PITTSBURGH — For all of the undrafted, unclaimed and unwanted players who float through independent baseball looking for a break, meet Justin Christian. You’ll find him sitting there, pulling on his road grays, four lockers down from Derek Jeter.

Four years ago he was playing ball in O’Fallon, Mo. Now he calls the Bronx home.

“It’s definitely been an arduous road for me,” Christian said Thursday afternoon while getting ready for the New York Yankees one-night stand at…

SOUTH GRAND — The second (big) batch of questions posed to Cardinals vice president and draft director Jeff Luhnow will be up shortly. Got to give the guy time as he flew from Texas to Venezuela to Jersey to Florida to … well, wherever his passport and scouting reports will take him, apparently.

In the meantime, you’re stuck with this, no exclamation points earned or needed.

Solid wave of mail hit the PostCards address in…

O’FALLON, MO. — Like Red Schoendienst did decades ago by starting a Hall of Fame baseball career by answering an ad in the newspaper, across the pond Michael Whitty opened up a whole new world for himself by responding to a job advert in a London player.

Heck, he opened up the world to himself.

Whitty was the most popular person at T.R. Hughes Ballpark this weekend because he brought authenticity, certification and a dash…

O’FALLON, MO. — In less than a hour, a new world record for the longest baseball game will be set at T.R. Hughes ballpark. An official from Guinness (more on him when I get a chance to catch my breath) is on hand and he said he will be notarize it as a record on the spot.

That’s why he’s here.

Snap a few photos. Make sure we follow a few rules (like the sequestering…

O’FALLON, MO. — The aches and the exhaustion have started to take hold, especially after the Bravo-team Stars just completed a 4-hour, 45-minute session through the dead of night.

But, hey, our shortstop pulled off the hidden ball trick.

Twice.

The record is within sight — two more turns through the teams, by our count — and another couple hours of nesting in a sleeping bag in possible. The Stars continue to trail the Browns,…

O’FALLON, MO. — Nothing gets the bat going like Kevin “Keebler” Wheeler taking the mound. After being vexed by the lefty for a couple hours, I got the bat back on track with a couple hits and a walk in my last three plate appearances. Even stole a base.

But that’s enough of that. Better to let a witness write about.

So here’s the first guest blog of the evening, by St. Louis Browns basher…

O’FALLON, MO. — Fresh from our second shift on the diamond, the second Stars team — Bravo, as we call ourselves — have done our part to leave the first squad a heck of a deficit to overcome.

There’s one reason: Pete Larocca.

The lefty has pitched all 15 or 16 innings the two B-teams have played and he has handcuffed us. A lefty with a spinning breaking ball that he can spot and a…

O’FALLON, MO. — The descriptions fit the language of the game he loved. When he sat down it felt like he had “a baseball” stuffed in his pocket. When he first met with a doctor, the physician started  crying as he walked  into the room and explained:

“This is out of my league.”

But there was nothing sporting  about what Jeff Biermann was about to go through.

This  competition had real stakes.

Jeff and his…

TOWER GROVE — Shortly I’ll be off to gather the essential B’s for the weekend — an extra Bat, Bubble Gum, Band-Aids, and, of course, Ben-Gay — but loyal reader Frank Fuhrig offers up an interesting exercise:

Guessing the results of a weekend spent playing baseball.

Not sure how many readers will take part (this blog, while well-read, hasn’t been the most comment-drenched place in its history), but we’ll give it a try. First a…

TOWER GROVE — The last time he threw an inning was just before Labor Day and the next time he throws a pitch it will be the last time for at least two years.

His elbow just cannot take it anymore.

Gerry Gerkens, a former Central Missouri State University pitcher, is one of 40 local men taking T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo., on Saturday with the goal of playing at least 30 hours, 6…