BMFS's Delaware Sports Report

There are few outstanding Delaware natives among us, so as an un-outstanding Delaware native myself, I tend to follow any and all remarkable First-Staters I find. Thus, I was quite disappointed to see the bewilderingly poor performance so far this season of Dover native Ian Snell of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After compiling a 2-8 record and a 5.36 ERA, Snell was shipped to the proverbial screen door factory; he made his first start for AAA Indianapolis on Sunday night against the Toledo Mud Hens.

After walking the first batter he faced in said start, Snell then proceeded to strike out the next 13 batters in a row. Snell struck out 17 batters in 7 IP, a league record for a 7-inning outing.

By Delaware standards, even a Triple-A masterpiece is a remarkable achievement.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cue up some Matthew Shipp records and try to find out whether the Stanley Cup might make its first ever visit to Delaware under the purview of Wilmington native Mark Eaton. (No, not the gigantic motivational speaker. This guy.)

Delaware Sporting Addendum
Eaton is the only Delaware native to have ever played in the NHL.

There are more Pro Football Hall of Famers born in Norway (Jan Stenerud) than in Delaware (bupkes). Randy White grew up there (west of Wilmington, like Eaton, in fact), but he was born in Pittsburgh.

There are more players from Panama in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Rod Carew) than from Delaware (squadoosh). We have managed to claim the late William "Judy" Johnson, a Negro Leagues star and Major League coach and scout, who was born in Maryland but lived in Wilmington for most of his life.

The most notable NBA players born in Delaware: The immortal Graham twins, Joey of the Raptors and Stevie of the Pacers... and they actually grew up in Florida. Hilariously enough, basketball-reference.com lists only Joey, and not Stevie, as having been born in Delaware.

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