Believe it or not, this is the 200th installment of Batter's Box Interactive Magazine's Hall of Names. The complete archive is shown on one page here. Admittedly, I can't take full credit for the list of 200; 23 have been written by guest contributors while four more I have co-authored with someone. Anyway ...

How to celebrate such a milestone, if indeed we can label it as such? Well, anyone in or near the U.S. reading this who can remember the year 1976 will remember the utter overload and preponderance of the number 200, especially in lists.

That year was the birthplace of baseball's 200th birthday as a nation, or "bicentennial." (Subject of a previous Hall of Names entry, here.) It was the second of back-to-back titles for the Big Red Machine. It was the year of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych in Detroit. It was an MVP year for Joe Morgan and Thurman Munson and meant Cy Young Awards for Jim Palmer and Randy Jones. It was the year before big league baseball landed in Toronto.

It was also the year of the birth of a 104 major league ballplayers -- so far, anyway ...

So this is what good starting pitching is like.

Lansing won near the end and a Batter's Box favourite had the right stuff in Syracuse but, unfortunately, the offense didn't. Six games on the farm last night out of a scheduled seven. Can you guess who had the rain delay?

Frank Catalanotto had another great night at the plate on Wednesday.  What else is there to do but to make him the photo of the day?

Here's the Cat in mid-swing -- does it look like he's checking it?  I don't know enough about the mechanics of a swing to tell you for sure.

In an article in yesterday's Hardball Times, Steve Treder names Darrell Evans, Norm Cash and Reggie Smith as underrated players. I agree with those choices. Steve's comments got me to thinking about an All-Underrated Team.

I went to the game last night because I wanted to see A.J. Burnett pitch. I got my wish.

The Nationals, apparently, couldn't see no reason to put up a fight. A.J. Burnett looks like a 55 million dollar pitcher in razing Washington.

The affliates went 3-1 with two rainouts.

It's that time of year, folks, when I offer you a shot at fame and fortune! Or at least fame. Read on after the photograph for details.

Today's photo honors Aaron Hill's strong showing against the Nationals last night. Of course, he delivered with the bat and so I'm giving you a picture of him firing a ball over to first base:

It's almost July, which means it's almost time to complain and moan about who gets selected to go to the All-Star Game.

The all-time champ, as every single one of you knew, is Henry Aaron. (Although, once again, if Lou Gehrig didn't get sick...)

Tales of wonder and woe as the BBFL enters its second half.

Two wins, Two losses, Two did not play.

It finally struck me -- every time I saw Brian Tallet pitch I hear the word "groovy", and I couldn't figure out why.  But he's tall, skinny, has wicked sideburns and a crazy handlebar mustache, and his hat sits up high on his head.

He looks like one of the people who live in Pepperland.

Here's Brian Tallet delivering a pitch:

Today on ESPN.com, that question is asked at length by Enrique Rojas, a reporter and columnist for ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN.com.

Oddly, Rojas seems to bookend the story with an additional "And who is this Vernon Wells character, besides?" theme. It's a story, essentially, about how Toronto ballplayers don't get noticed by the American baseball fan public.

Rios, to his credit, professes not to care. So the question to you is ... can (or should) anything be done in this regard?