June 18, 2004 [LINK]

Valley boys

Wednesday's Washington Post had a nice Style section story about the (Shenandoah) Valley Baseball League, of which the Staunton Braves are a part. The League, which draws from the ranks of collegiate baseball players with dreams of making it to The Majors, expanded from eight to ten teams this season. It's high-quality, fun, old-time baseball that brings out community spirit. See Mr. Angelos? We don't need you greedy big leaguers! Aw, who am I kidding...

Speaking of which, another Post story that day reported on the negotiations between D.C. officials and top business leaders, who have mixed feelings about the $20 million extra tax bill they will have to shoulder if Mayor Williams' stadium financing plan goes through. Remembering the disastrous collapse of political support for baseball in Arlington, Virginia one year ago, no one wants to make a commitment until the other parties go first. The situation is still very delicate.

Thanks to Leon Furth for a great panoramic photo of Oakland Coliseum, which I just added to that page. While I was at it, I tweaked the dynamic diagram on that page, which now includes a "combined" version similar to the original one. Thanks to Chuck Jones for pointing out layout problems on this page; I hope they're fixed now.