Newspaper and Internet headlines are written to attract readers’ and viewers’ attention. A recent newspaper headline got my attention:

“Another Ace Bets on Himself, And Wins Big”

The New York Times article, however, delivered less than the headline promised, an unusual practice for the Times. The subject of the article, Jordan Zimmerman, signed a five-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. It is worth $110 million, or $22 million a year.

What gamble did Zimmerman win? A year earlier, the article explained, the Washington Nationals offered Zimmerman $105 million, but he rejected it and opted to be a free agent this year. So how did he win big?

Don’t ask me. After risking an arm injury that could have wrecked his chances of getting a lucrative multi-year contract as a free agent, Zimmerman gained …

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A year ago I was prepared to give up my Hall of Fame vote, which I had held for more than 40 years. Since then, however, I have recalled a story about another writer’s vote, and it has prompted me to reconsider my intention.

This now retired writer submitted a blank ballot, possibly being the first voter to take such a step. Yet another writer asked the voter why he submitted a blank ballot; if he didn’t want to vote for anyone, why send in a blank ballot? Just don’t vote.

However, tossing the blank ballot in the trash and using the postage stamp from the envelope the Hall of Fame provides for paying his electric bill was not what the writer had in mind. By submitting a blank ballot, the writer was casting a vote, a no-one-should-get-in vote, and he was making it more difficult for all of the candidates on the ballot to be elected.

To be elected, a candidate needs 75 percent of the votes submitted. If 500 votes are cast …

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Baseball fans find very little, if anything, to enjoy in The New York Times these days. I often hear from them when they complain about the absence of news of baseball. What do you want me to do, I usually respond. I don’t work there anymore.

Soccer has become the sport of record of the so-called paper of record.

On Saturday, though, a wonderful thing happened, courtesy of Joe Nocera, a new sports business columnist, who comes to the Times sports section from its op-ed page, where he was basically a business columnist. I don’t know why he switched locations for his columns and whether it was a smart move for him because I found him to be one of the Times’ most entertaining op-ed columnists.

Yes, columnists should be entertaining as well as smart and incisive, and Nocera provides …

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