Let's talk some baseball

I'm starting to get my baseball juices flowing again. So here's some notes on some stuff that happened at some point in the past month or three:

• The Hall of Fame gained a new member: Andre Dawson. I probably would not have voted for Dawson. Indeed, I've written against his candidacy in the past. Still, it isn't an atrocious choice. Nonetheless, the most positive development of this year's voting is that Bert Blyleven is now only five votes shy of enshrinement. It's highly likely he'll make it in next year and pass the title of "Most Clearly Deserving Player Not In The Hall of Fame" to someone else.
• Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids during his career. I wish Mark would have said this to Congress five years ago. I don't know why he felt he could not. Nonetheless, his statement is one of the better ones you'll read on the subject, keeping in mind all of the problems that plague these sort of things. Even though it's been suspected for a long time that he used, it was good to see him come forward more or less of his own volition. See also: Rob Neyer's take on the situation.
• The Yankees traded for Curtis Granderson. There's not much to say: in short, it was, in baseball terms, a good deal for New York, though the nature of it did prolong my apathy by a few more days. I have two essentially incompatible wishes: for the Yankees to win a gazillion World Series and for them to do it with a ton of homegrown players. And since the latter wish is dependent on the former, they might as well do their best at winning as many World Series as they can and let my feelings on the nature of their victories sort themselves out.
• Ditto for Javier Vazquez, though I will root harder for him than Granderson, given his shoddy treatment in New York the first time around.
• There are only thirty-seven days until Christmas in February. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to watching a baseball game with no implications other than the sublime meaning in taking the extra base, turning a double play, hitting a triple into the gap, painting the corner with wicked curveball, drinking an extra beer, putting Stadium Mustard on a grilled Kosher hot dog, and doing nothing all weekend but basking in baseball, glorious baseball.