Diamond in rough a scout's best friend: Baseball draft has fewer sure things, more late surprises

War rooms, draft boards and big bucks are all part of draft-daydrama ... in baseball. When it comes to amateur drafts, the NFL andNBA get all of the attention. And there's a good reason the baseballdraft barely gets noticed beyond the first round.

For every Derek Jeter (1992 by the Yankees) and Derrek Lee (1993by the Padres) taken in the first round, there are too many playerssuch as Brien Taylor -- taken first overall by the Yankees in 1991and never able to move beyond Class A -- who litter the landscape.

At a time when switch-hitting outfielder Joe Borchard -- perhapsthe most expensive first-round bust ever -- is searching for a newhome, it becomes relevant to …

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE Primarily New Hampshire, Meryl Levin and Will Kanteres, 224 pages, $35, July 2004, Third Rail Press.

Political junkies already yearning for the 2008 New Hampshire primaries will find appealing Meryl Levin and Will Kanteres' new book, "Primarily New Hampshire: A Year in the Lives of Presidential Campaign Staffers Explored in Photographs and Words."

The book focuses on the lives of presidential campaign staff members. The subject clearly captures the imagination of Levin, a social documentary photographer, and Kanteres, a New Hampshire native and political activist who worked on the 1980 presidential campaigns for Gov. Jerry Brown as …

Iraq, US agree on security pact final draft

A senior aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Iraq and the United States are now in agreement over a final draft of a security pact that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31.

He says copies of the agreement will be distributed to Cabinet members later Saturday after a final revision of the …

Smithsonian Delta Queen cruise on tap

CINCINNATI Some spaces are still available for the SmithsonianInstitution's study cruise on the steamboat Delta Queen Sept. 11-19.The Delta Queen will travel four rivers, the Ohio, Cumberland,Tennessee and Mississippi. …

Hopkins Outpoints Wright for Upset Win

LAS VEGAS - Bernard Hopkins outfoxed age and Winky Wright the same way: First with his head, then with his heart. The 42-year-old Hopkins earned another stunning victory in the twilight of his career Saturday night, ending Wright's 7 1/2-year unbeaten streak with a unanimous decision in their 170-pound fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs) landed his biggest blow when he opened a gash over Wright's left eye with a head-butt in the third round. Hopkins spent the night picking at it while Wright (51-4-1) scrambled and counterpunched.

Wright grew frustrated and tired in the late rounds, and Hopkins stuck with his patient, steady strategy in a …

Candidate for US Senate in Iowa arrested in Neb.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa has been arrested on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus after allegedly threatening a student worker who was removing his campaign signs.

UNL's assistant police chief, Carl Oestmann (EAST-man), says 41-year-old Philip Storey, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was being held Saturday in the Lancaster County jail.

Authorities didn't know …

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN

(b. January 17, 1706; d. April 17, 1790) Printer and publisher, scientist and inventor, ambassador and statesman, politician.

Benjamin Franklin's impact on America's independence movement and its aftermath cannot be overstated. Franklin fled Boston, the city of his birth, at age seventeen. In Philadelphia, after many false starts, he set up a flourishing printer's shop on Market Street and married Deborah Read, retiring at age forty-two. With his son William, he conducted his famous kite experiment demonstrating the connection between lightning and electricity, which immediately garnered him international fame as a scientist. He also began his political career by winning a seat as Philadelphia's representative to the Pennsylvania legislature. He organized the colony's militia at the beginning of King George's War, presented his abortive "Plan of Union" to the Albany Conference in 1754, and spearheaded the drive …