"Class" begins with an "H"

So you say you want something uplifting to read in this space? Something that doesn't have a thing to do with self-serving people saying self-serving things, or with the growing notion that Roger Goodell's schnozz grows another inch with his every public pronouncement?

(The latest: Apparently the NFL's security chief knew about the Ray-Rice-punching-out-his-fiancée tape in April. Which makes it even more unlikely that Goodell is being Mr. Clean when he says, gosh, he didn't know nothin' about the NFL having any such tape in its possession. What, he never had a conversation with his security chief between, say, April and July?)

But enough of that.

The Blob is here this day to uplift. To make you cheer. To throw a little baseball sunbeam your way that doesn't have anything to do with Derek Jeter's too-perfect walk-off single in his last game in Yankee Stadium -- a theatrical release that hyperventilating Jeter-ites are already calling the Greatest Single Moment They've Ever Seen, even if it came in a meaningless game in the last meager days of the season.

Forget that. Let's talk about Phil Hughes instead.

The former Yankee is now a Twin, and his last scheduled start got rain-delayed Wednesday. It left him 1/3 of an inning short of the 210 innings he needs for a $500,000 incentive bonus to kick in.

But even though the Twins offered him another start Sunday (in which he'd likely collect his half-mill, since he only needs one out), Hughes turned them down. Said, in essence, it would feel too much like picking somebody's pocket.
 
"I owe too much to this organization for the next two years to risk getting hurt for an incentive," said Hughes, who already has collected two $250,000 incentive bonuses in a 16-10 season. "For whatever reason it wasn't meant to be. There's a lot bigger problems out there. I'm proud of my season."

A professional athlete intentionally leaving $500,000 on the table, even when his organization is OK with it?

Now that's news.

Not to mention class.