December 2008
61 posts
1. Randy Johnson signed a one-year deal with the Giants. He has 295 career wins. The Giants become the first team with 3 Cy Young Award winners since the 2002 Braves.
2. All signs are pointing to Jim Rice being the first player since Ralph Kiner in 1975 to be elected to the Hall of Fame in their final year of BBWAA eligibility. But Rice did have his benefits of playing in Fenway before the new press box changed wind patterns in the park and made it less of a hitters’ park. Bill James once called him the most overrated player of the past 30 years.
3. The Cubs are going after a couple Japanese players for the bullpen. Possibly to make Fukudome more comfortable.
4. Rickey Henderson’s election into the Hall of Fame might be unanimous. But maybe he was too cocky. The teams he played for are interesting…
Athletics 1979-84
Yankees 1985-89
Athletics 1989-93
Blue Jays 1993
Athletics 1994-95
Padres 1996-97
Angels 1997
Athletics 1998
Mets 1999-2000
Marines 2000
Padres 2001
Red Sox 2002
Dodgers 2003
He was also a star running back in high school who turned down a full ride to USC.
5. Sammy Sosa wants to go back to the MLB. He might even play for the Dominican team in the World Baseball Classic.
6. The Pirates have been under .500 since 1993? No. Since 1992. Jesus.
7. Albert Pujols might be a free agent in 2011 and could become baseball’s first $30 Million Man.
1. How did I miss this “Barry Soetoro” thing, which is what some Conservatives call Obama when they want to “prove” he’s a Muslim.
2. Every two weeks Brian Grazer picks someone he wants to meet and goes about meeting them. Or something.
3. The demonization of Chicago politics by the right is fun to watch. Oh, I get all these guys confused! They must all be bad!
4. What the GOP is trying to do now can be summarized by this Sean Hannity quote: “You know, it’s interesting. Everything we heard in the Gennifer Flowers tapes came true. I wonder if we’re beginning to see, perhaps, a lot of what we suspected about Barack Obama.”
5. Why did we hate the French after 9/11 again? I seriously forgot.
6. After Prop 8 the Musical, Bill O’Reilly said he was going to invite Jack Black on his show, but he won’t show up because “he’s not intellectually strong enough.” That’s hilarious.
7. Fox News ranked last in a Pew Study of “high knowledge” viewers. During his “War of Christmas” shit, O’Reilly said our Constitution was based off of Jesus’ teachings. Even more hilarious. Seriously, are 23% of Texans still convinced Obama is a Muslim?
8. I read an article about Bobby Jindal where they knock him for putting pennies in his penny loafers. His real name is Piyush and he changed it to Bobby when he was 4 because of the Brady Bunch. And he’s a Roman Catholic, converted from Hindu. I gotta do a ‘Getting to Know’ later. His beliefs are kinda crazy.
9. Hawaii is giving Obama bus tours? Finally! Finally, Hawaii has a reason for tourists to come. But Hawaii is going to have electric car charging stations state wide.
10. Still not old. Well… maybe it is.
In Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame, Bill James has a throwaway line about how Hal Chase would be in the Hall of Fame if he’d been honest. For some reason I wrote down, “What did Hal Chase lie about?” in a notebook, forgot about it, and saw it today.
So I went to Wikipedia and realized I’d just looked at Hal fucking Chase’s Wikipedia page a week ago - and because somebody else showed it to me. I went to Beverly Hills Sports Cards with Mike Holmes and (I’m assuming) the owner tried to sell me a shitty version of Hal Chase’s 1909-11 T206 card for $30. That’s the same type of card as Honus Wagner’s billion dollar card.
When I said I’d never heard of Hal Chase, the owner guffawed and showed me his Wikipedia page, which I just glanced at. On a side note, Michael Ovitz’s assistant was in there trying to pick out a gift for him. Gotta love Beverly Hills baseball card stores.
Anyway, what did Hal Chase lie about?
Well, Hal Chase played baseball from 1905-1919. Babe Ruth and Walther Johnson considered him the best first baseman ever. He was the first big star of the proto-Yankees. BUT - he gambled on baseball and threw games. Christy Mathewson brought up unsuccessful charges against him in 1918. When a check turned up a little later with his name on it, he was officially blacklisted from baseball. And newly-appointed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis formally banned him for life in 1920.
Bill James wrote that ‘honestly’ line in 1994, which is (I think) way before people were suggesting Pete Rose just admit to gambling, and obviously before people were saying Mark McGwire and the other juicers should admit juicing. I might be wrong, but it sounds like they were taking a hard line against gambling in baseball back then.
I know that because I ghost-wrote a paper for my failing-out-of-college roommate in 2002 about the history of gambling in baseball. Not you, OPRJ. And all this shit came back to me at once.
Again, this is only interesting to me. Maybe I’ll go back to Beverly Hills and get that card.
Everything has changed. Mark Teixeira signed with the mighty Yankees. Before this, people were saying the Yankees were still the third-best team in the A.L. East and an old team, etc. Now they’re the team to beat.
Is he really going to make that much of a difference? What are people saying?
The Red Sox might lose in this. Or are the Yankees spending too much money? Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are the four-highest players in baseball history. The country is in a recession! Oh, but they’re actually spending less money than last year? The Brewers have complained about their concession draft pick and the salary cap. What’ll happen to Manny Ramirez now? The Yankees might still try to get him. He and Derek Lowe will be the next people to watch on everyone’s list.
People thought Teixeira was going to the Nationals, Orioles or Red Sox.
How will this affect the Cubs? The Teixeira signing could up the Angels’ pursuit of Milton Bradley or Jake Peavey. It could also increase the value of veteran bats like Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn. Will the Red Sox move on Peavy?
2. Topps announced it’s going to have an American Heritage card this year with cut autographs of Jackie Robinson with Barack Obama. Shit’s crazy now. I’d talk more about it, but OPRJ gets drunk and tells me I’ll be dead to him if I keep talking about baseball cards on this Tumblr.
Earlier this month, Gil Hodges didn’t get voted in again and people freaked out about it. The line on Hodges is that, when he retired, he had the National League record for home runs by a right hander. It sounds way more impressive than it is. Hodges retired in 1963, after playing 11 games that year. Here are the all-time home run standings at the end of 1962.
1. Babe Ruth 714 L
2. Jimmie Foxx 534 R
3. Ted Williams 521 L
4. Mel Ott 511 L
5. Lou Gehrig 493 L
6. Stan Musial 463 L
7. Eddie Matthews 399 L
8. Duke Snider 389 L
9. Mickey Mantle 384 B
10. Gil Hodges 370 R11. Ralph Kiner 369 R
12. Willie Mays 368 R
Hodges had probably just broken Ralph Kiner’s N.L. righty record, but he only held the record for a short while into 1963, before Willie Mays would eclipse him. Mays is the only African-American on the above list, so it’s arguable that trying to enshrine Hodges with something that quickly before he was surpassed by Mays has tinges of racism in it. And claiming he’s the N.L. home run champion for righties, first eliminates Ruth, Foxx, Williams, Gehrig and Mantle from the League and then Ott, Musial, Matthews and Snider for being lefties. He was 10th overall then and is now 67th all-time. I’m not impressed with the claim.
Back to the 60% thing - that means that Jim Rice, Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven will all eventually get in. This is Rice’s last year of eligibility with the baseball writers, while Dawson has until 2016 and Blyleven has until 2012.
More nerd facts later.
1. This is old, but Levi Johnson’s mom got arrested for drugs.
2. Also old, Jeremy Piven’s high mercury levels. It might be bullshit.
3. Caroline Kennedy? I’m waaaay behind on my RSS. At a certain point Washington legacies are getting fucking ridiculous.
4. Mark Teixiera went to the Yankees. How fast ‘til Milton Bradley goes somewhere?
4. There are seats in the new Yankee Stadium going for as high as $2500.
5. Comedy Central’s bloggers talked about the funniest things of the year - the O’Reilly freakout video, Plaxico Burress shooting himself, the Palin turkey slaughter,etc.
6. Alan Colmes of Hannity and Colmes fame used to do stand-up?
7. While Super Deluxe is down for good, Funny or Die has celeb owners and an HBO partnership and CollegeHumor has its own MTV show in 2009.
8. $9 billion of money spent on Iraqi reconstruction is missing.
9. The Worst Prediction of 2008, was from William Kristol in 2006. “If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she’s going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her, then. … Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.” I forgot that people thought Michael Bloomberg was also going to make an impact in the election.
10. Bush admitted he doesn’t believe in evolution. He’s never done that before?
11. I gotta watch the Jon Stewart-Mike Huckabee interview from a while back.
12. They’re really trying already to make Obama look like Bill Clinton.
13. When they unveiled Bush’s painting, he said “Welcome to my hanging.” Further reiterating that - if he’d never become a Born Again and President - he’d be an awesome guy to hang out with.
14. I don’t think Bush’s new neighborhood covenant thing is a big deal. But the irony of Bush moving back to Texas to a formerly all-white area, just as Obama moves into the White House, is kinda interesting.
15. There is no al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan? Why are we there? To get a guy who’s either dead or in Pakistan?
16. Bush admitted we’re in a recession. Good time to start attempting to be honest.
Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are the last 3 guys to get 300 wins. I remember in 2004 after Maddux got his 300th win, people were debating on whether it would ever be done again. Less starts, five man rotations, etc. Then Glavine got it in 2007. And Randy Johnson is currently 5 wins away.
But after that, there is a big drop-off. Mike Mussina retired with 30 wins to go. Jamie Moyer is 54 wins away at age 45. After that there is a handful of guys in their late 30s and early 40s hovering around 200 wins. Nobody else is close. I looked to see what age Clemens, Maddux and Glavine got their 100th and 200th win, to see if anybody is on pace.
When the three of them got win # 100, they were 27-28 years old. Who’s on pace?
C.C. Sabathia. 117 Wins, Age 27
Jon Garland. 106 Wins, Age 28
Carlos Zambrano. 96 Wins, Age 27
Jake Peavy. 86 Wins, Age 27
Too early to tell? Clemens, Maddux and Glavine were between 32 and 35 when they got their 200th wins. Who’s on pace for that?
Andy Pettite. 215 Wins, Age 36
Pedro Martinez. 214 Wins, Age 36
Tim Hudson. 146 Wins, Age 32.
Roy Halladay. 131 Wins, Age 31.
Roy Oswalt. 129 Wins, Age 30.
Mark Buehrle. 122 Wins, Age 29.
In case you were wondering where everyone was at in this thing…
700 Home Runs
600 Home Runs
500 Home Runs
—300 Wins—
1. Hilary ran as a woman. Barack didn’t run as a black guy. To break the mold, sometimes you have to act like there is no mold.
2. Jindal isn’t running in 2012?
3. It still sounds crazy that we’ve had a Bush or a Clinton president since 1988.
4. It’ll be weird when Obama uses his middle name when he’s sworn in.
5. Are the Yankees still the third best team in the A.L. East? They were the oldest team in baseball in 2008. Their offense and defense might not be that good. AJ Burnett has injury problems. Mussina will be gone. They need Teixiera.
6. The Eddie Murphy Riddler rumor just got to me today. It’s everywhere. Shia LaBeouf-as-Robin rumor is really annoying.
7. This bailout graph exists.
8. Obama is pretty jacked.
9. Yeah, this is still funny to me.
10. Amy Winehouse’s rack actually looked decent in those topless pics.
1. 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle DP - $30,000
2. 1952 Topps Eddie Matthews RC - $10,000
3. 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle RC - $8000
4. 1952 Topps Andy Pafko - $5000
5. 1952 Topps Willie Mays - $3000
1953 Topps Mickey Mantle - $3000
1954 Bowman Ted Williams - $3000
8. 1951 Bowman Whitey Ford RC - $2500
1951 Bowman Willie Mays RC - $2500
1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle - $2500
1952 Topps Jackie Robinson DP - $2500
1952 Topps Roy Campanella - $2500
1953 Topps Willie Mays - $2500
1. 1999 Upper Deck Century Legends Epic Signatures Century Ted Williams - $1800
2. 1997 SP Vintage Autographs Alex Rodriguez 94/94 - $1600
3. 1994 Sportflics Rookie/Traded Artists Proofs Alex Rodriguez - $1500
4. 1999 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. ‘89 AU 100 - $ 1250
5. 1999 Upper Deck A Piece of History 500 Club Autographs Hank Aaron /44 - $1200
6. 1994 SP Holoviews Die Cuts Alex Rodriguez - $1200
1998 Donruss Elite Back to the Future Autographs N. Ryan/Maddux - $1200
8. 1999 Upper Deck A Piece of History Babe Ruth - $1000
9. 1994 Upper Deck Griffey/Mantle AU/1000 - $900
10. (tie)
1999 Upper Deck A Piece of History 500 Club Autographs Eddie Matthews /41 - $800
1999 Upper Deck A Piece of History 500 Club Autographs Willie McCovey /44 - $800
1999 Upper Deck Game Jersey Nolan Ryan AU/32 H2 - $800
1992 Score Franchises Stan Musial/Mickey Mantle/Carl Yastrzemski - $800
1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes Auto Mantle /1000 - $800
1997 Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Autographs Ripken/Rodriguez - $800
1997 Donruss Signature Autographs Century Alex Rodriguez - $800
Browsing through the Beckett I bought has blown my mind. They’ve done crazy shit with cards in the last 20 years. But here are the cards from the 1960’s that cost $1000 or more.
1970 Topps Nolan Ryan
1971 Topps Greatest Moments Reggie Jackson
$200
1. 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr $150
2. 1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens $120
3. 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson $60
1984 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett $60
5. 1982 Topps Cal Ripken Jr $40
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. $40
7. 1985 Mark McGwire OLY $30
8. 1982 Donruss Cal Ripken Jr $25
1982 Fleer Cal Ripken Jr $25
1983 Topps Tony Gwynn $25
1984 Donruss Don Mattingly $25
1. 1987 Donruss Opening Day Barry Bonds ERR J. Ray - $300
2. 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. - $150
1985 Topps Tiffany Mark McGwire OLY - $150
1986 Topps Traded Tiffany Barry Bonds - $150
5. 1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens $120
1989 Fleer Bill Ripken Whiteout $120
7. 1982 Fleer John Littlefield RevNg - $100
8. 1989 Bowman Tiffany Ken Griffey Jr. - $80
9. 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson - $60
1984 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett - $60
1984 Topps Tiffany Don Mattingly - $60
1985 Topps Tiffany Roger Clemens - $60
Tracy Morgan and TJ Miller are co-starring in a comedy called “Freshman Roommates”, which is about spam emails from Nigerian princes. It was co-written by John Mulaney and Nick Kroll.
Lee Smith played 18 years in the big leagues and was began his career as a closer in 1982 with the Cubs. He played on a lot of different teams, but he was his team’s main closer for whatever team he played on until 1995.
He led the league in saves 4 times, was a 7 time all-star and won the Rolaids Relief Award 3 times - in 1991, 1992 and 1994. Although he never won the Cy Young Award, he got second in 1991 and 4th in 1992.
His main competition for best relief pitcher in baseball from 1982-1995 would have included guys like Bruce Sutter, Jeff Reardon, Todd Worrell, Steve Bedrosian, John Franco, Mark Davis, etc in the National League and Dan Quisenberry, Dave Righetti, Dennis Eckersley, Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Montgomery in the American League. But Smith finished with more saves than all of them. He retired as the career leader. Smith is probably the best relief pitcher not in the Hall of Fame.
There are only 5 relief pitchers in the Hall - Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage. Fingers and Eck won MVP awards and Sutter won a Cy Young. Smith got MVP votes in 4 seasons, finishing highest in 1991 at 8th place. Some have argued that Smith’s save percentage is good enough, but his outs-per-save and average-of-inherited-runs-per-game are weaker than the other, suggesting his saves were easier to achieve. But since there is no real Hall of Fame standard for a closer, it’s hard to tell who qualifies and who doesn’t. So if Smith gets in, why not a Reardon or a John Franco? Who knows.
As far as post-season appearances go, Smith was the closer on the ‘84 Cubs and ‘88 Red Sox - two teams that didn’t get too far. And he was the closer of good teams that didn’t make the playoffs from 1993-1995.
I have no idea.
The A.V. Club listed their worst movies of 2008. I saw 4 of them.
Crystal Skull was a huge disappointment with several gaping problems, but I admit I didn’t hate it. And I thoroughly enjoyed Religilous. We’re guessing someone at The Onion was offended. Wah. I hated (loved making fun of) Super Size Me, but I really found Morgan Spurlock’s bin Laden movie interesting. However, The Happening was just bad. Even Mark Wahlberg, whom I usually like, came off like a bad actor in it. The A.V. Club is right when they say, “performances are so idiosyncratic to Shyamalan movies that he had to have coached and crafted them”. That guy needs to switch it up. Or do an Unbreakable sequel.
- The Phillies resigned Jamie Moyer to a two year contract. Holy shit, he’s old.
Dana Perino has the world’s hottest/hate-fuckable black eye. Which gives me an idea for a list, maybe.
Hey, that’s my cousin Nick Kanellis on the right. He’s in an improv group, Statues of Liberty, that has a Saturday run at the Magnet in NYC. They got a good review.
I’m looking at the list of potential Hall of Famers, and I remembered that it took years for Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage to get in. But why did they get in and Lee Smith hasn’t?
Sutter 68-71 2.83 ERA 300 saves, 1979 N.L. Cy Young. 12 seasons.
Gossage 124-107 3.01 ERA 310 saves. 22 seasons.
Smith 71-92 3.03 ERA 478 saves. 18 seasons.
If we’re looking at saves, only Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera have more than Smith. Dennis Eckersley is in with 390. Rollie Fingers is in with 341. But what about John Franco, Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers, John Wetteland, Rick Aguilera, Rob Nen, Tom Henke, Jeff Montgomery or Doug Jones? They all have more saves than Sutter and everyone except Montgomery and Jones have more than Gossage.
What about other current players like Billy Wagner, Troy Percival, Roberto Hernandez, Jose Mesa or Todd Jones? They have lots of saves? Are those guys Hall of Famers? Relief pitchers, by definition are guys who aren’t good enough to start. Kerry Wood is case in point. How do we judge them? I don’t get it.
PS - Look at how terrible Mariano Rivera’s rookie card is. That’s a 1992 Bowman. Yuck.
1. ”Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon
2. ”If the World” by Guns N’ Roses
3. ”Heartless” by Kanye West
4. ”Cold Desert” by Kings of Leon
5. ”Phone Home” by Lil Wayne
6. ”Love Lockdown” by Kanye West
7. ”American Boy” by Estelle f. Kanye West
8. ”I Put On” by Young Jeezy f. Kanye West
9. ”Jockin’ Jay-Z” by Jay-Z
10. ”New Soul” by Yael Naim
Album of the Year: Girl Talk, Feed the Animals. It should also be an honorable mention as ‘song of the year’, since it’s one continuous track if you want it to be.
Jim Rice played 16 seasons with the Red Sox, where he was probably the best player on the team in 1977 and 1978, although he often shared the spotlight over the years (or was overshadowed) by guys like Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs, Tony Armas and Bill Buckner.
Rice won the 1978 A.L. MVP award, coming pretty close to a Triple Crown, leading the league in Slugging, OPS, Hits, Total Bases, At Bats, Plate Appearances, Games, Triples, Home Runs, RBIs, etc, etc. I would guess that during that time, Rice could have been considered the best player in baseball (or one of them from 1977-79). He got MVP votes in 7 seasons, finishing in the top 5 on 6 occasions.
Rice was an all-star outfielder. It’s incredibly hard to be the best outfielder in baseball, with guys like Dave Parker, George Foster, Reggie Jackson, Fred Lynn and Dave Winfield playing in the late ‘70’s. But he played in 8 all-star games between 1977 and 1986, which would have to make him one of the best outfielders in the American League during that time.
The Red Sox and the post-season used to be an uphill battle. They won the A.L. in 1976, came close in the East in ‘77, again in ‘78. They won the A.L. in 1986 and ‘88. So Rice impacted 5 pennant races. They just had some trouble with the Yankees in the late ‘70’s.
After Pete Rose and Mark McGwire, Rice is considered to be the best player in baseball history not in the Hall. And his stats are pretty comparable to Orlando Cepeda and Duke Snider, who are in. 382 home runs, 2452 hits, .298 average. The home run numbers used to be a lot, pre-steroids.
He’s lower tier, but I think he should (and will) get in.
- I can’t decide if this dude’s basement is awesome or SUPER awesome.
- People were talking about the video of George Brett telling shitting-his-pants stories. It’s great if you haven’t seen it.
- I read an interview with Paul Rudd where he explains how they swear in front of kids in movies with the magic of editing.
- The fucking Yankees are going after Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez. It’ll be one or the other, but still. Then again, they’re losing Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi.
- That Bush shoe-throwing video is incredible. Why do I keep feeling bad for him? Lame DUCK!
- Blah blah, Hugh Jackman is hosting the Oscars.
- “I can see Russia from my house” was the quote of the year, according to some guy. That was Tina Fay, but Sarah Palin made the list with her thing about what newspapers she reads. John McCain made the list with his fundamentals of the economy are strong thing and also when he said we should stay in Iraq for 100 years. Phil Gramm’s nation of whiners made the list, as did Jesse Jackson’s thing about Obama’s nuts.
- People keep comparing Obama’s first 100 days to Lincoln in 1861 and FDR in 1933. And 1980 Reagan. Could he be unpopular within the next year? Is there an Obama Bubble?
- Kenny Lofton tried to talk CC Sabathia out of signing with the Yankees. But of the top 5 free agents out there, here’s where they went.
1. CC Sabathia - Yankees
2. Mark Teixeira - Not signed
3. Manny Ramirez - Not signed
4. Francisco Rodriguez - Mets
5. AJ Burnett - Yankees.
- Sam Bradford of Oklahoma won the Heisman. He’ll play for the national championship January 8th against Florida.
- AFI’s top 10 movies of 2008 are (alphabetically) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Frozen River, Gran Torino, Iron Man, Milk, Wall-E, Wendy and Lucy and The Wrestler. Slumdog Millionaire was not on the list. Probably because it’s foreign. And Doubt wasn’t on the list either.
- The blind governor who cheated on his wife is mad SNL called him blind.
I have purchased two Jim Rice Topps PSA graded cards (1975 and ‘76) in anticipation of him getting in to the Hall of Fame in January. This is his last year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot. He needs 75% to get in. Let’s see how he’s done in voting over the years…
1995. 29.8% Voted In: Mike Schmidt. Finished behind Phil Niekro, Don Sutton, Tony Perez, Steve Garvey, Tony Oliva and Ron Santo. Finished ahead of Bruce Sutter
1996. 35.3% Nobody voted in. Finished behind Neikro, Perez, Sutton, Garvey, Santo and Oliva. Finished ahead of Sutter.
1997. 37.6% Voted In: Phil Niekro. Finished behind Sutton, Perez and Santo. Finished ahead of Sutter
1998. 42.9% Voted In: Don Sutton. Finished behind Perez and Santo. Finished ahead of Gary Carter and Bruce Sutter.
1999. 29.4% Voted In: Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount. Finished behind Carlton Fisk, Perez, Carter and Garvey. Finished ahead of Sutter.
2000. 51.2% Voted In: Carlton Fisk and Tony Perez. Finished ahead of Carter, Sutter and Goose Gossage.
2001. 57.9% Voted In: Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett. Finished behind Carter. Finished ahead of Sutter and Gossage.
2002. 55.1% Voted In: Ozzie Smith. Finished behind Carter. Finished ahead of Sutter and Gossage.
2003. 52.2% Voted In: Eddie Murray and Gary Carter. Finished behind Sutter. Finished ahead of Ryne Sandberg and Gossage.
2004. 54.5% Voted In: Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley. Finished behind Sandberg and Sutter. Finished ahead of Gossage.
2005. 59.4% Voted In: Wade Boggs and Paul Molitor. Finished behind Sutter. Finished ahead of Gossage.
2006. 64.8% Voted In: Bruce Sutter. Finished ahead of Gossage.
2007. 63.5% Voted In: Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn. Finished behind Gossage.
2008. 72.2% Voted In: Goose Gossage.
1. This is kinda old, but that creep kid got a movie deal for his ‘How to Talk to Girls’ book.
2. Kristen Wiig and Casey Wilson of SNL both do Palin impressions.
3. Will this Blagojevich shit affect the 2016 Chicago Olympic bid?
4. Obama can’t grow facial hair?
5. Sarah Palin is snubbing Oprah?
6. Riding in the Bus with My Sister. Ohmygod. I had forgotten about that movie. That’s the one where Rosie plays a tard.
7. Oliver Stone is doing a doc about Hugo Chavez.
8. HBO is going to air Will Ferrell’s Broadway show about Bush.
9. I wish a band would base its entire existence off of Guns N’ Roses’ new song, “If The World”. Fuck, that song is so good.
10. Will Smith’s son, Jaden is remaking Karate Kid, but refuses to do the crane kick. Fuuuuuck you, Jaden Smith.
According to Time.
And the top 10 news stories.
1. When We Realized the Sky Was Falling
2. Yes, He Could!
3. Mumbai Held Hostage
4. Devastation in Islamabad
5. Pirates Rule the Waves
6. War in the Caucasus
7. Chinese Spreads the Melamine
8. Twilight of Cuba’s Patriarch
9. An Audacious Rescue in Colombia
10. Mother Nature’s Double Whammy
- Oprah’s weight? Who cares? We’ve been doing this for how long now?
- Obama needs better friends. Blagojevich isn’t cutting it.
- Jack Nicholson was interested in playing Ralphie’s dad in A Christmas Story, but he cost too much. The director also directed Porky’s. The movie inspired The Wonder Years.
- I read a tribute to Hummers, but I still think Nate Craig’s Blerds video does the best job.
- Carmelo Anthony tied George Gervin’s NBA record by scoring 33 points in a quarter.
- Manny Ramirez feels ignored in the free agency market and has threatened retirement.
- The Cubs-Peavy deal is dead?
- Rob Neyer reiterated that Jim Rice will get into the Hall of Fame next month. I just bought his rookie card.
Calvin Booth - Timberwolves
Adam Morrison - Bobcats
Joakim Noah - Bulls
Oleksiy Pecherov- Wizards
Charlie Villenueva - Bucks
Josh Boone - Nets
Theo Ratliff - 76ers
Michael Ruffin - Bulls
Will Bynum - Pistons
Robert Swift - Thunder
Greg Oden - Trailblazers
Jason Terry - Mavs
The best viral videos of 2008.
- Romancing the Stone is getting remade.
- The New York Post rated its 10 Worst Movies of 2008.
10. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”
9. “Witless Protection”
8. “Rambo”
7. “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”
6. “Babylon A.D.”
5. “10,000 B.C.”
4. “What Happens In Vegas”
3. “Mad Money”
2. “The Hottie & The Nottie”
1. “The Love Guru”
And the A.P. has released it’s Top 10 viral videos of 2008.
1. Tina Fey As Sarah Palin
2. The Real Palin
3. Christian the Lion
4. Will.i.am’s “Yes We Can”
5. “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”
6. Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad
7. Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon (that’s A.P. talk for “I’m Fucking Matt Damon”)
8. Puppy Cam
9. Frozen Grand Central
10. Late-night Hosts Brawl
- I read the top albums of 2008 lists from Rolling Stone, the A.V. Club, Blender and Paste. Who’s on everyone’s list?
Well, the Erykah Badu album was on all of them but Paste, and I don’t really know what that site is anyway.
I honestly only really listened to Lil Wayne and Girl Talk and liked them both. I gave “Skinny Love” from Bon Iver a try. And TV on the Radio… I don’t think I get this album, although they have earlier songs I love. I might like Vampire Weekend.
- Does Hulu dictate which SNL bits have legs and which die?
- CC Sabathia will be a Yankee? Peavy is going to the Cubs soon, but it hinges on Jason Marquis? Kerry Wood is going to the Indians?
- Everyone is referencing when the Veterans Committee voted Bill Mazeroski into the Hall as an example of cronyism. I gotta find out more about that. No pitcher gets into the Hall, without a 20-win season or a Cy Young Award. ESPN thinks Jim Rice will get in this year, and Tim Raines will eventually. They don’t think Mark Grace has a serious argument. And nobody seems to think Tony Perez (or Orlando Cepeda) should be in the Hall of Fame.
- If Greg Maddux is the Cubs’ One That Got Away, then how good would they have been in the lowly ‘90’s? They may have made the playoffs in ‘93 and ‘95. And he would have gotten less than 355 wins.
- No debate about whether Greg Maddux will make it into the Hall. 4 consecutive Cy Young Awards, 355 wins. Done. Then there’s 18 Gold Gloves.
- Obama’s birth certificate debate is retarded. Maybe McCain being born in the Panama Canal will disqualify him too and Sarah Palin can be President!
- Leno is moving to primetime.
- Billy Ripken recently said his 1989 Fuck Face card was enhanced by Fleer. A card blogger said it is one of three iconic cards from the 1980’s - including the ‘86 Donruss Canseco and the ‘89 Upper Deck Griffey. I have all three.
- Fox accidentally broadcast a naked football player after the Minnesota/Detroit game.
- Russell Brand is remaking “Arthur”.
- The Veterans Committee hasn’t voted anyone into the Hall of Fame in 8 years. Santo was complaining about it, which makes me feel less bad for him.
Well, the lines to get into Cooperstown just got waaaay longer. Joe Gordon (?) got voted in today. And just him. That means Ron Santo, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges and Joe Torre did not.
Gordon was a 9 time All-Star, had 5 World Series rings and was AL MVP in 1942, beating Triple Crown winner, Ted Williams.
The pre-WWII-era Veterans committee has only 12 members. And they meet before they vote. That’s where the accusations of cronyism have come in to play in the past.
The post WWII committee has 60 members. But it’s ex-players, which may not give them historical perspective on guys (like Ron Santo) who may have spent most of their entire career in one league.
Rob Neyer of ESPN had written articles on how Bill Dahlen and Ron Santo were the most deserving pre and post WWII players on the ballots. He also says Tony Perez shouldn’t have been elected and that Torre will eventually get in as a manager.
