Orel Family

Gone too soon? Jim Leyland pulls Max Scherzer from ALCS Game 6 (photo: Matt Slocum / Associated Press) Last Saturday night, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-2 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series  to advance to the 2013 World Series. In what seemed like an eerie bit of déjà vu from Game 2 of the same series, Tigers starter Max Scherzer left the game while the Tigers were ahead, only to see a parade of relievers struggle and ultimately give up a grand slam home run. Scherzer went 21-3 during the regular season. He will win this year's AL Cy Young Award. In Game 2 he was dominating, and departed after throwing 108 pitches over 7 innings. In several other outings this year, Scherzer had often thrown more pitches; he had averaged over 120 pitches in his prior two starts. The Tigers led, 5-1. But when three relievers combined to get just 2 outs while loading the bases in the bottom of the 8th, manager Jim Leyland called on closer Joaquin Beno...

Pud Galvin. Cap Anson. Ty Cobb. Tris Speaker. These are some of the most famous men ever to play major league baseball. All of them have been inducted into the  National Baseball Hall of Fame . All of them had superb career accomplishments: Galvin won 365 major league baseball games. He was the first pitcher to win 300 games, and was the all-time leader in wins when he retired. He still ranks 5th on the all-time list. He also  took steroids  during the 1889 season. Anson played an astounding 27 seasons -- the first  27 seasons of major league baseball. He was the first player to collect 3000 major league hits, and was the all-time leader in hits when he retired. He still ranks 6th on the all-time list. He was also a  racist  whose refusal to take the field against a team with black players in 1887 led to the establishment of baseball's notorious color barrier. Cobb was baseball's greatest hitter. He was the first player to collect 4000 hits....