Second thoughts
Hall getting 4,256 reasons to call Rose
Abby Campbell is pretty mature for a 13-year-old.
She’s not into Ugg boots, iPhones or even the Hunger
Games.
No, this Ashland (Ky.) Middle School seventh-grader has a passion for something else: Pete Rose.
Yes, that Pete Rose — the “Hit King” who has been banned from baseball for twice as many years as Abby has been alive.
Abby and one of her teachers, Larry Bailey, are involved in a monstrous extracurricular project called “4,256 reasons why Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.”
The number 4,256 is significant because that’s how many hits Rose collected in an amazing major league career that spanned 24 seasons, most of those with the Cincinnati Reds.
The project has the endorsement of Rose, who sent Abby an autographed photo and his best wishes for what they were trying to do. She wrote Rose a letter, explaining what she and her teacher were doing and he responded enthusiastically.
Since October they have collected more than 2,000 of the reasons, scouring the Internet for everything they can find with Rose’s name attached to it. Abby comes to school an hour early five days a week to do the research.
Everything that Abby has learned about Rose isn’t great. She knows he bet on baseball and found out he served jail time for tax evasion. She also knows that he is one of the best baseball players in history and has more hits than anybody who ever played.
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” she said. “We get second chances at school all the time.”
Girl power
It’s rarely major news when the son of a former MLB pitcher gets a college baseball scholarship, especially to a junior college. But what about a daughter?
Sarah Hudek made waves last week by committing to a scholarship to play college baseball at Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana. Her father, John Hudek was a journeyman reliever and an allstar in the big leagues.
Sarah is a left-hander that throws in the low eighties.
“This is not a gimmick and I could care less about media attention,” Bossier Parish Coach Aaron Vorachek said. “I’m signing her to help us win ballgames.”
Bringing back Barry
During a question-and-answer session at Fan Fest on Saturday, San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said the organization is trying to find a role for Barry Bonds, who spent a week with the club last spring. Bochy said he can see Bonds spending time in Scottsdale this spring “in some kind of role,” possibly working with minor leaguers.
Bonds was at the spring training facility for a week last March, working with big league hitters in the cage and also on the field. He showed several players how to do some of his favorite drills, and worked extensively with then-left fielder Michael Morse. Bochy said the Giants want Bonds to have “a role he can be happy with.”
Bonds played 15 seasons for the Giants, winning five MVP awards and setting the all-time home run record. He hasn’t played since 2007 and stayed away from the organization for several years while dealing with PED allegations and a perjury case.
Movie tones
After a disappointing season, the Tennessee Titans released offensive tackle Michael Oher.
From Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Hope he wasn’t blindsided by the news.”