Baseball

[Farfromgeneva]

Glad to see this, should've happened long ago, better late than never though.

Does Josh Gibson become the all-time HR king now? And lest we not forget James "Cool" Papa Bell? He was SO FAST legend has it he could TURN THE LIGHT OFF and BE IN BED BEFORE IT WENT OUT! The OG Ricky Henderson!

Joe

Nobody was better than Rickey Henderson. Game changer, entertainer, complete ball player. Nobody was better than Rickey Henderson.
https://www.mlb.com/news/school-of-rick ... c211876974

The first person I recall in my lifetime to talk about himself in the third person. It was fantastic and unique then. Never should’ve left the As for the Bronx Biyaches though. He’s just lucky he didn’t get the same treatment from Steinbrenner that Dave Winfield did.

[Nigel]

Jan 26 is the announcement of this year's class. Is it time to put in Schilling, Clemens, and Bonds? Or do they go in next year so as to not muddy up the delayed class of 2020 (Derek Jeter, Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons and Larry Walker). Or do they not go in at all?

NAME, YEAR ON BALLOT (2020 vote total, percentage)

Curt Schilling, 9th (278, 70.0%)
Roger Clemens, 9th (242, 61.0%)
Barry Bonds, 9th (241, 60.7%)
Omar Vizquel, 4th (209, 52.6%)
Scott Rolen, 4th (140, 35.3%)
Billy Wagner, 6th (126, 31.7%)
Gary Sheffield, 7th (121, 30.5%)
Todd Helton, 3rd (116, 29.2%)
Manny Ramirez, 5th (112, 28.2%)
Jeff Kent, 8th (109, 27.5%)
Andruw Jones, 4th (77, 19.4%)
Sammy Sosa, 9th (55, 13.9%)
Andy Pettitte, 3rd (45, 11.3%)
Bobby Abreu, 2nd (22, 5.5%)

[6x6]

Schilling will get in. Clemens and Bonds doubtful this year. However, even if they don’t get in by their tenth year, the veteran’s committee will eventually vote them in. Sure wish Billy Wagner would make it but not sure he will. A tough upbringing and a good guy. Wish he would have pitched another year or two after the great final season he had with Braves.

https://www.cooperstowncred.com/hall-of ... ly-wagner/

[Brooklyn]

^ None of those guys above deserve to be in the HOF as much as Gene Michael does. He had a hand in more World Series wins than any of them. The fact that these know nothings in the media and veteran's committee overlooked him all these years proves that they know absolutely nothing about the game.

[Brooklyn]

Not sure that MLB should continue its luxury tax. Why penalize a team which is just seeking to compensate its players for their success? Like George Steinbrenner mentioned years ago, he was forced to pay a luxury tax of $10 million at one time and another owner took the money and bought a private jet rather than invest it in a free agent. Let the owners pay what they want and let the players play. Don't penalize success, reward it.

[Nigel]

Good chance the private jet felt like money well spent vs some overpaid, underperforming, frequently injured free agent that only put up numbers in his next contract year.

[Brooklyn]

^You can bet on that. I'm sure he used the jet to entertain a few dance hall girls and others. But that's not what the rule was about - he was supposed to invest it in good free agents of which there are plenty in the Big Leagues. Still, why should Steinbrenner subsidize someone who is likelier to be wealthier than he is? Doesn't sound kosher to me. Corporate capitalists don't like it when government regulates them and always call for deregulation. It's time they apply the same standard to themselves.

[Nigel]

MLB hot stove starting to warm up.

Yanks not letting the Mets get all the attention - LaMahieu 6yr/90M - I like!

[Brooklyn]

MLB hot stove starting to warm up.

Yanks not letting the Mets get all the attention - LaMahieu 6yr/90M - I like!

Am glad he'll finish out his career with the Yanks. Hopefully, they'll sign another pitcher and find some way to get the players to stay fully fit so as to prevent injuries.

[Nigel]

Mets really caught with their pants down on this Jared Porter news.

From Twitter universe,

- Jared Porter was the Mets’ general manager for 37 days, which is almost half a Beltran.

- Let the record show that the #Mets Era of Good Feeling lasted exactly 73 days.

- Which NY paper is using the headline “Meat The Mets” tomorrow?

[Nigel]

Sources: MLBPA rejects MLB's proposal of universal DH, expanded playoffs

Great! Can't wait to see pitchers strike out (most of the time), or fail to successfully execute a sac bunt (most of the time) this NL season. Last year with the universal DH the league batting average was .245 according to baseball-reference.com. In 2019 it was .252 and in 2018 it was .248. In the ten years before that, although in decline, that figure stayed mostly in the mid .250s range. With launch angle hysteria and power pitching everywhere, probably a good bet to expect another year of league batting average decline. But homers are up so the the world is good! Just don't expect a lot of multi hit innings.

[njbill]

Nobody gets in the Hall this year.

Don’t follow this as closely as I used to, but this seems a bit surprising.

https://apple.news/AlJRq8u2zQASXGHcrQM6BRw

[Nigel]

Nobody gets in the Hall this year.

Don’t follow this as closely as I used to, but this seems a bit surprising.

https://apple.news/AlJRq8u2zQASXGHcrQM6BRw

First time since 2013. Bob Costas speculates that the voters didn't want to tarnish the 2020 Jeter class that is yet to go in with the three 'bad apples' at the top of list - Schilling/Bonds/Clemens. That may be true. There's been a steady number of adds to the HOF in the last few years and now the PED dilemma is weighing very heavily over the voting and will continue to do so next year (ARod & Papi) and beyond. There were 14 ballots returned completely blank according to Forbes so the disgust is out there. IMO Schilling (moral character questions only) deserves to go in (but he says he wants off the list now). Bonds and Clemens (PEDs & moral character questions) are more difficult to consider, especially due to the PED suspicions. After those three, the names are hardly all-time greats.

2021 BBWAA Hall of Fame Election Top 10 Finishers In Voting

1. Curt Schilling: 71.1 percent (285 votes) – ninth year of eligibility

2. Barry Bonds: 61.8 percent (248 votes) – ninth year of eligibility

3. Roger Clemens: 61.6 percent (247 votes) – ninth year of eligibility

4. Scott Rolen: 52.9 percent (212 votes) – fourth year of eligibility

5. Omar Vizquel: 49.1 percent (197 votes) – fourth year of eligibility

6. Billy Wagner: 46.4 percent (186 votes) – sixth year of eligibility

7. Todd Helton: 44.9 percent (180 votes) – third year of eligibility

8. Gary Sheffield: 40.6 percent (163 votes) – seventh year of eligibility

9. Andruw Jones: 33.9 percent (136 votes) – fourth year of eligibility

10. Jeff Kent: 32.4 percent (130 votes) – eighth year of eligibility

[44WeWantMore]

I think to write "PED suspicions" insufficiently distinguishes the top three.

[Brooklyn]

Tim Tebow "retires" from baseball:


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/ti ... d=msedgntp


Had forgotten he was still playing the game. But heck he did make it to Triple A which is quite an accomplishment.

[SCLaxAttack]

Great video work to catch a knuckleball in all its beauty:

https://sports.yahoo.com/orioles-share- ... 55533.html

[DMac]

Wow, that is very cool, SCL, great shot!

[SCLaxAttack]

And all these years I thought the Mets held the ignominious record for longest time by a baseball franchise without a no-hitter.
https://sports.yahoo.com/joe-musgrove-p ... 48659.html

[Brooklyn]

Watched my first MLB game of the season as Atlanta defeated Philly 8-1. It was great to see that the NL got rid of the ridiculous DH rule. Sure helps speed up the game which ended in 3:02


https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/phill ... 10410.html




Am hoping the AL will get rid of that rule as well. Make baseball more fun that way.

[DMac]

Love a good throw to second from a catcher on a steal.
Some of these are just absolutely gorgeous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZri9rRv1Nc