This is from his "Stat of the Week" e-mail (I forget how to sign up; TBall told me), so I won't post the whole thing, but really interesting.  A couple of highlights:

Rookies and Runs Created:

2009 Top Rookie Hitters, MLB

Player                                  Runs Created
Chris Coghlan, Marlins             74
Seth Smith, Rockies                 62
Dexter Fowler, Rockies            62
Nolan Reimold, Orioles           60
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates    59
Elvis Andrus, Rangers              59

Link to the Article

---------------------------------------

List:

1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
3. Johan Santana, Mets
4. Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
5. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
6. Chase Utley, Phillies
7. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
8. Derek Jeter, Yankees
9. Mariano Rivera, Yankees
10. Chipper Jones, Braves
11. Ryan Howard, Phillies
12. Grady Sizemore, Indians
13. David Wright, Mets
14. Justin Morneau, Twins
15. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
16. Josh Beckett, Red Sox
17. Mark Teixeira, Yankees
18. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
19. Tim Lincecum, Giants
20. Evan Longoria, Rays
21. Lance Berkman, Astros
22. Jose Reyes, Mets
23. Carlos Beltran, Mets
24. Ian Kinsler, Rangers
25. Zack Greinke, Royals
26. Josh Hamilton, Rangers
27. Alfonso Soriano, Cubs
28. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
29. CC Sabathia, Yankees
30. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
31. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
32. Ryan Braun, Brewers
33. Dan Haren, Diamondbacks
34. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets
35. Matt Holliday, A's
36. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
37. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels
38. Jake Peavy, Padres
39. Joe Mauer, Twins
40. Carlos Quentin, White Sox
41. Jason Bay, Red Sox
42. Chad Billingsley, Dodgers
43. Cliff Lee, Indians
44. Torii Hunter, Angels
45. Victor Martinez, Indians
46. Roy Oswalt, Astros
47. Carlos Delgado, Mets
48. Carlos Zambrano, Cubs
49. Cole Hamels, Phillies
50. Brian McCann, Braves

---------------------------------------

Mark Teixeira at 17?  Pedroia at 18?  Based on one good season?  If so, why is Greinke only 25th?  I have to admit, I'm scratching my head on a few of these, but what do you people think?

Got a message from my friend Colleen from highschool about a week ago seeing if I'd like to go to the Rangers annual charity event for the Rangers Foundation: The Rangers Triple Play. Having wanted to go in the past, I really jumped for the chance. We had no idea what to expect - Colleen had gotten two tickets from Mr. and Mrs. Hicks since they love Colleen. So, the ticket stated that we were at "Table 6," the "Thomas O. and Cinda Hicks Family Foundation" table, and other than that we had no idea what to expect, and who to expect at our table.

On the way in I joked that I was going to sit next to Nolan Ryan, but only because he literally was my childhood idol (I even wore #34 when I played). At any rate, after milling around for awhile and checking out the silent auction items, we were instructed to take our seats. Colleen and I were the first to get to our table, which was extremely front and center, and a woman who I recognized walked up and introduced herself: "I'm Ruth Ryan," she said.

I turned to Colleen and said, "That's Nolan Ryan's wife!" and she sat down one seat away from me, and put her bag down in the empty chair between herself and me. Then I said to Colleen, "Oh my God, Nolan Ryan is going to sit next to me!!!" He came in a few minutes late, but sure enough it was him. And it was awesome. Even crazier was that on the other side of Mrs. Ryan was Tom Hicks, and farther along was his wife. Also at our table were Hicks' daughter and her friend, another couple, and the player we got was Derek Holland. So crazy. So, so crazy.

As a bit of a disclaimer/disappointment: I did not take any pictures of these people. I mean, I was a guest of the Hicks family themselves (via Colleen), and I thought it would be in poor taste to start taking photos, or demanding photos with them. I really did plan on asking Nolan at the end of the program if I could get a quick shot, but him and his wife ducked out about 20 minutes before it ended (probably because he was not left alone by the autograph seekers the entire show), so no dice.

Anyways, on to the program. They played Infielders (featuring Vizquel, Kinsler, Blalock and Young) vs. Outfielders (Hamilton, Jones, Cruz and Murphy) Family Feud (pictured at the top), which I thought was pretty good. My favorite answer was "Name famous 'Mickeys.'" The #1 answer was "Mouse," of course, then they had Rourke, Mantle and the Infielders got to Omar Vizquel's turn, and he said, "Mickey Young." Eric Nadel had him clarify, and he did in fact mean "Michael Young," but thought enough people surveyed would answer "Mickey Young." It was not one of the choices. Anyways, the Outfielders won somehow (Andruw Jones at one point could not even give an answer for "Boardgames you can play as a family." Seriously, Andruw? No answer?) Second, the Rookies came and did some Karaoke:

From left to right we have: Chris Davis, Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus, Taylor Teagarden and Derek Holland. They had some corny Anchorman-esque knockoff dialogue (Davis was Ron Burgundy), and then they sang a few bars from Afternoon Delight. Pretty amusing stuff, but best of all was Elvis in that weird blonde wig and moustache combo. They didn't let him have any lines, but he danced and shook morraccas(sp?) during the Karaoke (he didn't sing). Third on the list was Battle of the Sexes:

Battle of the Sexes pitted the Byrds, the Kinslers, the Youngs and the Saltalamacchias against each other. I'm still confused why Marlon Byrd had to blind guess whether "Saltalamacchia" contained 12, 13 or 14 letters (Salty's wife had to count up the letters herself). Tess Kinsler seems nice. Mostly because she is so awesomely hot. Seriously. The women ended up beating the guys pretty badly. One more shot of Michael Young vs. Christina Barbosa Young:

Anyways, I totally had a blast. The gameshows were enjoyable, they raised some money for a good cause (I bought a Michael Young autographed baseball; who's signature Nolan promptly made fun of, then later Nolan told Nelson Cruz that he has to do better with his autograph too - pretty funny.) The best part was that I got to sit next to Nolan Effing Ryan for the whole program; to say it was intimidating is a vast understatement, but he was extremely nice, as were everyone at our table. Thanks to Colleen for the seats. Thanks to Tom Hicks for letting me sit at his table, and thanks to Nolan Ryan for sitting next to me all through dinner. I am still sort of speechless all that happened.

According to this article by the DMN, they say that there is a developer trying to build a stadium near the Trinity River by Southside on Lamar, along with a mixed use development:

via www.dallasnews.com

Apparently, the goal is to have over 2,500 apartments, retail and a stadium.  Question for you guys is: what team are they thinking of?  The article doesn't mention anything, so is this all just speculation?  I find it hard to believe that someone would build an urban stadium just in the hope that they could then lure a minor league team to Dallas...  Any ideas?

Artist's rendition of the stadium:

via www.dallasnews.com

I wanted to ask you guys where you all ended up parking?  I had to work until 11:00, so I didn't get there until about 11:45, and by that time, many of the parking lots were full so I ended up parking in the parking lot between Siemens and the Sheraton.  Anyways, at the end of the game, we left right after the final out, walked straight to the car, then we sat, unmoving for over a half hour. 

I'm not sure if cops just weren't directing traffic on our only way out or what, but literally our parking lot did not move for forever.  I am going to take special care to avoid this lot in the future, and I recommend the same to all of you.

Did anyone else have any similar issues?  Here's a photo I took from my iPhone, because I love America.  And Texas:

Anyways, I hope you all had as good of a time as I did - this was pure greatness this year!