A couple quick things to share with you from sunny Nashville (We can only assume it is sunny. But it is very temperate inside the hotel.)
Major League Baseball's pre-integration committee reviewed candidates from the sport's beginning until 1946 and chose three people for induction: umpire Hank O'Day, former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and former player Deacon White.
Ruppert is the guy who actually purchased that kid from Baltimore away from the Boston Red Sox in January 1920, in case you were wondering.
Another quick connection to Charm City here: Included on the committee that chose the inductees were two former Orioles GMs, Pat Gillick and Roland Hemond, as well as former Sun writer Jim Henneman.
An Orioles scheduling note for you: They will not be playing Brazil's World Baseball Classic team on March 6 in Sarasota. The Brazil club will be training in Japan, so the Orioles will actually host the WBC club from Spain on March 6.
The early breaking news this morning doesn't involve the Orioles, but instead two division rivals.
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is likely to undergo left hip surgery, according to several reports, and will miss the beginning of the 2013 season.
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox reportedly have signed a three-year, $39 million deal with catcher Mike Napoli, according to various reports, including CBS Sports and the Boston Globe.
The Orioles did not have interest in signing Napoli – hey, I know someone was going to ask.