Tino! Tino! Tino!
 I'm a longtime true and loyal fan of Tino Martinez from way back when he played for the Mariners. The Yankees being the Yankees—and in the same league as the Mariners— made it simple to keep track of him while he played in New York. Since he's been with the Cardinals it's been proving to be more of a challenge. This season it's been especially bad—seems like every time I've actually been able to watch a Cardinals game Albert Pujols has been playing first base while Tino's been on the bench. I did get home just in time on Sunday to see Tino's home run in the 9th, but that's the most I've seen him play in months.
So now I feel like I'm a real slouch as a fan since I hadn't realized that Tino's approaching a real career milestone. Thanks to David Pinto for pointing out that Tino only needs two more HRs to reach 300. Wow! Glad I didn't miss it.
This just in as I was writing this post:
Surprisingly, few major league players have participated in the Little League World Series. Luis Gonzalez came tantalizingly close.
Growing up in Tampa, he played on a team with Tino Martinez. But they consistently were eliminated by another team in town, one that featured Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell.
"Sheffield was as big then as he is now," Gonzalez said. "Every year, we'd play them for the city championship and lose. And every year, we had to watch them go to the Little League World Series."
Little League Story a Nostalgic Journey for Boys of Summer
3:30:58 AM 
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