Reminder - Only One is in the HOF

Congrats to David Ortiz

Congratulations to Big Papi who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame over the weekend.

Here is an an interesting oral history on how David Ortiz almost didn't make it in Boston and maybe might have been out of baseball. Fellow Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez played a big role in seeing that didn't happen.

Well Deserved

Curt Schilling should have been joining him.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So Barack Obama is wading into the California recall election on the side of Gavin Newsome. Will this yield the same results as when Obama waded into the Olympic selection process on the side of Chicago? Those Chicago Olympics certainly were memorable... Bob Ryan obviously not a fan of steroids guys... Dwight Eisenhower had to work after high school and he really wanted to go to Annapolis for college but by the time he was ready he was too old by a couple of months (he would have been 21 during his freshman year and they had a cut off of 20-years old). Good thing for us that West Point didn't have a similar cut off. Can you imagine how history could have been different if he went into the Navy instead?... Rocky Balboa's first name is actually Robert. Who knew?... Heh Heh... Still think Donald and Melania Trump should do a re-make of the show Green Acres. That would instantly become the highest rated show on TV. Huge, huge hit...  

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Serious question - if the Democrats use the 25th Amendment on the basis of President Biden being non compos mentis to make Kamala Harris the President - would that invalidate all of Biden's Executive Orders? Some of them? Need a ruling on this... Very cool... Would 100% support any baseball writer who submits a blank Hall of Fame ballot permanently losing their voting rights... Re-watched Charlie Wilson's War and it holds up pretty well which should not be surprising since it stars Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, and was directed by Mike Nichols with the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. This was the last movie Mike Nichols directed before he passed... Every pitcher with 3,000 or more strikeouts who is eligible has been elected to the Hall of Fame except Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling. Clemens is being kept out because of steroids but there's no valid reason to keep Schilling out - and no because you don't like his politics is not a valid reason...

2020 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

Here's who I'd vote for (in order of my level of support):

- Derek Jeter - no brainer

- Curt Schilling - I've made the case for Curt Schilling and the Hall of Fame in the past. Suffice it to say that Schilling is 15th all-time in strikeouts and every player ahead of him (except Roger Clemens) on that list is in the Hall. Schilling is being punished for his politics.

- Omar Vizquel - 11-time Gold Glove winner. He was basically the equal of Ozzie Smith (but without the back-flips).

- Larry Walker - Former MVP and 7-time Gold Glove winner. He suffers from people biased against Coors Field but he was as good a hitter as Edgar Martinez and as good a fielder as Dwight Evans. He's a Hall of Famer.

- Todd Helton - his career batting numbers are comparable to George Brett. He's easily one of the Top 10 First Basemen of all-time and perhaps the Rockies greatest player ever.

- Jeff Kent - Former MVP and all-time leader among second basemen in HR. Wasn't exactly likable which I think has hurt his Hall chances.

My feeling is that the steroids guys traded their eligibility for the Hall of Fame for the bigger paychecks they received for their cheating ways. They cashed those checks and did those steroids - so tough luck that's the bargain they made.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Fan raised $43k to hand out "Stand With Hong Kong" t-shirts at Lakers home opener. Be interesting to see how the team handles this.

- Yes - this is true. I am lazy!

- CC Sabathia's Hall of Fame case. Was Sabathia better than Luis Tiant? Or Curt Schilling? Neither of those players are in the Hall of Fame.

- Cool science.

- The Trade War seems to be effecting the strength of the Chinese economy. As an aside I loved this quote from the article; "Authorities will loosen policies, but in a more restrained way." Loosening things through further restraint?  That's the Chinese Communists for ya.

- South Park pokes fun at LeBron James for his China comments.

- Heh Heh

Player Comparison

I wanted to make this player comparison this week.

Player A - 1,391 hits / 225 HR / .290 BA / .856 OPS / 118 OPS+

Player B - 1,747 Hits / 229 HR / .313 BA / .882 OPS / 124 OPS+

Player A is Troy Tulowitzki who announced his retirement this week while Player B is Nomar Garciaparra. I make this comparison because of the talk (not a lot granted) of if Tulowitzki is a Hall of Fame Player. I would simply state that if Nomar isn't a Hall of Famer then neither is Tulo.

Interestingly enough both players finished their careers withe the exact same 44.2 career WAR. And that's not where the similarities end.

Tulo finished with 5 All-Star game appearances, 2 gold Gloves and 2 Silver Slugger awards. Nomar had 6 All-Star game appearances, won 2 AL Batting Titles and 1 Silver Slugger. While both players were greats for their time - I don't think you could make a real Hall of Fame argument for either player.

Top 5 - Miscellaneous Nuggets from the Baseball Hall of Fame

Went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last week and there were a few things I want to make note of. Here's the Top 5 of those things:

1. The Hall has these little circular emblems under the plaques of Hall of Famers who served in the military. I feel strongly that Ted Williams should have had two emblems under his plaque not just the one noting that he served in both WWII and Korea. There should have been one for WWII and one for Korea.

2. Carlton Fisk has his numbers, deservedly so, retired by both the Red Sox and the White Sox. Wade Boggs also has his number retired by two teams, the Devil Rays and Red Sox. I don't think either team should have retired Boggs' number.

3. The Yankees have retired the number 8 twice - once for Yogi Berra and also for Bill Dickey.

4. Buck O'Neil never made it to the Hall as a player but I was pleased to see the Hall recognized his special place in history with a statue.

5. Steve Garvey had his number retired but by the San Diego Padres not the Los Angeles Dodgers. I thought that interesting because when I think of Garvey it is always as a Dodger. Garvey has not been elected to the Hall but if he was I'm pretty sure it would be a as a Dodger.

This might only amuse me but I chuckled when I saw a bobblehead of Jerry Garcia in the SF Giants exhibit. What does not amuse me is the fact that the Washington Nationals do not recognize the retired numbers of the Montreal Expos. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub and Tim Raines deserve better that that.

Mariano Rivera and the Hall of Fame

Yesterday I stopped at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for the first time and as luck would have it so did Mariano Rivera.

It is often said that even Red Sox fans admired and rooted for Derek Jeter and while that is true to an extent - the Yankee player who had universal respect and admiration was and is Mariano Rivera.

Have you ever heard of a negative thing about this man? The closest you'd get is silly grumbling that he never went to a Metallica concert or that he was "too Christian" for some people's tastes. I think those criticisms speak volumes more about the poor souls who would utter them than Rivera. 

I had the honor of watching Mariano being led to various Hall of Fame plaques starting with Roberto Clemente. There was fellow Panamanian Rod Carew and various Yankees. The one that touched me the most was when he stopped at the plaque for Jackie Robinson. Mariano understands the debt all players of color owe to Jackie and he knows that it is an honor to be the last player in MLB history to wear Robinson's retired 42. Baseball could not have picked a more humble and respected ambassador to be the last player to wear 42.

The final question Mariano fielded from the press was about 2001 and 2004 in which the Yankees lost to the Diamondbacks and Red Sox respectively in the playoffs. The way Rivera handled the question made me love him all the more. He pointed out that he gave his all every time he put on those pinstripes and every time he took the mound. Sometimes his best wasn't good enough to beat the other team's best. "That's baseball," he pointed out. He had "no regrets" for his career. He had to know the lows of losing to appreciate the highs of winning championships. He was pure class.

Mariano Rivera is the rarest of human beings. An adult how has no regrets for the life he's led. And a New York Yankee who is beloved by Red Sox fans.

Curt Schilling and the Hall of Fame

This past week four new members were voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Roy Halliday and Mike Mussina.

Not making the cut was Curt Schilling who garnered 60.9% of the vote (75% is needed for induction). What bothers me is I truly believe Schilling was kept out of the Hall because of his politics and his personality.

Now don't get me wrong - I think Schilling can be a real horse's ass but this isn't supposed to be a personality test. This is supposed to be an honor earned for on the field performance and I believe Schilling earned that honor for his deeds in both in the regular and in the post seasons.

Schilling is one of only 16 players in MLB history to have over 3,000 strikeouts. Of the pitchers in the 3,000 K Club - all of them are in the Hall of Fame. Except Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens who is being black balled for another reason *cough*steroids*cough*. Membership in the 3,000 K Club normally equals induction but not for Schilling. Why? Because some writers don't like his politics.

In terms of playoff performance - he was one of the best when it came to the biggest games. Schilling went 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 12 post season series. In winning 3 World Series titles - Schilling was named co-MVP in one and had the legendary "bloody sock" postseason heroics in another. (For comparison sake - Mike Mussina went 7-8 with a 3.42 ERA in his postseason pitching opportunities.)

Schilling had three 20-win seasons. He went 22-6 in 2001 and 23-7 in 2002 for Arizona. Both of those seasons he finished 2nd in Cy Young voting to teammate and future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson who went a combined 45-11 with 706 strikeouts in those two seasons. In 2004 Schilling went 21-6 for the Red Sox but again finished 2nd in Cy Young voting. That year Johan Santana also went 21-6 for the Twins but had a better ERA and more K's than Schilling. You have to wonder if Schilling had won just one Cy Young award if it would have been too hard for voters to justify excluding him.

I've made the argument that Schilling's three 2nd place seasons were better than the three seasons that won Jim Palmer his Cy Young awards.

People have argued that Schilling is "trending" towards induction next year. But that doesn't give the people who voted against him simply because they don't like his politics or personality a pass. Besides what if politics gets even more divisive in 2019? Seems like that's going to be the case. More reason for these self-righteous voters to double-down on not voting for Schilling.

It isn't fair. It isn't right. It it casts shame not on Schilling but on the baseball writers who vote and on the the Baseball Hall of Fame itself.

Player Comparison

Here's a player comparison I've been thinking about.

Player A - 1988 G/ 1355 R/ 383 HR/ 1311 RBI/ .313 BA/ .400 OBP/ .965 OPS
Player B - 2439 G/ 1513 R/ 118 HR/ 1013 RBI/ .328 BA/ .415 OBP/ .858 OPS

Both players have impressive numbers - though Player B had 451 more games in which to compile stats. But here's the numbers I was really curious about:

Player A - .278 BA/  .370 OBP/ .495 SLG/ .865 OPS
Player B - .302  BA/ .387 .OBP/ .395 SLG/ .781 OPS

Those are the career road numbers for the two players. You can see a big drop off for both players but Player B basically becomes a slap singles player on the road.

Player A - .348 BA/ .431 OBP/ .637 SLG/ 1.068 OPS
Player B - .354 BA/ .443 OBP/ .491 SLG/ .934 OPS

Those are the home numbers for both players. It should be noted that Player A won an MVP and was a 7 time Gold Glove winner. At home his numbers were almost Ruthian but ironically it was largely his home numbers which played against him when it came time for Hall of Fame voting. Player A was Larry Walker who played the bulk of his career home games at Coors Field. Player B was Wade Boggs who I still say would not be a Hall of Fame player if A - he didn't stick around just to get his 3,000 hits (3,010) or B - didn't play the bulk of his career home games at Fenway Park.

And yes I have a serious dislike for Wade Boggs.

2019 Hall of Fame Ballot

Picking 10 names from that list is difficult. I'd break my choices into two categories; "No Doubt" and "Had to Think About It but Yes."

Here's my picks:

No Doubts:

Mariano Rivera, Fred McGriff (long been a supporter of the Crime Dog), Curt Schilling, and Larry Walker (people forget how crazy good he was)

Had to Think About It But Yes:

Roy Halladay (sentiment will make his selection easier but is his case actually better than Curt Schilling's?), Mike Mussina (but only after Schilling gets in - Schilling was the better pitcher who is now being punished for being a crazy uncle), Omar Vizquel (guy had 11 Gold Gloves and was every bit the fielder as Ozzie Smith).

That's only 7 choices but that's all I'd feel comfortable with.

As far as steroids guys like Bonds and Clemens - my view is these guys did steroids to get paid which they did handsomely. They knowingly sacrificed their chances to make the Hall for the opportunity to make millions with big contracts. That's the choice they made and they got paid. And now that's all they should get.

Top 5 - Best Third Basemen All-Time

Adrian Beltre has announced his retirement. In my mind he's a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer. Anyone who votes against him is ignorant to where Beltre stands in regards to the All-Time greats who have played third. Here's my list of the Top 5 All-Time Third Basemen:

1. Mike Schmidt - averaged 37 HR, 107 RBI and 101 runs scored in his career. The 12-time All-Star finished his career with 548 HR, 3 League MVP's and 10 Gold Gloves. The best all-around third baseman in history.

2. George Brett - averaged 19 HR, 96 RBI and 95 runs scored plus a career .305 batting average. Brett was also a 12-time All-Star and he won the 1980 AL MVP.

3. Adrian Beltre - averaged 26 HR, 94 RBI and 84 runs scored. Finished his career with 3,166 hits and 5 Gold Gloves.

4. Brooks Robinson - averaged 15 HR, 76 RBI and 69 runs scored. He was a 15-time All-Star and won an incredible 16 Gold Gloves. He was the 1964 AL MVP and the 1970 World Series MVP

5. Eddie Mathews - averaged 35 HR, 98 RBI and 102 runs scored. Hit 512 HR back when 500 HR really meant something.

If you wanted to switch the order around after Mike Schmidt - I wouldn't argue too much but this is the way I view the list.

Jason Stark had this nugget about Beltre - he's the only player other than Willie Mays to have at least 3,166 hits, 477 HR, an .819 OPS and 5 Gold Gloves. Mays and Beltre - that's it!  First ballot Hall of Famer!

Player Comparison

Here's a Player Comparison for your consideration - both players are starting pitchers.

Player A - 239 W / 3.69 ERA / 3343.1 IP / 2862 SO / 61.0 WAR
Player B - 216 W / 3.46 ERA / 3261.0 IP / 3116 SO / 79.6 WAR

The only real advantage Player A has over Player B is in wins but what if I told you Player B also had 22 saves while Player A had none? How about if I also told you that Player B was a monster in the playoffs  going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA while Player B was a pedestrian 10-6 with a 4.20 ERA? Game, set and match to Player B - right?

Well Player A is CC Sabathia who has been recently touted as a  potential Hall of Fame player when he retires. Player B is Curt Schilling who is eligible for the Hall of Fame but many of the same people touting Sabathia haven't voted for him.

Schilling is 15th all-time in strikeouts and every player ahead of him (except Roger Clemens) is in the Hall of Fame. Schilling is 26th all-time for WAR and every player ahead of him (except Clemens and Mike Mussina) are also in the Hall of Fame.

The whole process has turned into a joke!

Jim Thome HOF

This was the very first thing I thought of when I heard Jim Thome was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Congrats to Thome, Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero, and Trevor Hoffman.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Great life advice - Life is Short. You should actively be trying to cut out the BS in your life because indeed life is too short... Still say that the player harmed most by inflated steroids era power number is Fred McGriff. In any other time he would have been a sure-fire Hall of Famer except his number are just shy of the ballooned numbers of people like Bonds, A-Rod, Sosa and McGwire... Awesome!... Would love to see Venn diagram of people who oppose fracking and those people who support Elon Musk's plan to bore huge holes to create a giant underground high speed transportation network. My guess is there would be many people who are in both groups. Hypocrites... Cool - the best and weirdest heists of 2017... Would love to do a trip like this Green Mountain Gravel Growler a 248-mile bike loop that links 13 Vermont breweries (but sadly I know I'll never do it)... You learn something new every day (or at least you should)...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I'm a biased Red Sox fan but I think Luis Tiant belongs in the Hall of Fame. If Catfish Hunter is in el Tiante should be in too.

- Very cool. A ladybug taking flight.

- Army tests new super-soldier exoskeleton

- We will need these exoskeletons in the upcoming robot wars

- I've long been fascinated with "Rainbow Head Guy"

- Interesting court case to decide the privacy of the data on your cell phone (or connected device).

- Ben Franklin - the 13 necessary virtues. Good life advice then - good advice now.

Fred McGriff and the Hall of Fame

I congratulate Tim "Rock" Raines, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell on their election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. A well deserved honor in each case. My issue is how Fred McGriff has been snubbed by the same voters. No "clean" player has been hurt more by comparison to PED contemporaries than McGriff. This isn't a new issue for me.

In 2004 I compared McGriff to now Hall of Famer Wade Boggs with the Crime Dog coming off very favorable in comparison.

In 2006 I compared McGriff to Bagwell. Are you aware that McGriff has more career HR, RBI and total bases than Bagwell? Yet McGriff is on the outside of the HoF looking in.

In 2011 I made a case of how steroids using players were hurting the HoF chances of clean players. Probably the only time I can recall really disagreeing with Joe Posnanski.

Fred McGriff deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Is Jon Lester a HoF Player?

Joel Sherman raises the question of whether Jon Lester is a Hall of Fame player. I hadn't really thought about it before but the answer is NO. At least not now.

Jon Lester would need at least 5 more seasons averaging 15 or more wins, 200 strike outs and an ERA of about 3.00. That would give Lester about 221 wins and about 2,861 strikeouts. That's still borderline but that's what's really needed to put Lester into the conversation.

I love Jon Lester but we are talking about a guy who's top finish in Cy Young voting was 4th in 2010 and 2014.