A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS ON BASEBALL AS THE WEATHER GROWS EVER COLDER . . .
Actually, a (very) few thoughts on the Hall of Fame vote (and no links cause I'm too lazy to dig them up -- anyone who cares about this dorky shit already knows the results):
1. Jim Rice gets in. Whatever. I don't think he deserves it (relatively low OBP, numbers inflated by Fenway, hit into approximately 9,000 double plays), but he's not an egregiously bad choice. I mean, everyone keeps saying how he was such a "feared" hitter, whatever the hell that means since his IBB numbers are not all that high.
2. He deserves it more than Andre Dawson does! He of the .323 lifetime OBP should not be allowed entry into the hallowed hall unless he pays admission. I know everyone says he was such a "classy" guy, which I think means he was a Black guy who spoke "good English" and never got arrested, but I'm open to other definitions. Anyway, he didn't deserve his one MVP and the OBP is too damn low.
And why am I talking about The Hawk, you may ask, since he did not get elected? Because he got 67% of the vote, which is about 66% too many.
3. Unlike Tim Raines, who got only about 22%. Gun to my head I'd probably vote for Raines (or at least I'd tell the guy holding the gun to my skull, "Hey dude, no need to bring the heat! I'll let you count my votes for the HOF without threats. That's how I roll."). But I could be convinced not to. He wasn't really that much of a force outside his incredible 1981-1987 period.
But I'm fairly certain he was better than Rice and Dawson. Better hitter, better baserunner, better fielder. Not that those things matter in the calculus.
I guess his problem was that he was neither feared (even though he drew almost twice as many IBB as Rice did) nor "classy" (guys who dabbled in coke early in the Reagan administration when they were 22 years-old can't come to Cooperstown. Sorry, it's an exclusive club open only to whoring drunks and prescription pill-poppers).
4. Dale Murphy (who always struck me as pretty much in the Rice and Dawson mold) got about 13%. Maybe he, like the other two, doesn't deserve admission either. But the difference in votes??? Is anti-Mormonism spreading to the baseball writers?
5. And finally, the 28 fucking idots who didn't vote for Rickey should just turn in their BBWAA credentials right now, since there is no reason I can think of why they should be allowed to ever vote for the HOF again. Morons.
1. Jim Rice gets in. Whatever. I don't think he deserves it (relatively low OBP, numbers inflated by Fenway, hit into approximately 9,000 double plays), but he's not an egregiously bad choice. I mean, everyone keeps saying how he was such a "feared" hitter, whatever the hell that means since his IBB numbers are not all that high.
2. He deserves it more than Andre Dawson does! He of the .323 lifetime OBP should not be allowed entry into the hallowed hall unless he pays admission. I know everyone says he was such a "classy" guy, which I think means he was a Black guy who spoke "good English" and never got arrested, but I'm open to other definitions. Anyway, he didn't deserve his one MVP and the OBP is too damn low.
And why am I talking about The Hawk, you may ask, since he did not get elected? Because he got 67% of the vote, which is about 66% too many.
3. Unlike Tim Raines, who got only about 22%. Gun to my head I'd probably vote for Raines (or at least I'd tell the guy holding the gun to my skull, "Hey dude, no need to bring the heat! I'll let you count my votes for the HOF without threats. That's how I roll."). But I could be convinced not to. He wasn't really that much of a force outside his incredible 1981-1987 period.
But I'm fairly certain he was better than Rice and Dawson. Better hitter, better baserunner, better fielder. Not that those things matter in the calculus.
I guess his problem was that he was neither feared (even though he drew almost twice as many IBB as Rice did) nor "classy" (guys who dabbled in coke early in the Reagan administration when they were 22 years-old can't come to Cooperstown. Sorry, it's an exclusive club open only to whoring drunks and prescription pill-poppers).
4. Dale Murphy (who always struck me as pretty much in the Rice and Dawson mold) got about 13%. Maybe he, like the other two, doesn't deserve admission either. But the difference in votes??? Is anti-Mormonism spreading to the baseball writers?
5. And finally, the 28 fucking idots who didn't vote for Rickey should just turn in their BBWAA credentials right now, since there is no reason I can think of why they should be allowed to ever vote for the HOF again. Morons.
Labels: Let Me Be The Eight-Thousandth Person Too Say I Can't Wait For Rickey's Induction Speech
posted by Mike at 7:04 AM
11 Comments:
Heh, Rickey kept reading lower and lower, getting ready to clear his throat just in case... Oh yes, there he is mentioned at the bottom!
The logic those 28 jackasses are following is that since Babe wasn't a unanimous vote, no one else should be. Not even Rickey. They fashion themselves as the keepers of the flame or something... bleh.
How the guy who scored more runs than anyone in baseball--and last time I checked scoring runs is how you win a game--can't be a unanimous pick nails the idiocy of too many HOF voters.
How they keep Bert Blyleven out is also ridiculous.
But I tend to take the BP approach to these things, so what do I know.
I also say you have to ignore the steroids stuff, too, and hold your nose and let McGwire, Bonds, Clemens in. We don't really know who did what or how much it helped. We do know Ruth didn't have to play against half the most talented players in his day (no fault of his own). We do know Cobb was a racist jerk. We do know Mantle was a drunk.
Most importantly, we all know they played baseball really really well.
Let them all in.
Except Rose, as he's a lying, cheating, asshole who beat up Buddy Harrelson.
Not only scored more runs but stole more bases than anyone. Even the great Lou Brock doesn't come close.
Congrats Rickey!
George, how is using steroids NOT cheating? If those fuckers get in, asshole Rose should go in too.
I guess 2 of the ballots were submitted 100% blank as some sort of weird protest. One voter said he wasn't "a Rickey guy" which should disqualify him immediately. The other 25 are probably assholes and/or idiots.
Rice's IBBs are almost exactly comprable to A-Rod (77 in 14 full seasons to 79 in 13, respectively) so I don't know how much of a measure that is. It's not like A-Rod is playing in 162 playoff games each year. He's borderline but acceptable. Raines is getting jobbed.
The only one of the "controversial" candidates I would keep out of the Hall is Joe Jackson.
Involvement in throwing the World Series is juuuuuuust a tad over the line.
Plus, he's dead over 55 years, so who really cares anymore.
Rose? A scumbag, but from all I've read the evidence that he bet on Reds games is a bit flimsly. Let him in.
The "steroid guys"? Since everyone was doing it, what's the issue here? If everyone did 'roids, yet McGwire and Bonds still hit x% more HRs, why are we excluding them?
Any HOF that excludes McGwire, Bonds, and Clemens is such an obvious joke, they might as well implode the place and start over.
Sosa? That may be a different story, since he wasn't a real force outside that incredible 4 year stretch.
One asshat who didn't vote for rickey also did not vote for McGwire due to steroids.
Then he voted for Matt Williams, because he was intense.
Yes, the same Matt Williams who was mentioned several times in the mitchell report.
verification - pations
Oh and Mike, loved the Vacation write up.
Though I do think you are missing out on Christmas Vacation.
And for mentioning its sequel, I sentence you to 24 hours of watching tape of Luis Castillo at-bats from 2008.
word verification - itelem
seems apropos
He wasn't really that much of a force outside his incredible 1981-1987 period.
I know baseball careers can be very long, but I would think that 6 or 7 incredible years is plenty.
I was probably a bit imprecise in how I used "incredible." The run he had in the 80s was "incredible," not necessary each year in that stretch.
And since there are always Bondses and Pujolses and Wliiiamses out there (Ted, not "Intense" Matt), maybe "incredible" is the wrong word choice for a guy like Raines who was merely great.
It's not that steroids aren't cheating, it's that we don't really know who did what.
Plus it's really arguable what steroids does for a baseball player, anyway.
So as fans we just have to know late 80s into 90s baseball was that era, when offense was inflated. What exactly did the inflating we'll never be sure of. It's like knowing the 60s were years of the pitcher.
we just have to know late 80s into 90s baseball was that era, when offense was inflated. What exactly did the inflating we'll never be sure of. It's like knowing the 60s were years of the pitcher.
That's the way I see it for the most part.
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