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Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay was honored as the 2010 pro athlete of the year, in the latest edition of The Sporting News. In his first season with the Phillies, Halladay threw a perfect game during the regular season and notched the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history. His overall regular season record was an impressive 21-10 and his 2.44 ERA helped him lock down the National League Cy Young Award. As the Phillies' ace, Halladay threw more complete games (9) than any other team in the National League. The issue includes an article written by Halladay. In the piece he mentions the fancy watches he purchased for all his teammates and team staff following his perfect game in May. Halladay references the phrase he had engraved into each gift, "We did it together", and elaborates... "Looking back on the entire 2010 season, I feel it can be summed up in those four words. I might someday forget the details of the perfect game, the playoff no-hitter and and other ...

Occasionally, The Sporting News includes a feature called "Since You Asked..." that allows readers to send in questions that are answered by a surprise former or current athlete. In the latest issue of the magazine, a Philadelphia resident named Drew Floyd wrote in, asking if a public campaign, by a forgiving society, could assist in helping Pete Rose gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Drew also wondered, "is baseball stuck in its ways?" Rose is banned from baseball for betting on baseball games, while he was the Reds' manager in the 1980's. Drew's inquiry mentioned Mark McGwire's steroid use as an example of the baseball public's pardon. Lucky for the Philadelphian, Drew, his letter was answered by Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman, and Rose's friend, Mike Schmidt. Schmidt's opinions over the years have fluctuated. Years ago he stated that Mark McGwire would get his vote for the Hall of Fame, if Schmidt had one. Schmi...

MLB is changing their methods of selecting World Series umpires, due to poor judgements and bad calls in this year's postseason. Sources within MLB spoke on condition of anonymity, because the announcements are no yet official. In 24 of the past 25 Fall Classics the 6-man umpiring crew has included at least one umpire working his first World Series. According to the Associated Press, in each of the past two years, there were three first time Series workers on the crew. MLB will not allow any "newbies" to get in the mix this year, with longtime crew chiefs Joe West, Dana DeMuth & Gerry Davis, in addition to veterans Brian Gorman, Jeff Nelson & Mike Everitt all slated to call the games. Reportedly, C.B. Bucknor was in line to call the Series, but blown calls in game 1 of this year's division series with the Angels and Red Sox hurt his chances. Phil Cuzzi's "foul" call that was clearly fair by a foot or more, in the Twins/Yankees game...Tim McC...

The weekend is just about here, but it's not feeling great so far. My college hoops team lost, and my mail included a huge image of Mets star David Wright on the cover of The Sporting News. "All Wright"? Um, I don't really believe it is. Aside from the non-appealing cover, it's the MLB preview issue, so allow me to share some things I learned from this week's magazine. 1- Former Phillie, and regular Sporting News columnist, Todd Jones has gone insane. Jones predicts that Jamie Moyer will win the NL Cy Young Award, and that Manny Ramirez will run for governor of California after the Dodgers win the 2009 World Series. 2- Ichiro Suzuki rocks the party that rocks the body. Metropolitans reliever Francisco Rodriguez compares Jose Reyes to Ichiro, saying they do many of the same things. I must have missed Ichiro performing rehearsed celebratory hand jives after getting a hit or scoring a run in a losing effort. And I know I missed Ichiro getting caught cheating on...

The latest issue, dated February 2nd, of the Sporting News features a cover story on Phillies slugger Ryan Howard. In the issue, Ken Bradley asked Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt who would hit more homers, Howard or Schmidt, in Schmidt's choice of an era. Old #20 had this to say about choosing himself... This era and the stadiums they play in today- and it's not a chip-on-the-shoulder thing or sour grapes by me- it's probably about a 10-a-year difference. Slicing the ball to the opposite field and having it go out of the ballpark didn't happen very often when I played. I flew out to the opposite-field warning track maybe 50 times a year, and 10 of those would go out of the park now. (But) we'd be very similar. In terms of being able to go 50-plus, 60-plus, he might have a little bit more of that kind of ability, but our numbers would probably average somewhere in the 40's on a regular basis. Please chime in with your thoughts on this matter in the commen...

It's January, and for me that means prep time for fantasy baseball. It's true. I really do start running scenarios and draft strategies in my head this early. January is a good time for that. My fantasy football teams have usually recently made an early exit in the playoffs, and my fantasy basketball teams tend to be struggling at this stage. As I've now just traded away my prized power forward, as a desperation move in my salary cap auction hoops league, just about all that will calm my nerves is looking forward to fantasy baseball. While the other sports tend to stress me out, fantasy baseball soothes me. I don't always win, as my uncle will testify to, but I always enjoy it. My yearly interest increase in the fantasy game coincides with the releases of various fantasy baseball magazines and guides. The Sporting News annual Fantasy Source guide is on news stands, and Phillies phans should be pleased to know that in the Sporting News experts' mock draft, three Phi...