Really, San Diego. By fax? You relieved (pun intended) the most prolific closer in Major League Baseball history via FAX?!? This is a guy that, and here comes the shameless plug, former Kansas City Royal Jeff Montgomery told me was "obviously" a Hall of Famer. What else did "Monty" have to say?

Remember the long ball?

Yeaha€¦it wasn't THAT long ago that "chicks dug the long ball" and freaks of nature like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds graced the cover of every sports magazine across the country.

I had the pleasure to talk with former Kansas City Royal closer Jeff Montgomery and here are his thoughts on "The Age of the Closer".

So I've been kicking a Jim Edmonds post around for a while nowa€¦I just haven't been motivated enough to write about him even though there were a few avenues to go down.

I started by comparing him to contemporary outfielders like Steve Finley and Luis Gonzalez. Both guys who, in my mind, would illustrate what I already thoughta€¦Edmonds DOES NOT belong alongside those enshrined in Cooperstown because, frankly, not one of the three belongs in the same sentence as the sleepy New York town.

Or does here?!?

Recently, I asked visitors here who most deserves a plaque in Cooperstowna€¦ Mike Mussina, Gary Sheffield, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel or Billy Wagner and surprisingly, 64% of you picked Mike Mussina.

But is he "hall worthy"?

You be the judge.

So here we are. We're deep into the second half of the baseball season, in the midst of the 2008 Olympics and I've got next to nothing write about.

Or do I?!?

I mean, I don't care about what Michael Phelps is going to do (or not do) in Beijing, I can't name any of our gymnasts and unless Bird, Magic and Michael come back to take on the worlda€¦the "Redeem Team" isn't really getting me excited. However, all the hype about Summer Games has me thinking "international" and waxing nostalgic about conversations I've had, things I've seen and most importantlya€¦other blogs I've read.

A number of weeks backa€¦my man Nick Underhill wrote on his site that Ichiro Suzuki wasn't worth the all hype. I disagree...and I have more than 3000 combined reasons why!

A lot of kids growing up get excited for the normal made up holidaysa€¦Valentine's Day, Halloween, the last day of school. Mea€¦I always got jazzed up about the day the Hall of Fame announcement was made. Sure, it doesn't have some fancy name or some wing at the Hallmark store dedicated to it, but it was, for a couple hours in Januarya€¦my Christmas.

Well, TECHNICALLY, Christmas was Christmasa€¦but you get the idea.

The All-Star break has officially come and gone…did you hear the one about this being the "last season at Yankee Stadium"?

All that aside, I can't bash the All-Star game. Some of my fondest moments as a lifelong baseball fan have come as a result of the Mid Summer Classic. Suffice it to say…I was ecstatic when I heard about FOX's super hyped "Red Carpet" special PRIOR to the game. This thing promised to feature everything you could ever want leading up to an All-Star Game…Hall of Famers, All-Stars and no Ryan Seacrest.

By now, we all know that this is the last All-Star game at "Historic Yankee Stadium", the Tampa Bay Rays have no starters and Jason Varitek is somehow going to be part of the festivities. All of those are stories that we're going to hear ad nauseam, but there is going to be one name that we're likely going to get sick of hearing by this time next week... Josh Hamilton.

But it wasn't that long ago that a DIFFERENT Texas Ranger was making all the headlines.

Admittedly, when I read earlier in the week that Curt Schilling's rehab had reached a "plateau"...I was optimistic. Here's a guy who has met nearly every challenge put in front of him and I had no reason to think that this one would be any different.

So if it's done...what's next for Schill? Cooperstown?!?

I'll admit it, I thought it was pretty cool last year when Jim Thome, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez all hit number 500, but in the past two weeks…we witnessed, arguably, something more impressive.

What in the world am I talking about?!?

It must be the Year of Apathy in baseball.

First, you have Frank Thomas, the greatest player to ever call himself a DH gets shuffled around so much in a week that no one knows (or cares) what team he plays for. Then, Mike Piazza, possibly the greatest hitting catcher ever, retires, and no one notices. Now, Ken Griffey, Jr., the player with the greatest potential in the history of baseball, gets within a home run of 600, and no one outside of Cincinnati seems to care.

Why?

It seems like you can't turn on one of the evening sportscasts without seeing something that sparks some sort of discussion...dead horses, no-hitters, you name it! Can you remember a time in your life where every night you can go to bed knowing exactly what the water cooler fodder is going to be the next day?

Why in the world is NO ONE talking about Mike Piazza?