Picks of the Pen (4/19)

This edition of Picks of the Pen falls right in the middle of two important days on the sports calendar.  Last Thursday teams and fans everywhere celebrated Jackie Robinson day and reflected on his unique contributions to baseball and society as a whole.  This coming Thursday, the three day 2010 NFL Draft gets underway.  Hopefully these 9 links will help you bridge the gap between the two events.

Oh, hey.  We’re deep enough into the season to start casting aside actual reasons for a team to struggle in favor of bitter, parasitic nit-picking.  And its not even May.

Jackie Robinson started off as a 28-year old rookie in the majors.  Tom Tango uses Rally’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) database and shows that, after age 28, Robinson was one of the top 25 players of all time.

New Cubs Centerfielder Marlon Byrd, takes time to write on his blog and say thank you to man that broke the color barrier in Jackie Robinson.  Byrd goes on to mention that if it weren’t for Jackie, we may not have seen the likes of Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr, and Ryan Howard.

Conor Glassey of Baseball America gives us the 3 guys who have heightened their value as we head towards the draft, as well as 3 who have decreased in value.

Do you know where San Pedro de Macoris is?  This small town has given us 79 MLB players.  Mark Kurlansky tells a fascinating tale in The Eastern Stars.

Lincoln Hamilton of Project Prospect provides an update on some of the key players that will be selected in the 2010 MLB Draft in June.

The 20-inning marathon of weirdness between the Cardinals and Mets has so many bizarre aspects, it’s easy to lose count.  Here’s a quick recap of the game’s oddities.

In a week filled with history, there was one magical day the 26-year old Ubaldo Jimenez will certainly never forget.  Not only was it historic for him personally, but it was a big day for the Colorado Rockies franchise.

The Catch of a Lifetime.

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Bonus tidbit: The Milwaukee Brewers scored 10 runs in the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Nationals.  It was the first time in Brewers franchise history that they opened a game in such a fashion.

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Tags: Conor Glassey, Jackie Robinson, Lincoln Hamilton, Mark Kurlansky, Marlon Byrd, Project Prospect, San Pedro de Macoris, Tom Tango, Ubaldo Jimenez