Stan Olson covers the NFL's Carolina Panthers for the Charlotte Observer and also writes about Major League Baseball. Olson is in his 34th year of writing for Charlotte newspapers, 22 of them with the Observer. You can reach him at (704) 358-5114 or e-mail solson@charlotteobserver.com.
Stan Olson | And the Major League Baseball Players' Association probably wonders why the average fan can't stand it.
Stan Olson | Now it's Max Scherzer's turn to be baseball's Next Big Thing. Scherzer, a right-handed pitcher for Arizona, was promoted to the major leagues and then tossed into his first game last Tuesday. 
Comment?
So who hits home runs, anyway? We know that throughout baseball history, the bigger players -- naturally being more powerful -- usually hit more long balls. When weightlifting and conditioning began to become popular in the 1970s and '80s, more home runs were hit. And then, in the '90s, homer totals exploded with the use of steroids.
His name was Henry Cotto, and he's mostly forgotten, except for one thing. He suffered one of the strangest baseball injuries of all time, giving new meaning to the old expression, "stick it in his ear."
THE ALL-TIME BREAKDOWNS
Whatever happened to the New York Yankees? Think how things have changed in this decade. Comment?
One man. This is what it has come to. One man, Jerry Reese, seems on the way to preventing minor-league baseball and Charlotte from coming together uptown.
Is the Atlanta Braves' divisional dynasty done, once and for all?
His name is Randy Johnson, and he's ancient by baseball standards, 44 years old. Comment?
Right now, with spring training in full swing and all that sunshine making everything seem brighter, you're thinking that just maybe, your team can sneak into the playoffs, aren't you?
It's almost time. Time for the pop of ball in glove and the crack of the bat and the sunshine and the grass and all the things that go along with the game.
