Rounding up links is the laziest form of blogging...

• Nick Hundley interview with Darren Smith on XX1090 (MP3)
  Hundley talks about his routine at Spring Training. He says it's quieter in the clubhouse without Heath Bell and his remote controlled toys. Tim Stauffer's nickname is "Helmet" because his head is so big. Andrew Cashner looked good in yesterday's bullpen session.
• Richard looking to return to 2010 form | UTSanDiego.com

  Many Padres fans believe that shows the White Sox clearly got the best of the deal for the former Cy Young Award winner. But Peavy is 17-13 with the White Sox with a 4.49 ERA in 38 starts around a career-threatening injury. Richard is 24-20 with a 3.84 ERA in 63 starts for the Padres – including a 13-8 road record.

  Do fans still want pine for Peavy? We got rid of him just in time.
  
• Day 3: Going Full Gorilla " Follow The Padres
  Corey Brock's seasonal Padres blog has sprouted and shot forth from the sun baked soil of Peoria. For my money this is your best place for information on the day to day happenings at Spring Training. Today we learn that Chase Headley finds Ostrich boots to be comfortable.
• Catching Depth " Padre Knows Best
  I enjoy watching the slide shows and videos of catchers frolicking.
• insidethepadres: Cactus fire
  Balsley said he is going to light a fire under the bullpen pitchers and stoke the embers of competition this Spring. I like Balsley, Dex and I sat next to his dad a couple years ago at a Spring Training game. Nice guy, but wouldn't tell us any secrets.

• Moseley trying to get back in the swing | UTSanDiego.com
  Moseley dislocated his shoulder twice last season during a game while hitting. He had shoulder surgery to tighten up his labrum and now he's taking baby steps to regain confidence in his swing.
• Padres manager lays out course for 2012 | UTSanDiego.com
  Interesting stuff here about who Bud Black sees making strides this year. He says he'd be disappointed if the team plays as poorly defensively as they did at the beginning of last year.
• San Diego Padres pitcher Huston Street looks great in a swimsuit and also cross-dresses – Outsports
  OutSports.com is enjoying Huston Streets Speedo pictures over at LobShots.com.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey is a Gaslamp Ball community project that will chronicle the 2012 Padres season through the lives of their greatest fans and an old jersey.

Well I mailed off Dave Staton's spring training jersey to Gaslamp Baller Nater Tater in Yuma, Arizona. It seemed appropriate to get it back to its one time home before it's long journey around the world.

I bought a Scotch Smart Mailer at Target for a couple bucks over the weekend and took it to the Post Office today during lunch. Using their automated machine I weighed the jersey (just over 12 oz.) and purchased first class postage for $3.30. I realized that I've now invested over $30 into this project and couldn't help but wonder if it would succeed.

I looked at the parcel one last time and thought of Han Solo's line in Return of the Jedi after he handed over the keys of the Millenium Falcon to Lando.

"I've just got a funny feeling, like I'm never gonna see her again"

I thought of all the good times that jersey and I had had at Padres Fan Fest. How we took a tour of the clubhouse together, threw in the bullpen and hugged Pad Squad Loxie. So many memories.

Whatever.

I tossed the jersey into the mail bin and didn't look back. Now the success of Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey is in your hands. Give it safe passage.

Godspeed.

P.S. - We need someone to take it to Spring Training.

UPDATE: We've got 35 people who have volunteered to be part of the Sisterhood so far. I have 5 addresses. I'm making a list. Email me (jbox at gaslampball dot com) your username, name, address and any special requests.

Bill Swank, the local baseball historian has been trying to get a Ted Williams statue erected at the old Lane Field site downtown. Some of you don't know this, but Ted Williams, of Boston Red Sox fame, was born and raised in San Diego and played for the minor league Padres at Lane Field. Swank has been pitching to the city that a statue be made and displayed in Ted Williams' honor downtown.

Other than being a baseball historian, Bill Swank is also known for being Balboa Park's Santa Clause during Christmas on the Prado the holiday season. I'm not completely sure why, but he tried to use that as leverage to get the Ted Williams statue project going.

We missed it during the holiday season, but this is what happened...

Personally, I think there are probably better ways to mobilize the public and get this thing built, but you do what you know. Bill Swank knows Santa Clause. I know how to blog badly.

Luckily though, there seems to be some progress. I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do to get this statue built, but at the very least, we can let people know that the effort is underway.

If they do get a statue built, I propose that the base be made of untreated Northern White Ash (Williams' wood of choice for bats) that people can rub and get splinters from. Then they can walk away saying stuff like, "It hurts... But what a splendid splinter!"

I've avoided writing about Tony Gwynn's surgery because I have really mixed feelings about it. Of course I want Tony to be OK. Of course I feel for his family. Of course I think cancer is a terrible thing. I would never wish it on anybody.

At the same time, when you play with fire, you get burned. Tony has said as much about his health and his habit in the past.

But beyond that, Tony is a role model and getting paid to be a coach and mentor to kids... If it's part of his job is telling these kids right way to play a game, then it's his responsibility to tell kids the wrong way to play the game also.

And Tony Gwynn didn't do that.

Ask Tony Gwynn about hitting and he has all the right answers. He could pick apart a player's approach. He has advice for the right way and wrong way to approach an at-bat ahead in the count and behind in the count. What to do against certain pitchers and what not to do. Study the tape. Analyze it. Learn from the results. Be better the next time you're in the batters box.

The right way to do things to get the best results.

If you were to ask Tony if you should chew tobacco on a baseball field... "Everybody has their own decisions to make."

I read ridiculous stories all the time about people making "their own" decisions and getting themselves killed or maimed. If it's somebody getting dismembered in the process of building a homemade guillotine or falling off a cliff strapped to a home made flying machine, then we kinda snicker at them. Nominate them for a Darwin Award.

But apparently, according to Tony Gwynn and the MLB players, if it's chewing tobacco, then it's not ridiculous decisions. It's tradition! Who are you to question tradition!?

Last year, it was discussed, but the MLB players would not agree to ban smokeless tobacco on the field. Major League Baseball is really the only sport where emulating what your favorite player does on the field commonly includes using a carcinogen stuffed inside of your cheek.

Tony could've done a lot to persuade the players into agreeing to the ban, but he didn't. And it's because of that that I've hesitated to write anything until now. Because I am a fan of Tony Gwynn's, but this is something that could literally be the death of him and he refuses to be the role model that parents expect him to be.

Do me a favor and Google "cancer mouth surgery". There's plenty of photographs of people with their faces peeled back from their skulls, undergoing the 14 hour surgery that Tony had to go through this week. There are also plenty of photos of people with no jawbones or without access to the types of plastic surgery that have saved Tony's face and instead, they're left disfigured.

Speedy recovery, Tony. Good luck with your health in the future, and let's hope that players who want to emulate you ignore your so-called "advice" when it comes to smokeless tobacco.

Hey Tony, what do you have to say to kids who know you chewed all through your career?

Everybody has their own decisions to make. I made a bad one and I'm suffering the consequences.

Smokeless chewing tobacco is stupid, unnecessary, and unless you like to gamble, chewing will result with you in the hospital with your face peeled back from your skull, under radiation, puking your guts out while your hair falls out or potentially without a jaw, sipping food through a tube for the rest of your life.