Early February Links

Some of my favorite stories from the previous week:

After the abuse Jackie Robinson endured, Frank Robinson refused to take it - Chicago Tribune

Farmers nearing crisis push back on Trump trade policies – Politico and ‘This One Here Is Gonna Kick My Butt’—Farm Belt Bankruptcies Are Soaring – Wall Street Journal

Is Fear Driving Sales Of Monsanto's Dicamba-Proof Soybeans? - The Salt

Long, strange trip: How U.S. ethanol reaches China tariff-free - Reuters

A Water Crisis Is Growing In A Place You'd Least Expect It - NPR

In Era of Drought, Phoenix Prepares for a Future Without Colorado River Water - Yale Environment 360.  Part 4 in a series.

CNX reports suspected cause of Utica Shale well problem near Beaver Run Reservoir - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How ‘Interior Landmarks’ Redeemed New York – The American Conservative and  Architectural history hidden by Detroit ceilings for years - Detroit Free Press

Fight the Ship - Death and valor on a warship doomed by its own Navy. – ProPublica

The Five Families of Feces – New York Magazine  

Abuse of Faith - Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.  This is Spotlight-level investigative reporting.

A Tennessee clinic swindled the military out of $65M. This is how it got caught – The Tennessean

Simon Institute research shows state funding disparities benefit downstate - SIU News.  According to this, the suburbs, and to some extent Chicago, get hammered to benefit rural areas.





‘My whole town practically lived there’: From Costa Rica to New Jersey, a pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back years - Washington Post

The hypocrisy of Trump’s jobs claims, in one chart - Vox (chart from Aaron Sojourner)

MLK Day Links

Interesting stories from the last week:

Don’t Worry, MLB — Hitters Are Killing The Shift On Their Own – FiveThirtyEight

Government shutdown puts ranchers in a bind – Rapid City Journal

What Life Is Like When Corn Is Off the Table – The Atlantic (h/t Kaye)

Is Trump Trying To Politicize Agricultural Data? Some Former USDA Officials Suspect Yes. – FiveThirtyEight

Quinoa Whiskey? Modified Crop List Spurs Distilleries To Try Alternative Grains - The Salt

On Prohibition's 100th anniversary, Supreme Court tackles state liquor laws - USA Today
How the Klan Fueled Prohibition – New York Times

In Rural America, There Are Few People Left to Drive the Ambulances - The New Yorker

A Farmer Found a Trojan Horse Inside an Insurance Contract.  Now He Might Bring Down the Canadian Insurance Industry. - Institutional Investor.  Bwahahahahaha

Welcome to Tax Breaklandia - Bloomberg.  This is going to blow a large hole in the U.S. Treasury.

Europe’s Most Important River Is Running Dry – Bloomberg

Farms, More Productive Than Ever, Are Poisoning Drinking Water in Rural America – Wall Street Journal

Mid-January Links

Interesting stories from the last week or two:

Mike Trout is the God of WAR - FiveThirtyEight. Video. 

Female Ranchers Are Reclaiming the American West – New York Times 

Court Strikes Down Iowa's 'Ag-Gag' Law That Blocked Undercover Investigations - NPR

Meet The Granary Weevil, The Pantry Monster Of Our Own Creation - The Salt (via my old boss)

Fire, Floods and Famine: The Pessimist's Guide to 2019 - Bloomberg.  Even I hope this is too far-fetched.

Small Weasel-Like Animals Are Taking Down Big Cats – National Geographic  

Norway Embarks On Its Most Ambitious Transport Project Yet – NPR.  Floating bridges and tunnels?  I'll let somebody else design those.

This GIF shows how far the 100th Meridian has shifted since 1980 – Grist

This is how Canada’s housing correction begins – McLean’s     

Meet The Woman Turning The Payday Loan Industry On Its Head – Forbes.   Trying to work up a low-interest payday loan replacement was one of my not-for-profit goals.

The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation’s Biggest Art Heist – The New Yorker

Taleb the Philosopher – First Things

The Grand Illusion – Lapham’s Quarterly

After the Storm – The Baffler

Learn about the Iowa district that re-elects Steve King year after year - Des Moines Register

Here's an update of what was called last year as "One of the most important charts about the economy this century.” Price Changes of selected consumer goods and services over the last ~20 years. It made the rounds at the Fed last year. @ritholtz @slangwise @AEI @MichaelRStrain pic.twitter.com/pt8UEJSIL5

— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) January 11, 2019

Late July Links

I've been pretty lazy lately when it comes to the blog, but I've got quite a few rapidly aging links I need to use, so here you go:

Family spat leads to two town ball teams in little Milroy, Minn. - Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  I sure would have loved to have town ball around western Ohio when I was young.

The Family Ownership Dramas That Roil the NFL - Sports Illustrated.  As far as I saw, no mention of the Brown family, who beat the IRS.

How the Braves came to Buffalo – and why they left - Buffalo News.  This is a couple of years old, but has a lot of interesting historical deal about college basketball in Buffalo and the NBA as a minor professional league.

Lake surfers say polluted waves are making them sick—but they love it too much to stop – Chicago Reader

Sinking land, poisoned water: the dark side of California's mega farms- The Guardian

I Was Wrong About the Rural–Urban Divide - YES! Magazine.  It was previously noted on the blog that diary farmers were more likely to skew Democratic than other farmers in Wisconsin.

We Have No Idea How Bad the US Tick Problem Is – Wired  

Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers – The Independent  

The Entire History of Steel – Popular Mechanics 

An ICE Raid Leaves an Iowa Town Divided Along Faith Lines – New York Times.  Evangelical Trumpians vs. Christians.

American History for Truthdiggers: Whose Revolution? (1775-1783) – Truthdig 

The fallacy of obviousness – Aeon 

How to get away with financial fraud  - The Guardian

As churches close, a way of life fades – Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  The declines in baptisms are horrific.

Alex Blandino, Knuckleball Pitcher

Alex Blandino, Filthy 67 mph Knuckle Ball. 🦋 pic.twitter.com/ivFAvcv7YQ

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 12, 2018

Start of July Links

I'm generally not the most optimistic person out there, but last week pretty much squeezed any hope for the future out of me, as far as politics goes.  Maybe this is the turning point where it becomes obvious how wrong I am to be negative, but I'd wager it isn't.  Anyway, I did find some interesting, if not necessarily positive stories for your reading pleasure:

A-Rod, Ken Griffey Jr. and the Greatest Home Run-Hitting Team in MLB History - Bleacher Report

What Makes a Team Great? - The Atlantic 

Weeds Are Winning in the War against Herbicide Resistance – Scientific American  

As Carbon Dioxide Levels Rise, Major Crops Are Losing Nutrients – The Salt

Do We Treat Our Soil Like Dirt? - National Geographic.  Betteridge's Law violation.


These tiny little bugs are a harbinger of wetland health -- and they're disappearing - Minnesota Public Radio

How to Steal 50 Million Bees – Bloomberg  

The Tragic Roots of America’s Favorite Cherry – Atlas Obscura.  Sorry, Mel, it is about Bing cherries, not Rainier cherries.

Rising seas: 'Florida is about to be wiped off the map' – The Guardian.  I'm not sure that is a net loss.

The Grandfather of Alt-Science - FiveThirtyEight.  Hoo boy!

Bavaria: Affluent, Picturesque — and Angry - New York Times.  They call it the Texas of Germany, but I'd rather try my luck in Bavaria than the Lone Star State.

Anger in America – Project Syndicate.  This makes some very important points.

After the Fall -  London Review of Books.  Another reminder of why people are angry.

One County Thrives. The Next One Over Struggles. Economists Take Note. - The Upshot

A Cleveland Revival Must Include Manufacturing – American Conservative.  I like the Cleveland focus, but I think the author has way too much faith in Trump and his tariffs.  Paying more for steel is going to drive out even more non-primary material manufacturing.  Just ask Harley.  They may be the first, but they surely won't be the last.

Best advice to U.S. dairy farmers? 'Sell out as fast as you can' - NBC News.  It is notable that the U.S. dairy farmers interviewed were envious of the Canadian supply management system that tries to maintain a large number of small dairies.  The chart below shows that the U.S. has gone the other way.

Mid-June Links, Part II

More stories for you, as I avoid working in the heat:

This ex-Detroit football player is vowing to become a nun - Detroit Free Press

Ashes of an industry: A Pennsylvania tradition is dying, one baseball bat at a time - Philadelphia Inquirer

No more cathode ray tubes from China, says Trump Administration - Asia Times

Philadelphia Shipyard Struggles to Survive on Order Drought - Wall Street Journal.  Calling Donald Trump....

Billions in U.S. solar projects shelved after Trump panel tariff - Reuters.  I guess if your goal is to bail out coal, this is a win.  If your goal is to have a sane energy policy, this is idiotic.

When North Dakota Farmers Blew up Partisan Politics - Zocalo Public Square.  Nonpartisan League.  I knew North Dakota has a State Bank.  I didn't realize they have an elevator and flour mill.

The Failed State of Franklin - ThoughtCo

The bishop and the brothels – Wellcome Collection

Farm Bill Targets Food Stamps -- But Not Handouts to Well-Off Farmers – Governing.  For Republicans, that is a feature, not a bug.

Lone Star Rising - Fortune.  Fracking in the Permian Basin.  The avoidance of Peak Oil means we will probably drill until the climate is completely wrecked.  It might be a good think I don't have kids.

T. Boone Pickens on Selling the Ranch - Texas Monthly

The preventable tragedy of D’ashon Morris – Dallas Morning News.  Think of this when you hear Republicans say they are pro-life.

How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People - The Cut

These Harvard Kids Got The Lesson of Their Lives in the Heartland - New York Post.  A noble effort, but I don't know how much can be gleaned by these junkets.

The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar – New York Times.  The line between genius and madness is often blurry.

America’s Largest Private Company Reboots a 153-Year-Old Strategy – Bloomberg

Last of April Mid-Week Links

More stories for you:

The Mobster Who Bought His Son a Hockey Team – The Atlantic.  This is as good as it sounds.

ESPN Fawns Over The Intelligence Of Trevor Bauer, Who Is A Big Dumb Asshole - Deadspin.  I really have no opinion about Trevor Bauer, but this made me laugh, and the twitter exchange is amazing.

Yangxiang aims high with sows on many floors – Pig Progress.  I have no idea if this is true, but if it is, it sounds like a horror show.

Remembering the ‘Spooky Wisdom’ of Our Agrarian Past – The American Conservative.  I still don't think the phase of the moon has anything to do with setting fence posts.

Bosch Says It's Made a Breakthrough That Can Save Diesel Engines – Bloomberg

The Key to Everything - New York Review of Books

The Renegade Sheriffs – The New Yorker

Church of the Donald – Politico and Maybe It’s Time to Admit That The “Grotesque Caricature” of White Evangelicals is the Reality - Religion Dispatches.  These bother me more than most things Donald. 

Why Trump Gets Away With Lying – Bloomberg.  This makes an important point.  I have a hard time talking about Trump without saying, "dumbfuck" or "suckers," but that isn't going to sway any of his supporters, and probably will just make them dig in their heels deeper.  That's a challenging situation that requires more of me (and is one of the reasons I haven't written much about Trump).

Mick Mulvaney Says the Quiet Part Out Loud – The Atlantic.  Yeah, draining the swamp.  

The Reinvention of America – James Fallows.  He's more optimistic than I am, but that is a good thing (honestly, it is often hard to be more pessimistic than me).

This animal kills more people in a day than sharks do in a century – Gatesnotes.  Trump is far from alone when it comes to freaking out about sharks.

Late April Weekend Links

More stories for your perusal:

The Man Who Brought Down Lance Armstrong – The Atlantic  

Iowa's minor league baseball teams team up to help repair the vandalized Field of Dreams infield - Des Moines Register

Local Courts Lift Arkansas Weedkiller Ban, Creating Chaos - The Salt.  Chaos seems to be standard for agriculture right now...

Exclusive: U.S. sorghum armada U-turns at sea after China tariffs - Reuters

The Maraschino Mogul’s Secret Life – The New Yorker 

OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong - The Verge

Canary in the Coal Pond - Propublica
 
Engineers Are Leaving Trump’s America for the Canadian Dream – Bloomberg.  MAGA is effectively MAWA.  No greatness about it.

Palantir Knows Everything About You – Bloomberg

Ranked: The Best and Worst State Economies - Visual Capitalist.  If there is a correlation between tax rate and ranking, it appears to be a positive correlation.

Not-Quite-Time-To-Plant Links

This weather is pretty frustrating, but eventually we will be hitting the fields.  Until them, here are some things to read:

What Hurricane Maria Didn’t Wreck: Puerto Rican Baseball – New York Times

In North Carolina, Hog Waste Is Becoming A Streamlined Fuel Source – The Salt

Scientists Want to Replace Pesticides With Bacteria – Bloomberg 

The Megafire Burning in Oklahoma - The Atlantic 

Climate Boundary Shifting East Due to Global Warming – Drovers Magazine (h/t the old boss)

Climate change: A farmer’s call to action - Indiana Prairie Farmer

Why New York City Stopped Building Subways – City Lab

San Francisco’s Big Seismic Gamble – New York Times

The Quest for the Next Billion-Dollar Color – Bloomberg. A much more interesting article on pigments than you would expect. 

Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician - Quanta

Tensions grow between conservation, commerce in Ohio’s state forests – Columbus Dispatch

The Warrior at the Mall - New York Times (h/t Kaye)

Ryan Zinke’s Great American Fire Sale – The New Yorker.  The only guy in Trump's cabinet who can give Scott Pruitt a run for his money as chief asshole.              

Everyone Wants To Go Home During Extra Innings — Maybe Even The Umps - FiveThirtyEight 

Mid-April Midweek Links

I managed to find a few decent stories in the midst of all the crap out there:

The one baseball's been waiting for – ESPN.  This dude is fascinating.

The Team With the Three-Man Rotation – Wall Street Journal

White Sox, Rays play in front of reported crowd of 974 – MSN News.  From one of the biggest baseball-haters I know.

The Wonder Protein That Makes Cheese So Stretchy - The Atlantic 

In the Battle for the American West, the Cowboys Are Losing – Wall Street Journal

Giant genitals were the downfall of some ancient crustaceans – Nature. Uh oh.

Ocean circulation is changing, and we need to know why - Nature 

Lovely Weather We’re Having … Now Who Will Save Us? - Belt Magazine.  I just came across Belt Magazine, but they have some terrific articles that are right in my wheel house.

More Mississippi bridges added to list; counties get 24 hours to begin closures – Mississippi Today.  The Republican Party wants to make the rest of the country just like Mississippi.

Why the U.S. Targeted This Russian Oligarch – Bloomberg.  I realy think Trump missed his calling as a mobster.

Due Process - Lapham’s Quarterly.  Very interesting.  I personally see the regulatory state as a necessary part of modern life, but find everything else to be dead-on.

Data Visualization and Cholera: An Unexpected Connection - Visual Capitalist

NCAA Championship Mini-Links

Notre Dame won the women's championship in dramatic fashion last night.  Villanova and Michigan battle for the men's title tonight.  Here are a few more interesting stories for your enjoyment:

How Loyola Chicago's Last Final Four Appearance Changed College Basketball – All Things Considered.  Interesting detail on the 1963 championship team.

Why Catholic Colleges Excel at Basketball – New York Times 

How a Baseball Revolution Happens - Real Clear Life 

Goodbye, Kansas Wheat? – Successful Farming.   Farmers may not think humans are to blame for climate change, but it still is going to wreak havoc on agriculture:

He owns land in southwestern Iowa near Glenwood, Red Oak, and Shenandoah where he grows corn and soybeans. The land is considerably more expensive, but he’s confident he can be profitable in Iowa vs. southwestern Kansas.
It’s not just an economics issue, he says. The area has become so arid and water is so scarce that it’s become a battle just to secure enough to grow even irrigated crops. 

A Dangerous Antibiotic-Resistant Gene Has Spread The World. We Now Know Where It Started - Science Alert

How this tiny Iowa town banded together save rural homes - Des Moines Register

 Robert Mercer’s Secret Adventure as a New Mexico Cop – Bloomberg  

“They Could Have Made a Different Decision”: Inside the Strange Odyssey of Hedge-Fund King Eddie Lampert - Vanity Fair  

Mobbed Up - Harper's.  On the US misadventures in Afghanistan.

How Overbuilt Levees Along the Upper Mississippi River Push Floods Onto Others - ProPublica (h/t my sister) 

Good Friday Links

Here are the latest stories I found interesting:

What the Spending Bill Could Mean for Minor-League Baseball Players – The New Yorker 

How Loyola used information and skill -- not luck -- to reach the Final Four – ESPN

Blackhawks Play 36-Year-Old Local Accountant As Emergency Goalie - Deadspin

Flint investigator says greed and fraud led to drinking water crisis – Detroit Free Press.  I'm guessing the state attorney general (who is running for governor) won't find the wrongdoing on the state level that I think probably occurred.

A Prefabricated Tragedy - Slate.  A bit simplistic in parts, but it makes some interesting points. 

The best federal agency you've never heard of: It helps manufacturers and now Trump wants to kill it - Philadelphia Inquirer

The robots are killing Tesla – Business Insider.  That's not all that's killing it, but the piece makes some very interesting points about automation.

New Ecological Economics: Superorganism and Ultrasociality-How the agricultural revolution changed the trajectory of our social and economic evolution - Evonomics

The End of Winter - The New Yorker 

More Than 75 Percent of Earth’s Land Areas Are ‘Broken,’ Major Report Finds – Motherboard

Chicago's Awful Divide - The Atlantic  

Scott Pruitt’s Dirty Politics – The New Yorker.  I hate this man with the energy of a thousand suns.

The Brutal Origins of Gun Rights – The New Republic 

Republicans Promised to Cut the Deficit. It’s Only Getting Worse – Bloomberg.  Continuing a nearly 40 year tradition.  There are some great charts about how "welfare reform" isn't going to close the deficit.

Happy Opening Day

Except for Cincinnati, which has its first rain-out of the season today.

More March Links

A few stories that caught my eye over the weekend and the first day of work this week:

For Cincinnati Reds star Joey Votto, spring is about the process, not the batting average - Cincinnati Enquirer

To Save Whales, Maine's Iconic Lobster Industry May Have To Change - The Salt

How Syngenta won the war over weedkillers - Politico

China needs more water. So it's building a rain-making network three times the size of Spain – South China Morning Post.  You have to click through just for the pictures, and the description of the "rocket technology" in use.  Looks crazier than hell to me.

Elon Musk Is the Henry Ford of His Age. That's Bad. – Bloomberg

Rural hospital shutdowns force communities to take care of their own – CNBC

Can the Most Hated Man in West Virginia Win? – Politico.  This dude is too ridiculous to be a cartoon villain.  Why do Republican voters flock to the biggest pieces of shit and believe every ridiculous lie they tell?

The Battle For Paradise – The Intercept.  Rich assholes versus Puerto Ricans.

Land of the Lawless - Lapham's Quarterly

In California's rural, conservative north, there are big dreams for cleaving the state – LA Times.  If rural voters are for it, it is probably a very bad idea.

How Trump's Protectionism Could Backfire - New York Times.  Great maps.

Retirees Reshape Where Americans Live – Wall Street Journal.  I don't really care about the retiree angle.  I just wanted to show the map of where rural areas are declining in population.  Downstate Illinois looks awful.

Mid-November Links

 I have a bunch more stories than this, but if I don't publish some I probably won't publish any.

Greetings From Palau, The Micronesian Archipelago That Baseball Built - Deadspin

The war against Pope Francis - The Guardian
\
The Saintliness of Undecayed Corpses - The Atlantic 

The Adaptable Cattle Saving Ranchers From Drought - The Atlantic

A Crimson Fracture in the Sky - Topic

Becoming a Steelworker Liberated Her. Then Her Job Moved to Mexico. - New York Times.  Rexnord.  They are one of our suppliers at work, and the transition to Mexico has been difficult, to say the least.

The Decline of the Midwest's Public Universities Threatens to Wreck Its Most Vibrant Economies - The Atlantic

 The Great College Loan Swindle - Rolling Stone.   Taibbi in fine form.

The Mythical Whiteness of Trump Country - Boston Review  

Here's What Happens When Republicans Have No One To Fight - Buzzfeed

Townball in Minnesota

This is something I wish we had here:

The uniqueness of the Stearns County League is that it dates to 1950 in what is basically its present form. Regal was an early member, as was Freeport. Meire Grove and Greenwald were Green-Grove until separate teams were formed in 1959.

For nearly six decades, it has been those two, plus Farming, Lake Henry, St. Martin, New Munich, Richmond and Roscoe. Of course, 1983 saw the admission of Elrosa and Spring Hill.

“Those teams had to come up with the expansion fee,” Schleper said. “They each had to buy a case of beer for the league’s board of directors.”

The 10-team Stearns County League forms a family, both in spirit and in reality. Herman Lensing is a reporter from Star Publications, the publisher of weekly newspapers such as the Melrose Beacon, Sauk Centre Herald and Albany Enterprise.

Herman is among the 222 residents of Greenwald. He’s famous for having his camera always at the ready. He has been chronicling the exploits of this league and other area townball teams (29 total in Stearns County) for decades....

There are generations of names associated with every team in the league. That’s a tribute to the large Catholic families of farmers. The farms are fewer and the families are smaller in current times. Still ...

“To be a true Stearns County town, you need a Catholic church, two bars and a ballfield,” Schleper said....

What astounds is standing at a ballpark in Farming, Spring Hill or Elrosa, looking across the prairie, and trying to figure out how Stearns County League teams renew themselves. Richmond is near Cold Spring and close to 1,500 in population, but the rest of these little places are a Catholic church, two bars (or one) and a ballfield.

The basic radius rule for player eligibility is 6 miles. The old saying was, “You should play where you go to church.”

The four 15-mile exceptions to the radius rule are still low by state amateur standards.
Most important, the SCL runs Little Dipper (Little League age) and Big Dipper (Base Ruth and Legion age) programs as a feeder system. Parents pay no fee, and the kids swing with wood bats to get ready for the town team.

Many of the bills are paid through pulltab sales at local bars, where the ballclub is the charity. There are also offseason fundraisers.

That is awesome.

It's Opening Day

The weather may not cooperate, but hopefully the crowds enjoy the Findlay Market parade and the start of baseball season in Cincinnati.

The 2017 George Will Opening Day Baseball Quiz

George Will:

Sportswriter: "You hit only two home runs all last year and already you've hit seven this year [1969]. What's the difference?"
Reds outfielder Alex Johnson: "Five."
WASHINGTON -- See? Baseball numbers aren't difficult. But be precise: As players say after a close play, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." And don't be discouraged if some questions stump you. As Phillies manager Danny Ozark said in 1976, "Even Napoleon had his Watergate." And as Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn said after losing the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals, "We're going to hang our heads high." Now, name the player or players who:

1) Had 297 three-hit games and only one three-strike-out game.
2) Struck out only 23 times in 474 at bats against Hall of Fame pitchers.
3) Batted .415 in 94 at bats against Greg Maddux.
4) Had at least 100 hits from both sides of the plate in a season.
5) Has the lowest career batting average among players with 3,000 hits.
6) Are the three players who each had an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) above 1.000 in their final season.
7) Are the four pitchers with more than three Cy Young awards.
8) Are the seven starting pitchers with two seasons with a sub-0.9 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
9) Are the three hitters to have at least 40 home runs and 100 walks in a season before turning 23.
10) Have the three best OPS seasons at age 20 playing at least 100 games.
11) Are the four hitters with more than 500 home runs and 600 doubles.
12) Has the best stolen-base percentage with at least 500 steals.
13) Was the Hall of Famer who won three MVPs and finished second four times.
14) Was the youngest 20-game winner.
15) Set the rookie record for strikeouts.
16) Holds the record for most extra-base hits by a third baseman in a single season.

17) Among pitchers in the live ball era (post-1920) with at least 900 innings, had the lowest opponents' batting average and most strikeouts per nine innings.
18) Is the only player in the top 10 all time in runs, hits, home runs, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits.
19) Is the pitcher with the most strikeouts in his first 100 major league games.
20) Is the only first baseman to have 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season (he did it twice).
21) Are the three pitchers with six seasons with at least 200 strikeouts and no more than 175 hits.
22) Had the longest hitting streak by a catcher.
23) In 1930, hit .386, had 250 hits, hit 40 home runs and drove in 170 but led the league in none of these four categories.
24) Had a higher batting average than Joe DiMaggio's .408 during DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941.
25) Was the MVP in two consecutive All-Star games.
26) Were the two to win rookie of the year, MVP and Cy Young awards (not all in the same season).
27) Lost no-hitters with two outs in the ninth inning in consecutive games.
28) Is the only player to finish first or second in MVP voting in his first five full seasons.
29) Are the five centerfielders elected to Cooperstown in their first year of eligibility.
30) Has the most World Series hits.
Bonus question: Which broadcaster said, "Ozzie Smith just made another play that I've never seen anyone else make before, and I've seen him make it more than anyone else ever has"? Hint: He also said, "There's a fly ball to deep center field. Winfield is going back, back. He hits his head against the wall. It's rolling toward second base."

Answers after the jump

Delayed Time Change Links

If I were in charge, we would never fall back to standard time again.  But I'm not.  However, here are some worthwhile links to take a look at if you haven't already:

Angry Man Cuts President Trump's Balls Off - Deadspin.  The horse was gelded.

Wisconsin and Minnesota Await Latest Round in Ice-Melting Rivalry - New York Times

This small molecule could have a big future in food security - Phys.org.  A GMO corn that would prevent the production of aflatoxin.

Soils could release much more carbon than expected as climate warms - Science Daily.  If we weren't already completely screwed.

McM Inc lists $49.7 million in debts, $10.3 million in assets - AgWeek.  Ouch.

2 of a Farmer’s 3 Children Overdosed. What of the Third — and the Land? - New York Times

High-Tech Greenhouse Has Neighbors Throwing Shade Over Light Pollution - The Salt.  We have folks complaining about the same thing up the highway in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  There they are talking about building 200 acres of greenhouses (there are 20 acres under roof currently), which boggles my mind.  That would be a shit-ton of runoff on a big rain.

Official: Fire still burning hours after Iowa derailment - Des Moines Register.  Ethanol train.

Why Do We Have "Free Trade" For Televisions, But Not For Corn - JSTOR Daily

Caught Dead - The Ringer.  On fishing bluefin tuna to extinction for ridiculously priced sushi.

Donald Trump and the mansion that no one wanted. Then came a Russian fertilizer king- McClatchy.  The story is worthwhile just because it revolves around "the Fertilizer (potash) King,"and how stupid rich people can be.

 and how stupid
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article135243694.html#storylink=cpy

Proposed NOAA Budget Cuts Would Jeopardize Essential Tools - Pacific Standard.  Rule by right wing morons sucks.

The quest to crystallize time - Nature and Quantum Leaps - The Economist.  Quantum mechanics is too weird for me.  Also, Quantum Leap was a shitty TV show.

Is It Better to Be Poor in Bangladesh or the Mississippi Delta? and The Steady Destruction of America’s Cities – The Atlantic

On Labor and Beyond, Trump Is Following Scott Walker's Playbook - Truthout.  I prefer Donald Trump to Scott Walker and Ted Cruz.  They are that bad.

GOP Health Plan Would Hit Rural Areas Hard - Wall Street Journal.  Hoocoodanode?

Republicans and the Constitution - The New Yorker.  Hopefully even Republicans aren't stupid and power-hungry enough to open up this can of worms.

The .300 Hitter Is Going Extinct - Wall Street Journal.  I know the Sabermetrics goons don't put any stock in hitting for average, but I still admire a .300 hitter.