game. He never was a problem on any team he was on. Ichiro was a good dude. He will go into the Hall of Fame right away, deservedly so, and I think hard core baseball fans will miss him. Hell, I'm not even a hard core fan and I miss him. Ichiro was one of a kind. Enjoy your retirement.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ichiro joins a list of great Mariners who never reached the World Series. Welcome to the club that includes Ken Griffey Jr and Edgar Martinez, two of the best ever.

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Ty's Preview of the 2017 MLB Season

In response to RD's MLB preview, I have my own that I will do today. Now, as I say a lot, RD is the resident MLB expert here at SeedSing. I know enough, but my interest and expertise lies more so in football and basketball, both college and pros. RD knows his baseball. I loved playing baseball, but watching it, no way. I do not get involved until the playoffs, and unless the Cardinals are in, I could care less. I watched last year because it was historic, but for the most part, baseball season comes and goes with a very soft whimper for me. My NBA playoff preview coming in about 10 days will be way more in depth than my MLB preview, but I still enjoy doing these preseason looks ahead. I will say, I was right all year long about the Cubs last year too. I know that I'm not alone in that fact, but still, I picked them all year long, and they won it all. So, maybe I know more than I think I actually do. Anyway, lets get to it.

I'll start with the American League first. In the AL East pretty much everyone is picking Boston, and so am I. They added Chris Sale to an already loaded pitching staff. They have a great lineup as well that is also very young and has many good years ahead of them. They will miss David Ortiz, but not as much as some think. I know RD picked the Yankees, but their starting rotation is trash and I'm not as high on their lineup. The Orioles are who they will always be under Buck Showalter. They will compete and blow it in big games. Manny Macahdo is awesome though. Toronto is fine, but they have very average starting pitching and their lineup gets older every year. Tampa is back to being a bottom feeder. Boston all the way in the East.

The AL Central will be absolutely dominated by the Indians. They are the best team by a mile in the division, and I look for them to win a lot of games this year. I do not think 100 is out of the question. They have a great pitching staff, the best bullpen in baseball and a very awesome small ball lineup. The rest of the Central is average. Detroit still has Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, but they aren't the horses they were 3 and 4 years ago. Minnesota and the White Sox are so young and inexperienced, but they both could be fun to watch. They are like the Timberwolves of MLB. The Royals are kind of confounding to me. They have some good pitching, they lost Ventura to a tragic death this offseason though. Maybe that will add to how they play this year. They also have a good lineup and are only one year removed from being in the World Series, and winning it. I think they will play better this year, but they aren't as good as the Indians.

The AL West is a 2 team race. I know RD called the Mariners always overrated, but I am fully on their bandwagon. They have a great pitching staff and an awesome lineup led by Robinson Cano. I think this is the year they can finally push through and live up to very high expectations. The team that may have something to say about that is the Astros. They took a little slide back last year, but that team is still young, and those young guys now have a full year under their belts and I think that will greatly benefit them. I have seen some websites claim the Angels are back, I don't think so. Mike Trout is a once in a generation talent, but when he's surrounded by guys well past their prime it doesn't matter. They'll be lucky to reach .500. Texas is the definition of an overachiever, but this year it won't matter because the Astros and Mariners are much better than them. All that needs to be said about the A's is that they stink. I'm picking the Mariners to finally win this division.

So, we have Boston, Cleveland and Seattle as my division winners in the AL. My 2 Wild Card teams will be Houston and Detroit.

Now, the National League.

The NL East is Washington, then everyone else. The Nationals are loaded. Bryce Harper is going to have a monster year. They are a lot like the Mariners, but with better, younger players. The Mets have a great rotation, but they lack any type of threat in their lineup and I just don't believe in them. I know RD said the Braves will be a surprise team, but I think that his love for Brandon Phillips (ed note: Dat Dude BP for life) has clouded how bad this team truly is. The Braves are rebuilding and I do not think they are ready to threaten any team in their division. The Phillies are worse off than the Braves. They are just as bad as the A's. Miami has talent, they too lost a pitcher due to a horrific accident. They have a monster hitter in Stanton, and Ichiro is still plugging away, but this team is a few players away from truly competing. They will be at least .500, but no threat to the Nationals. The Nationals are the clear cut favorites in the East.

The NL Central is much like the East. The Cubs are the best team by a whole lot. They did lose a few players this offseason, but they still have the best starting rotation in baseball and a killer lineup. They also get Kyle Schwarber back for a full year too. And the signing of Wade Davis was tremendous for their bullpen. The Cardinals will always be around an 85 win team, but they aren't ready to compete with the Cubs yet. I love the Dexter Fowler signing. He is my immediate favorite baseball player. He adds much needed speed to this lineup. Other than Fowler and Molina, this lineup is filled with young guys and guys past their prime. Their rotation is average as well. I love Carlos Martinez, but Wainwright is old, Wacha has never found his form from a few years ago and Lance Lynn is unreliable and oft injured. The Pirates stumbled last year, and who knows what will happen with Andrew McCutcheon. I think the Pirates would be best suited trading him to a contender, and if they do that, they will stink. If they keep McCutcheon, they will be a .500 team. The Brewers are better than last year, but not by much. They have no real pitching and when Ryan Braun is your offense, ouch. The Reds, sorry RD, are really, really bad. They will be lucky to win 60 games this year. The Cubs will walk with this division.

The NL West has the next 2 best teams in baseball behind the Cubs and Indians in the Giants and Dodgers. The Dodgers have a great rotation, led by Clayton Kershaw, who finally looked good in the playoffs last year, and they have an awesome lineup. They also have money coming out of their ears to spend on whoever they choose to go after. The Giants play baseball the way it is meant to be played. They small ball you to death and out pitch you all the time. They are a really, really good baseball team. Bruce Bochy is an incredibly underrated coach, especially for a guy that is a multiple World Series champ. San Diego and Colorado stink. The Padres are a mess and the front office looks like it has no clue how to run a team. The Rockies have some decent guys, and I have heard about some stud pitcher they have, but they are still a ways away from competing. They will play in a lot of 13-10 games that they will get beat in. The Diamondbacks, and more importantly, Zack Greinke, look lost. They have a good lineup on paper, and Greinke should be an ace, but they looked dreadful last year. I wonder if they just don't have what it takes to compete. We will have to see. With all that being said, I'll take the Giants to win a close race with the Dodgers in the West.

So that leaves us with the Nationals, Cubs and Giants as my division winners. My 2 Wild Cards are Saint Louis and Los Angeles.

Here is how the playoffs will shake out. The ALCS will feature Cleveland taking on Boston, and once again, I see Terry Francona sticking it to his old team and sweeping them out of the playoffs on his way to a second straight World Series appearance. They remind so much of a better version of the Royals a few years back that went to 2 straight World Series. In the NLCS, the Nationals, despite Dusty Baker, will take down the Cubs. It is just too hard to repeat these days. Look at the Warriors last year in the NBA Finals. But, this is where the comparison for the Indians and Royals stops for me. Whereas the Royals won in their second attempt, I think the Nationals win beat the Indians in a very hard fought 7 game series. It won't top last year, there is nothing that literally could top last year, but it will still be very well played. The Nationals will be your 2017 World champs.

As far as MVP and things of that nature go, I will pick Mike Trout in the AL because no one is a better baseball player than him anywhere, and Bryce Harper, who will have a humongous bounce back year, in the NL. They are the 2 best players, Mike Trout is better, and they will continue to win MVP awards. My coaches of the year will be Terry Francona in the AL and Dusty Baker in the NL. The Cy Young awards will go to Clayton Kershaw in the NL and Chris Sale in the AL. When it's this easy to pick award winners, these certain people must be doing something right, right?

So there you have it, my 2017 MLB preview. Let's see if I'm as right this year as I was last year. And I ask RD one more time, the Atlanta Braves? Really (ed note: just watch)?

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is like every other spoiled Cardinals fan and thinks 85 wins is a disappointing season. Cincinnati would be dancing in the street if the Reds won 85 games.

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The SeedSing 2016 Major League Baseball Preview

We will see you back at home in October. (or is it November now?)

Baseball season has finally begun. Our long cold winter has given way to the start of a still cold baseball season. We are talking baseball, competitive baseball. What will the season hold? Will the Kansas City Royals repeat as World Series Champions (no)? Can the Mets get back to the Fall Classic and close the deal this time (not likely)? How will the 2016 Major League Baseball season play out? Here at SeedSing we have all the answers to your specific questions, and a few predictions. Get your bets ready.

Are the Yankees and Red Sox ready to return to dominance in the AL East?

Short answer, no. Longer answer, hell no.

Let's start with the Bronx Bombers. In the off season the Yankees acquired 100+ mile per hour throwing Aroldis Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds. Chapman is the real deal and near unhittable. He is added to a bullpen that was already very good. Any team playing the Yankees can expect to score zero runs after the seventh inning.

The problem is the first six innings. The Yankees have subpar starting pitching, and that will be problematic. Most teams will be able to easily hitting the New York starters, and the defense behind the starters is old and not very good. The Yankees lineup is filled with old aging stars and is a few years away from reloading with the young talent of other teams. The only bright spot in New York, outside of a killer bullpen, is going to be watching sullen cheater Alex Rodriguez chasing down Barry Bonds (75 homers away). Enjoy that New Yorkers.

Up the coast is the Yankees hated rival the Boston Red Sox. 2015 was a disaster for Boston, nothing seemed to work. The Red Sox addressed some of those issues by getting the biggest free agent prize of the off season, starting pitcher David Price. That acquisition made a big splash, and many of the sports media (almost all east coast based) are high on the Red Sox, but Price will not be enough. There is just not enough pitching or hitting depth in Boston. This team is at least one more year away from being in the World Series conversation. The Red Sox will make some noise, but their record will hover around .500 all season.

The ESPN love for the Yankees and the Red Sox will be no match for the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Blue Jays. Tampa always defies the odds with great young talent. Baltimore has one of the best managers in baseball in Buck Showalter and a seasoned team. Toronto has built a dominant roster coming off a very disappointing loss in last years ALCS. The Blue Jays will dominant the AL East and leave the Yankees and Red Sox scrambling for next year.

It is an even number year so the San Francisco Giants will win the NL West and the World Series?

Not this year.

The Giants, like the Yankees and Red Sox, added a big time pitcher this off season with the free agent signing of Johnny Cueto. With a team mostly intact from their 2014 World Series Championship, Cueto is a big addition. The former Cy Young runner up comes after superstar Madison Bumgarner in the rotation. The problem is that after Cueto and Bumgarner the quality of pitching goes from great to mediocre. Jeff Samardzidja has shown flashes of brilliance, but has not proven to be consistently great. After the top three the Giants have an old Jake Peavy and Matt Cain. The Giants just do not have the pitching to make another even year World Series run.

The other problem for the Giants in the NL West is that the competition has gotten a lot better. The LA Dodgers have the money, star power, and Clayton Kershaw. The Arizona Diamondbacks have made some big moves, like acquiring superstar pitcher Zack Greinke, and have one of the best hitters in baseball in Paul Goldschmidt. Both of these teams will be a challenge for the Giants, and we will see the Arizona Diamondbacks beat back the others for the NL West Crown.

Is the AL West the most worthless, and over hyped, division in all of Major League Baseball?

Yes

Every year we hear about how the LA Angels, of wherever in southern California they want to be from, will once again claim the championship. If it is not the Angels, we hear about Billy Beane and the up and coming Oakland A's. The last few years we also keep hearing about the rise of the Seattle Mariners. In the last few years these three teams have faltered to the likes of the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. The Angels, A's, and Mariners get the headlines, but the two Texas teams are producing winners. 

The Rangers and Astros will once again battle for the AL West crown. The Rangers are old but tested and the Astros are young and uber talented. The Astros will edge out the team from Arlington and make a return trip to the MLB playoffs.

Does the NL East have the worst teams in baseball?

Close, but not quite.

The NL East is going to be ugly. The Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and Florida Marlins are not very good. The Mets are coming off a World Series appearance, but they are not quite a championship caliber team. The Washington Nationals are loaded, but have been perennial underachievers. The NL East is filled with teams that are rebuilding or are in "one year away" mode. The quality of play out east will be barely above AAA caliber baseball. Almost everyone of these teams will struggle all year.

All should struggle except for the Nationals. The team in DC is loaded, and has the best player in baseball in reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper. The Mets heavily benefited from a dysfunctional DC team last year. That will not happen again. With Dusty Baker at the helm in our nations capitol, the Nationals will easily win the NL east.

Is the best baseball being played in the central part of the country?

Absolutely. The NL central and AL central are the deepest divisions in baseball. Both wild card teams from each league will come from the central division.

In the NL central you have the defending champs, and 100 game winners, St. Louis Cardinals. The birds on the bat have the best front office, a great farm system, and a culture of winning. Catching up to the Cardinals is another well built team in the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs have been climbing the ladder every year and are looking to make the playoffs for a third consecutive year. Coming off of an NLCS appearance in 2015, the Chicago Cubs are as loaded with talent as any team in MLB. The NL central will be a showcase for awesome baseball.

The AL central is as equally loaded as their NL brothers. First there is the defending World Series Champion Kansas City Royals. Even with a few off season losses, the Royals still have a solid championship core in place. The Detroit Tigers are rich with talent and experience. Cleveland has maybe the best manager in baseball with Terry Francona and a mix of veterans and younger players ready to emerge. The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox are teams on the rise, and will not be pushovers for anyone else. 

With all the talent in both the NL and AL central divisions, someone has to win. The NL central is for the Cubs to lose with the Pirates and Cardinals taking the wild cards. The AL Central will be close with the Indians beating the Royals and Tigers for the division with the runners up going to the playoffs.

We answered your questions, now for a few predictions.

Once again, here are your 2016 MLB Playoff teams.

Division winners: AL East - Toronto Blue Jays                 NL East - Washington Nationals

                             AL Central - Cleveland Indians             NL Central - Chicago Cubs

                             AL West - Houston Astros                    NL West - Arizona Diamondbacks

                             AL Wild Cards - Kansas City Royals     NL Wild Cards - Pittsburgh Pirates

                                                        Detroit Tigers                                        St. Louis Cardinals

The Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals will win over 100 games each.

The Cubs and Nationals have the talent and the management to have very special seasons. Forget about what you have read, but Joe Maddon is one of the greatest MLB managers. In addition to Maddon, Theo Epstein has built a powerhouse on the northside of the windy city. Players like reigning Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, reigning rookie of the year Kris Bryant, off season pickup Jason Heyward, and superstar Anthony Rizzo the Cubs are a dream team. Although they have to compete with St. Louis and Pittsburgh, the Cubs also have the dreadful Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers (the two worst teams in MLB) in their division. Getting to 100 wins will not be that difficult for this dream team.

The Washington Nationals are in a similar situation as the Cubs. Their lineup, led by Bryce Harper, is formidable. Their pitching is filled with potential. New manager Dusty Baker is a wizard at getting players to achieve their potential. In addition to their manager and roster, the Nationals will benefit from a weak division. The NL east will have some of the worst teams in baseball, and the Nationals will feast on this inferior competition. The nations capitol may see a team with over 110 wins in 2016.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will win the 2016 World Series. 

The Cubs and the Nationals will win tons of games, but they will not even play in the 2016 World Series. Each of these power teams have one huge weakness that will keep them away from the top of the baseball mountain.

In the case of the Washington Nationals their Achilles heel is manager Dusty Baker. Baker has taken many teams to the playoffs (Giants, Cubs, and Reds), but has never won a championship. The issue is that Baker is great at getting players to play above their ability, but cannot game manage well. Talent will win a lot of three game series, but when the playoff starts and series are five to seven games, Dusty Baker's lack of game strategy becomes a problem. It will be a problem for Washington in 2016.

The reason the Cubs will not make the World Series is mainly about experience. Players like Arrita, Rizzo, and Bryant are insanely talented and extremely young. There is not a strong veteran presence in Chicago that can guide these phenoms. It will be wait till next year for the Cubbies once again. Plus we have to take into account the goat and a variety of curses. Sorry Cubs.

So how are the Pirates going to get through these super teams and win the World Series? Pittsburgh is built a lot like the Kansas City Royals. Homegrown talent and nice off season veteran acquisitions. Outfielder Andrew McCutchen is one of the top five players in the MLB and a certified clubhouse leader. Francisco Liriano has found a second life in the Steel City. Manager Clint Hurdle has been guiding this team out of the darkness and has them believing in themselves. When the MLB season is getting to the trade deadline, a second place team like the Pirates will be more willing to trade for veteran talent than a young team like the Cubs or the Nationals. The mixture of a great manager, a superstar player who is also a leader, and a front office willing to take a chance, will lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates beating the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2016 World Series.

Let's say the series goes 7 games. That would be exciting.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head editor for SeedSing and one of the other hosts on the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sentimentally picking the Pirates in remembrance of a hat he once briefly owned. Do you love baseball, come write for us. 

Ken Griffey Jr is 100% a Hall of Famer

Piazza and some outfielder made the Hall of Fame

Last week the Baseball Writers Association of America voted Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr into the Hall of Fame. Both are well deserved. Piazza is, probably, the greatest offensive catcher of my lifetime, maybe of all time. He was a threat to get on base almost every time he stepped to the plate. He left a lot to be desired on defense, but his offense was extraordinary.

Ken Griffey Jr, on the other hand, was my generations Willie Mays. He was the best hitter, the fastest player and the greatest center fielder since Mays himself. Look at these career stats. He was a .284 lifetime hitter in an era of dominant pitchers that were on steroids. He hit against guys like Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson and hit them regularly. Those guys 100 percent used steroids, in my opinion, and he still hit almost .300 for a career. He hit 630 homeruns with 56 being the most he hit in one season. That's incredible. He did not use steroids, was never accused of using steroids and he still hit 630 career homeruns. You have to be a pretty dominant hitter to put up those home run numbers for a career. He had almost 2,000 career RBI's coming in at 1,836. That means, he consistently knocked in 100 runs every year. Also amazing. He also had an on base percentage of .907. Insane. He was on base almost all the time. He either put himself in position to score, or other people scored because he was always getting on base. He also stole 184 bases in his career. That may not sound like a lot, but for a power hitter such as Griffey, that's phenomenal.

Forgetting about offense for a moment, Griffey is the greatest defensive player I'd ever seen. Some of the catches he made were astonishing. Go and look at them on the internet, they're wonderful. The way he tracked the ball and would chase it down was awesome. He was so fast, could climb the wall with ease and seemed like he could jump out of the stadium for a ball. He was an incredible center fielder, the best since Willie Mays, in mine and many others opinion.

I know that when he left Seattle to go to Cincinnati his career took a turn due to many injuries, but what he did for the first 11 years of his 20 year career were more than enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. Going home to Cincinnati was not the right choice for him, but when he was healthy there, he was still lethal. People seem to forget that, but he was just as dominate. When he signed with the White Sox and later a two year deal to end his career in Seattle, he was a DH and that suited the end of his run to perfection. Just let him bat, his injuries took away his speed and his aggressiveness in the field, and put that fear in pitchers that he still held over them.

Griffey is also the first player ever drafted number one overall to make the Hall of Fame. He lived up to the hype and then some. Griffey is one of the top ten baseball players of all time easily.

All this brings me to my main point of my blog today, how does he not become the first unanimous player to be elected into the Hall of Fame? What asshole writers, there were three of them, didn't think he was worthy of all 100 percent of the vote? What point are they trying to prove? What else could he have done for these people to get their vote? Did he need to hit over 700 homeruns? Was it the fact that he was a career under .300 hitter? Could he have stolen more bases? Is it because he never won a World Series? If so, that's asinine. Sure, Barry Bonds hit over 700 homeruns and had an over .300 career average, but he also took a ton of steroids and HGH and anything else that could give him an advantage. He's still not in the Hall of Fame, but he's getting more and more votes every year. Sure, Rickey Henderson, who is and deserves to be a Hall of Famer, stole more bases, but he was a terrible teammate and he wasn't 1/10 the fielder that Griffey was. And the whole "he never won on the big stage" debate is tired. Many, many undeserving guys have been key cogs in World Series victories for other teams. Do you all remember David Freese in the 2011 World Series? The huge game he had that gave my beloved Cardinals the game 6 win in the World Series won't get him even a sniff to the Hall of Fame. He will never even be in the discussion for the Hall and he was part of multiple World Series titles and appearances while in Saint Louis. I'm sure Griffey is much happier with his overall body of work in baseball than David Freese will ever be. Do these three writers really think, just because David Freese won a couple of World Series rings, that he is more deserving than Griffey Jr? If they truly do, they're more moronic than I initially thought. These three particular writers seem to want to be contrary just to be contrary. No real thought, they just figured that he shouldn't be unanimous since no one has ever been unanimous. They are the "hipsters" of the BBWAA or they are just mad racist or they're just dumb. Ken Griffey Jr is an all time great and that was proven by him getting 99+ percent of the vote, but he deserved all 100 percent of the vote. Shame on those three particular writers. You guys are dicks for the case of being dicks. I hope they feel bad about themselves because they are world class douchebags.

Thank you to Ken Griffey Jr for being an awesome baseball player and an even cooler person. You were an inspiration to me as a young little leaguer and I fully intend to show my son videos of you playing as he gets older and more involved in baseball. I can't think of a better pro for my son to emulate.

One more thing. Please wear your hat backwards, your trademark, for your Hall of Fame bust, it would be awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once climbed a ten foot chain link fence to rob someone of a wiffle ball homerun. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.