Two long time major league baseball players announced their retirement this week. Colorado Rockies 1st base man Todd Helton and New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte are planning to call it a career at the end of this season. Helton was a 1st round pick of the Rockies; 8th overall in 1995. He made his debut August 2nd 1997 and has only played for Colorado for his entire career. He has over 2500 hits and is a lifetime .316 hitter. Andy Pettitte was drafted by the Yankees in the 22nd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Pettitte made his debut for the Yankees April 29th 1995. Pettitte has won 5 world series championships with the Yankees and has a 19 – 11 post season record. Pettitte spent 3 years pitching for the Houston Astros (2004 – 2006) before returning to the Yankees. Pettitte has over 250 career wins as well. This brought up the question on Friday’s show, will Helton and Pettitte get into the Hall of Fame? I heard one baseball expert say he thinks Pettitte will get into the Hall of Fame but it will take 10 plus years for him to be voted in. On the other hand this expert didn’t see Helton making the Hall of Fame. Sadly I watch way to much sports on television and I can’t remember which baseball expert made these comments.
We started Friday’s show by talking about the situation that NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. has found himself in. As you know Truex originally qualified for the Sprint Cup Chase but was knocked out when he was penalized 50 points for teammate Clint Bowyer spinning out and attempting to fix the outcome of a race. Yesterday NAPA announced that they where leaving Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) and would take their sponsorship elsewhere. If your Truex Jr., are you wondering what you did? Truex didn’t spin. It was Bowyer and it cost Truex Jr. his spot in the Chase. From all reports Truex Jr. had nothing to do with Bowyer spinning and affecting the outcome of a race but it cost him 50 points. Now he’s losing his sponsor and might end up leaving MWR. Truex Jr. did say “I’d always hoped that I’d be at Michael Waltrip Racing for a long, long time,” adding “That really hasn’t changed. But it’s a lot more confusing at the moment.” I guess we’ll see if someone will sponsor Truex Jr. next season or if he ends up leaving MWR for another ride.
Sunday mornings from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Blog Talk Radio Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I are previewing the NFL games and offering as much fantasy advice as we can. The 2 hours goes very quickly and we try to get as much in as we can. Tomorrows show, Sports Time Radio’s Pregame Show, if you’d like to listen to us. On the show we almost pick who’s going to win the games. Here are last weeks results: Dan the Man was 10 – 5 while both Mr. Fantasy and I went 12 – 3. After 2 weeks of picks Dan the Man is 19 – 1, while Mr. Fantasy and I are both at 22 – 7 overall.
It looks like “The Bet” is going to be settled in the playoffs. If you’ve been listening to the show since the start of the baseball season then you know about “The Bet. ” Dan the Man picked the Los Angles Dodgers to win the World Series while Mr. Fantasy said they wouldn’t even be the 3rd best team in California. As the season went on, “The Bet” was amended from the best record to who goes the farthest in the playoffs. It’s a 2 team race now. The Dodgers clinched the Thursday night and it looks like Mr. Fantasy’s team is going to be the Oakland A’s. The A’s should wrap up the American League West shortly as the Texas Rangers have fallen out of the race and may not even get a wild card spot. What does the winner of “The Bet,” you ask? Well the loser has to buy the winner a brand new New Era 5950 fitted hat.
We haven’t spent a lot of time talking about it on the show but the NHL preseason has started, so hockey is just right around the corner. The regular season starts October 1st with these 3 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Montreal Canadians; the Winnipeg Jets vs. the Edmonton Oilers and the defending Stanley Cup champions the Chicago Blackhawks vs. the Washington Capitals.
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