Baseball 2012

[jimmy olsen]

IMO both are borderline candidates.  I could see voting no, but voting yes is hardly an outrage.  They are well above the level of Rice and Dawson, to pick on two questionable recent selections.

[dps]

IMO both are borderline candidates.  I could see voting no, but voting yes is hardly an outrage.  They are well above the level of Rice and Dawson, to pick on two questionable recent selections.

Yeah, you're right.  They weren't questionable selections.  Minsky was being nice--they were actually piss-poor selections, especially Rice.

[sbr]

I didn't follow baseball that seriously in the mid 1990's so my recollection of Biggio might be a bit off, but it is nice to see Minsky agree with me.

I dug around a bit at baseball-reference.com and what I found makes me even more certain of my feelings about Biggio.

He finished in the top 10 of league MVP voting 3 times in 20 years, top 5 twice and his highest finish was 4th, in 1997.

Only 2 players with 3,000 hits have a lower batting average than Biggio, Ricky Henderson and Cal Ripken Jr.  I was surprised with his homerun totals though; of the 28 players with 3,000 hits only 12 have more career HRs than Biggio.

He never finished top 5 in his league in batting or OPS and finished top 5 on on base percentage once.  The only catagories he regularly finished top 5 were games, plate appearances, runs and doubles.

He also gets credit for playing 3 positions pretty well.

He was a great doubles hitter who stayed healthy and hit in front of some very good run producers.  To me that is not a Hall of Famer.  I'm not saying he was a bad player, he was very good, but he was never one of the very, very best and that is what I want to see if I go to a Hall of Fame.

[Eddie Teach]

IMO both are borderline candidates.  I could see voting no, but voting yes is hardly an outrage.  They are well above the level of Rice and Dawson, to pick on two questionable recent selections.

I can't even place the name. Came up with Glenn(basketball player?) and Tim(songwriter?).

So it's Jim. Yeah doesn't ring a bell.

[jimmy olsen]

IMO both are borderline candidates.  I could see voting no, but voting yes is hardly an outrage.  They are well above the level of Rice and Dawson, to pick on two questionable recent selections.

I can't even place the name. Came up with Glenn(basketball player?) and Tim(songwriter?).

So it's Jim. Yeah doesn't ring a bell.

One of the most feared hitters in baseball between 1975 and 1986! 

[CountDeMoney]

I think the Orioles are still in Baltimore.  That's about the length and breadth of their off-season success this year.

[dps]

IMO both are borderline candidates.  I could see voting no, but voting yes is hardly an outrage.  They are well above the level of Rice and Dawson, to pick on two questionable recent selections.

I can't even place the name. Came up with Glenn(basketball player?) and Tim(songwriter?).

So it's Jim. Yeah doesn't ring a bell.

One of the most feared hitters in baseball between 1975 and 1986! 

More like between June 1975 and September 1976.

[The Minsky Moment]

One of the most feared hitters in baseball between 1975 and 1986! 

So was Dave Kingman.

[jimmy olsen]

One of the most feared hitters in baseball between 1975 and 1986! 

So was Dave Kingman.

Kingman hit .236! Rice hit .298, that's a 62 point difference!

[CountDeMoney]

SON OF A

An Orioles official said today there is "absolutely no truth" to fresh rumors that owner Peter Angelos is shopping the club.

Eric Bickel, a radio host on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, said Tuesday that he had heard Angelos was quietly discussing a sale of the Orioles. Bickel said Angelos was looking to sell the team but not his majority share in the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which broadcasts Orioles and Washington Nationals games.

MASN is probably worth more than the team, and the Orioles would be a significantly less appealing purchase if the network was not included, according to investment bankers familiar with the baseball industry.

Rumors that Angelos is considering a sale have become annual grist for Baltimore-area sports fans, desperate to see the Orioles end their streak of 14 straight losing seasons.

[Caliga]

I think I'll go to another Bats game or two this season.  That shit was fun.

[Ed Anger]

Korea to the O's: GTFO.

http://deadspin.com/5885638/the-baltimore-orioles-have-pissed-off-korea

[Razgovory]

First Ide, now the whole of Baltimore Baseball. 

I went to a Wal- Mart up in Columbia last night to get some stuff my brother.  I noticed they were selling Albert Pujols 2012 Cardinal calenders.  I imagine they won't sell that well.

[The Minsky Moment]

One of the most feared hitters in baseball between 1975 and 1986! 

So was Dave Kingman.

Kingman hit .236! Rice hit .298, that's a 62 point difference!

Missed this.
Yeah Rice had 62 more points on his average.  But Rice put up that average playing his prime years in hitter friendly Fenway, while Kingman played those early years in the swirling winds of Candlestick and the spacious confines of Shea.
For example, in 1972 Kingman hit .225 but his entire team hit only .244.  And there were some big bats in the lineup - Bobby Bonds, Jim Ray Hart, HoFer Willie McCovey (.213).  Compare that to the 77 Red Sox who hit .281.  That reflects not only the difference in parks but in leagues and time period (more of Kingman's career in the tough early 70s NL).

After the 77 season, Kingman was traded to the Cubs and got to play in a bandbox like Rice.  The result was his BA went up about 40 to 50 points for the three years he played in Wrigley.

Much is made about Rice's 1978 MVP year which was a great season, but Kingman's 1979 was not far off.   Rice's OBP/SLUG/OPS line was .370/.600/.970; Kingman's .343/.614/.956.

Clearly Rice was the better player overall, over the course of his career and at his peak.  But if the question is who was a "feared" player, Kingman scared the crap out of pitchers for 15 solid years.  Kingman hit more homeruns in his last year in the majors (at age 37) then Rice hit in his last three years in the majors combined.

[sbr]

Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter died today.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ai5m0GcE8v1UhFUkiHn0uy0RvLYF?slug=ap-obit-garycarter