opening salvos

Just for the record: Tim Collins worked in relief for Kansas City on Thursday, becoming officially the 49th Mississippi Braves alumnus (not including injury rehabbers) to appear in a big league game since the Double-A club arrived in Pearl in 2005. It’s a remarkable number. Former M-Brave Jason Heyward homered on opening day for the second straight year, a neat feat but one topped by at least two other performances by players with Mississippi ties. On opening day in 1937, Gee Walker, a Gulfport native and ex-Ole Miss star, hit for the cycle for the Detroit Tigers; no one has done that before or since. And on opening day in 2005, Vicksburg native Dmitri Young hit three homers for the Tigers, becoming only the third player in big league history to do that.
P.S. Former Mississippi junior college standouts Roy Oswalt (Holmes CC) and Cliff Lee (Meridian CC) grace the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. In case anyone was wondering, the current Philadelphia Phillies hurlers never faced each other in juco ball. Their careers did not intersect. … Former University Christian and Itawamba CC standout Jonathan Van Every has been released by the Washington Nationals. The onetime big leaguer was a non-roster invitee to the Nats’ big league camp this spring.