Amore: Rice Struck Fear Into Yankees

There is nothing to fear but Derf Scratch himself.

It’s not often professional athletes admit to being scared, especially old-time Yankees.

But when the topic is Jim Rice, talk of fear flows freely.

“I know I was scared when he came up,” said Graig Nettles, who played third base for the Yankees when Rice was hitting screamers for the Red Sox in the 1970s and ‘80s. “I knew he was trying to hit the ball hard down the third base line. I used to play back on the outfield grass because I knew he wasn’t going to bunt.”

Nettles, Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage, Bucky Dent and Rick Cerone surrounded Rice, the newest Hall of Famer, Friday at the Connecticut Sports Foundation against Cancer dinner at Mohegan Sun. Gossage, inducted into the Hall last year, was the guest of honor, but Rice was the center of attention.

“George Brett was the best hitter I ever faced,” Guidry said. “The best hitter. But the hitter who scared me the most was J.R. I was afraid to pitch to this man because you knew if you made a mistake, somebody was going to get hurt.”

Babe Ruth is 3 degrees away from Kevin Bacon

So is Jackie Robinson, incidentally.

THT: Namee: A thousand miles from Cooperstown

These guys are the unrecognized greats. Even if there was a stathead coup of the Coop, these guys wouldn’t stand much of a chance of getting elected. Don’t get me wrong—not all of these players actually belong in the Hall. But you could make a case for all of them, and that’s what I aim to do today.

Center Field: Cesar Cedeño

Tough call in center field. Willie Davis has the highest career value of the possible choices, with 322 Win Shares. Problem is, he was never a really great player; he never topped 26 WS in a season. I almost went with Amos Otis, who was a consistent high-quality player throughout the 1970s before turning into a pumpkin. But instead of those two, I’m picking Cesar Cedeño, who easily had the highest peak of the bunch.

Cedeño was one of the greatest young players of all time. Through age 26, he had Cooperstown written all over him. He had 192 Win Shares at that point, putting him right in between Rickey Henderson and Joe Jackson. Had he gone on to peak at the normal age—27 to 29—he would have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Even if he had coasted from 27 on out, his place in the Hall would have been all but assured.

As the Altagracia de la Cruz family winces…

DelGrippo: Andre Dawson and Ernie Banks are very similar

Remember the difficulty you had in explaining the dragbeat crescendo in The Madmen of Note’s “Peppermint Fink”? That was nothing.

Not about walks? Don’t tell that to Adam Dunn, Jason Giambi or Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan.

Again, those weren’t my words, those were the revered JoePo’s, and it wasn’t about Banks, but was written a month ago about Dawson. But, if having a decent OBP for a run producing slugger is a requirement for the HOF, then JoePo’s words would be appropriate for Banks, too.

JoePo also says that if only Dawson had gotten more hits, his OBP would have been higher. Dawson did have more hits than Banks, both his prime and through the entire career. The only difference was their walk totals - so it has to be ABOUT THE WALKS.

If OBP is so important that HOF status can ride on this one stat, maybe there should be a magic number that equates to automatic enshrinement, similar to 300 wins or 3000 hits? Can’t be the magic .400 OBP because then guys like Max Bishop and Ferris Fain (both former Philadelphia A’s) would be automatic HOFers. Can’t be .450 because so few players attain that lofty mark. Maybe a minimum OBP? How about .350? But, then guys like Brooks, Banks, Gary Carter, etc would not be allowed.

L.A.Times: Dodgers host second annual Jackie Robinson Legacy Day

Approximately 200 local elementary and middle school students were at Dodger Stadium today to celebrate what would’ve been Jackie Robinson’s 90th birthday and listened to stories from Don Newcombe, Tommy Davis and “Sweet” Lou Johnson. The brainchild of Charles Steinberg, Dodgers executive vice president, the event fell on the eve of Black History Month.

Robinson not only opened doors for Newdombe but the man who broke the color barrier in baseball also taught Newcombe how to play the game properly, citing a game he pitched in 1949 in Pittsburgh as an example. The Dodgers were up 11-1 early in the game and Newcombe, losing focus, walked the bases loaded. With Ralph Kiner about to hit, Robinson called time from his post at second base and walked to the mound.

“Why don’t you go in the clubhouse and take that uniform off?” Newcombe recalled being told by Robinson.

Newcombe said that Robinson told him that he was about to give up a home run to Kiner, which would result in Newcombe being pulled and not getting a win because he hadn’t pitched five innings.

“If you don’t like what I’m saying to you, we can go in the clubhouse and settle it,” Robinson told him.

“I wasn’t about to fight Jackie Roosevelt Robinson,” Newcombe said, laughing.

THT: McLaughlin: The path to Cooperstown: the catchers

Chips and clips...Crank’s jazz is longer than Del Rice’s face!

Ted Simmons in the decade of his prime was a workhorse, averaging 136 games a year behind the plate; only Gary Carter averaged more plate appearances over that long a stretch, and only Carter and Ray Schalk caught more games. That durability and his dependable bat tend to get overlooked by analyses that focus only on career totals and percentages. And statistically, Simmons caught a little more than a league-average number of baserunners against only slightly more than a league-average number of attempts; at least in that aspect of his defense, there’s no sign that Simmons was a liability. Simmons tends to get the 1-2-3 punch of the fact that (1) he has a poor defensive reputation, (2) he played for a team that won before he got there, underachieved with a lot of talent while he was there, and won after he left, and (3) so many of the great catchers played for so many winning teams that we tend particularly to equate a catcher’s skills with his team’s success.

Perhaps he did contribute to the club’s attitude problem in the late ‘70s, but many of those Cardinal teams were not as strong across the board as their handful of stars would have you think, and it’s worth noting that Simmons did, outside of his prime years, contribute significantly to a pennant-winning team in Milwaukee. To truly appreciate Simmons, you need to sit back and read the rest of this list—catchers who bring as much to the table as he did, year in and year out for a decade without injuries or off years, are extremely hard to come by.

Emory Wheel: Smith: A-Rod: A Freaky Genius

(creeeeeek)...I guess Dooley’s Week started early.

But it would be impossible for Rodriguez to be so good without his flaws. It’s those flaws, most likely, that have allowed him to reach such heights. Would he have the same work ethic and strive so hard to reach for greatness if he wasn’t so clearly laden with fears of inferiority? While no one can say, it’s just as true that no one else in Major League Baseball’s pantheon is any less screwed up. Ty Cobb biographer Al Stump speculated that the reason Cobb towered above his contemporaries was because he was literally psychotic, able to draw on reserves of fire and energy alien to the normal human. Ted Williams was notoriously prickly, and was as disdained during his playing days as Rodriguez is now. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Barry Bonds — the story’s the same regardless of whose name you pull out of the Hall of Fame.

All we can do is appreciate Rodriguez while he’s still playing and at such a high level, despite how uncomfortable his flaws might make us. At the very least, he keeps us consistently amused and shows no signs of committing any truly harmful wrongs. Decades from now, when Rodriguez’s playing career is a distant memory, what is it that we’ll want to remember and tell the young’uns about: That we cursed his every home run and speculated about his effeminacy in the ESPN.com comments section, or that we got to watch the sport’s most hallowed marks go down at an age when we could fully enjoy it?

SF Gate: Ostler: Baseball’s Hall of Fame has taken too many hits

Or the Grant Roberts HOF…

Not-suited-for-the-Hall lineup

1B Mark McGwire: Bulked up too big to fit in Hall.
2B Pete Rose: Murderers get 10 years, Rose got life.
3B Steve Garvey: (played 3B early in career) Some voters found him vaguely creepy, which causes Ty Cobb to giggle in his grave.
SS Maury Wills: Post-playing-career lowjinks cost him votes.
LF Barry Bonds: However, he’s a fair bet to make HOF based on weird “was great before he juiced” voting clause.
CF Shoeless Joe Jackson: His banishment was an overreaction by Commissioner Landis, who then turned his attention to keeping baseball white.
RF Sammy Sosa: McGwire and Sosa, forever joined at the hip, which, considering their alleged “crime,” is poetic justice.
P Roger Clemens: And the Rocket’s still got a mile of mud to be dragged through.
C Ivan Rodriguez: Because of mystery weight swings and fingers pointed from many directions, this is what Pudge will get from voters: squat.
DH Rafael Palmeiro: Cheated, got caught, lied about cheating, blamed teammate - the grand slam of flim-flam.

Seamheads: Touring the Bases With… the Veterans Committee

Justin Murphy’s telling interview with “Steve Hirdt, president of Elias Sports Bureau, and Roland Hemond, former general manager of the White Sox and Orioles and current member of the Diamondbacks front office.”

What resources did you use in your research?

Hirdt: Well, I read what I could about each player. I obviously was familiar with each in broad terms—there wasn’t a guy who I was asking, ‘who is this, when did he play?’ Of course, I used our own statistical resources here at Elias, which probably gave me an advantage over other committee members, especially having such easy access to them.

Hemond: The Hall provides you with background history—the statistics, the years they played, the awards. They give you a real good detailed operation. During the meeting, you can ask for additional information to substantiate your own statements as well as other people’s. There are Hall of Fame employees who would go and do that at your beck and call; they have a great computer system where they can do that sort of thing. You want to be enlightened not only by your own recollections but by statistics. I felt really good that it was taken seriously by all the participants. You listen closely to those who have seen the players, and for those who haven’t, you try to dissect as accurately as you can what the stats might have meant during their period of participation.

Personally, I used primarily the Hall of Fame material. That was really accurate, high-quality information. I also used some books I have at home, encyclopedias and things. There’s more than just the stats, though- you have to recognize the value of a player on the winning ball club.

Joe Posnanski Blog: Why We Need Numbers

Uhh, because we put them on houses...so T.R. Sullivan can find his way home?

Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? I sure never thought so. But, yes, that’s why we have numbers. That’s why people keep up with this stuff. What really bothers me about Bert Blyleven is that his pitching brilliance wasn’t fully appreciated in his time, and BECAUSE of that, it’s not fully appreciated now. We keep twisting around in the same circle. It’s like we keep trying to justify our own notions and convictions, even if it means making the same mistakes. I saw someone, in making the Hall of Fame case for JIm Rice, pointed out that he was the highest paid player in baseball for a few years.

That’s great. But you know what? Rice already got paid for those years. The part that makes sense to me about the Hall of Fame is perspective, it is that a Hall of Famer’s career should stand up long after the trends and quirks of the time have faded, long after the camera has panned back. If a player’s career looks better in reverse — Bert Blyleven, Lou Whitaker, Dan Quisenberry, Ron Santo, Dwight Evans on and on and on — we should honor that, give them a fair Hall of Fame hearing, one that isn’t marred by hunches of the time that might not have been right in the first place. And if a player’s career doesn’t stand up to the scrutiny of the years, well, that’s why we wait five years before voting. I look at Jeff Kent’s numbers now and — well, he won’t be eligible for five years so things can change. But I would predict that, when we look back, Kent’s career will look awfully good. I’ll bet it will look like a Hall of Fame career.

Korach: There should be no debate about baseball Hall of Fame

The lights aren’t taking full effect…

I’m getting sick of the Hall of Fame debate focusing so much on numbers. I’ve always felt you’re either a Hall of Famer or you’re not. It shouldn’t require a whole lot of discussion or investigation.

...I’m not saying defense isn’t important, and that’s why Ozzie Smith is in the Hall, and it’s why I think Omar Vizquel is a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Vizquel, to me, has always been the perfect ballplayer. Besides having the best fielding percentage of all-time at shortstop, he made himself into an effective hitter. He could barely get the ball out of the infield when he first came up with Seattle, but as he matured, he learned to hit and if you needed a sacrifice bunt or needed to move a runner from second to third, he almost always delivered.

Thorne: Kent’s bristly personality can’t erase Hall of Fame career

Thorne...bristly...barbellatio.

In the end, his game was spectacular. He will be in the Hall on the first ballot.

By the time that vote comes, Kent will be known as the man who kept his counsel, loved the game, was one of the few players to acknowledge the steroid era and spoke against it in no uncertain terms.

The word “heroes” should not be used when referring to athletes. Heroes who happen to be athletes can be another story.

Kent would scoff again at any one who tried to place that moniker around his neck. We will not here.

However, if you want a mentor to see how the game should be played, how it should be respected and the humility with which it should be approached, check out Jeff Kent.

We probably won’t hear much from him for the next five years, but his legacy is there. When his day comes to enter the Hall of Fame, the game will again be well-served.

Jenkins: The Case for Kent

What matters most for Kent, at least from this corner, is that he’ll go down as “the greatest” at something. Doesn’t matter what it is—Sandy Koufax’ fastball, Bill Mazeroski’s glove, Cal Ripken’s longevity—that’s a defining criterion. Kent is without question the greatest power hitter ever seen at his position, hitting 351 homers as a second baseman and 377 overall. You could make a case for many others as the best pure hitter, notably Rogers Hornsby, Joe Morgan, Frankie Frisch, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie and Charlie Gehringer. But Kent set the standard for power, and if Ryne Sandberg makes the Hall (dubious choice in my mind), then Kent certainly qualifies. Sandberg was a beloved player playing in big-city Chicago, while Kent toiled in lesser settings and was pretty much despised by everyone.

Other credentials: That walkoff homer for Houston in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS against St. Louis (one of the few times I ever saw him smile on a ball field, and he was beaming). The fact that he had more career RBIs than Mickey Mantle (there’s something very wrong about that, but for the record: 1518 to Mantle’s 1509). The way he handled interviews in the most difficult times, breaking things down with his characteristic honesty, while other players hid in the training room. The MVP award in 2000, the eight 100-RBI seasons, the five All-Star appearances. His three homers in the 2002 World Series and the apparent dagger he applied to the Angels in Game 6, an RBI single to center that gave the Giants their 5-1 lead and—in a perfect world—would have placed Kent’s personal stamp on a world championship.

Baffling stuff.

Florida Today: Kerasotis: Rice same with Fame

Jim Rice...fitting in nicely as a Hall of Famer. Now where the hell is my Crabby Appleton LP?

Not only did Rice never do steroids, he didn’t drink or smoke, either. In fact, he’d never even heard of steroids when he played baseball, his major league career spanning 1974 to 1989.

“Farm guys. You heard steroids from guys on the farm. For horses. Animals. Stuff like that. But for us . . .”

He shook his head.

“Never heard of them when we played. We never even lifted weights. We had no time to lift weights. We had to go back home in the offseason and work other jobs.”

For Rice, back home was in South Carolina, where in his first several offseasons he worked with his father for a company called True Temper, making fishing rods and shafts.

“We got in shape in spring training, swinging a 36-ounce bat,” he said. “Players today, they use 31-ounce bats. What do they need to lift 500 pounds of weight for, when all they’re swinging is a 31-ounce bat?”

Charleston Post & Courier: One-on-One with Gaylord Perry

You mentioned the card shows, what’s a Gaylord Perry rookie card going for these days?

“Maybe about $150, if you can find one. Let me know if you can find ‘em.”

How about some ‘best of’ and ‘worst of’ questions? What was the best ballpark you played in?

“The best ballpark I played in was in San Diego. The weather was great and the walls were 17 feet tall. A pitcher’s ballpark.”

Worst uniform you had to wear?

“Cleveland. All red. Boog Powell was the first baseman. He and I looked like Bloody Marys. It was not good. We had a meeting after the first day we wore them and we were ready to go out on strike if they made us wear them. It was terrible.”

Thanks to Val Sega.

jinaz: Is Barry Larkin a Hall of Famer? A look at Retrosheet-era shortstops

A look at Barry “Malachi Kittridge was an RBI Machine!” Larkin and his HOF chances.

Ripken was better than Larkin, but no one would argue otherwise. And Yount probably was too, though he was really only a shortstop during the first half of his career (his negative fielding numbers are from his CF days). Same for Rodriguez. But you can make a legitimate claim, I think, that Larkin is the third best retired shortstop from the Retrosheet Era (at worst, he’s tied with Banks in value, and probably has a slight edge), and 4th best overall. Among pure shortstops, we’re talking #2 or 3 depending on how far of a lead ARod got before he switched to 3B.

Aparicio seems like an outlier (why him and not Belanger?), but Larkin’s lead over Ozzie is striking. To me, 4th-best is clearly good enough for the Hall, given that we’re talking about more than 50 years at the most challenging defensive position aside from pitcher & catcher. Doesn’t hurt that he did win an MVP, helped redefine his position, was a great guy, etc.

While Larkin was better, Trammell and Jeter also would seem to have pretty legitimate arguments for HoF consideration. Tejada, not so much, especially if he continues to tail off. And the steroids thing won’t help matters with the voters.

Red Sox Monster: Schilling: ‘I don’t think I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame’

Or as novelist turned Superbasist, Honoré de Balzack Wheat, once said..."Modesty is the conscience of the bloody red sock.”

Building on his popular appearances on WEEI Radio as “Curt in the Car,” Curt Schilling made his debut as an in-studio analyst on WEEI’s “Big Show” this afternoon, weighing in on everything from Jason Varitek’s future (predictable answer) to playing with Manny Ramirez (predictable answer).

Then, Schilling said something a little more jarring. He said he doesn’t belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame:

“I feel very good about what I was able to do, I’m very proud of my career,” Schilling said when posed the question by a caller. “I did [20] years—far more than I ever expected. But I played with Randy Johnson, I played with Pedro Martinez, I played with Dale Murphy. I played with guys that have [Cy Young Award] plaques. I’d like to think I did well. I’d like to think that, if I had a must-win game, the guys I played with would want me to have the ball. But no, I don’t think I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.”

Well. I’ll. Be. Damned.

Say what you want about Schilling. Call him a loudmouth, a blowhard, or a computer nerd of epic proportions.

It’s statements such as these that make him different than your average ballplayer, throwing a from-the-gut statement out there that could easily be used against him in the future. Moreover, he makes a pitch for two teammates, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, whom he easily compared favorably to when he was in his prime.

Dodgers: Green Day gets Kent emotional

Highlights from Jeff Kent’s retirement press conference

- The Dodgers show a Kent tribute video set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” and Kent’s eyes well up. He wipes tears from his eyes and flicks them off his fingers. Just a thought, but maybe Kent also likes Green Day’s “Nice Guys Finish Last.”

- “I’m tired,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m tired. I’m tired. I’m tired of going on road trips, leaving home and seeing my kids grown a half inch.” He gets most emotional when discussing his children. “I’m absolutely not tired of the game itself. I’ll miss it. And I’ll miss you (the media). And I’ll miss the fans. But my time’s over.”

- Kent calls it the “Steroid Era” that he played in. “This game still needs to make more progress,” he said. “The standards for this game need to be higher than any other sport.” On hitting pitchers during the era, “The harder the pitcher threw, the less hard I needed to swing it. It was a physics deal.” “The integrity of the game has been jeopardized. I’m completely embarrassed by the Steroid Era. These things were out of my control as an individual.”

- After a game in Arizona last year, Kent felt an excruciating amount of pain with torn cartilage in his knee while trainer Stan Conte came to his assistance. “If I’d have had a gun down there, I’d have shot myself,” said Kent, who still ended up making it back by season’s end.

S.I. : Kennedy: It’s a crime that Keith Hernandez isn’t in the Hall of Fame

so in three years became on the a-list of actors and keith is in demand now

Keith Hernandez played first base more aggressively, intelligently, courageously and effectively than any first baseman of his time or since, or probably ever. Hernandez wouldn’t just charge the plate in a bunting situation, he’d run at it full on. If the batter bunted and missed he could reach out and shake Hernandez’s hand to congratulate him on the effort.

He threw runners out at second or third every game, it seemed, and he freaked hitters out. Guys would pop up a bunt or foul one off just because they had this crazy Mex character barreling at them. Some managers simply wouldn’t bunt against Hernandez; he took the weapon away from them.

...Hernandez was as dynamic a player as I have ever seen. Not dynamic like Rickey or Jose Reyes or Hanley Ramirez. He was just deeply involved in every situation, on every pitch, altering the game somehow, subtly but decidedly. If you fancied yourself a student of the game, you went to the ballpark and watched what Hernandez did at bat, in the field, on the bases. It was amazing.

Keith Hernandez is a no-brainer Hall of Famer. Ask the guys who played with him. He’ll get in someday through the Veteran’s Committee.Until then, take this to the water cooler. You can’t lose.

Goold: Albert Pujols’ claim to a Triple Crown, or two

Can Pujols have a “career Triple Crown”?...Derrick Goold takes a look.

Others have more RBIs in their careers and certainly more home runs, but since he made his major-league debut Pujols leads the National League in all three Triple Crown categories. And it’s not like his challengers are really that close. Through eight seasons, he has a career Triple Crown. Two more years like this and he’ll do what Hornsby did in the 1920s — only Pujols will have done it in his first 10 years in the league.

Pujols is also in line to win the “decade” Triple Crown for the 2000s, even though he spotted the rest of te league the entire 2000 season. With Bonds out of the game in 2008, Pujols passed him in home runs for the decade lead, 319 to Bonds’ 317. Entering the final year of the decade, Pujols leads the National League in all categories, Hornsby-like, with a .334-319-977 line. See for yourself:

* BATTING AVERAGE in NL since 2000
* HOME RUNS in NL since 2000
* RBIs in NL since 2000

Seamheads Historical League Part 3 — American Atlantic Division

Hey...wanna goof on Bill James’ crappy Historical League team?

BOSTON RED SOX (1901-2008, 7 World Championships, 12 Pennants, 19 Playoff Appearances)

GENERAL MANAGER: Bill James, Boston Red Sox Special Consultant/Writer

MY LINEUPS

vs. LHP
1. Tris Speaker (CF)
2. Wade Boggs (3B)
3. Ted Williams (LF)
4. Jimmie Foxx (1B)
5. Manny Ramirez (LF)
6. Joe Cronin (SS)
7. Bobby Doerr (2B)
8. Carlton Fisk (C)

The Baseball Analysts: Gallagher: Baseball’s Hall of Fallacies

Gallagher rolls out his Pledge-O-Matic HOF standard case.

So how can we change the course of the dialogue surrounding the Hall of Fame? I believe that first and foremost we need a logical basis from which to begin. It’s time that we reevaluate what it actually means to be a Hall of Famer. A set of minimum, objective standards would help to mute much of the illogical cacophony out there today. While I would leave the actual standards up to someone more qualified than I; it should probably start somewhere with ERA+, OPS+ and win shares: stats that can be used across the many different eras of baseball. Certainly, the standards will be hard to agree upon in the first place and will probably be heavily criticized and even outright rejected by the BBWAA (if not completely ignored). However, without a logical foundation to the Hall, all emotional and irrational arguments will continue to be relied upon and Jon Heyman’s gut feeling will have more influence than statistical analysis.

Heyman is not alone in his hostility toward a growing demand for more concrete and quantifiable measures of greatness. But his comments underscore that there has been a real shift in the way baseball is being viewed. No longer are fantastical, unquantifiable and largely indefensible beliefs (such as Derek Jeter being a Gold-Glove caliber shortstop) acceptable to a growing number of baseball fans. Whether or not this change originated with “younger people on the Internet” is irrelevant. The fact is that the current method of evaluation is based upon flawed logic and is being met with discontent. Any attempt to marginalize that discontent should consistently be met with the very thing it cannot handle: more sound, logical thinking.

N.Y. Daily News: Price: Jeff Can’t Make Hall of Fame

That’s it...I’m not waiting around two days for my mash to soak in methanol. I NEED FILTERLESS VAPORS NOW!

But I say Kent cannot be looked at as a second baseman, especially in this day and age where middle infielders all over baseball are putting up numbers usually posted by outfielders and third baseman. We have to start judging players - other than catchers - as all part of the same pool. Is Nomar Garciaparra a Hall of Famer because he put up big numbers at shortstop?

Kent was never a great fielder. He had to hide somewhere and most teams chose to put him at second base. Also, Kent played in the steroids era, so all of the numbers from that time have to be judged on some sort of scale. 600 homers may have to be the new 500 homers.

And while Kent’s numbers may have gotten him into the Hall of Fame 10 years ago, they are comparable to several other players who will be retiring soon or have already retired and likely won’t ever get in.

Albert Belle has more homers (381) than Kent. Is he a Hall of Famer?

Gary Sheffield has more homers (499), hits (2,615) and RBIs (1,633) than Kent. Is he a Hall of Famer?

‘Guardians’ of game can’t be allowed to rob Bonds, Clemens

Momentum cannot be predicted or explained. It can only—when it is headed in the wrong direction—be stopped. Or so I hope, because for some reason momentum is growing against the Hall of Fame candidacies of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

It’s wrong. And it must be stopped.

So here I am, sticking my finger in the dike. Thing is, it’s my middle finger. And it’s aimed not just at the dike, but also at the guardians of the game, whoever they are, who would conspire to keep such unquestionable Hall of Fame talent out of the Hall of Fame.
[...]
Did they go dirty? Probably.

Does it matter? Not to me. Not as it relates to the Hall of Fame. If it matters to you, eat more fiber. You’re probably just constipated.

Baseball Hall of Fame voting is exasperating

Many Upstate residents, especially from the Anderson area, are proud to see their native son receive what they feel is a long overdue induction, and they have every right to feel that way. It’s not every day someone you possibly went to school with or played ball with or against is enshrined alongside the likes of Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, and, of course, Aaron and Mays.

Though I personally feel that Rice was a borderline candidate at best, since he failed to reach 400 career home runs as well as the downhill spiral his career fell into during his last three seasons, the fact that it took sportswriters a decade-and-a-half to vote him in is absurd.

Rice has not played a major league baseball game since 1989 and his first year for HOF eligibility came in 1994. As recently as 2006 and 2007, he received a little more than 63 percent of the vote although that number improved to 72.2 percent last year — just short of the magical 75 percent.

Why then did the sportswriters feel that Rice deserved induction in his final year of eligibility when they snubbed him each of the previous 14? It can’t completely be due to stronger candidates as one year saw no candidates enshrined. Even though some new faces are now casting ballots for the Hall of Fame, there are still a number of long-time voters participating in the process.

A lot of this column makes sense; that’s how you can tell it didn’t come from a sportswriter.

Evil Opinion: Fernandez:  Black Men In The Hall

Move over, Dusty Fletcher! A firsthand look at the comedy stylings of raunchy Jim Rice.

On a personal level, both men caused me to laugh while working as an usher at the old Comiskey Park. In the 1980s, I was a big fan of the Red Sox lineup: Boggs, Rice, Tony Armas, etc. On August 6-7th 1985, there was a two day players’ strike, which caused postponement of 2 of the 3 games between the Red Sox and White Sox. The Thursday night game was supposed to have a home run hitting contest between the teams’ big sluggers: Boggs (replacing the oft-injured Armas), Rice, Mike Easler (the DH), and Mike Greenwell against Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Oscar Gamble and Ron Kittle. Each player had 10 swings to try and reach the seats.

I was a supervisor for this impromptu double header, so instead of having tons of people on the field, we had to leave the ushers in the seats to seat people for the regularly scheduled game. So, we had one chief usher by the home dugout, and another by the visitors. I chose to be by the Red Sox. I ended up meeting a lot of the players, including Easler, second baseman Marty Barrett, and Rice. And I’ll never forget watching the contest and seeing Kittle hit ball after ball over the Comiskey roof, unfortunately for him, almost all of them were foul. Standing there watching Kittle hit, I’ll never forget Rice asking me if he was married. I didn’t know, but when I asked why, Rice replied “because that boy needs some p@##y.”

Ex-Posse manager talks about Rickey being Rickey

“We’re in Boise, and I said, ‘Rickey, you’re on your own to run. You’re fast. I want you to be aggressive. I want you to be fearless. I want you to be really confident in what you are doing.’ “

“ ‘OK, OK, OK,’ Rickey said to me,” Trebelhorn added.

“So he’s not running,” Trebelhorn continued. “Finally I said, ‘Rick, why aren’t you running? And he said, ‘Well, you know I really need the sign to go.’ “

At this point, Kennedy begins to chuckle in the background.

Miles: Cubs may retire No. 31, but no to Sosa

Congrats, Bob Buhl!

Mark McGwire, the Cubs’ executive vice president for business operations, addressed the Sosa situation before breaking the news about Jenkins and Maddux.

“No. 21 was being worn,” McGuire pointed out to the fan. “We’ve gotten into a situation where we’ve been really tough about retiring numbers. We actually have an in-house standard of people getting in the Hall of Fame before the organization would even consider retiring his number. There’s some discussion this year because of No. 31 and the unique status of Mr. Maddux and Fergie Jenkins that we may go ahead and do something this summer.

“With Sammy, time has a way of healing a lot of things, and we’ll just see how it works itself out. I don’t think we’ll be escalating our program in that regard.”

Stone: Edgar Martinez is eligible for the Hall of Fame starting with the 2010 ballot

Which reminds me...I gotta get my Christmas shopping done.

A closer examination of Rice’s statistics, under the lens of recently developed analytical tools, caused many in the sabermetric community to conclude he wasn’t Hall worthy. In the same sense, I believe that statistical scrutiny will benefit Martinez, whose numbers look better the closer you examine them.

“Exactly the same could be said of Tim Raines, and see how poorly he’s doing,” countered ESPN’s Rob Neyer, who is at the forefront of statistical analysis.

Neyer is also a first-year BBWAA member as the organization last year allowed Internet reporters for the first time. Only 10-year members of the organization are eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame. He said he is still undecided on Martinez but has little doubt he will be denied in the first year.

“If you look at other candidates and how they’ve done, it’s hard to imagine him getting anywhere near 75 percent,” he said.

I conducted an informal poll this week of 15 Hall of Fame voters on Martinez. Five gave a flat-out no, two others were leaning no, two said yes, four were leaning yes, and two were completely undecided.

Pirates want Pedro Martinez

BRADENTON, Fla.—The Pirates have had contact with Pedro Martinez, one of the most prominent names among free-agent pitchers, and would be interested if the price is right. But talks solely have been exploratory to this point.

Martinez, 37, has been limited to 48 starts the past three seasons because of injury. He went 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA for the New York Mets last season.

He is believed to be seeking a $7 million salary, a figure above what the Pirates would be willing to pay, and has told reporters that he would prefer to return to the Mets—who first will seek other options—but is open to signing anywhere. Other teams known to have expressed interest are the Cleveland Indians and Florida Marlins.