Fast Break
Baseball
Biggio pins blame on MLB
Craig Biggio was angry at the commissioner’s office this week after he was told to stop wearing a pin on his cap that bears the logo of a foundation that helps children with cancer.
The Houston Astros star said he has worn the bright yellow, sun-shaped pin, featuring the logo for the Sunshine Kids foundation, on his hat during spring training games for the past 20 years without a problem. He is the national spokesman for the foundation and is active in its work.
“I’m not a disrespectful person and I don’t disrespect the game,” Biggio said. “But I’ve been wearing this pin for 20 years because it puts smiles on 20,000-something cancer patients’ faces.”
A spokesman for Major League Baseball declined to comment.
“Major League Baseball does a lot of good things, but this is one of the stupid things,” Biggio said.
The 41-year-old second baseman, who is 70 hits shy of 3,000, said he wears the pin in spring training because many of the pictures for baseball cards are taken during those games and the children like seeing the pin on those cards.
Baseball
Indians lose Fox to big leagues
Andy Fox, who was slated to manage the Spokane Indians baseball team this season, was hired as the first-base coach of the Florida Marlins on Saturday.
Fox, who was named to coach the Indians in January, will also coach infielders for the Marlins.
Now it’s hurry-up-and-wait time for the Indians, a farm team of the Texas Rangers.
“We have not been informed by the Rangers on who will take over,” Indians senior vice president Otto Klein told The Spokesman-Review. “We’ll know more the first part of next week. We’re happy for Andy and this just demonstrates the Rangers’ willingness to send us coaches with major league ability.”
The 36-year-old Fox played nine seasons in the majors. He won a World Series with the New York Yankees as a rookie in 1996 and also won a title with the Marlins in 2003.
Television
‘Sports Machine’ shuts down
Tonight, George Michael pulls the plug on his 27-year-old “Sports Machine.”
The nationally syndicated weekly highlights show did more than go to the videotape. Before NASCAR and bull-riding became cool, Michael gave them national exposure on his earliest shows.
Before TV sports highlights became a popular art form, Michael was already arranging them to tell stories.
Michael said he’s “parting amicably” from NBC, which distributes “Machine” and owns the Washington, D.C., network affiliate where he’s a sports anchor. His last show will air on KHQ 6 tonight at 11:35.