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An excerpt from the book "Papi: My Story" by David Ortiz and Michael Holley is presented which addresses former baseball manager Bobby Valentine, the performance of the Boston Red Sox team during the 2012 season, Ortiz's Achilles injury, and the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013.

Between 2000 and '20, only once had a Super Bowl team employed the NFL's leading wide receiver (Torry Holt, of the Rams, in '01). NFL PREVIEW 2022 B JOSEPH SHINN b was sure, in his heart, that if we all just acted sensibly during the nascent stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be plenty of toilet paper for everyone. But while a sizable chunk of the league did pony up for elite receivers, a couple of the NFL's best teams from 2021 decided they weren't willing to pay the going price. This is Shinn's way of explaining what may have happened at the wide receiver position this offseason in the NFL. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the nostalgic aspects of paper tickets for sporting events, and it mentions the use of quick response (QR) codes and a transition from paper tickets to digital tickets that can be accessed on mobile devices such as cell phones. The ticketing policies of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association are assessed, along with historic events involving paper tickets to events such as the 1989 World Series championship.

Offers information on Four Corners Paper Company's (Scottsdale, Arizona) heavyweight paper suitable for stationery or in desktop publishing that is embedded with grass clippings from golf course greens. Comment by Four Corners president David Gustafson.

A timeline is offered on the National Football League (NFL) career of quarterback Eli Manning of the New York Giants from 2004-2012 which consists of reproductions of newspaper headlines and photographs.

A caption is presented to a photograph of Green Bay Packers linebacker Diyral Briggs celebrating his team's victory immediately after the Super Bowl football game.

A caption is presented to a photograph of Auburn University football fans celebrating the school's victory over Oregon in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) championship game.

This article from Sports Illustrated Winter 2023 reflects on the impact and influence of Deion Sanders on the author, LeBron James. James recalls being in awe of Sanders' coolness, ability, and style both on and off the field. He credits Sanders with teaching him the importance of looking good, feeling good, and playing good. James also admires Sanders' approach to parenting and the emphasis he places on raising his children to be great individuals. The article concludes by acknowledging Sanders' legacy in football and his current role as a mentor and leader. [Extracted from the article]

Focuses on the University of Georgia's Bulldogs. How they won four consecutive victories at home and amassed strong defensive numbers, when playing weak opponents, only to be soundly beaten by a strong opponent, University of Tennessee; How Georgia coach Jim Donnan has much work ahead of him, according to the author.

Tables are presented on the world golf rankings of probable members of the U.S. and Europe 2012 Ryder Cup team to offer sports forecasting on the event.

Focuses on Montreal Canadiens hockey team fans' wearing of paper bags during the team's games to show their views regarding the team's poor performance. Win-loss record by the Canadiens; Background on the antics by the fans; Prospects for the team.

The article discusses the University of Memphis basketball team. Despite a 7-0 start to the 2007 season, coach John Calipari thinks that the team needs to improve in certain areas. University of Southern California basketball coach Tim Floyd concocted a defense to run against Memphis, which had Memphis players confused. Memphis won the game, but the confusing defense only reinforced Calipari's belief that his team's success is not guaranteed.

This article presents news briefs regarding men's college basketball in February of 2007. Particular focus is given to the University of Memphis Tigers, who have dominated conference play in the 2006-07 season. Commentary from their coach, John Calipari, is included. Other topics of discussion include the college basketball program at the University of Kentucky, basketball player Roy Hibbert, and the college basketball program at Michigan State. INSET: Seth Davis's Three-Pointer.

Presents the thoughts of the author on why women want to play full-contact football after attending a training camp for the Women's Professional Football League (WPFL). In October 1999 I covered the very first game of the WPFL, in which the Lake Michigan Minx outplayed and generally womanhandled the Minnesota Vixens. I'd played high school softball, Division I field hockey and almost every recreational sport there is, but I'd never known what it was like to maul or be mauled in a football game. So when I heard that the WPFL had grown from two to 19 teams and spawned two rival leagues, I decided to find out, firsthand. Last Saturday, before my mother, husband or my own better judgment could intervene, I went to Pearland, Texas, to try out for the WPFL's three-time champion Houston Energy, the creme de la femme of smashmouth football. How to explain Houston's 30-2 record since 1999?

Describes the author's experience at the one-day fantasy workout session in Canton, Ohio in 1996 called the Throwbacks Training Camp. The camps started by the Pro Football Hall of Fame; The use of old football players to coach; Ray Nitschke; Otto Graham; Deacon Jones; Gale Sayers; Paul Warfield.

Information about several papers discussed at a symposium sponsored by the magazine "Sports Illustrated" on the Professional Golfers' Association Tour is presented. Topics include the new grooves rule, the adultery of professional golfer Tiger Woods, and the recession's impact on professional golf. The symposium featured several golf professionals and "Sports Illustrated" writers including Michael Bamberger, Gary Van Sickle, and a Professional Golfers' Association professional.

The article discusses the use of written and printed letters in the recruiting of college basketball players. Such letters traditionally have been used by almost all college teams, and nationally prominent high school basketball players still can receive hundreds to thousands of pieces of mail despite the prevalence of electronic mail. Mail on paper is less strictly regulation by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) than is electronic communication.

Offers a look at National Football League (NFL) playbooks. Overview of Dick Vermeil's preparation of playbooks as a coach on the Philadelphia Eagles in 1982, when he spent the last two days of his summer vacation with his wife separating nearly 60,000 photocopied sheets of paper into 75 playbooks; Review of the playbook prepared by Vermeil prior to the 2005 season as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs; Discussion of how each player on the team received three binders for the preseason; Reports on the various playbooks of the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens and St. Louis Rams.

Presents a photo essay of notable sports moments from the prior week. New Orioles rightfielder Sammy Sosa watched intently as shortstop Miguel Tejada took his cuts against the Oakland A's on Opening Day in Baltimore; Sosa went 2-4, and the Orioles won 4-0. A flock of seagulls taking flight at Sandown racecourse in Melbourne startled the horses and left riders strewn across the track. Rich Clarkson photographed his first Final Four in 1952 and estimates that he has missed only three NCAA finals since then. He was a freshman at Kansas for that first one, working part time for his hometown paper, in Lawrence, when KU coach Phog Allen let him travel with the team. Clarkson says his best finals picture was of the all-white Kentucky squad watching the all-black Texas Western team accept the trophy in 1966.

This article profiles Rashad McCants of the top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels college basketball team. Elite ballplayers, as a rule, don't write much. Oh, they'll scribble: assembly-line autographs, college lecture notes, maybe an occasional warmed-over rap lyric. Generally speaking, though, Dear Diary introspection isn't part of the deal. Unless you're North Carolina junior forward-guard Rashad McCants. "I write whenever I feel like I'm too depressed to keep thinking about something," McCants says, brandishing a blue loose-leaf notebook. "So I put it on paper." One day this fall the best player on the nation's most talented team sat in his car, pulled out a pencil and spilled his emotions onto the page: His frustration over all those labels--moody, stone-faced, aloof--that swirl around him like storm clouds. His angst over being cut from the U.S. junior national team in July even though its coach, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, calls him "without question the best player at that camp." His chagrin over being regarded as Carolina's most dangerous threat ... and its biggest question mark. Do you trust Rashad McCants? Because he finally trusts you. Enough to share his most private thoughts. Enough to admit, after two years of denials, that he does care what you think of him. Enough to reveal that he's a stubborn but sensitive 20year-old who's trying to change. Last January, after a wretched game against Kentucky, McCants came clean with Tar Heels coach Roy Williams: Coach, I need your trust if you want me to perform the way I can. "He gave it to me," says McCants, who went on to average 21.6 points in the rough-and-tumble ACC, "and I gave him everything I got."

This article presents reactions to the shift of college football games from Saturdays to any day of the week, in order to accommodate television coverage. Last week, for the second time this season, ESPN aired games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. How does it feel to go a month without playing on a Saturday (Louisville)? What's it like to suit up on three Tuesdays (Toledo)? How does it feel to miss two days of school on the road, then arrive back on campus at 5 a.m., sore and bleary-eyed, to be told by your coaches that you'd better make it to all your classes that day if you know what's good for you? To find the answers to these and other questions, we embarked on a four-day, four-game college football odyssey. Nov. 9: Toledo at Northern Illinois. "On the one hand," Northern Illinois student Aaris Berry complains, while tailgating with fellow members of Sigma Alpha Mu, "we've got the university president taking out an ad in the school paper, telling us the team needs us to be at the game. On the other hand we've got professors scheduling quizzes during night classes, making sure we don't go." "A lot of kids are blowing off classes anyway," adds frat brother Marquis Naylor. "I mean, this is Toledo." Tuesday Night Lights, as Chryst sees it, are a means to that end, though not everyone shares his enthusiasm. In a dank stadium hallway after the game, I offer condolences to Novak on his eighth loss to Toledo, then ask him how he feels about playing on this night of the week. "I'm totally against it," he says. "I love the exposure, but I just don't think Tuesday night was meant for college football. We get so entranced by this thinking that it's such a big deal to be on TV, but we're prostituting these kids a little bit." INSETS: Boise for Breakfast;One Foot In the Door.

This article focuses on the life of professional golfer John Daly. Except for the part about winning the British Open, John Daly's life has always played out like a bad country song, with all the touchstones of the genre: the wrong women, battles with the bottle, squandered fortunes and a scrape with the law (to say nothing of the PGA Tour commissioner). In the beginning--circa 1991--Daly's flaws contributed as much to his popularity as did the awesome drives he launched with his hyperextended swing. Daly's tailspin began in July. On the 23rd his fourth wife, Sherrie, gave birth to John Patrick Daly II, a.k.a. Little John. Five days after the birth, Sherrie and her parents--Alvis Miller and his wife of 39 years, Billie--were indicted in a Mississippi federal court for allegedly laundering more than $1.2 million in illegal drug profits. Since his wife's arrest, Daly has been disqualified or has withdrawn from four of his seven Tour starts. On Oct. 5, the day PGA senior vice president and chief of operations Henry Hughes called Daly to express concerns over his recent behavior, Daly instructed his attorney to file divorce papers in Memphis.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes is the National Football League's (NFL) best running back and is finally being paid like he is. He picked up the pen and moved it across the heavy white paper, dotting his "i" and crossing his "t" with a calligrapher's flourish. Then, and only then, did Priest Holmes flash his $35 million smile. In addition to the joy inspired by signing such a deal, Holmes, the Kansas City Chiefs' relentlessly driven running back, felt relief, vindication and even humility. Mostly, though, as he sat at the round oak table in the office of team president Carl Peterson on Sept. 3, 2003, Holmes was overcome by hunger. "Hadn't eaten all day," Holmes recalls, grimacing at the memory. "At that point all I could think about was getting some food." First, however, Holmes had to go to practice, after which he showered and got some treatment in the training room. At the Macaroni Grill, at a table near the back, Holmes met his suburban Kansas City neighbor and former high school teammate, Michael Gann, and Gann's wife, Misty, for a typically low-key meal. By virtue of a 42-14 victory over the Houston Texans, Holmes, a San Antonio native who ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 67 yards in a triumphant return to his home state, also helped give the 3-0 Chiefs something they haven't had since 1997: bona fide Super Bowl aspirations.

Ted Williams lived a robust life that was unquestioned in its greatness, be it as the sweet-swinging Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox or the heroic fighter pilot serving his country in two wars. In death, however, Williams has been shrouded in unthinkable controversy. In the 13 months since his passing, his body has been suspended in liquid nitrogen at Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, Ariz., a cryonics company. According to Alcor internal documents, e-mails, photographs and tape recordings obtained by SI with the cooperation of the company's most recent chief operating officer, Larry Johnson, Williams's postmortem days have been bizarre and complicated beyond imagination. One Alcor board member has talked with ghoulish humor about using the body as "a bargaining chip" to collect $111,000 that John Henry Williams, Ted's son, still owes from the original $136,000 bill to put Williams into cryonic suspension, a deep-freezing process done in hopes that scientific advances someday will restore the dead to life. Then, on July 15--10 days after Ted's death and two weeks before John Henry wrote a$ 25,000 check to Alcor--John Henry and Claudia produced the oil-stained piece of scrap paper, which John Henry claimed to have just found in the trunk of his car. INSET: Tip of the ICEBERG?.

To the list of life's vexing choices--timeless dilemmas like paper or plastic, and tastes great versus less filling--basketball adds pass or shoot. For most of his career at the University of Texas sophomore point guard T.J. Ford fell consistently on the first side of that divide. With Ford finally lifting his eyes to the rim, Texas has lifted itself in the polls. For reclaiming the point guard position in all its old-fashioned purity, for giving the Longhorns chemistry to match their depth, for reconfiguring the balance of power in the Big 12 and for flouting the Samson legend, Ford is "Sports Illustrated"'s Player of the Year.

In 1994 the bellicose Madison Square Garden poets--the deli workers, deliverymen and god-knows-what-they-do characters who dance and shout insults near the rafters--converted it to Messiah. The New York Rangers fell apart when Mark Messier left in 1997, and even with him back in 2002, they remain in a drought. Among the 5,500 men who have played in the National Hockey League (NHL), only Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, took part in more games than Messier has. He is not only the last man remaining from the Edmonton Oilers' best teams, but he is also the last Cincinnati Stinger, the last Indianapolis Racer, the last man left from the entire World Hockey Association. Where his stature matters most, in the Rangers' locker room, he remains a figure of reverence. Messier is consistently among the first players to leave the ice after a Rangers' practice, but he is rarely idle while he's out there. Around the Rangers' locker room he sometimes wears a white terry cloth robe, like a boxer, that has stitched on the breast MOOSE, because in Edmonton he was known as the Moose on the Loose. The notable players nearly as old as he is--defenseman Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings, center Adam Oates of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, center Ron Francis of the Carolina Hurricanes and Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils--are playing a game stylistically similar to the one they played as young men. Messier is, on paper, the Rangers' third-line center, behind Eric Lindros and Holik, and possibly their fourth, behind Petr Nedved. Nevertheless, before Holik injured his hip, Messier was on the ice nearly as much as any other Rangers forward. The Rangers who were young men with him--Richter and defenseman Brian Leetch, for example--have married and begun families."Getting old is terrible," someone said. "It's not getting old," Messier said, "It's wanting to play morehockey."

Comments on how a rising toll of racetrack breakdowns has shaken public confidence and put the thoroughbred industry at a crossroads. The cannon bone injury to So Sly on October 3, 1993; The research paper on racehorse deaths which will be presented to the American Association of Equine Practitioners in December 1993 by Julie Wilson; More. INSETS: Deciphering a death (autopsies), by Lester Munson.;The old gray mare's new leg, by W.N..

The article examines the request by stock car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. that NASCAR fans throw toilet paper in protest should Jeff Gordon break Earnhardt's late father's record for career victories. Past episodes where fans threw beer cans at Gordon's car are cited. It's noted that when Gordon broke the record on April 30, 2007, spectators still threw beer cans. Gordon jokes he thought Earnhardt Jr. had more influence with the public.

This article looks at American soldiers in Iraq who have created a baseball field and play baseball while serving their country. That ball is over the tarmac and the weeds and the tactical truck for a home run! Only it's not really a baseball. It's an old tennis ball wrapped in toilet paper and then smothered in duct tape. And this isn't Pro Player Stadium; this is a homemade ballpark in Tall 'Afar, Iraq, 250 miles north of Baghdad and a million miles from cold beer and La-Z-Boys and the wife's sweet lips. This isn't the World Series; it's a pickup game played by a bunch of American soldiers stuck in a withering kind of hell and boredom and terror that only politicians can dream up. They put a diamond on the bubbling-hot tarmac where day after sunburned day they service the thirsty copters that come whirling through. Somebody put up dugouts -- two cots with camouflage netting for cover -- and somebody else found lime for the baselines. Some guys donated the seat cushions from their Hummer for bases. Some grunts rigged up a load of plastic mesh and bamboo poles for an outfield fence. And suddenly there it was, a slice of America: Field Afar, a Yankee Stadium with real Yankees, a place as beautiful to these men as Fenway Park is to a Dorchester dentist. And that's when they realized that they were having something rarer than a sirloin around there: fun. Guys like specialist Ronald Hancock of Alpha Company, who doesn't play baseball but spends his downtime at the field keeping score.

The article reports on the challenges faced by University of Virginia basketball team center Olden Polynice after being charged of submitting a plagiarized term paper. A secret trial involving a jury of fellow students found Polynice innocent. However, someone from the trial leaked out the news about Polynice's case to the media. This reportedly triggered criticisms from the press and sports fans who assumed that Polynice was given special treatment because he was a varsity player.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discuss the decision to change the sports journal's format to a biweekly publishing schedule starting with the January 15, 2018 issue, and it mentions the periodical's Swimsuit Issue in February 2018 and the use of heavier, brighter paper.

Discusses the Miami Herald's publishing of a story alleging that jockey Jose Santos used an electric shock device on his horse. Seven days after Jose Santos won the 2003 Kentucky Derby on Funny Cide, the Miami Herald published a photo it said showed him carrying a shock-inducing buzzer. An investigation found the illegal" device" was an optical illusion. Santos carried only his whip. Now the jockey and the horse's owners have filed a libel suit against the paper, seeking$ 48 million. (The paper says it will vigorously defend itself against the charges.

Presents several news briefs related to sports. Discussion of a television program based on the life of Los Angeles Lakers' vice president Jeanie Buss, who is the daughter of the owner and dates the coach; Role of Gavin Palone in getting the television program into production for NBC; Reaction of Texas Tech University to scholarship soccer players Nicole and Roxanne Frilot, who appeared in a wet T-shirt contest on MTV; Former athletes who will be attending a reunion marking the 40th anniversary of author George Plimpton's participation in the Detroit Lions' training camp, which was documented in a "Sports Illustrated" article and the book "Paper Lion"; Musicians that attended tennis player Andy Roddick's matches at the U.S. Open.

This article presents photographs of the runners in the recent New York City Marathon. Runners are shown running over discarded paper cups and Paul Tergat of Kenya is shown just beating last year's winner Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa. This year's finish had the narrowest margin of victory in the history of the race.

This article comments on the widespread nature of steroid use in sports. Former chief justice Earl Warren might find reading the paper tough these days, and not only because he'd be 114 years old if he were still alive. It was Warren who famously said that he turned to the sports pages first because they record people's accomplishments, while the front page is chock-full of man's failures. Tell that to Alex Sanchez, the formerly anonymous Tampa Bay Devil Ray who became above-the-fold sports news on Sunday. Sanchez was suspended for 10 games for failing a drug test. The Sanchez bust, of course, was only a matter of time. By Sunday afternoon it had been more than 24 hours since the last steroid-related news flash, an interminable drought in an era when Jose Canseco is a best-selling author. In overseas news Triathlon Australia announced that an Aussie Ironman competitor had tested positive for nandrolone. The scandal has stirred even the NHL, the league the news forgot: Dave Morissette, a former Montreal goon, has staked his claim as the Canadian Canseco with his book, which says steroids were rampant when he played in the 1990s. Last week also brought word that Lance Armstrong was being sued by a former personal assistant who alleges he found steroids in the bathroom of the six-time Tour de France winner's apartment in Spain last year. Fans, too, will make their own judgments, as some already have done with the Detroit Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez. The catcher formerly known as Pudge has dropped from 215 pounds last season to his current 193. Rodriguez says he ate right and ran more this off-season--and that his slim-down is unrelated to being fingered as a steroid user in Canseco's book. Maybe, but maybe not. Rodriguez, after all, is an athlete, and thus is at the very least hanging out with the wrong crowd.

The article profiles gym teacher, Kristie Andres, and her children's fitness program. Like many innovative gym teachers, Andres radically overhauled the curriculum, incorporating free play with traditional sports such as football and basketball. "Maybe 20 percent of my kids are hard-core athletes," says Andres. "I have to concentrate on getting the other kids involved." She sees her students five days a week for 40 minutes each day, and her classes look nothing like the ones that she attended three decades ago. Here's a school year's worth of phys ed with Andres. Climbing wall: Students practice traversing an artificial rock wall, 8-by-40 feet, that Andres bought with money from a grant by a community-based group. In-line skating: Two weeks of skating about and, as the kids improve, going around obstacles--in helmets and pads, of course. Running: Students run or walk during gym class every Monday until the end of the school year. Football: No games, because they could lead to injuries, but there are individual skills competitions, including a punt-pass-and-kick event like the one sponsored by the NFL. Board game: Andres took one of her daughter's old Candyland boards, covered it with white paper and created a game in which students move pieces around the board by completing fitness tasks. Line dancing and square dancing: Experts say there is no activity that engages young girls better than dancing.

This article discusses the fans of the Boston Red Sox after the team finally won a World Series. Suddenly, on paper Boston's pitching staff looked stronger than the Yankees', whose Game 7 win over the Sox in the 2003 ALCS was the most recent, and haunting, ghost in Boston's terrifying attic of collapses. How excruciating to live through plagues like the one brought on by Bucky Dent in '78, famines like the one caused by Bill Buckner in '86, afflictions like the one visited upon the Nation by Grady Little with his decision to stick with a gassed Pedro Martinez against the Yanks in 2003, five outs away from the pennant. They build backyard shrines to the Red Sox, miniature plywood Green Monsters throughout suburban Boston, painstakingly re-created in every detail, right down to the Morse code initials of Tom Yawkey and his wife. (Boston fans actually rooted for the Yanks to beat the Minnesota Twins in the first round of the playoffs, believing it wouldn't be the same to win a World Series without first spitting in the eye of the tiger. And once they'd extended the Yanks to a Game 7, the game the Red Sox always lost, this lovable band of misfits finally slew the dragon, shellacking New York 10-3 as the entire Big Apple watched in sickened, slack-jawed shock.

This article discusses the early season efforts of the Detroit Tigers. Memories of the Tigers' ignominious season were blessedly distant on Sunday, when the crowd of 12,138 at Comerica Park stood and roared in the 40° afternoon chill not for the announcement of a Stanley Cup playoff score for the Red Wings, but because leftfielder Craig Monroe had singled home pinch runner Andres Torres with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. And coupled with a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week at SkyDome--Detroit outscored Toronto by a combined 20-6--the Tigers thus were listed in the Monday morning papers as having the best record in the league (5-1). "Who would have thought?" Detroit catcher-turned-outfielder Brandon Inge asked after Sunday's game. Well, nobody, probably. Last season the Tigers didn't win their fifth game until May 5. With a dearth of major league--ready talent in the Detroit farm system, general manager Dave Dombrowski aggressively pursued several free agents in the off-season. The Tigers eventually snagged catcher Ivan Rodriguez (four years, $40 million); leftfielder Rondell White (two years, $6million); and second baseman Fernando Vina (two years, $6 million).

This article presents an analysis of the Cleveland Indians at the outset of the 2004 baseball season. As a Stanford history major in 1999, Jody Gerut produced a 20-page senior paper that examined the intricacies of patent law in the Soviet Union. As bright a ballplayer as he was an academic, Gerut determined three years later that his career would stagnate in the minor leagues unless he reinvented himself as a power hitter. In the Indian's stripped-down lineup--five regulars began last season with less than 50 games each of big-league experience--Gerut emerged as the big bopper, testament to both the success of his metamorphosis and the shortage of power around him. Avoiding the division cellar thanks to hapless Detroit, the Indians lost 94 games and finished 13th in the AL in runs per game (4.31), slugging percentage (.401) and total bases. A second-round draft pick in 1998, Gerut played to Stanford type: He was defensively sound, hit selectively and for average, struck out infrequently and delivered the occasional blast as a bonus.

This article discusses the pros and cons of various statistics used in Major League Baseball. Measuring the value of a player used to be as easy as reading his numbers on the scoreboard, in the Sunday morning paper or on the back of a baseball card. Without venturing into the dizzying acronymic labyrinth of VORP (value over replacement player), BRARP (batting runs above replacement position), DIPS (defense independent pitching statistics) and other advanced specialty stats that could scare off a jet propulsion engineer, here is a look at what's in vogue--and what's not--in the vast array of baseball stats. An official stat only since 1984, OBP (hits plus walks plus hit by pitches divided by at bats plus walks plus hit by pitches plus sacrifice flies) is enormously important because it tracks how often a hitter wins his duel with the pitcher by not making an out .400 OBP), and extraordinary ones like Barry Bonds, at least for the past three seasons, fail five out of 10 times. Bad news for the Orioles and the Devil Rays: Six of the top 10 are in the AL East (Boston's Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, Toronto's Roy Halladay and the Yankees' Mike Mussina, Javier Vazquez and Kevin Brown).