ON DECK JOHN RENNIE SPORTS-ETUDES BASEBALL CONCENTRATION WEEKLY UPDATE

1. T.W.I.B. NOTES SPECIAL SPRING BREAK / SPRING TRAINING EDITION While Florida and Arizona now host all Major League Baseball teams for spring training, this has not always been the case. The Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Havana, Cuba in 1947 and 1949, and in the Dominican Republic in 1948.[10] The New York Yankees also trained in the early 1950s in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Also spring training camps and games were held in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and cities of northern Mexico, sometimes by visiting major league teams in the 1950s and 1960s. During World War II, most teams held an abbreviated spring training within easy reach of their cities. In order to conserve rail transport during the war, 1943 Spring Training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River. The Chicago White Sox held camp in French Lick, Indiana; the Washington Senators in College Park, Maryland; and the New York Yankees in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[11] Before and shortly after big league baseball reached the West Coast, a number of teams trained in the state of California or along the state boundary. For example, early in their history, the then-California Angels held spring training in Palm Springs, California from 1961 to 1993, the San Diego Padres in Yuma from 1969 to 1993, the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas in the 1970s, and various major league teams had trained in Riverside, San Bernardino and El Centro near the Mexican border. ON DECK WITH COACH IAN ON DECKJOHN RENNIE SPORTS-ETUDES BASEBALL CONCENTRATION WEEKLY UPDATE CHANGING PLACES Some big names in Major League Baseball have changed teams over the winter. Albert Pujols has gone from the Cardinals to the Angels, Cecil Fielder has gone from the Brewers to the Tigers, Jonathan Papelbon has gone from the Red Sox to the Phillies. CHANGING PLACES Part 2 As mentioned above, some of the games big stars have left their former teams, through free agency, for more money elsewhere. BUT, one of the great stories of the 2012 Spring Training doesn’t have anything to do with money. Bryan LaHair has compiled over 4,000 MINOR LEAGUE at-bats and will be the starting first-baseman for the Chicago Cubs. Stay safe and eat healthy. Quizzes will be handed out and posted week of March 12th. Be prepared for testing before the end of March. Last Full Month of training Mon-Fri. April schedule will be Mon-Thurs with Friday Peds/Exams/Films. Thursdays at LBPHS will be rescheduled to EcoleSecdesSources in DDO. Good Luck in your Tryouts everyone! PED’S (PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS) While the acronym PE.D is usually associated with “PED” Support (Pedological) for our young ballplayers, in the MLB, PED has come to have a more ominous meaning: Performance Enhancing Drugs. The MLB’s first testing program was implemented unilaterally in 2001 in the Minor Leagues. Testing in the MLB only begins on a test basis in 2003. Coincidentally that same year, 23 year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Belcher collapses and dies at Spring Training. His autopsy finds the PED Ephedra in his system. and was considered by the medical examiner as the primary cause of Belcher's death. Subsequently, MLB places Ephedra on the list of banned drugs at the Minor League level and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bans it from over-the-counter sale 2012 Spring Training has felt the repercussions of Ryan Braun’s positive test for PED’s and the shocking overturning of his 50 game ban THEY SAID IT “You can observe a lot just by watching” - Yogi Berra, former New York Yankees & Mets player & manager and member of the Hall of Fame. Spring Break, 2012 Edition 8 - 2012