James Floto's THE OUTER EDGE, Week 12

Last week Adam Ulrey contributed to my weekly column. This week, while working on my house, I smashed my fingers in a window frame and am on the typing DL for a few days. My daughter Rose typed this up for me and Adam did the entire column. Next week I'll be back, hopefully with some additional comments by Adam

Adam's Bits for week--- Written By Adam J. Ulrey

This week in baseball a very interesting trade involving John Rocker, the death of former major leaguer Sam Jethroe, big homeruns and many more

The biggest news of the week, though, was the Cal Ripken's announcement that he is retiring at the end of the season. For a baseball fan like me this is sad news, because he played the game with grace and style. He came out every night and gave you all he had to offer, which in today's game you don't always get. He is one of only seven players with 400 homers and 3,000 hits. He of course he holds the record for most consecutive games played, a record that Lou Gehrig held and most people thought would never be broken. I think it's safe to say that we will never see somebody break that record again. Also, he was the one who paved the way for Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter to play the position even though they were taller than normal for a shortstop. Cal proved that a big man (Cal is 6'4") could play shortstop. For most of Cal's career I have heard people say that he doesn't have much range for a shortstop. That just tells you how many of those guys weren't watching him play. The reason he didn't show off his range is that he would study the hitters and position himself where he figured the ball would go and make the play. He was smarter than most players that played the game. So Cal enjoy the rest of this year and thanks for the memories.

A player that many of you might not know, Sam Jethroe, died this week at the age of 83. He was the first black player for the Boston Braves back in 1950 and won the Rookie Of The Year award at the age of 32, the oldest rookie ever to win the award. He led the National League in steals his first two years with 35 each year. He and Max Carey are the only players to lead the league in steals two years in a row with the same amount. He ended up playing just four years in the majors, finishing with a .261 average, 49 homers, 181 RBIs and 98 steals for his career.

Florida made a charge this week and has moved to within 2 1/2 games of the first place Phillies in the NL East. One of the reasons is the pitching of A.J. Burnett. This kid is quickly becoming one of the best young pitchers in the game. Through nine starts he had an incredible 2.11 ERA with a 5-3 record. What makes him different than most young pitchers is that in 64 innings he has only surrendered 43 hits and 25 walks. If he had a few more innings he would be leading the NL in ERA. Along with teammate Brad Penny (6-1, 3.69 ERA and 72 Ks) Florida has two of the best young arms in the game. This team is for real and they are proving that their second half surge last year was no fluke.

John Rocker was traded along with minor leaguer Troy Cameron to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Steve Karsay and Steve Reed. This trade will be talked about for a long time. Cleveland wanted Rocker because he throws from the left side at 95 mph. He has 83 career saves with a 2.63 ERA. No one has ever questioned his arm, just his head. I also feel that the media made a lot more of the Sports Illustrated article than it needed to. There's no questioning the fact the Rocker is a moron, but he is paid to get batters out, not for his thoughts about life. Karsay and Reed are both good right-handed pitchers, but both are free agents that the Indians were not going to sign back.

Luis Gonzalez is only seven homers behind Barry Bonds with 32 and is on pace to hit right around 70. He leads the NL in hits with 100, is second in RBIs with 74, second in runs with 68 and leads the Senior Circuit with a .356 batting average, just ahead of the surging Moises Alou. He said that he worked out hard this past off-season than at any other time in his career and its paying off. Hes one of the main reasons that the Diamondbacks have a five game lead in the NL West. He is one those late bloomers; since coming to Arizona three seasons ago at age 31, he hit .336, 26, 112 in 1999 and .311, 31, 114 last year. It's not like he just came out of nowhere.

Ellis Burks had a hell of a week, with 6 homers and 7 RBIs for the Indians. In one game against the Twins he hit three. He has been a great pick up, hitting .307 with 19 homers and 52 RBIs to this point in the season. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what the Giants were thinking when they decided not to sign him back. All he has done for the last five years is produce. The Giants' loss is the Indians' gain, and being a big fan of the tribe I'm glad we have his bat in the lineup.

This week we saw a few guys move up the homerun chart. Mark McGwire hit his seventh on the year to give him 561 for his career and move within one of Reggie Jackson for sixth place on the all-time list. Juan Gonzalez passed Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez into 44th place with the 380th homer of his career. He also became the all-time Puerto Rico home run leader, passing Cepeda. Larry Walker hit the 294th of his career to move pass Kent Hrbek for 92nd on the all-time list. What would a segment on home runs be without a mention of Barry Bonds? Bonds hit his 39th on the year to move him within one of Jimmie Foxx for 10th place. Sammy Sosa passed Duke Snider for 32nd place with his blast on Friday, the 409th of his career.

Jose Canseco is back in the bigs after being picked up by the White Sox to be their DH. Nothing personal, but I wish this guy would just go away and retire. He was hitting .284 with 7 homers and 27 RBIs in 41 games for the Independent league Newark Bears. He still has this goal of getting to 500 homers, which will take him about 2 1/2 more seasons. I just don't see him making it that long. If he does make it too 500 homers he could become the first one not to make the Hall of Fame. I don't think this guy should get a vote.