A lot of Yankees fans feel that there is a bias against New York in the major awards and hall of fame voting. Personally, I can’t see it. Maybe Jeter should have been MVP in 1999, but really it should have been Pedro. And I can’t name any obvious hall of famers who have been shunned.
Oh, I agree with you completely. If Hodges had played for Cincinnati or Kansas City and managed someone other than the '69 Mets to a world title he’d be half forgotten by now. Who you played for shouldn’t be a consideration, but there you are…
According to the Boston Globe:
“Mets owner Steve Cohen’s large art collection includes a piece called “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” created by Damien Hirst in 1991. It’s a 14-foot tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a display case. Cohen purchased the piece in 2004 for $8 million-$12 million, according to various reports. Cohen then paid to replace the shark in 2006 after it started to deteriorate.”
Is this an omen, given Max Scherzer’s $130 million deal?
I need a clarification: is a replacement dead shark considered art?
I think most would say it’s the very definition of art.
Good call. I was somewhat surprised, what with Showalter having been out of the league for a few years.
The Mets should get Zach Britton so Showalter can leave him in the bullpen while the Mets blow an elimination game.
Anyone a member of SABR?
I’m thinking of joining, I’ve been reading a lot of baseball history lately as my causal reading.
Not a member, but I have read many of their excellent player bios.
Are talks in progress? Or are they just waiting for spring training to be half over before they get serious?
Apparently, while there have been some talks to date, they haven’t yet been on the “big issues.” It’s generally expected that, now that we’re in the new year, negotiations are going to start in earnest.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards will move the left field wall back by 30 feet and raise the height by 5 feet. This seems like a seriously drastic change to reduce the propensity for home runs. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but eager to see the result. Obviously it will mean fewer home runs, but I wonder how many more flyouts vs. doubles and triples they’ll see. Should other stadiums do something like this?
That’s extremely drastic.
I like the idea of fences being further back, though obviously that’s easier said than done, and in some stadiums would be more or less impossible or ludicrously cost-prohibitive. Large outfields favor speed, contact hitting and defense, three things we need more of, and reduce homers, which we absolutely don’t need more of.
In the case of the Orioles, they do not have any speed, contact hitting, or defense (aside from Cedric Mullins, who is quietly awesome) but they do have some young right handed power, so they’re an odd team to try this first.
That article should have mentioned that Oriole pitchers gave up 155 homers in Camden Yards and 103 on the road. I was all set to blame the woeful roster, but the ballpark is clearly a major factor. It must be a bit demoralizing.
Hey, the Royals have been doing it since 1973!
I saw a list the other day of career inside the park home runs leaders since 1950, and it’s mostly a list of “Hey, I remember that guy!” Royals.
I assume Willie Wilson was at the top of that list.
Up until the early 1980s, Willie looked like a Hall of Famer. He was a consistent .300 hitter, won a batting title, was a tremendous defensive center fielder and an awesome basestealer. Then for some reason he tried hitting the ball harder, rather than just slapping it around and using his speed, and his days as an MVP candidate were over. He also became very fond of cocaine, which can’t have helped.
Willie was also famous for his awful performance in the 1980 World Series, in which he went 4 for 26, struck out 12 times including the very last out with the bases loaded, and was certainly the primary reason the Royals lost. But people don’t ,much remember than when the Royals won the Series in 1985, Wilson was outstanding in both the LCS and World Series.
He also set a record in the 1992 ALCS when he stole seven bases, which I am pretty sure is a record for one playoff series, but, incredibly, despite stealing seven bases he did not score a single run. Talk about your terrible clutch hitting. I suppose that goes a long way to explaining how Oakland lost.
Mookie Wilson’s name was also William Wilson but fortunately he had the excellent nickname from childhood.
Totally forgot Willie Wilson was on the A’s for a couple years there. Had to go look at his baseball reference page. Didn’t walk and didn’t slug, so OPS+ was unkind to him. Actually, it’s surprising how few doubles he hit.
I was a Young Member (under 40 gets a lower rate). They send out a publication 3 times a year which was pretty cool. There wasn’t a ton of easily accessible online resources, though that may have changed lately (or they just tell people to go to Fangraphs or Baseball-Reference).
I was a member for a year as well - it came with a full access subscription to b-r.com, which is what I really joined for. I think these days I’d subscribe to Fangraphs - they seem to have some pretty innovative thinking right now.
It’s not the HOF but as a lifelong Mets fan I feel this this was LONG overdue.