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I'll conclude my latest series of stuff I salvaged from my parents' attic with some autographed mementos.

To the left is the most personal. It's on stationary I created in graphic arts class in middle school. I was neither a good poet nor artist. The awkward-looking Red Sox cap is actually quite good for my abilities. The writing - "I'm the number 1 fan of the Boston Red Sox clan!" - isn't.

The autographs are Jeff Reardon (long before he robbed a jewelry store) and Mike Greenwell. I met them when family friends invited me along to the Benevolent Loyal Order of Honorable and Ancient Red Sox Diehard Sufferers of New York luncheon. The BLOHARDS are a group of displaced Red Sox fans who get together when the Sox invade New York.

Usually, players or someone associated with the team addresses the crowd. I don't remember much from the speeches, only that I was certain to bring along the stationary. I don't think either commented on it.

In high school, a classmate's father, upon learning that I was a Red Sox fan, said he knew Dave Morehead, a subpar pitcher from the 1960s. But at the time - before Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester - he was the last Red Sox to pitch a no-hitter. He shut down Luis Tiant and the Indians 2-0 on Sept. 16.

I thought it was neat and kept the picture tucked in my bedroom mirror for several years.

Finally, and most embarrassing, is a pair of signatures I actually paid for outside of Fenway. One is a nice shot of the park, but it's muddied by the John Hancock of then-General Manager Dan Duquette.

The other was a shot of Aaron Sele, the guy I thought would take Roger Clemens' spot as ace of the staff.

Things didn't quite turn out as I expected, but Sele did have a pretty good career for the 23rd draft pick in 1991. He was much more productive than Brian Taylor, the huge bonus baby taken No. 1 by the Yankees who injured his arm in a bar fight and never made it to the majors.

The Phillies pick that year? Tyler Green - taken two slots ahead of Doug Glanville and three ahead of a certain third baseman named Manny Ramirez.

More from '95

Besides pictures of their juiced-up sluggers, the Red Sox 1995 yearbook tried to get a little artsy with close-up shots showcasing players' personalities. Here are a few.

In 1995, Mike Greenwell would have his last season as a full-time player. In case you didn't know, he was nicknamed Gator. (And that's an alligator with jaws agape, ready to chomp.)


Next we have Tim Naehring, a true fan favorite and Dirt Dog before there was such a thing. He's obviously so embarrassed by the concept of this yearbook that he can't stop laughing long enough to open his eyes.


Next, there's then-Sox, future-Phil Rheal Cormier. He must have been hungry. Or maybe he's sending a suggestion to the future for Jonathan Papelbon: Do this the next time you think about opening your mouth.


Finally, what's a yearbook without a look at the farm. The first two aren't bad at all: Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon. There are a few clunkers like would be found in any farm system: Michael Coleman, Marc Lewis and Donnie Sadler. But then there's Carl Pavano, who needs to develop a breaking pitch, according to his scouting report. I wonder what Yankees fans would add to that critique.


Back to 2008: Good performances last night by both our teams' lefty aces over division rivals. Jon Lester took care of the Yankees 7-0, prompting Joe Girardi to hold a closed-door meeting on the eve of George Steinbrenner's birthday. Cole Hamels - soon to be a two-time All-Star? - won 4-1, finishing a sweep of the Braves.

This afternoon, Josh Beckett is already losing in New York, where the major sports event of the day has been completed - Joey Chestnut beat Takeru Kobayashi in the first-ever dog-off. Tonight, the Phillies start a series against the Mets with the pitcher who was going to save the world for the Mets, Johan Santana, facing J.A. Happ. Happ-hazard is making his 2008 debut for the demoted Brett Myers.

Dude

Subscribing to HBO would be a waste of money for me; I don't have the time to watch much of its programming. But there are times I wish I had it, such as now to see the Real Sports profile on Lenny Dykstra, the financial whiz.

The Inquirer had some of the transcript. Most impressive about Dykstra's transformation from the Dude to Money Dude is this exchange between Bernard Goldberg and Jim Cramer of Mad Money:

Cramer: "If I didn't know any better I would tell you that everything you hear from Lenny is an act. Because there's no way that he would ever, that you would ever feel like he's as smart as he really is, if you listen to him. Now, there are probably four or five people in the world who, if they sent me an e-mail, told me to learn a stock, I would actually take them seriously."
Goldberg: "And he's one of them?"
Cramer: "He's one of them. He's one of them."

I first heard about this on WIP this morning. Here's a summary of a real interesting story Angelo Cataldi told. I caught it midway, so I didn't hear where he got it from:

Goldberg asked Dykstra about steroids and the Mitchell report. Dykstra denied juicing on camera. After the cameras stopped, Goldberg apologized for the questioning but said he had to because it's been in the news. Dykstra replied, "It's OK. I hope you don't mind that my answer was a lie." Later, Goldberg called him to make sure he understood properly. "Nah, I was just kidding," Dykstra replied.

Speaking of steroids and outfielders from the '80s, the Globe has more from Mike Greenwell and his lamenting of the steroid era. He has a point about how drugged-up players have overshadowed his career, but Greenwell loses credibility by defending Roger Clemens:

Greenwell said his former teammate, Roger Clemens, belongs in the Hall of Fame.
"First of all, he's one of the hardest workers I've ever met in my life," said Greenwell. "I mean, period - in sports and out of sports. It would just blow me away with how much he worked.
"Do I know, or think, or have an idea whether he did do any of that stuff? I really don't. I don't have any idea. My thought is no because he's such a hard worker that he wouldn't do that. Then when you watch the hearings and you see the things going on, it does cast doubt, but I certainly hope people don't judge his career on that. I think that's a shame."

Speaking of roiding Yankees pitchers: Hide the HGH - Andy Pettitte is injured.

The season has begun

Well, the roller coaster emotions that accompany it have started, anyway. Especially when it comes to ace Josh Beckett.

First, the Globe reports he is feeling better (back and crankiness) than yesterday:

"Better today than I was yesterday. I got a good night's sleep."

But then Terry Francona tells ESPN's Jayson Stark there's no telling whether Beckett will be on the mound in Tokyo:

"I don't think we know [for sure] yet. But we're certainly not going to rush him back to pitch a game March 24 if he's not ready."

Beckett had a day of good treatment today, Francona told Stark. Still, the manager was cautious. “The idea is just to give Beckett the respect to get better when he gets better," Francona told ESPN.

I guess I've pretty much resigned myself that he won't pitch until the Red Sox play the A's on American soil. Argh.

(And if you think I'm bad already, Christine will be more emotional during the season. Promise.)

The news has been better out of Phillies camp, where the headlines lately say: Brad Lidge should be ready by Opening Day, Kris Benson has a shot to open the season in the majors and Brett Myers leads the rotation.


Not without a prescription: For hours the Globe promised interesting comments from Mike Greenwell, who visited camp today. I guess they were interesting, but I think they were oversold. They involve steroids:

The truth? My wife's a nurse and basically told me she'd kill me if she caught me doing it. Really. Reality.

She was a nurse. I looked into it. I studied it. I know a lot about steroids, to be honest with you. Because I was very, very tempted as a player to do it and I think there's many, many players out there that were tempted to do it. Probably if I didn't have my wife I would have done it to try to perform at that level. Another little slight reason I retired when I retired. I just didn't feel like it was quite even anymore.

Antiquated Red Sox garb III

Next up in my occasional series is one you've already seen. It's an oldie but goodie: Maurice Vaughn.

I got this shirt in the mid-1990s at Fenway. While waiting in line, I almost changed my mind to a Jose Canseco model (I think he had a big game or something). I got some good, surprisingly sincere advice from a Yankees fan who said I should stick with Mo because he'd stick around longer; Canseco was just a mercenary.

I think about that when I wear my faded blue shirt with crumbling letters and No. 42.

Mo was back in the news this week. (The first time since the Mitchell report.) Congrats, I guess, though I don't understand why the Sox would induct a roider this year, even though he didn't start using until after he left the Sox. Ironic, though, that joining him in the Red Sox Hall of Fame is Mike Greenwell, who pointed out years ago that he should be declared the 1988 MVP since Canseco admitted using steroids.

Glad to see Bill Lee inducted too. What took so long?