Good morning!
Two weeks ago in Hinsdale, N.H., my grandkids Chase and Carter were playing baseball against other young’uns when I noticed a sign that said, “Please remember… These are kids. This is a game. Coaches are volunteers. Umpires are human. Your child does not play for MLB.”

Ain’t that the truth. None of the 780 players in MLB today were born in New Hampshire, and Springfield’s Nick Ahmed of the Diamondbacks is the only active player who was born in western Mass., according to Baseball Almanac.

“It’s a reminder this a game and they’re kids,” said Melissa Lowe, the town’s Cal Ripken League treasurer.

She said former league president Paul Sweetster convinced the board after two parents “duked it out” during a game. “It was just silly and there was no need for it,” said Sweetster. “Kids need encouragement. That’s the big thing.”

Sweetster told me that his wife Amanda found the sign online. “What about this?” she asked him.

“I love it,” he said, and they purchased one for the Cal Ripken field and another for the T-ball field.

Fifty-three major league players were born in the Granite State since 1879. None are currently active and right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton was the most recent. He was born in Dover and pitched for the White Sox two years ago.

Carlton Fisk considers himself a New Hampshire native. The greatest Red Sox player to ever wear No. 27 was raised in Charlestown, N.H., and played for Charlestown High School, but Fisk was born across the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls, Vt.

Baseball Almanac reports that as of now 669 major leaguers have been born in the Bay State, including eight from the Recorder’s readership area. They are Jim Andrews (Shelburne Falls in 1865), Jimmy Barrett (Athol, 1875), Peter Bergeron (Greenfield, 1977), Rico Brogna (Turners Falls, 1970), Chick Maynard (Turners Falls, 1896), Steve Partneheimer (Greenfield, 1891), Doug Smith (Millers Falls, 1892) and Dave Wissman (Shelburne Falls, 1941).

Let’s add one more for good measure. Happy Jack Chesbro was born in North Adams and won 198 games for the New York Highlanders and Pittsburgh Pirates. His best season was 1904 when he was 41-12 for the Highlanders. He married a Conway woman and raised poultry until his death at age 57. He is buried in Conway and his gravestone is a large boulder that resembles a baseball.

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A field of nine is entered in today’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, including six that raced two weekends ago. Epicenter, Happy Jack and Simplification raced in the Kentucky Derby, Secret Oath won the Kentucky Oaks for fillies, and Creative Minister and Armagnac both won optional claiming races at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park, respectively.

The three rested colts in the field are Chad Brown’s lightly-raced Early Voting, Skippylongstocking trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. and ridden by Junior Alvarado, and the 50-1 longshot Fenwick that has one win in six career races.

Steve Asmussen’s Epicenter is the 6-5 favorite but railbirds wonder if the colt will bounce off his all-out effort to hold off Zandon in the Kentucky Derby. That race, as everyone knows, was won by the 80-1 longshot Rich Strike after it snuck up the rail and won by less than a length.

The 7-2 morning line second choice, Early Voting, has been training regularly after losing by a neck to Mo Donegal in the Wood Memorial on April 9. Third-place finisher in the Wood, Skippylongstocking, is listed at 20-1 in the morning line.

D. Wayne Lukas seeks to have the first filly to win the Preakness since Rachel Alexandra in 2009, and only the second to do it in 98 years. She’s one of only two million dollar earners (with Epicenter) in the field. Secret Oath is listed at 9-2 in the morning line.

The wise guys like 6-1 choice Simplification under JR Velazquez after it closed from 11th to fourth in the Kentucky Derby at 30-1 odds.

Handicappers looking for an angle should consider Happy Jack, trained by Doug O’Neill and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, the West Coast colt finished 14th in the Run for the Roses at 23-1. Nine years ago Happy Jack’s sire Oxbow won the Preakness under Gary Stevens at 15-1 odds after he finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby at 25-1.

Five of the last eleven Preakness winners have gone off at double-digit odds including the last two won by Rombauer and Swiss Skydiver both at 12-1.

The Preakness is the 13th race on the card and post time is 7:01 p.m. Coverage will be provided on NBC’s streaming platforms including Peacock starting at 4 p.m.

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Tickets range from $20 to $500 to watch Thursday’s Red Sox Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Fenway Park. Inductees include David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Rich Gedman. “My grandmother could outrun Rich Gedman with a bale of hay tied on her back,” said the late great Red Sox PA announcer Sherm Feller.

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Houston play-by-play voice Robert Ford said Alex Verdugo’s batting stance reminded him of someone standing on a street corner hailing a cab. “Does anyone do that anymore?” Ford asked sidekick Steve Sparks. “I don’t know, but nobody hitchhikes anymore,” said Sparks. “Did you ever hitchhike?”

“Never,” said Ford.

“It’s how I got to kindergarten,” said Sparks, who grew up in Tulsa.

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MLB SQUIBBERS: Ralph Nader on Twitter: “Yankees and Mets are almost invisible. Not even the scores are printed in the Times’ suburban sports section anymore; thinks its readers are more interested in Real Madrid.” … Running on empty? The Red Sox bullpen is last in save percentage and offering free fillups. … Chaim Bloom could’ve had Anthony Rizzo and George Springer but went cheap and settled for Bobby Dalbec (.165) and Kike Hernandez (.180). … Captain Carl’s grandkid Mike Yastrzemski is the leading hitter in the Giants’ lineup, batting .281. … Don Zimmer would’ve spit tobacco juice at the Boston beat writer who said Garrett Whitlock is coming out of the bullpen to “represent starting pitching.” … When hot-hitting Manuel Margot comes to bat, Rays broadcasters call him Manuel Margo-ahead. … Isaac Paredes, who the Rays got from Detroit for Austin Meadows, hit two home runs against his old ballclub on Wednesday. … Blake Snell gave up three runs in three innings in his season debut against the Phillies on Wednesday. The 2018 Cy Young winner is 7-6 since he was traded from Tampa to the Padres. … In April, Caesars sportsbook listed the Red Sox at 18-1 to win the World Series; now they’re 60-1.

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SQUIBBERS: Mattress Mack lost $2.6 million on Epicenter to win the Kentucky Derby. Now the Houston-based furniture magnate is offering customers double their money back up to $6,000 if the Astros win the World Series. … After the Celtics beat the Bucks in Milwaukee, Cedric Maxwell sniffed, “Fear the deer? Uh uh. Fear the Leprechaun.” … Tickets to Sunday’s seventh game at MSG for Penguins-Rangers started at $509. … Mike Florio works under the NBC umbrella and was cautious about the network’s dismissal of NFL analyst Drew Brees: “We don’t know anything, they only wake us up for the unimportant meetings.” … Florio ribbed the NFL for scheduling Bills at Rams the night LA raises the Super Bowl banner. “It’ll be embarrassing to have Bills Mafia take over SoFi the night they celebrate,” he said. … Northampton’s Ian Ostberg had two hits in Quinnipiac’s 4-3 loss to UMass on Tuesday. Ostberg’s father Robert played for coach Bill Thurston at Amherst College. … MLB uses humidors to keep baseballs from becoming dry and flying out of ballparks. It’s a great name for a doo wop band don’t you think? The Humidors.. …. Phil Mickelson saying his remarks about the Saudi golf tour were “part of a private conversation with a writer” is as credible as the frog believing the scorpion just wanted a ride across the pond. … “It’s not good to talk about my troubles,” said the late Tommy Lasorda. “Eighty percent of the people don’t care, and the other twenty percent are glad.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com