Lunch Time Link Dump

• I love reading these crazy old stories of fantasy baseball origins and history. Can you imagine a day before the internet when the only way to get inside information was to make your own drive to spring training every year, subscribe to weekly baseball publications, or to actually pay off an agent or trainer for some tips? This story of a guy who became obsessed with fantasy baseball to a point where he claims it ruined his life is a good one.

• The ending to the Manny Ramirez saga sure proved to be a good one. After making a mockery of himself for the better part of the last three years, Manny retired after hearing that he had failed another MLB drug test and was looking at a 100 game suspension. His women's fertility drug of choice is well known as a masking agent that makes other performance enhancers difficult to detect. So it's not a matter of "if" but "what" was Manny really on these last few years. Of all the players to come through the "steroid era" of baseball, Manny's case for the Hall of Fame is going to be the most controversial. He was an amazing pure hitter, but the questions of laziness, selfishness, and now drug use are going to cast a major shadow on his career. Of the entire generation of ball players I grew up watching, it's sad to think that only three hitters (Griffey, Thomas, and Thome) are regarded as "clean."

• Big autograph session this Saturday at King of Prussia Mall. Too bad everything is comically overpriced. I've seen all of these guys signing for a fraction of the numbers listed here. Plus, I'll be busy doing a 5 mile run in Valley Forge. 

• Hunt Auctions has an impressive collection of merchandise available for auction this week. Most impressive is the group of lots from Robin Roberts personal collection. I'd say that Robin Roberts induction ring from the Hall of Fame is about as unique an item as any Phillies fan could own.

• ZooWithRoy.com (great site) collaborated with @DangerGuerrero of FilmDrunk & WarmingGlow fame (also great sites) to produce a rather epic and likely accurate portrayal of the Mets 2011 Video Yearbook. 

• A nice little video of a fan getting pummeled at a Pirates game over the weekend. I'm not sure why this hasn't gotten much exposure. Clearly being Patriotic is frowned upon in Pittsburgh.

• Beyond the Box Score did an interesting series of articles in the past two weeks about retired numbers. It's funny how through the first 70 years of the decade there were only a handful and now numbers are being retired like it's going out of style. It's also interesting to see how the standard for number retirement has gone down. Could Bobby Abreu really be the next Phillies number retired? 

• An incredibly early and overzealous look at the MVP races in each league. Despite being only 11 days into the season, you still see a lot of familiar faces on the list. It really doesn't take long for the cream to rise to the top.