Welcome to 'Duk's Dozen, a streamlined selection of 12 morning-fresh links and items to start your baseball day. It welcomes your email submissions and tips here or via Twitter.   

1. It's admittedly a very loose comparison, but Joe Mauer(notes) and Mark Prior(notes) have become the Michael Jordan and Sam Bowie of the 2001 MLB draft. Star Tribune
2. Why baseball needs Mauer and Albert Pujols(notes) to stay put in their "small markets." Newsday
3. A Twins fan writes condolence letters to those who didn't win the AL MVP. Twinkie Town
4. Mauer beats out Brett Favre when it comes to Turkey Day guests in the Twin Cities. Star Tribune
5. In advance of today's NL MVP coronation, the Dodgers website provides a nice chuckle. MSTI
6. Hey, how would Dan Uggla(notes) look in a Giants uniform next season? Bay City Ball
7. The terms of Ken Griffey's new deal can again be described as "incentive-laden." Seattle Times
8. Jermaine Dye(notes) is open to playing first if it means getting another contract. Circling The Bases
9. I love that John Halama(notes) is still plugging away and trying to get back to the bigs. MLBTR
10. Weighing the possibility of replacing Mike Lowell(notes) with Adrian Beltre(notes) in Boston. Fire Brand
11. That was fast. MLB has already released the Yanks World Series film. Scott Proctor's Arm
12. In case you missed the Derek-Minka pics from St. Bart's last week. Bronx Baseball Daily

Great success! After a few months of the intangibles crowd being threatened with severe online mockery by the rest of us, Minnesota's Joe Mauer was rightly awarded with the first American League MVP of his career on Monday afternoon.

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You can't call CC Sabathia a fair weather NFL fan. The Yankees ace has always shown his love for the silver-and-black and he was rewarded on Sunday when he showed up in Oakland to watch the Raiders steal a game from the Bengals. Today he'll hand out 500 Thanksgiving turkeys in Vallejo, Calif., as his busy offseason as a World Series champion continues.

Sabathia, of course, isn't the only baseballer enjoying his time off after a longer-than-long season. Check out what a few others did over the weekend we just closed.

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Welcome to 'Duk's Dozen, a streamlined selection of 12 morning-fresh links and items to start your baseball day. It welcomes your email submissions and tips here or via Twitter.  

1. Chicago closer Bobby Jenks(notes) thinks he's being scapegoated after a season of injuries. Ozzie Guillen, meanwhile, thinks his portly pitcher "has to stay in shape if he wants to play for the White Sox." Remember when these two were baseball's odd couple? Sun-Times
2. Andrew Reilly thinks being mad at Bobby Jenks for being fat is like being mad at a dog for leaving hair on the couch. It all goes with the territory. 35th Street Review
3. Jenks may not be with the White Sox in 2010, but Omar Vizquel(notes) may be. FanGraphs
4. An Angels fan makes an emotional plea for the return of John Lackey(notes). Halos Heaven
5. Where does Elvis Andrus'(notes) rookie season rank among young shortstops? Lone Star Ball
6. The Red Sox are trying to pawn Mike Lowell(notes) off on someone else. Surviving Grady
7. Some think Jon Garland(notes) would be a good innings-eater for the Yankees. Pinstripe Alley
8. A closer look at Manny Acta's wish list for the Cleveland Indians The DiaTribe
9. The wait for the Nationals to complete their "ballpark district" will likely continue. Nats320
10. The Mariners are going to give Dustin Ackley a whirl at second base. Circling The Bases
11. The Cubs are back in the business of battling certain rooftop owners. Chicago Tribune
12. Oprah did not show Kate Hudson our A-Rod as a centaur photo. Subway Squawkers

Anyone who reads Big League Stew knows that the Fashion Ump is generally a fan of any team that decides to go with the old-school powder blue uniform.

That said, he's never been particularly fond of how the Royals choose to remember the days of Dick Howser, Frank White and Willie Wilson. Instead of going all the way with true throwbacks, the kings of Kauffman have gone with modern and inferior jerseys and haven't shown enough courage to match them with powder blue pants.

Now the Royals are going to wear this powder blue hat with the powder blue jerseys during home day games in 2010 and ol' Fashion Ump can't say he's excited as some. 

After all, the whole point to wearing throwbacks is to summon our warm and fuzzy memories of the past. When the Blue Jays go with their historically-accurate getups, it's easy to squint and think we're watching the glory days of Lloyd Moseby and Rance Mulliniks at Exhibition Stadium instead of the somewhat-depressing bunch that currently inhabits the Rogers Centre. It works.

Contrast that to the Royals, a team that will still only remind us of mail carriers while donning caps that never sat upon George Brett's dome. When they adopted the adapted powder blue jersey in 2008, we told the Royals it wasn't so much the color as it was the memory.

They apparently haven't been listening.   

Fashion Ump ruling: Foul ball

Over the past few postseasons, the wait between rounds has been good for a great number of things: Writing the great American novel, growing a gigantic beard and conceiving children before seeing them off to college.

It has not, however, been good for baseball, a sport that values the rhythm of everyday play and the benefits of a deep pitching staff. Last month, the Yankees and Angels finished their division series on a Monday, but didn't face off until the following Friday. That led Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia to publicly gripe the league and television networks were threatening the integrity of the game by dragging their feet.

At any rate, Scioscia's words must carry some weight at MLB HQ because Bud Selig spoke on the issue and admitted a problem at the owner's meetings in Chicago on Wednesday. 

Here's what the commissioner told reporters:

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Welcome to 'Duk's Dozen, a streamlined selection of 12 morning-fresh links and items to start your baseball day. It welcomes your email submissions and tips here or via Twitter. 

1. Jim Tracy, manager of the year? That's news to folks in Pittsburgh and L.A. Bugs & Cranks
2. Tyler Kepner speaks for us all when he says manager of the year is an "odd award." NYT
3. It can also be a valuable one, as evidenced by Tracy's contract extension. Denver Post
4. Bud Selig isn't worried about the fighting between Mommy and Daddy Dodger. LA Times
5. "We signed our free agent already. His name is Jake Peavy(notes)." South Side Sox
6. Sandy Alomar Jr.(notes) is back with the Indians as a first base coach. Waiting For Next Year
7. Have J.J. Hardy(notes) and NKOTB shared parallel careers? MPD thinks so. Miller Park Drunk
8. How much does Zack Greinke(notes) really understand about FIP? Fack Youk
9. Tom Hicks is making a last-ditch effort to keep owning the Rangers. Lone Star Ball
10. Loyal Stewie Brandon Cohen predicts the landing spot of each free agent. Pinstriper
11. Pete Rose's girlfriend talks about wanting to appear in Playboy. Sports Radio Interviews
12. Mickey Mouse had better things to do when A-Rod showed up to Disney World. The Onion

It's one of those strange facts I always seem to forget, then act amazed by when reminded of it again.

Back in Oct. 1994, the BBWAA handed out its annual awards as usual — no matter if ballparks had been empty for over two months, the World Series had been canceled or the league's players were striking and  alienating fans across the country.

Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell took home MVP honors.

Bob Hamelin and Raul Mondesi, both future Hall of Famers, were named the top rookies in baseball. 

Greg Maddux and David Cone won the Cy Young, while Buck Showalter and Felipe Alou won manager of the year in their respective leagues.

All for an uncompleted season that effectively ended when the strike began on Aug. 12.

The Sports Illustrated Vault contains an excellent Steve Wulf article from that season and it covers most of the questions we'd ask of the writers 15 years later.

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We would usually be totally steamed if an outlet like MTV News completely ripped off one of our trademark Big League Stew photo illustrations — painstakingly crafted with the precision moves of our own mice! — and then another blog incorrectly credited it to the network. 

But when an outlet like MTV News takes Dave Brown's classic photoshop job of Alex Rodriguez(notes) as a centaur, whips it out in front of a clearly peeved Kate Hudson and then asks if the Yankees slugger has something similar hanging above his bed?

Well, then it's almost enough to make us overlook the fact that the entertainment reporter nimbot tells Goldie Hawn Jr. he found it in a "reputable magazine" like US Weekly and not on a "reputable baseball blog" like Big League Stew.

Almost.