NL Baseball

SAN FRANCISCO - Tony Plush is the alter ego of Milwaukee Brewers centerfielder Nyjer Morgan, a Bay Area home guy and one of the oddest characters in sports. Morgan pulled on a "PLUSH" San Jose Sharks sweater, laced up the skates and zipped around with his favorite team at a morning practice this week.

Morgan/Plush didn't crack the squad, but the squad didn't crack him.

VERO BEACH, Fla. - He wouldn't do it.

Peter O'Malley would not blame the people responsible for turning the Los Angeles Dodgers -- considered baseball royalty for so many years -- into a punch line.

The 1962 New York Mets established a standard for ineptitude that remains mindboggling, even today.

Their first baseman once ripped a pitch into the outfield gap and raced to third base, where he arrived without a tag. The umpire ruled him out. Marv Throneberry, nicknamed "Marvelous," had failed to touch either first or second on his madcap dash around the bases.

Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch ranked No. 238 on the 2010 Forbes Magazine "400 Richest Americans" list. Last year, the net worth of the fast-food magnate was estimated to be $1.7 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO - Tim Lincecum always has been a rare bird, from his windup to his hair to his demeanor, so who better to agree to that rare baseball contract that makes everyone a winner?

The Tim Lincecum arbitration process, now in full swing in San Francisco, would have prompted a chuckle out of Charlie Finley.

Of all the player-friendly language in baseball's collective bargaining agreement, the stuff pertaining to salary arbitration might be the player-friendliest.

Let the agonizing begin.

Now that we know the 2012 Hall of Fame class -- Barry Larkin and Ron Santo -- we can look ahead to the next ballot that will include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, all long shots to make it on the first ballot because of proof or suspicion they benefited from performance-enhancing drugs.

Aubrey Huff's employers called him out, publicly and forcefully, and he did not say a peep. He let the criticism of his conditioning hang in the air, like a curveball with no break, and refused to swing. Instead, he went to work.

Barry Bonds made headlines again when he was sentenced last week, but we are close to a time when he disappears from view altogether.

The naivete will not die. Nine of baseball's MVPs had been linked to performance-enhancing drugs, yet when reports surfaced this weekend about a drug case against the 2011 National League MVP, Ryan Braun, countless commentators and fans expressed shock.