Fresh Loaf

‘WITHIN REACH’: Obama gives a quasi-victory speech in Iowa without actually declaring victory, after Clinton runs away with Kentucky and he wins Oregon, leaving him about 70 delegates shy of securing the nomination.

HAMILTON JORDAN: The right-hand man of President Jimmy Carter, and part of the “Georgia Mafia,” dies at his home in Atlanta at the age of 63.

TED KENNEDY: Massachusetts senator’s malignant brain tumor is likely life-threatening, although no treatment plan has yet been announced. Reuters examines the prospects of the Kennedy legacy after his tenure.

TESLER GUILTY: Rookie cop involved in Kathryn Johnston shooting is found guilty of lying to investigators, but is cleared of two more serious charges.

BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DROUGHT: Some Georgia pols seem unaware that being in a drought doesn’t mean it never rains.

MATT RYAN: Signs with the Falcons for $72 million over six years.

SMOLTZ: Shuts us out of his life.

AUTISM AND VACCINES: Georgia Supreme Court considers whether suits alleging vaccines caused autism are pre-empted by a federal law.

HARTSFIELD SATISFACTION DOWN: Canceled flights, lost luggage and waiting in lines while holding their shoes doesn’t satisfy airline passengers as much as it used to.

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CAMPAIGN IN THE NECK: Clinton wins Pennsylvania by 10 points, likely meaning we get to delight in this campaign all summer.

SPECIAL K: Smoltz gets 3,000th strikeout, Braves lose.

CHAMBLEE SIX: Sextet of Chinese immigrants who subdued and hogtied an international fugitive in February are now giving away their $10,000 in reward money.

CIVIL UNIONS: Delta and Northwest pilots unions to resume negotiations about merging their workforces.

DAVID POLLACK: Retires from the NFL at age 25 due to the neck injury he suffered two years ago.

DOUBTING THOMAS: UGA President Michael Adams defends his choice of Clarence Thomas as the 2008 commencement speaker amid faculty complaints that the university’s sexual harassment problems this year make Thomas a bad choice.

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MLK: Was assassinated 40 years ago today. Leonard Pitts writes of the sanitation workers’ strike that brought King to Memphis; Congress honors his legacy; the King Center opens a special exhibit memorializing his last days; and the Associated Press speculates on what he would have done had he not been murdered.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: General Assembly protects HOPE-eligible students in Clayton County in case the school system loses its accreditation. Meanwhile, the Clayton school board considers trying to rehire former superintendent Barbara Pulliam, who resigned in July.

CRAM SESSION: Today’s the last day of the 2008 legislative session, with most major policy items still unresolved.

BARR NONE: Bob Barr’s rumored presidential run gets even more rumored, and he may have the support of candidacy-happy Ron Paul.

ARRINGTON: Fulton Superior Court judge apologizes for expelling whites from courtroom, but offers explanation for his decision as others come to his defense.

WE’LL CALL YOU: Man robs Athens convenience store with a knife, leaves behind filled-out job application.

HAMPTON IN OUT: The most fragile Atlanta Brave hurts his left pec during warm-ups, causing Bobby Cox to scratch him from what would have been his first start since 2005. The Braves lost to the Pirates 4-3 in 10 innings.

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CLAYTON: Both superintendent candidates drop out after SACS calls them unqualified.

FREEFALLING: Ron Sailor Jr. fired by his church for secretly taking out a $250,000 mortgage on it.

SHORTFALLING: Shirley Franklin considers property-tax hike to help cover budget shortfall.

FAT NADY SINGS: Xavier Nady homers twice as Braves lose wild, 12-inning home opener to the Pirates.

THIRD-GRADE MURDER PLOT: Nine special-education third-graders in Waycross caught with a steak knife and duct tape in plot to murder their teacher.

UNHAPPY TRAIL: Alabama’s Pinhoti Trail not likely to be added into Appalachian Trail, says Pinhoti Trail Association president.

ALLATOONA: Now at full pool for first time in three years, but drought still “extreme.”

PORT AND PARCEL: Port of Savannah was the fastest-growing port in the country in 2007, fueled largely by trade with China.

ONLINE WINE: Senate passes bill allowing online wine sales in Georgia; now it’s on the Teetotaler’s desk.

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PITCH IMPERFECT: Bush throws “high heat”; Hudson dominates but Moylan gives up walk-off homer in the ninth as Braves lose season opener in Washington’s new Nationals Park.

TRAILING OFF: Alabama footpath now connects to southern terminus of Appalachian Trail in Dawson County; Congress could officially designate it as the new ending point of the 2,500-mile trail.

COYOTES: Two caught in DeKalb after killing cats.

ISAIAH RIDER: Former Hawk charged with car theft.

R.E.M.: Has new album, midlife crisis.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Former DA challenges constitutionality of judicial review panels, which reconsider and sometimes reduce prison sentences.

SINO THE TIMES: Perdue takes inaugural Atlanta-to-Shanghai flight to promote Georgia in China.

NOW MUSEUM: Now you don’t. Georgia Museum of Natural History is given a 44-acre archaeological site, which includes Indian mounds and artifacts, but the nine-year-old museum still doesn’t have an exhibition space. Its collections are stored in various buildings around Athens, where it’s based.

WRESTLEMANIA: Simulated mania becomes genuine mania for fans in Orlando.

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Number of games Braves finished behind division champions in 2007: 5

Seasons the Braves have finished below .500 since 1991: 1

Combined age of Braves top four starting pitchers: 150

Combined number of Cy Young Awards they’ve won: 3

Last time a Braves pitcher won a Cy Young Award: 1998

John Smoltz’s career strike-outs per nine innings: 7.95

John Smoltz’s strike-outs per nine innings in 2007: 8.62

Number of starting pitchers in 2008 who were also in the rotation in 2004: 1

Number of starting players in 2008 who also started in 2004: 1

Last time the Braves won a post-season game: 2005

Last time the Braves won a post-season series: 1999

Source: BaseballReference.com

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Almost lost in the spotlight that’s on Roger Clemens and his alleged steroid use is the news that John Rocker has admitted what the Mitchell report claimed: The former Braves closer took steroids and failed a drug test in 2000, his last full season with the Braves.

Not only that, but Rocker estimated that “between 40 to 50 percent of baseball players are on steroids” and added that “in 2000 Bud Selig knew John Rocker was taking the juice.”

I was around the Atlanta Braves clubhouse a lot during the Rocker era, and will always remember the huge poster of WCW wrestler Bill Goldberg hanging in Rocker’s locker, shirt off and muscles bulging.

And former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone told me once that Rocker was so muscular that if pitched past one inning, he’d have to lie down on the floor and have someone stretch his back to make him limber enough to go out for a second inning.

It also goes a long way in explaining the behavior that caused his career to implode. Rocker always seemed “juiced” when he pitched, in a figurative sense. This admission brings new meaning to the word in literal terms.

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According to the AJC’s David O’Brien, the Atlanta Braves told free agent center fielder Andruw Jones today that they can’t afford him and will allow him to sign with another team. Center field at Turner Field without Andruw Jones? It doesn’t seem possible.

I remember hanging around home plate during batting practice in 1999 when the Mets were in town. Shawn Dunston was in the batting cage and he hit a ball right center that would have been a hit in a real game. Except he exclaimed, “That was an Andruw Jones out!” When I asked him to explain, he said the players counted the number of “hits” they got during BP. But there were outs and then there were “Andruw Jones outs.” Essentially, any fly ball hit in the vicinity of center field was an “Andruw Jones out.” That’s how much respect other players have for him.

Jones is generally regarded as the best center fielder since Willie Mays. And even though he had a subpar year in 2007, he was also battling through nagging injuries. After losing Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to free agency, it doesn’t come so much as a shock to lose Andruw Jones. You get used to it.

The fact is the Braves are owned by a company that is headquartered in Colorado, a company that purchased the Braves as a tax write-off. The Braves aren’t even mentioned on the company’s website.

The Braves will never approach the peaks of the team’s glory years in the ’90s until it is owned by someone in Atlanta who will come to games and invest emotionally in the team. Until then, the team will continue to lose its best players because management will have budget constraints.

So long, Andruw, we hardly knew ya.

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Turns out that Jeff Francoeur found their video on YouTube (shouldn’t he be practicing or something?), and then somehow the Braves PR department got a hold of it. The Auburn boys were invited to play it at Turner Field.

– Annie at Metroblogging Atlanta on a YouTube musical tribute to Mark Teixeira, who’s been an a hot streak since joining the Braves Aug. 1. Annie links to the video.

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I didn’t think they could make this whole situation smell even more like BS, but somehow the Doraville 3 managed it.

– Joseph G. at Dora-blog, responding to a statement by three Doraville city councilmen explaining why they fired the city’s police chief.

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God, Speaker. Can you make it through a single interview without sounding like the meanest man in Georgia?

– GriftDrift, on Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s interview with Peach Pundit Poobah Erick Erickson. The interview can be heard on Peach Pundit.

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My old boss at Atlanta magazine, Lee Walburn, also was the first PR director of the Atlanta Braves and likes to brag that he, not Tommie Aaron, hit the first home run in Atlanta Stadium. Unlike Hank’s younger brother, Walburn just didn’t do it during an actual game; he walked out onto the field during construction, tossed a ball up in the air and hit it into the stands.

We were talking about Walter Victor, the longtime Braves photographer, one day. Everyone who’s been to a few Braves games probably recognizes Victor. He’s a fixture of the pre-game, taking photos of players with fans, and photographing the person throwing out the first pitch and the person who sings the National Anthem.

“He was never really hired as the team photographer,” Walburn said. “He just showed up one day. We threw him out and there he was again the next day.”

Victor kept showing up, and the Braves finally gave in and hired him, and he’s been there since 1966.

What most people don’t know is that Victor was in the 9th Division infantry in World War II and was part of the troops who took Utah Beach, a scene famously re-created in Saving Private Ryan. He earned four Bronze stars in the war.

Victor has just published a new book, Brave At Heart, co-written with Anne B. Jones and Sidney R. Jones, that includes a lifetime of his photography, from World War II to behind-the-scenes shots he snapped for the Braves.

The best shot? The famed photo he took of Jeff Blauser and Mark Lemke standing on the field with the press box in flames behind them. That was the day that Fred McGriff arrived, which helped spark the Braves (pun intended) to come back from 10 games down to win the division in 1993.

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After 23 years of minor-league coaching in places such as Gastonia, N.C., and Daytona Beach, Fla., Chino Cadahia finally was called up to the big leagues last year as the Braves’ bench coach. The Havana, Cuba, native is a former minor-league catcher.

How did you find yourself being the Atlanta Braves’ bench coach? Well, 23 years of coaching, you know; I did it all in the minor leagues. I started off as a pitching coach, managed for 10 years.

In the minors? Yeah, all in the minors. Started in ‘84 as a pitching coach [at Salem for the Carolina League]. Started managing in 1986 [at Daytona Beach for the Florida State League]; managed for 10 years [in Gastonia for the South Atlantic League and for the Rangers' Gulf Coast League rookie squad in Port Charlotte, Fla.] and came to Atlanta as a [minor-league] catching instructor in 1996. ‘96 to ‘97 I did that, and then I became the minor-league field coordinator in ‘98, and did that until last year [2006].

In batting practice, what do you throw these guys? How do you approach batting-practice pitching? Well, most of the time the ways these guys like to do things is the first one or two rounds they like to work the ball the other way — so you try to throw the ball middle to the outside half of the plate. And then [after the first couple rounds] of working the ball the other way, then you just start trying to throw it as fat as you can down the middle of the plate, and let them decide what they want to do with it. Every hitter is different. At this level most of the hitters have been around, so they know exactly what they want to do. You know, [Edgar] Renteria for instance, he works the ball the other way consistently; every once in a while he’ll ask to throw him a few inside so he can turn on it. Chipper [Jones] likes to work the ball the other way for the first couple rounds and then he’ll start hitting the ball gap to gap. Andruw [Jones] is the same way, you know; [Brian] McCann likes it the same way. So you pretty much, in general … they’ll ask you where they want the ball according to what they want to work on during any specific round.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This certificate was given out at Atlanta Stadium the day Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

I wonder what they’re going to hand out to fans when Barry Bonds hits his 756th.

Commemorative syringes?

A subpoena, maybe?

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