Linky Links

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

- Enhancing memory in humans by 40%. As an aside - Memory Prosthesis would be a good name for a blog (because that's basically what I use mine for).

- Funny and disturbing because it was true!

- Lois Lerner should have to stand trial for the way she ran the IRS

- Fascinating and inspiring - how two Irish brothers turned 7 lines of code into a $9.2 billion start-up

- Hackers stole casino's high-roller database through a thermometer in the lobby fish tank. Beware the IoT (Internet of Things)

- Bob Montgomery you sexy beast

- This looks pretty cool

Linky Links

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

- Great story from Pedro Martinez on the lesson Johnny Bench taught him the evening of Pedro's HOF induction.

- Why it's great to be a Boston sports fan and lousy to be a Washington DC sports fan

- Heh heh - sometimes I have the sense of humor of a 10-year old boy

- Brad Thor's well thought out opposition to Donald Trump

- Speaking of Trump

- 45 podcasts recommended by Ted.com

Lies Damned Lies and Statistics

I had forgotten that Jim Edmonds was still playing for the Brewers. I saw he hit a home run last night and was curious of where Edmonds stood on the all-time list and whether a case could be made that Edmonds was a potential Hall of Fame player.

What I learned got me thinking about stats and whether they are all that people are cracking them up to be.

Jim Edmonds is in his 17th major league season. He won 8 Gold Gloves in a 9-year stretch during the prime of his career and was a feared slugger during that same stretch. He currently has 387 HR which places him 54th on the all-time list. That puts him just below Albert Pujols (388 and counting) and Johnny Bench (389). He's also just above Dwight Evans (385) who seems like the natural comparable in my mind.

Evans also won 8 Gold Gloves in his career and was also known more for his glove than his bat. That's not to belittle the offensive prowess of either player (Edmonds or Evans). What's strange is that in certain circles Dwight Evans is elevated above teammate Jim Rice in regards to offensive accomplishments.

Where am I going with this? Well I was just wondering if the type of person who argues that Dwight Evans was the superior player to Jim Rice would also try to argue that Jim Edmonds is a superior hitter to Johnny Bench. As has been pointed out both players are basically equal in HR and Bench played in 17 seasons - just like Edmonds. However, Edmonds has the better career OBP (.376 to .342), OPS (.903 to .817) and OPS+ (131 to 126) compared to Bench. Those are the type of stats that sabermetric minded folks eat up.

I would never dream of putting Jim Edmonds ahead of Johnny Bench but now I won't be shocked when someone makes that argument. You know it's coming.

Yogi Berra

Happy birthday to Hall of Fame catcher and Yankees legend Yogi Berra who turns 83 today.

Berra made 14 consecutive All-Star teams and finished in the top 4 for MVP voting seven straight seasons (winning the award three times). Berra is arguably the greatest catcher to play the game (although I would understand if your choice was Johnny Bench instead). Yogi had incredible bat control and never struck out more than 38 times in a season. Johnny Bench had at least double Yogi's career high in strikeouts in every season Bench finished in the top 20 in MVP voting. To stress how incredible Berra's bat control and plate discipline were - consider that this season there are already 10 players with at least 38 strikeouts.

What puts Berra ahead of Bench in my mind is the two year head start Bench had over Berra. Bench joined the big leagues at age 19. Berra didn't make it to the big leagues until age 21. It wasn't that Berra wasn't good enough to play earlier than that. It was just that Berra was busy fighting WWII - serving in the Navy until 1946.

Not sure about you but I'd like to pretend that Berra never donned a New York Mets jersey on the playing field in 1965. It also boggles the mind that baseball writers did not consider Yogi Berra a first ballot Hall of Fame player. Berra received just 67% of the votes in his first year of eligibility before being elected in 1972 with 85.6% of the vote (the same year that 13% of the baseball writers didn't think Sandy Koufax was good enough for induction).

Top 5 - Baseball Players From Oklahoma

Here are who I consider the top 5 baseball players born in Oklahoma.

1. Johnny Bench - arguably the best all-around catcher in history
2. Mickey Mantle - people name their children 7 in his honor
3. Willie Stargell - Hall of Fame 1st baseman
4. Paul Waner - Hall of Fame outfielder - career .333 hitter who won 3 batting titles
5. Lloyd Waner - Hall of Fame outfielder and brother of Paul.

You could flip #1 and #2 on this list and I wouldn't argue.