The concept for my birthday piece, in which I selected the best team of ballplayers who share my December 25 birthday (compiled via Baseball-Reference’s birthday feature), has been spreading around the baseball blogosphere like wildfire, with folks like Baseball Blog’s Aaron Gleeman, The Cub Reporter’s Christian Ruzich, Only Baseball Matters’ John Perricone and Bobby’s Sports …
Among the seven outfielders on the BBWAA ballot are four heavy hitters who were almost exact contemporaries: Andre Dawson, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, and Jim Rice. Aiming straight for the chart: H HR RBI SB AVG OPB SLG AS MVP GG HOFS HOFM WS Top 5 Dawson 2774 438 1591 314 .279 .323 .482 8 …
Continue reading ‘The Cooperstown Class of 2003: Outfielders’ »
Moving around the horn, there are three infielders on the BBWAA ballot (and none of them futilitymen), second baseman Ryne Sandberg and shortstops Alan Trammell and Davey Concepcion. These three could build a pretty good trophy case to hold their Gold Gloves and other honors; Sandberg won an MVP in 1984, Trammell finished second in …
Continue reading ‘The Cooperstown Class of 2003: Infielders’ »
The BBWAA ballot contains three holdover first basemen who are superficially attractive candidates, in Steve Garvey, Keith Hernandez, and Don Matttingly. Added to this ballot is Eddie Murray, whose credentials are considerably stronger. Cutting straight to the chart of the matter: H HR RBI AVG OPB SLG AS MVP GG HOFS HOFM WS Top 5 …
Continue reading ‘The Cooperstown Class of 2003: First Basemen’ »
I’m going to skip over the relievers for the moment, since it’s a big can of worms, and move on to catchers. I was never a fan of
Around this time last year, I put together a two-part review of candidates on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The pieces were possibly the most popular of any I’ve written for this site (one was a Clutch Hit), and were very well received. Since my …
Continue reading ‘The Cooperstown Class of 2003: Starting Pitchers’ »
Happy New Year to everybody out there. I gorged myself on college football today, watching more ball in a single afternoon than I had all season long. But the day wasn’t completely wasted. I put together a page I’ve been itching to do for some time: the Futility Infielder of the Year Award. Though I’ve …
Like a father hinting his children that he didn’t need ANOTHER tie this Christmas, Joe Torre recently spoke out in favor of the Yanks paring their crowded rotation. But Torre finds himself now swimming in plaids and (pin)stripes, as the Yanks have purchased yet another expensive accessory to add to his collection: Cuban defector Jose …
It’s my 33rd birthday today. Given the timing and my resolve never to work on my birthday, I’m simply re-running the column I did last year. Happy holidays to everybody celebrating something today, and enjoy the following encore presentation… December 25 marks a holiday for most of this country and probably, for most of my …
Continue reading ‘Happy Birthday to Me, Rickey Henderson, and 64 Other Ballplayers’ »
I’ve been too busy, and perhaps too restrained, to celebrate the end of the Eric Karros era in Los Angeles. Karros, along with Mark Grudzielanek, was traded on December 5 to the Chicago Cubs for Todd Hundley. The fact that Hundley’s been a disaster for four of the past five seasons notwithstanding, this is a …