McCann Ccores $27.8 Million Contract Extension

Brian McCann agreed to the terms of a six-year $27.8 million contract late Thursday morning. With this contract, McCann will be playing for the Atlanta Braves through the year 2012 with the option of playing through 2013. B.B. Abbott, McCann's agent, said there were escalators that could not take the value of the contract to $29.8 million. With that, the Braves presented the 23-year-old catcher the most money ever included in a contract extention given to a player with less then two years of service.

Lee Starts Season of DL

Left-hander, Cliff Lee, will begin the '07 season on the Indians Disabled List. Head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff said it should take four to six weeks for Lee to be able to get back on the mound. The strained right abdominal muscle that has kept Lee off the mound the past week and a half has not eased up enough for him to resume throwing. Right-handers Fausto Carmona, Adam Miller and Brian Slocum will be evaluated as potential fifth starters for the remainder of camp.

On to lighter things, Spring training is JUST around the corner! Make sure you get your tickets fast!

Daisuke Matsuzaka's first pitch for the Red Sox

Tonight, around 6:05pm ET, Matsuzaka will make the first pitch for the Boston Red Sox. The game between the Sox and Boston College will take place at City of Palms Park. Even thought the pitch is an unofficial pitch and the game doesn't even count in the Grapefruit League standings, it has seemed to get many people hyped up.

There has been so much talk since December of '06 about how good Matsuzaka really is and tonight everyone will get to see a glimpse into what he holds for the Red Sox's future.

1931 Homestead Greys are Number 1

The first impressionable thing about the '31 Greys is the roster itself.
Oscar Charleston ... Hall of Famer
Jud "Boojum" Wilson ... Hall of Famer
Smokey Joe Williams ... Hall of Famer
Willie Foster ... Hall of Famer
Josh Gibson ... Hall of Famer

Every single one of them, a Hall of Famer. Cumberland Posey knew he was going to have to spend if he wanted to get America on his side. With America deep into a Depression, the baseball market was filled with players to be bought or sold. Posey needed to keep up with Gus Greenlee who had also had some amazing talent on the Crawfords at the time.

"Playing an independent schedule, the Grays took on all opponents. They barnstormed against independent white teams, semipro black teams, coalminer teams, steelworker teams and Negro League teams. No team matched Posey's Greys.

Those men were playing for their livelihoods. Their play brought them greatness along with their paycheck." - MLB.com

1935 Crawfords Rank #2

People thought the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords might have been the best team money could buy. Gus Greenlee, who owned the team, did not spend lavishly to place the best ballplayers in a Crawfords uniform. With Hall of Famers all over the roster, people still debate whether they are worthy on the #1 position.

The Crawfords dominated. According to league stats originally published by the historian John Holway, Bell batted .341, Bill Perkins hit .337, Sam Bankhead .336, Charleston .309 and Gibson .304 while leading the league in home runs and steals.

1942 Kansas City Named 3rd Best

In 1942, just before World War II and integration would suffocate the talent in the Negro Leagues, J.L. Wilkinson assembled the best Kansas City Monarchs team in the history of the franchise. The '42 Monarchs had three future Hall of Famers and six All-Stars.

That same year the Negro Leagues World Series returned after a 15-year absence, which gave the leagues their first true champion since 1927. Wilkinson's Monarchs played Cum Posey's Homestead Grays in a best-of-seven series.

The Monarchs won, 9-5, and swept a Series in which they were only supposed to win "a game or so."

ABC's named 4th Best in History

With the start off of this years Black History Month, MLB is naming the best Negro League Baseball teams in history. Ranking in at #4 is the 1916 Indianapolis ABCs. Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants dominated the Western Black Baseball Division from 1910-15, but the team met its definately met its match in the year, 1916. That was when the Indianapolis ABCs defeated the Giants in five games to win the division title. Indianapolis outscored Chicago, 33-15, in the series. It was a complete turn-around for the ABC's who lost to the Giants the year before. Managed by C.I. Taylor, Foster's equal during the era, the ABCs were 43-23-2 in 1916. They were said to be the most fundamentally sound team in baseball history. Instead of relying on the long ball, they preferred small ball to win games.


Ranking in at #5 would be the 1943 Homestead Grays.

More information coming on the top 5 teams.