TOWER GROVE — The community ranking of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Top 30 prospects takes up a lot of time and many entries during its run, leaving so many things unanswered or unexplored. With the end of the Bird Land Community Top 30 coming last week, the blog is freed up for that sprint toward Valentine’s Day and the moment pitchers/catchers report.

But before Jupiter — a mere month away — there are some loose ends to tie and links to, uh, link.

Are Cardinals fans still bothered by Rickey Henderson's bold announcement after breaking Lou Brock's record: "I am the greatest." (Source: AstrosDaily.com)

This afternoon Rickey Henderson will officially hear about his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the countdown is on to the most anticipated acceptance speech since Roberto Benigni’s chair-climbing, stair-hopping path to an Oscar. … Some great stories out there this weekend about Henderson: The New York Times says before Manny being Manny there was Rickey being Rickey. … ESPN.com makes the argument Henderson was the greatest leadoff man ever, with some amusing anecdotes thrown in for good measure. … On Christmas Day, Rick Hurd, of the Contra Costa Times, celebrated Henderson’s 50th birthday with an excellent article on what it’s like when a speed demon’s life slows down. … And, again at ESPN, Peter Gammons retells a story about Henderson and what Cardinals’ Hall of Famer Lou Brock once described as a “fear of the bag”. … Count me among the kids who had to have those Henderson batting gloves that were the color of squished lightning bugs. They didn’t make you any faster, but you sure looked faster. …

There is also the possibility that Rickey announces Tuesday he’s coming out of retirement — again — because who wouldn’t sign a Hall of Famer to hit leadoff? …

The number of teams looking for closers is dwindling, and Jason Isringhausen remains in search of an employer for 2009. Detroit is in the market for a ninth-inning solution and there are the obvious connections with Jim Leyland and the obvious comparison with Todd Jones. Other teams that could be a fit for Isringhausen and his quest for No. 300 are teams with young or erratic (or both) closers, where he he could serve as both mentor and understudy.

Goudey Baseball Cards

Topic of discussion over at Bird Land@Facebook is a one-word description for the Cardinals’ offseason. Some candidates: “revealing” and “developing”, but the best one submitted so far … “polarizing.” …

Fried and former Sporting News research director Steve Gietschier gave an interview about his Hall of Fame ballot to Seamheads.com. … A fascinating topic that’s worth exploring later this week is how the Great Depression hit Major League Baseball. … One of the best parts of Christmas is the stacks of baseball card packs stuffed in the stocking — or, in my case, the ones brought home by the little man. Scored a Mickey Mantle replica in a recent pack of Topps and these updated Goudey trading cards are my favorite cards in years (for example: in one pack from Christmas there was a Dennis Eckersley, the usual parade of current players — a Marlon Byrd, a Cole Hamels, a Chone Figgins — and then, last in the pack, a Bob Gibson). The vintage cards make the pack. Let me cut to the chase: Opened one Topps pack of interest to Cardinals’ fans:

• It had both Skip Schumaker and Todd Wellemeyer cards.
• They were listed as playing the same position.
• First base.
• Go figure.

Chicago Tribune national baseball writer Phil Rogers’ writes that only the Cubs got better this offseason while the rest of the National League Central faded. Seems to me like the whole division took a stride back. …

Fungoes, a blog produced in coordination with the Bob Broeg Chatper of SABR, took last week’s entry about the Cardinals’ lefthanded relief upgrades, added the twist of projecting performances and came to a similar conclusion. … Two new blogs have gained a spot in the blogroll to the right. Brian Walton, one of the creators of the Cardinals’ Scout.com page, has started a blog, The Cardinal Nation. This weekend he gave a rundown of the 12 minor leaguers the Cardinals released. Only three were from North American leagues, and that trio included Carlos Pupo, who gained a smidgen of fame during spring training for his power. The other new link and new blog is KMOX/1120 AM sports host Kevin Wheeler’s The Baseball Gods. He swings for the fences right away, tackling baseball and the economy in one of his first entries.

Word has it that Wheeler was talked out of his original title for the blog. He added the “s”.

I’ve also received a few emails asking about an older entry that listed some of the best baseball books I’ve read. Looking back for that entry reminded me of a feature that should be revived: The Lineup. Bernie Miklasz’s brilliant “5 Minutes for Blogging” has reinforced the love of quick-hit commentary and lists, and that’s what The Lineup should have been all along. It debuted back in October 2007, and its first topic was the one people have asked about: baseball books. As a way to reboot The Lineup, here is that list:

THE LINEUP: Best Baseball Books

Or Passing Time with the Pastime in the Offseason

1. The Great American Novel, By Philip Roth. (Even with its no-so-subtle shots spiked at sportswriters and their silly swings at sparkling prose. Read it? Then you get it …)
2. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, By W.P. Kinsella.
3. Ball Four, By Jim Bouton (a book I need to read again here, soon)
4. Lords of the Realm, By John Helyar
5. Moneyball, By Michael Lewis (buy it or not, it’s still a darn fine book)
6. Dollar Sign on the Muscle, By Kevin Kerrane (the ode to scouts that restores the Karmic balance to this list, consider this excerpt: Scouting is professional baseball’s personalized way of renewing itself, from year to year and generation to generation. It reaches to the social roots of the game, to small towns and skinned infields, and to the psychological roots of the game, to seasonal optimism  and persistent dreaming. The players’ dreams of glory are no more compelling than the scouts’ dream of discovery …)
7. 9 Innings, By Daniel Okrent
8. Summer of ‘49, By David Halberstam
9. Eight Men Out, By Eliot Asinof

This list also included a nod to local author David Carkeet’s “The Greatest Slump of All Time,” a book that needs to be placed in my re-read stack. After pulling the January trip, I hope to have a few others to add to the list.

That’s some pre-spring cleaning. Back with the regularly scheduled blog entries shortly …

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