Matt McCarthy pitched one very forgettable season of minor league baseball in the summer of 2002. Seven years later, McCarthy, who has two Ivy League degrees, turned a loose collection of journals into a best-selling book about his experiences in the baseball hinterlands, and people quickly took notice.

If McCarthy...

He knew the questions were coming about the stimulus plan. He knew there would be an inquisition on his foreign policy. He might have predicted a question about his kids' non-existent dog. But did President Barack Obama expect to be asked about A-Rod?

In his first major address as the...

All across baseball, from the bowels of Dolphin Stadium to the unfinished (and possibly unsold) luxury suites of the new Yankee Stadium, everyone is worried about their bottom line.

These are certainly tough financial times, but the Chicago White Sox bucked the trend in one area, ending 2008 with a...

On January 1, 2008, I was careening through the back roads of Costa Rica at seemingly unsafe speeds, traveling between resorts on my honeymoon.

"Just make it through this," I prayed, "so that next year at this time, I can be at the Winter Classic."

OK, that's a lie....

Carlos Quentin was positively raking Monday afternoon. It was a sight to see.

All sinews and fast-twitch muscles, Quentin stood at home plate on this sunny October day, and bashed baseballs all over the outfield. The ball was flying off his bat, just as it did in this Summer of...

Last week I wrote about John Danks' balls. Not the specifics, mind you, but rather celebrating their basic existence. It's a good thing.

Eight days ago, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was lamenting his lack of cojone-endowed pitchers, like Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia. And hours after he spoke,...

If you're a Cubs fan, you're probably not sure what to think right now. Do you want to blow up this team? Blow up Wrigley? Blow up Alfonso Soriano's Bentley? (Note: Don't do that.)

Do you want to bring back Fred McGriff and his Tom Emanski fielding videos? Send Lou...

Someone once said covering baseball requires the ability to articulate what is unsaid.
No sport has as much mingling between reporters and subjects as baseball, an everyday waltz between writer and player. There are no questions too stupid to ask, despite what Lou Piniella might believe.

Aside from...

There was something sad about walking through the ballpark Thursday night. No one was slitting their wrists -- that I saw -- but there was a palpable sense of disappointment, despair and failure in the air, a feeling that is common for this park in October. Shocktober? No.

Walking through...

The worst seat in the house wasn't behind one of those pesky obstructions. It wasn't in the press overflow room, which had no view at all. It wasn't even an SRO spot along the railing in the 200 section.

No, the worst seat in Wrigley Field on Wednesday evening was...

The popular sentiment among the ink-stained wretches here at Wrigley Field was the Cubs had to win Wednesday in order to win the series.

In other news, you need air to breathe and water gets you wet.

No one really trusts the Cubs, not after a century of indifference...

It was a pretty simple question and Carlos Zambrano gave a very simple answer.

Q: Given the way that your last two starts didn't go the way you would have liked, are you anxious to get back out there?

A: What games?

After throwing his historic no-hitter on Sept. 14,...

On Sunday afternoon, Ozzie Guillen posed an informal question to some reporters hanging around the dugout.

"Did you see (Johan) Santana last night?" he asked. Santana threw a complete game win the night before to keep the Mets in contention for the playoffs. "He has big balls. (C.C.) Sabathia too....

By the time you read this, the White Sox might be packed and gone to parts unknown, to hunt wild animals (all the white guys), sacrifice live chickens (Santeria-practicing managers only), impregnate a few wives (hopefully their own), and to sulk and think about how things should have gone (pretty...

Did you watch the game last night? Did you brave another umpire-bashing, dadgummit-offering Hawk Harrelson broadcast? Did you tune in, in good faith or bad, to see if the White Sox would hold or fold?

Maybe you did.

Maybe you saw the White Sox blow a five-run lead, a...

When people ask me what team I like, Cubs or White Sox, I invariably say that I root for both, which invariably makes me look like a complete wimp.

In this city, you've got to make a choice. I consider myself exempt, because I'm not from here.

I...