Prediction: Nobody will be elected by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame in 2010

In a poll of 17 Examiner.com baseball writers, none of them were able to reach a 75% consensus to elect any of the current nominees. Roberto Alomar placed first but didn't receive the required 75%. I am curious to see if Wednesday's totals match this. To see the full results, click the link above.

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A pair of 10 year-old Boston twins discover the Negro Leagues

It is always endearing to find out when the next generation of baseball fans discover the Negro Leagues. A recent Boston Globe article details the journey of a pair of 10 year-old Brookline twins (Max and Lucas Kerman) into the history of the Negro Leagues. The Negro Leagues experienced a rise in popularity in the mid 1990's when Ken Burns put Buck O'Neil on a worldwide stage in the epic series Baseball. O'Neil captured the minds of many, including this writer, with the clarity and vigor he displayed in telling the story of the Negro Leagues. While the stories of Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige are retold by many, to loosely quote O'Neil, "there were many other Satchel's and Josh's that played in the league." It was the story of those "other" superstars that made me further investigate the great talents of the Negro Leagues.

During the 1990's, there were many of the league's great stars alive to share their experiences of playing in an era of segregation. Many of them wrote books, attended reunions and card shows, and gave countless interviews to authors and reporters. As many started to pass, the public started to lose their connection to the Negro Leagues, even though literature was plentiful.

Currently, there are approximately 30-40 living Negro Leaguers who played before 1950 (the last year that most historians qualify the league as having widespread major league talent) and a handful of others who played in the league through 1960. They are our last living connections to a league that provided some of the greatest baseball talent in the world while enduring the hardships of segregation.

I commend these youngsters for actively seeking out the players to hear their stories. Hopefully they will be advocates for the memory of the Negro Leagues to their generation of baseball fans. My only hope is that we will see not only white youth take this kind of interest in the Negro Leagues, but that we will also see African-American youth doing the same.

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Roberto Clemente's New Year's Eve humanitarian efforts continue to endure

  by  Eric Beato 

As we begin to celebrate the start of a new decade, let's celebrate the memory of Roberto Clemente. We take a look at how Clemente's efforts have endured in the thirty-seven years since his passing.

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Ernie Harwell keeps on after cancer diagnosis

ESPN.com's Elizabeth Merrill wrote an excellent article on Ernie Harwell's busy life and the special people around him that keep him going after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer at the age of 91. Harwell is a standout in the baseball community; one who has given so much of his life to the sport and helping others. I selfishly hope that he continues to elude the grasp of cancer so he can reach many more while he is still with us.

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Joan Joyce, The Missing Legend Ted Williams Could Not Touch

Rarely did a pitcher get the best of Ted Williams. During his Major League career, Williams fanned only 709 times in 9,791 plate appearances. In 1961, a year after retiring from the Red Sox, Williams was asked to participate in an exhibition against Joan Joyce to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. Click here to read about when "the best hitter that ever lived" faced the best softball pitcher in the land.

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