On May 8, Gerry Fraley tweeted this celebratory message: “Started at the Dallas Morning News on this day 30 years ago. Will still match our sports section against any in the country.” Seventeen days later Fraley was dead, no longer able to withstand the ravages of colon cancer.

It is another blow to the business I have enjoyed for nearly 60 years. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe died Feb. 21; Marty Noble, who had retired, died March 24. Now Fraley May 25. Cafardo was 62, Noble 70, Fraley 64.

Cafardo’s and Noble’s deaths were sudden, unexpected.

Cafardo, the Globe’s very good baseball columnist, collapsed and died outside the Red Sox spring training clubhouse in Fort Myers, Fla., reportedly having suffered an embolism.

Noble, the best reporter who ever covered the Mets …

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Fred Wilpon, owner (minority or majority) of the New York Mets for four decades, is a wonderful human being, a genuine humanitarian, but he has made two huge mistakes in his life.

A decade or so ago, he invested millions of dollars with his friend Bernie Madoff. Given that Madoff was running an illegal Ponzi scheme and bilking friends rich and poor out of their life savings, that was certainly a Wilpon mistake.

What was the other Wilpon mistake? Well before the Madoff debacle, Wilpon put his son, Jeff, in charge of the Mets as chief operating officer. That idea hasn’t worked out for Fred either.

Named Chief Operating Officer in August 2002, the younger Wilpon quickly established himself as the most disliked executive in major league baseball. When Jeffrey Loria owned the Miami Marlins, his stepson, David Samson, the Marlins’ president, was in close competition with Wilpon, but Loria sold the Marlins and took Samson with him, leaving the field to the younger Wilpon.

In Wilpon’s case, though, the appraisal goes beyond …

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In his 20th game of the season Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees’ multi-talented right fielder, strained a muscle and took himself out of what in the last few years has become my favorite individual batting race of the season.

I’m referring to strikeouts. They fascinate me. I don’t understand how major league hitters can strike out so much. I don’t understand either how major league pitchers have so much trouble throwing strikes, but that’s a question for another day. Today I will deal with the frequency with which batters strike out.

In his first full season in the major leagues, 2017, the year he was voted American League rookie of the year, Judge led the majors with 208 strikeouts. He was in position to repeat last season until he was hit by a pitch and suffered a chip fracture of his right wrist, causing him to miss 45 games. At the time, he had struck out …

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