We Missed You We said in our last edition of the Comebacker in October that we would shut down until the beginning of spring training. We lied. The Comebacker has ended its hibernation early and is back at it, minus the best and worst of the week (of course, since there’s no games to rate from until the end of March). We’re back to give you our quick shots (and cheap shots, if we can’t help) regarding all the movement happening around the world of baseball. So welcome back, and we hope you enjoy our first full year of the Comebacker after going partial over the previous two years.

Two For the Hall of Fame This week comes the annual vote for the Hall of Fame, and if I had a ballot I would punch in two players still looking to get in: Jim Rice and Steve Garvey. Rice’s numbers may seem somewhat subtle to what we’ve been used to over the past 15 steroid-induced years, but perspective is everything; he was, arguably, the game’s most dominant slugger between 1977-83. The fact that Rice’s career began to break down at the age of 34 shows there were no life-prolonging steroids in his house. As for Garvey, he was the heart and soul of those very good Dodger teams of the 1970s and early 1980s, regardless of how much he was loved or hated—both inside and outside the clubhouse. (And I’m a Giant fan, which should really count for something in regards to my voting in Garvey—right, Ed?) And don’t give me all that post-career notoriety about Garvey; after all, they haven’t stripped O.J. Simpson’s plaque off the wall in Canton, have they? —Eric

Carful What You Say, Bleacher Bums New Chicago Cub outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and Texas closer Kaz Fukumori, the latest in a growing stampede of Japanese imports in the majors, are the first two players in big league annuls to have a last name that starts with the letters, “Fuk...”.

While We’re on the Subject... Fukudome is probably what Minnesota Twin fans will want to call the Metrodome once the team’s new ballpark opens in 2010.

The TGG Improvement Segment If you haven’t already, check out the newly redesigned home page for This Great Game and the image-enhanced Yearly Reader pages for 1910-1918. Coming next week: An upgraded 1919 page, which include some intriguing photos from the infamous World Series thrown by the Chicago Black Sox Eight.

The Golden Age of…What? Commissioner Bud Selig continues to spin questions about the “clinical” state (read: steroids) of baseball by trumpeting how profitable and well-attended the game has become over the past ten years. Congrats, Bud: You’re overseeing a sport whose all-time hit king is banished, all-time home run king is indicted and best pitcher under your watch is now disgraced for using steroids to get a mid-career kickstart. Ah yes, Bud, what a National Pastime you’ve got.

Tough Love In spite of the name-dropping and publicity generated from the so-called “Mitchell Report,” you can bet that many major leaguers are still taking their chances with human growth hormone—a steroid virtually undetectable and, at this writing, one that MLB has yet to develop a test for. You want to scare everyone off the juice? Here’s our solution: One strike and you’re out. Get caught testing positive, and your baseball career is over. Sounds harsh, but it’s the only deterrent to scare players completely straight. Would Bud Selig go for it? Ideally. Would the players’ union go for it? Of course not—that is, unless Gene Orza can sneak around and secretly alert all the players when their random surprise tests are.

Rocket Ban The New York Times reported this week that the team clubhouse stores of the New York Yankees were clearing out, at half-price, T-shirts with Roger Clemens’ name and number (22) on the back—and on the front, the words “Got Rocket Fuel?” If you do, you might be getting a call soon from George Mitchell.

It Just Don't Add up! Let’s get this straight. Dontrelle Willis gets $29.5 million over three years in Detroit, and Carlos Silva gets $48 million in a four-year deal with Seattle. We know Willis had a bad year in 2007, but he’s just two years removed from a 22-win season and is certainly capable of retaining All-Star form—whereas Silva is a career .500 pitcher who did nothing more than stabilize himself after a disastrous (5.94 ERA, 38 home runs allowed) 2006 campaign. Maybe the Mariners know something we don’t—or perhaps we know something they don’t.