Hunt and Peck: Another baseball player retires

The back of the bus is quiet, but he liked the quiet. It gave him the chance to look around at the ol' bus one last time. He waited anxiously as the bus pulled up to his stop, picking at a loose thread on his slightly worn Wranglers. As the bus screeched to a halt, he cautiously stood, using the seats in front of him to balance.  "Ew... Why is this seat covered in raspberry jelly?" he said aloud as he wiped what he could of the jelly off his hand and back onto the seat. As he made his way to the front, he considered alerting the driver to the mess, but went down the bus stairs in silence. He was too tired for such things right now, and the bus driver looked tired, too. He strolled across the street from the stop to the bar he was looking for. A shaggy, mut of a dog sat in front of the door. The man gave the dog a quick pet behind the ears as he stepped over him and into the establishment. As he opened the door the rush of sound from Cesar Izturis singing "Ice, Ice, Baby", flooded his ears. Mark Ellis headed straight to the bar, ordered a glass of Armagnac, and drank.

- SFGate; SBNation; Comcast Sportsnet

By both traditional and advanced defensive measurements, Mark Ellis rates as one of the best defensive second basemen of all time.

— Drew Silva (@drewsilv) February 26, 2015

what else is going on in baseball...

what the cardinals are up to...

• Check out Randal Grichuk's place. - Fox Sports Midwest

• Cards pitcher Adam Wainwright says he hurt his abdominal muscle in the gym lifting a 45 pound weight. pic.twitter.com/whZXxc3cXB

  — Maurice Drummond (@MauriceDrummond) February 25, 2015

• What's Aledmys Diaz up to? - Scout
• The Cardinals are working on an education program in the wake of Oscar Taveras's tragic death. - STL Today
• Bill DeWitt is a lover of baseball, and for that, we thank him. - STL Today

• Michael Wacha faces hitters for first time in #cardinals camp. Molina catching, calling balls and strikes #stlcards pic.twitter.com/sSu3fvFnDn

  — Derrick Goold (@dgoold) February 25, 2015

• A healthy Jaime Garcia faces hitters for the first time this spring. #stlcards pic.twitter.com/woJecSHLrg

  — Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) February 25, 2015

KNOW THINE ENEMY...

the nl central

• Ernie Banks's estate is the center of what looks to become an ugly dispute. - Hardball Talk
  
• A Red's prospect makes an impression at Spring Training. - MLB
• This young Red starts off his spring facing a tall Cuban lefty. - MLB

viva el stuff...

• bmarkham shows that the Cardinals are wise spenders. - Viva el Birdos
• Who would you protect in an expansion draft? johnjf125 gives us his thoughts. - Viva el Birdos

other things...

• Hey, the Blues won! - St. Louis Game Time